Knife

The Knife is the standard close quarters combat (CQC) melee weapon in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and one of the melee weapons in Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Prior to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the knife was not a commonly used melee weapon in previous singleplayer Call of Duty games; it was available only in missions that feature stealth and/or reconnaissance. Before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the most common melee attack was the butt of the weapon. The knife is triggered by pressing the melee button (default V on the PC, clicking the right thumbstick on the Xbox 360, or clicking the R3 Button on the PS3), as taught in the "F.N.G." and "S.S.D.D." missions. However, on the Wii it is triggered by shaking the controller or by pressing down on the D-pad.

Singleplayer
The knife is the standard melee weapon for the player character in every installment of Call of Duty from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare onward. It is rarely seen used by NPCs, although they do have the ability to use a knife in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It will always be a one-hit kill on normal enemies, although it can take upwards of eighteen to nineteen knife hits to kill a Juggernaut.

Multiplayer
The knife will always kill an enemy in one slash or stab. In Old School multiplayer matches, however, two knife attacks are required to kill an enemy player at full health. The knife is only effective at point-blank range, although the Commando perk (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) will significantly increase its effective range by introducing a rather long-range lunge. Using the knife is considered a stealthy weapon and will not reveal the player's position on the minimap, allowing the player to perform stealthy kills without need of a suppressor. While inherently quiet, the knife will however makes a rather thick slash or stab sound that is audible in close range.

When using the knife, the player will lunge at the target if the target is far away enough, or is in a certain position to the player, regardless of whether Commando is the active third perk or not. If the target is close range a slash will be used instead. Therefore, this is very important to take into consideration when choosing to knife the enemy. The player can actually lunge at the enemy "Commando" style without having commando equipped, but this is an art that requires a good amount of practice to perfect. One may notice that the character lunges at enemies sometimes even without commando. This lunge is set by default to any knife attack that is triggered by the player from a certain distance from a enemy player, with our without commando(players also knife in this way in Call Of Duty 4). Commando will, however, increase the range of this lunge. Also noteworthy is that while holding akimbo weapons in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 the player will use a rather vicious quick stab attack. The slash attack has a wider range and hence a higher chance of landing at point-blank range; although the lunge naturally has a longer-range due to the thrusting movement of the player. Experienced players will use the knife when out of ammo and indoors, but will switch out an empty weapon for a new one at the first chance. The usefulness of the knife in Hardcore modes is somewhat lessened due to most weapons being able to kill in one to two hits at close range. It is however still useful as a silent, close-range and ammo-less attack.

The Tactical Knife is a weapon attachment in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that approximately halves the cooldown time of the melee attack; effectively allowing the player to perform stabs at twice the speed. Handguns are the only weapons compatible with the tactical knife, which is unlocked after obtaining 75 kills with the USP.45 or M9 or 100 kills with the Desert Eagle or .44 Magnum. The .44 Magnum is one of the more commonly used Handguns for this purpose as the tactical knife is already attached to it in a default class (First Recon), meaning players only need to use this class and the tactical knife attached to the .44 Magnum to then unlock it for custom classes (after Level 26). Also, if the health is set to double, the player will have to stab twice.

The wide slash of the standard knife is not present when using a handgun equipped with a tactical knife but the window in which the opponent may be lunged seems widened. The lunge is also far faster with the tactical knife. Players often have classes dedicated to knifing, either for tactical diversity, showing chaos, or sheer amusement and is often looked down upon by other players. These players often equip a maximum-mobility primary weapon (Sniper Rifle or SMG), a handgun with the Tactical Knife attachment, Marathon (Perk 1) and Lightweight (Perk 2) to maximize their running speed and time spent running. The range bonus provided by Commando sees it used as the Perk 3 in the majority knifing classes, while the stealth granted by Ninja is also a viable option.

When in third person mode, use of the knife attack in prone gives the appearance of swinging the equipped weapon at the enemy. Upon closer inspection the knife appears to stick out of the weapon, like a badly mounted bayonet. This glitch is also present in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, although it has no effect on gameplay.

It is possible to dodge a knife lunge, leaving the knifer defenseless for a short while, though this is only generally possible while using Lightweight and a light weapon such as a SMG.

The knife cooldown time can be shortened by quickly hitting the equipment button then switch weapons button.

Trivia

 * In Call of Duty: World at Wa'r', in the Nazi Zombies map Der Riese the players can replace his usual knife with the huge Bowie knife that can kill zombies with one hit for the first 12 rounds. This is the only time in the series when the player can replace his/her knife.


 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare '2', NPCs now have the ability to use the knife, although it is extremely rare. Allied NPCs will usually throw enemy NPCs onto the floor and shoot them upon close contact instead of using the knife.


 * When holding a Care Package type smoke grenade, a knife used to make a crunching sound when used against an enemy.


 * The only time an enemy uses a knife against the player in Call of Duty 3 is during one of the quick-time events, when getting ambushed in a building by a German soldier wielding one. The German repeatedly attempts to stab the player. The fight ends when the player manages to push the knife into his own chest, where he stares at it before falling dead.


 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, when Soap goes to kill General Shepherd in "Endgame", he holds the knife in his left hand and nothing in his right while the player is able to attack by hitting the fire button, this is the only time in the whole of the Call of Duty series that the player holds a knife as a primary weapon.


 * In Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfareas well as Call of Duty: Black Ops, the knife model is based on that of theSOG Bowie knife. In Call of Duty: World at War, it is theUSMC KA-BAR knife, and in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2'' the knife model is based on the Blackhawk Tatang.


 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, throwing the knife into a wall and then reading the side of the knife, it will show the Infinity Ward logo on it.
 * All players seem to use the Knife with their left hand, this is most likely because all of the players use their right to shoot.

Video
400px

Gameplay with the Tactical Knife in Modern Warfare 2