Elemental Strategy: Thermite

Thermite is the final Elemental Warrior you’ll acquire in the game, and definitely the most destructive on a large scale. Similar to Snare, Thermite is a major offensive player, with an explosive and long-range mortar attack (Lava Bomb), and a short-range area attack for getting up close and personal (Firecracker). Both of these attacks can be used to quickly turn a large area into a Troll-cooking fry pan.

Thermite’s Blast Shield power is a speedy form of land travel, good for traversing large areas of the Badlands quickly. More importantly, the Blast Shield makes Thermite invulnerable to attack, and he can use it to roll across lava without damage (at least until his Spirit runs out). When you're laying waste to an area, try to save a little Spirit in case you need to activate your Blast Shield and move to a safer location.

Expert Tip: Certain stone objects – boulders, statues, and chests, can only be opened or removed by Thermite’s awesomely destructively power. This is also true for giant armored trolls, whose “glass jaw” may be more resilient to Pummel Weed’s uppercuts, but not Thermite’s Lava Bombs.

Thermite is all about blowing enemies up and pretty much razing the landscape. He is slow moving, however, and comparatively weak – Thermite takes more damage from attacks than the other Elemental Warriors. Fortunately, like Ash, Thermite can heal himself if he steps into flames left behind by his attacks. (Note that lava is still fatal to him, however.)

Upgrade Thermite’s primary attacks as soon as possible, namely the Atom Splitter and Fire Burst, both of which increase the area and amount of damage Thermite can affect with his primary attacks. We generally recommend upgrading to Atom Splitter, Spirit Up, and Fire Burst (in that order). You can probably skip Backblast (we didn’t use it often), unless you have some extra upgrade fruit, or just want the satisfaction of firing a Troll out of Thermite’s magma bowl and into the sunset.