Thermal Javelin [Weapon Overview]

Pierce every xeno-skull in sight like a totally hot space-mech Amazon.

This guide provides in-depth info about the Thermal Javelin weapon.

Does this weapon match my loincloth?

Whatever the time or space, few things are as savage as hurling a blazing metal rod through your enemy's braincase.

The Thermal Javelin is an alchemical wedding of future tech and space magic. A metallic rod is superheated to the point of plasmafication, then launched with the piercing rage of a spurned alien queen.

Go on, have a Jav at it

The Thermal Javelin [JAVLN] can be randomly looted from any Upgrade Station found in the deteriorating hulks. Multiple Javelins can be equipped for $10K each by browsing the [CLOSE COMBAT] tab on the Loadout page.


Alternately, you can begin using it immediately by choosing the [PDX-40] Pioneer Suit. It starts the game with two Javelins equipped by default. It makes good use of them thanks to the slow-mo ability, which facilitates hitting small fast enemies like Spikedogs.

I Am The Hammer (er, the Javelin)

A lone Javelin is plenty enough to perform clever executions and set devastating traps, as explained in the Fine Tuning section.

Or you can randomly wang them everywhere, hoping to nail more than one enemy at once.

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Using it is simple, aim and pull the trigger to launch a crackling shaft of destruction with great speed and accuracy. Odds are it'll hit and destroy whatever hideous shrieking thing it is that needed impaling, and keep going until it becomes embedded in a wall. Javelins punch through enemies so take advantage by lining up shots.

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Before it can be used again, the Javelin must be retrieved by hovering near it and holding [BUTTON]. This high-risk playstyle can be a problem for rookie pilots who rely too much on rifles, or flamethrowers, or fission bombards, or whatever crazy-ass gun was salvaged in the last mission.

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It's not a bad idea to equip a pair of Javelins, to have a backup in case you miss the first shot at that obnoxious Jackal or rival tech salvager. They can be stacked on the same button to free up the Pioneer Suit's other hardpoints. It takes about 2 seconds to load another Javelin after firing, a sound effect will play when ready to launch again.

And of course, loading 50 Javelins on every limb to launch them all at once like some kind of space porcupine berserker is a totally badass strategy.

The Javelin tip glows so your enemies can see their shaft-induced death coming. Not sure what determines the glow color, it seems to be random, or maybe based on the level's lighting. So far I've seen red, green, and orange.

The glow makes the Javelins easier to spot once embedded in a wall. They're also depicted on the map by an arrow icon.

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Javelins leave a trail of lightning while in flight, so, you know, that's pretty sweet.

Fine Tuning

The law of the space-jungle is simple: Impale your enemies with a volcanic rod and watch them melt into fizzling slag, or...and that's it. There's no alternative. The Jav-azon who wrote the law did so by scrawling it on the walls with the acid-blood of her smoldering foes.

• Javelins are so incredibly mega-lethal that they can damage enemies even while embedded in a wall! Use this to set a trap/hazard for enemies that like to follow or charge at you. For example, launch a Javelin at a wall, hover in front of it, and when a Spikedog or Sawblade is about to ram you, dodge and watch that chump kill itself.
  
  
• When facing 5 Drone Factories that are cranking out armored enemies every second, something more creative than shooting them in the face is required to stop that skeletal armada. Try embedding a Javelin into a closed door, even if you open the door the Javelin will stay in place. Now most enemies that pass through that door will be heavily damaged or outright destroyed! Combine this tactic with an Alarm Lure to devastate those xeno scum.
  
  
• After traveling a long distance without hitting a wall, the Javelin will stop in midair and can be recovered as usual. Use this quirk to set floating traps/hazards.
  
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• If thrown at a spinning Sawblade enemy, the Javelin will destroy the Sawblade and be deflected in a random direction.
  
  
• The Javelin is affected by Bully's air gusts.
  
  
• The Javelin's long range pairs well with long range vision (hold Y BUTTON or SHIFT). You can even snipe enemies off-screen, just aim for the red dots on the radar.

Some of those xeno-jerks have the audacity to not die immediately upon choking on your pillar of techno-fire. I'll post a growing list of enemies that need more than one Jav in their cyber-giblets to take them offline.

2HKOs
Jockey
Nuclear Destruct System
Shield System

3HKOs
Sentry System
Flak Controller System
Alarm Systems (pierces through armor plates)

4HKOs
Central Core - The Javelin can pierce an entire lobe at once, so it can damage 3 brain chunks simultaneously early in the game. Each chunk requires 2 hits to destroy, so you can destroy a Central Core with 4 throws. Be sure to quickly recover the Javelin before the slow-motion effect stops you!

Feature Requests

Devs, this is an idea that I think could let players setup creative traps.

• Embedded Javelins can extend the range of the Lightning Spindle.

Here's how this could possibly work:
If you use the Lightning Spindle to shoot a Javelin stuck in the wall, the Javelin will project its own lightning, dealing the same damage and having the same range as the Lightning Spindle. The lightning caused by the Javelins can chain to other Javelins in range to trigger their own lightning.

Off the top of my head, these are two strategies that might be useful:

• Embed some Javelins together and use them to simply multiply the power of the Lightning Spindle.
  
  
• Strategically embed some Javelins down a hallway to zap the hell out of any approaching enemies. Remember, the player only needs to shoot one Javelin with the Lightning Spindle, the lightning will chain to the other Javelins, causing them all to shoot their own lightning.
  
  
• For balance sake, lightning can chain to a Javelin only once.

Bugs

•As of Build .9XX, this bug has almost disappeared, but is still present.

•As of Build 0.81, hitting certain enemies can cause the Javelin to disappear. So far I've seen the following destroy Javelins when hit:

• Ironclad
  
• Heavy Sentinel
  
• Sentry System
  
• Drone Factory

[Soy]

When it is in the wall. Have not tried shooting at the black hole effect.

[MechaTails]

Thanks for the report. Does the Javelin disappear if it's embedded in a wall? Does it disappear if you shoot at the black hole effect? I'll try to recreate that.

(Drone Factories will cause a black hole effect when you destroy them, and if caught will teleport you somewhere else in the hulk.)

[Soy]

Javs also dissapear when caught in the thing which teleports stuff away after destroying a system thing. (no idea what it is called or what causes it).