Armor Piercing (Special Ops)

Armor Piercing is the third mission in the Echo set of Spec Ops mode, and is the 23rd and final mission of the mode.

The Infinity Ward's best time for this level is 4 minutes 12.25 seconds.

Overview
True to its name, Armor Piercing pits the player against 15 enemy Juggernauts, which is an enormous challenge to overcome should you not be prepared with the proper strategy. Taking place on the oil rig from the mission 'The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday', a typical playthrough would involve the players slowly reaching the top of the rig, taking down the Juggernauts that confront them along the way. An Ammunition Crate can be found on the second floor of the oil rig. If the player chooses to wait at a specific point on the map, the Juggernauts will slowly come to them anyway, leaving the players no easy way out of the situation. Thankfully, most of them come one at a time, but the final few come in two and even three at a time. If the players proceed far toward the top of the oil rig, there is a possibility that Juggernauts may spawn behind them rather than in front - it is important to bear this in mind, and using the Claymores given at the start of the level as a warning system is usually a good tactic.

Hide and Snipe
An effective tactic is to hide at the top of the scaffolding (near an ammo crate) towards the beginning of the level and snipe the charging Juggernauts with large calibre cartridges. An SVD can be found on this scaffolding.

Once the players start, head over to the weapons carpet and swap their Thumpers for the Thermal Intervention or Barrett .50cal (the Barrett is recommended as it is a slightly more effective weapon, has a larger magazine and larger rate of fire) while keeping the LMG's. With well aimed shots, this magazine can be used to bring down two Juggernauts without reloading. Head up the steps and sprint through the first room and up the flights of steps to the outside of the rig. Often there is a Juggernaut around here, and if that is the case sprint back towards the platfrom right above the first breach room from The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday and snipe the Juggernaut as he is about to come down the stairs. The height difference from the stairs should hopefully provide you with sufficient cover before the Juggernaut is taken down.

After going to the outdoor area of the oil rig, turn right and there should be a scaffolding with a ladder leading up to it. You can get a good view of the long section of oil rig the Juggernauts have to pass through on top of this scaffolding which allows you some distance to snipe them down as they charge through. Furthermore, underneath the scaffolding is an ammo crate and there is no need to worry about supply.

From that point, just sit patiently and wait. A Juggernaut should appear every minute or so, so just take them down one at a time. At some point of the mission you would need to deal with multiple Juggernauts simultaneously, so it is important that you are able to snipe one down as quickly as possible. If they slip past your sniping they have to climb up the ladder to get to you, allowing you to get plenty of hits in before they're able to even start shooting (LMG's to the face are recommended in this situation).

Note that although this method is extremely effective, it is not foolproof. The biggest problem comes when there are about five Juggernauts left, they often start to come in pairs, and also in quick succession. Since the Barrett has quite large recoil you may not be able to snipe effectively when both are charging towards you. Add to the trouble is that even if you go prone on top of the scaffolding the Juggernauts could occasionally hit you with their LMGs, which although does not kill you outright can be enough to throw away your aim. As there is a big column close to the right side (from your point of view on the scaffolding) of the scaffolding, if a Juggernaut somehow makes it past the "corridor" towards the backside of the column there is nothing you can do except to wait for him to climb up the ladder and try to kill him there (which may not always work out). There is also the problem that there is a room (the second breach room in the level The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday) on the right side (again from your point of view) of the "corridor", and sometimes the Juggernaut would run into this room and completely evades your line of sight. When they run into this room, you again have to run the risk of needing to kill them on top of the scaffolding.

If one of the Juggernauts make it past the column then you would need to wait on the scaffolding for him to climb up. During this time you would more probable than not be facing towards the top of the ladder, and if suddenly there is a second Juggernaut spawning at the end of the "corridor" you would have completely missed him. So when you have killed the first Juggernaut on top of the scaffolding and face back towards the direction of the "corridor" again, the second Juggernaut could silently climb up the ladder and ambush you there.

Given the above possible pitfalls, it is important that you put at least one claymore on the bottom of the ladder as an alarm that a Juggernaut is about to climb up. If that claymore is detonated during one of the Juggernauts' assaults, plant another one whenever it is possible. If you believe a Juggernaut is fast approaching (particularly when there are only a few left, there is a stronger chance that they come in quick succession) and do not feel there is enough time to go off the scaffolding and then climb back up, just put one on top of the ladder.

Also, if you somehow need to deal with two (or more!) Juggernauts on the scaffolding consecutively, there is a chance that you would need to reload your Barrett in the middle of the fight. If that should happen, make sure you throw a flashbang right at the Juggernaut to buy you some time. If the Juggernaut has already sustained some injuries before you need to engage him in close-quarter (which is likely the case when you are engaging him on top of the scaffolding), a good option is actually to take him down with a LMG because of the high rate of fire and large magazine. Try to put as many rounds as you can on his head as he is climbing up.

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ntxF_Y0snI Video: Solo version of the hide and sniper strategy.

Trivia

 * The description for this mission states that it "probably isn't even possible", yet most players find High Explosive, Wetwork and Snatch & Grab to be much harder.
 * It is possibe to reach an area intended to be inaccessible by jumping off the stairs leading up from the first deck onto the railing and from there jumping to the left of the gas tank. In one of the rooms in this area is a scoped M14 EBR, the only one in the mission.