Soldier

Soldier
Regular Emergency
Not much has changed since his last job. Skin "Technician Bosco" was inspired by a Reddit user u/The AClion
Main Stats
Type	Heavyweight
Rarity	Exclusive
Health 130 Melee Damage 10
Crit. Chance	40%
Crit. Damage	10%
Speed	5
Prepare Time	45
Courage Cost	35
Behavior Stats
Agility	60
Aggression	90
Detection Range	80
Agility Penalty	50%
Aggression Penalty	50%
Morale Stats
Charisma	400
Valor	600
Charisma Radius	40
Abilities
Perks
Knockback Strength	15
Special Ability	Gain a shield based on 30% of his max hp.
Resistances
Melee	25%
Bullet	90%
Poison	100%
Knockback	100%
Unlock Requirements
Price	925 (TMF Pack)
Player Level	Any

Soldier is a TMF fighter specializing in close-range combat. He is armed with a riot shield and a baton, and dressed in a black full-body, bulletproof armor suit, a black gas mask with red lenses, and a black combat helmet.

Technician Bosco is Soldier's first exclusive skin. He is armed with a yellow ambulance door and a red emergency hammer, and dressed in a red paramedic uniform with yellow reflective strips, a firefighter's open-circuit SCBA full-face mask, and a gray firefighter's helmet.

He can be obtained by purchasing the TMF Pack alongside Flamethrower, Cap and Swat for 925 money.

Overview

Sodlier is a melee Heavyweight, and has slightly above-average stats for his class, with the exception of low damage. His attack speed is moderately fast, with critical hits being landed roughly as fast. His preparation time is anomalously high for a melee unit.

Soldier has 90% resistance to bullet damage, and 25% resistance to melee damage, with immunity to poison and knockback. He can knock enemies back himself on critical hits. Soldier will not turn into a zombie when killed.

Special Ability

Soldier's special ability grants him shield points equivalent to 30% of his HP. Taking into account his base health at level 13, he is guaranteed to receive 135 SP.

This ability proves useful for increasing Soldier's survivability. It doesn't matter as much in regular missions, though, and instead shines most in skirmish. If you are actively using TMF decks in that mode then there's no reason to skip this SA. Otherwise, it's not the best investment.

Gameplay

Main Campaign

Soldier has the 2nd highest base and potential health total in the game, starting at a very generous 130 and ramps up further from there. His special ability gives him a boost to his health in the form of a shield, however the aforementioned shield is only equal to 30% of his total health. When used correctly, soldier serves as a niche, yet effective anchor for the team, helping to hold back the enemy and stall long enough for more costly units to finish preparing. However, he shouldn't be relied on for large hordes, as while Soldier can shrug off a sizable group of fodder, he can't do anything about runners that go around him. Even worse, on later missions with the introduction of Energy Sphere, all of the effort putting him on the field will be wasted as he instantly turns into an Offal, a fate most heavyweights face.

Soldier can be seen as a tankier, yet less lethal alternative option to Juggernaut and Chopper given their similarities. Thanks to Soldier's resistances, he is better suited for missions where Chopper would find himself particularly vulnerable, as Chopper has no resistances. However, he suffers from the same drawbacks as Chopper, with extreme cost and preparation time. Soldier in fact loses out to Chopper in speed and damage. While these can be compensated by effects of Fury buff and Cap's Inspiration perk, Soldier ultimately has little utility through the whole game. Players who use Soldier most likely will need to run Generator as well, considering his high cost, or alternatively use the 5/5 TMF Team Power (see Synergies) to decrease his cost.

Skirmish

In League, Soldier, with his large health pool, can prove to be an effective tank. His bullet resistance also proves to increase his survivability. If using him for defense, its best advised to place him at the far front of the group, as his large health pool helps him ignore most forms of damage while forcing enemy Melee units to deal with him, making him an effective counter to Carol. Unlocking his special ability will allow him to tank even a level 13 Mechanic's sledgehammer attack, rendering the opposing units special ability useless. However, his slow speed can prove to be a serious detriment as he can be picked off by ranged units if he suffered enough damage and/or is distracted fighting units who've turned into their respective infected. Sometimes, several ranged units delivering chip damage is all it takes to kill him. Against fast enemy melee units, while Soldier can manage on his own, he will likely end up losing a lot of his health during the fight. Since he is very slow, faster melee units will likely be able to move past him, rendering his defensive capabilities limited mostly to ranged units. It also does not help with the fact that his cost is very expensive, limiting the team composition considerably. He synergizes well with Builder Abby, acting as a great shield for all incoming damage while her gun kills any and all units that may be targeting Soldier.

Item Sets

Considering Soldier's low damage, it can be more benefitial to take advantage of either his health, or criticals. In case of the former, Fast Food serves as a reasonable choice, as long as you go for a legendary health book. Surgery offers a middle ground being defense and offense, allowing to still buff Soldier's damage, while focusing entirely on his health. As for criticals, Gambling set offers the biggest buff, considering Soldier's high base crit. rate. Gentleman is similar to surgery, allowing to capitalize on one aspect of the unit while also buffing his damage.

It's recommended to focus on percentage buffs to health for Soldier, with flat boosts to damage being the second most important. It's wise to buff his crit. damage, although it's only necessary for crit. focused builds. +% Health books are the best choice for Soldier when he is equipped with Fast Food or Surgery. In case of Gentleman, crit. chance books are the most reasonable option. This is also true for Gambling, but that set allows to use +% crit. damage and +% health books too, depending on what the rest of your build looks like.

Skins and Synergies

Flamethrower is a part of the following teams: Toxic Lab Military Forces and Emergency.

Name	Soldier	Technician Bosco
Skin
Unlock Req.	-	300 money
Team	TMF	Emergency

Soldier's viability in TMF tends to fluctuate depending on the mode the team is used in. He is a great option in PvP modes since tanking damage can be invaluable, depending on your opponent's deck. In regular missions, however, he is one of the worse choices because of his very small impact, courtesy of extreme preparation time.

As for Emergency, Soldier sees much more use in that team due to fulfilling a niche of a tank. He gets the most out of the 5/5, which accentuates his defensive potential through buffs to health. He is also one of the better slot fillers for 2/2, although mainly for slow-paced missions. He isn't very great for pure 3/3 builds, though, mostly because of how little he gets out of the medkits' buff, even considering how high it is.

Trivia

• Before version 3.6.3 Soldier's ability only gave 25 shield points.
• According to Soldier's deleted backstory:
  • His name is Bosco Baracus, which is a reference to the character Bosco Albert "Bad Attitude" Baracus from the action-adventure TV series "The A-Team." This is later retroactively referenced in his Emergency Team skin, which is titled "Technician Bosco"
  • Soldier is a part of the A-Team along with Cap and Flamethrower.
  • He believes in God and is the only unit confirmed to be a believer so far.
  • Soldier hates Flamethrower, but appears to trust him enough to perform surgery on his wounds.
• Like the rest of the TMF Squad members, Soldier was once available for purchase with coins.
  • Soldier's requirement was level 10 and his price was 9,000 coins.
• Soldier formerly had the highest health out of all units, before losing that title to Juggernaut. He regained it briefly when Juggernaut received a health nerf, but lost again to Chopper, whose Special Ability boosts his maximum health by 30%.
• Unlike Willy, Soldier's riot shield is attached to him and is solely used as a weapon, regardless if he has shield points or not.
• Internally, Soldier is referred to as "Ballistic Shielder", possibly referring to how he wields one and resists bullet damage.

Gallery

• 

  Soldier's sprite prior to update 2.9.0

• 

  Promotional artwork depicting Soldier, Nancy, Glenn Pines, Pepper and Swat.