Knife

The Knife is the standard close quarters combat (CQC) melee weapon in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and one of the melee weapons in Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Prior to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the knife is not a commonly used melee weapon in previous singleplayer Call of Duty games; it was available only in missions that feature stealth and/or reconnaissance. Before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the most common melee attack is the butt of the weapon. The knife is triggered by pressing the melee button (default V on the PC, clicking the right thumb-stick on the Xbox 360, clicking the R3 Button on the PS3, or pressing Down on the D-Pad), as taught in "F.N.G." and "S.S.D.D." missions. On the Wii the melee attack is also triggered by shaking the controller.

Singleplayer
The knife is the standard melee weapon for the player character in every installment of Call of Duty from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare onward. It is rarely seen used by NPCs, although they do have the ability to use a knife in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The knife is always a one-hit kill on normal enemies, although it can take upwards of eighteen to nineteen knife hits to kill a Juggernaut.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The knife attack always kills an enemy in one slash or stab. In Old School multiplayer matches, however, two knife attacks are required to kill an enemy player at full health. This two-hit-kill knifing also applies when double health is applied on Private Matches.

Call of Duty: World at War
The knife in Call of Duty: World at War is rather inconsistent in its ability to connect and kill enemies. It also makes a very loud and distinguishable swinging noise, often causing the user to be exposed, as it is highly unreliable. This knife is only consistent at a one to two foot range, where it usually guarantees a kill.

The Bayonet is an alternative to the knife, and can be attached on all bolt-action rifles - the Kar98k, Springfield, Mosin Nagant and Arisaka - the M1897 Trenchgun, the M1 Garand, the M1A1 Carbine and the Type 99. The Bayonet increases the lunge distance and thereby increases the odds of a successful attack.

Nazi Zombies
In the Nazi Zombies map Der Riese the players can replace their usual knife with the Bowie knife for 3000 points that multiplies damage many-fold, allowing one-hit kills up to round 15 and double or triple strikes for as long as any game could hope to last. The Bowie knife upgrade remains after death and respawn, adding value.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
There are three knives available to the player in Modern Warfare 2:
 * The regular knife
 * The Tactical Knife, an attachment for Handguns which allows faster knife stab and faster recovery. USP .45's Akimbo attachment has the same swing speed as the Tactical Knife, but with the regular recovery speed.
 * The Throwing Knife, a ranged alternative, available as Equipment.

Also featured in Modern Warfare 2 is the perk Commando, which greatly increases the knife's lunge range, often resulting in large lunges which still kill players. Commando increases the knife's range to similar the length of the shipping crates on the Call of Duty 4 map Shipment, combined with Lightweight and Marathon this can produce a very dangerous class. However, this tactic is considered overpowered and causes immense frustration for victims; its use is sometimes looked down upon by other players.

The knife recovery time can be shortened by quickly hitting the equipment button then switch weapons button. This tactic is most effective when used with the Throwing Knife, and is impossible with Fragmentation Grenades and the Blast Shield.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The knife returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is still a one-hit kill, but unlike the previous versions, seems to cause a very large fountain of blood to appear after knifing an enemy.

There are currently seven known knives featured in Black Ops:
 * The regular knife, as seen since Call of Duty 4
 * The Ballistic Knife, a secondary weapon that fires the blade out of the grip for a silent, ranged attack


 * The Prison Knife, briefly a primary weapon during the mission "Vorkuta"


 * The Karambit Knife which is used in "Executive Order"


 * The SOG Knife which is used in "Victor Charlie"


 * The Bowie Knife, which is available on the Zombie maps Kino der Toten and "Five"


 * Grigori Weaver uses a throwing knife once in "WMD." It is unavailable to the player because its predecessor is the Tomahawk and is never used again.

After having knifed someone, knife recovery is swifter than in previous games.

If the player is knifed during a Gun Game they will be set back one tier.

Trivia

 * All of the knives are based on real-world knife models:
 * The Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS) knife is based off the SOG fighting knife.
 * The World at War knife is based off the KA-BAR knife.
 * The Modern Warfare 2 knife is based off the Blackhawk Tatang.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, NPCs have the ability to use the knife, although its occurrence is extremely rare. Allied characters usually throw enemy NPCs onto the floor and shoot them upon close contact instead of using the knife.
 * In Call of Duty 4, the first and only time an NPC uses a knife to kill an enemy is in "Ultimatum" when Price kills an Ultranationalist with a knife.
 * The Call of Duty 4 knife was originally to be used in Modern Warfare 2, but the Modern Warfare 2 knife was changed to a more contemporary model. The Tactical Knife still uses the icon of the original knife.
 * There are three occasions in Modern Warfare 2 where an enemy uses a knife in an attempt to kill the player. The first two occur in "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday" and "Just Like Old Times"; the player breaches the door and an enemy charges at him with a knife. Thirdly, Shepherd stabs Soap in the chest after knocking him down during "Endgame."
 * The only time an enemy uses a knife against the player in Call of Duty 3 is during one of the quick-time events, when getting ambushed in a building by a German soldier wielding one. The German repeatedly attempts to stab the player. The fight ends when the player manages to push the german back through the window after pulling the pin on a grenade on his chest.
 * All players seem to use the Knife with their left hand. However, this isn't the case in Call of Duty: Black Ops on the Nintendo DS, as the player can use their right hand.
 * It is possible to get an assist with the knife in Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 by using the "Double Health" setting.
 * In Black Ops multiplayer, if one knifes a soda can or bottle on the ground, the knife will make a punching noise.
 * In Black Ops Campaign mode, occasionally, a regular knife attack will not kill or even down the enemy. Players may have to perform a second slash.
 * The Prison knife in "Vorkuta" is actually a shard of glass with black tape around the bottom.