Burn Baby! Burn!

by: Tony "RadarX" Jones

Every good army has "shock troops," whose sole purpose is to meet an opposing force head on and engage them in battle. The Grenadier, a Commando subclass, is one of the foremost examples using a variety of area-of-effect weaponry designed to obliterate anything in her path. Rushing into battle with heavy armor and a propellant gun (which is a fancy name for a flame thrower), they are designed to not only take a beating but dish one out. What lack of utility they have is made up for with an ungodly amount of offensive firepower, making this class the perfect choice for someone who likes to be up front.

How to become a Grenadier - As we stated above, the Commando is part of the Tier 3 class selection and requires you to follow the Soldier branch. When you gain enough experience to become level 5 you will receive a mission to find the Soldier and Specialist trainer. Choosing the Soldier branch will allow you to continue along until you receive enough experience for level 15 and will need to see a Commando trainer. While Commando and Grenadier trainers can be found at many locations, the most accessible are just outside the Foreas Command Center in Foreas Base. After training as a Grenadier you will receive the following skills:

• Signature Ability: Concussive Wave
• Ability: Sacrifice
• Ability: Scatter Bombs
• Ability: Tectonic Strike
• Training: Propellant Guns

Abilities:

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Firey Grenadier

Concussive Wave - Creates a large wave of force which damages all enemies in a large radius around the user, knocks them away, and stuns them.

This ability is just a huge area of effect ability that hurts anything within 25 meters around you. If the damage wasn't enough, it throws everything back an additional 20 meters, and stuns them for 10 seconds. It does require the use of 100% adrenaline to activate, but this ability not only can get you out of a pinch but can be absolutely devastating in a large group of enemies.

You'll need to find the Vortex Logos in Plateau which can be found in a cave at -118, 409, -346 and requires Empower, Only, The, Strong, and Eloh Logos. You'll also need Movement and Around in the Crater Lake Research Facility, and Backward near the Delta Outpost in Divide around 289, -507.

Sacrifice - This Logos ability puts a large weapon damage buff on the user while at the same time damaging the user's health and making it impossible to regain health by any means. Higher pump levels grant larger damage bonuses, and cost more Power to activate. Does not interfere with Body Armor repair or regeneration. This ability has an open ended duration; activate it again to turn it off. Can be cast on the run.

This ability provides a pretty massive damage buff which begins at 10% and maxes at 75% for Pump 5. At Pump 3 you will start taking 5% health damage from the ability, up to 15% every 5 seconds at Pump 5. The trick is that all healing of yourself is blocked while the ability is active, so be prepared to deactivate for a health heal. A 75% damage bonus mixed with Rage is nothing to joke about and allows for an unbelievable amount of carnage. Set your Grenadier up with a long range weapon, set sacrifice, and pick off enemies from a distance.

You'll need to locate the Self Logos in the Wilderness around -444, -111, and Damage Logos in the Upper Eloh area. Also find Heal located at the end of the Caves of Donn instance and Friend which is located in the Divide on the western end near -761, 354.

Scatterbombs - Fling Micromech explosives outward in a radius. The bombs do damage and may knock opponents down.

Another Area of Effect ability? This one isn't based on adrenaline but on power and consumable micromech which will run you a few credits a piece. Each pump changes the type and amount of damage done, as well as increasing the damage radius from 5 meters up. You'll start with Pump 1 Physical and continue with Ice, Laser, Electric and Virulent.

You'll need to locate the Machine Logos which is in the Pravus Research Facility and Damage in a cave around 406, 438 in Concordia Wilderness. Also located nearby is Area inside Pinhole Caves around -432, -595. You can find the Chaos Logos in the Crater Lake Research Facility.

Tectonic Strike - Use micromech explosives to create a tectonic shock originating at the user's feet and radiating outwards in a cone of effect. Deals heavy damage to all targets within cone of effect.

This is a forward cone ability that hits whatever is in range pretty hard. It's essentially a Logos shotgun, but you can't miss. At Pump 1 the damage is Medium for a conical range of 10 meters, up to Extreme Damage with a range of 30 meters. It will require Weapons Grade Micromech to consume and of course the higher you pump the skill, the more damage it will do. This skill seems to just be a personal choice and the utility is based on personal playstyle, but the graphical effect is stunning.

Target Logos is in the Enigma Caves around -903, -655 and Self near -440, -108 at Corman Lake in the Concordia Wilderness. Looking is in Torden Plains to the south of Atta Colony, and Transform is in the Northwest Highlands of Concordia Divide around -478, 588.

Propellant Guns - Allows the use of Propellant Guns (Flame Thrower-type) weapons. These weapons spread flame, cryogenic gas, noxious fumes, radiation and sonic waves into a cone in front of the user. Each skill level above Pump 1 grants a 10% bonus to damage, with a heat dissipation bonus beginning at Pump 3. At Pump 5 the damage bonus is 40%, with 100% heat dissipation. This is key: with your weapon never overheating, you can continuously fire until the ammo runs out.

These are probably one of the coolest weapons you'll find in the game. While their range is obviously limited, being able to run around with a flame thrower just rules. Grenadiers expect to be up close and personal with the enemy, so the limited range of 10 meters isn't too bad. The only downside to propellant guns, is they are currently extremely expensive to use. At level 50 they use a huge amount of median grade ammo.

What Skills to Keep:

Your mileage may vary but there are a few abilities you might want to keep from your earlier days as a Commando/Soldier/Recruit:

Firearms - Most agree you should take this to at least Pump 3 as you can't always depend on your propellant gun for long range shooting. It never hurts.

Rage - Yes, a 50% boost to damage when you are shooting a Propellant Gun will rack up some damage.

Graviton Armor - This is just a given. This is the heaviest armor in the game and what will keep you from dying.

Launchers - Every now and then a Grenade Launcher or Rocket Launcher will come in handy, and functions well as a longer range aoe weapon.

Machine Guns - Sometimes the Propellant Gun just isn't getting it done and the machine gun is the way to go. The have a longer range and cheaper to use with a lower grade of ammo. You'll also have access to different damage types, Physical and Laser, that the Propellants don't offer.