Tactical Nuke

The Tactical Nuke is an unlockable killstreak reward in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Requiring 25 consecutive kills (or 24 with the Hardline perk), this killstreak is the hardest to acquire in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Once used, a ten second countdown will display on all player's screens as the nuclear warhead, although invisible, falls to earth, and a siren will sound. Once the countdown expires, the entire battlefield will be engulfed in white light as the nuke explodes. Time will appear to slow, all vehicles and killstreak rewards will explode, and finally, all spawned players including the user, die on the spot. Chickens, on maps such as Rundown and Karachi, however, do not die. A Tactical Nuke detonation results in an automatic win for the user and their team, no matter what the current score is. Once a Tactical Nuke is called in, the current score will freeze. This means that the scores will not increase even if players capture objectives, or kill enemies. For example, if the score in Domination was 199 to 180 and someone called in a nuke, the score will remain the same. Obtaining a Tactical Nuke usually requires a prolonged amount of camping, cautious gameplay and strategy, often involving Harrier and Chopper Gunner killstreaks. However, because of the difficulty in getting a Tactical Nuke, Nuke Boosting has become increasingly more popular, where two(or more) players sit in a corner of the map with a Tactical Insertion and one kills the other 25 times (24 with Hardline) which then the Nuke if it has been acquired, is called in.

After the Tactical Nuke explodes, it will kill all players who are alive within 5 seconds of its explosion. This can greatly extend the user's killstreak, as long as they are one of the final players killed.

The Nuke does NOT kill players in a random order. The bomb is dropped off map (that's why you can't see it). If standing at the edge of the map, looking out, and where the bomb is dropped (unknown how that is determined) the player will see an explosion and shock wave almost identical to CoD4's 'Shock and Awe' when the Nuke goes off. The players will be killed in order of distance (closest to furthest) of the explosion. This has been confirmed once.

Tips

 * Kills caused by a nuclear detonation do count towards the user's killstreak reported on the leaderboards, as well as his or her score in the match. However, sometimes the Nuke will kill the player before killing the enemy, which ends the player's killstreak. Because of this, firing a nuke may or may not extend the player's longest killstreak, depending on where the nuke goes off. It is rumored that low areas inside buildings are affected last by the nuke.
 * The Tactical Nuke is most practical in larger matches (especially Ground War), as it is much more difficult to acquire 25 kills in smaller games such as Team Deathmatch before other victory conditions are met.
 * The most practical killstreaks for reaching the Tactical Nuke are usually the Harrier Airstrike/Attack Helicopter, and Chopper Gunner/AC130. The reason for this being the Harrier Strike/Attack Helicopter and Chopper Gunner/AC130 have reasonably long loiter times and can kill a large number of enemy players throughout their duration. The downside is that unlike quick-strike abilities such as the Predator Missile and Stealth Bomber, their effectiveness is largely limited by the skill and coordination of the enemy team; it only takes one enemy player rapidly switching to a Cold Blooded class with a Stinger or Javelin to render them useless.
 * It is easier to get a Nuke on an open map (ex. Wasteland and Afghan) because the player can get a large number of kills with the Chopper Gunner or AC130.
 * Sabotage matches are often well suited to earning a nuke as they can last up to and over twenty minutes.

Video
Video:Modern Warfare 2 Free For All #2 Rundown ( Tar-21 ) W/Commentary  Nuke|A Tactical Nuke With Tips Video:Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2 Tactical Nuke sounds compliation| Tactical Nuke announcements (Both friendly and enemy) for all teams Video:Tactical Nuke|Tactical Nuke Alarm Video:Tactical Nuke Full Alarm|Full-lenght Tactical Nuke Alarm Video:Tactical Nuke ( Almost no camping ) by E C 7 O P I C x|Just a normal Nuke

Trivia

 * It is possible to "survive" the explosion. First, the player must have either a Predator Missle, or an AC-130. When time slows, call in the killstreak. The player's character will open the laptop and, through a glitch, will not die. The player will simply stand there with the laptop open. The game, however, will still end.
 * Originally the Tactical Nuke was called Nuclear Strike, and the emblem was a mushroom cloud.
 * Players that have glitched out of the map will still die from a Tactical Nuke.
 * The tactical nuke's launch can't be activated while the player is affected by an active EMP. However, an enemy using an EMP after the launch will not interrupt the countdown, and it will still detonate.
 * When the player acquires a Tactical Nuke, the announcer says things such as: "Tactical Nuke ready, turn the key." When the enemy team deploys one, the team's announcer will say "Enemy Nuke incoming!" followed by a mournful-sounding cry of: "It's over!" or "We're done!"
 * It is possible to survive a nuke; if a player calls in a Predator missile, Chopper Gunner, AC130 or is in Last Stand exactly when the screen goes white and players die, he will survive without being credited with an additional death. However, the player who called the nuke will still be credited with a kill.
 * The Multiplayer title Toxic is unlocked upon being killed by a hostile Tactical Nuke.
 * The nuke, when activated, stops the timer of the game. In addition, points may not be scored (e.g. capturing the flag), but experience will still register.
 * Just after the game was released, points were still accredited to the team score regardless of whether or not a nuke was activated. Due to heavy complaints from gamers who 'finally managed' to obtain the nuke couldn't enjoy it due to the fact that other victory conditions may be met during the nuke countdown. Infinity Ward has now made it so that the game score freezes upon activating a nuke.
 * The player can use two nukes in one game, as the first nuke has exploded and the game has gone slow-mo, the player can activate the other nuke before being killed.
 * Upon detonation, all enemy killstreaks will be destroyed giving the player who called the nuke the amount of XP they would normally get for destroying a killstreak, but all windows will be shattered and strangely the chickens will still be alive. Players will die only when the shockwave reaches them, while killstreaks are destroyed instantly. Killstreak rewards called in by the player's team mates, strangely, are unaffected.
 * Despite much debate, it is not possible to collect a Tactical Nuke from a Care Package or Emergency Airdrop without modding. This has been confirmed by Infinity Ward.
 * If players glitch outside the map on the opposite side of the map that the nuke detonates on, they will see that everyone will simply fall over dead on the spot before the shockwave even reaches the glitcher. This is likely because everyone is coded to die about 5 seconds after the detonation no matter where they are, regardless of the shockwave.
 * Even if an approaching nuke is friendly, the announcer will still sound panicked, regardless of the fact that he continually urges the player to activate the nuke when he/she unlocks it, only the Spetsnaz announcer sounds calm when an approaching nuke is friendly.
 * The nuke, despite killing everyone, will not affect the physical environment at all. However there is enough detail in the game to include the dust and shrapnel in the air after the blast and the fact that the map lacks light during the results after a nuke ends the game. Also, nuclear fallout will begin to cover the map as the scores are displayed.
 * In Sabotage, Demolition and Search and Destroy matches, if a nuke is called in while a bomb has been planted the match will still continue until the detonation of the nuke even if the target has been destroyed. Any points gained by players from planting or defusing the bomb or even destroying the target will count towards the players score however it will not affect either team as the team which called in the nuke will win despite the circumstances.
 * Despite how the objective of the game is to defend the sites from explosives, using a nuke while on the defending team of Search and Destroy or Demolition causes the user's team to win the game, although both sites are destroyed.
 * The player is able to survive a nuke if he/she is shot into Final Stand during the blast.
 * In early pictures, it seems the player was able to receive Tactical Nukes from Care Packages and the icon picture was a mushroom cloud.
 * The background music that plays during the explosion of the tactical nuke is the same one that plays on the campaign level Endgame.
 * If host migration starts after the nuke is called in, the nuke can go off during the seconds before the game restarts.
 * The player cannot unlock the challenge Omnicide with the nuke.
 * The player can complete the challenge "Ultimate Sacrifice": Launching the nuke while your team is losing.
 * If the player activates the nuke in Demolition while his/her team is losing, they will not get the "Ultimate Sacrifice" challenge.
 * To get the best view of the nuke exploding, play on Invasion and watch the detonation from the balcony of the fortification with the American flag on top. The explosion can be seen near where the "B" flag is on Domination.
 * Another place to view the nuke exploding is on Rust, play a private match with a friend and once you obtain the nuke, climb to the tower in the middle of the map, then detonate the nuke and watch to the south-east. There you will see the nuke directly.
 * The Multiplayer announcer on the team that obtained the nuke sounds frantic because the nuke will kill all players including friendlies; it is the ultimate sacrifice, to ensure victory or prevent defeat. The developers of Modern Warfare added the frantic sounding multiplayer voice to bring attention to the seriousness of calling in a nuke to kill all players, and to add realism.
 * Tactical Nuke is one of 3 killstreaks that directly effects all opposing players, the other 2 being Counter-UAV and EMP, it is also the only killstreak that directly effects all players.
 * It is possible to get a nuke in a care package, but it can only be accessed by modding. It will come up with the name Nuclear Strike and when it is equipped the game will freeze and then come up with Tactical Nuke.
 * Any enemy airborne killstreaks that are in effect when a Tactical Nuke hits will be destroyed, awarding the player who called in the nuke with the amount of points the player would receive had they shot it down.
 * Enemy EMP's will not affect a Tactical Nuke.
 * The nuke alarm is a sped-up generic factory alarm.
 * It is possible to see helicopters going down in the shockwave even if there are no helicopters on the map.
 * When the nuke goes off, everything is in slow motion, probably to show dramatic effect.
 * A scrapped game mode was hidden in the code of Modern Warfare 2, named Global Thermonuclear War's, not to be confused with the title, the objective was to capture a Nuke, and the first team to have been capturing it long enough to obtain 100 points would win, at which point a Tactical Nuke would be activated.