Assemble! - Shooter Archetype Squad - The Armory

Welcome to Assemble!

Here, we'll look at several different characters across multiple series to see who would form a perfect team for a certain genre. From fighting game rosters to RPG adventuring parties, different types of characters tend to show up frequently. What we'll do here is look at those archetypes to see what character is the best fit for that slot, and in the end, we’ll have the best team for the job. These articles will also be shorter entries, compared to some of the more long-form articles here, focusing on one or two characters at a time.

Despite a perception of a lot of these titles as generic war games, some shooters allow players to dive into an engaging story in a captivating world, taking the role of interesting characters with varied weapons, abilities, personalities, and motivations, especially with the popularity of hero shooters like Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, and Paladins. In this series of Assemble articles, we will be assembling a hero shooter roster using characters from several different shooters, based on different character archetypes.

The picks will be based on the different themes and tones of the characters and the worlds they inhabit as well as the roles they fill on a team or the kinds of weapons they use. Only characters that originated from video games, shooters particularly, will be observed here. Both first and third-person shooters will count and so will first and third-person action games if their main method of combating enemies is gunplay. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games and characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss every shooter in existence, there should still be a good amount of variety with the series explored.

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THE ARMORY

Practically the definition of a one-man army, the Armory is a shooter character that carries a large variety of weapons, can freely switch between them, and uses them to shoot through waves after waves of enemies. They are frequently the protagonists of single-player narrative shooters where all that power is needed for the player to feel like they’re in a powerful position with this character. They can also be found in multiplayer games where characters can pick up guns scattered around an arena rather than sticking with a specific loadout. They are practically absent in hero shooters as the inclusion of such a character can easily be overcomplicated at best or game-breaking at worst if not done properly.

Our pick for the Armory is…

The Doom Slayer from Doom.

Also frequently known as Doomguy, one could argue that the Doom Slayer being overpowered is the entire point of the character. He’s a lone space marine stuck on a space base in Mars after demons have torn apart everyone else there and has to fight his way out, eventually waging a one-man war against the infernal forces. He comes prepared with all the weapons he needs to tear through demonic hordes and it’s explained that, thanks to a backpack with experimental technology, he can hold all the weapons he picks up at once. (Not often you get an explanation for the huge arsenal these characters hold.) He has several available to him, but his most iconic weapons may be his shotgun, chainsaw, and the infamous BFG 9000, but his arsenal also includes pistols, chain guns, rocket launchers, and the Unmaker, a gun designed specifically to kill demons. He also uses several power-ups with different effects from healing damage to invulnerability to partial invisibility.

For carrying a massive collection of weapons into battle and effectively using it in battle, we now add the Doom Slayer to our roster.

ADDED!

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. 

Thanks for coming!

Assemble! - Shooter Archetype Squad - The Sniper

Welcome to Assemble!

Here, we'll look at several different characters across multiple series to see who would form a perfect team for a certain genre. From fighting game rosters to RPG adventuring parties, different types of characters tend to show up frequently. What we'll do here is look at those archetypes to see what character is the best fit for that slot, and in the end, we’ll have the best team for the job. These articles will also be shorter entries, compared to some of the more long-form articles here, focusing on one or two characters at a time.

Despite a perception of a lot of these titles as generic war games, some shooters allow players to dive into an engaging story in a captivating world, taking the role of interesting characters with varied weapons, abilities, personalities, and motivations, especially with the popularity of hero shooters like Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, and Paladins. In this series of Assemble articles, we will be assembling a hero shooter roster using characters from several different shooters, based on different character archetypes.

The picks will be based on the different themes and tones of the characters and the worlds they inhabit as well as the roles they fill on a team or the kinds of weapons they use. Only characters that originated from video games, shooters particularly, will be observed here. Both first and third-person shooters will count and so will first and third-person action games if their main method of combating enemies is gunplay. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games and characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss every shooter in existence, there should still be a good amount of variety with the series explored.

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THE SNIPER

One of the most straightforward archetypes, The Sniper is a character armed with a high-powered, long-ranged rifle (or sometimes, a bow and arrows), whose main draw is getting quick kills with precisely placed shots. Players need great accuracy to master these characters and how powerful the character is gets balanced out by how difficult they are to use. The best use they have is getting headshots, which are often one-hit kills. This character is often shown to be cold and calculating, a ruthless and remorseless killing machine.

Our pick for the Sniper is…

Zer0 from Borderlands.

This cyborg assassin for hire has several different skills that he can use within the series, but among them is an entire skill tree for sniping. The attributes within this skill tree make him a more efficient sniper when unlocked. They include inflicting critical hit damage for headshots, increasing zoom and decreasing disruption when taking aim, improved aim, and damaging multiple enemies by shooting through other targets, just to name a few. While most of his other skills or equipment have nothing to do with sniping, they do make it easier for him to take out the enemy quickly and with little hassle. They include a holographic decoy to distract the enemy, a stealth mode function to sneak around, and a sword as a melee weapon for close-up kills.

We won’t talk about the guns here because it’s Borderlands. They have lots of them, and we’d be here all day talking about them.

For his ability to be such a strong sniper while also keeping sharp skills in other areas, we now add Zer0 to our roster.

ADDED!

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. 

Thanks for coming!

Assemble! - Custom Shooter Squad - The Elemental User

Welcome to Assemble!

 

Here, we'll look at several different characters across multiple series to see who would form a perfect team for a certain genre. From fighting game rosters to RPG adventuring parties, different types of characters tend to show up frequently. What we'll do here is look at those archetypes to see what character is the best fit for that slot, and in the end, we’ll have the best team for the job. These articles will also be shorter entries, compared to some of the more long-form articles here, focusing on one or two characters at a time.

Despite a perception of a lot of these titles as generic war games, some shooters allow players to dive into an engaging story in a captivating world, taking the role of interesting characters with varied weapons, abilities, personalities, and motivations, especially with the popularity of hero shooters like Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, and Paladins. In this series of Assemble articles, we will be assembling a hero shooter roster using characters from several different shooters, based on different character archetypes.

The picks will be based on the different themes and tones of the characters and the worlds they inhabit as well as the roles they fill on a team or the kinds of weapons they use. Only characters that originated from video games, shooters particularly, will be observed here. Both first and third-person shooters will count and so will first and third-person action games if their main method of combating enemies is gunplay. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games and characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss every shooter in existence, there should still be a good amount of variety with the series explored.

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THE ELEMENTAL USER

Often found in games with a wide variety of unique characters, skillsets, and weapons, the Elemental User is a character who, as the name implies, uses a variety of elemental attacks in a shooter setting, whether these attacks come from a gun, like a chemical thrower, or magical/supernatural powers. Common elements used include fire, ice, and lightning, but can also include poison and nature or earth-themed abilities, and their attacks may even inflict status effects like burn damage or freezing/stunning enemies. This character is often portrayed as intelligent, sometimes even a mad genius, able to switch elements quickly to adapt to whatever situation he is presented with.

Our pick for the Elemental User is…

 

Booker DeWitt from BioShock.

While Booker was chosen over any of the other BioShock protagonists for his more defined personality and character, they all have access to similar substances that grant them the powers needed to classify them as Elemental Users. In the BioShock series, serums derived from a substance called ADAM grant special abilities to the user. For residents of the underwater city of Rapture, this takes the form of injectible Plasmids, but for Booker and the residents of the flying city of Columbia, this takes the form of drinkable Vigors.

These items can grant different abilities, but among them are variants that can let the user fling fire or lightning from their hands or manipulate water in a limited capacity. These abilities can be strengthened or combined with elemental conditions for extra effect. (There are also side-effects to over-consumption, but that’s beside the point for this entry.) Combine these with the expert gun usage from a former soldier and Pinkerton agent turned private detective and you have a lethal fighter ready to take on anything in his way.

For being able to harness the elements to combat his enemies (and expressing himself more than any other protagonist in his series), we now add Booker DeWitt to our roster.

ADDED!

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. 

Thanks for coming!