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The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The subject of this article appeared in Modern Warfare 2: Ghost. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS). The subject of this article appeared in Zombies mode The subject of this article appeared in Find Makarov: Operation Kingfish. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for the Nintendo DS. The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty Online The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Ghosts The subject of this article appears in Extinction mode The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Heroes The subject of this article appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Zombies The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 The subject of this article appears in Blackout The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Mobile The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Warzone The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Vanguard The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II The subject of this article appears in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
For the attachment in World War II games with a similar purpose, see Rifle Grenade.
For similar weapons, see XM31 Grenade and Exo Launcher.
Grenade Launcher menu icon MW3

A Grenade Launcher is a device that shoots a grenade. These can be standalone launchers, such as the Thumper or China Lake, or attachments, such as the M203. Grenade Launchers appear in several forms throughout the Call of Duty series.

Overview[]

The grenade shell has a safe arming distance of five to six meters and will not detonate unless it has traveled this distance before hitting a surface. Thus, shooting at nearby walls, ground or ceiling will simply cause the shell to bounce harmlessly away. This makes using a grenade launcher at close range very difficult. However, the shell will kill if it directly hits another player, and in turn the direct impact killfeed icon will be displayed. It is possible to even score a direct impact kill on multiple enemies with a single shell, though this is very rare.

The radius of explosions vary between game. The explosive damage of Grenade Launchers are affected by Danger Close in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Ghosts, enhancing their effective range and damage, and cancels out Blast Shield. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the radius was reduced significantly, with the lethal explosive radius of an uninjured enemy being about 1.7 meters (this was likely done as a measure to prevent the over-usage of grenade launchers, which was the case in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2). In every game since MW2, grenade launchers and explosives in general continue to be nerfed becuase of the massive amounts of explosives spam in that game.

In some games, grenade launcher shells will not explode if fired in the first 10 to 15 seconds of a round/game to prevent easy spawn-killing. However, it is still possible to spawn kill in this case with the direct impact.

List of Underbarrel grenade launchers in the series[]

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS)[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

Call of Duty Online[]

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

In Call of Duty: Ghosts, unlike the Grenade Launcher in other titles, using the Grenade Launcher takes up the player's lethal slot, and because the lethal slot is occupied, this means the player has one less point to use for perks. The player also accesses their Grenade Launcher in Ghosts by pressing and holding the button/key that corresponds to lethal equipment, and releasing that button/key fires the grenade. As compensation for the increased burden that using the Grenade Launcher in Ghosts entails on class building, the Grenade Launcher is much stronger in Ghosts, sporting a larger explosive radius, and when using Danger Close, the Grenade Launcher not only has very large one shot kill explosive radius, but it can also get one shot kills against Blast Shield users without needing to physically hit them with the grenade.

In addition to the aforementioned changes, the Grenade Launcher can be equipped on any LMG, and the Grenade Launcher fires slightly faster when used on an LMG.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare[]

"Underbarrel mounted grenade launcher."
— In-game description

Campaign[]

An unnamed underbarrel grenade launcher is available in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In campaign it is attached to the starting Bal-27 in the level "Fission", and it can be found on several HBRa3s in "Crash".

Multiplayer[]

The underbarrel grenade launcher is available to all assault rifles (except the AE4), and to the AMR9 submachine gun. The AK12 "Grenadier" and the AMR9 "Banger", "Noob Tube", "Pro Pipe" and "Royalty" supply drop variants have an integrated grenade launcher by default. The launcher has two grenades in total and cannot be replenished with Scavenger. Kills with the grenade launcher attachment will count towards the base weapon's challenges.

The explosives have very limited radius and damage within the explosive radius, making Danger Close very valuable.

On the AMR9, performing a Speed Reload will make the Grenade Launcher reload faster, increasing its rate of fire.

With the Grenade Launcher, there is a small delay between firing the grenade and the start of reloading the grenade. This delay can be shortened by pressing the corresponding reload button as soon as the grenade is fired.

The Grenade Launcher is very useful for completing strafe challenges on certain weapons, as boost jumping up in the air and killing someone with the Grenade Launcher will count towards said challenge.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4[]

In the Zombies mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the Overkill special weapon gains a semi-automatic grenade launcher attached to the rail at level two.

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War[]

In the Zombies mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the RAI K-84 wonder weapon is equipped with an underbarrel semi-automatic grenade launcher called the "GP-6K2".

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III[]

In addition, the aforementioned grenade launchers from Modern Warfare II return.

List of Standalone grenade launchers[]

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops DS[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

Call of Duty Online[]

Call of Duty: Ghosts[]

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare[]

Call of Duty: Heroes[]

"Launch a grenade to inflict damage on obstacles within the target area."
— Description

In Call of Duty: Heroes, the Grenade Launcher is a Hero Skill available to Price. It has a performing range of 10.5 tiles and deals 300 damage.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III[]

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4[]

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare[]

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War[]

Call of Duty: Vanguard[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II[]

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III[]

Trivia[]

General[]

  • In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Ghosts, the player can complete a challenge called "Ouch" by killing someone with the grenade's direct impact. This will result in the title "Noob Tuber", a reference to the aforementioned derogative against players who use this attachment. 
  • It is possible to get a headshot with a grenade from a grenade launcher. This is denoted if the grenade strikes an enemy directly and then explodes. 
  • Any kill with the Grenade Launcher counts to the gun's total kills. The same goes for the Masterkey, ShotgunFlamethrower and the Tactical Knife.
  • A kill with the M203 and GP-25 counts as a hip fire kill.
  • In the Modern Warfare series, the Create-a-Class icon is of a M203 (except for the AK-47 in Modern Warfare 2), where as in Call of Duty: Black Ops, the icon is of a GP-25.
  • The Grenade Launcher attachment is listed as a secondary weapon on the Call of Duty ELITE Create-a-Class menu.
  • In the Zombies mode of Black Ops, there is no minimum distance that the grenade must travel to explode; this can lead to shell shock if used at close range. In Black Ops II however, there is a minimum distance.
  • In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, when firing the grenade launcher, the vapor trail left behind by the grenade flying through the air is a zig-zag pattern, and it seems to fly faster than grenades launched from a grenade launcher in newer games. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the vapor trail arc is more round and it seems to fly slower. The same effect is present with further titles, as the zig-zag effect is not in them. This can throw off aiming if the player is used to the smoother vapor trail of newer games.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare[]

  • In the extended mission of "F.N.G.", it was stated that the grenade launcher cancels out when fired too close for "safety" purposes.
  • If the 'Infinite Ammo' cheat is activated in the campaign, the grenade launcher becomes fully automatic. The M203 on the M4A1 will fire at 200 RPM, and the GP-25 at 120 RPM, whereas the M203 on the M16A4 will fire significantly faster at 600 RPM.
  • There were originally three more grenade launchers: AG36 (G36C), HK79 (G3) and FN EGLM. The names can be found in localized strings.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2[]

  • When using Scavenger, the grenade has to be loaded to pick up another grenade. There are two slots for the grenade launcher: one that is loaded and one that is in reserve.
  • The Create-a-Class picture lacks a trigger-guard.
  • On the FAL, the grenade launcher is misspelled as "Grenade Laucher".

Call of Duty: Black Ops[]

  • In the first 15 seconds of a match, any grenades from a grenade launcher will never explode. This was done to prevent using the grenade launcher to kill the enemy team quickly upon spawning, as they are naturally stacked up.
  • In the campaign, in third-person, non-playable characters hold their weapon as if it does not have an Grenade Launcher, but in multiplayer and Zombies, they do.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3[]

  • Using the underbarrel grenade launcher replaces the regular ammo counter with its own, unlike in previous games.
  • The damage output seems to have been lowered for balancing purposes and Recon tags. Kills by the grenade launcher now usually occur by direct impact, close proximity detonation, or killing an enemy with low health.
  • Oddly, there is no killfeed icon for the Grenade Launcher. Kills with it show up as the gun it is attached to. The same applies to the shotgun attachment.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II[]

  • When playing a 1980's campaign mission, using the underbarrel grenade launcher doesn't replace the regular ammo count with its own, but it does in the 2025's missions, as well as in multiplayer and Zombies.
  • When using Fast Mag, the Grenade Launcher will reload faster.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare[]

  • Attaching a Grenade Launcher onto the Bal-27 will change the Bal-27's empty and regular reload animations.

Call of Duty: Mobile[]

  • There is no killfeed icon for the Underbarrel Launcher. Kills with it show up as the M4 in the killfeed.
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