Perk Slots

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Guide

Perk Slots

Slot 1:

Marathon (Unlocked at Level 1)
Ability: Unlimited sprinting.
Pro Ability (sprint 26 miles with Marathon): Climb over obstacles quickly.
Makes getting around maps much faster as you never have to rest unless you choose to. When combined with Lightweight and one of the SMGs, Sniper rifles or pistol/commando knife combo, this is a formidable class set up.

Sleight of Hand (Unlocked at Level 1)
Ability: Faster reloading.
Pro Ability (get 120 kills with Sleight of Hand): Faster aiming down your weapon’s sights.
Comes in very handy with weapons that have small magazines or huge magazines. With the former, you risk depleting your ammo in a fight and getting killed while reloading if another enemy comes along. With the latter, LMGs reload much more quickly once you decide to do so, so you’re vulnerable for a shorter time. Also good with some shotguns that have a slow reload time.

Scavenger (Unlocked at Level 13)
Ability: Full re-supply from dead enemies.
Pro Ability (re-supply 100 times with Scavenger): Extra magazines.
Most enemies will drop a blue satchel when they die, which you can move over to pick up. All weapons will be restocked, including launchers and equipment, such as frags and C4, though you can only carry one of these at a time. If you have placed a Claymore of C-4, you can pick up another and make it active for double protection, but you cannot have more than two active at once.

Bling (Unlocked at Level 21)
Ability: 2 primary weapon attachments.
Pro Ability (get 200 kills with a Blinged weapon): 2 secondary weapon attachments.
As you unlock weapon attachments such as the various scopes or ammo, you can equip two instead of one. Very handy if you like a silencer and a scope, or a scope with FMJ ammo.

One Man Army (Unlocked at Level 45)
Ability: Replaces your secondary weapon, but allows you to change your class at any given time during a match.
Pro Ability (get 120 kills using One Man Army): Swaps classes in a shorter time.
Accessed via the Secondary Weapon button, this brings up a list of your classes to pick from. If you have two classes using this perk you can switch between them. Otherwise you stay with the class you choose until you die. When you respawn, you go back to the One Man Army class unless you select another in the usual way. Once you get OMA Pro, changing classes takes half the time and is an opportunity to get nearly free XP by using it every time you spawn and immediately changed to your actual desired class. As long as you spawn using OMA, every kill you get until you die, regardless of which class you change to, earns credit toward the OMA challenges.

Slot 2:

Stopping Power (Unlocked at Level 1)
Ability: Increased bullet damage.
Pro Ability (get 250 kills with Stopping Power): Increased bullet damage vs. helicopters and aircrafts.
The Go To Slot 2 perk for many players, turns high damage weapons into one-hit wonders.

Lightweight (Unlocked at Level 1)
Ability: Move faster.
Pro Ability (sprint 30 miles with Lightweight): Allows you to do a quick aim after sprinting.
Increases your sprint speed. See above note about Marathon perk.

Hardline (Unlocked at Level 9)
Ability: Killstreaks require 1 less kill.
Pro Ability (get 40 Killstreaks using Hardline): Death Streaks require 1 less death.
A very useful perk at the lower levels, allows quicker access to your Killstreak rewards. Sometimes one fewer kill makes a big difference toward how much help you get from above.

Cold-Blooded (Unlocked at Level 25)
Ability: Undetectable by UAV, air support, Sentry Guns, and thermal.
Pro Ability (destroy 40 enemy Killstreak rewards using Cold-Blooded): No red crosshair or name shown when you are targeted.
Combined with Ninja, the choice of stealth players as opponents have to be able to see you to know where you are. Very handy in avoiding death from choppers and planes. The best way to unlock the Pro version is to knife every enemy sentry gun you find and carry a launcher as your secondary weapon and destroy enemy UAVs and other air support.

Danger Close (Unlocked at Level 33)
Ability: Increases explosive weapons damage.
Pro Ability (get 100 explosives kills with Danger Close): Increases air support damage.
The Stopping Power of explosives.

Slot 3:

Commando (Unlocked at Level 1)
Ability: Increased melee distance.
Pro Ability (get 20 melee kills with Commando): You don't take any damage from falling.
With this perk you can knife opponents from crazy far away as if you had elastic arms.

Steady Aim (Unlocked at Level 1)
Ability: Increased hip-fire accuracy.
Pro Ability (get 80 hip-fire kills with Steady Aim): You can hold your breath for a longer period of time.
Great for shotguns and no-scoping.

Scrambler (Unlocked at Level 17)
Ability: Scrambles (jams) the enemy radar in a small radius.
Pro Ability (get 50 close-range kills using Scrambler): Delays enemy Claymores, thus allowing you to avoid the explosion if you are fast enough.
Opponents see their radar HUD turn to grey static when you approach. Down side is that they know you’re close by somewhere. Pro version is very good against Claymores.

Ninja (Unlocked at Level 29)
Ability: Invisible to heartbeat sensors.
Pro Ability (get 50 close-range kills using Ninja):  Allows you to move silently.
Stalkers with attached Heartbeat Sensors can’t tell you’re around the corner. Surprise!

SitRep (Unlocked at Level 37)
Ability: Insertions. This will reveal enemy explosives and Tactical Insertions.
Pro Ability (destroy 120 enemy devices using SitRep): Makes enemy footsteps louder.
Enemy C4 and Claymores show up through walls as red outlines you can’t miss. Pro ability is handy as the foot noise in MW2 has been reduced noticeably from COD4.

Last Stand (Unlocked at Level 41)
Ability: Instead of dying, you pull out your pistol with inhuman speed to defend yourself as you lie on the ground.
Pro Ability (get 20 kills using Last Stand): This allows you to use items other than your pistol.
New in the MW2 version is the ability to crawl, so if you’re lucky you can reach some cover and not be so obvious to enemies. Last Stand is easily confused with the Deathstreak reward, Final Stand. The two are similar, but the former applies to every in-game death when the perk is selected in slot 3, and always results in a respawn, either right away if an enemy finishes you off, or several seconds later as you finally bleed out. Final Stand results from four deaths in a row (or three in a row, if you’re using Hardline Pro in Perk Slot 2), and is survivable IF no one finishes you off while you’re on the ground. Also, Last Stand adds a pistol for perk use even if you have some other weapon selected as your secondary.