[HAZ5+] 20 metres of meta flamethrower build

by taraken54 on 14/04/2025

Salutes 0

CRSPR Flamethrower

CRSPR Flamethrower icon
+25 Tank Size
+5m Flame Reach
+4 Damage per Particle
+10 Heat per Particle
+3 sec Sticky Flames duration
+1.8 Flow Rate
Increases Sticky Flames' slow from 10% to 55%
+75 Max Fuel
Every particle fired by the Flamethrower (ammo consumed) deals 0.2 Fear to all enemies it passes through
+3 sec Sticky Flames duration
+75 Max Fuel
Deal 80 Fire Damage per second and 80 Heat per second to all enemies within 4m of you. The Heat/sec stacks with the direct stream and Sticky Flames' heat sources as well.
If the direct stream kills a Burning enemy, there's a 50% chance that they will explode and deal 55 Fire Damage and 55 Heat to all enemies within a 3m radius.
Fuel Stream Diffuser

Colette Wave Cooker

Colette Wave Cooker icon
+2 Damage
+100 Magazine Size
x3 Shot Width
-20% Heat Generation
+2 Rate of Fire
+50% Cooling Rate, -0.5 Overheat Duration
Enemies damaged will have their movespeed slowed by 50% for 1 second
Whenever the CWC damages a Burning or Frozen enemy, it inflicts 50% of its damage as Heat or 75% as Cold (respectively) to all enemies within a 2.5m radius (including the Burning/Frozen enemy itself). This causes the primary target to have an extended Burning or Frozen duration, while also causing nearby enemies to start to Ignite or Freeze.
Press Reload to toggle Wide Lens Add-On off/on. When activated, x1.25 Shot Width in exchange for +110% Heat Generation.
Press Reload to toggle Power Supply Overdrive off/on. When activated, +2.5 Rate of Fire in exchange for x0.1 Shot Width and +40% Heat Generation
x1.3 Damage vs enemies afflicted by Neurotoxin, Corrosion, or Sludge Puddles. Additionally, a 10% chance per ammo to spread Neurotoxin from the primary target to nearby enemies.
Enemies killed by the Wave Cooker have a 50% chance to explode, dealing 100 Explosive Area Damage in a 2.5m radius.
Every time the Wave Cooker damages a Burning or Frozen enemy, it has a 25% chance to trigger Exothermic Reactor. Exothermic Reactor sets the enemy's temperature back to zero, applies Temperature Shock to them (dealing 200 Disintegrate-element damage), and causes the enemy to deal 50 Temperature "damage" in a 2m radius -- Heat if they were Burning, or Cold if they were Frozen.
Gamma Contamination

Reinforced Power Drills

Reinforced Power Drills icon

Satchel Charge

Satchel Charge icon

Heavy Drill Suit

Heavy Drill Suit icon

Pickaxe

Pickaxe icon
Impact Axe
Impact Axe icon

Loadout Guide

So, what's driller meta for now?.. It's flamethrower + microwave build with abusing Heat Radiance to deal very big damage to kill all targets that are close to you and microwave with radiation to kill all enemies that are afar from you. That's all what you need to know about current meta. Cryo is kinda hard to use with all those diffractors (basically the best engi's secondary), fire gunners and fire scouts. And acid is just worse than other options (except of 2-3 situations when it can really do some good things).

Meta build = HAZ5+ welcome!

Primary weapon:

Very familiar OC that everyone used on HAZ5 before HAZ5+ update. It was very, VERY good because Heat Radiance and sticky flames could do really big things. And now, with tougher bugs, I just realised that... no, we didn't lose that good build. But it needs some upgrades. To the build: 80% flow rate means better ammo efficiency. Yeah, sticky flames (we don't use it here, but still) and Heat Radiance aren't affected by flow rate. It literally means nothing! So, we keep Hear Radiance damage and receive better ammo efficiency. What could be better? Also, this build is very good for Caretaker mission. 20 metres is enough to kill sniper turrets (mainly). So...

Secondary weapon:

Very good crowd clear option in secondary slot. Its almost like gunner's coil gun, but worse/better in some ways. It has no penetration, but it has very big AoE. Also, it has DoT effect that applies on enemy, not on area. Also, every microwave build means: killing shredders, killing swarmers, killing naedocytes.

To other equipment:

Drills. My opinion: the only build that you should use is 1111. Enough damage, enough digging speed, enough fuel. To kill half-killed bugs we chose T1. But if you don't use cryo cannon as primary, you can choose 2111.

C4 has only 4 builds: 4 (the best), 3 with big AoE, 3 with big damage and 2 with BIG damage. The last variant is good only in 2 situations: killing Caretaker on HAZ5 (this is important) and destroying Hiveguard's yellow phase. 3 C4s with damage variant is for killing Caretaker on HAZ5+ with enemies' hp boosted. 3 with big AoE variant is good, but only if you don't have enough AoE damage with your weapons (this is almost impossible). And the last variant - 4 explosive supplies with Fear (this is very important). This variant is good, because Fear makes all bugs not to attack you. So, you can throw C4, make KABOOM and revive teammate, take resupply or just run. This is very good (yeah, you can still chose 3 C4s with damage or AoE and chose Fear, but... idk why you need to use damage and AoE is bad too, IMHO). Also, 4 C4s provide you opportunity to use them for collecting resources fast. Very versatile and sustainable option.

Grenades:
  • Axes are best of the bests. Stun praetorian while he is attacking, kill mactera, kill oppressor, kill bug when you need to heal etc. Too many situations when they are useful. And when you don't need them (you have 6 and already need to take supply), so just throw them out and they will wait you.
  • HE is good against macteras, but my opinion: you have primary weapon to kill them. All of three primaries are good with it. Also HE is good against small crowds of grunts (but, bro, you have primary weapon, again!), so...
  • Neurotoxin grenade. Good (very good!) against all types of enemies. Except robots. I mainly use it on Doretta Defense.
  • Springloaded Ripper (reaper of teammates' hp). Weird and unpredictable (mainly unpredictable) trajectory of moving makes it very unexpectable way to kill teammates. They won't realise what killed 'em! Buy 4 and get 2 for free... Yeah, it is good for killing crowds, good for defending in bunker, but it has very (VERY!) big problem. Friendly fire. Don't use it, if you want your teammates to live.
Perks:
  • Passive: Resupplier and Vampire are perks that I use always. Because they are the best perks in entire pool. So, what for the last slot? You can choose from: Deep Pockets (versatile perk, if you don't know what to choose), Sweet Tooth (another versatile perk), Elemental Insulation (very good perk when you need to fight against praetorians, acid spitters and acid spreaders), Born Ready (flamethrower + subata moment), Thorns (swarmers and naedocytes moment, but you are driller, why do you need it?). My everyday choice is Sweet Tooth, and Born Ready for flamethrower + subata builds. But I considering using Elemental Insulation instead of Sweet Tooth.
  • Active: Iron Will is too good, that's why I use it always. Second slot can be: Dash (the best active perk after Iron Will for all classes except scout), High Senses (leech moment), Medic. My choice is Dash because I really love being fast and mobile.