Kampfhund

A **Kampfhund** (German for "*Attack Dog*") is an enemy type appearing in *Wolfenstein: The New Order*, *Wolfenstein: The Old Blood*, *Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus* and *Wolfenstein: Youngblood*. Kampfhund is singular, while Kampfhunde is plural.

## The New Order

Kampfhunde are armored and genetically (later in addition 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.

## The Old Blood

Kampfhunde return in The Old Blood, where they display similar behavior to The New Order Kampfhunde, and will be around Commanders, who are on patrol. The player will encounter Shambler Kampfhunde, but they are no different from a normal one.

## The New Colossus

By 1961, The Nazis mostly use the Doberman Kampfhunde, and similar to the pre-1960s models, there are slight modifications of the eyes. The eyes are now in the shape of cybernetic, are red, and any other cybernetic implants are smoothly concealed with their body harnesses. They are mostly seen escorting commanders in areas, but some appear to patrol around areas without commanders. and with a pack (e.g. the Manhattan train station). However, their behavior appears to be troublesome, as commanders can be heard telling them to heel, or come back to them.

They also seem to be highly resistant, immune, or not affected to radioactivity, as they are seen patrolling in New York without any protection. Unlike *The New Order* and *The Old Blood*, they no longer drop armor after death, and will put the player on their feet when attacking them. If they succeed in killing the player from the attack, they will stop biting, and go to the neck or face (as shown in the death animation).

## Cyberpilot

Kampfhunde return in *Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot.* A variant of the Kampfhund known as the *Bombenhund* is also seen in Neu-Paris, equipped with explosives that detonate once the Bombenhund reaches the player in a suicide attack. One single attack is enough to instantly destroy the player-controller kampfdrohne.

## Youngblood

Bombenhunds in *Wolfenstein: Youngblood*, serving the same purpose as in *Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot*.

## Variants

* 1946
* 1960
* Greta
* Reanimated Kampfhunde
* Bombenhund

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 occasionally found 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 a 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.

In 1980, Kampfhund's role in the battlefield has drastically changed from the previous installments. They are now a suicide unit, running into enemies and exploding. Since they are now suicide units, they are no longer considered for continuous service. They have a explosive package strapped around their chest.

Damage from the explosion is actually hurtful during the earlier part of the game, but the damage will be insignificant through progression.
## Strategy

### The New Order/The Old Blood

* Kampfhunde can be taken down quickly with Handgun 1946/60 and Throwing Knives, and are even less durable against heavier firepower.
* 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 fire button when latched on to quickly stab the dog to death and minimize the damage taken.
* Holding down the aim/fire left weapon button will jam BJ's arm into the Kampfhund's jaw to reduce damage. Even though this may seem counter-intuitive, it keeps the jaws away from anything important (face, neck, chest) while BJ counters with his knife.

### The New Colossus

* Kampfhunde are often partnered with Commanders, with only few exceptions (e.g. Manhattan train section).
* Be careful when they are on alert, as they can easily catch you off your feet, either taking away a lot of health/armor, or killing you.
	+ Even if you survive their attack, the player can be in danger of being shot by enemies, or attempting to get off of the floor quickly.
* If the player has alerted one, they will start barking in your direction, giving you a heads up that they are coming.
* They can be killed quickly with any weapon, such as the Schockhammer and Sturmgewehr.
* It's best not to aim down the sights when preparing to kill one, as they are quick and agile.

### Youngblood

* If you go on alert, they start barking, indicating to the player that they are coming. This gives you enough time to power jump to a higher place, or kill them with your weapons.
* Just like in the previous installments, they can be quickly killed with any weapon, including thrown hatchets, balisongs, and knives.
* Cloak allows the player to kill them without going on alert, or move around them. That being said, getting too close to them will cause them to attack.
* Getting the no-knockdown ability helps to battle against their suicide explosions.
* The player can use their suicide vest to damage Nazi soldiers around them, but it's best to do so far away.

## Trivia

* The Kampfhund is very similar to the X-Shepherds used by Deathshead in 1943. It may very well be an evolution or successor to it.
* 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 Kampfhunde.
* 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 armor.
	+ 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.)
* New Order and Old Blood's Kampfhund's main model is a German Shepherd, while New Colossus's is a Doberman Pinscher.
* The Kampfhund's armor in *The New Colossus* can't be collected, unlike *The New Order*, and *The Old Blood*.
* Strangely, the Kampfhunde in The New Colossus are black. Normally, Doberman pinschers are black and tan, although Dobermans do suffer from a skin disorder which causes them to black only.
* The reason for Kampfhunde to be turned into Bomberhunde in 1980 can contribute to the desperation of the Nazis to suppress the ever-growing resistance movements in their last bastion in Europe.
* The 1946 model of the Kampfhund has Deathshead's insignia on its side, indicating that Strasse was aware of the structure as early as 1946, which contrasts our reality where the structure was first discovered in the 1950s.