Builder

Builder

Regular

College

Building walls was his main occupation - now he knocks them down.

Main Stats

Type

Damager

Rarity

Stars Reward

Health

540

Melee Damage

240

Crit. Chance

30%

Crit. Damage

10%

Speed

10

Prepare Time

13s

Courage Cost

25

Behavior Stats

Agility

60

Aggression

90

Detection Range

80

Agility Penalty

50%

Aggression Penalty

50%

Morale Stats

Charisma

200

Valor

200

Charisma Radius

80

Abilities

Perks

Knockback Strength

15

Special Ability

Does double damage to the barricade.

Resistances

Bullet

90%

Knockback

50%

Unlock Requirements

Stars

10

Player Level

Any

Builder1998

Builder is a construction worker now using his tools for destruction. He is armed with a red offset pipe wrench and dressed in a yellow safety vest with white reflective strips, a black T-shirt, yellow pants, a brown leather tool belt pouch, and a yellow hard hat over a black beanie.

1998 is Builder's first exclusive skin. He is armed with a baton and dressed in a maroon and yellow-striped jersey with shoulder pads, light gray pants with red and yellow highlights, white socks, black cleats, and a maroon and yellow football helmet with a yellow grill face mask. His jersey has the number 5 on it.

He is a Star Reward, obtained for free when players collect 10 stars.

Overview

Builder is a Damager. His stats are average for his class, and he does slow swings, together with fast critical kicks.

Builder has 90% bullet resistance, and causes knockback on his critical hits. Some time after dying, he turns into a Builder (Zombie).

Builder has two animations for regular swings – an upper and a side swing – and he alternates between them randomly. There's no difference in attack speed between those animations.

Special Ability

Builder's special ability grants him a double damage increase against the barricade. This buff doesn't applies to the Marauder Vehicle.

Unlocking this special might not be the best investment. It can help with finishing missions quicker, but Builder generally struggles with reaching the barricade on his own in the first place. It's best to consider it only if you often use him as a member of Builders.

Gameplay

Main Campaign

Builder is one of the first available units that can knock enemies back. His knockback perk is powerful as it comes in the form of a critical hit, an attack that deals double damage. It can also keep most enemies away from certain stationary units, the bus, or even other units who lack the knockback perk. In some cases, knockback can push enemies back into fire pools created behind them. In most cases though, the knockback perk greatly preserves a unit's own life as it puts a bit of distance between them and their target while potentially avoiding an attack. Builder's knockback perk is delivered in the form of a swift push kick, which is not only his most damaging attack but also his quickest compared to his regular attacks which both come out comparably slower.

Builder is also one of the first available units to have bullet resistance. Although this perk is negligible for the most part as many enemies rely on just melee damage, he sees use against certain gun-toting marauders in stage 3 where he can shrug off enemy ranged attacks and easily hit them. Few units are able to match him in this regard this early into the game.

Being an early star reward unit, his high base health and damage make him an excellent unit to use for low-level players. Builder is useful for melee support and dealing with both cluttered bundles of weak enemies and marauders wielding ranged weaponry alike.

Guard and Grenadier can be considered Builder's direct upgrades. They share the same bullet resistance and boast higher stats, with Grenadier having a powerful grenade throw and higher overall DPS. While Guard can be often ignored due to the higher cost, it's often recommended to phase out Builder for Grenadier.

Skirmish

In League, Builder is a good unit to use in early low-level Skirmish thanks to his high health, bullet resistance, and good damage output. This allows him to act as a tank against low-level enemy ranged units and kill them easily. His fast critical hit speed allows him to possibly kill any enemy melee units before they can retaliate. However, towards the later levels of Skirmish, Builder's strengths may seem to waver. Some other bullet-resistant units may outperform Builder, be it in strength, speed, or overall better base stats for either the same courage cost or just slightly higher. Grenadier, for example, not only possesses an extremely effective manual ability to throw a grenade but faster attack speeds as well. Guard, as mentioned above, acts as a better version of Builder for only a bit more courage. It'll be very essential to replace him at some point with another damager class unit with bullet-resistance.

Item Sets

Because of his ingrained mediocrity, Builder isn't able to achieve any impressive highs. Gentleman is the safest bet of all, as it allows to significantly improve his DPS by forcing Builder to do more kicks while also increasing his damage for that. Gambling can technically achieve the same effect, but it's best treated as a tool for getting the most out of Builder's knockback perk, rather than a way to boost his damage. Surgery can be used as a gimmicky alternative to Gentleman, but is not as advised, since health builds aren't as effective on Builder as critical ones.

Like most damagers, Builder gets most use out of prep. time watches, with agility bonuses acquired as secondary buffs. He can receive a significant boost from percentage bonuses, but only when he's close to being maxed out. At low-to-mid levels, flat buffs are more preferable. +% Crit. chance books are the best option for him. In case you decide to accentuate his role as a Builders 2/2 activator, prep. time reduction buffs become crucial. Cost reduction is also generally helpful for Builder, although there's not much point in going above -5 reduction.

Skins and Synergies

Builder, along with his respective skin, is part of two teams: Builders and College.

Name	Builder	1998
Skin
Unlock Req.	10	120 / 2000
Team	Builders	College

In context of his namesake team, Builder proves to be a merely acceptable option, being one of the very few units who can be used for deliberate activation of the 2/2 synergy, given that his price and preparation time are appropriately lowered. His swift criticals can also prove helpful if you try to use him as a general option, without focusing on the 2/2.

As for College, it manages to provide 1998 with an actual buff, guaranteeing to boost his critical damage by 20%, and raising that bonus to 40% once the 3/3 is active. While it certainly helps to get more out of crit. builds on 1998, he won't help a great lot to the team itself, as most ranged units in it are able to provide similar bulks of damage from a safe distance. Meanwhile, Turbo Batter fulfills the niche of a knockback unit with higher efficiency.

Trivia

• Before update 2.8.2, the 1998 skin used to be called "Builder 1998."
• Before update 2.7.0, Builder had to be purchased with coins. He was unlocked at level 2, and his price was 90 coins.
• Builder used to have a different sprite in Dead Ahead: Quarantine.
• Builder, his namesake zombie, and Lubber all share the same internal name.
• Builder, Private Rodriguez, and Guard have alternate melee animations on their unit pages.
  • Builder's alternating animations are a side swing with two hands and an overhead swing with two hands.

Gallery

• 

  Builder's DA:Q sprite