M7057 flamethrower

"It takes a real lunatic to use a flamethrower..."

- Anonymous E2-BAG/1/7 serviceman

The M7057/Defoliant Projector, more commonly known as the M7057 flamethrower, is an incendiary weapon used primarily against battlefield fortifications, protected emplacements and installations, and for demoralisation purposes. It is a variation of the NA4/Defoliant Projector.

Design details
The M7057 flamethrower is a standard chemical flamethrower, which projects and ignites a stream of a volatile, semi-liquid fuel. Like the NA4, the M7057 flamethrower is cumbersome and relatively difficult to tactically employ.

It is one of two human weapons that overheat, with the other being the Spartan Laser. It has a built in failsafe system that stops the weapon firing when it reaches a certain temperature. If the weapon could be fired while overheated, it would melt or explode, and the heat and the flames would harm the user.

Gameplay
The flamethrower makes its first gameplay appearance in Halo PC 's multiplayer, later in Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST. The weapon's range is similar to the shotgun, which is only effective at close-quarters. When fired within range, the flamethrower deals lethal damage to unshielded opponents. Against shielded opponents, it will remove their shields and apply a substantial amount of damage on the opponent's health. The flamethrower overheats if used continuously.

The flamethrower functions differently in both Halo PC and Halo 3/Halo 3: ODST. In Halo 3, the flamethrower is one of the few Support Weapons. Players wielding the weapon would move at a slower pace and in a third-person perspective. Moreover, they would not be able to melee or use any of their grenades or equipments. The flamethrower is no longer useful once the fuel has been depleted. In comparison, the Halo PC version does not hinder the player's movement, allows the weapon to be reloaded with new fuel canisters and does not prevent meleeing. However, the damage dealt is weaker compared to the version used in Halo 3.

Campaign
With the flamethrower's campaign introduction in Halo 3, it has become one of the best anti-Flood weapons. The hardest type of Flood to fight, the Flood Pure Forms, will die nearly instantly, upon lighting on fire, and destroy any Infection forms that run over the flames. Though still highly effective against Flood combat forms, they still live for some time while on fire, which can produce some awkward moments of avoiding their charging, flaming bodies. Given light of this, it is not recommended to use the Flamethrower in cramped spaces, many of which can be found in the level Floodgate, as the flaming Flood will lead to frustrating suicides.

A good attribute is that it can begin killing multiple Combat Forms at once, with the ones on fire possibly lighting other ones on fire. Once they die, their bodies are consumed by the fire and will not be able to be resurrected by Flood infection forms. In fact, any Infection form that runs towards the body will also be destroyed by the flame. It can also be used to destroy a pile of Combat Forms, so they won't come back if an Infection Form finds them.

Multiplayer
The flamethrower is a support weapon, and a support weapon only. If you are wielding this weapon, you back up your teammates. Lighting a whole team on fire can help out your team mates, by weakening their shields. Just be careful, if used incorrectly, you could set your whole team on fire, the flame spreads easily.

In Halo PC, it is available in every multiplayer map, but in small numbers. In Halo 3, the flamethrower, by matchmaking default, only appears on the map, Construct.

The flamethrower is best used in close quarters combat. The trail of flame can act as a temporary smokescreen to blind snipers with. It is especially effective if used to retreat by running backwards away from an enemy to leave a trail of flame, deterring would-be pursuers from giving chase to a wall of fire, use caution because the flamethrower's damage is reduced when running backwards. It is effective as a denial of area weapon, you can set fire to doorways or flags to discourage anyone from crossing that area, and damaging those that do (possibly even catching on fire and killing unshielded opponents).

As a Slayer weapon, it is recommended to use it to surprise people entering enclosed spaces, as it is very lethal up close. You can shoot the flames around a corner as you run backwards around a corner, and any opponents who choose to take the risk of pursuing them will be roasted by flames but unable to get a line of sight to get you themselves.

Sometimes, players even wait near some strategic points, with Active Camouflage and a flamethrower, for example they may wait at the point at which players land after flying out of a Man Cannon and burn the helpless victims. Or sometimes they can hide at one side of a door and when a player runs out, they can burn the unsuspecting player to ashes.

Most types of equipment can often be used to your advantage when escaping the flames, like deploying a Radar Jammer (although it is now not available in matchmaking) to confuse the enemy if he/she can't exactly see you due to the continuous flames, and since you'll be moving about, the enemy can't exactly identify you from the "fake" red dots on his/her radar. Deploying a Power Drain will cause the wielder of the Flamethrower to cease fire temporary to avoid having their shields to be drained if smart enough, however, if the wielder continues to fire they risk being drained of shields and made an easy target to any enemy players in the vicinity.

UNSC remarks

 * "Foxtrots die pretty quick once you put the fire to 'em. We oughta burn 'em all. Low-life bastards. Burn all those low-life Alien Foxtrots."
 * "Gotta get too close for it to be any use offensively — if you're gonna use it as a weapon best to use it in a defensive role—fill up passages and weak-points in your perimeter with fire."
 * "Makes short work of weeds and thickets — but I wouldn't carry one into combat. Not on your life."
 * "I can see where it would be real effective in ousting dug in troops, but you aren't gonna be making any friends using it that way."
 * "I don't see why carrying around a big can of super-flammable stuff right next to my ass is such a good idea."
 * "You know those things ship with a cart, right? You aren't expected to carry them anywhere… they are not a weapon that you use on people...not even on alien people."
 * "It takes a real lunatic to use a Flamethrower..."

Behind the scenes

 * In the cutscene of the Halo: Combat Evolved level Keyes, where the Master Chief retrieves Captain Jacob Keyes' neural implants, the Master Chief was meant to burn Keyes' skull out of the Proto-Gravemind and retrieve the implants. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the Flamethrower was removed. Lorraine McLees was the one who actually had to skin the whole "burnt" skull and she added that she had done her job so well that "the skull was so gruesome no one could look at it."

Miscellaneous

 * In the 1999 E3 trailer, the flamethrower looked drastically different. The fuel tank stuck far out of the side, and the whole weapon seemed to be painted bright red.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, when a Spartan wields a flamethrower, he flips back a cover to expose a button. Next to the button is the character 下 or 'xia' (meaning "down" in Chinese).
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, the flamethrower shares the same reticule with the M90 Shotgun and the Sniper Rifle System 99C-Series 2 Anti-Matériel.
 * In Halo Custom Edition, Flood combat forms are able to wield the flamethrower. The only way to observe this is to play start a "Heavy Slayer" game on a map that spawns Combat forms. The Combat form will hold it upwards, making the weapon useless in their hands since the fire will go upwards without hurting anyone in front of the form. The reason why the flamethrower is compatible with Combat forms is because the flamethrower was supposed to appear in the level Keyes, and Bungie programmed Combat forms to be able to carry it in order to grant the player easier accessibility. The player was then to use an acquired flamethrower to burn Captain Keys' skull from the brain form in order to retrieve his neural implants.
 * Strangely, even though UNSC Marines claim that their comrades wield the flamethrower, the player can not give it to them in game. This may be due to game balance issues. The only time when a Marine is seen wielding one ever is at the Halo 3 level Floodgate, it is seen being used inside the factory, (the spot where any surviving Marines hold position) holding it like Master Chief. One needs to be in Theater mode or playing on a lower difficulty to see the Marine holding it, because he dies in a few seconds.
 * In Halo 3, the flamethrower still works underwater. However the flames must have already clumped to something and spraying into the water will have no effect. Strangely, in Avalanche and Snowbound, if one fires at the snow it will burn as if it is ground.
 * In Halo 3, the flamethrower can be used to easily achieve a Death from the Grave Medal or an Incineration Medal. If the player simply hit an enemy with enough sustained fire, it will kill them. If the player has already hit an enemy with the flamethrower when he/she dies, they will die via flame damage seconds later.
 * In Halo 3: ODST, the flamethrower and the Assault Rifle are the only weapons that appeared in campaign but not in Firefight.
 * In Halo 3: ODST level Data Hive, players who killed 10 Covenant troops with the flamethrower are rewarded by the "I Like Fire" achievement.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo Graphic Novel
 * Halo 3
 * Halo 3: ODST