🔫 HAND GRENADE

Overview

The Hand Grenade is GTA 6's quintessential area-denial explosive — a fragmentation device that clears rooms, flushes enemies from cover, and punishes clustering with a lethal 8-meter blast radius. The grenade has been a core GTA weapon since GTA III, and GTA 6 elevates it with a fully realized cooking mechanic that transforms the simple frag from a crude throw-and-hope device into a precision tactical tool. Holding the throw button starts the 4-second fuse while the grenade remains in hand — releasing after 1-2 seconds of cooking produces an airburst that detonates above or beside cover before enemies can react, eliminating the scramble-away window that made grenades avoidable in previous titles. A perfectly cooked grenade detonates on impact or within half a second of landing, giving the target no escape. An imperfectly cooked grenade detonates in your hand, killing you instantly — the cooking mechanic rewards skill and punishes greed with the harshest penalty in GTA 6's weapon system. The Hand Grenade occupies the "hard counter to cover" role: when enemies hunker behind walls, vehicles, or barricades that bullets cannot penetrate, a grenade lobbed over or around the obstacle forces them to move, creating the exposure window that your primary weapon needs.

Damage & Stats

Blast damage is 150 at the epicenter — lethal to any unarmored or standard-armored target within 3 meters. Damage falls off linearly: approximately 100 at 5 meters (still lethal to unarmored), 50 at 7 meters (injuring), and negligible beyond 8 meters. Fragmentation adds secondary damage — metal shards deal 15-40 additional damage to targets within the blast radius, with random distribution making near-miss survival unpredictable. Vehicle damage is substantial: a grenade within 2 meters of a standard car destroys it; within 4 meters, it critically damages the vehicle (engine fire, 10-second countdown to explosion). Armored vehicles resist grenade damage — a single grenade dents but doesn't disable armored SUVs or APCs. The 4-second fuse is absolute: no attachment or modification changes it. Throw range is approximately 30-35 meters at optimal arc, with physics-based bouncing that allows bank shots off walls, through windows, and down stairwells. Maximum carry capacity is 10 grenades — shared inventory space with other throwables, so carrying 10 grenades means sacrificing Molotov or Sticky Bomb capacity. The grenade has no headshot mechanic — blast damage is purely proximity-based.

Tactical Analysis

The cooking mechanic is the Hand Grenade's defining tactical element. Without cooking, a thrown grenade gives enemies approximately 3 seconds to run — most NPCs will successfully flee the blast radius, and experienced PvP opponents treat an uncooked grenade as a repositioning prompt rather than a threat. Cooking for 1.5-2 seconds reduces the post-landing detonation window to 1.5-2 seconds — barely enough for NPCs to begin their flee animation before detonation catches them mid-stride. Cooking for 2.5-3 seconds produces an airburst — the grenade detonates at chest height before or immediately upon hitting the ground, eliminating any reaction window. Cooking beyond 3.5 seconds risks self-detonation. The tactical flow is: identify an enemy behind cover, cook the grenade for 2 seconds, lob it over the cover on a high arc, and the grenade detonates as it descends past the cover's top edge. The bank-shot capability adds tactical depth: throwing a grenade at a wall beside a doorway bounces it into the room at an angle the enemy can't anticipate — particularly effective for clearing rooms from the hallway without exposing yourself to interior fire. Grenades interact with environmental physics: they roll down slopes, bounce off metal surfaces with higher velocity, and can be thrown through breakable windows. The environmental interaction makes every grenade throw situation-specific.

Attachments & Mods

The Hand Grenade has no physical attachments — it's a disposable munition. However, GTA 6 introduces three grenade variants available at Ammu-Nation that modify the base grenade's behavior. Standard Fragmentation (default) — balanced blast and fragment damage as described above. High-Explosive (HE) — increases blast damage to 200 at epicenter and extends lethal radius to 4 meters, but eliminates fragmentation entirely. The HE variant is optimal for vehicle destruction and structural damage (it can blow open locked doors and weak walls), but the lack of fragments reduces effectiveness against scattered infantry. Concussive — reduces blast damage to 80 but adds a 3-second stun effect within 6 meters. Enemies caught in the blast stumble, lose aim accuracy, and move at 50% speed for 3 seconds — a less-lethal option that creates capture or execution windows without necessarily killing the target. The concussive variant is useful for bounty-hunting missions where targets must be taken alive. Each variant costs the same per unit — approximately $250 per grenade — and selection is made at Ammu-Nation's throwable counter. You can carry only one variant type at a time; switching types at Ammu-Nation replaces your current stock.

Best Situations

The Hand Grenade is the best throwable for: flushing enemies from hard cover that bullets cannot penetrate, room clearing when you can't or won't enter the room, destroying clustered vehicles (a single grenade in a parking lot chain-detonates adjacent cars), initiating ambushes (a cooked grenade opens the engagement with guaranteed damage before enemies can react), and clearing defensive positions during heist assaults. The weapon excels during police standoffs at 3-4 star wanted levels — VCPD officers cluster behind cruiser barricades that are vulnerable to grenades lobbed from behind adjacent cover. The Hand Grenade is the wrong choice for: close-quarters combat where the blast radius threatens the thrower, stealth operations where the explosion alerts every NPC within 100 meters, indoor combat in small rooms where the blast can damage the thrower through walls, and precision engagements where a specific target must be killed without collateral damage. The grenade is inherently imprecise — accept that collateral damage is part of the weapon's identity.

How to Obtain

The Hand Grenade is available at Ammu-Nation from early in the story — it unlocks after the first combat tutorial mission. Base price is approximately $250 per grenade, making it an affordable but consumable investment. Grenades can be found in military and law enforcement locations: Fort Leonida's perimeter has grenade caches, VCPD evidence lockups contain confiscated ordnance, and gang stash houses occasionally include grenade supplies. In GTA 6 Online, grenades are available from rank 1 at $350 each, with the HE and Concussive variants unlocking at ranks 15 and 25 respectively. NPCs rarely carry grenades — only military and high-tier gang enemies use them, and their drops provide 1-2 grenades per defeated enemy. The grenade has no unique variants beyond the three types (Standard, HE, Concussive) — the weapon's simplicity is part of its identity.

GTA Series History

The hand grenade has appeared in every mainline GTA since GTA III, where it was one of three explosive options alongside the Molotov cocktail and rocket launcher. GTA Vice City added the tear gas grenade, and San Andreas expanded throwables with satchel charges. GTA IV introduced the most significant mechanical change — a physics-based throw arc that replaced the fixed-trajectory system of earlier titles, making grenade placement skill-dependent rather than automatic. GTA V refined the throwing mechanics and added the proximity mine to the throwable category but notably lacked a cooking mechanic — grenades in GTA V bounced and rolled with the full fuse timer regardless of hold duration. GTA 6's cooking mechanic is the weapon's most significant evolution in franchise history, transforming it from a "throw at a general area and hope" weapon into a precision tool that rewards timing skill. The addition of grenade variants (HE, Concussive) further deepens the tactical decision-making around what was previously a one-note weapon.

The Hand Grenade's cooking mechanic — holding the throw button after pulling the pin to reduce flight time before detonation — allows skilled players to create air-burst explosions that detonate above cover positions, negating the protection that walls, vehicles, and barricades normally provide against ground-level explosions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated April 25, 2026. For the full database, visit our Weapons Wiki Database.