Ink Grenade

The Ink Grenade is an infant Nemacyst Inker housed inside a Bolo Grenade casing. The Ink Grenade is a new type of grenade introduced in Gears of War 2. When triggered, the Ink Grenade releases a thick, black and green poisonous smoke for a short amount of time. The smoke damages enemies and obscures the vision of enemy players. Prolonged exposure (5 seconds or more) to the smoke will down or kill an enemy character; a downed character is more susceptible to the poison and will die within a few seconds of exposure. The Ink Grenade is used almost exclusively by the Locust Horde, particularly by Kantus.

[edit] Gameplay

Poison Ink Grenade

The Ink Grenade has a number of uses, foremost as a powerful area-denial and dispersion tool. In addition to being hand-thrown, the Ink Grenade can also be used as a proximity mine by attaching it onto a surface or an enemy. When an enemy is "tagged" with an Ink Grenade, the enemy can escape the smoke by running continuously, as the smoke will stay in the area it detonated in; contrary to popular belief, the Ink Grenade does not continuously emit poisonous smoke but releases the smoke all at once until the smoke clears.

[edit] Tips

One use of an Ink Grenade is to deny an area to the enemy. This tactic is known to work in the Annex and King of the Hill game modes. The poison smoke forces the enemy out of scoring zone, effectively delaying enemies from gaining points and while making the scoring zone easier to capture by exposing enemies.

Another way the Ink Grenade can be used is to flush enemy troops out of cover, or to smoke out enemies in cover and in hard-to-reach places. The poisonous smoke forces enemies to expose themselves by moving away from the smoke. Snipers are particularly vulnerable to the Ink Grenade, as they usually are located in places with little to no maneuvering room.

The Ink Grenade can also be set as a trap by attaching it onto a surface (such as a wall or behind cover). This tactic is especially useful in the multiplayer game mode Submission. The Ink Grenade can be used effectively against an enemy Meatflag Carrier, who suffers from a significant decrease in movement speed and maneuverability. The poison grenade can not only kill the Meatflag carrier, but also re-incapacitate the Meatflag, ensuring an easy capture when the smoke clears.

A special mention needs be made of the map Hail, which has an Ink Grenade on it. This grenade can force enemies out of the very limited cover-spaces on the map when the Razorhail hits, effectively guaranteeing a kill. It is good in Annex or King of the Hill, so the enemies have to rush out unless they will die.

Tagging an enemy with an Ink Grenade can prove hilarious. Even before it explodes, after it is tagged on an enemy it damages them slightly in short pulses, guaranteeing that the first initial explosion will down them. The smoke will quickly overcome and kill the tagged foe unless they run constantly, and if they run near an allied unit, they wind up potentially suffocating their own teammates. Naturally, smarter enemies will try to stick close to you if tagged - make it a point to flee the scene after tagging a foe.

In Horde, an Ink grenade is useful against a cluster of enemies. It is used by many players to combat maulers, as the maulers are slow moving when having a shield deployed. Their shield has virtually no protection from Ink grenades.

The Ink Grenade has other uses. It can provide cover, much as a Smoke Grenade, though this is often a waste of an Ink Grenade. Ironically, this can actually be an effective tactic for discouraging enemies closing to close combat, as the toxic smoke of the Ink Grenade can severely weaken any enemy foolish enough to charge through it, making them weak enough to easily finish off with weapons fire. Even worse, because the smoke obstructs vision far better than the Smoke Grenade, they risk Roadie Running into a wall and getting into cover while inside the cloud, which can kill an unprepared enemy with ease.

The Ink Grenade has one single drawback: It lacks any concussive blast. The Smoke Grenade's knock-down ability gives it the ability to stun enemies temporarily, and the Frag Grenade, if it doesn't kill someone, has a similarly large knockback effect. Because the Ink grenade does not have any explosive force, it cannot throw enemies around and does literally nothing to prevent enemies from fleeing its lethal mists (other than obscure vision). Be aware.

The Ink Grenade can be very effective when planted as a proximity mine, if placed in the correct position. Try to place the Ink Grenade in an area that will be consumed by the poison gas, therefore prolonging its effects, but be careful not to place it in a way in which the poison gas will affect you. The enemy will run through the area (or building) in an attempt to kill you, preferably with the Gnasher shotgun or the Chainsaw Bayonet, detonating the Ink Grenade, and being forced to run through the WHOLE field. (This takes careful placement, and practice in different areas)