Does an enemy have to be 100% heat for Volatile Bullets?

[Lore?]

Just got the Volatile Bullets OC for Gunner. Trying to run it w/ Napalm Rounds on Hurricane but it takes several rockets to set anything on fire. I'm wondering if I can just pop one or two rockets into a Praetorian and then start shooting it with the revolver for 3x damage or if I have to set it completely on fire first?

[Sokaku]

On fire first... Napalm Grenade is good for that OC. For the rockets, yeah it's balanced more towards bigger targets on higher hazard, 4-dwarf games where big enemies are more meaty. Otherwise that OC is more geared towards synergy with a flamer driller or maybe scout with fire bolts. IMHO I don't mess around with volatile bullets much simply because blasting away to set bugs on fire you may as well just finish them off or they're largely left dead by the time the burning stops.

[Monolyth]

The enemy must be on fire first for Volatile Bullets to work. Although the Burning Hell OC for the minigun I find is a much more reliable way to set things on fire, provided enemies are close to you. There aren't too many tanky enemies that sit far away enough from you for napalm rockets for the hurricane or red hot bullets for the minigun to be worth using in conjunction with that particular revolver OC.

[Ultsi]

Originally posted by TigerKirby215:

Just got the Volatile Bullets OC for Gunner. Trying to run it w/ Napalm Rounds on Hurricane but it takes several rockets to set anything on fire. I'm wondering if I can just pop one or two rockets into a Praetorian and then start shooting it with the revolver for 3x damage or if I have to set it completely on fire first?

"Fuel on the fire! These rounds are extremely effective against burning targets but at the cost of direct damage dealt to unaffected creatures."

Note the word "burning".

"completely on fire first?"
-> There is no "partially in fire/partially frozen". Its binary: either the unit is burning/frozen, or it is not. The confusion might derive from the environmental effect of blizzard. The blizzard slows down, not the freeze-gauge, which is being filled up.

[Sokaku]

I have run a few tests with gunner primary options /w volatile bullets and the main candidates are the minigun /w Hot Bullets and/or Burning Hell. This is pretty viable for lighting up targets, and Hot Bullets pairs well with blow-through. Burning hell is close range though and in terms of making good use of Volatile Bullets you're really only going to be using it on big targets. Still Hot Bullets gives you a pretty good ignite rate at medium range as you're going to want to be close enough to be able to take advantage of weakpoints with the bulldog.

For the rocket launcher I was curious if the damage to heat applied to area damage or only direct damage. It applies to both so I found this was very useful on builds set up for area damage, but it also apples to Minelayer and Plasma Missiles which make for some truly impressive options. For AOE builds this works pretty well with the Rocket Barrage. It takes a few missiles to ignite a target, but for smaller targets the DoT for the fire ticks is typically enough to clear off anything the rockets don't kill, though a lot of burning enemies leads to more burning enemies so you could find spraying down a group ignites a few extras or heavier targets without extra missiles. Plasma Missiles are actually FANTASTIC with the napalm options in that 3-4 missiles buzzing one or two targets is enough to ignite them, then finish off with the bulldog. Minelayer was another surprise as the mines will ignite targets, typically 5-6 mines is enough to ignite a Praet or Oppressor. Don't bother trying to ignite with direct hits as they don't impart as much damage as the mines. For instance laying down mines at the feet of an oppressor as you circle it will ignite it as it turns after you, then bulldog it in the butt.

Overall the rocket launcher can work quite well with Volatile Bullets with or without babysitting the target. IMO Minelayer was the big surprise and arguably very versatile with the burning and volatile, I will be running this through its paces with my defensive gunner build for Salvage and Escort. Plasma Missiles felt the most cost effective option for setting stuff on fire, but does require a fair bit of babysitting to get the most out of, especially to follow up with the Bulldog. It's cool, but a hard sell compared to Nitro Compound.

Edit: After some further testing with Plasma Missiles and Napalm vs. Nitro IMO Napalm is a more versatile choice. Both kill targets with about the same amount of ammo, Nitro being slightly more efficient (by 1-2 missiles) and faster time to kill, but not by much and it doesn't have the versatility that napalm offers as you can spread the flames around quite quickly between targets in a group which makes it much more ammo efficient when dealing with swarms. This is actually very viable /w Volatile where you can mop up the heavier targets without necessarily focus firing them with the missiles, just get the group lit.