Flamethrower

* Item
* HUD

As it looks when dropped.

As it looks when equipped.

96 per 1 rocket (BUK + BUK)

9 (POW + POW)

## Class Perks

**Scavenger (Technician)**Convert weapon into a Mod Pack

## In-game Description

*Converting the basic frame and the flamable gel used in the Napalm Launcher allows you to use it as a powerful flamethrower, cooking enemies with less danger to yourself than from an exploding rocket.*

*Just don't set yourself on fire.*

### Assembly Description

*A rapid fire area denial weapon, that runs off the fuel in rockets.*

*It can be a very efficient weapon for ammo consumption.*

## Tactical Analysis

The Flamethrower is a Basic Assembly weapon and is a unique class of its own, create by combining the **Napalm Launcher** with a Power modpack and a rarer Firestorm modpack, it is one of the harder Basic Assembly to create.

The Flamethrower is the one-of-a-kind weapon with more than a few quirks unique to itself. For starter, the Flamethrower will occupy the Plasma Weapon slot, rather than the Launcher slot like the weapon used in it's creation. Very few weapons in the game exhibit this behavior, one of them being **Demolition Ammo** weapons which use the Launcher slot instead of the usual Pistol and Chaingun slot.

As per Assembly Description states, the Flamethrower has a very efficient ammo system. One Rocket will refill an entire magazine (or rather fuel tank) no matter how many units left, combined with reasonably fast reload speed and the nature of the lingering fire effect. This allows the player to continue spraying the flamethrower without having to actually care about ammo and the downtime from reloading.

In term of the actual performance, the Flamethrower behaves more like the **Plasma Rifle,** rapidly expells a constant stream of flame. But there are several differences. The first being that the Flamethrower is obviously fire-element rather than plasma, and the flame sticks to enemies and the ground, further damages them multiple times per tick. One tap from the Flamethrower consumes 3 units of fuel and produces 3 puff of flames.

Due to the sticky nature of the napalm, the player can lay the flame carpet on the ground to trap enemies even before the battle begins, Pinkies family and Hell Knight family are especially susceptible to this, being able to stop them in their track with a single tap from the Flamethrower, even the strongest tier in their respective family.

The damage from the projectile itself is somewhat unremarkable but the puff of flame is quite large and can set multiple enemies on fire for some times if the projectile slightly brushes with them. All of these can also stack with the lingering flame on the ground, accumulating a massive amount of damage, providing there's enough time. As such, to ensure maximum effectiveness, the players should aim the Flamethrower at the ground, rather than an enemy. Autoaim should also be disabled lest the gun forces targeting on the nearest enemy instead of the ground.

**Extreme caution** however, as the flame carpet can also damage the player, spatial awareness is a must when using this weapon, lest they block themselves off with long lasting walls of pain in a chaotic firefight.

The Flamethrower also have a few weaknesses aside from the aforementioned self-harm, The first being the lack of range, it's projectile suffers a range falloff at around 6 meters from gravity. The player can't increase this range by firing them in an arc like a Grenade Launcher either, as the fire would dissipate before it can hit the ground and produces no lingering flame carpet, limiting it's effectiveness.

Secondly, engaging any hitscanner enemies at max range is highly inadvisable because the projectile itself is quite slow and actually has no stopping power, relying solely on the rapid damage dealing of the flame effect to stun. Trading hits with enemies is certain should they try.

Lastly, the Flamethrower also burns through it's fuel reserve very fast, which may cause some problems in a prolonged firefight.

The Flamethrower is the go-to energy weapon for the Demolitionist as his **Fireangel** perk makes him immuned to the flame effect, allowing him to liberally use this weapon with total impunity.

The Marine's **Ammochain** perk synergise with the Flamethrower due to being a rapid fire weapon. One tap from the Flamethrower now only uses 1 unit of fuel while produces 3 puff of flames. It's effectiveness is largely negligible as the main source of damage from the Flamethrower comes from the flame effect, not the projectile. And the fuel consumption rate is still quite fast. it is one of the least synergy of all Ammochain weapons.

The Flamethrower is a basic assembly weapon and has 2 mod slots available.

## Modpack Analysis

* **ฺBulk** is a highly efficient upgrade for the Flamethrower as the weapon will still consumes only one rocket per reload despite having larger fuel tank. One Bulk increases the maximum unit of fuel to 78 and two Bulk increases it to the maximum amount of 96.
* **Agility** increases projectile speed and can actually increase it's range by a small margin, as the puff of flame travels longer distance before starting to dissipate but the effect is largely negligible. No more than one Agility is needed.
* **Technical** is inadvised as the weapon already has high reload speed and the bonus gain from the modpack is too small to be of any use, even with two Technical.
* **Sniper** is a much better alternative to Agility. In addition of increasing projectile speed comparable to two Agility pack combined, one Sniper also increases it's range by about 2 meters but two Sniper will multiply the effect, doubled the range of an unmodded Flamethrower.
* **Firestorm** no noticable gain in firerate until 2 Firestorm, nor there is any incentive to use either as the flamethrower is already a fast weapon and it's main strength lies in its ability to cause damage over time, not raw damage.

## Enemy-Specific Analysis

**Former Humans** - The Flamethrower is a hard counter against all zombies variants as long as they're at close to medium range and there's some cover to duck into. In Higher difficulties the zombiemen can immediately open fire as soon as the player are within their eyesight so the actual problem is about getting close enough for the Flamethrower to hit.

**Pinky Demon** - All Pinky variants will be completely shutdown and unable to move when hit with just a burst from a Flamethrower. The **Mech-Trosity** variant can still be a problem if engaged at range with it's chaingun primed for firing as they will counters all damage dealt to them with more gunshots until enough damage has been done to destroy their chaingun, after that, the mech-trocity will be just as vulnerable as any Pinkies.

**Hell Knights** - Likewise, All Hell Knight variants are extra weak against the Flamethrower, include and up to the **Lord of the Abyss.** They are still being unable to move but they can soak much more damage than the Pinkies. Extra bit of Caution required on the Lord of the Abyss as they can actually take more than one reload to kill and at close range they can suddenly break out of their pain animation with a rushing slap at warp speed which will seriously hurt the player and throw off their aim.

**Cacobyss** - The Flamethrower is surprsingly effective against these flying nightmares as the projectile is very large and can be rapid-fire, allowing the player to simply spray the flame in their general direction and hit both the spirit orb and the cacobyss at once, without having to accurately aimed at them.

**Revenihilator** - The cyberized Revenants are too tough for the Flamethrower due to their 10% fire resistance and their unique counter mechanic. Everytimes a revenihilator flinches from the exceeded pain threshold, they will instead retaliates with a stream of plasma shots so hosing them down with a rapid tick damage is a very bad idea. Not only that, the Flamethrower can't also deals damage to the Revenihilator's reinforcement drone fast enough to destroy it before it can teleports more of them in. Change of tactics is a better alternative.

## Evaluation

### Pros

* Efficient ammo system, one rocket for an entire fuel tank.
* Large Projectile, hit multiple enemies in the vicinity of the projectile.
* Trap laying capability.
* Massive damage potential from the projectile itself, the burn effect and the flame carpet.
* Rapid damage per tick, enemies with low pain tolerance stand no chance.
* Supplementary weapon with great flexibility. Inflicts burn then switch to other weapon as the situation demands.
* Very effective against elite and upper tier monsters.

### Cons

* Self-harm. Demolitionist or high fire resistance is a must or quick death is assured.
* very bad range.
* Bad projectile speed.
* Sub-par projectile damage. Should be mostly use as an opening weapon.
* No stun until the burn effect kicks in.
* No Knockback.
* consumes fuel too fast, hard to control.
* Bad synergy with most modpack.
* Not effective against bosses.