Is The Ninja Perk In Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Beta Really A Big Deal?
The Call of Duty franchise takes pride in allowing players the ability to approach each combat situation in their own way. From perks to weapons, each Call of Duty title offers a different strategy option for every player. So, when fans heard that a long-lost perk was returning to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, a lost style of play was finally on its way back to the franchise.
Many fans are already calling Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War a return to a classic Call of Duty experience. For many players, the simplified weapon selection, traditional perks, and intense story are reminiscent of Call of Duty: Black Ops 1. This thought only got solidified as fans learned that the infamous Ninja perk would be returning to the franchise.
Ninja has been a controversial perk for several games. While some fans believe that the perk's many reworks and replacements are better, traditional pro players tend to prefer the classic Ninja setup. Still, it has been several games since Ninja was available to fans, and early looks say that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's version will be similar to the original. If this is true, then a classic playstyle may be returning in the next game's competitive scene.
The first iteration of the Ninja perk was in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The perk has always been designed as a stealth-based perk designed to help hide players from enemy detection. In its first build, the perk would hide players from the Heartbeat Sensor, and after being upgraded to its pro version, it would reduce all movement noise by 75%. It was mainly used by lone-wolf style players who enjoyed flanking enemy positions. Players would run the perk with silenced weapons and Cold-Blooded Pro, with this style of play being particularly useful in Sabotage and Search and Destroy game modes.
When Call of Duty: Black Ops released, the new Ninja perk had received a significant buff. In its standard mode, it lost the ability to hide from heartbeat sensors but started at a 75% noise reduction. Once the perk had been leveled to three players would be rewarded with completely silenced movement and all enemy sounds would be doubled. This noise reduction was not limited to only footsteps as it covered falling, mantling, weapon switches, equipment deployment, and most other in-game sounds. The next notable appearance for the perk was a minor role in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, but other than that it had disappeared from the franchise replaced by another perk with a similar design.
One of the many reasons that fans have found for Ninja's disappearance is a similar perk called Dead Silence. This perk does roughly the same thing as Ninja, reducing sound during movement and, after Call of Duty: Black Ops, becoming the dominant stealth perk in the game.
Now, Dead Silence has also had its share of reworks since conception. In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the perk would reduce player's footstep noise by 60%, but footsteps could still be heard. Crouching, crouch walking, going prone, or moving while aiming down sights would cancel all noise related to movement. Call of Duty: World At War used an identical build, but due to the inability to adjust sound settings, this quickly became more useful than in previous versions.
It was in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 that the perk went through a major rework. The perk's ability changed to reducing the player's footsteps and reducing the effects of the Recon perk. Dead Silence was able to be canceled out by Sitrep Pro, and Dead Silence Pro was able to negate falling damage. After this brief period, the perk got simplified again with Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 simply removing all sound like the Pro version of Ninja. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 reduced this ability to only apply to footsteps and in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare the effect would apply to jump packs as well. With Dead Silence doing almost the same thing as Ninja, it became necessary for the franchise to choose a perk and run with it. For a while that has been Dead Silence, but Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be returning with the Ninja perk in the starting lineup.
The main point in returning Ninja back to its original name is to give the game a sense of nostalgia. Considering the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is planned to be a direct sequel to the original Call of Duty: Black Ops, having a traditional perk like Ninja helps to reinforce that image. Still, there are other major factors to consider. For many fans, Ninja's performance in Call of Duty: Black Ops was the perfect build for the perk. The complete silence in movement gave a stealthier option that the 70% and even a 90% reduction could not match. Anything could be heard if headphones were adjusted properly, but with the traditional Ninja perk players were silent and deadly.
This created an interesting competitive option as one member of the team could run a stealth build and flank unsuspecting enemies. Many professional players remember this role and with the return of Ninja in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War there is a chance that old strategies will find their way into the new game.
Ninja and Dead Silence both have their own set of issues, but in the Call of Duty community, Ninja seems to be kept in higher regard. It is unknown if the new version of Ninja will retain the same factors that made the previous iterations so popular, but the name change alone is a big step towards a classic Black Ops experience that many fans have been missing. It will be interesting to see how Ninja affects the competitive world, but with new rules and changes being made, it may not be that big of a difference. Still, fans can expect Ninja to make an appearance in pro loadouts if it does regain its previous strengths.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is set to release on November 13th for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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