EMP

The EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) is an unlockable killstreak reward in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Requiring a killstreak of 15 (or 14 with Hardline), or occasionally found inside a Care Package, the EMP disables all enemy electronics. Hostile players will have no HUD, and electronic scopes (such as the Red Dot Sight) will be disabled. Their vision will also be slightly fuzzy. Any enemy sentry guns will be destroyed and all hostile aircraft will crash. Enemy players will be unable to activate their own killstreaks while they are affected by an EMP. The effects of an EMP last for 60 seconds, but does not affect friendlies.

In multiplayer, this killstreak is one of the least used because of the large number of kills required to obtain it. However should players attempt to use the EMP killstreak, the most effective other killstreaks to choose are Harrier Strike, Pavelow, Chopper Gunner or AC130, as these are likely to to earn many kills each, and also add to the user's killstreak.

An EMP is featured in the single-player missions "Contingency" and "Second Sun", halting the Russian advance in the Russo-American War. It is caused by Captain Price who fires a ICBM at the end of Contingency. Its effect however is visible during Second Sun.

Effects of the EMP
"Hey is your red dot working? Mine's out."

- Dunn commenting on his red dot sight not working because the effects of the EMP.

All killstreaks except Tactical Nukes, Emergency Airdrops,and Stealth Bombers, will be destroyed in the initial explosion when the EMP is activated. (In the single player level "Second Sun" it appears that the EMP causes helicopters to fall out of the sky) The following effects will take place for the duration of the EMP for the opposing team:



Player View

 * Vision becomes fuzzy.
 * Entire HUD disappears, including radar, hip-crosshairs, ammo count, game score, and timer; making the game appear like a Hardcore game for the affected team but with normal weapon damage.

Weapons
This is to negate the effect of enemies waiting to call in Killstreaks during an EMP meaning allies are unable to shoot them down.
 * AT4 - Is not able to lock-on to enemy killstreaks but can still be fired freely.
 * Stinger - Is able to lock-on to enemy killstreaks, due to a recent patch.
 * Javelin - Unable to fire, regardless of enemy killstreaks or on the ground.

Weapon Attachments

 * Red Dot Sight - "Red dot" disappears (exception - The F2000).
 * Holographic Sight - Same effect as the RDS.
 * ACOG Scope - Red cross hairs disappear, but the black cross hairs still remain. (Note that the ACOG Scope crosshars for the L86-LSW still remains after an EMP).
 * Thermal Scope - Thermal vision is disabled, but crosshairs remain, essentially becomes a standard sniper scope but with no thermal feature. The scope will still be fuzzy whilst under the effect of the EMP.
 * Heartbeat Sensor - Inoperative, static fills the screen, no red or green dots or beeping sound.

Killstreaks

 * All killstreak rewards will be destroyed if they are active at that moment, but the Emergency Airdrop C-130 cargo plane will be unaffected and still proceed to drop its load.
 * No killstreak rewards can be activated during duration of an EMP.
 * If a player uses an EMP after using an AC-130, it will still fly off the map deploying flares.
 * The Tactical Nuke is a unique case. While an EMP is active, the nuke cannot be activated. However, if the nuke has already been launched, the EMP will not disable it, and the countdown will continue until endgame, presumably because the nuke has already been launched.
 * An EMP cannot destroy a Stealth Bomber but it will prevent it from releasing its payload.
 * In Hardcore modes, the EMP destroys friendly killstreaks as well as enemy ones.

Equipment

 * Claymore - Claymores placed when the EMP hits are destroyed, but new ones will detonate during the EMP
 * C4 - Remote detonator is disabled; can either be shot to detonate, or by double-tapping the reload button.
 * Throwing Knife/Semtex/Frag - The player can still throw these but the crosshairs are removed. Semtex still explodes after its 2 second electrical fuse.

Trivia

 * EMPs are very seldom used because of their high kill requirement, and it provides little effect compared to other high killstreaks. However, some player use it as a training to get a nuke.
 * The announcer will always call out an EMP called in by either side.
 * If the player listens carefully, all other enemy killstreaks are announced via radio. The exception is the EMP, where the announcer will announce the EMP by shouting.  This is because the EMP disables radio communications.
 * If the player looks outside the map immediately after an EMP is deployed (by either team), they can see a nuclear explosion identical to the one seen in "Second Sun" in the distant sky. However, to actually drop a nuke on the map itself requires the 25 killstreak Tactical Nuke, 10 kills more than the EMP.
 * The EMP is the highest killstreak available in a Care Package. There is a 0.87% chance of getting one. It cannot be found at all in an Emergency Airdrop.
 * The title obtained when completing "Blackout: II" is called "Starfish Prime," which was a high-altitude nuclear test that caused a resulting EMP to affect most of Hawaii.
 * Using two EMPs will complete the Blackout I challenge, unlocking the callsign "Chick Magnet."
 * If an AC-130 is being used by a player at the time of the EMP detonation, the player is forced to stop controlling the plane and will come back to their view. The AC-130, however, will remain above.
 * The EMP, along with the UAV and the Counter-UAV, are the only killstreak rewards that cannot kill an enemy directly.
 * An EMP can be used as a good anti-air support killstreak instead of a launcher. This will benefit the players team further in team games as well.
 * The EMP is probably most useful in long objective based team games such as Sabotage, Domination, Demolition and Headquarters where the enemy will use killstreak rewards to support their team and help them obtain the objective. The EMP will destroy current enemy killstreaks airborne and prevent them from using anymore during the duration of the EMP, while the friendly team can freely use killstreaks. This can be beneficial for the team and turn the tide of a game. The enemy will find it much harder to defend against killstreaks as lock on missiles will prove ineffective. They will also find it more difficult to spot harriers, helicopters, predator missiles, etc. because the radar is temporarily disabled.
 * The EMP is perhaps most effective in third-person game modes; if EMP'd, players will have few ways of aiming their weapon as the reticule used disappears.
 * If a friend is using a Predator Missile, activating an EMP while they are doing so will cancel it.
 * EMPs are useful in Ground War matches as it is very hectic and many Killstreak Rewards may be in the air.
 * When an EMP goes off, it temporarily blinds everyone on the map.
 * During the events of "Contingency ", Captain Price detonates a nuclear warhead in the atmosphere above the eastern coast of the United States, which causes an EMP to knock out virtually all electronics along the coast, which can be seen when the player controls Sat1 . This act disables all vehicles, communications and electronic optics systems on both sides for the remainder of the battle for Washington D.C., effectively leveling the playing field for the previously outmatched Rangers.
 * The EMP, along with Counter-UAV and Tactical Nuke, is one of only three killstreak rewards that directly affects all opposing players.
 * An EMP cannot destroy a Stealth Bomber, an Emergency Airdrop, or a Tactical Nuke, but it can delay them.
 * It is interesting to note that an EMP does not affect things such as the digital wrist watches of the U.S. army rangers, televisions and computer monitors, printers, lights, and other ambient electronics.
 * The metal detectors in Terminal are not affected and still function during an EMP.
 * In some strange cases, if the enemy calls in two aircraft (I.e. two Attack Helicopters) at the same time, one will be on the map and the other will be in the queue, waiting for the first to leave. If an EMP is used, it takes out the first (the one on the map), but the second is unharmed.thumb|340px|left|A user-made montage on earning the coveted EMP emblem.
 * The EMP is one of the two killstreaks which the Spetsnaz announcer panics about, the other being the AC-130.
 * The EMP is shown destroying enemy killstreaks by blowing them up. This isn't completely incorrect, as some EMPs can ignite fuel.
 * EMP is most useful in situations where there is a lot of aircraft up in the air, making them all fall down or explode.
 * A very clever way to utilize the EMP is to save it upon earning it, and wait for the enemy to call in a powerful killstreak (such as a Harrier or an AC-130). The player can destroy an enemy killstreak reward as soon as it called in, in this manner.
 * Even though an EMP will remove scores and time left from the game screen, they can still be seen by pressing the "Scoreboard" button.
 * Much like the Tactical Nuke, just by looking in any direction and using the EMP it will explode the way the player is facing.
 * If The EMP in Second Sun affected anywhere else away from the battle site, it would disable civilian aircraft and the civilian escort to get out of Washington, killing many.
 * When a friendly EMP is activated, the screen will flash white for a while. This can disorientate teammates as well and can result in being killed because the player can't see.
 * If the player is killed at the exact moment the screen flashes white, a red haze will restrict their vision upon re spawning. however, it disappears after a few seconds.
 * Although the reason a player cannot call in killstreaks during an enemy EMP, in theory because the button that needs to be pressed is electrical, you can still call in an EMP of your own using the button, disabling the enemy EMP and thus creating a 'Counter-EMP'.