Hello, this is XboxAhoy and this is the ninth episode of my Black Ops 2 Weapon Guide.
This time, we're covering the SMAW.
First appearing in Modern Warfare 3, the SMAW returns in Black Ops 2, in a role nearly identical
to the M72 LAW from the first Black Ops.
The SMAW, or 'Shoulder-launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon' is an American launcher based
on an earlier Israeli design - the B-300 anti-tank launcher.
The B-300 was introduced in the late 1970s by Israeli Military Industries: the US SMAW
is essentially the same weapon with a few modifications and standardised kit, and was
introduced in 1984.
It fires an 83mm rocket, of which there exist a number of variants: the most common include
the High Explosive Dual Purpose, or HEDP rounds, ideal for use against bunkers, and High Explosive
Anti-Armor, for use against tanks or other heavily-armoured vehicles.
The SMAW also comes equipped with a spotting rifle, ballistically matched to the launcher
for better first-shot precision.
The spotting round used is a rather unusual cartridge: a 9mm tracer bullet, contained
within a 7.62mm casing - with a .22 Hornet blank serving as a propellant.
In any case, the SMAW has proven to be a reliable and accurate means of tackling entrenched
positions and enemy armour since its introduction nearly 30 years ago - and it is only in recent
years that the US Army has sought a more modern replacement.
In-game, the SMAW is an explosive weapon, and so effective damage dealt is subject to
a large number of variables.
Employed against the enemy, the rocket has a blast radius of a few metres, and you'll
kill an unprotected enemy outright within a portion of this radius.
When facing an enemy with Flak Jacket equipped, only a direct impact will suffice - otherwise
they'll walk away - injured, but alive.
When tackling air support, the SMAW will down anything it comes into contact with with just
a single rocket - but any counter-measures the vehicle has will divert your shot, resulting
in a miss.
UAVs and Counter UAVs are easily despatched: as are care package helicopters.
Most other scorestreaks will require multiple rockets: stealth choppers and escort drones
require two, and the higher killstreaks will need up to three.
Rate of fire is very slow, equating to around 20 rounds per minute - or one shot every 3
seconds - when firing multiple rockets as quickly as possible.
Of course, this is only feasible as long as your supply holds out - given that you only
spawn with one rocket, it's unlikely you'll reach this rate of fire outside of a Sharpshooter
match.
You can fire rockets freely, or hold your sights for a moment on a scorestreak target
to lock-on: this process is essential to reliably hit aerial targets.
Handling is slow all-round: while at least recoil isn't a factor, you'll need to endure
the 300 millisecond aim time before you can fire.
In addition, your movement will be slowed to a crawl whilst you have the launcher equipped
- at just 80% of the base speed.
Being a single shot weapon, there's no magazine to speak of - after every round fired you'll
need to reload.
The reload process is pretty slow, clocking in at 2.5 seconds.
Of course, this requires that you use scavenger - and that you have picked up a resupply bag
- in order to have a spare rocket.
While I wouldn't recommend centring an entire build around the SMAW, it can form a part
of an explosive-centric loadout.
Such a build can be devastating against enemies who tend to run in packs, but beware - your
entire strategy can be rendered impotent by the simple application of Flak Jacket.
Nevertheless, it's a viable route given the flexibility of the Pick 10 system: and we
open our build with an assault rifle of your choice.
You'll need a bullet-based weapon to fall back on occasionally, and the assault rifles
have the benefit of offering an explosive attachment to expand your available ordinance.
The underslung grenade launcher may bring back bad memories for some, but it does offer
two extra grenades for your use.
Following a parabolic arc, you can sail these 40 mike mike surprises through windows or
over cover to strike obscured opponents.
Next up, 2 perks from the second tier using the Perk 2 Greed wildcard.
Firstly, Scavenger will keep your explosives resupplied, with the exception of the underslung
grenade launcher.
Each blue pack you recover will give you an extra lethal grenade and a SMAW rocket - but
note that enemies killed via explosion won't drop any resupply packs.
Direct impacts with your SMAW rocket will yield a resupply, however - so for continued
use it pays to be accurate.
Second up in the second tier is Fast Hands - given our generous use of multiple explosive
elements in this build, the faster switch times and equipment throwing will prove very
useful.
In our third tier, Engineer can prove useful to reveal the location of lurking enemies:
toss a grenade or launch a rocket towards equipment indicated in red to make better
use of your explosive options.
As an alternative, you can swap Engineer for Flak Jacket - for those cases where your enemy
adopts a copycat strategy.
Next up, we'll be using the Danger Close wildcard to maximise the amount of explosives at your
disposal, in line with the focus of this class.
This option permits the selection of two lethal equipment of your choice - Frag grenades work
fine here, but you could swap out for C4 or similar, depending on your preference.
Toss them liberally, as Scavenger will continually replenish your lethal supply.
That's our build - a demolition expert set, with a pure focus on explosive damage.
Effective use of the explosive weapons relies on a certain degree of anticipation of your
enemy's movements, and use of map features to enhance your chances of a kill.
Most maps have natural chokepoints that can be exploited to secure multikills - and in
objective games, depending on circumstances, there will be emergent chokepoints as your
enemy funnels through towards their goal.
It is here that you should strike - taking advantage of predictable enemy movement will
yield better reward.
The SMAW is the most versatile launcher on offer - none of the other choices will allow
you to tackle both aerial scorestreaks and your enemy directly.
This makes it an ideal secondary for those wanting to cover a larger variety of possibility:
with a SMAW and scavenger paired, you can deny the enemy's radar advantage all game
long - and clear clusters of enemies near objectives, too.
However, if you seek to specialise, the SMAW's limited supply can be an issue: the FHJ is
by far the superior choice for tackling enemy air support, and the RPG is better suited
to sustained anti-personnel use.
Otherwise, the SMAW suffers from all the usual downsides of being a launcher: slow handling
speeds, and unreliable performance when used against the enemy, courtesy of Flak Jacket's
presence.
Still, adaptability is a trait worth more than most realise: and that is the SMAW's
key virtue.
This weapon is capable of handling anything your enemy might throw at you - a versatile
denial your enemy's entire efforts.
Meanwhile, all of the other launchers...
...might leave you wanting SMAW.
Thanks for watching, this has been XboxAhoy.
Join me next week, when I'll be covering the next LMG - the QBB LSW.
Until then, farewell.