The Sharpened Volcano Fragment. Boy oh boy, this is a terrible weapon, right? I’m honestly surprised that this weapon wasn’t touched in The Jungle Inferno Update (an update focused on improving Pyro’s effectiveness) outside of buffs to afterburn in general. But although it seems quite pathetic, what if I told you it wasn’t useless? It indeed has a use to make it notably better than the garbage tier everyone considers it to be! I’ll tell you about the stats and how to utilize them in a way to make The Sharpened Volcano Fragment a semi-useful tool.

Disclaimer: I am NOT saying that The Sharpened Volcano Fragment is the best or even a good Pyro melee weapon. I’m just saying that The Sharpened Volcano Fragment does have a use that seems to be overlooked by many, so I want to put it out there for Pyro players to possibly use in gameplay.

Let's get started, shall we?

There honestly isn’t a lot to talk about here, but let’s cover the stats anyways.

The Sharpened Volcano Fragment is a melee weapon for The Pyro. It’s stats are the following:
+On Hit: Target is engulfed in flames (ignites players on hit)
-20% damage penalty

Sounds kind of cool, until you notice that this is a melee weapon for The Pyro. The Pyro is already equipped with a flamethrower (and possibly a flare gun) to ignite people, with more damage and at a farther range too. Not to mention the melee damage is too weak to be effectively used for killer-combos, so what’s the point? Well...

The point of The Sharpened Volcano Fragment is that its fire-applying properties can be used to make up for the afterburn penalties of certain other weapons. Let me explain.

The afterburn that The Sharpened Volcano Fragment inflicts 4 damage per tick (tick=0.5 seconds) for up to 7.5 seconds, dealing up to 60 damage total if not extinguished. Ok, but can’t all of the flamethrowers do that with better direct damage output as well? Yes, that’s true; all of the flamethrowers can inflict the same afterburn... except two of them.




The Degreaser is a popular pick among Pyro mains due to its faster quick switching abilities allowing for greater combination weapon play. The Degreaser does have a couple of downsides though, being a “+25% increase in airblast cost” (one airblast costs 25 ammo as opposed to 20) and a “-66% afterburn damage penalty” (afterburn deals 1 damage per tick as opposed to 4). The other primary with a weaker afterburn is The Dragon’s Fury, which trades afterburn’s damage over time (afterburn lasts 2 seconds as opposed to 10) and airblast reliability (airblasts cause the weapon’s repressurization rate to take twice as long) for high burst damage. Now that I look at it, the weapons I just talked about have similar downsides, but I digress.

As you can see, the afterburn damage of these two weapons is incredibly weak (dealing less afterburn damage or inflicting the debuff for less time), but The Sharpened Volcano Fragment can apply standard afterburn damage which completely negates the afterburn penalties!

So The Sharpened Volcano Fragment can make up for the afterburn penalties of some of Pyro’s primary weapons, but can’t you just use a flare gun or The Gas Passer to do the same? Yes, you can; but as neat as flare guns and a can of gasoline are, they can’t compare to the reliability of a shotgun.



Flare guns allow for a quick, high damage crit/minicrit shot, which is very powerful indeed. However, the flare guns only have one shot before a reload is required and the projectile they shoot has to travel a distance before the damage is inflicted as well as traveling with an arc, making them harder to use. The Gas Passer is a great area denial tool, but a smart enemy can stay out of the cloud and not suffer extra afterburn damage. Not to mention either projectile could be reflected by an enemy Pyro.

Shotguns on the other hand can put out more damage overtime with more shots per clip and instant damage, making them more reliable and easier to use. Don’t get me wrong, the flare guns and The Gas Passer are really useful in certain situations; but whether you like it or not, the shotguns can always beat out those weapons in longevity and damage overtime.

So if a Pyro is using The Degreaser or The Dragon's Fury with a shotgun, as most Pyros (especially in competitive) seem to do, but they still want standard afterburn damage for runaways and other strategies involving strong afterburn, The Sharpened Volcano Fragment can be a pretty nifty tool!

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this guide. Let me reiterate: I’m NOT saying that The Sharpened Volcano Fragment is better than other Pyro melee weapons, but it can be useful if the other weapons in your arsenal have weak afterburn or can’t apply it.

Have a good day, and have fun engulfing your targets in flames with your newfound knowledge!