I’m yet to see a single case of a smoke grenade that improved a situation. The best case scenario is that it allows enemies to get close before anyone can react to them.
They’re literally just a localised “ventilation purge” mod, which, I’ll remind everyone, is intended to make the game more difficult.
I’m sure people will come here and talk about how they saved a downed teammate or forced shooters to move that one time, therefore they’re great, but I guarantee you that the rest of your team was cursing you for preventing them from seeing what the hell was going on around them.
not only that, but snipers don’t care about them, and gunners will still blast through it without a care in the world unless you throw it directly on them.
the way they are now, it doesn’t even really make sense why they’re in the game. grenades are supposed to be like a special ability that gives you an advantage in either a very specific situation, or just in general, but the smoke unreliable and is basically just a terrible version of the zealot’s stun grenades.
not sure why fatshark decided to go with smoke and then coded everything to be all jacked up lol they don’t even work on snipers and some ranged will continue shooting at your last known location, so if your team was in a tight space, it’s not really doing much. they should’ve just been a stun grenade that also doubles to stop ranged enemies from picking your team off if it’s in their line of sight.
I have never played with them myself, but smoke grenades are typically done very poorly in games. In X-com, for instance, you have to hit the enemy with the smoke in order to make them work, where as in real life (at least the ones I fired from a Carl Gustaf grenade launcher in my military service) were shot between you and the enemy to remove line of sight. It could be a really cool thing if done correctly.
… then if this particular mechanic works in a game like Darktide… I don’t know. It’d seem to do more harm than good as the classes who are really good at picking off snipers at range would be as hindered by them as the snipers would be (assuming the grenades worked correctly).
This is just not how smoke works though. You put smoke between you and a target, you don’t cover a target in smoke (or yourself). Tanks have smoke launchers that surrounds them in smoke, but the point is to drive out of the smoke to reposition.
My idea? Turn it into a toxic gas grenade that does chemical damage over time. It can still blind the enemies behind it as a bonus, but the enemies who are exposed to it within its detonation range? They’ll suffer the grisly fate a heretic deserves.
Well the thing is you probably want to use your blitz in melee also, otherwise frag and krak always will be more agile tool. And vs range enemeies SN will do more harm, unless you have teamsahred bio-optics talents.
Smoke grenade is totally different playstyle and most of the time when I see someone use it they use it with talents which don’t complement it. If used properly then it can be a hell lot of a fun.
I only use smoke grenade with Enhanced Target Priority talent, so other can see. It feels like the smoke grenade is for repositioning, flanking, gap closing for melee.
If your team is melee heavy then with Grenade Tinkerer talent basically you can lock down whole sections for 30sec for them while eliminate the shooters.
Imo it would be good if smoke grenades were changed into flashbangs.
Basically like the zealot’s stun grenade, but with a much shorter explosion delay and a slightly shorter stun duration (potentially a larger aoe).
Just needs adjustment to give allies full ranged immunity while inside and impart a decent slow effect (or maximum Suppression? Both?) on enemies within.
Would help it in its basic role of removing the threat of shooters temporarily while having a lesser but still beneficial effect in melee range.
Would be an interesting option for stealth vets too, as they’d be able to launch it into their target and use it as cover to approach between stealth cooldowns.
Shredder would still be the prime horde clear Grenade, Krak can keep on deleting whatever happens to attract it and Smoke is able to give the squad a safety bubble similar to a Psykers shield when used defensively on the squad or an area of denial for the enemy when used offensively.
Sure you could argue that a Shredder killing them instantly (Death is best CC afterall) is superior, however a Shredder doesn’t remain on-field for 15 seconds continuously denying the enemy shooters as they spawn in.
It would provide a support ability for teammates as well as a great synergy with counter fire.
The veteran could stand inside a smoke cloud for safety and use the ult to see the enemy shooters anyway.
it’s a save way to find out who’s secretly a heretic nothing better then having a pack of ragers or crushers emerge from the smoke to bash your skull in,. take care people they are among us.
I hate thos things.
They make it hard to see, meanwhile, enemy shotgunners do not seem to have that problem (or at least can see me further than I can see them). They reduce my framerate.
They mean that there’s at least 1 teammate without a useful Blitz.
And, if I’m playing veteran and want a melee tree, it means I have to spend 2 extra points to go around it.
Every time someone uses them more than once I see the rest of the team complain.
Well no not really. They stagger, provide cover against ranged, and force dogs, flamers (iirc), gunners, trappers etc. to come to point blank range before attacking which is basically the same as just erasing them as a danger. And they last for so long that given the nade recharge talent and how situational those nades are, you’ll basically always have them available even for extended fights when you need them. And tagging as always lets easily you spot any priority targets through the smoke anyway.
The main problem with smokes is that both the teams and most of the people using them don’t know how they work and how to make use of them. Ironically they’re like psykers before patch #13, with the vast majority thinking they were weak, when really they were the strongest class. A single smoke makes for way bigger plays and opportunities than any other nade can, let alone Krak or Frag.
Personally I think I used them maybe once and wasn’t blown away by them.
I think part of the issue is that unlike stealth where it’s a definite “they cannot see you” it mostly just reduces sight range.
Yeah when used properly you can lock up some shooters for a bit however any melee enemy nearby also gets coveted.
I also don’t believe it works as a proper sight line blocker so things can still shoot you if you are on the other side of it.
I would honestly need to look at it more but initial reaction was me scratching my head going “why don’t I just take an offensive grenade since I get them for free?”
Only real problem with smoke is that sniper’s can see through it.
The rest is lack of understeanding, unwilling to adapt and learn new things. I assume that based on myself and my friends.
my initial reaction was the same as op, but as with many things in this game, it changed to positive, after i gave it a bit of thought and try
I was just thinking about this after reading the OP. I think a short-duration stun with a longer-duration disorientation effect could be interesting (provided the radius is significant); reduced enemy ranged accuracy and/or speed, and potentially scaling the effect and/or duration based on proximity.
Another thought I had (usefulness is… questionable, so bear with me) - some sort of mine, to deny flanking routes, cover your rear, or placed in advance for events/announced hordes; any mine that isn’t triggered could be disarmed and used again. Possibly allow alt-fire to change the trigger mechanism (any enemy vs. specialists/elites) As for the effect of the mine itself, I haven’t really thought too much about that - damage, control, something in between?
