History Main / LongRangeFighter

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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sniper_holdontoyourhead.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:In a game where most combat takes place in ShortRangeShotgun distance, snipin's a good job, mate!]]

* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'''s Dhalsim is pretty much the forefather of this in fighting games. He can attack from a halfscreen away, using his extendable/retractable limbs; though they are punishable. To make up for this, he suppliments his arsenal with breath attacks that can strike from anywhere onscreen. And, in later installments, he gains the ability to teleport (originally a glitch); used chiefly to put distance between himself and the opponent.

* VideoGame/{{Diablo}}: The Rogue character class in ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'', and the Amazon character class from ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} 2'', along with the Rogues you can hire in Act I. Both specialize in bows, crossbows, and javelins.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sniper_holdontoyourhead.jpg]]

* Youko Mizuno (''Rosa Chinensis'' from ''LightNovel/MariaSamaGaMiteru'') appears in the doujin FightingGame ''[[VideoGame/{{Maribato}} Maribato!]]'' as a playable character. Youko's [[WhipItGood whip]] gives her a good range, and she has a lot of options for her projectiles, however, the range of her whip also leaves her vulnerable up close.

* Temari, and to a lesser extent, Tenten in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. Temari has a giant fan that she uses to blow giant gusts of wind at her opponent. Tenten has a variety of weapons at her disposal and can fight any distance from the opponent, however her jutsu are mostly used from a far distance.

** [[MadBomber Deidara]] attacks with [[ArtInitiatesLife animated sculptures]] made of exploding clay. Although explicitly described as a Long-Range Fighter, he subverts the implied CripplingOverspecialization by still being capable enough of ''getting away'' from a whole team of close-range specialist while missing both of his arms.

* Although this trope generally doesn't come into play for first-person shooters for reasons mentioned above, the Sniper of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' still qualifies for this trope because his sniper rifle is perfectly accurate and its damage is largely unaffected by range, whereas pretty much every combat-oriented class is encourage to [[ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon fight at fairly close range]] by inaccuracy of HitScan weapons, [[PainfullySlowProjectile slow movement speed of projectiles]], and/or severe damage penalties for attacking from far away. Sniper is thus favored to attack from a distance because the damage loss to all other classes' attacks makes up for his [[GlassCannon low health]] and [[ChargedAttack slow attack speed.]] His Huntsman bow is the closest he gets to mid range attacks and his Jarate is best used for supporting teammates on fire or finding Spies rather than direct attacks with the Bushwacka (which does a guaranteed CriticalHit every time against piss-soaked foes but causes Sniper to take a ''20%'' damage increase).

** ''Kingdom Rush: Origins'' has the Dark Spitter enemies. They spit [[TheCorruption dark blood]] at your troops from a distance, which hits hard, inflicts a painful temporary health-draining status, and if a troop dies while corrupted, they [[TheVirus turn into a Shadowspawn]]. Dark Spitters are however a lot less threatening in melee combat, dealing relatively low damage.

** While most party members in the first ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}'' have both a melee weapon and a firearm, both of Maki's weapons (a bow and a handgun) are ranged. There's also Yukino, who throws razorblades when not using her shotgun.

* ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]'':

* In ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'', Cruisers can attack from 2-3 tiles away but cannot defend themselves against adjacent enemy squadrons.

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

** Loki is a lethal ranged attacker with ImprobableAimingSkills in ''Film/{{Thor}}'' and ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}},'' where his magical throwing knives and {{Energy Ball}}s from Gungnir or the Chitauri scepter are his dominant weapons. However, Loki is ''not'' a GlassCannon; he's exceedingly durable, as he can withstand (albeit in agony) a pummeling from the Hulk. Loki also readily defends himself in close quarters: he uses one of his knives against a Frost Giant who grabs his arm, and utilizes Gungnir and the Chitauri scepter as spears--Captain America learns the hard way that Loki "packs a wallop." In the next films he becomes a CloseRangeCombatant.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The Long-reach man-tank in ''Literature/BabeRuthManTankGladiator'' has extending tentacles capable of reaching a good distance.

** ''Ultimate'''s second round of DLC fighters starts with [[VideoGame/{{ARMS}} Min Min]], who can cover the length of a Battlefield stage using her ARMS and doesn't even get damaged by counter type special attacks, but [[NecessaryDrawbacks in return suffers in close range]] since that's not what her home game really specializes in.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dhalsim_5.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"[[PlayingWithFire Yoga Fire!]]"]]

* In ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'', Trowa's "Heavyarms" Gundam was equipped almost exclusively with long-range weapons (with a single pop-out physical knife as an EmergencyWeapon), where the other Gundams relied more often on Beam Sabres or other close-range weapons. ''Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz'' upped the ante with "Heavyarms Custom" being equipped with even MoreDakka. Its appearance in ''Gundam Battle Assault 2'' reflects this, with almost its entire repertoire of attacks being of some manner of projectile or shot.

** Both Kidomaru and Tayuya specialize in long-range combat, using arrows and genjutsu against their enemies respectively but are vulnerable against a close-range assault. Likewise, their partners Jirobo as well as Sakon & Ukon specialize in close-ranged combat.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dhalsim_5.jpg]]

** The Plague can potentially become this. Her power, Vile Purge, allows her to vomit n Survivors and makes them sick, which can render them injured, unhealable, an capable of spreading it if not cleansed at one of the fountains scattered around her map. However, if a Survivor ''does'' cleanse their sickness, the Plague can then go to the fountain they cleansed at and use it to upgrade her Vile Purge to Corrupt Purge, which turns her projectile vomit red and damages Survivors rather than infecting them.

* Ranged units in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' usually have an optimal range - shooting any further reduces the damage dealt, so does attacking in melee. Some shooters, however, are mixed melee fighters with "No melee penalty" - while others are true {{Long Range Fighter}}s with "No range penalty", meaning they deal maximum damage no matter where they shoot.

Such characters are likely {{Glass Cannon}}s, with their range and damage being always feared [[NecessaryDrawback as long as someone isn't next to them]]. This kind of LongRangeFighter tends to be DifficultButAwesome, as their strengths are useless if the player or their teammates doesn't manage to keep aware of enemy positions and keep them out of close-combat, but their advantages are very blatant when pulled off. As such, the risk of this character type being a GameBreaker can be rather significant since one of the only things worse to suffer than getting easily killed is getting easily killed when you can barely see your enemy and can't hope to fight back. This will hopefully be mitigated by their opponents' tools (varying in many ways, from speed to close in to SmokeOut to cover them while they're far away), environment (usually by letting opponents TakeCover and hope to flank the LongRangeFighter), or themselves (such as their close-range weakness being very, very, ''very'' [[CripplingOverspecialization distinct]]) in some way.

** [[MadBomber Deidara]] attacks with [[ArtInitiatesLife animated sculptures]] made of exploding clay. Although explicitly described as a LongRangeFighter, he subverts the implied CripplingOverspecialization by still being capable enough of ''getting away'' from a whole team of close-range specialist while missing both of his arms.