Smoke grenade : legitimately underrated, but situational ?

[Kesserline]

If you don't count the Human Vs Human rounds. Smoke nades are nearly useless against Xenos, except for ONE THING : Prevent boilers from firing.

I'll try to test it, if I manage to reach SD last stand, but sending smokes in the hallway would prevent boilers from shooting about 5 to 10 sec for each nades, while still allowing the defenders to shoot charging xenos.

Smoke grenades are available by 3 for each SLs and some are available to RO.

I'm quite new on this game, has it already been tested actively on that situation ? Is it viable ? Is it too shitty or the results too shitty to bother about testing it ?

What are your thoughts on those poor smoke grenades ?

[Steelpoint]

Smoke grenades block the Queens screeching.

A extrealy well placed smoke grenade can shut down a push by preventing the Queens screech from affecting anyone, however its extremely situation as you also block your vision.

Only time I've seen smoke grenades work well is on the SD defence as you know where the xenos are so you can keep shooting and you are unlikely to screw yourself over.

[Kesserline]

I would also be able to use it at the N-E cave entrance on LV-624.

Any defenses that the marines make at the end of a chokepoint (and that boilers can snipe) can be protected by a smoke.

Maybe buffing the smoke time from 10 seconds to 30 sec would make it more reliable to counter boilers without having a sniper nearby. It would allow to block the line of sight, preventing the combo : Boiler + Screech + General assault and make the Xenos only rely on Screech for the duration of the smoke.

But, increasing the smoke duration would make a "Smoke SD meta" instantly though, making the SD too easy to defend by gaining free time from boilers and having increased chance of killing the Queen pushing.

[JennerH]

Yeah, just save smokes for SD, 2 smokes per minute, that'll buy you at least 5 minutes total

[Kesserline]

Well, no.. Smoke duration is about the same that the boiler cloud duration. Isn't it?

That would by only 15 sec max per smoke nade

[Simo94]

smoke is fucking pointless because xenos can still muh lore see you anyways

[VitorThauma]

It also works if you want to block a sentry from firing.

[JennerH]

An actual practical purpose would be to get passed the sentries guarding the pirate ship on prison

[Renomaki]

Smoke is a very, VERY risky item to use.

On the one hand, boilers won't be able to fire past a cloud because they can't fire on BLACK tiles (which represent the unknown). Xenos have heat vision and night vision, but they don't have engineer vision, so if they were to face a wall, the area behind it would appear pitch black.

This is why Boiler clouds tend to be so difficult to shoot into, as well as why sentries become completely helpless within a cloud, due to it blocking line of sight and thus making it more difficult to fire where you want to fire. Because of this, it is POSSIBLE that a well placed smoke grenade could make it harder for a boiler to lob his blob pass the smog... But then again, it also blocks marine LoS and makes them cough, dropping their items in the process.

It is a sad item, because it makes so much sense for marines to HAVE smoke, but outside of Human VS Human rounds (where no one packs it anyways out of habit), it is a hard sell and a risky use of inventory that an NCO no doubt struggles with enough as is.

[Simo94]

I think boilers can fire inside or behind smoke if they click on a marine's sprite using muh lore vision

[Renomaki]

I think boilers can fire inside or behind smoke if they click on a marine's sprite using muh lore vision

That is indeed true, due to how the game is programmed.

However, unless the boiler in question knows the map like the back of their hand, they can't always rely on moving sprites within the darkness. There is also the blob's habit of sometimes veering off course that you have to account for.

[Simo94]

That is indeed true, due to how the game is programmed.

However, unless the boiler in question knows the map like the back of their hand, they can't always rely on moving sprites within the darkness. There is also the blob's habit of sometimes veering off course that you have to account for.

devs either cant fix that bug yet or are unaware of it, but as long as I can remember, boilers can NOT bomb in a straight line, the bomb always moves a tile to the side and its annoying as heck I have to always shoot diagonally for accurate bombing as boiler

[Crab_Spider]

They're good for causing people to drop what they're holding and forcing drone castes to drop huggers.

[Drownie]

How everyone said, only useful on SD defences.
The boiler can still bombard if they already have clicked on a tile and they're firing, or they can just click on your sprite.
I've never saw a smoke grenade blocking a Queen from attacking, because I already used it in a round on LV, fired it at North Hydro when they came to do a massive attack, they just ignored it and and passed through it.
If you are not in a last stand on SD, or a HvsH round, ignore the use of Smokes.

[Avalanchee]

Smokes are extremely useful on PvP events. For example dealing with a M56 Nest

[Beiler]

Despite the necro that the above post is, I'd like to expand on this myself.

Smokes are wonderfully good at preventing a multitude attacks in a three second period.
They disrupt the Queen's LOS screech, block Boiler gas from expanding, and are annoying as fuck in HvH for the opposite side.
Always toss two into my UGL for the pulse rifle if I can't get anything else, and toss the spare into my pouch. There's no reason to not take them, provided you've got the room.

[Surrealistik]

Situationally useful in HvH.

Too risky and difficult to use effectively to bother with in HvA, barring maybe a very temporary fix for boiler gas.

[Sulaboy]

Using smokes gives spitters free reign on firing at marines, it would be very situational in infestation.

[Chaznoodles]

If you see a queen coming, ping a smoke where she's charging to. 50/50 chance of the screech not affecting any marines because they can't see her, or everyone getting nailed in the smoke because you tossed too late.