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, the Tomahawk always bounces off walls and floors when thrown, making ricochet kills 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.

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," although Reznov calls it a "hatchet." Instead of being a throwing weapon, this Tomahawk is used in a melee fashion like the knife.
 * 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.
 * In the Wager Match game mode Sticks and Stones, the Tomahawk gives a lot less points to the player than the Crossbow or Ballistic Knife. This was most likely done for balancing purposes as the Tomahawk bankrupts the enemy player, and Treyarch did not want people to only use the Tomahawk.
 * If the Scavenger perk is equipped, the player won't need to pick up the Tomahawk after the player throws it.
 * Thrown Tomahawks will glow yellow if the player can pick them up.
 * The Tomahawk is in the 'Lethal' section, and although not a grenade, benefits from Warlord Pro nonetheless.
 * 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 he/she would normally be helpless. It is possible to do this with all lethal grenades.
 * The "Scalper" XP bonus is a reference to the Native American 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.
 * (Confirmed on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii) 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..
 * You can destroy an RC-XD with a tomahawk, although very hard to pull off.
 * In Nuketown when you throw the Tomahawk at the windscreen wipers of the bus the Tomahawk will start to spin forwards. (Confirmed on PS3)
 * You can have two Tomahawks at once, without Warlord. You need to pick up the tomahawk and run over the Scavenger Pack at the same ime, and you will have 2 Tomahawks in your inventory. (Confirmed on PS3)