- For similarly named scorestreak in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, see Lightning Strike.
The Napalm Strike is an airstrike-based killstreak reward available in the multiplayer of Call of Duty: Black Ops and a scorestreak in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Mobile.
Call of Duty: Black Ops[]
- "Airstrike that covers an area in napalm."
- — In-game description.
The Napalm Strike is a 5-killstreak (4 with Hardline) air-strike type reward, costing 
2400 to unlock. Once its target is designated, it flies in a straight line towards the target whilst dropping canisters of Napalm in its path. It shares many commonalities with the Precision Airstrike in the Modern Warfare series, being a fast-response, air-strike type killstreak.
The kill-streak contains many operational similarities as the Rolling Thunder, requiring the player to call it in via a radio, position the target and adjust the angle of entry (For PC, operators must hold down the default Left Mouse button key and turn the mouse left or right to adjust the angle). Unlike its Modern Warfare counterpart, the Precision Airstrike, it drops less bombs (canisters in this case), requires only 1 aircraft instead of 3 and leaves flames which can linger on the map and deal damage over time to any players it contacts. Its fast-pace, near-instantaneous arrival at the target will leave the opposition forces little opportunities to take action or cover to protect themselves against the killstreak before it executes the attack. Its arrival on target takes less time than the Rolling Thunder at a good 4 seconds till weapons release, unlike the Rolling Thunder's 7 seconds. The operator or the operating team can take measures to either conceal its arrival or increase its effectiveness. The Jammer has the ability to both conceal the incoming killstreak from the mini-map, as well as partially (or completely) muting the opposition team's announcer's ability to alert the killstreak's presence to any opposition members within its effective radius. The operating team can utilize a Counter-Spy Plane for a map-wide effect, but lacks the announcer voice scrambler ability present in the Jammer. In the case of a Counter-Spy Plane in effect, the operator can wait to "stack" the killstreak to conceal its presence by calling it the second the announcer makes an announcement. The announcer will be forced to wait between dialogues, giving the killstreak 2 or 3 extra seconds of travel time before the game announcer makes note of its presence (by that time, the aircraft would have already released its payload over the target before the announcement is completed).
The F-4 Phantom delivering the airstrike, like the Rolling Thunder's B-52 Stratofortress, is not solid and therefore is invincible. Free-fire rockets, Anti-Aircraft rockets and other kill-streaks either will not damage it or pass through it completely. SAM Turrets will not target it.
On a Care Package, a Napalm Strike has a 3% chance of being the result, and a 4% chance after a reroll.
On small maps like Nuketown, a well placed Napalm Strike can easily dispatch the entire opposing team as the splash damage and flames can kill and bar opposing players in its path from advancement, but this can pose a risk to the operator's life too. On a very rare occasion, a player can get a double-kill or multi-kills from each enemy on the map Nuketown, or due to badly placed A.I-controlled spawns. For game modes where teams have set spawns, no kill-streak restriction time and carry-through-round killstreak enabled (such as Hardcore Capture the Flag), calling in an airstrike against opposition the instant the round begins has the ability of wiping out the entire opposing team. This allows for an additional 5 or 10 seconds of unopposed ground advancement by the team which called it in that is, if there are no survivors on the opposing team. Any survivors may be barred from advancing for an extra 15 seconds if they do not have Flak Jacket Pro equipped.
Use of Napalm Strike in Hardcore modes is questionable at best, since it is likely to kill teammates. The killstreak initiator can provide initial text or voice-chat warning in Hardcore mode (or any other game mode with friendly-fire enabled) to friendly forces before calling it in, minimizing collateral damage.
The Napalm Strike's biggest downside is the presence of players with Flak Jacket Pro, as these players take next to no damage from the lingering fire, essentially rendering the killstreak useless against them aside from dealing minimal amounts of chip damage. A Flak Jacket Pro user standing directly in the fire from the Napalm Strike will take a steady string of hits from it, but they will deal very small damage. Flak Jacket Pro users can even use the lingering fire to their advantage by walking through it, discouraging engagement with them up close, and making them harder to see by the flame obscuring them partly, so it can inadvertently help enemy Flak Jacket Pro users should they not get hit by the initial explosions. However, users with just the base version of Flak Jacket, which is arguably more common than the Pro version of Flak Jacket, will be just as vulnerable to the flames as anyone else.
After Title Update 8, Treyarch has made the Napalm Strike nearly incapable of killing players inside buildings, with bad connection, or Nuketown being one of the most experienced cases.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War[]
- "Launch a targeted carpet bomb strike of explosive napalm."
- — In-game description.
The Napalm Strike returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War as a Scorestreak and is delivered by the F-4 Phantom as it was before.
The scorestreak may be shot down by the Air Patrol, but its not fast enough to do so before the Phantoms release their payload.
Call of Duty: Mobile[]
- "Scorch nearby enemies and fill the battlefield with smoke."
- — In-game description
The Napalm Strike returns in Call of Duty: Mobile as a Scorestreak under the name Napalm. It was added as part of the Season 2: Day of Reckoning update.
Compared to previous iterations, it completely covers an entire line from two points determined by the player.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Phantom is based on the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier, as written on its fuselage (USS Kitty Hawk, VF-114 squadron).
- The F-4 Phantom that drops the Napalm actually has pilots inside it, albeit very un-detailed and boxy as they are normally not meant to be seen. This can be viewed in Theater mode by pausing the video while the plane enters the map and moving over to it in free-cam.
- One can also find the same models (including pilots) by spectating on the map Firing Range.
- As with Rolling Thunder and SR-71 Blackbird, Napalm Strikes can not be shot down.
- The Wii version's targeting icon is different and is similar to the ones of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's airstrike icon.
- If the player skips the KillCam where one is killed by Napalm Strike, the sound of the Phantom flying can still be heard after the KillCam.
- The F-4 Phantom seen in the Killstreaks menu seems to be in the map Launch.
Video[]
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