Skip to main content

The best Combat Knife loadout in MW2

Sometimes, bringing a knife to a gunfight is the right call. While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II allows players to pick from a long list of assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and more, there’s one unique weapon choice that will surprise your enemies on the battlefield and is a surprisingly capable warfare tool: the Combat Knife.

Instead of entering the warzone with heavy gear, equip a Riot Shield and use the secondary Combat Knife as your main weapon — with the right tactical gear and perks, you’ll be a menace in battle.

More on Modern Warefare II

The best Combat Knife loadout in MW2

Combat Knife loadout in MW2.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This Combat Knife loadout is all about speed and stealth. You’ll switch to your Combat Knife as soon as the match starts, putting the Riot Shield on your back to protect you from enemies who spot you. You want to always be mobile, aiming to flank your opponents and catch them off guard. You might be able to get a kill or two during a frontal assault, but you’ll be able to string together an impressive kill streak if you can come in from behind and tackle groups of enemies when they least expect it.

If there’s a gap between you and an enemy that spots you, hit them with the Throwing Knife. This will take a bit of practice, but it’s absolutely lethal (and humiliating for your target) once you get it down.

You should be popping the Dead Silence upgrade throughout every match — boosting your speed and making you completely silent – but the Inflatable Decoy can come in handy if you want to set a trap or on objective maps.

Primary Riot Shield
Secondary Combat Knife
Tactical Smoke Grenade or Stim
Lethal Throwing Knife
Base Perk 1 Double Time
Base Perk 2 Tracker
Bonus Perk Cold Blooded
Ultimate Perk Ghost
Field Upgrade 1 Inflatable Decoy
Field Upgrade 2 Dead Silence
Sam Hill
Sam Hill is a journalist and the gaming guides editor at Digital Trends. He's also written tech guides for Input and has…
The best vocations in Dragon’s Dogma 2
Dragon's Dogma 2 key art featuring a knight with a fiery hole in their chest.

Your Vocation defines your role in combat in Dragon's Dogma 2. Everything from your skills to what weapons and armor you can use is tied to this class. You will pick from just a handful at the beginning of the game, but can easily change Vocations later on, as well as unlock more than twice as many new options than what you start with. It can take a while to really get a feel for a Vocation and how it performs in combat, as well as to look through all of its skills and augments, before knowing if it's worth sticking with to level up. Personal preference will play a part to some degree, but these Vocations have the most potential to make you the strongest Arisen in history.
The best vocations in Dragon's Dogma 2

You can pick from 4 Vocations at the start of Dragon's Dogma 2, but will end up with a total of 10 by the end of the game if you unlock them all. New Vocations are unlocked by completing quests, but they are almost unmissable. Four Vocations -- the Magick Archer, Mystic Spearhand, Trickster, and Warfarer -- can only be used by your character and not any Pawns.
Warfarer
There's very little downside to being a jack-of-all-trades in Dragon's Dogma 2, which is exactly what the Warfarer is. This is the only Vocation that can use any weapon in the game AND learn any skill from other Vocations. This is the only Vocation that really lets you build whatever class you want and gives you the ability to adapt to any situation you find yourself in. The main downside to this class is it has the lowest base stats, but that is a small price to pay for how versatile you can be.
Mystic Spearhand
Hybrid Vocations are all quite powerful, but we put the Mystic Spearhand at the top of the heap. This class turns you into a fighter that can take advantage of magic to output crazy damage. The two almost overpowered abilities you get here are the ability to slow enemies for a short time and to create a magical mimic that doubles all your actions. It is great for both crowd control and large single targets, but takes a while to unlock and lacks some range.
Warrior
If you're going to be a straight-up melee fighter, you might as well hit with the biggest weapon you can, right? The Warrior swings swords large enough to make Guts blush and is a full-on tank. You won't be doing anything fancy with this vocation beyond charging up and swinging as hard as possible. The obvious drawback is any flying or ranged enemy will counter you, so bring some Pawns in those classes to cover your bases.
Sorcerer
For those who fancy themselves a pure mage, stick to the Sorcerer over the actual Mage vocation. While the Mage is more focused on healing, it is the Sorcerer who gets the best offensive spells you will want to be casting. If you have a second Sorcerer with you, you can even sync up and decrease your casting time. If not, you will need some tanks to take aggro while you deal with some slightly long casting times and low total health.
Thief
As far as the starting Vocations go, the Thief is the one we find the most fun and viable for the entire game. This is a light and speedy build focused on critical hits and being able to climb and hang on to large beasts. Once on, you have a number of great skills to stagger and knock down an enemy so the rest of your squad to gang up on it. Just don't get hit because you're one of the squishier Vocations.

Read more
The best ship modules in Helldivers 2
A scene from Helldiver 2's opening cutscene.

While the majority of your success lies in which weapons and armor you carry when facing off against the Terminids and Automatons on various missions in Helldivers 2, you shouldn't overlook what your ship can do to support you. Besides just naming your destroyer, there's far more you can do to customize it with modules. Whereas weapons and Boosters will impact you and your squad on a more constant basis, ship modules come in clutch when you need to bring out the big guns, aka Stratagems. These power weapons are already enough to turn the tide of a tough fight, but when you add in the right ship modules, you'll be cooking bugs for breakfast.
The best ship modules in Helldivers 2
Ship modules are purchased on your ship via the Ship Management Terminal. There are 18 in total, split between the Patriotic Administration Center, Orbital Cannon, Hangar Ship, Bridge Ship, and Engineer Bay categories. They are unlocked by spending samples you can collect during missions.
Donation Access License

Look, sometimes you can't argue with simplicity, and the Donation Access License is about as basic as they come. This mod gives any support weapons you call in more ammo by default, granting you more time blasting and less time waiting to call in your next one. It is a versatile mod as well since it can be applied to multiple Strategems. It applies to things like the Laser Cannon, Grenade Launcher, Railgun, Flamethrower, and more.
Liquid-Ventilated Cockpit

Read more
The best armor in Helldivers 2
A soldier in silhouette in Helldivers 2.

Armor sets in Helldivers 2 will affect more than just some stats and numbers behind the scenes. Just like your primary weapon, the type of armor you pick will dictate your playstyle and needs to be heavily considered before each mission. Each one comes with a different rating in three stats, plus there's a passive that makes it stand out, but all fall into either light, medium, or heavy roles. While the number of options isn't terribly overwhelming, comparing and contrasting all those stats and abilities on top of things like Boosters and Stratagems can become tedious. If you just want to get out there and blast some bugs, here are the best armor types to pick in Helldivers 2.
Best armor types
As of now, there are 19 different armor sets you can unlock with Medals and Super Credits, but more are likely to be added to the game in the future. When and if that occurs, we will update our rankings.
TR-9 Cavalier of Democracy

Especially when you're a fresh recruit in Helldivers 2, you can't go wrong with the Cavalier of Democracy if you happened to preorder the game. If not, it isn't a huge loss here since it is more of a great starter armor. It will give you very balanced stats for a medium build, with 100 Armor, 500 Speed, and 100 Stamina Regeneration. However, whether it's this one or any other you unlock early, make sure to get the Democracy Protects passive. This gives you a 50% chance to survive a lethal amount of damage and prevents bleeding damage from chest hemorrhages.
SC-34 Infiltrator

Read more