Flame bearer

Defensive Melee Special

The Flamethrower is an excellent purely defensive unit for melee combat - for its price of 200 and event category, it has top-notch defense against melee attacks. It has a clear weakness against ranged attackers and zero utility in attack, so it’s not a jack-of-all-trades, but for its one purpose, it is perfect. Higher tier tools and legendary units will eventually surpass you, but as an event wall for castle defense, it’s worth taking - just if you know how to properly supplement it with units against ranged attackers and tools.

14Attack

170Melee defense

68Ranged defense

25Speed

3Food upkeep

The Flamethrower is purely a defensive infantry unit with 170 defense against melee combat - that's the number you want. It has only 14 attack, so let’s be clear: you never take it for offense, it’s a wall for the castle and nothing more. It belongs to the special units, so you can’t get it from regular barracks, but you can acquire it from special offers or events.

How to use it

In practice, you exclusively use it for the defense of the castle or towers, where the enemy struggles to attack with melee. That 170 against melee is really solid defense for an event unit costing 200 resources - with a few hundred Flamethrowers, you can effectively repel strong melee assaults. However, the defense against ranged attackers is only 68, and that's a gap, which is why you should never leave it to defend alone. The key is this: the defender does not know in advance what wave the opponent will send, and the army in the castle stands statically - you cannot rearrange it on the fly. Therefore, you always build a mix of melee plus ranged defense, not just Flamethrowers alone. The food consumption of 3 is reasonable, it won’t bankrupt you for a special unit, so feel free to keep a larger stock for defending key positions.

What to combine it with

On its own, it is vulnerable to ranged attackers, so always mix it with a unit strong against ranged defense. A classic mix is a Flamethrower as a melee wall plus some defensive archer or a unit with high defense against ranged attacks - that will patch up the sixty-eight. Since you don’t know how the opponent will attack you, the defense must handle both waves simultaneously. Don’t forget to add defensive tools to the walls (spikes, tar, anything the event offers) and also consider a defensive commander and his bonuses - they often make more difference than a few extra units. Standalone units without support will be shredded by an opponent with good tools. The goal is simple: no weak point for the attacker to break through.

Weaknesses and what to avoid

Never send it into attack - with an attack of 14, it just takes up a slot in the offensive army and brings no offensive power, so your expensive event unit will do nothing in an offensive wave. And don’t make it the only type of defender in the castle. Watch out for the common mistake: the defensive army is deployed statically and you don’t know in advance what wave the opponent will send, so you can’t rely on being attacked by melee units. If you fill a tower with only Flamethrowers, one ranged attack is enough and the defense will collapse on that sixty-eight. Therefore, it is always necessary to supplement them with units against ranged attacks.

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