Armor Piercing (Special Ops)

Armor Piercing is the third mission in the Echo set of Spec Ops mode, and is the 23rd and Final mission of the mode. True to its nature, Armor Piercing pits you against 15 enemy Juggernauts, which is an enourmous challenge to overcome should you not be prepared with the proper strategy. Taking place on the oil rig from the mission 'The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday', a typical playthrough would involve the players slowly reaching the top of the rig, taking down the Juggernauts that confront them along the way. If the player chooses to wait at a specific point on the map, the Juggernauts will slowly come to anyway, leaving you no easy way out of the situation. Thankfully, most of them come one at a time, but the final few come in two's and even three at once.

If the players proceed far toward the top of the oil rig, there is a possibility that Juggernauts may spawn behind them rather than infront - it is important to bear this in mind, and using the Claymores given at the start of the level as a warning system is usually a good tactic.

Armor Piercing Tactics

 * Run and Gun: One of the more obvious and more difficult tactics, it is possible to take the machine guns given to you at the start of the level and simply charge through the Juggernauts, aiming for their heads and unleashing the exceedingly large clip into their faces, however come Veteran difficulty this option seems a little.... impossible?


 * 'Hide and Snipe': By far the most effective tactic, hiding and sniping allows you to stay clear of the Juggernauts bullet spray and pound their heads with large calibur bullets. One particularly good spot to do this method is quite early on in the level.

Once you start, head over to the weapons carpet and trade your Thumpers for the Thermal Intervention and Barret .50cal (there's only one of each, and it honestly doesn't matter who gets what) whilst keeping your LMG's. Head up the steps and sprint through the first room and up the flights up steps to the outside of the rig again. Chances are there'll be a Juggernaut around here, so you could either wait for him to come down, or spot him and then turn tail and run before he kills you. Either way, you're gonna need to snipe his brains out or mow him down with LMG fire. If he doesn't appear, just follow the instructions below, because trust me, he'll be showing up soon enough.

Having slain the first of many to come (or not), head outside and turn right. You should see a piece of scaffolding with some planks to stand on and a ladder leading up to it. Get used to this spot, you'll be using it for the next 10 minutes. This amazing piece of mapwork allows you to get a good view of the long section of oil rig the Juggernauts have to pass through, and better yet if they slip past your sniping they have to climb up the ladder to get to you, allowing you to get plenty of hits in before they're able to even start shooting (LMG's to the face are recommended in this situation). Furthermore, underneath the scaffolding is an ammo crate, so should you ever run out, it's there, though as each 'Naut takes about 5-6 sniper shots to the head to kill (even on Veteran), the combined amount of ammo you have in each sniper should already be enough.

From that point, just sit patiently and wait. A Juggernaut should appear every minute or so, so just take them down one at a time. Once multiple 'Nauts start coming, just deal with them in the same way, if all else fails they still have the ladder to climb. An optional tactic is to plant claymores around the bottom of the ladder to warn you of impending danger and to add that little bit of extra damage. Even on Veteran difficulty, this tactic should make this mission as easy as getting a UAV with the Hardline perk on, assuming you can snipe fairly consistently at 'Naut heads.