Normal Vs. Tactical control settings

Most people use the normal control settings by default, but I'm going to tell you that you should switch to the tactical control setting, and you should do it IMMEDIATELY. The longer you wait to switch the longer it will take to start owning. If you are wondering what the difference is, there is only one. Its the placement of the crouch, and the Knife buttons. In Normal control settings, the crouch and prone button is B, and knife is R3 (push in the right thumbstick). There is a problem with this combination of settings. Its when your trying to aim and crouch at the same time... you can't do it. In order to crouch you must take your thumb off the right thumb stick, and hit B. With the tactical setting you can crouch or go prone while you are running and aiming all at the same time. This makes drop shotting extremely easy, and accurate. Knifing takes some time getting used to, but once you do, you will be a force to be reckoned with.

Obtaining Pro Perks

The perk system on Modern Warfare 2, has offered many extra advantages for those who have completed the pro challenges, but some of these challenges are not so easy to complete. I have some tips on how to complete a few of these easier, or to just use these perks to their full potential.

A good example of a perk, that is hard to obtain is last stand pro. When you go down, unless you have another handgun equipped, you pull out a wimpy M9. To get kills with the M9 you can either play in hardcore mode, or unload your entire clip and hope you don't miss. The solution I offer is simple: Equip Akimbo Magnums as your secondary. When you go down, instead of a pulling out a M9, you will pull out two giant silver Magnums. Killing with these is quite easy I promise.

Steady aim, is another one I had difficulty with. To get steady aim pro, use the Rangers, as there is not option to aim down the sights. every kill you get with these is a hip fire kill. The same goes for Akimbo weapons.

Here are some more useful perk combos. (more obvious ones)

Hardline + UAV killstreak
Danger close + grenade launcher
Commando + tactical knife
Ninja or Scrambler + shotgun

Entering a Room Tactically

There are certain steps that you should follow before you enter a room, if you want to be tactical and efficient. I have drawn yet another terrible diagram for you to follow that should help you out.



You should follow these steps in sequential order. You start with step one where you hug the door sill and check the right corner closest to you. You move to step two where you move back and slowly check the far right corner, trying not to overexpose yourself. In between step two and 3 you do a sweeping motion across the door to the other side checking the center of the room as you go. For step 3 check the far left corner, and once again hug the door sill, and check the close left corner for step 4. Steps 1 through 4 should be done as quickly as possible to minimize the chance of enemy movement. This is not fool proof, as their could still be tangos hiding in the two closest corners just out of you vision range, so I suggest flash banging the room, before entering, and then rechecking those two corners. You can normally be sure that the two far corners are clear. If there are windows or doors in the room this presents new challenges, that will have to address based on the situation.

Killing a Riot Shielder

Riot shielders are in my opinion... fun. I have been killed by a few, but I have killed far more of them. There are many simple ways to take them out, and I am going to list a few for you.

1)shooting the feet: If a riot shielder is not crouched down, then they leave their feet exposed. Just shoot them in the foot, and that will kill them pretty quickly.

2)Stick them: Sticking a Semtex to the front of their riot shield is instantly fatal. Ive never used a C4 on them, but I'm sure that it would work. Be careful though. If they are close enough they will charge you in an attempt to use your grenade to kill you, so after you stick a riot shield, RUN! Another thing is, Ive never seen it, but often wondered that if the enemy swaps out the stuck shield for a weapon on the ground, they could escape doom. Even if they did manage that, I think they might still be too close to the grenade.

3)Trap them: If you have claymores then run around a corner and set one for them and wait. Try to set it so it will explode towards their back. Laying a C4 on the ground and waiting until they walk past it works well too.

4)Blow them up: Throw a cooked frag behind them to blow them to pieces. shooting a rocket or grenade launcher behind them is even easier.

5)Own them: My favorite thing to do is to flash bang a riot shielder, then run behind them and knife them.

Taking corners the right way

Military professionals call it slicing the pie. Gamers call it strafing corners. Call it whatever you want, i want you to know how to do it, if you don't already. The idea is to be able to see as far around the corner as possible, while exposing yourself the least. Ive drawn a very simple diagram (don't make fun) of the proper way to take corners.







The picture on the left is obviously the incorrect way to round a corner. This way your exposing yourself before you can even see whats around the corner. While the picture on the left may be an extreme representation of the wrong thing to do, I have seen it before. The picture on the right is the correct way to take a corner. The character is constantly adjusting his angle so his gun sights are peering as far around the corner as vision allows. This way the character is minimally exposed, while he is ready to tackle targets approaching the corner, or camping and waiting for you.

Using a Rush class

So it wasn't until recently that I started using a rush class on Modern Warfare 2. The reason I never used them is that, it seemed like I was dying a whole lot. That's because I was not using the class right. Here's a few tips on how I started using my class more effectively. SO my rush classes are setup like so:
Primary weapon is a SMG (ump45 or MP5k work best to start with)
Secondary weapon is a handgun (I like to use the Magnum)
Marathon
Lightweight
Commando or Ninja (both have advantages)

First of all Never run through a wide open space. If there is a wide open area that you have to run through, try to hug the wall. If you meet someone in this wide open who is a distance try to zig-zag as much you can. You can either zig-zag to them and melee, or use your SMG. I usually take the safe route, and zig zag until they reload, and blast them with the SMG.

For each level develop a few different paths that you can run. These paths should offer the most cover, and increase the chances that you will have close encounters with the enemy since this class limits your shooting range. Once you have commando pro unlocked, you can develop unique paths that involve jumping from very high places down to unsuspecting victims. The cliff on Afghan is a good example of this.

If you are going to Rush into a room, you should still try to enter tactically, since shotguns are this classes worst nightmare. I.e. you should check the two far corners first, then the two close one. Don't worry too much about claymores, since many times you can sprint through them, with little effort.

Don't let the way I have my classes set up limit your options. Be creative, and figure out what works best for you. Just try to remember that the ultimate goal of this class is speed, and lethal close quarters combat.

Setting traps

One of my favorite things to do in Modern Warfare 2, when I'm not getting a lot of action, is to set a trap. There are lots of different ways to accomplish this, but ill be discussing what i usually do.

1) Using care packages as bait. Now generally the only type of care package i will use as bait, is an ammo package. Care packages makes enemies come out of the woodwork. After calling in a care package and seeing that its a pretty much useless ammo, ill hide somewhere nearby, and kill whatever enemy comes to claim it. Luckily the enemy cant tell what the package is, until they are trying to capture it. If your lucky, it wont be taken by a retarded teammate either,(which happened to me all 4 times I tried doing this yesterday...one of the guys was my friend) so you can continue using it as bait. So tell your teammates to back off, and if they like they can camp it too. Make it a team effort.

2)Give away your location on purpose. Another thing I like to do is, I will take out an unsilenced weapon and fire randomly giving away my location. This will show up as a red dot on enemy radar, and many times send them running straight for your location. when they arrive they will probably expect to get the jump on you, but little do they know that your waiting to ambush them. You should also have an escape plan in case too many come, and you are overwhelmed.

3)Car bombs. My favorite thing to do with claymore is to set up car bombs. I plant the claymore on or near a vehicle, so that when an enemy runs by they set off the claymore, and the resulting explosion leaves very little chance of survival. You might even take out one or two enemies by doing this.

Suppresive Fire

So you and your teammates are taking heavy casualties from a enemy camping in a window in the back of the level. Every time you try to take him out he gets you first, because he has a superior cover and a height advantage. A technique you can use to get close enough to take him out, is to lay down some suppressive fire. This works best when you have teammates helping, but you can also do it alone. It also works best when you are using an Light machine gun class, because they have lots of ammo.
what you want to do is take cover as close as you can safely get with a view of the window. When you see that stinking campers head pop up, start firing. The effects of suppressive fire are psychological, so you want him to fear for his life, and take cover. Once he has taken cover, you can advance to the next nearest safe spot and repeat. You wont have much time so you have to move fast. You can see how having teammates would help greatly. Your team can help each other leapfrog from position to position. If you lucky he might not see you move, and think there are more of you than there actually are. Once you are in a close position, take him out with a frag, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, shot to the head, or whatever gets the job done. Be sure to watch the exits from that building in case he tries to make a break for it. also beware of tactical insertions, so you don't get killed again immediately.

Dirty tricks that get you kills.

There are few dirty tricks I use on Modern Warfare 2, that help get me extra kills. Just warning you that using these tricks will incite extreme rage in your opponents.

1) Flash then Nade: whenever I'm clearing out a room I usually chuck a flash bang in there first, and wait for the hit marker. If I see it I will then chuck a gernade in there. If I'm using a frag Ill throw a second flash in there since frags take so long. The flash disables their vision and makes it hard to run away from the frag.

2) The drop shot: No I'm not talking about going prone on the ground. When I'm using a rush class sometimes I'll hang out on a roof and pop people off. Whenever someone comes to kill me with a more accurate weapon than me I'll Jump off the roof straight at them, and shoot them up as I fall. 9 times out of 10 they will panic, and not be able to hit you once. Commando pro is a must for this trick. If they are still alive when I land, then Ill go prone, or knife if they are close enough.


Well there ya have it. Some tactics that will make you feel a little dirty.

Have a backup plan

Throughout your Call of Duty career there will be times when you run into players that are just plain better than you, or are using a weapon that they are incredibly good with. Most of the matches I play, I start with a class that's made specifically for completing challenges. when I run into one of these players, and I'm having trouble taking them down I switch to my backup class. I like to call it my BAMF class. This is a class that made strictly for kicking ass. Its usually comprised of my favorite Assault rifle, with my favorite perks, and my best currently unlocked secondary. Also what weapon I use depends on the game mode. For regular team death match I'll use the M16 with FMJ, and for hardcore I'll use the ACR. Most people would do the opposite because of the fire modes for these guns, but this is what works for me. The M16 has such high damage that with FMJ and stopping power it can be a one burst kill, two if your aims a little off. The ACR is low damage, but that doesn't matter in hardcore. What matters to me is that its highly accurate, and low recoil. You need to figure out what your best combinations are, and always have one ready. I suggest getting rid of that riot shield class and making a BAMF class. That way if your having trouble killing someone, when you respawn you can give them a nasty wake up call.