Call of Duty Black Ops Killstreaks Guide

Call of Duty Black Ops Killstreaks Guide
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Killstreaks Overview

Killstreaks are a familiar part of the Multiplayer experience for Call of Duty games, so it should come as no surprise that they return once more in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Killstreaks are rewards you earn when you reach a certain number of kills in a row without dying, and can range from a radar enhancement to an armed air support vehicle sent to rack up kills for you, to the Treyarch favorite attack dogs.

Unlike Modern Warfare 2, the Call of Duty game most people will be familiar with these days, killstreaks don’t continue past eleven kills. Another change from the last game’s killstreaks is kills gained with them do not count towards your streak. No more calling in a harrier at 7 kills and using it to get you your chopper gunner at 11 without moving or seeing another person.

Another change from Modern Warfare 2 is the method of unlocks. Black Ops introduces a currency system to the game, which you can earn by leveling up, completing challenges, and winning wager matches. Guns, attachments, perks, and killstreaks are mostly all unlocked with this currency, allowing there to be a limit on your gameplay based on how well you do. Unfortunately, you still unlock guns through your level, so that’s still a problem. Everything else, though, is mostly unlocked through currency.

Looking for Modern Warfare 2 killstreaks? Check out this guide. Want more detailed information on the Black Ops killstreaks? Read on!

Killstreaks and Costs

In Call of Duty Black Ops, killstreaks only go up to an 11 streak. Some of them will be familiar to CoD players, while others will be new. With no game-ending Nuke, the game is changed to help eliminate lone-wolf playing and encourage team operations. Meanwhile, with killstreaks no longer building towards other streaks, the incentive to hide and try not to die is lessened. Camping will still exist, of course; it has in every FPS and it always will, but these measures hopefully will detract from the effectiveness of camping.

The killstreaks are listed below, along with a short d

Black Ops Logo

escription, how many kills they take to achieve, and how much they cost in CoD currency.

  • Spy Plane - 3 Kills - Unlocked by default, for free. The Spy Plane is a CoD standard, the UAV. It’s a plane in the air that can be shot down, and it updates your mini-map with he locations of the enemy team; at least, those without Ghost.
  • RC-XD - 3 Kills - $1200. The RC-XD is a remote controlled car you call in and drive around for a short time. It’s loaded with explosives, making it an ideal scout vehicle or weapon to sneak in and corner a pesky camper. Drive with the analog sticks and press the fire button to detonate.
  • Counter Spy Plane - 4 Kills - $1600. The Counter Spy Plane will be familiar to MW2 players as the Counter-UAV. Similar to the Spy Plane, it’s an aerial vehicle that can be shot down, and it jams the enemy mini-map into worthless static.
  • SAM Turret - 4 Kills - $1600. The SAM Turret is an airdrop much like the sentry gun was in MW2, which you can pick up and place wherever you like. Rather than shoot at the enemy, however, the SAM turret will shoot down enemy air support, such as helicopters and spy planes.
  • Care Package - 5 Kills - Cost Unknown. The Care Package, much like it’s counterpart in MW2, will deliver a random killstreak or ammo crate on a thrown airdrop marker. Unlike the MW2 version, this one costs 5 kills, and can airdrop special package-only weapons – The grim reaper rocket launcher or the death machine chaingun. One perk can help with the unwanted ammo crates; it allows you to re-roll for a new killstreak once per package.
  • Napalm Strike - 5 Kills - $2400. The Napalm strike seems to function much like the precision airstrike from MW2; you can target an area to hit with the airstrike, and the jets will fly in, delivering their payload. Unlike MW2, these planes drop napalm, a deadly new weapon for Black Ops. The fire will land in a straight line, though narrow, and burn alive anyone who touches it.

For the rest of the killstreaks, continue on to the next page!

Mid-Tier Killstreaks

Once you reach 6 kills, you begin to access the more powerful killstreaks in the game. Black Ops has several new killstreaks and some old favorites. Which is your favorite killstreak? How about from Modern Warfare 2?

  • Sentry Gun - 6 Kills - $3200. The Sentry Gun is a returning fav

    Black Ops Gameplay 1

    orite from MW2. Calling in a package, you’re given a placeable sentry gun that will automatically fire at all enemy players, as long as they’re in it’s visible range and not using the cold-blooded equivalent perk, Ghost Pro.

  • Mortar Team - 6 Kills - $3200. the Mortar Team is a new killstreak to Black Ops. It allows you to choose not one, but three places on the map for out-of-map mortar squads to bombard with explosives for a short duration. With the right locations on the map chosen, the Mortar Team could turn the tide of a battle single-handedly.

  • Attack Helicopter - 7 Kills - Free, unlocked when you begin the game. More like MW2 deadly-effective Pavelow than it’s slower and less deadly cousin the Attack Chopper, Black Ops features an attack helicopter as an option for the seven-kills slot. It’s a death machine, and it even has flares to drop, making it take two rockets to shoot down.

  • Valkyrie Rockets - 7 Kills - $4000. The ultimate in camper suppression, the Valkyrie Rockets killstreak allows you to fire two rocket that you can guide in first person mode, piloting it to exactly where you want it to go. Much more controllable than the Predator Missile from MW2, it’s also fired from the ground, making it much easier to get into windows and buildings.

  • Blackbird - 8 Kills - $4500. The best radar money can buy is the Blackbird. Flying higher than SAM turrets and enemy rockets can reach, the Blackbird operates as a Spy Plane on steroids, showing not just the enemy position, but what direction they’re facing; they appear as red arrows like the green of your team, and are constantly displayed in real time. As a bonus, it can’t be shot down!

You think those are good? Just wait until you see what else Treyarch has in store once you hit 8+ kills. What are the best killstreaks in Black Ops? Read on to find out!

Black Ops Best Killstreaks

With no further delay, here are the ‘best’ four killstreaks in the game. That’s not to say these are automatically the best to run; if you never get past five kills, running the Chopper Gunner will be worthless to you and your team. However, if you’re a player-slaying machine, racking up dozens of kills at a time, these are definitely for you.

  • Rolling Thunder - 8 Kills - $4500. Rolling Thunder is the Precision Airstrike’s bigger and badder cousin. It’s like the Stealth Bomber, but faster, and far more effective. Pick

    Black-Ops-Teaser-Chopper

    a target, and that target will be carpet bombed from on high, with allied airstrikes laying down the hurt on your opponent’s fortifications or the nearest choke point.

  • Chopper Gunner - 9 Kills - $5000. Similar to the MW2 chopper gunner, only the one from the Spec Ops missions and the single player campaign. No longer are you limited to thermal vision, or the slow-firing explosive rounds of the MW2 Gunner. Instead, you sit astride a chopper’s chaingun, blasting hot metal wherever you can see.

  • Attack Dogs - 11 Kills - $6000. Fan Favorite from World At War, Treyarch’s last Call of Duty game, the Attack Dogs are a dangerous and effective pack of animals summoned from the edges of the map to track down and eliminate your foes. Remember the dogs in the Spec Ops and Single Player sections of MW2? Now you can unleash them on your enemies.

  • Gunship - 11 Kills - $6000. The Gunship is the ultimate killstreak in Black Ops. No longer are you relegated to sitting on the chaingun while some NPC flies you around, behind walls and around corners. With the Gunship, YOU take control of the chopper, unleashing a hail of bullets and bombardments of missiles at your command. Nothing can be deadlier, or more satisfying.

Does Black Ops have everything you hoped for? Are you sad to see the Nuke go? Leave your comments and feel free to discuss strategies!

This post is part of the series: Call of Duty Black Ops Multiplayer Guide

This four-part guide to Call of Duty Black Ops multiplayer will cover everything you want to know about the game’s online component. Everything is covered, from the COD Bucks and weapons and perks, all the way to overviews of each map and challenge.

  1. Guide to Multiplayer in CoD Black Ops
  2. Call of Duty Guide: All the Weapons and Equipment in CoD: Black Ops
  3. Call of Duty Black Ops Maps Guide: All the Multiplayer Maps for CoD: Black Ops
  4. Call of Duty Black Ops Ranks Guide: XP, Classes, Unlocks and Challenges in CoD: Black Ops
  5. Kill More, Die Less: Multiplayer Tips and Tricks for CoD Black Ops
  6. Call of Duty Black Ops Multiplayer Game Types
  7. Black Ops: Dominate Your Opponents Multiplayer Guide
  8. Call of Duty: Black Ops - Killstreaks Guide