Dead Silence is mainly used by players wishing to be stealthy; it lowers footstep sound so that it is almost silent - however it can still be heard, usually only picked up by high quality sound systems. It allows players to clearly hear other players' footsteps who are not using the perk. However, crouch-walking or going prone completely cancels noise created by movement. Dead Silence does not have an effect on weapon switching sounds, however.
Even with the perk, falling from any height makes at least a slightly audible sound, and especially so from large heights where the loud cracking noise is still made. Rustling through bushes/grass also still creates noise.
Dead Silence is identical to its Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare counterpart; however, due to the ability to adjust sound settings and thus remove ambient noises and announcer voices, this perk can prove more useful than what it did in the previous installment.
Dead Silence appears again in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It silences the player's footsteps and reduces the effect of the Recon perk, from 12 seconds to 6 seconds. To unlock Dead Silence Pro, the player needs to earn fifty close range kills, similar to Ninja and Scrambler fromCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Dead Silence can be canceled out by Sitrep Pro within close proximity. Dead Silence Pro negates falling damage,[1] similar to Commando Pro from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Lightweight Pro from Call of Duty: Black Ops. This does not give the player the ability to survive kill zones disguised as long drops, including the well in Seatown, and falling off Overwatch.
Dead Silence returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It allows the player to move without making any sounds. It also stops player call outs such as when someone reloads. They may say "reloading".
Dead Silence was originally going to be an ability of one of the four planned multiplayer character abilities. However, the character models were scrapped and it was added as the Pro ability of Ninja.[2]
Dead Silence Pro doesn't completely negate falling damage. A player can still die if playing on hardcore and by jumping from a great height several times.
In Modern Warfare 3, the Pro version of Sitrep did not counteract Dead Silence until an update.