Applies to: Battlefield 6 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, on Game Update 1.4.3.0, which deployed on September 15, 2026 during Season 4. 1.4.3.0 is still the newest update EA has published as of September 27, 2026.
Quick Answer
- Battlefield 6 has exactly seven sidearms: the P18, ES 5.7, M45A1, M44, GGH-22, M357 TRAIT and vz. 61. Three unlock on Career Rank, two on Season 1 challenges, one on an assignment, one from the start.
- The M44 is the strongest sidearm in a straight duel. EA's catalogue calls it the "best ranged potential of any sidearm", and it is the only secondary the community consistently names for a one-versus-one. It is also the last one you get, at Career Rank 48.
- The vz. 61 is the only fully automatic option, and the only sidearm EA has published both a velocity and a recoil figure for. Its recoil variation dropped to 18.4 degrees in Game Update 1.3.3.0, tighter than 28 of the other 38 rated entries.
- Sidearms were deliberately exempted from the 1.3.3.0 time-to-kill nerf. EA cut limb and lower-torso damage for every weapon class "except shotguns and sidearms", so secondaries kept damage that primaries lost.
- EA has published hard ballistics for only two of the seven. There is no official damage, range or rate-of-fire table for any Battlefield 6 sidearm. Anyone showing you one measured it in game.
- Sidearm progression was cut hard. Game Update 1.2.2.0 reduced XP requirements for sidearm ranks "by an average of 60%".
Every Battlefield 6 sidearm ranking online is built on numbers EA never printed: the whole secondary class has two published ballistics figures between seven weapons. So this ranking does two things. It ranks all seven, and it tells you which parts come from EA and which come from players holding a controller.
Every Battlefield 6 Sidearm and How It Unlocks
EA groups all seven under "Secondary" in its official loadout catalogue, and describes the slot like this:
"Every soldier's reliable backup when the Primary Weapon runs dry, or their lone ballistic defense means when they are without one…"
Here is the complete roster with EA's unlock requirement copied exactly as the catalogue writes it, in unlock order:
- P18 (Default Unlocked) — "A reliable sidearm able to meet the demands of almost any combat scenario." One of only six weapons in the entire arsenal that is unlocked from the first match.
- ES 5.7 (Career Rank 24) — "Companion to the USG-90, this sidearm has generous magazine capacity and exceptional bullet velocity compared to its peers."
- M45A1 (Career Rank 39) — "A classic sidearm brought into the 21st century. The damage it inflicts with .45 ACP is offset by a low base magazine capacity."
- M44 (Career Rank 48) — "A modern revolver and hand cannon. Best ranged potential of any sidearm, but its capacity and effective rate are limited."
- GGH-22 (Season 1 Challenge Unlock) — "A renowned semi-auto pistol with a .40 caliber chambering for improved ranged performance."
- M357 TRAIT (Season 1 Challenge Unlock) — "This lightweight revolver has an 8-shot cylinder and comes with a variety of available attachments." Added in Game Update 1.1.2.0, which listed "New Weapons: DB-12 Shotgun and M357 Trait Sidearm."
- vz. 61 (Assignment NIGHTFALL CATCH-UP 1) — "An iconic machine pistol chambered in .32 ACP for low damage but controllable automatic fire." Added in Game Update 1.2.2.0. Game Update 1.2.3.0 names the gun in full as the CZ Skorpion VZ.61 and prints the actual requirement while fixing its unlock flow: "Deal damage with Secondary Weapons. Counts double in Nightfall modes."
One quirk to know before you search: EA spells the machine pistol "vz. 61" in the catalogue but "VZ.61" or "VZ. 61" in patch tables, so each spelling surfaces different pages.
Why Sidearms Hit Harder Than the Meta Assumes
The most important line EA has written about secondaries is buried in the Game Update 1.3.3.0 gunplay pass:
"To better reward skill and mastery, average Time to Kill (TTK) has been slowed down without affecting the best possible TTK. Damage to limbs and lower torso has been reduced for all weapon classes except shotguns and sidearms."
Every assault rifle, carbine, SMG, LMG, DMR and sniper lost limb and lower-torso damage in that update. Sidearms kept it, and that exemption is why the pistol swap is not a gimmick: a secondary that still deals full damage to an arm or a hip, against primaries that no longer do, closes a gap no stat card shows you. It is also why a piece of advice that keeps circulating on r/Battlefield6 is simply that switching to your sidearm is faster than reloading.
What Ballistics Has EA Actually Published for Sidearms?
Almost none, and that absence is the most useful fact in this article.
Game Update 1.3.3.0 published the largest balance table in the game's history: 50 muzzle-velocity adjustments and 39 recoil-variation adjustments. Both include secondaries. Exactly two sidearms appear in them:
- ES 5.7 muzzle velocity: decreased from 650 m/s to 510 m/s, a drop of 21.54 percent. That is the single largest velocity reduction anywhere in the 50-entry table. The next biggest was the LMR27 at 9.09 percent, and the only weapon in the whole table that gained velocity was the KV9 at plus 4.02 percent.
- vz. 61 muzzle velocity: decreased from 326 m/s to 313 m/s, a drop of 3.99 percent. Recoil variation: decreased from 20.8 degrees to 18.4 degrees, a drop of 11.5 percent.
That is the complete published ballistics record for the class. The P18, M45A1, M44, GGH-22 and M357 TRAIT have never appeared in a velocity, recoil or damage table. Two conclusions follow, and both change how you read any sidearm tier list.
The vz. 61's reputation for accuracy is measurable, not vibes. At 18.4 degrees of recoil variation it sits eleventh lowest of the 39 rated entries, tighter than 28 of the other 38. A player on r/Battlefield6 put it better than a stat card could:
"the accuracy on the VZ is unreal, you'd think the accuracy of a full auto machine pistol would be all over the place but they made it one of the most accurate full auto guns in the game."
The ES 5.7's reputation for velocity is out of date. EA's catalogue still describes it as having "exceptional bullet velocity compared to its peers", and that description was written before 1.3.3.0 removed 140 m/s from it. At 510 m/s it is now the eleventh slowest of the 50 entries EA re-tuned. When EA's own pages contradict each other, the patch note wins on numbers and the catalogue wins on what exists.
All Seven Battlefield 6 Sidearms Ranked
1. M44 (Career Rank 48)
The hand cannon, and the only sidearm EA singles out for reach: "Best ranged potential of any sidearm, but its capacity and effective rate are limited." Community consensus is unusually tight, summarised by one r/Battlefield6 reply as revolvers being unbeatable when you hit your shots. It also punishes a miss harder than anything else in the slot. Career Rank 48 makes it the most expensive unlock in the class, and one of the last functional unlocks EA hands out before the Career Rank curve stops giving you hardware at 50.
2. vz. 61 (Assignment NIGHTFALL CATCH-UP 1)
The only fully automatic secondary, and the only one with published numbers behind its reputation. Low damage per shot by EA's own description, offset by controllable automatic fire that the 1.3.3.0 recoil figure confirms. It also carries subsonic ammo as a default attribute after 1.3.3.0. The caveat is the magazine: the twenty-round extended mag is a Hardware Rank unlock, not part of the assignment, and players describe the pre-mag version as workable and the post-mag version as a small SMG.
3. M45A1 (Career Rank 39)
The quiet specialist. Like the vz. 61 it uses subsonic ammunition by default, making it the natural suppressed-loadout pistol without spending a slot on it. EA also made the Tac-Light Hip and Tac-Light ADS attachments unlocked by default on the M45A1 in Game Update 1.3.2.0, so two of its attachments cost nothing to reach. EA's own warning is the honest one: .45 ACP damage "is offset by a low base magazine capacity", and extended magazines are one of the priciest things you can bolt onto a pistol in the Attachment Points budget.
4. ES 5.7 (Career Rank 24)
The volume option, and the class's biggest casualty. Generous magazine capacity is still true and still valuable. The velocity advantage that gave it its identity is not: 21.54 percent is the harshest single velocity cut EA has applied to any weapon in the game, and it landed here. It is still the best first real sidearm because Career Rank 24 arrives early, but treat it as a high-capacity close-range pistol, not a laser.
5. M357 TRAIT (Season 1 Challenge Unlock)
EA's own pitch is the deciding factor: an eight-shot cylinder plus "a variety of available attachments." That is a revolver without the revolver capacity penalty, which in principle undercuts the M44's biggest weakness. It ranks fifth rather than second because EA has never published a number for it, so there is nothing to verify the promise against.
6. P18 (Default Unlocked)
The baseline. EA describes it as "able to meet the demands of almost any combat scenario", which is exactly the praise a default weapon gets. It has had real attention: 1.3.2.0 fixed a reload exploit where P18 and vz. 61 tactical reloads could be skipped by mashing reload during an empty reload. It ranks sixth because everything above it does one thing better, not because it is bad.
7. GGH-22 (Season 1 Challenge Unlock)
The forgotten one. A .40 caliber semi-auto pitched for "improved ranged performance", which puts it in competition with the M44 on reach without the M44's stopping-power reputation. It has also never been named in a single published Battlefield 6 game update: no addition note, no balance change, no bug fix. We read all eighteen live update pages, 1.1.2.0 through 1.4.3.0, to confirm that, and the GGH-22 and the M44 are the only two sidearms with a completely blank record. The difference is that the M44 has EA's endorsement in the catalogue and the GGH-22 has a description.
How Do You Level Sidearms and Unlock Their Attachments?
This is where most players lose time, because sidearm unlocks split across two tracks.
The weapon itself comes from Career Rank (ES 5.7 at 24, M45A1 at 39, M44 at 48), from a Season 1 challenge (GGH-22, M357 TRAIT) or from an assignment (vz. 61).
The attachments on it come from Hardware Rank, which runs on Hardware XP. EA is explicit that this is a separate currency: Hardware XP "Progresses Hardware Rank with Primary Weapons, Secondary Weapons, and Vehicles. Hardware Rank unlocks new functional additions to Hardware - e.g. weapon attachments, vehicle equipment - as well as other content like Camouflages." Hitting Career Rank 48 does nothing for a pistol you have never fired.
EA has cut that grind twice, specifically for secondaries. Game Update 1.2.2.0 delivered a "Further reduction of XP requirements for sidearm ranks by an average of 60%", alongside a "New XP Curve, with a reduced XP requirement, about twice as fast in the early ranks and 15% faster in total." The official progression page explains the reasoning:
"We have reduced the Hardware XP requirements for ranking up Weapons and Vehicles. For Sidearms specifically, we adjusted these values so that the effort is more proportional to time spent using these Secondary Weapons compared to Primary Weapons and Vehicles."
Even so, the maths is unforgiving. A sidearm earns Hardware XP only while you are actually shooting it, and you are holding a primary most of the match. That is why the vz. 61 twenty-round magazine comes up so often in community threads about pistol unlocks, usually described as a slog.
Want the good sidearms without farming Hardware Rank on a pistol you cannot use yet?
- Battlefield 6 weapon leveling — raises Hardware Rank on a specific weapon, which is the track every sidearm attachment is gated behind
- Battlefield 6 career rank boost — the only route to the ES 5.7 at 24, M45A1 at 39 and M44 at 48
- Battlefield 6 account leveling — broad account progress if you want the whole unlock curve moved at once
- All Battlefield 6 services — the full list
Which Sidearm Should You Grind First?
- Below Career Rank 24: run the P18 and put your Hardware XP into your primary instead, following the routes in Battlefield 6 weapon unlocks and the fastest leveling routes.
- Rank 24 to 39: the ES 5.7, leaning on capacity rather than the velocity its description promises.
- Playing suppressed or flanking: the M45A1 from Rank 39, for subsonic ammunition and two free Tac-Lights.
- Chasing pistol duels: the vz. 61 if you miss shots, the M44 if you do not.
- Past Rank 48: the M44, then put your Hardware XP into whichever SMG or assault rifle you actually carry.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many sidearms are in Battlefield 6? Seven, as of Game Update 1.4.3.0: P18, ES 5.7, M45A1, M44, GGH-22, M357 TRAIT and vz. 61. EA lists all seven under "Secondary" in its official loadout and weapon-classes guide. The ES 5.7 and vz. 61 are secondaries, not SMGs.
What is the best sidearm in Battlefield 6? The M44 for a straight duel, on EA's own description of it having the best ranged potential of any sidearm and on near-unanimous player preference for one-versus-one situations. The vz. 61 is the better pick if you want a margin for error: it is the only fully automatic secondary and it has the tightest published recoil figure in the class at 18.4 degrees.
Which Battlefield 6 sidearms have subsonic ammo by default? The M45A1 and the vz. 61. EA confirmed subsonic ammunition as a default attribute on both in Game Update 1.3.3.0, and restated it in the 1.4.3.0 weapon-description pass.
How do you unlock the vz. 61 in Battlefield 6? Through the assignment EA labels NIGHTFALL CATCH-UP 1. The weapon itself came in Game Update 1.2.2.0. Its twenty-round extended magazine is separate and comes from Hardware Rank on the weapon, not from the assignment.
Did sidearms get buffed in Battlefield 6? Indirectly, and significantly. Game Update 1.3.3.0 reduced limb and lower-torso damage for all weapon classes except shotguns and sidearms, so secondaries kept damage every primary class lost. Direct buffs have been narrower: an 11.5 percent recoil reduction on the vz. 61, and subsonic ammunition as a default attribute on the M45A1 and vz. 61.
Does EA publish sidearm damage numbers? No. There is no official damage table, range table or rate-of-fire table for any Battlefield 6 sidearm. Across every published game update page, only the ES 5.7 and vz. 61 have ever received a printed ballistics value. Every full sidearm stat chart online is community-measured, usually in the Firing Range.
Sources
- Battlefield 6 loadout creation and weapon classes: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-loadout-creation-and-weapon-classes
- Battlefield 6 progression and rank: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-progression-and-rank
- Game Update 1.4.3.0: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-4-3-0
- Game Update 1.3.3.0: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-3-3-0
- Game Update 1.3.2.0: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-3-2-0
- Game Update 1.3.1.0: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-3-1-0
- Game Update 1.2.3.0: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-2-3-0
- Game Update 1.2.2.0: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-2-2-0
- Game Update 1.1.2.0: https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-1-2-0
- Player discussion sampled from r/Battlefield6, September 2026: https://www.reddit.com/r/Battlefield6/comments/1wodr1j/dice_how_difficult_is_it_to_buff_non_revolver/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/Battlefield6/comments/1wen330/which_pistol_for_1v1_situation/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/Battlefield6/comments/1w9g0g3/switching_to_your_sidearm_is_faster_than_reloading/
