Melting



''Melting is a high risk/high reward character. Starting with only 2 health puts Melting in a disadvantage, but the right use of their ability to explode corpses and gaining the right combination of mutations can make them extremely deadly.''

Features

 * Melting has only 2 HP, but it gains more rads per kill. It receives one extra rad from each enemy. Enemies that usually don't drop radiation (I.D.P.D. troops, Small Green Rats, etc.) will drop one rad.

Special

 * Melting causes enemy corpses and destroyed objects in the environment (damaged cacti, exploded barrels, etc) that are currently on the screen to explode, damaging any enemy and destroying any projectile caught in the blast. Unlike regular explosions, Melting's explosions don't destroy walls or props. As all Blood Explosions in the game, they do 4-12 damage. That's 4 damage per hit animation up to three times.
 * Corpses of larger enemies and larger destroyed objects cause their special to emit three explosions instead of one.

Throne Butt

 * Melting's Throne Butt causes its special to emit three explosions per body/object instead of one. The body/object size doesn't matter.

Gameplay

 * Melting is a high risk/reward character, as it starts with only two HP. This means it can be killed in one hit by everything except a maggot, a single shotgun pellet, or the barest touch from a fire. In order to use its ability effectively, it is best to kill weaker enemies first and then explode their corpses on strong enemies. Killing either Giant Maggots or Maggot Nests with an explosive is a good way to spread lots of corpses around.


 * It is further worth noting that the Crown of Death doesn't affect Melting's explosive revenge.


 * Useful mutations:


 * Rhino Skin - Getting this quickly is key to long-term survival; it mitigates Melting's most significant drawback and provides a crucial one- or two-hit cushion before death.
 * Strong Spirit - Another survival mutation; saves you from being killed by one projectile while on 2 max HP.
 * Bloodlust - Useful only after getting Rhino Skin and/or Strong Spirit. Provides a consistent source of healing so that Melting can readily take more hits.
 * Throne Butt - Triples your explosive power; can make Melting a veritable killing machine.
 * Boiling Veins - makes you invulnerable to explosions and fire when you don't have rhino skin as Melting's HP is below 4. Even with Rhino Skin Melting will only lose 2HP if it is at max health which still keeps it at a good amount of HP.
 * Euphoria - Gives you more time to destroy incoming projectiles with explosions.
 * Plutonium Hunger - Good for gathering extra rads Melting generates, and from a safer distance.
 * Long Arms - A deceptively useful mutation for Melting; it enhances melee capacity to kill enemies through walls and then detonate them, a strategy which can clear entire rooms without you even having to enter them.


 * Melting's much lower maximum HP, especially without Rhino Skin, diminishes the utility of a number of mutations which might otherwise be highly valued; these include:


 * Blood Lust - without Rhino Skin or Strong Spirit, Blood Lust is effectively useless with Melting. You're either at max HP, or you're dead.
 * Second Stomach - Useless without Rhino Skin; it is immaterial for Melting whether the medkit restoring a single HP conveys two or four to any other character.
 * Last Wish - without Rhino Skin, the most HP Melting can restore by taking Last Wish is one.
 * Stress - the fire-rate buff provided by Stress is inversely proportional to percentage remaining of max HP; the lowest percentage Stress can ever reach on Melting without Rhino Skin is 40% increase fire rate on half HP which essentially is a good thing, but that leaves the upper echelons of fire-rate enhancement unattainable.
 * Sharp Teeth - Activates upon taking damage, which is inadvisable for Melting.


 * The Crown of Risk is a good pick for Melting if one can survive at base health as it's compatible with Strong Spirit. Since its starting health is so low, it will almost always be at full health and can often benefit from the crown. Even having Rhino Skin gives Melting an advantage to lesser degree, as its max health is still lower than the other mutants and thus can be healed back to max faster.

Unlock Method

 * Melting is unlocked when you die for the first time.

Trivia

 * Melting is really tired and everything hurts it.
 * Melting's design came from "The mix of hundreds of terrible sci-fi books in JW's head." - Rami Ismail
 * SprMeltGhost_strip11.gif Melting dies, it can use its special one last time which will explode its own body and every other corpse on screen, releasing a sad and hollow ghost.
 * Having 1 max health with Melting's second Ultra Mutation and charged Strong Spirit will limit Strong Spirit to save you from death only once. It can't be recharged afterwards.
 * If you have Crown of Death, Melting's second Ultra Mutation, and charged Strong Spirit, it's possible to play with 1/0 HP, in which case Melting will die in one hit. It will unavoidably die upon entering the next level ending portal. This is essentially a bug, but JW decided to keep it.
 * Prior to update #48, Melting had a slightly different color palette. It was then changed so it looks "a bit less healthy" and less similar to Steroids. Its b-skin and all mutation icons depicting it also got recolored.
 * In update #65, Melting's special was changed to cause three Blood Explosions on larger corpses/destroyed objects instead of one.
 * Melting is one of the original five characters.




 * If Melting dies while inside a Necromancer's resurrection circle, they will be revived as the Skeleton.