The Call of Duty franchise has been a staple of the video game industry ever since its debut in 2003. Offering some of the best gunplay mechanics in any first-person shooter, Call of Duty has remained at the very top of the industry for quite some time, and though it stumbled a little in the mid 2010s, it's managed to pick itself back up, with 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare breathing new life into the franchise. With Call of Duty being such a popular franchise, developers tend not to make the core experience all too difficult, in an attempt to keep the game accessible for all, but for those who prefer a more challenging experience, Call of Duty does offer several difficulty tiers.
For those looking to simply enjoy Call of Duty for its story, characters, and gameplay, Recruit difficulty is setting to go far, making death extremely unlikely. For those wanting slightly more challenging foes, Regular is the ideal tier, and is generally how the developer intends the game to be experienced. Hardened is for those who really enjoy Call of Duty when it's at its most intense, and Veteran is for the masochists out there. Death in just one or two shots, unrelenting, pin-point precise enemies, and unforgiving checkpoints ensure that Veteran is the ultimate Call of Duty challenge, but some entries go a little too far with their difficulty.
S Tier- Verging on Impossible
- Call of Duty: The very first Call of Duty game may just be the hardest one to complete on Veteran. On top of the standard enemies being able to kill the player in just two shots, Call of Duty also lacks a health regeneration system of any kind. To top it all off, checkpoints can only be gained when the player is above 33% health, making it virtually impossible to gain any progress at all.
- Call of Duty: World at War: Infamous for its broken AI, Call of Duty: World at War features one of the hardest Veteran modes in the franchise. When on Veteran, World at War's enemies will lob multiple grenades at the player at once, giving them just a second or two to react before dying. The amount of grenades also forces the player to flee, likely leaving their cover, and running immediately into an onslaught of enemy fire.
- Call of Duty: WW2: Considered just as difficult as the other entries in this tier, Call of Duty: WW2 lacks a health regeneration system, instead opting to give the player med kit pick-ups. Throw on top of this some of the hardest checkpointing in the franchise, no minimap, and incredibly smart enemy AI, and Call of Duty: WW2 becomes an absolute chore to slog through on Veteran.
A-Tier- An Extreme Challenge
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: The first entry in the Call of Duty: Black Ops series offers one of the hardest Veteran challenges of the franchise, but is a lot more fair than those above it in this list. Enemy AI becomes much more aggressive and accurate, player's have only a quarter of their usual health, and enemies will often get to infinitely respawn, forcing the player to brave oncoming fire as they race to the objective.
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: Though Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is technically easier than the games that come before it, with a more generous health system, checkpoint system, and the ability to sprint, there are a few key missions that serve a real challenge. The Pripyat missions, in particular "One Shot, One Kill," are very difficult, with the player having to hold back an entire army by themselves, from one position. The "Mile High Club" is also one of the hardest missions in the franchise on Veteran difficulty, as the player has just 60 seconds to complete it, all without dying once.
B-Tier- Difficult But Fair
- Call of Duty 2: Learning from the mistakes in its predecessor's Veteran mode, Call of Duty 2 is a much fairer fight. For a start, the player's health will now regenerate, and the game's radar is much more accurate, allowing the player to know the location of every enemy. Some of Call of Duty 2's missions are also extremely short, and checkpoints are much more forgiving, with no limit on the amount of health needed to unlock one. However, grenades are quite a big issue in this game, as the player can't throw them back. With the game being set in WW2, automatic weapons are less of a hindrance, meaning that death doesn't occur quite as fast as it does in the modern Call of Duty entries.
- Call of Duty 3: Following very closely in its predecessor's footsteps, Call of Duty 3 falls into much of the same trappings with its Veteran mode. Grenades are still tricky to deal with, as although players can throw them back now, the controls needed to do so are needlessly complex. Sprinting is still not in the game either, so the more open areas of the game are difficult to get through.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: It's still a real challenge, but Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Veteran mode is one of the easier in the franchise. Every firefight has plenty of cover, enemies are often only coming at the player from one direction, and there are always plenty of weapons to aid the player in any situation. Modern Warfare 2 is also much more forgiving with its health and checkpoints compared to other entries.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Feeling extremely similar to Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3 is just as manageable, with hardly any areas of infinite respawning, or enemies throwing multiple grenades. Checkpoints are very forgiving in Modern Warfare 3, and friendly AI will often assist the player in advancing, or taking some of the oncoming fire.
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: The one everyone forgets, Infinite Warfare's Veteran mode is a little harder than that of those in the C-Tier, but not by much. While enemy AI difficulty is ramped right up, Infinite Warfare's abilities even the playing field a little.
C-Tier- A Walk in the Park
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2: Black Ops 2 is much easier to beat on Veteran than its predecessor. With the ability to create a custom class before every mission, the player can make themselves overpowered very easily by choosing the right weapon, attachments, and perks. The game's Strike Force missions are the only extreme challenge, but these don't even need to be completed for the final Trophy.
- Call of Duty: Ghosts: The black sheep of the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Ghosts is one of the easiest games to beat on Veteran difficulty. With the ability to slide past enemies and lean out from cover, players can easily complete their objectives. The only real challenge comes from Ghosts' quick-time events, where players will need to mash the button at ungodly speeds to proceed.
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare: The first in the series to introduce the exosuit mechanics, Advanced Warfare is another one of the easiest games to complete on Veteran. With abilities like the Stim and Threat Grenades, players can easily gain the advantage over their opponent.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 3: An interesting entry, Black Ops 3's Veteran mode isn't actually the highest difficulty setting in the game. Instead, Black Ops 3 has a Realistic mode, which doesn't allow the player to save at any point, and kills them in just one hit. Because of this, Black Ops 3's Veteran mode is actually quite a fair challenge, especially with all the new abilities introduced.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019): While it may have reinvigorated the franchise, 2019's Modern Warfare actually had one of the easiest Veteran modes in franchise history. With checkpoints popping off every 10 seconds or so, and enemy AI hardly receiving any changes between difficulty modes, Modern Warfare is actually a breeze to complete on Veteran.
- Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War: With some of the most forgiving checkpoints in a Call of Duty game, and AI that isn't nearly as intelligent as past entries, Black Ops: Cold War's Veteran mode is actually one of the easier ones to complete.
- Call of Duty: Vanguard: Though it technically offers a slightly greater challenge than the last two entries, Call of Duty: Vanguard continues the modern day COD trend, where Veteran is actually quite easy to complete, with checkpoints appearing extremely frequently, and enemy AI not being overly aggressive.