HELICOPTER MASTER GUIDE

The Helicopter always seems to have a love-hate relationship with the players of Call of Duty 4. You love it when it’s fighting for you, and hate it when it’s against you. Some consider the helicopter to be a game design element flaw, while others praise it as a creative addition. However, no matter what your stance is on the helicopter, there is no denying its powerful presence in the sky

AH-1 Cobra

The AH-1 Cobra is the primary attack helicopter that is seen for the U.S. Marines and S.A.S. in the game. Its slender cockpit and large weapons bay make it a very intimidating threat in the air. Similarly, the Mi-24 Hind helicopter is seen when called in by the Spetsnaz or OpFor teams. This is a much larger and bulkier aircraft in comparison to the Cobra. Both of these helicopters are treated identically in the game, however. They inflict and receive the same amount of damage, so treat both of these helicopters as such. The only advantage one has over the other is that the Cobra is slightly smaller, making it more difficult to hit with primary weapons.

Mi-24 Hind

The Chopper’s Vitals

The helicopter have two sources of "health". The primary source is the armor, the secondary being the actual health. These have numerical values set at 500 and 1100 respectively. Armor is decreased first when receiving damage; after its 500 armor has been depleted, the health begins to expire. After both the armor and health are gone, the helicopter is shot down. This will not happen, though, until it receives 1600 damage.There is a specific damage multiplier involved with the helicopter's armor. Every bullet that lands successfully receives a 0.3 multiplier. Now, don’t let the word "multiplier" confuse you. This is a bad multiplier. This actually reduces the damage that each bullet inflicts on the armor. For example, an M4 Carbine, which does 30 damage per round, will now only do 10 damage. So to successfully eliminate the armor from the helicopter you would need to land 50 bullets from the M4. After the armor is destroyed, normal bullet damages take effect on the remaining health of the helicopter.There are visual signals that the helicopter sends off to tell you how extensive its damage is. White smoke will being to appear after its armor is gone. When there is about 600 health left the white smoke turns a thin black, and with less than 300 health, thick black smoke beings to pour out of the engine block. Be alert to these signals, if you see this black smoke then put a clip into it, because it won’t take much more to bring it down. However, if you see very little smoke coming from it, you might want to find cover as it still has plenty of life left to target you

The "Eyes" In the Sky

There are several values that come into play when the chopper targets enemies. These include how far it can see, how far away it will engage an enemy from, and reload times.For the sake of argument, say the helicopter is already in the air. After spawning, you have 5 seconds until you become a target for the helicopter. After you become a target there are several statistics that come into play:

The chopper's magazine size is 40 rounds.
The time between targeting and firing is 0.75 seconds.
The time it takes to reload its magazine is 1.5 seconds.

As you can see by these numbers, the helicopter is a deadly force with its large capacity weapon, swift reload, and quick target acquisition. This leaves you very little time to try to maneuver the map while a helicopter is airborne. The best thing you can do once you have been prioritized and are under fire by a helicopter is hide. If more than 50% of your body is hidden it will no longer target you and you. However, it is important to note that smoke, tall grass, and relatively smaller objects does not effectively disguise you, same with a ghillie suit. The helicopter can see through all of that. The only way to be effectively hidden from the chopper is to be inside a secure building or under complete cover.

The helicopter also has the ability to penetrate walls, the same way the players can wall with their primary weapons. If you are hiding in a tin metal area, like the hangers in Countdown, for example, the chopper's rounds can slice through the thin metal with ease. Hiding in these hangers does not always guarantee you are safe from the helicopter. This is why choppers are so deadly on this map, among others like Bog or Creek. There are very few places to run for cover.

Helicopters can shoot through doors and windows and holes in the roof, so don’t think you are safe just because you are indoors. The construction area on Backlot or the exposed dry walls in Vacant are a great example of this. Just because there is a roof over your head doesn't mean the helicopter won't prioritize you.

Selecting Targets

While it may appear to be totally random, the helicopter has a very systematic "thought process" and prioritizes its available targets based on a number scale. These factors may change the way you play this game, so pay close attention to these. It may be shocking. Factors which increase or decrease your chance of being a target of the helicopter include distance from the chopper, your class, whether or not you are attacking the helicopter, and believe it or not, your score.

There is a "threat level" that the helicopter places on every single one of its enemies, and the higher the threat level, the more of a priority you are for the helicopter.Threat Level
A base number is first placed on a player by the distance it is from the helicopter. The closer you are, the higher the number, unless you are within 1000 units. At that point, you are not a target.
100 points are automatically added if you are attacking the helicopter.
200 points are added if you are using an Assault Rifle.
And the big one: your score is multiplied by 4 and added to the threat level.

So what does all this mean? It means if you are a good player using an AK-47 you hardly stand a chance! Unfortunately, in the helicopter's mind, an Assault Rifle is a bigger threat to it than an LMG. Why that is, I cannot answer. That is just how the game developers programmed the game.

Helicopter Elimination

So, you're tired of always being killed by the choppers? You want to fight back? Theis 7-Kill Streak air support is most effective in large game types like Free-for-all and Team Deathmatch, so if you find yourself dying more than once to enemy helicopters briefly switch to your "Helicopter Elimination" class to concentrate on taking it out. Make a specific class designated solely for taking it down for the sake of your team. Here are couple of sample classes which could be effective. Mix and match some of these to create the best set-up to suit your needs.

- M60 (Grip)

-- Pistol (Desert Eagle or USP)

-- Special Grenade

1. N/A

2. Stopping Power

3. Extreme Conditioning

The M60 is probably the best LMG for you to use. Its slow rate of fire allows you to shoot in bigger bursts (4-8 rounds) and with the grip equipped you have greater accuracy over range. Use LMG's when closer to the chopper than normal; in other words, don't go spraying at it heedlessly otherwise you'll give away your position to enemy players. Use Extreme Conditioning to get to cover quicker and Stopping Power to compensate for the M60's lack of damage

M16/M4 (RDS)

-- Pistol (Desert Eagle or USP)

-- Special Grenade

1. RPG's

2. Sonic Boom

3. Steady Aim

Using an Assault Rifle against choppers is sometimes more effective than Light Machine Guns. At long range they still retain a good amount of damage and the recoil is much more controllable, allowing you to hit the chopper with accuracy. The M16 and the M4 are both good examples of these advantages and should give you the best bet.

Rocket Propelled Grenades are by far the most effective weapon against helicopters, as they do an incredible 1000 damage to its vitals. Hitting a helicopter with two RPG's will take it down, guaranteed. Add Sonic Boom for increased damage

If you're having trouble using RPG's, check out TotW #27 - RPG's

There isn't a sweet spot that you need to hit when attacking a helicopter. Aim anywhere on its body, and so long as you see the X in your crosshairs, you are inflicting the same amount of damage. So unlike real life, you do not need to hit the tail rotor to successfully down the helicopter, just hit it full on with an RPG to get the job done.

Also, keep in mind the locations of mounted Machine Guns on certain maps. A mounted MG is the most effective way to destroy this air support when you don't want to waste ammo for your SMG/Assault Rifle. Their extremely high damage and unbelievable rate of fire makes them a helicopter's worst nightmare. Unless you're playing tactically and you need to hold a position, don't hesitate to head to the back of your side to use an MG

The Math

For those of you that are interested, here is the math that goes on behind the scenes, in the coding of the game, when attacking a helicopter.

An RPG does a base damage of 1000. Add the Sonic Boom multiplier (25%), and the RPG now does 1250 damage.

The helicopter armor is 500 with a multiplier of (x0.3). If you successfully land an RPG with Sonic Boom you inflict 375 damage to the armor. The remaining armor is 125.

Landing a second RPG will totally destroy the helicopter's armor and decrease the health so much that less than a half of a magazine from the M60 will destroy it.

Conclusion

If you really want to become a pr0 with your choppers there are a couple of things that you can do to get the most out of them.

Call your helicopter later in the match:

If you gain a helicopter in the opening minutes of a round, save it for a couple more minutes. Calling it in at the very beginning of a map will cause it to fly around aimlessly. Allow the opposing team to rack up some kills first, that way your helicopter has larger targets to prioritize based on their score and map position.

Save your helicopter until after you die:

Wait to call your helicopter in after you die. This way the kills that your helicopter gains will be stacking on to your next kill streak, getting you closer to an air strike, and ultimately another helicopter.

Becoming really pr0

If you want to become a real pr0 at calling in your helicopters, learn to anticipate your deaths. After you have a helicopter, push harder than you normally would at the opponents. When you're deep in enemy territory, call it in. Anticipating you will be killed by a rush of enemies, by the time you respawn, your helicopter will already be overhead the enemy side. This is especially useful in games like Domination.

Use it on offense:

Don't call your helicopter in while on defense of an objective game, such as Sabotage. Wait until your team has good control of the bomb and begin attacking the enemy. The helicopter support will weaken enemy lines allowing for a much easier bomb plant. In Domination, if you control the A and B flag early in the game and someone has a 7 Kill Streak, make a team push into C territory for said player to call in their helicopter and let it do the work