“As expensive as it is powerful, the Desert Eagle is an iconic pistol that is difficult to master but surprisingly accurate at long range.”
―Official description
The Desert Eagle, or Night Hawk .50C, as it was previously known, is one of the pistols featured in the Counter-Strike series. It can be replaced with the R8 Revolver in Global Offensive.
Overview
The IMI Desert Eagle is a large semi-automatic pistol chambering the powerful .50 Action Express round, one of the most powerful pistol cartridges in production. It was designed by Magnum Research Inc. of United States, which was refined and manufactured by Israel Military Industries (save for a temporary contract with Saco Defense from 1995 to 1998) until 2009, when production moved to MRI's own facility in United States. While not practical for military use due to its size and recoil, its large, powerful appearance made it a popular choice for movies and games.
In-game, the Desert Eagle is a powerful semi-automatic pistol available to both teams. It is loaded with 7 rounds of .50 Action Express which makes it able to inflict high amounts of damage. It costs $650 in earlier games and $700 in Global Offensive.
The Desert Eagle is one of the more popular sidearms in the Counter-Strike games, its appeal mainly coming from its high power. Until Global Offensive, this pistol was the only pistol capable of killing an opponent with one headshot regardless of armor and helmet. In Global Offensive, while other pistols can also achieve this feat, the Desert Eagle has far better range than most of them, with high base damage that can compensate for damage dropoff at range and a far better standing accuracy than most other pistols. In Global Offensive, the Desert Eagle is also the only weapon in the pistol class with high penetration.
The Desert Eagle's main disadvantages come from its small magazine size, lower rate of fire, high recoil when fired repeatedly, low movement speed when wielding the weapon (it is the second heaviest pistol in Global Offensive, only beaten by R8 Revolver), and price (it is the most expensive pistol in Global Offensive, but is beaten out by the Five-SeveN and Dual Berettas in earlier games). Damage dropoff is also quite strong, though not as noticeable due to its high base damage. Its firing sound is loud and distinctive, meaning that it can give the player's position away easily.
Properties
| CS 1.6 and CS:CZ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hitbox | Primary Attack | ||
| Unarmored | Armored | ||
| Head | 212 | 156 | |
| Chest & Arm | 53 | 39 | |
| Stomach | 66 | 49 | |
| Leg | 39 | 39 | |
| CS:S | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hitbox | Primary Attack | ||
| Unarmored | Armored | ||
| Head | 214 | 162 | |
| Chest & Arm | 53 | 40 | |
| Stomach | 66 | 50 | |
| Leg | 40 | 40 | |
| CS:GO | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hitbox | Primary Attack | ||
| Unarmored | Armored | ||
| Head | 249 | 232 | |
| Chest & Arm | 62 | 58 | |
| Stomach | 77 | 72 | |
| Leg | 46 | 46 | |
In earlier games, the player's movement speed is 250 units per second when wielding the Desert Eagle, meaning they suffer no speed reduction. However, in Global Offensive, wielding the Desert Eagle reduces the player's movement speed to 230 units per second.
The Desert Eagle is one of the many weapons able to shoot underwater.
Tactics
- As the most expensive pistol next to the R8 Revolver at $700, it is not recommended for use during pistol rounds, where Armor is far more vital and early-game economic management is important.
- When using this weapon, always go for headshots. A headshot grants an instant kill, even if the target is wearing a helmet and he is at full health and at a medium range away.
- This weapon can also be used to kill an opponent with 2-3 body shots. If you miss the headshot but you hit the body, go finish them off with another shot or two to the body.
- At long range, crouch and fire single shots, and wait a moment in between shots to reset the accuracy.
- This weapon has a good effective range, especially in games prior to Source, so it may be an ideal sidearm for players equipped with shotguns or low-damage SMGs.
- This pistol is often used to "wallbang" surfaces unlike most of the other handguns. Prior to Source, this is the only pistol that can penetrate through walls, whereas other pistols do not; so try to wall-bang in order to kill an enemy player that is hiding.
- After Source, this pistol is still more suitable for penetrating walls due to having a higher penetration power.
- Its ability to score one shot kill makes it a good weapon for players equipped with Tactical shields, the shield user is more likely to survive enemies that have a primary weapon as he will only need to expose himself for only a brief period.
- Unless when at close proximity, avoid spraying bullets. The Desert Eagle has a low magazine size and lacks accuracy when firing several rounds consecutively except in Source.
- Be sure to reload often due to the small magazine size.
- In Global Offensive, the damage per bullet has increased. However, the spread has increased as well thus making the Desert Eagle less effective for spraying bullets at longer ranges and forces the user to shoot the gun at a slower rate than in previous games. It is far more recommended to fire the gun in single shots.
Appearances
In the Tour of Duty, the Night Hawk .50C kill challenge appears in:
| Map | Difficulty | Challenge |
|---|---|---|
 Italy |
Hard | Kill 4 enemies |
 Havana |
Normal | Kill 3 enemies |
 Torn |
Hard | Kill 2 enemies without dying |
The following bots will use the Night Hawk .50C as their sidearm:
- Stanley: Cost 1 (w/ ES C90)
- Morris: Cost 1 (w/ ES C90)
- Kenny: Cost 1 (w/ Leone 12 Gauge Super)
- Kent: Cost 2 (w/ Clarion 5.56)
- Phil: Cost 2 (w/ K&M Sub-Machine Gun)
- Pete: Cost 2 (w/ ES C90)
The Night Hawk .50C can be used in the following missions:
- Recoil: In the area where the Delta Force Sniper leaves the player to utilize a sniper tower, there is a room between a set of stairs and a set of double doors blocked by crates. Along with a terrorist, some ammo, and a medkit, is the pistol and four magazines worth of ammo for it. No additional ammo for it is available throughout the level.
- Building Recon: On the table next to the window where the player can see the nuke.
- Thin Ice: Found next to a dead civilian.
- Downed Pilot: After the player is captured, the pistol is on a table outside the cell they wake up in.
- Rise Hard: The player starts the level with the weapon. The pistol is lost when the player is captured near the end of the level, but another one can be picked up in the back of the final area.
- Sandstorm: The player starts the level with the weapon.
Equipment Proficiency: Active Duty, Desert Eagle (319)
| Mission | Unlock(s) | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Get Desert Eagle kills in Deathmatch: Dust2 matches. Remaining kills : 75 |
Equipment Proficiency: Active Duty, Desert Eagle (107)
| Mission | Unlock(s) | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Get Desert Eagle kills in Deathmatch: Inferno matches. Remaining kills : 20 |
No Scope No Problem (508)
| Mission | Unlock(s) | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Score 60 Desert Eagle kills in Deathmatch: Dust II matches. |
300 XP | |
| Brief | Audio | |
| “Let’s see if you have the discipline to learn what Lt. Sabri couldn’t. Not all precision instruments come with a scope. In the right hands, a Desert Eagle is still effective at long range and is a fraction of the cost of an AWP. And as you know… early success can shape the rest of the battle.” —Sebastien Hennequet |
||
The Desert Eagle is among the weapons the players can choose from at the beginning of the Phoenix Compound map in "The Extraction", "Once More Into The Breach", and "The Enemy Of My Enemy...".
The Heir Apparent (825)
| Mission | Unlock(s) | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Guardian Co-op Challenge: Play as a Counter-Terrorist with a partner and protect the bombsite from enemies on Cache.
Score a win by getting 25 enemy kills with Desert Eagle. Can only earn money from kill rewards. |
- |
600 XP |
| Brief | Audio | |
| “Franz Kriegeld(sic) was Valeria's heir apparent - it's his money that helped finance the operation and he felt he should be in charge… however now that his assets are being frozen he's looking to prove he has other skills that are useful to The Phoenix.” —Imogen |
||
Boom. (913)
| Mission | Unlock(s) | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Guardian Co-op Challenge: Play as a Counter-Terrorist with a partner and protect the bombsite from enemies on Black Gold.
Score a win by getting 10 headshot kills with Desert Eagle. |
525 XP | |
| Brief | Audio | |
| “Listen, I'm not sadist.(sic) I'm not. But man, I would be lying if I didn't say using deagles to paint a room was satisfying.” —Rona Sabri |
||
Achievements
- Weapon
|
Night Hawk .50c Expert Kill 200 enemies with the Night Hawk .50c |
- Weapon Specialist
|
Desert Eagle Expert Kill 200 enemies with the Desert Eagle |
Bugs
- The drawing animation of the Desert Eagle in Global Offensive shows the barrel clipping through the player's hand.
Trivia
- The Desert Eagle has a black finish in Deleted Scenes and a chrome silver finish in all the other games.
- Prior to the Arms Deal update in Global Offensive, the Desert Eagle had a dust-color shiny finish, which was later changed to a chrome silver to match the finish in previous games.
- The under slide rail for mounting attachments was introduced in Global Offensive, while the Desert Eagle in previous games had a clean operating slide.
- The Desert Eagle in Global Offensive has a slightly longer barrel than its older game counterparts.
- The Desert Eagle in Counter-Strike is based on the IMI/Magnum Research Desert Eagle Mark XIX chambered in .50AE. However, the version depicted in most of the Counter-Strike games has slits in the barrel (known as a "fluted barrel") which is only used in .44 Magnum and .357 Magnum models of the Mark XIX.
- The black Desert Eagle from Deleted Scenes lacks the fluted barrel in addition to the slits in the top of a standard Mark XIX barrel. In Global Offensive, this is not present along with other markings, confirming it as a .50.
- In Counter-Strike, an "Eagle Head" marking can be seen on the operating slide during the reload animation.
- Before the August 10th, 2012 beta update, the Desert Eagle in Global Offensive shared its draw and reloading animations with the Glock-18, P2000, P250, and Five-SeveN.
- Reloading animations currently in use for the Desert Eagle in Global Offensive are remade pistol animations from the Alpha stages of the game.
- The achievement "Desert Eagle expert" has the highest percentage of players earning it out of all the other weapon expert achievements, with around 16.5%.
- Due to the weapon's popularity and recognizability, it has several affectionate community-given nicknames.
- The most common nickname is "Deagle", a portmanteau of the two words in its name. This nickname extends in-game, as the files refer to the weapons as deagle.
- Another nickname stems from the Desert Eagle's performance, commonly referred to as "Juan Deag". It is a play on words for "One Deag," directly referencing the Desert Eagle's accurate long-range headshot capabilities.
- The Desert Eagle is occasionally referred to as the "Pocket AWP," potentially the inspiration for the Global Offensive sticker, "My other AWP is a Deagle."
- The Desert Eagle is sometimes nicknamed "Hand Cannon".
- The Desert Eagle is one of the few weapons whose drawing animation does not involve "cocking" or "cycling" the gun (in this case, pulling the slide back and forth). Instead, the gun is already cocked before the gun is drawn and spun in the player's palm.[1] The other weapons that share this trait are the Dual Berettas, Schmidt Machine Pistol, and XM1014.
- In Global Offensive, the Desert Eagle has a non-functional under-barrel rail. This is because it was originally ported from the Magnum Pistol featured in Left 4 Dead 2, which had a functional flashlight attached to the rail.
- In Counter-Strike Beta 4.0, the commander (a randomly chosen person in a team who got special radio commands) of the Terrorist team spawned with the Desert Eagle. This was removed in Beta 5.0.
- A viral video exists online depicting competitive Counter-Strike player Na'Vi Markeloff ace headshotting the entire enemy team in one Desert Eagle shot when passing through the mid doors in Dust 2. The video has been identified as a fake by multiple sources.[2]
External links
- IMI Desert Eagle at Wikipedia.
References
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