flashBang
The Flashbang returns in Black Ops. This time, it is a tactical grenade instead of a special grenade. If the player uses flashbangs as their tactical grenade, they will receive 2. The player will also get an extra flashbang if they use Warlord Pro.
If the player successfully flashes an enemy, they will get a hitmarker, but it should be noted that they will also get a hitmarker if they flash a person using Tactical Mask Pro, which reduces the effect of stuns and flashes to 10%.
If a player flashbangs an enemy and does no other damage to the enemy, and a teammate gets a kill, the player will be given an assist regardless of the fact that very little damage was actually done to the enemy, other than possibly creating a diversion or distraction for your teammate to use.
This special grenade has a larger area of effect, also completely blinding and deafening the player, whereas the concussion grenade only deafens and slows movement/rotation speed. However, if an enemy is a short distance away from the flashbang's detonation point, they may recover enough to fight normally after a few seconds. Although, for some of these reasons, the concussion grenade may be a better alternative due to its smaller range, making it less likely to hit yourself and also having a better effect on unaware enemies, because of a player being able to turn around and blindfire at the breaching target when hit by a flashbang. It also has a shorter readying time than the flashbang.
Concussion grenades detonate after a certain time period and when they impact an object or the ground, whereasflashbangs detonate only after a certain time period. This means flashbangs may detonate while still airborne but concussion grenades will always 'wait' until they hit something. This can be an advantage for using the concussion grenade because if the grenade is being thrown over a long distance, a flashbang may detonate in mid-air before reaching the target, but a concussion will not do this.
If the player successfully flashes an enemy, they will get a hitmarker, but it should be noted that they will also get a hitmarker if they flash a person using Tactical Mask Pro, which reduces the effect of stuns and flashes to 10%.
If a player flashbangs an enemy and does no other damage to the enemy, and a teammate gets a kill, the player will be given an assist regardless of the fact that very little damage was actually done to the enemy, other than possibly creating a diversion or distraction for your teammate to use.
This special grenade has a larger area of effect, also completely blinding and deafening the player, whereas the concussion grenade only deafens and slows movement/rotation speed. However, if an enemy is a short distance away from the flashbang's detonation point, they may recover enough to fight normally after a few seconds. Although, for some of these reasons, the concussion grenade may be a better alternative due to its smaller range, making it less likely to hit yourself and also having a better effect on unaware enemies, because of a player being able to turn around and blindfire at the breaching target when hit by a flashbang. It also has a shorter readying time than the flashbang.
Concussion grenades detonate after a certain time period and when they impact an object or the ground, whereasflashbangs detonate only after a certain time period. This means flashbangs may detonate while still airborne but concussion grenades will always 'wait' until they hit something. This can be an advantage for using the concussion grenade because if the grenade is being thrown over a long distance, a flashbang may detonate in mid-air before reaching the target, but a concussion will not do this.
tactics:
- The Flashbang grenade can be effectively used on a defended location or around a corner. Flashbangs will detonate seconds after being thrown. They cannot be cooked. If the target is close enough or looking at the detonation site from a distance, they will be temporarily blinded and deafened. The target’s reaction is still in real time so they can move forward or backpedal to evade, however, they cannot sprint while affected. They can still fire and knife normally, making any enemy in front of them a potential kill. Affected targets will raise an arm to cover their eyes, signaling to the player that they are blinded.
- In the single-player campaign, the player spawns with flashbangs, and can find additional grenades ingrenade bags, but they only appear in the bags if the player has already expended some of their own flashbangs. In multiplayer, if the player goes into Last Stand while prepping a flashbang it will turn into a fragmentation grenade. Flash Grenades detonate exactly one second after being thrown; they do not have to impact the ground like Stun grenades.
- Because it only affects players' vision if they are facing towards it, a viable tactic is to turn away before it detonates or to duck behind cover. Keep in mind that this only works at the outer edges of the grenade's blast radius; a player who is close to the grenade's detonation will be blinded no matter where he looks. Also note that the flashbang's effective radius is cut short by any wall or obstruction, regardless of how much cover it provides. For example, a low wall will defend against a flashbang, even though the grenade is still completely visible. Additionally, the flashbangs inflict a small amount of damage (15 points) if they physically strike a player, which can kill a target with low health.
- It is useful, in Modern Warfare 2, to add the Scavenger Perk to it (especially when playing maps such asFavela where there are numerous rooms and buildings player can be in for tactical advantages (or for hiding). By doing this, the player can consistently do a flash-and-clear method of approaching buildings (this is, however, ineffective unless the player is killing enemies to help resupply themselves). For this reason, it is best to do this when there is a higher probability that someone would actually be in the building. I.E. don't flash buildings really close to where the players team is spawning. The probability of someone being in that building isn't as high as someone being in a building further into the center of the map. This also disables claymores set up by individuals to watch themselves while inside the building (ex. snipers). This tactic is best used on the maps Favela and Invasion where house-to-house fighting abounds more than the typical map.
- If on a Hardcore game type, the player can actually kill an enemy player by throwing a special grenade at their head. It isn't really useful, but will make a humiliating final kill in a Hardcore Search and Destroy, if there is 1 last enemy player left, and they are planting/defusing the bomb. Note: this will only work in Modern Warfare 2 at the moment.
- It's worth noting that while stun grenades are used to slow targets down if they intend to run, flashbangs serve better as a way to kill enemies in enclosed spaces. They will be unable to tell if the player has entered the room and any equipment in the room will be temporarily shut down due to the larger range of flashbangs (Modern Warfare 2 only).
- Throwing a Flashbang into an area infested with enemies can give the player a great amount of assist points as the Flashbang's explosive radius is higher than a stun grenade. Enemies may also randomly shoot, thus giving away their positions making them more vulnerable.
- Flash grenades are also useful for annoying teammates without being penalized for killing them. Some players do this by equipping Special Grenades x3 with flash grenades on any game mode. However, griefers ideally tend to do this on Hardcore Search and Destroy because the players all start at the same spawn, do not respawn upon dying, and have decreased health. As soon as the match begins, the griefer throws the grenades in front of his teammates, blinding them for a few seconds. While this does not harm them, teammates will often get angry and will even kill the player who threw the grenades.
- In Black Ops, using Tactical Mask Pro can be very useful in conjunction with flashbangs. Since the blast radius of flashbangs is so big, they can be used at close range to completely blind an enemy while the user may still be mostly unaffected. This is especially useful since so few players use tactical mask, making flashbangs more effective.
