If you still jump into a lobby on Fringe or Combine today, you'll notice something immediately. It isn't the specialists or the wall-running that dictates who wins the game. It’s the movement combined with how someone handles a submachine gun. Honestly, Black Ops 3 SMGs are probably the most balanced yet frustratingly powerful toolset Treyarch ever put together. They didn't just feel like guns; they felt like extensions of the advanced movement system.
You remember the VMP meta? It was everywhere.
But there’s a lot more to the story than just one overused gun. The weapon tuning in this game was surgical. Every SMG served a specific bracket of the "Advanced Movement" era. If you were a "boots on the ground" player, you hated them. If you mastered the blast jumps, they were your best friend.
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The VMP Problem and Why It Actually Worked
Everyone complains about the VMP. It’s the easy target. With its 40-round mag and a fire rate that felt like it was melting your console, it dominated the competitive circuit and pub matches alike. But why?
It wasn't just the stats. It was the predictable-yet-aggressive recoil. In a game where people are literally flying over your head, you need a weapon that covers mistakes. The VMP gave you that cushion. It had a high enough fire rate to win most head-to-head gunfights, but enough ammo to deal with the three other guys sliding around the corner. If you look at the stats, it fired at roughly 900 RPM. That’s fast. Very fast. But it had a kick that went straight up and slightly to the right, making it a dream for anyone who knew how to pull down on a thumbstick.
Most people think it was broken. It wasn't. It was just the "jack of all trades" that happened to be a "master of most."
Breaking Down the Kuda: The Versatility King
Then there’s the Kuda. I’ve always felt the Kuda was the most "honest" gun in the game. It felt like an assault rifle trapped in a submachine gun's body. You could actually take long-range fights with this thing if you were smart. It had a three-shot kill range that was surprisingly generous for an SMG, especially if you threw Long Barrel on it (though we can argue all day about whether Long Barrel was actually worth the pick-10 slot on SMGs in BO3).
The Kuda was for the player who didn't want to fly 50 feet in the air. It was for the guy holding down the mid-map lanes on Stronghold. It was steady. Reliable.
It didn't have the "delete button" feel of the VMP, but it also didn't leave you stranded when someone popped up at medium range. Many pros actually preferred it for specific Search and Destroy routes because the iron sights were so clean you didn't need to waste a slot on an ELO or Red Dot.
The Niche Picks: Pharo and Weevil
You either loved or hated the Pharo. A four-round burst SMG sounds like a nightmare on paper for a high-mobility game. If you missed your burst while someone was mid-air, you were dead. Period. But if you hit? It had one of the fastest theoretical times-to-kill (TTK) in the entire game. It was a high-skill, high-reward monster.
And the Weevil... man, the Weevil.
People called it the "P90 of Black Ops 3." It had a massive 50-round magazine. The problem was it felt like you were shooting marshmallows half the time. It took forever to kill compared to a VMP or a Pharo. However, in hardcore modes? The Weevil was the undisputed king. The handling was snappy, and you could spray for days without ever thinking about a reload. It’s a perfect example of how a gun can be "trash" in one mode and "god-tier" in another.
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Why the Vesper Almost Broke the Game
We have to talk about the Vesper era. There was a period in Black Ops 3’s lifecycle where the Vesper was so broken Treyarch had to basically nerf it into the ground, then buff it, then nerf it again. It had a fire rate of 1200 RPM. That is absurd.
At close range, you didn't even have to aim. You just pointed in the general direction of an enemy and they vanished. It was the ultimate "delete" key. The recoil was horizontal, vertical, and diagonal all at once—basically a circle on your screen—but at five feet, that didn't matter. It forced a meta where everyone just rushed the center of the map. When Treyarch finally increased the recoil to astronomical levels, the Vesper became a shell of its former self, used only by those who missed the "glory days" of the first month after launch.
The DLC Factor: XMC and the Power Creep
Here is where things get controversial. The XMC.
If you weren't there for the Supply Drop era, count yourself lucky. The XMC was added late into the game's life cycle and it was, quite frankly, better than every base SMG. It felt like the MSMC from Black Ops 2 had been reincarnated with better handling. It had the range of the Kuda and the fire rate of the VMP.
It was a "pay-to-win" argument waiting to happen. Seeing an XMC in a lobby meant you were probably about to have a bad time unless you were significantly better than the person holding it. It’s a shame, really, because it’s a beautifully designed gun, but its introduction skewed the balance that Treyarch had spent a year trying to perfect.
Handling the Attachments: What Actually Mattered?
In BO3, SMG attachments weren't just about "making the gun better." They were about fixing flaws.
- Quickdraw: Absolute necessity. In a jetpack game, if you aren't ADS-ing (aiming down sights) instantly, you're a target.
- Fast Hands (Perk) + Quickdraw: The "sweat" combo. This allowed you to transition from a full sprint to firing faster than the human eye could really track.
- Grip: Usually a waste on the Kuda, but mandatory on the Vesper and VMP.
- Extended Mags: Because the fire rates were so high, you’d burn through a clip in two seconds. If you were playing ground war or high-action modes, you needed this.
The interesting thing about BO3 was how Long Barrel worked. On ARs, it doubled your ranges. On SMGs? It only affected the very last damage range. It didn't make your 3-shot kill range longer; it just made your "long distance" shots suck slightly less. Most casual players didn't know this and wasted a slot on it for years.
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The Movement-Weapon Synergy
The reason SMGs felt so good in this game was the "G-Slide" and later the standard blast jumping. SMGs had the best "hip-fire spread" while in the air. This created a vertical skill gap.
A good player wouldn't just run at you. They would wall-run, jump off, and hip-fire the VMP while hovering fifteen feet above the doorway. Because the SMGs had such high mobility and low sprint-out times, they were the only class that could truly keep up with the engine. LMGs and Snipers felt heavy. ARs were okay, but they forced you to stay grounded. SMGs gave you wings.
How to Dominate with SMGs Today
If you're jumping back into the game now—maybe on a nostalgic trip or because you're tired of the modern CoD's "strict" matchmaking—you have to change how you think.
First, stop sprinting around corners. Even with Quickdraw, the sprint-out time will get you killed by someone who is already pre-aiming. Second, use the verticality. If you’re using an SMG like a standard soldier, you’re doing it wrong. You should be above your enemy.
Third, understand your ranges. Don't challenge a Man-O-War across the map with a VMP. You will lose 90% of the time. Use the movement to close the gap, get into that 10-meter sweet spot, and let the fire rate do the work.
The legacy of Black Ops 3 SMGs isn't just about "overpowered" guns. It's about a specific window in time where weapon balance met a high-speed movement system and created a gap between the "good" and the "great." Whether you miss the VMP meta or still have nightmares about the Vesper, there's no denying these weapons were the heart of the game.
To truly master the SMG class in the current state of the game, focus on your "afterburner" perk management. Staying in the air longer while keeping your SMG's reticle centered is the single most effective way to improve your K/D. Map knowledge is secondary to your ability to stay mobile while firing. Experiment with the Razorback if you want a challenge; it has almost zero recoil but requires perfect accuracy because of its slower fire rate. It’s the "thinking man’s" SMG.