HE Grenade

Overview

Gallery

HE Grenade
General
Alternate name(s)	Nade High Explosive Grenade Grenade Frag HE
Price	$300
Used by	Counter-Terrorist Terrorist
Movement Speed	250 245
Hotkey	b-6-4
Entity	weapon_hegrenade

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

The HE Grenade (HE standing for High Explosive) 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

The HE (High Explosive) Grenade is essentially a capsule filled with explosives that will detonate on a timed after being thrown. After being thrown, the grenade detonates after fuse is start explode expires, creating a small, loud explosion and dealing instantaneous damage to enemies in an area, which drops down as their distance to the grenade increases. The grenade explosion can also destroy air vents, windows, and destructible doors if they are caught in the vicinity of the explosion. In Counter-Strike, the explosion damage can penetrate through walls, however this capability was removed in later games.

In Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, the HE grenade is a retextured version of the cut CS Grenade, which in turn was modeled after the M7A3 CS Grenade. In Counter-Strike: Source, it is modeled after the M26 grenade, and in Global Offensive, it is modeled after the M67 grenade, both of which fragmentation grenades in reality, though behave in-game as high explosive grenades, damaging only through their explosion instead of releasing shrapnel.

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 1.6 and Condition Zero. Prior to Global Offensive, if the player issued the command "GO! GO! GO!", bots will switch to their firearm (if they agree with that command).

Deleted Scenes

The HE Grenade used by the player in Deleted Scenes deals higher damage than its multiplayer counterpart, and can gib enemies (and player) when they stand next to the explosion.

NPCs that uses the HE Grenade will often be armed with the 9×19mm Sidearm or K&M .45 Tactical 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). Furthermore, they seem to have an unlimited supply of grenades, but deals less damage than player's.

Explosion from HE Grenade can cause knockback on the player. Unlike in multiplayer variants. The player can carry up to 3 HE Grenades at a time.

Properties

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

	Movement speed in hammer units per second
	Counter Strike: Global Offensive	Counter-Strike, Condition Zero and Source
Running	245	250
Walking	127	130
Crouch walking	83	85

Damage from an HE Grenade is affected by what hitboxes its explosion touches. The hitbox that takes the maximum damage is positioned from the waist to above the head. In Global Offensive, the maximum blast radius is 384 units (or six head-height crates).

Tactics

• Rounding corners in order to throw a grenade is a great way to get killed. While grenades are one of the most useful tools in the game, they can be a huge liability if used incorrectly. You are almost completely defenseless when you have the grenade equipped, so practice bouncing grenades and throwing them over cover. Generally speaking, you should only throw a grenade from an exposed position when you know for a fact that the enemy can't get line-of-sight in time (early in the round, or you know from the mini-map and team communication).
• The HE grenade is not merely a pure offensive instrument. They are great for softening enemies, finishing off wounded assailants, and/or deter potential ambushers. They can also be used to cause general mayhem, and to defend a certain area against opposing players. 
  • 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 mis-thrown, but it won't injure the player's teammates. This tactic is most effective in very small maps, however the player may be votekicked or automatically banned on some servers. Most of time however, servers will prevent this by reducing the buy time to just a couple of seconds, often the equivalent of freeze time.
• 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.
  • It is great for finishing off wounded but well covered 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, or if the enemy survived from a shot from the Scout/SSG 08).
  • Alternatively, the HE grenade can be used to take out campers or force them to leave their hiding spots. For example, you can toss a grenade at one entrance to the camping spot and rush the enemy through a second entrance. Your target will be forced to retreat by the explosion allowing you to catch him in an ambush.
• Late round, the HE grenade can be used as a 'decoy' of sorts. Throwing an HE across the map may encourage enemy players to abandon their position, believing that you are clearing an area you intend to bypass.
• 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 particularly devastating if thrown at a large group of enemies at the start of a map, preferably if the group is in a tight area. 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.
  • This is particularly true against terrorists, as many CT players prefer to buy kevlar because of the extreme effectiveness of the CT's default pistols in delivering fatal headshots against un-helmeted opponents, even at range.
  • Practice timing, positioning and angle. Ideally, your grenade(s) will explode at head level, without bouncing, in the middle of the enemy team just as they rush a corner.
• Depending on where the HE grenade has been thrown, the health of targets, and if they have armor, 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 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.
• In older versions of Counter-Strike, HE Grenades can instantly kill hostages if the grenade lands directly at them, be careful using them around them!
• In Counter-Strike, the explosion of the HE grenade will go though walls and cover; this means a player will take damage even behind cover, as long as he is within the blast radius. Use extra caution while trying to use it in close quarters or/and if friendly fire is turned on.
• 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.
• 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 in Global Offensive will deal 2 points of damage (1 with armor) 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.
• Some doors in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive can be destroyed with the HE grenade. Destroying them 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.
• The dust caused by the explosion in Global Offensive can be used as an impromptu Smoke Grenade, allowing a smoke grenade to be saved when passing through small but dangerous spots that usually requires a smoke grenade to safely pass (e.g. Mid Doors on Dust 2), saving it for more important uses.
• Bots do not avoid grenades. Players can take advantage of this by easily softening them without too much trouble.

Appearances

• Counter-Strike Beta
• Condition Zero
• Deleted Scenes
• Global Offensive

The HE Grenade appeared in the following maps:

• Frantic: In the armory in the Terrorist spawn area, accessed by destroying the vent, and in the maintenance tunnel.
• Jail: In the armory in the Terrorist spawn area, accessed by destroying the vent.
• Trinity: In a crate on the lower path from the Terrorist spawn area.

In the Tour of Duty, the HE Grenade kill challenge appears in:

Map	Difficulty	Challenge
Fastline	Expert	Kill an enemy and survive the round

HE grenades are usable by the player in every level except for Hankagai, Fastline, Truth in Chaos, Run!, and Miami Heat. In Motorcade Assault, a crate with an infinite supply of HE grenades is available near the VIP's room, used for throwing it inside the room through a hole.

Additionally, HE Grenades are thrown by enemies in scripted sequences in Recoil, Building Recon, and Fastline.

• Gemini

Main article: Gemini

The HE Grenade is among the weapons the players can choose from at the beginning of the Phoenix Compound map in "The Extraction", "Once More Into The Breach", and "The Enemy Of My Enemy...".

Achievements

• Counter-Strike: Source
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

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.

Trivia

• The HE grenade in Counter-Strike: Source is a M26 / M61 grenade. However in the achievement icon, the model is based on the Mk2 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, another game made by Valve, is based on the HE grenade in Source. In the Pipe Bomb's weapon file, its "price" is the same as the Source HE Grenade, and the Pipe Bomb's sounds are in a folder called "hegrenade", also reused from the HE grenade. In addition, a very early HUD icon for Pipe Bomb that can be found in the game's files is identical to the Source HE Grenade.
• In Global Offensive, it is technically possible to kill someone with a single grenade. This is done by hitting an unarmored opponent with the grenade (2 damage) and having the grenade deliver maximum damage (98), which will add up to 100 damage and kill the player. However, achieving this in actual play is very difficult and unlikely.

External links

• HE grenade at Wikipedia.