Throwing Knife

"The pinnacle of stealth and precision, the Throwing Knife kills instantly on contact"

- Call of Duty ELITE description

The  is an Equipment item in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS), and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The throwing knife also makes a brief appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Modern Warfare 2: Ghost
Simon Riley uses the throwing knife to injure Manuel Roba in his home in Mexico.

Campaign
The Throwing Knife is seen only once in the campaign, at the end of "Endgame", where "Soap" MacTavish uses it to kill General Shepherd.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the Throwing Knife is unlocked as Equipment at level 7. It deals the same damage as the regular Knife; it is always a one-hit-kill unless in a private match with health set to double. It also cancels out Last Stand or Final Stand and immediately kills the player, just like the Knife.

Players will receive only one knife; however, any thrown knife can be retrieved, regardless of who threw it, assuming the player has Throwing Knife as equipment selected. It can also be replenished with Scavenger.

After throwing the knife, a number of events can happen:


 * The knife hits an enemy player, scoring a kill and leaving the knife in the body.
 * The knife hits a friendly player, dealing no damage but leaving the knife embedded in the body, unless on Hardcore game modes, where the damage will be dealt back to the thrower or cause a Team Kill.
 * The knife hits the ground at a certain angle, causing it to clatter to a stop, where it can be retrieved.
 * The knife becomes embedded in a surface (walls, etc.) from where it can be retrieved.
 * The knife hits any surface at a certain angle, causing it to ricochet (as with the Grenade Launcher) and flip an extra several feet. In this instance, the knife is still deadly and can kill, provided it does not stop moving.

The Throwing Knife is popular with stealth classes as it is silent, gives no warning (unlike grenades), and even if the player misses, there is a good chance the target will not notice (unless they see the knife go straight by or they hear it ricochet).

However, it has a short effective range, as it rapidly descends towards the ground the farther it is thrown. Thus, at longer ranges it is necessary to aim above the target for it to be thrown accurately. The throwing knife is considered one of the hardest weapons to master because it requires practice to aim at targets and throw it, usually in a quick succession and during movement.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The Throwing Knife briefly appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops. During the mission "WMD", before approaching the main control room, Grigori Weaver opens a door and is immediately faced with an enemy. Weaver proceeds to throw a throwing knife at the soldier, piercing his neck, instantly killing him. Weaver then retrieves his knife. It is the Throwing Knife's only appearance in the entire game, as it is essentially replaced by the Tomahawk in multiplayer.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS)
Throwing Knives appear in Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS), first spotted in the launch trailer. Unlike the consoles, this DS throwing knife is used by converting the player's own knife in a ranged weapon, via the ADS button. It also has unlimited ammo, so recovering lost knives and losing a melee weapon isn't an issue. The throwing knife is always a one hit kill, except on zombie mode, where it is a three hit kill.

The throwing knife is available in the campaign and multiplayer for the player's use, available from the start as part of the knife. Like in the consoles, the DS throwing knife can also ricochet and bounce off/on objects or surfaces and still get kills. However, the only items the knife can get stuck in are enemies and other targets, as it ricochets off of everything else.

In Zombies, it is unlocked from default and kills a zombie in three hits in the body or one headshot at any range, making a good and effective weapon for accumulating points on early rounds. Interestingly, it gives 410 points per headshot on the first round, but adds 50 points each round it passes, giving 460 and 510 points on the second and third round respectively, and so on.

Campaign
The Throwing Knife makes several minor appearances throughout the campaign. It appears in the mission, "Prologue," where it appears in a flashback of Soap killing Shepherd with one, and in the mission, "Down the Rabbit Hole," where Sandman can be seen using one to kill an Inner Circle soldier while Price drags Yuri to the helicopter.

Multiplayer
The Throwing Knife returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It is seen being used in the Multiplayer World Premiere Trailer. It is unlocked at level 5 and is almost unchanged from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Also, unlike all other equipment, Scavenger can replenish knives. Quickdraw is extemely recommended, as the Pro version will allow tactical and lethal equipment to be deployed faster. The Throwing Knife is ideal for stealth, as it gives no warning and deals instant death. It is also somewhat effective for killing Juggernauts if one has Scavenger, as four hits with the throwing knife will kill one. Throwing knives will stick into a Riot Shield after being thrown at.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance
The Throwing Knife appears once again in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance, with a completely new aspect. However, apart from graphical changes, it behaves almost identically to the Call of Duty: Black Ops (DS) variant

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
The Throwing Knife makes a brief appearance in the mission "Suffer with Me" where Woods uses one to take down a guard about to shoot a flare gun.

General

 * The knife has the Infinity Ward logo embedded on the side.
 * Since corpses disappear faster than the knife, a knife may fall off of a corpse and still kill anyone it hits on the way down.
 * It can be used to set off Claymores and C4.
 * On the throwing knife, there are the words "Ryan Lastimosa", an Infinity Ward employee.
 * At extreme angles, it is possible for the Throwing Knife to ricochet and cover greater distances.
 * It uses the same model as the Tactical Knife.
 * It is possible for Throwing Knife to ricochet on the dead body (because dead bodies count as a solid objects until they fall to the ground) and score a kill, as seen multiple times here.
 * It is possible for Throwing Knife to penetrate the Riot Shield and hit the arm of the player that uses the Riot Shield, killing him.
 * The knife sometimes glitches straight to a target when within a close distance.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * Near some boxes in Skidrow is an irretrievable knife that's stuck in a table.
 * In multiplayer, throwing a knife at your ally will not kill them but it will be there for a long time.
 * The metal detectors in Terminal light up when knives are thrown through them.
 * A knife that is stuck through glass will be suspended in the air if said glass is shot (same with C4).
 * Originally, soldiers in every faction in multiplayer were to yell "Throwing a knife!" in their language when one was thrown. This idea was likely scrapped due to the Portuguese word for knife (faca, which Militia would use) being too close to the English word fucker.
 * The symbol for the throwing knife in Create-a-Class is different from the actual knife thrown.
 * In Campaign, the player will always hit Shepherd in the right eye regardless of where it was really aimed.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

 * In the Campaign mission, Down the Rabbit Hole, Sandman can be seen throwing his knife at an enemy during the sequence where John Price drags the injured player, Yuri, into the chopper.