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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops. The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Warzone The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War The subject of this article appeared in Zombies mode The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Vanguard The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Mobile The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Warzone 2 The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile
For the Black Ops II equivalent, see Nightingale.
For the Hero Skill in Call of Duty: Heroes, see Decoy (Heroes).
For the multiplayer map in Call of Duty: Vanguard, see Decoy (Vanguard).

The Decoy (also known as a Decoy Grenade) is a piece of tactical equipment featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Call of Duty: Mobile, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

"Distraction device that simulates enemy gunfire and radar indicators."
Create-A-Class 2.0's description of the Decoy Grenade


The Decoy is a grenade which, when thrown, simulates gunfire sounds and creates radar indicators - red dots on the enemy mini-map; similar green dots for friendlies. The grenade does do damage when it is going off if it touches a player. 

The Decoy's gunfire sounds and patterns are random, although a lot of the time they simulate the sound of automatic Uzi and semi-automatic CZ75 gunfire. The grenade also bounces wildly on the ground, in order to simulate enemy movement. It eventually explodes, sending cartridges flying in several directions and discharging simultaneously, which appears on the map as players firing upon one another. The gunfire effects during the last few seconds are slower. 

Decoys are very useful for setting up traps. For example, if a player sets up a claymore by a doorway, and then throws down a decoy, this will be a very easy way to get a kill.

Decoys are also a good way to draw the fight to a new section of the map. For example, if a player throws all of their Decoys into an area during a quiet or slow part of the match, it is almost guaranteed that both friendlies and enemies will rush to that area.

Decoys are also a good way to confuse the enemy. For example, if the player is wounded and surrounded, they can throw one or more Decoys to trick the enemies into thinking that they are under attack from a different area. As well, if the enemy has a Blackbird in the air, throwing a decoy makes another red arrow appear on the enemy's radar. Another trick like this is to take the Ghost perk (and preferably for player to add a suppressor on all weapons they have equipped) and throw decoys during Spy Planes. As the player will not appear on radar, but player's Decoy will, it is more likely to fool enemies.

Decoys are great in "bomb planting" game modes. Player can throw the decoy where the other bomb site is or an area far away from where the player is planting at. The other team will run there and the player freely plant the bomb without any problems. Player needs to be sure that they have the perk Ghost equipped, to avoid Spy Planes.

Another tactic with the Decoy grenades is to use a sniper rifle, and player should throw it somewhere on the map that the player is targeting, so the player can lure enemies into a kill-zone.

Veteran/ experienced players will unlikely be fooled by a Decoy, as the same sound effects for gunfire are used for every decoy. Attentive players will notice this over time, leading to it being less effective, or completely nullified; newer players might not understand what a decoy is, and fall the bait anyways.

Gallery[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare[]

"Counter-intel grenade that simulates fake gunfire and radar signatures that confuse the enemy."
— In-game description


The Decoy Grenade returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The Decoy Grenade bounce and roll to simulate enemy movement rather than stay in a single spot. This gives an even greater illusion to the decoy being a real enemy since it is not often that players are standing still for long periods of time. Decoy grenade will last 15 seconds before self detonating.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War[]

"Simulates footsteps to confuse enemies."
— In-game description


The Decoy returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Call of Duty: Vanguard[]

"Counter-intel grenade that simulates fake gunfire and radar signatures that confuse the enemy"
— In-game description


The Decoy Grenade returns in Call of Duty: Vanguard and functions similiar to the previous games.

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

"It simulates fake gunfire and radar signatures to confuse enemies."
— Description


The Decoy Grenade returns in Call of Duty: Mobile. It was added in December 2021 as part of the Season 11: Final Snow update.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II[]

"Counter-intel grenade that simulates gunfire, movement, and radar signatures to confuse the enemy."
— In-game description


The Decoy Grenade returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and functions similarly to the previous games.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III[]

"Counter-intel grenade that simulates gunfire, movement, and radar signatures to confuse the enemy."
— In-game description


The Decoy Grenade returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and functions similarly to the previous games.

Trivia[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

  • Decoy grenades can kill enemy players. For it to work the enemy must be standing on the decoy while it simulates gunfire. This is also true for the AIs in Combat Training. While one cannot throw a decoy directly at an enemy and kill them, the aforementioned method will kill them.[1]
  • Decoys show up as red triangles on an opponents mini map when a Blackbird is up.
  • Despite being listed a tactical grenade, when the Decoy self destructs, the team's announcer will say that the player's equipment has been destroyed; the same goes for the Tomahawk.
  • Decoy Grenades will not work if thrown too far outside the map boundary but will work if thrown into a location which is normally inaccessible to the player, such as on top of a building.
  • Decoy Grenades will also not work after the player respawns and therefore must throw a new set of grenades.

References[]

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