Ballistic Vests

For similar topics, see Armor.

"Be a team player, throw down some Ballistic Vests for your crew."

— In-game intel.

Ballistic Vests is a five point Support Strike Chain reward which appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

Ballistic Vests are deployed from the Ballistic Vest Duffel Bag which the player places using the "fire" button. Teammates can then take vests from the duffel bag.

Advantages[]

The Ballistics Vests adds 50 health to the player, allowing them to survive longer. If enough damage is taken, the vest will be destroyed, reverting the player back to 100 maximum health, so caution should be taken even with the vest. When damaging a player wearing a vest, a ballistic vest icon will appear under the hitmarker.

The Ballistic Vests pile cannot be taken by the enemy team. The player who placed the Ballistic Vests gets 50 XP every time a team-mate picks one up.

Ballistic Vests are often favored in Hardcore due to the lack of health. Players in Hardcore usually get used to putting one or two rounds into an opponent due to the low health. However, the vest will give the wearer extra time to either find cover or to fire back.

Additionally, this is the only killstreak that cannot be rendered useless by an enemy EMP, due to the simple fact that it does not run on electricity. Because of the brown colour of the bag and it's small size, it can be easily hidden in a corner and rendered almost impossible to be found by the enemy team.

Limitations[]

The enemy team can destroy the Ballistic Vests, and even during Hardcore games it is somewhat less effective due to the maximum weapon damage this mode features. It can quickly be destroyed with a devastating weapon, such as explosives, shotgun or sniper rifle. Killstreaks can also eat into the extra protection it offers.

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

The Ballistic Vests return in Call of Duty: Ghosts as an 8 pointstreak in the Support Strike Chain. It adds a separate 150HP armor to the user that will protect them from bullets (to the body), dogs (it takes three dog attacks to kill a player equipped with Ballistic Vests) and explosives. However, it will be completely ignored by armor piercing rounds, fall damage (unless the player is using the Resilience perk), knives, hits with the Riot Shield, and headshots.

Trivia[]

In Modern Warfare 3, an infinite amount can be taken from it, and the bag of vests will disappear after several minutes, regardless if they were used or not. The bag will burst into flames and disappear, which also happens when the Ballistic Vest duffel bag is destroyed by enemies. In Ghosts, not only does it have a time limit, but also a use limit. Up to five Ballistic Vests can be equipped before it disappears.
Players can easily destroy their own bag of Ballistic Vests by knifing them.
In Modern Warfare 3, players may only pick up one Ballistic Vest per duffel bag per life. However, in Ghosts, only one Ballistic Vest can be equipped per life, regardless of how many piles are laid down.
Even though it is possible to pick up more than one Ballistic Vest at a time via different Ballistic Vest Duffel Bags, the effects do not stack. Rather, if the first Ballistic Vest is almost out of armor points, it resets back to normal.
If a player is wearing a Ballistic Vest then obtains a Juggernaut or Juggernaut Recon, the Vest will disappear and can not be obtained when wearing Juggernaut armor, nor does the armor bonus from Ballistic Vests stack with Juggernaut Armor bonuses.
The yellow tint around the player's screen while using the Ballistic Vest is the same tint used with the Painkiller Deathstreak in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. There is a very small green tint on the very edges of the HUD in Ghosts.
While the player is near death (screen flashing red) in hardcore mode, they can pick up a vest and "regain" health as well as the extra hit points the vest itself gives.
It is possible to survive being stuck with a semtex with the Ballistic Vest on.
Ballistic Vests can be destroyed by a Trophy System while they are being tossed.
If the player uses their knife when the Ballistic Vest duffel bag is in their hands, they will appear to melee with the bag in third-person.