Battlefield 6 players are ragging on its 'useless' smoke mortar and its pitiful little plumes: 'I've seen 13 year olds rip vape clouds bigger than this outside of Target'

Now that Battlefield Studios has eased the pace of multiplayer unlock progression, more Battlefield 6 players are unlocking and experimenting with its cornucopia of combat gadgets. From New Sobek City to Liberation Peak, fighters are fielding ever-increasing numbers of deploy beacons, thermal grenade launchers, C4 charges, and slam mines.

You'll find very few who'll be willing to use the portable mortar's smoke shells, however, and that's because they're bad.

The LWCMS portable mortar system is unlocked for the support class at rank 49—the second to last piece of rank-unlocked equipment. In addition to lethal high-explosive shells, its description says it can launch "smoke shells to conceal troop movement." Conceptually, it's easy to imagine the utility that might offer: If you know your team is about to make a big push, you can launch a preemptive smoke shell to provide some cover without needing to lob a smoke grenade by hand.

But as the video from TikTok user Hypedreamzgaming shows above, the mortar's smoke shells only release a smoke cloud that's just big enough to hide a modestly-sized shrub.

The mortar's description might promise it'll conceal troop movement, and I suppose that could be true if you're only interested in hiding a soldier's shins in a kiddie pool-sized puddle of knee high fog. If you try to cover your squad's advance with its short-lived strategic puff, though, I guarantee you'll get them killed. This is the first time I've had secondhand embarrassment over a smoke cloud.

In comparison, the smoke grenades immediately available in multiplayer—as well as those fired by a handheld launcher unlocked by a support class assignment—release larger, longer lasting smoke clouds

As a high rank unlock, the smoke mortar is still something that many players haven't had a chance to use themselves. But as videos demonstrating its effectiveness—or lack thereof—have started circulating, they're having a hard time believing its current level of light combat haze could possibly be intentional.

"That's just insulting, completely useless," one redditor said in a thread discussing the mortar smoke's pitiful showing. "What is this?" another asked, "Smoke for ants?"

"Seriously. The game is good but the more I play the more I think they needed like another 6 months," said another redditor, echoing a growing sense that a few of Battlefield 6's features weren't fully baked before they left the oven.

On X, user @Aaptronym offered the most eloquent assessment of the smoke mortar's failings: "I've seen 13 year olds rip vape clouds bigger than this outside of Target."

As things currently stand, your gadget slots are better saved for something else. I guess you could use it as a distraction, maybe. Or offer some kind of shrew or field mouse a chance to escape a circling hawk.