Prestige mode

Now personally, I play because I enjoy the game, and i always go prestige, as i am a sucker for rank and level, but more importantly, however good the game may be, getting bored of it when not unlocking anything is a major possibility, so prestige, really, keeps it interesting for long term fans. If you are unaware what prestige is, basically, at the end of level 55, you unlock prestige mode. If you choose to use this mode, you lose (after several warnings) all Weapons, Challenges, Perks.... Well everything, except your XP and Clan Tag. Pretty lame if you dont give a shit about ranks and what badge you carry next to your name. For people who choose not to go the Prestige route, you can unlock the golden weapons instead, however pointless it may be. Most people have done it once and regretted it, because they lost the Barrett 50.Cal so they got t 55 again and stayed. What i do is: Rank up. Get to 55. Start to get bored. Go prestige. Start again. Sounds boring. Its definately not. This way, you get to play 250 hours plus, and never get bored!!! Awesome!!! Just in case you were wondering, these are the following badges you get when going prestige:

If your still not sure, check some of the forums floating around. Most people do regret it, but eventually it does feel rewarding, just dont rush into it.

Golden Rules of a
sniper

Rushers and Snipers will nearly always go to the same spots in each particular game. Don’t ignore this. Check these spots before moving on.
When sniping on a map, make sure you know the best positions and nests beforehand, so you
Know where to go, and where enemy snipers will be.

Never run your weapon dry.

Even if you have a screen full of enemies, only take out your target. Period. The idea is to keep them guessing, and firing 4 or 5 rounds into a crowd, then sitting there reloading for tens minutes while they cook grenades is a dumb tactic. Don’t do it ever.

Claymores are your new best friend. They are rarely there to kill, if an enemy runs past them whilst primed, they hardly ever kill, but when they go off, you get notified. Use this 3 seconds until the enemy shows up to get into a defensive position. And remember, when they come around the corner, and you blow their head off, change position. No, I don’t mean lie down, I mean different area of the map. They WILL be pissed you killed them, they Will come back. Move some distance away and pick them off as they stare at where you used to be.

As a sniper, you have to remember, you don’t have a machinegun. You will lose in a CQB to someone with any other weapon. Don’t go Rambo with an R700. There is no point.

In the gaming world, as a sniper there is one kind of person you have to watch out for. They are called mobile snipers. It is a technique I practise myself, and I know how hard it is to kill me, so watch out for them. What we do is as follows: take a shot. It doesn’t matter if you managed to take out 10 people with that one shot or missed entirely. We move. Whether it be across the map, or 2 feet away it doesn’t matter. Every time we do that, some dick is stood staring at where we were, waiting to die. You see someone shoot-run-shoot-run-…etc, ignore them. And stay out of sight. When the UAV shows up on the enemy side, find a nice place to camp, and DO NOT FIRE. You don’t need to wear a billboard saying ‘shoot me’, so don’t.

A good thing to point out is when in a room with a window which you are sniping out of, use the whole room. You are safer stood up moving about the room than you are sat by a window waiting for your head to pop. Also, sitting by windows makes the end of your rifle poke out, making you more noticeable to everyone around you and below you.

With weapons like the Dragunov and M21, which CAN be rapid fire rifles, don’t hold your breath when shooting. Holding your breath multiplies the recoil, so when firing repeatedly, only your first shot will find its mark.

Always lead with the sights. This means, position your scope crosshairs about 3 steps in front of your targets predicted path, and let them walk into your bullet. It is much easier than following targets.

Don’t put ACOG scopes on ANY sniper rifles. It shortens the range, you can’t hold your breath and is by no means anywhere near as good as the normal sniper rifle scopes.
Respect: The last free tip I am going to give is respect. Respect everything you do. Snipers are the ones who channel themselves into a single moment and relieve the world of another un-expecting victim. Your job is to kill at a distance, not get into a lobby and start gloating because you had 0 deaths and XX kills. Also respect that you aren't the best sniper in the game, you will always be second to someone because that is just how life works. Respect yourself, don't become discouraged or frustrated because you are struggling, this is only a game, and I promise if you practice you will become good.

The biggest rule of all?:One Shot; One Kill. Period.

After each post there is a comment box, so please leave a comment or two. Just let me know what you think i'm missing, or anything you want to know about. All feedback Is greatly appreciated.

General tips for everyday soldiers:


Beginner Tips - Use M16+red dot sight+stopping power. Usually kills in one pull of the trigger. If you're new, it's imperative that you learn the maps. You'll want to take note of key hot spots, side paths, and sniping positions.
Try not to hide behind cars, as they can explode from gunfire/grenades. ALWAYS, ALWAYS check your corners. Flank enemy positions every opportunity you can.
Once you get to level 25, you'll unlock the G3. Practice with that and the sniper rifles, and you'll most likely be able to dominate with any other weapon. Use the red dot sight with pretty much every weapon. Use both types of grenades that you have (special and frags). Get into the habit of aiming down the sights, all the time.
1.) Start a private match by yourself and learn each map.
2.) Always crouch when moving in buildings. (You make less noise that way when not using Dead Silence.) When in the open sprint for cover.
3.) When enemy helicopters come hug the wall and pray or run for the nearest building WITH a roof. (Same for airstrikes. (At least that's what I do.))
4.) Pick which gun/perks work best for you and your playing style. (Like me, Snipewhore, so I use a Barrett 50 cal. with some claymores, UAV Jammer and iron lungs
5.) Try playing that training part in the first level a few times to get better acclimated to the controls/'nade handling. (Or try to beat IW's 15 second record. I beat it by the skin of my teeth with 14.98 secs.)

Movement - Always try to keep on the move, moving from 1 position to another. Be aware of your surroundings. Your spatial awareness has to be good for veteran and especially if you play online. If you move out in the open, try to plan in advance positions where you are going to run to next for cover, such as behind a wall, so if the enemy suddenly appears you have set places in your mind you can use for cover.Plan a few alternate cover positions in case you cant reach 1 in time. If you are behind a wall or other such cover, and you appear from it and snipe at the enemy, crawl back down and move to another position. that way you wont be predictably appearing up from the same position which would make you a much easier target.

Be Aware - It's simple. Always glance at your radar when you can. Then listen for footsteps and judge where an enemy will be. Look at where your teammates are on the radar. Those areas are much less likely to have enemies. Always try to get to know the map well enough to know where an enemy might be coming from. Predict where enemies will be. Always be ready for an enemy around every corner...because as you know, it is very easy to hide with UAV jammer and a silenced weapon.

I dont know what it is about the game, or maps, but everyone always goes ramboing. these people, are in fact idiots. look out for long grass, tunnels, like on pipework, high rises, bottlenecks, anything you can multi-K or nade or spam to bump up kills. dont run at them screaming something about getting to the chopper all guns ablaze. i garauntee, death will be the only outcome.

If you hear a grenade drop, slow down what you're doing until you hear it explode. No reason to run right into a freshly thrown grenade.

Flaming cars will explode with a blast radius of almost double that of a C4.

If you see a C4, don't just run by it, chances are that the enemy is waiting for you to walk by.

Airstrike? Predict enemy movement. - Before dropping an airstrike, try to narrow down the movement of the enemy players. When you launch the airstrike, don't launch it exactly in the center of many red dots on the radar, instead, look at the map, study it and predict exactly where that all those enemies will be when that air strike hits. It takes about two seconds for the air strike to start kicking in, so enemies could easily dodge it if you launch it in a predictable area. Instead determine if the area of the red dots is an open area, is it? Good, now determine if the area is more of a camping zone (or a choke area) or an area where the enemy is moving through. Now predict where the enemy will be in the next few seconds. You can now launch the airstrike. This is how to rack up many kills with it.

Shoot that heli - Remember to shoot the helicopter. Even regular guns are effective against it. While playing online, I've noticed most of the time the team ignores the heli and lets it destroy people on their team. This is a very bad strategy. Why? Well while you ignore the heli, it takes out say, 5 of your teammates. Now the guy who called the heli could have already died and respawned. Now imagine he got himself a kill, the heli gets 6 or more and now the guy has another heli at his disposal. The second heli comes, and once more you don't shoot it. The guy racks up another 7 kill streak, and guess what? Yup. He has yet another heli. Now you are getting your ass handed to you every time you respawn, and all this because you didnt want to waste a clip (or a lot less if more people shoot at it) on the heli.

Aiming Tips:#1. Shoot the enemy in the body/chest and then in the head to kill him because, for most guns, even with stopping power it takes 2 bullets to kill, even if both land in the head.#2. Aim for the tip/middle of the opponents head to land a headshot. This is due to the scope being mounted on TOP of the rifle, thus leading to a small bullet displacement that increases as the distance increases. At short ranges the bullet displacement maybe only 1 cm, but as the enemy get's farther away, the greater the bullet displacement becomes. (For example, it may hit them in the neck, instead of the head.) If you aim at the middle of that head or at the tip, there is more chance of the bullet hitting exactly where you want it. It works, 90% of the time.

Shooting Tips:Another great CoD4 (thanks for this one scarface) tip is, when firing any of the weapons (assault rifles, sub machine guns such as the mp5) at a distance, always try to fire single controlled shots (to avoid recoil which will just throw your aim off), just move the cross hair in a smooth motion covering any area where you think the enemy might appear.

Non-Headshot snipers: If you find it hard to get headshots with a sniper, use the M40A3 or R700 and use the stopping power and deep impact perks, you will almost always get a 1-hit kill when shooting the torso ( deep impact is for shooting other snipers hiding everything but there weapon behind a wall)

How to tell if someone has Juggernaut - When you fire at someone and you see a red cross, it means they are using the juggernaut perk.

MP5 Main Weapon CoD4 Tip - If you are using an MP5 as a main weapon, use an M9 as your pistol, it uses the same bullets as the mp5 so it's spare bullets act as a poor man's bandolier for your mp5. Always pick pistols with the same type of ammo as your main weapon for more ammo for your main weapon. (Scarface)

Slow down - Don't always run out and think you're Rambo. This is why a lot of people are horrible at this game (joe). Other than that, have quick reflexes, think before you move into an area where there are a lot of enemy players and just stay attentive. Oh and if a guy is camping in one spot and you get killed by him at least 2-3 times from that same spot, don't keep trying to kill him. Just avoid that area. The guy will usually get killed sooner or later or realise no one is coming his way so he'll move.

Stay Scoped - When sniping after geting a kill do not release the scope for 5 or more seconds so if they watch the kill cam it makes it harder for them to figure out where you are sniping from.

Boom.. no headshot? - Never aim for the head with a pistol, aim for the neck, they are not 1 hit kills, by the time the second bullet flys out the recoil will have aimed for you.

Perk Types:

C4 - C4 is a perfect perk for objective game types such as Search and Destroy where you can set traps for your enemy, for faster paced games like Free For All, (Deathmatch) you can lead your target towards you and blow them up with well placed C4. Use your UAV for C4 kills.
Lay down the C4 and set it off whenever you deem necessary, big explosion will generate kills. Definitely a nice perk, C4 is dark colored and can really only be seen by the blinking light. So it's hard to see and is also remotely detonated. A lesser known trick: you don’t have to click the controller to detonate it. Press your reload button twice consecutively to set it off without the controller. Also, if a teammate has some claymores laid down, here’s a cool trick: put C4 next to their claymores, and when their claymores go off so will your C4, making a bigger explosion and possibly your C4 kill! This is great to put in the middle of a mob of people, wait till they’re right over it, and watch the corpses go flying. Also great for objective games: Put the C4 right beside the objective, and when someone is capturing or planting or whatever, set it off. Put it beside cars too for a bigger explosion radius! C4 is available by default.

3X special grenade - Gives the player two more of the special grenade of choice (Flash or Stun, no smoke. (Thanks to Grade Zero for the correction). In turn giving the player a maximum of 3 special grenades. I don’t use special grenades much. Many however love special grenades, they render your opponent useless. Think about it: You start off, zero kills. You see an enemy. You chuck out a stun, it does some damage, they can’t turn around, line up for a headshot. Perform the same two more times, you have 3 headshots and a UAV, congratulations. This will work for any special grenade, except you’re not allowed to have three smokes (bummer…). The Special Grenade x3 is available by default.

Two rocket propelled grenades - This is great for taking down a helicopter obviously, but can also be used to clear a room of enemies. Just make sure you switch back to your primary weapon quickly! When I first went prestige, I gave all of my classes RPG’s. If a chopper comes along, no worries. If you have a long range situation on your hands and you have an SMG, no worries. If someone’s hiding behind a wall, and your shotgun can’t penetrate it, no worries. If there’s a crowd of people and you just don’t have the ammo for all of them? No worries. A great perk, just don’t overuse it to the point where it’s all you use and people are calling you a noob. Also, look for cars! Makes a much bigger boom, easier to get kills that way. If someone is ducking behind a car, fire your RPG and laugh as their corpse goes flying in the air in the midst of twisted metal and broken glass. This is great for taking down choppers. If you don’t favor this class, but want to have an anti-chopper class, remember: The default demolitions class has an RPG in it, as well as sonic boom! So then you won’t have to give up your perk 1 for any of your custom classes. The RPG x2 perk is available by default.


Claymore - These are great as a sniper, or a camper. If you go inside a building, make sure you put a claymore near the door, so that if someone decides to come in and take you out, they will die. Also, always make sure you place it so that others cannot see the red laser as well, because you can shoot claymores and destroy them easily if you spot them. Another tip is always set up your claymore for maximum area of effect damage. They are set off when someone crosses in front of the tracer lights. Tracer lights emit from the front of them, making them possible to spot by the enemy, but if they don’t see them or if they’re sprinting, they’re screwed over. I’d recommend this for campers only, as they disappear when you die and they are stationary. The enemy does have time to sprint past it and out of the blast range, but let’s say you’re camping on the stairs above. You will hear the click and the boom, look for a kill, then you can get to a corner of the room and be ready for them when they come in. Good placement is at the top of stairs or right behind walls, don’t put them in the entrance to the doorway as they are easy to spot. Grass is also a good place for them. Even try putting them beside cars sometime, the explosion radius greatly increases, there’s no chance of escaping from a car explosion as well as a claymore explosion. Claymore X 2 is available at level 23. (Thanks Grade Zero)

3 Frag grenades - This has to be the most annoying perk out of all of them! With this, if you are experienced as a grenade thrower, you are guaranteed at least a kill every time you spawn. Just remember to save them for when you see a bunch of red dots on the UAV. Then chuck all 3, and watch your name light up on the scoreboard. Gives you 3 fragmentation grenades instead of the previous 1. If you are assaulting and you have reached the level to unlock this perk, and ammo isn’t a problem, this perk is great. You lost your first grenade? Don’t worry, you have two more. You want to randomly spam them and hope for a kill seeing as you find they have no purpose otherwise? You now have three more chances for that random kill, well done, mate. Probably not the best for a camping class, though. Look for cars and other explosives, they can increase your chance for a kill with their huge explosion radius. The Frag x3 perk is unlocked at level 41 - Colonel 1

Bandolier - Gives you up to three times more ammo. My favorite perk 1. I am constantly running out of ammo with assault rifles and SMG’s, the other three weapon types don’t have that problem. The M4 is my favorite gun but it tends to be spray-friendly, so this perk fixes it right up. I would recommend this for SMG’s and Assault rifles only though, as snipers, shotguns, and LMG’s come with plenty at the start. The Bandolier perk is unlocked at Level 32, Captain 1.

Bomb squad - Allows you to see enemy explosive devices with a skull icon above them. Underrated, not the best perk for most classes but for stealth it is golden. If you want no chance of being detected, this perk will save you. Plus maybe you’re walking past a building with explosives in it, that’s a key that there’s probably a sniper on the roof. Spray the wall, destroy the claymore, and have at that sniper. You earned your shot, take it.Unlocked at Level 14, Staff Sargeant 1

Stopping power - Increases weapon damage to 140%, however no increase in wall penetration. This is a great perk to use together with accurate guns that don't do much damage. For guns with low damage such as the M4 this is a great perk, eliminates juggernaut and to everyone who’s not using juggernaut it just does 40% more bullet damage. Does not increase surface penetration, by definition, but think about this. Let’s say a bullet does 40 damage normally, and after surface penetration does 30. With stopping power, it might do 60 damage normally, but after surface penetration it does 45 or so. So not by definition, but indirectly it increases surface penetration. Stopping Power is available by default.

Juggernaut - Increases your health, taking 75% of the damage from bullets and explosives that is to be originally dealt. If a soldier with Juggernaut is fired upon from a player using Stopping Power, the game calculates it as a perkless fight. Also if a person with Sonic Boom throws a grenade next to someone with Juggernaut, the person with Juggernaut will take regular explosive damage, instead of the increased explosive damage from the Sonic Boom user. This perk is great to use when you like to lay down some cover fire for your teammates. You can keep firing and take a few shots while your teammates get to where they need to go.How to tell if someone has Juggernaut - When you fire at someone and you see a red cross, it means they are using the juggernaut perk.Juggernaut is available by default.

Sleight of hand - Allows reloads at 50% of the original reload time. This perk is great for machine gun users, since it takes a very long time to reload guns like the M60 or the M249 Saw. It is also great for anyone that likes to stay in the heat of battle and reload quickly without having to duck for cover, just to reload. For pistols it looks like the clip just falls out of the gun and another is crammed in. Probably only a good choice for LMG’s and shotguns, as everything else can benefit more from a different perk 2 usually. Its main use is hardcore, when bullets are 1 or 2 hit kills perk 2 can be kind of useless, so why NOT reload faster? It’s a pretty good deal. Sleight of Hand is unlocked at Level 20, Master Sergeant 1

Double tap - Increases your rate of fire to 135%. Put more rounds down range quicker with increased rate of fire on any weapon you have, including your pistol. This perk is ideal for indoor fighting as you do not have to compensate for recoil as much, and can just spray doorways and rooms extremely fast. Warning, although you do fire faster, you waste more ammo and are less accurate if you fire too fast, so you will have to watch the recoil even more with this perk. Let’s say your gun fires 5 bullets a second, it will now fire 2 more a second (well really 1.75 more a second, but it rounds up to 2, if you want hardcore numbers it's 135% of the normal firing speed). Your clip is emptied faster, but will definitely take down enemies in short order. The epic battle between double tap and stopping power. Here’s how I see it: If you like to get more metal out there and your guns fire rate is bad, go double tap. If you want to make shots count and your fire rate is already decent, go stopping power. Double Tap is unlocked at Level 29, 1st Lieutenant 1

Overkill - Overkill allows the player to carry two primary weapons of their choice in the same loadout. The second primary weapon substitutes the pistol. Obviously this perk is great, twice the ammo, and two different guns to choose from. Pick one long range, and one short-medium range weapon and nobody will be able to stop you. Overrated, I don’t recommend it. The best ways to use it are with a single shot assault rifle (G3 or M14) or with a sniper rifle. For single shot assault rifles, use them to camp, but also overkill them with a great gun for close quarters (skorpion is godly for this) and you’re covered all around. You can also assault with the single shot gun, then run up to close quarters to engage the rest with your other weapon. Snipers tend to like to use this perk with something like the G36C with red dot, something that’s got decent range and good power, and others like to use a purely close range weapon such as an SMG. I personally feel stopping power is a bigger asset to snipers, though, so they can get one hit kills. Overkill is unlocked at Level 38, Lt. Colonel 1

UAV jammer - Allows you not to be seen on the enemies UAV sweep after they get a 3 kill streak. You will still be able to be seen if you fire a weapon unsilenced, however. Great for stealth and hardcore, mainly. Most guns benefit the most from double tap or stopping power to kill faster, but some people think their gun kills fast enough, but they are always getting slayed on UAV. With hardcore and such fast kills, UAV jammer is great. You’re killing people fast enough, so why do you need a killing perk? If you wanna stay off their scans and catch them off-guard as they’re heading to the red dot on their radar this perk is wonderful. Also, to be super stealthy, this will keep you safe. Unlocked at Level 11, Sargeant 1

Sonic Boom - Increases the damage dealt by explosives to 125%. Applies to Grenades and C4 as well as the Grenade Launcher. While it greatly increases explosive range, the maximum explosives you have is two, unless you use overkill with two grenade launcher weapons, but then you can’t use perk 2 and therefore can’t use this perk. Anyhow, so with two explosives, yes while it’s a much bigger explosion and you will have a greater chance to kill people, this will take away a perfectly good perk 2, and after your explosives are gone, you have to fight with your guns raw power. Of course it also applies to grenades too, but you don’t want to have to rely on them. Great perk for completing some of the explosive kill challenges, like killing two people with one RPG, etc. Applies for ALL explosives (except for things like car explosions.) Sonic Boom is available by default.

Extreme Conditioning - Allows for extended sprinting time. Sprint time increased 200%. Great for combining with a ninja class, running around and knifing people in the back. A great perk if you find no other use for Perk 3, sometimes you just need to sprint for that little longer bit of time…but you can’t, and sometimes you die because of it. This perk will fix all of that right up! Especially good for stealth classes to sprint across streets fast so no one will see you. Available by default.

Steady Aim - Increased hip-fire accuracy. Great for machine gunners.Steady Aim Image:My personal favorite perk 3, this gives some of those guns that just can’t quite do it at close quarters more than a chance. Makes hip-fire 35% more accurate, which is very, very helpful. It also indirectly makes long ranged fights easier from the hip. Range is how far your bullet can travel before it loses maximum damage and starts to decline in its damage, so if you fire out of range it will take more bullets to kill. But with steady aim, the fire will be more concentrated, so more bullets will hit the enemy target. This works well for assault classes, mainly. Thus SMG’s, Assault rifles, LMG’s, shotguns, and even mobile snipers are all legit. The great thing about steady aim is that it renews the greatness of hipfire. When looking down the sights, some of the screen gets covered up by the gun and the gun’s sights, and also it’s a TON harder to move. But with steady aim, you get full mobility with all of the firepower as before. Less accurate than aiming down sights? Yes, but it’s accurate enough for close quarters. Available by default.

Last stand - Allows you to drop the ground and pull out a side arm if you are about to die. Very effective if you are quick. A person wont realize that they did not kill you and you can finish them off before they start firing again. When you are gunned down, you pull out your pistol and get a chance at one last kill before you die. Will not occur if you get headshot sniped or something fatal like that. Causes many to twitch, but it may just get you that kill that you deserved. They gun you down, and start to reload/sprint off. But you’re still alive. You have your pistol out, you pop them before they can realize it and you get yourself one last kill before you pass on. Actually sometimes can benefit you, say you’re about to capture an objective and you get gunned into last stand, you can now protect that objective as people come along. It’s like being prone, but even though you can’t stand or move around, you have full turning mobility. If you want to exit last stand you can hold down a certain pre-set button, or after a certain amount of time you will die automatically. So why does it cause people to twitch? Say you get gunned down and they leave before you can shoot. Now their teammate comes up and gets an easy kill on you, and the person who originally gunned you down who deserves the kill has to deal with an assist. Not a bad choice of a perk, but there are better. It all depends on your preferences and your class type. For a camper this is stupid, you’re behind a wall, isolated and you get sniped, you’re not just sitting behind the wall with nothing to shoot at. Unlocked at Level 8, Corporal 2

Martyrdom - Automatically drop a grenade right as you die in hopes of any stupid enemies hanging around your body at the time of death. Very effective if used in close combat indoors. Enemies will not have time to react and run away from your grenade right after killing you. The grenade goes off 2.5 seconds after your death and when it spawns. It spawns on top of your dead body. For close quarters this perk is great and will earn you tons of kills, pointless at long range but at short range it’s great. Pisses many off, myself included, but it’s just a part of the game. You have to deal with it. Cheap, yes, as it requires no skill whatsoever. If you don’t care about cheap and just want kills, this is a great perk. But again, don’t use it for a camping class, as you will die and your corpse will explode in a mess of ashes which just makes you look dumb. Use it for perhaps an SMG or shotgun class, you know, close quarters situations. Martyrdom is unlocked at Level 17, Gunnery Sargeant 1

Deep impact - Normally, a machine gun has the power shoot through wooden floors, plaster walls, and even some fairly thick stone walls, but a weapon like an M4 does not. Or not as much. Use this perk to be able to shoot through walls with any weapon. Using this perk I advise shooting at walls and seeing if you get a white crosshair pop up indicating you hit someone, if it does, keep firing at the wall and you will kill the enemy without ever even seeing them. Note: Deep Impact does not add to bullet damage, it only lessens the damage penalty of a bullet that goes through a wall or other barrier. Another great perk, I love this one for camp sniping. If there’s people hiding from you behind walls, then they’re screwed, there’s no place to hide. Great for any class really, you don’t have to worry about turning that corner and being at the mercy of the people camping around it. Especially great for LMG’s, spray a wall and watch the kill count go up, up, up. This perk is available by default.

Iron Lungs - Increases the time a sniper can hold their breath while zoomed, to 8 heartbeats (200%) in-game. This should be every snipers favorite perk. (as oposed to the default 4 heartbeats). Can only use for sniping, and even at that can only use when you are using the normal scope, as with the ACOG you don’t have to hold your breath. Normally you can hold your breath for four heartbeats, but with this perk you can hold for 8. I tend to find Deep Penetration more helpful than this perk. Usually this perk is only good if say, someone ducks behind a wall right before you shoot, so you stay steadied until they pop back out again. But with deep penetration you could just shoot straight through the wall. I don’t find this perk helpful in many situations, if I’m waiting for someone I just hold the scope close to around where they disappeared and I hold my breath for 3 heartbeats, let go, then hold again, let go…if you hold it for all 4 he spazzes out and you can’t hold again for like 10 seconds. Not advised by me, but many find it helpful, so if your personal preference suits it, then go right ahead. Unlocked at Level 26, 2nd Lieutenant 1

Weapon Walkthrough

Assault Rifles:

M16A4:Weapon: M16A4

Accuracy: 10 / 12
Damage: 7 / 12
Range: 9 / 12
Fire Rate: 9+ / 12
Mobility: 8 / 12
Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 30/60
Recoil: low cluster
Reload Time: 2 seconds / 2.365 empty

Good Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Red Dot Sight, Steady Aim, Double Tap
Altogether, this is indeed the best rifle. With the stopping power perk, and the red dot sight, it is more or less a one hit, one kill weapon. The fact that it fires 3 rounds in close succession means a lot of its power, and accuracy is still available while it delivers maximum damage over short, and long distances. Definitely my weapon of choice. Even after level 55.


Weapon: AK-47
Accuracy: 6 / 12Damage: 9 / 12Range: 9 / 12Fire Rate: 6 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 30/60Recoil: low/moderate clusterReload Time: 2.5 seconds / 3.25 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Red Dot Sight, Steady Aim, Double Tap

Still the most iconic and best-selling assault rifle worldwide. Fires on full auto. The rifle has a noticeable vertical kick to it, but its recoil suppressor ensures that the rifle levels again before firing the next shot. Good for closer-quarters combat than the M16 or M4, but still pulls off good middle-long distance single shots.


Weapon: Heckler & Koch G3
Accuracy: 11 / 12Damage: 9 / 12Range: 9 / 12Fire Rate: 4 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 20/40Recoil: very low clusterReload Time: 2.75 seconds / 3.75 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Bandolier, Stopping Power, Double Tap, Red Dot Sight, ACOG scope

The combined accuracy and damage on this gun make it sort of a mini-sniper rifle limited only by how sharp your eye is or, if you attach an ACOG, how steady your hand is. With Stopping Power, two consecutive shots will drop a target. Take advantage of the accuracy and go for headshots when you can. Not recommended at all for close quarters, since the slow rate of fire and poor running accuracy can cripple you. You don't get many shots with this gun, so consider bulking your ammo with Bandolier.


Weapon: Heckler & Koch G36C
Accuracy: 8+ / 12Damage: 7 / 12Range: 9 / 12Fire Rate: 7 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 30/60Recoil: moderate clusterReload Time: 2.1 seconds / 2.967 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Bandolier, Stopping Power, Red Dot Sight

Fires in full-auto. This rifle tends to work better in medium-close quarters. You may want to use Bandolier to bolster your ammo, because it's a spray-friendly kind of gun. Altogether, this is an all round good rifle. Powerful, Accurate, nice high fire rate, but all in all, is quite average in general use. Good for close quarters, and long range, but not especially strong in any area either.


Weapon: M4 Carbine
Accuracy: 9 / 12Damage: 5 / 12Range: 9 / 12Fire Rate: 9 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 30/60Recoil: low clusterReload Time: 2.03 seconds / 2.36 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Red Dot Sight, Steady Aim

Fires on full-auto. This is one of the most popular guns you'll see on most servers, since it can lay a lot of bullets on a target in a very short amount of time with minimal recoil. On paper it's not very powerful, but if you aim it carefully it'll drop enemies in short order. If you just can't seem to draw a bead on moving targets with the burst-fire M16, switch to the M4 and you should get better results. This one does just about everything you'll want it to. I don’t tend to use this rifle without having stopping power on, but overall, quality rifle.

Weapon: M14
Accuracy: 9 / 12Damage: 9+ / 12Range: 9 / 12Fire Rate: 4 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 20/40Recoil: high verticalReload Time: 2.5 seconds / 3.06 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Bandolier, ACOG scope, Steady Aim

If you try to use it long range, as it's supposed to be used, you'll wish you had the ability to hold your breath and steady it. In theory, two successive shots without Stopping Power will drop an enemy, but you'll have to wait a relatively long time to wait for the recoil to die off before taking a second shot. Not good for close combat or situations where you can't take your time when firing. Still, with steady aim, you can actually use this weapon at close range. At long range, you better have red dot site equipped if you want to get some kills because the iron sights make it pretty hard to shoot.


Weapon: Mp44
Accuracy: 6 / 12Damage: 9 / 12Range: 9 / 12Fire Rate: 3 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 30/60Recoil: moderate/high verticalReload Time: 2.5 seconds / 3.06 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Double Tap, Steady Aim

This gun is a salute to fans of the Call of Duty series throughout its WWII phase, where the MP44 was one of the best guns in the game. In CoD4, this gun is here mainly for nostalgia and if you want to test your skills with a gun that isn't quite as good as the AK-47 and doesn't have attachments available. To be honest I find it quite disappointing that this is the last rifle unlocked, as it really has no qualities. Personally, my MP44 has been shelved for life.


Light Machine Guns:


As the all LMG’s in the game are pretty much the same, there is no point going into great detail with them. They are all quite good at significant range, and the slow rate of fire means that someone with an assault rifle or SMG has an edge on you if you meet close up. This gun is very good with grip+stopping power+deep impact, just go prone and spam a wall, and watch your kill count go up. Also double tap can work well in close encounters along with grip and steady aim, can make for a very deadly LMG. Some believe that these monstrous weapons are better than Assault rifles and SMG’s, but personally, I don’t really rate them too high.


Sub Machine Guns (SMG’s):

Weapon: Heckler & Koch MP5
Accuracy: 10 / 12Damage: 9 / 12Range: 5+ / 12Fire Rate: 8 / 12Mobility: 12 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 30/60Recoil: low/moderate horizontal/clusterReload Time: 2.3 seconds / 3.3 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Steady Aim, Silencer

Another one of the most recognizable guns in video gaming. Very popular worldwide among militaries, law enforcement agencies, and special forces. Like all SMGs, it fires in full auto. The combination of stopping power, fire rate, and accuracy makes this gun another all-purpose weapon in CoD4. Not as good at long range as the M4, it makes up for it in added effectiveness in close quarters. If you like to run around a lot and never spend much time taking long-distance shots, this gun is for you.

Weapon: Fabrique Nationale P90
Accuracy: 9+ / 12Damage: 7 / 12Range: 5 / 12Fire Rate: 11 / 12Mobility: 12 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 50/100Recoil: low clusterReload Time: 2.8 seconds / 3.5 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Steady Aim, Red Dot Sight, ACOG Scope

Once you unlock it, it just might become your favorite weapon. Sometimes I suspect that fully half the people on any given server I join are using this gun. It combines a high rate of fire, some of the lowest recoil of any SMG, great accuracy, decent damage, and a huge clip to be unmatchably lethal in the hands of almost any player. This gun does everything better than the M4 does except for a very slight increase in recoil and a moderate drop in effective range. Every time I use it it just feels easier to rack up kills than with whatever gun I was using before. That said, I tend to avoid it because it feels like an easy button for the game. So use it for whatever role you play in a match, but be mindful that only using this gun (which you'll be tempted to do) makes you miss out on other fun weapons.


Weapon: Skorpion vz. 61
Accuracy: 11 / 12Damage: 9 / 12Range: 3+ / 12Fire Rate: 9 / 12Mobility: 12 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 20/60Recoil: low horizontalReload Time: 2.4 seconds / 2.67 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Steady Aim, Bandolier, Red Dot Sight

The accuracy is this gun is impressive, but unfortunately so is the speed at which you'll find yourself reloading. 20 bullets per clip is pitifully small for a gun with this kind of fire rate. You'll need to be really twitchy to make the most of the gun's accuracy within its small effective range. Stopping Power helps make the gun's clip last a bit longer, but either way you should be careful not to spray-and-pray with this one.


Weapon: Mini-Uzi
Accuracy: 9+ / 12Damage: 9 / 12Range: 5 / 12Fire Rate: 10 / 12Mobility: 12 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 32/64Recoil: low/moderate verticalReload Time: 2.4 seconds / 3.5 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Steady Aim, Bandolier

A compact version of the famous Israeli machine pistol. This gun is great for close-quarters spray, and can pick off medium-range enemies if you need it to. Mainly I see it as a good ninja gun until you get the P90.


Weapon: AK-74u
Accuracy: 8 / 12Damage: 10 / 12Range: 5 / 12Fire Rate: 7 / 12Mobility: 12 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 30/60Recoil: low/moderate clusterReload Time: 2.4 seconds / 3.5 emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Double Tap, Steady Aim, Bandolier

An SMG version of the AK-74, the AK-47's successor. As the most powerful SMG in the game, this gun is good for pretty much the same function as the Mini-Uzi, with more attention needed for lining up your shots to compensate for the slower fire rate.




Shotguns:


Weapon: Winchester W1200 Defender

Accuracy: 3 / 12Damage: 11 / 12Range: 2+ / 12Fire Rate: 2+ / 12Mobility: 12 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 7/21Recoil: very high upper rightReload Time: 1 First Shell / 0.5 Next ShellGood Perks/Attachments: Double Tap, Sleight of Hand, Steady Aim

The combat version of the American-made pump-action shotgun. You're more likely to get a one-shot kill with this gun than with the M1014, but you'll need to be more accurate with your shots and more careful about taking on groups of enemies. I have yet to test this gun with Double Tap, but I suspect it may give this gun an edge over the M1014 depending on how much the fire rate increases. Notes:- Because the shotguns accept individual shells, you can press fire while reloading to halt the reloading process and chamber whichever shell you loaded last, in case you need to attack while reloading.- The W1200 is unlocked at Rank 2 Private along with Demolitions preset class


Weapon: M1014 (Benelli M4 Super 90)
Accuracy: 3+ / 12Damage: 9+ / 12Range: 2+ / 12Fire Rate: 4 / 12Mobility: 12 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 4/16Recoil: moderate/high upper rightReload Time: 1 First Shell / 0.5 Next ShellGood Perks/Attachments: Stopping Power, Sleight of Hand, Bandolier, Steady Aim

The potentially devastating effectiveness of this gun, known well to auto-shotty-hating Halo 3 players everywhere, has been reduced by the use of a 4-shell capacity. You will need to reload this gun constantly when you're not firing it, making Sleight of Hand very useful. If you don't trust your aim enough to use the W1200 or if you're playing on heavily populated servers filled with groups of enemies too large to handle efficiently with pump-action, choose this shotgun.

Sniper Rifles:

(see rules of sniper below)

Weapon: Barrett .50cal (M82, Special Applications Scoped Rifle)
Accuracy: 7 / 12Damage: 11 / 12Range: 12 / 12Fire Rate: 4 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 10/20Recoil: high upper rightReload Time: 2.75 Seconds / 3.5 seconds emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Iron Lungs, Stopping Power, UAV Jammer, Bandolier, Claymore x2

Semi-automatic. Just so you know, a .50 caliber round is twice the height of a Sterling 20 pound note. Google it if you want to see an actual round. I'm not sure if the Barrett has the highest penetration of any weapon in the game, but it would make sense. If you like the ability to kill enemies behind cover without using the Deep Penetration perk, this gun delivers. It can be thought of as the semi-auto alternative to the R700 in terms of power, but it's less accurate, and you can't fire a volley of rounds like you can with the M21. It's a matter of personal preference whether you choose this or the R700 for a highest-power sniper rifle, but being semi-auto doesn't make this gun much better at closer range due to the recoil, which is a bit larger than the Dragunov's. If you want power but prefer to fire more rapidly at closer range, choose this over the R700. If you love your accuracy and headshots, choose the R700.


Weapon: Dragunov (SVD, Snayperskaya Vintovka Dragunova)
Accuracy: 7 / 12Damage: 9+ / 12Range: 12 / 12Fire Rate: 6 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 10/20Recoil: high vertical/randomReload Time: 2.75 Seconds / 3.5 seconds emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Iron Lungs, Stopping Power, UAV Jammer, Bandolier, Claymore x2

This gun has an essentially direct tradeoff with the M21: the Dragunov has more power, but the M21 has smaller recoil. If you try pulling off rapid shots with the Dragunov in the same way you would with the M21, be prepared to compensate for the considerable vertical recoil. Take your shots more slowly than with the M21 and think twice before carrying it in close with an ACOG, but otherwise use it in the same way.


Weapon: Remington R700
Accuracy: 8+ / 12Damage: 11 / 12Range: 12 / 12Fire Rate: 2+ / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 4/12Recoil: very high upper rightReload Time: 2.75 Seconds / 3.5 seconds emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Iron Lungs, Stopping Power, UAV Jammer, Bandolier, Claymore x2

The unmodified Remington 700 hunting rifle. It's larger and more powerful than the M40A3, but kicks like a bionically augmented mule with the largest recoil in the game. As a bolt-action sniper rifle and with only 4 bullets per clip, you should be very discrete about positioning yourself and should follow the rule of "one shot, one kill" very strictly. If that's too boring for you, or if you think you'll need to engage in close quarters occasionally, either build your pistol skills or use Overkill with an SMG, which I wouldn’t recommend because despite its power, it is rare to take down and enemy with a single round, especially with novice snipers.


Weapon: M21
Accuracy: 7 / 12Damage: 8 / 12Range: 12 / 12Fire Rate: 6 / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 10/20Recoil: moderate clusterReload Time: 2.5 Seconds / 3.1 seconds emptyGood Perks/Attachments: Iron Lungs, Stopping Power, UAV Jammer, Bandolier, Claymore x2, ACOG scope

U.S. Army sniper rifle in active service since the Vietnam Era. The Army has switched its standard sniper rifle to the R700-based M24, but they also still use M21s and I guess the makers of CoD4 didn't want a third R700-based rifle in the lineup. The M21 is adapted from the M14, so it basically functions as the M14 was supposed to anyway. The recoil goes from excessive for a battle rifle (M14) to acceptable for a semi-automatic sniper (M21). With the lowest recoil of any sniper rifle, this is the one most likely to be modified with an ACOG and taken to a closer range. Feel free to take several rapid shots at your enemy to take them down instead of the painstaking one shot, one kill method required by the bolt-action rifles. You may wish not to hold your breath when taking several shots in a row, since the recoil is actually increased by taking a breath-held shot.


Weapon: M40A3
Accuracy: 9+ / 12Damage: 9+ / 12Range: 12 / 12Fire Rate: 2+ / 12Mobility: 8 / 12Clip Size/Reserve Ammo: 5/15Recoil: moderate/high randomReload Time: 1.1 First Round / 0.4 Next RoundGood Perks/Attachments: Iron Lungs, Stopping Power, UAV Jammer, Bandolier, Claymore x2

Modified from the Remington 700 hunting rifle and used by the U.S. Marine Corps. Bolt-action. The Marines took the R700 and gave it lower recoil, a larger clip, and improved accuracy at the cost of bullet damage. That's the tradeoff you have to consider when choosing between this gun and the R700. Because it's bolt-action, choosing this gun restricts you to long-range sniping unless you enjoy using a pistol or using a second main weapon with Overkill. Be patient, line up your shot and hold your breath before firing, and remember to change positions after each couple of shots if possible to avoid being located.