Tactical Nuke

The Tactical Nuke is an unlockable killstreak reward in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Requiring 25 consecutive kills or 24 with the hardline perk, this killstreak is the hardest to acquire in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Once used, a ten second countdown will display on all player's screens as the unseen nuclear warhead falls to earth, and a siren will sound. Once the countdown expires, the entire battlefield will be engulfed in white light as the bomb explodes. Time will appear to slow, all vehicles and sentry guns will explode, and finally, all players including the user die on the spot. A Tactical Nuke detonation results in an automatic win for the user and their team, no matter what the current score.



Tips

 * Kills caused by a nuclear detonation DO COUNT towards the user's best killstreak reported on the leaderboards, as well as his score in the match. As the player dies AFTER the Nuke, the number of points gained depends on how many enemy players are in the game and alive at the time of detonation.
 * The Tactical Nuke is most practical in larger matches (especially Ground War), as it is much more difficult to acquire 25 kills in smaller games such as Search and Destroy before other victory conditions are met.
 * The most practical killstreaks for reaching the Tactical Nuke are usually the Harrier Strike or Attack Helicopter,and Chopper Gunner. The reason for this being the Harrier Strike / Attack Helicopter and Chopper Gunner have reasonably long loiter times and can kill a large number of enemy players throughout their duration. The downside is that unlike quick-strike abilities such as the Predator and Stealth Bomber, their effectiveness is largely limited by the skill and coordination of the enemy team; it only takes one enemy player rapidly switching to a Cold Blooded class with a Stinger to render them useless.
 * It is better to get a Nuke on an open map (ex. Wasteland and Afghan) because you get a massive amount of kills with the Chopper Gunner or AC130 when the players are in the open space.

Nuke Boosting
Many people who want to complete the "End Game" challenges and the rotating Nuke emblem will join a Free-For-All match with a friend and hide in an out-of-the-way corner of the level. One person will continuously put down a Tactical Insertion and allow the other person to kill them repeatedly until he reaches 25 kills. This is commonly referred to as "Boosting" and is infamous in the online community, both for unfairly acquiring callsigns that are supposed to be reserved for genuinely skilled players, and for disrupting Free-For-All matches and preventing legitimate players from winning. The Tactical Nuke itself kills the player who sends it, making it hard for anyone to get the accolade, "The Show"

Tips for Countering Boosters

 * First off, keep an eye on the scoreboard. If, after the first two minutes, there is someone with an unusually high Kill to Death ratio, and another person with the exact opposite, they are likely to be boosting. Take note of the match info at the bottom left corner of the screen as the two players' names will always pop up.
 * If it's someone on your team getting killed, locate where the death symbol is coming from on the map as it will always be visible in the same location.
 * Use the SitRep perk to locate their Tactical Insertion. The Heartbeat Sensor and UAV will probably not work as Boosters typically employ the Cold-Blooded and Ninja perks, as well as Silenced weapons and their knife to make themselves invisible to everyone.
 * Use spectator mode to watch known Nuke Boosters joining the match until they get to their hidden Boosting location.
 * Kill the Booster after the player has scored at least six kills. This makes it impossible for the players to get a Nuke, even with Hardline, as the game will end when any player reaches 1500 points (30 total kills).
 * Remember that, after you've killed one once, they can swap roles of killer/target and try it again.
 * Sometimes there will be nuke boosters in ground war games, Usually hiding out in a dark corner of the map, If you notice one player dying over and over again at that same spot then you will know that there is a nuke booster there.

Trivia

 * The Nuke was originally named "Nuclear Strike", as seen in some pre-release screens and the BradyGames official walkthrough book.
 * The nuke only kills players and doesn't affect the environment at all, aside from leaving a vast quantity of red nuclear fallout.
 * The tactical nuke's launch can't be activated while you are affected by an active EMP. However, an enemy using an EMP after the launch will not interrupt the countdown, and it will still detonate.
 * The nuke will appear to be in a different place for each map, appearing to strike outside the level. For example, a Tactical Nuke on Favela will detonate near the O Cristo Redentor, the giant statue of Jesus. The height of the explosion is somewhere near the height of an AC-130.
 * After you have used two nukes, you will unlock the Multiplayer title Global Thermonuclear War. After deploying five nukes, you will unlock the title End of Line. After you have used ten, you will get an animated emblem of the Tactical Nuke.
 * When you acquire Tactical Nuke, your announcer says such as: "Tactical Nuke, turn the key." When the enemy team deploys one, your announcer will scream "Tactical Nuke!" followed by a mournful sounding like: "It's over!" or "We're done for!"
 * Unless you are in last stand or using a killstreak that makes you pull out a laptop, it is impossible to survive a nuke. Even if you are glitched outside of the map. In fact being outside the map only kills you more cause the nuke always detonates outside the map.
 * The multiplayer title Toxic is unlocked if you are killed by a hostile Tactical Nuke.
 * The nuke, when activated, stops the timer of the game. In addition, points may not be scored (e.g. capturing the flag), but experience will still register.
 * Oddly, if you are killed during the countdown of the nuke, the counter in the upper left-hand corner is not shown in the killcam despite the fact that the counter is up for everyone.
 * You can not use two nukes in one game, even though you can earn them.
 * Upon detonation, harriers and helicopters won't be destroyed, but all on-map windows will be shattered, all flags will burn and all chickens will die.
 * Strangely, if you are on Last Stand, the nuke will not effect you. This may be an error in the coding, as the game is coded to kill live players.
 * Also, if you activate a killstreak that requires you to pull out a laptop exactly as the nuke detonates, you will survive the blast.
 * The alarm sound heard before the nuke detonates is very similar to the silo alarm in Half Life 2 Episode 2.
 * Right as the nuke detonates time slows down.
 * Despite much debate, there has been no evidence that a Tactical Nuke can be collected from a Care Package, or Emergency Airdrop. Much evidence suggests that this is impossible. However enemies who die from the Care Package itself (i.e. When it falls on them) will count towards this killstreak.
 * The nuke kills EVERYONE, including you and your team. However the team who called in the nuke gets an automatic victory even if they were losing.