Prebrief:

“We’ve got a new guy joining us today fresh out of selection. His name’s Soap.” — Sergeant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick (Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2, 2009)

Whether you’re a noob or a vet, you might find some terms in Call of Duty® outside your normal lingo.

Before diving deep into the maps, weapons, movement, gameplay, settings, and more, understanding all the terms we use — both basic and advanced — is crucial to using this guide. Also, knowing these terms will make you fit right in with the rest of the community, especially for in-game voice comms.

So, let’s start with basic training in written form: Here are the most common Call of Duty terms and lingo.

Basic In-Game Terms

ADS: Aim down sights. This occurs when you press the Aim button; doing this narrows the spread of the weapon’s fire for more accurate shots.

Assist: A stat awarded to a player who deals damage to an enemy player but does not deal the finishing blow.

Attachment: An item that attaches to a weapon that gives it a passive benefit and changes its appearance. An example of an attachment is a Suppressor. Weapon Platform–specific attachments are useable within a specific Weapon Platform, while Universal Attachments can be used across all Weapon Platforms. This is found within the Gunsmith menu.

Boots: Normally affecting your Operators feet, Boots are a Loadout element that you can equip onto your Multiplayer Loadout.

Camo/Camouflage: A “skin” that only changes the cosmetic appearance of a weapon.

Channel: A place for text and voice communications. All matches have their own Channels. Private ones can be set up as well via Social features.

Combatants: AI-controlled characters who either work alongside Operators or on their own; a non-faction group.

Dolphin Dive: Activate by proning during a sprint or Tactical Sprint, throwing your Operator forward in a dive to the prone position.

Double Weapon XP: When this state is active, you will earn weapon experience points at double the rate.

Double XP: When this state is active, you will earn experience points at double the rate for Player Level.

Faction: This is the group your Operator belongs to in Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® III. There are multiple factions in addition to SpecGru and KorTac. However, in Multiplayer, these are the typically teams in team-based game modes, so whichever Operator you choose within each of the primary factions is the one you will play as.

Field Upgrade: A piece of equipment that gives you a tactical advantage during a Multiplayer match, such as a Trophy System or Munitions Box. Field Upgrades charge during a fight.

Finishing Move: A powerful melee attack that eliminates your foe, performed by holding the Melee button behind an unsuspecting enemy.

Gear: A Loadout element that can affect multiple things and grant your Operator miscellaneous Perks. This element is equipped onto your Multiplayer Loadout.

Gloves: Normally affecting your Operators hands, Gloves is a Loadout element that you can equip onto your Multiplayer Loadout.

Gunsmith: Within the Multiplayer Loadout menu, this is where you can customize a weapon’s attachments and cosmetic properties.

Hip Fire: The opposite of ADS. This is when you fire a weapon without aiming, which is faster than aiming down sights but may be less accurate.

Hitmarker: An onscreen visual and audio indication that your shot has made contact with an enemy Operator.

Killstreak: A reward for earning a certain number of kills in one life during a Multiplayer match. Accessible in-match, this reward can be something that offers an offensive advantage (e.g., a Cluster Strike) or in-game intelligence (e.g., a UAV). An Operator can equip up to three Killstreaks. The number of kills to earn said reward is detailed within the Killstreak menu.

Ledge Hang: When your Operator grabs the side of an edge and holds on to it. Sometimes an Operator can mantle up from a Ledge Hang. You retain access to a pistol sidearm and can peek over the edge with ADS.

Lethal Equipment: Limited-per-life items that harm enemies, usually in explosive fashion. Think Claymores, Frag Grenades, C4, and more.

Loadout: What an Operator brings into battle. The Loadout consists of two weapons (a primary and a secondary), two pieces of Equipment (Lethal and Tactical), and a selection of Perks.

Mantle: The act of going up and over a ledge or object, usually done with the same command to Jump.

Minimap: An onscreen map showing your current position in the environment as well as nearby teammates and certain enemies. Crucial when planning your movement through the map.

Mount: Mounting fixes your weapon to a wall or ledge, allowing for more accurate fire via reduced recoil at the cost of mobility.

Operator: Your character in the game. See all the Operators in MWII here.

Optic: A device that offers a precise sight picture while aiming with a weapon. Some optics also offer a zoom level or even a magnification toggle, allowing you to switch between multiple zoom levels. Optics are equipped via the Gunsmith part of the Multiplayer Loadout menu.

Perk (given via Vests, Gloves, Boots, and Gear): A passive ability or benefit given to your Operator within a Loadout. One example Perk is Scavenger, which you get from Scavenger Gloves. This perk allows your Operator to pick up ammo and throwing knives from dead Operators.

Ping: Mark an enemy or object in the environment with a distance marker that is displayed on your squad’s Tac Map and minimap.

Player Level: A number that denotes your overall experience level.

Quick Draw: The ability to gain instant access to your pistol sidearm while keeping your Primary Weapon on the ready.

Reload: When your Operator replaces the magazine, clip, or other ammunition in a weapon back to its full amount with replacement ammunition in reserve. The bottom right of the in-game HUD shows the current number of ammunition of the weapon (on the left side of the forward slash / ) and the total number of ammunition in reserve (on the right side of the forward slash / ), shown at the bottom right of the HUD. Your Operator will automatically reload a weapon if there is available reserve ammunition while the weapon is empty.

Revive: The act of picking up a fellow Operator after they are downed, but not eliminated. Only available on certain modes.

Scorestreak: An alternative to Killstreaks, Scorestreaks are earned not just through eliminations but also through earning Score via playing the objective, earning assists, using Field Upgrades effectively, and performing other actions in-match.

Season: A period of time when new content, such as weapons, Multiplayer maps, and Community Events, is available to play. This is also where you will progress through Officer Ranks.

Showcase (Profile): A place to show off your achievements in the form of your current Rank, as well as your Calling Cards and Emblems.

Tac Map: The full view of the current map, accessible in the match. Check it fast, then get back to the action.

Tactical Equipment: Limited-per-life and reusable items that range from intel-gathering sensors, instant healing, and disorientation devices.

Tactical Sprint: The fastest movement option on feet, exchanging combat readiness for all-out sprinting.

Third-Person: An available Playlist variation that puts the camera behind your Operator’s shoulder. Read more about it here.

Vest: The Vest that you can equip within your Multiplayer Loadout. Vests grant you Perks and dictate which weapons, Gloves, Boots, and Gear you can equip.

Weapon Level: A progression system separate to Player Level. Increase your Weapon Level by dealing damage and earning eliminations with that weapon to unlock attachments.

Weapon Vault: The ultimate Weapon Blueprint: a variant of a weapon that keeps its cosmetic properties on all attachments native to its base platform.

Modes of Play

Multiplayer: The online mode of Modern Warfare® III. Accessible through the main menu. Some supported modes include:

·      Team Deathmatch: Use teamwork to eliminate the enemy players and reach the score limit.

·      Domination: Capture and hold up to three flags to gain points for your team.

·      Free-for-All: Every Operator for themselves; there is no teamwork. Your objective is to get the most kills in the lobby, period.

·      Kill Confirmed: Collect Dog Tags from downed Operators, both friend and foe. Collecting enemy Dog Tags scores points for your team, and collecting friendly Dog Tags prevents the other team from scoring.

·      Hardpoint: Capture and hold the Hardpoint (a zone that shifts to several locations during the match) to earn points for your team.

·      Control: Two teams attempt to capture or defend two zones without running out of respawns

·      Cutthroat: Three teams of three, each with the objective of eliminating each other. If there are at least two teams left alive after a certain amount of time, the flag will become capturable. The first team to capture the flag or eliminate the remaining teams will win the round.

·      Search & Destroy: Teams take turns defending and destroying an objective. No respawns.

·      Ground War: Large-scale conflict featuring vehicles. Capture and hold objectives to score. Capturing objectives opens forward spawning locations for your team. Similar to Domination, but with more objectives.

·      Invasion: A large-scale conflict that combines player-controlled Operators and AI Combatants in a massive Deathmatch.

·      War: Two teams are deployed on the map — one will be the attacking team and the other the defending team. Attackers will need to complete three phases, including an escort mission of a friendly tank from one objective to the other. The defenders need to stop them.

General COD Lingo

1v1: A duel. Often thrown down as a challenge, especially on maps with plenty of Rust.

100-Point Club: Describes when one team wins a Hardpoint match via the score limit (250) while keeping the opposition under 100 points. The losing team is then deemed a member of the “100-Point Club.”

Beam: The act of hitting an accurate shot for an elimination despite the target being far away and/or mostly behind cover.

Chalked: When a situation is insurmountable and is nearing a finite end (e.g., “chalk one up”). However, we believe it’s never chalked.

Clutch: When a player or players win an engagement despite having a disadvantage in the number of active players on their side.

Collateral: When a single bullet eliminates more than one enemy.

Cross-Map: Describing a shot or equipment throw that goes the full length (or at least 85% of) the map.

Drop Shot: Rapidly changing your Operator’s stance from standing to prone while firing in order to throw off your enemy’s aim.

Ego Challenge: The act of a player entering a disadvantageous situation believing they can win.

First Blood: An accolade awarded to the Operator who lands the first elimination in a match.

Flank: When you take a side path (either left or right) to confront the enemy.

Flinch: The force an Operator feels when damaged, affecting their aim.

Frying/Cracked: Two common terms for when a player is doing extremely well in-game.

Hardpoint: The “hill” or “zone” where points are scored.

K/D Ratio: The number of kills earned divided by the number of deaths. This ratio is often also attached to the number of assists, but not calculated into the ratio itself.

Kill Trade: An instance whereby one player eliminates an enemy and then is eliminated by the enemy’s squadmate, thereby “trading” eliminations.

Lane: A main way through the entirety of a Multiplayer map. Most often, maps have a “mid” path, with other ones surrounding this central route.

Lobby: The pre-match area in a Playlist before entering a game.

Ninja Defuse: Disarming the bomb in Search & Destroy as the last defending player while the attacking team is alive.

One-Shot: A designation in common communications given to someone who is supposedly one hit away from an elimination (usually this is never the case).

Pre-Aim: Aiming down sights as you round a corner, so as to be ready for any immediate engagements when entering the new area.

Press F: The proper way to pay respects.

Rotation/Rotating: What players use to describe the change of Hardpoint locations, or the act of getting to the next objective before the current one expires. Alternatively used to describe a set of Hardpoints.

Scrap Time: The final 5–10 seconds of an active Hardpoint.

Send/Push: Moving toward a point. For example, “Send it toward X,” “Full Sending,” “Push them” means rushing toward that point despite any danger present or perceived.

Spawn Location: Where your Operator loads into the map, either in the beginning of a round or after a death.

Squad Spawn: The process of respawning on the position of a fellow squadmate rather than on an objective or at a base. Available in Ground War mode.

M.G.B.: Earn 30 eliminations without dying to earn a match-ending win via the Tactical Nuke. Warning: Eliminations earned via streaks do not count toward the required 30 eliminations.

Triple Cap: The state where one team has captured all three flags in the Domination game mode.

Use this short glossary, as well as our Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® III Getting Started guide for the basic training you need to excel in Modern Warfare® III.

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