Scramble grenade

Scramble Grenade
Belt Slot Icon
Skill	Weapons: Demolition
Inventory Size	1
Internal Name	WeaponNanoVirusGrenade
Combat Information
Attack Method	Projectile
Base Damage	0 (actual damage) 100 (NanoVirus damage)
Base Accuracy	50%
Recoil	0.0
Projectile Information
Projectile	NanoVirusGrenade
Projectile Speed	1000
Blast Radius	512 (32 ft.)
Damage Type
NanoVirus

The Scramble Grenade is a demolition skill weapon in Deus Ex that is used to temporarily change the alliance of robots.

Description

The detonation of a GUARDIAN scramble grenade broadcasts a short-range, polymorphic broadband assault on the command frequencies used by almost all bots manufactured since 2028. The ensuing electronic storm causes bots within its radius of effect to indiscriminately attack other bots until command control can be re-established. Like a LAM, scramble grenades can be attached to any surface.

IN-GAME DESCRIPTION

Overview

When detonated, the scramble grenade changes the alliance of enemy robots from enemy to ally for a certain duration of time. An enemy robot whose alliance has been flipped will turn against other enemies of the player. Once the duration expires, the robot will return to its original alliance. If the scramble grenade is used on a friendly robot, the alliance of that robot will be flipped from ally to enemy.

The duration of the alliance flip effect depends on the proximity of robot to the detonation of the grenade (see "notes" section below). In general, a relatively close detonation will typically result in a duration of 1 minute of more, at the untrained skill level. Duration increases with skill level.

The scramble grenade is effective when used on a robot that is near a number of other enemies. The military bot is a particularly good candidate target for the scramble grenade, since it is capable of destroying all other enemies with ease, including smaller robots. In many situations, it is also preferable to toss the grenade without being spotted. One technique is to bound the grenade off a wall and having it land near the intended target.

Notes

• Internally, the scramble grenade has a base damage of 100 ("NanoVirus" damage type). This damage type does not inflict any actual damage, but the damage value associated with this damage type is used to calculate the duration of alliance flip effect.
• The duration of the effect (in seconds) is the amount of NanoVirus damage inflicted on the robot divided by 2, with damage being calculated in the same manner as explosion damage. Due to how explosion damage is calculated, the NanoVirus damage that is actually inflicted on a robot is typically much higher than the nominal base damage of 100, especially given the large radius (32 feet) of the scramble grenade.
• Scramble grenades have no effect on turrets.
• Despite the description the scramble grenade will cause robots to attack all enemies, not just other robots.

Trivia

• The scramble grenade is internally called the NanoVirusGrenade. However, its in-game description does not refer to any use of nanoviruses.

Gallery

Scramble grenade (undeployed)

Holding the Scramble grenade

Inventory icon