If you’re on just one health, the bomb’s explosion radius is a bit scary. Sure, you
know ROUGHLY where you’ll be safe from, and if you have the time, you’ll try to
get even further away, just in case. But even pros still get caught out by it from time
to time, especially when the bomb’s planted in an unusual position, or where parts of
the map aren’t as far away as they might seem…
Of course, I’m referring to that incident earlier this month where JT died in Banana
from a bomb planted at A. Where else can this kind of shit happen?
Inferno’s a great map for it, since while it may take a while to run around this map,
some parts are closer to each other than you might think. Like bombsite A and banana, for
example. Would he have been safe had he run a little further? No, not really- it seems
to reach most of banana. The cubby near the bottom’s safe. But even this corner at the
top will chip a point of armour off. And then the damage increases as you head on up towards
B, only reaching safe levels again at around where these flowers are.
That dark spot near ruins is also safe. And reaching level to the well beyond CT spawn
is as well. But don’t stop until you get there!
If you plant in the corner close to the gay box, it can reach all the way to the door
in apartments- and then some! You have to be a few stairs up to escape it completely.
Nowhere in underpass is safe, either- I took damage from some parts of deck, but this wall
of kitchen seemed to be JUST beyond the bomb’s reach.
I wish I could show a radar overview like this, but it doesn’t tell the full picture
because the map isn’t flat. You might think the variations in height on a map like Inferno
would be small enough not to matter… but you’d be wrong. Even modelling a 3D ball
to represent the explosion didn’t work. In some places it was accurate, but in others…
not so much. So rather than to battle with an approximate system, I chose to do it the
old fashioned way. Seems the best way to test whether or not the bomb can reach you in certain
places is to boot the map up and to test whether or not the bomb can reach you in certain places.
So a bomb blast at A can reach bananana. But it can happen the other way around, too. If
you plant in this corner of bombsite B, the explosion will still reach anywhere along
the wall with the bench, along the close-side of CT spawn and will even deal a point of
armour damage from this corner inside library. If you want a safe spot, then standing in
this corner by the tank is an option- I found it to be safe from both bombsites, regardless
of plant position. But only just. It goes without saying that it’ll get you
in this cubby at the top of mid. And for up to 8 points of damage at that. And it will
continue to tag players stood the opposite corner from it. Even though it’s not even
the best bomb plant to reach players here, it will still get players at the bottom of
middle. But I think once you reach around this, corner you’re safe from any bomb planted
at B. It’s made me realise that, for people looking
to taunt the other team in petty new ways, they should go out of their way to plant in
obnoxious spots like this to increase their chances of scoring meaningless but quite irritating
points of damage off surviving enemies.
What about on other maps? I feel we should cover Dust2, what with it being the best map
in existence ever. Long A is a classic spot because every player ROUGHLY knows how far
the bomb’s explosion can reach. It reaches somewhere close to pit doesn’t it. But HOW
close? And where should you plant if you want to make your escape in this direction as stressful
as possible? Had I not tested this, I would have advised
you not to plant like this. Firstly because it’s a stupid place to plant. But also,
because even though it’s as far towards the pit as you can plant it, I would have
assumed its extra height would have cancelled out any benefit-especially as most of the
map is below the height of this bombsite. But it seems planting here WILL cause the
damage to reach further into pit. If you want to be safe from this blast, try to reach far
enough into pit that your head is below the level of the road. Then you should be safe.
But this guy here’s not doing that, so will sustain at LEAST 1 point of damage from the
perfect bomb plant. Planting in the other sticky out corner will
not be as dangerous for those in pit, but will reach people who are stood in long doors,
about here. I don’t know about you but I’m always paranoid some score-boosting CT’s
going to poke out from these as I’m watching the explosion from pit. But now I’m happier,
knowing that he might kill me… but standing there, the bomb blast will knock his armour
down to 99. A fate worse than death indeed. And the third spot you can plant at A is right
here, if you want to maximise damage done to players stood in middle, CT spawn or in
that bit that goes past mid doors. I know, I know. The cut-off point doesn’t look much
like a sphere. But that’s why I’m here. You must be level with these bricks on the
way up to B to avoid damage completely. And in B tunnels, you’ll still lose a point
of armour as far back as this corner right here.
And if you think that’s bad, the ramp at mid is even worse! The explosion will inflict
1 point of armour damage pretty much all the way up the slope. To get to a safe distance,
you have to be stood at the top of mid, behind where this cable’s shadow is. Ridiculous.
And it’s strange how some locations immediately drop from 2 damage to 0, while others, such
as this one, linger on one point of armour damage for a while.
So over to bombsite B, it has to be this corner here because it can reach so far out in all
directions! It will knock off a few points of damage to
people stood in CT spawn unless they’re practically stepping out into A. It’ll even
get players stood near the wall at ‘extended’ A. And this plant at B is, if anything, even
more dangerous in middle than that A plant was! You have to be stood behind this crate,
or further back still, before it stops dealing damage. Anywhere up the ramp in middle will
inflict at least 1 point of armour damage. Ridiculous. And it’s strange how some locations
immediately drop from 2 damage to 0, and I’ve already said all this, why’s this in the
script again? *Deletes* And there’s another magical cut-off point-
and that’s outside the tunnel on the B side of the map. Despite by best efforts, I could
NOT hurt a player who was stood outside here. The moment you enter the tunnels you risk
sustaining at least 1 point of damage. But remain outside and you’re golden.
So that’s Dust2 and Inferno. Are there any other maps you’d like tested? Where will
he die? Find out next time.