The slide cancel technique makes a return in Call of Duty MW3 and is an essential maneuver in the playbook of pro MW3 players. Taking corners right into the gun sights of enemy players is made much less dangerous, and may even gain you the advantage if you can find heads, while simultaneously breaking their aim assist. This Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 movement guide will walk you through the buttons and settings you need to perform slide canceling perfectly.
COD MW3 How To Slide Cancel
Slide canceling is a simple two-step move performed while sprinting, using two buttons. Slide. Jump. The latter is initiated at any point before the end of the slide, even a split second after starting it, if need be. What this will look like, is you initiating a slide for a bit, then exiting it using jump in order to speed up your return to the upright stance from where you can keep moving, or even begin sprinting again after a brief delay. This is a change from previous iterations of slide canceling, where you would have to slide, slide again, and then jump. While you can still do that, it is much slower than this new method.
Keep in mind that this maneuver is intended to disrupt the enemy’s aim assist that would otherwise instantly lock onto you. Using it for more generalized map traversal, as of the writing of this post, might not be viable since it briefly disallows sprinting after the slide cancel.
Slide cancel can be enhanced with the Tactical Pads boots, which also help you aim while sliding, and there are several game settings you can also use to improve your slide canceling.
How To Disable Dolphin Dive in MW3
With a default controller layout, sliding and diving are both bound to the same button. The newest iteration of Call of Duty Modern Warfare introduces some possibilities to change that behavior. Go to:
- Settings
- Controller
- Gameplay Tab
- Movement Behaviors Section
- Slide/Dive Behavior: Slide Only
Every slide cancel will now be much more responsive because the game is no longer anticipating your potential use of dive. On mouse & keyboard, this won’t ever be a factor, since slide and dive can be bound to distinct keys. This can technically be done on controllers as well, but requires the use of third-party software.
Other Settings
In the same section as above, make sure to set the following:
- Automatic Sprint: Automatic Tactical Sprint
- Grounded Mantle: Off
- Automatic Airborne Mantle: Off
- Automatic Ground Mantle/Hang: Off
- Ledge Climb Behavior: Mantle Only
- Slide Cancel Sprint: On
Automatic Tactical Sprint cuts down on the button presses needed to perform a smooth slide cancel. Disabling any kind of automatic mantling behavior keeps you out of situations where control is taken away from you unexpectedly, and causing you to expose yourself to fire. Canceling a sprint by initiating a slide is a given, of course.
Check out our other Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 movement guide on how to drop shot, which you can combine with slide canceling and keep your reticle centered and ready to fire at all times.
