Updated: Aug 27, 2026 1:06am UTC
Get the upper hand over your opponents with our comprehensive guide covering the Best Controller and Graphics Setting Recommendations for MW4.
Mantling, Canceling & Pipe Climbing
Everybody knows about slide cancelling, which is the ability to interrupt a slide mid-animation to pop up into a fighting position while maintaining speed. This is tech that has been nerfed, removed, and brought back across multiple entries in both Modern Warfare and Black Ops. Well now, there is an entirely new cancel tech in MW4.
The mantle cancel allows you to quickly back out of a climb animation to avoid putting yourself into a bad position. This cancel tech can be used to gain valuable information, as you can peek over the climbable surface to spot enemies on the other side, without committing to joining them over there.
On top of that, not fully committing to a mantle can also be used to create angles and fight unsuspecting enemies. You can now hang on the top of climbable surfaces and take pot shots at enemies with your sidearm by ADSing before ducking back behind the wall or box you are hanging from, leaving your enemy none the wiser, or ideally dead.
The new Pipe Climbing works in a similar way. MW4 allows players to climb pipes around the maps, giving you another way to navigate vertical spaces. And similar to mantling, you can hang on a pipe and use it to get an angle on unsuspecting enemies. Though it may not always be reliable, since angles can be pretty limiting.
Just keep your eyes peeled though, as the pipes are easily missed, and from our experience in the beta so far, it doesn't seem like a whole lot of people know that this feature exists so take advantage of it while you can.
The biggest takeaway from these features is that these traversal tools aren’t just all or nothing commitments and savvy players will be able to take advantage of them to gather info and manipulate the angles of gunfights.
Sliding is More Versatile
Sliding has also received some upgrades, despite the removal of omnimovement. While sliding can only be performed in a forward-facing motion, you can now do a Supine Slide. By double tapping the crouch button while sprinting, your Operator will move into a long slide that gradually gets lower to the ground, ending with you on your back, with your feet and gun pointed forward at the enemy.
This move is actually super useful as you can use it to break an enemy’s expected sightline and win gunfights against enemies who were already tracking your movement.
Mantle Sliding and Slide Mantling are now also things. This movement allows you to quickly transition from a slide to a mantle and vice versa. By sliding into a mantle, pipe, or ladder, you will enter the climb with more momentum and complete the action faster.
Mantling into a slide can be used in a similar way, as normal mantling usually brings you to a complete stop, whereas the slide will keep you moving and when crossing certain pieces of cover can get you straight to the opposite side in no time.
It's true that overall movement in MW4 is more grounded and less flashy than previous entries, but it is worth your time to learn the new movement tech as they all kind of bleed into each other. Don’t think of sliding or mantling as single movements, but as ways to chain your movements together.
Manage Your Operator’s Fatigue (Or At Least Be Aware of It)
Another big change to movement is actually one you may not even notice at first. Operator stamina is now tied to tactical sprint in a more realistic manner. Rather than having your movement be identical throughout the entire duration of tactical sprint, your operator will slowly become fatigued as their speed and posture diminishes.
This means sprinting across the entire map and straight into a gunfight isn’t the best idea, as you lose some of the movement and weapon control you would have if you had more stamina. It is better to sprint in bursts and use slides to break up the fatigue, while still keeping momentum. Momentum is key in MW4, but sprinting isn’t the only way to gain or maintain it.
Weapon Bloom Be Gone
In previous entries, there was an element of randomness to hipfiring due to the Weapon Bloom system. This meant that even if you were pointing at an enemy, some bullets could deviate, but MW4 has done away with the bloom system.
With the randomness gone, your shots are now directly aligned with where the weapon is pointing, but this doesn’t mean your weapon is now a laser. Weapon sway, recoil control, movement, and your loadout still matter -- some would argue that these matter even more now since bullets aren’t randomly deciding to miss.
More predictable shots makes hipfiring more accurate, more dangerous, and more viable, especially with shotguns. Simply put, don’t treat hipfiring as a last resort. So when someone comes sliding around a corner at you, don’t panic and try to ADS. Sometimes the fastest way to win a gunfight is to just track them with your gun and shoot.
Jump into the Open Beta weekend with our expert loadout recommendations for the two best guns in MW4:
Best ISO Nightshade Loadout and Build
Best M4 Loadout and Build
Weapons are More Grounded Than Ever
Technically this isn’t specific to just Snipers, but with the more grounded movement system, gunplay feels more grounded too. Sure, with enough skill and luck you can still hit flying cross map 360 no scopes, but in MW4 each weapon type feels like it was crafted with a playstyle in mind. Snipers are great at long range, SMGs are made for close to mid range while moving, ARs are well balanced, and Shotguns aren’t going to be hitting cross map shots like some have in the past.
More than ever before, positioning and where you take fights is more important than ever. Infinity Ward isn’t telling players to slow down, but rather to be more deliberate and tactical.
Experiment With the New Gunny System
Of course though, we aren’t just stuck playing with the base weapons. Gunsmith returns in MW4, allowing players to customize their guns with all kinds of combinations of attachments. This, on the surface, is a simple system, but there is actually a lot of nuance and depth to how certain attachments behave with others and, if you really get into it, Gunsmith can quickly feel like playing spreadsheet simulator 2026.
If you’re the type of player that just can’t be bothered, that's where Gunny comes in. This new system applies attachments to your weapon based on a specific playstyle - . And if you don’t like what it gives you, you can always roll it again. Or more usefully, you can build on what Gunny gives you as all of these presets can be modified by adding or removing attachments.
We've found Gunny is most useful as a starting point that we can then fine tune to fit our needs.
Utilize Apex Attachments
Speaking of attachments, Infinity Ward has added new Apex Attachments that only unlock after reaching the highest level with a specific gun. These Apex Attachments don’t just give your weapon a couple of slight stat increases, but instead they fundamentally change what the weapon is and how the weapon performs.
For example, the KG Vulcan Apex Attachment is a Drill Charge that can be used to draw enemies out from behind cover to then snipe them. Or the ISO Trace which gives the ISO Nightshade specialized ammunition that tags targets on impact, feeding real-time tracking data to the optic's integrated display.
Like all the other attachments though, these do come with some downsides, like increasing recoil or causing weapons to overheat, but unlike other attachments, these do not take up any attachment slots. This means we can fully kit out our gun with 5 attachments and still have room for the game changing Apex Attachment.
So when you find a weapon you really like, stick with it and max it out, because the Apex Attachment might just turn your favorite weapon into the perfect weapon.
Kill Block 101
Finally, let’s talk about Kill Block as it is the most hyped addition to MW4 and probably the easiest to jump straight into, despite being the hardest to master.
Kill Block is a new map available in the 3v3 and 10v10 Gunfight mode. The twist is that Kill Block isn’t really a map, but an amalgamation of all of the maps slapped together. At the beginning of the match, three slabs will be selected, these are three sections of other maps that are smushed together with two of them being the spawn areas for each team and the other being the middle section of the map.
These slabs are changed and new ones are selected every two rounds, along with your randomized loadout as is customary in Gunfight. That means you can’t just load into the game and start memorizing the starting layout or the next one, because the layouts are always a couple rounds away from being remixed. You need to be adaptable. For every new configuration you need to figure out the major sightlines, what our weapon is capable of, and where the overtime flag has spawned just in case it is needed.
Also as an added bonus, because the loadouts are randomized, Kill Block can be a good way to try out new weapons and the Apex Attachments we just discussed as they are regularly mixed into the loadouts
The biggest thing to remember coming out of the MW4 beta is that Infinity Ward isn’t reinventing Call of Duty. Instead, they have taken a lot of familiar systems and tweaked them to give players more control over how they are used. When the game launches this October, don’t just play Modern Warfare 4 the same way you have played the last few entries. Take time to learn the new systems and take advantage of the extra control given to you for a serious head start over everyone else.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Guide
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MW4 Beta Guide: All Maps, Game Modes, and Rewards
Essential Multiplayer Tips and Tricks
MW4 Beta Guide: All Maps, Game Modes, and Rewards
Best Settings for Modern Warfare 4
Best Meta Guns in MW4 Beta
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Source: Archive source notes. This is an independent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 reference page.