Blades, bullets, and bolts of laser fire are all fun to use in Starfield's combat scenarios but sometimes, a well-placed grenade (or maybe half a dozen of them) is the best approach to take. Blasting things away is entertaining on its own as well, and players who are inclined toward the explosive side of combat have a lot of neat toys to play with.
Grenades come in a lot of different shapes and sizes in Starfield, and they're all very good at the one job they're supposed to do: blow stuff up. Here's where to find these throwable items and how best to use them in combat.
How to Get (And Use) Grenades
Grenades are relatively scarce in the early game. Players can often find them on dead enemies, storage containers, or simply hanging around in the world waiting to be picked up. Gun stores like Centaurian Arsenal in New Atlantis may also sell grenades in their Throwables section.
There are currently five known grenade types for players to use: Fragmentation, Incendiary, Shrapnel, Impact, and Particle. Frag Grenades will be the most common variant players will encounter, though the others might appear more frequently in the later stages of the game.
To throw a grenade, players must first equip some. Go to the inventory screen and enter the Throwables section. Then, pick a grenade (or an explosive mine) of choice. Once equipped, press the G key on keyboard or the RB button for Xbox controllers to throw. Note that local gravity will affect how far a grenade is thrown, with Zero-G environments having the farthest throw range. Keep this in mind when fighting on planets like Akila where the gravitational pull is stronger than usual.
The Demolitions skill greatly improves the effectiveness of grenades. Not only does it increase the damage they deal, but it also makes their blast radius larger while reducing any self-damage players might inflict on themselves. If players invest enough points in Demolitions, this skill doubles the effectiveness of these bonuses.
Players who want to make even more explosions may want to use a grenade launcher as well. The Ashta Tamer can be picked up inside the Shaw Gang's cave during the Empty Nest main story quest. It's inside one of the weapon cases in the tunnel leading to the buried artifact. This heavy weapon uses 40mm grenades, and it can load up to four of them at a time.
Starfield is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.