Modern Warfare 2 fans beg Infinity Ward to nerf blinding Flash Grenades

Luca Di Marzo
Modern Warfare 2 Flash Grenade

The Flash Grenades in Modern Warfare 2 are incredibly powerful, and players have had just about enough of their blinding effect as they call for a major nerf.

Following the release of Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty fans have been busy testing out everything the new game has to offer. Despite some missing features and questionable UI decisions, players seem to be enjoying Modern Warfare 2.

Infinity Ward were committed to delivering a new Call of Duty experience with innovations like swimming and the new Gunsmith system. However, there are still a ton of classic CoD aspects found in Modern Warfare 2 including familiar Perks and Equipment.

One of these is the iconic Flash Grenade that has been a staple of the Call of Duty franchise for years. The Flash Grenade in Modern Warfare 2 has taken the community by storm and caused somewhat of an uproar as players believe its current state is incredibly overpowered.

A Reddit post explains that either a “massive nerf” to Flash Grenades or a “massive buff” to Battle Hardened is needed to balance out the controversial Tactical Equipment.

According to players, the problem with the Flash Grenades in Modern Warfare 2 is that they’re way too powerful and last too long. To make matters worse, it seems players are not satisfied with the protection that the Battle Hardened Perk offers.

Battle Hardened is supposed to reduce the effect of Flash Grenades amongst other Tactical Equipment, but players believe that “the flash effect WITH Battle Hardened is what you’d expect from not having the perk equipped.”

The situation got dire, to the point where players are questioning if they even have the Perk equipped: “Battle Hardened needs a massive buff. I had to double-check if I really had Battle Hardened on after getting flashed like crazy,” one player said.

This certainly throws a wrench in players’ Perk selection plan as Battle Hardened takes up a valuable Base Perk spot. If the Perk feels useless in Modern Warfare 2, players believe they’re better off without it: “I straight took Battle Hardened off cause like you said you’re still being badly affected. If you get flashed you’re f***ed with or without it.”

Players also explained that since Flash Grenades disable your HUD, they’re more disorienting than ever before. It remains to be seen if Infinity Ward will look into tweaking either Flash Grenades or Battle Hardened in a future update, but we’ll keep you posted if they do.


For more, check out the best Expedite 12 loadout and the best TAQ-56 loadout, which are two of the best guns in Modern Warfare 2.

Image Credit: Activision

About The Author

Luca is an Associate Editor at CharlieIntel. An accomplished, writer with interests in sports and gaming alike, Luca is focused on Call of Duty and FIFA as a content creator. After earning his BA in English Literature at Concordia University, he began writing for Gamelevate, OddsShark, and H4X. Luca joined CharlieIntel in 2021. You can reach Luca at [email protected], or via X @TheLucaDiMarzo.