HE Grenade

“The high explosive fragmentation grenade administers high damage through a wide area, making it ideal for clearing out hostile rooms.”
―Official description

The High Explosive (HE) grenade is a type of grenade available in the Counter-Strike series. Players can hold only one HE grenade at a time, excluding in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes, where they may hold three at once.

Overview

When thrown, it explodes after a short period of time, dealing damage to a large area. In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, doors can be destroyed if an HE grenade explodes nearby.

When held, the player's movement speed is 250 units per second, meaning they suffer no speed reduction. In Global Offensive, the player's movement speed is reduced to 245 units per second.

Properties

Game	Maximum damage
Game	Unarmored	Armored
Counter-Strike	96	48
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero	100	88
Counter-Strike: Source	98	72
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	98	57

Advantages

High damage
Wide damage area, capable of damaging multiple opponents
- Useful to damage enemies moving in groups or to clear rooms
The explosion can penetrate through walls (Goldsrc Counter-Strike games only)
Price is cheaper than the Terrorist and Counter Terrorist exclusive firebombs
Can finish off wounded enemies without the need to be in close proximity

Disadvantages

Creates attention
Easily avoidable (unless the intended target(s) are clustered together in tight spaces)
Depending on distance of targets from the grenade, it may not even do that much damage in some cases
An improperly thrown HE grenade can harm/kill teammates, the player, and even the hostages
Never a one-hit kill to full health opponents (even without armor)

Gameplay

Tactics

The HE grenade is great for softening enemies, finishing off wounded assailants, or deter ambushers.
- A much frowned-upon tactic called "grenade spamming" is to stand in a buy zone and throw grenades at any place the enemy may come from, then buy a new grenade and throw it again. The result is a rain of grenades that doesn't stop until the player runs out of money to buy the grenades, or the buy time ends. When friendly-fire is off, the grenade can still injure or kill the player if misthrown, but it won't injure the player's teammates. This tactic is most effective in very small maps, however some servers may automatically ban the player spamming grenades or you will be votekicked by the enemy players.
A great way to effectively use a HE grenade is to keep it until after a few people have been killed after a rush. By this time, enemies will be settling into camping spots and will have taken at least some damage. Toss a grenade at a known camping spot, and the player will usually kill or flush out and damage a target.
- Moreover, some players will refrain themselves from using HE grenades at the beginning of the round. Instead, they may use it at later periods especially when enemies have taken damage.
- Great for finishing off well covered but wounded enemies from a distance rather than risking the player's life to finish off directly (especially if they have a shotgun or an automatic weapon at close quarters).
HE grenades are also useful in combination with a smoke grenade at the start of the round. Enemies willing to go through the smoke will be unable to see the player toss an HE grenade, making it easier for the player's teammates to pick them off as they come through. This may not work every time as they still can hear grenade bouncing around.
The HE grenade weapon can be devastating if thrown at a large group of enemies at the start of a map, preferably if the group is in a tight area. A well aimed and well timed throw can take down up to four people with one grenade.
If the player is out in the open and has been spotted, using an HE grenade can distract the enemies and allow the player to escape.
Take advantage of physics when using grenades! Be sure to practice aiming at specified angles to understand how the grenade bounced, otherwise the grenade may return and hit the player or the player's teammates.
If the enemy is weakened from a player's weapon but has the player pinned down, use an HE grenade to flush the enemy out. An example is a camper who was shot by Scout, which will make him very vulnerable to HE grenade.
HE Grenades can instantly kill hostages if the grenade lands directly at them, be careful using them around them!
In bomb-defusal maps, the attackers can throw some HE grenades to flush some defenders out first before rushing in, this tactic is most effective when the bomb zone is small and the defenders are already hurt.
Depending on where the HE grenade has been thrown, the health of targets, and if they have kevlar, it will normally take at least two HE grenades to eliminate enemies. Since players can only hold one, be sure to cooperate with team members to have an easier time in engaging assailants.
- If a player and his teammates throw a volley of grenades into an enemy rush at the same time, it can severely injure and potentially kill at least one enemy. A volley is especially effective on the first round in competitive play, as the enemy is likely to have no armor.
In Counter-Strike: Source and Global Offensive, HE grenades can be thrown to scatter dropped weapons and grenades. This can be used to obtain a gun that cannot be easily reached due to gunfire or/and prevent the enemy from picking up weapons.
- A direct hit with a HE grenade will deal 1 point of damage and will slow their movement down for 3 seconds. If possible, try to make a direct hit on enemies which will make them unlikely to dodge the grenade explosion and inflict more damage.
Destroying doors with this grenade in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive can improve rushing capabilities (as players will not have to wait for a door to open completely). Be warned however, the opposing team may take advantage of this as well.

Counter-tactics

While an enemy is wielding an HE grenade, the enemy will be defenseless until throwing the grenade or switching to another weapon.
- Be careful and try to kill the enemy from afar. A primed grenade can still do damage after the enemy has been killed.
If the grenade is thrown towards the player, run and take cover, or rush the enemy.
- When running, switch to a knife or a lighter weapon to run faster.
- When timed correctly, jumping can also reduce the damage from a low thrown or stationary grenade.
- Some enemies will throw the grenade and continue running allowing the player an opening to attack, especially if the enemy is targeting the wrong camping spot.
If the grenade is not visible, listen to the bouncing sound and vacate the area.
In GoldSrc Counter-Strike games, avoid hiding behind a wall, since the grenade explosion can penetrate through walls. Instead, try to run away from the grenade explosion.
As a terrorist, use hostages as cover since there is a steep penalty for injuring the hostage.

Achievements

Weapon

HE Grenade Expert
Kill 500 enemy players with the HE grenade.

Kill

Defuse This!
Kill the defuser with an HE grenade.

Shrapnelproof
Take 80 points of damage from enemy grenades and still survive the round.

Three the Hard Way
Kill 3 enemy players with a single HE grenade.

Special

Premature Burial
Kill an enemy with a grenade after you've died.

Weapon Specialist

HE Grenade Expert
Kill 100 enemies with the HE grenade.

Premature Burial
Kill an enemy with a grenade after dying.

Combat Skills

Defuse This!
Kill the defuser with an HE grenade.

Shrapnelproof
Take 80 points of damage from enemy grenades and still survive the round.

Three the Hard Way
Kill three enemies with a single HE grenade.

Gallery

Main article: HE grenade/Gallery

Trivia

The explosive grenade in Counter-Strike: Source is a M26/M61 grenade, which is a fragmentation grenade, rather than an HE grenade. A frag grenade uses shrapnel from the explosion to do damage, whereas a HE grenade uses the explosion itself to do damage.
- In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the grenade represents a M67 grenade, which is also a fragmentation grenade.
- In the achievement icon, the model is based on the M2 Fragmentation grenade.
- The Counter-Strike: Source, the HE Grenade Expert achievement uses the purchase icon from the original Counter-Strike HE grenade while the other achievements represent a Mk 2 frag grenade (a grenade used by Allied forces in World War II) for their icons.
The Pipe Bomb in Left 4 Dead is based off of this weapon. It uses the same explosion and bounce sound files though it will always be ignited before being thrown, has a slower fuse time and the Common Infected will be attracted.
In Counter-Strike: Source, the HE grenade can be thrown much further than in previous games, which makes it much easier to use. It also does more damage, but its explosion cannot go through walls.
The grenade in Deleted Scenes deals higher damage than its multiplayer counterpart. It will usually kill a fully armored player/target. Also, the damage is so high that it can gib players/targets when they stand next to the explosion.
- The grenade in Deleted Scenes cannot penetrate through surfaces.
After the 2/5/2014 update in Global Offensive, all grenades received 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).
Bots with HE grenades will sometimes throw them at walls or other obstructions so players should be cautious when following friendly bots with grenades when friendly fire is enabled, especially in Condition Zero. Prior to CS:GO, if the player issued the command "GO! GO! GO!", bots will switch to their firearm (if they agree with that command).
In Deleted Scenes, NPCs that uses the HE Grenade will often be armed with the Glock-18 (Terrorist) or USP (Counter-Terrorist) as their sidearm. They appear almost the same as a normal NPC armed with a pistol, except they will be defensive rather than aggressive (e.g. hide, throw grenades while hiding, etc).

External links

HE grenade at Wikipedia.

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