SharinganTH1422

We've all heard it a million times from experienced players - "Good grenade throwing is key for a good K/D" - but often this advice is given with other important tips like crouching and scoping when shooting, good use of cover, looking at the minimap etc. It can therefore be easy to miss how important grenades are, and I did too until very recently. Now I'm by no means suggesting that I am a great player, but I feel that one of the big differences between the good and the great players at TG is good grenade-throwing.

(Just to set a general direction for this thread, I'm sure I don't know the most about grenades at TG, but I haven't really seen any threads in the Tactics Forum about grenades, so I thought I may as well start with a few stuff I know about grenades, and then hopefully it can be added to by some better players.)


Features:

So what about the grenade is unique?

Arc - Not many (damage-causing, i.e. not EMP or Smokes) tools in the game can be launched in an arc like the grenade can, I can't really think of another one at the moment other than the Clark-RDX, which cannot be thrown as far as this. You can also vary the power, as well as cook the grenade by holding the right mouse button. This obviously takes LOADS of practice, hence the title good grenade-throwing.

Power - No other projectile weapon in the game allows you to kill so many people in one launch/shot. Combat Efficiency Pins have been earned with single grenade throws. That hissing sound inflicts terror in our hearts for a very good reason.

Player Upgrade - Grenades are for all soldiers who've unlocked them, which means every 2142 player should be using them well, no matter what kit/weapon/equipment preference they have. As long as you have them unlocked, you will have them, and you should be using them to devastating effect, otherwise you are lessening your potential.


Effects:

So before I talk about when and where you should use grenades, I'll take some time to discuss why. Apart from the obvious answer of "it kills people" there are several reasons why grenades are one of the most useful tools in the game.

Reposition - I know it's happened to me loads and it's probably happened to others, a grenade lands right at your well-fortified position, you scramble to get out, only to realise you're smackbang in the middle of the open, with no cover and 6 bloodthirsty TGers in front of you. One of the main arguments of using the Clark-RDX is how it can be used to make enemies reposition themselves in order to avoid the blast, and this is even more true for grenades because of the huge damage that a grenade does compared to Clark-RDX. It also makes you less aware of your surroundings and less able to deal with enemies when a grenade lands nearby, as priority number 1 is to get away from the nade.

Shellshock - One of the things I hate about this game is every time an explosive goes off nearby and I go into that awful state where I can barely move properly. I usually just go prone in a corner and wait in a corner until it's over. I may be the only one that's so badly effected by shellshock, but it's undeniable that an enemy which is shellshocked is less effective than a regular enemy. What's also neat about doing this is that you don't need to make direct contact to shellshock an enemy.

With the above 2 points it's already been established that well-placed grenades have a negative effect on your enemies, even when they do not make contact.

Damage/Heal - Whenever you make any contact with a grenade, that enemy is;

a) Softened up, and

b) Seeking to be healed.

I don't need to explain why a softened up target is useful, but one seeking to be healed is also useful because not only will they retreat to look for a place to be healed safely, therefore decreasing the amount of fire on you, but also they (and/or perhaps one of their teammates) is holding a med hub, obviously not one of the most lethal tools in the game.

Kill/Revive - If you do get that kill, then well done. A fluke or some genius throwing? Who cares, what's important is that there's one less enemy to deal with an opponent squad, giving you a numbers advantage, as well as taking some of their squadmates out of the game as they go for a revive (This numbers advantage isn't really specific to grenades, but just making the point that a good grenade throw can give you this edge).


Situations:

Angles - Unfortunately, you can't alter the flight path of bullets or rockets once they've left you're control, although you can do that for grenades. I see people far too often being in a sort of stand-off between someone round the corner, and edging slowly round it instead of throwing a well-placed grenade off of a wall, or even just throwing it straight round a corner can help if there aren't many walls about.

Behind Cover - Usually in this situation, rockets are used, but 3/4 kits do not have rockets. This is where the grenade comes in. However, this doesn't mean assaults should effect about their grenade when up against an immovable enemy behind cover. The grenade can sometimes be the perfect tool to get 1 or more enemies out from behind cover.

Identify enemy position - If you think someone is somewhere, a grenade throw with a hit indicator can help hugely.

Approaching a hostile flag - So it's that time again when you're approaching a flag with your squadmates, you reload your gun and your rockets, you resupply, you heal and all the while keeping checking the corners of your screen for signs of enemy movement. Then, when you reach the flag, you run out and start doing your killing/reviving/IDSing/flag capping thing, but the important step you missed out was a grenade on the flag. This should always be part of your regular routine when approaching a flag, or indeed any well fortified position.


Looking at all of these above situations, you can see how the features and effects can all be utilised to be successful in these tasks


I'm sure there are some gaps in this write-up, which I'm hoping the more enlightened members of the community will fill, but I had a sudden epiphany about the wonderful world of grenades and thought I'd just type it up here for some others to see and hopefully learn from.

But remember, the key is good grenade-throwing, and knowing when. My biggest problem is neglecting my grenades and forgetting that I have them, but also not being the most proficient at knowing where they will really land. This takes TONS of practice (which is why the 3rd spend loads of practice sessions on proper grenade throwing), and making it a part of your neural pathway (as Crux would have us believe).


P.S. Apologies for typos.

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Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

Mixa

Only negative effect from nades is the 1second throw time, and that is nothing.

Great topic, good ''getting into'' write-up, grenades can be used almost anywhere, and if you know where they land then you can pretty much kill anyone in 50 meter radius!

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Lyramion

You can´t "cook" Grenades in 2142. if you keep the right mouse button pressed you can hold it indefinetly - with the security pin already out - ha

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SharinganTH1422

I see, my mistake.

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Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

Lunien

About the hit indicator thing, you might sometimes get false positives from Sentry guns, I forget if medic/ammo hubs give the indicator too.

Mercenary90

One thing I must note is that grenades are like the poor man's APM. If someone is chasing you, drop a nade and get away. If an enemy is uncomfortably close to you, throw a nade at the ground to make that guy/girl clear out and give you some space to shoot.

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He was told that he should not kill, and he did not kill, until he got into the Army. Then he was told to kill, and he killed.

WhiskeySix

also - if you right click, you get a power bar in th ebottom right - so you can throw it a shorter distance (over a wall, e.g.) without trying the mortar shot to the sky and back.

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Reflexes are for mistakes only. Reaction implies surprise. Be surprised less.

Greyed

Huh, did not know that. I've been trying to trick full strength throws into shorter distances by rolling 'em across the ground or bouncing them off terrain.

Reaperassault

but clark RDX is better...

I kid, grenades are the most versatile weapon in the game. The only way the really learn them is to use them.

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PM07SNV

Learning how to throw at short distances helps a lot! The possibilities of the grenade expand a lot when you master this. e.g If you see someone on a roof that your under, a short throw of a grenade solves that problem.

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MDFubar

Good Notes, remember that when someone is in a position(such as the catwalk) you can throw the grenade high....with the arc it will blow like a rocket with an airburst. I use this many times, I love the grenades. Practice, practice, and more practice!

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Zhohar

To expand on what Fubar said, grenades airburst at about 50-55 meters from point of origin. Another advantage of being a squad leader: set a move marker to your enemy, move forward or backward until you are 50-55m away from him, throw, and grin
50-55m is actually a very common feature of the battlefield.

On Camp G, during the Toll Standoff, you can airburst a grenade down east or west corridors almost perfectly from one end to the other. Of course, if you get up high on the catwalks, you can do the same. Your grenade will fly through the out-of-bounds area, and will airburst perfectly on the other end.

Same is true on the Camp G catwalks that are between Central and EU base.

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Pfft, how can you call it suicidal if we lived through it?

Crux

Nades are awesome. I can't stress that enough.

Use them to move someone from behind cover so you can shoot them.
Throw them towards people camping a teammates body so you can get in and revive.
Drop them over walls or around a corner to foil campers.
Bounce them off terrain to get those hard-to-reach places.
Use them to draw attention to a certain direction while you flank the other way.
No rockets? A truly skilled grenade thrower can hit people on catwalks and other places you wouldn't normally expect to be able to get a nade kill with.

Just so many ways they can have a big impact on the game.

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Zoraster

I'm so awesome that I handicap myself by only throwing smoke grenades. That way people know that they WOULD have been dead had I used a real grenade. And then I shoot them in the face, and they really are dead.

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|TG-Mth| Zoraster | .

Lunien

Can anyone confirm this? I always thought that the nades are timed - like they explode after 3 seconds of air time, and not distance-based.