Backburner or flamethrower?

[Insurge]

So lately I have been playing pyro more often, I am having some trouble deciding between the backburner unlockable of pyro and the default flamethrower. Both seem tempting, hoping you can help me out!

P.s. I use backburner a little bit more because I find the criticals more useful than air, however for some reason I don't know if its my brain doing it or I just feel like im weaker from the front with backburner.

 

[Munch]

i have this same argument. i really like the regular flamethrower because i find the air compression thingy nifty, especially when you reflect back crit rockets. but the back burner is like, zomg cause of the crits. its a hard choice

 

[lulfas]

For defense, I think you have to use the plain-jane flame thrower. The ability to completely stall an Uber is just too powerful. Frankly, I think you need it for offense as well, but there has been once or twice I wished I had the backburner.

 

[Mjolnir]

I would go for the backburner if it still gave +50 hp. Now that it's gone, I'll go with the flamethrower.

 

[Rellik]

My vote is for: The BackBurner

because when someone sees fire, they run. and then you crit them. i crit way more with the BB than i ever did with the regular flamethrower, plus i suck at deflecting stuff.
HOWEVER if i'm in a situation that basically REQUIRES use of the fart-gun (airblast) then i will switch to the Flamethrower, but i have the BB on by default...

 

[EsQuiRe]

Ambushing a group of enemies from behind with the backburner is just too awesome so im definitely saying backburner for me.

 

[SScagnetti]

I say flamethrower. For me, the ability to use the compression air blast is much better than more crit hits chances.

 

[Show No Mercy]

I prefer the original flamethrower. It's much more fun to air blast people into corners and burn them down. It adds a certain annoyance to the pyro.. like those pesky scout bats.

 

[Asab]

Im a backburner guy myself........

 

[koolaid]

flamethrower all the way keep it original lol

 

[Growooken]

Backburner.... unless i'm playing a map with large drops, such as blackmesa or convoy.
It's too much fun to blast people off the edge!

 

[TenGHz]

BB for me... I love the crits!

 

[Major Payne]

I mostly use flamethrower. I really only play the 2Forts servers, so that compression blast really comes in handy with rocket and demo spam across the bridge.

 

[Foxhound]

Flamethrower. I've saved many a sentry gun from an untimely fate. Nothing beats being able to single handedly disrupt an uber using compression properly. I play pyro defensively though.

 

[Bugen]

Both. They are equally useful in different situations and maps.

 

[Vainiac]

flamethrower for most occassions because airblast is very useful. however, at the first point of badwater when the cart is in the tunnel the BB is perfect. same for the last cap of dustbowl. go through the sewers to flank BLU team as they build up ubers in the corridor before the last cap

 

[CrankCantankerous]

For defense, I think you have to use the plain-jane flame thrower. The ability to completely stall an Uber is just too powerful.

I've actually broken up Ubers on black mesa by forcing the medic out of range. I think that's a great ability to have, and that's why I generally stick with the flamethrower. Also doing reflections is fun

 

[HomicidalPenguin]

I'm an ace at deflecting and removing ubers from the equation as a pyro with the regular one. Love it!

 

[Acuturbo]

It depends on the map for me. Most of the time, I go with the backburner, and I wind up in situations in which I wish I had my compression blast. But if I would have went with the flamethrower, I would have wound up in situations in which I wished that I had my crit hits from behind. Also, I'm just horrible at deflecting rockets.

So I just go with the backburner, especially since I've gotten better at ambushing people, unless I'm on, say, Convoy, though I don't play Pyro much on Convoy the way it is. Also, if I see that my team is having problems with uebers from the enemy team and I'm playing something other than Medic, then I'll go Pyro and switch to my regular flamethrower.

My vote is for: The BackBurner

because when someone sees fire, they run. and then you crit them.

I love the runners. Because even if they manage to run out of range of my backburner- shotgun surprise!

 

[Fragbait]

For me it's situational. If the map has a lot of drop offs, or like on BlackMesa where you can blast someone upwards into the fans then it is the original. Otherwise if I can get a good ambush on someone then it is the Backburner.