Boiler

XENOMORPH - TIER 3

Boiler

Evolves From: Spitter Evolves To: N/A Role: Bring the Hive's ranged combat castes to their maximum potential with long range acid glob shots, allowing you to bombard and heavily damage areas after a bit of setup. Use your enhanced vision to locate targets without being seen and shot. Use your acid spray for close range defense. Use your incredibly strong acid to make short work of everything in your way. Guides: The Guardian Caste Guide

General Information

The Boiler is the evolved form of the Spitter and perhaps the ultimate ranged warrior of the Hive. It is a slow and weak large Xenomorph with a somewhat weak attack, trading the Spitter's old role on the battlefield with a special, almost Support-like role. It is otherwise relatively average, with a decently large plasma pool that should not pose any issues, as the Boiler will be always set up in weeded backlines. It does however get the strongest Corrosive Acid in the game, making short work of anything the Boiler can physically get up close to.

With an unique ability to Bombard the battlefield with massive Boiler globs, the Boiler is akin to artillery, capable of standing back and whittling down anything it is aiming at. The Boiler globs come in two forms, acid globs that will emit corrosive gas capable of rapidly killing anything inside it, and neurotoxin globs that will blind, deafen, stun and choke anyone without a gas mask inside, putting them out of the fight for a bit. The only limit to this is that it needs to dig into the ground and immobilize itself to fire, making it vulnerable to counter-attacks.

The Boiler is also blessed with Enhanced Vision, allowing it to zoom outwards in the direction it is facing once dug in. It is obviously critical for its role as a Support caste, and allows it to keep a safe distance from whatever it is bombarding. If it is ever caught at close range, it still has one last desperation attack in the form of an Acid Spray, that will cover mobs in its path in bubbling acid, flooring them and causing them serious damage.

Worth noting is that the Boiler's acid reserves causes him to be uniquely bioluminescent, which might compromise its own stealth in most situations. This acid will also be released when killed, although it is probably not a desirable use of a Boiler and T3 slot.

Playing as a Boiler

With all of its abilities, it is patently obvious that the Boiler is meant to stand back and bombard its targets, often accompanying the majority of the Hive in their pushes or defensive holds. It is fairly common for them to set up as far away from their target as possible, usually ten tiles or more. Beware that you will need an unobstructed line of fire between you and your target. Resin structures, non-Xenomorph targets and any dense object in the way will intercept your globs, making them worthless.

Acid globs are probably the most versatile Boiler glob available. Anything from walls, to barricades, to Marine equipment and to Marines themselves will take massive damage from an impact, and then further corrosive damage from the gas it spawns on landing. Usually, these are preferred when attacking fortifications, to slowly melt through the defenses while also damaging people holding up at the cades. While a single glob might not do extreme damage to metal barricades, repeated glob strikes will quickly damage defenders and fortifications alike. Coupled with other castes like Crushers assaulting them using the smoke as cover, it will slowly but surely do short work of anything in the Hive's way.

Neurotoxin globs on the other hand are specifically tuned as crowd control and disabling Boiler globs. Any lifeform hit with it will be instantly blinded, deafened and will have their vision and movement speed degraded for a fair period of time after impact. All of this combined will completely disable them from fighting on the spot and will make them an easy capture. If a large group is affected by it, it will allow fighting classes to push in and do tremendous damage on helpless, blinded and deafened tallhosts. Or of course, capture them and infect them with minimal risk, which is often the goal of this non-lethal shot.

Getting cornered at close range is a nightmare scenario for Boilers, but you still have a few desperation tactics to work towards an escape. First of all, always be aware of approaching Marines, and always get out of bombardment mode if you are getting shot or damaged. If that is not enough and you find yourself in close proximity to raging tallhosts, use your Acid Spray tactically to cover your retreat. It ought to dissuade them and allow you to run. Don't attempt to kill them yourself, your slash is weak and your health pool is fairly minuscule for a Tier 3 Xenomorph. If you do die, you'll explode in an acid cloud as a last resort.

Abilities

Abilities:	Description:
Rest	Used to rest and get up. Xenos heal faster when resting on weeds.
Regurgitate	To devour, grab a host with Ctrl + Click or Grab intent (3 in hotkey mode) then click yourself, standstill. To stop the host from getting up and running away, you can switch to an empty hand (X in hotkey mode) and keep tackling them using Disarm intent (2 in hotkey mode) when you are devouring them. Xenos with devoured humans inside them can not vent crawl but Xenos with devoured monkeys can. Hosts with boot knives can injure the Xenomorph they are inside if they are conscious. (Edit this template)
Corrosive Acid	Vomit a glob of acid on item to dissolve it. Multiple items can be clicked at once as long as you are standing still. The cost of plasma is increased compared to other castes due to how the boiler has stronger corrosive acid. Costs 200 plasma.
Artillerist	PASSIVE: Whenever you increase your sight range, you have a 'buffer' of 7 tiles to move before the your view range increase is cancelled.
Toggle Long Range Sight	Use "Stretch to fit" to minimize the hassle of changing icon size when zooming in/out. Toggles long range sight in the direction you're facing. Costs 20 plasma.
Bombard	You dig in and prepare to fire, to fire a massive unblock-able acid gas bomb on your target. Costs 75 Plasma, cooldown: 26 seconds.
Acid Lance	Start charging an acid lance that can be fired at any time on a target. Once fired, a stream of acid will launch at a point damaging anyone in it. Costs 50 Plasma, cooldown: 21 seconds.
Dump Acid	Gain a speed boost and dump acidic clouds behind you. This will disable your offensive capabilities for a short time to allow you to escape. Costs 10 Plasma, cooldown: 40 seconds.

Attainable Strains

Strains:
Trapper

Boiler Tactics

• Aiming a Boiler glob is an art in and out of itself. Boiler globs are not totally accurate and will often deviate significantly from your aim point, so you will need to account for this to avoid missing your targets. As such, while small corridors and cramped rooms make for an appealing target, they might block a lot of shots. One-tile wide entrances like doors or wall holes might likewise cause a large amount of shots to miss, especially at a bad angle. Perpendicular is always the best angle to shoot for regarding to holes.

• Never forget your strong acid. If you ever happen upon unprotected Marine positions, notably during a Marine retreat, your acid will melt straight through everything you can get your mouth on. Sometimes, you might be asked to open up flanks through reinforced walls too.

• Always stick with your Hive, and make sure to be the first to fallback if your sisters are getting pushed back. You are not suited for frontline combat at all and any competent tallhost will make short work of you if they manage to get into range of you. Your Acid Spray is a desperation weapon, not an alternate fighting strategy.

• Using a strong Tier 3 caste as a shield, preferably a Crusher in most cases or a Ravager or Queen if incendiary munitions are being used, will allow you to fire despite ongoing suppression. As long range weaponry, including scoped rifles, marksman rifles and sniper rifles, are your natural counter, you will find a shield useful in large fights, as you are a priority target for people using these weapons. Defenders make excellent shields as well, and it is generally easier to get ahold of one to guard you than a T3.

• Expect to relocate often as the fight moves forwards and backwards. Your sweet spot will always be around 8 to 14 tiles, which is your aiming range when using Enhanced Vision. Of course, if you get shot at, you need to relocate much faster, especially if you are set on fire or don't have a shield.

• As you are stationary, you are especially vulnerable to specific weapons with a long windup, notably orbital bombardments and CAS strikes. If you hear or suspect any of those, especially if you are surrounded by sisters, immediately relocate. You cannot survive such a strike if it lands straight on you.

• Boiler globs usually make good points for the Xenomorphs to push, especially if aimed at non-fortified targets. Communicating your shots might help, especially if you coordinate with another strong pushing caste like a Crusher, or even a Queen.

• Hitting a target directly with the glob will cause a powerful additional effect, acid globs will do a large amount of direct burn damage while neuro globs will stun them for a long period of time.

Boiler Maturity

Boiler Maturity are mostly focused on improving their unique abilities, with general combat statistics mostly unimportant to their role getting increases, with the only notable ones being a health increase to sustain more punishment from their counters and plasma reserves for unweeded flanks. The more interesting part however is that, as a Boiler matures, both his Bombard and Acid Spray will recharge faster, the Acid Spray will do more damage, and last but not least, its Bombard will become more powerful, cover a wider area, with neurotoxin effects lasting longer and acid doing more damage.

Boilers can not Evolve any further, as they are a Tier 3 Caste.

Abilities:	Description:
Sapper	PASSIVE: Your increased view range now covers less distance, but does not cancel upon movement. Whenever you are damaged, you gain a brief movement speed increase. This recharges after 15 seconds of no damage.
Deploy Trap	Deploys a line of temporary resin traps that, when an enemy walks over, stuns them momentarily. Costs 60 Plasma.
Acid Mine	Designate a tile in which a 3x3 acid mine will erupt. If anyone is in the 3x3 ranged acid mine, they'll be hit with acid. Costs 40 Plasma.
Acid Shotgun	Launch a scatter shot of small acid blobs that fire damage enemies akin to spitter/praetorian spit. Costs 60 Plasma.