Splash Damage · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

Splash damage is a weapon behaviour coded area: an explosive shot, shell or thrown charge harms everything within a radius of where it bursts, so the radius, not the missile, defines it. Homing belongs to the homing projectile. The shotgun spreads pellets from the muzzle, not around an impact. Remote detonation is set off later by its user, and the flamethrower projects a stream or cone. Fireball, the ability, is the same burst carried by a spell. Area control is territory held.

How it works

The player aims at a target or at the ground beside it. On impact or at the end of a fuse the weapon damages every target in the radius, often less with distance: Doom subtracts the distance from 128, Quake subtracts half of it, and Team Fortress 2’s splash falls to half at the edge. Wargames place a template: Chainmail’s catapult disc kills every figure wholly or partly under it. Doom and Quake test whether the blast can reach each target, so walls give cover. Splash makes aim more forgiving, since a shot at the feet still hurts a dodging target, and it threatens the firer at close range.

Variations

Template kill (Chainmail, Squad Leader): every piece in the area is hit at equal effect, with no falloff.
Deviating marker (Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader): the marker may drift from its target point, and each model under it is rolled for.
Distance falloff (Doom, Quake, Team Fortress 2): damage drops with distance from the centre.
Self-damage and knockback (Doom, Quake, Team Fortress 2): the firer takes splash too, and Quake’s push lets players launch themselves with their own rockets.
Interception (Missile Command): the explosion is the weapon, destroying missiles that fly into it.
Terrain destruction (Worms): blasts carve circular holes in the landscape.
Thrown splash (Worms, Halo Infinite): grenades carry the radius on a fuse rather than on impact.

Limits

Chainmail’s light catapult fires every other turn and the heavy every third, and a short crew adds turns. Rogue Trader allows one shot per model each turn. Video examples spend carried ammunition: Missile Command’s ten missiles per silo, Doom’s and Quake’s rockets, Halo Infinite’s grenades. Team Fortress 2 adds a four-rocket clip. In Worms the bazooka is unlimited by default, while dynamite comes as a single stick plus what supply crates hold. 343 Industries cut the frag grenade’s radius in 2023 to reward placement and answer concerns about grenade spam.

History and provenance

The earliest documented use cited is Chainmail (1971, wording from the 1972 edition), whose catapult disc also sizes the wizard’s fire ball. Jon Peterson reports catapult rules, without describing a hit area, in the 1970 Lake Geneva rules that preceded it; earlier artillery rules, such as Featherstone’s War Games (1962) and Charge! (1967), remain unsurveyed. A Squad Leader rules transcription of unconfirmed edition spreads artillery over a seven-hex “Blast Area”, and Rogue Trader (1987) lets the placed marker deviate. Missile Command (1980) made the explosion the player’s weapon. Doom (1993) and Quake (1996) brought radius damage with falloff and self-damage to first-person shooters, and Quake’s knockback underlies rocket jumping. Team Fortress 2 (2007) and Halo Infinite (2021) continue it. Worms (1995) joined it to turn-based artillery and destructible terrain.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the weapon works in each game; the limits are what restricts its use there; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Limits	How the weapon works
Chainmail Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren	1971	Board & card	Cooldown	Catapult fire is placed with a circular plastic disc, 2 inches across for the light catapult and larger for the heavy, and all figures wholly or partially under the hit area are killed. A fully crewed light catapult fires every other turn and a heavy one every third, with each missing crewman adding a turn.
Missile Command Atari	1980	Video	Ammunition	The player's anti-ballistic missiles burst in octagonal explosions that grow over several frames to a radius of 13 and then shrink, destroying incoming missiles caught in them. Each silo holds ten missiles.
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Rick Priestley (Games Workshop)	1987	Board & card	Action cost	Grenades and other area effect weapons place a card circle marker, from half an inch to 2 inches or more in radius, over a target point the firer can see. The marker may deviate by a D12 direction and D6 inches, and every model wholly or partly under it is rolled for in turn. A model shoots once a turn.
Doom id Software	1993	Video	Ammunition	A rocket's explosion runs a radius attack of 128 that damages every shootable thing the blast can see, by 128 less its distance from the centre, measured as the larger of the horizontal and vertical offsets. The firer is not exempt; the Spider Mastermind and Cyberdemon are.
Worms Team17	1995	Video	Unlimited, Ammunition	The bazooka, unlimited by default and bent by wind and gravity, causes up to 50 points on a direct hit and a large blast wave that wrecks the landscape; a grenade causes up to 50 if it explodes very near its victim. Dynamite causes up to 75, but only one stick is issued, with more in supply crates.
Quake id Software	1996	Video	Ammunition	In the game code id Software released for QuakeWorld, a radius attack deals its damage less half the distance from the blast to each target it can reach, halves it for the attacker, and pushes targets away in proportion to the damage.
Team Fortress 2 Valve	2007	Video	Ammunition, Magazine	The Soldier's Rocket Launcher deals 90 base damage, its splash falling to 50% at the blast's edge by community testing. It holds four rockets in its clip with 20 in reserve, and a rocket jump costs the Soldier 27 to 46 health.
Halo Infinite Latest 343 Industries	2021	Video	Ammunition	Frag grenades and the M41 SPNKR rocket launcher damage targets within a damage radius. A February 2023 update cut the frag grenade's radius from 2.7 to 2.5 world units; an August 2022 update made the SPNKR's radius damage enemies more consistently.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Chainmail (1971), board & card. Confidence: low. Chainmail's catapult fire is the earliest documented use cited: a disc of stated diameter is placed at the called range and every figure under it is killed. The wording cited is from the 1972 second edition; no copy of the March 1971 first edition is cited, so the rule's presence in 1971 is unconfirmed. The same book sizes the wizard's fire ball by the large catapult's hit area, so the weapon form precedes the spell there. Jon Peterson reports that the Lake Geneva rules of 1970 from which Chainmail grew already had move-and-fire rules for cannons and catapults; whether they used a hit area is unconfirmed. Leonard Patt's 1970 fantasy rules reportedly gave a wizard's fire ball a burst area, a spell rather than a weapon. Artillery in earlier miniatures rules, including Donald Featherstone's War Games (1962) and Peter Young and J. P. Lawford's Charge! (1967), remains unsurveyed, which keeps confidence low. A transcription of the Squad Leader rules gives off-board artillery a seven-hex blast area; whether the 1977 box carries it is unconfirmed. Missile Command (1980) is the earliest video use cited; earlier artillery games on computers remain unsurveyed.

Sources

Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. (1972). Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 2nd edition. Guidon Games. Rulebook Missile Fire, Catapult Fire, p. 9; Catapult Fire, Rate of Fire, p. 10; Fantasy Supplement, Wizards, p. 28. Accessed 2026-10-28. The light and heavy catapults' hit-area discs and ranges, every figure wholly or partially under the disc killed, the rate of fire by catapult and crew, and the fire ball's hit area equal to the large catapult's.
Jon Peterson (Playing at the World). (2012). The LGTSA Medieval Miniatures Rules. Article Accessed 2026-10-28. The 1970 Panzerfaust and Domesday Book versions of the rules that grew into Chainmail, and a reprint missing two sentences on the move and fire rules for cannons and catapults.
Rick Priestley. (1987). Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. Games Workshop. Rulebook Combat, Shooting; Area Effect Weapons and Area Effect Deviation, c. p. 24. Accessed 2026-10-28. One shot per armed model in the shooting phase, area effect markers as card circles placed over a target point, deviation by marker radius, and every model wholly or partly within the marker a target.
John Hill (Avalon Hill). (1977). Squad Leader rulebook. Rulebook Rule 46.5 (Artillery Fire Mechanics). Fire for effect landing with equal effect in its hex and the six adjacent hexes, a seven-hex blast area resolved hex by hex on the Infantry Fire Table; read in a rules transcription whose edition is unconfirmed.
6502disassembly.com. Missile Command disassembly. Website Accessed 2026-10-28. Octagonal explosions that expand and shrink over several frames, a maximum radius of 13, collision tests against incoming missiles, ten missiles per silo, and the 1980 Atari copyright.
id Software. (1997). Doom source code (linuxdoom-1.10). Website p_map.c, PIT_RadiusAttack and P_RadiusAttack; p_enemy.c, A_Explode; info.c, S_EXPLODE1. Accessed 2026-10-28. The radius attack, its damage less the larger axis offset, the line-of-sight test, the boss exemptions, the 128 passed by the explosion routine, and the rocket's explosion state calling it.
Team17. (1995). Worms Game Manual (PC, US). Team17 / Ocean. Rulebook 8, Weapons Available: Bazooka, Grenade, Dynamite, Landmines; 9, Gameplay Details. Accessed 2026-10-28. Damage up to 50 on a direct bazooka hit, the bazooka unlimited by default, grenades near the victim, dynamite's 75, blast wave and single stick with more in supply crates, landscape damage, wind, and the turn clock.
Wikipedia. Worms (1995 video game). Wiki Explosions that deform the terrain into circular cavities, turn time limits, and the game's development as "Artillery" from earlier tank games.
id Software. (1996). QuakeWorld game code (combat.qc). Website T_RadiusDamage; T_Damage. Accessed 2026-10-28. Radius damage less half the distance, halved damage to the attacker, the damage test against obstruction, and knockback in proportion to damage.
Team Fortress Wiki. Rocket Launcher. Wiki Base damage, splash falling to 50% at the edge, clip and reserve, rocket-jump self-damage, and the approximate values from community testing.
John Junyszek (Halo Waypoint). (2023). February Update Preview. Article Accessed 2026-10-28. The frag grenade's damage radius cut from 2.7 to 2.5 world units, and the stated aims of rewarding placement and addressing grenade spam.
Seasoned Gaming. (2022). Halo Infinite "Drop Pod" Deploys with Updates and Fixes. Article Accessed 2026-10-28. The M41 SPNKR's damage radius improved to damage enemies more consistently.

Cite this entry

Permalink: http://localhost:4321/weapons/splash-damage
Updated: 2026-10-28
Status: Unverified, schema v20
Licence: CC BY 4.0

West, James, Jr. (2026). "Splash Damage." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-28. http://localhost:4321/weapons/splash-damage

BibTeX for every entry · JSON (id splash-damage)