FATALITY! COD: Modern Warfare Finishing Moves Tips

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a brutal game, both figuratively and literally. But what pushes that from the average to epic levels is the flourish that comes with completing finishing moves. Just like the Fatalities that are the hallmark of the Mortal Kombat franchise of games, Finishing Moves in Modern Warfare are non-essential.

A kill is a kill, regardless if you do it using a knife or a gun, and whether it’s done from close or long range. However, and again like the MK Fatalities, Finishing Moves add a finality and a level of satisfaction when you pull it off. Think of it as adding insult to injury. It’s like an exclamation point to the statement you just made!

Kreuger's Take Down is the poster boy of COD: Modern Warfare Finishing Moves.

Let’s take look at how to accomplish these Finishing Moves in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and tips on how to best take advantage of them!

Equipping and Doing Finishing Moves

Finishing Moves have been added to the Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Black Ops Cold War iterations of Call of Duty (aka COD), and it is likely to be a fixture in the future installments. Every named character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has a Finishing Move. Generic Operators do not have Finishing Moves.

First, make sure that your Operator has a Finishing Move equipped. Go to the Operator’s menu. Check the Customize menu. There should be a tab for Finishing Moves.

Check the Operator Menu and choose the Finishing Move desired.

Just choose the Finishing Move you want and it will be the one the Operator uses. The good news is all of them are executed (pun intended) in pretty much the same manner. Just follow these basic principles:

1. Sneak up undetected as close to being behind an enemy as you can.
2. On your controller, press and hold down the melee button.
3. You will know it triggered a finishing move when it shifts to 3^rd person and an animation begins.

Stealthily approach your enemy from behind to do a Finishing Move!

It seems relatively simple enough, and it is. However, there are some caveats:

1. While the animation for the Finishing Move is running, your Operator is vulnerable from another attack that you might not be aware of. It is actually possible to fail a Finishing Move even if the animation has already started if your Operator is killed while it is in progress.
2. The environment can mess up the Finishing move execution (i.e. a box just beyond your peripheral vision that prevents it from being completed due to the collision mechanics).
3. You only have 1 or 2 seconds to execute a Finishing Move. If it gets interrupted, either by the target or someone else, it is likely the window of opportunity is missed.
4. If you don’t hold down the melee button at just the right interval, the Operator may just perform a slashing or swinging attack.

Like with anything, this takes practice. The more you do a Finishing Move, the more comfortable you will be with the timing and spatial awareness needed to perform it successfully.

Base Finishing Moves

The following is a list of the base Finishing Moves that every character comes with by default. These are the names of the moves and which character has it.

D-Day comes with the base Hatchet Hitman Finishing Move.

Finishing Moves

These are special Finishing Moves for COD: Modern Warfare that can either be the base for a few Operators, but most are acquired through bundles and Battle Passes.

Herding is an Epic Finishing Move!

Legendary Finishing Moves

This list is for Legendary Finishing Moves in COD: Modern Warfare that can only be acquired through Battle Passes and bundles. These are Universal, meaning they can be equipped on any Operator in the game.

Nevermore requires Battle Pass Season Five Tier 20!

Tips to Execute Modern Warfare Finishing Moves

Performing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Finishing Moves use the same command parameters, there are useful perks and situational awareness tips that can improve your chances. These can help you to consistently accomplish them:

• Remember that there is a distance required. If you are too far, it will not trigger a Finishing Move. An arm’s length is the rough benchmark.
• Ghost Perk. Get it. It makes the Operator virtually invisible to most detection like Sensors, Drones, Snapshot grenades, and UAVs. This improves your ability to sneak behind the enemy.
• Grab Dead Silence. This Field Upgrade improves your Operator’s move speed and completely silences your footsteps. Note, however, that this is only good for one kill.

These can help enhance your ability to do Finishing Moves. But ultimately, it’s your skill and experience with using them that makes the most difference. Practice makes perfect!