Grenade (taunt)

“

C'mere, pumpkin. Click to listen — The Soldier

”

Upon taunting with the Equalizer equipped, the Soldier throws his weapon to the ground dramatically, cracks his knuckles, then rips a Grenade from his bandolier, and pulls the pin. Upon completion, the Soldier and anyone slow, unaware or simply unfortunate enough to be within 6 feet of him will be instantly gibbed. This move will also destroy buildings if they are close enough. Because of the area of effect nature of this taunt, it can affect multiple targets, as well as kill any enemies that are next to or even behind the Soldier. It is necessary to kill someone using this taunt to gain the 'Spray of Defeat' achievement. As a taunt, this can still be used during Humiliation to kill the winning team members as they come barreling into your spawn, as well during Stalemate. It no longer possible to survive this taunt even when buffed to 300 health by a Medic. Since the Mann-Conomy Update, the self-damage has been modified to 320 so, you can't survive.

Damage

• Self damage: 320
• Point Blank: 500+
• 6 ft: 500+
• 12 ft: None
• Critical hit: N/A

Damages are approximate and determined by community testing.

Times

• Attack Interval: 4

All times are in seconds. Times are approximate and determined by community testing.

Notes

• Before the Sept 30, 2010 Mann-Conomy Update, if you were overhealed, you would survive the explosion. This would cause you to get launched up in the air.
• If the Soldier survives the explosion, he will be launched into the air, holding his hand aloft, spinning as he goes. The aerial flair is possibly a tribute to an Air Force airshow.
• You can do the weapon switch taunt bug to be healed while taunting. Press your taunt key (default "G"), then your last weapon-switch key (default "Q") immediately after, you'll be able to be healed or Übered while performing the taunt, allowing you to survive. This may have been fixed in the September 30, 2010 Patch.
• After the December 21st, 2009 update, if you had the Gunboats equipped, you could survive the explosion; as the taunt counted the resultant explosion as a rocket jump blast, it reduced the damage done by 75%, doing 64 damage to the Soldier (not counting fall damage). However, this was fixed in the January 13, 2010 Patch.
• If someone inflicts damage to you while you are performing this taunt, they will be credited with the kill with the grenade icon.
• Despite the fact that the Soldier only carries 2 frag grenades, this taunt has no "ammo" and can be performed many times while overhealed. His model also continues to show 2 grenades, even after the taunt has been performed and a grenade is clearly used (as the Soldier was not expected to be able to survive the blast).
• Similar to the patched Gunboats bug, if you have the Rocket Jumper equipped and perform this taunt, the Soldier will take no damage from the explosion and will instead be shot into the sky, only taking damage upon hitting the ground. Any enemies caught in the blast will still die instantly.
• While wearing the Lumbricus Lid, the taunt uses 'Holy Hand Grenades', and there is a chorus of angels in the background.

Related Achievements

Spray of Defeat Use a grenade to gib a player.

Trivia

• This is the only attack in the game that uses grenades (apart from the Demoman's Grenade Launcher).
• The grenades on the Soldier's bandolier resemble MK2 hand grenades but with an oversized safety lever and a more blocky body.
• This is the only kill taunt in the game that has any negative effect on the person who performs it (in this case, death), bar being completely helpless for the duration.
• The Equalizer that the Soldier throws away vanishes once he does so, this was put in place because the Soldier used to drop two Equalizers, one during the taunt, and one on death.
• You could actually survive the grenade taunt three times in a row if you had the Gunboats equipped. However this feature was removed in an update.
  • However, by having the Rocket Jumper equipped, it is Possible to survive, as no damage will be dealt to the user in the explosion. Fall damage will still be in effect, though
• Performing the Kamikaze taunt with the Lumbricus Lid equipped will cause the "Hallelujah" sound clip from the Worms games to play.
• The fact that The Soldier actually does this taunt is somewhat ironic, seeing as suicide bombing is seen to be very 'un-american' as The Soldier would probably put it.
• This is the only taunt kill that kills you and the target at the same time. It was also the first taunt kill that involves the victim being gibbed, the Gunslinger's Taunt is the second weapon that gibs the victim.

See also

• Kamikaze strategy