CoD Mobile: Hip Fire Guide – Best Guns, Tips, & Tricks

(Activision via HGG / Mike Bruton)

Human Made

Penned by Mike Bruton

Michael is our expert Call of Duty writer.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

In this CoD: Mobile hip fire guide, we talk about what it is, why you should use it, and the guns and stats you should select to become an unstoppable running-and-gunning force. Call of Duty was one of the early adopters of an aim-down-sights (ADS) mechanic that helped fundamentally shift how aiming in video games looked and felt. From the floating cursor of N64’s Goldeneye, this new development puts the player directly behind the sights. Since then, first and even third-person shooters have embraced this immersive mechanic. 

Sometimes, ADS-ing isn’t recommended if you want to win the quickdraw battle. Combat is fast, and the battle in CoD: Mobile can be positively frenetic. Weapon attachments, weights, and handling all dictate how long it takes for a player to shoulder the weapon. 

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What is Hip Fire in CoD: Mobile?

What is hip fire in CoD: Mobile, you ask? It is simply firing your weapon without aiming down the sights first. Shooting like this can prove highly inaccurate, but it’ll annihilate your opponents when you have the element of surprise and act quickly.

Why Hip Fire?

Hip fire has negative connotations. The Tier 1 CoD operator likes to place surgical kill shots and minimize collateral damage. Why spray and pray when the game provides dozens of sight and scope options? There are two excellent answers to the question: fun and necessity.

There’s nothing quite like bursting into a room and hosing grouped enemies down in a savage hail of lead. It gives off action-hero vibes and is part of why we play games. The other reason is more practical. In most shooters, and definitely CoD: Mobile, different weapons have different attributes that impact their handling. 

Hefting a light machine gun (LMG) to the shoulder for a precise shot takes much longer than just pulling a trigger- a real problem if the other guy has something faster. Besides, some guns are made for hip fire. Fast-firing weapons with large ammunition capacities may be more effectively deployed from the hip.

Which Stats Are Important?

CoD: Mobile breaks their weapons into six subcategories that dictate how the gun handles in-game. Damage, Accuracy, Range, Fire Rate, Mobility, and Control ratings vary wildly from weapon to weapon. 

Players should pay the most attention to the Mobility, Control, and Fire Rate attributes to become a hip-fire hotshot. Not part of the weapon attributes, but no less critical, are ammunition capacity and (unsurprisingly) hip-fire accuracy. 

Fire Rate

How fast a weapon shoots is a good indicator of whether or not it would be effective from the hip. For example, bolt action rifles are far too slow to thrive from the hip. The odds of scoring an accurate shot plunge when shooting from the hip, and the time it takes to cycle the bolt, will see players in the grave if they miss that first shot. That is the most extreme example, but the principle stays true regardless of the weapon. 

Control

Control refers to how well the weapon handles vertical recoil. A gun with poor control ratings might not be lousy; it could be better suited for hip fire than precise and controlled shooting. Jamming the barrel into an enemy’s gut and letting the recoil climb the gun upward will dispatch a foe as effectively as any headshot. 

Mobility

The most important reason one might hip-fire is they do not have time to shoulder the gun before getting themselves killed. Mobility measures player speed, but more critically, the time it takes a player to aim-down-sights (ADS). Many attachments that improve hip-firing take away from mobility- don’t fear if that rate goes down. Players will move slower but won’t worry about raising the weapon at speed. 

Hipfire Bullet Spread

Though not one of the six main attributes, players can choose attachments based on a statistic called Hipfire Bullet Spread. Some attachments specifically address how widely bullets fire from the hip spread around. Concentrated fire is always a good thing. 

Best Hipfire Guns & Builds

Weapon attachments have varying impacts on hip fire effectiveness. CoD: Mobile provides dozens of choices to change the above attributes, and we’ve waded through a flood of options to determine which guns and attachments maximize the chance of slaying from the hip. The result is the High Ground guide to becoming a hip-fire hotshot. 

The A-tier light machine gun (LMG) is our gun of choice for hip fire modifications because of its high rate of fire and good mobility. The Holger’s middling accuracy is improvable- and, as previously mentioned, low accuracy scores can help hip-firing heroes. 

Start with an RTC Laser 1mW. It provides an 18% reduction in hip fire bullet spread- a perk so enormous it is a mainstay of our hip fire hotshot loadouts. Or consider upgrading to a visible laser sight- they’re perfect for putting shots on target without shouldering the weapon. Simply point and click. 

The Merc Foregrip makes the Holger more manageable with a 7% reduction in vertical recoil and an additional 7% improvement in hip fire bullet spread. 

M13

RTC Laser 1mW, .300 RTC Double Stack 40 Round Magazine, Melee Master, Merc Foregrip

The M13 is our pick for the best hip fire assault rifle in CoD: Mobile. A blistering fire rate makes the M13 a ton of fun to operate from the hip- with the proper attachments. The RTC Laser 1mW and Merc Foregrips are no-brainers for reducing hip fire bullet spread and aiming assist. 

Spraying rounds dry quickly on the M13 thanks to the fire rate, so pick out an extended magazine. We like the .300 RTC Double Stack 40 Round for its abundance of improvements. Increased capacity and faster reloads alone are enough to choose the Double Stack, but it also boosts range and suppresses the weapon. Combine it with the Melee Master perk to score ammunition on close-range kills- a common occurrence for hip-firing masters. 

MAC-10

5mW Combat Laser, RTC Muzzle Brake, Field Agent Foregrip, 43 Round Extended Reload

You can’t go wrong with the MAC-10 and it is our pick for the best hip fire SMG in CoD: Mobile. Highly mobile and sporting the highest fire rate in the game, the MAC-10 is an ultra-swingable shredder perfect for eviscerating the enemy. The 5mW Combat Laser advances the excellent work done by the RTC Laser 1mW with a whopping 40% hip-fire bullet spread reduction. It is not available for every weapon, but it is for the MAC-10, and it’s a must for improving performance.

A meteor-like fire rate and low damage per round call for better ammunition capacity. The 43-Round Extended Reload is available early in-game, and upgrading to the Stanag 53-Round Extended Reload later in the grind is possible. 

Striker

RTC Laser 1mW, Choke, Sleight of Hand, 16-Round Extended Reload Case

The Striker may be the most satisfying weapon on this list to wade into a crowd of enemies and lay waste. The devastating Shotgun issues 160 damage points when every pellet hits the enemy. The Striker stands out by being an automatic- hold the trigger, and it keeps shooting- instead of the much slower pump-action more common to shotguns. 

The Striker is a bear to reload; the Sleight of Hand perk improves survivability when the mission requires a few more rounds. The RTC Laser 1mW and Choke muzzle device combine for a nearly 30% improvement in hip fire bullet spread. Pick your favorite optic, grip, or stock for the fifth slot and join the fight. 

DL Q33

OWC Laser

It seems counterintuitive to put a sniper rifle on this list, much less a bolt-action, but even would-be Snipers need to shoot from the hip occasionally. The DL-Q33 scores one-shot kills at long range. Clipping an OWC Laser is an immeasurable aid to making sure the one shot you have up close lands in those desperate self-defense situations. 

The rest of this sniper build should orient around hitting those long-range targets, but with the OWC Laser equipped, running into the enemy at close range isn’t necessarily a death sentence. 

Perks

Building out guns is great, but there are more ways to optimize hip-fire hegemony. Picking the right perks to go along with the guns is crucial. Here are some of the best perks for maneuvering into position to get a hip-fire kill in CoD: Mobile.

Agile

Agility gives two benefits: faster ADS after sprinting (which is nice but does not apply to the hip fire playstyle) and increased object-mantling speed. Most hip-fire kills happen at close range, so getting inside the enemy guard is imperative before being gunned down. Leaping over objects quickly helps players flank more effectively for those berserker-style kills. 

Skulker

It pays to be fast and quiet. Skulker provides a 12% increase in speed when walking and crouching, helping players sneak within range of a hip-fire kill enemy without making too much noise, in addition to being a faster way to move around the map. 

Vulture

Running out of ammo on a rampage is a potential problem with the devil-may-care spray and pray hip shooter. Vulture refills players’ current magazine when they step over a fresh kill- which will often happen with the in-your-face combat accompanying the hip-fire playstyle. 

Ghost

Keep hidden from enemy radar. It’s tough to hunt someone you can’t see, and Ghost makes your moves around a map a mystery to the enemy. Keep them confused and lure them to where you want them.

Gung Ho

It only costs five credits, and this perk allows players to change magazines, throw grenades, and – you guessed it- hip fire while sprinting. Run circles around your enemies. 

Alert

Alert, well, alerts players to an approaching enemy a moment or two before they come into sight. Welcome them to your vicinity with a mag full of lead as they charge around the corner. 

Blasting from the hip does not apply to every situation, but it can be fun. Our guide to becoming a hip-fire hotshot won’t guarantee a champion performance, but combining the above weapons, attachments, perks, and the knowledge to use them sure provides an edge. 

What’s your favorite hip-fire setup? Share in the comments, or head to our guides section for more ways to edge out the competition in CoD: Mobile.