Concussion grenades in Call of Duty’s battle royale mode “Blackout” have become a topic of debate among players.Players have complained that the concussion grenades are incredibly overpowered, and rightfully so. The grenades render the victim blind for up to 7 seconds and unable to do much else other than try to slowly walk away and shoot aimlessly into the white abyss while the attacker is almost guaranteed a kill.
In a game mode that is based around having one life and every gun battle is life or death, this makes for a mechanic that really has players up in arms over the use of concussion grenades in this particular game mode.
These complaints come even after Treyarch decided to remove the 9-Bang from Blackout, a chargeable concussion grenade that was deemed too effective at blinding people, particularly in the later stages of the game. The same seems to be true of the concussion grenades as there is still plenty of time to kill a player that is blinded by a concussion grenade.
There is virtually no way to counter a concussion grenade. The only current “counters” to the grenade are found in the Reinforced perk and Trophy system, but these pieces of equipment are not always readily available, nor is a player able to know when they are getting into a gun fight with a player ready to use a concussion grenade. So it’s hard to say the you can confidently counter a concussion grenade attack.
There still may be hope though, in the form of a community suggestion.
Professional Call of Duty player, Clayster, tweeted out a fans idea to help diminish the effectiveness of stuns in Blackout:
Stun grenades need to go in Blackout, it's actually ridiculous. Someone gave me a good idea that Lvl 1 armor would have stun resist and Lvl 3 wouldn't, so it would give a tactical choice between the two. If someone stuns you, you're literally dead 99% of the team lmfao.
— NYSL Clayster (@Clayster) January 22, 2019
Treyarch has stated that they have no intention of removing concussion grenades from Blackout, but this idea actually makes a lot of sense. If a player prefers protection against concussion grenades, they sacrifice more damage resistance. Likewise, if a player prefers the damage resistance, they are susceptible to being stunned by a concussion grenade.
Concussion grenades obviously need some kind of adjustment, this could be very effective at balancing both the concussion grenades and the use of level 3 armor, another highly criticized mechanic of Blackout.
What do you guys think? Would you choose level 1 armor in exchange for protection against the concussion grenades? Would you stick with level 3 armor and take your chances? Let us know in the comments!