Helldivers 2’s Sucky Flamethrower Is Now One Of The Best Weapons In The Game

Arrowhead Games threw the Helldivers 2 meta for a loop with its first balance update yesterday. The update included a nerf for what is arguably the most powerful support weapon in the game – the one shot, one kill Railgun. Players, however, quickly found an unlikely replacement in the form of the Flamethrower which previously sat at the other end of the spectrum.

Flamethrowers were extremely slow to kill even the weakest and smallest bugs even with their weakness to fire. More often than not, they also inflicted burn damage on the players themselves when burning enemies inevitably got close. Yesterday’s balance update has since buffed them up into highly efficient bug killers capable of roasting swarms of bugs to death in no time flat, even the annoying and deadly Chargers.

It's now at par with the recently buffed Laser Cannon and the Recoilless Rife but still comes with the usual caveats. Teammates who accidentally get caught in the path of its deadly flames will now suffer significantly larger damage than before. Bushes and grass that catch fire will also burn for a few seconds, dealing damage to both enemies and allies who wander too close.

That being said, it’s currently one of the best weapon choices for quickly taking down Chargers and swarms of enemies in the Starship Trooper-inspired multiplayer shooter… until Arrowhead decides to shake things up again.