FT Changes...
I’ve done some rough calculations, and according to them Flamethrower will deal a little more damage than bombs.
However said calculation assumes that you hit all foes with the ball and the explosion of Flamethrower #2, and that there are no more than 3 foes; in practice bombs will most likely still deal more DPS.
I predict that Flamethrower will mostly be used for its #2, and then you swap back to either Grenade Kit or Bomb Kit.
Of course there will be folks who will main Flamethrower but I doubt it will become the meta.
FT damage is okay, but #2 is really annoying, it’s slow and it goes under the ground or through walls without detonating.
If you can reliably land #2 then with the #1 buff FT damage is pretty much going to be on par with bomb and grenades just because it’s much easier to hit than grenades and more reach than bombs.
FT is the best direct DPS the engie has now but only by a small margin vs. bombs. It’s still a fair bit better because the rapid hits give you more vuln stacking (especially if you throw in Skale Venom and Sigil of Frailty) and it also stacks more might (since you need to spec into Alchemy a bit).
Grenades will still be the general-purpose meta due to massive vuln stacks but I can see FT being legitimately useful in certain compositions, particularly where you’re already oversaturated on bleed.