Artillery

An Artillery Strike is a killstreak reward in Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer that gives a player the ability to call in a continuous strike of approximately 8 artillery shells after killing five enemy players consecutively without dying. To order an artillery strike, a player will need to specify a location on the minimap.

In Hardcore game modes, artillery strikes are deadly to both teams.

In Game
The KillCam perspective of an artillery strike shows the artillery shell that killed the player from its descent from the sky to detonation on the ground, though this is purely cinematic and does not show the actual descent. The artillery strike is rather slow so the best thing to do is to wait for a recon plane to show you the enemy then lead the targets which should allow you to get a kill or two. Another technique that can also be used with artillery strike is to wait for a recon plane to scan the area, then use your in-game map to see where enemies have spawned (does not always work) and aim your artillery strike there.

It is best to aim your artillery strike a short distance from where you see the enemies, as the in-game map has about a five second delay to where the enemy has been last seen and where the enemy actually is, so take this into account. Also even if the strike misses it will still stun your opponent and leave them open for attack. With this in mind, try to make your way to the area (carefully) and pick off the enemies as they usually will be stunned. Try not to initially call an artillery strike on or near yourself as it will kill you, also, this tactic can be a big chagrin on small maps in which the artillery that you sent usually effects your team more than the opposing team. On small levels such as Asylum aim for the open spaces near enemies as roofs will only lower the damage.

In Ground War, artillery strikes are well known for their capabilities (?). When the type of game is War, using the artillery strike on the current flag location effectively prevents the enemy team from reaching the flag, allowing your team for a quick and successful capture, as well as killing those who try to capture the flag. This however, is not as effective on maps such as Castle, Seelow, and Downfall, as some of the capture points have rooftops over the flags, and will not be as effective, so it is best to use your in-game map to look for any openings in the area. In the event that most enemies are around the flag, an artillery strike could have some usefulness in these stages, as the artillery will disorient the enemies, leaving them open. As mentioned before, artillery will kill your teammates in Hardcore, so this tactic is useless, slows down the game, and ruins it for everyone. Try a more tactical position to shoot artillery.

The artillery can destroy tanks with one shell, so if an enemy is camping with some tanks, fire away. Also, if the enemy gets artillery, try to find a camping spot in the artillery's blast under a roof since nobody expects someone to stay under artillery. It may stun you but all you need to do is keep you gun pointed at the entrance to your camping spot. This works best in Upheaval.

Be careful when you call an artillery on your teammates on a non-hardcore game mode, as this will stun your team, making it a bit harder to navigate. They may be exposed to some enemies, but they are at least safe if they don't come out of the artillery area.

It is best to make sure you are a fair distance away from the strike, as nothing is more humiliating than killing yourself with it. Also be aware of teammates locations in hardcore, as they will die too.



Quotes
-Marine Raiders
 * "Our artillery will shake them up!"


 * "Enemy artillery!"

-Imperial Japanese Army


 * "Our artillery will force them into submission!"


 * "Enemy artillery!"

-Wehrmacht


 * "Our artillery will shake them up."


 * "Enemy artillery!"

-Red Army
 * "Our artillery will break their will! "


 * "Enemy artillery!"

Trivia

 * For all intents and purposes, the Artillery Strike is identical to the Airstrike in COD4.
 * The Artillery symbol is the same as the Artillery symbol in The Mace in Call of Duty 3, which was also made by Treyarch.
 * Sometimes, 2 or more artillery strikes will occur at the same time. This can be done if the artillery strikes are called at the exact same time. However, it is very rare to have 2+ strikes called at the EXACT same time.
 * The artillery strike sounds different on the Wii version, as the screeching sound it makes when it hits it's gone.
 * Interestingly, the artillery symbol is in COD4.
 * If you look in the distance when artillery is called in it is possible to see the shells trails from their launch site. This is easier on darker maps such as Makin.
 * Some maps have sections that are completely immune to attack by Artillery strikes. On Downfall, for instance, the artillery shells fired by the Nazis cannot strike the upper stairs of the Reichstag building due to its height and the angle at which the shells fall.
 * Artillery strikes have far more warning than do airstrikes from Call of Duty 4. Things that makes it easier to tell it's coming is the announcer tells everyone there is an enemy artillery inbound (the announcer is oblivious to airstrikes in Call of Duty 4), they can hear a siren (by the time the player can hear an enemy airstrike, it is already too late if they are in the area it is hitting), they can see red artillery symbols on the mini-map (though, this was present in Call of Duty 4 with airstrikes), it takes far longer for them to reach their destination than airstrikes did, and the player can hear friendly characters yelling about taking cover (this is not the people controlling the character, but the character themselves (similar to an AI unit). World at War also has far better collision effects than does Call of Duty 4 meaning that the cover a player takes is far more reliable than the roofs in Call of Duty 4 (which many times has explosions phase through the ceiling). While there are some places this occurs in World at War, they are no where near as numerous as those of Call of Duty 4. Consequently, getting kills with artillery strikes is drastically harder than getting kills with an airstrike. It should also be noted that the area affected by the artillery is far less than the area affected by an airstrike.
 * As mentioned above, explosions from artillery shells do not phase through roofs like the airstrikes did in Call of Duty 4. If the player gets killed while inside a building when an artillery strike comes in, that means he more than likely was too close to some opening (a door, window, etc.) where the explosion was able to come in through. In fact, it is very rare for a player to be affected by an artillery strike even if the roof over their head is partially blown out already (the artillery shells will hit the roof still and, as mentioned, do not phase through the roof).
 * Though it is harder to hit an enemy with an artillery strike, their power is noticeably stronger than that of the airstrikes in Call of Duty 4. Whereas an airstrike in Call of Duty 4 many times would generate a hitmarker without a kill (this is increased with airstrikes in Modern Warfare 2), it is extremely rare to get a hitmarker without a kill with an artillery strike, and if that does happen, that means the player was right on the edge of the artillery strike (though they are definitely beating red and one bullet should kill them).
 * Artillery strikes are more accurate than airstrikes in Call of Duty 4. Artillery strikes hit their target and kill everyone in the area. On the other hand, in Call of Duty 4, a person can find a corner just barely outside the pathway of the airstrike and not get killed. It should also be noted that the exact path the bombs drop can be slightly random at times (not hitting exactly where the player put it) unlike the artillery strike which hits in the area of the target on the minimap (with explosions increasing the radius) far more often if not all the time
 * The Tier 3 perk, Reconnaissance, allows the player to see the area the Artillery strike is set to be.
 * Every announcer says, "Enemy Artillery!"