A Kampfhund (German for "Attack Dog") is an enemy type appearing in Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. Kampfhund is singular, while Kampfhunde is plural.
Overview
Kampfhunde are armored and genetically (later mechanically) augmented German Shepherds employed by the Nazi military as a type of attack canine. Armed with bodily augments and sharp teeth, they are fast on their feet and can close the distance between them and a detected player fairly quickly.
While pre-1960 models of the Kampfhund are regular dogs with simple alterations performed on them, the 1960 variant is nearly 100% mechanical save for the brain which is encased in an exoskeleton.
Strategy
- Kampfhunde are highly vulnerable towards the Handgun 1946/60 and Throwing Knives, but will fall even more quickly to anything bigger.
- Kampfhunde will not actively patrol an area during stealth, and will instead curl up and sleep on the floor where they are vulnerable to a takedown, knife throw or silenced pistol shot.
- A slain Kampfhund corpse can be looted for small shards of armor.
- Any shotgun can make quick work of groups of Kampfhunde. Do try to fire from the hip, however, as the high agility of a Kampfhund can make it difficult to get a consistent bead on them with the reduced mobility and spatial awareness of the ironsight mode.
- A Kampfhund's main form of attack in addition to simple bites and scratches is a lunge followed by a direct mauling that will not stop until either the dog or the target is killed, though each hit deals relatively light damage and the dog itself is not hard to shake off. Mash the left mouse button when latched on to quickly stab the dog to death and minimize the damage taken.
Variants
One of Deathshead's "pet projects", the Kampfhund is a German Shepherd that has been pumped full of chemicals and wrapped in steel body armor, it is fiercely aggressive and has a vicious bite.
This is the most common variant of the Kampfhund, being encountered many times throughout The Old Blood, the prologue of The New Order, and several more times after the timeskip.
After the war, General Deathshead enhanced the Kampfhund's design by creating a mechanized exoskeleton suit for its body and grafting a set of titanium jaws to its face. This beast of war is capable of biting through even the thickest of body armor. Its 1946 counterpart is still common even in this year.
Kampfhund 1960s are occasional finds throughout the later parts of The New Order.
Described by her handler as "the happiest dog in Germany", Greta is an unique albino Kampfhund owned by Kommandant Rudi Jäger. She is encountered along with Rudi shortly into the campaign of The Old Blood and several more times afterwards, culminating in a brief scuffle in the castle's anatomical theater where she has to be killed. Rudi will later try to kill Blazkowicz to avenge his pet.
With the exception of an unique texture, Greta behaves like any other Kampfhunde in the field.
After Wulfburg was contaminated with the unknown substance that turns dead people into Shamblers, two seemingly undead and flaming Kampfhunde can be fought shortly after exiting Pippa Shepherd's residence.
Only two of them are encountered throughout the game and are identical to their normal brethren in terms of performance and behavior.Trivia
- The Kampfhund is very similar to the X-Shepherds used by Deathshead in 1943.
- The head part of a Kampfhund model can swivel in a complete circle around its axis. This can be witnessed by striking the area after killing a dog, preferably with a takedown or thrown knife.
- Rudi Jäger is known for feeding inmates of the Castle dungeon to his Kampfhund.
- It is rather unusual for Greta to be commissioned as a Kampfhund, as real albino German Shepherds are intrinsically more docile, if not timid, than their normal counterparts. White German Shepherds can't even be used for guard duty due to a special psychological condition that inhibits their aggressive behaviors.
- It is possible that the augmentations performed on the dog may have altered her behavior.
- Reanimated Kampfhunde do not have their own journal description or viewable Character section.
- Through several posters, it can be seen and assumed that certain models of the Kampfhund are available as household pets.
- Despite being described as having teeth that can bite through the thickest of body armor, it still takes a Kampfhund a considerable amount of time to actually whittle down Blazkowicz's 100 points of shield strength.
- Furthermore, despite being allegedly more deadly, the 1960 variant of the Kampfhund is no stronger or superior in anyway to the pre-occupation model. (This may be a bug.)
Gallery
Humans | Commander · Deathshead's Commando · Fire Trooper · Riot Guard · Rocket Trooper · Soldier · Space Marine · Space Trooper |
---|---|
Machines | Baltisches Auge · Drone · Guard Robot · Heavy Robot · Herr Faust · Panzerhund · Zeppelin |
Creatures | Kampfhund · Supersoldaten |
Bosses | London Monitor · Prototype Robot · Deathshead (Mechanical Powered Armor) |