Grenade (Frag)

Frag Grenades are explosive thrown weapons that appear in all Fallout games.

Fallout and Fallout 2
Fragmentation grenades are pretty rare in Fallout and Fallout 2, and aren't very useful late game, when most enemies have a very high explode damage resistance. If you can find a few early on, though, they'll pack quite a wollap against weaker Raiders and critters. Large groups are a perfect target, especially against Manti and Gold Geckoes.

Fallout 3
The Frag Grenade is the first type of grenade found in the game, and is a standard grenade creating an explosive blast and dealing significant damage, with a high chance to cripple limbs. It seems to have the same blast radius as its more powerful variant, the Plasma Grenade. They are commonly used by melee equipped Raiders and Super Mutants when they are out of melee range.

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.

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.

Frag Grenades can be effective in V.A.T.S. even if they arent considered a hit (instand detonation upon contact of target) as most grenades will still land at least relativly close to the target, this may not be the case on extreme slopes.

It is best to use a grenade on groups of enemies at chokepoints such as doorways or stairwells. 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 Frag Grenade far more deadly.

Traps
It is common to find several grenades hanging on a string from the ceiling. These are called a grenade bouquet and will be activated with a nearby tripwire, dropping the grenades and making them explode on a timer. The bundle of grenades can be disarmed with a high enough explosives skill or can be shot down (this will cause them to explode). If you do accidentally activate the tripwire, it is possible to disarm the grenades as they fall, and pocket the grenades, but it is safer to try to run out the area, as the grenades are on a timer. Note that these grenades will not give the red arrow HUD warning. (Confirmed PC, PS3 and 360). There also are rigged computer terminals, with grenades planted in the back. By activating the terminal, it triggers the grenades in the back panel. Its easy to tell that the computer is rigged if it has an antenna on the top. Aiming the target reticle at the back panel sticking out gives you the option to loot the grenade(s) in the back and re-arm the computer.

Behind the scenes

 * The Frag Grenade appears to be based on the Danish Håndbombe M/23, only it has grooves (resembling the Mk 2) around the middle section.


 * The Frag Grenade also does not appear to expel any fragments; the damage radius also supports this. It seems that the Frag Grenade works more like a Concussion Grenade.
 * Super Mutants call grenades "potatoes" or "hot potatoes", and similarly, Swampfolk call them "pineapples".

Bugs

 * Destroyed grenades; i.e targeted in V.A.T.S. and shot out of an opponents hand, have a condition of zero yet you can use other broken grenades to fix them thus restoring its firepower. This may not be a bug, as one could combine parts from two broken grenades to create a makeshift functional grenade in real life.


 * When a missile launcher is broken from launching a missile, if you have one grenade/mine of any particular type in your inventory, e.g. having one frag grenade but any number of other grenade/mine types, and it is the next weapon you equip, you will have unlimited ammo for that particular grenade/mine until it is unequipped. The next grenade/mine thrown after the first will be invisible while held in the player's hand but will appear once thrown. This is an excellent way of obtaining many Bottlecap Mines as they can be disarmed and picked up, adding them to your inventory to be used at any time. V.A.T.S, unfortunately, cannot be used until the grenade is unequipped.(this however, can not be done with hotkey items, as you pull out fists afterward, to get infinant grenades/mines, you will need to open your pip-boy and equip the desired grenade/mine you through it)


 * Southwest of Bethesda Ruins you can find two raiders equipped with melee weapons and frag grenades. Both of them may spawn five half condition frag grenades, which do slightly less damage than normal ones. This makes them semi-unique.

Fallout Tactics
It is primary weapon for grenadier character throughout most of game. Decent damage, and abundance allow it to be used often and indiscriminately. However, it's recommended to have a sniper character ready to provide cover and long range support, since the AP cost of throws is quite high.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
A powerful weapon which, with good aim, can kill almost any enemy.

Granat odłamkowy