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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops. The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty Online The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Mobile
For other uses, see Nova.
For a similar grenade, see Tabun Gas.

Nova Gas is a grenade appearing as a tactical grenade in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty Online, and as a lethal grenade Call of Duty: Mobile.

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

"A gas grenade that blurs vision, impairs movement, and damages health over time."
— Description of Nova Gas in Create a Class 2.0

The Nova Gas acts similar to Tabun Gas or Concussion Grenades, albeit with a damaging effect. Players receive thirteen damage[1] per second spent in the gas, and it takes eight "hits" with the gas for a player with 100% health to die. The gas does however dissipate very quickly so players inside the gas almost never die unless they are already wounded, trapped, or both.

Players under the effect of Nova Gas will have their screen disoriented, in addition to not being allowed to sprint, which in turn means they can't Dive to Prone. The effects stop when the Nova Gas cloud expires or if the player exits the Nova Gas cloud. Nearby players will also make loud shouting comments alerting to the presence of Nova Gas in the area. The loud nature of these comments makes it so that they commonly give away a player's position.

The anti-personnel of Nova Gas is very limited, as not only does it have a short duration, but it also has a small effective radius. The Nova Gas acting as a semi-obscurant also means that it is very obvious to other players where the Nova Gas is. Because of these problems, Nova Gas oftentimes serves a more indirect purpose in the form of area denial, flushing out enemies, blocking off chokepoints, alerting the user to the presence of nearby enemies, or acting as an obscurant.

Although the Nova Gas easily has the best capacity to kill enemies among tactical grenades, kills with Nova Gas are quite rare, even when actively trying to get kills with them. A player that is in the process of getting poisoned over a longer period of time will generate a steady stream of hit markers, which the user can keep track of to see how many hits that enemy takes from the Nova Gas. In an anti-personnel role, Nova Gas works best against entrenched enemies where the user knows they can get the grenade to land within their immediate vicinity, which can force them to move from their position, or die from the gas.

In deathmatch game modes, Nova Gas is very unpopular, as it is ineffective as an anti-personnel tool. However, Nova Gas proves to be much more useful in objective game modes, where it has many useful traits. In game modes with set objectives, with proper placement, Nova Gas can be used to block off certain areas or force a Catch-22 of either driving an enemy away from an objective, or killing them for committing to the objective. Nova Gas can also act as an unintentional scouting tool which can prove useful for alerting the user to hidden enemies at times. Nova Gas also proves to be much more dangerous in Hardcore game types, where the user can't heal off the damage, and it takes Nova Gas far less time to kill enemies, which makes getting trapped in a Nova Gas cloud much more difficult to escape from before it kills an enemy. As a whole, Nova Gas is among the game's least popular tactical equipment.

The Nova Gas is also one of only two tactical grenades that the user only spawns in with one grenade by default, the other being the Willy Pete. Unlike the Willy Pete however, Nova Gas can be replenished through Scavenger Pro. Players with Tactical Mask equipped are not affected by Nova Gas at all, taking no damage and not being disoriented at all. However, players with Tactical Mask will still make very loudly audible comments about the gas.

Gallery[]

Call of Duty Online[]

The Nova Gas grenade makes a reappearance in Call of Duty Online.

Gallery[]

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

"A gas grenade that blurs vision, impairs movement, and damages health over time."
— Description

The Nova Gas returns in Call of Duty: Mobile as a lethal equipment, and is exclusive to the Battle Royale mode.

Trivia[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

  • The pre-release description of the grenade states that the player would begin with two gas grenades; the retail version only allows one, and the description was changed to match.
  • A thrown Nova canister says "Tabun Gas" on the side.
  • If Nova Gas is thrown into a puddle, the canister will not release the gas. This also applies to Willy Petes.
  • If players throw the canister just before game ends and are in the gas radius, when the gas has worn off the HUD will still be on the screen even though the game ended.

References[]

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