Torcher

"'Now that Ice Crusher's ice has been melted, everyone can have warmth for the winter.... Attacks with a burning torch that gets put out after a number of hits, takes time to light it back up again. Gains a Flare Gun at level 4 that allows ranged towers to attack any location while burning enemies hit, and any enemies set on fire become weaker and/or slower at later levels.'" - Inventory Description

Overview
The Torcher is an Event Rarity melee/support hybrid tower that works differently compared to most towers. Torcher has a placement cost of $275, being the cheapest tower to place in the entire game. It has a limit of 2 per player, does 2 damage per hit, has 4 range, and has an attack rate of 1 swing every 0.9 seconds. This alone may make Torcher seem weak, but Torcher has many stats exclusive to him only that make him a really good tower:


 * Burn Length - Determines how long an enemy can be set on fire for. This timer resets every time the enemy is hit (example: bandit is hit once, and then hit again when timer is 5/7 seconds left, it would reset back to 7/7 seconds left).


 * Flame Damage - Determines how much damage is done per tick while an enemy is set on fire.


 * Flame Duration - Determines how many hits Torcher can deal before his torch flame burns out. Treat this as an ammo system if you want.


 * Lighting Time - Determines how long it takes for Torcher to light his torch back up after the flame duration runs out.


 * Tick - Determines how fast flames damage enemies that are on fire.

Upgrade 1: Winter Fashion (2 Melee | 1 Flame DPS)
Stat Changes:


 * Lighting time 5 > 4.5
 * Flame duration 7 > 12
 * $400 Upgrade Cost
 * $400 Upgrade Cost

Cosmetic Changes:


 * Wears a red beanie and scarf.

Upgrade 2: Heated Vision (2 Melee | 2 Flame DPS)
Stat Changes:


 * 5 > 7 Second Burn Length
 * 1 > 2 Flame Damage
 * 12 > 15 Flame Duration
 * 4.5 > 4 Lighting Time
 * $730 Upgrade Cost
 * 4.5 > 4 Lighting Time
 * $730 Upgrade Cost

Cosmetic Changes:


 * Brown fabric gloves
 * Red coat
 * Now wearing flame goggles.



Upgrade 3: Stronger Flame (8.3 Melee | 5.7 Flame DPS)
Stat Changes:


 * 4 > 3 Lighting Time
 * 15 > 22 Flame Duration
 * 2 > 4 Flame Damage
 * 2 > 5 Melee Damage
 * 1 > 0.7 Tick
 * 0.9 > 0.6 Swing Rate
 * 7 > 9 Second Burn Length
 * PASSIVE EFFECT: Enemies on fire are slowed down by 20% of their walk speed for the duration of the flame. Has no effect on major bosses (Infected Knight, Colossal, Etc.).
 * $1,400 Upgrade Cost
 * PASSIVE EFFECT: Enemies on fire are slowed down by 20% of their walk speed for the duration of the flame. Has no effect on major bosses (Infected Knight, Colossal, Etc.).
 * $1,400 Upgrade Cost

Cosmetic Changes:


 * Now wears black boots
 * Clothing is now all a darker shade of red
 * Torso is now a darker color too
 * Torch flame is bigger and more intense



Upgrade 4: Lighting The Way (10.6 Melee | 10 Flame DPS)
Stat Changes:


 * Ability: Flare Gun
 * Torcher fires his flare gun on the selected area (can be anywhere on map) to create a signal flare. All ranged towers will be able to target enemies within the flare's range (10), regardless of if the enemy was already in range. Enemies caught in the very small explosion radius of the flare will have Torcher's flame effect applied to them instantly, but the blast itself does no damage. Flares have a 15 second lifetime, and the ability has a cooldown of 1 minute.


 * 4 > 5 Flame Damage
 * 0.7 > 0.5 Tick
 * 22 > 25 Flame Duration
 * 5 > 10 Melee Damage
 * $3,650 Upgrade Cost

Cosmetic Changes:


 * Legs are now a dark brown
 * Right leg has a pocket holding the flare gun



Upgrade 5: Flames Of Death (25 Melee | 33 Flame DPS)
Stat Changes:


 * 3 > 1.5 Lighting Time
 * 25 > 50 Flame Duration
 * 5 > 10 Flame Damage
 * 10 > 15 Melee Damage
 * 0.5 > 0.3 Tick
 * 9 > 15 Second Burn Length
 * Flame slowing effect 20% > 30%
 * PASSIVE EFFECT 2: The 10th swing always applies a PERMANENT flame effect to the target as well as a 1.2x damage buff against the target.
 * DOES work on major bosses, but the slowing effect is half as effective against them.
 * The Flare gun ability now instantly applies these exact same effects to any enemies caught within the small blast.
 * $10,900 Upgrade Cost
 * DOES work on major bosses, but the slowing effect is half as effective against them.
 * The Flare gun ability now instantly applies these exact same effects to any enemies caught within the small blast.
 * $10,900 Upgrade Cost

Cosmetic Changes:


 * Flame becomes purple
 * Boots become darker and shiny
 * Pants, undershirt, hat, and scarf become dark blue
 * Coat becomes a light shade of black
 * Wears a black bandana

Tips

 * Torcher excels in getting rid of enemy leaks, especially in early game.
 * This does not mean you should rely on Torcher for early defense. The flame duration stat can easily hinder Torcher at low levels due to how short it is.
 * The Music Artist DOES buff Torcher 's flame damage, but not how fast the tick speed is.
 * Additionally, the damage buff from Music Artist combined with the weakening effect from level 5 flames can heavily increase damage output.