Flashbang

The Flashbang is a Special Grenade used in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Nintendo DS), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It temporarily blinds anyone affected with a white light and leaves a "ringing" sound in the victim's ears.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
"Device that blinds and deafens the target when detonated."

- Special Grenade description

Campaign
Flashbangs are one of two types of special grenade available to the player in campaign (the other being Smoke Grenades). They can be restocked by picking up special Grenade Bags. They are vital in higher difficulty levels, as enemies cannot throw them back and they can give the player enough time to either recover from an attack or eliminate key enemies, which can save the player in certain situations.

Multiplayer
Flashbangs appear as one of the 3 special grenades available to the player in Multiplayer. Unlike the Stun grenade, the flashbang grenade does not indicate whether or not a person is flashed.

Campaign
The Flashbang is the same as it was in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Multiplayer
The Flashbang behaves like it does in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but this time a hit indicator will appear if someone has been affected by its explosion. The throwing animation is also slightly longer than that of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, most likely done for balance.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
The Flashbang returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops. This time, it is a tactical grenade instead of a special grenade. If the player uses flashbangs as their tactical grenade, they will receive 2. The player will also get an extra flashbang if they use Warlord Pro.

If the player successfully flashes an enemy, they will get a hitmarker, but it should be noted that they will also get a hitmarker if they flash a person using Tactical Mask Pro, which reduces the effect of stuns and flashes to 10%.

If a player flashbangs an enemy and does no other damage to the enemy, and a teammate gets a kill, the player will be given an assist regardless of the fact that very little damage was actually done to the enemy, other than possibly creating a diversion or distraction for the player's teammate to use.

This special grenade has a larger area of effect, also completely blinding and deafening the player, whereas the Concussion Grenade only deafens and slows movement/rotation speed. However, if an enemy is a short distance away from the flashbang's detonation point, they may recover enough to fight normally after a few seconds. Although, for some of these reasons, the concussion grenade may be a better alternative due to its smaller range making it less likely that the player will cause personal damage and also having a better effect on unaware enemies because of a player being able to turn around and blindfire at the breaching target when hit by a flashbang. It also has a shorter readying time than the flashbang.

Concussion grenades detonate after a certain time period and when they impact an object or the ground, whereas flashbangs detonate only after a certain time period. This means flashbangs may detonate while still airborne but concussion grenades will always 'wait' until they hit something. This can be an advantage for using the concussion grenade because if the grenade is being thrown over a long distance, a flashbang may detonate in mid-air before reaching the target, but a concussion will not do this.

Multiplayer
The Flashbang is included in Call of duty: Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer and is unlocked as soon as Create-A-Class is unlocked. It was seen in a player's inventory in Call of Duty XP, with the name "Flash Grenade". Blinding an enemy counts as "tagging" an enemy while using Recon, but the radius of which it will paint a target on radar is smaller than its area of effect, meaning targets can be hit but not painted.

Flashbangs are much more commonly used than in previous titles, as Concussion Grenadesno longer have a faster throw time than other grenades. They can often backfire due to their large area of effect, which can blind the user (or teammates in hardcore gametypes) and render the user as defenseless as one's target

Survival Mode
Flashbangs return in Survival Mode, working identically to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 version. It costs $1000 to refill the player's flashbang supply up to four. The flashbangs are handy for stunning Juggernauts, or if the player is surrounded by enemies, they can be used for a good getaway.

Multiplayer
The Flashbang returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance's multiplayer as the optional grenade to Mk 2 grenade in the grenade weapon slot.

Being much more useful than its Mobilized counterpart, instead of leaving just a white circle obstructing most of the opponent's view that fades afterwards, catching sight of a flashbang's explosion flashes the entire screen white obstructing complete view. The screen will gradually fade, leaving a white circle (similar to Mobilized) then the circle fades.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
"Blinds targets, impair hearing, and temporarily disables enemy equipment and turrets."

- Create-A-Class Description.

The Flashbang returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Trivia

 * In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, when one arms a flashbang, gets shot and falls into Last Stand while still holding the flashbang, it will turn into a Frag Grenade, which can be thrown while in Last Stand.
 * It is possible to kill a player at full health with a flashbang. If they're in a corner, and the flashbang gets behind them, it will bounce in between them and the corner until they die. This is possible with any tactical grenade.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, there is an unused warning icon when a flashbang is near the player. This was most likely cut for the almost instant explosion, so the warning icon would be useless.
 * The Spetsnaz forces sometimes shout 'ya brosayu flashbang' (I'm throwing a flashbang), this being incorrect. Flashbang in Russian is светошумовая граната (svetoshumovaya granata).
 * It is possible to kill a severely wounded player just by the effect of the grenade, rather than direct impact, as the Flashbang's blast does 1 damage.
 * In Call of Duty: Black Ops, the flashbang reads: "Fuze M-201A1 IW 7-070 M-84 Flashbang Tactical Diversion Device".
 * In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the Flashbang is the first special grenade used, in the campaign mission F.N.G..
 * In the Wii version of Call of Duty: Black Ops, concussion grenades uses the same sound file as the flashbang.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, the Flashbang uses the 9-Bang model in Multiplayer.
 * Oddly enough, in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Defiance, the closer the player/opponent is to the flashbang, the less effective the flashbang's effects are. The same occurs vice versa, if the player is far away (albeit within the blast range) from the flashbang, the more effective the after effects are.