Dousing, ignition and self-cleaning
- Fire deaths from ignition cannot be prevented by ordinary healing in the classic role reference.
- Players who visit the Arsonist can become doused.
- The Arsonist may spend a night removing douse from self rather than taking another aggressive action.
Choose survivors for the next ignition
Early game
Douse targets who are likely to survive long enough to be part of a future ignition. Dousing someone already likely to be eliminated the next day wastes tempo and reduces the eventual chain.
Mid game
Track indirect douses from visitors and adjust the plan. The strongest Arsonist turns Town and Mafia movement into extra coverage without advertising which visits were dangerous.
Endgame
Ignition timing is the entire role. Fire too early and surviving factions unite against you; wait too long and a trial or kill removes you before the setup pays off. Count how many undoused players remain after the burn.
Build a cover around the douse plan
A quiet non-visiting or low-impact visiting claim can reduce attention, but it must survive investigative groups and any players who interacted with you. Do not build a cover that requires obvious actions inconsistent with the douse plan.
Read burns without inventing a douse map
Town should compare unusual multi-kill timing, visit history and investigative groups. A player repeatedly surviving while people around their visit network become doused or burn may deserve targeted pressure.
Important interactions
- Doctor healing does not save a player from Arsonist ignition under classic mechanics.
- Visitors to the Arsonist can be doused, making Lookout/Spy movement indirectly relevant to the douse record.
- Transporter can move a planned visit and complicate assumptions about who was directly doused.
Decision example: arsonist target choice
Three high-value players are already doused and two factions are fighting each other. Igniting now may remove enough voting power to let you control the remainder. If only one doused target is alive and Town is about to eliminate them anyway, another night of setup may create far more value.
Common mistakes
- Igniting a single low-value target when several future douses are already safe.
- Dousing players who are obviously about to be eliminated by day vote.
- Forgetting that visitor-based douses can change the count without a direct target.
