The Backburner is an unlockable primary weapon for the Pyro. It is the default Flamethrower with a team-colored metal addition to the nozzle shaped like a dragon's head.
The Backburner guarantees critical hits whenever it is used on an opponent from behind, and deals 10% more damage than the normal Flamethrower.
The area behind an enemy that will register critical hits for the weapon is approximately a 90 degree angle centered behind where the opponent is facing. This is significantly less than the Spy's backstab range, which appears to be any angle in the 180 degrees behind where a player is looking. The Backburner, like the Flamethrower and Degreaser, has the compression blast ability but uses 50 ammo per blast rather than 20 for the other Pyro primary weapons.
The Backburner is automatically given to any player who obtains 16 Pyro achievements.
The kill icon for the Backburner was contributed by NeoDement.
Damage and function times
| Damage and function times
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| Shot type
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Particle
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| Damage
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| Flame damage (close)
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100%
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6.82 / particle
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| Flame damage (far)
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60%
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4.09 / particle
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| Critical
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12-21 / particle
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| Mini-crit
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6-9 / particle
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| Afterburn
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3 / tick
60 total
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| Afterburn (mini-crit)
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4 / tick
80 total
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| Function times
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| Attack interval
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0.04 s
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| Ammo consumption interval
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0.08 s
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| Afterburn duration
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10 s
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| Values are approximate and determined by community testing.
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Note: Flame damage is proportional to particle lifetime instead of distance from target. Unlike most weapons, critical hits are also affected by the scaling. Additionally, there is a very slight damage variance (±0.08 / particle) due to differences in particle angles.
Demonstration
Crafting
Blueprint
As a Crafting Ingredient
Related Achievements
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Flamethrower
Set five enemies on fire in 30 seconds.
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Backdraft Dodger
Kill a Pyro who has airblasted one of your rockets in the last 10 seconds.
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Semper Fry
Kill 20 enemies while you are on fire.
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Combined Fire
Use your shotgun to finish off 20 players you've ignited.
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Hot on Your Heels
Kill 50 enemies with your flamethrower, from behind.
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Pyromancer
Do 1 million points of total fire damage.
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Second Degree Burn
Kill a burning enemy who was ignited by another Pyro.
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Weenie Roast
Have 2 enemy Scouts on fire at the same time.
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Infernal Medicine
Extinguish 100 burning teammates.
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Friendship is Golden
Extinguish a burning teammate with your Jarate.
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Update history
June 19, 2008 Patch (The Pyro Update)
- The Backburner was added to the game.
July 1, 2008 Patch
- Fixed Backburner's flame critical hits not being recalculated after collision. This meant that it would check if the target was looking away once and after that the flame could score a critical hit again even if the orientation changed.
July 29, 2008 Patch
- Removed health bonus from the Backburner (previously gave 50 extra max health).
August 19, 2008 Patch (A Heavy Update)
- Added new firing sounds to the Backburner.
April 29, 2010 Patch (119th Update)
- Added a 20% damage bonus to the Backburner.
May 19, 2010 Patch
- Reduced Backburner damage bonus from 20% to 15%.
September 30, 2010 Patch (The Mann-Conomy Update)
January 7, 2011 Patch
- Backburner was assigned a unique kill icon.
- [Undocumented] Fixed players claiming health by switching to the Powerjack as the enemy dies from burn damage from the Flamethrower.
February 3, 2011 Patch
- Updated model (the dragon attachment) with optimizations and new LODs.
February 7, 2011 Patch
- Fixed burning deaths to always use the death notice icon for the weapon that started the burn.
April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)
- Removed the restriction on airblast.
- Ammo cost increased 150%.
- Damage bonus reduced to 10%
Bugs
- In first-person view, the flame at the front of the Backburner clips through the metal cover.
- Due to being a near identical model of the Flamethrower, a similar bug persists; should the Pyro move his hand due to a voice command, the hose connected to the propane tank will appear attached to his wrist.
- Upon dying whilst using this weapon, the Pyro will drop the default Flamethrower.
- Following the Hatless Update, a glitch sometimes happens where the Backburner takes on the appearance of the standard Flamethrower in both first and third-person perspective. The effects from it stay the same as the Backburner, however.
Gallery
See also
 Pyro |
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| | Weapons |
Primary | | | Secondary | | | Melee |
Fire Axe ( Frying Pan, Saxxy, Conscientious Objector, Freedom Staff, Bat Outta Hell, Memory Maker, Ham Shank, Golden Frying Pan, Necro Smasher, Crossing Guard, Prinny Machete) · Axtinguisher ( Postal Pummeler) · Homewrecker ( Maul) · Powerjack · Back Scratcher · Sharpened Volcano Fragment · Third Degree · Lollichop · Neon Annihilator · Hot Hand | | | | | | |
| | | Abilities | | | | Cosmetics | | | | Item sets | | | | Special taunts | | | | Achievements | | | | Character | | | | Strategy | | | | Other | |
|
General
Soldier
Heavy
Engineer
Medic
Sniper
Spy
