Tips and Strategies for Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) Ownage
For the past few weeks, I have been playing Modern Warfare 2 nonstop. I’ve become pretty good at it…but my style is tactical. Some times I receive messages on Xbox LIVE from angry players accusing me of being a camper. I understand that they get frustrated when I dominate an entire region in the map. But just because I don’t run around and expose myself like a moron, doesn’t make me a camper.
While running around with a sub-machine gun could be fun, my bad connection, which is usually at red or yellow, isn’t suited for this kind of fast paced style. That’s why my style is more of a long-range assault rifle kills. But I usually come out with either most kills or highest kill/death ratio or both. My overall kill/death ratio is 1.5:1. That’s not bad at all for a lone wolf.
Here’s how you can achieve similar results in your own game.
Don’t Expose More Than Your Head
Even though MW2 characters look like they’re carrying their weapons at waist level, the actual fire goes out of the head level.
To fire and kill someone, you just need your head to be out. No other part of your body need to be exposed; not even your hands.
For example, if you’re inside a building and you’re looking out the window for enemies, keep a distance between you and the window. The closer you are to the window, more of your body will be exposed to enemies below. And in most cases, you don’t have to be close to the window to watch an enemy area, unless that area is at a steep angle below you.
This advice doesn’t only apply to windows and buildings. Whenever you’re holding a position, make sure that no more than your head is visible to enemy areas.
Radar is Your Best Friend
During many moments of the game, it’s more advantageous to keep your eyes on the radar than on your surroundings. Even if your UAV is not airborne, you can still accurately guess enemies whereabouts.
In the beginning of the match, you should know where the enemies spawn and which routes they could possibly take thereafter. But few minutes into the game, they could spawn anywhere that is safe. The good thing is that enemies are usually clustered together. That makes their location more predictable.
When an enemy fires an unsilenced weapon, he will show on your radar as a red dot (if he’s too far, your radar will not show you the exact location unless you press the “Start” button quickly to see the entire map). This red dot not only tells you where a single enemy is, but it also gives you an idea of which direction the rest of them could be coming from.
The location of your teammates on the radar tells you where an enemy would not sneak from. Usually, when your teammates are watching a certain route, you can give your back to that route without having to worry about getting flanked.
So, always look at the radar to see where your teammates are and where the action is, and try to anticipate enemy movements. It’s really easier than it sounds.
When your UAV is airborne, you can get lots of kills easily. Simply press “Start” to see the map and see in which direction the enemies are moving. Then take a firing position to pick them out.
Getting UAV is very advantageous to you and your teammates. That’s why even though I unlocked all the killstreak rewards, I still choose UAV.
Get There First
Who ever arrives at the meeting ground and takes a firing position first usually gets the kills. When you’re expecting enemies to move in a certain direction, get to a good position where you can fire at them with minimum exposure. This will earn you lots of kills.
Sometimes you may be moving around the map and get fired at from an enemy who’s taken a good spot. If you’re only wounded but not killed, don’t try to get back at that same enemy. You’ll most likely get killed because they’ll have their sight pointed and ready to fire while you’ll have to pop your head, adjust your crosshair, aim down the sight, adjust a little more and then fire…See the difference?
Strategically Reveal Your Position to the Enemies
Here’s a fun tip.
Sometimes you’ll have reached a good firing spot, and you’ll have your gun pointed where you’re expecting nearby enemies to show. But you wait and no one shows up! They’re still figuring out where they need to go. Give them a little help.
Fire a couple of bullets in the air. This will show you as a red dot on enemies radar. They will think that you’re busy firing at one of their teammates and they’ll run right into your cross hair, which makes for an easy kill.
When you fire these fake shots, don’t do it too close to enemies so as not to let the bullet noise make them cautious.
When in Doubt, FIRE!
MW2′s graphics is very realistic. Characters and the environment have the same shades of colors. This makes it hard to see enemies in dark corners or behind bushes. Some times though, you’ll suspect that you saw movement. When that happens, don’t try to look harder to determine whether there really is an enemy or not, just point your gun and fire away. You’d be surprised how many kills (and avoided deaths) you get that way.
But don’t over do it. Remember that firing an unsilenced weapon reveals your position (and your teammates possible positions) to enemies.
Pay Attention to Enemy Team Skill Level, Pace, and Style
Many times, how well you do in a match depends on the style and pace of the enemy team. Generally speaking, it’s easier to play defensively than offensively. If you’re an aggressive offensive type of player, you’d have a hard time against a good defensive player like me. But two defensive teams against each other make for a very slow paced match.
If you’re playing against very well skilled players and getting killed every time you take two steps, camp! Some times I’ll be playing against players so good, that the only way to stay alive is to duck or go prone and crawl immediately after spawning.
So, if you’re getting hammered by the enemy, don’t get angry and rush back in. Instead, hold your position and you’ll more easily get payback and a couple more kills.
When the enemy team is camping and you’re tired of waiting, use the Ninja perk to infiltrate their areas silently. Obviously, don’t come from the direction where they have their guns pointed. Try to flank them.
Some times, you too will have to change your own pace and style within the game. For example, if you’re successfully killing enemies in every encounter, they may decide to start camping. When that happens, you’ll need to switch from your aggressive offensive style to more cautious, stealthy infiltration style.
Use a Secondary Weapon in Close-Quarter Corridors
If you’re raiding a building, switch to your secondary weapon — preferably a shotgun. In close quarter combat, it’s a lot easier to kill with a shotgun than with other weapons. But if you’re running in close-quarters, always have your thumb ready to press the melee attack button.
Place Claymores Correctly
A claymore explodes forward. If an enemy is even one inch to the back of your claymore, they’re out of harms way. Many times, I’ll see people placing a claymore very close to the door or corner that an enemy will escape the claymore explosion within the few split seconds that the claymore needs to go off.
Keep a little distance between the claymore and the direction from where you expect the enemy to appear. The distance should be close enough that an enemy would still trigger your claymore but far enough that they couldn’t run past your claymore before it explodes.
Get Unlimited Noob-tube Grenades
If you enjoy the noob-tube, you can actually get unlimited number of grenades in MW2. One way is to use the Scavenger perk, which let’s you resupply from dead bodies. But with this method, you, first, have to look for dead bodies to resupply from, and, second, you only get one grenade per body.
Another way to get unlimited grenades is to use the One Man Army perk. You can create a class where you equip your primary weapon with a grenade launcher and select One Man Army for first perk slot. When you’ve fired your two grenades, you can simply use your One Man Army perk to recursively change into the same class. That way, you’ll have effectively replenished your supplies. You can do that for unlimited number of times.
I tried to use the same trick to place claymores throughout the map, but you can’t have more than two claymores placed at a time. When you attempt to place a third claymore, one of your two earlier claymores explodes.
It’s Vital That You Know the Maps Inside Out
You probably already know this, and you’re right. Knowing the maps well enough gives you a huge advantage. And the only way to learn and remember the camping spots and enemy positions is through experience.
One way to help you learn the maps is to setup a local game and explore the maps yourself. Imagine that you’re playing a real game. See where you could hide, where you could move safely, how you could infiltrate an area unnoticed, etc…
Intimidate Your Opponents
Let your enemy think that you’re an experienced killer. Show off hard-to-earn stuff, like the nuke emblem or the fall camouflage of your gun. This will intimidate enemies and make them accept being your victim. But if you kill them and they think you’re a noob, they’ll come back hard at you.
Sniping Tip
Sniping is for very, very long range kills. A sniper should shoot and kill without even being seen (let alone shot at) by the enemy. And remember that the shooting distance of some assault rifles, such as the M16, is very far. I kill lots of noob snipers, who don’t abide by this advice, with an assault rifle.
When you’re sniping, you should be behind your teammates, and you should place claymores strategically so as not to get flanked.
More Modern Warfare 2 Tips, Tricks, and Strategies
Check out this great guide for Modern Warfare 2. It contains more tips and strategies for the multiplayer mode. It’ll definitely help you improve your game even further! Check it out here…
Do You Know Any Other Tricks?
Please share any more tricks and tips in the comments below!!
well, i have a lot off problems with aiming,
i shoot a whole magazine on a person and he don’t dies ,
my friend always got like 30 5 ratio
i only got about 16 9 ratio
is it because i only play in the weekends? or what?
got any tips for fast kills?
thanks for your help
alexander.
16:9 isn’t bad at all.
I did notice that the playing style is different in weekend from week days. I’m not sure which one is more competitive, though.
Here’s one more tip for Team Deathmatch: let the game come to you. Don’t chase it. In other words, don’t go chasing kills too aggressively. Camp more often. It’s much easier to get kills this way. If you’re good though, don’t do that.
yes thanks for your support MK, buth i have a lot of problem with aiming my gun ,
thats my problem i shoot a whole magazine on a person with only 10 bullets on the person …
I did write another article about aiming in Modern Warfare 2. But I’m not sure it will help with your serious aiming problem. How’s your internet connection? Is it always yellow and green? If you’re lagging, it’s very difficult to aim accurately. If you fire from the hip a lot (i.e. spray & pray), use Steady Aim perk. It helps a lot!
my internet connection is very good , buth i think its just me,
buth is my bullet penetration not good?
scar-h is normally a good weapon with fast kills, buth if i shoot with it , it tooks so long before he is death , so…
I never played with SCAR-H extensively but from what I’ve seen, it’s a powerful weapons.
I personally use FMJ (penetration bullets) in my main class because I like to shoot people through walls. If you try to shoot people through walls but you’re not using FMJ, yes you’ll have to empty (even more than) one clip before you get a kill.
thnx safi, do you have any tips for not too die, quz i always got hit in the back or just knifed like i woukd knive him buth than he was first :s i don’t know how thats possible quz when i respawn my person is kniving than and not on that person :s
This is getting very difficult to read!!
The “intimidate your opponent” part is very, very true. I always get pissed when a level 1 n00b kills me lol. I also read your aiming post, and i was wondering what your settings are for auto aim and auto center. They can be found under settings>game defaults>action. thanks,
jordan
Hi Jordan, I didn’t find these settings. Under Campaign mode “Options” there’s “Aim Assist” which you can turn on or off. But I couldn’t find the path “settings>game defaults>action”
These settings are part of the actual xbox itself, not the game. I’m sorry if I made that confusing! On the dashboard go to settings>profile>game defaults>action. Thanks,
Jordan
can u add some nuke tips? im 5th prestige and cant get a nuke =p. i got a 32 killstreak but when i even try to get over a 5 killstreak I die …. can u give me some tips? -thanks- -Cameron
Hey Caneron,
When I go for a nuke ( I have 24 now), I always go very aggressive the first 7 kills. Once I get my harrier I slowly make my way to a nice spot that I can shoot/hide from. I do this carefully and try not to shoot if I dont have to. If your harriers get shot down, of course you will have to make up the kills on foot. But if your harrier placement is good, there should be no problem getting 4 more kills. The rest is all in the chopper gunner. Only a few of my nukes have I had to actually get more kills after the chopper in order to get a nuke.
Use scavenger,
cold blooded,
ninja pro,
and silenced tar. Claymore placement is key when hiding!
Let me know if this helped
jordan
Great tips, Jordan! By the way, sorry I haven’t answered your previous question. I changed my home entertainment setup and my Xbox has been disconnected for awhile.
About the nuke tips, which match type do you play? Team Deathmatch, Domination, S&D, etc? I think it’s easiest to get a nuke in Domination.
I play in domination and Ground war, and sometimes but rarely Free for all. I find it easiest to get nukes in ground war domintaion.
Jordan
scar-h is a very powerfull weapon
if ure a experianced player but still quite suck
u should use the scar-h whit scavenger stopping power and commando or ninja
its a great weapon for high killstreaks and it has range
use it whit fmj or extended mags it ponws
sometimes u can headshot sombody whit even 1 or 2 bullets
i used to be a very good player, you know, getting ac 130s and all
that was 2 months ago
now i cant seem to kill enemies even from 2 yards from my body
and hip firing seems to be a no-no for me
espiecially machine-gun hip firing
i turned out to be an absolute crap sniper
but there is a deadly weapon, try this out and youll never moan again
Perk 1: bling pro (if reload takes long then use sleight of hand pro)
Perk 2: stopping power pro
Perk 3: steady aim pro
Death Perk: final stand
Note you’ll need to be lvl 45+ for this
Primary wep:AUG HBAR+THERMAL SCOPE+FMJ(no need for the foregrip cos u already got steady aim pro)
Secondary wep: M93 RAFFICA+HOLOGRAPHIC SIGHTS+FMJ
equipment: C4
MAPS ITS MOST EFFECTIVE ON:
CRASH
OVERGROWN
SALVAGE
STORM
WASTELAND(very useful in domination)
UNDERPASS
SKIDROW(very useful against end-to-end corridors which r long)
FAVELA(extremely useful for rooftop warfare)
MY NEXT MESSAGE WILL BE OWNAGE CLASS NO 2
dude. thats awesome
i never thought aughbar was that use now im the rooftop king in favela, lawl
but in crash, i may have had a few probs
hey MK, maybe u shuld try this, its a pretty good combo, if not awesome.
but u gotta have steady hands tho its slightly difficult trying to kill enemies very very far away.
I got an okay class too:
primary: FAMAS with heartbeat sensor and red dot sight
secondary: SPAS-12 with red dot and silencer
equipment: Semtex, frag, or claymore
perk 1: Bling pro
perk 2: cold blooded pro
perk 3: commando pro
death streak: I could care less
note: this works best on hardcore, its pretty effective on the others too
I use to be pretty good at mw2 against my friends but then I didn’t play for a while do you have any tips for me also my profile corrupted at my friends were I play against him and now I am only lvl 16
If you need attachments go play free for all.
If you need killstreaks go play any gamemode besides SnD and FFA.
If you want to dominate and keep a consistent kill death ratio play SnD.
If your aim goes all over da place lower your sensitivity and get used to it and keep going up and getting used to all sensitivites and you’ll end up at 10 and play good.
I’d say I can still rush and do good.
If I try to get killstreaks I don’t rush. I go 32-6 every TDM with a chopper if I do that.
But if I am trying to just pull of a good score I like to stay in the middle of the map which is perfect because in the back nothing happens and in the front there is too much action and you’ll get killed quick.
Need more help?
Contact me on XBL or PS3:
PSN: xBiZaRRe–
XBL: x GreeN MaJiC x
The tips really only apply depending on what you are planning to do. I’ll just give my insight on the two most popular goals: raising your k/d and getting killstreaks. If you want to just raise your k/d then I prefer my class:
UMP45 silenced, TMP silenced, Claymore, Flashbangs, Marathon Pro, Cold Blooded Pro, Steady Aim Pro, and Martyrdom.
The basic idea is to just “Run n’ Gun”, but also keeping your distance from “hot spots” (not just the perimeter, because some maps like Scrap Yard is too small) while placing claymores behind you to prevent flankers. You don’t want to run into more than 2 and possibly 3 enemies (unless they are really REALLY newbie). If you fail to kill someone, he’s seen you, and you are wounded by him… DON’T GO BACK. 9 out of 10 he will kill you, its best to let him go and just look for other targets (but watch your back he might pursuit); this will save you a lot of deaths. With this tactic I’ve managed to witness my k/d to rise a good .3-.5 points. Its good for those of you who are pretty impatient
If you want killstreaks what I recommend is:
ACR silenced, Akimbo Rangers, Claymore, Flashbangs, Scavenger Pro, Stopping Power Pro, Steady Aim Pro, and Martydom.
so try it out for whatever killstreak you might want. Be patient with this one and only move when you’re sure that you are safe.
With this class I recommend short-term camping. Get a couple of kills and check your radar if its clear and move to a new safe spot, because inevitably they will remember you and come back for you. Keep your profile low at prones and crouches while also placing claymores behind you (to prevent flankers). Flashbangs are useful for get aways. Don’t stay out in the open, try to find corners or calls or something you can put your back against so that you don’t have to worry about people shooting you from the back (keep in mind you still need a quick way out). ACR can reach Mid range to maybe even Far range if you burst fire. Your Rangers work close range and when you need to reload. Do not fire both Rangers at once… that’s stupid. It only takes one good shot to kill them, if they aren’t dead then fire your second one right after. With this tactic I’ve managed to get my first nuke
These have worked for me and some good friends that have also tested it. Feel free to play around with it but remember that it doesn’t just depend on your skill level but also your opponents and even your teammates also effect the outcome of the game.
Gamertag: CanabisFarmer (on Xbox Live)