Attachment

An attachment is an optional enhancement, modification or accessory for a weapon. In the first Call of Duty games, there was a lot less customization available to the player, meaning attachments were limited to the basics such as Sniper Scopes. In Multiplayer, attachments were introduced in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and since have been available in every game released afterwards.

Overview
Until the release of Modern Warfare 2, only one attachment was available to be placed on a weapon in multiplayer. In single player, weapons frequently have several attachments, such as the SOPMOD for the M4A1. In MW2, the Bling perk allows users to use two attachments. In the Call of Duty: Black Ops, the Bling perk returned under the name of Warlord. Launchers, Riot Shields and pistols (in World at War) cannot use attachments.

Optical Attachments
Optical Attachments are the most common attachment, and replace the standard iron sights that all guns possess (with the exception of sniper rifles which include a high-power scope). All gun-sights improve the view of the player while aiming, either by enhancing the zoom-in effect or allowing for greater visibility of the battlefield, especially underneath the point of aim where the firearm itself usually obscures the view from iron sights. Some scopes, however, can cause certain detriments to balance their benefits: they can lengthen the time it takes to transition from hip-firing to ADS (simulating the adjustment that the eye must make), and some block out all peripheral vision, allowing the player to see only through the comparatively small gun-sight window while aiming. Even with Bling, only one optical attachment can be used at one time, and none of the sights can be used with Akimbo. The types of gun-sights are:


 * Red Dot Sight (RDS): Included in the Modern Warfare series and Black Ops. Very common sights due to the ease of unlocking them and their general versatility. It is a small glass sheet surrounded by a very thin metal frame that uses optics technology to display, as the name implies, a red dot over the point of aim. ADS zoom with the RDS is 2x, the same as with iron sights. While the sight's accuracy is very good even at extreme range, the dot does not follow the player's movements instantly - there is a moment after a drastic motion during which the point of aim will not be the point of impact until the red dot settles.
 * MARS Sight: A variant of the RDS, it automatically replaces it when the RDS is equipped for the TAR-21. Its viewing window is circular rather than square, and while it allows for better and easier observation of other attachments such as the Heartbeat Sensor while in ADS, the opaque body of the sight that surrounds the viewing window is much larger and therefore obscures more of the view. It is referred to in singleplayer as the MARS Sight, but is just labeled as a Red Dot Sight in multiplayer.
 * F2000 Red Dot Sight: This sight is unique to the F2000, resembling a stockier, thicker variant of the single player sight for the G36C. Due to is being very long, the view down the sight is often very dark and ineffective, only possessing a 1.6x zoom and a smaller viewing area than any other scope, thus it is rarely seen or used. However, it does not become disabled when an EMP is deployed.
 * Holographic Sight: Included in the Modern Warfare series. Similar to the RDS in most respects, and is unlocked by getting kills while using the RDS. The very small red dot in the center of the viewing window is the point of aim/impact, but a larger red circle surrounds the dot, which can tend to obscure details or even the target from long ranges. Both the dot and circle are translucent, however, unlike the RDS's dot. While the RDS is almost perfectly accurate in its point of aim vs. impact, the Holographic Sight is in fact perfect in this regard, simulating its parallax-adjusting optics technology, nor does it have to settle after turns or other adjustments like the RDS does. The body of the sight is slightly larger and therefore obscures slightly worse than the RDS, but the sight overall sits much higher on the weapon than the RDS does, and so the weapon itself obscures significantly less of the shooter's view while aiming. Its aiming zoom, like the RDS and iron sights, is 2x.
 * ACOG Scope: Abbreviation of Advanced Combat Optical Gun-sight. Included in the Modern Warfare series and Black Ops, they are the last sight to be unlocked by getting a set amount of kills. While the ACOG is perfectly accurate and enhances zoom during aiming much more than the RDS or Holographic, it causes increased recoil. As a result, the weapons that it is ideal for are those with low base recoil and/or very large initial damage output, and it is tailored overall for long-range engagement (but not as long as with true sniper scopes). It also lengthens the transition time from hip-fire to ADS considerably, and the large body of the sight surrounding the view-port obscures a considerable portion of the screen around the targeted area. In Modern Warfare, the area around the sight is blocked off, similar to the style of a Sniper Scope. In Modern Warfare 2, the player now has peripheral vision, however the bulkiness of the sight still considerably blocks some of the screen.
 * SUSAT Sight: Identical to the ACOG except in that the fiber-optic and tritium-illuminated reticule is replaced by a post, meaning the sight still works under an EMP. It is only found on the L86 LSW, where it is also referred to by the game as an ACOG sight, similar to how the MARS sight is referred to as RDS. The sight has more peripheral vision than its ACOG counterpart and a somewhat more manageable zoom, however still increases recoil on the gun.
 * Telescopic Sight: These are found in World at War, and are the equivalent of the ACOG from Call of Duty 4, with the main difference being that the aiming chevron is black, rather than red. Again, the peripheral vision is severely reduced to allow only viewing down the sight.


 * Thermal Scope: Unlocked by getting a set amount of kills while using the ACOG. Behaves as a modified telescopic sight, as it has a powerful zoom, it can be steadied by breath-holding, and it obscures all peripheral vision. It is the only sight that actually modifies what the player is seeing in a way other than simply zooming in on it. Players and other sources of heat glow a distinctive solid white in the sight's picture, while everything else is seen in shades of gray. This makes the thermal sight extremely useful for scanning distant terrain for enemies, as any exposed enemy body part will be readily noticeable. Friendlies also glow white, but their brightness strobes, IE blinks rapidly, to simulate the effect of an IR IFF device that they would carry. When viewing a player using the Cold-Blooded perk through a thermal sight, however, they will appear in shades of gray in the exact same spectrum as the rest of the terrain, which can easily cause them to be overlooked if the shooter is expecting the trademark white glow. Smoke, even the thickest smoke generated by a smoke grenade, is completely transparent through a thermal sight, which makes a smoke grenade an ideal complement to the thermal scope.
 * Infrared Scope: Similar to the Thermal Scope from Modern Warfare 2, the Infrared Scope appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops and is the same generalized principal, however the scope turns everything blue or white, rather than various shades of gray. Furthermore, instead of being a straightforward cross-hair in the center, there is a chevron, similar to the ACOG Scope from the first Modern Warfare.
 * Reflex
 * Upgraded Iron Sights
 * Aperture Sight: Found in World at War, this sight was obviously created to be an equivalent to the Red Dot Sight, as it does not exist in the real world. It consists of a circular glass sheet encased in metal containing two black lines to form a cross-hair. It is unlocked after getting 75 kills with a weapon, and offers a slight magnification.
 * Swarovski Scope: This is an attachment that appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops. The Swarovski Scope is integral 1.5x optical sight exclusive used on the AUG series of weapons. The Modern Warfare 2 version is essentially a sniper scope with the zoom of an ACOG, similar to the original ACOG, while the Black Ops version uses two black lines to form a cross-hair with a circle in the middle and the zoom of an ACOG scope also, acting much more similarly to the ACOG from Modern Warfare 2.
 * Variable Scope: This is an attachment that is confirmed to be in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It costs 2000 CoD points.

Modifications
Some attachments modify the use and properties of the weapon besides the sights used to aim it. They are:


 * Suppressor: Included in both Modern Warfare series and World at War; commonly referred to as a silencer. By capturing and compressing escaping gases, it reduces overall noise emanating from the barrel during a shot. While a player's location is marked by a bright red dot on the mini-map of all their enemies every time they fire a non-silenced weapon, a silencer allows them to fire at will without being revealed in this way. This is particularly advantageous for players that prefer to find an ideal fighting position and stay there picking off targets of opportunity until they are noticed. The silencer also causes less tracer rounds to be fired, making it far harder for an enemy to deduce the shooter's location by observing the impact of their rounds. Naturally, the drastically reduced sound of their firing also makes it harder for observant enemies to locate them from it. Finally, the suppressor almost completely eliminates muzzle flash, allowing the user to keep track of their targets more consistently, at the expense of damage over longer range.


 * Foregrip: Included in both the Modern Warfare series and World at War, and mainly found on Light Machine Guns and Shotguns, as these weapons naturally suffer from the greatest recoil. In Black Ops however, it can also be used on assault rifles. The foregrip reduces recoil, allowing bursts of fire to stay accurately on target during a much larger firing time.
 * FMJ: Abbreviation for Full Metal Jacket. Contrary to many players' belief, FMJ does not increase the damage of weapons in any way. The stat bar does show this, but the attachment only reduces the amount of damage lost while shooting through cover (walls etc.), in the exact same way as the perk Deep Impact.
 * Extended Magazines: These appear in both World at War and Modern Warfare 2. In MW2 on primary weapons, they are unlocked after a set amount of kills that are made not only with FMJ equipped, but where the killing round penetrates some solid material to reach the target. As such, they are widely considered the hardest attachment to unlock, especially with weapons that do not lend themselves to blind-firing through cover such as shotguns or sniper rifles. As the name implies, Extended Magazines significantly increase the number of rounds that a weapon can have loaded in a single magazine, alleviating much of the need for reloading. The increase varies by weapon from 50% to 100%. However, it is very important to note that the total amount of rounds that a player starts with is not in any way affected by this attachment. The only way to begin with a larger reserve of rounds is to utilize the Scavenger Pro/Bandolier perk. It is also worth noting that, as magazine size changes, so does the amount of magazines the player can carry. (For example, a SCAR-H without the attachment will contain 2 reserve magazines each containing 20 bullets, yet with the Extended 30 bullet magazines, only one spare is required). On SMGs with Bling, this is often used with Rapid Fire. On Secondary Weapons however, extended magazines can be unlocked simply with enough kills, and is always the last achievement unlocked. In World at War, they are simply unlocked after enough standard kills with any gun of choice, and like above, is normally used with Double Tap. However, there are several variations, all of which do the same job:
 * Round Drums for the Thompson and the PPSh-41.
 * Dual Magazines for the MP-40.
 * Box Magazines for the Type 100 and M1 Carbine.


 * Akimbo_usp.jpgAkimbo: Appears in Modern Warfare 2 and causes the player to wield one of the equipped weapon in each hand, replacing the ADS button as the trigger for the left-hand gun. In addition, the hipfire accuracy of the weapons is also significantly reduced. SMGs, Handguns, Machine Pistols and the Model 1887 & Ranger shotguns can be wielded akimbo. This attachment is popular with players that emphasize speed to close with their enemies as fast as possible. Akimbo cannot be used with Tactical Knife since both attachment take the left hand, it also cannot be used with any optical attachments since the ADS is canceled.
 * Rapid Fire: Appearing in Modern Warfare 2, it acts as a replacement for the Double Tap perk of Call of Duty 4 and World at War, and as the perk did, it increases fire rate by 33%, and is the first attachment unlocked for SMGs. On weapons like the Vector, it doesn't add a fire cap. However, it is worth noticing that recoil kicks in sooner when used in a long burst and consequently depletes the magazine faster, making reloads more frequent. With Bling, the attachment is often used in conjunction with Akimbo for fast mid-range kills, and is often used with the Stopping Power perk to save ammo, or Scavenger for the extra ammo.


 * Select Fire: Originally planned to appear in World at War exclusively for SVT-40 and STG-44, it allowed to switch fire mode between semi-automatic and full-automatic. This was cut from the final game's release.
 * Bipod: Appearing in World at War, the attachment appears on machine guns only, and is the first attachment unlocked for them. It increases accuracy of the gun only when mounted on solid surfaces by eliminating recoil and weapon sway, but at the expense of the player not being able to move and not being able to rotate the gun in a full 360 degrees range. Also, a white cross will replace the standard cross-hair, with the cross even appearing in hardcore modes. In short, when in use, this basically turns the machine gun with a large ammo capacity like the DP-28 into a turret, like the mounted M249 SAW from the Modern Warfare series.
 * Dual Magazines: in Black Ops, this attachment decreases reloading time by taping two magazines side-by-side
 * Speed Reloader: an attachment for the Python in Black Ops.

Accessories
Some attachments do not actually alter the weapon they are attached to in any way, but rather alter another capability of the player or add a new capability entirely. They are:
 * Grenade Launcher: Appears in both Modern Warfare games, and can be mounted on all Assault Rifles. They are under-slung, meaning that they attach to the rifle along the bottom of its barrel over the handguard, and are designed for the shooter to pull their trigger while holding the weapon's magazine as if it were a pistol grip. It loads and fires only one grenade at a time, and must be drawn as a separate weapon before use. The grenade that it fires is identical to a thrown grenade except for the fact that it explodes instantly upon any impact with a non-breakable entity, unless it impacts something so soon after being fired that its explosion would harm the shooter, in which case it does not explode at all. Even a grenade that does not explode in this way, however, will kill any opponent it hits directly. The flight trajectory of the fired grenade follows an arc that must be accounted for when firing from a distance. While it only comes with two rounds upon spawning, the Scavenger perk allows a player to replenish their grenade ammunition very effectively. It is identical to the Thumper except for the fact that there is no ADS for it. The slang term 'noobtube' has arisen to criticize the grenade launcher and its users as 'noobtubers', to such an extent that the latter is a title that can be earned by using it. This attitude arises from a popular sentiment that relying upon the grenade launcher and/or thumper is a way to compensate for poor aiming reflexes with firearms. Grenade Launcher cannot be used with Masterkey Shotgun since they are both under-barrel attachments.
 * Rifle Grenades: Found in Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War, this explosive is only available when a player has the M1 Garand, the Gewehr 43, or any bolt-action rifle except the PTRS-41, and is basically the equivalent to a grenade launcher, and although slower, have a larger blast radius. Also, because they can only be found on a few select weapons, and are normally the last attachment unlocked for them, they are not nearly as frowned upon as grenade launchers. They also do damage against tanks, but are not as effective as the bazooka.
 * Heartbeat Sensor: Appears only in Modern Warfare 2 and is only available on the larger Primary Weapons and the AA-12 shotgun; unlocked after 15 kills while using the suppressor on a given weapon. The sensor displays as a small screen at the bottom left of the HUD extending from the weapon. There is a white dot in the middle of the bottom of the sensor that represents the player, and a pulse is shown to periodically emanate from the player every few seconds. The pulse scans the 180 degrees to the front of the player up to a moderate distance ahead of them, and displays friendlies as green dots and hostiles as red. No features other than the locations of other players are displayed on the sensor, and their displayed locations are only refreshed every several seconds during each sensor pulse. The sensor must use some form of IFF system to tell the difference between friendlies and hostiles; currently no such gun attachment exists in real life, though standalone heartbeat sensor devices do exist.
 * Masterkey Shotgun: Appearing for Assault Rifles in MW2; unlocked after getting 20 kills with an attached grenade launcher. It has a better range than any standalone shotgun. However, it possesses several drawbacks. Each of its shells only fires 6 pellets, compared to most other shells' 8, amounting to 75% of their damage output per shot. Its firing rate is also very slow and its breech capacity (the equivalent of magazine size) is only 4 shells, making it very hard to actually kill someone at the weapon's max range. Masterkey Shotgun cannot be used with Grenade Launcher or Flamethrower since they are all under-barrel attachments.
 * Tactical Knife: Only available on handguns in Modern Warfare 2. Causes the player to hold their knife at the ready in their offhand (left) while their handgun is drawn, doubling the speed with which the player stabs using the normal stab command. Useful both for stabbing an enemy just before they would otherwise stab the player, as well as for recovering from a stab to attempt another or to move on to another enemy within stabbing distance. Tactical Knife cannot be used with Akimbo.
 * Bayonet: The Bayonet is a sword used to stab or slash enemies with mounted onto the barrel of a gun. Appearing in World at War, this attachment is only available on all bolt-action rifles (except the PTRS-41), the Type 99, the M1897 Trenchgun, the M1 Garand and the M1A1 Carbine. While it and the Tactical Knife both affect melee combat, the bayonet affects melee range, not speed. In Modern Warfare 2, the attachment was replaced with the Commando perk, and the Tactical Knife was added in its place.
 * Flamethrower: The Flamethrower is an underslung attachment for assault rifles, set to appear in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It has a limited amount of fuel in one tank, and after the fuel runs out, it can be reloaded, similarly to a grenade launcher.


 * Flashlight: The flashlight is a pistol attachment in Call of Duty: Black Ops used to basically see in the dark, and is held in the same way as the Tactical Knife. While using it, it is presumed one cannot stab, as the off-hand is holding the flashlight.

Detachments
Although classed as an attachment, part of the barrel of the gun has been cut off, so it can be considered a "detachment". Also, these attachments generally radically reduce one of the gun's stats, such as range, to increase another, such as damage. There are currently two versions of these:
 * Sawed-Off: Appears in World at War on shotguns and, as the name suggests, the top end of the barrel is cut off. This increases the damage of the gun, but at the expense of both accuracy and range. It is not present in Call of Duty 4 or Modern Warfare 2, however there is the Ranger shotgun, which has already had the barrel sawn off. In British English speaking countries, it is referred to as "Sawn-Off", not "Sawed-Off".
 * Snub Nose: An attachment available for use on the Python in Call of Duty: Black Ops, the barrel of the revolver is shortened. This increases the accuracy of the gun, but at the expense of damage. It can be seen as the polar opposite of the above sawed-off attachment in-game.