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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty Online The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Ghosts The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: WWII The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: WWII Nazi Zombies The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Mobile The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Warzone The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Vanguard The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
For the equipment it is modeled after, see Flare.

A Tactical Insertion (commonly abbreviated to TI or Tac Insert) is an equipment that appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty Online, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: Mobile, and a Field Upgrade in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Tactical Insertions appear in the form of flares in the Modern Warfare franchise, Ghosts, Mobile and Vanguard, and of a small beacon in Black OpsBlack Ops II, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare. They can be placed wherever the player chooses, allowing the player to choose where they will respawn.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2[]

Tactical Insertion is an equipment in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and is unlocked at level 11. It takes a few seconds for the Tactical Insertion to activate after hitting the "equipment" button. It can be deactivated by enemy players by hitting the "interact" button near the Tactical Insertion or by shooting at it. The Tactical Insertion appears as a handheld flare, appearing with green light to friendlies, red light to enemies. A crosshair-like chevron (V) is shown when the Tactical Insertion is being placed, and points in the direction the player respawning will face.

Tactical Insertions can be useful in objective game modes such as Domination or Demolition as the player can respawn near objectives, saving the player the time and effort to run across the map, which can possibly prevent enemies from capturing objectives or planting/defusing a bomb. However, placing a Tactical Insertion takes some time and can delay one's assault. Also, using a Tactical Insertion means that one has to give up another, possibly more lethal equipment, such as C4 or Semtex. The Tactical Insertion is useless in Search and Destroy as the player cannot respawn. Another downside of the Tactical Insertion is that spawn killing a Tactical Insertion user is made very easy as an enemy can simply wait for the player to spawn and quickly dispatch them without the player having any time to react.

Gallery[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

"Drop-zone beacon that allows you to place your next spawn point. Unavailable in Free-for-All game modes."
— Create-a-Class 2.0 description

The Tactical Insertion returns, but this time the player can cancel the insertion between lives to discourage Tactical Insertion spawn camping. In addition, it is now unusable in the Free-For-All game mode to prevent boosting.

Placing the Tactical Insertion is less audible than in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The beacon flashes red to enemies, but green to allies, once per second and has a fairly large area. In addition, it emits a low beep with every flash, making it easier to find. However, many players may mistake it for being part of the scenery, as many maps have flashing lights, therefore making it much less distinct than the bright flare in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The "cancel spawn" feature is very useful if the player suspects that an enemy is ready to spawn kill them on their Tactical Insertion. As well, it is also useful to use the feature if the Tactical Insertion is in a spot the player no longer favors, usually due to action shifting away from the area the Tactical Insertion is.

Tactical Insertions are best used in objective game modes or with short range weapons. Tactical Insertions used in this sense are invaluable in helping the player shorten the gap to critical points, such as bombsites, flag sites, and close quarter areas. In Black Ops, they are best placed in obscure or rarely used portions of the maps in order to hide them from players who attempt to spawn kill Tactical Insertion users. The red flashing and the beep are very easy to detect if placed in an exposed position. To prevent suspicion of Tactical Insertions from the enemy, it may be wise to use different routes with each life.

Tactical Insertions can still be destroyed by any enemy player by hitting the "interact" button in its vicinity, or by explosives. Shooting or knifing them is also possible. Flashbangs, Concussion Grenades and Nova Gas can also destroy them.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

The Tactical Insertion is unlocked at level 61 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer. It is identical to the Tactical Insertion in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. However, it is found in the special grenade slot. The time used to prepare the Tactical Insertion is also the same although it can be shortened with the Perk Quickdraw Pro.

Unlike the Call of Duty: Black Ops version of the Tactical Insertion, it is usable in Free-For-All modes again, and cannot be canceled so the player will always spawn on the insertion, oftentimes if placed in an area with multiple enemies, could lead to a second death.

The Tactical Insertion also appears in the game mode Infected. It is used by the infected players. It can be very useful to use as the player can plant it near enemies in one position.

Gallery[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

"Drop-zone beacon that allows you to place your next spawn point. Unavailable in Free-For-All game modes."
Create-A-Class Description

The Tactical Insertion appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It is much more visible than in previous games, generating a tall red or green beam above itself. It can still be smashed by standing over an enemy one and pressing the action key. Like the Call of Duty: Black Ops version, the player can cancel their planted Tactical Insertion in the killcam/respawn menu, and to prevent boosting, it cannot be used in the Free-For-All game mode. A friendly's Tactical Insertion will have a green beam above it and an enemy's Tactical Insertion will have a red beam.

Gallery[]

Call of Duty Online[]

The Tactical Insertion makes a reappearance in Call of Duty Online.

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts, exclusively to the Infected game mode. It was removed outside of this to prevent boosting. The Tactical Insertion, like in Call of Duty: Modern Wafare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, appears in the form of an emergency flare, but looks slightly different. It is very useful in Infected as it can be placed near where the survivors are and so they can swarm their position.

In Private Matches, it can be equipped exclusively by the infected when playing Infected mode by leaving the Tactical Equipment slot empty.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare[]

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Similar to Call of Duty: Ghosts, the Tactical Insertion is only available in Infected game mode. It takes up the Exo Ability slot (in a similar fashion to the Bombardier wildcard), while the primary Exo Launcher equipment is the Spike Drone.

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Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare[]

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, available only in the mode Infected, given to all infected.

Call of Duty: WWII[]

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: WWII. It was added into Infection on May 29th, 2018 as part of the Attack of the Undead event. Unlike most versions of the Tactical Insertion, the player uses a zombie's skull instead of a normal beacon device. The player also drops the Tactical Insertion much faster than previous versions, and cannot be destroyed by surviving players.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare[]

"Marks a location as your next spawn point."
— In-game description

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare as a Field Upgrade.

When set, the Tactical Insertion makes a distinctive noise and can be denoted by the red color flare it emits. Enemy players who are near to the set Tactical Insertion can choose to destroy it. In Infected, infected players spawn with a pair of Throwing Knives and the Tactical Insertion this time appears as Tactical equipment.

In Call of Duty: Warzone, the Tactical Insertion can only be used in Plunder modes.

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Mobile, exclusively to the Attack of the Undead game mode (and its variant). It is available to the Undead players and works similarly to previous counterparts.

Call of Duty: Vanguard[]

"Marks a location as your next spawn point."
— In-game description.

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Vanguard as a Field Upgrade and works similarly to Modern Warfare.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II[]

"Marks a location as your next spawn point."
— In-game description

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as a Field Upgrade and functions similarly to previous games.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III[]

"Marks a location as your next spawn point."
— In-game description

The Tactical Insertion returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III as a Field Upgrade.

Trivia[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2[]

  • During the Alpha phases of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer, it was going to be a green/red glow-stick, not a flare. Proof of this can be seen in Robert Bowling's (fourzerotwo) Twitter account during later Q&A sessions and the official strategy guide.[1]
  • It does not have a third person animation for "preparing" the flare, or placing it. It uses the standard grenade animation instead.
  • If the player cancels it while they are putting it down, they can still hear it clicking.
  • If the player were to look carefully, the words 'Golden Beard' can be seen over the words 'Emergency Flare', the latter of which is in a smaller font size.
  • It was originally going to be a Tier 3 Perk, as there is a image file in the PC game files named specialty_tactical_insert.iwi.
    • It can also be seen in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 teaser trailer.

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

  • The words 'Tactical Insertion' and a Treyarch logo can be seen on the label of the Tactical Insertion while prepping it.
  • When it is placed close to a wall, it can be seen glowing outside the wall/room.
  • The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 style Tactical Insertions can be found in Call of the Dead lying around the map.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

  • It reads, Keep Out Of Reach Of Children.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

  • Its model from Call of Duty: Black Ops is used for the markers to direct gunships in "Suffer With Me".
  • The coordinates shown on it change for every map and these coordinates shown are the coordinates to the map in real life.
    • Some maps have coordinates that do not match, such as Turbine, which has coordinates for somewhere in China but is actually based in Yemen.
  • There is a QR code on the top part of the Tactical Insertion.

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

  • On the Tactical Insertion, the words 'Emergency Flare' can be seen.
  • The Tactical Insertion has a low quality model, possibly as a placeholder of what it would have looked like, before it was removed from multiplayer (aside from Infected).

References[]

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