Multiplayer Perks — Call of Duty: Black Ops III Guide

Multiplayer Perks

Perks are a fundamental aspect of customizing your Specialist in Black Ops III Multiplayer, offering passive bonuses that significantly impact your gameplay. Choosing the right combination of Perks can enhance your strengths, mitigate your weaknesses, and counter enemy strategies. This detailed guide will break down each Perk, offering actionable advice on when and how to best utilize them to dominate the battlefield.

Understanding Perk Tiers and Wildcards

Perks are divided into three tiers: Perk 1, Perk 2, and Perk 3. You can equip one Perk from each tier by default. However, the Wildcard system allows for greater flexibility:

• Perk 1 Greed: Allows you to equip a second Perk 1.
• Perk 2 Greed: Allows you to equip a second Perk 2.
• Perk 3 Greed: Allows you to equip a second Perk 3.

Utilizing Wildcards effectively is crucial for advanced loadout customization, enabling powerful Perk combinations that can define your playstyle.

Perk 1 Tier

These Perks focus on foundational combat enhancements and utility.

• Blind Eye:
  • Effect: Undetectable by enemy air support and sentries.
  • Strategy: Essential for players who frequently operate in open areas or are targeted by scorestreaks like the Wraith or HATR. Combine with a launcher like the Blackcell to safely take down enemy air support. Particularly useful in objective modes like Domination or Hardpoint where staying alive under enemy air pressure is key.
• Flak Jacket:
  • Effect: Reduces explosive damage.
  • Strategy: A must-have for objective players who frequently encounter grenades, C4, or specialist abilities like Purifier. If you find yourself dying to explosives often, especially when pushing objectives on maps like Nuk3town, Flak Jacket will significantly increase your survivability.
• Overclock:
  • Effect: Specialist weapon and ability charge faster.
  • Strategy: Ideal for players who rely heavily on their Specialist ability or weapon. If your playstyle revolves around frequent use of abilities like Kinetic Armor or weapons like the Scythe, Overclock will give you a significant advantage by allowing more frequent activations. Pair with Specialists like Reaper or Outrider for maximum impact.
• Ghost:
  • Effect: Undetectable by enemy UAVs while moving.
  • Strategy: The quintessential stealth Perk. Crucial for flankers and aggressive players who want to avoid appearing on the enemy minimap. Remember, you must be moving for Ghost to be active. Combine with a suppressor on your weapon for ultimate stealth. Less effective if you tend to hold static positions.
• Afterburner:
  • Effect: Boost jump recharges faster.
  • Strategy: Enhances mobility for aggressive players who utilize the advanced movement system extensively. If you're constantly boost jumping, wall running, and sliding, Afterburner will allow you to maintain that high-speed playstyle more consistently, making you harder to hit and enabling faster map traversal.

Perk 2 Tier

These Perks offer tactical advantages and counter-intelligence capabilities.

• Hard Wired:
  • Effect: Immune to Counter-UAVs, EMPs, and Scramblers.
  • Strategy: Excellent for players who rely on their minimap and equipment. If you find enemy Counter-UAVs constantly disrupting your flow or if you frequently use equipment that can be jammed, Hard Wired provides crucial immunity. It also prevents you from being revealed by Sixth Sense.
• Fast Hands:
  • Effect: Faster weapon swap, equipment use, and grenade throw. Can also reload while sprinting.
  • Strategy: A versatile Perk for almost any playstyle. The ability to reload while sprinting is a game-changer for aggressive players, allowing them to maintain momentum. Faster weapon swapping is invaluable for shotgun/SMG secondary users or when picking up enemy weapons. Highly recommended for close-quarters combat.
• Scavenger:
  • Effect: Resupply ammo from fallen enemies.
  • Strategy: Essential for players who go on long killstreaks or use high fire-rate weapons. If you frequently run out of ammo, especially with LMGs or SMGs, Scavenger ensures you can keep fighting without needing to pick up enemy weapons or die to resupply. Look for the small ammo icon above dead enemies.
• Tracker:
  • Effect: See enemy footsteps.
  • Strategy: Provides valuable intel for aggressive players who hunt enemies. The red footsteps on the ground allow you to predict enemy movement and flank effectively. Combine with Awareness (Perk 3) for a powerful tracking setup. Less useful in chaotic objective modes where footsteps are less distinct.
• Ante Up:
  • Effect: Start with bonus scorestreak points.
  • Strategy: Best for players who struggle to earn high-tier scorestreaks or want to get their streaks faster. This Perk gives you a head start, making it easier to reach those crucial UAVs or Hellstorm Missiles. Consider it if you're consistently just short of your desired streaks.

Perk 3 Tier

These Perks offer powerful defensive and offensive advantages, often influencing engagements directly.

• Tactical Mask:
  • Effect: Reduces the effect of tactical equipment.
  • Strategy: Crucial for objective players or those who frequently encounter flashbangs, concussions, or shock charges. If you're constantly being stunned or disoriented, Tactical Mask will significantly reduce the duration and intensity of these effects, allowing you to maintain control in engagements.
• Engineer:
  • Effect: Reveal enemy equipment and scorestreaks through walls. Reroll care packages.
  • Strategy: A fantastic counter-Perk and utility option. Seeing enemy equipment like Trip Mines or Shock Charges through walls allows you to avoid or destroy them safely. The ability to reroll care packages can turn a useless streak into something powerful. Excellent for supporting your team and denying enemy traps.
• Dead Silence:
  • Effect: Move silently.
  • Strategy: The ultimate stealth Perk. Essential for flankers, snipers, and aggressive players who want to get close to enemies undetected. Combine with Ghost (Perk 1) and a suppressor for a truly silent loadout. Crucial in competitive play where sound whoring is common.
• Awareness:
  • Effect: Hear enemy footsteps more clearly.
  • Strategy: Enhances your ability to detect nearby enemies through sound. This Perk is incredibly powerful for players with good headphones, allowing you to pinpoint enemy locations before they see you. Combine with Tracker (Perk 2) for a devastating awareness-based loadout.
• Blast Suppressor:
  • Effect: Boost jumps and wall runs are silent on the minimap.
  • Strategy: Ideal for highly mobile players who utilize advanced movement to gain advantages. If you're constantly boost jumping and wall running, Blast Suppressor prevents you from appearing on the enemy minimap, allowing for stealthy flanks and aggressive pushes without giving away your position.

Recommended Perk Combinations

Here are a few synergistic Perk combinations for different playstyles:

• Stealth Flanker:
  • Perk 1: Ghost
  • Perk 2: Fast Hands (for quick engagements) or Scavenger (for sustained streaks)
  • Perk 3: Dead Silence
  • Wildcard: Consider Perk 1 Greed for Afterburner if you're very mobile.
• Objective Player:
  • Perk 1: Flak Jacket
  • Perk 2: Hard Wired
  • Perk 3: Tactical Mask
  • Wildcard: Consider Perk 1 Greed for Blind Eye to counter air support on objectives.
• Aggressive Slayer:
  • Perk 1: Afterburner
  • Perk 2: Fast Hands
  • Perk 3: Awareness or Blast Suppressor
  • Wildcard: Perk 2 Greed for Scavenger to maintain ammo during killstreaks.
• Support/Counter-Intelligence:
  • Perk 1: Blind Eye
  • Perk 2: Hard Wired
  • Perk 3: Engineer
  • Wildcard: Perk 1 Greed for Overclock to get your Specialist ability (e.g., H.I.V.E. or Gravity Spikes) faster for area denial.

Experiment with different Perks and Wildcards to find the loadouts that best suit your individual playstyle and the demands of each game mode and map. Understanding what each Perk does and how it interacts with other Perks and Specialist abilities is key to mastering Black Ops III Multiplayer.