Tomahawk

"Retrievable throwing hatchet that causes instant death on impact."

- In-game description

The Tomahawk is a weapon in Call of Duty: Black Ops, occupying the Lethal Grenade slot. It is similar to Modern Warfare 2's Throwing Knife, instantly killing any player it hits. Unlike the Throwing Knife, however, the Tomahawk always bounces off walls and floors when thrown, making ricochet kills (known as a bank shot) a more likely possibility. It is used in Sticks and Stones as a weapon that resets the victim's score to zero (known as bankrupting) if hit, and will award the player with 10 points. It costs.

Tactics

 * Tomahawks should be used to lead the enemy, when the player is throwing from long distances.
 * Tomahawks should be thrown at the chest area, as it is the largest area to hit, and therefore the easiest.
 * Tomahawks should be thrown slightly above the target, as they suffer from severe drop off due to gravity. This range above the target should be adjusted accordingly from the players distance.
 * When trying to get lucky tomahawks from across the map, one should jump as one throws. Doing so will increase the range on large maps.
 * When trying for bankshots, the player should never throw directly into the corner. Instead, they should try throwing near the corner, on the wall that is parallel to them.
 * The player should try to keep their distance close to the target. This decreases the risk of missing.
 * If one is attempting stealth, tomahawks are an apt choice, as they are silent, and can easily be retrieved.

Trivia

 * The "Bank Shot" medal is awarded to players who kill by bouncing a Tomahawk off of one or more surfaces and into an enemy.
 * This weapon is also used by the player in the beginning of "Rebirth."
 * No extra XP is awarded for scoring a headshot with the Tomahawk.
 * On each side of the head of the Tomahawk, the words "M. Striker" are visibly engraved. This is a lot harder to see on the Wii version of the game, due to a lot lesser detailed model.
 * Amazingly, it is possible to take down a killstreak, such as a Attack Helicopter, with a Tomahawk. It is impossible to destroy a Spy Plane or Counter Spy Plane, as they fly out-of-range.
 * Readying the Tomahawk (holding down RB on the Xbox 360, and R2 on the PS3) while climbing a ladder allows the player to engage a target at the top of the ladder where they would normally be helpless. It is possible to do this with all lethal grenades.
 * The "Scalper" XP bonus is a reference to the practice of scalping.
 * The Op 40 and the Tropas lightweight model has an unusable Tomahawk sheathed in their uniforms. It uses a different, green model than the one that appears in game.
 * When throwing back a Fragmentation Grenade, and one has a Tomahawk as their Lethal Grenade, you can hear the whooshing of the Tomahawk while the grenade is thrown back, and strangely, it turns into a Fragmentation Grenade in your inventory. However, it is just the icon swapped out and is still a Tomahawk.
 * If you throw a Tomahawk at a player who is using the zipline, the corpse will fall down, but the Tomahawk will follow the zipline. Also the player will spawn with the Tomahawk still stuck in them.
 * In Nuketown, when a Tomahawk is thrown at the windscreen wipers of the bus, the Tomahawk will start to spin forwards.
 * The player can have two Tomahawks at once, without Warlord. The player will need to pick up a Tomahawk and run over a Scavenger Pack at the same time. If done corrrectly, the player will have two Tomahawks in their inventory.
 * For unknown reasons, sometimes the Tomahawk may home in on and kill a player that is a few feet away even if not in the Tomahawk's flight path.
 * If the player throws a Tomahawk at their teammate, the Tomahawk will float up in the air and disappear. (Comfirmed on the Wii)
 * It is possible for a Tomahawk to bounce of one enemy and hit another causing a double kill as shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPTFe2QYJY&feature=channel_video_title.