Battlefield 6 Players Criticize ‘Completely Useless’ Grenade Launcher

Some vocal Battlefield 6 players are asking for changes to the grenade launcher, having labeled it as “largely useless.” Similar criticism has simultaneously been aimed at Battlefield 6‘s rocket launcher.

Battlefield 6 is currently in the midst of its second open beta weekend, which kicked off on August 14 and is scheduled to conclude this Sunday, August 17. Between this test and the one that preceded it, hundreds of thousands of players have had a chance to get first-hand experience with the upcoming shooter, leading to plenty of lively online discussion of the game’s perceived strengths and weaknesses.

Battlefield 6 Players Frustrated With Grenade Launcher’s AoE

Continuing this trend, some fans have recently banded together to criticize the way grenade launchers were balanced, calling them one of the worst Battlefield 6 open beta weapons. The main concern is their limited area of effect, which typically requires direct hits to secure kills, an interaction many consider unintuitive. While Battlefield 6 is not a military sim, it retains such a theme, and some fans argue the weapon’s perceived ineffectiveness clashes with that setting. In a recent widely circulated post, Reddit user Nameless908 called the grenade launcher “almost completely useless” while comparing it to a spitball pen.

Battlefield 6 open beta players have voiced similar complaints about the rocket launcher, which also lacks significant splash damage. Whenever the rocket doesn’t connect with the enemy, it only serves to suppress them. Another one of its widely criticized traits concerns its inability to destroy walls or any other kinds of static structures (which also applies to grenade launchers), something that players intuitively expect would be possible. Both of these issues were illustrated near the beginning of a recent viral Battlefield 6 video by popular YouTuber Jason “videogamedunkey” Gastrow, around the 10-second mark.

The Case for Battlefield 6 Leaving Grenade and Rocket Launchers As Is

While there’s currently no shortage of fan complaints about the way rocket and grenade launchers work, their limited AoE is almost certainly intentional. By nerfing their splash damage, DICE effectively turned them into niche anti-vehicle tools, discouraging their use against infantry. Moreover, the fact that players can equip two launchers already makes vehicles challenging to use in Battlefield 6, so further increasing their AoE would risk upsetting this already delicate balance. Another thing to consider is that launchers have several types of ammunition, of which at least one—Thermobaric Grenades—works exceedingly well even without perfect aiming, stunning enemies while simultaneously setting them on fire.

DICE has so far given no indication of considering rebalancing rocket and grenade launchers. The developer still has some time to consider such tweaks before Battlefield 6 releases on October 10.