Overkill (2024)

For other uses, see Overkill (disambiguation).

"Carry two primary weapons, no pistol."

— Perk description

Overkill is a Tier 2 Perk featured in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a Tier 1 perk in Call of Duty: Vanguard, a Elite perk in Call of Duty: Ghosts and a Basic Perk in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. It is also a Wildcard in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty Online and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. In addition, it is a Loadout Option in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. It appears in Call of Duty: Mobile from the test servers, but it was cut from the release.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare & Modern Warfare Remastered[]

Overkill is unlocked at level38. It allows the player to carry a second primary weapon in place of their secondary. When using Overkill, the first primary weapon determines character appearance and movement speed. Perks that affect weapons affect both primary weapons the player carries, as all perks apply to the player and not their weapons. Players with Overkill use M9s during Last Stand, unless they picked up a handgun before being downed. The second primary weapon cannot have a camouflage equipped in the original CoD4, but it can have an attachment. In the original Cod4, equipping two assault rifles, both equipped with a grenade launcher would only give the player a total of 3 grenades to use, instead of the expected 4.

The same primary weapon cannot be chosen twice in a loadout.

Call of Duty: World at War[]

It is unlocked at level 56 and has the same effects as in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. When in Second Chance, a player will use a M1911 if they have Overkill equipped.

When using Overkill, the player is unable to equip two weapons with Rifle Grenade attachments also equipped, unless the player picks up a weapon with the attachment from a dead player.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

Overkill allows players to carry two primary weapons, as in previous Call of Duty games, though the second primary weapon is incapable of accepting attachments or camouflages, but Proficiencies can still be applied. Overkill Pro allows the use of an attachment and application of camouflage on the second primary. To unlock Overkill Pro, the player must earn 120 kills with their second primary weapon.^[1] This perk is featured in the Grenadier default class giving the player a G36C and PP90M1. It is unlocked at level 47, making it the last of the Tier 2 perks unlocked.

This perk can be particularly useful for shotguns, as the secondary weapon can be used at long ranges where a shotgun would not excel due to its range limit. Likewise, a shotguncould be an ideal secondary weapon for another primary weapon (such as a sniper rifle) to be used at close quarter combat where shotguns excel over other weapon types.

The perk can also be seen as more ammunition, due to both weapons having the standard amount of ammo, or full with Scavenger. Scavenger Pro also makes both weapon's ammo count full at spawn. The player is unlikely to run out of both weapons' ammo even without Scavenger, so it is wiser to choose another Tier 1 perk, such as Sleight of Hand Pro to switch to the other weapon faster.

For most weapons, when first switching to the player's secondary weapon, the weapon's switch time is slower, as the first draw animation is the same as picking up the weapon off the ground. It is advisable to switch to the secondary weapon when spawning, and then switch back to the primary weapon, so the player will not have to do the longer switch animation during a firefight, which may cause the player to lose.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

"Take a primary weapon as your secondary weapon."

— Create-a-Class Description.

Overkill returns as a Wildcard in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

The second primary weapon may only be equipped with one attachment, unless Secondary Gunfighter is in use (which will give the player a maximum of two attachments for that weapon).

If the player intends to carry an Assault Shield as one of their primaries, its a good idea to make it their second primary. This will allow the player to equip two attachments on their other primary without spending a Wildcard (and gives the player the option to equip up to three).

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

Overkill returns inCall of Duty: Ghosts as an Elite perk. It allows players to carry two primary weapons. When this perk is equipped, the player may still select a secondary weapon, but a notification will appear, recommending them to take advantage of the perk by selecting a second primary weapon instead.

Call of Duty Online[]

Overkill makes a return in Call of Duty Online.

It is a Tier 2 Perk. Like its other Call of Duty series counterparts, it allows the player to equip a second primary weapon in place of their secondary weapon.

It costs 2500 GP or 2050 CP to purchase.

It's changed to a wildcard in July, 2016 update.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare[]

Overkill returns in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare as a wildcard.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III[]

"Take a primary weapon as your secondary weapon."

— In-game description

Overkill returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops III as a Wildcard. It is unchanged from previous installments, albeit unlocked at level 19, although since the second primary takes up the secondary slot, it can only have one attachment (or up to two with Secondary Gunfighter) and an optic, compared to the two attachments (or up to five with Primary Gunfighter) plus an optic primaries can have in the primary slot.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare[]

Overkill returns in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare as a Loadout Option. Unlike other Loadout Options, it must be selected separately from the second primary. Overkill costs only one Allocation Point (this does not include the cost of the weapon, optic, attachments or Secondary Expert). Because the second primary takes up the secondary slot, it can only have two attachments (or up to four attachments with Secondary Expert) and an optic, however the only downside to this is that Primary Expert allows one more attachment on a primary weapon in the primary slot.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4[]

"Replace secondary with any primary not in use."

— In-game description

Overkill returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 as a Wildcard under the name Primary Overkill.

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

"At the cost of a secondary weapon, two unique primary weapons can be carried."

— In-game description

Overkill was supposed to return in Call of Duty: Mobile, however it was cut due to weapon balance issues after the introduction of Gunsmith update. ^[2]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare[]

"Carry two primary weapons."

— Create-A-Class description

Overkill returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare as a Tier 2 perk. It allows the user to carry a Primary Weapon as your secondary weapon, and still allows up to 5 attachments on both weapons.

Up to the 1.14.0 Perk rebalancing update, this was a Tier 1 perk. It traded slots with Kill Chain, possibly to allow for better combinations of perks.

Call of Duty: Vanguard[]

"Carry two primary weapons."

— In-game description

Overkill returns in Call of Duty: Vanguard as a Tier 1 perk.

At launch, Overkill was a Tier 3 perk. On May 24th, 2022 with the Season Three Reloaded update, it was been moved to a Tier 1 perk.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II[]

"Carry two primary weapons."

— In-game description

Overkill returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II as a Basic Perk.

Trivia[]

• If the player is in a private match and the rules are set to no perks, the secondary weapon of any class equipped with Overkill is replaced by an M9 in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, an M1911 in Call of Duty: World at War, and a USP .45 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
• In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World at War, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the perk's icon is that of dual pistols, despite allowing two primary weapons.
• In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the default second primary weapon is an M4A1 unless said weapon was already chosen as the first primary, in which case, aMP5 will be displayed instead.
• It is not compatible with the Specialist Strike Package, as being given it after spawning would defeat its purpose entirely. Despite this, there are sound files for the acquisition of Overkill when using the Specialist Strike Package, but they are never used.
• It was featured for a while in the Call of Duty: Mobile Perk Selection screen. However, it was never obtainable and was silently removed from that screen some time later. When the developers were questioned about Overkill, they said they needed to perfect the weapon balance before they could implement the perk.

References[]