Overkill



Overkill is a Tier 2 perk in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: World at War that allows the player to carry two primary weapons, instead of a primary weapon and sidearm (pistol). Overkill is unlocked at level 38 in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and 56 in Call of Duty: World at War. Perks that affect weapons will affect both primary weapons a player carries, as all perks apply to the player and not their weapons. A player using Overkill will use an M9 during Last Stand in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, or an M1911 in Call of Duty: World at War. When using Overkill, the first primary weapon determines movement speed and character appearance, as it always does. The second weapon chosen when the perk is active cannot utilize any camouflage and has no effect on mobility or appearance, with the exception of the gun being visible on the player's back.

Multiplayer Tactics
This perk is best used by equipping two weapons that make up for each others' deficiencies. Choosing which weapon to designate as the primary is very important, as the primary determines character appearance and movement speed. In Call of Duty 4, sniper rifles can make good primaries on grassy maps, as this gives the player a ghillie suit. A good example of this is equipping a sniper rifle and an SMG. Sniper rifles are great for engaging long range targets but are not particularly effective at medium range and close range, while SMGs are good for close to medium range but are not very good for long range. Inversely, using two similar weapons is a poor way to take advantage of Overkill, as neither weapon would be specialized enough to warrant taking up the second Perk slot.

In both games, there will be a slight delay when switching to certain secondary weapons for the first time where the player will pull back a bolt, fiddle with the weapon, etc. Because of this, it is normally ideal to take out the second weapon upon spawning and then change back. Good specialization is very important, and Overkill is a very good choice in Hardcore where perks such as Stopping Power and Juggernaut are not needed, as players have low health. It is very common to see people with an SMG/sniper combination (usually a PTRS-41) or Grenade Launcher/SMG combination. In Call of Duty: World at War, a shotgun with a grip can be Overkilled with a rifle grenade. Since both attachments share the first tier perk, this is highly advisable for shotgunners who insist on using grips.

If the player chooses to use a sniper rifle with an SMG, using the SMG as a primary is a good idea, as the player will have the SMG's mobility with a sniper rifle. This works best with an MP5 and a Dragunov, as the Dragunov is unaffected by Stopping Power, allowing the player to use whatever tier 2 perk they choose for their SMG without losing effectiveness with the sniper.

When the MP40 is used (as it normally is with Overkill), the gun will still do high damage at close range (50 damage). In hardcore most people use the SMG/sniper combo with a Thompson and M1 Garand with a sniper scope, which allows them to do high damage close up and at medium/long range. It is advised that the player usually make both of his weapons a gun that can be used in all situations. A shotgun and machine gun combination would help because a shotgun lacks the rate of fire and range of a machine gun while the machine gun has weaker damage, but high accuracy and range. It is not advised to use this combination with the STG-44, as the STG-44 effectively fills the roles of SMG and rifle. A good combination would be the M1 carbine, Double-barreled shotgun with Sawed-off barrel, and the M2 flamethrower; use this with a sticky grenade or molotov cocktail and tabun gas so that the carbine acts like a long range gun and sniper, the double-barreled shotgun is a CQC killer, the flamethrower can kill enemies when used with tabun gas, and the sticky grenade or molotov will finish off the target if they are not already dead. A third perk like Extreme Conditioning can help the player get back into cover after killing a target, or get closer to the target. If the player has a flamethrower, it is advised not to use a weapon like a PPSh-41 as ammo will run out extremely quickly. It should be noted that if the player is using a carbine and flamethrower, but has Stopping Power, Overkill is a better choice for tier 2 perk, as the pistol becomes useless due to the flamethrower.

It is advised (in both games) to use a high powered weapon to ensure that even without perks such as Stopping Power and Juggernaut the player will still do significant damage. Overkill is also effective when combined with Bandolier, as this allows the player to last longer in the battlefield with the specific weapon he/she has chosen.

The benefits of Overkills however are mitigated for all non-sniper classes however as it's extremely likely that any weapon warranting the use of Overkill for a CQB class can be found on the bodies of dead enemies. From there it is easy to swap that weapon for a sidearm without having to use the Tier 2 slot.

Trivia

 * In Call of Duty 4, if two assault rifles are used with a Grenade launcher, both weapons will have two grenades. If either assault rifle is an AK-47, however, the primary weapon will have three grenades and the secondary will have one. This is most likely because the AK-47 uses the GP-25 and the other rifles use the M203.
 * With the use of Overkill, camouflage cannot be applied on the secondary weapon; however, if any camo is applied on the player's primary weapon, the secondary will look as if it has the same camo in third-person. This is obviously a design flaw.
 * This perk does not return in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, most likely due to the ability to use shotguns, launchers, and machine pistols in addition to handguns as secondary weapons. It may also have been removed considering you can use tier 1 perk One Man Army to switch classes without needing to respawn.