Burning Effect Too Chaotic?

[BonesJrOfficial]

DST lacks any real Damage over Time (DoT) abilities, with the exception of fire. However with fire there is a catch.. the target can set ablaze anything it comes into contact with -and to a minor extent, produces a small aura of light. Fire by nature is chaotic, sure.

What I wish to discuss is, who actually uses fire? -with the exception of a "fire farm" (a set up with flingomatics, typically burning grass tufts etc, to kill something like pigs for example.)

Does anyone use Fire Darts? 

Does anyone use Scalemail?

Does anyone use Fire Staff?

If so, can you use an example of when/why?

If not, perhaps explain any changes in the fire items/mechanics which would cause you to decide to use them. Whether it's combat or not.

With all this being said I would still recommend the torch functioning as is. It's the go to tool for Charcoal, so keeping this as the machine of destruction it is currently seems completely fine.

[Primalflower]

2 minutes ago, BonesJrOfficial said:

who actually uses fire?

The pro of fire is the stun that it affords you for many mobs. I get an awful lot of use out of setting koalephants/tallbirds aflame to get plenty of hits on them while they run around.

[Auth]

I sometimes light deerclops on fire to keep warm if I got real lazy with heating myself prior to the fight. But even then I just use a torch for that because crafting any of the other items just feels like a waste of time and materials comparatively to the torch.

That being said, I used fire a lot when I was much less experienced in the game. The panic it gave most mobs was usually enough to afford a quick escape or enough to regain my stats and senses before jumping into the fray again. With more experience, I don't really need to buy myself such openings, so fire is one of the mechanics that just kind of sits on the shelf for me now. I think that's fine, though. Not everything needs to scale in usefulness to your experience level.

 

7 minutes ago, Primalflower said:

setting tallbirds aflame

): nooooooooo

[ArubaroBeefalo]

17 minutes ago, BonesJrOfficial said:

Does anyone use Fire Staff?

If so, can you use an example of when/why?

few times against double bishops, klaus, toad or old ag (this one the less since i like to have lightbulbs in the maze) cuz damage and many times against beequeen (80 damage per use for such cheap item).  I remember using them and/or fire darts back in the day when i was noob to keep me warm while fighting deerclops and to add damage from a safe distance also against hound waves when i was learning how to deal with late game waves without traps. Also i like to use them while riding a beefalo so i dont have to dismount to burn trees in winter which, along to fighting beequeen, is the best and unique worth use for them

i would use them more often if the chances or burning non renewables were lower and more damage wont be bad since i dont use them as often because most of the time isnt worth carrying them to deal few damage that you can do by hitting

i didnt try against CC but i was planning on using them for the 3rd phase

torches burn too but you waste melee hits, i see better for that strats to use the staff since you can use it from distance before you engage melee

[Starlogy]

If loot didn't burn, then Fire would be excellent.

Still think that should've been a Willow perk but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[DajeKotlyar]

To flame gunpowder in farming shadow chess loot via boats, fighting with torch to light up. That's all

[Mike23Ua]

Depending on how and where you use fire.. it can be a powerful tool.

For example when fire hounds come during a hound wave, I take them all to a Beefalo Savannah (away from the Beefalo of course) to an empty field.. and then I kill the fire hounds, the hounds will scatter apart and flee to give you breathing room.

Fire is great when you use it with caution.

Its a really effective way to kill Treeguards & Birchnut Guards too.

You just gotta be careful not to set the whole world up in a blazing inferno.

[Juny Pear]

Fire works pretty well in a few ways.
Stunning mobs for instance is nice, as most common mobs will enter a panicked state when on fire, which allows you to get a few free hits in, the extra damage is more of a bonus. If you're using a scalemail, the ignite perk could act as an opportunity to leave combat in an ermergency. The scalemail also helps other fire strategies, such as the stun i mentioned, be more overall useful since you dont need to worry about fire damage affecting you if youre not playing willow. Fire darts basically serve as a safe way to aggro a mob from afar by making it unable to really attack for the first few moments that you engage in combat, which can be helpful, although a fire staff can fill that role and then some, and somehow ends up being less costly than darts in the long run.

That being said, all these options are very limited due to a few reasons sadly. For one as you mentioned fire damage is risky to use because whatever you set on fire is gonna propagate fire itself, and for another if a mob dies while on fire, every single non food drop will turn to ash, even if they can't normally burn, and every food drop will be cooked which can be a bit annoying as you might want to dry some meat mobs provide.

Not just that, but actually making any of these items can be expensive. Torches are the cheapest option by far, but also least versatile, fire staves require red gems and a pretihatitator, thought theyre the second most reliable option, scalemail requires a boss drop to make as well as a good chunk of wood and pig skin, but the boss drop can be farmed fairly well later on and fire darts although ranged get super expensive due to being one time use per craft. And that all is without mentioning that other more readily available options can help out in similar ways fire can if used correctly.

As much as I like using mechanics that are usually underutilized by most of the community, I struggle to use fire damage beyond using a torch or the occasional fire staff I get as bonus loot from things such as the labyrinth. It's a shame too, as I think with a few tweaks fire damage would have great potential as a risk reward mechanic.

Even still, I would still recommend at least trying to toy around with fire mechanics, even if just for a change of pace. It can make for some neat strategies, even if those only rarely come into use during regular gameplay.

[Primalflower]

57 minutes ago, Starlogy said:

If loot didn't burn, then Fire would be excellent.

Still think that should've been a Willow perk but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

i want to say a sentiment that essentially means "get good", but i dont mean it in the rude way that such a statement implies. 

The same way you start to get a feel for how much damage you're doing to various mobs in the game, its easy for you to get a feel for when you should stop using fire to be safe. Fire burning loot really isnt as big of a risk as it sounds once you've played with it enough.

[Astraia]

1 hour ago, BonesJrOfficial said:

who actually uses fire?

Fire allows mobs to become stunned, for example, to defeat a spider queen or an ewecus (i honestly don't know if this is patched but what gives) with ease, you freeze them or put them to sleep and set a piece of rope next to them and set it on fire, then the mob is officially stunned, and you can just go ham on it without going through the pain

sure, some of the loot may burn, but this method can get rid of something annoying fast

[Juny Pear]

5 minutes ago, Primalflower said:

i want to say a sentiment that essentially means "get good", but i dont mean it in the rude way that such a statement implies. 

The same way you start to get a feel for how much damage you're doing to various mobs in the game, its easy for you to get a feel for when you should stop using fire to be safe. Fire burning loot really isnt as big of a risk as it sounds once you've played with it enough.

That is, if somebody is willing to run that risk while learning to use fire. Especially considering you have no way of seeing mob health without mods.
Not to mention that in a lot of cases how much fire damage you actually deal can be unpredictable, since nearby mobs can also take damage from the same fire that another mob is being damaged by.

[Primalflower]

1 minute ago, Nettalie said:

That is, if somebody is willing to run that risk while learning to use fire. Especially considering you have no way of seeing mob health without mods.

I get the anxiety, and i understand not using fire for this reason. Honestly, in this situation, the best advice i can give is to just practice in a creative world, if thats something you're okay with.

[Juny Pear]

4 minutes ago, Primalflower said:

I get the anxiety, and i understand not using fire for this reason. Honestly, in this situation, the best advice i can give is to just practice in a creative world, if thats something you're okay with.

To be honest it would also help if we had some sort of easy way to create a controlled environment for this kind of thing in a regular world. Both for those who don't like making entire worlds just to test things as well as console players who will have way less options when it comes to things like creative worls.