Claymore

The Claymore is an Anti-Personnel Mine used by the United States military. It is featured in both the single player and multiplayer in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a player set explosive. In the multiplayer, it is unlocked at Level 23 in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Level 31 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The Claymore is used in both the Single and Multiplayer modes. In single player, the Claymore can be used to prepare an area for enemy assault or to cover a vulnerable flank, as it only causes damage directly in front of the mine as opposed to a bubble-effect like grenades or C4.

In single player, claymores will usually be in your inventory at the start of the level, and you will often start with 2 of them. Many players will rarely use them as they have no real tactical purpose except in One Shot, One Kill. The only claymore preset in the game is in One Shot, One Kill. After sniping Zakhaev, look to the left before roping down. There is a claymore in front of the door (in case an enemy came upstairs to ambush the sniper team).

In multiplayer, the Claymore is unlocked at level 23 and can be used to defend a position from enemy assault. This is mostly used by snipers who want to defend their position from an enemy bent on killing them. You are given only two at a time, however, as a perk in your first slot; thus, other possible choices such as an RPG-7 or extra Special Grenades are forfeited. You can also increase the amount of damage delivered by the claymore by using it with the Sonic Boom perk, which increases the damage of all your explosive weapons. When activated, the Claymore will make a single clicking sound, before detonating (.83 sec. delay). A Claymore can be spotted by the red lasers it produces or with the Bomb Squad perk. Defeating a Claymore can be done by throwing a grenade at its position or shooting the mine. Although not harmful to the person setting it down when detonated if said person is standing behind it, it will kill or seriously injure a player if it is detonated with them in front of it.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The Claymore returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, but this time it uses the Equipment slot instead of being given via a perk. Also, you only receive one instead of two. It takes roughly one full second to activate once tripped. The actual blast radius has been increased. A suspecting or fast-reacting enemy can hear it tripped as soon as it is first flipped and back off just before it explodes. However, even the most skilled of players will find it difficult to evade a well-placed Claymore that they didn't know was there. It is useful if you place it on the side of a door facing at a angle away from the door, so the player can not avoid it.

Not just for kills, Claymores are often also used as an early-warning system that enemies are coming. They are now also temporarily disabled by enemy Stun Grenades and Flash Grenades detonating nearby (and grenades thrown by the person who planted the Claymore). Deactivated Claymores will spark and smoke a little. After about 5 seconds the Claymore will reactivate and will explode as normal when triggered. Additionally, Claymores are immediately placed when the equipment button is pressed, instead of being drawn with one button press and placed with the primary fire button, as in Call of Duty 4. This means Claymores can be placed as a last-ditch reaction when the enemy is rushing, which can be a good way to get a kill from beyond the grave. If you have a Claymore placed and you die, it will disappear once you respawn, so if you died from an enemy that is near your Claymore, you may want to wait a little bit before you spawn; you may just get a kill. One more interesting change is that if the player holds down the equipment button, they can now walk around while planting claymores. In Call of Duty 4, pressing the fire button with the claymore selected would stop the player in place until they finished planting.

It is useful to have the perks Scavenger and Danger Close equipped. These will allow you to pick up extra Claymores from dead enemies and will make them more powerful. One Man Army can also be used for more Claymores. By switching to any class with Claymores equipped (including your current class), you will have another Claymore ready for use. In multiplayer one can only place two Claymores at a time; if a third is placed, the first will explode. If two Claymores are placed so that the laser detectors cross, both will explode. It should be noted that you plant the Claymore immediately after switching to it, unless you hold down the equipment button in which you will then be holding the Claymore in a position ready to deploy it.

A few perks can easily counter Claymores. Scrambler Pro delays Claymores about 3 seconds longer than usual when they are tripped, rendering your Claymores almost useless. Using Lightweight and/or Marathon also allows players to run right by a Claymore before it explodes. Players using the SitRep perk can easily detect claymores and can find a way to destroy, disable or evade them, and some tactically-aware players can pinpoint enemy camping locations using the equipment locations. A well-placed Claymore will still often kill or damage these players, however. Depending on your playing style and how well you can place Claymores depends on how well they will work for you.

Some of the more effective methods of claymore placement are to put them inside "non-colliding" debris on the ground, inside cardboard boxes (such as the ones on Highrise), facing almost completely the other direction from an entry point where an enemy will attempt to run past the claymore but really be blown up from behind, and sometimes even placed out in the open in a high traffic area right in the middle of the road. Facing completely forward, they will trigger from a distance that will kill anyone without speed or scrambler perks, regardless of their reaction time, particularly if they are being led to concentrate on something else, such as weapons fire or what may appear to them to be a camper to easily be knifed from behind. Claymores also prove themselves effective in no respawn gamemodes, such as Search and Destroy, because Claymores will only disappear after the person who has planted them respawns. This means that kills may be achieved a long time after the player who planted the mine has died.

Tips

 * A good counter against people with Marathon and/or Lightweight, who tend to run right past your claymore, is to place the claymore, then use One Man Army to switch to a class with C4. Place the C4 near the claymore. When the claymore explodes, the blast of the claymore will detonate the C4, creating a much larger and more effective explosion with a circular blast radius, unlike the claymore, which directs its blast in one direction, killing the unsuspecting player.
 * A claymore will only detonate when an enemy walks in front of it or is shot, knifed, or blown up by anyone other than a teammate of the player who planted it.
 * A claymore cannot be disabled with a flash or stun grenade by a teammate of the player who planted it.
 * Sometimes a person will walk near a claymore and then walk away from it. This can result in heavy damage but not death. It is recommended that you stay near your claymore in case of this.
 * Claymores are great for tunnels and areas with only one entrance. Examples of this are at the tops of the ladders, where a claymore can only be viewed once one reaches the top. The bunkers and tunnels at Afghan are also a great place for claymores, as the tunnels are traversed often and the bunkers only have one entrance.
 * In Afghan, claymores can easily look like rocks or debris, making them highly beneficial. On the other hand they do not camouflage well in snowy, arctic levels.
 * The trigger lasers for the claymore are actually misleading, as the real trigger range appears to be slightly wider than the actual lasers.
 * A claymore can be placed facing a thin wall as a way to find enemy players as the lasers will stick out through the wall and will still detonate, but will cause no damage.
 * A claymore explosion/triggering can be heard going off by the planter no matter how far away they are from where they set it.
 * If you bait an enemy soldier into going around a corner, you can plant a claymore to protect yourself if they follow you.
 * If a claymore is spotted the easiest and quickest way to destroy it if in range is to knife it from behind. You will receive no damage as long as you remain behind the device. You may need to crouch or lie down for it to explode when knifing.
 * Make sure you don't rush into popular camping spots. Try and peer around the corner, or look for any laser beams from the claymore coming out of the room. Make sure you have cover to move back to and protect you if a claymore is in the immediate vicinity you enter, as well as not going so slow an enemy in the room has enough time to spot and kill you. Also note the longer you take the more chance there is for an enemy to come from behind and catch you off guard.
 * Running past or back from claymores isn't always the best tactic. There is a delay (one second) between the claymore detecting you and exploding. Try and look for and immediate cover close by, such as barrels, or stationary boxes.
 * If the player cannot sprint, jumping behind cover can prove the best option. Making a last effort jump over or slightly above the claymore can be the difference between death and damage.
 * The Scavenger Perk can give a camping enemy an endless supply of claymores as long as they keep killing people. If the same enemy is camping in a spot and you notice they have many claymore kills they probably are using the Scavenger Perk or One Man Army Perk . Expect the claymore to be there, walk in and out again quickly so it detonates but gives you enough time to get out of the blast radius. Or throw a stun grenade close to the device. This will leave it temporarily useless for about 5 seconds. You will know if you were successful in your attempt at disabling it temporarily as it will spark and flash. This method can leave an enemy surprised, as you enter through a passage they may have thought was protected.
 * If you don't want to be killed by claymores, use Sitrep. If you don't want to use Sitrep, you can use One Man Army to switch from and to the Sitrep class before you enter a building with a camper inside.
 * It is recommended you use a silenced Handgun and sitrep to find the claymore as using a conventional weapon (unsilenced) allows the enemy to know you're there.
 * Claymores do not have a ceiling on their explosions - they can kill a player who is floors above them if the surfaces allow it. For this reason, be careful trying to flank a claymore while walking over catwalks and openings.
 * The simplest way to evade claymores without perks is to just watch for red laser lines in the grass or on the other sides of doorways. When you come to a doorway you suspect is mined, press against the wall and look inside the room around the door for the tell-tale lines.

Trivia

 * The sound of the Claymore clicking before it detonates uses the same audio as the mines that would click before detonating as the player walked over them in Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2.
 * When planting the bomb in Search and Destroy, half way through planting the bomb, it is possible to plant a claymore. This is good to avoid "ninja-defusing" and an easy kill should the opposition need to defuse the bomb quickly in the last 5-10 seconds.
 * When planting a Claymore, it says on the back "BACK M18 A1 APERS MINE" and on the front is says, "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY"
 * In Modern Warfare 2, after you plant a bomb, doesn't matter what game type, if you set a claymore you will pick up the yellow "briefcase" that you use to plant the bomb but it won't do anything. This is a glitch.
 * The Claymore is similar to Call of Duty: World at War's Bouncing Betty.
 * If you put a claymore in front of an enemy player standing still, it will not explode.
 * Claymores only affect the area facing the lasers; best to put in corners.