Single Player[]
In the campaign, it is found in the missions: "Wolverines", "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday", and "Just Like Old Times". In Special Ops, it is found in "Wetwork", "Armor Piercing", "Body Count", "Hidden", "Homeland Security", and "Snatch & Grab ". The Intervention is able to kill any enemy with just a single shot to any part of the body, even with a Silencer, but it takes 3 headshots or 6 normal shots to kill an armored Juggernaut.
Multiplayer[]
The Intervention is available at level 4, when Create-A-Class is unlocked. The rifle has a low fire rate and high sway, but has high damage multipliers with varying levels of recoil. Extended Magazines doubles its 5-round capacity, which is the lowest of all sniper rifles.
With Stopping Power, the weapon kills in one hit to the head, neck, chest and stomach. Without it, it loses the one shot kill to the stomach. Targets will require multiple hits when Painkiller, Last Stand or Final Stand is used, or when firing through cover. However, headshots cancel out Last and Final Stand.
With a Silencer, Stopping Power is required for a one-shot-kill, and it is able to get one-shot-kills if the player hits the head, neck or chest.
In Hardcore, the weapon will always neutralize targets in one shot anywhere in the body, with or without Stopping Power, regardless of attachments, again unless Last Stand, Final Stand or Painkiller is being used by enemies or when firing through cover. Due to this fact, other sniper rifles are recommended, as the Intervention's low rate of fire lets it down as other rifles can attain one hit kills while having higher rates of fire and low recoil - as well as higher magazine capacities.
The rifle is the one best suited for attaining the "Perfectionist" challenge due to its low magazine capacity, although the WA2000 can be better suited for this task, as the latter will boast lower recoil, lower damage (meaning follow-up shots can be done), higher fire rate and lower idle sway, and only 1 extra bullet when compared to the Intervention. Also, it has a very quick Reload Cancel when reloading an empty magazine - its ammo counter is filled almost as soon as the magazine is taken out.
The Intervention is statistically outclassed by the Barrett .50cal, sharing the same damage multipliers while having a much slower rate of fire, greater idle sway when aiming down the scope, smaller magazine capacity and although lower, still less predictable recoil.
Though the Barrett is limited by its recoil, it can still hit follow-up shots significantly faster than the Intervention, since the Barrett's recoil resets. Some players believe the Intervention is somehow more accurate, but this is not true; the center of the scope's crosshairs of every sniper rifle is always where the shot will land. Despite its drawbacks, the Intervention is the most popular sniper rifle online because of its bolt-action nature which can be more exciting to use than semi-automatic, and is the weapon of choice among rushing snipers and 'quick-scopers'. Also, the Intervention is very popularly used in montages, as it is believed to require more skill to use, due to mentioned bolt-action nature.
This weapon is also very commonly found with the FMJ attachment, because of the popular belief that FMJ adds damage on direct damage, though this is untrue; it only reduces damage lost when shots are fired through penetrable objects, such as wood and metal. Sometimes it is attached with an ACOG Scope, making it an assault-type sniper rifle, giving the user peripheral vision and less aim recoil at the cost of decreased zoom and the inability to steady the rifle, although the M21 EBR would be a better weapon for assault with an ACOG, due to lower recoil, higher magazine capacity, slower reload and higher rate of fire, making it typically a semi-automatic, high-damage assault rifle.