Tactical Nuke


 * For the Nuke in Nazi Zombies, see Nuke (Nazi Zombies).

The Tactical Nuke is an unlockable killstreak reward in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Overview
Requiring 25 consecutive kills (or 24 with the Hardline perk), this killstreak is the hardest to acquire in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Once used, a ten second countdown will display on all player's screens as the nuclear warhead, although invisible, falls to earth, and a siren will sound. Once the countdown expires, the entire battlefield will be engulfed in white light as the nuke explodes. Time will appear to slow, all vehicles and killstreak rewards will explode, and finally, all spawned players including the user, die on the spot. Chickens, on maps such as Rundown and Karachi, however, do not die.

A Tactical Nuke detonation results in an automatic win for the user and their team, no matter what the current score is - however if a nuke is called in in a Free-For-All, when an enemy has more kills than the Nuke user, the Nuke will not give the user a win. Once a Tactical Nuke is called in, the current score will freeze. This means that the scores will not increase even if players capture objectives, or kill enemies. For example, if the score in Domination was 199 to 180 and someone called in a nuke, the score will remain the same.

Because of how difficult the nuke is to obtain, many players boost in Free For All or even Team Deathmatch in order to attain illegitimate Nukes.



After the Tactical Nuke explodes, it will kill all players who are alive within 5 seconds of its explosion. This can greatly extend the user's killstreak, as long as they are one of the final players killed - and it does add to the users Leaderboards Killstreak.

The Nuke does not kill players in a random order. The bomb is dropped off map (that's why the player can't see it). If standing at the edge of the map, looking out, and where the bomb is dropped the player will see an explosion and shock wave almost identical to CoD4's 'Shock and Awe' when the Nuke goes off. The players will be killed in order of distance (closest to furthest) of the explosion. This has been confirmed. It is also confirmed that the location of the nuke will land out of the map varies by where the player who summoned it was looking at. So if the player looks left and activate the nuke, that is where it will land.

Tips

 * A popular choice for Killstreaks to obtain a tactical nuke is equipping Harriers, Attack Helicopter, Pavelow and the Chopper Gunner. Reasons for these include the length of time they are in the air and the considerable amount of kills they have the potential to gain.
 * Perks are crucial in obtaining a nuke and can depend on which game mode is being played.


 * One Man Army Pro or Scavenger Pro are a common choice for tier one perks, due the extra ammo or the ability to replenish claymore mines as the player will be avoiding any close quarter combat (CQB)


 * One Man Army Pro is also useful if the player wants to equip Hardline as their second tier perk, so they can obtain the harrier strike one kill less. The player can also change to Cold Blooded Pro so they are invisible to enemy radar or Killstreak rewards.


 * A less used perk while obtaining a tactical nuke is Danger Close Pro, giving the harrier strike and chopper gunner more firepower.


 * AC130s can be chosen over the chopper gunner, and does have an advantage of two sets of flares if any enemy players have a Stinger.


 * Pavelows are sometimes chosen instead of the Harrier Strike, however as the Pavelow requires 9 kills, the player risks being killed before obtaining this Killstreak reward and the player will have to wait for the Pavelow to leave before calling in a chopper.


 * It is worth telling teammates that the tactical nuke is the goal, they can assist in protecting the player or destroy enemy killstreak rewards. Though you'll almost never find a team willing to help you.


 * Game modes where there is an objective can be a good choice as the enemy team will be heading to one particular part to the map, for example Headquarters; where a player can easily gain kills while defending the HQ.

Behind the scenes

 * Originally, the killstreak was called Nuclear Strike. This is indicated by acquisition sound file name.
 * On early pictures, the killstreak used mushroom cloud icon. Mushroom cloud is also the current kill icon for nuke.
 * It seems the player was able to receive nuke from Care Package. This can be seen on early pictures, and there is Tactical Nuke icon above Care Package in game files (there are no icons for Care Package and Emergency Airdrop). The console variable "scr_airdrop_nuke" exists in Modern Warfare 2 and it works. When a care package with nuke is dropped, the game says "Press and hold X/F/square button for Nuclear Strike". The care package can be captured and player would acquire nuke.
 * Probably Nuclear Strike had limited radius and was delivered by airstrike or rocket. The nuke map cursor in game files proves that. This is probably a reason why the player was able to get nuke from Care Package.

Trivia

 * It is possible to "survive" the explosion. First, the player must have either a Predator missile, a Chopper Gunner or an AC-130. When time slows, call in the killstreak. The player's character will open the laptop and, through a glitch, will not die. The player will simply stand there with the laptop open. The game will still end, but however, the user who launched the nuke will still be credited with a kill. Also if you have final stand on you can survive, but not with last stand.
 * If host migration is in process when the nuke timer is counting down, sometimes when the new host is chosen the ended game will not have the red background, only the eerie music.
 * The tactical nuke's launch can't be activated while the player is affected by an active EMP. However, an enemy using an EMP after the launch will not interrupt the countdown, and it will still detonate.
 * When the player acquires a Tactical Nuke, the announcer says things such as: "Tactical Nuke ready, turn the key." When the enemy team deploys one, the team's announcer will say "Enemy Nuke incoming!" followed by a mournful-sounding cry of: "It's over!" or "We're done!" (SEALs only)
 * The Multiplayer title Toxic is unlocked upon being killed by a hostile Tactical Nuke.
 * Just after the game was released, points were still accredited to the team score regardless of whether or not a nuke was activated. Due to heavy complaints from gamers who 'finally managed' to obtain the nuke couldn't enjoy it due to the fact that other victory conditions may be met during the nuke countdown. Infinity Ward then made it so that the game score freezes upon activating a nuke.
 * The player can use two nukes in one game, as the first nuke has exploded and the game has gone slow-mo, the player can activate the other nuke before being killed.
 * Upon detonation, all enemy killstreaks will be destroyed giving the player who called the nuke the amount of XP they would normally get for destroying a killstreak, but all windows will be shattered and strangely the chickens will still be alive (if the player is playing on a map with chickens such as Karachi and Rundown, Underpass and Strike). Players will die only when the shock wave reaches them, while killstreaks are destroyed instantly. Killstreak rewards called in by the player's team mates, strangely, are unaffected, unless in Hardcore - a similar effect with the EMP.
 * Even if an approaching nuke is friendly, the announcer will still sound panicked, regardless of the fact that he continually urges the player to activate the nuke when they have obtained it. Only the Spetsnaz announcer sounds calm on an imminent friendly Nuke.
 * The nuke, despite killing everyone, will not affect the physical environment at all. However there is enough detail in the game to include the dust and shrapnel in the air after the blast and the fact that the map lacks light during the results after a nuke ends the game. Also, nuclear fallout will begin to cover the map as the scores are displayed.
 * In Sabotage, Demolition and Search and Destroy matches, if a nuke is called in while a bomb has been planted the match will still continue until the detonation of the nuke even if the target has been destroyed. Any points gained by players from planting or defusing the bomb or even destroying the target will count towards the players score however it will not affect either team as the team which called in the nuke will win despite the circumstances.
 * Despite how the objective of the game is to defend the sites from explosives, using a nuke while on the defending team of Search and Destroy or Demolition causes the user's team to win the game, despite both sites being destroyed.
 * The player is able to survive a nuke if he/she is shot into Final Stand during the blast. This is presumably, not a glitch as the scoreboard at the end of a "nuked" match still shows the player who survived without a dog tags by their online ID meaning they're alive.
 * The background music that plays during the explosion of the tactical nuke is the same one that plays on the campaign level Endgame.
 * If host migration starts after the nuke is called in, the nuke can go off during the seconds before the game restarts.
 * The player cannot unlock the challenge "Omnicide" with the nuke.
 * If the player activates the nuke in Demolition while his/her team is losing, they will not get the "Ultimate Sacrifice" challenge. This also applies in FFA.
 * Tactical Nuke is one of 3 killstreaks that directly effects all opposing players, the other 2 being Counter-UAV and EMP.
 * It is possible to see helicopters going down in the shock wave even if there are no helicopters on the map.
 * A scrapped game mode was hidden in the code of Modern Warfare 2, named Global Thermonuclear War, not to be confused with the title, the objective was to capture a Nuke, and the first team to have been capturing it long enough to obtain 100 points would win, at which point a Tactical Nuke would be activated. The Tactical Nuke killstreak reward is likely to have replaced this game mode.
 * In Wasteland if the player launches a Tactical Nuke, Nuclear Reactor 4, the one that caused the Chernobyl Nuclear accident, will explode. This is most likely a private joke by Infinity Ward.
 * Chickens cannot be killed by Nukes.
 * In Black Ops' WMD, if the comsat's alarm goes off the alarm's siren is that of a Tactical Nuke siren, but with a significant delay.