Metal Gear Online: Advanced Knifing Techniques and Strategies

Introduction

Knifing is one of the most lethal and funnest ways to take down a target on MGO. This guide will be explaining the fundamentals of professional knifing along with advanced blade techniques and tutorials.

As a source of reference:
- I am a level 17 knifer, Jaws rank.
- I’ve done mistakes in the past that I can help you avoid.
- I’ve done miracles which can help you strongly increase your chances.
- I’ve individually taught over hundreds of players on MGO to become knifing professionals.
- I am the leader of one of the strongest knifing clans that are still breathing up until today.
I prefer to keep my MGO identity hidden, those curious enough can send me a personal message.

Chapter 1: Basics

As this chapter might not be necessary for most players, it’s always good to go over the basics. These will cover the recommended and unrecommended basic knifing techniques and necessities.

Recommended:

• To stab, hold L1 to aim and hold R1 to thrust a stab.
• To stun, hold L1 to aim and tap R2 to administer an electrical stun.
• To administer a CQC grab, hold R1 while standing/crouching.
• To roll into prone position, hold X while standing and moving the left analog stick.
• To crouch/stand, tap X.
• To flip over while prone, tap triangle while laying down.
• To feign death, hold triangle while laying down.
• To equip your CBOX, tap L2.
• To dance, hold L1 and tap triangle. Then tap left and right on the directional buttons.

Not recommended:

• To slice, hold L1 to aim and tap R1 consecutively.
• To roll, tap X while moving the left analog stick.
• To roll while prone, lay down and hold L1, point the analog stick towards the direction you want to roll and press X.

Chapter 2: Essentials

To become a professional knifer, it is necessary to tweak your gameplay settings.

• On MGO, go to Gameplay Options and turn the FPS sensitivity and switch sensitivity to 10.
• Have your over-the-shoulder (third person view) sensitivity higher than 5.
• Change your Weapon Switch to Toggle.
• Change your primary weapon to Stun Knife.
• Change your Item Switch to Toggle.
• Enable Auto Aim (optional).
• Change your skill settings to Blades 3 and Runner 1.

Chapter 3: Fundamentals

This chapter will go over the fundamentals of knifing, or in other words, the actions that should always be utilized during knife combat. Everything mentioned in this chapter is required for success.

Momentum and Mobility

The most important thing to remember during a knife fight is to always keep your momentum. It is crucial to keep your velocity steady at all times until you execute an attack. It is also important to try and trick your target into thinking that you’re about to make a move – such as getting close enough to trigger an attack from them and moving back in time to evade and counterattack.

The only thing that you need to focus on during a knife fight is keeping speed and distance from your enemies until you find the right moment to attack, everything else doesn’t matter; momentum is your self-defence and it’s essential to learn how to use it. It is ideal to run in circular motions, focusing on any possible enemy attack and making sure you’ll have  the ability to evade and counterattack. You always want to try and lure your target to attack you with your movements – that is, believe it or not, the safest way to kill someone head-on in a knife battle.

Have patience and try not to always be the first one who attacks – you need to focus on the situation and plan carefully on the strategy regarding your movements. While keeping speed, it is wise not to stay in the same vicinity when running in circles, as it could leave you vulnerable for any sudden, unexpected attack from a seasoned knifer.

There will never be a moment where you should go prone manually by holding X down. If you’re going to go prone, it should always be executed directly after a roll.

Attacking

The first thing you need to do when attacking your enemy is analyzing that enemy and determining how much concentration he’s worth and how big of a threat he is. Examine his playing style, rank, level and personality based off of in-game communication. Every little detail is worth something about your target, and an important tactic when going against professionals is expecting the unexpected.

As you may already know, a stab from a stun knife is an instant kill, while a slice is not. Although you have the ability to move while you slice, it is not recommended. It is important to utilize stabs instead of slices solely for the one-hit-kill factor. Electrical stuns completely deplete your target’s Psyche, which renders them unconscious, giving you the chance of obtaining more points from their death. As this may seem admirable, there will always be the scenario where you stun an enemy, you get killed and their teammates wake them up or the scenario of one of your teammates simply stealing the kill instead. The stun-to-kill technique is not recommended for public battles and strongly recommended for 1vs1 battles.

As mentioned previously, evading and counterattacking is the safest way to take an enemy out from head-on combat. This is far from a simple task however, despite most of the effort depending on your enemy’s skill, luring them still takes a wide amount of coordination practice, and it is important to not to get frustrated when training your baiting techniques.

At one point, there will come a situation where you find enemies by themselves after their teammates have fallen. They will then try to escape the battle scene and reunite with their team near the respawn base or simply run away from potential threats. This is where Runner 1 comes in. While there is not a grand difference in running speed, an increase in velocity is notable when chasing someone down. When in pursuit, either reach up to them and strike head-on, or grab/drop them with CQC. The correct choice depending on the ambiance; If your target is free from any nearby help then drop them with CQC, if they have potential teammate support then attempt to stab and get the job done as quick as possible – but don’t get reckless, analyze their support and determine whether you’ll have enough time to kill him without their teammates getting vengeance.

(More information on CQC attacking in the Advanced Techniques chapter)

Close Quarters Combat (CQC)

Before anyone gets the wrong impression, this just goes over the basic grab/throw technique, which doesn’t use up any skill space. CQC grab/throws are considered unavoidable in a knife fight once you’ve been grabbed and your only chance in surviving is hoping that the administer makes a mistake and misses the stab or having a reliable teammate interrupt the sequence. With the scenario of the attacker missing the stab, the dropped target should always flip on their stomach (triangle) and press X in the direction his character is facing to get up quickly and regain their position. This maneuver should be practiced for all knock down situations – explosions, drums, etc.

As the CQC-to-kill technique is extremely effective in general and most suitable for wide-scale games, it is considered cheap in small-scale games such as 1vs1 battles – try not to put your reputation at risk.

It is not recommended to use any CQC techniques in knife matches other than grab/throw. Keep in mind that any CQC-related attack (except for rolls) will always leave you wide open for third-party attackers and will completely ruin your momentum. Jump rolls (alternate names: tackles, dodge rolls), giving you a good boost of speed ideal for escape maneuvers, could also be used as an assault method to knock down targets who are crouching or inside of a CBOX. Each direct hit from a roll only damages your target’s Psyche meter by 1/16 (regardless of the stance they were knocked down on), so it is not recommended using rolls as stun weapons unless your target is already dangerously low on Psyche.

Your CBOX is your own personal CQC-shield that can block any incoming grabs. It is important to try and take advantage of your box when fighting against players that rely on CQC for their kills. Take caution, however, as using a CBOX leaves you vulnerable for incoming roll tackles.

Players who have been knocked over by a roll tackle are temporarily invincible for 2.5 seconds.

Auto Aim

Auto Aim is an option that allows you to automatically lock on to enemy targets from ranges depending on the weapon you have equipped. AA (for short) is occasionally used in knife games, but typically denied from expert servers. As there is no shame in using AA for new, learning players, it will become harder for that player to join games with better players that utilize it – and gaining a professional reputation for themselves. In all truth, people who think of “Auto Aim” automatically associate it with the word “Noob”, but it doesn’t matter – we were all noobs at one point.

There are two ways to avoid being locked on by Auto Aim: feigning death and equipping a CBOX. Feigning death is more used for mocking purposes rather than a serious evasion skill (unless being knocked down), while equipping a CBOX against an AA user is useless unless you’re only trying to stay unnoticed.

(More information on avoiding Auto Aim users in the Advanced Techniques chapter)

To detect a player that uses AA, you need to study their movements. If they make instant, body twisting turns towards a target, you can suspect them as an AA user. A different method would be not to move after getting CQC dropped by one of them and seeing if they miss. Considering that AA cannot lock onto a player feigning death, you’ll know if they use it when they miss the stab right after dropping you. Keep in mind, however, that the identification process could risk you a death.

Chapter 4: Advanced Techniques

These are the techniques that all knife professionals have used, and there is no denying that it will take a long time to master. It is important to simply keep training these skills in real games, learning from mistakes and staying optimistic. Each of the following skills will be presented with a difficulty level ranging from 1 to 3, the most challenging skills having the highest level.

Note that some techniques are based off of preferences.

Quick Knife (alternate names: Toggling, Quick Stab)
DIFFICULTY LV. 2

This is the name of the technique that professionals use to stab and move at extreme speeds. If done correctly, third-party viewers see the player knifing and moving at the same time. This is one of the most used and practiced advanced knifing skill on MGO.

Essentials: Weapon Switch to Toggle
Specializing: Stabbing without losing momentum, merged into other advanced techniques.
Tutorial: When executing a stab, let go of both R1 and L1, then double-tap R2 once your arm is fully stretched out. Double tapping R2 will unequip and re-equip your knife to cancel the rest of the knife animation while inflicting the damage done from a regular stab.
Tips & Headers: This technique could be utilized with the ending animation of a slice, a regular stab or stun. It is very important to keep your momentum when quick knifing, making you a very hard to hit target while having the potential to cause some serious damage. Quick knifing could be blended into any other advanced knifing move to form an even more deadlier technique.

Crouch Stab (alternate names: Duck Stab)
DIFFICULTY LV. 3

Crouch stabbing is a method of attacking a target who is crouching without having to go into first person mode, tackling them down or grabbing them via CQC. Note that this technique can only be utilized in AA-disabled servers or players that don’t use FPV Memory, rendering this technique useless otherwise.

Essentials: Weapon Switch to Toggle, Quick Knife technique mastered.
Specializing: Instant kills off crouching enemies, quick recoveries thanks to the Quick Knife tech.
Tutorial: It is important that you have mastered the Quick Knife technique before attempting this move. While running (standing position), get up to knife range with your target and tap X immediately after letting go of the analog stick (otherwise you will roll directly into your target), then execute a Quick Knife, tap X to stand back up and run towards the opposite direction. This entire button process must be done with extreme haste.
Tips & Headers: Don’t worry, this is one of the hardest techniques to master; you aren’t the only one having trouble with it. Try to get a buddy to play as a dummy for you to practice this technique on.

Floor Stab (alternate names: none)
DIFFICULTY LV. 1

Floor stabbing is a quicker, simpler way of attacking an enemy that is prone without having to lay down, turn to their direction and strike.

Essentials: AA-disabled.
Specializing: Stabbing a prone enemy has never been easier.
Tutorial: Have the camera pointing towards the ground (birds-eye view) and crouch over your target, press L1 to aim and tap triangle to go into first person mode, then strike your target.
Tips & Headers: Try to merge the Quick Knife technique with this move!

Knife Slide (alternate names: none)
DIFFICULTY LV. 2

This technique is aimed towards enemies that are either standing or crouching, putting you in a prone position once the technique is done to avoid any attacks from separate enemies. This move is not recommended against professionals, as the sudden pause in momentum is enough time for them to aim down and take you out. Note that this move cannot be merged with Quick Knife.

Essentials: AA-disabled server.
Specializing: Take out standing/crouching enemies and avoiding any strikes from a separate attacker.
Tutorial: While standing, get up to knife range and hold X shortly after striking. You need to make sure that the stab hits the target while you’re in a crouching position, otherwise you need to work on timing; the move must be finished in a prone position.
Tips & Headers: This move is similar to quick knifing, but instead of double-tapping R2, you’re holding down X a little sooner in the process. This move is recommended for players who haven’t mastered crouch stabbing yet, and is ideal to be used against inexperienced enemies.

Anti-AA Recovery (alternate names: none)
DIFFICULTY LV. 3

What we have here is a defence technique used to recover from a CQC grab from an AA user. This recovery technique is surprisingly complicated, with two different escape alternatives. The recommended one being a series of flips and feigns, with the other (unrecommended) being an instant prone roll to safety. The only flaw with this general technique is that you will never know exactly what your enemy will do after dropping you. He might stab when you don’t expect it, he might move towards the direction of your escape route – anything can go wrong; however, these are your only chances at escaping successfully – and I will go over your typical situation.

Essentials: An enemy you’re completely confident of that relies on AA.
Specializing: Escaping a CQC drop and having the chance to counterattack.
Tutorial (recommended): Right after dropping you, your enemy will immediately try to stab. It is important not to move at all until right after they miss, then tap triangle and immediately press and hold triangle again. This will make you flip on your stomach and feign death again. When your enemy misses for the second time, immediately point the analog stick towards the direction your character is facing and press X to get up quickly and counterattack if there are no other enemies nearby.
Tutorial (unrecommended, but useful nevertheless): Right after dropping you, wait a few seconds for your enemy to miss, then immediately prone roll out of the way. The risk with this version is that your enemy can follow you while you attempt to roll to safety and simply attack you again – this time with your only hope of surviving becoming a miracle. If you were dropped at a setting with multiple players nearby, this is considered the best alternative of escaping.
Tips & Headers: Concentrate on when he will stab after getting dropped, and try your hardest not to flip/roll too early or too late. When finishing your roll using the second version, it is wise to feign your death once more before getting back up.

CQC: Drop/Strike (alternate names: Dropping, CQC Whoring)
DIFFICULTY LV. 2

This technique explains how to instantly take out an enemy after grabbing and dropping them. Note that this technique is not recommended in public – you leave yourself wide open for third-party attackers for up to 6 seconds.

Essentials: AA-disabled.
Specializing: Instant and flawless kill after a CQC drop at the cost of vulnerability.
Tutorial: Always grab your target while crouching. During the dropping animation, point your camera down (into a birds-eye view). As soon as the animation ends, hold L1 to aim, tap triangle to go into first person mode and tap R1/R2 (depending on whether you went to stun or kill your enemy) to strike.
Tips & Headers: This technique can also be utilized with the Quick Knife technique, which could shave off a few seconds of vulnerability if used. Keep in mind that this move isn’t exactly the fairest way to take someone down and could have an effect on your reputation if you overuse it.

Lag Roll (alternate names: Lag Jump, Teleporting)
DIFFICULTY LV. 1

As this isn’t exactly a technique, it’s quite handy nevertheless. Try not to abuse it for the sake of your reputation, as this generates the same type of annoyance as CQC drop/strikes. As you might have figured from the name, lag rolls make it seem as if you do a jump roll towards an enemy’s vicinity – then teleport back to your original “jumping” position as if it never happened. This is mostly used for tricking enemies or as desperate escape maneuvers.

Essentials: (none)
Specializes: Trick your enemies at the cost of reputation.
Tutorial: Holding L1, pulling back on the left analog stick and pressing X while standing up around a group of players.
Tips & Tricks: This can only work near a separate player’s position, with the jump aiming towards them. Of course, you will never know what times you have successfully done a lag roll and what times you haven’t. To make sure, ask a friend to monitor you.

First Person View Memory (alternate names: FPVM)
DIFFICULTY LV. UNDETERMINED

This option is solely based off of a matter of preference – meaning it could either be a great help or a great pain in the ass. Regardless, there is a certain technique that can only be used while in FPVM. To enable FPVM, go to your Gameplay Options.

First Person View Memory remembers what type of perception your character used the last time it aimed. In other words, this mode allows you to go into a first person view whenever pressing and holding L1, which means you won’t be needing to press triangle first anymore. However, this option reduces a self-defence standpoint on determining whether you’re at a risk of being attacked from behind or any available opportunities regarding enemies and teammates.

[FPVM] Quick Turn Strike (alternate names: none)
DIFFICULTY LV. 2

This technique can instantly have a player turn around unsuspectingly to attack a target while laying prone.

Essentials: First Person View Memory enabled.
Specializes: Taking out unsuspecting enemies.
Tutorial: Make sure that your FPVM is already set to FPV whenever you aim. Roll into a prone position right next to your enemy, luring them into following you and attacking. Keep your camera locked towards their direction, and once they get into knife range, hold L1 and strike.
Tip & Headers: This technique seems to work more against professionals instead of rookies.

I hope that this guide has helped you; I would be proud.
For additional information, please contact me.