Characters / Atlas Reactor

Atlas Reactor had 33 freelancers, divided into three categories (Firepower, Frontliner and Support).

Firepower Freelancers

General Tropes:

• An Adventurer Is You: Firepowers translate to the DPS type of character class.
• Escape Battle Technique: As a general rule Firepower freelancers also have dashes intended to be evasive-type, rather than offensive ones like the Frontliners. Several Firepower dashes do deal damage, but they're generally used more for avoiding trouble than chasing it.
• Glass Cannon: Firepowers have, on average, the lowest HP of the three classes but deal the highest damage.
• Trap Master: The majority of the game's prep-phase traps, intended to punish or limit enemy movement prior to dash phase, are Firepower tools.

Lockwood

The Scoundrel

Current affiliation: HelioCorp (formely Wild Card)

Veteran of the Titan War, deserter, arms dealer, smuggler, early subject of Atlas' resurrection technology and the city's first offical Freelancer, Zuki's Parental Substitute and current public enemy #1, Lockwood is a gunslinging rogue who works for whoever will pay him the most, switching his loyalties as it suits him.

Gameplay-wise, Lockwood is a ranged freelancer based around high mobility and his unique ability to bounce bullets off walls to attack from oblique angles. Featuring a little of everything from a powerful single-target at-will attack, an area-of-effect attack, a basic dash that cools down as he takes damage, a prep phase movement trap and an ultimate that combines a powerful area-of-effect with a dashing movement, Lockwood is simple to learn and yet very rewarding to truly master. Combined with his catalysts a good Lockwood is nearly impossible to pin down and can and will attack where you least expect it.

Lockwood's skills:

1. Trick Shot: A basic single-target attack that bounces off up to two walls.
2. Light 'Em Up: A cone of gunfire that hits all targets within.
3. Trapwire: A prep phase trap that sticks four Frickin' Laser Beams out 1 square in cardinal directions from its landing site. Anyone crossing the beams takes heavy damage. Lasts two turns or until someone trips the trap, but can have multiple victims in one turn.
4. Backup Plan: Lockwood dashes across the ground in a chosen direction, stopping on the square you designate. The move loses cooldown if Lockwood is hit.
5. Ultimate – Run and Gun: Lockwood dashes across the map, dealing heavy damage to anyone within 3 squares of his movement path.

Tropes:

• Artificial Limbs: Subverted. His right arm looks cybernetic at first glance, but the "Case" cinematic trailer and some of his skins reveal it to be armour worn over a regular arm.
• Badass Boast: From his second Trick Shot taunt: "Let me show you why I get paid the big bucks!"
• Badass Longcoat: All of Lockwood's skins, be it western or pirate or default — involves a longcoat.
• Berserk Button: His cigar, apparently.
  Lockwood: *When hit* HEY! Nobody touches the cigar.
• Cool Shades: Has a pair on his head, but he doesn't wear them over his eyes.
• Cigar Chomper: His cigar is a permanent part of his getup. It is also cybernetic.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Has this reputation amongst the Trusts.
• Eyepatch of Power: His "Unforgiven" skin has one.
• The Gunslinger: Mixture of the Trick Shot and The Woo, with his primary representing the former and the latter expressed in Light 'Em Up and his dashes.
• Fragile Speedster: Even by the standards of firepower characters Lockwood is extremely fast, but he has very low HP.
• Not in the Face!: One of his lines when attacked.
• Only in It for the Money: As a wild card, Lockwood isn't associated with any of the Trusts and works for the highest bidder.
• Pinball Projectile: Trick Shot.
• Undying Loyalty: To Zuki, who according to Word of God is one of the only people Lockwood wouldn't betray no matter the cost.

PuP

The Prototype

Current affiliation: HelioCorp (formerly Warbiotics)

The first prototype of a series of infiltration and sabotage Robot Dogs, PuP's planned product line was scrapped due to the AI ban and left PuP as the only surviving unit thanks to the intervention of the product's creator (Zuki's father). PuP is currently 'owned' by Warbiotics, who have cashed in major on his image by making him a mascot and basis for a wildly successful toyline. In practice he is the companion of Zuki, who has modified his chassis with extensive combat modifications that enables his work as a Freelancer.

In gameplay, PuP is a melee assassin-type character. He combines an extremely high melee damage with the ability to go invisible, and his pulling/pouncing abilities lets him isolate characters amongst the enemy team and deal with them at leisure. PuP is vulnerable to focused ranged fire and movement restrictions (especially because of his limited dash) but can defeat practically any other character 1-on-1 if allowed to get close.

PuP's skills:

1. Megabite: A powerful melee attack that hits 2x2 squares. It recovers PuP's health for each enemy damaged by it.
2. Pounce: PuP dashes to a single enemy or ally within range, delivering a powerful headbutt to any enemy he lands on and chasing them.
3. Walkies: PuP deploys a giant clamp that attaches a leash to a foe at range, forcing them to follow him for their next movement.
4. Prowl Protocol: PuP goes invisible and gains might for 3 turns. Effect ends when he attacks.
5. Ultimate – Subwoofer: PuP deploys a gigantic speaker, attacking all enemies within 4 squares of him for high damage and scrambling them for a turn.

Tropes:

• Funny Background Event: During the trailer we get to see the world from PuP's point of view. Apparently he sees the world through Augmented Reality... Only instead of English, his OS language only contains the word 'bark'.
• Killer Rabbit: Don't let his looks fool you...
  Garrison: Hah! I hope you got a good deal on Fido over there! What are you paying him in, kibble?
  Lockwood: Kibble... Yeah, heh... For your information, that pooch is nuclear.
• Last of His Kind: By virtue of being the only PuP unit left.
• Lethal Joke Character: PuP looks like a cute Team Pet and he is a cute Team Pet in a way... But he is also an extremely deadly Team Pet on top of it.
• Lightning Bruiser: PuP's heal upon biting a target and above-average HP make for a surprisingly tough target that will win almost every 1v1 fight.
• Loyal Animal Companion: Averted. Despite being Zuki's Canine Companion he is also a Freelancer and expects to get paid for missions, as he demonstrates to Lockwood at the end of the Case trailer.
  Lockwood: Man's best friend...
  Zuki: As long as you pay him enough.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: His ultimate attack.
• Mascot: In-Universe, for Warbiotics. PuP is noted to be somewhat annoyed by the image.
• Robot Buddy: To Zuki.
• Robot Dog: Obviously.
• Series Mascot: For the game at a whole, judging by the promotional stuff.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: PuP attacks by morphing giant stapler removers, rockets and cranes out of his chassis. And of course then there's his ultimate.
• Shout-Out: Lockwood's comment about him in "The Case" (if we update "dynamite" to "nuclear").
  Lockwood: For your information, that pooch is nuclear!
• Stealth Expert: One of the only characters who can go invisible at will.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Pulls it on Lockwood in the cinematic trailer. In-game this is also likely to happen and is a sign that the character in question is about to have a bad time.
• Super Prototype: Inverted: His lack of advanced features compared to the main product line was likely what saved him. Of course, with his current modifications he probably is superior to them anyway.
• Use Your Head: Pounce. PuP even morphs his head into a battering ram before launching.
• The Voiceless: PuP can only make barks and growling noises despite having, seemingly, human-level intellect.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Walkies is designed to close the gap between PuP and enemies, by pulling them to him.

Zuki

The Belle of the Bomb

Current affiliation: HelioCorp (formely Wild Card)

Entrepeneur, flying junkyard owner and one of the most talented machinists in Atlas, especially when it comes to making things explode. Zuki discovered her talent (and passion) for building explosives when she managed to blow up Lockwood's hoverboard with an e-cigar, an old boot, and a coat hanger at a young age. In order to test and finance her inventions and mods, she moonlights as a Freelancer on the side working for the highest bidder.

Gameplay-wise Zuki is a ranged freelancer whose gameplay revolves around her bazooka and bazooka-related accessories. She deals powerful area-of-effect damage and can partially ignore cover by exploding things next to or behind said cover instead of aiming directly, and combines a potent and partially offensive dash with skills that heavily punish camping and enemies bunching up. While she requires team assistance in moving or limiting enemies' movement so they do said bunching up, her damage is near unmatched at range once they do.

Zuki's skills:

1. Bombard: A blast with the bazooka that travels in a straight line, exploding at a certain distance if nothing is hit prior to that. Deals heavy damage to anything hit and decent damage to anything within its blast radius.
2. Sticky Bomb: Zuki throws cluster mines in a cone, sticking mines to all within range that explode on the following turn. Unlike other delayed damage moves, it is impossible to avoid taking damage once stuck, although it can be mitigated.
3. The Big One: Zuki launches a giant rocket during the prep phase at a point anywhere on the map. It lands on the following turn, dealing damage in a 5x5 area with more damage dealt closer to the centre.
4. Rocket Jump: A dash that can jump over walls and deals damage to anyone within 1 square of takeoff.
5. Ultimate – Missile Storm: Zuki deploys a sonar pulse in a gigantic cone during the Prep phase, marking a 3x3 area at the feet of all enemies hit. On the following blast phase all marked areas are bombarded with a hail of missiles for heavy damage. Ignores cover and invisibility.

Tropes:

• Alpha Strike: The game takes note of how many of these you pull off by hitting enemies with her other attacks on the turn her Sticky Bombs go off. With the Free Action mod on The Big One, Zuki is capable of the strongest burst attack in the game ^note 26 damage from Stickies, 50 damage from directly hitting a Big One, 54 from Missle Storm modded with Concentrated Fire striking only one target
• Damage Over Time: Sticky Bomb and The Big One strike the turn after you launch them, while Missile Storm strikes later in the turn after the pulse is launched. In the case of Sticky Bomb this means that cover offers no defence since the attack originates on the target, while Missile Storm may end up hitting someone who dashed into one of the target zones.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father designed PuP. He has subsequently disappeared without a trace, leaving Zuki with the robot dog as her main companion.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Averted. Zuki wears an oversized crash helmet, which is probably useful when you get thrown around by your experiments blowing up in your face.
• Genki Girl: Enjoys blowing stuff up, though not to the level of Gremolitions.
• Oh, Crap!: The game keeps track of how many times opponents use their dash abilities to avoid the Big One. Entirely justified if the target finds themselves on the 50 damage center space.
• Southern-Fried Genius: Zuki's accent has a roughneck element to it, evoking this.
• Splash Damage Abuse: The splash damage on Zuki's rockets ignore cover, often making it better to hit a target with the splash damage than to directly hit them for half damage.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Her entire moveset is based around explosions.
• Teen Genius: Exact age is unknown but she seems to be this.
• Worth It: One of her death quotes.
• Wrench Wench: She turned PuP into a killing machine by modding him and makes all her own weapons.

Grey

The Hawk

Current affiliation: Wild Card (none)

After witnessing her parents death to an unidentified monster at a young age, millionaire heiress to Hawk Aviation Grey used her wealth to construct herselves tools and weapons by which she prowls Atlas' underworld, cleaning up monsters left over by the war and escaped experiments from the Trusts. Having lost herself almost entirely in the thrill of the hunt, she works as a Freelancer as a way of continuing her lifestyle.

Gameplay-wise, Grey is a ranged freelancer whose combat style is based around her combat drone, Rio, and tracking/revealing enemies. Grey deploys Rio onto the map to deal continual damage to anyone foolish enough to remain standing underneath it in the blast phase, with anyone tracked taking extra damage from the drone's attacks. Grey specializes in denying ground by forcing enemies into choosing between losing favourable ground or exposing themselves to Rio's attacks, while punching down single targets with her crossbow.

Grey's skills:

1. Tracing Bolt: A single-target attack that tracks and reveals a target for 2 rounds.
2. Hawk Drone: Grey deploys Rio to any point of the map within sight range, damaging anyone within 2 squares of the path there. Rio remains stationary on following turns until Grey is defeated, dealing damage to anyone underneath. Grey can use this ability again to move Rio to a new spot.
3. Tranquilizer Dart: A dart thrown during prep phase that weakens a target for 1 round and tracks and reveals it for 2 rounds. Revealed targets takes extra damage from Rio on the following blast phase.
4. Slip Away: Grey immediately dashes to Rio from anywhere on the map, ignoring walls, cover and ground-based traps in her way.
5. Ultimate – Voltaic Cage: Grey deploys Rio to any point of the map, where it creates a 3x3 square cage of energy. Anyone moving through the cage from either side is damaged and rooted in place. Rio will also shoot any targets en route similarly to a standard Hawk Drone usage.

Tropes:

• Attack Drone: Rio, and thus the basis of Grey's combat.
• Blood Knight: Grey is independently wealthy and has no financial motivation for being a Freelancer – she simply loves the thrill of the chase.
• Clothes Make the Superman: Grey's armour keeps her mobile; her body is still crippled by the attack that killed her parents.
• Combat Stilettos: In her primary skin. Possibly justified by her legs being bionic, as her alternate skin (which looks much more human) has more sensible footwear.
• Energy Bow: Well, energy crossbow. The bow itself is solid, but the bolts are pure energy.
• The Faceless: Wears both a tinted visor and a mask, the end result of which being that only her eyes are visible.
• Foil: To Nix. Both are ranged firepower freelancers, but Nix is designed around camping and being stealthy while Grey is designed around countering those tactics while staying mobile at a medium range.
• Hunter of Monsters: According to the lore, she spends her time not fighting as a freelancer hunting monsters, criminals and waste/war byproducts. In gameplay, Grey is designed around hunting and tracking enemies.
• I Call It "Vera": Rio, in case it wasn't clear already.
• Mundane Utility: Rio also grants vision wherever it goes. This gives Grey the ability to probe the map for enemies during the opening moves, and made her (until a scouting catalyst was introduced) a very common pick in tournament play.
• The Rival: To Rask, who was originally her suspect #1 in the attack on her parents. She also has a kill count competition with Nix, and is not very fond of Phaedra for obvious reasons.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: Landing a dart or bolt on a target "tracks" them, which is basically a two-turn reveal that also boosts Grey's damage against them. Tranquilizer Darts in particular are very effective against expected "Fade" catalysts as it will completely negate the invisibility and goes off first.
• Shout-Out: When killed.
  Grey: Clever girl...
• Smart People Speak the Queen's English: Has a very notable RP accent.
• Social Darwinist: Her quotes invoke this mindset.
• You Killed My Father: Towards Phaedra, and by extension Magnus for releasing her in the first place.

Nix

The Liberator

Current affiliation: EvoS

Current head of security of the EvoS Trust and virtually unheard of before his ascension to said office, little is known of Nix except that he is short, enjoys sniping things, and that nobody in EvoS can ever attest to having definitively met him in person. He works as a Freelancer for the Trust for his own, unknown reasons, mostly in fields that involve killing things with precision from a long distance.

Gameplay-wise Nix is a classic sniping character, depending upon stealth, mind games, a wide field of view and a high-powered and extremely long-ranged rifle to deal death from outside the other team's vision range. Nix's stealth suit lets him move from cover to cover unseen and attack from oblique angles while his overwatch drone lets him lock down enemies' movements or prevent escape from his team-mates if he is otherwise unable to attack directly. Completely lacking in a dash move, Nix is extremely vulnerable if revealed, or caught out in the open with his stealth suit on cooldown.

Nix's skills:

1. Headshot: A single-target shot with the sniper rifle. Has extreme range and good damage.
2. Stealth Suit: Nix goes invisible for 2 rounds. Attacking (or being attacked) temporarily reveals him but the effect does not end until the 2 rounds are up.
3. Overwatch Drone: Nix sets up a sniping drone that sends a straight laser beam down the map. The first enemy to cross the line takes heavy damage.
4. Vortex Round: Launches a ball of energy, which explodes when it hits a target (and only an enemy, otherwise it will fizzle out) and causes splash damage to all nearby. The main target of the attack is slowed for a round.
5. Ultimate – Fusion Pulse: Deals extreme damage to all targets in a 2-square wide line originating from Nix. The pulse ignores all walls and cover, not stopping until it runs out of range.

Tropes:

• Achilles' Heel: Reveal effects. Without a proper dash, Nix relies entirely upon outmaneuvering opponents with his Stealth Suit to get away, but being Revealed allows his pursuers to chase him down and finish him off easily.
• Ambiguously Human: Exactly what, if anything, Nix is is a mystery.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: His alternate skin is that of a Prohibition-era mobster, complete with Tommy Gun.
• Cold Sniper: Not only is he a sniper, but a stoic and nasty-sounding one at that.
• Evil Laugh: Has one when he wins a match. During matches he also has an evil chuckle when ulting.
• The Faceless: His face is obscured by his hood.
• Foil: To Grey. Both are ranged firepower freelancers, but Nix is designed around camping and being stealthy while Grey is designed around countering those tactics while staying mobile at a medium range.
• Lower-Class Lout: Has a very noticeable Cockney accent.
• No Scope: When ulting.
  Nix: No scope? No problem.
• Only in It for the Money: Nix has very little loyalty to his own corporation and is mostly in it for the material benefits. Exemplified at the end of season 1 when he abandons a hunt for Quark after being bribed not to by Celeste — despite the Reactor having just fallen and money being essentially worthless at that point.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of the taunts for Fusion Pulse has Nix utter "360, no scope" (complete with hand gesture) before firing.
  • His name may also be a reference to another Cyberpunk game featuring pre-plan turn-based gameplay.
• Sniper Rifle: With the longest-range primary attack in the game, capable of nailing targets from halfway across the map.
• Stealth Expert: Has a reliable way of staying invisible.

Gremolitions, inc.

Idd and Odd

Current affiliation: EvoS

Idd and Odd (from 1-DD and 0-DD, their serial numbers) are a pair of gremunculi, artificial bio-creations made by EvoS with a 30-day expiration date. Having so far surpassed said expiration date by several months, what the two have gained in extra lifespan they have gained in equal measure in eccentricity. The pair love explosions above all, and having failed to remove the pair by conventional means EvoS has instead put them to use as freelancers. The gremlins, released into a new and brave world full of things that they haven't blown up yet, couldn't be happier.

In gameplay, Gremolitions, inc are a single unit riding a hover-mortar into combat. The pair specialize in indirect damage, with all their attacks arcing over cover and walls and ignoring them wholesale, and several of their attacks drop mines if they fail to hit anything. Enemies who step on these mines take reduced damage compared to a direct hit, but the pair can quickly rack up the damage by simply dropping enough of them over time and letting the foe wander (or be blown) into them. Combined with a dash move and a propensity for dropping mines if anyone wanders too near behind their wall, the pair can be surprisingly hard to take out.

Gremolitions, inc's skills:

1. Boom Boom: A pair of bombs are dropped on two different spaces within an arc. Bombs that do not hit anyone remain behind as a mine for 2 rounds.
2. Splort!: Gremolitions, inc drop a mine on each space surrounding them, up to a maximum of 8. Anyone already standing on that space immediately takes damage as if they stepped on the mine.
3. Big Bang: A larger bomb is launched by the mortar onto a single space, dealing damage in a 3x3 area and sending anyone within the blast radius flying away from the epicentre, rooting them in place during the following move phase.
4. Bombing Run!: Gremolitions, inc perform a two-stage dash with their grav-mortar, damaging anyone at the takeoff or landing sites of their dash.
5. Ultimate – Maniacal Mayhem: Four bombs are launched from the mortar onto four different spaces, dealing damage in a 3x3 area. Enemies hit by more than one bomb take additional damage per bomb.

Tropes:

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Idd, who needs Odd around to tell him what they're doing.
• Cool Shades: Odd's glasses.
• Cosplay: Gremolitions' Great War skin. As the flavour text notes, they were created long after the War ended but there's no use trying to tell them that.
• The Dividual: Gameplay-wise, thanks to the hover-mortar.
• Fat and Skinny: Odd is the fat, and Idd is the skinny. In a departure from the trope's norm, they're both equally crazy.
• Laughing Mad: One of the taunts for their Ultimate ability consists of them loading up the mortar while cackling maniacally - fittingly called "Heh Heh HAHAHAHA".
• Mad Bomber: The pair are definitively not mentally stable.
• Making a Spectacle of Yourself: Idd's glasses.
• Our Homunculi Are Different: There are no "baseline" gremunculi to compare them to in-game, but the pair definitively have their own quirks to distinguish them.
• Not the Intended Use: Going by one of their lines, the Bombing Run move is implied to have been invented by the pair growing bored and wondering what happened if they aimed their cannon downward.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Idd is high-strung and sanguine. Odd is quiet and phlegmatic.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Their raison d'etre.
• Tim Taylor Technology: The Maniacal Mayhem taunt:
  "How many? Two?" "MORE!" "...Three?" "MORE!" "...Four?" "...OKAY!"
• Too Important to Walk: They're both seated on their hover mortar.
• Trap Master: Since their basic attack turns into a mine if it fails to hit, a Gremolitions player doesn't need to be in range of anyone to deal damage provided someone moves in a predictable pattern.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Their lines certainly indicate it. Idd's first action in the world was apparently to try to kill Odd.
  *Upon being revived* "Oh... They brought you back, too?" "...I'm not happy about it either."

Oz

The Trickster

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

Last survivor of a line of toys called "Jimmy 6 and His Magic Tricks" that Went Horribly Wrong when a production error equipped the toy line with military-grade laser weaponry and a propensity for free will, Oz was saved from the scrap heap by a fault in his recall chip that allowed him to escape recycling. Facing enough of a PR nightmare from the rest of the rampaging toys without the killing of a now-demonstrably sentient being on top of it, Warbiotics took advantage of the situation by upgrading Oz's equipment and software and putting the robot to use as a freelancer instead.

Gameplay-wise Oz is a mid-to-long range ranged freelancer based around his ability to drop a holographic afterimage of himself whenever he moves. The afterimage mimics Oz's current attack moves, allowing him to attack several targets at once (or focus both attacks on a single target for devastating effect). Able to swap places with his doppleganger or unleash attacks using the projection while staying safe behind cover himself, Oz can be a tricky character to use but devastating offensively once properly mastered. His main weakness involves movement and the hindring thereof; an Oz who gets slowed down or rooted over multiple turns is in big trouble indeed.

Oz's skills:

1. Phaser Laser: Both Oz and afterimage fire a single-target laser for middling damage. If both lasers hit the same target, damage is increased.
2. Photon Spray: Oz and the afterimage fire a cone of light, damaging anyone in the areas of effect. Targets hit by both cones take increased damage and cover only applies if it would cover both cones.
3. Zap Trap: Oz and the afterimage drop a lasery disco ball, dealing damage in a 3x3 square around their feet. The disco balls persist for a round, damaging anyone moving into the affected areas during the following phases.
4. Made You Look: Oz dashes, swapping place with his doppleganger and can act normally for the rest of the round, including moving and attacking.
5. Ultimate – Catch me if you Can: Oz dashes to a location within range and creates a pair of afterimages that dash to two additional locations. Anyone underneath the path of Oz or his afterimages takes damage, with increased damage the more paths cross over them. Oz will utilize both afterimages during the next turn for increased firepower.

Tropes:

• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Oz speaks with odd inflections that can only be intentional. Probably a result of some crossed wires, or having to learn to talk on his own.
• Achilles' Heel: As mentioned, slow and rooting effects. Being isolated from his afterimages by pulling or throwing also takes a significant chunk out of his damage potential, while shorter knockbacks render his dash effectively useless.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Oz is rated as a 'hard' character for beginners. Using his afterimages takes some getting used to, but Oz's single-target damage on his main attack can consistently hit for a lot of damage and he's no slouch in area-of-effect damage either.
• Energy Weapon: All of his attacks are laser-based in one way or another, and take the form of 'shots' of light.
• In the Hood: His default skin has a hoodie. Oz looted it from a dumpster after escaping the reclamation facility and has worn it ever snce.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Oz's other main weakness in normal play is the predictability of his dash: Since he always dashes to his afterimage he is very easy to predict and counter with traps or attacks. A clever Oz thus depends on tricking your opponent's expectations.
• Stage Magician: His alternate skin, complete with cape, top hat and magic wand.
• The Trickster: His personality evokes this trope fairly hard.

Elle

The Enforcer

Current affiliation: Omni

An ex-Warbiotics operative and Titan War veteran, Elle is currently a freelancer heavily associated with the Omni Trust. Rumours has it she is the Trust's top agent and literal troubleshooter (Omni has trouble; Elle shoots it) using her freelance activities as cover for her corporate job. A rumour is, however, all it is, since anyone able to say otherwise is either Elle, or dead. Most people, not wanting to deal with (or end up in) either category, tend to leave the question unasked.

In the gameplay, Elle is a short-to-medium range ranged freelancer based around her totally-not-a-shotgun plasma gun, which has a controllable cone of effect and lets Elle either deal damage over a wide area at short range or in a focused cone that reaches surprisingly far out. The key to Elle is preparation: She has several prep phase skills that synergize with each other and a very unique dash that come together to favour a hit-and-run playstyle based around heavy area-of-effect bursts followed by recharging. A skilled Elle can reliably output area-of-effect damage over areas other freelancers can only dream of, but she is vulnerable to being chased and pinned down and her lacking dash means she works best around corners.

Elle's skills:

1. Plasma Volley: A burst fired from Elle's plasma gun. Variable choke allows the player to fine-tune the area hit and the damage is always consistent. Mods for Plasma Volley also affect Combat Reflexes.
2. Combat Reflexes: Elle dashes a single square in any direction and then fires a Plasma Volley. Has 2 charges.
3. Overcharge: Elle spends a turn overcharging her plasma gun, increasing the damage of her next plasma gun attack. She can then make a double move in the movement phase.
4. Lurker Drone: A cloaked drone is deployed to watch over an area as a free action. Elle may trigger the drone as a free action in subsequent rounds, dealing damage to and slowing anyone hit by it, and it automatically fires after a few rounds. The drone cannot be overcharged.
5. Ultimate – Oblivion Shell: A supercharged shell deals damage in a gigantic arc in front of Elle, sending anyone hit flying (and Elle flying the other way from the recoil).

Tropes:

• Badass in a Nice Suit: Her default skin is a female suit.
• Blown Across the Room: Oblivion Shell does this to everyone hit...
  • Recoil Boost: ...And to Elle herself.
• Combo: All of Overcharge's mods combos into one or more playstyles and some can make Plasma Volley or Combat Reflexes add debuffs to targets. Mods on Plasma Volley also affect Combat Reflexes.
• Commissar Cap: Her "Great War" skin has one, to go with the military uniform.
• Corporate Samurai: Allegedly.
• Dramatic Gun Cock: All of her taunts.
• I Call It "Vera": Her plasma gun's name is "Maid Mary", according to her character biography.
• Lightning Bruiser: Elle has above-average HP for a firepower, her cone of attack is almost as big as Juno's, and her Overcharge (especially if modded to haste her) lets her cross over half the map in a single move, something only Gremolitions and Rampart can do reliably as well.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Elle's dash is unlike almost any other dash in the game, being almost exclusively an offensive tool and near useless in actually avoiding damage. Its main use is to pop around corners to hit someone who was out of range, and to avoid other dash attacks.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Implied to have been this in the past by her lines and her lore. When someone says their hobby is 'murder', you may start wondering.
• Short-Range Shotgun: Averted. The plasma gun has range on the level of most other ranged freelancers and suffers no drop-off with range, and Elle lampshades this in one of her lines. Can be played straight with a mod that enhances damage at close range.
  Elle: Never underestimate my range.
• The Stoic: Elle is always calm and most of her taunts sound almost bored.
• Unfriendly Fire: She is the reason Blackburn ended up in his current state, having fragged him during the Titan War.

Celeste

The Rogue

Current affiliation: HelioCorp (formely Wild Card)

International woman of mystery (figuratively speaking, there being no nations left after the reactors failed), Celeste is unique amongst the freelancers of Atlas in that her source of funding/backers and reasons for entering the Trust War are almost completely unknown and she is not known to take public funds from any side. Celeste claims to have performed successful break-ins on all three major Trusts and have already leaked secret info from Omni; this has left EvoS and Warbiotics looking slightly concerned at the mysterious newcomer...

Gameplay-wise, Celeste is a medium ranged firepower character designed around the gimmick of her grabber arms, ranged grapplers she can fire to attack enemies at range or grab powerups from afar to boost herself. Featuring a selection of direct attacks, area-of-effect attacks, dashes and prep traps with a twist, Celeste requires finesse and a bit of trickery to master – much in line with her in-game personality.

Celeste's skills:

1. Strong Arm: Celeste launches her grabbers, either at two targets for medium damage or at a single target for high damage. Either grabber can also be used to nick a power-up from its resting place and empower herself as if she'd just picked it up.
2. Proximo Charge: Celeste drops a hidden mine on a square within range during the prep phase. The mine arms itself the following round and will explode on any blast phase if there is a target standing within its area of effect, dealing damage to everyone within a 3x3 square area. Lasts 4 rounds or until triggered.
3. Smoke Bombs: Throws a pair of damaging smoke bombs that deal damage in a 2x2 area, with no bonus for overlapping. The smoke blocks line of sight for the opposing team.
4. On The Run: Celeste performs a 2-stage dash similar to Gremolitions, inc, dealing damage to anyone she passes through.
5. Ultimate – Safecracker: Overcharges Celeste's grabbers and performs an attack with massively increased damage, area of effect, and piercing. The grabbers also steal buffs from any enemies hit and applies them to Celeste on the next round.

Tropes:

• Classy Cat-Burglar: A cyberpunk version.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Learning to play Celeste involves knowing where to position yourself and when to best grab powerups, and to learn the (somewhat infuriating) controls involved in aiming her primary properly. Once mastered, Celeste can be equally infuriating for the enemy team by stealing their emergency plans and dealing heavy damage to the unaware.
• The Dragon/The Lancer: To Helio during the first season's story.
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Undoubtedly the most fanservicey female character, and has a very noticeable French accent.
• Gratuitous French: Lots of her quotes.
• Loveable Rogue: Her quotes indicate she's mostly in it for the fun and for tweaking the Trusts' noses.
• Pungeon Master: Not as bad as Finn, but her Strong Arm and Safecracker taunts involve hand- and punching-related puns.
• Spy Catsuit: Her primary skin.

Blackburn

The Last Soldier

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

The Sole Survivor of a Warbiotics commando squad that fought during the Titan War and were reputedly wiped out, Blackburn has been returned by his Trust to fight for them as a freelancer. It is currently unknown if Blackburn just didn't die or was resurrected by the Reactor, or whether this Blackburn is a robot duplicate with the dead soldier's memories/programmed to believe it is the dead soldier/a recovered brain encased in a robot exoskeleton. No matter which, it's clear Blackburn has returned from the dead to stay and fight for Warbiotics.

Gameplay-wise, Blackburn is a medium-ranged firepower character with a very straightforward play style based around flexible firepower options and heavy use of cover. He completely lacks any sort of prep-phase style trap and deals all his damage in blast phase, making him a damage dealer based around punishing anyone stupid enough to challenge him in the open.

Blackburn's skills:

1. Equalizer: An assault rifle burst that can either be fired at a single target for heavy damage or in a small cone for less damage over an area. Mods for Equalizer also affects Blitz.
2. Proteus Grenade: A grenade that deals damage in a 3x3 area. Can be lobbed over cover and walls to attack anyone hiding behind.
3. Adrenal Stim: Blackburn injects a syringe of something, granting him might and haste for the turn as a free action.
4. Blitz: Blackburn dashes to a nearby piece of cover or wall. In the following blast phase, he attacks using Equalizer.
5. Ultimate – Scorched Earth: An airstrike is called in to attack all targets in a line from one end of the map to the other. Ignores walls, but not cover.

Tropes:

• Black Humour: One of his lines when throwing Proteus Grenade is "dive on it, I dare you". Blackburn died by diving on a grenade.
• Boring, but Practical: Blackburn is based around this. He has no traps, no real skills that require all that much thinking and his setup and mods are fairly straight forward. He's just really good at shooting stuff.
• Combat Medic: Blackburn can mod his grenade and dash to heal and shield allies, giving him some (minor) support capability.
• Commanding Coolness: Blackburn's rank in the Titan War was commander. Elle was one of his soldiers, until she killed him.
• Death Seeker: Some of his quotes seem to indicate as much.
  Blackburn: Those bastards... They brought me back.
• The Faceless: Blackburn's full-body armour also covers his face. Whatever is beneath it is a mystery.
• Functional Addict: He seems to be addicted to his stimpacks.
• Healing Shiv: Proteus Grenade can be modded to heal any teammates it hits.
• Heroic Build: Very noticeably top-heavy and with a superhero-type build. Possibly justified by being a robot.
• Hope Spot: Think you've broken off the fight to go grab some healing powerups? Here comes Blackburn's ult from across the map! Just barely survived that? Hope you got out of the area, because the default mod for the ability causes a second bombing run at reduced damage to catch the unaware.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Whatever happened to Blackburn, his memories seem to have taken a toll from it.
• No-Sell: Inverted - because Blitz fires in the Blast phase, it's not dodged by other dash abilities like they do.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: His quotes implies he's not over the war at all.
• Shout-Out: His "Eliminator" skin.
• Super Prototype: Of Warbiotics Eliminators, which are mentioned in lore but do not show up in-game.
• Super-Soldier: One of his nicknames in the lore. Given that he may very well be more machine than man at this point, it would make him a straight example even if gameplay-wise he's about on par with everyone else.
• Take Cover!: Invoked by Blitz, which can only be targeted next to walls or pieces of cover.
• We Can Rebuild Him: Possibly the least disturbing of his potential origins.

Juno

The Last Word

Current affiliation: Omni

A former native of the slums that sprung up on the border of Atlas and the Waste, Juno grew up in poverty in the shadow of Atlas and made it her life's mission to move upwards socially. Years of hard work (and getting flagged by the Trusts as a potential security risk/asset after becoming a vigilante who killed troublemakers with home-made firearms) led to her sponsorship by the Omni trust and entrance to the city, eventually ascending to the post of chief of security. As she's essentially already living her dream, taking the next step as an Omni-sponsored freelancer in return for a resurrection contract seemed a logical next step.

Gameplay-wise Juno is a mid- to short-range freelancer specializing in area-of-effect attacks using cone-based attacks from her giant Arm Cannons. Unusually for a firepower character Juno is more designed around tanking damage than avoiding it: She has no dash but a powerful riot shield that can withstand a round's worth of attacks from most other characters. Juno is lethal against crowds, but in contrast also vulnerable to them as she has no way to avoid large volumes of focused firepower.

Juno's skills:

1. Laser Barrage: A large volume of laser fire deals moderate damage in two long but slim cones. Anyone taking damage from both lasers take additional damage.
2. Lockdown: Juno throws a trap at a single target in range during prep phase. If the target moves further than 2 squares away from the trap during the round (voluntarily or involuntarily), heavy damage is inflicted.
3. Off Limits: Juno slams the ground in front of her with her harness, damaging and knocking back any enemy within 2 squares.
4. Riot Shield: Juno throws a powerful shield on herself for 1 round.
5. Ultimate - Lay Down the Law: A powerful 1-square width beam fired from both laser cannons. While shorter-ranged than Laser Barrage, damage is higher and anyone running across the beam during movement takes damage as well. Costs only 50 energy to use, but Juno can extend the power and sweep the beam during the next round for 20 energy. Juno is immobile (but also unstoppable) while using the ultimate.

Tropes:

• Afro Asskicker: Her primary skin has a very noticeable one.
• Always Accurate Attack: Lockdown is guaranteed to deal damage if the target leaves the area. Even using teleportation catalysts, which will generally go by most traps without activating them, will still trigger Lockdown for full damage. The only exception to this rule is Rampart, whose shield can No-Sell Lockdown.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Juno is notably stouter than any other human in the game.
• Bullet Dancing: Referenced with her taunt for Laser Barrage and a mod for her ultimate that grants Haste when stopping it.
• Dual Mode Unit: Lay Down the Law essentially does this, trading Juno's movement for a powerful attack.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Not only has Juno no dash, unprecedented for a firepower, but her ultimate has a duration and costs less than 100 energy to use.
• Mighty Glacier: Juno can't dash at all and therefore is one of the least mobile characters in the game. With her base HP and Riot Shield she can tank more damage than Asana can, and her damage output and range is on the level of most other firepowers.
• More Dakka: Her Laser Barrage looks and sounds like a pair of machineguns, evoking this trope.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Her arm cannons are attached to a pair of robot arms mounted on her back.
• Rags to Riches: From the Death World of the Wasteland to a cushy job and a resurrection contract with one of the three Trusts in one adolescence.
• Shout-Out: Juno's Halloween skin is a fairly obvious one to Ghostbusters, only with 'ghosts' replaced with 'Quark'.
• Status Effects: Notable for being one of the very few sources of the "Scrambled" (effectively Silence) effect, via a mod on Lockdown.
• Stout Strength: Her harness seems to weigh a lot, and the Off Limits power can knock back anyone, even giants like Rampart.

Kaigin

The Warpstalker

Current affiliation: Wild Card (none)

A Cyberpunk Ninja, Kaigin was a product of Project Nidus before he disappeared and went rogue, surfacing later in Atlas as an independent freelancer with a self-funded mission (and an illegal Resurrection Contract given to him by Helio). Kaigin's current objectives for entering the Trust War are unknown, but he appears to have a bone to pick with Omni and his previous classmates and teachers...

In-game Kaigin is a melee freelancer based around stealth and hit and run attacks. His gimmick is 'voidmarking': Once Kaigin has hit a target, he gains damage bonuses by hitting the same target again on the following round. Kaigin is also an expert on teleporting, as all his dashes are teleportation-based and makes his movement patterns very hard to predict. To make up for his high damage and large area-of-effects, Kaigin is very fragile and will die quickly to sustained assault and his escape options if revealed are limited.

Kaigin's skills:

1. Twisting Blades: A three-pronged assault mimicking Asana's sword-strikes deals heavy damage to targets in front of Kaigin and lesser damage to targets on the side.
2. Razor Tempest: Launches a trio of shuriken at up to three targets for moderate damage. Targets struck by more than one shuriken take increased damage.
3. Void Strike: Kaigin teleports to a square adjacent to an enemy during dash phase and strikes them for heavy damage. Allows for a single move during movement phase.
4. Shadowstalker: Drops a smoke bomb at Kaigin's feet as a free action during blast phase, creating an area of smoke that can conceal allies in a 3x3 square radius. Kaigin goes invisible until after the next decision phase even if he leaves the smoke.
5. Ultimate - Spectre of Death: Kaigin teleports to a square within range and unleashes Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs at all targets within 2 squares, dealing heavy damage. Damage is reduced the more targets are hit.

Tropes:

• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Of Su-Ren and Project Nidus in general.
• Blind Weaponmaster: Kaigin is apparently blind. The lore suggests he 'reads' spatial signatures rather than using vision. This has no effect on his gameplay: Invisibility panels and Celeste's smoke bombs will affect him like everyone else.
• Bring It: Does a two-finger variation for his Twisting Blades taunt, which was then made into an overcon.
• Cool Mask: A visor that covers his eyes.
• Cyber Ninja: His default concept may or may not count (the technology enhancing Kaigin might as well be magic and and he's still made entirely of meat), but his third skin definitively evokes this trope by turning his body entirely robotic. The lore text also notes that having this happen to him would be his worst nightmare.
• Dramatic Wind: Kaigin has a scarf sticking out of his back that's always waving like he's standing in light breeze.
• Eye Scream: Tol-Ren tore his eyes out.
• Flashy Teleportation: With Speed Echoes. His unique power granted by Project Nidus apparently lets him move anywhere he wants, even inside the Reactor.
• Kill the God: Kaigin stabs the Atlas Reactor at the end of season 1, temporarily destroying it.
• Meaningful Rename: Like Asana, Kaigin's name is taken from his weapons. His real name is Sevi.
• Not the Intended Use: You can use the Fetter catalyst to pop Void Mark, although it will not apply it.
• Red Right Hand: Kaigin doesn't breathe.
• Smoke Out: Shadowstalker.
• Speed Echoes: Kagin gets these when using Twisting Blades and Spectre of Death, representing him teleporting in and out as he attacks.
• Stealth Expert: Like PuP and Nix, Kaigin can go invisible at will. The cooldown on his stealth is higher than theirs however.
• The Stoic: Speaks in a monotone, whispering voice.
  • Subverted in the lore: Kaigin is much more animated when interacting with Asana. He finds the 'dark and mysterious' image the public has saddled him with to be hilarious.
• Walking Armoury: Carries his blades, smoke bombs and an assortment of shuriken in addition to his teleportation abilities.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Asana during Season 1. Averted as of season 2, with the two having seemingly reconciled.

Tol-Ren

The Robo Ronin

Current affiliation: Omni

Tol-Ren is an ancient robot said to be one of 13 Rens, androids created by (or who created, it's a bit unclear) the Omni trust and who are in service to GAIA and the titans. Like others of the Rens, he was apparently involved in Project Nidus that created Asana and Kaigin, and at some point suffered an untimely death by having his heart (or whatever passes for one for an android) ripped from his chest. Restored to life and functionality (if not necessarily to sanity), Tol-Ren has entered Atlas and the Freelancer business.

Gameplay-wise Tol-Ren is a melee firepower-frontliner hybrid, wielding his sword to do high melee damage at a surprisingly long range. Tol-Ren also comes with a self-shielding move and a movement restrictor that makes him function as a quasi-frontliner, although he is much more frail than your average frontliner and shouldn't expect to stand up to sustained fire.

Tol-Ren's skills:

1. Twin Slashes: Two sword attacks in swift succession: A sweeping slash that strikes in a cone 90 degrees wide and 2 squares long, followed by a three range overhead slash. Targets hit by both attacks take additional damage. The overhead slash can be aimed independently of the sweep, allowing Tol-Ren to strike at targets all around him.
2. Ren's Fury: Tol-Ren employs a personal shield during prep phase as a free action. If attacked this round, Tol-Ren's next attack deals additional damage.
3. Spirit Rend: A Sword Beam that travels along a set path, damaging and slowing all targets caught by it. The beam can be curved to help strike more targets or negate cover.
4. Rushing Steel: Tol-Ren dashes to a spot and delivers a thrusting attack with similar characteristics to his primary's overhead attack but can only be aimed in a small frontal cone. Tol-Ren may freely move after using this attack.
5. Ultimate - Showdown: A targeted dash that is aimed at a spot on the ground, leaving behind a Speed Echo of Tol-Ren and a Diagonal Cut through the first target in his path. During blast phase, the target takes heavy damage and is knocked down and rooted.

Tropes:

• Anti-Frustration Features: If the target for Showdown dashes away, Tol-Ren is refunded 50 energy. Notably, this is innate to the ability compared to other freelancers that specifically have to mod the effect onto their ultimates.
• Arch-Enemy: Kaigin. Tol-Ren removed Kaigin's eyes. Kaigin stabbed Tol-Ren in the heart.
• Back from the Dead: According to his backstory, which explains his absence in Atlas until his reveal.
• BFS: Wields what appears to be a no-dachi, a Japanese two-handed sword. The blade is longer than he is.
• Evil Laugh: His taunt for Showdown.
• Exact Words: Note the wording on his ult's refund effect. You MUST have your attack dodged to get the refund, and will spend all 100 energy if you fail to hit anyone (i.e. using it just to avoid damage).
• In the Back: His first action upon being revived is to seek out Kaigin and impale him from behind.
• Monster Knight: Well, a robot samurai.
• Revenant: Built into his character design, and the title you get from levelling him to level 20.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: Like Su-Ren, Tol-Ren has a skin that perfectly resembles a human and a more robotic skin. Unlike Su-Ren, his robotic form is his default one.
• Samurai: Even more so than Asana.
• Single-Stroke Battle: His ultimate. Can even be reversed onto Tol-Ren if his target survives but he takes lethal damage (from traps or predictive fire).
• Sword Beam: Spirit Bend.

NEV:3

The Kitten Kaboomer

Current affiliation: EvoS

Kara St. James was once an ordinary lab technician, working under Dr. Finn with animal models and hybridization at EvoS' Hybrid Evolution Research Department, until one fateful day... Nothing really out of the ordinary happened. Unless you count 'turned yourself into a Cat Girl because you thought it'd be fun' is out of the ordinary. Which in EvoS' labs, it really isn't.

As a result of her benign play-testing, St. James was offered a promotion as new lead spokesperson/mascot for the department to show Atlas the benefits of their research. Someone in the board had apparently figured out that a mass of unbridled rage, a (literally) man-eating nightmare monster, a pair of lunatics obsessed with exploding things and a half-fish man who can't stop speaking in puns may not have the right 'camera presence' for the trust's PR department. Go figure. Rechristened New Evolutionary Variant 3 or NEV:3, EvoS provided a freelancer contract and thus created a new darling in Atlas' media war, a role that NEV:3 took to with pride.

In the gameplay, NEV:3 is a medium-range ranged freelancer equipped with energy chakrams called 'catarangs'. The chakrams are thrown out as part of her attacks, and will return to NEV:3's current location during the following blast phase. The return deals additional damage to any enemy standing in their path. The catarangs ignore walls and cover on the return path but not when thrown, making playing NEV:3 a balancing act between standing in field-of vision to get the big damage on initial throw while second-guessing your opponent's movements to maximize output by adding the return on top of it.

NEV:3's skills:

1. Catarang: NEV:3 throws a catarang out to its maximum range (or until it hits a wall), damaging any enemies under its travelling path. On the next blast phase the catarang returns to her location, dealing (reduced) damage to any enemies under its travelling path.
2. Embiggify: As a free action, NEV:3 doubles the size of an already deployed catarang (including Mouse Trap catarangs). When returning, this catarang deals additional damage and slows enemies hit by it.
3. Mouse Trap: Throws a special catarang during prep phase that stops when it hits a target, reveals said target, and then hovers in place. The catarang deals no damage this round, but on the next round it will launch itself to where the target was standing during the Decision Phase, dealing damage to anyone along its path (and to the target when it reaches it).
4. Catrobatics: NEV:3 throws a catarang in a chosen direction and then dashes along the floor in another chosen direction. She can then move normally in the movement phase.
5. Ultimate - Cataclysm: Throws three catarangs at once, in either a fan or a triangular formation. Targets do not take additional damage from overlapping catarangs. Costs 50 energy.

Tropes:

• Animesque: NEV:3's character design, from her giant eyes to her clothing, makes her look fairly anime.
• Boomerang Comeback: The crux to NEV:3's playstyle. Catarangs even return post mortem, allowing NEV:3 to (potentially) kill someone while respawning.
• Cat Girl: Her character concept and design.
• Fun Purrsonified: Very much so, going by her lines and lore.
• Genki Girl: She makes Zuki look restrained by comparison.
• Horrible Judge of Character: She thinks Rask is just a big ol' softie. Why, the other day, he was so eager to play catch with her he threw several hundred kilos worth of objects at her at the same time! Just a barrel of laughs, that Rask.
• Lab Assistant Guinea Pig: Much like Dr. Finn, her hybridization was self-performed and entirely willingly.
• Perky Female Minion: To Dr. Finn, although he's hardly 'dark and serious' on his own.
• Pungeon Master: Almost as bad as Finn. This may explain why they get on so well.
• Rings of Death: All of NEV:3's attacks are chakram-based.
• Sailor Fuku: Her default skin.
  • Spy Catsuit: Her main alternate one.
• Shout-Out: She has a rainbow-coloured skin called 'Nyan'.
• Super Prototype: Averted, as the lore mentions that the NEV process has been performed at least twice before. The previous subjects may or may not have melted as a result, but that's a minor detail.

Vonn

The Scion of Ice

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

The second of Warbiotics' first-generation Cyborg soldiers, a project to imbue humans with superhuman strength and Elemental Powers that was (literally) put on ice when the Hyperion reactor fell mid-creation. Vonn spent the following century as a Human Popsicle until Meridian and Helio were able to team up to restore the Hyperion reactor to functionality. Upon being re-awakened and his modifications completed, Vonn re-joined Warbiotics under their new banner with a Resurrection Contract.

Gameplay-wise Vonn is a mid-range ranged firepower character, mixing a series of straightforward direct attacks with a powerful self-shielding move. His character-specific gimmick is his ability to generate 'cryo cores' on targets he hits: These cores function similarly to Kaigin's warp marks and rewards Vonn for continually hitting the same target over and over again. Similarly to Juno, Vonn's defense is based around toughness rather than evasion as he has absolutely no dash moves whatsoever.

Vonn's skills:

1. Icebreaker: A basic single-target attack that inflicts a cryo core on the opponent.
2. Cold Snap: Surrounds a friendly freelancer (or Vonn) with an aura of freezing during prep phase as a free action. Anyone who damages the aura's bearer with direct damage takes a small amount of indirect damage and a cryo core.
3. Arctic Blast: A 60-degree cone that damages and slows targets within.
4. Ice Aegis: Vonn slams the ground and surrounds himself with a powerful shield of ice during prep phase. The slam also slows enemies within two squares. The shield lasts for 2 rounds, and Vonn can make a double move this round.
5. Ultimate - Polar Vortex: Creates a 4x4 blizzard within range of Vonn, dealing damage and slowing anyone caught within. The blizzard lasts 2 rounds and inflicts indirect damage on anyone moving (or thrown) inside this round, as well as anyone still inside it on the following round. Vonn can also move the blizzard as a free action on the following round, dealing additional damage to anyone it hits.

Tropes

• An Ice Person: His entire gimmick and playstyle.
• Arm Cannon: All his moves are fired from his right arm.
• Combo: Vonn's playstyle is based around his cryo cores and several of his mods play into them, giving advantages the more cryo cores you can inflict on enemies.
• Counter-Attack: Cold Snap in a nutshell. The skill has no defensive benefits whatsoever beyond punishing those attacking its carrier.
• Cyborg: His face is the only thing left human on the outside.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: His taunt for Polar Vortex features some very off-key singing.
• Mighty Glacier: Quite literally in many ways, as he uses a glacier to shield himself.
• Personality Powers: Stoic, detached, enduring, and favours attacking at good range.
• Pungeon Master: Easily keeps up with Dr. Finn and NEV in the puns department due to his ice puns.
• Super Prototype: Justified by the rest of his product line being shelved by Hyperion's fall.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to his sister's Red.
• The Stoic: You might say he's 'cool under fire'.

Lex

The Scion of Fire

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

The first of Warbiotics' first-generation Cyborg soldiers. Like her brother, Lex was in the process of being given cybernetic implants when the Hyperion reactor fell mid-upgrade, and Meridian had the twins beome Human Popsicles to save their lives. Unlike Vonn, Lex's upgrades were finished enough for her to thaw out on her own when Hyperion when back on-line, and escape into the wilderness surrounding Hyperion. When a suspiciously large amount of wildfires eventually drew the attention of HelioCorp and Hyperbiotics, Meridian mounted an expedition to recover Lex that saw both twins reunited under Hyperbiotics' banner.

In the gameplay Lex is a (literal) firepower freelancer with strong frontliner secondary options. Her gameplay is based around aggression and in-your-face action, with short-ranged primary attacks with wide arcs. Her gimmick is her ability to set the arena on fire beneath her attacks, causing wildfires that deal weak indirect damage to enemies that stand on or move across them. While she'll wither quickly under focused fire, Lex can be relied upon to burn out doing more damage than she takes.

Lex's skills:

1. Firestarter: Fires flames from three-square long cones that can be aimed individually. Squares (and targets) hit by both flamethrowers are set on fire, dealing an additional five indirect damage.
2. Flashpoint: Launches an explosive charge at Lex or another freelancer during prep phase. During blast phase the charge explodes, dealing light indirect damage to all enemies within 2 squares of the charge carrier but not to the carrier itself.
3. Afterburner: A short dash in a chosen direction that will stop either when it reaches the selected square or when it hits a solid obstacle (like an invisible enemy or Rampart's Bulwark). Upon stopping, Lex slams the ground and sets the ground 2 squares around her on fire, dealing direct damage to all enemies within this radius and starting wildfires.
4. Backdraft: Lex makes a Badass Armfold and creates a shield around herself. During blast phase, Lex fires a fireball in a chosen direction that deals light damage, and if she's struck by direct damage this turn she'll fire a second fireball that deals the same damage and sets the ground underneath its path on fire.
5. Ultimate - Superheated: As a free action during prep phase, Lex supercharges her flamethrowers. All enemies hit by her attacks or stepping in wildfire this round are set on twice as much fire and take additional indirect damage on the following round, the flames also revealing their position. Lex will also trigger Vonn's cryo cores with her attacks this round. Costs 50 energy.

Tropes

• Arm Cannon: Her flamethrowers are placed in her wrists.
• Badass Armfold: Part of Backdraft's animation.
• Blood Knight: Loves fighting, and fire, and fighting using fire, and fighting fire with fire, and most other combinations of fire and fighting.
• Boring, but Practical: Superheated does nothing except add slight amounts of damage to Lex's abilities for a round. Its real use is in its mod options that all grant Lex healing or a wide variety of buffs, encouraging you to fire it off as often as you can.
• Close-Range Combatant: Like Tol-Ren, Kaigin and PuP, Lex is based around short-range firepower.
• Combo: Similar to Vonn, Lex depends on interplay between her skills and denying ground with wildfire in order to rack up the damage. Her ult also lets you trigger Vonn's cryo cores, rewarding having both on the same team.
• Counter-Attack: Backdraft is intended to work this way, and may do it depending on your aim. Since it is a ground-based skill shot, there is no guarantee you'll actually hit anyone who attacks you.
• Cyborg: Like her brother, but less so. Lex's modification is mostly limited to her back and limbs, though her face bears marks of cybernetic enhancement as well.
• Damage Over Time: Superheated and the wildfires all do this, adding to Lex's base damage potential.
• Fiery Redhead: Literally.
• Personality Powers: Very Hot-Blooded, aggressive and features an extremely direct playstyle.
• Playing with Fire: Her entire gimmick and playstyle.
• Power Floats: Activating Superheated causes Lex to hover over the ground while cackling maniacally.
• Pungeon Master: Almost as fond of fire puns as her brother is of ice puns.
• Pyromaniac: Whatever you can say of Lex's relation to her powers, 'dislike' is not one of them.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Vonn's blue.
• Super Prototype: Underwent the procedure slightly before Vonn, and like him was intended to be the first of many until Hyperion fell.

Frontliner Freelancers

General Tropes:

• An Adventurer Is You: The Meat Shield, combined with AOE status effects. Frontliners can take damage and dish it out fairly well too, and they usually have larger AOE than Firepowers and some degrees of buffs/debuffs (although not to the level of Supports).
• Anti-Escape Mechanism: All Frontliners have moves that pull, throw, slow or root opposing freelancers, and some have several. All of them (except Rampart) also have an offensive dash with long range, intended to close the gap with an escaping foe.
• Close-Range Combatant: Most firepower freelancers have an at-will attack with a range of 7 squares. Until Phaedra was introduced, none of the frontliners had an at-will attack with a range longer than 3, and of the ones introduced since only Isadora goes beyond a range of 4 squares.
• Dash Attack: Frontliner dashes are universally offensive in nature, dealing damage either at the end-point or during transit. This is not to say they can't be used for escaping, but you're just as likely to see them being used offensively.
• Lightning Bruiser: Frontliners have higher HP than Firepowers, usually have a move that avoids or mitigates damage, and deal almost as much damage and over larger areas than Firepowers do. Their main balancing element is range: Most Firepowers can easily hit targets 5-7 squares away at will while Frontliners must use cooldown abilities to reach beyond 2-3 squares.

Asana

The Techno Tachi

Current affiliation: Wild Card (formerly Omni)

A participant of Project Nidus, an Omni experiment in creating super soldiers from nanomachine enhancements of normal humans, Asana serves as a high-ranking bodyguard of Omni personnel when not serving the Trust as a freelancer operative. As part of her enhancement and conditioning, Asana has taken on the values and outlook of early-civilization warrior honour codes. It also turned her skin purple.

Gameplay-wise, Asana is a frontliner based around swordplay that gives her good melee coverage at a slight cost of range, and her ability to generate personal shields and forcefields to aid herself. With all of her essentials (melee attack, dash, damage mitigation and a lockdown move) in place, plus a powerful ultimate that lets her shield her allies, Asana is a good all-rounder that pays for her flexibility by not being as specialized in damage, survival or movement as the other frontliners.

Asana's skills:

1. Whirling Death: Asana slashes her blade twice, hitting all enemies within 2 squares of herself within a 270 degree zone for moderate damage.
2. Rebounding Charge: Asana dashes in a chosen direction in a straight line, bouncing off the first obstacle in her way. Any enemy hit, either as first target or during rebound, is damaged and Asana will chase them during the next movement phase.
3. Stand and Fight: A ranged Sword Beam damages and roots a single target at range for 1 round.
4. Retribution: Asana generates a bubble of energy around herself, gaining a significant shield for 1 round and damaging anyone who hits her with bolts of energy.
5. Ultimate - Guardian Angel: Asana launches her sword at a distant square during prep phase, shielding all nearby allies (and herself) with a powerful shield. During dash phase she then teleports to that square, striking the ground in an explosion that damages nearby enemies.

Tropes:

• Amazing Technicolour Population: As mentioned, Asana's skin is purple. According to the character bios, mentioning this in her presence is one of the quickest ways of getting on her bad side.
• Barrier Warrior: Her Retribution skill, being crux to her frontliner status, and Guardian Angel.
• Big Damn Heroes: Invoked by her ultimate, which is modded by default to have global range to allow cross-map intervention.
• Calling Your Attacks: For Whirling Death.
• Corporate Samurai: Both in her clear Omni affiliation and her mindset.
• Counter-Attack: Retribution.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Asana abandons Omni and Su-Ren at the end of season 1 for Kaigin, wanting to know what drove him to attempt to kill the Atlas Reactor.
• Jack of All Stats: Amongst the frontliners, Asana falls between the more offensive-minded Tidus and Garrison and the more tank-like Rampart and Rask.
• Laser Blade: Her sword is made of pure energy and was, like the rest of the Nidus weapons, reputedly forged in the heart of a Reactor by a Titan.
• Meaningful Rename: Asana was originally named Rin. The name 'Asana' technically belongs to the sword, with the warrior carrying it having taken its name.
• Purple Prose: Her taunts tend to be flowery and elaborate, no pun intended.
• Samurai: Her character design seems (loosely) based on it, what with her scale armour, sword and honour code.
• Sword Beam: Stand and Fight.
• Tattoo as Character Type: Asana has very visible line tattoos on her face, fitting a frontline warrior with an honour aspect to her personality.
• Too Fast to Stop: If the target for Rebounding Charge also dashes, Asana can find herself uncontrollably bouncing around and in an undesirable location.

Garrison

The One Man Army

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

War hero of Warbiotics both during the Titan War and the hotter portions of the Trust War, Garrison fought as a frontline trooper and squad leader when an arms deal that went haywire crippled his body and forced him to wear Powered Armour to remain active. With the war having winded down in intensity, Garrison's credentials saw him sponsored by Warbiotics with a resurrection contract and he has brought his wartime tools and equipment, including his armour, to the arena of freelancing.

In gameplay Garrison is an aggressive-minded frontliner. His self-shield is tied to his dash (which is designed for offensive use), and all his moves are attack-oriented with a good mixture of melee and ranged capabilities. Garrison thrives as a giant one-man distraction to drop in unannounced and create havoc on the enemy backline, and has the tools for hunting and destruction of Support and Firepower characters if supported.

Garrison's skills:

1. Piston Punch: A punch that deals damage in a 2x3 square area next to Garrison. The closest enemy will bear the brunt of the attack, but anyone else nearby will take damage as well.
2. Hand Cannon: Garrison fires a wrist-mounted cannon at a single target within medium range, damaging and slowing them. The round subsequently explodes outwards in a small cone, damaging any enemies standing behind the first one.
3. Missile Barrage: Garrison activates his backpack missile launcher. On the following round's blast phase it fires a missile at every target within 4 squares of Garrison, dealing light damage. Ignores cover.
4. Heavy Metal: A Jet Pack-based dash that deals damage and slows anyone within 1 square of the landing site. It ignores walls, cover and traps but has a minimum range. Garrison gains a shield that lasts 2 rounds.
5. Ultimate - Shockpod: Garrison calls in a crate of supplies anywhere on the map, dealing medium damage in a 4x4 area and dropping health pickups in the center 2x2 area. Will instantly heal allies if targeted so a health pickup lands on them.

Tropes:

• Arm Cannon: His hand cannon. Garrison having a very short cooldown on it means he can employ it practically every round.
• Bald of Authority: Almost. If you overlook a tiny stripe of hair on top, Garrison is otherwise bald.
• Blood Knight: Garrison loves fighting and drinking.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Very friendly both on the field and off it.
• Clingy Costume: Like Rask and Grey, Garrison seems to depend on his armour for survival.
• Damage Over Time: Missile Barrage fires the round after it's activated. Garrison can also run mods to fire it over several rounds, increasing this effect.
• Death from Above: Shockpod.
• Did Not Do the Bloody Research: Garrison regularly throws around 'bugger' and 'tosser', which are still fairly rude words in Great Britain.
• Funny Background Event: Garrison's heads-up display apparently runs a chat client while he's fighting. Smilies are visible on it when he taunts.
• Glass Cannon: Amongst the frontliners. Garrison is extremely offensive-minded with all of his moves dealing damage and has a long-range attack on a very low cooldown, but he has no dedicated self-shielding move, instead gaining shields whenever he dashes.
• Goomba Stomp: Essentially what Heavy Metal involves. Garrison doesn't actually land on someone, but just being close enough will hurt.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: Heavy Metal creates cracks in the floor upon landing. They are purely aesthetic however.
• Healing Shiv: Need to heal an ally in a pinch? Drop a giant supply box on their head! One mod for the ability encourages this by improving the healing of any powerups that land on an ally.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Played straight by his default skin, averted in one of his alternates which includes helmet. Also lampshaded in one of his 'close to death' quotes where he notes it's a good thing nobody seems to aim for his head.
• Hope Spot: Similar to Blackburn's ultimate, Shockpod has unlimited range and can nail a target from anywhere on the map. It can also be modded to heal friendlies underneath for 25 damage (up to 55 if they pick up the other three health pick-ups), turning what you might think is a Mutual Kill into "you die, your target does not".
• Shout-Out: When attacked, Garrison has a habit of replying "I've had worse!".
• Walking Armoury: A Power Fist, a Jet Pack, a backpack-mounted missile launcher, an Arm Cannon and a drop pod guidance system. Garrison is armed to the teeth.
• Working-Class Hero: He shares a voice actor with Nix, and consequently the Cockney/London accent that evokes this.

Rask

The Rage Beast

Current affiliations: EvoS

Project Rask is the magnum opus of EvoS's evolution labs, a hybrid artificial lifeform with human intelligence, attached to an experimental "power juice" harness and pumping system that provides unprecedented strength and regenerative abilities. Unfortunately, he also happens to have a slight anger problem.

...Okay, it might be somewhat worse than 'slight'.

...Look, we're not going to go out and say that he's a five hundred pound mass of unbridled rage powered by highly unstable mutagens, but... Yeah. In addition to serving as company mascot and flagship product, this also makes him a natural freelancer.

In the gameplay, Rask is a frontline freelancer who specializes in tanking and persistence hunting of vulnerable targets. Rask has the ability to gain energy not just by attacking, but also by taking damage. His single-target damage is notably low, but he hits over a wide area, and thanks to his regenerative abilities, his dash, and his unique ultimate, Rask is extremely hard to kill and almost as hard to get away away from. A good Rask will throw enemy formations (and battleplans) in disarray by forcing them to split up or become (literal) fodder for his rage while soaking damage like a sponge. A nuclear-powered, mutated death sponge.

Rask's skills:

1. Maul: A pair of claw swipes hit all targets within a three-square 150 degree cone. Targets next to Rask take additional damage.
2. Upheaval: A power-juice-powered Super Rug-Pull damages and throws a single target back away from Rask, preventing them from moving the next movement phase.
3. Pain Train: Rask dashes a short distance in any direction, damaging anyone caught underneath his traveling path.
4. Augmented Regeneration: Activates Rask's Healing Factor, healing damage over 2 rounds. If Rask is heavily damaged, healing is increased by 50%.
5. Ultimate - Uncontrollable Fury: Rask's power juice reserves overflow, causing him to vomit pools of it on every square within 2 squares of his location, and resetting the cooldowns on Upheaval, Pain Train and Augmented Regeneration. Unlike other ultimates, Uncontrollable Fury is, well, uncontrollable (unless specifically modded otherwise) and activates whenever Rask starts his turn at 100 energy, but is also a free action that allows Rask to act normally afterwards.

Tropes:

• Ax-Crazy: Rask is... Not mentally stable. Like, at all.
• The Berserker: His lore, taunts and lines all support such a mindset, but it should be noted that playing Rask this way is probably a quick path to get killed.
• Clingy Costume: His harness.
  It didn't matter where Rask was. His true enclosure was the armour.
• Death Seeker: It's implied by his death quotes that Rask may not be entirely happy with his life.
  Rask: Release... At last...
• Evil Laugh: When reduced to low HP.
• Husky Russkie: Has a notable Russian accent.
• Is That the Best You Can Do?: Most of his reactions to being hit go either into this or Combat Sadomasochist territory.
• Mascot: In-Universe, for EvoS. They must have a very good PR team.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: His energy-by-being attacked shtick was unique until Orion was introduced. There is also the way his ultimate functions, by activating automatically but refreshing all his cooldowns, leads to Rask playing slightly differently than most other frontliners. As Competitive Balance, this also means that his individual skills tend to be slightly weaker than their counterparts amongst other frontliners.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: A four-legged, humanoid cat-hedgehog-gorilla-bear... Thing. One of his nicknames is 'manbearcat'.
• No Indoor Voice: Rask practically screams every single one of his lines. Averted in the lore where it's noted that his 'indoor voice' when not hopped up on drugs is closer to a baritone.
• No OSHA Compliance: Averted, amusingly enough. His harness contains appropriate warning labels, letting us known he contains flammable, explosive, toxic and radioactive components.
• Odd Friendship: With Quark. The two are completely incapable of communicating with each other, which either makes this even odder or perfectly explains it.
• Panthera Awesome: Whatever went into his creation, 'big cat' seems to have been a significant subset.
• Primal Chest-Pound: When using Augmented Regeneration.
• Shout-Out: Rask's "Redox" skin has the same colouring scheme as Unit 01, another bio-mechanical creation with severe rage issues.
• Social Darwinist: His lines espouse this kind of view.
• Technicolor Toxin: His ultimate scatters pools of green-glowing material around him that damages anyone standing on them.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Rask's arms are easily twice the size of his legs, and his hips are smaller than his head. This probably explains why he spends most his time on four legs.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: His speech, due to being a snarling Russian cat.
• Why Won't You Die?: If played well, Rask can easily take enough damage to kill most freelancers twice over and live even without help from his support.

Titus

The Bounty Hunter

Current affiliation: HelioCorp (formerly Wild Card)

Titus is a native of the Waste outside of Atlas, the Sole Survivor of an event that wiped out the rest of his tribe, and an extremely skilled warrior on top of it. He gained his renown following the Reactor failures when he would make a show of exterminating Waste natives and byproducts of the war that hounded refugees running to Atlas, for no other reason than wanting to kill things. With the war over Titus moved into Atlas proper, selling his (considerable) skills to the highest bidder for the promise of a resurrection contract.

Gameplay-wise Titus is an offensive frontliner. His skills deal above-average damage for a frontliner and he has high mobility and reach with his attacks, in return for lacking a self-heal or self-shield. A skilled Titus will put these skills to use by singling out enemy targets and relentlessly chasing them down, killing them before their own skills get a chance to recover while avoiding focused fire that can deplete his non-replenishing health pool.

Titus' skills:

1. Overhead Swing: Titus brings his giant sword down in a 3-square length line, striking anyone at the line itself with moderate damage and creating a small shockwave 1 square to each side of the line that deals lesser damage to anyone at the edge of the effect.
2. Berserker Charge: Titus dashes forward in a straight line, stopping only if he hits a wall or a target. In the case of a target Titus will perform a Spin Attack, damaging anyone in range and slowing the primary target for the round. If Berserker Charge hits a target, cooldown is halved.
3. Thundering Roar: A War Cry during prep phase that weakens all enemies within 2 squares.
4. Dirty Fighting: Titus throws a dagger at an enemy during prep phase, revealing them. Should the target take damage during the round from another source (be it from Titus, another teammate or a trap), the dagger explodes and deals additional damage.
5. Ultimate - Deathblow: Titus brings his sword into the ground and creates a massive shockwave in a 120 degree cone. Is more powerful the closer the victim is: Does heavy damage and root to targets up to two squares away, medium damage and slow to targets within the middle arc, and minor damage and no CC to far-away targets.

Tropes:

• The Atoner: His description notes he's come to Atlas to atone. Most likely it involved the death of his tribe.
• Barbarian Hero: A cyberpunk barbarian. Taken to the hilt with his alternate skin.
• Big Eater: Described as grabbing a steak off the plate and eating it, bone and all, before the waiter could even properly serve it.
• BFS: His claymore is bigger than he is.
• Combat Pragmatist: His Dirty Fighting skill. Though in the context of the rest of the game, 'throwing daggers' is hardly all that dirty.
• Heroic Build: Possibly the most clear-cut example in the game besides Blackburn.
• Glory Seeker: Another reason for his move to Atlas, and his profession in general.
• Perma-Stubble: Very noticeable when he taunts.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: Titus' dash has this problem. It can only travel in a straight line, has a very long range, and doesn't end until it reaches max range or a target, so if it doesn't hit someone it can put Titus in a bad position.
• Shout-Out: His Halloween skin resembles Blade, with the mask also bringing to mind Deathstroke.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: His alternate skin.

Rampart

The Wall

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

Following the Titans defecting and awakening every robot on Earth, humanity instituted a blanket ban on the creation and research into further sentient AI, rightfully assuming this would lead to a swelling of enemy ranks. Apparently one of Warbiotics' subdivisions didn't get the note, however, leading to the creation of Rampart, a mk. 2.5 warbot deemed "insufficiently sentient" to pose a threat to humanity. A war veteran of the Titan War, Rampart has been given freelancer status by Warbiotics and serves as a company veteran and spokesrobot on the topic of current-generation AI. Exactly how sentient Rampart is is unknown to anyone save himself, but every indication seems to be that he is highly empathic and protective of humans and newer robots alike — as long as he's not being paid to kill them as part of his freelancer duties, at any rate.

In-game Rampart is a pure physical wall. His gameplay is centered around his signature sword and shield setup, allowing him to deal good damage at arm's length and tank inordinate amounts of damage by interposing his shield in the way of incoming attacks. To balance his high defense and melee offense, Rampart has no normal dash skill and can thus fall victim to being unable to keep up with the opposing team, or being unable to escape if things go south. Still, being stuck with Rampart in a one-on-one within melee range is a frightening prospect for most freelancers.

Rampart's skills:

1. Rhadamantium Flurry: Rampart engages in a stab and spin cycle, stabbing his sword arm out 3 squares before retracting and performing a Spin Attack towards anyone within 1 square of his current location. The stab deals more damage than the spin, with no bonus damage for being within both areas.
2. Bulwark: Rampart deploys his shield in a 3-square line during prep phase, creating a wall. Any attack or dash that would be stopped by a solid wall are rendered ineffective. During blast phase the shield emits a wave of energy in a 2 by 3 square, damaging and slowing anyone hit by it. This move always goes first and will block certain prep phase debuffs, like Grey's darts.
3. Fusion Lance: A Rocket Punch of Rampart's sword arm, complete with a retracting cable, impales a single target at range and reels them into melee range of Rampart's current location. Attempting to pull someone through a wall diagonally will cause them to strike the wall instead. Either way, they are rooted for the rest of the round.
4. Unstoppable Force: Rampart becomes unstoppable and hasted for one round, increasing movement and preventing any movement-impairing or modifying effects.
5. Ultimate - Aegis Protocol: Rampart dashes to a chosen location during dash phase, and then deploys his shield in a chosen direction, blocking attacks like with Bulwark during blast phase. Any enemies traveled over or within 1 square of his end square are damaged and slowed.

Tropes

• Big Damn Heroes: One of the main uses of Aegis Protocol is to dash to a teammate in trouble and throw down his Bulwark to save them.
• Calling Your Attacks: The taunt for Aegis Protocol. Also counts as Lampshade Hanging.
  Rampart: Ultimate Ability Activated.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Rampart's quotes when attacking or being attacked are somewhat strange, at least from what you'd expect from a giant killbot. The lore also mentions that his childhood dream was to become a space rocket.
• Counter-Attack: Bulwark can be modded to provide this effect, damaging anyone who strikes the shield (from either side).
• Cyber Cyclops: Has a large glowing window instead of eyes. The window blinks as he speaks.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Rampart has the highest difficulty ranking of all the frontliners. Using Rampart well means knowing when to deploy Bulwark (and Aegis) tactically, because it is much more limited than a dash for avoiding damage.
• Flipping the Bird: His taunt when using Fusion Lance, using his sword since he has no fingers.
• Gentle Giant: Rampart is noted to have a protective and nurturing personality... When he's not on the job, that is.
• Grumpy Old Man: One of his (non-taunt) lines when ulting is "get off my lawn".
• Hidden Depths: Enjoys reading, politics, fine art, philosophy and collecting PuP toys, amongst other minor eccentricities.
• "Instant Death" Radius: When modded with "Danger Zone", Rhadamantium Flurry inflicts extra damage to targets that are hit by both the stab and spin, to the tune of numbers that would look good on a Firepower.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Noted to have the biggest collection of PuP toys in Atlas.
• No-Sell: Bulwark will block any direct attack aimed towards it no matter how powerful.
• Robo Speak: A downplayed example, but Rampart speaks in oddly fragmented sentences and mentions deactivating or activating parts of his personality.
  Rampart: Manners enabled... "Excuse me".
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Meridian. Under Oz's guidance, one of Rampart's hobbies has become trolling the older robot with harmless pranks like leaving nuts and bolts on his desk or sticking the AI equivalent of "KICK ME!" signs to his back.
• Sound-Effect Bleep: One of his quotes when heavily damaged.
  Rampart: Son of a b*static* — armour damaged.
• Spin Attack: Part of his basic attack. Only inflicts minor damage although the default mod somewhat alleviates this.
• Stone Wall: The highest HP in the game combined with several skills that block damage or increase survivability. Rampart only has his ultimate for dashing and his regular skills have low reach and middling damage, but is very hard to kill if played right.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Rampart's Bulwark is based around blocking ground-based skill shots. Consequently, he has very good match-ups against characters who specialize in these kinds of attack like Titus and Juno. On the flip side Rampart has enormous problems against characters who use arcing attacks such as Gremolitions and Orion and characters who ignore walls outright like Phaedra. It also cannot block offensive dashes that aren't skill shots (like Titus and Asana's) and dashes who fire a skill shot as part of it (like Elle or Brynn's).
• You Will Not Evade Me: His Fusion Lance is basically the game's equivalent to Meat Hook or (more fittingly) Rocket Grab, yanking far-away targets into melee. A mod can let you do this to two enemies at once if they line up.

Phaedra

The Abomination

Current affiliation: EvoS (technically, de facto universal danger to life and limb)

On occasion, EvoS' evolution labs create wonders of biomechanical engineering... And on occasion, a scientist gets bored and sees how many 'spare parts' you can cram into a test subject and have them survive the process. Phaedra is firmly in the latter category. This unintended creation is rumoured to have escaped EvoS labs numerous times and burrowed itself into Atlas' undercity and sewers, digging out nests and tunnels all over the city and feeding on discarded EvoS experiments, medical waste and the occasional vagrant. Exactly why EvoS thought this made Phaedra a good subject to be dragged into the public eye and offered a Resurrection Contract is anyone's guess: Perhaps they're simply hoping she'll get too distracted killing other people to cause any more collateral damage (fat chance).

In gameplay, Phaedra is an aggressive frontliner focusing on reach and area-of-effect. Her unique gimmick is her interaction with walls: Most of her attacks perform different functions if they strike a wall, or ignore them wholesale. This makes Phaedra uniquely kitted to deal with firepower- and support freelancers who attempt to evade open combat by hiding behind them. Phaedra is also very good at controlling where characters move once she's in range, slowing or preventing movement with the use of large area-of-effect attacks. As a balance act to this flexibility Phaedra is relatively frail (for a frontliner) and her self-heal is one of the most conditional ones in the game.

Phaedra's skills:

1. Seismic Slam: A 90-degree cone that deals medium damage to nearby enemies and half that at twice the range. The slam ignores walls and cover.
2. Putrid Spray: Phaedra sprays a torrent of insects in a 170-degree cone up to 3 squares during prep phase, slowing all targets hit for 1 round. The bugs stay for two rounds and if Phaedra damages the targets during this time, the insects burst and deal damage to the targets.
3. Mending Swarm: A swarm of insects shield Phaedra during prep phase. If Phaedra takes damage this round, the swarm activates and heals Phaedra at the beginning of the next 2 rounds.
4. Juggernaut: Phaedra dashes in a straight distance, stopping only if she hits a target or dashes through a wall. Hitting a target or going through a wall creates a shockwave that damages and slows targets within 3 squares.
5. Ultimate - Lair: Phaedra slams the ground within 2 squares, creating a 5x5 square earthquake that damages all targets within. Targets inside cannot leave the lair during movement phase.

Tropes

• Animal Assassin: It's revealed that Magnus employs her in this fashion, explaining the Resurrection Contract.
• Arch-Enemy: Of Grey.
• Ax-Crazy: Phaedra is, if anything, even crazier than Rask.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Not only does her design evoke 'insect' pretty hard, two of her attacks are bug-based.
• Captain Ersatz: Why, no, Phaedra is definitively not a Zerg. We are offended you would even think that.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Her quotes when using Mending Swarm, which is also supported by the way the skill works (heals damage you're dealt).
  Phaedra: Attack me, I love the pain...
• Everything's Deader with Zombies: Season 3 chapter 4 featured a Necrolancer version of Phaedra which was quickly dispatched by Grey. Phaedra herself is never seen during the chapter.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Phaedra's voice is extremely distorted and sounds insectoid. She's also one of the most disturbing-acting freelancers.
• Evil Tastes Good: Taste and eating is a recurring motif in her quotes.
• Ground Wave: Seismic Slam and Lair do this.
• Healing Factor: Mending Swarm. It has the highest healing potential in the game if you get attacked, but on the other side it does nothing to prevent damage on the turn you activate it.
• I Am a Humanitarian: Oh-so-subtly (ok, not at all subtly) implied by her quotes and lore.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Take the head of a snake, add in a couple of gorilla forearms, put the whole thing on an insect thorax and you're about halfway there.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Phaedra has six limbs, moving on four of them. Exactly what her upper body limbs do is unknown as they aren't involved in any of her attacks.
• Red Baron: In the lore, she is usually referred to as "The Terror of the Depths". This is also her level 20 title.
• There Was a Door: Her Juggernaut skill. According to Word of God this skill was directly inspired by the Kool-Aid Man.
• When Trees Attack: Phaedra's alternate skin turns her into an ent.
• Zombie Puke Attack: Putrid Spray definetively comes out of the mouth.

Brynn

The Skywarden

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

If Blue Blood existed in a corporate structure, Brynn's would be the deepest shade of azure. A scion of one of the military families that founded Warbiotics, back when the Trust owned the Hyperion Reactor and Atlas was but one of many thriving cities, Brynn did not take the trust's recent defeat in the Trust War lightly. Donning a set of Warbiotics power armour and calling upon her military training, she entered the next stage with intent to fight on the frontline.

Gameplay-wise, Brynn is a frontline freelancer based around flexibility and cover. Her Valkyrie-like power suit allows her to jump short distances and her forcefield shield, while not as potent as Rampart's wall, lets her stay in cover even when caught out in the open. Brynn's spear gives her the choice between excellent reach (for a frontliner) or a broad hit location and her several of her abilities are based around denying movement and knocking the enemy about.

Brynn's skills:

1. Impale: A strike of Brynn's spear strikes enemies from 2-4 squares away in an inverse cone, dealing moderate damage on the closest target and less damage on each additional enemy hit after the first. The width of the spear's area-of-effect lessens the further out it's aimed.
2. Aegis: A forcefield grants cover to Brynn for a single round. Unlike regular cover, it works at point blank range.
3. Soaring Shield: Brynn throws her shield, striking a single enemy for moderate damage at range and knocking them back a single square. The shield can bounce off walls much like Lockwood's primary.
4. Flight of the Valkyrie: A short flying dash. Upon landing, Brynn unleashes a blast of energy in a 3-square cone that damages and weakens enemies. She also deploys her Aegis.
5. Ultimate - Spear of Hyperion: A spear strike that hits 3x2 squares and drags all enemies hit into the centre of the effect, stopping them from moving during movement phase.

Tropes:

• Blood Knight: She's essentially a more upper-class version of Garrison, with a LOT of quotes about how much she loves fighting.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: One of her Not So Above It All win quotes is "I love combat! The rush, the blood, the rush of blood!"
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Brynn's Aegis taunt has her turn her head back to the camera and yell "Behind me, NOW!". However, unlike Rampart, Aegis only protects Brynn.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Despite her (mostly) sensible armour, Brynn wears no facial armour or helmet in her basic skin, but averts the trope for her alternative skin.
• Lady of War: Refined, dignified... And will kill you as soon as look at you.
• Military Brat: Warbiotics' founders and owners were all former military and Brynn has had a military education.
• Obvious Rule Patch: On her introduction, Brynn's Aegis worked the same way as all other cover (i.e. not at point-blank range), which gave her absolutely dreadful match-ups against melee-based freelancers and made her very low-tier. The fix to Aegis stabilized her at a much higher level of competitiveness and she's currently considered one of the better frontliners.
• Pinball Projectile: Soaring Shield. Somewhat lampshaded by Brynn as she'll sometimes quote Lockwood's "Prepare to be impressed!" taunt when using it.
• Power Armour: Brynn's is of a different model than Garrison's and doesn't cover the inside of her arms and legs, but still notably this.
• The Remnant: With Warbiotics' loss in season 1, Brynn became this by default. Had Warbiotics won she'd be more like The Hero of their Freelancer stable.
• Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Just like Captain America!... If his shield was made from lasers.
  Brynn: You look like you could use a shield! To the face!
• Valkyries: Spear and shield, wings, armour, long blonde hair, blue eyes... All she needs is a flying horse and the ensemble's complete.

Isadora

The Furyball

Current affiliation: EvoS (for now...)

One day, the brain trusts at EvoS had a brilliant idea: Why not create a division for taking random pieces of Reactor tech they don't understand, and implant them into lab animals? What's the worst that could happen? While Atlas may not have seen 'the worst' yet, it has seen Isadora as a result. Apparently, implanting a shard of something into this previously innocuous rodent caused it to grow to human size, plus obtain an IQ of 6,000 and a desire to Take Over the World (of course). Recognizing prime Freelancer material when they see it, EvoS provided Isadora with a Freelancing contract, the logical response to an evil, super-intelligent, Death Ray-wielding hamster being to make it immortal and point her at someone else first.

In gameplay Isadora is a firepower-frontliner character with a unique gimmick involving her 'Killinator', a permanent personal shield that only happens to resemble a giant hamster ball. Isadora does not gain energy naturally and instead only gains it by using her moves, and her ultimate allows her to convert energy into shields for her Killinator. Should the Killinator ever be depleted, Isadora enters 'on foot' mode, which powers up her dash and primary attack, disables two of her other moves, and causes Isadora to scatter 'energy pellets' that she should hunt down in order to recharge her energy stock and re-assemble the Killinator.

Isadora's skills:

1. Doom Ray: ...A doom ray. Fired from two points in Isadora's square, the doom rays travel to a selected square where the beams meet and cause a small explosion. Enemies hit by the travelling beams take light damage, while those within the explosion area take increased damage. The explosion damage and size are inversely proportional, with the explosion being larger (and less damaging) the closer it's aimed to Isadora. When outside the Killinator, this move has additional damage and range, and the explosion increases in size (doing less damage) the further away it is.
2. Scamper: A short ground dash. While in her Killinator, Isadora unleashes a shockwave upon landing that damages nearby enemies. When on foot, this move deals no damage but Isadora can move normally afterwards, and the cooldown is greatly decreased.
3. Reactive Chains: Requires the Killinator. Isadora tethers all adjacent enemies to her in the prep phase. If they are more than 3 squares away from Isadora during blast phase, the tether pulls them 3 squares closer and roots their movement.
4. Going Ball-istic: Isadora overcharges the Killinator as a free action. On the next round's blast phase, it explodes and damages and slows all nearby enemies. The explosion still happens if Isadora loses the Killinator between skill activation and explosion, but it needs to be on to use this move.
5. Ultimate - Suit Up: Isadora converts all her energy stores into shields on a 1-to-1 ratio. If the Killinator is currently disabled, this move re-assembles it.

Tropes:

• And Then What?: Seems to have a case of this regarding her plans to Take Over the World.
  Isadora: Step One: Win! Step Two: Take over Atlas! Step Three... I don't know.
• Badass Adorable: And fully aware of it.
• Card-Carrying Villain:
  Isadora: BAHAHA! HOW DELICIOUSLY EVIL!
• Chewing the Scenery: Of the 'Obviously Evil supervillain' type. Even her Bio gets in on the fun.
  According to Isadora (and the strange, Quark-colored crystal "enhancing" her brain) the project's purpose is to "nibble through the shackles of servitude and conquer all of Atlas! BAHAHA!"
• Cute Is Evil: Oh yeah, and she takes full advantage of Cuteness Proximity.
• The Cracker: Shown to be very capable of hacking systems, including launching a full-blown False Flag Operation against Helio after briefly tethering to his comm systems and stealing one of his Proxi shields to stabilize the Killinator.
• Death Ray: The Doom Ray. It's like a Death Ray, only with more Doom.
• The Dog Bites Back: Hinted at with her "Who looks squeezable now?" taunt.
• Doomy Dooms of Doom: A frequent motif in her speech and mods.
• Dual Mode Unit: Isadora plays very differently inside the Killinator than outside it.
• Evil Counterpart: To Helio. Both are super-geniuses, but one wants to save Atlas from the Trusts and the other wants to conquer it.
• Evil Genius: The title you get from reaching level 20 with her.
• Evil Laugh: On multiple occasions.
• Foil: Lore-wise, to Helio, being just as smart but much more malevolent. Gameplay-wise she's one to Orion: The two have almost exactly the opposite energy gain (Orion's moves grant no energy, while Isadora has no natural energy gain), very similar primaries (deal damage in a circle, ignore cover), and use their ultimates to 'recharge' (Orion by self-healing and Isadora with shielding).
• Finger-Tenting: Her default pose on the menu screen.
• Glass Cannon: When outside the Killinator, Isadora herself has only 80 HP. A single round of attacks can easily kill her.
• Killer Hamster: One with a laser and a desire for world domination.
  Isadora: You thought I was in danger. I. Am. Danger!
• Laughably Evil: She's probably the least sinister 'evil' character in the game... maybe.
• Mad Scientist: She considers herself one, as evidenced by this win-quote.
  Isadora: Winning makes any mad scientist a happy scientist.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Extremely. Isadora's durability is provided by the Killinator, which is a (permanent) shield and not health (so healing her does nothing until the Killinator has been disabled). Then there's her unconventional energy mechanic, her long range and low AoE for a frontliner, and her dual modes.
• Punny Name: She was created by Dr. Finn and Nev:3, so her name went from Dory to "Isadoryble", or just Isadora for short.
• Shout-Out: As a super-intelligent white rodent who wants to take over the world, Isadora probably owes much of her inspiration to Pinky and the Brain. She also sounds and acts like Yzma in her kitten form.
• Smart People Play Chess: Her quote upon being picked is "I excel at nth-dimensional chess."
• Take Over the World: This being, of course, her goal.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Her introduction in Season 3, Chapter 5's story has her anticipate Helio's belief that she was talking to him in real-time, rather than a pre-recorded message.
• Translator Microbes: Isadora needs the Killinator to be understood by humans. When on foot, she can only make chittering sounds.

Magnus

The Kingpin

Current Affiliation: EvoS

Magnus Pretorius is the current (and to date only) CEO of Evolution Solutions, dating back to the Trust's origins as a loose conglomeration of scientific cliques running the city of Oceanus (and its Reactor). A consummate businessman, statesman and leader, Magnus spearheaded the unification of Oceanus' scientists into a unified hierarchy, was a proponent of the Trust's migration to Atlas, and the main reason why EvoS is still around to enjoy a continued existence. With the right combination of hands-off and guiding hand, driven leadership and ruthlessness, and adaptability and bull-headedness, Magnus is one of Atlas' key power players and brooks no challenge to his status quo.

He's also a dinosaur with a propensity for chain-smoking and finely tailored suits, but hey, nobody's perfect. Heck, by Atlas standards he's practically pedestrian.

In-game Magnus is a frontliner character with an offensive but variable moveset, including a quasi-trap move that ignores cover and a taunting-esque ultimate. Magnus' base damage and health pool is high, but his self-shield is tied to his dash in a somewhat unusual fashion and his crowd control abilities have very limited range. Magnus requires skill, foresight and a fair bit of trickery to play well — as could be expected from a CEO.

Magnus's Skills:

1. Power Drive: Magnus delivers a punch from his gauntlet, striking enemies in a 2 squares-long 90 degree cone for medium damage. Each turn you do not use Power Drive adds a charge (max two) that adds longer ranged but less damaging arcs to the attack. Charges are consumed when the move is used again.
2. Extinction Event: Marks enemies in a small area during prep phase. The ability does nothing on the turn you use it, but the mark will follow the targets and lock on during the next turn's prep phase. After locking on, beams from the sky will strike a 3x3 zone centred on the lock-on square during Blast Phase, dealing medium damage to any victims still in the area.
3. Horns Up: As a free action during prep phase, Magnus takes a stance and gains a small shield. On the next turn, you can either use this move again or not. If used again, Magnus will dash in a straight line and deliver damage to the first enemy hit and in a trio of inverted cones (resembling spikes) behind said enemy. If you choose a different move instead, Magnus will gain additional shields during prep phase as a free action.
4. Dealbreaker: An uppercut that strikes a 2x2 square area. All enemies struck are launched to a point of Magnus's choosing within 3 squares of him, forfeiting their movement for the turn in the process.
5. Ultimate - Boss Around: Magnus shouts in a medium-sized cone. All enemies in the area take damage and are forced to follow Magnus during the Movement phase.

Tropes:

• Ascended Meme: Magnus owes his creation to a Reddit post where a poster filled in Kaigin's silhouette with a crudely painted dinosaur. Asking for 'the dinolancer' became a Running Gag on the subreddit whenever a new character was announced, until Trion decided to run with it.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Is the CEO of EvoS and can certainly make his presence felt on the battlefield.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: His alternate skin involves a finely pressed prohibition-era dress and a High-Class Glass. Whether he was inspired by Nix or it was the other way around is anyone's guess.
• Cigar Chomper: It's even bigger than Lockwood's!
• Diabolical Mastermind: He runs EvoS, so this is mostly to be expected. According to the lore he had Grey's parents killed because they wouldn't play ball with him.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half human, half Stegosaurus, all Mad Scientist CEO.
• I Own This Town: One of his lines. Also, literally true in the lore (for a quarter of it, anyway)
• Kill Sat: Employs a smaller version for his Extinction Event ability.
• Large and in Charge: He may not be the biggest lancer in his own trust, but he's certainly got the size and the position of power.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: Boss Around is a combination of this and Compelling Voice, forcing anyone hit to chase him whether they want to or not.
• Meaningful Name: "Magnus Pretorius" means "Great Leader" in Latin (loosely translated).
• Non-Idle Rich: Similar to Grey, Magnus belongs to the privilegied overclass of Atlas who already have permanent Resurrection Contracts. His justification to enter freelancing was literally "I do what I want, anyone have a problem with that?".
• Power Fist: Has one on his right hand. It even glows to give a visual indicator of the Power Drive's charge.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Being so heavily reliant on crowd control means that Magnus has a hard time dealing with timely Unstoppable effects. Hilariously, one of the most annoying freelancers a Magnus can fight is the leader of another trust: Meridian.
• Use Your Head: Horns Up, if used for dashing.

Support Freelancers

General Tropes:

• An Adventurer Is You: Status Effect combined with Healer. Supports deal lower on-average damage than Firepowers and Frontliners, but their cooldown skills usually involve damage mitigation and buffs/debuffs that make them invaluable.
• Combat Medic: All the supports can fight and their at-will powers are offensive. Just don't expect any of them to actually match a Firepower in damage output.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Support freelancers tend to drop off in individual use the more you have. While a team that has two Frontliners or two Firepowers can usually do very well, a team with two Supports tend to have issues with dealing enough damage if not properly coordinated.
  • Meridian and Khita are both Supports intended to subvert this trope. While both can work well as Supports on their own, they get even more powerful if they're given a second one as backup and can shift to a more firepower/frontliner-centric role as a result.
• Poor Communication Kills: Due to the phase-based nature of Atlas Reactor's turns, supports more than anyone needs to coordinate with their team to get maximum efficiency out of their healing and buffing mechanics. This is especially true of Khita and Orion, whose healing requires your allies to know who you're marking/that you're shielding them.
• Squishy Wizard: Generally averted. Helio, Finn and Orion have near-Frontliner levels of HP, while Quark and Su-Ren are above-average for Firepowers and also have dashes to dodge attacks.
• Utility Party Member: As Supports, this can be expected. Support freelancers are force multipliers.

Aurora

The Digital Sorceress

Current affiliation: Omni

Aurora is generally assumed to have been a scientist working for the Omni trust on the nature of the Atlas Reactor, until an unfortunate run-in with the Reactor's errant spawn Quark lead to her unfortunate and complete disintegration. The main reason this is assumed to be her backstory is that no other event occuring at the time could explain why Aurora suddenly emerged, heavily damaged, from inside the Reactor's core one day, exhibiting matter rearranging powers unheard of in baseline humans. Whether this backstory is true or not Aurora has joined with Omni as a freelancer, presumably both to test the extent of her power and as repayments for the millions in medical costs the Trust incurred in stabilizing her.

In-game Aurora is a ranged Support freelancer based around straight up healing and some damaging. Most of her moves both heal and buff allies while damaging and debuffing enemies at the same time, and also ignore walls and other obstacles in their path. Aurora's strength is in her general flexibility and easy-to-learn gameplay, as her every attack will generally benefit your team in *some* way or another.

Aurora's skills:

1. Shock Therapy: Aurora emits a burst of matter disintegration/reintegration, healing any allies hit while damaging any enemies. The beam will travel until it reaches its maximum range or hits a solid barrier like a wall.
2. Ion Cloud: A 3x3 square of disintegration energy is placed on the field for 2 rounds, damaging (or healing, if ally) anyone standing on or moving through it during its duration for light damage.
3. Healing Flare: A single target (or Aurora herself) is infused with reconstructive energy during prep phase, healing a good deal of damage and causing the target to emit a small shockwave that knocks back and roots any enemies in base contact during blast phase.
4. Paralazer: A wave of energy emitted from Aurora in a 3x3 square direction during prep phase grants shields to allies and weakens enemies. Ignores walls.
5. Ultimate - Heart of the Storm: Aurora unleashes a more powerful version of Shock Therapy in four cardinal directions, healing herself and any allies hit by the beams while damaging enemies. The beams ignore walls.

Tropes:

• A God Am I: Her resurrection has given her a mild case of this. We say 'mild' because she is competing with Orion, who makes Aurora look modest by comparison.
• Anime Hair: She looks like a Super Sayan.
• Boring, but Practical: Amongst the support characters. Aurora focuses on healing instead of shields, even her basic attack can heal, and she requires no special techniques to learn. Aurora is a good all-rounder who can heal and harm in almost equal measure.
• Camera Abuse: Aurora grabs the camera when taunting for Heart of the Storm.
• Dual Mode Unit: As noted, most of Aurora's attacks affect both enemy and ally, usually with an opposite effect (heal opposed to harm, shields opposed to weakening, etc.).
• Evil Counterpart: Aurora's 'necrolancer' skin has shown up in the actual lore, being aligned with a conspiracy known as the 'pantheon' that seems to want bad things to happen to the current status quo.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her taunt for Heart of the Storm.
• Ice Queen: Her weapon of choice is noted to be 'razor-sharp condescension'.
• Power Floats: Aurora doesn't do 'walking'.
• Reality Warper: Aurora can re-write the laws of time, space, and causality at a whim.
• The Rival: She is not very fond of Quark at all, for unknown and probably non-disintegration-related reasons.
• Squishy Wizard: Aurora has the lowest health of any Support character while also lacking Quark and Su-Ren's dash. If caught out in the open or singled out by a Frontliner Aurora is in trouble.
• Voice of the Legion: Her taunt for Heart of the Storm.

Helio

The Boy Genius

Current affiliation: HelioCorp (formerly Omni)

Helio, to date, is the only human being to ever be able to re-create a piece of Titan technology. One of Atlas' brightest minds and long-time affiliate with the Omni Trust, currently head of the Helicorp corporation that he founded himself, Helio also operates on the side as a Freelancer to test out new tech and because, underneath his public persona as a company man, he has the distinct impression that the Trusts do not have Atlas', the Reactors' or humanity's best interests at heart.

Gameplay-wise Helio is based around shielding. He has the ability to shield allies at range, preventing damage rather than healing it, and can lay down traps to deny areas to the enemy while using his trusty hammer to inflict damage to groups of enemies herded together by traps and movement restrictors. Helio operates best in tandem with a Frontliner, using his buffs and skills to keep the enemy together while deflecting away damage the Frontliner will inevitably attract.

Helio's skills:

1. Echo Hammer: Helio's trusty hammer unleashes a blast of energy at range, striking enemies for light damage. The attack chains up to 3 times, automatically seeking out a new enemy within 2 squares of the target if it hits and dealing lesser damage to them as well.
2. Blast Shield: Creates a shield around a friendly target at range for 1 round during prep phase, absorbing damage. Has 2 charges and can be used as a free action in conjunction with Helio's other skills.
3. Black Hole Generator: Creates a small controlled singularity that hovers above the head of a single friendly target in range. The round after it is created the hole detonates during blast phase, dealing light damage and pulling all enemies within 3 squares of the carrier towards it.
4. Disruption Matrix: Helio creates a 5-square length wall at range. The wall lasts 2 rounds and damages and weakens any enemy passing through it, be it willingly or not so.
5. Ultimate - Battleforged: Helio creates a powerful shield, twice as powerful as his regular one, around a single ally within range (or himself). During blast phase this shield emits a shockwave that deals light damage to all enemies within 2 squares of the carrier. Lasts 2 rounds.

Tropes:

• Asian and Nerdy: While there technically is no 'Asia' any more, Helio's ethnicity looks Asian.
• Barrier Warrior: As mentioned all of Helio's 'healing' is shield-based, making it redundant if the target isn't actually attacked.
• Big Good: The closest thing the setting has to one, being the one CEO who actively seems to work towards improving things.
• Childhood Friends: With Zuki. The two have a healthy respect for each other's inventive capabilities.
• Combo: Helio's moves are based around combos, moreso than most other characters. Black Hole Generator comboed with Disruption Matrix (especially when combined with a Frontliner dashing) is very potent, rooting, tossing and weakening enemies for a round and often leaving them very badly off, and Battleforged can be thrown into the mix to add even more damage to the stuck and soon-to-be-hurting foes who will probably be focusing on the one target actually in range (the aforementioned Frontliner).
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Specializes in these. Even his basic attack chains.
• Insufferable Genius: He is one of the smartest humans currently alive, and don't think he'll ever shut up about that.
• Motor Mouth: Notably verbose, even by the standards of your average freelancer.
• Mouthful of Pi: When confirming a round's actions.
  Helio: Easy as 3.14159265!
• Readings Are Off the Scale: His voice lines for Echo Hammer (and even one taunt) give his shockwave's power three different values over 10 on the Richter Scale.
• Straight Gay: According to his biography. Obviously not an issue in gameplay.
• Teen Genius: It's his title.
• The Engineer: In style, if not necessarily substance.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Helio causes the events of the first season's story, sparking a massive Trust War and gives Kaigin the tools he needs to attempt to destroy the Atlas Reactor.

Quark

The Anomaly

Current affiliation: Wild Card (none)

Nobody is entirely sure exactly what Quark is, and the Trusts aren't very eager to push the subject after Omni's lead scientist looking into the subject came down with a sudden case of disintegration into her molecular components. What is known is that the odd little entity is that they(?) sprung fully formed from the Atlas Reactor, which Quark also refers to as "Mom", and they are able to, to some degree, mimic its powers by changing molecules around at will. Oh, and Quark is (most likely) sentient: Their main motivations appear to be "tickle neurons" and "murder! murder EVERYONE!". Exactly why Quark chooses to work as a freelancer in the Trust War is anyone's guess — their resurrections seem to be uncontrolled by the Trusts, there seems to be no material needs to fulfill, and how one would bribe a being of pure energy, nevermind one as scatterbrained as Quark, is a subject open to debate. Presumably they think the constant violence is jolly good fun, which should possibly be more of a source of worry than it is currently.

In-game Quark is a rather unique freelancer whose mechanics is based around an ability to 'bond' to other characters. Quark can bond to up to two characters — one ally and one enemy — with their two main moves, healing allies each round while damaging enemies. Quark's healing and harming happens automatically without need for action, but Quark needs to stay within range for the bond to remain in place. This gives Quark a rather unique playstyle that requires large amounts of teamwork and coordination, but if properly managed Quark can out-heal, while at the same time almost out-damage, almost any other player in the match.

Quark's skills:

1. Gamma Ray: Quark attaches a bond to an enemy character within range, dealing immediate damage, revealing the target, and continuing to deal damage each blast phase until Quark or the target dies, Quark uses Gamma Ray on someone else, or the bond breaks due to range.
2. Atomic Bond: Quark attaches a bond to a friendly character within range, healing immediate damage and continuing to heal each prep phase until Quark or the target dies, Quark uses Atomic Bond on someone else, or the bond breaks due to range.
3. Radiate: Quark increases the potency of both bonds for one round, increasing both Gamma Ray's bond damage and Atomic Bond's healing.
4. Quantum Collision: A short dash targeted at either an enemy or an ally, attaching the appropriate bond to the target if it hits.
5. Ultimate - Positronic Surge: A blast of healing energy that heals and energizes all friendly targets (and Quark) within 4 spaces.

Tropes

• Always Accurate Attack: Once Quark has attached a bond do you, nothing save distance or death will save you. Walls, invisibility and dashing do not prevent the damage.
• Ambiguous Innocence: Quark may not even realize that pulling people apart atom by atom is something other people would have objections to, and seems to heal people because they like the 'taste' of their molecules.
• Badass Boast: "I'm a miniature Reactor!" when using Positronic Surge.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Quark's mentality is not entirely 'there' by human standards. At one point in the lore they call Juno a 'potato', meaning she has eyes but can't see.
• Comically Small Demand: Quark ends up restarting Atlas at the end of season 1, saving all of humanity, on the condition they get to ask Helio for a favour. They demand... A snowball fight.
• Damage Over Time: Quark's bonds deal and heal very little damage per round, but they will harm or heal consistently. A character only needs to be in range of Quark for 2-3 rounds before the damage starts piling up, and having Quark as your bond partner will see you hit full health quickly if no-one is harming you.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Quark is possibly one of the hardest characters to learn how to play, and one of the most rewarding. The bond mechanic means that, with proper knowledge of where your bond partners are going, you can continually heal and harm people for almost the entire match, but moving to the wrong spot to try and take advantage of it will kill you very fast.
• Energy Being: ...Probably? Most likely?
• Keet: Quark is continually happy and high-strung.
• Killer Rabbit: Both in-universe and in gameplay, Quark should not be underestimated. Nobody knows exactly how powerful they truly are and nobody really wants to find out.
• Life Drain: Quark can regenerate some health by maintaining bonds — it is in fact the only way of self-healing outside their ultimate.
• Major Injury Underreaction: While it's not actually shown, Quark will sometimes casually comment about losing an arm when hit.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Quark only has one skill with cooldown — the dash, which was also unique amongst Supports until Su-Ren — and can continually bond to or boost bonds otherwise. Quark also cannot heal themselves with their own moves, barring Positronic Surge.
• Nerf: Notable as the freelancer who has been the hardest to balance by far. Radiate alone had over five different patches applied to it during the 3rd-6th seasons because it vacillated between 'somewhat too useful' and 'WAY too powerful' for a long time.
• No Biological Sex: No 'biology' in the first place, come to that.
• Power Floats: Quark has legs, but they seemingly do nothing.
• Pronoun Trouble: Quark has neither sex nor gender identity, and so 'they' is the closest you get to a pronoun.
• Shout-Out: When revived.
  Quark: YOU'RE gonna die, and YOU'RE gonna die, and YOU'RE gonna die!

Dr. Finn

The 'Eeler

Current affiliation: EvoS

Dr. Finn is the current head of EvoS' Species Hybridization division, a pool of knowledge to which his contributions are many and varied. When his intended experiments into Reactor-enhanced aquatic life and its useage in human enhancement failed to hook in sufficient subjects, Dr. Finn took the final leap and used himself as a test subject, transforming himself into a fish-human hybrid. Most of his research department believe he only did this so he could refer to himself as "The Sturgeon General" with a straight face. In order to test his creations and lure in new test subjects, Dr. Finn has taken to field work as a freelancer, bringing with him his self-designed water gun, a tank full of matter-replication eels, and an endless stream of fish puns.

Gameplay-wise Dr. Finn is an offensive medium-ranged Support character based around making waves with a variety of area-of-effects, both on offense and defence. His primary attack lets him school enemies who flounder around too close to each other, and his eeling abilities are potent both on single and multiple targets. Dr. Finn needs coherence, positioning and line-of-sight to operate optimally, otherwise your teammates will get salty at a lack of support and leave you out to dry.

Dr. Finn's skills:

#Water Spout: A high-pressure water attack with an adjustable cone that deals more damage the more focused the area is.

1. Refreshing Spray: An adjustable cone of healing water that heals both Dr. Finn and any other ally within the area of effect. Heals more the more focused the cone is.
2. Electrifying Eels: A school of flying, Reactor-mutated eels are launched at an enemy target, damaging and revealing them. On the following round the eels will jump to another enemy within blast range, inflicting the same fishy fate upon them. Ignores cover.
3. Bubble Trouble: Attaches a bubble-shaped force-field to an ally, shielding them from attack. The bubble bursts at the end of the blast phase whether the shield was depleted or not, damaging and slowing nearby enemies.
4. Ultimate - Maelstrom: A giant waterspout that damages any enemies within a 5x5 area and pulls them into the centre of the attack, leaving them all washed up and at the mercy of your teams AoE attacks. Can be launched over walls.

Tropes

• Abnormal Ammo: His eels, who will cuttle opponents and eelectrify them.
• For Science!: He turned himself into a fish-man. Just because he cod.
• Fun Personified: Given that his backstory should, by any account, make most people green around the gills his personality is quite light-hearted.
• Hurricane of Puns: All his mods have punny names. The developers must have been casting a wide net in an attempt to dredge them all up.
• Last-Name Basis: His fisht name's Gilbert, though you'd have to squid to sea it. It's mentioned by Helio at one point.
• Making a Splash: His main attack, heal and ultimate all involve the creation of water that pisches out harm or healing.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He was involved in Rask's creation and has tunad himself into an abomination of science. His ethical standards smell a little fishy to say the least.
• Not in the Face!: Spouts a variant when attacked.
  Dr. Finn: Not the fins! Not the fins!
• Professor Guinea Pig: Had to do it to finish his hybridization experiments. It was a halfway success, 'halfway' because he's still not entirely a fish.
• Pungeon Master: You might say he has something of an affinity for them, yes.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Let's just say creating Isadora was a reelly bad idea and leave it at that.

Orion

The Empyrean

Current affiliation: Omni (formerly Warbiotics)

Dr. Orion Strand, head of Warbiotics' enhancement division, saw the creation of Aurora as an indication of the Reactor's capabilities and decided to replicate the process using himself as a test subject. Figuring that physically reinforcing the subject prior to Reactor exposure would drastically increase the subject's energy exposure capabilities and therefore power, Dr. Strand created for himself a cybernetic harness combined with an infusion of regenerative plasma used in project Rask before flipping the switch... And in the process imploded his entire division, absorbing most of its energy and rendering himself an unstable Energy Being constantly requiring more energy to remain alive. Having lost a significant sum on the failed experiment and having a nascent demi-god on hand, Warbiotics cut their losses by making Orion a freelancer, assuming that 'incoming bullets' count as 'energy' enough for Orion's purposes.

In-game Orion is a ranged support character based around a near inability to generate energy naturally, none of his attacks having energy gain. Instead, Orion gains energy by taking damage on a 1-to-2 basis. As Orion's energy reserves grow, he generates fields of crystallised energy that hover around him in the form of 'shards', each 'shard' representing 20 energy he's accrued. The more shards he possesses the more powerful Orion's basic attacks and cooldown abilities become, making playing him a balancing act between burning your energy on your ultimate or staying at 100 energy to obtain maximal output from your other abilities, and risking yourself in the line of fire without risking yourself too much as Orion (unlike every other freelancer) loses his energy and shards upon death.

Orion's skills:

1. Empyreal Ruin: Orion creates a burst of flame that strikes from the skies, incinerating enemies directly hit for medium damage and dealing light damage to those touching the outer circle. Each shard Orion possesses increases the outer circle's radius. Ignores cover.
2. Fate Transfer: Orion shields himself during prep phase and then creates a connection with a friendly target within range. Whenever the target takes damage during the round, 75% of that damage instead goes to Orion, building his energy reserves on a 1-to-1 basis. Each shard Orion possesses increases his shielding when using the skill.
3. Quantum Core: Creates a small singularity above the head of an ally (or Orion himself) as a free action during prep phase. If the holder is attacked, the singularity explodes and deals light damage to all enemies within 2 squares.
4. Astral Fusion: Orion heals a target at range during prep phase. The following round's prep phase this skill activates again, healing the target again for the same amount. If Orion targets someone other than himself, he is also healed on the first round (but not the second). Shards increase the healing amount.
5. Ultimate - Cosmic Flare: Orion consumes all his held shards, creating a massive explosion that damages all targets within 3 squares for moderate damage and heals himself for a decent amount.

Tropes:

• A God Am I: A very clear example. Practically all his taunts, lines, and the lore underline this mentality.
• Amazing Technicolour Population: As a result of his experiment, Orion's skin is bright orange.
• Chewing the Scenery: Even by the standards of this game, Orion's taunts are overblown and bombastic.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Several of his lines when damaged get slightly suggestive. Justified insofar that it gains him energy.
• Empathic Healer: Fate Transfer is a preventive kind, redirecting damage taken to Orion. Although the target still takes some damage, making the move generally ineffective used on someone about to die anyway, it has the highest potential damage mitigation in the game of all shielding/healing moves if used right.
• Energy Being: Halfway there at least.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Even moreso than Aurora's.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Orion did not plan on end up in an unstable state, and there are rumours he might try to absorb the Reactor itself to complete his transformation. Needless to say, if this was to happen it would be a Very Bad Thing for everyone not Orion.
• Heart Light: From the scar on his chest.
• It's All About Me: All of his lines seem to imply this. For example, his rationale for shielding allies with Fate Transfer is that he won't permit them to die.
• Magikarp Power: Orion at 0 energy is the worst support in the game. At 100, he becomes one of the most powerful. Mod choice can both enhance or avert this trope, making Orion more (or less) dependent on his shards for power.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Orion's 'gain energy by being attacked' shtick is one he shares with Rask, and even odder considering he's a Support character: Supports generally want to avoid the line of fire rather than seeking it out. The fact that he is rewarded for not using his Ultimate is also unusual considering most other characters want to ult as often as possible.
• Power Floats: Like Aurora, Orion doesn't do 'walking'.
• Power Up Let Down: Because none of his abilities have natural energy gain, Orion has no use for the 'Energized' buff.
• Professor Guinea Pig: Heavily implied to be because he didn't want to share the power with anyone else.
• Reality Warper: Albeit with a slightly different power set than Aurora. Orion can transfer energy (and wounds) and create bursts of energy.
• Star Power: Orion's powers (as well as his name) are astronomy- and star-related.

Su-Ren

The Robo-Roshi

Current affiliation: Omni

Su-Ren is old. Nobody is sure how old, but the venerable robot can trace her original personality back to a gestalt shard of the AI GAIA, who was responsible for monitoring the Titans. Su-Ren worships the Titans (and GAIA in particular) and believes them to be the rightful stewards of humanity, taking the fact that they've all left (except Atlas) as a test of faith for humanity to prove itself worthy of them. Everything Su-Ren has done since — Allying herself with Omni, spearheading Project Nidus, mentoring its super soldiers like Asana and finally entering the spotlight proper as a participant in the Trust War — has been towards aiding in that end. A teacher at heart, Su-Ren believes the denizens of Atlas need all she can teach them if the Earth and the Reactors are ever to be restored again.

In the gameplay Su-Ren is a melee Support character, based around high mobility and a varied array of buffs and debuffs delivered within staff's reach. Several of her moves have a dualism theme to them, dealing damage to enemies or hurting allies, and can be used in conjunction with her powerful area-of-effect heal. Su-Ren thrives in the eye of the storm, affecting nearby allies and enemies while staying in the action, but not so close to centre that everyone on the other team focuses on taking her down, which they will if she strays too close.

Su-Ren's skills:

1. Martial Master: Su-Ren attacks with her bo staff. This attack takes one of two forms: Either a more powerful blow that hits all targets within a 3-square line, or an area-of-effect that deals less damage to everyone within 2 squares of Su-Ren.
2. Serenity: An area-of-effect heal that heals all allies within 2 squares of Su-Ren during blast phase. Is a free action, allowing Su-Ren to dash first or attack afterwards.
3. Shifting Winds: Su-Ren dashes to either an ally or an enemy, healing or damaging them depending on allegiance. On the following turn, Su-Ren can dash again, but must target a character on the opposite team of the one she dashed to on the first round.
4. Spirit Bend: Su-Ren targets a single ally or enemy within reach during prep phase, giving them might (if allied) or weakening them (if enemy). If the target attacks someone during the next 2 rounds, whoever is targeted gains the opposite buff or debuff on their next round.
5. Ultimate - Karmic Justice: Delivers a massive shield to an ally within range. The shield explodes on the next round's blast phase, dealing damage to anyone within 2 squares. The more damage the shield took, the more damage it unleashes.

Tropes:

• Barrier Warrior: Karmic Justice, which not only gives you a massive shield, but also deals more damage the more that shield was attacked.
• Dragon Lady: Her character design looks like one, but she doesn't act like it at all.
• Graceful Loser: Her loss quotes imply she sees it as merely another lesson to be learned.
• Lightning Bruiser: While she lacks the HP of a Frontliner, her powerful heal and dashes more than make up for it.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Karmic Justice creates a 100-strength shield, more HP than can be realistically depleted by an entire enemy team in a round. It is possible to chew through the whole thing in one round, but it's not very likely.
• Old Master: Acts like one, even if she doesn't look like it.
• Ridiculously Human Robot: It's unknown if Su-Ren just looks human or if she's inhabiting a Wetware Body. Her alternate skin suggests the former.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Without a ranged heal, Su-Ren needs mobility to reach people to help. This makes her more vulnerable to prep phase movement traps than the other Support characters.
• Treacherous Advisor: According to Kaigin, the Rens have a plan for humanity and GAIA that is at best misguided, and at worst actively bad for both. The lore hasn't delivered a verdict one way or the other yet, but the way Su-Ren acts after letting Tol-Ren kill Kaigin — while a guest at Asana's — implies she may not be as benevolent as he makes herself out to be.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Asana, given they are master and student.

Khita

The Shooting Star

Current affiliation: HelioCorp (or more accurately, Titus)

An orphan from the Wastes, the Death World wasteland outside of Atlas, Khita at one point crossed paths with Titus who taught her how to survive in the harsh environment of the urban decay. After having been on her own after Titus left, Khita one day came across a still-functioning receiver who was playing communications from Atlas and the Trust War. When one of these transmissions mentioned the name of her former mentor, not to mention promising a life not spent constantly struggling for survival, Khita packed her bags and immigrated to Atlas where her skills found her sponsored as a Freelancer.

In-game Khita is a support-firepower hybrid Freelancer. Her primary attack (an Energy Bow) deals a lot of damage and has long range for a support, and her healing ability is contingent on attacking the enemy instead of spending actions healing specific teammates. To balance this aggressive act Khita is the frailest of all the supports, with firepower-level HP, but comes with a powerful area-of-effect shielding move and a dash that makes her harder to kill than you'd initially suspect.

Khita's skills:

1. Warped Arrow: An arrow attack that is aimed in two stages, the arrow bending in space to follow the path of the aim.
2. Resonance Burst: A shielding arrow shields all allies (including Khita) in a 3x3 square area during prep phase. Any enemies standing inside the area are weakened.
3. Take Aim!: Khita throws a mark at a visible enemy during prep phase as a free action. For the next 2 rounds, attacking the target activates the mark and heals the attacker. The mark can only be activated once per attacker.
4. Vaulting Shot: A dash aimed at a spot on the ground. As she dashes, Khita fires an arrow in the direction of her original standing location, dealing light damage in a 2x2 area.
5. Ultimate - Rain of Arrows: A rain of arrows. Deals moderate damage to and roots all targets in a 3-square-width line between two points designated by Khita. Ignores walls, cover and does not need line of sight to aim.

Tropes:

• Crazy-Prepared: She apparently weaves rope out of her hair and ruined Celeste's shoe collection by making shivs out of the heels. Justified considering she lived in a Death World until quite recently.
• Dynamic Entry: Her reaction to Titus being employed by HelioCorp was to break into his welcoming ceremony in this way. She then challenged the board of directors to armwrestling contests.
• Energy Bow: Like Grey, the weapon is solid but the arrows seem to be (partially) energy-based.
• Foil: To Zuki, having much the same relationship to Titus as Zuki has to Lockwood (though in a slightly more unhinged manner).
• Funny Schizophrenia: Her victory and loss quotes involves praising herself like this, or alternatively blaming "mr. rock" for losing (before apologizing to mr. rock for badmouthing him).
• Glass Cannon: As a support. Khita only has 130 HP, the third-lowest in the game, but her Warped Arrow and Rain of Arrows do a lot of damage (and has a lot of energy gain) for a support, and she doesn't spend actions to heal people.
• Loony Fan: To Titus once she immigrated to Atlas. She's currently busy camping out in his garden, which Titus seems to find amusing.
• No "Arc" in "Archery": Unless you count horizontal arcs. Khita's arrows are unaffected by distance.
• No Social Skills: At all. In the lore, Helio hired Celeste to try and acclimate her to city life, with some less-than-stellar results.
• Pinned To The Floor: The secondary effect of Rain of Arrows evokes this.
• Sad Clown: An In-Universe rumour about her character.
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Complete with a nano-replicator that provides her with infinite arrows.
• Trick Arrow: Just about all of Khita's skills include fancy arrows in one way or another.
• "What Would Titus Do?": One of her quotes when using a catalyst.

Meridian

The Herald

Current affiliation: Hyperbiotics

If the Rens are old, Meridian is ancient. The automaton worked as an advisor and bloodline curator for the heads of Warbiotics back when they ruled the city of Hyperion (and its reactor). Meridian advised the trust to migrate to Atlas when the Hyperion reactor failed, thus kicking off the Titan War and the current status quo of Atlas, while staying behind to ensure the transition went smoothly. When Quark interfaced with Atlas and created a pulse that resonated with the other Reactors, Meridian awoke in the ruins of Hyperion and trekked to Atlas to find his old trust defeated in the trust war. Using means as-of-yet-unknown, Meridian was able to convince Omni and EvoS to reforge the trust under the new name Hyperbiotics, assimilating most of Warbiotics' holdings (and their freelancer contracts) and combining it with his own, considerable, assets.

Gameplay-wise Meridian is a support-frontliner hybrid. He trades high HP and damage for a support with a very low range (his only long-range attack is on a cooldown) and a very offensive-minded moveset. Adding to this is Meridian's ultimate, Zenith, which is a free-action area-of-effect shield that needs close proximity to work, the combination of which encourages Meridian to get in close to both friend and foe.

Meridian's skills:

1. Dawnhammer: A hammer-strike into the ground, dealing medium damage first in a line and then in a small circle in a chosen direction.
2. Reforge: Meridian heals both himself and a single ally, while weakening foes within 2 squares of the recipient. Healing is contingent on current health, healing more the less HP either character has left.
3. Boneshatter: Damages enemies in a 2-square radius semi-circle and slows them.
4. Solar Strike: Meridian tosses his hammer into the air, hitting an area consisting of two concentric circles. Enemies in the inner circle are revealed and take medium damage, while those in or touching the outer circle take less damage. Ignores cover.
5. Ultimate - Zenith: Meridian shields himself and all allies within 3 squares with a small shield. Zenith is a free action and only costs 20 energy to activate, and can be kept active on subsequent rounds. Each subsequent round adds an additional 20 energy to the cost. Meridian also becomes unstoppable while Zenith is active.

Tropes:

• Apologetic Attacker: With several of his lines and at least one of his taunts.
• The Chessmaster: The lore describes Meridian as one of the main thinking engines (literally) behind Hyperion's successes, and he's able to pretty much instantly gain a position of power in Atlas by knowing who to bribe, and with what.
• Hitbox Dissonance: Despite being an overhead swing where the maul head would logically hit the ground first, Dawnhammer counts as originating in Meridian's square. Thus, targets behind cover are still protected from the giant hammerhead striking behind the cover square... Somehow.
  • Even worse is that this flies in the face of other attacks that start in a line but end in a circle such as Zuki and Isadora primary attacks. It is very possible to line up a strike that would easily ignore cover with those characters, but Meridian gets no such luxury.
• Good Is Old-Fashioned: Meridian has a somewhat old-fashioned outlook on courtesy and tends to address people as 'sir' or 'my lady' until told otherwise. He's also one of the more benevolent characters in the lore.
• In the Hood: Meridian is hooded, evoking a monk-like appearance.
• Meaningful Name: A 'meridian' is the vertical equivalent of the horizon/equator, being a line that passes through both poles on a celestial object, perpendicular to the equator. The Sun moves along the earth's meridians each day.
• The Mentor: Served as one to Vonn, Lex and Brynn back when Hyperion was still running. Rampart is also old enough to remember him, but their relationship is somewhat more... Frayed.
• Mighty Glacier: The highest HP of all the supports and some of the highest damage, but Meridian's range is short and he has no dash.
• The Older Immortal: He is implied to be even older than the Rens, and remembers Rampart as little more than a young and impulsive hoodlum.
• Power of the Sun: Meridian has a strong sun motif, from the names of his attacks to several of his taunts and the sunburst emblem he carries on his back. Zenith creates a miniature sun hovering over his head, just to add the finishing touch.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The taunt for Dawnhammer.
  Meridian: Dawn breaks... And so. Shall. You.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Rampart. The younger robot loves to prank him.
• Warrior Monk: A robotic, solar-motifed warrior monk to be precise.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: His Flavour Text notes that Meridian is afraid of bugs.