I've noticed player prejudice commonly toward the firebug. Common chatter in voice chat is that of, "firebug is useless." Also the prevailing notion, and the one that I'd like to address, is that setting scrakes and flesh pounds on fire is a terrible idea. It is my experience, from extensive playtime, that these attitudes are mostly wrong.
This idea, I think, needs to be debunked and replaced with the standing order of, "Firebugs make everything burn!" Furthermore, I'll be writing under the assumption that the KF wiki ( http://kf-wiki.com/wiki/Firebug ) tactics statement of, "Any crisped specimen will take extra damage from attacks and will be slowed..." is true. Though, I would be interested in clarification of this alleged damage bonus and slow 'crisped' zeds receive.
My first assertion that it's nearly always a good idea to light scrakes on fire. A single shot from a flamethrower followed by full burn time will not cause a Scrake charge on anything but the lowest difficulties or games with 1-2 players. Assuming no other damage contributors but a single incendiary round, burn damage triggering a charge in itself will not occur outside circumstances where the scrake has so little total hp that it could be considered a non-threat. This is partly assuming the legitimacy of the wiki claim that crisped enemies take more damage from attacks and / or the slow from crisping has effect. Even so, if a flailing-animation is triggered before a scrake reaches the rage threshold the animation will continue, causing a scrake to wander, until its conclusion even if its health is then dropped enough to trigger rage: this can be quite useful.
Currently there's an excellent write up on specimen behavior by Scary Ghost @ http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=49922
Concerning flesh pounds it is well known to all of us that the fleshpound will rage if it takes a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Scary Ghost' write-up makes an additional note on the dps-oriented rage trigger:
"twoSecondDamageTotal is only reset if 2 seconds have passed since the fleshpound last received damage."
implying that if a Flesh Pound were on fire, taking damage every second, the rage trigger measuring damage taken would keep accumulating until enough damage was done to cause rage. However, in my recent tests of melee kiting burning flesh pounds with a berserker equipped with husk gun; dps triggered rage has been completely avoided even while keeping a FP on fire whilst taking a katana swing at his head every ~3 seconds.
Perhaps fire is a special exception for FP dps oriented rage conditions, the twoSecondDamageTotal timer keeps ticking arbitrarily and regardless of incoming damage.
I will say, though, in many of my tests the flesh pound did rage after completing a flailing animation, during which time I could not get him to take a swing at me. Because rage did not always occur after a flailing animation, it is my belief these rages were due to his "frustration timer" being exceeded, but I am not certain. Therefore, it may be wise not to light a flesh pound being kited by a fast mover medic / berserker but even that burning flesh pound is not necessarily any more a liability than a non-burning target. As an aside, the kiting of flesh pounds is typically a very unreasonable method for any team playing a difficult map (ie: one with dense spawns, narrow passages, and small rooms).
In conclusion: you've been fed firebug prejudice and lies! Burn everything with the sole, possible, exception of a fleshpound that you are certain will be skillfully kited by a medic or zerker.
This idea, I think, needs to be debunked and replaced with the standing order of, "Firebugs make everything burn!" Furthermore, I'll be writing under the assumption that the KF wiki ( http://kf-wiki.com/wiki/Firebug ) tactics statement of, "Any crisped specimen will take extra damage from attacks and will be slowed..." is true. Though, I would be interested in clarification of this alleged damage bonus and slow 'crisped' zeds receive.
My first assertion that it's nearly always a good idea to light scrakes on fire. A single shot from a flamethrower followed by full burn time will not cause a Scrake charge on anything but the lowest difficulties or games with 1-2 players. Assuming no other damage contributors but a single incendiary round, burn damage triggering a charge in itself will not occur outside circumstances where the scrake has so little total hp that it could be considered a non-threat. This is partly assuming the legitimacy of the wiki claim that crisped enemies take more damage from attacks and / or the slow from crisping has effect. Even so, if a flailing-animation is triggered before a scrake reaches the rage threshold the animation will continue, causing a scrake to wander, until its conclusion even if its health is then dropped enough to trigger rage: this can be quite useful.
Currently there's an excellent write up on specimen behavior by Scary Ghost @ http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=49922
Concerning flesh pounds it is well known to all of us that the fleshpound will rage if it takes a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Scary Ghost' write-up makes an additional note on the dps-oriented rage trigger:
"twoSecondDamageTotal is only reset if 2 seconds have passed since the fleshpound last received damage."
implying that if a Flesh Pound were on fire, taking damage every second, the rage trigger measuring damage taken would keep accumulating until enough damage was done to cause rage. However, in my recent tests of melee kiting burning flesh pounds with a berserker equipped with husk gun; dps triggered rage has been completely avoided even while keeping a FP on fire whilst taking a katana swing at his head every ~3 seconds.
Perhaps fire is a special exception for FP dps oriented rage conditions, the twoSecondDamageTotal timer keeps ticking arbitrarily and regardless of incoming damage.
I will say, though, in many of my tests the flesh pound did rage after completing a flailing animation, during which time I could not get him to take a swing at me. Because rage did not always occur after a flailing animation, it is my belief these rages were due to his "frustration timer" being exceeded, but I am not certain. Therefore, it may be wise not to light a flesh pound being kited by a fast mover medic / berserker but even that burning flesh pound is not necessarily any more a liability than a non-burning target. As an aside, the kiting of flesh pounds is typically a very unreasonable method for any team playing a difficult map (ie: one with dense spawns, narrow passages, and small rooms).
In conclusion: you've been fed firebug prejudice and lies! Burn everything with the sole, possible, exception of a fleshpound that you are certain will be skillfully kited by a medic or zerker.
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