Favorite Deathmatch ability, and why?

What is your favorite deathmatch ability, and why? What makes it so great, and how do you use/abuse it to dominate the match?

My favorite is definitely throwing knives, primarily thanks to one obscure bit of information that I learned from Wing – the victim’s stun and kill radius is reduced. Unless someone counters with another ability, you get an easy stun or kill.

But to truly realize how powerful knives are, you need to know and abuse some other obscure details. There may be some inaccuracies, since this is based on just my observations, and no actual data, but here is my description of how throwing knives work:

1. You cannot throw knives at players who are not your target or pursuer. If you know someone is a player (not an NPC) it’s completely safe to try throwing a knife at them to check if they are your pursuer.
2. If you use throwing knives while walking in any direction, you will take a step toward your target while throwing. If you release the movement stick (or keys) you will stand still while throwing. This is INCREDIBLY important to be aware of, so that you don’t accidentally step into your targets range while throwing.
3. The target is stunned for something like 1.5 to 2 seconds, and will fall from narrow ledges or walls. During this time he can’t move, and can’t use some abilities, such as throwing knives. He CAN use smoke bomb and mute. He CAN kill/stun/contest during this time, but his radius for doing so is decreased. If he fell from a height, I don’t believe he can do anything at all (unsure about this).
4. AFTER the initial stun, the 3.x second slow period begins – this is the duration affected by crafting. During this time, his kill/stun radius is still decreased. Since this slowed duration starts after the initial stun duration, it means the TOTAL duration of vulnerability is actually around 5 seconds.

The thing that really puts throwing knives at the top of my list is the extremely long duration. You can easily gain one, sometimes two silence levels just by taking your time after using the skill, before going for the kill. Even more importantly, you can casually walk into a blend group or haystack for the +300 hidden bonus. Once you start abusing throwing knives to not only get easy kills, but to increase your score per kill, poison looks like a joke.

Taking your time after throwing the knife also allows you to avoid any counter-skills your target uses. Mute is a total joke, and anyone using it after being hit by knives deserves a taunt. If someone throws down smoke immediately, the knife effect will probably still be active on them after the smoke clears.

Still, the most effective counter to knives IS smoke. To reduce the chances of getting smoked, try to approach your knifed target from the back. Since their smoke bomb gets thrown in front, it doesn’t extend very far behind them, and you can still get a kill through it.

If you’re trying to use knives to set up hidden kills, be aware that you need to blend for more than just an instant to get a bonus. If you jump in a haystack then immediately do the kill, you won’t get the bonus. You have to wait a second or so.

How do I approach a target or pursuer that I’ve hit with knives? The important thing is to get him at the range where he’s inside my kill/stun radius, but I’m outside of his. That’s a fairly narrow window of opportunity. As I approach, I spam the kill or stun button as fast as possible, to make sure I hit it within that window. In order to make that window last longer, I try to NOT walk directly at him, but rather at a shallow angle tangent to his kill radius. If he’s walking toward me, I might just stand still and wait (then taunt of course).

Other benefits of knives:
– Very short cooldown.
– Unlike aiming a smoke bomb, it’s very quick.

Then of course, knives are great against the high profilers and roof runners that I despise so much.