CREATING A CLASS
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the Create-A-Class system has been slightly altered as compared to the previous Modern Warfare games, though the idea remains pretty much the same.
Classes are basically collections of weapons, related equipment, perks, strike packages and more. The class you choose should be map oriented, though this isn’t a rule of thumb.
In the beginning, a player starts with three classes to his/her disposal. Two more classes are unlocked later on, between Rank 1 and Rank 4. From Rank 4 onwards, you have all 5 classes available to yourself.
These classes are entirely customizable, and you can choose the best loadout for your soldier. Each class allows you to choose the following:
- A Primary Weapon
- A Weapon Proficiency for the Primary Weapon
- A Weapon Attachment for the Primary Weapon
- A Secondary Weapon
- A Weapon Attachment for the Secondary Weapon
- A Tactical Equipment
- A Lethal Equipment
- Three Perks
- One Deathstreak
- One Strike Package
Tips
If you’re playing Team Deathmatch, Free-for-all, Kill Confirmed, or any other kill-focused mode, the best way to go with classes would be to choose one depending on the map.However, if you play more team-oriented modes such as Search and Destroy and Sabotage, the idea should be to choose a class that suits requirements of your team. You can ignore doing so if playing in public servers, but for more competitive environments it is always essential to define a role for yourself in a team.
For aggressive players or small-scale maps, it is best to use short-ranged weapons like Shotguns or Sub-Maching Guns (my personal favourite), and customize the class relative to these weapons.
For larger maps, you could shift towards Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, or nifty Sniper Rifles if you think you’ve figured good sniping positions. Refer to our Maps Guide for more details about best weapons and strategic positions.
Keep in mind though, that weapons aren’t the only important things in the class, though they certainly are the central piece of one. Perks, Tactical and Lethal Equipments, Strike Packages and Deathstreaks should be carefully chosen to suit your role as a player.
For example, if you choose to play a map as a sniper, in addition to your Sniper Rifle, you should choose perks that go with the recon style. Snipers are particularly suited for calling airstrikes, since they generally keep a bit of distance from central battle regions.
You could also think of using a silencer as equipment for more stealth as a sniper. Additionally, for all-out Shotgunners and Sub-Machine Gun users, it’s best to use something like Slight-of-Hand and an Automatic Pistol to quickly switch to.
There are tons of different ways to make your class effective in the battlefield – you just have to be clever about choosing the weapon and relating the perks and other content to it.
LEVELING UP TACTICS
It won’t be easy to get 20th Prestige in Modern Warfare 3 but there are ways you can do it fast. Leveling up in Modern Warfare 3 would not only get easy but also fast if you follow our general guidance. These are simple strategies that would help any newbie or a veteran to level up in the game and unlock all the weapons and equipment.
Get Double XP Time
Download Call of Duty Elite application and register yourself and you will earn 2 hours of Double XP Time. Call of Duty Elite is free to start with, so it’s a nice perk if you are looking to level up fast.
Focus On Objectives
Get the K/D ratio out of your head and focus on your objective. If you want to level up fast, you need to earn XP and getting kills is just one way to get XP in Modern Warfare 3. There are like 100 other ways you can earn XP so put your objectives and winning the match first over your kill Streaks.
It doesn’t matter which ever mode you play, contribute more towards winning the match. Don’t go on rampage looking for kills, it’s a glorious way to showcase your one-on-one skills but a slow process to level up in Modern Warfare 3.
Choose The Support Class
If you are new to Modern Warfare 3 – I can hardly imagine any one being but let’s just say if you aren’t skilled enough or want to level up fastest, opt for the Support Class.
Most of the skilled players will go for Assault, picking Support will give you an overview of the players and helps you find the enemy players, defend the objective well, and trap the enemies.
Choose Low Kill Streaks
If you are to choose Assault load-out or any other kill streak load-out, make sure you choose low kill streaks. They may reward you lower XP but they are also less risky since they require lesser kills. Less Kills requirement ensures more kill streak rewards in a match, which in turn, gets your more XP.
This is because, the difference of XP you earn for high kill streaks isn’t worth it since you are more likely to get more low kill streak rewards in a single game than high kill streak rewards.
Avoid Specialist Strike Package
Because it’s more geared towards individual skills and will only help advanced players. If you are an advanced Call of Duty player, Specialist Strike Package will really fasten up the leveling process by adding extra perks, which in turn earn you more XP.
Best Perks For Leveling Up
Get Blind Eye as your first tier perk, it will help you navigate the map faster without worrying about getting killed by the enemy air support. It helps in objective based games in which you may end up being forced to reach the objective area quickly to save the objective and the last thing you want here, is to be killed by the enemy air support.
Get Hardline as your second tier perk. I am assuming here that you have set the low kill streak rewards and when you choose hardline, two assists count as one kill. Making it easier for you to earn those low kill streak rewards and more XP because you aim here is to level up faster.
Hardline would get you more kills with easy assists. If you have chosen the Support Load-out, you would know the enemy locations with UAV/CounterUAV, so you can easily score assists by flashing these enemies.
Finally, you can choose Dead Silence as your third tier perk. It complements your other defensive perks for leveling up fast. Your enemies can’t hear your footsteps, you already know their location, so what happens next ? There was a catch though, you won’t be able to unlock it during the early levels.
So, you would have to choose between Sitrep/Stalker. I would go for Sitrep since it would save you from the enemy explosives like claymores, Bouncing Betty and C4 – Newbies tend to use this a lot and due to the surprise element involved, you can fall victim to these explosives.
Best Load-out To Rank Up Fast
Your best load-out would depend on your game style. Remember the above general tips and strategies to rank up fast in Modern Warfare 3 and choose your load-out that compliments the above tips and your game style. It would be hard but you will find a good combination.
Find Your Game Type
It all depends on how good are you in a certain game mode in Modern Warfare 3. If you are good at getting the kills, choose the game mode that rewards best for Kills. If you are good at objective based game modes, choose these and earn more XP to level up fast by wining matches.
For example you get 50 points for a kill in Kill Confirmed and you get 500 Points for a kill in Search and Destroy. If you would rather benefit from shorter re-spawns, go for Kill Confirmed. If you are skilled enough to get more kills in a single round of Search and Destroy, go for that instead.
Know The Challenges
Modern Warfare 3 takes the challenges to a whole new level. You now have daily challenges, weakly challenges, weapon challenges, and there are challenges for even attachments.
Start with a weapon and complete all its challenges and move to the next weapon. Do the same with attachments on. The good thing about completing challenges is, you earn a huge amount of XP, which in turn, helps you rank/level up fast in Modern Warfare 3. You can choose attachment Proficiency to do two challenges at once to speed things up.
Play Kill Confirmed
Each kill gives you 50 points, confirming that kill gives you 50 points and denying a kill gives you 50 points so there are lots of points to earn in Kill Confirmed and above all, it’s fast paced game mode, which will really help you level up fast.
Play Headquarters
It gives you the most points in any game mode. More XP you earn, more levels you unlock.
Play Team Defender
In Team Defender, when you hold the flag and get the kills, you get double XP for those kills. This helps you level up fairly quickly just by playing through this mode.
Find another great leveling up guide HERE
Building a Team: Parties & Friends
You will notice that people have an undying care for their K/D ratio. Because of this, they tend to populate many objective game modes in an attempt to pad their stats. They ignore the objective and break rules of common courtesy when selfishly trying to benefit themselves over the wellbeing of the team. For this, we learn from early on never to trust randoms. You’ll want to find twelve or so friends who consistently only play Modern Warfare 3. You want a team available to you throughout most times of the day or at least when you’re playing. Be wary of locations though. A player across the country may have a completely different playing schedule than you and also may have connection troubles when you are both gaming together, and vice versa. You’ll want to be well mannered. Be a gentlemen when you play as it gives an excellent impression to players like me who are looking for established team mates. Things like constant swearing, screaming out of frustration, or quitting a match early due to being beaten are examples of poor sportsmanship and reflect poorly on the integrity of your career stats. Having many devoted friends to the game will also give you options to build a team when you need team mates. Use this to your advantage when finding gaming friends.
Know Your Surroundings: Map Knowledge
Remember not to push too deep into their spawn as often people will accidentally do this. Flank patterns are an essential strategy to dominating games. While kills are not important, they do widen a window of opportunity to hold flags for a longer period of time. The same can be said about Drop Zone in a sense. You do have to mind your place, as there are very distinct roles when playing that gametype. The slayer role will always hinder in terms of score. However they give the people hunkered down on the drop zone more time to easily secure points. If you can headglitch a spot that will mow down enemies but you aren’t in the drop zone, then it’s okay. You’re doing your team the benefit of not having to deal with potential deaths. The team can still go without your +20 points every second and you can still win in a reasonable amount of time without your contributions towards the team score. In the realm of map knowledge, you should be fully aware of choking points from enemy spawn flow. Drop Zone is a very hectic game mode when it comes to spawns. Due to constantly changing zones and where the game must place players, spawns will change every minute or so. If you are playing the slayer role, you need to know the flank patterns in order to intercept enemies and distract them from attacking your team mates.
You will learn flank patterns if you play a passive-aggressive play style using a silenced weapon and sliding your way around the map without the enemy knowing. Most often, the best flank path is the furthest away from your team mates. It is where the enemy spawns, and where you can get the jump on them before they can react. Always keep an eye on your radar. The position of your team mates can usually give you an idea of the route enemies will take to engage them. Give them the frustration of dying within a few seconds of their spawn. It will only benefit your victory. On the other hand don't let them frustrate you. If you are repeatedly killed in one certain part of the map because you took the same route over and over you will be killed repeatedly by the same person. Avoid frustration and take a different route or find a better way to infiltrate their secured spot whether it be through tactical grenades or from another entrance. You will learn as you play more. These kinds of things can be projected conceptually however you'll need to gain map intuition to truly understand how to locate enemies without using the mini-map.
Killing with Style: Killstreaks
Many may be asking why to avoid the Assault package. The Assault package does exactly what the slayer role should be doing. It distracts the enemy team from the objective. It may outright kill them forcing them to spawn again and again. Or, it might just cause them to waste seconds shooting down the aircraft. I am not saying you can’t use the Assault package. I just think the pros of the other two strike packages surpass it. I will say that on the other hand, the Assault package does a justice by distracting the enemy team from the actual players.
The Specialist package. Many would disagree with me on this, and yet here I am praising it. At eight kills (or seven with the right loadout) a single player can obtain every single perk except for Overkill as well as every single gun proficiency except for Damage. The result is a hard-to-take-down supersoldier. There are no outside pros to this. With the Specialist package, a person in the slayer role can do what they are supposed to do with maximum efficiency. In this since you do not need the Assault package to do what you should be doing with a gun. On the other hand, what I recommend is the Support package. The fact that it offers some of the most useful killstreaks while not resetting upon death (imperative when it comes to objective modes) makes it shine above the other two. EMP is one of the most powerful killstreaks and grants you a full minute to turn the tide of a match. It is easy to obtain at eighteen kills. Multiple EMPs can keep the enemy in the dark for the entire match. They will not even be able to see the score of the match without checking the scoreboard and they will not be able to rely on the map or bother you with any form of electronics.
The Recon Drone is one of the most fun and satisfying killstreaks in the game. It is difficult to take down sporting two flares and when it marks enemies, the enemy stays marked for the duration of their life. Combine this with an Advanced UAV and you have yourself a makeshift SR-71 Blackbird. My preferred killstreak loadout however is a simple 4/5 set-up. That being, you only select UAV and Ballistic Vests.
The reason you don’t need an Advanced UAV is because when three UAVs are active in the air simultaneously they will automatically transform into an A-UAV. Enemy location is critical when it comes to easily deciphering the best route to flank them. Without it you are relying purely on intuition to flank the enemy and their unsilenced weapons. Some have that intuition, others do not. Ballistic Vests are essentially a Juggernaut perk from the past games in a new rendition. They give anyone who picks them up an additional 30 health which often equates in surviving an additional bullet or a few if from an SMG silenced at a range (rather frequent, to say the least). Team mates will appreciate the gift and you’ll be rewarded with experience points. With a 4/5 set-up you can constantly throw up UAVs and have multiple venues to which people can pick up a Ballistic Vest. It works well with the run and gun style. When I find myself away from team mates I often put down a Ballistic Vest anyways just so I can pick up the health. Many times the spawns swap and some in-game mechanic spawns them near the Ballistic Vest I had originally isolated from them.
If you are playing Drop Zone you need not worry about setting up your killstreaks. All killstreaks are deactivated in that game mode. It is a very good idea to play Drop Zone if you're interested in the 8-Bit Price emblem and the Behind Enemy Lines title. They are achieved for chaining a ten kill streak with your killstreaks deactivated.
Your Boomstick and You: Weaponry
The Submachine Gun (SMG) is a reaction and speed intensive weapon category. With it you can easily transport yourself around the map and can defeat your opponents in close quarters without even bringing up your sights. SMG weapons typically can and should run suppressed to keep your location unknown. As you move around a lot, you will never be in one place with an SMG and therefore you can easily do laps around the enemy team as long as you are aware of your surroundings. The Light Machine Gun (LMG) excels in damage however lacks in many other categories. I advise against using them since ARs can do their job with better efficiency. The Sniper Rifle (SR) is not a practical tool for objective modes. You can do the job with a semi-automatic AR and the Marksman perk. I only ever see highly effective snipers in the Search and Destroy gametype where a single bullet can make a huge difference in a match. The Shotgun (SG) much like the SMG is a powerful rushing weapon. It has the stopping power of a SR with the effective range of an SMG. Most of the SGs are unfortunately somewhat ineffective especially in multi-enemy encounters.
The only one that very much stands out is the Striker. However, it is a long grind to get the Extended Magazines attachment and Range proficiency which you will need. It also often regarded as a much hated weapon among the gaming community. The Riot Shield (RS) is the ultimate support primary. It will block all incoming bullets coming at it including when it is on the user’s back. Often times it will distract enemies to fire at it while your team mates can easily dispatch them.
In Drop Zone it will afford protection in the zone with much less fear of death since it is very dangerous inside of there. Its biggest folly is that it is easily dispatched via Semtex stick as well as offers much slower mobility due to its weight. With all weapon categories declassified, what weapon should you use?
In the grand scheme, the slayer should pick between an AR (i.e. SCAR-L, G36C, ACR), SMG (i.e. UMP .45, P90. MP7), or SG (i.e. AA-12, Striker). The point captor should stick with an AR or SMG. The supporter should always have a Riot Shield. Without talking about Range or Damage on Shotguns (by the way, Range is superior in non-Specialist packages since you cannot obtain Damage via Specialist Bonus) into consideration, only two gun proficiencies stand out as extraordinary and truly beneficial. They are Kick and Focus. The former allows you to better on-target shoot enemies without having to disperse your bursting. The latter however reduces flinch when shot at allowing you the opportunity to defeat someone without Focus even when shot at first.
I recommend Kick for the player who likes to pick off enemies from a further distance and Focus for those who often find themselves engaged in short-to-mid ranged firefights. Attachments is a viable proficiency as well for guns that have terribly obtrusive iron sights and require an optic to perform effectively. As far as secondary weapons go, I generally go by whatever has the fastest swap time for a back-up weapon. This is usually a .44 Magnum in my case. The automatic pistols are a nice option when using Akimbo but again garner much hate throughout the community.
A Stinger is the only effective choice for taking down air support but the Javelin has merits for having the ability to quickly disperse or take out an entire group of people by an objective point. It has a tremendous lethal range and can drop on top of any open roofed area. Meanwhile it can still lock-on to enemy air support.
Crush Your Target: Gunskill
The three types of skill movements while shooting are strafing, dropshotting, and jump shotting. Strafing is more often used with SMGs. It is hipfiring while moving left and right while often incorporating jump shotting and sometimes even dropshotting. By constantly changing your position you are forcing the enemy to change their aim since they aren’t dealing with a stationary target. The Marksman perk allows you to accomplish this while aiming down sights. Jump shotting is the act of literally jumping while hipfiring. It again is a trick to make the enemy move their crosshairs and also moves your head further away from the bullet trajectory. It is very useful on enemies camping right around corners as long as you don’t jump directly into where they are ADSing (often resulting in panic shooting). Dropshotting is a love or hate act. Many do it improperly. The trick is to do it before the enemy can pull up their trigger, otherwise the aim assist will snap their crosshairs to your crotch or where your head will be positioned in less than second. When you go prone the enemy has to aim downwards, however they will often either shoot at the ground or above your body, missing you and granting you an easy kill. You need to incorporate basic skills with these techniques to be truly effective in a gunfight. ADSing should only be used by further targets that haven’t shot at you yet. Hipfiring is a gun feel intuition – you need to know the effective range of your gun’s hipfire to make use of it.
Different guns have different effectiveness. When dealing with multiple enemies you should hipfire to get the best spread of bullets if you had just flanked behind them killing the enemy that notices you first or is closest to you before snapping to the others with ADS. If done right you can kill them before they even get a chance to notice what hit them. One of my favorite techniques is jumping from a corner and holding down on the aim stick so I land into prone while hipfiring and finally raising ADS as I land. Pre-aiming and pre-firing are other essential tools. The former is having your ADS at the ready when you know an enemy is about to come into your field of vision. ADS time varies from gun-to-gun as well as whether or not you have Quickdraw. Many people do not use Quickdraw, so they have a long ADS time. Again, in a game where milliseconds count, this technique often allow you to easily prove victorious in a gunfight without a challenge. Pre-firing on the other hand involves firing before the enemy comes in your field of vision. If you are positive of where they are then they won’t even have an opportunity to pull the left trigger before they are dead. This is usually easily accomplished when a UAV is up and one of the red dots approaches you down a definite path.
KNOW WHEN TO RELOAD
This is very important. You want to always entire a gun fight with full ammo but you always want to never have to reload in the middle of a gun fight. In this sense you can't reload too often or you'll find yourself mid-animation right after an enemy spawned right by you. Sleight of Hand alleviates this slightly but it can't fully save you since reloading still takes a second to do. If you find yourself in this situation quickly sprint forward or tap the switch weapons button twice very quickly (YY reload canceling) and you'll stop the animation allowing you to resume shooting. Reload when in safety and you know your team mates have the enemy team occupied.Many guns offer a reload cancel as well where the magazine will reload (look at your ammo belt indicator) before the animation is over. You can cancel this animation and you'll be fully reloaded. Positioning is vital to winning against multiple enemies. If you have cover, then you should win. This is strictly limited to cover that blocks your lower and upper body. The aim assist won’t pull their crosshairs to your head if that’s all that can be seen and as a result they have to resort to manual aiming. This is headglitching. Your bullets actually shoot from your face believe it or not. Having a smaller window to get hit from gives you the edge in a gun fight. When against multiple enemies from multiple directions in front of you, fall under your cover by going prone before re-positioning your ADS to the next enemy. Repeat as necessary.
Don’t veer around corners. It may seem like you have a lot of cover sneaking out of cover from the side of a wall in ADS, but you are much more vulnerable than it seems on your screen. This holds especially true to those gifted with lag compensation. Gunskill goes hand-in-hand with Map Knowledge. Knowing the maps along with what you should do when you get in position is key to dominating the enemy team and taking control of key points throughout a map during a match.