Warzone 2.0 ISO Hemlock loadout, best class build and how to unlock ISO Hemlock
Enter the battle anew with new Season 2 firepower
The ISO Hemlock is a new assault rifle added in Season 2 of Warzone 2.0.
Many longtime fans of Call of Duty may recognise this as the ACR, making it the weapon’s debut in Warzone 2.0, originally introduced in the original Modern Warfare 2.
It’s an assault rifle that has a feel comparable to other popular rifles such as the M4, along with a unique feature that no other AR has access to.
Read on to find out how to unlock the ISO Hemlock in Warzone 2.0, as well as how to create the best loadout and attachments and class build that best complement the weapon.
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How to unlock the ISO Hemlock in Warzone 2.0
The ISO Hemlock is unlocked via the Season 2 Battle Pass, on the free track, available to all.
More specifically, you’ll need to use tier skips to unlock different sectors on the Battle Pass map and reach Sector B11 – the ISO Hemlock is the reward for unlocking the four preceding items.
Once unlocked, you are then free to equip and use the ISO Hemlock in any of your custom loadouts.
It’s worth noting however that, once Season 2 ends and the Battle Pass is no longer available, this weapon’s unlock requirements will change – going by recent Call of Duty titles, it will instead require a challenge to be completed to unlock.
Warzone 2.0 ISO Hemlock best loadout and attachments
If you’re a fan of the M4, the ISO Hemlock should feel rather familiar to you – it’s an assault rifle that feels generally similar to use, even if some of its stats are slightly lower.
However, compensating with that, it also features a unique aspect that – at the time of writing – no other assault rifle has access to.
This is the ability to be customised with two different types of ammunition: 5.56 and .300 Subsonic, the latter of which adjust several weapon stats and hide 'kill skulls' when eliminating enemies – a nice feature if you’re taking the stealthy approach.
Depending on the combat situation you find yourself in, your preference and choice of attachments – and ammunition – will vary, but we’re focusing primarily on keeping the ISO Hemlock effective at medium ranges, with an option or two that might help if you’re entering more long-distance combat engagements.
These are best Warzone 2.0 ISO Hemlock loadout and attachments:
- Optic: Cronen Mini Red Dot OR Hybrid Firepoint
- Barrel: Fielder-T50 OR Cipher-121
- Ammunition: .300 BLK Armor Piercing OR 5.56 High Velocity / Hollowpoint
- Underbarrel: VX Pineapple, Operator Foregrip OR TV Wrecker Grip
- Muzzle: Echoless-80 | OR Stock: ISO Stockless Mod
There’s a couple of directions this weapon can be taken, suited either for more medium-to-long range engagements or closer – potentially more stealthy – approaches.
When it comes to optics, preference is often key and so to keep things simple, we’re recommending the Cronen Mini Red Dot sight which can be used regardless of how you like to play.
Alternatively, if you’d like something with more flexibility, the Hybrid Firepoint optic will give you what the Cronen gives you, but with the option to swap to a 4.5x magnification lens, letting you scope into enemies further out.
Of course you can always ditch the optic and take another attachment if you get on well with the iron sights.
As for the second attachment we’re recommending, this is where your choice will dictate the playstyle a little bit more heavily on the stat side.
If it’s longer range engagements you want to build the Hemlock for, the Fielder-T50 barrel will be a big boost to your efforts, giving increases to damage range, bullet velocity and recoil control.
If you’d rather take a stealthier approach, the Cipher-121 barrel comes with build-in sound suppression, whilst improving the recoil control and forgoing the need to build specifically for a suppressor.
That said, it does prevent any muzzle choice, so unless you’d like to build for close-range and pick the stock we recommend, any one of the laser sights or magazine choice can work well as an alternative here.
The ammunition attachment slot is the ISO Hemlock’s selling point, providing some rather noticeable benefits and tradeoffs if you choose to lean into them.
The subsonic .300 BLK rounds allow you to net kills that conceal the 'kill skulls' of those enemies, preventing that player’s allies from seeing where they were when they were eliminated.
If taking the Armor Piercing variant of the .300 BLK rounds, you’ll not only receive that intrinsic feature perfect for stealth-oriented playstyles, but you’ll also gain buffs to bullet penetration, and damage dealt to enemies and vehicles, all of which can be especially useful in Warzone’s varied playground of vehicles, cover and terrain.
It does lead to some tradeoffs such as bullet velocity and fire rate however which will likely be a drawback should you be building for longer-range fights – as such, you might want to consider the standard 5.56 High Velocity rounds.
Alternatively you could pick either the 5.56 or .300 BLK’s 'Hollowpoint' option which provides bonus stopping power – and damage if going with the.300s – but pick based on which stats you’d like to build more for.
Moving on to our recommendation for the weapon’s fourth attachment, there’s a couple of options worth considering.
The first is the VX Pineapple underbarrel which is generally a solid choice for any assault rifle, boosting recoil steadiness and aim walking steadiness along with hip fire recoil control and accuracy – its only drawbacks are the reduced movement speed and Aim Down Sights (ADS) speed.
If you’d rather not reduce the ADS speed and don’t mind not getting that recoil steadiness buff, the Operator Foregrip isn’t a bad shout - but if you’d like no drawbacks at all with only buffs to hip fire accuracy and aim walking steadiness, be sure to pick the TV Wrecker Grip.
To cap off the weapon build with the fifth and final attachment, it’s once again dependent on your desired build.
If you didn’t pick the Cipher-121 and stealth is important to you, the Echoless-80 muzzle option is what we’d recommend, providing sound suppression with boosts to bullet velocity, damage range and recoil smoothness, with only a couple of drawbacks in ADS speed and aim stability.
If stealth isn’t how you’d like to roll with the Hemlock, maybe close quarters is more your thing? If so, look no further than the ISO Stockless Mod option for the Stock attachment slot, emphasising handling and mobility, albeit with decreases to accuracy and recoil control.
Whilst these are the attachments we’d recommend, with such a large number of attachments and options – along with the stat tuning feature that allows you to tailor a gun more toward your desired playstyle – it’s definitely worth mixing-and-matching with what you find most comfortable.
Warzone 2.0 ISO Hemlock best class build, perk package and equipment
Depending on how you choose to build the ISO Hemlock – whether for medium-to-long or close range – may determine your approach to the following set up.
For our recommendation, we’re leaning into offering recommendations that will compliment the ISO Hemlock, or fill in gaps thanks to a perk like Overkill.
Here are the best perks and equipment for the ISO Hemlock:
- Perk Package: Custom – Overkill/Scavenger, Double Time, Fast Hands, Quick Fix
- Secondary (if Overkill): KV Broadside / Signal 50 | (if no Overkill): .50 GS / X13 Auto
- Lethal: Semtex
- Tactical: Shock Stick
We’re recommending perks for this class to be equipped manually via a custom perk package, but if you’ve not yet unlocked them all, the pre-built Weapon Specialist or Commando perk packages are worth checking out until you’re able to manually equip all the perks.
For the first perk, we’re leaning towards either Overkill or Scavenger.
The former will allow you to take a primary weapon as your secondary, whereas the latter will allow you to pick up ammo and an armour plate from dead players.
Really the choice here is whether you want a backup weapon that might cover a more specific range in combat, or rest assured you’ll be able to keep yourself stocked with ammo and armour – both are equally good in their own right, but we’d lean towards recommending Scavenger since it’ll likely keep you in the fight longer.
Unless you’d like to gunsling your way through battle royale with Overkill and Scavenger together, our recommendation for your second perk is Double Time.
With this perk, you’ll have a doubled duration for your Tactical Sprint, along with a 30-percent buff to crouch-movement speed, both of which will keep up your mobility.
When it comes to the third perk, Fast Hands is what we’re recommending, further boosting your mobility and handling – a good choice on its own, but one that will also help with Overkill’s second primary thanks to its weapon swap speed buff.
For the fourth and final perk, Quick Fix is a great shout as it’ll keep you in the fight longer, activating health regeneration not only on every kill, but also every time you begin to slot in an armour plate.
Depending on whether or not you’ve picked Overkill will determine your options when it comes to what secondary you can pick.
If going with Overkill, packing the KV Broadside shotgun or Signal 50 sniper rifle can be effective backups, each leaning into a very particular engagement range that can balance out your build for the ISO Hemlock attachment-wise.
If you’re not equipping Overkill however, the choice is up to you ultimately, but the .50 GS and X13 Auto handguns are both good picks – the former in terms of its stopping power, and the latter in regards to fire rate.
In terms of Lethal and Tactical grenades, the choice is all yours ultimately, but we’re going with Semtex and Shock Stick respectively.
If you’re on the lookout for what else is hot in Season 2, be sure to check out our guide to the second Battle Pass, as well as our best guns guide, and if you happen to be looking to go silent when it comes to your online presence, here’s our guide on how to appear offline in Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0.
