Tactics Firebug: The unbelievably powerful perk no one uses

[sph34r]

sounds good. assume as much as you want.

I don't need to "assume" anything when you make a clear statement about being polite then directly contradict yourself in the same post. The only explanation other than trolling is that you share brainwaves with a potted plant.

 

[Althamus]

I'm carrying on a firebug usefulness discussion from another thread, hence necroing this one. We started talking off-topic about whether the firebug was a good class or not, and I figured it'd make more sense to necro this thread and discuss it and let the other thread get back on topic.

I am a L6 firebug, and play them quite a bit on Normal/Hard when I go on to muck around. Very occassionally I'll use them on waves 1-3 on suicidal, normally to ensure that I'll survive until I can get the team sorted and swap to a proper perk. I don't use them on HoE.
I think they are excellent on Normal/Hard, and rank them as the best class to play with, period, on waves 1-4, and still very competitive until fleshpounds arrive.
I have almost no experience playing as a firebug on HoE, but had quite a bit of experience playing on suicidal when I first leveled to L6 a few months back.

The Damage Multiplier
...
Grenades
...
The OH SH*T Moment

Completely agree with this. This is the firebug's purpose, and he shouldn't be trying to solo kill mobs, except on lower levels.

The OH SH*T moment I agree with to an extent. Yes, it's handy to have a get-out-of-jail card, and in a pinch it is a very useful thing to be able to do. However, with the amount of flame ammo you have, it should REALLY be an utter last resort, which happens sometimes once per game.



However, two points: Firstly, DoT damage isn't steady. The first tick of damage will do considerably [less] than the final tick. A L6 firebug giving a zed a DoT from a flamethrower will deal 35-38 points of damage with the first tick from it, and 96-124 points with the final (actual figures). The DoT lasts for 10 seconds. Also note that a single puff of flame on (for example) a clot, will deal 28 points of damage, but the total damage including full DoT will be 668-812. The halfway point of the total damage comes approximately 7 seconds into a 10 second DoT.
If zeds don't receive the full 10 second DoT, it also means that they will not become crispened, which means the firebug's role as a damage multiplier will be greatly reduced.
As you already know, firebugs will be considerably less effective if their DoTs aren't able to take full effect.

Secondly, zeds move faster on higher difficulties. A clot on Normal will move at 105 units, but will move at 136.5 units on HoE. This is considerably faster, and will mean that zeds will get to you a lot quicker.

Put these two together, and you can see that on a lot of enclosed maps where zeds are first visible relatively close to the players, on higher difficulties, the DoT will not have enough time to finish it's entire duration before the zed gets into melee distance. Yes, on Mountain Pass in the right spot you'd have no trouble clipping a zed with a MAC10 from extreme distance and they'd have enough time to take the entire DoT before getting into combat, but Mountain Pass is the exception rather than the rule in terms of viewing distance.

Firing

The firebug has 3 distinct firing techniques.

The first is the most used technique; "The tap"

The second technique is the "Controlled burst."

The third technique if the "Hose Down."

Because of my above reasoning, I think that although 'the tap' is a viable strategy on lower levels, it won't deal nearly enough damage on higher modes before the zed reaches your lines. This means that the firebug will either only deal significantly less damage as on lower modes, or he is forced to only attack using the last two techniques. In which case, obviously, he will run out of fuel before the wave is over.

Note: All the figures I used are from Phada's weapons and specimen's guide.

No, I haven't played a bug on HoE, but I have played quite a bit as a bug on lower modes, and have played quite a bit on HoE, and can see the speed boost zeds have and do the maths.

 

[nutterbutter]

However, two points: Firstly, DoT damage isn't steady. The first tick of damage will do considerably more than the final tick. A L6 firebug giving a zed a DoT from a flamethrower will deal 35-38 points of damage with the first tick from it, and 96-124 points with the final (actual figures). The DoT lasts for 10 seconds. Also note that a single puff of flame on (for example) a clot, will deal 28 points of damage, but the total damage including full DoT will be 668-812. The halfway point of the total damage comes approximately 7 seconds into a 10 second DoT.

Where did you get those numbers? The reason I ask is you are stating the DoT damage is skewed towards the beginning of the period, but saying half the total damage is 7 seconds into 10 seconds means the damage is skewed towards the end of the period (50% first seven seconds & 50% final three seconds). Maybe I am just misunderstanding you? Not sure.

Because of my above reasoning, I think that although 'the tap' is a viable strategy on lower levels, it won't deal nearly enough damage on higher modes before the zed reaches your lines.

You think of the firebug differently than I do. You are proposing that the firebug should stand on his own. I disagree. I think the firebug, on suicidal and HoE, as a damage multiplier and pure support for the team. I don't think firebug should be putting out enough damage to kill mobs by himself. I think the firebug should be setting every viable mob on fire, not specifically trying to kill the mobs. If the mobs dies from the DoT, that's cool. If the mob doesn't, the mob's health is so low that a single body shot from any other perk would kill that mob. That is the damage multiplying effect. The firebug basically turns every other perk into a rapid fire effective headshotting machine.

 

[Althamus]

Where did you get those numbers? The reason I ask is you are stating the DoT damage is skewed towards the beginning of the period, but saying half the total damage is 7 seconds into 10 seconds means the damage is skewed towards the end of the period (50% first seven seconds & 50% final three seconds). Maybe I am just misunderstanding you? Not sure.

Phada's weapons and specimen's spreadsheet. And apologies, I was typing quickly, I meant to say that the firebug deals considerably LESS damage with the first tick than the final tick.

You think of the firebug differently than I do. You are proposing that the firebug should stand on his own. I disagree. I think the firebug, on suicidal and HoE, as a damage multiplier and pure support for the team. I don't think firebug should be putting out enough damage to kill mobs by himself. I think the firebug should be setting every viable mob on fire, not specifically trying to kill the mobs. If the mobs dies from the DoT, that's cool. If the mob doesn't, the mob's health is so low that a single body shot from any other perk would kill that mob. That is the damage multiplying effect. The firebug basically turns every other perk into a rapid fire effective headshotting machine.

Nope, I think of it in the same way. My point was that on Hard, it'll take a specimen (numbers made up entirely) maybe 5 seconds to get to you, which means if you hit it right away you'll strip off 50% of it's health, allowing a teammate to finish it easily.
On HoE, due to zeds moving faster and having more HPs, it'll only take 3 seconds to get to you, meaning you'll only strip off 10% of it's health. At which point, IMHO you'd be better placed playing a commando or something and removing it's head instead.