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 made only incidental appearances, and could never actually be used. Melee attacks in the games prior had used pistol whips and bashes with the butt of the gun. Since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the knife has been the main melee weapon, triggered by pressing the melee button (default V on the PC, clicking the right thumb-stick on the Xbox 360, clicking the R3 Button or pressing down on the D-Pad on the PS3 and Wii), as taught in the missions "F.N.G." and "S.S.D.D.".

Call of Duty 3


In "The Crossroads", a German attacks the American character, Nichols, with a knife in a scripted Close Quarter Battle. He is not able to stab Nichols, and after his death, the knife does not make a reappearance. The knife is a Hitler Youth knife, as evidenced by the German etching on the blade, which reads "Blut und Ehre!", or "Blood and Honor!" This etching further identifies the knife as produced in 1937, as blades produced after 1937 did not have this motto.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The knife in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is based on the SOG Knife, and is the only knife featured in the game. It possesses a range of a little over five feet and has a slight delay between the stab and the actual hit. This is easily observed in Multiplayer, where connection issues amplify this. It is caused by the relatively slow lunge speed. However, It always kills an enemy in one slash or stab, except in Old School multiplayer matches, where two knife attacks are required to kill an enemy player at full health. This two-hit-kill knifing also applies when double health is applied on Private Matches. In single-player, the only NPC appearance of the knife is when Captain Price uses one to execute an Ultranationalist in "Ultimatum."

Call of Duty: World at War
The knife in Call of Duty: World at War is based off of the KA-BAR knife, and shares the same statistics as its counterpart in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The "stab" animation is slightly faster and the hit "connects" when the user retracts the knife, instead of slightly after the player punctures the enemy. However, it can be rather inconsistent in its ability to connect and kill enemies, making its effective range only about one to three feet. It also makes a very loud and distinguishable swinging noise, especially when performing the "stab" animation (observed from the knifer's point of view), which can easily reveal the knifer. Interestingly enough, if there is no more ammunition inside a player's gun, they will swing the knife faster.

In Nazi Zombies, the knife is one of the starting weapons received in every map. Killing a zombie with it yields 130 points. The number of knife hits it takes to kill a zombie is generally equal to the level number (with the exception of level 4, in which it only takes 3 hits to kill). Because of the number of hits required to kill and because of its short reach, by the mid to high levels it is ineffective.

In the Nazi Zombies map Der Riese, the players can replace their usual knife with the Bowie Knife for 3000 (near teleporter C, just as you go through the courtyard.) points. Dealing a total of 1150 damage, it allows for one-hit kills up to round 12. On round 12, one hit kills can be seen, but not always, due to the weapon dealing less than 1200 damage (Zombies at Round 12 have 1200 health). The Bowie Knife upgrade remains with the player after being downed and, if no one revives them, respawn, adding value to the upgrade. This has been removed in Black Ops.

In multiplayer, the Bayonet is an alternative to the knife, and can be attached on all bolt-action rifles (the Kar98k, Springfield, Mosin Nagant and Arisaka,) and for the M1897 Trenchgun, the M1 Garand, the M1A1 Carbine, and the Type 99. The Bayonet increases the lunge distance to about six feet. Of the bayonets, all of the bayonets are knife or sword bayonets, except for the Mosin Nagant's, which is a spike bayonet instead.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the knife's appearance and range was changed from its appearance from the first Modern Warfare game. It is based off the Blackhawk Tatang, however in "Endgame" it is based off the GI tanto, and has a range of a little bit more than ten feet. NPCs in single player are able to use the knife, but it is a very rare occurrence.

The game introduced two new knives apart from the default knife: the Tactical Knife, an attachment for handguns that allows faster knife stab and faster recovery, and the Throwing Knife, a ranged alternative available as Equipment. Besides their multiplayer appearances, they also make appearances in single-player: The Tactical Knife is used with the USP, but not credited, and the Throwing Knife is used at the end of the game to kill Shepherd. Hence where the Throwing Knife originated from.

Also featured in Modern Warfare 2 ' s multiplayer is the tier 3 perk Commando, which greatly increases the knife's lunge range to about 25 feet. This perk is often used with Marathon and Lightweight to create a class capable of using only the knife effectively.

In single-players, NPCs are able to knife, although they do it very rarely. There are three scripted events where an enemy attacks the player with a knife. The first two occur in "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday" and "Just Like Old Times," where the player breaches a door and an enemy charges at him with a knife. The other occurrence is when Shepherd stabs Soap in the chest after knocking him down during "Endgame."

Bugs

 * The Akimbo USP .45 has the normal slash animation replaced with an accelerated version of the stab.
 * The knife recovery time can be shortened by quickly hitting the "equipment" button and then "switch weapons" button. This tactic is most effective when used with the Throwing Knife, and is impossible with Fragmentation Grenades and the Blast Shield.
 * Xbox 360: The hit detection in multiplayer can glitch quite badly, in this instance the knife connects (can sometimes even be seen in KillCams) but the opposing player does not die. Following a re-spawn (if killed) the animation of removing the knife from the enemy will play (preventing a primary weapon from being fired) yet no knife will actually be in the players hand.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The knife returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops with the same damage as its predecessors, and a range less than that of Modern Warfare 2 ' s. Knifing has an important special effect in Gun Game, demoting players to the previous gun tier if they are knifed. Besides the default knife, there are seven other knives featured in the game: four in the single-player only, two in Nazi Zombies, and one in multiplayer only. They include:


 * The Ballistic Knife, a secondary weapon that fires the blade out of the grip for a silent, ranged attack. Altough firing the ballistic knife makes almost no sound at all it will still appear on radar as if an un-suppressed gun was fired. A regular melee attack with the Ballistic Knife happens faster and appears to have longer range, similar to the Tactical Knife from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * The Prison Knife, a shiv-like primary weapon briefly wielded during the mission "Vorkuta." It appears to be a shard of glass with black tape around one end.
 * The Karambit Knife, a curved combat knife used in "Executive Order".
 * The SOG Knife, which is used in "Victor Charlie."
 * The Bowie Knife, which is available on the Zombie maps Kino der Toten and "Five".
 * The Throwing Knife is used once by Grigori Weaver in "WMD." It is unavailable to the player because its replacement is the Tomahawk.
 * The Sickle, the spiritual successor to the Bowie Knife, making an appearence in the zombies map Ascension.
 * The Combat Knife, sometimes seen as a players weapon while switching who you are spectating mode in Nazi Zombies.

Call of Duty Black Ops: DS
The knife is used in all levels, and is a one hit kill in single player and multiplayer. While it can be used in zombies, it is not suggested as it takes two hits by a zombie to down the player. though it is only a one hit knife to kill a zombie on round no matter what round. If a zombie is running it takes two hits to kill. While using ADS while wielding it, the player can use it as a throwing knife.