Grenade (Pulse)

Pulse Grenades are explosive thrown weapons in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3 and Fallout Tactics.

Fallout and Fallout 2
These high-tech grenades are your silver bullet against robots, but worthless against anything else. If at all possible, angle your throw to use a wall as a backstop in case of bouncing - the blast is large, but it's worth putting it where you can't miss. The player, unlike other critters, has no inherent EMP resistance, and will take full damage from pulse grenades if not wearing any armor.

Fallout

 * The Hub Old Town, purchased from Jake at Jake's Weapons.
 * Boneyard Fortress, purchased from Zack.

Fallout 2

 * Found in Sierra Army Depot, the fridge in the basement of New Reno Arms, and rare other places.

Fallout 3
A Pulse Grenade is an electromagnetic weapon that creates a large, crackling blue spherical pulse, dealing only minor damage to biological creatures, but far more major damage to mechanical targets such as Robots and Automated Turrets. In addition, most robots are disabled for a few seconds by the burst, leaving them open to attack.

Tactics and strategies
Thrown grenades are affected by physics; they may bounce or roll unexpectedly if not thrown carefully. However, in game physics can also be used to your advantage; such as throwing grenades through doorways or bouncing them around corners to attack enemies who cannot see you.

It is best to use a grenade on groups of enemies at chokepoints such as doorways or stairwells. Grenades are targetable in V.A.T.S. Thus they can be shot out of the air, and shooting them whilst they are still held by the enemy can detonate them. Grenades can be thrown point-blank in V.A.T.S due to the sharply reduced damage taken.

A grenade that has been thrown toward you will show up on your HUD as a red arrow denoting its direction relative to you. Move in the opposite direction as quickly as possible to escape the blast radius.

Holding the fire button down for a longer period of time will increase the strength of the throw. Grenades can be thrown for longer distances than normal through successful V.A.T.S. hits. Grenades cannot be cooked to detonate earlier.

It is also possible to plant a live grenade on an NPC by passing one from your inventory to the NPC's inventory via pickpocketing. This will kill the NPC, regardless of how much health he has, making the Pulse Grenade far more deadly against a single biological target, whilst other targets caught in the blast radius will only be dealt minor damage, in contrast to other grenades.

Random Locations

 * Talon Company mercenaries and Regulators sometimes carry Pulse Grenades with them.
 * Grenade Boxes have a chance to contain a Pulse Grenade.

Known Locations

 * In Vault 92: Pulse Grenades (3) in the Living Quarters section, in the room next to Data Storage.
 * In the Robot Repair Center (near Canterbury Commons): Pulse Grenades (6) in Frank's Safe in the offices to the left on the first floor.
 * South of Wheaton Armory: Pulse Grenades (4) in an unlocked Grenade Box in the L-shaped raised hut near the Armory gate.
 * Operation Anchorage: One Pulse Grenade can be found in the technology cache.
 * One can be found in the Preservation Shelter outside the Flooded Metro
 * In the Museum of Technology: Pulse Grenades (2) in the locked gun locker near the planetarium. Can be obtained through the Jiggs' Loot unmarked quest.
 * One Pulse Grenade can be stolen from the Capitol Preservation Society - it is sitting next to the doghouse with a Frag Grenade. Fetch?
 * In Evergreen Mills Bazaar there is a bar to the immediate right of the enterence with two side-by-side refridgerators. Jump up on the shelves to look behind the refrigerators and find Pulse Grenades (4) in a small crate.
 * (3) Pulse Grenades can be found in the Nuka-Cola Factory. They are on a shelf in the Storage and Mixing Vats section, just behind the friendly Protectron robot.
 * One can be found in L.O.B. Enterprises 2nd floor, next to a skeleton near a medkit in a cubicle in a room with partially collapsed floor.

Brotherhood Outcast Research Data
Found in Fort Independence:

Fallout Tactics
Very effective against robots, and therefore is the penultimate end-game weapon for a grenadier character. It`s not exactly abundant, but there are enough available between loot pickups and quartermasters to have a steady supply of robot-killing power in all missions past Newton.