Thermal Thruster
| Thermal Thruster | |
|---|---|
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| Kill Icons | |
 
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| Basic Information | |
| Used by: | Pyro |
| Slot: | Secondary |
| Equip region: | Back |
| Released: | October 20, 2017 Patch (Jungle Inferno Update) |
| Availability: | Drop, Craft or ConTracker |
| Tradable: | Yes |
| Giftable: | Yes |
| Craftable: | Yes |
| Nameable: | Yes |
| Craft No.?: | No |
| Medieval: | No |
| Reload type: | Recharge (15 seconds per charge) |
| Available Qualities | |
| Loadout Stats | |
 The Thermal Thruster |
|
| “ | Mrgh mhy! (Light me!)
Click to listen
— The Pyro, taunting
|
” |
The Thermal Thruster is a secondary weapon for the Pyro. It is a team-colored, metallic jetpack with two rocket thrusters, one on each side (with the right thruster bearing the Pyro's emblem), and an enclosed yellow light on the top. When switching to the weapon, the backpack's thrusters fold outwards, exposing two handles which the Pyro holds in each hand. Switching away causes the thrusters and handles to fold inwards into the backpack. Unlike other weapons, switching to or away from the Thermal Thruster locks the user in the animation and does not allow switching from or away until it is finished.
The Thermal Thruster functions as a mobility tool, which stores two jetpack charges. Each charge is regained after 15 seconds and charges can be used underwater. Additionally, the Thermal Thruster is locked at an additional 0.8 second deploy and holster duration, even with weapons that reduce draw/holster time such as the Degreaser. As such, the Thermal Thruster has a total deploy and holster time of 1.3 seconds, or -160%.
On use, the Pyro performs an initial liftoff, sending it a short distance upwards. Shortly after, the Pyro takes off with a quick blast that launches the player in the direction they are aiming; the beginning of the jump also extinguishes any nearby teammates and pushes nearby enemies away. Upon landing, the Pyro knocks nearby enemies back; should the Pyro fall from a high enough altitude and land on an enemy (when the player makes a cartoony "falling" noise), the resultant stomp deals 3x standard falling damage. The knockback dealt on enemies is determined by how fast the Pyro is falling when landing with the Thermal Thruster active, starting at around 220 Hammer units of force at a falling speed of 650 Hammer units, and up to 300 Hammer units of push force at a falling speed of 1000 Hammer units. If a jetpack charge is not used, the Pyro does not cause stomp damage even if landing on an opponent.
Despite not being listed in the description, the player receives an added 50% knockback from all damage sources while this item is equipped and also takes -75% less falling damage while using jetpack charges.
Using a second charge in midair is normally impossible, but the "Able to re-launch while already in-flight" upgrade in Mann vs. Machine allows the user to do so when purchased.
Taunting with the Thermal Thruster equipped results in the Gas Blast kill taunt.
The Thermal Thruster is automatically given to any player who completes the Pyroland Contract "The Thermal Thruster".
Contents
Damage and function times
| Damage and function times | ||
|---|---|---|
| Shot type | Impact | |
| Damage type | Falling (maximum of 3500 Hammer units/s) | |
| Damage | ||
| Base damage | 100% | 10 damage + 3x potential fall damage |
| Function times | ||
| Recharge time | 15 s x 2 | |
| Effect duration | ~1.4 s | |
| Values are approximate and determined by community testing. | ||
Demonstration
Crafting
Blueprint
| Class Token - Pyro | Slot Token - Secondary | Scrap Metal | Possible Results | |||||||||||||||||||
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Update history
- Added the Thermal Thruster to the game.
October 20, 2017 Patch #2
- Fixed not being able to use the Thermal Thruster after taunting with it.
- Fixed players being able to use the Thermal Thruster during the freeze period at the beginning of the round.
- Fixed the Thermal Thruster not doing 3x damage when landing on enemies.
- The Thermal Thruster no longer fully stuns mini-bosses in Mann vs. Machine mode.
- [Undocumented] Removed the "Deals 3x falling damage to the player you land on" attribute from the Thermal Thruster's description. The item still functions the same.
- Updated the Thermal Thruster stomp damage on other players to be 3x the base fall damage, not the reduced fall damage of the owner.
December 21, 2017 Patch #1 (Smissmas 2017)
- Fixed a case where it was possible to use the Thermal Thruster twice in one launch.
- Holster time reduced to 0.8 seconds (from 1.1).
- Fixed the Thermal Thruster launch effects only being visible to the wearer.
- Added a unique particle effect whenever a player performs a "Stomp" attack on another player with the Thermal Thruster.
- [Undocumented] Increased extra knockback penalty from 30% to 50%
- Added a stomp animation to Pyro that plays when coming down after blasting off from the Thermal Thruster.
- Added the Thermal Thruster to the list of obtainable items by drop.
- Fixed an animation bug related to the Thermal Thruster and changing class while holstering it.
- [Undocumented] The Thermal Thruster can now be crafted.
Unused content
- The Thermal Thruster has a third, unused texture that replaces the color with pink, and seems to have been drawn on in blue and yellow crayon, giving it a Pyroland aesthetic.
- The Thermal Thruster has unused animations in its model. Including a "taunt_rocketpack_intro" taunt that appears to have been the beginning of a moving taunt in which Pyro would hover above the ground.
Bugs
- Rarely, hitting the Resupply locker while the Thermal Thruster is recharging can cause the game to crash.
- Despite what the description suggests, the player can launch backwards by using a charge while moving backwards.
- Sometimes, the Thermal Thruster does not appear on other players who have it equipped.
- The Thermal Thruster is always deactivated in the Loadout menu, whether or not the animation is playing.
- When player models are enabled in the HUD, the Thermal Thruster appears as RED, regardless of the team.
- When the player dies with the Thermal Thruster equipped, the player still has it on their back and another one drops that can be picked up.
- The Thermal Thruster may disappear on disguised Spies.
- Despite the April 12, 2018 Patch fixing an issue with the Thermal Thruster animation, if the player switches weapons when falling from a high place, the player enters a reference pose until they reach the ground again.
- If the player dies while the Thermal Thruster is active, it still appears in its activated animation despite the player holding a different weapon.
- This can be fixed by switching to the Thermal Thruster again.
- If the player picks up a weapon after using a jetpack charge, some of the attributes are still retained, letting the player take less fall damage, and giving them the ability to stomp players by landing on them.[1]
- If the player activates the Thermal Thruster while airborne, then the player picks up a secondary weapon during the initial jump in the launch, they receive the parachute condition used for the B.A.S.E. Jumper, but cannot retract the parachute until the player touches the ground.
- If the player enters water when using a charge, the attributes stated above also stay until the player touches the ground.
- Damage taken from being stomped is reduced by 75% with this glitch active.
- If the player uses a charge while above water, the charge animation and the swimming animation play at the same time if the player keeps moving.
- This can be fixed by touching the ground or stopping movement.
- If a different weapon is selected in the secondary slot, upon the player launching themselves and making contact with the Resupply locker before landing, the cartoony "falling" noise keeps playing and the "stomp" attribute is not removed until the player dies or switches back to the Thermal Thruster.
- Upon taunting with the Thermal Thruster, the Pyro's default oxygen tank appears while the animation plays out, causing clipping with the weapon, and disappears once the animation ends.
- If the player gets stunned at the same the Thermal Thruster is activated, they will be unable to move for the duration of the stun.[2]
- When spectating after dying with the Thermal Thruster equipped, teammates spectated in third person will appear to have its shadow.[3]
- Occasionally, the Thermal Thruster may play the sound, but fail to launch. This will result in the smoke trail appearing behind the Pyro in first and third person, until the Thermal Thruster is used again.[4]
Notes
- This item cannot be worn with any backpack cosmetics, as they occupy the same equip region.
- The Pyro is able to voice their melee dare voice commands while using the Thermal Thruster, despite it being classified as a secondary utility weapon.
- This item does not have an inspect animation.
Trivia
- The Thermal Thruster was featured before Day 3 of the Jungle Inferno event (when it was officially announced). It can be seen at the end of the Jungle Inferno teaser and the bottom of the Day 1 page for the update.
Gallery
RED first-person view.
BLU first-person view.
The "STOMP" icon.
The stun icon (used in Mann vs. Machine)
Unused Pyroland texture.
The Thermal Thruster with the unused Pyroland texture applied to it.
The Pyro with the Thermal Thruster in the main menu during the Jungle Inferno update.
The Pyro with the Thermal Thruster (in the background) in the main menu during the Jungle Inferno update.
The Pyro with the Thermal Thruster (in the background) in the main menu during the Smissmas 2017 update.
See also
References
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