Infected

Infected, also known as Sickness as an April Fool's day joke, is a custom game mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 which started as a private match game mode before being released to the online community public playlist on February 5, 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and on May 9, 2012 for PC. It is also available in Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The game starts with all players being survivors. In the upper left hand corner of the screen, there is a timer that starts with nine seconds counting down until the game begins. After the nine seconds, one player is randomly chosen to be the first infected. The remaining personnel are the non-infected players, hence the name "Survivors". These surviving players must hide from and/or kill the Infected to try and survive until time runs out; each game lasts five minutes. The Survivors spawn with a random weapon (depending on what the custom settings are) and must survive by killing the Infected and/or hiding. 50 points are given to Survivors every time a Survivor is infected. The name given with the points is "Survivor". The round ends when either the last Survivor is killed/infected, or time runs out, and the new round will start pending on a new player to be infected.

However, there is a twist in public Infected. Any place where the players will be notoriously difficult to knife by normal circumstances is a 'death zone', wherein a player (including the Infected themselves) will automatically die and join the Infected (if not already). This originally also applied to Private Matches, but community outrage led to this being reversed in Private Matches. Notable are listed below in "Death Zones."

Another Infected variant exclusive to the map Dome has all the players begin as Juggernauts only armed with .44 Magnums with Akimbo, the Scavenger Perk, and nothing else. As before, when the timer is up one player becomes the infected, and gains the Infect loadout: Striker, XM25, Semtex, Tactical Insertion, Sleight of Hand, Quickdraw, Steady Aim, and Dead Man's Hand, while keeping the Juggernaut suit. After one kill he loses his Juggernaut suit, but retains the loadout. As usual, the Juggernauts must kill the Infected; any slain Juggernaut is transferred to the Infected team. The Juggernauts win if at least one person can hold out until the time is up; otherwise victory is forfeited and the infected win. It is also impossible to hide in this loadout, since the map is always very small, and the Infected radar always shows the Juggernaut icon.

Call of Duty: Ghosts
Infected again returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts. It plays similarly to the Modern Warfare 3 variant, with the same objective and the Infected receiving Tactical Insertions and Throwing Knifes. At the start of the game, players have 15 seconds until one of the 12 Survivors (18 on Xbox One, PC and Playstation 4) turns into an infected. Instead of a Combat Knife, the first Infected will sport a selected weapon (primarily the M9A1 pistol) until he claims his first victim. Once the First Infected is selected, he has two minutes to infect the first Survivor. All survivors spawn with the Scavenger perk and a Specialist strike package. With each Survivor turned into an Infected, the timer will reset back to two minutes. This means an Infected match could last up to 22 minutes if the Survivors are not killed fast enough. When there is one Survivor left, a radar sweep will occur every 30 seconds. Since Survivors do not have Off the Grid (except in Infected Lynx by getting five kills), their death is almost inevitable, regardless of how well they hide, unless they have superior skills and can hold off the infected until time runs out.

Survivors use their current customized renders while the Infected are rendered with a tan hooded jacket.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Infected again returns in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. It is mostly the same as in Call of Duty: Ghosts except the loadout is a random primary weapon and the abilities of the Exoskeleton. Infected players are given a unique HAZMAT suit, while survivors are given their currently selected custom operator.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
"Eliminated Survivors become Infected. Infect everyone, or survive the game to win."

- In-game description.

Infected again returns in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The game mode in this game has a few changes to it. At the start of the game, players have 15 seconds until one of the 18 Survivors turns into an infected. The first infected will have two minutes and thirty seconds to infect the first survivor. When each Survivor turns into an infected, 30 seconds will be added in the timer. The timer doesn't reset if a player kills themselves. With each Survivor turned into an Infected, the timer will reset back to two minutes. This means an Infected match could last up to 22 minutes if the Survivors are not killed fast enough. When there is one Survivor left, a radar sweep will occur every 30 seconds, which will lead to their inevitable death as they do not have the Ghost perk on to hide themselves.

Knife vs. Striker

 * Primary Weapon: Striker (Extended Mags with Damage Weapon Proficiency)
 * Secondary Weapon: Five Seven (Akimbo)
 * Lethal Item: C4
 * Tactical Item: None
 * Perks: Scavenger, Hardline, Steady Aim
 * Rewards: Sleight of Hand, Quickdraw, Dead Silence
 * Bonus Perks: None
 * Death Streak: None

Knife vs. PP90M1

 * Primary Weapon: PP90M1 (with Kick Proficiency)
 * Secondary Weapon: .44 Magnum (Akimbo)
 * Lethal Item: Claymore
 * Tactical Item: None
 * Perks: Scavenger, Quickdraw, Stalker
 * Rewards: Sleight of Hand, Dead Silence, Steady Aim
 * Bonus Perks: None
 * Death Streak: None

Knife vs. FMG-9

 * Primary Weapon: None
 * Secondary Weapon: FMG-9 (Akimbo)
 * Lethal Item: C4
 * Tactical Item: None
 * Perks: Scavenger, Hardline, Steady Aim
 * Rewards: Sleight of Hand, Quickdraw, Dead Silence
 * Bonus Perks: None
 * Death Streak: None

Knife vs. Type 95

 * Primary Weapon: Type 95 (with Red Dot Sight)
 * Secondary Weapon: .44 Magnum (Akimbo)
 * Lethal Item: Claymore
 * Tactical Item: None
 * Perks: Scavenger, Quickdraw, Stalker
 * Rewards: Sleight of Hand, Dead Silence, Steady Aim
 * Bonus Perks: None
 * Death Streak: None

Knife vs. Barrett

 * Primary weapon: Barrett .50 Cal (Attachments proficiency providing Extended mags and Heartbeat sensor)
 * Secondary Weapon: Five Seven (Akimbo)
 * Lethal Item: Bouncing Betty
 * Tactical Item: None
 * Perks: Sleight of Hand, Hardline, Steady Aim
 * Rewards: Quickdraw, Assassin, Marksman
 * Bonus Perks: Scavenger (Survivors do not start with extra ammo the Pro variant provides and must acquire a blue pack after every kill to keep themselves supplied.)
 * Death Streak: None

Striker vs. Jugg

 * Primary Weapon: None
 * Secondary Weapon: .44 Magnum (Akimbo)
 * Lethal Item: None
 * Tactical Item: None
 * Perks: Scavenger
 * Rewards: None
 * Bonus Perks: None
 * Death Streak: None
 * Juggernaut Suit Enabled

Jugg vs. MK46 (Removed)

 * Primary Weapon: MK46 with Kick Proficiency
 * Secondary Weapon: RPG-7
 * Lethal Item: Claymore
 * Tactical Item: Smoke Grenade
 * Perks: Scavenger, Quickdraw, Steady Aim
 * Rewards: None
 * Bonus Perks: None
 * Death Streak: None

Knife vs. .44 Magnum (Removed)

 * Primary Weapon: None
 * Secondary Weapon: .44 Magnum with Akimbo
 * Lethal Item: C4
 * Tactical Item: Concussion Grenades
 * Perks: Scavenger, Quickdraw, Steady Aim
 * Rewards: None
 * Bonus Perks: None
 * Death Streak: None

Default

 * Primary Weapon: None
 * Secondary Weapon: Empty USP .45 with Tactical Knife
 * Lethal Item: Throwing Knife
 * Tactical Item: Tactical Insertion
 * Perks: Extreme Conditioning and Quickdraw, Dead Silence granted in some cases
 * Rewards: None
 * Bonus Perk: Either Marathon, Lightweight or both. Grants a speed boost similar to the effects of Juiced
 * Death Streak: Juiced

Striker vs. Jugg

 * Primary: Striker with Extended Mags and Range proficiency
 * Secondary: XM25
 * Lethal Item: Semtex
 * Tactical Item: Tactical Insertion
 * Perks: Sleight of Hand, Quickdraw and Steady Aim
 * Rewards: None
 * Bonus Perk: None
 * Death Streak: Dead Man's Hand

Jugg vs. MK46 (Removed)

 * Primary: None
 * Secondary: Empty USP .45 with Tactical Knife
 * Lethal Item: Throwing Knife
 * Tactical Item: Tactical Insertion
 * Perks: Extreme Conditioning, Quickdraw, Dead Silence
 * Rewards: None
 * Bonus Perk: None
 * Death Streak: Juiced
 * Juggernaut Suit Enabled

"First Infected"
The game starts with a nine second countdown where a random player becomes the "First Infected". Once the first player becomes infected, he doesn't start out with the knife loadout, but rather at first uses the current Survivor loadout (example: the first Infected will still be holding his Striker), however, it comes with the Throwing Knife, Tactical Insertion, and the Infected Perks. Their Death Streak is Hollow Points. The First Infected uses the gun to infect a second person. Once this is achieved, the Infected will then use their knife loadout for the remainder of the match.

In the case of the Barrett loadout, the First Infected will use an ACR 6.8 w/ Silencer and Red Dot Sight to give an edge in Infecting the next victim, since it is more effective than attempting to spray and pray, or even attempt to quickscope a second victim. In "Striker vs. Jugg", the first infected will receive a Juggernaut Suit. In "Jugg vs. MK46", they will receive an MK46 with Extended Mags, but this mode has since been scrapped.

When there are only two Infected, if one of them leaves, then the other becomes "First Infected" again, and must infect another player to continue the cycle and the game.

Infected Bulldog

 * Primary Weapon: Bulldog
 * Secondary Weapon: None
 * Equipment: I.E.D., Concussion Grenade
 * Perks: Marathon, Dead Silence, Scavenger
 * Specialist Package: None
 * First Infected is given the M9A1

Infected MTS

 * Primary Weapon: MTS-255 w/ Red Dot Sight and Muzzle Brake
 * Secondary Weapon: P226 w/ Akimbo
 * Equipment: I.E.D.
 * Perks: Sleight of Hand, Steady Aim, Scavenger, Hardline
 * Specialist Package: Quickdraw, Reflex, Dead Silence, Ping (Specialist Bonus)
 * First Infected is given the M9A1

Infected PDW

 * Primary Weapon: Combat Knife
 * Secondary Weapon: PDW w/ Extended Mags
 * Equipment: C4 (X2)
 * Perks: Strong Arm, Steady Aim, Scavenger, Extra Lethal, Hardline
 * Specialist Package: Sleight of Hand, Quickdraw, Dead Silence
 * First Infected is given the M9A1

Infected MSBS

 * Primary Weapon: MSBS w/ Red Dot Sight
 * Secondary Weapon: .44 Magnum
 * Equipment: I.E.D.
 * Perks: Ready Up, Stalker, Quickdraw, Scavenger
 * Specialist Package: Sleight of Hand, Reflex, Dead Silence
 * First infected is given the M9A1

Infected Lynx

 * Primary Weapon: Lynx w/ Extended Mags
 * Secondary Weapon: M9A1 w/ Akimbo
 * Equipment: I.E.D.
 * Perks: Sleight of Hand, Scavenger, Focus, Hardline
 * Specialist Package: Quickdraw, Reflex, Off the Grid
 * First Infected is given the M9A1

Infected Riot Shield

 * Primary Weapon: Riot Shield w/ Titanium Frame
 * Secondary Weapon: .44 Magnum w/ Akimbo
 * Equipment: I.E.D.
 * Perks: Ready Up, Sleight of Hand, Scavenger, Resilience, Hardline
 * Specialist Package: Steady Aim, Reflex, Dead Silence
 * First Infected is given the Bulldog; Remaining Infected are given a Semtex instead of Throwing Knife.

Infected Loadout

 * Primary Weapon: Combat Knife
 * Secondary Weapon: None
 * Lethal: Throwing Knife (Semtex on the Riot loadout)
 * Tactical: Tactical Insertion
 * Perks: Resilience, Dead Silence (Sometimes), Marathon

Survivor

 * Primary Weapon: Random
 * Secondary Weapon: None
 * Exo Ability: Exo Shield
 * Exo Launcher: Explosive Drone
 * Perk 1: Scavenger

Initial Infected

 * Primary Weapon: RW-1
 * Secondary Weapon: Combat Knife
 * Exo Launcher: Spike Drone
 * Exo Ability: Tactical Insertion

Infected

 * Primary Weapon: Combat Knife
 * Secondary Weapon: None
 * Exo Launcher: Spike Drone
 * Exo Ability: Tactical Insertion

Class Loadouts (Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare)
In all loadouts, the Combat Rigs' payloads and traits are disabled; they also come equipped with a Combat Knife instead of Fists.

In a playlist update on 1/13/2017, players can no longer "cheat" and always become a Survivor by waiting for the Infected countdown before spawning. Players who do so now automatically become Infected when they first spawn (except for players joining session in progress).

Shotguns vs. Knives

 * Primary Weapon: S-Ravage w/ Rifled Barrel (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Secondary Weapon: Kendall 44
 * Lethal: Trip Mine
 * Tactical: Jammer Grenade
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained

Survivor Rack-9 (former)

 * Primary Weapon: Rack-9 (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Secondary Weapon: Kendall 44
 * Lethal: Trip Mine
 * Tactical: Jammer Grenade
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained

ARs vs. Knives

 * Primary Weapon: R3K w/ Faraday Slug (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Secondary Weapon: None
 * Lethal: Plasma Grenade
 * Tactical: Jammer Grenade
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained

SMGs vs. Knives

 * Primary Weapon: FHR-40 w/ Hollow Point (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Secondary Weapon: None
 * Lethal: T.A.R.
 * Tactical: Smoke Grenade
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained

Snipers vs. Knives

 * Primary Weapon: TF-141 (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Secondary Weapon: EMC
 * Lethal: Trip Mine
 * Tactical: Personal Radar
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained

Survivor M1 (former)

 * Primary Weapon: M1 (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Secondary Weapon: Hailstorm w/ Hollow Point
 * Lethal: Black Hole Projector
 * Tactical: Cyro Mine
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained
 * Payload: Phase Shift

Payloads Active

 * Primary Weapon: OSA w/ Grenade Launcher + Hollow Point (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Secondary Weapon: None
 * Lethal: Black Hole Projector
 * Tactical: Cyro Mine
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained
 * Payload: Phase Shift

Pistols vs Knives

 * Primary Weapon: None
 * Secondary Weapon: Hornet w/ Akimbo + Hollow Point (w/ Nuclear + Refresh)
 * Lethal: Flechette Grenade
 * Tactical: Jammer Grenade
 * Perk: Dexterity (not shown in-game), Scavenger, Dead Silence
 * Specialist Bonus: 3 kills + Quickdraw, 5 kills + Steady Aim, 7 kills + Bonus Perks Gained

Infected

 * Primary weapon: Combat Knife
 * Secondary weapon: Fists
 * Lethal: Throwing Knife
 * Tactical: Tactical Insertion

Infected Payloads Active

 * Primary weapon: Combat Knife
 * Secondary weapon: Fists
 * Lethal: Throwing Knife
 * Tactical: Tactical Insertion
 * Perk: Tracker
 * Trait: Ping
 * Payload: Reaper

Initial Infected

 * Primary weapon: Survivor's Primary
 * Secondary weapon: Survivor's Secondary/No Secondary
 * Lethal: Throwing Knife
 * Tactical: Tactical Insertion

Final Survivor
When there is one Survivor left, that player will be notified as "Final Survivor". The Infected have the rest of the game to search the entire map for the last Survivor, therefore, the faster the Infected can kill the normal players, the more time they have to search for the last man. This is at least somewhat dependent on their skills with both the normal knife and the Throwing Knife. The map's size and number of players must also be kept in mind.

The Survivor may sometimes be hiding in a patch of grass in a place that is mostly overlooked, so the Infected have to make sure they look at every piece of scenery and environment around every corner of the map. On occasions, the Survivor will be making his last stand on the popular camping spots of the maps, and if the map is small, such as the catwalks on Dome or the street side of Underground, the Infected simply have to swarm the survivor.

When the Survivor has not been located for a while, a radar pings every 10-15 seconds, showing the red dot where he is hiding. If the Survivor has earned Assassin, the radar effect is negated and he won't appear on the minimap. Even if the Survivor does not possess said perk, should the MOAB/KEM/De-Atomizer be activated, the radar is useless for the 60 seconds it is active.

If there are fewer than 17 Infected (12 in Call of Duty: Ghosts on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U, and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare on all consoles) and a Final Survivor, should a new player connect into the lobby, the connecting player becomes a new Survivor and the radar scan is negated until only the Final Survivor remains. This poses a problem for the Infected who are already searching hard for the Final Survivor, only to find out an anonymous new player has entered the game and delayed their victory, or when the "final" Survivor has finally been killed, the game still hasn't ended because a new Survivor has just connected. This could be frustrating especially when the game is coming down to the final seconds, the new Survivor connects and just hides long enough for the game to end, thus the Survivor wins.

Death zones (Modern Warfare 3)
These are a list of "death zones" that are present in public Infected. These zones automatically kill the player regardless of being a survivor or infected. This is to eliminate certain areas that would otherwise give a survivor an unfair advantage, usually due to them being out of reach of the infected.

The death zones include but are not limited to:

Arkaden

 * The van in the loading dock.
 * The potted bush, opposite of the top of the escalators.

Bakaara

 * The top of some roofing, just near the Black Hawk, as well as the top of the downed chopper itself.

Decommission

 * There are kill zones beyond a "barrier" below the broken steel window of the southwest ship - sometimes, some players still somehow manage to get over and into the seemingly impossible ledge in the corner down there. Because the last Survivor who knows this glitch tends to camp there, the rest of the Infected would always crowd in there, making it extremely difficult to reach in there and even more difficult to attempt a Throwing Knife.

Downturn

 * The lamppost near the top left, just near the destroyed fire engine.
 * The crane basket near the top right.
 * The ledge in the bottom left, just next to the Marley and Griffin trucks.

Fallen

 * The top of a partially open garage door near the Alpha flag on Fallen, normally accessible by jumping from the railing on the walkway of the adjacent building.

Hardhat

 * The propane tanks sitting on a truck bed near the yellow bulldozer.
 * The barrels behind the fenced forklift vehicle in the middle.

Resistance

 * The signpost leading to the magazine stall.

Seatown

 * The edge of a building roof in Seatown, near the restaurant in the far southeast corner of the map.

Underground

 * The signpost just after a window where the destroyed trains are.

General

 * A Host Migration can occur if the "First Infected" ends the game before infecting another player, thus causing the network to reboot and randomly select another "Infected".

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

 * In "Striker vs. Jugg", the First Infected will have black armor.
 * The PP90M1 originally had extended mags, but was later removed.
 * This game mode is not present for the Wii though it is still available by means of hacking and can be played only in private match.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

 * The player cannot change the time limit in private match.
 * In Call of Duty: Ghosts, the Tactical Insertion, the Infected used look like different and low quality model.
 * All consoles have different loadouts while the Wii U only uses the Bulldog loadout.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

 * The Bulldog was originally the starting weapon at all times, but then it was changed to being a random primary weapon.
 * In Private Match, if the player adds scorestreaks to the preset class the Survivors team uses, they will not show up in the player's loadout during gameplay and cannot be earned.
 * Unlike Public Match, if the player equips the Scavenger perk in Private Match, it is completely useless with every gun.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

 * When the game launched, the S-Ravage loadout was the only one available when the game launched. It was announced in December 2016 that more guns are being tested.
 * This will be the only gamemode in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare to be able to use a Specialist strike package.