Equipment

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Guide

Equipment

So many deadly toys: if only there were a Bling perk for Equipment.

In addition to a primary and a secondary weapon, you can choose a piece of Equipment:

Frag Grenade
Semtex
Throwing Knife (Unlocked at Level 7)
Tactical Insertion (Unlocked at Level 11)
Blast Shield (Unlocked at Level 19)
Claymore (Unlocked at Level 31)
C4 (Unlocked at Level 43)

Frags haven’t changed—you can still cook them to give enemies less time to throw them back. There is no 3x Frags perk anymore—the only way to carry more than one is to use Scavenger, which allows you to re-supply, but not to carry more than one at a time. No more grenade spam, yay!

Semtex is a timed explosive that sticks wherever it lands, including other players and Riot Shields, though a player using a Riot Shield and the Blast Shield has good protection. But while frag grenades can be bounced off walls and ceilings to reach campers, Semtex doesn’t bounce. As with frags, Scavenger lets you re-supply but not carry more than one at a time.

The Throwing Knife is a one-hit kill, silent and reusable. If you hit an enemy with it, you can reclaim it from the dead body. If you miss, the knife may be somewhere you can find it, though doing so is often difficult and risky. Getting shot while looking for a stray knife sort of defeats the purpose.

Enemy Tactical Insertion flares show red in game. Map: Highrise.

Tactical Insertion allows you to determine where you will spawn after your next death. You can drop a TI flare at the desired spot and as long as no enemy destroys your flare, that’s where you’ll spawn. Flares dropped by your team show up as green and enemy flares as red. Destroy any red flare you come across or risk an opponent suddenly appearing in that spot.

The Blast Shield adds protection when using the Riot Shield and prevents stun and flash grenades from affecting you, but blocks your mini-map in your HUD.

Claymores and C4, like frags, can be re-supplied with Scavenger but you can only carry one at a time, AND you can only have two Claymores active at once. If you try to place a third, one of the other two will detonate.

You also have a choice of special grenades. Flash grenades blind and deafen those within range, including yourself but not including teammates unless you’re playing one of the Friendly Fire modes. Stun grenades slow enemies down and impair vision. Smoke grenades create a thick cloud and are very useful in some objective games.