Smoke Grenade

Lore & Background

The Smoke Grenade, a relic of the pre-war armed forces, survives in corroded tins and cracked plastic casings. Its chemical payload—designed originally for battlefield obscuration—degrades over decades of heat and dust, yet still billows a thick, acrid fog when its igniter is struck. In a world where a single missed shot can mean the end, the ability to vanish behind a wall of grey smoke for a few precious seconds is worth more than another round of ammunition. Vendors in fortified towns stock them alongside flashbangs and incendiaries, and resourceful Deputies sometimes craft or scavenge additional units from military caches. The wasteland takes, but it also repurposes.

In Their Own Story

The corridor was a kill-box. Three hostiles, two sightlines, and the dust-choked air doing nothing to hide the Deputy's approach. She didn't slow down. She didn't fire. She pulled the pin, counted to two, and tossed the canister into the gap between the second and third enemy. The hiss was almost polite, a small metallic tick before the world turned to grey. The smoke rolled low, thick as wool, swallowing the muzzle flashes that stuttered blindly into nothing. She was through the corridor before the first cough. Behind her, the smoke thinned, and the hostiles were just shapes again, confused, exposed, a half-second too late. She didn't look back. The water was still ahead, and the smoke was already settling into the dust.

Reader's Guide

Function: The Smoke Grenade is a single-use throwable that, upon impact, generates a cloud of smoke obscuring vision within a radius for a limited time. It deals no damage. Its primary tactical value is breaking enemy line-of-sight, enabling repositioning, covering a retreat, or creating a brief window for a companion to act without being targeted. Obtaining: Smoke Grenades can typically be found in military or police supply caches, purchased from vendors in major settlements, or sometimes obtained as a drop from certain enemy types. In later entries in the series, crafting or scavenging may also yield them. Exact availability varies by title and settlement. Ranged characters gain the most, as the smoke disrupts enemy targeting and allows safe repositioning. Version notes: The item appears across multiple entries in the Wasteland series. Earlier titles feature a simpler, shorter-duration effect, while later entries refine the radius, duration, and interaction with the game's turn-based or real-time combat systems. The core function—temporary concealment—remains consistent throughout. Story significance: While not a plot-critical item, the Smoke Grenade reinforces the series' theme of repurposing pre-war military technology in a resource-scarce world. It is a small, unglamorous tool that speaks to the pragmatism of Deputies who must survive with what they can scavenge.

Did You Know?

• The Smoke Grenade is purely defensive: it deals zero damage, making it one of the few throwables in the series valued entirely for utility rather than output.
• In the Wasteland universe, items like the Smoke Grenade are scavenged from pre-war military surplus, tying the item's existence to the collapse of the old government.
• The item's non-lethal nature means it can be used in scenarios where the player must avoid killing, such as certain dialogue-driven encounters or objective-specific missions.
• The Wasteland series is developed by inXile Entertainment, the studio known for the original 1988 Wasteland and its modern successors, all set in the irradiated American Southwest.