Breaching Charge

A breaching charge is an explosive designed for gaining entrance through locked doors and walls.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare


In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a breaching charge is seen in multiple campaign missions, though it is not usable by the player. It is used by Lieutenant Vasquez in "Charlie Don't Surf", and Gaz in "Ultimatum". It is a small explosive attached to the handle of a door to blow the lock. The explosive used in-game is most likely a Detonating Cord, as the explosive seems to be a handle with ropes or cords attached to it. The breaching charge does not damage the player even if he stands next to it, compared to scripted C4 everywhere except for in "Mile High Club".

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the breaching charge is used much more extensively. In this game it is a "frame charge" — a shaped directional charge taped to a piece of Styrofoam, which is stuck to a door or wall to blast through the entrance.

It is seen in multiple Campaign and Special Ops missions. For a short time following the breach, events will occur in slow motion, allowing players to clear a room before any hostiles can effectively react, as they will be drawing and firing weapons at a much slower pace than normal. In addition, the player's magazine will be loaded to full capacity, no matter how many rounds were present previously.

In order to breach, the player must have a firearm equipped, and the room the player currently occupies must be free of enemies. If player attempts to use an invalid weapon, such as an RPG or a Riot shield, a message will appear stating "Not ready to breach". A similar message will appear if there are still hostiles on the player's side of the door to be breached.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, different types of breaching charges are seen depending on the type of material that needs to be breached. For example, the variant seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is used to breach simple wooden doors, while larger charges with multiple components are used to breach heavy submarine doors.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance
In Defiance, breaching is different to the other games that feature the breaching charge for a few different things. The breaching charge in Defiance has a different appearance to other breaching charges. Breaching can kill the player if they stand infront of the door while the charge explodes and the player is always told to plant the charge on doors. No action is seen when planting the charge and the breaching charge always appears instantly. There is a small slow-motion sequence after the breaching charge explodes, slowing down everything in gameplay. The slow-motion effect wears off after a few seconds but happens quickly. Friendly NPCs will usually shout "Go! Go! Go!" slowly just as the slow-motion sequence starts. There is only one time that the slow-motion sequence won't take place and is in the mission Through the Mountains.

Trivia

 * In the Modern Warfare 3 Special Ops mission, Server Crash, in the underground base of Volk, the player can see a table with Call of Duty 4 breaching charges similar to the one in "Loose Ends".
 * In the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 mission, "Loose Ends", several Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare style breaching charges can be found in Makarov's Safehouse.
 * Having akimbo weapons while breaching will cause a special animation.
 * In the mission "The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday", if the player is breaching the last door with a thermal-sighted Intervention, the planting of the breaching charge's animation is strange.
 * Strangely, the wood splinters from using a breaching charge do not seem to affect targets on the far side of a breached door, especially if such targets are close to the door in question.
 * When attempting to breach while reloading, flashing words read "cannot breach while reloading" but this can be canceled out when playing Special Ops with another player.