"Master and Knife." A Guide to Using the Knife.

Knife. This word reflects sophistication, courage, and danger. On one edge of the knife is you, and on the other, death. A fighter with a knife in hand can dance in a death waltz, full of exhilaration and pleasure. Killing with a knife in our age of high technology, when sometimes it's not even necessary to see each other to eliminate, such a 'primitive' method comes at a high cost, and particularly wounds the one struck by the blade in the heart.

Some say that to kill from behind is not honest, akin to cowardice, and ignoring the direct fulfillment of primary goals is simply racking up frags and becoming useless for the team. There are countless playstyles, and each is highly individual and may not be fully understood by those around, but I will attempt to convey my thoughts and style while playing with a blade.

A knife is not a fiery stick, so sometimes, even against your own wishes, like running under a leaden rain, you have to engage the enemy at close quarters (don’t think anything bad, hey!). So, the most important factors for achieving this goal are speed and stealth. The best way to satisfy the need for quick movement is the 'dash' specialization (also known as 'fast pants', don’t ask me why). With it, a fighter (or their squad, when reaching a certain level getting supplied with the fast pants specialization by the player, like a Chinese person at the market) moves faster during a sprint, which is noticeable when you need to hide from enemy bullets behind cover or infiltrate the enemy's rear unnoticed.

Now regarding the second important aspect - camouflage. It’s embarrassingly simple – choose your camo! I advise taking a pattern that matches your surroundings, so use 'desert' only in desert settings, and 'urban' in the city. While this may be an obvious observation, it doesn’t make it any less useful.

When talking about camouflage, it’s worth mentioning the fact that some individuals (specifically those who have only reached level 1-15, revealing their youth) never change their camouflage options and even in the darkest urban jungle parade around in the desert variant 'by default'. Although I myself am guilty of this, preferring naval camouflage anywhere and not just on water, for which I scold myself, but I cannot give it up, though that’s already a matter of fashion and style.

The military knife itself, based on the M9 bayonet, is an interesting weapon with a complex tactical usage. It is comparable to a pistol in damage but is only different in that the knife does not have headshot bonuses, high fire rate, or long-range attacks. In a 'head-on' attack, it takes two hits on 'realism' and three to four on 'normal' difficulty (at the time of writing this post), while attacking from behind requires just one hit at any difficulty, resulting in a beautiful animation of death during which you will be completely ruthless and defenseless, and the victim is quickly killed without any swift reaction from comrades.

But your opponent will not wait while you turn them into Swiss cheese, a, most likely, will simply shoot you, or as a show of gentlemanly solidarity, will draw their knife, which, by the way, happens extremely rarely. A head-on attack is recommended only in one situation - despair with reliance on luck (50/50), or it may be simpler to draw a pistol if your life is more valuable than the shiny, glimmering tokens of the enemy, and of course, the opportunity to call yourself a gentleman.

To play productively, you must become a quick, stealthy, and situationally aware player, and always approach the enemy from behind (hey, you thought about something else again, pervert!). There should be no mental barriers or biases for you - jump through windows to shorten the distance between you and your prey, run through machine-gun fire to an isolated, unhinged enemy, and so forth, not forgetting that this is your game and these are your rules, which the opponent is not even aware of.

It's time to choose a main class for such runs. Here’s a brief characterization: there are four well-developed and balanced classes: engineer, support, assault, and sniper. The knife master should already understand that in this list the sniper is last in line, but not in significance, so we take it, as there are many useful perks in the sniper setup, namely the *maniac revival and motion sensor (for special perverts - UAV).

The radio beacon allows the squad to respawn at its location, creating a mobile respawn point right behind the enemies at their base. Thanks to it, you don’t have to respawn at your own boring and annoying base after each failed raid and embark on a dangerous journey where you can be killed, with a probability of up to 65% (yes, a sad personal statistic, but no one ever said it would be easy).

To get into that remaining 35%, you can only follow certain rules: 1) do not forget your new role as the master of the knife; 2) Do everything quickly and cleanly; 3) follow the first rule and avoid engaging in open confrontations without necessity, and if necessity arises, use the weapon you know how to use.

And so, following all these rules, you’ve reached the very center of evil. What to do now? Remember the *maniac revival and set it up in a concealed spot in the farthest part of the base, where no mentally sound person would willingly go! After installing it, immediately leave the vicinity of the mobile respawn and do not appear near it again. When the enemy base becomes your base, you should place the motion sensor in areas where other players move to keep track of all events in your 'new' team. Again, the most depraved undercover agents can use UAVs to view the entire map from the air and identify major concentrations of enemy soldiers or camping spots.

Next, you just have to move quickly, almost like a bandit extorting shops in the neighborhood, between anticipated enemy locations, which you will learn from experience for each map individually. Look for lone snipers or break into a squad of attackers who may not notice a peacefully approaching enemy from behind instead of the long-awaited backup. If an enemy soldier (exclusively in 'default' camouflage) is moving towards you at the enemy base, try not to open fire first; they might pass by and perish from the blade of your knife, receiving a wound to the heart in both a literal and metaphorical sense, after which they will trust no one (again, levels 1-15).

Over time, hand-to-hand fights will earn you a reward, which is a personal soldier’s token with an interactive display showing the number of enemies you have killed with this graceful weapon. To do this, you need to achieve the 'Close Combat Success' badge 30 times, meaning to kill four enemies with a knife in a round.

It seems I’ve covered all the main details of the 'master and knife' style, and now I can take my leave before you, dear readers. If you have any questions, please voice them below.