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[Guide]How to knife like a pro!
Introduction
The M9 Bayonet is a multi-purpose knife officially adopted in 1984 by the United States Army. At first glance, it appears to be a very basic weapon and easy to use, however on closer examination, you will find that it is indeed quite complicated.
The stainless-steel blade is 7 inches long; longer than most other knives developed by the U.S. Army.
It is used in real life as a bayonet on the M16 series rifle, on the M4 series carbine, as a hand weapon, as a general field and utility knife as well as a wire cutter together with its sheath, and as a saw. The M9 also fits the Mossberg 590 Special Purpose shotgun. In Special Force, it's only combat usage is as a hand weapon.
The knife is undoubtedly used least in combat than any other weapon in Special Force. Most gamers only equip it a few times (per round), most notably during the start to run faster.
Damage Report
When to kill with the knife
As most Special Force players have discovered, the M9 just doesn't cut it as a main, SP earning weapon. It is practically always useless against any automatic gun or sniper when distance from the opponent is far (and when the gunner has some skill).
Now what usually happens when you and your opponent run out of ammo at the same time and have no backup? It's that scarce, tranquil moment in Special Force that, in a sense, gives you another chance at killing your opponent. It's a double edged sword, so unless you are sure you can get your magazine in faster than your opponent, you will risk death or draw (either way, you're out cold).
In most cases, you are both jumping around, busting nerves to get a clip in faster than each other (even though reload times won't differentiate when you need them to the most). If you are smart, you won't waste those tranquil seconds; whip out your M9 and run at your reloading opponent -- laugh in the face of dead -- and position a few well timed and placed hits on the person. Keep in mind, he/she already has low HP if they've been hit by your bullets. After some practice and a little bit of luck and moxy, you will kill your fastest reloader opponents and leave them with the shame of a knife death.
If you run out of ammo when blasting a sniper close range, finish the kill with your M9! The knife flusters them much more than you jumping around reloading (in which case they still usually take aim, and sometimes land a lucky shot on you).
BEFORE WE CONTINUE, you must learn the golden rule of knifing which is this: Timing Is Everything. Once you get a feel for the time it takes to run at your opponent, the time it takes to complete one slash after left-clicking, the time it takes to do a 180° turn to face your opponent after your first encounter, etc, you will have the most important part of knifing under your belt. The second part to this is: DO NOT REPEATEDLY PRESS YOUR LEFT MOUSE BUTTON. This screws up your timing when knifing someone. Sure it's easy to read and be confident now, but when 10 bullets per second are flying out of an AK74 at you ... you'll panic or fumble, lose accuracy and miss correct timing.
Knife Vs. Knife
The best way to knife someone who is also knifing (as in knife battles) is to begin by running straight at them. Wait to click your left mouse button until you are just about to collide with the enemy. Knifing too early will result in an early and unfortunate death, as the opposing player will wait just before he/she collides with you. You will also have to try different techniques to miss your opponents' slashes if you are both using this method. You will understand more once you participate in enough knife fights. Make sure you keep your opponent in view as much as possible, otherwise you'll have a knife forcefully inserted into your vertebrae.
Unlike spray, you only have one slash when running at a person. Once you press the left-mouse button, your hand comes back for a couple milliseconds "to rest". It takes about the same amount of time to run, collide, and slash an opponent.
Knife Vs. Projectile Weapons
Knife vs. Sniper
If you are far away from the sniper and plan to kill with your M9, run in a zig-zag pattern but maintain a more or less straight run towards him/her.
Once you are up close and personal with the sniper, don't waste any time slicing and dicing. Snipers have a nasty tendency to pull a trick lag shot out of their rifles right before you're about to finish them off. Lessen the likelihood of being "one shot killed" by staying behind the sniper and aim towards the head/torso. If you do not stay on the flank, he/she may very well resort to no-scoping you. Snipers are the easiest projectile weapon opponents. Be prepared for a loss however, because lag can make your opponents shoot you even when it appears you're not in front of their rifle.
Knife vs. Auto
One of the hardest ways to knife someone, however much praise and amazement will be shown if you succeed. If you are going to try this, jump around randomly and land as many hits as you can on the head/torso. Again, getting behind them unnoticed is your best bet; aim for their head first so you put a nice dent in their HP. If you're lucky, your opponent will run out of ammo before you die and you will then have an easy time earning your payback.
Knife vs. Auto Reloading
Run at your opponent, and aim for the chest and head. Do not allow your opponent to put distance between you and him/her. Knife without mercy. Do not panic or your reaction time will dull and your knife blows will not hit your desired target points. The more blows you get before the enemy moves away, the faster and more likely you are to committing a knife kill.
Knife vs. Pistols
The most dangerous to face are the Beretta and M945 because they have a high magazine capacity. Another pistol to be concerned about is the desert eagle because it packs a punch of about 50 HP per hit. Remember to close the distance of your opponent. Snipers and Pistol users usually count on long and medium distances, respectfully, to kill the enemy; with exception to close combat sniping. If you're facing a Glock23 or MR-73, relax and tease them a little bit like a cat about to decapitate a mouse.
Knife vs. Shotguns
Be wary of Desperados and Benellis because they have a faster rate of fire than Remingtons. With Remingtons, try to stay in sync with rearm times so you know when your opponent is about to pull the trigger and in turn jump out of the way in time. Remember, just two well placed blows to the head/torso can easily knock him/her dead.
Practice Methods
Non-Combat Use of Knife
As stated earlier, the most common use of the M9 is in a non-combat situation.
Increased Speed - The foremost use of equipping the knife in a non-combat instance is to run fast. Probably everyone has learned this even before getting a knife kill. Speed increases drastically when you run with your knife. Hardly worth mentioning as it's such a widely accepted fact. It is a good weapon to scout neutral territory with especially if you have Quick Weapon Change (covered in the next section). If you need to get to another part of the map quickly and aren't too worried about running into an enemy, then running with your knife is the best option. Say, for example, your teammate was killed by the last surviving enemy, you can judge the distance and knife your way through the safe territory.
Slant Run - A method to running even faster using the M9. While running with your knife, slant your whole frontal view so that you're running diagonally to your temporarily, partially obscured view of your destination. This can be achieved by holding down your forward key (default "w") while turning your mouse. The second part of this is to cut corners: something that becomes easier after playing a map hundreds of times.
K-Walking ("Korean Walking", also sometimes referred to as the Dragonfly Walk) - To k-walk, you move forward while crouching and uncrouching. Depending on how fast you're moving, you should crouch about 3 to 5 times per second. The reason k-walking is so popular comes from the user's ability to mask most of the footsteps which are usually created by running. By spamming the control key to crouch while moving forward, the user can move rapidly to a destination with little risk of being heard. This technique is difficult to perform unconsciously unless you have practiced it a lot, so make sure you don't "misstep" (missing a crouch while running, thus creating a footstep), or all of your previous "k-steps" will have been in vain. This technique can be used with any weapon equipped, but as always, you move faster with your knife equipped.
K-Peeking ("Korean Peeking") - This technique is simple to understand but harder to perform. Run up to the corner you want to peek around and then jump sideways in the open and back down behind the wall. Essentially you only move while in midair and you jump and land from the same, safe spot behind the corner. Using this technique is a good way to tell if an enemy is preaiming at you. It is usually better to equip the M9 while performing this, as heavier weapons will bog you down and could lag you during the jump, resulting in a sniper killing you. The other, safer way to check around corners and above boxes is by using 3rd POV, or point of view (this is usually disabled by hosts). It is generally a bad idea to have your M9 equipped while in 3rd Pov (Toggled by Q); it is best to have your weapon out so you are ready to engage in combat with the unsuspecting enemy. Since 3rd POV does not pertain much to the M9, it will not be covered in detail here. You can find extensive information on the use of 3rd POV in FinalFantasy's great AK74 guide here:
Special Jumping / Nade Jumping - The M9 is always a good equip choice when performing difficult jumps in Special Force. Not only does it give you more of a view of your area you wish to jump to, it also weighs the least of all weapons (giving your jump more power and agility), and it is less likely to create FPS lag for you during a jump.
Covert Use - Hiding behind a box or doorway with your knife out will reduce the possibility of your weapon sticking through the door (thus ruining your hiding spot). If you have quick weapon switch (discussed in the next section), you can switch to your gun as soon as you need to and still be covert with your knife until the enemy runs by.
Listening to Boundary Sounds - One of the most useless uses of the knife, yet still important enough to mention, is the ability to hear the different sounds each in game texture (wood, metal, walls, mountains, etc) creates when struck with the knife. This does become important while practicing knife slash distance (covered in the previous section).
Knife Awards
The two unique in-game awards achieved by killing someone with the M9 are "Slash" and "Head Slash" (much like its "Head Shot" counter part). Neither award earns you any extra points; however, they demonstrate your knifing prowess to other gamers, especially in an all out weapon match.
Double Kills, Multi Kills, and Special Forces are all very possible with the knife too!
Knife videos
A few of mine and one other uploaded to YouTube:
4 v 1 - Channel_1 Bodies Knife War Clutch:
2 vs. 1 - Channel_1 Knife Fight Clutch:
Bridge 30 Second Knife Rush by Channel_1:
2 Quick slashes by Channel_1:
Group Knife Fight (3:11 = Good Jump Slash)
Overview
- It's the one weapon everyone in Special Force has.
- Hardly anyone uses it in combat (because no one knows how), ironically.
- It is more difficult to kill with; thus more skillful.
- Can take down opponet in 2 slashes.
- Sometimes safer to use in combat than reloading.
- Speed increases when equipped.
- Many minigames use the M9.
- Slash timing must be flawless.
Knife Shooting Glitch
This infamous anomaly made it appear that players were shooting guns with their M9 equipped. It was running rampant during the middle of 2009 leading to lots of theories of it being a hack of some type. It has died down some though, and hopefully will continue to be extinct with the new server on the East coast now functional.
Conclusion
The M9 is the only knife that has been created in United States Special Force along with all other world SF Versions. Therefore, when you knife fight, you're playing with one of the fairest weapon match-ups possible in Special Force; you and your opponent are both using the same type of weapon (hence same weapon statistics).
Wallhacks are completely and utterly useless in knife fights; most likely one of the main reasons many do not enjoy knifing. It is quite easy to beat someone with no skill (eg. a 3rd party program doing all the work for them) in a knife fight. You will have better judgment as to who walls by comparing your opponent's gun only scores to their knife only scores. Keep this topic in mind if a boastful gamer declines your knife fight challenge. Those who refuse your 1v1 knife challenge have no excuse; even if they use cheating with a gun as an excuse, they could Alt+Tab.
Laggers will affect opponents, however, so don't think if you face someone with 200+ ping higher than yourself that you'll be safe. If your knifing opponent is lagging you, you need to try different tactics to create confusion of where you are going and how/where you are going to slash. One example of this would be to jump to the right in front of your oppoenent, and then to run/crouch in to the left of the target.
Finally...
Many gamers decide not to knife at all because of their ignorance of how much fun can be and how skilled you must be against other long-term knifers. Sure it doesn't have it's own special rankings and not many gamers use it in combat, but that doesn't mean you should shy away from using it by declining knife fight challenges or by simply hoping you will reload faster and/or not be lag shot while reloading. Try it out and you'll see there's much more to the knife than meets the eye. Don't just play using guns because they get your ranked faster; ranking shouldn't even matter in Special Forcenow that most of the highest ranked users have cheated, bought, or stat padded their way to the top; let alone the fact that the free game itself is suffering. Let me tell you, there is nothing more gratifying in Special Force than to see Brigadier Generals pull out their gold AK47s after getting merc'd by my knife.
For those of you bold enough to learn the art of knifing, prepare yourselves for an unparalleled element in Special Force that you'd never of expected.
Now go knife someone.
(In Special Force, Not In Real Life! ^_^)
