Call of Duty Wiki:Ask A Veteran/Camping

Camping is a popular, but often misinterpreted, tactic used throughout the Call of Duty Series, especially in competitive games.

Definition
Often seen as a cheap strategy, camping is frowned upon on most online levels. Campers are, however, misinterpreted as bad players who cannot rush or play highly aggressively, when in a lot of cases, especially in objective gametypes (such as Demolition) they are playing the game as it should be. As with Rushing (or any other playing strategy), camping can only be as successful as the skill of the player will allow. Campers who remain in the same place for too long are very likely to be killed once the enemy gets wise to them. The most successful Campers often shuffle their positions around after so many kills to prevent this from happening.

Camping is the polar opposite of Rushing. While rushers are almost always moving, searching for their targets, campers will wait in a certain location for targets to come to them.

In killing games, (Free-for-All and Team Deathmatch) camping is essentially waiting for enemies to pass by the player's position or area, rather than actively seeking them out, regularly for extended periods of time. Players usually camp in order to gain a tactical advantage over their opponents. Camping is a strategy that relies on a lack of patience in other players, especially when &quot;revenge-killers&quot; become angered by the enemy camping.

In several game types, camping is a legitimate style of play, often in defensive based games, comparable to 'turtling". In game types such as Capture the Flag, as well as Domination, it is not nearly as detrimental to gameplay as it would be in game types such as Free-For-All and Team Deathmatch.

It often proves frustrating, particularly to new players, as it rewards those who are very familiar with the map. This is due to new players being unfamiliar with which areas are the best defensive positions and where the heavily trafficked areas exist. Another problem is when campers exploit hard to get to places on the map which most players do not even realize are accessible, such as the roof on Castle.

Camping Strategies
The effectiveness of camping varies depending on what game type the player is playing on, and what tactics are used.

In deathmatch games (Team Deathmatch and Free-For-All), camping is usually detrimental to the user's team. Deathmatch games encourage aggressive play, and camping is time consuming that may only give a few kills, where a player who seeks out the enemy will usually get more kills.

In objective games, camping is a legitimate style of play, especially on defense. Defending the objective requires the player to stay near the objective's general area to keep the attackers away from it. Unlike deathmatch games, this can offer more kills, as the enemy team comes towards the player's location to accomplish their objective. On offense however, camping is detrimental to the player's team, as they would prove more useful to their team if they accomplished the objective.

The most common type of camper will stay in a corner, or dark space, usually aiming their weapon at a doorway or other chokepoint. If there are other ways for the enemy to attack the camper, they are usually covered with explosive equipment, Camera Spikes or Motion Sensors. After a few kills, it is recommended for the player to move to another nearby location, as the same enemy usually comes back to the position expecting the player in the same place as the last time.

Another type of camping involves the player remaining in the same general area, but covering more area than the above strategy. This strategy is more risky than the first due to more movement required, but as a result can guarantee more kills. Usually, the above mentioned equipment is not used, due to the amount of movement, but they can still prove useful.

Sometimes, even the "rushing" type players will camp just outside of the enemy team's spawn and trap the enemy team there, making any players killed there remain in the same part of the map. as opposed to rushing into the spawn, which would make any players killed there likely to spawn on the other side of the map.. This is called "Spawn Camping" and is most often done on the Black Ops map Summit, as there are really only two spawns, and only 3 narrow ways out of each one, making it easy to ensure no enemy gets behind the spawn camping team.

Sniping is usually referred to as camping, but this is incorrect as it is legitimate use of the sniper rifle to wait for targets to come into view, as a sniper rifle is difficult to use while mobile.

All weapons preform well when camping, depending on the range. Most campers will face enemies at close range, so Submachine Guns and Shotguns work best. Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns and Sniper Rifles can aid in longer range encounters.

Because of Light Machine Guns and Sniper Rifles being difficult to use on the move, they are generally used for camping.

Advantages
The camping player gains advantages in many ways:
 * Camping players often watch choke points from behind cover. Good choke points protect the camper's flanks and give them only one place to watch for enemies. The cover protects them and makes them harder to spot. Conversely, a player moving through the choke is forced to be in the open and look over a wide area for potential threats.
 * Campers often remain in ADS mode, giving them extra zoom and saving the time it normally takes to enter ADS. Enemies moving through the area are rarely in ADS as ADS slows moving players down and lessens their situational awareness.
 * Moving players are often sprinting. The camper, on the other hand, is in ADS with weapon drawn giving the sprinting player almost no chance to stop sprinting, pull out their weapon then raise it to ADS in order to accurately return fire.
 * Moving players are often forced to expose their flanks to fire. Unless moving with a team, certain map locations are simply impossible to "check the corners" in all directions. Campers, on the other hand, minimize this exposure.
 * Opposing players, due to their desire for revenge, will often repeatedly rush campers giving the camper multiple easy kills, especially if the camper changes position to spots overlooking the same area.
 * Camping can be a way to hold the best ground, especially on maps like Rundown on Modern Warfare 2,. If the player can keep in a good position where it makes it impossible for the enemy to get around can be advantageous in game modes like Search and Destroy, or stall for time in Demolition.
 * Camping helps out with getting more high-end killstreaks for players like Chopper Gunner, AC-130, EMP, or even the Tactical Nuke, however players may need to wait a while for that many kills. This method is quite popular, and has led to the "Camping for Killstreaks" term.
 * It promotes teamwork so the team can have rushers, and campers to cover them.
 * Now in Black Ops they can use the camera spike to cover the flank, or even at advance positions to their camping spot, so killing campers gets harder as they see you sooner

Disadvantages

 * To get kills, players need patience.
 * Popular or well-known camping spots may easily become compromised if opponents know how to get around them.
 * Many players look down on camping, and may flame and spam the player for it.
 * Opponents who know the popular camping spots may throw or shoot an explosive at the camping location as a precaution. It is usually difficult for a camper to avoid these.
 * Camping can become useless if all the good camping spots are already taken, or if previous camping deaths have wised up players to check all camping spots.
 * Once people have been killed by the camper, they will probably come back for revenge, and while this may give lots of kills, the camper may eventually be killed as more opponents become aware of their position.

Ways to beat Campers

 * Use Heartbeat Sensors and slowly move across the screen to see if the enemies move or not (players with the Ninja Perk on will not be detected).
 * If the player keeps getting killed by the same camper over and over in the corner, use explosives (Frag Grenade, Grenade Launcher/Thumper, Semtex, C4, AT4, RPG) on that enemy to kill him.
 * Use smoke grenades where the player always get killed to block the screen of the camper in that area and kill the camper quickly before the smoke fades. A Heartbeat Sensor and/or a Thermal Sight can ruin this tactic.
 * Use Flashbang or Stun Grenades and do the same thing said above. Heartbeat sensor cannot negate this tactic although hip fire/blind fire can be successful.
 * Use the Steady Aim Perk to hip-fire more accurately that can cancel the need to aim down the sight, which takes a precious second and slows down movement while aiming, as well as gaining an advantage in Close Quarter Combat. Hip-Firing is often necessary, because campers generally spend long periods of time waiting in ADS for enemies to appear, so they will already have an advantage in this respect.
 * If a camper is known to be lurking behind a corner it is advisable to start spraying bullets at the exact moment (or perhaps even slightly before) the player must turn the corner to face them. Odds are this will take the camper completely by surprise, as they would no sooner be able to see the player appear than be faced by a hail storm of bullets. Odds are they will be dead before they can fire off a single shot in retaliation. This tactic is best used if the player has no more grenades available, or if the camper happens to be using Flak Jacket/Blast Shield, which would make grenades ineffective.
 * FMJ/Deep Impact/Hardened can be used in many cases to kill campers by simply shooting through the walls/cover they are hiding behind. If this strategy is to be employed, it is advised to use a Machine Gun if possible, because this combines both the penetrating power and high rate of fire to spray at a concealed opponent. SMGs can also work, but are less suitable due to their smaller penetrating capability. Sniper Rifles can work, but their extremely low rate of fire makes it difficult to hit unseen enemies through walls.
 * In many cases campers rely on line of sight to get kills. Throwing a flashbang or two then quickly rushing him makes killing campers as safe as possible. This also allows for cases where there are multiple campers in one small area, as the flashbang will blind them all.
 * Many campers tend to use claymores, C4, or a combination of both (if they are using One Man Army.) Keeping this in mind, often a good way to find the general location of a camper is using SitRep. Typically the camper has close proximity to their equipment. After disabling or destroying the equipment proceed with caution to flush out the camper.
 * Always watch your Kill Cam in situations where you do not know who killed you or where they were. The Kill Cam will allow you to view your demise from the eyes of the person who did it to you, and this can help you pin point exactly where they were located. This is especially useful in situations where the Camper is using suppressed weapons and/or stealth related perks, as they may never appear on the minimap as a red dot.
 * Above all else, try to avoid being killed by the Camper. Although this seems obvious, its very important because the more kills a camper receives the more and better killstreaks he/she can call in. This can be disastrous for your team's odds of winning. Logically speaking, vengeance is not worthwhile if you have to die multiple times in order to payback an enemy only once. Besides, many campers are well aware of the great lengths their opponents will go to in order to kill them, but consider it an acceptable price if it gives them a better kill/death ratio after all is said and done. Try not to let your emotions get the better of you, because this is what they want.