Grenadier

The Grenadier is a pirate enemy type in Windrose that throws explosive grenades at the player from medium range. Grenadiers fill the design gap between single-target ranged pirates (such as Musketeers) and melee pirates by adding area-of-effect pressure to camp encounters. They are a human Outlaw enemy and follow the same daily respawn rules as the rest of a camp's garrison, so a cleared camp will repopulate its Grenadiers on the next in-game day.

Combat Behavior

Grenadiers prefer to stay at mid range and lob explosive grenades that detonate in a small area. Their splash damage punishes groups of players or NPCs clustered together. Because their threat is positional rather than single-target, the danger scales with how tightly your party or hired NPC Crew bunch up: a single well-placed throw into a stacked group is far more dangerous than one aimed at a spread-out party. Specific damage values, exact attack telegraphs, and damage-type resistances or weaknesses are not confirmed in the data-mined build, so treat the grenade as a high-commitment burst that you read by its arc rather than by a fixed number.

Counter Strategy

• Close to melee range quickly to force the grenadier to engage at close quarters where explosive grenades are less effective.

• Spread out from teammates or NPC Crew to minimize splash damage from a single well-placed throw.

• Use a Pistol or Musket to apply pressure from range while closing distance. With Armor 0, a Grenadier takes full value from firearm hits, so a single aimed shot during their throw windup is efficient.

• Prioritize grenadiers before engaging their melee escorts; clearing the ranged area threat stabilizes longer fights.

• Stagger Defence is only 3, so a heavy hit or a high-poise weapon can interrupt a wind-up and cancel the throw outright before the grenade leaves their hand.

Loot

Grenadiers drop gunpowder, grenade components, and sometimes Piastres or contraband goods. Their guaranteed drop is Homemade Gunpowder, the same crafted propellant you otherwise make from Sulfur and Ash at the Millstones, which feeds firearm ammunition and explosive recipes. Because each kill returns several units at a 100% rate, defeated grenadiers are a reasonable farming source for restocking bombs or gunpowder-based crafting without spending time at a workbench.

Where to Find Them

Grenadiers tend to appear in later Pirate Camps, at guard posts for higher-value caches, and occasionally in larger pirate fleet boarding actions once you progress past the starting Coastal Jungle biome. Their distribution across islands is influenced by the world's difficulty setting chosen at world creation.

For repeat farming, drop a Fast Travel Bell near an island that hosts multiple camps and clear them on the daily respawn loop alongside ordinary Sailor garrisons. The supply crates scattered through a camp add more gunpowder on top of the kills, so a full camp clear is more efficient than picking off Grenadiers in isolation.

Current Stats and Drops

The tables below summarize combat stats, traits, and drops for the current launch build. Values can change when balance patches adjust creature health, defenses, or loot.

Combat Stats

Traits

Gameplay traits for this creature: Human, Living, Outlaw. The Human and Living tags mean Grenadiers are vulnerable to anti-personnel effects rather than the anti-Undead damage that matters against swamp and night enemies.

Drops

The drop table shows the stack size awarded when the drop rolls, and Chance shows the probability per kill.

Patch History

Hotfix 0.10.0.2.54 on April 17, 2026 retuned Grenadier AI in two ways. Grenade projectiles now pass through players and other NPCs instead of colliding with them, so a teammate standing between the thrower and the target no longer shields you or changes the arc. The aggro leash was also extended: Grenadiers no longer drop aggro as quickly and now correctly close distance when a player retreats. Pre-patch guides that recommended backing past a fixed distance to break aggro are no longer reliable. The combat stats above still reflect the base build; no documented numeric changes to Health, Defence, or the drop table have shipped since launch.

See Also

• Enemies full list of hostile NPCs and creatures in Windrose

• Pirate Camps where grenadiers commonly appear

• Weapons player counterparts to enemy firearms

• Musketeer the single-target ranged pirate Grenadiers complement

• Crosswind development timeline including the December 2025 reveal

Details

Drops