Before I begin I have to give one little caveat. Well two... The first is that all of this has been played and tested on the latest version and rule sets for standard mode as of today January 24, 2011. This means that these variations may or may not work in Hardcore mode. The second is that my main experience is with the Xbox 360 version. While I understand the differences between the console and PC versions some of these classes may not be as effective or may be more effective do the presence of a mouse and keyboard over the standard controller.
Shall we begin.
The Hardened Perk
In this first post I’ll start with an underused perk, and for good reason. Hardened is one of the least useful perks in the game because it does not aid the player nearly as much as several of the other perks in it’s class do. For those of you who might not remember or are a bit confused due to the many different iterations of these perks throughout the years, Hardened in Black Ops increases bullet penetration. That is, your bullets will penetrate thicker walls and do more damage when piercing the thinner ones. This does not however affect normal bullet damage. This in and of itself is not nearly valuable enough for me to pick it over a perk like slight of hand which significantly decreases reload time and speeds up weapon switches. However, it’s once you make it pro that it becomes a much more useful perk.
So what does the pro version do you ask. Hardened Pro lessens the effects of flinching when you receive bullet damage. So what! I’m sure many of you are thinking this. Often with an automatic weapon flinching will pop your aim up to head shot range and as such is not even a very risky or dangerous problem. Sure sometimes it is a hindrance but realistically it’s not a big enough problem for me to sacrifice my faster reloads.
Lets go back a few sentences to where I said automatic weapons. As this is the key to the usefulness of this perk. While Hardened Pro won’t aid your automatic weapons very much it is actually a key ingredient to successfully using one of the semi-automatic rifles as well as some custom classes I will share with you next.
The trick to hardened pro is to combine it with one of the semi-automatic rifles. Either the M14 or my personal favorite the FN FAL. Here is why: While many of the other perks offer obvious benefits to these guns, they pale in comparison to the advantage you receive with hardened pro. Because they are single shot weapons receiving bullet damage that causes the player to flinch is extremely dangerous. While the damage a single shot weapons does can kill in just two shots having either one of them miss because of a flinch can be fatal. Furthermore a flinch on the way to the target is even worse because there is no prospect of a stray bullet to deal damage that might soften your target once you finally get him in your cross-hairs.
Lets weigh this benefit against those of the other perks.
Warlord: While this perk allows you to have two attachments it is relatively useless. It is a waste of a perk because it doesn’t enhance your player beyond the extra grenades the pro variation supplies. If you find yourself needing an extra attachment I want you to ask yourself if you could really give up one of the attachments would it really make a difference. Realistically you should be able to get on without a laser site or without the suppressor which is really not necessary for a gun that fires only in a semi-automatic fashion. This means that you are very infrequently present on the radar and make significantly less noise making the suppressors benefits lessened.
Slight of Hand: Both weapons reloads are very short already. Considering the high amount of damage each do and the amount of bullets in each clip the only reason I would take slight of hand instead is the faster ADS. Which I would suggest is also not that helpful with these guns because of the distance you will be engaging at.
Scout: This one is obvious because you do not have a scope.
Steady Aim: Another obvious one because you shouldn’t be firing a semi automatic weapon from the hip almost ever.
That leaves hardened which has obvious benefits to both guns. Especially since you can actually use the shooting through walls fairly well if you spot a camper.
Some class combinations:
CLASS 1
GUN: FN FAL
ATTACHMENTS: Site of players choice or Double Mags
PERK 1: Ghost
PERK 2: Hardened
PERK 3: Ninja or Hacker
Semtex, Flashbangs and Claymore or Motion tracker*
CLASS 2
GUN: M14
ATTACHMENTS: Site of Players Choice or Suppressor
PERK 1: Ghost
PERK 2: Hardened
PERK 3: Ninja or Hacker
Semtex, Flashbangs and Claymore or Motion tracker*
Some Unique Choices, Give them a chance, I guarantee with practice you will fall in love with their simple nature and fun play style. Although they are definatley not for everyone.
CLASS 3
GUN: L98A1 Sniper Rifle
ATTACHMENTS: ACOG Scope
PERK 1: Ghost
PERK 2: Hardened
PERK 3: Ninja or Hacker
Semtex, Flashbangs and Claymore or Motion tracker*
CLASS 4
GUN: WA2000 Sniper Rifle
ATTACHMENTS: ACOG Scope and if Warlord, Extended Mags
PERK 1: Scavenger**
PERK 2: Hardened or Warlord***
PERK 3: Ninja or Hacker
Semtex, Flashbangs and Claymore or Motion tracker*
*Claymore or Motion Tracker use is predicated on the map and game-type. In some instances a claymore is preferred over the motion tracker due to the strong lack of a good place to put the motion tracker. I would also recommend the claymore to players who have a hard time micromanaging and watching the radar while fighting. In this situation the Claymore’s fire and forget nature is preferable.
** Scavenger is necessary on this class do to the sheer lack of ammunition you receive. You will go through all of it very fast. Although with the pro version of scavenger you will feel as though you perhaps do not reach the last clip.
*** Warlord is only necessary because some people myself included will like to rapid fire the gun on occasion. The extended mags are sometimes an acceptable solution to the problem that arises from doing this.
