Smoke grenades are the third special grenade to be unlocked by a player, and while they are not used as often as the other two special grenades, they have a lot to offer. There are tactics which can be used to achieve maximum effect with your smoke grenades which I will discuss in this tip. Learning these will greatly improve your options in handling a situation in nearly any game type.
Distraction
Smoke grenades can be very useful in distracting the enemy. They can be seen from almost any distance on most maps, but they do make a lot of noise so don't be prepared to have multiple enemies heading towards you with your position given out. This can be very useful to you when trying to move to a particular point. For example, say you are playing Search and Destroy on Bog and are on the attacking team. At any given time there'll almost always be a defender camping at the back of the map or at least some players rotating around that area. If you smoke B, this will draw their attention and possibly move players defending A to different positions because they believe you will be going to B. This leaves you to either rush A or flank them quite nicely. Smoke grenades are also very useful when an enemy player is on a mounted MG. Throw the smoke out in front on the MG, and the player will probably start spraying in the general direction of the smoke, thinking someone will be passing though. Use this time to toss in a grenade or knife him in the back. The sound of the machine fire will cover you.
Don’t Just Chuck It
You should consider carefully exactly where you are throwing a smoke grenade. If you are moving to a point (for example a bomb site or domination flag) and you know that the enemy is somewhere on the other side of it, don't simply toss it in the general area. Instead, throw it just beyond the point. The opponents will either be thinking someone is coming behind them and will be suspecting someone coming from the back. If not, the smoke radius will quickly obscure their vision and any people covering their backs from other positions. Take all of this into account with your teammates and always consider such a situation first before smoking. For example, imagine in this picture you are attacking A as shown on Crossfire (the person here is an enemy defender). If you lay the smoke right on point A this player still has a decent view of what is going on and can easily catch your outline and shoot you or throw in a grenade.
However, if you throw the smoke right in front of the building, their view is completely obscured along with anyone coming up the adjacent street. This makes it much harder to be accurate with a grenade or even safely attack the bomb.
Watch Out for Grenades
This brings me to my next point: look out for grenades. Make sure you don't put smoke in a place where it is just going to nade spammed. A prime example of this is in the center of Backlot. This spot is mostly covered at any one time and throwing smoke in will not allow safe enough passage, but will probably result in you being blown up. A better strategy would be to use smoke to cover one of the side streets and then move through that.
Smoke Radius
It is important you learn the area the smoke will cover if you wish to become proficient with smoke grenades. It is useless to simply smoke an area only to be killed by someone who can still see your outline from an upstairs window.
Here, although you are covered from people in the street, someone in the upstairs window could still kill you easily. Also, remember that the smoke takes a second to reach its full radius so bear this in mind when using it to rush a point. Timing is also very important like if there's only a few seconds left to defuse a bomb, so practice your placement so you don't have to wait for the full smoke to move up.
Quickly Throwing Smoke
Sometimes, you will be pinned down by enemies and unable to move without smoke covering you. In this situation, you will have to peek out from behind your cover and throw the smoke very quickly so as not to be hit by enemy fire. When attempting this, you can either peek quickly to toss it out or completely neglect your cover and move out in the open. In situations like these, hesitation is the main thing that can get you killed so take advantage of walls, corners, etc. and determine the best angle, especially if you're console and there's no lean function. "Cooking" the smoke is also of course helpful in making for a quick getaway.
Using Smoke Inside
Smoke can be very useful in clearing buildings if you are proficient with close quarters weapons and your knife. As soon as the smoke is thrown, you can rush straight in and either knife the enemy or shoot them while they are blinded. However, it is important before smoking a room that you know, or at least have a rough idea, where the target actually is. If you don't, you'll be in exactly the same position as them: blinded and unable to do anything.
