Scorcher

***"Everything must burn!"***

## Summary

* The Scorcher is unlocked at Headquarters level 18, making it the last troop unlocked currently.
* Each Scorcher costs 12 Gunboat Energy to deploy.
* After attacking a building]] for a few seconds, the Scorcher will change targets even if its target is not destroyed yet.
	+ The Scorcher can return to Buildings that it has targeted before.
* Buildings damaged by Scorchers continue burning for 5 seconds.
* When destroyed, the Scorcher explodes which deals damage to nearby Buildings and Troops.

## Visual Appearance

* The Scorcher is a Tank-like vehicle that has a flamethrower instead of a cannon. The turret is trapezoidal, and the barrel has a sheath that holds another, smaller barrel that feeds the pilot light, a canister in front of the muzzle with a blue flame.
* It has worn, red armor with bolts and a blue fuel tank on the back. There are two viewports at the front and a large plow.

## Offensive Strategy

* The Scorcher has a large amount of health but a relatively low DPS for the size it takes, so it is best used to soak damage to protect damage-dealing troops.
* Since the Scorcher changes target every few seconds, it will move farther into the base than a Heavy would. This makes it a good damage-soak, but causes it to take more damage needlessly.
* If you want the Scorchers to attack one particular building without them switching madly, the best thing to do would be to use a Flare to direct the Scorchers manually.
* Zookas work well with the Scorcher. The Scorchers have a lot of health and the Zookas do a lot of damage.
	+ However, because there are so few meatshields, they will not efficiently clear Mines so the Zookas are likely to get hit by Mines as well as rockets when the Scorchers enter the blind spots of Rocket Launchers.
* Tanks are a great troop to use with Scorchers since Mines and Rocket Launchers have little effect on them unlike Zookas. You also do not need to worry about Lazor Beams when using Tanks instead of Zookas. When using Tanks with Scorchers, you only have to worry about heavy defenses like Boom Cannons and Doom Cannons.
* Riflemen do not work as well with the Scorcher since they stand close to the Scorcher which leads to them getting hit by the same Mortar shells and rockets that the Scorchers are supposed to be distracting.
	+ The Riflemen are also in danger of being caught in the blast resulting from the Scorcher's destruction.
* It is not recommended to use Medics when using Scorchers. The Medics will follow the Scorcher as it weaves through defenses, and the Medics will come under fire from defenses that the Scorcher has passed.

## Defensive Strategy

* Place your Cannons and Boom Cannons behind other Buildings so that they get a good chance to shoot at the Scorcher.
	+ Also place the Cannons and Boom Cannons in groups so that they can work together to deal a lot of damage to the Scorcher quickly, but make sure they are not so close together that more than two can be immobilized by a Shock Bomb.
* The best strategy for defending against a Scorcher army may be to focus on defeating the damage-dealing troops behind the Scorcher. If those go down, it is unlikely the Scorchers will be able to finish the attack alone.
	+ Keep your Cannons and Boom Cannons separate from your Rocket Launchers. When the Scorcher enters the Rocket Launcher's blind spot, the Rocket Launcher will fire at the Troops behind the Scorcher.
	+ Good Mine spacing will be effective in taking out Zookas behind Scorchers since the Scorchers are unlikely to hit many of the Mines. Unlike a Heavy-Zooka army, there are big spaces between the damage-soakers, the Scorchers, which cause many more Mines to pass behind the them and hit the troops behind them.
* Make sure it is hard to avoid most of your Boom Mines. They can deal decent damage to Scorchers.
* High level Machine Guns can also heavily damage Scorchers since the Scorcher will move really close to the Machine Gun after it stops targeting it and moves to target the building next to the Machine Gun.
* Shock Launchers will also be good at hindering all Scorcher raids, since there are so few Scorchers on the battlefield that even immobilizing a few will result in a large reduction in firepower.

## Upgrade Differences

* There are no visual changes between levels, but each upgrade increases the Scorcher's hitpoints (by approximately 7%), DPS (by approximately 10%), and training cost (by 5000 gold).

## Trivia

* Unlike the Tank, there is no visible driver, so we do not know who drives the Scorcher. However, the Scorcher moves faster than the Tank, despite being much heavier.
* The Scorcher is one of two troops that does not fit perfectly into a level 20 Landing Craft. The other is the Medic.
* The Scorcher's extra burning damage mechanics is similar to the Flamethrower.
* The Scorcher, along with the Grenadier, are currently the only two troops that can damage friendly troops.
* The Blackguard version of the Scorcher is still red, but its fuel tank is black.
* The Scorcher upgrade to level 9 is the most expensive Armory upgrade in the game.