The Incinerator is a weapon introduced in Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour. The Incinerator shares the same number assignment as the Freezethrower, analogous to how the Shrinker shares a number assignment with the Expander.
Characteristics
The Incinerator resembles the Freezethrower, but it launches fiery projectiles instead of ice. Its projectiles are fired in a slow-moving arc, making the Incinerator difficult to operate at longer ranges. These fiery projectiles burn enemies and coalesce into pools of lava on the ground. There is no limit to the number of pools of lava that can exist simultaneously, but each pool evaporates after 10 seconds.
If an enemy makes contact with the Incinerator's projectiles or with the resulting pools of lava, then the enemy will light on fire and change to a red hue. While the enemy is in this burning state, it receives constant damage, and the enemy will wander aimlessly without stopping to attack the player until the burning state has expired after 5 seconds.
If the player makes contact with one of the Incinerator's pools of lava, then the player will light on fire and suffer damage at approximately the same rate and for approximately the same duration as enemies.
The Incinerator is extremely effective against organic enemies, killing the Pig Cop and Enforcer instantly, but its damage is diluted against the Firefly Trooper and mechanical enemies, notably the Recon Patrol Vehicle and Pig Cop Tank. It is capable of dealing damage to bosses (such as the Overlord) and mini-bosses (such as the Overlord Sentry), but due to a glitch, reducing these enemies to zero health with the Incinerator will render them invincible.
The Incinerator is the only weapon that does not work underwater.
Development history
The Incinerator was inspired by the Flamethrower that appeared in early prototypes but was scrapped before the 1996 release of Duke Nukem 3D. The Flamethrower was repurposed as the Freezethrower in the final game, which may explain why the Incinerator was modeled after the Freezethrower.
Trivia
- The pools of lava created by the Incinerator's projectiles will instantly destroy Pipe Bombs.