Countering Rush Tactics

If you don't prefer the rush offense, you need to know how to counter it. It can be hard to do because rushers have a tactical advantage. In order to counter a rush, you have to think like a rusher. Basically you need to put yourself in a position to intercept a rush. You need to be far away from any corners where a rusher could run through and knife you before you can open fire. Many times if you hide in your spawn, you can pick off a rusher trying to flank you.

Make sure you have stopping power equipped, otherwise the rusher may be able to avoid a kill shot and run you down.

Scavenger is a good perk to equip because it allows you to pick up extra equipment off of fallen soldiers. Nothing beats having 2 claymores to cover your blind side.

As for perk 3, it's a toss up between sit rep pro or commando pro. Since you won't be moving a lot you don't need silent footsteps. Most rushers are going to use ninja to avoid early detection, if they manage to get within a few yards of you commando pro will help you beat them with your knife. Sit rep pro cancels ninja pro, and allows you to detect pesky claymores.

Pick a good assult rifle like the m16, the scar or the ak. Equip a silencer or a heartbeat monitor. If you do go for the hbm make sure you have good cover and once you fire your weapon move to a new location. Silence your secondary so that you can kill in close quarters without waking up the dead.

Once you are sure you have eliminated any flankers / no one flanked, move carefully to whichever bomb site the action is taking place. Look for red dots in your radar and green arrows that dissapear. Watch for snipers, and use your flashes and keep your blindside against a wall. You are at a disadvantage when you move into an area that has already been fortified. Use a shotgun or machine pistol (silenced if possible) at close range. Hip fire is generally better if you in a close range dog fight. If your opponants are dumb enough to come after you, let them do so. Light them up when they pop around the corner. If you can't draw them out of hiding, you can attempt a fake defuse but triple check the ground for c4 and claymores.

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Search and Destroy Rush Class Setup.

If you are first starting the game, and have not unlocked create a class or if you have just prestiged, I have to recommend the first-recon class. It starts you with UMP with red dot, a Magnum with tactical knife, Marathon, lightweight and ninja perks. It comes equipped with 2 flash-bangs and a Semtex grenade. The reason I would go with this class is that it is fast fast fast, which in my opinion is the key to SnD. Also, ninja keeps you off of those pesky heartbeat monitors so the opposing team wont detect you until you are right on top of them. Unfortunately they didn't give you ninja pro, which gives you silent footsteps. The only problem with this class is, it makes more noise than a coffee can full of ball bearings. Neither of your weapons is silenced and your footsteps are easily discernible. If you are skilled enough, only use knife kills when behind enemy lines to avoid detection.

Once you get to level 35 or so, you can really start customizing your class for SnD.

Here are the things I find most useful:

Sub Machine Guns:

Choose your favorite. One is not better than the other. I like the MP5, others like the UMP. Which ever you are the best with, pick that one. The mobility rating on SMGs is much better than an assault rifle, allowing you to run faster. Also, hip fire accuracy on an SMG is slightly better than an assault rifle. The way I play, I only engage enemies at mid to close range, so I do not need the increased range of an AR.

Attachment: Silencer:

A must for search and destroy. Any player worth his salt has the map in the corner of his eye. when you open fire, you don't want a bright red dot lighting up alerting the opposing force to your location. You have to give up your holographic sight, but it is well worth it.

Pistol w/ Tactical Knife:

Spiderbite from next gen tactics may disagree with me but I prefer the tactical knife on any pistol. He prefers the FMJ, which I think is fairly pointless on a pistol. As far as the pistols go, I don't really like the Deagle because it is not as accurate as it was in cod4, but any other pistol works fine here. The magnum is the strongest, but you only get 6 bullets. It's really up to you. The reason I like the tac-knife is because I tend to rush and occasionally flank the opponents. Even a silencer doesn't totally mask the sound, or the bullet impacts, but the knife is virtually silent. The tac-knife is perfect for offing 2 or 3 unsuspecting opponents before any of them realizes you are behind them. One word of warning though, if you are more than 10 feet away when you engage and you are detected, use your primary weapon or you will get mowed down. Bullets hurt more in MW2 than they did in MW1. If the enemy moves toward you, then throw your knife. Your knife will interrupt your primary weapon if you use it while firing.

Claymore Mine:

I prefer this to any other piece of equipment because it covers your blind side. If you rush to the bomb site (on defense) and you position yourself so that you are covering the main entrance, you can plant a claymore at the rear entrance. If someone on offense decides to get sneaky, the click from the claymore should alert you to their presence or even (hopefully) kill them. If you are on offense and plant the bomb, you can drop your claymore a meter or two behind it, and if they don't check before defusing, BANG. Game over. Some people prefer C4 and I understand why. It is harder to see than a claymore because it doesn't have the trip lasers protruding off of it. Also it can be placed on a wall, or on the side of the bomb site crate, and most people only check the ground. If someone tries to "fake defuse" (a technique where the defuser taps the defuse key in order to make the defuse sound, but the releases, in order to draw the planter out of hiding, and kill them before defusing.) as soon as you hear the sound you can squeeze off your C4, and kill them without a dogfight. I still prefer the claymore, because you can still get kills (sometimes even win the round!) after you have been eliminated.

Stun Grenades:

I play MW2 on the PC. If I played on Xbox 360 or PS3, I might prefer flash bangs, but long story short, there are cheaters on the PC that can see through being flashed. You cant cheat your way out of a stun grenade. Regardless of wallhacks, the player is still stunned for a few seconds. There really aren't that many hackers out there, but just in case, I stick with the stuns. Smoke allows you to get to the bomb site without being detected, but as soon as you puff your smoke, everyone on the opposing team starts lobbing explosives at the bomb site. There is one technique that I really like with the smoke though. Just before you run into B site to plant, lob your smoke at the A site (or visa versa). This little misdirection is sometimes gives you all the time you need to plant the bomb if you are (one of) the last remaining players on offense.

Perk 1: Marathon Pro

If you rush like I do, Marathon is a must. Allowing you sprint infinitely, It lets you get into position before the opposition. This in combination with lightweight and an SMG or pistol will have you off to the races. The secret to defense is fortifying your position. If you get to the bomb sight behind cover, before the offense, you have an advantage. The secret to offense is to throw the enemy team off balance by either planting the bomb before they have fortified the bomb site, or scoring a few quick kills before they realize you are already on their side of the map. Also if your bomb carrier has this perk and you don't he is going to be exposed for a few seconds while you catch up. And in SnD, a few seconds can make the difference between winning and losing the round. Leveling it up to Pro allows you to clime faster so that your ass isn't hanging out for all to shoot when you are pulling yourself up.

Perk 2: Lightweight Pro

This is not AS important as Marathon Pro, but if you absolutely must be the first player to the bomb site, it is still imperative. Pro allows you to aim faster out of a sprint. You also may prefer Cold Blooded or Stopping power for this one, but if you intend to outmanuver and/or flank your opponents, stick with lightweight pro.

Perk 3: Ninja Pro

When I first got this perk (and leveled it to pro) I almost didn't want to give up commando pro for it. I can't jump from the ledge in afghan anymore, or from the rooftops in Favela, or from anywhere else that high. My range when knifing has decreased significantly. However, ninja pro is invaluable. People train them selfs to listen for sounds, whether it be footsteps or falling noise. If they hear either, the are immediately more aware of their surroundings. Also, those pesky heartbeat monitors become a non-factor. If i was IW, I would have made ninja give silent footsteps and ninja pro make you undetectable by HBS, but thats neither here nor there.

When it comes to ambushing unsuspecting players, Ninja Pro is slightly better than commando because it gives you longer to make the kill before they know you are there. When you don't have Ninja Pro on, it sounds like you are running on broken glass shards unless you are crouching.

This is what what I use for rushing. I basically learned my strategy watching Spiderbytes videos at nextgentactics.com they have some excellent vids, and certainly they have helped me play better. A lot of people play more carefully in SnD than I do, so their class load out may be totally different. But I play to throw the other team off balance, and I find rushing in behind them and decimating half of their team is the best way to do so.

Modern Warfare 2: Search and Destroy Rules

I have been spending copious amounts of time playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer, as I believe untold tens of thousands of others out there have been as well. Just as I did with the original entry, I have fallen in love with Search and Destroy all over again.

If you have not played search and destroy in either Modern Warfare, I strongly suggest that you do. I will say though, it is not as fast and furious as Team Deathmatch, Demolition, Domination or Headquarters. It takes a certain degree of planning, anticipation and finesse. There is also a sense of urgency that you don't find in the other games because you only get one life per round.

If you are a SnD noob, here are the rules.

2 teams start on opposite ends of the map. One team starts on offense and one starts on defense. There is a bomb placed in front of the offensive team, which can be carried by any offensive team member. Generally there is a mad rush to grab the bomb at the beginning because planting it gives you 1000 points even if it doesn't go off. If the bomb carrier dies, the bomb drops at his feet, and must be picked up by a surviving team member. There are 2 bombs sites, A and B that are basically right between Offense and Defense, if not slightly closer to the Defense (example: Derailed) The offensive team must move the bomb to one of the 2 sites, and the bomb carrier must plant the bomb by positioning them selfs right next to the bomb site, holding down a button (differs based on system) for 5 seconds. Then the offensive team must defend the bomb for 45 seconds until it detonates. If the bomb is planted, a defender can defuse it, the same way it was planted, by positioning them selfs over the bomb holding a button down for 5 seconds. There are 2 minutes and 30 seconds in each round. After 3 rounds, the teams switch sides. The first team to win 4 rounds wins.

The round ends if:

A. The Bomb Detonates (Offense Wins)

B. The Bomb is Defused (Defense Wins)

C. The Entire Defensive team is eliminated (Offense Wins)

D*. The Entire Offensive team is eliminated, and the bomb has not been planted (Defense Wins)

E. Time runs out, and the bomb has not been planted, with surviving members on both teams (Defense Wins)

*If the bomb has been planted, and the offensive team is eliminated, the defense must still defuse the bomb, otherwise the round will result in a win for the Offense.

A few other things of note:

1. The Defensive team is not alerted as to who the bomb carrier is. However, the Offense will see an "Escort" icon on their map and above the bomb carriers head.

2. Should the bomb carrier be killed, the Offense will be alerted to the bombs position on the map. They can pick up the bomb by moving over it. The defense is not alerted, however, they will be able to see the bomb at the deceased carriers feet.

3. The bomb is not a hindrance to the carrier, it does not slow them down, or make them easier to identify by the defense.

4. Both teams are alerted to the bomb site locations (A and B) on the map.

5. If you are killed, you do not respawn until the round ends.

6. Kill streaks span rounds, so if you get 2 kills in round one without dying, you will only have to get 1 more kill for a UAV in round 2. (assuming you have UAV selected for your first kill streak)

7. If the game goes to 3 and 3, the computer picks at random which side the teams will start on. (Offense or Defense)

Point Distribution:

Planting and Defusing: 1000 points

Killing an opposing team member with a head shot: 1000 points

Killing an opposing team member while in last stand: 1000 points

Killing an opposing team member: 500 points

Assist: 200 points

I will not elaborate further in this post because anything else I have to add is strictly my opinion, and I will create a separate post for that.