Bowie Knife

"Good strong Russian steel!"

- Nikolai Belinski

The Bowie Knife is a special knife which can be bought for 3000 points in Der Riese, Kino der Toten, and "Five". It is larger and wider than the standard combat knife in Call of Duty: World at War (or any other Call of Duty game so far). It increases Knife damage from 150 to 1150, making it a one-hit-kill for zombies from Round 1 to Round 11, and through round 12 for Crawler zombies. It is a one-hit-kill to Hellhounds all the way up until the third hellround. If equipped with a Pack-a-Punched Ballistic knife, it will kill normal Zombies to Round 15 and Crawler zombies to round 17. Its first appearance was in the Map Pack 3 television ad. One interesting thing to note is that the Bowie Knife will never be lost, even if the player completely dies, the knife will still be in the player's possession upon respawning (this is not the case in Black Ops), making this the only weapon kept after death. It is better than the starting knife as your melee will become more powerful, but you will need 3000 points for the Bowie Knife and you will need to turn the power on. It is located right next to the Juggernog machine on Kino der Toten. The Bowie Knife did not make an appearance in Ascension due to its replacement for a new melee weapon, the Sickle.

Appearance
The Bowie Knife is very large, possibly one foot in length (by comparison to other weapons bought off the wall), and is anywhere from 3 to 5 inches deep (until the curve). Most likely made of cold steel or iron, shined and a light grayish tint. The Bowie Knife also has a large hand guard, with brass knuckles wrapped around it (this is known as a "knuckleduster" grip). These sorts of knives were used commonly during World War I and World War II, designed for punching the opponent to stun them before stabbing them. The weapon is similar in most respects to a trench knife, as well as the original design of Jim Bowie's combat knife.

Trophy/Achievement
There is a trophy/achievement for killing 40 zombies with this knife in one game, called "40 Knives", which is worth 25 gamerscore on the Xbox 360, or a Bronze Trophy on the PlayStation 3. A way to get this trophy/achievement is to buy the knife at around round 5 or so and go into the tunnel near the teleporter and to camp and knife Zombies and Hellhounds. It awards a lot of points, and the trophy/achievement. If not, then use it when Insta-Kill is active and slash through to the trophy/achievement. Juggernog is a huge boost for both methods.

In Black Ops Zombies mode, the Bowie Knife on Kino Der Toten and "Five" is a one hit kill until round 10, at which point it is a one hit kill against Gas Zombies and a two hit kill against normal Zombies. At round 13, it becomes a two hit kill against all zombies. It costs 3000 points and will always kill a hellhound in one or two hits. If the player happens to get the Ballistic Knife and the Bowie Knife at the same time, knifing will deal increased damage.

Tips

 * The Bowie Knife is the only weapon in Der Riese (World at War only) that a player will never lose if killed/downed. This means that it is an investment that will never be lost (short of the game ending), which makes it a very worthwhile purchase to get ASAP (even though many players generally ignore it).
 * The Bowie Knife works best when used in conjunction with Juggernog,.
 * Before the "One-Hit Kill" ceases from Bowie Knife,a good way to earn points in Kino der Toten is to stay on the teleport zone,"camping" there,this must have Juggernog if you cannot handle the horde or teleport yourself.
 * At round 12, the Bowie Knife ceases to be a one-hit kill against Zombies, however it is still far better to have than the regular knife (which at this point would take an unreasonable number of hits to take out a zombie). In Black Ops, the Bowie knife ceases to kill zombies in one hit at round 10, this is the same for the revamped Der Riese.
 * The Bowie knife remains a one-hit kill against Hellhounds until the third Hellround, and is arguably a better weapon against them when two people knife at once due to the fact the Bowie Knife does not require reloading, Hellhounds come one, or two at a time when camping against them, and plus that their health maxes at 1600 no matter what, unlike the zombies. So the maximum hits needed to kill a Hellhound with the Bowie Knife is two.
 * The Bowie knife is very useful if a player is downed, as this will allow them to do significant damage (or even kill) passing Zombies and making it easier for teammates to revive them. This is especially true if the only pistol the downed player has is an un-upgraded M1911, as it is useless on later rounds unless Insta-Kill is in effect.
 * Using the Bowie knife in conjunction with the Ballistic Knife can prove to be a good combination, due to the quick melee and the extra power.

Trivia

 * This is the first time in Call of Duty history where players can switch out their knife.
 * Upon buying the Bowie knife, the character examines and comments on it before holstering it.
 * In the game files, the knife is treated as a perk, however, the Achievement "Perkaholics Anonymous" can be unlocked even when holding the Bowie Knife.
 * When the Bowie Knife is used, a sound of metal being sharpened is heard.
 * Sometimes when Nikolai buys the Bowie Knife he says, "sweet Russian steel" even though the Bowie Knife originated in America.
 * The Bowie Knife seems to have blood stains on it even before you use it.
 * Some times, on the Wii, it's impossible to buy the Bowie knife off the wall after a player has bought it.
 * The Bowie knife in third person has the same size as a machete. This can be seen if the player uses the Ballistic knife with a bought Bowie knife as a different player looks at that player's character model.
 * On the Wii version of Kino der Toten, the big teddy bear in Samantha's zombiefied room is holding a massive Bowie Knife.
 * There is a glitch whrere if three peole have a Bowie Knife and knife the orther person without a Bowie Knife up somewhere high they could get up there.(you can get Double Tap Root Beer, the Ballistic Knife to help progess go faster,and you can use the sickle to.)
 * In the map ASCENSION the Bowie Knife is replaced with a sickle.