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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty 2. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: World at War. 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: Black Ops Declassified 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 appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: WWII The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Mobile The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 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 The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile This article was previously featured
For the game mode with a similar objective, see Team Battle.
TeamDeathmatch Gamemode Icon MP MWIII

Modern Warfare III Team Deathmatch Icon.

"Team Deathmatch!"
— Announcer at the start of a Team Deathmatch match.


Team Deathmatch (commonly abbreviated as TDM), also known as PEW PEW[1] or Champion League[2] (both as an April Fool's day joke), is a multiplayer game mode that appears in every main Call of Duty games with the exception of Call of Duty 3 where it is replaced by Team Battle.

The aim of the game mode is to kill everyone on the opposing team, and the winner is the team that reaches a point limit, or if time runs out, has the most points. A draw can also occur if two teams have the same kill count or score by the time the gamemode ends. Team Deathmatch is one of the most popular multiplayer modes in the series, and the least complex multiplayer mode (aside from Free-for-All).

Call of Duty & Call of Duty 2[]

The objective is to kill as many people as possible on the opposing team. The teams are broken up into Allies, and Axis. Each kill is worth 1 point. Depending on the settings of the game, a match usually ends with the first team to reach 100 points as the winner. If the point limit isn't reached after a certain amount of time, the team with the most points when the time runs out wins.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare & Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered[]

TDM icon MWR

Modern Warfare Remastered Team Deathmatch Icon.

Team Deathmatch in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare features two teams, USMC versus OpFor on Ambush, Backlot, Broadcast, Bog, Crash, Crossfire, District, Showdown and Strike, then S.A.S versus Spetsnaz on Bloc, Chinatown, Countdown, Creek, Downpour, Killhouse, Overgrown, Pipeline, Shipment, Vacant and Wet Work. The objective of both teams is to kill as many members of the enemy team as possible. The first team that reaches 750 points (75 points for Remastered, each kill is worth 1 point to the score), or gets the most points in a specified time limit, wins. 10 points are achieved for each kill and 2 points for each assist. Assist points are not added to the team total. 10 experience points are achieved upon calling in close air support after achieving killstreaks of 3, 5 and 7 respectively. These points do not count towards the team total. The values in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered are 100 points for a kill, 20 points for an assist and 100 points for calling in a killstreak.

Call of Duty: World at War[]

WaW Playlist TDM

Team Deathmatch in World at War is similar to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and previous titles. The first team to get a certain number of kills wins the battle. The assist system is more detailed than Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's system. Instead of always getting 2 points for an assist, the player is given a different score depending on how much they assisted the killer. Giving the victim a light wound gets 2 points, a more serious one gets 6, etc. Also, 10 points are given when a Recon Plane is called, an Artillery Strike is called, and the Dogs are called. Killing an enemy dog will net the player's team 3 points. These points go towards the team total.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2[]

The layout of Team Deathmatch in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is structured the same as they were in the previous games; however, the XP amounts have changed; each kill gives 100 XP and assists give 20 XP. To win the match, one team must either reach the score limit first (7500 points in normal, 10,000 points in Ground War, 75 and 100 kills respectively) before the opposing faction does, or have more points than the other when the time limit expires. Additional points are given for shooting down aircraft, calling in killstreak rewards or getting special kills, such as a Payback kill, but these are not added to the team's score.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Team Deathmatch respawning system is very different from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: World at War. In previous games, players spawned far away from enemies, generally with teammates. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, however, the mere proximity of enemies to a spawn point no longer prevents spawning there. Instead, a player will spawn at a point as long as no enemy is looking at the spawn point regardless of how close they are to it. Thus, players often spawn closer to each other than previous games. Interestingly, if a player is looking through a chain link fence at a spawn point it does NOT prevent enemies from spawning there, though the player can easily shoot through the fence and perform a spawn kill.

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

ELITE TDM

Team Deathmatch in Call of Duty: Black Ops retains gameplay mechanics from both Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The Basic Kill/Points structure remains the same as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (75 kills/7500 points for TDM and 100 Kills/10,000 points for Ground War TDM), and Kill Bonuses (such as Payback, Longshot, Headshot, etc.) only give bonus experience points and don't add to the Team Score. However, like in World at War, player assist XP is based on damage caused, rather than a flat +20 XP. Also, assists via stunning or blinding is factored into the Assist Kill XP, i.e. blinding an opponent with a flash bang provides 50 XP.

A new addition to this however is that now all players Kill/Death ratio is shown on the scoreboard. This was added because there is no side objective and is therefore the main focus of this game mode. This allows the player to quickly see who is helping their team (Kill/Death ratio over 1.00) and who is not helping their team (Kill/Death ratio below 1.00).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

Team Deathmatch in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is essentially the same as it was in Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: World at War. The score limit remains at 75 kills for one team (100 in Ground War) and all the kill bonuses do not go toward the team score. Assist XP is not the same as it was in Call of Duty: Black Ops, and is rather the same as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The spawns are quite similar to those of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. A Hardcore Ricochet Team Deathmatch variant also exists.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

Team Deathmatch remains the same in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Again, the first team to 75 kills (100 in Ground War) wins. Bonuses from Assists, etc. give additional XP to players and additional score to their Scorestreaks. Players can again view their KDR on the scoreboard after the match, or during the game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified[]

Team Deathmatch returns to Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified but now has a lower score limit of 6000.

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

Team Deathmatch CoDG

Team Deathmatch remains the most basic game mode to play in Call of Duty: Ghosts. The first team to 75 kills wins also remains the first and most simple rule of the game mode.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare[]

The icon for TDM in the mode-selection menu

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. This time there are two versions of Team Deathmatch. The regular TDM from past Call of Duty games is playable in the Classic Playlist along with Domination, Search and Destroy and Kill Confirmed or the version with the new exoskeletons and exo abilities. The rules, however, are still the same. As of an update, the first team to reach 100 kills instead of the 75 kills wins.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III[]

Team Deathmatch appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The kill limit was originally 75, but was patched to increase to 100 like with Advanced Warfare.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare[]

"Kill players on the opposing teams. The first team to reach the score limit wins!"
— Standard In-game description.
"Hardcore Team Deathmatch. Limited HUD, low Health, friendly fire enabled and much more."
— Hardcore In-game description.


Team Deathmatch reappears in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, where the goal is to obtain 100 kills instead of the usual 75 kills from previous games. A Hardcore variant and a Tactical variant also appear.

Call of Duty: WWII[]

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: WWII. It features the previous score limit of 75 kills.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4[]

"Straight up Team Deathmatch on all maps. Use teamwork to eliminate the enemy players and reach the score limit."
— In-game description.

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The first team to reach 75 points wins the match. A Hardcore variant is also featured. This and Kill Confirmed are the only two game modes to support 12 players.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare[]

"Kill players on the opposing teams. The first team to reach the score limit wins!"
— In-game description

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with the usual score limit of 75 kills. A Realism variant is also featured.

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

"Kill players on the opposing team. The first team to reach the score limit wins!"
— Description.

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Mobile. However the score limit has been decreased to 40 (50 in Ranked Matches). A Hardcore variant is also featured.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War[]

"Eliminate enemies to earn score for your team. The first team to reach the score limit will achieve victory."
— In-game description

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Call of Duty: Vanguard[]

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Vanguard.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II[]

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III[]

"Kill players on the opposing team. The first team to reach the score limit wins!"
— Playlist description

Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

Hardcore Differences[]

  • Limited HUD - The only display normally visible on the players' screen is the killfeed in the lower left corner, messaging when a player gets a kill or is killed. The map in the upper left is visible only when the player's team has an active UAV recon or Recon Plane. There are no indicators for how much ammo the player has left in their weapon, no messages saying when the player can pick up a weapon left on the ground, nor indicators of scored points (i.e. the +100 that appears when the player scores a kill), and also no compass, grenade indicator, team score indicator or voice chat icon saying who on the player's team is speaking (though these can still be viewed by hitting the Back/Select button). When the player is killed, no killcam is shown but the camera still points toward the killer.
  • Friendly Fire - Teammates can be killed just like enemies. Killing a teammate will subtract 100 points from the player's displayed individual score, but will not be deducted from the player's team's score, nor will it subtract from the player's total score at the end of the game. Thus the use of the Martyrdom perk is ill-advised in this game mode. The game takes several measures to punish deliberate team killers. If a player commits three team kills or just one team kill within the first 15 seconds of the game (due to the fact that at the start the entire team is in one place at one side of the map), the player automatically suicides (with a skull and crossbones symbol on the kill ticker next to his name) and must wait 20 seconds in addition to however long after that the next respawn wave is. After 5 team kills the friendly fire counter goes to 40 seconds, then increases 20 seconds for each subsequent team kill. However, the game is able to differentiate deliberate from accidental teamkills. If the first bullet from firing does not hit a teammate but the others do, the game will assume the teamkill was accidental and the player will remain unpunished. The game will catch on if this continues though. One key tactic is for a team to kill any one of their teammates who is in Last Stand; doing so will take that kill away from the enemy team but this is as long as the enemy team put him in last stand. And as said before a team does not lose points for friendly kills. In Call of Duty: World at War if a player makes three teamkills they are immediately kicked from the game and cannot rejoin the session. The Last Stand (Second Chance) strategy stated above thus, does not prove to be useful due to the risk of a player getting kicked (note that a player put in second chance by a teammate cannot be revived).
  • Respawning - Unlike many game types, respawning occurs as a wave spawn. In which all dead players will revive at the same time. The wave spawn is usually set to 15 seconds. In a game, once a player dies (with no FF/ friendly fire penalties) then, he/she sets off the wave spawn time which starts to count down from 15 seconds. Within those 15 seconds if another player dies (regardless of team) then he/she will join the already dead player(s) in the wave countdown. For example, if one player dies, they will wait 15 seconds to respawn, if another player dies 5 seconds later, they will have wait 10 seconds with the first player to respawn. The timer is not active if there are no players considered "dead". A player who is suffering from a friendly fire penalty must wait out their penalty before joining the wave spawn, which at that time may start the wave timer if no one else is dead. During respawn penalties these players aren't considered "dead" but "out of play". Players may only spectate teammates while "dead" or "out of play", or a certain area (usually where the last teammate died) if all teammates are dead. Respawning is forced on, which means that all players will respawn once the time finishes.
  • Health - Players can only take 30% of the damage they can take in normal game modes before dying. Players do not regenerate health if they survive a fall/bullet.
  • Increased explosion kill range and claymore range - Due to decreased health, the range of claymores appears to increase slightly and the kill radius of all explosives increases drastically. A frag grenade will kill at the very edge of its blast.

Videos[]

References[]

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