Grenades

[mannon]

Each subclass has multiple grenade options as well as some modifiers. But some of the grenades are a bit obscure and there's no data on how much damage they do or what their blast radius is like, ect... Just a vague description. I get that I'll have to experiment but with something like 3 grenades per subclass that's a lot of experimenting.

So I thought I might ask for people's thoughts on each of the grenade types vs the other types. What they do, what's good or bad about them, how effective in PvE and PvP, ect... For example on my Warlock I have primarily used just the first grenades you unlock because I really like having the AoE zone for several seconds. I find it great for zoning, mainly, and I like that the AoE effect that hangs around doesn't hurt me. But I have very little experience with the other grenades and don't know how they compare.

[-3055-]

I think all grenades only kill at full health if you get like stuck, stand right on top of them, get hit by all of the projectiles, or stay in the aftermath zone too long. the radius is big but the lethal radius is painfully small.

That being said, I only like the Warlock void zone (as you've mentioned) and the Titan's homing/stick grenade. Just lob it near an enemy and it'll usually stick to them, giving you a free kill. There aren't many others that I particularly like. In PvE I just use the one with the biggest aoe. I don't want my grenade to kill a single enemy and damage a few others, I want the highest amount of damage possible regardless of kills.

[TheHawkNY]

As a Voidwalker Warlock, which I use only in Crucible, I use the same ones as you, mannon, for the same reasons.

For PvE, I use Sunsinger, with Fusion Bolt grenades. At higher levels, a large AOE isn't really doing anything to enemies. You want to stick higher level enemies, like Minotaurs, in order to get their shields down and be able to kill them. It's frustrating when you throw an AOE grenade and enemies just walk away from it unscathed.

[wittyscorpion]

I have played all 6 subclasses to varying degree, with 2 or 3 nades unlocked from each. However, I did not try to do any serious comparison on them.

Off the top of my head, 3 of them jump out (in no particular order) :

Striker - Flashbang: incapacitate enemies, great for both PvE and PvP (did not play PvP myself, was told by others)

Bladedancer - Arcbolt: chain bolts of lightening to nearby enemies, does a lot of damage on each enemy hit by it, great for both crowd control and damaging bosses

Sunsinger - Firebolt: solar damage to nearby enemies, seem to have a big AoE

[GodMars]

Defender Titan has a sticky Void grenade that explodes not once, but twice. Great for PvE and PvP.

[beavenge]

I actually like the Voidwalker's Axion Bolt for PVP, it consistently hits targets (up to 2 voidbolts, 3 with Warlock Exotic chest "Voidfang Vestments") and they pursue for a ways and will go around cover to hit people. Works great when you damage someone and they take cover only to have a purple blob kill them. It's very "WTF is that?!?!" in PVP, though not nearly as useful as Vortex grenade for Control Point area denial.

[wittyscorpion]

Oct 7, 2014 11:29:26 GMT -5 GodMars said:

Defender Titan has a sticky Void grenade that explodes not once, but twice. Great for PvE and PvP.

Played all 3 of my characters through the daily story mission, Defender's explode-twice-sticky is definitely one of the top notch grade choice out there.

[thebb22]

I've played a lot as a Titan, both Striker and Defender. I really like the sticky double-asplode void grenade for high level enemies in PVE. As for PVP though, I've actually found the Striker Lightning grenade to be very useful. The key is to stick it on a wall right behind/next to the enemies rather than on the ground. I was playing control on Twilight Zone yesterday. Saw three guys coming at me to point B, knew I was going to die. Stuck it on the wall so the Lightning would pulse out into the capture area. I got wrecked, yet postmortem killed all three of the guys. Something about a grenade on a wall makes people think it's harmless, and they'll go stand in front of it all day and not even realize what's hitting them. Put it on the ground and it becomes a rotting skunk carcass that nobody wants to be within a quarter mile of.

[iw5000]

I have played only the Warlock for the most part, and I wonder about this all the time.

My understanding is that regardless of whether you use the Void or Sun...it comes down to three options:

1. Area Denials/targeted explosion area
2. Smaller explosion radius, but stuff(energy or light) flies all around at random.
3. Even less radius on impact explosion, but pieces now seek enemies out, AND cause bonus damage when they attach.

I don't see much use for No.1, and I play mostly Control. Defensively, every time I am capping, there are always two to three entry points I am scanning over, so it's pointless to pre-throw #1 to block an area. Wasting a grenade imho. And even if the opponent is coming that way, they can usually just jump over it. Typically, if I see enemies coming to deny, they will be jumping all over the place. Better to throw the grenade in front of them, in front of me, and let the pieces seek them out.

And when I am attacking a flag, especially opponents on it, #3 seems best. Typically they are hiding on an edge or corner. Throw it right in the middle, typically they will move even further away, but take some damage. That's usually enough to get shields down and get the quick kill with pre-firing.