What is Tactical Stance in Modern Warfare 3 (MW3)?

What is Tactical stance in MW3? Tactical Stance - also known as Tac Stance - is a combat mechanic that allows you to tilt your weapon, giving you improved hip-fire accuracy and a tighter bullet spread. It's a middle ground between hip-fire and aim down sights (ADS), very handy for peeking round corners.

Certain attachments such as lasers will also boost Tactical Stance stats such as bullet spread. Tactical Stance is typically more effective on SMGS and Battle Rifles than ARs in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. It excels at medium range when the enemy is too close to ADS but you need better accuracy than hip-fire. Tactical Stance was known as Canted in previous Call of Duty titles.

If you're unable to perform the Tactical Stance you need to make sure it is activated as an option in your gameplay settings. It can be found under Mouse & Keyboard/Controller -> Gameplay -> Combat Behaviors -> Tactical Stance Activation.

Certain camo challenges in MW3 will require you to get a certain number of kills with Tactical Stance, or to "affect enemies" while in Tactical Stance.

The two main types of Tactical Stance camo challenges in MW3 are:

Get X Kills while in Tactical Stance with the [weapon name]: Hop into a custom game mode, ideally one with a lot of enemies or lasts a long time such as War Mode or Hardcore. Switch to Tactical Stance to secure kills.

Get X Enemies affected by your Tactical while in Tac Stance: To complete this challenge, equip a Stun Grenade or a Flash Grenade. Once you spot an enemy, either stun or flash them before you kill them while in Tactical Stance. If they do not have a negative status effect (look for the marker) from your Tactical, the kill will not count. Domination is a good game mode to complete this challenge.

Outside of assisting you complete camo challenges, Tactical Stance does have its benefits. While in Tac Stance your strafe speed is slightly better than ADS and you'll have a much wider field of view. In ADS your movement speed is reduced by 50% compared to just 10% in Tac Stance.

This is why Tactical Stance thrives in close quarter combat, such as when walking down hallways or for clearing out rooms inside buildings. It also can be good for peeking in doorways, especially if you know an enemy is in the next room but not sure exactly where, and you don't want to limit your FOV with ADS.