The XOP Flamethrower, or Flamer, is a weapon that makes its first appearance in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter. It reappears in the Xbox, HD and VR ports, Serious Sam 2, and Serious Sam's Bogus Detour. In Serious Sam 2, the weapon can be only be obtained through cheats, modding, or placing the weapon in custom levels.
The XOP Flamethrower is an experimental weapon that uses highly volatile napalm fuel to deliver a jet stream of flesh-penetrating flame.[1] It is very effective for use on large masses of weak enemies, since the stream will engulf even partially hidden enemies.[1] The fact that enemies will burn for a few moments after they've been hit makes this weapon even more effective. In addition, any enemy that touches it will be set on fire, which will do extra damage to them. The flame from the flamethrower can pierce multiple enemies. However, the flame from the flamethrower has limited range, making it impractical for medium or far range combat.
Appearances[]
The flamethrower is generally a common weapon, and often appears early in the game levels. Ammo for it is also common.
The flamethrower does not appear as a regular weapon, but it can be made to appear in custom levels or be added to the player's weapon inventory via cheats.
The flamethrower is acquired in "Trouble in Troy". This is the weapon's first and only appearance in the game.
Tactics[]
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter[]
The flamethrower is extremely useful against Kleer Skeletons, as it quickly does damage to them; the burning effect it has can kill or severely damage a Kleer if it managed to survive the fire from the weapon, and more importantly, it can hit multiple Kleers at once. These attributes let the player quickly decimate a small to medium-sized group of Kleers, and cause considerable damage to larger hordes of them. The flamethrower should be the player's main anti-Kleer weapon once obtained. Cucurbitos, Zorg Commanders, and Zorg Mercenaries are also great targets for the flamethrower.
Notably, the Zorgs can be stunlocked with the flamer with just one flame, rendering them harmless.
With Serious Damage active, the flamethrower becomes even more effective against said enemies, and can decimate entire groups of weak enemies and Kleers.
The flamethrower is also handy against Marsh Hoppers, as it can kill any Hoppers that try to jump in front of the player without them harming the player with their suicidal attack. This makes it quite handy in areas such as the second kill-o-matic room in the later part of The Citadel, where Kleers and Hoppers will spawn together.
Groups of other weak enemies, such as Beheaded Rocketeers and Gnaars, can be completely destroyed by this weapon. This makes it useful when a large amount of weak enemies appear in close quarters, such as in the "The Pit" or "Land of the Damned". It also makes fights against huge masses of Beheaded Kamikazes notably easier in the same way, allowing ammo conservation for other long ranged rapid-firing weapons.
Another enemy the flamethrower works great against is Scythian Witch-Harpies. It can take down multiple Harpies effectively, and the burning damage can often cause Harpies to fall to the ground, which makes finishing them off even easier.
It is one of the few weapons in Serious Sam HD that can destroy a Fiendian Reptiloid Demon's fireballs, so it should be used as soon as the player sees fireballs coming towards them.
Unless Serious Damage is active, the flamethrower is not effective against strong enemies, such as the Common Aludran Reptiloid or Major Bio-mechanoid. It is not damaging enough to quickly harm them and the weapon's short range puts the player too close to them, giving the player less room to dodge than they would with other weapons.
Lava Golems are completely immune to this weapon, and so the flamethrower should not be used on them.
The flamethrower is useful for damaging Storm Golems, as they cannot be damaged with bullet weapons.
The flamethrower can also make fights against huge masses of Clowns or Kamikazes, as the player will not need to rely too much on long-range rapid-fire weapons.
The flamethrower is ineffective against strong enemies like Albino Cyclopes, Spider Mechanoids, and T-Mechs. Their high health and the weapons inferior range puts the player at risk of being damaged by their attacks.
Serious Sam's Bogus Detour[]
The flame from the flamethrower can pierce through multiple enemies like Kamikazes and Kleers, making it an excellent weapon for clearing out small to medium groups.
Using the flamethrower against tough enemies such as Orc Captains or Scrapjacks is not very effective, though it can be useful for draining their health quickly.
The player should be careful not to use this weapon against Obsidian Elite Kamikazes, as they will run extremely fast towards the player when they are set on fire. Thus, this should only be done as a last-resort.
Behind the scenes[]
The flamethrower was originally going to be in Serious Sam: The First Encounter, but was removed before the game was released. An icon for its ammo can still be found in the game's files, and coding for it and its ammo can be found in The First Encounter's SDK.
Early screenshots for The Second Encounter reveal that the flamethrower used the unused First Encounter icon for it during development, but it was replaced in the final game. This unused icon was later repurposed for Serious Sam Classics: Revolution, where it can be seen if the player changes their HUD style to the one of The First Encounter.
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter[]
Burn Baby, Burn
Burn 500 enemies to death.
Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter[]
Burn Baby, Burn
Burn 100 enemies to death.
Nice Try
Use the Flamethrower on a Lava Golem.
Serious Sam Fusion[]
Burn Baby, Burn
Burn 500 enemies to death.
Nice Try
Use the Flamethrower on a Lava Golem.
Trivia[]
If a Gnaar is killed with the flamethrower in Serious Sam HD, its corpse may occasionally stay standing up and remain in its idle pose despite having been killed.[2] The corpse cannot be gibbed with any weapons or explosives and will not disappear unless the player loads their last save point or completes the level. This has been fixed in the Serious Sam Fusion version.
Sam's hands are not shown in the flamethrower's view model in the classic release of The Second Encounter and Serious Sam: Xbox. This is fixed in Serious Sam HD and Serious Sam Classics: Revolution.
The flamethrower's model in the final release of The Second Encounter, as well as Serious Sam HD, features an error where the pipes do not correctly connect to the holes on the napalm canister. This is corrected in Serious Sam: Xbox.
Gallery[]
Serious Sam: The First Encounter[]
Pre-release[]
Alpha worldmodel.
Alpha viewmodel.
Unused flamethrower HUD icon found in The First Encounter's files.
Burning Gnaar glitch on YouTube
