As is always the case when playing online with Black Ops, it is all down to your personal play-style. We’ve provided a run down of each perk, what use they have and which perks to compliment it with. If our suggestions don’t fit your style, adapt as necessary.
Equipping this will increase your speed dramatically. So much so, if you become used to it you will find yourself struggling to keep up with the sluggish weight of your character without it. This is best used when you want to be quick, getting into the battle before your enemy have time to react as well as crossing open spaces without getting caught.
Lightweight Pro: Cancels fall damage
Scavenger is for those who want to last longer in a single life, allowing you to reclaim bullets from the corpses of your enemy. This will require you to keep moving during the match though, since how else will your garner additional ammo if you don’t push forward.
Scavenger Pro: Begin a life with additional mags as well as replacing tactical grenades from your enemies.
Ghost is the most adaptable of all the perks, since it has a use regardless of what you pair it with. By making you undetectable by UAV, it is most suited to snipers who prefer to remain unseen. Similarly, though, this can be used with almost any combination if you’re simply sick of your enemies knowing your every movement.
Ghost Pro: Makes you undetectable by aircraft, IR scopes and Sentry Guns.
By reducing the damage you receive from explosives, it can make surviving those pesky claymores a hell of a lot easier. This is best suited for those who like to be in the thick of action, where grenades can be a constant problem. It’s used very little online, however, since many choose other options over this best.
Flak Jacket Pro: Fire damage has no effect on you and you can throw grenades back safely without danger of exploding.
This is a popular one since it allows players to earn their killstreaks one kill fewer than required. With this equipped, then, it only takes two kills to activate UAV, where it quickly becomes easier to detect your enemies. Sounds promising, doesn’t it? Its use is most affected by how quickly you want to earn your rewards.
Hardline Pro: Lets you change the contents of a Care Package.
This perk allows you to fire through thin walls and objects much easier, letting you finish someone off despite the fact that they are hidden inside a building or behind cover. This is chosen by many players online, since it helps kill an injured enemy after they’ve run away. Bear this in mind whether you chose Hardened or not.
Hardened Pro: Increased damage against aircraft and turrets, with fewer flinches when shot.
This is really only necessary if you constantly opt for sniper rifles, a considerably less-often used weapon in Black Ops. It allows you to hold your breath longer when scoping, so useful when lining up that perfect shot. Otherwise, there is little other use for this perk.
Scout Pro: Switch weapons faster
For sub-machine gun or shotgun users, this will be your perk of choice, increasing a player’s accuracy when firing from the hip (i.e. not aiming down the sights). It is particularly useful on close quarters maps and when rushing your enemies, who might not expect a spray of bullets to the face.
Steady Aim Pro: Aim faster after sprinting and recover sooner after a knife attack.
Much like Lightweight, if you use this for too long you won’t ever switch it out. It massively increases the speed at which you reload, so perfect for countering the long reload times of the LMGs. Using it on anything else will give you a blistering fast reload time, so you’re never likely to be caught out mid-reload.
Sleight Of Hand Pro: Aim down the sights of a gun faster, excluding sniper rifles.
Sometimes you’ll want a rifle to fulfil two roles, or might miss your red dot sight when equipping a silencer – this is where Warlord kicks in, allowing you to attach two attachments (not all are compatible with each other) to a single rifle. This means you can attach objects that would provide the same benefit as a perk, freeing you up to choose something else. This is for the lone commander type of player.
Warlord Pro: Start with an additional lethal and tactical grenade (except for Willy Pete)
This perk protects you against the Nova Gas grenade, a rarely used poison gas that slows movement and blurs vision. You begin with this perk but, if we’re honest, we’d change this one as soon as you can. For the amount that Nova Gas is used – and it’s easily avoided anyway – you’d be better suited equipping a different perk.
Tactical Mask Pro: Flash and concussion grenades are less effective and stunned enemies appear on your minimap.
Marathon drastically increases the lengths you can run for before getting tired, without increasing the time to return to maximum stamina. This is perfect for those who like to race ahead at the start of a match and surprise the enemy, so works perfectly with Lightweight.
Marathon Pro: Sprint for an unlimited amount of time.
As you might expect, this perk is for those who like stealth and cunning to defeat their enemies. A good COD player will be able to hear the pitter-patter of a rushing enemy, so equip this to cancel out the sound of your sprint. Perfect for running in for knife kills undetected, especially when equipped with Ghost too.
Ninja Pro: Make no sound whatsoever while enemies are easier to hear.
This perk is a personal preference for some, since they like to dole out revenge to their killers. After being downed, your character will automatically equip a pistol, which you should use to blast away at your assailant before they finish you off. It annoys when an enemy uses it, but the vengeance is so sweeter if you manage to kill someone during your last stand.
Second Chance Pro: Last longer when downed, with the ability to be revived by team-mates.
With Hacker you will have the perfect counter to any hostile equipment, explosives and turrets, pinpointing them in-game. For this reason, Hacker is a great perk to include in any set-up, since it helps avoid claymores and other dangers. Equipping Hardline will give you the advantage of your killstreaks, while negating your opponents.
Hacker Pro: Destroy enemy equipment and turrets, booby trap Care Packages and remain undetected by Motion Sensors.
For additional guides and tips on Call Of Duty: Black Ops, check out our full weapons guide or five steps to earning XP fast.
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