After a year-long hiatus, the slide cancel has returned in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The popular movement mechanic has been infamously absent in the current MW2, and the community made it clear that they wanted slide canceling to come back.
Luckily, developer Sledgehammer Games delivered perfectly on that front. The mechanic has fully returned and while it’s not as strong as it was in the original Modern Warfare 2019, it’s still a movement ability that you will want to use in multiplayer. Of course, if you’re a new player to the series or have never really experienced a slide cancel meta, then you need to know how to perform the mechanic before doing anything.
Below, I will explain the ins and outs of slide canceling in MW3.
How to perform a slide cancel in Modern Warfare 3
A slide cancel really isn’t too difficult once you know how to pull it off. I first recommend watching the clip of the movement king himself, OpTic’s Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro, below to see exactly what a slide cancel is and how it looks in-game.
As you can see, Shotzzy is able to sprint, slide, and then cancel the slide to move faster and more efficiently in any direction he’s facing. The idea of a slide cancel is that it gives you extra maneuverability to avoid enemy bullets but also increases your overall movement speed.
To pull one off yourself, follow the steps below, which can be replicated using either a controller or a keyboard.
- First, go into a Tactical Sprint, which is indicated by your character putting their gun up in the air (I recommend turning on Automatic Tac Sprint in the in-game settings to make it easier to start Tac Sprinting)
- Once you are in a Tac Sprint, press your slide button
- Then, almost immediately after pressing the slide button, press your jump button to cancel the slide
- You want to press all of these buttons in rapid succession to pull off a quick and successful slide cancel
- I also recommend aiming your gun directly after canceling the slide, especially if you’re trying to snap onto an enemy or are expecting an enemy to come through a specific area
- You can add additional movement to the slide cancel as well, such as moving your character’s aim to face a certain direction while in the middle or at the end of a slide cancel. This allows you to respond to gunfire or change directions extremely fast
It should be noted that to perfect the slide cancel mechanic, you need to practice these steps for hours. I play Call of Duty for a few hours a day (for work, of course), and still can’t slide cancel anywhere close to Shotzzy’s level. With enough practice, though, you can slide cancel all over the map in Modern Warfare 3 and gain an immediate edge over your opponents.
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I suggest using the slide cancel modestly in MW3, though, as there is a slight cooldown right before and after you go into a slide. This means you can’t gain a huge amount of momentum from slide canceling. The developers at Sledgehammer Games have buffed this slightly, but it’s still not totally seamless; you will feel a cooldown when chaining together multiple slide cancels.
I also recommend slide canceling when entering a building or enclosed area, as you never know what enemies are hiding inside. Slide canceling right as you appear on an enemy’s screen can throw them off and allow you to get the jump on them instead of the other way around.
As for other slide cancel scenarios, simply use it to out-maneuver enemies on the map. Slide cancel behind cover and then quickly pop back up to shoot or dodge bullets when you’re being shot at from a farther distance.
