The Grenade Launcher is a powerful explosive weapon unlocked at level 27. It is not as straightforward to use as the alt-fire grenades of the Assault Rifles and the Vindicator, however; rather than shooting grenades in a line at the player's reticle, the Launcher shoots grenades in an arc over the battlefield to the reticle's location.
Description[]
Based on the large IAF Mortar Emplacement design, this hand-held launcher will fire explosive grenades at nearby targets. Exercise caution when using this device near friendly units. Danger close, marines.
Advantages[]
- Larger amount of explosive ammunition than any other weapon
- One fifth of an ammo stash provides up to 18 grenades.
- Grenades, when not obstructed, always explode where you're aiming.
- Devastating damage output, especially with the Explosives Bonus; great for quickly eliminating the Boomer, Mortarbug, Harvester, and Shieldbug.
- High rate of fire allows for saturated bombing or multiple hits on a single target in rapid succession.
Disadvantages[]
- Large amount of splash damage can cause heavy friendly fire.
- Grenades do not always clear railings, windows, or other obstacles that other weapons would shoot past.
- Dangerous at short and medium ranges.
- Parabolic grenade trajectory gives the weapon a longer learning curve.
Strategy[]
- Ammo crates and Ammo Satchels can provide a lot of clips for the Launcher (up to 3 per use), letting the user "spam" grenades throughout the whole level and blast everything on sight. This tactic is best used with a partner with a Tesla Cannon or Flamer to tag and slow down fast-moving enemies. Grenade Launcher spam can kill a Shieldbug with 6 grenades even on Insane.
- The Launcher can work either as a primary weapon or as a backup. If you bring it as a primary, make sure you're on point and use the scanner to check where multiple aliens are coming from. As a backup, it excels in defending an area from waves of Swarm aliens.
- Needless to say, firing the Grenade Launcher at point-blank range is a risky move that few can survive. Use melee attacks or switch to another weapon if the fighting turns close-quarters.
- Because the grenade will travel along an arc to the location of the reticule, it is possible to aim at enemies on a different elevation level than the marines. Be careful when firing over railings, however, as the grenades will frequently explode against them if you stand too close, causing massive friendly fire damage.
- The console command to turn camera highly adds to the value of the Grenade Launcher as you can prefire incoming rushes more easily and snipe across the screen above all kind of obstacles. Consider playing on servers with this command enabled for a better gameplay experience:
- rd_override_allow_rotate_camera 1