Guild Wars 2

I can’t decide between two builds for my engineer. I’d prefer to use flamethrower and elixirs but flamethrower is rather weak. If it gets buffed one day, what would the devs do to it given their track record? What were the previous buffs to flamethrower?

Zefrost.3425:

If it gets buffed one day, what would the devs do to it given their track record?

That’s a tricky question, because given their track record… they wouldn’t touch it at all.

It’s a known fact that flame jet (fl num1) is rather weak, and less dps than other num1 options, such as bomb kit, grenade kit, or some condi builds. They know this as well, I would hope, because we say it enough. Yet… nothing is ever changed about it.

What should happen (imo):

1) Increase base dmg from flamejet
2) Less ‘ticks’ over same duration
3) Take burning req off, and make dmg baseline.

Everything else about ft is okay. Although the trait juggernaut doesn’t make sense, 200 toughness doesn’t make you a juggernaut.

Kahrgan.7401:

Zefrost.3425:

If it gets buffed one day, what would the devs do to it given their track record?

That’s a tricky question, because given their track record… they wouldn’t touch it at all.

It’s a known fact that flame jet (fl num1) is rather weak, and less dps than other num1 options, such as bomb kit, grenade kit, or some condi builds. They know this as well, I would hope, because we say it enough. Yet… nothing is ever changed about it.

What should happen (imo):

1) Increase base dmg from flamejet
2) Less ‘ticks’ over same duration
3) Take burning req off, and make dmg baseline.

Everything else about ft is okay. Although the trait juggernaut doesn’t make sense, 200 toughness doesn’t make you a juggernaut.

it does when you have heavy armor…
oh wait. sorry, i was just thinking of how engineer is a better fit as a soldier profession than the other two.

They would try to patch flame jet with a 10% damage increase to chilled targets

Or have air blast inflict 2 seconds of chill, but only if they are already chilled first.

All the flamer needs is more DPS. It got a very effective pushback, it got a fire aoe that sucks cause its a strip but hey its a 10s fire combo field so whatever and it got a blind aoe that also works if you are stunned or faceplant arround atm. Do the maths how live saving that can be (and was many times for me in PVE before i was forced to use bombs cause people where not pleased that i didnt went full dps).
You cant ask for more then DPS and maybe more burns cause its a flamethrower afterall…

Im not the biggest fan of the flamethrower, but in saying that if they made each ’ tick ’ apply burning instead of just the last one; I bet alot of people would be more happy

The main issue with the Flamethrower is that its #1 sucks. It deals low damage, and ever since almost all effects that trigger on hit/critical have an ICD its high attack speed is more of an disadvantage (Retaliation) than an advantage.
Ever since its nerf Juggernaut is almost an useless trait that you only take because you have 25 or 30 points in Firearms for Firearms 25 and Firearms XI anyway.

Because the Engineer already has two “weapons” that can be played as Power weapons (Bomb Kit, Grenade Kit) I don’t think another Power weapon is necessary, and I doubt the developers think otherwise.

Instead, change Juggernaut to the following:
+200 Toughness
Flame Jet applies 1s(PvP)/2s(PvE) of Cripple and Weakness

It would make FT better in open PvE because Cripple compensates for the low mobility of FT, and with condition duration equipment and/or food it would be possible to debuff even bosses (almost) constantly with Weakness, which can be useful for some dungeons/fractals.

Imo for flame jet is good idea decrease cast time by 50%

Sarahfull.4930:

Im not the biggest fan of the flamethrower, but in saying that if they made each ’ tick ’ apply burning instead of just the last one; I bet alot of people would be more happy

YES

cause it’s flamethrower afterall.

If must not damage much but it must burn all the freak out of the enemy! And blind must be a lil bigger radius.

SOmetimes i don’t like mechanichs of skill 2…but i can live with that.

What also would be nice is that the juggernaut trait gives you a perma flame jet that can be turned off and on by using #1. Maybe add a small “nerf” to the movement speed like (30- 50% or so) while the jet is active to compensate That way you can put pressure on the enemie easily and flamer engineers would be a real menace for anything that needs to go close to attack.

i hope it gets buffed, because it feels lacklustre

I have always wanted the Napalm skill to apply a unique non removable Debuff called “Napalm” to foes that cross it, that would constantly apply short durations of burning to the target periodically until the “Napalm” Debuff expires. (Similar to Warriors off hand sword skill impale applies torment).

I would also like to see Smoke Vent become a small 1 second smoke field.

For FT to ever be worth taking over grenades:

1) It needs to deal more damage than grenades. This would be ridiculous because grenades already deal a ton of damage, you’d be pushing the engie up to ele-tier damage if you pushed FT up to that extent. It’d also require you to, at minimum TRIPLE Flame Jet’s base damage just to match the grenade’s base damage. That’s not a joke.

2) Steel-Packed Powder needs to be changed so it works with FT too. A straight nerf would be bad because right now the vuln stacking is the engie’s biggest sell. The easiest route would just be to change SPP to something else entirely and give Precise Sights a mondo buff (100% chance on crit to inflict vuln for 5 seconds?). Either way it’d be a pretty sweeping change that would either wreck the engineer or make it super OP.

Either way those are pretty massive buffs just to make one weapon viable. I like the way FT looks too but let’s be realistic.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

For FT to ever be worth taking over grenades:

1) It needs to deal more damage than grenades. This would be ridiculous because grenades already deal a ton of damage, you’d be pushing the engie up to ele-tier damage if you pushed FT up to that extent. It’d also require you to, at minimum TRIPLE Flame Jet’s base damage just to match the grenade’s base damage. That’s not a joke.

2) Steel-Packed Powder needs to be changed so it works with FT too. A straight nerf would be bad because right now the vuln stacking is the engie’s biggest sell. The easiest route would just be to change SPP to something else entirely and give Precise Sights a mondo buff (100% chance on crit to inflict vuln for 5 seconds?). Either way it’d be a pretty sweeping change that would either wreck the engineer or make it super OP.

Either way those are pretty massive buffs just to make one weapon viable. I like the way FT looks too but let’s be realistic.

We dont need to change the base dmg of the flamethrower, I believe we need all the ticks to apply burning, all that condi dmg will increase the dmg in a fair way. You could also say that the last tick needs to apply a one second blind.

DesertRose.2031:

The main issue with the Flamethrower is that its #1 sucks.

Lots of classes have a weapon set that has a terrrrrible 1 skill. Flamethrower is engi one.

change the juggernaut trait to inflict an extra 33% of power as added burning damage when wielding flamer, remove the periodic might, this turns flamer into a potentially great power or hybrid based sustain weapon, although it may seem very strong with condition based build it will still have the down fall of retaliation damage, also you must be in flamer to increase the damage of the burn which takes away from potentially stacking other conditions so not to make it to strong.

the 33% could be to much so that part is subject to change

Hello frands! Vee Wee here retired #1 Engi NA and world first rank 80!

I’d like to see Smoke Vent become a blast finisher!
I’d like to see Flame Jet deal more damage!
I’d like Napalm to burn people who cross it for a longer duration!
Other than that I think it’s a pretty good kit as long as you respect its limits!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

All the no. 1 skill needs is a sigil that does not have a ICD to make the 10 hits worthwhile. I think it was designed as a criting machine. By adding ICD to all sigils the flamethrower got hit too hard.

If it had its own unique burn effect it would become a much more desirable kit. For instance replacing the Burn effect on Napalm with something like the Lava effect from environmental fires:

Also, seconded on Smoke Vent receiving a Blast Finisher; that would be so helpful.

I think flame jet could apply weakness. We have very few options for applying weakness to opponents, and the flamethrower feels like it’s trying to be an attrition-type weapon rather than a bursty one, so weakness seems fitting.

I don’t know how the coding works though. Anet made the last hit do 1sec burning – maybe they don’t want to or can’t easily add small sub-second duration conditions (e.g. making each of the 10 ticks do 0.1sec burning instead of 1 sec from last tick only). In this case, what would be the best way to apply additional conditions with flame jet (weakness or otherwise)? First hit? Last hit? Can we do small amounts (<1 sec) with each hit?

fluidmonolith.3584:

We have very few options for applying weakness to opponents…

Just a side note, you can maintain permanent Weakness using EG#1.

Move Deadly Mixture to Firearms. Makes no sense why we need to put 4 points into the survivability tree to make its damage better. That’s a huge reason why the FT always lags behind. So not only do bombs and grenades stack vulnerability better than the flamethrower, they also don’t have to put any points into Alchemy if they don’t want to.

Another solution would be to remove the 10% damage buff from burning and just build it into the coefficient so it always does that much damage. To prevent people from interrupting the chain they could backload the damage like elementalist scepter’s Arc Lightning or Warrior’s Triple Chop axe rotation.

Phineas Poe.3018:

Move Deadly Mixture to Firearms. Makes no sense why we need to put 4 points into the survivability tree to make its damage better.

That’s a huge reason why the FT always lags behind.

Its in the alchemy tree due to its name, and name alone. “Deadly mixture” fits with “alchemy”

Kahrgan.7401:

Phineas Poe.3018:

Move Deadly Mixture to Firearms. Makes no sense why we need to put 4 points into the survivability tree to make its damage better.

That’s a huge reason why the FT always lags behind.

Its in the alchemy tree due to its name, and name alone. “Deadly mixture” fits with “alchemy”

bad logic cause bunker down is in fire arms, when it is clearly an explosives trait. it is there cause it triggers off of crit, and despite having nothing to do with fire arms at all, and more to do with explosions, it is in firearms cause it synergizes with crits. Alchemy tree as a whole does boons/health/elixerabuse/condition cleanse, EG fits into this theme, but flamethrower does not, now if the trait buffed EGs ability to do said things, sure keep it in alchemy, but it increases damage, something not common to alchemy outside of the might boon. You know… change jugg and deadly mixture positions. put jug in alchemy, “Alchemical juggernaut” does the same thing it does now, but it syngizes better with alchemy, it gives boons and survival. And put deadly mixture in fire arms, and rename it “outlandish arms expert” cause lets face it, EG/FT are basicly compared to the other weapons specced in Firearms, outlandish and bizzare.

Hell have the new Alchemical juggernaut do somethign for camping in EG, have it give you a back pack regenerator effect but make it like guards viture where its a slightly bigger heal then regen, but its on a 3 second tick, and have it cleanse conditions from you every 10 seconds, 1 every 10. Boom, now camping EG makes you tanky and annoying to deal with, it will have its uses in pve and pvp honestly.

I wouldnt call the flamer outlandish as an “alchemy weapon” its afterall a weapon that fires stuff created by alchemy…or could be created by and also refined but an alchemist to make it more lethal dps wise or just burn hotter (if you need an rp reason) It synergises pretty good together with the e-gun aswell it is cause most traits that affect the flamer also affect the e-gun in some way, shape or form. Deadly mixture should be buffed though and make the flamer´s fuel mixture actually deadly.. by adding burn to all its flame jet ticks (for like 1 sec or half a sec atleast) and weakness to its napalm bomb explosion, maybe also a way stronger damage to its fire field or right away replacing it with a small aoe cyrcle that does the same like the strip.

Though i wouldnt be dissapointed to have something like a “mega mixture” grandmaster trait that advances deadly mixture to higher levels like 25% extra damage, longer range for flame jet and longer duration of the condi dealt by FT and EG but cant be stacked with deadly mixture to keep the evil OP away.

Edit: Forgot to put the “%” lol

There are a lot of misguided comments in here. Our kits are not meant to be interchangeable for the same role. You do not see anyone asking for damage buffs to Elixir Gun damage because it is clearly a support kit. I think a lot of the confusion arises because Flamethrower seems to fill an undefined role between that of damage and utility.

Off the top of my head, my suggestions include:

• A buff to FT auto attack damage without adjusting rate of attack. Having a fast rate of attack fits the skill and is useful for things like breaking elementalist or guardian per-hit shields, while allowing for counterplay through retaliation.

• Flame blast does good damage already, especially when traited for the 15% increase and might stacks are involved. Changing this to a blast finisher could be interesting when paired with a change to smoke vent.

• The knockback is perfectly fine.

• Napalm is a confused skill. We already have a fire field through bombs. Flamethrower already has better alternatives to stack might and apply burning. For dps and a more interesting skill, perhaps something like: “You coat your target in napalm, slowing them and increasing burning damage for the duration”.

• Smoke vent should not be a blast finisher. Instead, it should be a short duration blind field. As I hinted at before, this would allow for interesting plays with a blast finisher through flame blast.

• Juggernaut is terribly designed. As an engineer, if you are staying in one kit long enough to gain benefit from juggernaut’s might stacking mechanic, you are probably doing something wrong. Maybe something like granting 2 stacks of might each time you apply burning would be good.

• Incendiary ammo feels like a cop-out on Anet’s part. Unless they add burning to the flamethrower in other ways, this is a necessary source. However, it offers zero counterplay and is not fun to use. An interesting mechanic would be to draw from other games and make it into an ammo drop box, where you and others could pick up the effect from incendiary ammo.

I was thinking of some changes for flamethrower and I pretty much came to the conclusion that you can’t buff the damage of flame jet. You either have to buff it a tiny bit so it isn’t overpowered, which means it’s still lacklustre, or you buff it a lot and it becomes overpowered.

Flame jet needs utility instead of increased damage IMO.

For the Juggernaut trait, I was thinking:

- Remove: Increased toughness effect.
- Remove: Might gain every 3s.
- Add: Critical hits with flamethrower have a 10% chance to grant 1s of stability and 10s of might.

That would be a real juggernaut, IMO, and would allow for front line engineers to be possible. The critical hit requirement would keep it from becoming permanent stability and would force builds to have less survivability in order to have stability.

For the deadly mixture trait, I was thinking either:

- Remove: Increased damage effect for flamethrower and elixir gun.
- Add: Flame Jet and Acid Bomb have a 10% chance to remove 1 boon per hit.

Or

- Remove: Increased damage effect for flamethrower and elixir gun.
- Add: Flame Jet and Acid Bomb have a 10% chance per condition on the opponent to remove 1 boon per hit.

Makes sense with the trait name and Acid Bomb following the same path as Acidic Elixirs. Flame Jet could become a potentially very good source of boon removal as front line engineers, but the trade-off is that you’re in the front lines. The current +15% damage boost just feels like it was a placeholder…

Those are my ideas. But… chances are that the devs will just change targets from 3 to 5 or something.

Kahrgan.7401:

Phineas Poe.3018:

Move Deadly Mixture to Firearms. Makes no sense why we need to put 4 points into the survivability tree to make its damage better.

That’s a huge reason why the FT always lags behind.

Its in the alchemy tree due to its name, and name alone. “Deadly mixture” fits with “alchemy”

Well I’m glad you think the FT should remain a second-class kit because of the name of a trait.

Zefrost.3425:

You either have to buff it a tiny bit so it isn’t overpowered, which means it’s still lacklustre, or you buff it a lot and it becomes overpowered.

They just need to buff it so it’s competitive to the bomb kit and grenade kit. Grenades can be thrown from 1500 range yet do more damage than Flame Jet, which requires 425 range.

The bomb kit should always probably have the hardest hitting auto-attack, but there’s no reason why the FT is so far behind as badly as it is.

This will probably sound hipster, but I think it’s in a good spot. With juggernaut and deadly mixture, the damage is acceptable – not as high as bombs, but on the other hand, it’s aoe is superior, and it offers a low cooldown pushback – not to mention how freaking boss skill 2 is, time it right and it’s a doublehit on a very low cooldown.

Think of it as the following: Primarily an aoe weapon, then a detain and damage topping item. Especially with juggernaut, 6 might stacks make a lot of difference for all your weapons.

PS: Slap an agony sigil on that.

I see it as more of a global problem. Remove the requirement for conditions entirely on builds that don’t use conditions. They can do this with a bit of manipulation. There are key choices people make when making a condition build so that they use conditions exclusively in every class they could fix every class so that the only time skills apply conditions are when they are using those traits to improve condition damage or time.

it would improve things like the FT by default because those who chose a power or burst damage option could use FT without worrying about using a condi damage stacker.

I think the whole thing needs work but if they started on the engi that’s the first thing I’d do is increase the base damage across the board of #1 skills allowing them to be more useful as power and burst options and taking out any condition adders until one chooses a typical condition build modifier trait.

tigirius.9014:

I see it as more of a global problem. Remove the requirement for conditions entirely on builds that don’t use conditions. They can do this with a bit of manipulation. There are key choices people make when making a condition build so that they use conditions exclusively in every class they could fix every class so that the only time skills apply conditions are when they are using those traits to improve condition damage or time.

it would improve things like the FT by default because those who chose a power or burst damage option could use FT without worrying about using a condi damage stacker.

I think the whole thing needs work but if they started on the engi that’s the first thing I’d do is increase the base damage across the board of #1 skills allowing them to be more useful as power and burst options and taking out any condition adders until one chooses a typical condition build modifier trait.

Then again, the POINT of flamethrowers are to burn things. So a flamethrower that was not all about inflicting as much burn as possible would be a very weird flamethrower.

Rifle #1 spam outdamages FT 1 spam to tell you how bad off FT dmg is.

AsmallChicken.9634:

Rifle #1 spam outdamages FT 1 spam to tell you how bad off FT dmg is.

depends on if you specc around FT or not.

Oxstar.7643:

AsmallChicken.9634:

Rifle #1 spam outdamages FT 1 spam to tell you how bad off FT dmg is.

depends on if you specc around FT or not.

as a guy who used flamer for a long time as main kit and traited arround it.. i gotta say nope. Rifle still outmatches it..sadly

Yeah you can get around 3 hips shots in one flame jet. If you go power then flame jet does power damage around 2/3 as much as hip shotting, with the last burn doing a little more than last third. But it only does more damage if every tick hits. Every. Tick.

Penguin.5197:

Yeah you can get around 3 hips shots in one flame jet. If you go power then flame jet does power damage around 2/3 as much as hip shotting, with the last burn doing a little more than last third. But it only does more damage if every tick hits. Every. Tick.

At least the other 4 skills seems okay.

Oxstar.7643:

Penguin.5197:

Yeah you can get around 3 hips shots in one flame jet. If you go power then flame jet does power damage around 2/3 as much as hip shotting, with the last burn doing a little more than last third. But it only does more damage if every tick hits. Every. Tick.

At least the other 4 skills seems okay.

Rifle 2/3/4/5 are all really good though too… so its like :C

Flamethrower has givin me success when I run no jugg builds and just swap to it. camping it is just to weak.

Flamethrowers got a pretty good toolbelt, the blinds nice, it has a low CD knockback and a fire field. As said, its a utility weapon, not a main weapon.

I keep hearing people call smoke vent “okay” and “decent”. Really when other #5 skills are high damaging, or high mobility etc, how can we say smoke vent is okay? Smoke vent is a close range blind that does no damage. Its just a blind as simple as its can get, how is that okay? I don’t believe it being insta cast is enough to keep it as the fifth skill. I still remember it being a placeholder replacement till we got a real skill, so when is it coming?

Have flame jet do more damage the fewer target it hits. If it hits maximum number of targets it does the current damage. Then AoE damage would be as it is now but would make it viable as a single target DPS kit as well.
Or each time flame jet hits during the channel it inflicts a burning damage tick, or maybe something unique to the flamethrower. GASP! Yes, I said it. Something unique, like a specific type of burning only for the flamethrower to allow burning damage ticks of under 1 second.

Another thing, they should make it so retaliation only hits every 1 second, or every half second, when using flame jet to give it SOME viability in WvW instead of it being an instant death sentance.

Penguin.5197:

I keep hearing people call smoke vent “okay” and “decent”. Really when other #5 skills are high damaging, or high mobility etc, how can we say smoke vent is okay? Smoke vent is a close range blind that does no damage. Its just a blind as simple as its can get, how is that okay? I don’t believe it being insta cast is enough to keep it as the fifth skill. I still remember it being a placeholder replacement till we got a real skill, so when is it coming?

Probably around the time FT becomes a real weapon, i.e. never.

Just accept it as a joke weapon like that one Lupi Quaggan/Blowgun solo Brazil tried to do and move on.

I really wish I could hear Anet’s opinion on the flame thrower. I think its a fun kit to play with, but I end up never using it because it’s such a weak weapon.

You would think that as a flame weapon, most of its damage would be in condition damage…. I think it should be buffed to work better with condition builds. Also, I think stability needs to make a return to the FT in some form… the FT took a big nerf when Anet removed stability from Juggernaut.

If you want the most from flamerthrower, you need crit and ‘on crit’ sigils. I can’t see this being a big damage weapon ever but to lay down effects, it’s second to none.

I would love to see Anet give it intrinsic crit bonus or on crit effect. It would make an amazing lockdown weapon for PVP.

I’ve been using FT in a Power build recently and have been seeing decent success. This is the setup I use. The burst you can do by stacking might then doing the rifle combo followed by a point blank Flam Blast can insta-kill foes that are caught unaware, which is facilitated by the Throw Elixir S.

But it really disappoints me that I don’t get to use the awesome looking 1 skill. If I’m using a Flamethrower I want to be constantly barraging my foes with a stream of flame, not just for a ball of fire, a push, and a (admittedly) useful blind while stomping. I want the FT to be my primary weapon in this build, not the rifle.

I think the blind is awesome on the FT but imo would serve better as the toolbelt skill. The incendiary is lacklustre if you want to main the FT but awesome when you use it quickly before engaging on a condi build :p the number 5 skill should be something more unique instead of just one blind which could be easily implemented into the toolbelt skill. As for juggernaut, its just wrong for a trait to reward an engi to stay in one kit as this contradicts the class mechanics of an engi /:

DonEllz.6312:

I think the blind is awesome on the FT but imo would serve better as the toolbelt skill. The incendiary is lacklustre if you want to main the FT but awesome when you use it quickly before engaging on a condi build :p the number 5 skill should be something more unique instead of just one blind which could be easily implemented into the toolbelt skill. As for juggernaut, its just wrong for a trait to reward an engi to stay in one kit as this contradicts the class mechanics of an engi /:

I disagree with this logic. Fast hands rewards and gives incentive to swap weapons alot. Forceful greatsword rewards you for camping GS.

Neither of these are class mechanics of warriors. just like kits are not the class mechanic of engi…. despite what people wanna claim. I camp bomb kit all day and have zero problems. Because bomb kit is not weak, you can camp grenades and do fine. etc. When kits were designed I dont think they were like “you are supposed to put on as many kits as possible and play piano!” that is definitely one way to play it, that is for sure.

Jugg was always trying to put the logic of “camp this kit” into peoples mind. Its just to weak right now to be used in such a manner because of poor auto damage. really the only bad thing about FT is its auto damage. its cds are low, its got lots of utility and 2 is mega strong dps on a low cd. if bomb kit had “gain 1 might every 3 seconds, and +200 toughness while in bomb kit” im sure people would love that trait. cause its free might and its perfectly accetable to be inside bomb kit for most if not all of the fight.

So in case anyone was wondering, under the following conditions:

- Solo
- Strength and Frailty sigils
- Mandatory 4 points in Inventions for Power Shoes (for convenience)
- No might-blasting combos or anything else that would blast mobs away from you
- MF food
- Low-health trash mobs

A 0/6/4/4/0 Rifle/FT engie with Juggernaut might stacking, Strength Runes, and MF food (with boon duration) is within 7-8% DPS of a 6/4/4/0/0 Grenade build and considerably better than a 4/6/4/0/0 Bombs build. Cut out the vuln and bleed stacking since you’re not likely to build up substantial stacks of that on trash open-world mobs and FT is actually a fair bit better than grenades.

So I guess there’s a practical use for FT: clearing open-world trash while being lazy.

I think Flamethrower may be fine, BUT ONLY IF they upgraded Napalm Specialist to also make Flame Jet apply Burn on every tick (maybe half-amount as end-tick)

I was told to repost my ideas here. I have a few ideas which should make Flamethrower much more useful and give it a unique identity separate from other kits.

Kain Francois.4328:

Flamethrower currently serves no purpose other than to be an Engineer equivalent of the Guardian’s “lewtstick”.

I would like to see that changed, perhaps. Ideas?

If Bomb Kit is our highest Melee damage, and Grenades are our best ranged damage and vulnerability stacking kit, what should Flamethrower accomplish? Ideas? Perhaps a DEFENSIVE kit focusing on projectile nullification and buffing the team?

-1 Flame Jet
Damage increased from 10% to 30% against burning foes. Added functionality: Applies 3s vulnerability to stationary foes each tic.

Explanation: Come on, it really needs a damage buff, to at least bring it onto par with Rifle. I understand there could be issues with PvP, but how could a Flamethrower with near-melee range deal LESS damage than a Rifle? This badly needs a damage buff in PvE, and this change simply brings it onto par with other sources of damage.

-2 Flame Blast
-2 Detonate Flame Blast
Added functionality: Blast Finisher.

Explanation: Changing this to a blast finisher would help on the theme of Flamethrower being a supportive kit, and really fits well with the idea of “Flame ‘Blast’”.

-3 Air Blast
Increase reflection time to 1.5 seconds.

Explanation: Currently more than half Engineers don’t even know you could reflect using this skill, and it is incredibly difficult to time with an unforigiving cooldown. Giving this skill a higher window of projectile reflection would guarantee more use of this skill, while satisfying demands of High-End PvE teams for reflect skills.

-4 Napalm
Added functionality: Destroys enemy projectiles.

Explanation: This right here changes the meta-game for Engineers completely! Napalm becomes integral to “stacking” in dungeons by being both a long duration fire field and a projectile block. Synergizing with Flame Blast and Smoke Vent (see below) allows this skill to also stack might, increasing the Engineer’s capabilities to be a team player even more. Through use of Air Blast and Napalm, an Engineer is able to guard his team pretty well against projectiles. Unlike Guardian’s Wall of Reflect, this skill merely destroys projectiles, making it more akin to a Thief’s Smokescreen. However, this does have its use, especially against Mai Trin where reflection is less desired.

-5 Smoke Vent
Functionality change: Pulses blind twice for 2 seconds each second. (Two-pulses of blind)
Added functionality: Blast Finisher

Explanation: Another appropriate blast finisher for the Engineer. Synergizes with Napalm’s fire field in order to stack might, while also blinding foes, making this especially useful in stacking situations.

Overall, with these changes, Flamethrower becomes much more desirable as a support weapon keeping the team alive, while buffing their damage. The very fact alone it benefits in damage from burning foes makes it very team-oriented.

More importantly about these changes: Allows you to have 2 blast finishers in a single utility slot, compared to Thumper Turret which is 3 blast finishers in a single utility slot. This compliments the direction of Engineer as a whole, being a master of self-sufficient Blast Finishers.