Fragmentation Grenade (Half-Life 2)

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Fragmentation Grenade
Production information
Faction	Combine
Type	Offensive hand grenade
Technical specifications
Damage	125 (150 in HL2DM)
Max ammo	5
Weapon category	5
Ammo type	Self
Operation	Pull pin to arm, throw to deploy and begin timer
Rate of fire	Slow
Accuracy	N/A (thrown)
Range	Medium
Usage
Used by	Gordon Freeman Combine Soldiers Zombines
Counterweapon(s)	Gravity Gun
Game information
Entity	weapon_frag npc_grenade_frag (thrown)

 

The Fragmentation Grenade (also referred to as Bouncer or Extractor in Combine terminology) is a Combine weapon featured in Half-Life 2. It is a standard grenade that explodes a few seconds after it is thrown.

Overview

The Grenade comes equipped with a red blinking light and a chirping timer that are played when the grenade is thrown, letting both the attacker and the victim know when an active grenade is in their vicinity. The Grenade can be thrown in three ways: throw, toss, and roll. The throw is activated by hitting the primary fire key, the tossing with the secondary fire key, and rolling with the secondary fire key while crouching. When thrown, these hand grenades have a fairly low bounce but due to their cylindrical shape, they will roll a significant distance if they land on a smooth surface, so these attributes should be taken into account when throwing them.

Most Combine Soldiers carry at least a few of these and use them to flush out and/or kill enemies. Unthrown Grenades can also be picked up by the player if dropped by a soldier, either with their hands or with the Gravity Gun, and throw them away or back at the enemy. When Freeman throws a grenade, it is thrown slightly towards the right of the crosshair, instead of the center. In a few Episode Two scripted sequences, Combine soldiers throw the grenades back. Likewise, during the journey to the Muscle Car, Gordon comes across a dumpster, with a Fast Zombie digging out boxes inside. If a Grenade is thrown in, the zombie will throw it back out. If another one is thrown, it will blow, and the zombie will jump out in flames.

The Grenade is first acquired in Half-Life 2's third chapter, Route Kanal. It can be found behind a box where lies a Zombie torso.

"M-83 FRAG" can be seen written on the grenade's spoon. However, the M-83 is an unrelated smoke grenade similar in appearance to the MK3A2.

Tactics

The Grenade is a very useful tactical tool. Besides simply killing enemies, it is ideal for flushing out entrenched enemies, forcing soldiers out of cover and scattering concentrated groups of enemies. It is also very useful for knocking down Combine Sentry Guns from a distance if no object can be thrown at them.

Metrocops, Combine Soldiers and Combine Elites are the only enemies that will avoid a Grenade. As a result, Grenades are very effective against Zombies, as they generally move slowly and make no attempt to avoid the blast.

Grenades can be picked up after being thrown, both with Gordon's "hands" (the Use key) and with the Gravity Gun. In particular, the Gravity Gun is a useful tool (especially in Half-Life 2: Deathmatch) for increasing the range and precision of the explosives. The most widely used techniques include Grenade throwing and punting. Grenade throwing means dropping the grenade, picking it up, and using it as a makeshift airburst grenade, since the grenade can be cooked off easily once deployed. This is very effective against opponents in mid-air or behind obstructions. Grenade punting relies on dropping the grenade, then punting it, without picking it up. This allows for using the explosive very fast over long distances.

Enemy grenades can be picked up and thrown back, though beware the grenade's ticking fuse. Using the Gravity Gun is much safer than Gordon's "hands" but may overshoot the target.

Grenades are bouncy enough to be thrown around corners with ease. However, they will lose a good deal of their momentum and will not bounce again. The grenade makes a distinct sound when it hits the floor; even if one does not hear the timer, the impact sound should be sufficient to alert the player to the presence of a grenade.

One should remember that the Grenade's timer will not start until it is thrown. This makes it easy to hold a grenade until enemies are in the right position.

In Deathmatch, by dropping a grenade behind a wall, or outside a vent, one is able to destroy obstacles such as S.L.A.Ms easily without harm caused to the player. Of note is that picking up grenades that have been thrown at the player will reset the timer.

Related Achievements

Any Half-Life 2 game
	Hot Potat0wned (10G)
	Kill a Combine soldier with his own grenade.
Half-Life 2: Episode One / Half-Life 2: Episode Two
	Grave Robber (5G)
	Steal a Zombine's grenade.

Behind the scenes

According to the Conscript model texture files, Conscripts were to use grenades. In the early versions of Half-Life 2, the weapon didn't have the ticking sound and red light. Both were added likely because it was harder to locate and escape them.

The cut weapon called the Vortex Hopwire uses the Grenade as its viewmodel.

According to Kerry Davis, in the Fast Zombie in a dumpster scene in Episode Two, the team rigged an entity called a physics explosion to create movement among the boxes inside the dumpster. One playtester threw a grenade into the dumpster and the physics explosion entity caused the grenade to fly back out. The player was shocked, thinking the Zombie had tossed back his grenade. Although this happened by accident the first time, the developers went ahead and set up the entities to make sure it would happen for every player who lobs a grenade into the dumpster.

Gallery

• 

  Leak worldmodel, with a simpler and brighter skin.

• 

  Unused Half-Life 2 leak texture that has "grenade hand", "offensive", "MK 3A2" and "TNT" on it.

• 

  HUD icon, from HalfLife2.ttf file.

• 

  HUD pickup icon, from "HalfLife2.ttf".

• 

  HUD icon used for when a player is killed by a Grenade Grenade in Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, from "HL2MP.ttf".

• 

  Worldmodel.

• 

  Viewmodel.

• 

  Ammo crate model.

• 

  Grenades near a dead Citizen.

• 

  A Zombine holding a Grenade in the dark of the City 17 Underground.

• 

  Alyx fighting Zombies while a Zombine launches a Grenade in the Hospital.

• 

  Alyx being caught in a Zombine's Grenade explosion in the Hospital.

List of appearances

Combine OverWiki has more images related to Fragmentation Grenade (Half-Life 2).

Main games

• Half-Life 2 (First appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Episode One
• Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Other

• Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (Non-canonical appearance)
• Half-Life 2: Lost Coast (Non-canonical appearance)
• Source Particle Benchmark (Game files only) (Non-canonical appearance)

See also

• Fragmentation Grenade (Half-Life)
• Grenade (Half-Life: Alyx)

External links

• MK3A2 on Wikipedia