Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players have discovered a strange, hilarious, and surprisingly effective new mobility mechanic and are using it to their advantage. First-person shooters have a long history with unintentional movement mechanics. There's the Bunny Hop, air strafing, slide hopping and canceling, and even Call of Duty's own Dolphin Flop. Modern Warfare 2 players have found a new such mechanic, an evolution of the Dolphin Flop that's being referred to as the Dolphin Hop.
The Dolphin Flop, also known as Dolphin Diving or the Dive to Prone mechanic, is a useful option for entering combat quickly at an unexpected angle. It's very simple in practice, as players simply sprint and then toggle prone on. This can be done in the air, too, allowing a leaping player to "dive" into a prone position after running to present a small target to any nearby enemies. The mechanic was accidentally introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops, kept for Black Ops 2, and has been brought back for both WWII and Modern Warfare 2.
Players in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 have made a relatively simple but exciting discovery regarding the Dolphin Flop. If the player dives into a climbable ledge, they can jump again while maintaining their momentum. The result is a leap into the air maintaining the speed of a sprint, but with the player in the prone position, and it looks like a dolphin leaping out of the water. Players can use the Dolphin Hop to either cross large distances or to attack an opponent midair from a very strange angle.
A video shared on Twittter by Jake Lucky, with footage from Meishu and Entervene, showcases just how incredibly powerful a well-practiced Dolphin Hopper can be. The video shows the perspective of both hoppers and opponents. The hopper is able to travel very fast and start firing before they even land. To the target, it's difficult to track the hopper, and even harder to fight them if they catch the player unexpectedly.
The Dolphin Hop isn't usable in every situation, though. As noted, it requires a climbable ledge to activate. That means it requires the player be in an upraised area of a map. It can't be used on the ground, only out of windows or off of ledges. It's another tool for those willing to master it and become that much stronger of a Call of Duty player in the process.
By all appearances, the Dolphin Hop is not an intentional mechanic in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - it's just a fun unintended glitch. That's how almost all movement mechanics start, though. Whether it remains and is embraced by Infinity Ward, as well as other Call of Duty developers, remains to be seen.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.