Introduction Flamethrower (74D)[]
The Flame Throwers were introduced during initial outbreaks. After their proven effectiveness in combat. The ethics were pushed aside since the afflicted generally do not feel pain.
Something about the Flame thrower[]
The flamethrower is one of the best classes at dishing out AoE (Area of effect) damage. For some reason it is somewhat an underappreciated class that does alot of heavy lifting in terms of handling large mobs of air units and pesky chargers. I am going to go into detail what exactly the flamethrower can put on the table for team and how to play it effectively. Also to tell you what it can and what it can't do.
Pros and cons[]
Pros
1. There is no reloading what you have in your tank is what you can use.
2. Never jams
3. At level 2 or 3 fuel discharge, almost kills any large mobs of air units and chargers (depending on difficulty)
4. Almost doesn't require any items to be effective.
5. Can tank almost anything with plasma shield.
6. Almost PVT proof with the exception of the graviton grenade.
Cons
1. Almost anything bigger than hunters you cannot handle by yourself.
2. Cannot fight horrors effectively on your own.
3. Graviton grenade can easily kill a teammate if you don't know what you're doing.
4. Cannot deal effective damage on most bosses.
Now before you look at the cons and become disgusted with the flamer, I want you to consider this. UA3 is a team survival game with the center of the game being team work. There is no reason that you have to solo anything and I am a firm believer that each class in UA3 plays an important role or function. Just that the flamethrower happens to fill a very niche role in UA3, which is crowd control so that your team can focus on bosses.
Abilities[]
-Soldier skills[]
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I would not put points into SS early unless you want a larger pool of energy or if you want a way to recover health through self aid. Even then the maximum I'd put is one; the shorten'd reload/unjam is wasted because you'd never reload/unjam.
-Napalm[]
"Napalm sticks to and burn targets, increasing initial damage and dealing damage over time per stack, Stacks ten times per flamethrower up to a maximum of 15 stacks per target. Lasts 3 seconds."
Level 1: initial damage 4 (+2 vs armored), damage per second 10
Level 2: initial damage 5 (+4 vs armored), damage per second 15
Level 3: initial damage 7 (+7 vs armored), damage per second 20
Level 4: initial damage 9 (+9 vs armored), damage per second 30
I recommend leaving it at 1 and only leveling it to 4 after you get plasma shield. This skill's effect splashs, making it very effective against tighty packed mobs, especially fliers.
-Fuel Discharge[]
Discharges pure, pre-ignited fuel at the target, dealing damage in a cone. Each level improves energy, fuel cost, and damage. Deals an additional 30% damage to armored units.
Level 1: Damage: 350, Fuel Cost: 15, Energy Cost: 85, Cooldown: 20 sec
Level 2: Damage: 550, Fuel Cost: 12, Energy Cost: 80, Cooldown: 19 sec
Level 3: Damage: 750, Fuel Cost: 10, Energy Cost: 75, Cooldown: 18 sec
Level 4: Damage: 1050, Fuel Cost: 8, Energy Cost: 70, Cooldown: 17 sec
In my opinion this skill is what the flamethrower uses to take out the trash, except he doesn't - he burns them.
I would recommend having this to at least 3 by level 5. This skill does not hurt allies. By level 3 it should do enough damage to clear out any gargoyles and chargers depending on the difficulty. At level 4 with Whiz Kid SI it can one-hit hunters in normal difficulty. Almost aim this skill towards the very end of the circle, it will reach that far.
-Plasma Shield[]
Activates a damage-abosorbing plasma shield specially built into your suit for a short duration.
Level 1: Shield amount: 400, Duration: 8 seconds
Level 2: Shield amount: 800, Duration: 9 seconds
Level 3: Shield amount: 1200, Duration: 10 seconds
Level 4: Shield amount: 1600, Duration: 11 seconds
This skill can be an insurance aganist leapers, stalkers/krills, and arachnid/lacerti. At level 4, the shield is incredibly powerful to buy time against bosses - stay with your team and inform them when you'll stand your ground. Then, tank any tier 1s for up to 10 hits with a good armor like SPCS or OPA. With two or three DPS guys by your side, the boss will go down easily.
-Graviton Grenades[]
Throws a graviton charge at a target point, pulling all nearby units towards the center. Each level imroves pull strength, radius, and duration.
Level 1: Duration: 6 seconds
Level 2: Duration: 7 seconds
Level 3: Duration: 8 seconds
Level 4: Duration: 9 seconds
This skill as I mentioned can really ruin somebody's day if no aimed properly. This skill will pull almost anything, even friendly units towards the center, even though they can jump out of it. I've seen people die getting caught in this skill because their jump is on cooldown. One big flaw I have to mention is that this skill will not work on flying units and some bosses. To determine which bosses it will not work on, just look at rather or not they can ignore cliffs and walk over mountains. As far as this skill not working on flying mobs, hey thats what Fuel Discharge is for.
You can you use skill on mobs of hunters, risen, etc. Then use napalm to hit the targets in the center to wear them down. Any left overs can usually be cleaned up using fuel Discharge.
Recommended Skill identifers[]
Flamers only start with 205 energy; putting that into consideration, I highly recommend the EN (Energetic) Skill Identifier (SI). On higher difficulties you will find that the flamer is very energy starved.
For your second SI, I recommend something that can get you in and out of fights easily, so you don't risk having to unnecessarily activate your shield when you are running instead of tanking. Therefore, TT(TwinkieToes) works well to up your movement speed. If you are going to focus on max level fuel discharge, WK(WhizKid) synergizes well to take down hordes of charging hunters (one-hit in normal difficulty with WK, two hits in higher difficulties)
Recommended Builds[]
(Napalm 1) > Fuel Discharge 4 > Plasma Shield 1 > Napalm 1 > Soldier Skills 1 > Plasma Shield 4 > Napalm 4