Stakeout

The Stakeout is a shotgun that appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops and its Nintendo DS companion.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The Stakeout is a pump-action shotgun, similar to the W1200 from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Two spare shells are held to either side of the Stakeout, although they are unusable, in the same vein as the M1014 in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The Stakeout has a very noticeable amount of idle sway. Being a shotgun, it has very little effect on accuracy.

Singleplayer
The Stakeout is only found in the level SOG. It can be found in a few weapon caches throughout the level. It can be seen in the hands of friendly soldiers. It can only be found with the Grip attachment. The only ways to get the Stakeout are to acquire it from fallen friendly soldiers or from one of the weapons caches.

Multiplayer
The Stakeout is unlocked for purchase at level 8.

The Stakeout is capable of hitting at short-medium range, marginally having the furthest range of all shotguns in Black Ops. It has medium-high damage, able to kill in one shot throughtout its range, depending on how many pellets connect. Its pump action is fairly fast, but still limits the fire rate compared to other shotguns, making quick follow up shots difficult.

The Stakeout has the tightest spread of all shotguns when aiming down the sights, therefore aiming accurately will ensure more pellets will reach the intended target at range. This tight spread gives the Stakeout the longest range in both overall and one shot kill range, slightly edging out the Olympia.

Steady Aim tightens the hipfire spread, helping to ensure a one-shot kill over relatively long range without aiming down the sights.

Since all shotguns reload relatively slowly, Sleight of Hand is beneficial, particularly Sleight of Hand Pro with it's halving of ADS time, considering how much ADS improves the effective range of the weapon. The effects of the perk on this gun reloads the last two rounds (3 and 4) in the chamber at the same time, thus not only doubling the reload speed, but quadrupling it.

Buying the Grip attachment is recommended, as it increases the rate of fire slightly and reduces recoil, without any downsides.

thumb|300px|right|Attachment Overview + Grip Analysis

Zombies
The Stakeout can be found in Kino der Toten and Five, and bought for 1500 points and great alternative if the player hasn't encountered the Mystery Box yet. Its power is excellent for killing Zombies, being a one hit kill from about round 1-10 and effective up to round 12. It is also effective as players can buy ammo off the wall, as it will become scarce in later rounds. It is more effective than the Olympia due to it's larger capacity, doesn't sharply drop in power, and is recommended to switch between these guns when the player reaches it's room. It is similar to the M1897 Trench Gun of the Call of Duty: World at War maps in the sense that it is a pump-action shotgun with a 6 shell capacity and long reload. When Pack-a-punched it becomes the Raid, with a 10-round capacity, a grip, and every shell loaded reloads 2 shells, meaning only 5 shells must be loaded from empty which is like the upgraded M1897 Trench Gun. The Stakeout is arguably the best gun to buy off the walls for the high amount of ammo the player gains (compared to the weapons after the starting room), killing power, and duration of effectiveness. When combined with the reload cancel skill, It can get you well passed multiple rounds, and is arguably more effective than most of the weapons exclusive to the Mystery box.

Speed Cola is highly recommended with both versions since it requires adding 6 shells when empty, and 5 when upgraded. Because all shotguns are better at close range, Juggernog is recommended. When using, Double Tap its pump is a little faster allowing a higher rate of fire. This gun benefits greatly from a combination of those three perks.

Overall the Stakeout makes a great backup weapon as its perfect for hellrounds and when the player gets cornered and can't reload their primary.

Attachments

 * Grip

Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS)
The Stakeout (under the name of Ithaca M37) appears in the Nintendo DS version of Black Ops, first spotted in the launch trailer. Like its console counterparts, the weapon's firing mode is pump-action, but the difference is it can fire as fast as a semi-automatic shotgun due to a short pumping action. The pumping animation may not even be played if fired fast enough. However, if one were to fire slowly, the player will see that the gun is pumped before the next shot is fired.

Trivia

 * The Stakeout's original name was "Ithaca", the name of the Ithaca M37 it was based on. This can be seen on the Wager Match trailer.
 * The Stakeout shares the same firing sound as the SPAS-12. This similarity can be heard in many Wager Match videos.
 * In the DS game, if the player were to pause between shots, the player's character would pump it. However, the player can repeatedly mash the trigger to fire it semi-automatically.
 * This weapon's Pack-a-Punch name, Raid, is a reference to something which could be seen as the opposite of a stakeout, which is waiting in one place for something to happen, whereas a raid is a sudden and unexpected search and attack on a place. They are also both police actions.
 * When ADS, the Stakeout has the same pump animation as the KS-23 and the Modern Warfare 2's SPAS-12.
 * The Grip attachment slightly increases the rate of fire of Stakeout from 92.3 RPM to 109 RPM. However, it does not affect the weapon's accuracy.
 * Robert McNamara has a Stakeout with grip in the cutscene for "Five".
 * There are shells on the side of Stakeout, similar to WA2000. However, these shells are only for cosmetic purposes and cannot be used.
 * If Golden camouflage is equipped, the rounds being inserted will be gold, the same applies for the SPAS-12 and Olympia. However, the ejected shells will be red.
 * The Stakeout is one of the few weapons to have a higher ammo capacity in zombies mode than in multiplayer and singleplayer.
 * The Stakeout, as well as the KS-23, have the same reload animation as the W1200.

Video
400px|left|Stakeout Gameplay