“The non-lethal flashbang grenade temporarily blinds anybody within its concussive blast, making it perfect for flushing out closed-in areas. Its loud explosion also temporarily masks the sound of footsteps.”
―Official description
The flashbang is a type of grenade available in the Counter-Strike series. Players can hold two at once, except in Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes, where they may hold five.
Overview
It temporarily blinds anybody who is facing and/or near the explosion.
In an update in CS:GO, there is now an "animation" that specifically displays players who are heavily blinded from a flashbang. Those affected will have an arm partially covering the eyes. However, this does not affect their ability to use grenades and their weapons.
When held, the player's movement speed is 250 units per second, meaning they suffer no speed reduction. In Global Offensive, this was reduced to 240.
Advantages
- Blinds enemies
- It makes a loud noise (Deleted Scenes and Counter-Strike: Source only)
- Easily flushes out small, enemy-concentrated areas
- Two can be carried (in previous games and in competitive mode of CS:GO.) Meanwhile, five flashbangs can be stored in Deleted Scenes.
- One of the cheapest grenades in the Counter-Strike series
Disadvantages
- Players can still move around and use their weapons
- Blinded players will often spray, so getting close to a blinded enemy can be risky
- A high chance of flashing and blinding your own teammates and even yourself if not thrown properly.
- Cause no damage to enemies (In CS:S and CS:GO, if you throw Flashbang at someone, it causes 1 damage and it is able to kill them.).
- Not very effective against enemies who are far away (they may only be blinded for one second).
- Not very useful in open areas.
Tactics
- Flashbangs in tight corridors cannot be easily avoided unless the enemy quickly retreats, or if you throw into a wrong corner.
- Use these stun grenades in closed rooms to create confusion among enemy players. Blinded players are easy targets and can hardly react so finish them off quickly although, some enemies will blindly spray bullets.
- Using a Flashbang is extremely helpful against campers.
- Throw a flashbang at areas wherever suspected enemy gunfire is heard as this can offer you the chance to eliminate blinded targets, give more room to escape, or even move around them if you think that you can avoid their bullets.
- Try to throw a flashbang when enemies are occupied and do not notice you, specifically from behind. Generally, if friendly fire is enabled, groups of opposing team members will normally be very reluctant to fire their weapons thus making it easier for you to eliminate them.
- Do not get into the habit of peeking around areas and throwing this grenade as it is more recommended to throw a flashbang at suspected enemy locations without looking. Enemies may be anticpating your movement and they will try to eliminate you before you can throw a flashbang.
- You can use the wall-bouncing tactic to throw the flashbang without exposure to enemy fire, but careful though, you might flash yourself.
- If you're (about to be) cornered, use a flashbang and retreat. If you cannot avoid being blinded, try to minimize the effect by looking away after you throw the stun grenade.
- Do not assume it's safe to enter an area where a flashbang went off. Skilled enemies may avoid being blinded and they can surprise careless targets.
Counter-tactics
- Run if a thrown flashbang is spotted.
- Looking away from a flashbang when it explodes will reduce its effect on you. However, be warned that enemies may take advantage of this and they can eliminate you if your view is not set upon assailants.
- If you have been blinded by a flashbang, you can either fire your weapon continuously at the direction of suspected enemy positions (although it may lead your team members to being injured if friendly fire is enabled), throw a flashbang of your own, or retreat and find cover.
- Experienced players will usually burst-fire their weapon (if they suspect enemies have seen them before a flashbang went off) and retrace their steps to find adequate cover. If done correctly, enemies may search the area and not be able to figure out that targets had previously occupied that section.
- Although not recommended, it is possible to rush at enemies who just threw a flashbang. They will need time to draw a firearm so this may be your best chance to eliminate them (before being blinded).
Awards
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Combat Skills
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Blind Ambition Kill 25 enemies blinded by flashbangs. |
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Blind Fury Kill an enemy while you are blinded from aflashbang . |
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Spray and Pray Kill two enemies while you are blinded from a flashbang . |
Counter-Strike: Source
Kill
|
Blind Ambition Kill a total of 25 enemy players blinded by flashbangs. |
|
Blind Fury Kill an enemy player while you are blinded from a flashbang. |
|
Spray and Pray Kill two enemy players while you are blinded from a flashbang. |
Special
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The Road to Hell Blind an enemy player who then kills a teammate. |
Trivia
- In Beta 1.0, the flashbang's behavior was close to the Half-Life's grenade, as you were able to cook the grenade. However, if you cooked it too long, it exploded in your hands, thus blinding yourself.
- Like every other grenade in real life, the flashbang had an ability to release shrapnel when it exploded. However, it was the only grenade to have such an ability though the HE grenade has shared this trait. This ability for the flashbang was removed when Beta 6.0 came out.
- There are references to this weapon in the Left 4 Dead game files, hinting that it may have been planned to appear in the game at some point.
- The database file name for this equipment is flashbang.
- The hotkey for this weapon is b83 or o3 (by default). In Source and Global Offensive, the hotkey is b63.
- Depending on how much the victim is affected, it takes at least 5 seconds maximum to fully-recover from a flashbang effect in the Counter-Strike series.
- Another name for the flashbang is a stun grenade.
- In real life, a flashbang can blind for up to 20 minutes - this was not incorporated into the game for obvious balance reasons.
- Before Counter-Strike Source, the flashbangs could only blind players. Later on, flashbangs were given the ability to both hamper the sight and hearing of affected players.
- In some rare situations, if a player is right in front a flashbang that is about to explode, other players who look at the blocking player may actually not be affected by the stun grenade.
- The effects of a Flashbang is not affected with the option "friendly fire" even if it was disabled. It will still blind your teammates.
- It is possible to kill enemy players with 1 health point by throwing a flashbang at them in Counter-Strike: Source[1]. The same happens with the smoke grenade.
- When you kill someone with the flashbang (if the aforementioned information is kept true), there will be two HUD icons and they are unique compared to the other kill icons of the other grenades and weapons.
- This is possibly a reference to the fact that despite the design of the flashbang was to be non-lethal, it has killed some people.
- When blinded in Counter-Strike: Source, the player will hear a "bleep" sound which is reused from Half-Life 2 when the player is injured with explosive weapons.
- Only one flashbang can be purchased/obtained in casual mode of Global Offensive. Meanwhile, two can be obtained in competitive mode.
- In reality, flashbangs are meant to be exclusively used by Counter-Terrorism forces. However, because of the black market, this stun grenade has ended up in the hands of some criminals.
- In the latest update of Global Offensive, all grenades recieved a secondary fire where the grenade will be bounced for short range throw, as well as a third medium-ranged throw (by holding both primary and secondary fire buttons).
- In the Goldsrc games, even if a player is blinded, it is still possible to see through a scope, view player scores, and keep informed of players' deaths. In Source, these were removed.
Notes
See also
External links
- Flashbang at Wikipedia
Template:Equipment