Ranger

Ranger
Regular Marines
A fearless warrior that fights for honor and glory! But with a shotgun.
Main Stats
Type	Shotgunner
Rarity	Common
Health 40 Ranged Damage 10 Melee Damage 2
Crit. Chance	0%
Crit. Damage	5%
Speed	11
Prepare Time	35
Courage Cost	25
Behavior Stats
Agility	80
Aggression	100
Detection Range	150
Agility Penalty	50%
Aggression Penalty	50%
Morale Stats
Charisma	300
Valor	600
Charisma Radius	80
Abilities
Perks
Special Ability	Shots can knock the enemy back.
Ranged Data
Ammo Capacity	4 (4x4 pellets)
Firing Period	1.9s
Reloading Period	2.0s
Range	85
Bullet Spread	35°
Resistances
Bullet	90%
Knockback	70%
Unlock Requirements
Price	15,000
Player Level	10

Ranger is an IF member that fights for honor and glory. He is armed with a SPAS-12 combat shotgun and dressed in an urban camo T-shirt with a blue arm patch, a black armored vest, urban camo pants with several pouches, light gray gloves, a black balaclava, and a blue IF combat helmet.

Tactical Ranger is Ranger's first exclusive skin. He is armed with a SPAS-12 combat shotgun and dressed in a grey shirt with a blue patch underneath a black tactical vest with pouches, a tactical belt with pouches, urban camo pants, blue gloves, a black balaclava, and a black combat helmet with raised ballistic goggles hidden under a black goggle cover sleeve.

He can be unlocked for 15,000 coins after reaching player level 10.

Overview

Ranger is a Shotgunner. He has relatively high stats for his class, including fast movement speed.

Ranger uses a pump-action shotgun that fires 4 pellets in a cone at decent speed. His reload sequence always makes him insert 4 shells, regardless of how many he actually fired. If approached suddenly or without ammo, he does a quick melee attack. Alternatively, with a small chance, he might do two short back hops, which act as a dodge.

Ranger has 90% resistance to bullet damage. Some time after dying, he turns into a Sergeant that can't revive.

Perks and abilities

Ranger's special ability enables guaranteed knockback on his ranged attacks. Each pellet will knock its target back by 5 pixels.

The effectiveness of this perk is limited due to the fact that Ranger, when maxed out, is a pretty strong unit. There's a good chance he will kill his target in 1-2 shots, making the knockback effect irrelevant. It's only allowed to demonstrate its strength in end-game stages, since de-facto basic enemies in them tend to have high health, meanwhile certain tanky threats are not fully immune to pushes. It's only advised to buy this effect if you are using Ranger very frequently.

Gameplay

Main Campaign

Ranger is a somewhat versatile unit with his average mobility, health and cost. His bullet resistance isn't all that great for how late he is obtainable and cheaper shotgunners like Farmer exist, but he can still be a serviceable and reactive source of firepower, especially considering he has a chance of dodging if enemies get too close for comfort. He competes with Policeman Diaz due to the latter's accessibility and far superior durability with melee resistance, though given Policeman's higher cost, lower range and not-so-great special ability, Ranger has a few points in favor, and they can be used in tandem. Whereas Policeman's lower range allows him to function as a good tank, Ranger can take cover and rain fire behind him, or even knockback zombies once his own Special Ability has been unlocked.

Skirmish

In League, Ranger is a fairly strong unit to use. As a shotgunner, he's effective at taking out groups of vulnerable enemy units at once with spread damage, and his bullet resistance allows him to withstand enemy ranged attacks better, though his dodge perk is next to useless. While he does do decent chip damage against bullet-resistant enemy melee units up close, he's still fairly vulnerable to them. With knockback enabled, he easily impedes enemy units with his special ability, however due to the large presence of units resistant or immune to knockback such as Soldier or Juggernaut, its effectiveness remains questionable.

The best option is to pair Ranger with a frontline heavyweight, such as the aforementioned two, and place Ranger behind them. Making use of this with the Tactical item set can prove deadly against teams that tend to use the same tactic, shielding Builder Abby, who relies on these units to protect her. He is the only shotgunner available with bullet resistance, minus Flamethrower, automatically making him a deadly threat with how potent shotgunners can be at killing enemies in the backlines due to their bullet spread.

Item Sets

Like most shotgunners, Ranger can meaningfully benefit from every ranged-damage oriented item set, be it Hunter or Military. While the former might sound like an odd choice, Ranger's short range doesn't prevent this set from greatly increasing his single pellet damage. Military is only preferable if you struggle with getting items that can improve Ranger's range. If you are planning to use him in skirmish, though, then the best choice is Tactical.

Like most ranged units, Ranger benefits most from +% health books. This is in part because of his dodge being useless, limiting the extent of his self-defense. However, it's possible to achieve good results by giving him +% crit. chance / +% ranged damage instead, since he has one of the highest base damage stats among shotgunners. It must be said, though, that the latter works best only when Ranger is close to being maxed out.

Ranger benefits most from flat extra buffs, with health being the most desirable one. Preparation time watches are the better option as usual, but slightly improving Ranger's agility through extra buffs is still advised.

Skins and Synergies

Ranger, along with his respective skins, is a part of several teams: Internal Forces, Marines, and TMF.

Name	Ranger	Tactical Ranger	TMF Ranger
Skin
Unlock Req.	-	300 money	300 money
Team	IF	Marines	TMF

In the all of the teams above, Ranger is never a bad option. He is a good choice for any synergy thanks to his speed, overall damage output, and moderate preparation time.

In IF team, Ranger is the most efficient ranged unit for any synergy when compared to Pepper and Surgeon Lt, being able to get the full use out of the 2/2 and 3/3 powers which circumvent his somewhat lacking survivability and allow him to provide actually meaningful support at a very reasonable cost. This notably has synergies with the likes of Grenadier and Light Soldier, prolonging their lifespan by hitting threats from a distance.

Meanwhile, in Marines team, Ranger is a good filler to activate the 2/2 Team power and benefit Private Rodriguez, if players prefer to have a shotgunner over shooters or snipers like Sonya and Sniper Polina in the deck. Although he is unable to get the full use of the 3/3 and 5/5 powers, this is rather the fault of the synergies themselves and it doesn't impact his use as much.

In TMF, Ranger, despite not being the best option, is actually among the more competent ranged units avaliable, costing less than his other equivalents without their crippling drawbacks, and provides adequate support to their melee units. Although he can avoid most explosions by himself, the 2/2 power does improve his matchups against them, and his low cost makes the 3/3 power easier to activate. He is also one of the best picks for 5/5 builds, should they be used in regular missions.

Trivia

• In the game files, Ranger is referred to as "Hero."

Gallery

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  Ranger's dodging animation