This is a loud build using the MA-17 Flamethrower, for heists up to and including Death Sentence One Down difficulty. No DLC is required.

It is assumed that the player is at level 100, has unlocked all cards in the perk deck, and has all Infamy skill reductions.

Galant: Tanker Barrel, Medium Suppressor, Concealment boost, LED Combo, Magpouch Stock
MA-17 Flamethrower: Merlin Nozzle, Concealment boost, Low Temperature Mixture

Flamethrowers are considered a novelty, as Dragon's Breath shotguns outclass them in most aspects. For the non-DLC player, however, it's one of the few ways they can experience the joy of setting everything on fire. With its massive magazine size, total ammo, and decent ammo efficiency, it's suitable for regular usage, switching only to the Galant when tougher specials show up.

This build works best on maps with plenty of chokepoints, like doorways and corners, which you can hide behind and set anyone passing through alight. Maps with large open spaces are not conducive to it, due to the flamethrower's limited range. Such maps force you to rely on the Galant more. Due to its low pickup rate, you can run out of options quickly as its ammo is drained.

Inspire, movement skills, and Swan Song are stock.

Crit chance is maxed, with Low Blow and Unseen Strike aced, in order to improve the flamethrower's damage. The Galant benefits from this as well. Benefiting only the Galant are Surefire and accuracy/stability skills, which get it to 23 mag size, 100 accuracy, and 56 stability.

Bloodthirst aced provides a lethal option in close-range combat, and shortens the flamethrower's sluggish 8.5s reload time. If an enemy interrupts you while you are reloading, you can melee him, which will cancel the reload, then reload again, this time with the reload speed bonus active.

Kento's Tanto is the strongest non DLC, 30 concealment melee weapon. El Verdugo has the same damage, but is 1 point of concealment behind. El Verdugo completes one attack faster though, so it can still be used, but you'd have to swap the LED Combo on the Galant for a Tactical Laser Module to stay at 23 detection.

Any suit/LBV perk deck can be used, though the Artful Dodger tree needs to be built up differently, taking Inner Pockets aced, if an LBV is used. (Or reduced to just the movement skills, if Sneaky Bastard is not needed on that deck.) High concealment is a must for Low Blow, and high movement speed lets you get closer to hit enemies with your flamethrower. LBV Crook in particular is a fine alternative, as it has enough armor to take a hit from a Shield/Medic, which can't be stunned by fire hurt.

The flamethrower is the main weapon in this build. It handles most enemies as long as they are within the flamethrower's (short) range. The "Flamethrower Basics" section has more detail on its damage.

(Assuming DW/DS difficulty:)

• Lights and shields have 480HP, so they will die after being set on fire, guaranteed.
  
• Heavies have 960HP, so they will die if either burn tick crits (for triple damage).
  
• Tasers and Medics have 1800HP, so they will die after being set on fire twice, if one of the four total burn ticks crit.
  
• Cloakers have 3600HP, but their crit multiplier is *9, so like Tasers and Medics, they will die after being set on fire twice and one of the four burn ticks crit.

The Galant rifle complements the flamethrower, taking out specials that the flamethrower can't. It has the range to hit snipers, and huge damage and rate of fire to tear through Bulldozers, two specials which the flamethrower matches up poorly against. However, its pickup rate is low, so sustained use is not recommended.

• Snipers are killed in 2 body shots, or 1 crit body shot, or 1 headshot.
  
• Lights and shields are killed in 1 headshot.
  
• Heavies are killed in 2 headshots, or 1 crit headshot.
  
• Tasers, Medics, and Cloakers are killed in 1 crit headshot.
  
• Non-minigun Bulldozers are usually killed in 1 mag, maybe a little more, or less if they've taken some other damage. Just aim at their heads and spam the fire button; the Galant actually reloads faster if the magazine is empty.

The flamethrower is not great against Captain Winters for a few reasons:

1. like regular Shields, they don't show fire hurt
   
2. depending on the map, the nearest piece of cover may be too far for you to hit them from with the flamethrower
   
3. they have much more health than regular shields (though also higher crit multipliers)

If you have to take on the Captain yourself, use the Galant, and Swan Song to position yourself behind him if necessary.

Since the flamethrower works so differently from conventional bullet-based weapons, now is a good time to explain its many quirks.

The flamethrower has a 10m range. It pierces enemy armor and shields, but not walls.

The flamethrower has no weapon spread and no recoil. Accuracy and stability are meaningless on it. You can test this by dominating an enemy, then aiming the flamethrower at him such that it just misses. If you keep your mouse stationary and hold down the fire button, none of the flames will end up hitting the enemy.

Each flame fired has a 75% chance to set the enemy on fire. If set on fire, the enemy will play a fire hurt animation, interrupting his attacks. The enemy will also be damaged twice, at t=1, 1.5s after being set on fire, for 300 damage each time. Thus, much of the flamethrower's damage output comes from the burn (600 damage total), not the flames (3.2 damage, as shown in the inventory).

Not all enemies will play the fire hurt animation, though they still take burn damage. Shields (including Captain Winters and his phalanx), Medics, and Bulldozers (of all kinds) will not. Cloakers do not play a fire hurt animation, but their charge can be stopped by burn damage.

Burn damage doesn't stack. After an enemy has been set on fire, just let him burn. Continuing to flame him doesn't add on any more burn damage, and is in fact counterproductive, as it resets the timer for each tick of burn damage.

Flames and burn can receive critical hit damage bonuses (i.e. Low Blow and Unseen Strike), but not headshot damage bonuses (e.g. the Helmet Popping card). Flames can proc Bullseye - it triggers on headshots, but is not a damage bonus.

Burn kills are not tracked properly in the end-of-game stats screen, so don't be surprised when the game says you only have a few dozen kills.

Now that we know how the flamethrower works, we can get into how to use it effectively.

Since flames pierce armor, you can hit enemies anywhere to set them on fire. The obvious target would be the torso, since it's the biggest. If an enemy suddenly decides to crouch as you fire at him, you'll still hit him anyway, whereas you'd miss if you were aiming at his head.

While flames don't get bonus damage from headshots, they are nonetheless capable of proccing Bullseye. Bullseye is for armor gating: when you're at 0 armor, if you proc Bullseye, the 5 armor lets you take an extra hit. Armor makes a distinct sound when it's broken, so listen out for it, and switch to aiming for the head when you hear it.

As explained in the "Flamethrower Basics" section, once an enemy has been set on fire, there is no point in continuing to flame him. Don't hold the fire button down; instead tap it to conserve ammo.

If you're facing only one light/heavy, you can fire once and spam the interact key. You'll either win the burn and crit rolls and kill him, or, failing that, dominate him after he's taken damage. This doesn't work on special enemies, since they can't be dominated.

The flamethrower is somewhat unreliable at setting enemies on fire, since the chance to burn is 75%. Thus it may take multiple flames to set an enemy alight. Increase your odds by firing multiple times.

When facing groups of enemies, this should be your tactic, as you don't really have the time to observe if you won the burn roll on each enemy before moving on to the next one. Just fire 2-3 times and cycle to the next target.

That's the end of the guide. The MA-17 flamethrower, while not a world beater, handles most enemies competently, with a Galant to cover its weaknesses.

Thanks for reading this guide and I hope you enjoy using the flamethrower.