Standard infantry effective against infantry at long-range. Can reinforce depleted squads with Merge.
The Grenadier Squad is a Wehrmacht infantry unit. In skirmishes, they are available from the
Grenadiers are the first technical 'mainline' unit available to the Wehrmacht. Unlike the other factions, the Grenadier is noticeably weaker in various areas compared to their mainline infantry units. Rather than serving as a strong generalist unit that is meant to scale well at all stages of a match, they typically instead serve as a 'basic' unit that helps hold the line and capture territory, supporting more advanced units in later stages of a match especially thanks to their unique abilities.
Grenadiers have among the lowest individual health of 80 hp per model, although they have a large squad size of 6 soldiers. In combat, they technically have a skewed damage curve where they deal the most damage per second (DPS) at close range, which tapers off in effectiveness at longer ranges. However, in general they are heavily out-damaged by USF
As such, Grenadiers are best used at range and in cover, as they will generally lose direct fights against many units. While they are lacking in combat effectiveness, thanks to their cheaper cost, they are great for stalling and supporting other units on the field. This is especially due to their unique construction options as well as the Squad Merge ability.
Grenadiers by default come with Squad Merge. This ability allows them to reinforce another squad that the player owns, assuming it is missing squad members. By doing this, the Grenadier squad will remove its own soldiers to join said squad. Merged soldiers will 'become' the new infantry unit, and thus gain all appropriate stats accordingly, such as their health, armour, and weapons. Cosmetically the unit model will remain a Grenadier model. Squad Merging is a very powerful unique ability for Wehrmacht players since not only does it allow instantaneous reinforcing of damaged squads even on the field, it overall saves Manpower since it is far cheaper to reinforce Grenadiers than reinforcing elite infantry squads.
They also by default, have the ability to construct Sandbags, Barbed Wire, and the
Grenadiers can eventually unlock the Stick Grenade and Panzerfaust ability. The grenade ability works like any other frag toss ability, and is most effective against infantry clustered together in cover or garrisons. The Panzerfaust ability is their anti-tank snare ability that allows them to damage and debilitate a targeted enemy vehicle. This Panzerfaust ability in particular is important as other Wehrmacht units tend to lack a similar snare ability, making Grenadiers still useful for aiding the overall army.
At veterancy level 1 they gain the Medkit ability, which when activated allows them to heal themselves while out of combat.
The dynamics change with the Assault Grenadiers perk from the Breakthrough Battlegroup. This battlegroup perk allows Grenadiers to be upgraded with Assault Package at a Munitions cost, replacing some of their default rifles with submachine guns. This improves the squad's close range performance and overall changes their damage curve to be more similar to the USF
Uniquely, Grenadiers can be converted into more advanced units at the
Overall Grenadiers are an interesting unit for the Wehrmacht. They are overall quite weak compared to equivalent early game units, emphasizing their utility qualities over direct combat quality. In the right hands Squad Merge is deceptively one of the strongest abilities one can utilize in the game - it is highly recommend to make use of this as it allows Wehrmacht to stave off Manpower bleed while maintaining a strong presence on the field. It can even be used to completely save squads that otherwise would be eliminated, especially weapons teams. Outside of Squad Merge, they are one of few Wehrmacht infantry units with an anti-tank snare ability thanks to Panzerfaust, making them still useful for supporting other units at later stages of a match.
As mentioned before, if the Assault Grenadiers perk from the Breakthrough Battlegroup is attained, a new strategy with Grenadiers opens up. The Assault Package suddenly makes them assault units by significantly increasing their close range damage. Careful management is still a must as they still have low health per model, but this package allows them to become viable assault units that can punish poor positioning thanks to Sprint and increased close range damage. Note that since it only grants 3 submachine guns, Grenadiers can still be easily out-damaged by more advanced units, and the package overall changes their damage curve to be more similar to USF
Due to their weak nature, strategies often revolve around using multiple different units such as the
In the case of excessive deployment of Grenadiers, the Transfer Orders ability to convert them into more advanced units can come in handy. However, since veterancy experience is not transferred over and there is a Manpower fee, this is generally not a cost efficient way of producing Jäger or Panzergrenadier squads.
800 XP
2400 XP
4800 XP
Medkit: Active ability gained upon reaching veterancy level 1. When activated, heals damaged squad members at a rate of +6 health per second. A simple ability that allows players to heal damaged Grenadier squads, useful for keeping them out on the field longer and to ensure any future Squad Merges are done at the healthiest levels (as health percentage transfers over).
Assault Package: This upgrade package is only available when the Assault Grenadiers perk is chosen within the Breakthrough Battlegroup.
For a Munitions cost, Grenadiers can be upgraded with this package. This upgrade replaces three of their default rifles with MP40 submachine guns effective at close range but ineffective at any further ranges. It also replaces the Stick Grenade ability with Grenade Assault, and unlocks the Sprint ability. For more info on these abilities, see the below section. Once upgraded this decision cannot be reversed/changed.
This unit can benefit from the following upgrades/perks listed below:
Infanterie Officer Quarters: Promotes all units from the HQ and Infanterie Kompanie to Veterancy 1 and increases their veterancy earn rate by 25%. Includes current and future units.
This affects the
Transfer Orders -
Transfer Orders -
Assault Grenadiers: Allows Grenadiers to be upgraded with Assault Package.
Breakthrough: Active ability. Infantry gain +50% faster capture/decapture rate for the duration of the ability.
Infantry Reserves: Reduces reinforcement cost of all infantry units by 25%.
Fuel Seizure: Infantry that capture fuel points immediately grants +5 fuel.
Mechanized Assault: Active ability. Vehicles auto-repair, and infantry move faster, take less damage, and are harder to hit when near friendly vehicles for duration of ability.
Designate Defensive Line: Active ability. Permanently mark a friendly territory point or Bunker as a Defensive Line. Infantry in the radius take less damage. Heals vehicles and infantry out of combat. Lasts until destroyed, decaptured, or a new point is designated.
Call the Reserves!: Active ability. All infantry units near bunkers will gain combat bonuses and periodically reinforce for free when active.
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Squad Merge: Active ability. Orders the Grenadier squad to move close to the target player-owned squad that is missing squad members, and transfers as many members as possible to the new squad. When merging, the merged soldiers will 'become' the new unit and thus will gain the appropriate stats of the new unit including health, armour, and weapons. This also means that health percentage is transferred over, so a full health Grenadier model will become a full health new model, even if the new unit has more than 80 max health per model. Essentially, Squad Merge reinforces another squad as normal, while decreasing squad members from the Grenadier squad. Cosmetically, the newly merged soldiers still retain the Grenadier model. Squad Merge is deceptively powerful as it allows the Wehrmacht player to stave off Manpower bleed while maintaining a strong presence on the field, as reinforcing Grenadiers tends to be cheaper than reinforcing more elite squads the traditional way. Since reinforcing via merging is instantaneous, it is also very useful for saving squads that are in danger of being wiped out completely, especially weapons teams.
Stick Grenade: Active ability. Requires construction of either the
Panzerfaust: Active ability. Requires construction of either the
Grenade Assault: Active ability. Requires the squad to be upgraded with Assault Package upgrade in order to obtain, and it replaces the Stick Grenade ability. Grenade Assault orders the entire squad to throw a frag grenade each at the target location, for a Munitions cost. Since every member is affected, this means this ability scales with available squad members and thus less grenades are thrown if the squad is missing members. Most effective against clustered infantry units especially in cover or in garrisons. Note that this ability is available immediately when upgraded with Assault Package and does not require other tech requirements.
Sprint: Active ability. Requires the Assault Package upgrade. When activated the unit will gain +80% movement speed for 5 seconds. A simple ability to help the squad move into position faster, especially useful for hard hitting flanks or to get into range of abilities like Panzerfaust. Long cooldown.
Sandbags: Creates a line of heavy cover that can be utilized by infantry. Counts as an obstacle that can vaulted over by infantry. Can be crushed by most vehicles.
Barbed Wire: Creates barbed wire that cannot be passed through by infantry, but can be crushed by any vehicle.
Kar98k-grenadier-ger | Near | Mid | Far |
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Accuracy | 0.75 | 0.656 | 0.625 |
Range | 7 | 25 | 35 |
Penetration | 1.5 | 0 | 0 |
The default Grenadier rifle deals the most damage at close range of 7 or less meters. At any further ranges it steadily decreases in damage per second (DPS) performance. That said, due to the weak durability of Grenadiers they still are best used at range and in cover, rather than rushing into close range.
Grenadier
Accuracy increased from 0.6/0.525/0.5 to 0.75/0.656/0.625
Grenadier Squad
We want the decision of Merge to be more of a calculated choice, rather than a player immediately using Merge to reinforce combat squads every time it takes a single casualty. The delay will force players to decide when they want to Merge during combat situations.
We have also removed the Veterancy 1 range bonus on Panzerfausts as it made light vehicle play extremely difficult against the Wehrmacht.
Merge now has a 15 second cooldown
Veterancy 1 Panzerfaust range bonus removed
Grenadier Squad – In general we feel the buffs given to this unit were a bit too much, especially with the power spike timing of their assault package. As such, we are reverting the cost change from 1.6.0 and standardizing the upgrade timing to match other units more closely.
Assault Package munition cost increased from 45 to 50
Assault Package research time increased from 20 to 30 seconds
Sprint now prevents the unit from firing on the move.
We are improving the performance of Grenadiers at short range to make charging Grenadiers more difficult in the early game, while improving their scaling into later stages of the game with Veterancy along with significant boosts to their support utility. Area of effect healing will allow veteran Grenadiers to keep other units on the field while improved Panzerfaust range will make it harder for vehicles to push into Wehrmacht lines.
Kar98k Rifle accuracy increased from 51.3/49.5/48 to 60/52.5/50
Panzerfaust cost reduced from 35 munitions to 30 munitions
Veterancy 2 accuracy bonus increased from 15% to 25%
Veterancy 1 provides +5 range to Panzerfaust
Veterancy 3 provides +5 range to Panzerfaust
Medical Kits changed to area of effect heal. Heals nearby friendly units units for 5 health per second over 25 seconds within a radius of 15m. Can heal while moving.
Grenadier Assault Package Upgrade
Cost reduced from 50 munitions to 45 munitions