Firebug (Killing Floor 2)
| Killing Floor 2 perk | |||||
Firebug | |||||
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General Information | |||||
| XP Objectives | |||||
| • Dealing Firebug weapon damage. | |||||
| • Killing Crawlers and Bloats with Firebug weapons. | |||||
| Starting Loadout | |||||
| Caulk n' Burn | 9mm Pistol | ||||
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| Fireman's Knife | Molotov Cocktail | ||||
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Perk Information | |||||
| Role | |||||
| • Close Range | |||||
| • Front Rank Position | |||||
| • Control Zeds Through Lighting Them On Fire | |||||
| Strength | |||||
| • Area of Effect Weapons | |||||
| • Can Panic Zeds with Fire | |||||
| • Effective Against Bloats | |||||
| Weakness | |||||
| • Hard to Kill Zeds Alone | |||||
| • Ineffective Against Husks | |||||
| Target Priority | |||||
   
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HIGH | ||||
   
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MEDIUM | ||||
    
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LOW | ||||
Related Achievements | |||||
| Console Achievements / Trophies | |||||
The Firebug is the flame-spewing maniac that keeps the Zed horde from overrunning your squad. Armed with a variety of fire-producing weapons, the Firebug can put large groups of Zeds in a panic by keeping them burning until they are little more than cinders. While Firebugs often score fewer Zed kills than other perks, they instead usually lead in assists as they hose down large numbers of Zeds with their gouts of problem-solving fire.
General Information
Being a flame weapons specialist, the Firebug sets multiple ZEDs on fire at time, making them suffer from the damage over time, stumbling and forcing them to panic which effectively decreases overall threat of the enemy crowd. Flame weapons of the Firebug provide a wide variety of ways to apply the damage.
Firebug skill choices let them focus on either killing ZEDs faster via improved flame damage and afterburn or on controlling the ZEDs flow through the various incapacitations methods.
Weapon List
 200 |
 5 |
Caulk n' Burn | 
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| 325 |
2 |
Spitfire | 
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| 650 |
4 |
Dual Spitfires | 
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| 650 |
5 |
Dragonsbreath | 
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| 900 |
4 |
Mac 10 | 
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| 1000 |
4 |
HRG Scorcher | 
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| 1200 |
7 |
Flamethrower | 
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| 1200 |
6 |
HRG Incendiary Rifle | 
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| 1400 |
7 |
HRG Dragonsblaze | 
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| 1500 |
9 |
Microwave Gun | 
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| 1500 |
8 |
Husk Cannon | 
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| 1500 |
7 |
Thermite Bore (DLC) | 
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| 2000 |
8 |
Helios Rifle | 
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| --- |
--- |
Fireman's Knife | 
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| 40 |
--- |
Molotov Cocktail | 
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Bonus Experience
Firebugs receive bonus XP for for killing Bloats (including Abomination and Krampus) and Crawlers with the weapons that use on-perk damage types.
| Normal | Hard | Suicidal | Hell on Earth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus Experience | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Perk Bonuses
This table represents the passive stat bonuses the Firebug receives.
Perk Weapon Damage
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max. 20%
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( Perk weapon damage increased by 0.8% per level. )
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Perk Weapon Reload
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max. 20%
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( Increase perk weapon reload speed by 0.8% per level. )
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Resist ZED Fire Damage
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max. 80%
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( Resistance to ZED fire starts at 30% and increases 2% per level. )
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Immunity to your own Fire
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max. 100%
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( Increase resistance to your own fire 25% base plus 3% per level. )
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Starting Ammo
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max. 50%
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( Increase starting ammo 10% every five levels. )
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Perk Skills
This table represents the active abilities the Firebug has access to. You have the option of choosing one per tier.
Supplies
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| Bring the Heat | 5
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High Capacity Fuel Tank | ||
| Increase damage with fire weapons 35%. | 
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Increase fuel tank capacity and magazines for all perk weapons 100%. | |
Spicy
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| Barbecue | 10
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Ground Fire | ||
| Perk weapons’ burn effect lasts 150% longer, increasing damage over time. | 
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Ground fires deal 3x the damage and reduce Zed movement speed 30%. | |
Burn
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| Napalm | 15
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ZED Shrapnel | ||
| Burning ZEDs that make contact with other ZEDs will light them on fire and the burn effect lasts 150% longer. | 
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Zeds you kill with fire have a 30% chance to explode, damaging and stunning nearby Zeds. | |
Flame
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| Heat Wave | 20
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Firestorm | ||
| ZED struck at point blank range with fire will stumble back. | 
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Increase range of the Caulk n' Burn, Flamethrower, and Microwave Gun. Increase fire ground duration a 20%. | |
Advanced Training
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| ZED TIME - Pyromaniac | 25
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ZED TIME - Inferno | ||
| During ZED Time, you attack with perk weapons in close to real time and never run out of ammo. | 
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During Zed time, your fire damage over time spreads to all surrounding Zeds. | |
As of Tidal Terror update the Inferno skill had changed its functionality from "During ZED Time, any ZEDs hit with fire are slowed 30% and take 50% more burning damage" to "During Zed time, your fire damage over time spreads to all surrounding Zeds", however it still retains all of its previous features - 50% more damage and slowdown. And since this update it now also allows to spread DOT on nearby ZEDs.
Actual Stats
| Barbecue (DOT duration multiplier) | x2.5 |
| Bring the Heat (extra damage) | 35% |
| Firestorm (extended flame / beam mesh) | yes |
| Firestorm (ground fire duration, for cnb, ff and mwg) | x1.2 |
| Ground Fire (damage multiplier) | x2 |
| Ground Fire (snare power, add, per hit / DOT tick) | 100 |
| Heat Wave (effective radius) | 3m |
| Heat Wave (stumble power multiplier) | x1001 |
| Heat Wave (works with all on-perk damage types) | yes |
| High Capacity Fuel Tank (extra mag ammo) | 100% |
| Inferno (extra damage) | 50% |
| Inferno (radius to check around the ZED, to spread DOT) | 8m |
| Inferno (snare power, add, per hit / DOT tick) | 100 |
| Napalm (burning ZEDs spread fire) | yes |
| Napalm (DOT duration multiplier) | x2.5 |
| Napalm (DOT duration) | 5s x2.5 |
| Napalm (DOT interval) | 1s |
| Napalm (DOT scale) | x0.4 |
| Napalm (initial damage) | 7 |
| Pyromaniac (resistance to slow-mo, on firing) | 90% |
| Pyromaniac (weapon does not consume ammo) | yes |
| ZED Shrapnel (chance) | 30% |
| ZED Shrapnel (explosion damage type) | Explosive |
| ZED Shrapnel (explosion damage) | 50 |
| ZED Shrapnel (explosion falloff exponent) | 1 (linear) |
| ZED Shrapnel (explosion radius) | 250 |
| ZED Shrapnel (stun power) | 500 |
| ZED Shrapnel (melee hit power) | 500 |
| ZED Shrapnel (stumble power) | 500 |
Perk Notes
- Damage modification (passive + skills): Passive damage bonus, Bring the Heat skill and Inferno skill affecting damage of all on-perk weapons (including Knife) or on-perk damage types. Damage ROUNDED.
- Skill (Barbecue): Barbecue increases DOT duration by x2.5 times. This skill stack with the Napalm skill for total of x5 longer DOT duration.
- Skill (Firestorm): Caulk n' Burn, Flamethrower and Microwave Gun change their flame / beam model to another model that is approximately x1.4 times longer. Extra Ground Fire duration only works for these 3 weapons.
- Skill (Ground Fire): Skill works with both - Ground Fire and Residual Flames. Calculation specifics: skill mutiplies default GF / RF damage value by 2 and adds this value to perk-modified GF / RF damage value. Example: Bloat (neutral to fire) vs lvl 25 + Ground Fire. Bring the Heat OFF: Damage = (10x1.2) + (10x2) = 32. Bring the Heat ON: Damage = (10x1.55) + (10x2) = 36.
- Skill (Heat Wave): Skill forces ZEDs to stumble as long as they are not in cooldown and can do such special move. Effective radius - 3 meters.
- Skill (Inferno): During the ZED Time, when player damages ZED with an on-perk weapon capable of causing Fire DOT (specifically, excluding Napalm damage), this ZED takes DOT in a normal fashion. At the same time around this ZED there happening an AOE check (radius is slightly above 8 meters) and all nearby ZEDs catch the same DOT type. However, amount of the damage they take is calculated once again implying that DOT damage of the player's first target is a BASE VALUE (which itself is calculated from the weapon's base damage). For example, player attacks ZED with a Spitfire which inflicts 40x0.8=32 DOT per tick. For all nearby ZEDs the base value is now 32 (first ZED's DOT) and not 40 (Spitfire damage). Spitfire's DOT Scale is x0.8 so these nearby ZEDs will only take 32x0.8=26 damage. If by the time these ZEDs take DOT an another ZED will enter their vicinity (i.e. will be within their 8m check radius), that last ZED will take even less damage (26x0.8=21) and so on. Every ZED damaged by DOT become able to check for nearby ZEDs itself and spread DOT even further (at a reduced damage, since for all DOT weapons DOT scale is < 1). Due to the fact that only one DOT of the same time can exist on the ZED - the one that is most effective in terms of total damage - ZEDs might constantly re-catch new DOTs (with an updated duration) form each other, implying that these new DOTs would cause more overall damage.
- Skill (Napalm): Initial damage - 7, DOT duration - 5s x2.5 (boosted by the skill itself), DOT interval - 1s, DOT damage scale, of initial damage - x0.4. When ZED is being attacked by player with a flame-spraying weapon (Caulk 'n Burn, Flamethrower, Microwave Gun) or takes Ground Fire damage, around this ZED there happening an AOE check (check radius is twice as wider (x2) than ZED's collision cylinder). All the other ZEDs within this radius take Napalm damage and become "napalm infected" for the duration of Napalm DOT. "Infected" status prevents them from taking / spreading Napalm damage to other ZEDs. When this status is worn off it is become possible to cause another AOE check by attacking these ZEDs. Unlike surrounding ZEDs, the initial target is almost never gets marked as "infected" (weaker Napalm DOT is overridden by stronger DOT of the weapon, which clears out "infected" status) hence takes Napalm damage at the same rate as it takes damage from said spray weapons. ZEDs also spread Napalm upon bumping into each other.
- Skill (Napalm and Barbecue interaction): Due to calculation specifics either of skills, when selected alone, provides total DOT duration multiplier of x2.5. However when both skills used together at the same time the final DOT duration multiplier only become x4, not x5 as would expected.
- Skill (ZED Shrapnel): Explosion can be activated by all on-perk weapons or on-perk damage types. Chance - 30%, damage - 100, radius - 2.5 meters, falloff - linear, stun / melee hit / stumble power - 500.
On-perk Weapons
Following weapons and damage types are associated with the Firebug. They are getting damage bonuses and buffs to their attributes from the respective skills:
| Weapons | Damage Types |
|---|---|
| AssaultRifle_HRGIncendiaryRifle | Ballistic_DragonsBreath |
| AssaultRifle_Microwave | Ballistic_HRG_Dragonbreath |
| Beam_Microwave | Ballistic_HRGScorcherBrokenImpact, Ballistic_HRGScorcherLightingImpact |
| Flame_CaulkBurn | Ballistic_HRGIncendiaryRifle, Ballistic_HRGIncendiaryRifleGrenadeImpact (child of Ballistic_Shell),Explosive_HRGIncendiaryRifle (child of Fire), Fire_Ground_HRGIncendiaryRifle, Fire_HRGIncendiaryRifleBulletDoT, Fire_HRGIncendiaryRifleGrenadeDoT |
| Flame_Flamethrower | Ballistic_MicrowaveRifle (child of Microwave) |
| HRG_Dragonbreath | Ballistic_ThermiteBoreImpact (child of Ballistic_Shell), Explosive_Thermite (child of Fire) |
| HuskCannon | Explosive_HuskCannon, HuskCannonDot (child of Fire), Explosive_HuskCannonImpact (child of Ballistic_Shell) |
| Knife_Firebug | Explosive_Shrapnel |
| MolotovGrenade | Fire_FlareGun, Fire_FlareGun_Dual (child of Ballistic_Handgun), Fire_Ground_FlareGun |
| MolotovSplash | Fire_Mac10 (child of Ballistic_SMG), Fire_Mac10DoT |
| Pistol_Flare, Pistol_DualFlare | Fire, FireTrap |
| Pistol_HRGScorcher, Proj_BrokenFlare_HRGScorcher, Proj_BrokenFlare_HRGScorcherSplash |
Microwave_Beam, Microwave_Blast |
| Ballistic_ThermiteBoreImpact (child of Ballistic_Shell), Explosive_Thermite (child of Fire) |
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| Shotgun_DragonsBreath | |
| SMG_Mac10 |
Strategy
Due to the natural resistance to fire, Scrakes and Fleshpounds should be the lowest priority for Firebugs. Instead focus on killing small ZEDs and clearing escape routes as your team will likely fall back upon engaging the big ones.
Conserve your ammo by using tap-firing tactics.
Learn your weapons - despite the plain notion of how flame weapons should be utilized, they actually offering a wide choice of ways to deal the damage including afterburn, ground fire and splash damage.
If your teammate is in trouble save them a second of two by utilizing your special ability to stumble ZEDs via Heat Wave skill - it can even stumble an enraged Fleshpound!
Even if your weapons are not as much effective against Husks as many others, you still might want to focus on killing that ZED. Your fire resistance ability and Dragonsbreath will aid you in this mission.
Your Molotovs not only set ZEDs on fire but also spawn a light emitting flare that lasts for roughly 30 seconds. Very helpful if you play on dark maps like Catacombs.
Perk Utilization
The Firebug does well to understand how important their role really is. Although being the most efficient and effective killer of "trash" ZEDs in the game isn't the most glorious of roles, it is arguably the most important. As such, Firebugs that forgo the short-term glory of attacking Scrakes, will dramatically increase their team's chances of survival by dealing with the more numerous and dangerous-in-numbers weaker enemies. Firebugs that possess a degree of lateral thinking and forethought will consistently be able to keep trash ZEDs away from the team's position, simply by circumventing Scrakes and Fleshpounds, and concentrating on the other, weaker, enemies.
By contrast, if the team has decided that they will kill Scrakes and Fleshpounds by decapitation, then Firebugs do well to observe this team idea by avoiding big ZEDs entirely. Because flame weapons cause body HP damage almost exclusively, most attacks upon Scrakes / Fleshpounds with flame weapons will not assist in achieving a decapitation due to the difference in head and body HP pools. In actuality, using flame weapons to attack big ZEDs that result in "Fire Panic" and "Stumble" afflcitions, will negatively impact a team's ability to smoothly decapite them. As such, it is important for the team to discuss their intentions and make their roles clear so that the chances of survival for all players on the team is maximised.
Trivia
- According to the character's favourite weapon lines, Ana Larive is the Firebug of the team. Although many other characters are enjoying the flame weapons as well.
