Grenade – An extremely useful multi purpose explosive. No matter what perk or weapon set up you have the single denominator is that they all come equipped with at least one grenade. The multi purpose abilities is what makes grenades great. No other explosive kills with deadly accuracy no matter whether you are exploding it right at your feet or tossing it distances to enemies inside a building. Each grenade has a fuse of 3.5 seconds and a talented grenadier can cook a grenade so perfectly that it explodes right in the enemies face, giving them no time to throw it back to you. the biggest reason why grenades are one of the best explosives is that you can spam them over buildings or in random locations where there is a high probability of an enemy being located. The range and damage values of grenades means that one grenade is all you will need.

RPG – Great for taking out helicopters, but that’s about it. The poor accuracy of the projectile makes it strictly worse than the grenade launcher for taking out individual players. You also stand a good chance of killing yourself with the RPG if you are firing from crouch or prone in a hilly area. The RPG is invaluable however at taking out helicopters always appearing in Call of Duty 4, no other explosive or weapon can come remotely close.

Grenade Launcher – The often whined about Noobtube, great for taking out obscured targets quickly. The grenade launcher couples the great range and accuracy of the grenade with the explosion on contact power of the RPG. It is often complained about but in most situations normal bullets could do a better job at getting a kill than the Noobtube. Think about it, to fire a round from the Noobtube you need to get a relatively clear view of the enemy, enable the launcher, fire the grenade and wait a few moments for it to actually hit. In that same time or less a skilled Call of Duty player could have pulled out his or her M16 and fired a quick three round burst killing the enemy. The Noobtube is not without it’s uses, but because you can’t use it around corners or for spam like a normal grenade it is far from overpowered.

Claymore – The best choice explosive for snipers or to hold an important building. The great part about claymores is that you can just set it and forget it. There is no hassle of aiming or risking your life in battle. Just set it by a high traffic location and wait for the kill to pop up. Planting them correctly so that they are no visible, but still do more than just wound the enemy can take some practice but is fairly simple. The claymore is the only explosive you should bother using for passive play.

C4 – A strong explosive for aggressive, not passive uses. Most people try to use C4 as a camping tool and end up waiting hours on end for someone to walk by that they can blow up. If you want a passive explosive device Claymores are always the better choice. C4 does have a place if you use it actively though. Basically you want to use it as a grenade with a shorter range and a shorter fuse. Check out this post for more information on C4 throwing in Call of Duty 4.

That’s it for the call of Duty 4 explosive review, please comment if you have anything to add or think I missed something.

The key to pwning with the Shotgun in video games in general is not your aiming ability, the spread of the pellets is so large it’s almost impossible to miss, the key is to position yourself so your target is always within firing range. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that you can’t get a kill with the M1014 if the guy your shooting at is half way across the map. Yet still see Call of Duty players trying to run into huge wide open places with their Shotgun only to be destroyed at range with a LMG.

Therefore to dominate with the Shotgun what you need to do is always move in small enclosed areas where you cannot be killed with a range weapon. This means avoiding high points on the map, getting to cover as long as possible and occasionally camping if you have to. Most players aren’t used to this style of play in Call of Duty 4 so you really need to make a conscious effort to move smart.

There are some maps where you have to move through wide open spaces, so if you get to a safe place and switch over to your Pistol or Overkill weapon. Equipping Extreme Condition in Perk slot 3 can also be useful on more open maps where running across without cover is unavoidable. Try out these movement tips for the Shotgun and you should be able dominate all your friends at Call of Duty 4 in no time.

Find a good place to play – Search and Destroy can be a great game, or a terrible one all depending on the rules of the server you are playing on. With no rules 3/4 of the players are dead in the first 10 seconds from nade spam, and with too many rules everyone is stuck playing boring weapons. I look for servers that ban Noobtubes, Grenades and Airstrikes in the first 20 seconds of the game to prevent explosive spam and ban Martyrdom entirely because it just doesn’t work with friendly fire on. I think that anything beyond that is overbearing and takes away a good aspect of the game. You may have different preferences though and given the number of servers out there I am sure you can find one to suit you.

Have a plan – I can’t stress this having a plan enough. This isn’t TDM where you can just run aimlessly around and circles until you get a kill, you need to know exactly what you are doing and where you are going to go the second the match starts.

For example lets say my plan is to rush the enemy early and catch them off guard. This means a need a class tailored to do so, P90+Extreme Condition is a good start. I also need to know what route I am going to take to do this rushing. So on Creek my plan could be to rush over the mountain trial, throw a stun grenade, and flank the enemy from behind. Your play won’t work perfectly every time, so you need to be prepared to improvise when necessary.

Be familiar with the maps – Getting kills in Call of Duty is all about positioning, even more so in Hardcore when it only takes 1-2 bullets to kill. This means knowing what corners to check when you clear a room, and where to hid when you camp the bomb. Being able to strategically jump is also a useful, but not vital skill. This also directly connects back to having a plan and knowing what you are going to do at the beginning of a game.

Beware of Claymores – Because Call of Duty S&D is objective based you get a lot of people, well, defending the objective. This can be done several ways but Claymores are the preferred method because you can just set it and forget it. Hardcore makes it virtually impossible to outrun a Clay after they have been tripped, so you need to concentrate on prevention. One more drastic way to do this is by equipping the Bomb Squad perk. Bomb Squad usually isn’t needed though, simply moving moving slowly through rooms and keeping an eye open instead of strafe jumping everywhere will keep you alive.

Listen – Unlike other game types which are so noisy from the endless fragging you can actually here players when they walk or sprint. The sound of players foosteps gives you valuable information which not even Radar can provide thanks to Silencers and UAV Jammers. Crouching is also the preferred way to travel for this reason, you are move almost as fast as you would walking but with virtually no noise.

I hope these tips were helpful, please respond in the comments if you have any more tips or questions.

With all the Call of Duty weapon guides finished I figured it would be good to compile all the reviews in one place for easy access or in case you missed one. Each post contains a thorough review of every single weapon and is extremely useful for choosing the best weapon for your needs. If you don’t want to read through everything just scroll to the bottom for the bold bottom line of the review.

Call of Duty 4 Pistol Class Review

Call of Duty 4 Light Machine Gun Class Review

Call of Duty 4 Sub Machine Gun Class Review

Call of Duty 4 Sniper Rifle Class Review

Call of Duty 4 Shotgun Class Review

Call of Duty 4 Assault Rifle Class Review

Please leave your comments here or in the individual post and let everyone know what you think. It might also be interesting to compare weapons across classes to see what conclusions you can come too.

Something to note about all the Assault Rifles that is often ignored is their range, 1500-2000, the longest of any weapon class.As you might of guess from previous reviews all of our data is coming from our incredible Call of Duty Weapon Stats Chart. The data from the weapon stats chart is correct for all versions of the video game, PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Anyway on to the Call of Duty weapon review for Assault Rifles, short version is on the bottom of the page. M16 – Incredible accuracy and damage values, the only drawback being that it is not fully automatic, firing in three round bursts. Within each burst though the bullets come flying quite rapidly at 950 RPM, but once you take into account the pauses between each burst it slows to 450 RPM.

That single three round burst will is guaranteed to take down an enemy with Stopping Power equipped, and without it your odds of a kill are still quite good. The slow bursts can even be a blessing for players new to Call of Duty.

It brings down recoil, conserves ammunition and allows you a clear view without muzzle flash between each shot. For hardcore matches high the damage and low recoil might be a win more, but for normal matches the M16 is amazing. AK47 – One of two Assault Rifles with a 40-30 damage values and automatic fire.

The recoil of the AK47 is high, but nothing that isn’t manageable with smart fire control by it’s controller. Getting that minimum of 30 damage is critical for hardcore because it guarantees you a one shot kil without Stopping Power. For normal matches it is also great because a kill only takes 3-4 bullets, 2-3 if you have Stopping Power.

Their are some unfortunate constraints on the weapon though, equipping either the red dot or silencer brings your damage values down to 40-20. The red dot and silencer might be good, but the lower damage values make plain old iron sights or the ACOG a better choice for the AK47. Overall the AK47 is a good weapon for both hardcore and normal matches.

MP44 -A nice little shout out to older times, but strictly worse than the AK47. It has all the exact same stats except for a lower rate of fire and longer reload time. The only way I can see using it over the AK47 is if you really really like it’s iron sights. M4 -Automatic weapon with low recoil but so-so damage. The low recoil and automatic power is the main selling point of the weapon, nothing besides it brother the G36c can come close to comparing.

The recoil is so low you can literally unload a full clip into a watermelon from across the map without stopping (yeah I tried it). The damage of 30-20 isn’t great but the fact that majority of your shots will actually land on target makes up for it. This makes the M4 a staple for both normal and hardcore game types in Call of Duty. G36c – Virtually identical to the M4, and at first glance it might seem to be inferior. The normally infallible weapon stats chart shows it has all the same stats except with a lower rate of fire.

The one thing is misses though is that the G36 has virtually no gun sway when firing from the hip or with the iron sights. The M4 on the other hand sways like sheets in the wind. Try it for yourself, look closely at both the M4 and G36 when standing still. The G36 will be perfectly still while the M4 quivers in a small ovalish pattern across the screen. This can make it difficult to aim so the there is a reason to chose the G36c over the M4 in Call of Duty.

G3 – One of two single shot firing assault rifles with medium recoil and good damage values. The main issue you have to consider with the G3 is the single shot which makes it not so great in close range encounters. In fact the average person firing a single shot weapon in close quarters has no freakin chance. If you have the leet skillz though the single shot curse can become a blessing.

Single shot weapons on the software level are actual capable of firing faster than every single automatic weapon, it’s just that a normal human can’t click a mouse 1200 times in a minute, the maximum set up on the hardware end. You obviously don’t need to fire that fast, just fast enough to give yourself a chance against automatic weapons. At range the G3 already has the advantage, high damage values with low recoil means deadly accuracy.

The 40-30 damage means you one shot in hardcore and makes the G3 playable in normal matches as well. M14 – A single shot weapon like the G3 only with higher recoil and damage values. Everything said earlier about single shot weapons applies here as well. The big thing you have to consider is the huge amount of damage it does, 40-50 means you two shot anything, anywhere, anytime. In hardcore there is no reason to play the M14 though because one shoting with some damage left over doesn’t give you any extra points. In normal matches though the M14 is great weapon.

The bottom line: All the Assault Rifles except for the MP44 have their uses and are playable in Call of Duty 4. 

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Knowing your enemy

In the average game of CoD4 HQ there are multiple types of players, rushers, campers, snipers and everything in between. The usefulness of these players to their team varies greatly from the useless free frag to the guy who carries the team. A guy with a sniper rifle can have a nice kdr but still be pointless to the game if he just camps one spot instead of moving and covering the team, same goes to the mad rusher who keeps running headlong into the fray just to get shot to bits.
The purpose of this article is to give you some ideas on how to, unlike them: die less, kill more and be more efficient at capping, holding & clearing of HQs. This is written with the point of view of Headquarters play, tho the same fundamentals apply to other rule settings as well.

One of the most important factors in continuously defeating your opponents is anticipating their moves and then exploiting their predictability. In a game of HQ there are couple of variables you have to factor in to outsmart your opposition:

- Lay of the land and HQ points
- Common traveling routes
- Camping points

With these you should always have a decent idea of where your opponents are and where they are moving into, or if they have reached their destination then where they are waiting for you and even which way they are looking at.
The average player will just be running from spawn point to the next HQ, while tunnel visioning and not minding much about anything beyond the immediate premises of the HQ. Other specimen you are likely to run into in the game is the average camper / sniper, these players are predictable enough so that with good enough knowledge of common camping spots you can estimate their exact location when you see them pop up on the radar on their first shot.

The basic logic on how to gain advantage on the predictable players is quite simple, don’t do what they are doing. The average joe makes costly mistakes all the time, the important part is learning from them. Every time you die you should ask yourself “Why did that happen? Did I do something wrong?” In most cases the answer is yes, you made a mistake and paid for it.
In this game you are bound to die, at some point your luck simply runs out and you get killed. Either you make a mistake, the opponent gets lucky or he simply played better than you. When you die you have to identify why you died so you can learn from it “ran straight into their team / was at a grenade spam point / sniper is camping there etc etc” from these you learn to avoid the mistake you did and because of that you become harder to kill.

For taking the best advantage of your knowledge of the opponents likely actions and your surroundings here are couple of dos and don’ts you should keep in mind:

- Always be conscious about your surroundings. Expose yourself as little as possible, move along walls, crouch & crawl behind objects, don’t stick your head out of windows, don’t run in open spaces. You should always know from where you can be seen and the most likely direction of opponent’s approach, this way you are always ready for an encounter.
- Avoid the open common travel routes, tho of course it’s just fine to take the shortest route from A to B if you think it’s safe. If it’s likely that the enemy is already at the spot or arrives simultaneously it’s better to not come from the most anticipated direction.
- Flank. Move a bit to the side and attack the enemy from a direction they don’t anticipate. No need to run around the whole map, usually just one house is enough to get to their side/back.
- Use the backdoor. HQ locations have multiple entrypoints so instead of running through the front door and getting shot by their whole team you can circle around, go in from the back and roll the whole joint while they are looking the wrong way. Once you get used to this you’ll find out that it’s quite common to find half their team sitting in a pile watching the front door, just like shooting fish in a barrel.
- Ambush the opponent. Hit and move, don’t camp, people hold grudges and most likely grenade or snipe you if you stay in the same place too long. It’s easy to camp an area instead of a spot, move down the hall, switch to the other corner, move up one room, they will expect you to be exactly where you killed them last time.
- Check those corners. It’s not fun to get shot in the back, takes only a second to be sure.
- Shoot through walls. Easy way to check corners, people are always in the same corners of HQ rooms, just pop couple bullets to check, you just might get lucky.

There’s also couple rules-o-thumb which usually apply to any average game of HQ:

- If you don’t expect it, they have Martyrdom. Always play as if they have it. Same applies for Last Stand.
- Snipers put claymores in the common entryway to their nest, watch your step.
- If it’s too quiet, somebody is propably sneaking up your back.
- If you try to knife somebody in the back they move the last instant or you get killed by something else. Kill is a kill, just shoot them in the back.
- If something doesn’t look right, take a shot at it to be sure.

With experience of all the afore mentioned things should gradually become a second nature, it’s mostly about avoiding making mistakes and making them pay for theirs.

Gearing up

Everybody is more comfortable with certain weapons and perks than with others, what fits their playstyle and what doesn’t. In this part of the article I talk about what I find useful for the playstyle I have, the idea is always that it has to be useful in most cases, good on offense and defense, when sneaking around and when rushing a HQ.

Weapon: Any rapid firing assault rifle or submachinegun, silenced. If it’s room-to-room tight go for SMG, anything else AR. I personally favor ARs because of the longer effective range, rapid fire is a must for close ups and multikills.
The silencer is absolutely vital, my point is simple: When you shoot a guy only he will know where you are (killcam), without silencer their whole team knows. This advantage gives you the valuable second or two to kill multiple enemies before they know what hit them and get out before they get back. Majority of the playerbase rely too much on the radar for the positional info of the opponents, no point telling them you are coming. People will hunt that red blip.
Pick the one you are most comfortable with on iron sights, even with the silencer’s shorter range the ARs are just fine on medium to long range and most of the action in this game happens on short to medium range. Acknowledge your weapon’s pros and cons and play according to them.

Perks: Basic principle is that you only want to pick something which is going to be effective for you most of the time and you can’t gain it in any other way:

Slot 1: Claymores, 3 Specs or 3 Frags. You can: Find more ammo & anticipate explosives so no point wasting perk on those. Claymores are excellent for covering your back, specs for clearing rooms (prefer flashes as they have bigger radius and imo confuses people more.) or frags for plain killing where you can’t reach with your primary.

Slot 2: Stopping Power. Period. The thing you do most in this game is shoot people with your gun, so you will want most out of it. The more effective your bullets are the faster you kill, the faster you kill the better your chances are in firefight. All the other slot 2 perks are situational in the least: you
can find more guns, you don’t want to get shot at, you don’t want to waste ammo etc. (Even if UAV Jammer is “ninja”, consider this: how often do you get killed by a guy with UAV Jammer during your UAV coverage because you couldn’t see him on the radar?)

Slot 3: Steady Aim. I consider this another vital one, around 50% of my kills are from the hip, with SMGs it’s up around 80%. The improvement this perk makes for your close up play is huge, you are much more mobile and have a clear view of the surroundings. I would only consider Deep Impact with M16 if you like to hang back a bit more, personally I pick SA with that too.

You, the player

There is one more important factor I have not mentioned yet and that’s You. The absolutely most important thing when playing is to stay cool and focused. People make a lot more mistakes when they get pissed off and unfocused, that’s what you should be counting on.
It often happens in the game that you get killed in some way that gets on your nerve, there is lag, randomly thrown grenades, helicopters, air strikes, snipers, kids screaming on the voice com, you name it.
Every time you die just take a deep breath and respawn, it’s just a game, if you lose your cool you’ll end up repeating the most common mistakes and die again and again. Play cool, play smart.

Other easily overlooked thing is bad habbits, those things you keep on doing that unnecessarily get killed. Here’s couple of my personal favourites I work hard to shake off:

Reload mania: As soon as you drop a guy you reload, you fire a couple shots at somebody on the yard and you reload, be it just 5 shots missing from the clip.
The most common way to die to this is when two guys rush a room you are camping, easy double kill but you didn’t see the second guy 5 feet behind the first one and instinctively start reloading…. Try hard to resist the impulse to reload until the situation is clear, eventually you’ll get comfortable with the idea of running with half a clip, it only takes three bullets to kill.

Claymores, must use claymores. Always check before you put down claymores, it’s only couple seconds to place the thing but that’s plenty for the guy in the next room to shoot you.
If you find yourself dying way too often with claymore in your hand just always check the front before changing to claymore. Also in tight spots think twice if it’s worth the risk of putting down a claymore, this mostly applies when you are camping in your HQ, it’s probably a better idea to keep aiming at that door than switch to claymores unless you know that you have the time.

If you feel like you get killed a lot when performing some action, pause to consider if it’s just bad luck or if you have a bad habit.

From prey to predator

The fundamentals I have described with the gearing choices combine into a sneaky and cunning tactical assault playstyle. Your ideal position would be on the blind side of your opponents, rather close and constantly on the move.
Using a silencer enables you to constantly pop in take down a guy or two and vanish before their whole team is on to you, take up position in the next room / corner / house and take them down again when they come looking for you, rinse and repeat for profit.

In the game always think about your next move, have a plan and press your advantages to the fullest. Also there is no point in playing nice and clean, you took some guy down and he is coming after you? Leave him a claymore. Opponents sitting in a room? Give them a flash and gun them down when they are busy watching the pretty colors. Shoot people in the back. Shoot people through walls.
If the heat gets too high just get out, better to be first at the next HQ than die in heroic defense of a lost cause. There is no point of making yourself fair game. Also there is nothing wrong with using things people commonly complain about like M16 or 3 Frags etc, they are available in the game for everyone so it would be silly to not use them because ”they are not fair”, don’t make artificial restrictions to yourself, as long as you don’t actually cheat it’s all fair.

Always try to do the thing they are not expecting, expect the thing they will do and be cool and prepared. With some practice you’ll become guy who always backstabs the snipers, cuts down the over eager rushers and gets the HQs. At that point the only thing you really have to be careful about is noticing if there is somebody on the other side who plays the same way.

Written by Mikko Alamäki
XBOX Live tag Malamaki