Escape from Tarkov Grenades: Flush, Smoke, Push

What each type is for

Fragmentation. The default. Its job is not the kill — it is to make a position untenable. A player holding a room has to move when a frag lands in it, and the movement is where you kill them. Smoke. Blocks vision. It does not block sound and it does not stop bullets, so smoke is a tool for crossing open ground or breaking a sightline rather than a shield. Players who smoke and then walk through the middle of it are gambling. Flash and concussion. Temporarily removes the enemy’s ability to respond. The value is in the follow-up: a flash with no push is a grenade you threw away.

The mechanics that decide whether it works

Cooking the throw. Holding a grenade before releasing shortens the fuse, which removes the enemy’s chance to move. It also risks the grenade going off in your hand, and the timer is not generous. Throw arcs. Grenades bounce off walls. A throw into a room with a low ceiling tends to come back; a throw aimed at the floor in front of a doorway bounces into the room. Learning the arc for the geometry you are fighting is worth more than carrying more grenades. The pin is loud. Pulling the pin and throwing announces “grenade” to everyone nearby, which means the grenade is often answered before it lands. That is why grenades work best when they are the second thing you do, not the first.

The risk

Your own grenade is a real cause of death. A bounce off a frame, a throw at a doorway you are standing beside, a teammate entering the room behind you — all of them happen regularly. The rule: never throw at a surface within a couple of metres of yourself, and never throw when a squadmate’s position is unclear.

How many to carry

Two is the useful number. One gets spent on the first good opportunity and leaves you without an answer for the actual hold; four is weight and slots you needed for medical items. That trade is the same one every loadout makes — the weight page explains what a grenade costs you in stamina, and the medical items page explains what you gave up to carry it. If you are choosing grenades over haemostatics, you have the priorities backwards.