FAL

The FAL is a semi-automatic Assault Rifle featured both in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Singleplayer
The FAL is most commonly used by the Brazilian Militia in Takedown. The FAL is also used by Russians in the early stages of the Invasion, but the AK-47 is more commonplace later in the conflict. It is mostly seen with a Red Dot Sight, ACOG Scope, or Shotgun. It can be found in many Spec Ops missions, abundantly in the missions in the Favela, including Bomb Squad and O Cristo Redentor. It is the only semi- automatic assault rifle in game. What it lacks slightly in rate of fire it makes up in power, accuracy, and range.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the FAL is unlocked at Level 28. While this rifle's semi-automatic nature reduces its effectiveness at close range, an experienced player with a fast trigger finger can easily double tap an enemy in close range without aiming down the sights. This same semi-automatic firing allows the player to control how much ammo is used and increases the FAL's effectiveness at long range, even though the shooter must pause briefly between shots to let the recoil settle. Because of this long-range prowess, the FAL closes the gap between assault rifles and sniper rifles. The FAL's Shotgun attachment has the longest ranged shotgun in the game.

The FAL is the strongest assault rifle with a damage range of 55-35, and as such, Stopping Power has a minimal effect. Shots will always kill in two hits at close and medium range, but three are required for a long range kill, regardless of the use of Stopping Power. However, with Stopping Power, the FAL is able to achieve one hit kills with a headshot. Moreover, like the UMP45, the FAL is one of the few non-sniper weapons in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that can kill in a maximum of three shots regardless of range, perks, or attachments.

The Red Dot Sight is not properly aligned on the FAL, as shots land below and to the right of the dot. The Holographic Sight increases the FAL's minimum damage to 40, which, when using Stopping Power, gives two-hit-kills at all ranges. This includes Bling combinations such as a silencer or Grenade Launcher.

In Hardcore, due to the gun's minimum damage being 5 points higher than a player's normal health, when paired with a Thermal Scope it can become a viable sniper rifle. However, aside from having a magazine double the size and no sway, the gun is outperformed by the M21 EBR for easier penetration kills, higher zoom, higher movement speed, lower recoil and a handy Ghillie suit.

Weapon Attachments

 * Grenade Launcher
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Silencer
 * ACOG
 * FMJ
 * Shotgun
 * Holographic
 * Heartbeat
 * Thermal
 * Extended Mags

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The FN FAL returns in Black Ops, and looks much different from the Modern Warfare 2 version, having wooden furniture and lacking an RIS. In singleplayer, the weapon is used heavily by the Tropas and NVA.

Multiplayer
Unlocked at level 32, the FN FAL has low recoil and high damage, killing in 2-3 shots in Core game modes. The weapon has advantages over the similar M14: the FN FAL has much more open, less obstructed iron sights, easily stays on target during continued fire and does not require a grip like the M14. The weapon does, however, have a longer reload time. The FN FAL also has lower damage multiplier on the head and neck than the M14 does, making 2 hit-kills at long distance more difficult to achieve. Unlike the M14, the FN FAL can use the Dual Mag attachment.

Attachments

 * Grenade Launcher
 * Flamethrower
 * ACOG Scope
 * Red Dot Sight
 * Reflex Sight
 * Shotgun
 * Suppressor
 * Dual Mag
 * Infrared Scope
 * Extended Mag

Zombies
When Pack-a-punched it turns into EPC WN, and a three-round burst. It also comes with a new reflex sight.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * Militia and Russian soldiers in the campaign can fire the FAL fully automatically from around corners or behind doors (while blindfiring), but the player cannot.
 * The FAL in Multiplayer holds only 20 rounds, despite using a model for a 30 round magazine (but this changes when equipped with Extended Mags).
 * This is the only semi-automatic assault rifle in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, aside from the non-scoped M14 EBR in "Breach & Clear", a Special Ops mission.
 * The FAL is the only assault rifle that has coding to use the Akimbo attachment.
 * The FAL's rear sight sways unless equipped with the Shotgun attachment, however this has no effect on accuracy.
 * The FAL is considered an intermediary between the G3 and M14 from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, as its damage and recoil fall between the two.
 * The FAL's handguard in-game appears to have a discolor or stain on it.
 * This weapon and other semi-automatics are popular with people who use rapid fire or modded controllers.
 * Due to the overuse of rapid fire controllers, the FAL was programmed with a firecap limiting it's rate of fire before the games release. Unlike in Call of Duty 4, where a firecap patch was made to lower the maximum fire rate of the G3, M14, all pistols and semi-automatic snipers, at a later date.
 * On the right side of the gun, it says FN FAL and then some indiscernible text (possibly reading "205") but backwards. This backwards lettering is also present in the letters "R" and "S" on the fire selector.
 * The FAL has a unique way of reloading. The player flicks the magazine release with the new magazine and inserts it. Also, when the player reloads, the magazine appears to go through the trigger-guard to flick the old magazine out.
 * The FAL appears to have scratches and marks on the barrel. This may be from age.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * In Call of Duty: Black Ops, the manufacturer (FN Herstal) is included in the name.
 * The FN FAL has wooden furniture compared to the FAL in Modern Warfare 2, where it has a metal handguard and plastic stock.
 * The FN FAL now has a set firecap to prevent modded controllers.
 * Unlike the FAL in Modern Warfare 2, the FAL here reloads in the textbook way.
 * It is highly expected that the naming of the "Epic Win" in Zombie mode is due to the FAL being commonly mispronounced as the "Fail" in Modern Warfare 2.
 * A FAL with the suppressor attachment can be found in the campaign mission Operation 40.
 * The "Epic Win" is made as a reference to Uncharted 2. Uncharted 2's FAL is fitted with a RDS and shoots three-round-bursts.