The most important thing with non-lethal grenades is understanding their timing and effectiveness. Emp grenades work really well against cyber-enhanced targets and drones, stunning them temporarily when detonated within about 6 meters of the target. You'll want to watch the stun duration, since enemies recover faster than you might expect. X-22 flashbangs create excellent openings, giving you roughly 3 seconds to move in for takedowns when you land a direct hit but the key is maintaining proper distance since getting too close can actually result in accidental kills.

Something interesting to remember is how these tools interact with the environment and other systems. If you stun someone near a ledge or around explosive objects, there's a good chance they'll die from environmental damage which obviously defeats the non-lethal approach. The most reliable strategy is timing your grenades when enemies are in safe positions, away from hazards, and following up with non-lethal takedowns while they're disabled. The recovery window after an emp blast is roughly 2.5 seconds, so you need to move quickly but carefully.

A really useful trick is combining these with system collapse quickhacks or pax-modded weapons since pure grenade builds can be unpredictable. The status effects sometimes register weird especially if multiple grenades go off or environmental damage kicks in, so having backup options helps keep things non-lethal when missions require it.