Here's How To Unlock The Wakizashi Sword In Black Ops Cold War

The Call of Duty franchise is well known for its gunplay. Every game has been a first-person shooter. Fans pretty reliably line up every year to purchase the latest Call of Duty sometimes for its campaign, but mostly for its multiplayer FPS action. Sure, you can do some other things — like set up turrets or call in airstrikes, for example — but the main focus of the series is aiming a gun and shooting at enemies.

But wait, what's this? Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has a sword? No, the Call of Duty you know and love didn't go all medieval on you or take the story back to Feudal Japan. The sword in Black Ops – Cold War, the Wakizashi, is simply a melee weapon you can equip and use in multiplayer matches.

The game won't just hand you the Wakizashi, though — you will have to earn it by meeting a very specific requirement in online play against other people. Below, you'll learn what you need to do in order to unlock the Wakizashi sword in Black Ops Cold War and get to dicing up your opponents.

Before you begin, you'll need to know what a finishing move is in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. As explained Charlie Intel, finishing moves in Black Ops Cold War are special kill animations that can either be purchased in-game or earned via the battle pass. You can equip the finishing move of your choice by visiting the Operator customization menu in Black Ops Cold War. But all of that is cosmetic. Now you need to know how to perform a finishing move.

Fortunately, the act of using a finishing move in Black Ops Cold War isn't all that difficult. You'll need to get behind an opponent — likely an unsuspecting one — and hold down your melee button. If you're close enough, and you are indeed behind the enemy, your character will perform an elaborate finishing move animation. While this looks cool, it's worth knowing that you can be killed by someone else while performing a finisher. You should probably only use one when you're sure no one else is around.

The process of unlocking the Wakizashi sword consists of one step, though it's one that may not be a cakewalk for you. PYou'll need to have your Combat Knife equipped, and you'll need to perform two finishing moves in 10 different multiplayer matches. The good news is, it's only two per match, so once you nab two you can rest easy until you start up the next match. The bad news, though, is that your opponents are not likely to make this easy.

Rock Paper Shotgun has noted that there are a few perks you can use that'll make you more stealthy. By equipping Forward Intel, or Tactical Mask, or Ghost, or Ninja, you could potentially make your journey toward the Wakizashi sword a little more smooth. You could also camp by doorways and wait for enemies to run through, snatching them for a finisher before they know what hit them. These kills may not be the most honorable, but hey, they're kills.

Once you have completed your two finishing moves in 10 matches — 20 finishing moves in all — the Wakizashi sword is yours.