Willow's Bane Model 845
| “ | Named for the unfortunate trees harmed in the development of this highly destructive weapon, the Willow’s Bane utilizes flammable chemicals and fires them into a concentrated stream through an open flame. This liquid flame ignites Colonial emplacements and garrisons to route infantry while reducing their defenses to a pile of ash. | „ |
| — In-game description |
The Willow's Bane Model 845 is a Warden handheld Flamethrower. It uses Flamethrower Ammo.
Description
The Willow's Bane Model 845 is a Warden automatic primary weapon that fires incendiary liquid from the Flamethrower Ammo backpack equipped on the player's back. It can use both “Molten Wind” v.II Ammo (75 rounds) and Willow's Bane Ammo (55 rounds). It has a high fire rate (240 rounds/min), 16m range, and is always perfectly accurate and stable. The incendiary "bullet" it fires explodes on contact or at max range causing 15 Incendiary damage at the center and decreasing amounts in a 2m radius. Despite the visual effects it is a hitscan weapon, its flames travel instantly to the target. The width of the flame stream is also an illusion.
Holding the weapon in hands slows the player down. It is always held and fired at hip height, so it cannot be aimed when in front of a shoulder height obstacle (Trench ledge, Landing APC sides). The shooter can never burn themselves, however they are affected by the heat from any nearby structures that they've set on fire.
Due to its incendiary damage and AoE, it's best used against Structures and swarms of infantry. It can damage unarmored vehicles but not armored ones.
It does not directly damage structures but if enough flame is applied a fire will start inside which slowly damages the structure.
The Soldier Uniform reduces the weight of this weapon by 25%.
It does not stack in the player's inventory (1 per slot).
Production
Must be fully researched in the Weapons and Structures 
Tech Tree in order to be produced.
Mass Production Factory orders must have at least 3 crates.
Storage
It does not stack in structure or vehicle inventories (1 per slot).It can only be stored in the stockpile of Bases (32k max).
Crates of Willow's Bane Model 845 can be directly submitted to any item stockpile that accepts that item to transfer their content.The crates can also be stored in the crate stockpiles of Storage Depots (1000 public, 100 per Reserve Stockpile), Seaports (1000 public, 100 per Reserve Stockpile), Shipping Containers (60), or Storage Ships (1000).
It can be transported by almost any vehicle with inventory slots. However it is much more efficient to transport it in bulk amounts as crates, either delivering them to a Base's stockpile with a Truck or to a crate stockpile with shipping vehicles carrying Shipping Containers.
Tactics
Against Infantry:
The handheld flamethrower's short range and heavy weight (when including its ammo tank) makes it risky and expensive to use against infantry. Fragmentation Grenades are a better alternative to dislodge enemy soldiers behind cover. Still, they can be relatively effective to push through Trench networks, but the inability for a soldier hugging a Trench ledge to shoot their flamethrower outside the Trench is limiting.
Against Structures:
The ability of handheld flamethrowers to set on fire and burn down structures is very binary. If the fire doesn't reach "Medium" intensity the fire will extinguish itself after a few minutes resulting in only minor damage to the structure, much less than if heavy explosives had been used instead. For structures with Tier 1 resistance, a minimum of 3 Willow's Bane Ammo (165 rounds total) fired quickly and continuously is required to reliaby create a Medium intensity fire. 5 are needed for Tier 2 structures, and 7 for Tier 3 Garrisoned Houses. Trying to get a medium fire with handheld flamethrowers on Trenches and concrete structures is out of reach and extremely inefficient. Attempting to burn structures during Rain Storms and Snow Storms is also not recommended, and virtually impossible with intense storms.
Being aware of the Wind direction is crucial so as to target the right enemy structure that will allow its fire to spread to other structures downwind.
Handheld flamethrowers and their ammo are heavy and bulky to transport, making them logistically less effective than simply using heavy explosives in many cases. However they can shine in hit-and-run scenarios using offroad vehicles (LUV, Motorcycle, etc...) transporting lots of Flamethrower Ammo against structures or group of structures with large health pools, causing more destruction than a vehicle loaded with heavy explosives could've achieved. For example, a single soldier with a Flamethrower and Flamethrower Ammo equipped and driving a vehicle with two additional tanks can set on fire an inactive Tier 1 Town Base in less than a minute and burn it down when a conventional attack would require 40+ Mammon grenade or 20 RPGs. The targets must be sufficiently far from active fighting areas to delay the defender response so the attackers are not neutralized while applying flames, to allow the fire to grow and burn the structures, and to prevent firefighting efforts. Examples of viable targets are:
- A dense group of Tier 1 or Tier 2 Bunker Networks
- Ideally when the garrison is inactive
- If the garrison is active but the bunker garrisons don't have powered spotlights, attack at midnight (when AI vision is shortest), the bunker garrisons inside Bunker Networks won't retaliate to the flames fired.
- A player can suppress an anti-infantry garrison with a Machine Gun long enough for another player carrying multiple Flamethrower Ammo tanks to get close and set the whole Bunker Network on fire.
- A dense group of facilities
- Don't target facilities with "Tier3Structure" resistance such as Dry Docks or Large Assembly Stations as they'll be too hard to set on fire
- Town buildings (Town Base, Garrisoned Houses, Safe Houses)
- Ideally when the garrison is inactive
- If the garrison is active, attack at midnight from an angle not covered by the AI
- The element of surprise and speed of the attack is crucial to have enough time to apply enough flames before the enemy reacts
If one cannot safely get close enough from a target with active garrison, it is possible to set on fire another enemy structure that doesn't target infantry (Watch Tower, Anti-Tank Pillbox) and is close enough to spread its fire to the intended target if the wind allows. However remember that neutral structures do not spread fire.
Having multiple players using flamethrowers on the same target at once will set it on fire quicker.
Trivia
- Despite having a similar function to the “Molten Wind” v.II Flame Torch, it does have slightly different properties. The Willow's Bane possess 2m more range and is 25% lighter this makes it the ideal choice for flamethrower PvP. The additional 25 ammo provided by the Molten Wind is only useful in PvE scenarios.
- The small flame at the tip of the flamethrower is only lit when the soldier has a Flamethrower Ammo equipped on their back.
Gallery
A Warden soldier holding a Willow's Bane Model 845
The Willow's Bane being fired
Animation of the Willow's Bane firing
• Coal 
• Components 
• Copper 
• Damaged Components 
• Iron 
• Rare Metal 
• Salvage 
• Sulfur 
• Wreckage 
• Assembly Materials II 
• Assembly Materials III 
• Assembly Materials IV 
• Assembly Materials V 
• Barbed Wire 
• Concrete Materials 
• Metal Beam 
• Pipe 
• Processed Construction Materials 
• Rare Alloys 
• Sandbag 
• Steel Construction Materials 
• Thermal Shielding 
• Unstable Substances 
