Helldivers 2 Players Call For Flamethrower Buff

thegamer.com:

Hundreds of thousands of players are fighting to spread democracy in Helldivers 2, but the fight against arachnids and robots isn't going as smoothly as it could. A meta is forming, as some weapons simply aren't up to the task.

"Is everyone in agreement that the flamethrower needs a buff?" 9gman9 posted to the game's subreddit, garnering 1,700 upvotes at the time of writing. "[I] just feel like it's not doing as much as the other weapons."

It should [scare] burning enemies, maybe just bugs. I would understand if automatons still march towards me while burning, but bugs I would expect to to run crazy in circles while burning.

"Flamethrower should kill factories and nests," one player suggested. "Also, being on fire needs to occupy the target. Hordes should scatter, chargers should roll to put themselves out, etc. My reasoning is the inspiration: they use flamethrowers on nests in Starship Troopers. And it would be a good improvement to the tool. Not [overpowered] 500m nest killing like autocannon, but still a good substitute for approaching a nest with not enough grenades."

One of the common complaints is that it doesn't feel like a flamethrower, since it emits a fiery mist rather than a burning liquid. "They should make it have a tank on the back that acts like the expendable," Rapidfire-man said. "Once the tank runs dry, you dump the weapon. That way, you can make it more ridiculous and make it act like an actual flamethrower".

I just want the flamethrower to shoot liquid like real flamethrowers

"I think the flamethrower should shoot a constant thin stream of fire that erupts into a small lingering [area of effect] on contact with a surface or enemy," one fan commented. "That way, you can basically paint low damage AOE zones across the field from further away, chipping away enemies before they get in close with you. I think that would give it more utility, instead of right now just shooting a cloud of fire in front of you."

Earlier this month, fans also called for