Assemble! - Shooter Archetype Squad - The Demolition Expert

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 DEMOLITION EXPERT

The Demolition Expert is a character that specializes in explosives. Grenades, missiles, mines, remote bombs; if it can blow up for massive damage in an area of effect, they are likely to carry it. Since their explosions can cover a large area, they are especially good and fighting in crowds, where they can damage multiple enemies and possibly score some lucky eliminations. Owing to the chaotic nature of their weapons of choice, the Demolition Expert is often shown to be not the most mentally sound of their group, possibly being even obsessed with explosions or the damage they can cause.

Our pick for the Demolition Expert is…

Bomb King from Paladins.

The first clue to how well he fits this role is his appearance. He’s literally a walking giant bomb. He was brought to life when a warlock working under a warlord wanted to create new weapons to take down her enemies. The resulting confused construct believes himself to be an actual king and is wandering around visiting the lands he thinks he rules over. As for the warlord’s army, Bomb King took care of them all by himself and with his explosive arsenal, it’s easy to see how. 

His main weapons are sticky bombs that he throws at opponents and can detonate at will and he can spawn more from compartments in his arms when he reloads. For his abilities, he uses different kinds of bombs that not only damage, but can also stun enemies or knock them back, or knock himself back if he needs to make a fast getaway. Finally, for his Ultimate move, he uses himself as the bomb, rolling forward and controlling which way he rolls before detonating himself for massive damage. (He’s just fine afterwards though.)

For his effectiveness in fulfilling this role, from mechanics to appearance, we now add Bomb King 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 Stealth Expert

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.

THE STEALTH EXPERT

While many shooter characters, protagonists especially, like to rush in guns blazing and mow down hordes of enemies, this character prefers a more subtle approach. Instead of being the big, bombastic action hero, the Stealth Expert prefers to sneak around, avoiding detection, to accomplish their mission with as little of the enemy as possible even knowing they were there. They take full advantage of their surroundings or the tech they’re equipped with to avoid detection and they tend to only fight when absolutely necessary, but when they have to fight, they are more than capable of handling themselves, whether with gadgets, gunplay, CQC (close-quarters combat, for those who don’t know), or a combination of the three.

While other characters work like a hammer, they prefer a scalpel.

Our pick for the Stealth Expert is…

The Spy from Team Fortress.

While his slick suit and gentlemanly demeanor give the outward appearance of a James Bond-type figure, what really gives him the edge for his slot as the Stealth Expert is his equipment. Apart from his standard weapon, a revolver, he is armed with several gadgets that aid in his job of sneaking around the enemy to accomplish his objective. They include a cloaking watch that can turn him invisible for a short time, a disguise kit that can make him appear as one of the enemy team, and Sapper devices that can disable and destroy equipment set up by an Engineer. Also, his other main weapon, a knife, when used effectively to sneak up on an opponent, can one-hit kill them with a backstab. His kit is geared toward penetrating enemy lines, disabling their defenses, and taking them out when they don’t expect it, making it easier for the rest of the team to come in and finish off whatever is left.

For serving as an effective silent assassin, we now add The Spy 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 Close Combatant

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 CLOSE COMBATANT

To loosely quote a page from TV Tropes, “a guy who doesn’t wield a weapon while everyone around him does is either cocky enough to think he doesn’t need one or skilled enough to know he doesn’t need one.” Another shorter quote warns, “Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.” This character abides by the first while ignoring the second.

The Close Combatant is a character who stands out among a shooter roster as one who uses a melee weapon, usually a sword or a war hammer, or even just his fists, while everyone else has a gun. They may still have a gun as part of their arsenal, but most of their kit involves getting up-close to fight. This character can be difficult to use since they have to be played just right to avoid just jumping into the middle of a group to get blown to bits, but they are often very powerful when they can get their hits in. They are definitive risk-reward characters.

Our pick for the Close Combatant is…

Doomfist from Overwatch.

Even his name should clue you in to what he’s about. While Doomfist is able to shoot, with a shotgun built into one of his arms (he’s a cyborg for those who don’t know), the majority of his kit consists of attacks using his Doomfist Gauntlet. He has a ground-pounding Seismic Slam attack, a Rising Uppercut that knocks enemies skyward, and his devastating Rocket Punch attack, which can one-hit K.O. opponents if he knocks them into a wall. Finally, there’s his Ultimate, Meteor Strike, where he super-jumps into the air and comes down moments later, striking the ground for massive damage. He plays like someone wanted to put a fighting game character in a first-person shooter.

Street Fighter is just down the hall and to the ri... What? You’re NOT in the wrong game?

For effectively translating hand-to-hand combat into a shooter environment, we now add Doomfist 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!