Flamethrower MK-3

Burns any living creature quickly.

(“Never settle with words what you can accomplish with a flamethrower.” - Bruce Feirstein)

The Flamethrower sprays out heated plasma that burns targets in a straight line. This weapon is very effective against the majority of enemies seen in game. This is the result of its rare bonus to Biological targets. Very few enemies are not Biological, such as Seth, and Nazara. The flamethrower is among the most ammo efficient weapons in all of Night of the Dead. Fairly common on any campaign, they will kill grunt enemies in very few hits. The sheer size of Agrons, and their slow speed makes them more susceptible to the Flamethrower than raw numbers would suggest. Lastly, the superheated flames are hot enough to bypass all enemy armor. The weapon is devastatingly effective against even highly armored foes like Hulks, Immortals, Parasites.

Easy Company
This weapon should be the primary weapon on Easy Company Chapter One. High damage output characters and tanks get first dibs. It is lethal to most enemies, and there are few flyers to worry about and several large zombie hordes. It will help conserve precious ammo for later stages. The last effective use of this weapon is Erebos 2. Beyond that, high numbers of flying, ranged, and armored enemies makes the flamethrower a liability.

Alpha Company
On Alpha Company the high friendly fire classes such as the Forward Observer make engaging enemies up close difficult at best. Flamethrowers can still be used, but short range and high numbers of Gargoyles make using the Flamer dangerous. it can potentially be used against Cronus and the Protect Tanaka holdout. For most of the campaign range is a necessity and getting close to most bosses will ensure a quick demise. The exception to this is the Flamethrower class, who is a high area of effect and tanking class. He can use the flamethrower almost all game.

Apollo Security Team
Sadly, this weapon is borderline useless on the Apollo Security Team. Many of the large hordes contain high numbers of Infested Marines, making range a necessity. The weapon does have limited use early on; Team B could make use of it against the hordes they face while trapped in Apollo. It also has some usage in conserving ammo during the pre-armory stages when ammo is tight. The Flamethrower can be used while fighting Deimos. The combination high splash and bonus damage to Light and Biological make it very effective vs both Deimos himself, and his eggs. However, being in range of Deimos is extremely dangerous

Unique Splash
The Flamethrower is the only weapon in NotD that has linear splash damage. It launches multiple overlapping damage effects spread out every 0.25 range. The damage listed on the tooltip is only accurate to a single flame, not the entire attack. How many flames hit an enemy depends on his radius.

Weapon Modifications, splash affects the radius of 'flame' itself and can change how many flames fit inside target radius. It has biggest impact on extremely small enemies such as ghouls.

Effects of Range
Changing range only affects a target acquisition range, which changes flamethrower damage only in case of extreme increase.

Increasing Range
Having both +range Weapon Modifications, and Flamethrower skill, Helium-3 Igniter can lead to extreme case of targets being hit by the very end of damage effects set leading to a decrease in overall damage. This situation occurs only when attacking the target required moving towards it first and is extremely rare.

Decreasing Range
Decreasing range only reduces safety of use by lowering target acquisition range.