Is there any way to use acid flasks/holy water/alchemists fire that isn't (almost) always a straight downgrade from hitting the enemy with an attack?

Based on what I can tell, you should basically never throw a flask weapon. Unless Im missing something (and I sincerely hope I am) it seems like flask weapons do about as much damage as a regular attack, except they have a lower damage minimum, and they deny you the chance to use all your fancy class features. Im talking about this from the lens of a fighter, but it looks like the other classes have it even worse. Rouges seem to be explicitly excluded from using them with their fast hands, and casters Im sure would rather just use a spell.

What's the use case for these guys other than against a few specific enemies in a few specific instances? Given how expensive they are I assume there must be something right?