Dr. Norman

Dr. Norman

Regular

Emergency

A scientist and inventor who used to work at a liquid nitrogen depot.

Main Stats

Type

Shotgunner

Rarity

Exclusive

Health

540

Ranged Damage

20

Melee Damage

100

Crit. Chance

1%

Crit. Damage

5%

Speed

5

Prepare Time

35

Courage Cost

25

Special

On death explosion stuns enemies in radius.

Behavior Stats

Agility

90

Aggression

100

Detection Range

200

Agility Penalty

50%

Aggression Penalty

50%

Morale Stats

Charisma

300

Valor

600

Charisma Radius

80

Abilities

Perks

Stun Duration

2s

Special Ability

Freezes an additional enemy with a 30% chance

Ranged Data

Ammo Capacity

6

Firing Period

2s

Reloading Period

None

Range

70

Bullet Spread

40°

Resistances

Fire

100%

Poison

100%

Explosion

50%

Knockback

50%

Unlock Requirements

Price

925 (Scientists Pack)

Player Level

Any

Dr. NormanJake

Dr. Norman is a crafty scientist putting his work experience into action. He is armed with a metal nozzle with a red hose connected to a nitrogen tank carried on his back by black straps, and dressed in a yellow hazmat suit with blue gloves, and a fishbowl helmet with traces of nitrogen particles.

Jake is Dr. Norman's first exclusive skin. He takes on a yellow firefighter suit with white reflective strips alongside faded green pants, a red firefighter's helmet, a firefighter's open-circuit SCBA full-face mask, and a fire extinguisher on his back, held with black straps over his shoulders.

He can be purchased from the Scientists Pack for 925 money, alongside Dr. Miller and Dr. Kane.

Overview

Dr. Norman is a spray-type Shotgunner. His health is fairly high for his class, but his damage is low. Norman's courage cost and preparation time are both moderate for a ranged unit.

Dr. Norman's primary attack deals true damage. He attacks by firing his nitrogen sprayer in small bursts. The attack itself is not a traditional particle, but instead a cone-shaped AoE that simultaneously damages all enemies that stand inside of it. A single tick of the spray can only hurt each enemy once. There's a ~0.33 s. delay between each shot. Norman has no reload animation, but he does have a traditional clip, upon emptying which he is guaranteed to make a brief pause from firing.

Norman's fumes apply a slowing effect on enemies, similar to Nitrogen's debuff. If some enemy manages to get very close to Norman between his bursts, he does a quick melee attack.

Dr. Norman is fully immune to fire and poison, and has resistances to knockback and explosions. When killed, his tank immediately explodes, applying a slowing debuff on all entities surrounding him. In the process, his corpse gets launched forward by a small distance. Some time after dying, he turns into a Slob.

Unlike most ranged units, Dr. Norman does not have Fat Zombies among his prioritized enemies.

Special Ability

Dr. Norman’s special ability gives him a 30% chance to freeze more enemies. This allows him to more effectively stall hordes of enemies.

Gameplay

Main Campaign

Dr. Norman is a powerful ranged unit thanks to his relatively high health, several resistances, and his ranged attack that stuns the enemy while ignoring all kinds of damage resistance/immunity, making him an excellent option in missions with Egg. Thanks to his relatively constant fire rate as well as not having to reload, it allows him to hold his own adequately.

Despite his strengths, Dr. Norman has some flaws that keeps him away from being a perfect unit. His DPS is not quite high due to his rather short firing period despite not having to reload, discouraging players from using him as the only ranged unit. His very slow movement speed leaves him vulnerable in missions with marauders' ranged weaponry. His presence can also backfires the team, as once he dies, his nitrogen tank will explode as well as turning into a very dangerous Slob, the latter is unpreventable since his corpse cannot be burned by any means due to his fire resistance. Fortunately, this can be avoided by using Paramedic Nancy, with her special ability unlocked, along with him. His special ability's practical usability is also questionable at best due to the nature of him being used alongside with melee units, the dropped nitrogen tank may likely stun friendly melee units, backfiring the front line horribly. While the special ability can be useful in a few situations, it does not improve Dr. Norman's performance as a defensive ranged unit by any means, making it a lackluster special ability in general.

Dr. Norman can be considered as a defensive version of Flamethrower. Both have similar attack patterns and move very slowly, with the difference being Dr. Norman stuns enemies as opposed to Flamethrower burning them. Although Flamethrower’s DPS is considerably higher, Dr. Norman’s ranged attack ignores all kinds of resistance/immunity, as opposed to Flamethrower’s being useless against fire-resistant ones. Dr. Norman also has fire resistance and a much higher health, allowing him to survive many more encounters despite Flamethrower’s bullet resistance perk. All of the aforementioned factors make Dr. Norman overall a superior unit. Plus, if Dr. Norman and Flamethrower were to be in the player’s deck, Dr. Norman would be a great disadvantage, making Flamethrower’s fire damage utterly useless apart from the pressurized air being blown out.

Skirmish

On paper, Dr. Norman can prove to be every enemy melee units' bane, as his liquid nitrogen can slow them down while dealing an acceptable amount of damage, rendering them helpless, which allows him to outright kill them on his own, particularly Turbo. His on-death explosion also ensures that any enemy melee units who manage to take him down will become helpless, which in turns allow any other friendly units to finish them. In practice, however, he has some noticable flaws that considerably limit his usability. His base attack range his very short, forcing players to pair him with bullet-resistant units to get the most out of him. He is also very slow and lacks bullet resistance, making him extremely vulnerable to most enemy ranged units, particularly Sniper Polina and Sheriff Charlotte. In most cases, Carol can outright kill him thanks to her unique critical attack without suffering too much. Due to this, players may want to use Flamethrower instead, as his DPS is considerably higher as well as possessing bullet resistance perk, and with his special ability unlocked, it makes him less vulnerable overall compared to Dr. Norman.

Item Sets

Among all sets in the game, Ice Breaker is the only one that can grant Dr. Norman a consistent damage buff, taking into account his short attack range. Military can serve as an alternative option that isn't as reliable, but at least offers potential for highrolling.

Like most ranged units, Dr. Norman benefits most from +% health books, which is accentuated by his naturally high HP. At the same time, once his level is in double digits, it becomes acceptable to give Norman +% crit. chance books along with +% crit. damage buffs, in case you want to focus on his offensive output instead. Regardless of what build you choose, he always gets a good use out of flat buffs to ranged damage, along with percentage buffs to health. Preparation time watches are the better option as usual, especially considering Norman's near-maximum agility. Slightly boosting his range can prove beneficial as well.

Skins and Synergies

Dr. Kane is part of 2 teams: Scientists and Emergency.

Name	Dr. Norman	Jake
Skin
Unlock Req.	925 (Scientists Pack)	300 / 5000
Team	Scientists	Emergency

While Dr. Norman doesn't have proper interactions with any of the Scientist synergies, he still proves to be an acceptable option for the team thanks to his offensive support. His slight tankiness also helps with keeping the 3/3 conditions active, while also making him likely to survive a free Drone's explosion.

Within Emergency, Jake is an overall mediocre option. Due to his slow mobility and lack of bullet resistance, he is most likely to die within the likes of Skirmish, and also in the main campaign should the player bring him against Marauders.

Trivia

• Dr. Norman is referred to as "Freeze" in the game's files.
• If Dr. Norman's corpse gets launched very close to the barricade, he will be able to attack it with his melee swings, should he get revived by Paramedic Nancy.
• Dr. Norman’s end death has it to where he dies with his eyes closed, which decay off of him when he turns into Slob.
  • It’s similar to Carlos, but Carlos’ eyes don’t decay off, they open up.
• Unlike his fire-based relative, or any other unit in the game, Dr. Norman's spray is a part of his sprite instead of a separate particle.

Gallery

• 

  Teaser of Dr. Norman, Dr. Kane and Dr. Miller.
• 

  Artwork of Dr. Norman, Dr. Kane and Dr. Miller.
• 

  u/pesto6942's fanmade sprite used as inspiration for Jake's design.