The Detonator: Pyromanical Illegal Fireworks
Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 6:40 pm
So, there was a Pyro loadout discussion in the shoutbox not too long ago, while it concerned the Backburner more than anything, I noticed that I was probably the only one who paired the Detonator with anything. It's become one of my favorite secondary options for the Pyro and I'd be willing to share some insight about it having used it considerably since the weapon debuted with the Uber update.
On paper, the Detonator lists these as it's stats:
Alt-fire detonates flare
+25% damage to self
There's a lot more that this doesn't tell you.
First up is damage, the weapon is comparable to the Flare Gun or Manmelter, as each flare does 30ish damage on impact with no fall-off, and it lights the target on fire for 60 damage in afterburn (45 for Degreaser wielders) should the fire be left to burn. However, unlike the Flare Gun, hits on burning targets only mini-crit instead of full criticals. These tend to land for roughly 36 damage making the Detonator a poor choice for puff tactics as you're only getting a third of the damage of a Flare Gun shot against a burning victim. Against the Manmelter which doesn't crit/mini-crit currently burning targets, the Manmelter still outperforms with the ability to store criticals for consistant high DPS. The advantage that the Detonator has against them is that the alternate fire key causes the flare to explode with a small radius, increasing accuracy with good timing, allowing for multiple hits in one shot, and allowing to hit around corners. Flare explosions are subject to splash damage fall off, hitting a target with a flare explosion will still light them, but will often do a paltry 8-15 damage up front. The Detonator is capable of rolling for random criticals, but they seem to have a relativly low chance of happening.
So why would you pick up the Detonator? It's clearly the lowest damaging Pyro secondary available. The answer is utility. The Detonator provides at least three very helpful benefits for it's use.
The first is a little known fact about the explosion: however it's coded, the explosion is capable of disarming sticky bombs. Unlike conventional explosives which only push them away, Detonator explosions destroy stickies outright, similar to Scottish Resistance bombs. Although the explosion is small, you can easily knock out door traps or small clusters, or perhaps that critical that's a little too close for comfort.
The second is a self-damage aspect. Firing a Detonator flare directly at your feet deals 37 damage and briefly sets you on fire. The fire does nothing, but you can feed a fellow Manmelter-wielding Pyro criticals (and extinguish bonus points) by doing this and the self-damage can be utilized to help your Medics build their Ubercharges faster. Be warned that you can kill yourself with the flare should you have 37 health or less, and it's rather entertaining to do so since it causes a gib death.
The last and most important piece of this weapon is the fact that the explosions are capable of giving you psuedo-rocket jumps. These Flare Jumps as they're commonly refered to only give you about the height of a Scout's triple or quadruple jump, but they allow the Pyro to reach many areas that are typically off-limits due to the Pyro's natural inability to jump very high. Although you won't jump quite so high like a Demo or Solider (or even as high as deflecting a rocket at your feet), they are large enough to give you access to unusual and often unexpected attack routes.
Below is a collection of screenshots I took and outlined for numerous Detonator jumps that I utilize on a regular basis. The maps featured are those in the rotation on TV7, sans Doublecross and Freight for now, as I was unable to get my Detonator working on a LAN server to get the locations. Jumps are highlighted with lime-green arrows.
Dustbowl
Goldrush
Turbine
BarnBlitz
Fastlane
Badwater Basin
Gorge A/D (these spots may also work on cp_5gorge)
Badlands
Nightfall
Thunder Mountain
Coldfront
Frontier
Doublecross and Freight to come
On paper, the Detonator lists these as it's stats:
Alt-fire detonates flare
+25% damage to self
There's a lot more that this doesn't tell you.
First up is damage, the weapon is comparable to the Flare Gun or Manmelter, as each flare does 30ish damage on impact with no fall-off, and it lights the target on fire for 60 damage in afterburn (45 for Degreaser wielders) should the fire be left to burn. However, unlike the Flare Gun, hits on burning targets only mini-crit instead of full criticals. These tend to land for roughly 36 damage making the Detonator a poor choice for puff tactics as you're only getting a third of the damage of a Flare Gun shot against a burning victim. Against the Manmelter which doesn't crit/mini-crit currently burning targets, the Manmelter still outperforms with the ability to store criticals for consistant high DPS. The advantage that the Detonator has against them is that the alternate fire key causes the flare to explode with a small radius, increasing accuracy with good timing, allowing for multiple hits in one shot, and allowing to hit around corners. Flare explosions are subject to splash damage fall off, hitting a target with a flare explosion will still light them, but will often do a paltry 8-15 damage up front. The Detonator is capable of rolling for random criticals, but they seem to have a relativly low chance of happening.
So why would you pick up the Detonator? It's clearly the lowest damaging Pyro secondary available. The answer is utility. The Detonator provides at least three very helpful benefits for it's use.
The first is a little known fact about the explosion: however it's coded, the explosion is capable of disarming sticky bombs. Unlike conventional explosives which only push them away, Detonator explosions destroy stickies outright, similar to Scottish Resistance bombs. Although the explosion is small, you can easily knock out door traps or small clusters, or perhaps that critical that's a little too close for comfort.
The second is a self-damage aspect. Firing a Detonator flare directly at your feet deals 37 damage and briefly sets you on fire. The fire does nothing, but you can feed a fellow Manmelter-wielding Pyro criticals (and extinguish bonus points) by doing this and the self-damage can be utilized to help your Medics build their Ubercharges faster. Be warned that you can kill yourself with the flare should you have 37 health or less, and it's rather entertaining to do so since it causes a gib death.
The last and most important piece of this weapon is the fact that the explosions are capable of giving you psuedo-rocket jumps. These Flare Jumps as they're commonly refered to only give you about the height of a Scout's triple or quadruple jump, but they allow the Pyro to reach many areas that are typically off-limits due to the Pyro's natural inability to jump very high. Although you won't jump quite so high like a Demo or Solider (or even as high as deflecting a rocket at your feet), they are large enough to give you access to unusual and often unexpected attack routes.
Below is a collection of screenshots I took and outlined for numerous Detonator jumps that I utilize on a regular basis. The maps featured are those in the rotation on TV7, sans Doublecross and Freight for now, as I was unable to get my Detonator working on a LAN server to get the locations. Jumps are highlighted with lime-green arrows.
Dustbowl
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