Grenade Launcher

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KA-BOOM!
The Demoman

The Grenade Launcher is the default primary weapon for the Demoman. It appears as a multiple-round, break-action grenade launcher with adjustable weapon sights, wooden stock and foregrip.

The weapon launches grenade projectiles that travel at approximately 1065 Hammer units per second, which both detonate on contact with enemies and after a brief interval after bouncing off the environment. When detonating as a result of colliding with an enemy, they deal a large amount of damage (almost equivalent to a Stickybomb), but have a small blast radius. Conversely, when detonating after bouncing off the environment, they possess a very large splash radius but deal greatly reduced damage. The bouncing of the grenades is given some unpredictability by the fact that they have a spin. Unlike most projectiles, the grenades are not affected by damage falloff so hits at long range will still do full damage.

The grenades arc significantly after being fired and the weapon thus often has to be aimed above enemies to compensate for the steep curve; jumping may also assist in increasing its range. The projectiles launch slightly to the right of the cross-hair, so the player should lead to the left to compensate. This is especially important to consider when in close combat with faster classes such as Scouts.

The grenades fired by this weapon move slightly faster than uncharged Stickybombs and have a smaller blast radius on detonation, and as such can be used for attacking at ranges where the Stickybomb Launcher would be dangerous to use or for attacking agile opponents. The ability of the grenades to bounce can also be used to indirectly attack enemies around corners.

Grenades can be used for a makeshift explosive jump, but this is difficult to accomplish. The explosion will not launch the player far, but will deliver little damage and is practical for smaller heights and distances. Employing grenade jumps can be a viable tactic for Demomen who wish to preserve their Stickybombs, or have the Chargin' Targe equipped.

Damage and function times

See also: Damage
Damage and function times
Shot type Projectile
Damage
Base damage 100% Direct: 90-110
Splash: 22-64
Critical Direct: 270-330
Splash: 190
Mini-crit Direct: 121-148
Splash: 29-86
Splash damage
Minimum splash 50% 3 ft
Damage reduction 1% / 2.88
Self-damage Point-blank: 42-74
Splash: 25-64
Function times
Attack interval 0.6 s
Reload (first) 1.24 s
Reload (consecutive) 0.6 s
Values are approximate and determined by community testing.

Note: Explosive damage varies depending on how it hits a player. The larger the classes' hit box and the closer to the explosion, the more damage delivered. The further away from the explosion, the less damage. Explosions do the most damage when they happen at the mid point of a player model. The explosion will cover more of the hit box, thus doing the most possible damage. Distance between the target and user does not affect the Grenade Launcher's damage. Damages are approximate and determined by community testing.

Demonstration

Related Achievements

Leaderboard class demoman.png Demoman

Blind Fire
Blind Fire
Destroy an Engineer building that you can't see with a direct hit from your Grenade Launcher.


Bloody Merry
Bloody Merry
Provide an enemy player with a freeze cam of your smiling face.
Glasg0wned
Glasg0wned
Kill 25 Scouts and Pyros with the Grenade Launcher.


Laddy Macdeth
Laddy Macdeth
Kill 50 enemies with direct hits from the Grenade Launcher.

Update history

September 28, 2007 Patch

  • Demoman grenades no longer explode on contact after the first bounce

October 9, 2007 Patch

  • Grenades now collide with players and Engineer buildings after the first bounce, but still won't explode on contact.

October 25, 2007 Patch

  • Fixed some edge cases where grenades could go through players or buildings.
  • Fixed grenade explosions being able to impart damage through thin ceilings.

February 28, 2008 Patch

  • Reduced Demoman's maximum Grenade Launcher reserve ammo from 30 to 16.

March 6, 2008 Patch

  • Fixed Demoman grenades not hurting the shooter if fired at point blank range against a target.
  • Fixed critical modifier for explosive weapons (rockets, pipe bombs) increasing critical chance more than intended.

April 29, 2008 Patch (Gold Rush Update)

  • Increased force taken by pipebombs by bullets and explosions

July 1, 2008 Patch

  • Fixed bug that caused Demomen to take a small amount of extra damage from their own grenades and fly farther using them.

February 24, 2010 Patch

  • Fixed pipebombs not colliding correctly with players.

October 28, 2010 Patch

  • Fixed a bug with grenades sometimes exploding on friendly players.

December 17, 2010 Patch (Australian Christmas)

  • Updated the model to use c_models.

January 19, 2011 Patch

  • Updated model with optimizations and new LODs.
  • [Undocumented] Fixed world reload animation for the Grenade Launcher not showing the Demoman holding grenades when he reloads.

February 14, 2011 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Grenade Launchers using Name or Description Tags now properly use the c_model equivalent.

Bugs

  • There are multiple issues with the first-person view of the weapon:
    • It fires grenades out of four chambers instead of six, due to the reduction in available ammo.
    • Grenades no longer appear loaded into the chambers.
    • The Demoman only reloads continually into one chamber.
  • Damage inflicted on direct hits has spread even when damage spread is disabled on the server.
  • When the Demoman drops the Grenade Launcher, a white grenade can be seen above the stock.

Trivia

  • Observant players can tell when a grenade is about to explode: each second after a grenade is fired, a team colored ring appears around it. When there are 3 rings, it is about to explode (after around 4 seconds).
  • The Grenade Launcher is based off of the real life Template:W except that it's been modified to fire multiple grenades without having to reload between each shot, similar to a Template:W.
  • During development, the likeness of the Grenade Launcher was used for a reincarnation of the Pipebomb Launcher (as seen in Trailer 2). Like the Team Fortress Classic counterpart, the Pipebomb Launcher would fire projectiles that behave the same way as those fired by the Grenade Launcher but must be manually detonated. The remote detonation feature was later moved to the Stickybomb Launcher.

Gallery

See also