PUBG puts down its guns, picks up many grenades for War Mode: Dodgebomb

One of my main takeaways from watching the PUBG Global Invitational, apart from disappointment, was "huh, I really should use grenades more". My psyche has clearly resonated with that of whoever comes up with the War Mode ideas for Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, because this weekend's deathmatch event hands every player 20 frag grenades while removing all their other toys. Apart from a frying pan, obvs.

In War Mode events, Plunkbat temporarily forgets that not respawning is the core draw of Plunkbat and pits teams against each other in short battles with novel rulesets. I'm being snippy, but they're often a good laugh - and always a good opportunity to practice fighting in a game where you typically spend less than a tenth of your time actually shooting people.

Erm, not that shooting people is on the cards this time. "Dodgebomb" drops three teams of ten into a wee patch of Erangel, equipped with 20 frag grenades, a Molotov cocktail, level 3 armour and a frying pan. Each kill earns a team 3 points, and the 'nade spam continues until one team reaches 100 points or the 15 minute timer runs down. Exploded players respawn from a plane that flies overhead every 30 seconds.

Knockdowns have been disabled, so sitting on top of a grenade will actually kill you rather than just force you to crawl around on your knees for a bit. Unless that grenade was thrown by a pal - friendly fire has been switched off too.

I'm pretty sure this incarnation of Warm Plunkbat will be worth checking out for the spectacle, but miserable to play for more than a round or two. I have enough trouble avoiding grenades in a normal game, and doubt I'll fare well against 20 people armed with 20 grenades a piece.

For folks in Britland, the War Mode: Dodgebomb event starts at 3am tomorrow and ends at 3am on Monday the 13th. If you're in the Pacific time zone, that's 7pm this evening until 7pm on Sunday the 12th.