Grenade Launcher

For the Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War item with a similar purpose, see Rifle Grenade

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

In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, all assault rifles except the MP44 can have a Grenade Launcher attached, the M203 for most assault rifles and the GP-25 Kostyor for the AK-47. Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War feature the Rifle Grenade which serve the same purpose. The GP-25 and M203 return in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the AK-47 and all other assault rifles, respectively. In Call of Duty: Black Ops, the Grenade Launcher attachment returns in three forms: the M203 (on most assault rifles), the GP-25 (on the AK-47 and Galil), and the GSN-19 (on the AK-74u), all of which are functionally identical.

The grenade shell has a safe arming distance of 5–6 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 the any grenade launcher at close ranges very difficult. However, the shell will kill if it directly hits another player, and in turn the direct impact killfeed icon will be displayed.

Singleplayer
The two grenade launchers available are the M203 and the GP-25, both of which can be found throughout the campaign.

The Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher is used in the mission Shock and Awe on the transport helicopter, and is used to lighten the ground resistance. It can destroy tanks in just a few shots.

Multiplayer
The Grenade Launcher is unique in that it is the only attachment that is unlocked without having to complete any challenges. The GP-25 functions the same as the M203 with only cosmetic differences. Using a grenade launcher takes up the first perk slot. Players can be killed either by the grenade's explosion or by being hit by the grenade directly. Enemies who are too far from the point of detonation will only be injured. The grenades are incredibly accurate and move quickly, but have a small blast radius. The grenade must travel a certain distance before it will explode, else it will only bounce off the surface it impacts. Players carrying a single grenade launcher will carry two grenades for it. Players carrying two weapons with a grenade launcher (using Overkill) will either have three for one and one for the other (if the two weapons use compatible ammo) or two for both.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
In Modern Warfare 2, the grenade launchers were largely left the same. There is, however, a new launcher, the Thumper, which is a very rare weapon in singleplayer.

Singleplayer
In singleplayer, grenade launchers are very common attachments. The only two assault-rifle mounted launchers available, again, are the M203 and the GP-25, the latter only seen on the AK-47.

The Thumper, which is a standalone weapon, is very rare to find in singleplayer. It is most notably found in the Spec Ops mission Wreckage.

Multiplayer
The grenade launchers were largely left the same in Modern Warfare 2, although using a launcher no longer uses a perk slot, but instead an attachment slot. It is impossible to use this with the shotgun attachment. Also, the grenade launcher requires completion of Marksman Rank 1 for most weapons before it can be used. Killing twenty enemies with the launcher unlocks the Masterkey Shotgun attachment for that weapon.

The most noticeable difference from Modern Warfare to Modern Warfare 2 is the GP-25's slightly faster swap-to time and slightly slower reload time, both of which are more exaggerated in the latter.

The Thumper is largely the same as the other launchers available, although it is a standalone secondary weapon. The primary difference between singleplayer and multiplayer Thumper is the ability to hip-fire is removed from multiplayer.

One frequently used tactic with the Grenade Launcher is to use the One Man Army perk with an Assault Rifle with a Grenade Launcher attachment and switch to the same class to gain infinite grenades and combine that with the Danger Close Perk. Some players however use the Scavenger perk because it allows a Rocket Launcher to be equipped.

Singleplayer
The grenade launcher can be found on multiple weapons throughout the campaign, although it is a fairly rare weapon. It comes default on the M16 in Operation 40. It is most common on the AK-47 as the GP-25 and the M16 and Commando as the M203. The Tishina can be found in Redemption, but is otherwise very rare.

Multiplayer
The under-barrel Grenade Launcher is also available for all Assault Rifles (apart from the G11) and the AK74U. It costs and has the most expensive constant cost. Scavenger will not replenish it due to the many complaints from Modern Warfare 2. Like other under-barrel attachments, it may not be used with Warlord in conjunction with another attachment. In addition, when the player initially spawns they will not be able to use their launcher for about fifteen seconds, to discourage spawn-killing.

It needs to travel at least 9.5M or it will be a dud. It does 155-25 damage with a 7.5M blast radius. It drops about 17 damage per every meter meaning the lethal blast radius is about 3M as the damage would have dropped to 104.

Trivia

 * A very easy way to complete the "The Survivor" challenge in Modern Warfare 2 is to fire a grenade (and purposefully miss) and immediately knife an opponent. With no ammo in the launcher, the game treats the player as "out of ammo".
 * If the player shoots a grenade at a nearby wall or something that it will bounce off of, they will be able to see the unexploded grenade on the ground. It is possible to cause an impact kill with the undetonated grenade by ricochet.
 * The Grenade Launcher (in all its forms, attachment or otherwise) is often called the "Noob Tube" by online players, due to its ease of use.
 * A grenade fired from the launcher that directly hits a player, provided they are close enough, will not explode, though it will still kill them.
 * Every grenade launcher has the same sound when fired. Even the Thumper has the same sound as every other grenade launcher.
 * In Modern Warfare, the extended mission of "F.N.G.", it was stated that the Grenade Launcher cancels out when fired too close for "safety" purposes.
 * All grenades fired by grenade launchers are modeled the same (in the Modern Warfare series). This can be observed by looking at grenades that didn't explode
 * In the first 15 seconds of a match in Black Ops, any grenades from a grenade launcher will never explode. This is probably done to prevent grenade spamming, or grenade mortaring.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, 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.
 * When using Scavenger, the grenade has to be loaded to pick up another grenade. There are two slots for the grenade launcher: one that's loaded and one that is in reserve.
 * The grenade launcher attachment is often used with One Man Army to pick that same class to "refuel" their grenade supply.
 * It is possible to get a headshot with a grenade from a grenade launcher in Modern Warfare 2. However, the grenade must be "primed" in order to get a headshot. Hitting another player's head with a direct-impact will not yield a headshot kill.
 * It is easier to get a kill for the grenade launcher by shooting at the feet of an enemy player, if at long enough range it will explode killing the player, unless they have the Painkiller Death Streak.
 * The Modern Warfare 2 Create-A-Class picture lacks a trigger-guard.
 * If the 'Infinite Ammo' cheat is activated on Single Player (Modern Warfare only), then grenade launchers become fully automatic. The GP-25 will fire noticeably slower than most M203s and an M203 mounted on an M16A4 will fire considerably faster then when mounted on an M4A1.
 * Any kill with the under-mounted Grenade Launcher counts to the guns kill total. Same goes for the Masterkey Shotgun and the Tactical Knife (and in Black ops, the flamethrower attachment also).
 * A kill with the M203 and GP-25 counts as a hipfire kill, however the Thumper does not count as a hipfire kill or a scoped kill due to its sight.
 * In Call of Duty 4 there were originally 3 more grenade launchers: AG36 (G36C), HK79 (G3) and FN EGLM. The names can be found in localized strings.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, the Grenade Launcher attachment is no longer default when a gun that is compatible with it is unlocked, as it was in Call of Duty 4. It now is unlocked by getting 10 kills with the weapon of choice.
 * The Grenade Launcher is not very useful in close quarters because the Launcher will not arm if fired at a player less than five meters away.
 * This attachment is the easiest to get kills, as it requires almost no accuracy, being the most complained about weapon in the Call of Duty series.
 * In the Modern Warfare series, the Create-a-Class icon is of an M203 (except for the AK-47 in Modern Warfare 2), where as in Black Ops, the icon is of a GP-25.
 * On the FAL the grenade launcher is misspelled "Grenade Laucher".