This weapon will have 2 ratings: A L97 one, and a regular use one. The final rating will be an average of those two.

For league 97:
Price (3/3): Currently this weapon is at around 2m in the trading post, and at 3.158m at the Hidden Tower (not considering discounts). For what this weapon does this is an extremely cheap price, and it'd even be a good idea to get 2 of them for dual wielding.

Power (4/5): This is the only L97 weapon that does 11 fire icons. Mono icons are great, being 1 point away front the league limit is amazing too considering there's only one weapon that deals 12 multiuse constant icons, and the fact that it's all fire is just icing on the cake. Nonetheless, it still has its downs...
When single wielding Faerie Tabard, Pirate Captains Hat, Shield of Faerieland and Wand of Lameness take 5 icons off it, and considering the league's attack and defence boosts you're attacking with 13.75 points and they're defending 7.5 points, so you're actually losing 6 icons worth of attack, not 5.
If you're dual wielding that's another story, but you should still watch for the rare Frozen Cyodrake Shield that would defend 100% fire and render your attack useless, and the fire reflectors Flame Reflectozap (75%), Clawed Shield (61-80%) and Reflectozap 2000 (81-100%) all of which would negate most of the attack and then destroy you with it. Considering that Flame Reflectozap has gone down to around 3m nowadays, I wouldn't use this item every turn unless I'm asking to have it reflected.

Uniqueness(2/2): Being a mono iconner is already rare enough in this league, but then add the hard to block type and that this is the only mono iconer that does 11 icons and it's pretty obvious why this weapon is extremely common for L97 pets.

Overall it's still an amazing weapon and a must have for a L97 pet, but it's not exactly as spammable as it used to be. For that it gets a 9/10


For regular use:
Price (0/3): 2m is a good price, but not enough for 11 icons nowadays, since there's plenty options, and quite a few have a decent amount of fire.

Power (1/5): 11 icons isn't what it used to be, and nowadays is close to begginer level. You could get a {Winged Boomerang for only 30k and it does 6 fire and 5 air icons, both of which are hard to block. If you're doing 2P you can always use the Flask of Liquid Fire for 10 fire icons and 4 light if you're playing against a pet with 30+ intelligence. If you want more icons and don't care about their type there's Yooyu Knuckle Duster with 7 icons of physical and 7 of light, or Water Powered Pistol for 10 water icons, 3 physical icons, and the latter even defends 5 physical, so it'd destroy this weapon one on one. If you want an upgrade with fire, there's always the Sword of Reif.

Uniqueness (0/2): Flask of Liquid Fire and Sword of Reif are better alternatives and already destroy whatever uniqueness this item might have.

Overall It's not worth buying at all, but if someone gifted you and you just started playing the battledome then it might be fine to use until you manage to sell it to buy better equipment. For that it gets a 1/10

Because of that, the Average review is 5/10. Not a bad item, but definitely not for everyday use because of icon inflation.

Rated on December 12, 2018

Pop For Your 'Points (2/3): The simple fact is Portable Kiln is the cheapest way to deal over 10 fire icons. Flask of Liquid Fire is similar in firepower (get it?), but the extra icons are not guaranteed.

In Battle (2/5): There was a time when Portable Kiln found its way to mainstream sets, but this is no longer the case. 11 mono fire icons made some sense when Kelpbeards Trident and the Anagram Clones had not been released. At that time, Sword of Skardsen and Pirate Captains Cutlass were the more common constants, and support weapons such as Portable Kiln and Glittery Faerie Dust were standard.

Nowadays, however, Portable Kiln does not cut it in standard play. If you're engaged in a 2P match, and the opponent's pet has intelligence, consider the aforementioned Flask of Liquid Fire if it's fire you are after. Other than that, for this kind of money you should be looking at weapons such as Stone Foam Finger or Dr. Sloths Personal Bath Buddy. After buying one of those, you will still have enough NP left over for a weapon worth about a million. Alternatively, you could use Portable Kiln funds to get 2x Ylanas Blaster or equivalent. The true upgrade of Portable Kiln is Sword of Reif, though you need somewhere around 10 million for one of those.

Though the Portable Kiln has fallen out of favor for both 1P and regular 2P battling, there is a niche that it fills quite nicely. League 97, a battling format whose rules cap offensive weapons at 12 icons, has given refuge to the beleaguered kiln. More than that, Portable Kiln has become a rock star in the format; the attainability and power it enjoys means that you HAVE to have a way to answer fire in L97 fights. Glowing Cauldron is an alternative to the Kiln, and the other half of the fire threat in L97. It costs more than 3 times the price of Portable Kiln, however, and so is less likely to be seen.

Of course, there are the standard options for dealing with fire: Flame Reflectozap and Clawed Shield. However, because of the quantity of the icons and because of the fact the icon spread is pure fire, two very inexpensive counters also exist for L97 participants, Turbo Flame Reflector and Wand of Lameness. The former ties with a single P-Kiln and punishes dual P-Kilns, and the latter marginally punishes a single P-Kiln. Because the icons on Wand of Lameness are susceptible to something like P-Kiln paired with Blunted Qasalan Gladius Sword, it is simpler to just go with the Turbo Flame Reflector. Cheaper, too.

So there you have it. Portable Kiln was once a passable weapon but has fallen to niche status. But in this niche it shines more than Mr. Clean's head.

Other (0/2): Don't hold the kiln that way. You'll spill it!

Rated on August 25, 2013