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Inferno Grenade is a power in Mass Effect 2 and a grenade power in Mass Effect 3's single-player and multiplayer modes.

Mass Effect 2[]

Infernogrenade Launches a volatile grenade that explodes on impact, sending searing waves of flame in all directions. This fire damage is effective against armor.

Power Ranks[]

  • Rank 1 - Launches a volatile grenade that explodes on impact, sending fragments flying in all directions that cause extra damage. This fire damage is effective against armor.
    • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 9.00 seconds (Zaeed)
    • Impact Radius: 3.00 meters
    • Damage: 50.00 points over 4.00 seconds
    • Number of Fragments: 3.00
  • Rank 2 - Launches a volatile grenade that explodes on impact, sending fragments flying in all directions that cause extra damage. This fire damage is effective against armor.
    • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 9.00 seconds (Zaeed)
    • Impact Radius: 3.25 meters
    • Damage: 60.00 points over 4.00 seconds
    • Number of Fragments: 4.00
  • Rank 3 - Launches a volatile grenade that explodes on impact, sending fragments flying in all directions that cause extra damage. This fire damage is effective against armor.
    • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 9.00 seconds (Zaeed)
    • Impact Radius: 3.50 meters
    • Damage: 70.00 points over 4.00 seconds
    • Number of Fragments: 5.00


Rank 4

Evolves Inferno Grenade into one of the following options:

Heavy Inferno Grenade[]

  • This advanced plasma burns at higher temperatures and does more damage.
    • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 9.00 seconds (Zaeed)
    • Impact Radius: 3.50 meters
    • Damage: 100.00 points over 4.00 seconds
    • Number of Fragments: 5.00

Inferno Blast Grenade[]

  • The splash zone and the number of fragments of this grenade is increased, allowing you to scorch more targets.
    • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 9.00 seconds (Zaeed)
    • Impact Radius: 4.50 meters
    • Damage: 70.00 points over 4.00 seconds
    • Number of Fragments: 6.00

Player Notes[]

  • It is Zaeed's third active power and is unlocked after completing his loyalty mission. It launches a volatile grenade that explodes on impact, sending damaging fragments flying in all directions. This fire damage is effective against armor, doing twice the damage.
  • As with all projectile powers, the power does not launch an actual projectile when used by a squadmate. Instead, it impacts instantly. In Mass Effect 2, if there is any cover between Shepard (not the squadmate using it) and the target, the power will strike the cover instead.
  • When used by Shepard (as a bonus power) it tosses very much like a real grenade, arcing vertically toward the targeted area (Flashbang Grenade is the only other power thrown in this fashion). The grenade detonates on contact with the first thing it hits; however, if it hits nothing at all within a few seconds of flight it will detonate in mid-air.
    • Shepard throws with the right hand. To minimize exposure to enemy fire, stand behind (not attached to) tall cover and edge just enough to the right to have a clear throw path.
    • When targetting an enemy with Zaeed's version of the power it seems much more likely to cause hits both from the initial blast and the shrapnel.
  • Inferno Grenade can deal friendly-fire damage to squadmates and Shepard.
  • Inferno Grenade is one of very few powers that can hit enemies crouched behind cover through indirect placement. Enemies that can be panicked by fire will emerge from cover briefly when hit. Even protected enemies will be briefly stunned by the initial grenade impact, though only unprotected ones will panic. This is a useful tool to prevent enemies from ducking back behind cover too quickly.
  • Inferno Grenade can halt the health regeneration of organic enemies like vorcha and krogan.
  • Unlike Incinerate, Inferno Grenade will not cause unprotected enemies wielding flamethrowers to explode.
  • Inferno Grenade does have a small force component that is able to instantly kill unarmored Husks in the immediate blast range. Other types of unprotected light enemies will be knocked down, while protected ones will be staggered. The shrapnel don't cause this effect, only the initial detonation. As Zaeed's Inferno Grenade has a shorter recharge time than Concussive Shot, it's often the better power to use for disabling or husk-killing purposes.
    • The initial detonation can also penetrate terrain or objects; this includes the yellow circular shields created by Collector Guardians. While the radius of the detonation is small, it's usually large enough to hit a Guardian through its shield, stunning it and causing the shield to collapse. The shrapnel can also stun the Guardian and collapse the shield, though they can't pass through the shields or terrain.

Availability[]

Mass Effect 3[]

ME3 Inferno Grenade

Power Ranks[]

Rank 1: Inferno Grenade[]

Cluster-bomb a small area with incendiary munitions.

  • Damage Per Second: 100 (150 multiplayer)
  • Duration: 8 sec
  • Radius: 5 m


Rank 2: Max Grenades[]

Increase grenade capacity by 1.

Rank 3: Damage[]

Increase damage by 20%.

  • Damage Per Second: 120 (180 multiplayer)
  • Duration: 8 sec
  • Radius: 5 m


Rank 4: Damage/Radius[]

Damage

Increase damage by 30%.

  • Damage Per Second: 150 (225 multiplayer)
  • Duration: 8 sec
  • Radius: 5 m

Radius

Increase impact radius by 30%.

  • Damage Per Second: 120 (180 multiplayer)
  • Duration: 8 sec
  • Radius: 6.50 m


Rank 5: Max Grenades/Damage[]

Max Grenades

Increase grenade capacity by 2.

Damage

Increase damage by 40%.

  • Damage Per Second: 190 (285 multiplayer) [Damage], 160 (240 multiplayer) [Radius]
  • Duration: 8 sec
  • Radius: 5 m (Damage), 6.50 m (Radius)


Rank 6: Armor Damage/Radius & Shrapnel[]

Armor Damage

Increase damage to armor by 50%.

Radius & Shrapnel

Increase impact radius by 40% (50% multiplayer).
Increase shrapnel by 1 fragments [sic].

  • Damage Per Second: 150 (225 multiplayer) [Damage], 120 (180 multiplayer) [Radius] {Max Grenades}, 190 (285 multiplayer) [Damage], 160 (240 multiplayer) [Radius] {Damage}
  • Duration: 8 sec
  • Radius: 7 m (7.50 m multiplayer) [Damage], 8.50 m (9 m multiplayer) [Radius]


Player Notes[]

Mechanics
  • Grenade powers do not have a recharge time and can be used immediately at any time provided grenades are available. Using the power consumes one grenade each time.
  • If the player has multiple grenade powers, the grenade pool is shared between them.
  • Inferno Grenade deals 1.5x damage to armor.[1] It does significantly more damage in multiplayer.
  • Unlike in Mass Effect 2, Inferno Grenade does not stop enemy health regeneration, e.g. Cannibals that have eaten a corpse or a Phantom that goes invisible and retreats.
  • All enemies set on fire by Inferno Grenade can be detonated with another power to cause a Fire Explosion. However, Inferno Grenade is one of the few grenade types that cannot itself detonate any type of Power Combo.
  • Inferno Grenade has no timer and instead detonates on contact with the first thing it hits. The initial blast can spread the shrapnel even through terrain, potentially igniting multiple enemies in a very wide area without any line of sight needed.
    • Inferno Grenade does not throw as far as most grenades do, making it harder to hit distant targets, with a higher throw angle being necessary than with Frag Grenade or Lift Grenade, for example.
    • Inferno Grenade shrapnel does not pass through Guardian or CAT6 Heavy shields to ignite them, but if the grenade detonates behind them, they can be ignited and thus primed for Fire Explosions. The burn itself does no damage to them while their shields are up; however, Guardians can be panicked and flail around briefly from this. In single-player, if Shepard orders Ashley to use a grenade, the angle of the hit is based on her position relative to the enemy; for example, if Shepard is in front of a Guardian but Ashley is behind the Guardian, her Inferno Grenade will ignite him if the Guardian is facing Shepard.
  • As with all squadmate grenade powers, Ashley will never use Inferno Grenade spontaneously, but she can't miss if an enemy is directly targeted. Grenades impact instantly without a thrown projectile, and still benefit from the cover-ignoring properties.
  • The rank 6 Radius & Shrapnel evolution's addition of 1 shrapnel is bugged so that the shrapnel does not actually do anything. However, the additional shrapnel's overall intention was mainly visual, so the intended effect is in fact just the range upgrade.[2]
  • Like with most fire powers, enemies killed while burning from Inferno Grenade leave no corpse behind.
Strategies
  • The Inferno Grenade deals good damage, but spread out over time, and shielded enemies will not panic until their shielding is gone.
  • In single-player games, the Inferno Grenade is a better source of Fire Explosions than other sources on crowded enemies, such as a group of Cerberus dropping from a single shuttle. Inferno Grenade has a large radius that can prime multiple targets at once even through intervening terrain. Combining Inferno Grenades with a multi-hit evolved Overload or Throw can detonate 2-3 enemies at once. Fire Explosions have a large radius, making them devastating against grouped enemies.
  • In multiplayer, Inferno Grenade can deal enough damage to significantly wear down or kill armored targets, though it takes several seconds. If power damage bonuses are stacked from multiple sources, a single grenade can down a Brute on Platinum.
  • Like all damage-over-time effects, the burn is useful for delaying the shield recharge of enemies, especially on higher difficulties where the delay before recharging starts is low.

Availability[]

Bugs[]

  • In Mass Effect 3, Inferno Grenade has a buggy interaction with Incendiary Ammo (which itself has a buggy interaction with itself); both erroneously use the same damage effect, and once Incendiary Ammo is applied on an enemy under the effect of Inferno Grenade, both damage-over-time effects get combined into an overly-damaging 3 second damage-over-time that is still technically considered by the game as "Inferno Grenade", making the ammo use Inferno Grenade's damage modifiers, which will let Incendiary Ammo do damage to shields and barriers.[3] In addition, the buggy damage-stacking of Incendiary Ammo will still work, multiplying the effect, and the normal damage of Inferno Grenade will be incorporated into the damage-over-time effect, increasing it further.

References[]

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