Tips and Tricks

WARNING: Although the following guide will make you a better player, you will be subject to n00bs shouting: "Hax0r!", "Cheatz0r", "WH gay", "faking nab cheats" and so on. You have to bare with them, and try not to be rude.

Aiming
This is something which you have to try on your own. I can't help you with this a lot but it is highly essential. The best way is to go in an empty server and practice on and find some targets and try and hit them as fast as you can. This helps a lot your aiming. Reflexes is also important so you need to be quicker than your opponent. For example if someone hits you from the back you have to be fast enough to turn around quick and aim exactly on him and shoot him down.

Radar
If you want to get a decent score it is essential to check the radar. I meet a lot of people in game could have killed me if they had seen radar. Awareness of your enemy's location will save you more and net you more kills than anything else. This helps you improve your kill/death ratio. Most of us have played for a long time so we know all maps at the exact locations. Match the info you get from the radar with what you see onscreen. Knowing your enemy's position is a big advantage.

Slow, Prone and Sprint
Moving while crouching or crawling while prone accomplishes two crucial goals. First, you're harder to spot and there's a smaller profile to aim at, and secondly, you shoot more accurately. Unless you're out in the open, there should be little reason to stand upright. On the other hand, nearly any time you spend out in the open should find you sprinting. If you need to cross a courtyard to get from cover to cover, click the left stick to haul a** across the open ground. Sprinting is also a good technique to avoid fire, no matter where you are. Getting shot, but you're not sure from where? Try sprinting. It's always harder to hit a fast-moving target.

Kill/Death Ratio
Call of Duty 4 rewards patience and a willingness to stay alive as long as possible. The more consecutive kills you get, the more abilities you have at your disposal. At three kills, you can call in a UAV to spot enemies, at five you can order in an air strike, and at seven you can call for an attack chopper. Anything beyond that is just bragging rights, but you get the idea. You can run and gun in other shooters, but it's better for you and your team in COD4 if you play a bit more cautiously.

Move On
Speaking of cautious, the always-enabled kill cam allows anyone you've just shot down to know not only exactly where you were but just how you killed them as well. This means you shouldn't stay in one spot for more than a few moments at a time. Get your kill and then move on to greener pastures. Alternatively, you can use your opponent's knowledge to your advantage. Once you get a kill, try moving to a spot with a clear line of sight on where you just were. Then, when your enemy comes around seeking revenge, you've got them right where you want them.

Perk Awareness
The different classes and unique combinations of Perks mean that every player functions just a bit differently. While it's great to mix and match your own Perks to create your own favorite class, it's important to be aware of your enemy's abilities as well. Luckily, you can spot an opponent's selected Perks from the kill-cam after they've taken you out. Say for example you notice an enemy with the UAV Jammer Perk, which ensures they don't show up on the minimap. You'll want to be just that extra bit more careful about rounding corners and examining the environment. Likewise, if you notice an opponent with Last Stand, fire a few extra bullets after you take an enemy down, so they don't whip out a pistol and take you with them. Every little advantage counts.

Swap Sidearm
Your sidearm is largely useless from the get go, so unless you plan on just showing off by killing opponents with your pea shooter, take the first opportunity to swap it out with another weapon. Every killed enemy and ally leaves their primary weapons behind. When you find one, hit Y to switch to your pistol and swap it out immediately by holding X. This is also a great way to find uniquely modified weapons, as well as guns that you haven't even unlocked yet (the P90, anyone?).

Buddy Up
There's nothing like a team working together for massacring a team of renegades, all running solo. It can be difficult to get more than a few people to work in unison though, all agreeing on a focused strategy. However, it's not tough to work with a dedicated buddy. Try suggesting to the whole team that you always work in groups of at least two and you'll find that firefights end up going your way on a much more regular basis.

Weapon Information
Every weapon is well balanced to the point that you can use any weapon and it will be "the best".
Just because one gun does more damage or fires faster than another doesn't make it superior.
There are many more things than just damage or rate of fire that levels the playing field.
Each weapon has different handling that suits different players and play styles. Things that cannot be explained, only experienced first-hand.
These differences can be recognized, understood, and with use you will come to find the "best" gun for you.
Use every gun - find the one that you like best and it will be your best.

The little bars for the primary attributes are vague, lump together several factors to define one "attribute" and in some cases, are wrong.
The game doesn't refer to the actual weapon data to make the bars; the "attributes" are pre-set little graphics that only appear when you highlight the weapon in Create-a-Class.

Examples of wrong: M4 and G36c do the same damage per bullet. Uzi has a faster rate of fire and the same damage per bullet as the P90.

Example of vague: "Range" in the little bars refers to several things that are unrelated to one another. Equipping an ACOG increases Range while a Silencer decreases it - this is misleading, as a Silencer is known to "weaken" bullets that travel far. The scope reads that it increases "range", yet it only increases zoom factor; damage over distance isn't affected with ACOG.

Also there is no such thing as a "range bug", the Skorpion and pistol bullets travel forever at their minimum damage just like every other weapon (except shotguns, by design).

Intended effects
-LMG Grips improve View Kick Center Speed (camera returning to where you were aiming) by a small but effective amount.
-Shotgun Grips decrease overall View Kick.
-ACOG scopes, when sighted, set ZoomFOV to 30, just over twice the magnification for the default 65° field of view.
ACOG also changes AimAssistRange (only applicable to console; PC has auto-aim disabled) to 2000, an improvement for all weapons except the sniper rifles.

Discrepancies
Some weapons have differences in themselves with some attachments, or are different from all other weapons.
These differences may be intentional or erroneous, IW knows which is which. The SAW, AK47 and AK74 are most certaintly intentional. M40, probably. R700, Maybe they got it backwards? G3, obvious error.

-M249 SAW with a Grip has improved Hip Accuracy (Between Assault and SMG hip accuracies)
-AK47's damage is 40-20 when equipped with a Silencer or Red Dot
-AK-74u when equipped with a Silencer or Red Dot has the hip accuracy of the assault rifles
-M40A3 with an ACOG does 75 damage (Paired with Stopping Power, EVERY body part is a one-hit kill)
-Remington 700, when sighted, has an ADSIdleAmount of 60 in which it moves around more compared to the other four sniper rifles (40)
-G3 with a Silencer has an erroneously long Melee Charge Delay, longer than the stabbing animation, so the lock-on melee attack does not work
-P90 and M21 have twice the SprintDuration, allowing them to cover twice the distance with their sprint. This was removed in console versions, but still exists for PC.

There are twenty eight different materials with varying levels of protection. Most materials have the exact same amount of protection, so there are really only about six levels of protection ranging from next-to-none to impenetrable. For example, some brick walls cut damage down to around 20% for Medium/Large, so 40 damage would only be eight on the other side.

There are three levels of penetration applied to weapons: Small, Medium, Large. Statistically, there are next to no differences between Medium and Large.
Small can only penetrate the weakest of materials without Deep Impact, and then can peck at enemies through brick and plaster with Deep Impact.

Because Medium and Large are nearly the same, there are virtually only two levels of Penetration (Small and Large).
Pistols, SMGs and Shotguns all have Small Penetration (except Desert Eagle and AK74U).
All LMGs, Sniper Rifles and Assault Rifles are Medium/Large.

Angle is the most affecting factor. Straight on, that brick wall will cut down that 40 damage to 8. At about a 20° angle, that 8 will be further cut down to 4, and at 45°, 1 damage. More than 45°, the bullet will not penetrate. Only some wood and flimsy sheet metal can be penetrated at greater than 45° (they also only cut damage down to about 70%).

After passing through the material, the bullet will begin losing damage over distance all the way down to 1, this includes sniper rifles and LMGs.

DEEP IMPACT is powerful. Not only is the damage retained doubled (ie 20% 8 damage becomes 40% 16 damage), but the angle at which you can penetrate is doubled (penetration from nearly a 90° angle and 45° becomes the new 20° and that improved 16 would be cut back down to 8).


Helicopters enter the map from one of several directions (most only have one or two) and travel between pre-determined points until it loops back to the beginning.
The time the helicopter is in play is dependant on the map and the situation. It could be less than one minute or even two minutes. On average, it takes ten seconds for the chopper to arrive, sixty seconds of fighting, and another ten to exit if it hadn't been destroyed.
The helicopter absorbs bullet damage, dropping all damage to 30%.
After losing 500 points of its total 1100 health, the helicopter is "weakened" and bullets deliver full damage against it.
At the same time, the helicopter will engage "evasive Maneuvers" - travel from point to point more quickly and spend less time hovering in place.
After letting loose a burst from its vulcan minigun, it has about a two second "reload time", make a move then.

Helicopters assess threat through four factors:
Distance from Helicopter - All players get threat based on distance from chopper. The max distance is pretty far.
Has attacked Helicopter - Anyone who has attacked the helicopter gets threat
Weapon Class - A player with a shotgun in their primary slot will not get threat.
Player Score - Highest scoring player in view gets most threat.
Whoever has the highest combined threat from these four factors will be the helicopter's Primary Target.
The helicopter will only target a player it can see more than 50% of his body.
If the helicopter sees you and you get behind cover, it may still attempt to shoot through the wall around where it last saw you.
Also, the KillCam shows a view above the helicopter, though this view is not congruent with the cannon on the bottom of the chopper; you may (or may not) see yourself in killcam, but the minigun sure saw you.

After extensive controlled testing and people letting themselves be killed by helicopters, the RPG-7 on your person does not affect threat, only the primary weapon does. This means that the Shotgun + RPG-7 pair is useful to avoid accumulating a tiny bit of threat so you can take the shot.

The RPG-7 is the only EFFECTIVE explosive against the helicopter because it only takes one soldier with an RPG-7 to take it down. That's effective. What isn't effective is the necessity of several soldiers carrying enough of the other explosives and the inaccessability of the use of the explosives on the helicopter.

It would require several soldiers' stock of Frag grenades, Underbarrel grenades and C4.

"But it shows an X when I hit the chopper with it!"
Even if the helicopter is still in its state of absorbing bullet damage, the weakest SMG can do more damage in the amount of time it would take to throw one of those explosives at the helicopter. Stop wasting those explosives on the chopper. If you don't have a rocket, use bullets.


Cars have a total of 1300 health, cut into multiple states.
The first totaling 550 health, the next of 750 health. Once the car takes 550 damage, it catches fire and loses 60 of its 750 points of damage per second, and will explode once its health runs out.
The splash damage of explosives are scaled up against cars so a single blast can detonate or set it on fire immediately.

Look out!


Melee Attack (slash) has a range of 64 inches and will make contact if the target is in a ten degree radius from the center of the screen.
Melee Charge (stab) reaches 128 inches of measurement and will auto-target anything in the center half of the screen.
In order to do a regular Attack, the enemy must be inside the 64 unit range, else the Charge will activate.

Because of the delay between bursts, the M16's rate of fire is effectively cut down to 450 Rounds Per Minute but the three rounds in themselves are fired at a speed of 925 RPM.

Direct Impact's kill symbol is funny, though small.

Moving sideways will only allow the player to move 0.8 times the total maximum (forward) speed.
Moving backwards will only allow the player to move 0.7 times the total maximum (forward) speed.
Sprinting will allow the player to move forwards 1.5 times the total maximum (forward) speed.

Carrying an SMG, Pistol, or Shotgun in your Primary Weapon Slot (that's the gun you're holding when you spawn) gives the player a "base" run speed of "1".
A Sniper Rifle or Assault Rifle in your Primary Weapon Slot has a base run speed of "0.95". Just 5% slower than the smaller guns, not really noticeable... but it could really make a difference.
A Light Machinegun in your Primary Weapon Slot has a base run speed of "0.875". 12.5% slower than the small weapons, a bit more noticeable.

Going by the two extremes, backpedalling with an LMG only has 41% the speed of Sprinting with an SMG.
This isn't CounterStrike, the gun in your hands does not decide your speed.
If you have an LMG and SMG, you run at LMG speed.
If you have an SMG and LMG, you run at SMG speed.


You need a reference for distance, look for the boxes.
The large cargo crates that you see a lot of in Shipment and WetWork are exactly 256x100 units in size.
256 being 6.5 meters, the same exact range of the Frag Grenade's max blast radius.

Stock Player health is 100.

Hardcore changes:
-Health lowered to 30 (weapons are not changed in any way)
-No visible HUD

Old School changes several things:
-Health increased to 200
-Jump Height increased, landing slowdown disabled
-Weapon/Class Selection disabled, all spawn with a Skorpion and M9, must pick up weapons/perks that spawn on the map

"Health Regeneration" is really really simple.
After five seconds, all your health returns. Instantly. Completely.
Lose 1 health, wait five seconds. Back to 100%.
Lose 99 health, wait five seconds. Back to 100%.
You'll know you get your health back after five seconds by listening. Five seconds after taking damage, your character will exhale.
Health Regeneration is on for Hardcore, Stock and Old School.

Every single weapon is pinpoint accurate when aiming down the sights, shotguns excluded. Pistols, sniper rifles. The dead center of the crosshair, the tip of the front sights, that is where the shot will land. Inaccuracy comes from the idling and kick.
If the guy is behind the sights, he will be hit.
If the shot misses, it is you who has missed.










Perk Selection is important
The multiplications for Stopping Power, Double Tap, Sonic boom and Juggernaut are irrelevant. A simple explanation:
Juggernaut was designed so that you survive take one more shot from any weapon.
Stopping Power was designed so that you would need to make one less hit with any firearm to score a kill.
The game code literally cancels out the damage effects when Stopping Power or Sonic Boom hits a Juggernaut. No increase, no decrease.
The damage perks are perfectly balanced against each other.
If you use "a whole magazine" to kill one guy, it isn't because of Juggernaut.YOU SUCK AT THE GAME.

Sonic Boom increases damage just enough for Hand Grenades to kill near the very edge of its blast radius.
Other explosive items' kill radiuses are nearly doubled, but the increased blast radius of any of them aren't nearly as large as the hand grenade.

Double Tap and Stopping Power are balanced in their improvement of "Damage".
The two perks are perfectly even in their "Time to Kill a Guy" for weapons that deliver 30 damage.
Stopping Power gives a greater benefit of hundredths of a second in Time to Kill for weapons that deliver 40 damage.
Inversely, Double Tap gives a greater benefit of hundredths of a second in Time to Kill for weapons that deliver 20 damage.

Players in Last Stand have 1 OR 2 points of health. Their health purposely switches between one and two every half second in order to keep the red damage overlay visible.
Players in Last Stand are invulnerable during the transition to Last Stand mode, where they fall to the ground and draw a pistol.
Last Stand lasts exactly ten seconds after drawing the pistol.

Last Stand is not activated if the player is killed by: Headshot - Melee Attack - Explosive

Reloading
Reloading in Call of Duty has a unique element. This has existed since Call of Duty 1.
A variable known as ReloadAddTime marks the point at which ammunition is added into the weapon during the Reload time.
Shorter than the full Reload time, a Reload Cancel after the Add time is up can stop the rest of the reload animation and have loaded the ammunition, effectively cutting off up to a full second for most weapons.

Not only does the add time apply to regular Reloading, but also to Empty Reloading, meaning that a Reload Add Cancel can eliminate the extra time needed to rechamber the empty weapon.

Reload Cancel is easy to do: just Sprint, Melee, or Switch Weapons while reloading.
Cancel after the ammo counter fills up = shortened reload.
It can be done with Sleight of Hand, but with the speed of the perk, Add Canceling will barely cut off any time than if it simply completed the reload animation.

There are three primary ways to cancel reloading and get the weapon ready whether or not it has loaded the ammunition:
-Melee Attack
-Switch Weapons
-Sprint

Melee has a long recovery (longer than what the Add Time would cut off) and should only be used to cancel if intending to attack.
Sprint and switching to something else compete for speed. In the end, Sprint gives the shortest possible cancel time and allows the player full mobility instead of waiting for the weapon switch to be able to Sprint.

Reload Add Cancel is useful for just about every weapon.

Hip Accuracy is simple enough. Draw a circle that touches all four crosshairs, and the bullet will land within that circle.
Steady Aim improves accuracy by shrinking the diameter and tightening the crosshairs to 65%.
The variable "perk_hipspreadmultiplier is 0.65.

Shotgun spread is not tightened when sighted with Steady Aim. They are still 5.5.
Steady Aim does not affect weapons that idle, like sniper scopes, the M4, G36c, AK47, AK74u or ACOG.
Steady Aim ONLY AFFECTS HIP SPREAD. Only the crosshairs.

This is it for now but keep watching this thread cause I will be increasing information. This took me a lot of time to gather and make myself so hope you read them and learn some new things. Please do not show them or post them on other websites thank you.

Commando

nice work putting this together.. it would be nice to see if we could see some tips that come from personal experience..
i've learnd quite alot (dont mock me -_-) like for example hipfire is always faster at killing at close range than aiming down the sight.. i learned this while getting repetitively killed by Axel.. next time ur on spectator look at how Joker aims his MP5 and see the difference between how a normal player aims and how he does it Joker's technique is so unique i would know him the first time i see him aim hehehhehe
I'll put some more stuff up later

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

hehe i know how joker aims he thought me how and its rlly cool and important. I posted something in aiming section

hehe.. joker didnt teach me but i stole it :P hahahahahhahahahaha.. im still mastering it

Commando wrote:

Perk Selection is important
The multiplications for Stopping Power, Double Tap, Sonic boom and Juggernaut are irrelevant. A simple explanation:
Juggernaut was designed so that you survive take one more shot from any weapon.
Stopping Power was designed so that you would need to make one less hit with any firearm to score a kill.
The game code literally cancels out the damage effects when Stopping Power or Sonic Boom hits a Juggernaut. No increase, no decrease.
The damage perks are perfectly balanced against each other.
If you use "a whole magazine" to kill one guy, it isn't because of Juggernaut.YOU SUCK AT THE GAME.

Commando

Ye I know I suck ( )... should I give up? :P

no I posted these to make you understand your particular weaknesses which may be also of other ppl, and help you overcome them.

Useful for chess masters but for other players instinct is the best guide Anyway GJ, there is a lot of things that i wondering 'why the fuck'

All respect to that but srsly commando, you should give credit to the original author of that text, I've read it a few months ago x)

tlest 60-70 % of it is stolen, give credit man.

Ye i know in fact I said I gathered it from lots of places that I read. Especially the weapon things (how d hell would I know that). but sorry cant be bothered to post links.

Edit: Ill post it as soon as I find it cause I cant :S If someone got it post it here pls.

I found it here :

http://www.xanga.com/DenKirson/632800688/item/

Yes that is it.

i bet commando never read this

SO basicly, for the ppl who don't understand... For weapons with a high fire rate (like uzi 'n stuff), stopping power is pretty useless. For weapons with a low fire rate, its very usefull.

It's your playing style. I like stopping power example for p90/m4/g36 For me it's more useful than double tap.

oh stopp.on mp5...
THE BEST

Commando wrote:Yes that is it.

I have read a lot of it