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In this episode, we're going to check out the Arnold Schwarzenegger of hawken mechs,The Incinerator is a C-class heavy mech capable of laying down a literally infinite amount of pain in any general direction he wishes, while simultaneously helping out his teammates through his heat-absorbing passive, allow them to stay in the fight for that much longer. The incinerator is unique in the sense that it can use any heat it builds up to power its secondary weapon and unleash a never ending stream of damage. The Incinerator is currently available for purchase for around 12000 ingame credits, or 1440 meteor credits.
--WEAPONS--
The Incinerator has a unique load-out, meaning none of its weaponry are available on any other mech (at this time, at least). By default, his primary weapon is the B3-AR: BBY, also know as the "Baby", which is a slow firing machine gun dealing an average damage per second rating, with a decent range, and a fairly high amount of heat generation.
His secondary weapon is called the SAARE-launcher, and is the only weapon in the game that uses heat as a resource for firing. What this means is that if you do not have enough heat built up, the weapon will not fire. The default firing mode fires a long range, slow-travelling explosive round at a low arc, and deals a decent amount of damage while consuming a fairly low amount of heat per shot (allowing you to keep firing for longer). By pressing the middle mouse button, you will switch into the launcher's alternate mode, which appears almost identical to the primary firing mode at first glance, but fires a much more powerful shot, although consuming much more heat per shot.
The incinerator also has the option of unlocking two other variants of the B3 AR at levels 3 and 5, affectionately known as the "MAMA" and the "PAPA", which operate similarly to the "BABY", but offer require a spin up period before firing, and have different stats in terms of heat generation and firing rate.
The idea is to basically keep your primary weapon firing to built up heat, and quickly using it up by firing your secondary weapon. The incinerator has the unique ability to passively absorb a small percentage of all heat generated by nearby allies, generated from firing their weapons or otherwise. You have to pay attention to your heat levels and make sure you keep firing your secondary weapon, as the Incinerator can still overheat if it accumulates too much heat from any source, and it does not lose heat over time like other mechs do. In team fights, you will find yourself generating a much greater amount of heat than usual, so it is wise to switch to the SAARE's alternate firing mode, which uses more damage and expends more heat per shot.
--SPECIAL ABILITY--
Unlike the other heavy mechs in the game, the incinerator does not have a turret mode ability. Instead, it has the ability to stomp the ground at its position, instantly expending ALL the heat it has built up, damaging any enemy caught in the radius based on the amount of heat it had at the time. This ability can be a great way to finish off enemies in close quarters, but be warned, using it will put you in an uninterruptible animation for around 1.5 seconds, which means you are completely vulnerable in that duration and cannot fight back or move away from danger until it is done. Use it sparingly, and only when you have no other option.
--ITEMS AND INTERNALS--
The Incinerator is equipped with a heat grenade by default, which -when deployed- causes ANY mech caught in the radius to continuously gain heat until they move out of the grenade's radius. This item has the potential to be used offensively, by throwing it near enemies causing them to displace or risk overheating, or defensively by deploying it near the incinerator, and using the high heat generation to power its secondary weapon to full effect. Be careful of using this near allies for obvious reasons.
In terms of other items, I believe support centric items like turrets or portable scanners work well for the incinerator, as its strongest when it is with its team. As for internals, I like using a fuel converter to help gain some more fuel to maneuver with.
--CONCLUDING REMARKS--
In conclusion, the Incinerator is a very unique mech that can be fun to play, but excels in a teamwork environment and does not perform as well as other c-class mechs in most 1v1 situations. A good sense of positioning is great asset to have when playing as the incinerator, as a well-positioned incinerator will effectively shut down an enemy advance and zone areas quite effectively. It is a great mech to have on your team, but its probably not the best candidate if you're interested in sheer damage output.
Edited by Abidus, May 14 2014 - 09:31 AM.
