Flamethrower

Flamethrowers are Special Weapons used by the Ranger class in Earth Defense Force 2025, Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair and Earth Defense Force 5.

Description
The initial Torch is a series-tradition joke weapon, if anything even less useful than the SDL1 with an effective range of 20 centimeters and a general feeling that it would do more damage if the Ranger threw it at the Ravagers. However, the series quickly becomes fairly useful, with the range buffs to the final two variants making them quite viable: they primarily suffer from having to compete with the very powerful Super Acid Gun on higher difficulties.

Flame weapons always have their shots travel to their maximum range, flowing around obstacles and piercing right through enemies. Any frame that a flame effect is in contact with an enemy it will deal damage: this means that it is possible for one flame to hit multiple enemies, or sometimes even hit the same enemy multiple times. As a result, a flame weapon's practical ability to deal damage can vastly exceed the number on the item card.

The Ranger's flamethrowers are a special type as far as the game engine is concerned, sometimes referred to online as "Type A" flames. The only other weapon that creates this type of flame is the Incinerator on the Depth Crawler. "Type A" flames have two unique properties: firstly, they are the only attack type in the game that will pass through a Shield Bearer's screen and still deal damage to the Shield Bearer itself: while a surprising number of attacks can damage enemies protected by the screen, no other weapon deals damage to the Shield Bearer. Secondly, they are the only attack that can pass through the top of a Transport Ship and still damage its core. All other flame weapons produce "Type B" flames which lack this effect.

2025/4.1 Variants
Flamethrowers do not give their range or exact damage stats on their item cards. The damage figures given were derived by Japanese players shooting at vehicles in Versus mode, and so may well reflect multi-hit effects: they should be regarded as a guideline only.

EDF 5 variants
Flamethrowers do not give their range stats on their item cards. Numbers reflect maximum stats. Since they do not appear to have received a damage nerf, the damage stats below are probably the true values for 4.1.