Thermite Grenades - Surprisingly effective

[The Ironguard]

So, i've been doing a bit of testing to see if the thermite grenades were actually a viable anti-heavy option. Given that their damage stats are supposed to be 150 Burn and 100 explosion, at AP7, one would think they might come in handy, and as it turns out, they do!

Now, the damage delivery on the Thermite grenade is definitely... a bit wonky. However, results ARE consistent, even if i'm not entirely sure how.

1. Chargers: Chargers will die from 3 thermite grenades to the head and/or main body. Now the thermite grenade for some reason, doesn't crack the armor open, but it does apparently cause enough damage to critical parts of the charger to either kill it outright, or make it bleed out right after the thermite blasts. Applying 3 grenades is not very hard either, as you can both land them easily enough as it charges at you, or when it stops to turn around. Just be careful you don't hit its legs, as they do seem to run on a separate healthpool.

2. Bile titans: This is a big one, and i have to admit i was surprised how well it went. While thermite IS powerful enough to burn through Bile titan leg armor (armor 6) it is actually much more effective to throw it at their head. 5 grenades to the head/upper torso area seems to be enough to kill a titan. Looking at the numbers, if you can land 3 of them directly at its head, that should be enough to kill it, but given the small head area, the tiny arms in the way, etc. that could be difficult. Landing the grenades on the upper body near the head seems to be fairly effective too though.

3. Turrets: Thermite is excellent for dealing with turrets, both on towers and tanks. 2 thermite grenades directly to the turret, will kill it. Even if you don't hit the vents. It just burns through the armor. Very useful, especially as they can be thrown from behind cover.

4. Hulks: Hulks will die in 3 thermite grenades to the center torso. Now, if you can land on RIGHT on the weak spot, it should kill it in 1 grenade, but that seems to be very difficult because of the way the hit box works. Getting 3 grenades on the center torso NEAR the eye, will do the job as well however. Just keep in mind that the Hulk has separate hitboxes for arms and legs, so try not to hit those.

Now, if you want to use thermite as your go-to anti-tank option, i would recommend you run a supply backpack to keep your grenades up, as you will need a good number of them if you need to take out multiple armored threats, but the thermite grenade is definitely a viable choice, and will free up a stratagem or support slot that you would otherwise have to use on anti-armor.

It takes a little practice with the throwing, but i've been having a lot of fun with them.

[StormhawkV]

So killing a single enemy by throwing your entire supply of grenades at it is what you call 'surprisingly effective'?

[V_guessWho]

Resource and TTK wise it's too long, compared to all the other options

[Draescan]

Your definition of effective, needs to be re-evaluated.

[Khloros]

Thermite still blows.

How to balance thermite in a single easy step
1 thermite grenade should be enough to blow off a chargers leg armor.
There you go, make that single change and congrats, you fixed thermite.

[Bueno Stainz]

its hilarious how I havent seen a single thermite nade in months but the moment someone post about it I immediately see someone using it in game
Im almost certain they read this post and started using them. Theyre still garbage in my opinion though. Not to dump on your post or anything.

[Midas]

I guess that is all 'surprisingly effective' in the context that most people say it is literally objectively worthless and can't damage anything. But not by much.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

sounds about as effective as magdumping (1-2) your nadelauncher under a charger to kill it... eventually.

no idea how large the thermite explosion is, but since i cant control when it goes off, sticking it on chargers seems like an unnecessary FF risk.

however i seen people use it before this thread... yeah dunno..

[Mosey]

I have to admit, it's pretty amusing to call something 'effective' when it takes three perfect headshot throws out of a default 4 total grenades, at least according to your testing, and a whole lot of time to kill one enemy you could off in half a second with any anti-armor pick.

I mean, I'd have to admit at least it does something to those targets but the something it does takes too long and takes too much aiming skill to be anything more than counting coup.

Also, for what it's worth, throwing knives do better against chargers than thermite grenades. No, it doesn't make sense, but it's true.

[Midas]

Escrito originalmente por SCZCelestrian:

sounds about as effective as magdumping (1-2) your nadelauncher under a charger to kill it... eventually.

no idea how large the thermite explosion is, but since i cant control when it goes off, sticking it on chargers seems like an unnecessary FF risk.

however i seen people use it before this thread... yeah dunno..

Hey, don't be mean to the grenade launcher. Shooting charger butts with the GL is totally legit. Just a lot harder to do without a stun grenade to hold it still for a moment.

[[SCZ]Celestrian]

Escrito originalmente por Midas:

Escrito originalmente por SCZCelestrian:

sounds about as effective as magdumping (1-2) your nadelauncher under a charger to kill it... eventually.

no idea how large the thermite explosion is, but since i cant control when it goes off, sticking it on chargers seems like an unnecessary FF risk.

however i seen people use it before this thread... yeah dunno..

Hey, don't be mean to the grenade launcher. Shooting charger butts with the GL is totally legit. Just a lot harder to do without a stun grenade to hold it still for a moment.

always playing eat, commando, nade, supplypack & impacts

due to the possibility of spitters being on the map, the nade launcher is king vs bugs.
being able to magdump away chargers is just a bonus

[Big frank]

Escrito originalmente por The Ironguard:

So, i've been doing a bit of testing to see if the thermite grenades were actually a viable anti-heavy option. Given that their damage stats are supposed to be 150 Burn and 100 explosion, at AP7, one would think they might come in handy, and as it turns out, they do!

Now, the damage delivery on the Thermite grenade is definitely... a bit wonky. However, results ARE consistent, even if i'm not entirely sure how.

1. Chargers: Chargers will die from 3 thermite grenades to the head and/or main body. Now the thermite grenade for some reason, doesn't crack the armor open, but it does apparently cause enough damage to critical parts of the charger to either kill it outright, or make it bleed out right after the thermite blasts. Applying 3 grenades is not very hard either, as you can both land them easily enough as it charges at you, or when it stops to turn around. Just be careful you don't hit its legs, as they do seem to run on a separate healthpool.

2. Bile titans: This is a big one, and i have to admit i was surprised how well it went. While thermite IS powerful enough to burn through Bile titan leg armor (armor 6) it is actually much more effective to throw it at their head. 5 grenades to the head/upper torso area seems to be enough to kill a titan. Looking at the numbers, if you can land 3 of them directly at its head, that should be enough to kill it, but given the small head area, the tiny arms in the way, etc. that could be difficult. Landing the grenades on the upper body near the head seems to be fairly effective too though.

3. Turrets: Thermite is excellent for dealing with turrets, both on towers and tanks. 2 thermite grenades directly to the turret, will kill it. Even if you don't hit the vents. It just burns through the armor. Very useful, especially as they can be thrown from behind cover.

4. Hulks: Hulks will die in 3 thermite grenades to the center torso. Now, if you can land on RIGHT on the weak spot, it should kill it in 1 grenade, but that seems to be very difficult because of the way the hit box works. Getting 3 grenades on the center torso NEAR the eye, will do the job as well however. Just keep in mind that the Hulk has separate hitboxes for arms and legs, so try not to hit those.

Now, if you want to use thermite as your go-to anti-tank option, i would recommend you run a supply backpack to keep your grenades up, as you will need a good number of them if you need to take out multiple armored threats, but the thermite grenade is definitely a viable choice, and will free up a stratagem or support slot that you would otherwise have to use on anti-armor.

It takes a little practice with the throwing, but i've been having a lot of fun with them.

I actually appreciate the numbers crunched here. I'd say expanding the majority+ of your grenades to kill one target doesn't make them "surprisingly effective" unless you hold that up next to the average players opinion of them being objectively useless. In which case yeah I guess the observation there is accurate.

[Beltway]

My problem with thermite is that it's too niche and it's not even good for it's niche. I'll have to revisit it, but it didn't excel at anything. It doesn't destroy structures, weaken enemies, etc.

[Anticitizen 1]

Is this a satire post? How is blowing 75% of your grenade supply on a single heavy is even remotely "effective"? You realise that once you go past "Challenging", you are going to have to deal with multiple heavies at the same time?

[Medium B*t]

Thermites also deal AOE damage that can kill multiple clumped up devs if you throw one into the middle of the group. I haven't tested it but one to the leg of a hulk should completely immobilise it, preventing it from turning fast or running after you. Which should be handy against flamer hulks sprinting at you

[Sleepy_Walker]

Escrito originalmente por The Ironguard:

3. Turrets: Thermite is excellent for dealing with turrets, both on towers and tanks. 2 thermite grenades directly to the turret, will kill it. Even if you don't hit the vents. It just burns through the armor. Very useful, especially as they can be thrown from behind cover.

4. Hulks: Hulks will die in 3 thermite grenades to the center torso. Now, if you can land on RIGHT on the weak spot, it should kill it in 1 grenade, but that seems to be very difficult because of the way the hit box works. Getting 3 grenades on the center torso NEAR the eye, will do the job as well however. Just keep in mind that the Hulk has separate hitboxes for arms and legs, so try not to hit those.

In my experience Cannon towers die to a single thermite when place relatively close to the turret (the tower base) or on the turret itself, which is quite effective. Tanks on the other hand have to be stuck to the hull (a big target), taking 2 grenades, and spacing the throws out a bit over a second to do just enough damage to destroy it. A tank that is stuck to the turret will take reduced or zero DOT damage.

Hulks should be downed reliably in 2 grenades ever so slightly space apart time wise (even less than tank), but sometimes the grenade only does explosive damage. I personally have never downed a fresh hulk in a single thermite, regardless of where I stuck it, and I've found the best place to stick a hulk is under the eye but above the knees. Alternatively if the hulk just stands around/on the thermite, that will also do full damage reliably.

I personally like burning heavy devastators by sticking one to the shield and then go off to do something else.

I think thermite could be so much better if it was as reliable to all targets as it is to cannon towers and tanks. As of right now chargers should be reliably killed in 2 thermites, but I've had them take as little as 2 and as many as 5. Quite a resource investment for adding incendiary sparklers to a thing that is trying to touch you.