|
|
Someone or something who specializes in ranged combat, but may be less effective against close-up threats. There are three types:
- Characters who fight almost exclusively long range.
- Characters who can fight at any distance but prefer long range.
- Characters who can fight at any distance but has more long range abilities.
Mostly applies to video games, but may count for characters in other media. First person shooters are exempt from this since almost everybody fights long-range in those games. Being fast but unskilled in defense and strength might be one of the reasons.
Opposite of Close Range Combatant. Subtrope of Necessary Drawback.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime And Manga
- In Gundam Wing, Trowa's "Heavyarms" gundam was equipped exclusively with long-range weapons, where the other Gundams relied more often on Beam Sabres or other close-range weapons. Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz upped the ante with "Heavyarms Custom" being equipped with even More Dakka. Its appearance in Gundam Battle Assault 2 reflects this, with almost its entire repertoire of attacks being of some manner of projectile or shot.
- After War Gundam X: Leopard Gundam in a nutshell, as well as its upgraded form of Leopard Destroy.
- Gundam 00 has this in the form of Virtue Gundam and its successor Seravee Gundam, as does Dynames Gundam and its successor Cherudim Gundam. Reborns Gundam also does this while in the form of Reborns Cannon.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED has a few of these as well. Of the first generation Gundams, the Buster Gundam was the only one without some form of beam saber, leaving it entirely reliant on its combinable beam guns and missiles. Of the second generation Calamity Gundam was armed entirely with a variety of guns. Few if any mobile suits in the sequel were quite as specialised carrying at least an Emergency Weapon to cover close combat.
- The eponymous lead character of Lyrical Nanoha series specializes in ranged combat (though her melee skills are just as good, by the misfortune of repeatedly having to face close-range fighters in combat). Her favorite student Teana is almost exclusively a ranged fighter from Nanoha StrikerS onward.
- Temari, and to a lesser extent, Tenten in Naruto. Temari has a giant fan that she uses to blow giant gusts of wind at her opponent. Tenten has a variety of weapons at her disposal and can fight any distance from the opponent, however her jutsu are mostly used from a far distance.
- Gaara's fighting style is like this after the Time Skip, though unlike most others he has a solid defense with his sand which is strong enough to block attacks that can destroy an entire city with much effort. Mostly he just fights at long range because his attacks aren't any less effective.
- Deidara attacks with animated sculptures made of exploding clay. He was even capable of getting away from a whole team of close-range specialist while missing both of his arms.
- Usopp in One Piece, from all of the weapons he's invented, he has a few different hammers for different occasions for close-range and that's about it.
- Volkein from Gun X Sword fits into this easily as all of its weapons are guns and missiles.
- Ramiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion and to an extent Arael especially since they have no known close range attacks.
Live Action Television
- Ultra Seven: Dinosaur Tank. Name says all although it does have some close range capabilities.
- Ultraman Dyna: Satan Lovemos is pretty much laser guns and cannons on treads.
- Ultra Galaxy Monster Battle: The King Joe Blacks with their large arm cannons and energy blasts while divided into ships. Also applies to Litora to a lesser extent.
Tabletop Games
- The entire Tau race in Warhammer 40000 have this as their hat, to the point where they employ another race entirely as mercenaries to deal with hand to hand combat.
- Similar to the Tau, the Hivers in Traveller have a powerful space fleet and prefer to win battles without ever seeing the enemy. If ground combat is required, they leave it to their allies the Ithklur (who love to mix it up at close quarters with the enemy).
- Many long-range weapons in Battle Tech have minimum ranges, making it harder to hit within that minimum range.
Video Games
- Sakura, Part 1, in Naruto video games. She often has a good, fast, and strong shuriken combo.
- The Ultimate Ninja Storm series has several, though Part 1 Sakura isn't one of them. (She's a Trap Master instead) Tenten, Shino, Temari, Deidera and Utakata are all prime examples. The Puppet Master characters (Kankuro, Sasori and Chiyo) are a variation: they control puppets from a distance, which do their fighting for them.
- In the US-exclusive Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution series, Komachi. She can throw needles at her opponent at a very fast speed, and she is the only one who initiates their special move with a long-range attack.
- Street Fighter II's Dhalsim is pretty much the forefather of this in fighting games. He can attack from a halfscreen away, using his extendable/retractable limbs; though they are punishable. To make up for this, he suppliments his arsenal with breath attacks that can strike from anywhere onscreen. And, in later installments, he gains the ability to teleport (originally a glitch); used chiefly to put distance between himself and the opponent.
- Sagat is played like this. Just
 look at how many Tiger Shots are thrown in the whole match.
- Guile is played more effective at playing mind games with his signature Sonic Boom.
- Street Fighter III has Necro, seen by many as the new and improved model. His limbs are flexible, whereas Dhalsim's are linear, plus his attacks are faster; making them harder to predict or react to. And, while he's primarily a ranged fighter, he's just as lethal in close quarters. A stark contrast to his predecessor.
- Final Fantasy games frequently feature characters who can use ranged weapons (such as bows), letting them stay in the back row and deal the same damage as in front row.
- Yukari and Aigis from Persona 3 use bows and guns respectively, and your main character can choose to use a bow. On the field, their attacks have a large reach and can hit most opponents easily compared to short range weapons. In battle, long range characters have the advantage of not falling when they miss an attack, however they have a relatively low accuracy.
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy has a few. Terra's attacks usually launch enemies away and chain into larger attacks, for example. Kefka is an interesting example: he can cast some long range spells, but they usually make erratic movements because of his Confusion Fu. Laguna uses his gun in most of his attacks.
- This is what made Nu-13 so deadly in Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger. She had a 5-hit meterless projectile combo that hit 3/4 of the screen away, making it impossible for some of the slower characters to approach.
- Diablo: The Rogue character class in Diablo, and the Amazon character class from Diablo 2, along with the Rogues you can hire in Act I. Both specialize in bows, crossbows, and javelins.
- The Vanquisher from Torchlight specialises in ranged weapons and abilities (although she can also use traps and close ranged ambush tactics).
- Several ships in the Star Control games are this, but none so much as the Earthling Cruiser. The Cruiser has a very weak short range attack, but if an enemy can close, the Cruiser is probably toast. If the Cruiser can stay away, however, it can pretty much kill anything with its MX Peacekeeper missiles, which can cross the bulk of the screen and have excellent (they're called fire-and-forget for a reason) tracking. The Chenjesu Broodhome is also very much one of these. The Mmrnmhrm X-Form could transform from a long-range fighter to a short-range one, making it one of the deadliest ships in the game. On the Hierarchy side, the Spathi Discriminator could fire a long-range tracking missile from the rear of the ship, meaning it could shoot while running away.
- The Pixies in Monster Rancher have nothing but long-range attacks.
- Samus Aran, Captain Olimar, and Zelda from the Super Smash Bros series all specialize this way. Good as their projectiles are, however, they still need to get in close to deliver a KO effectively.
- Colonel Mael Radec in Play Station All Stars Battle Royale is terrible up close, but very, very effective from a distance. He's been given 8 types of projectiles and bombs, and all of his Supers are ranged, including a Level 3 Super in which he picks off his enemies in a first-person shooting mode.
- In Dune II the missile tank couldn't hit targets that were close to it. If it tried to the missiles would go wild and hit random squares close by.
- Smash TV and the sequel Total Carnage: The playable characters use only firearms, no melee weapons.
- Marvel Ultimate Alliance: The two catapults used by dark elves in Niffleheim are exclusively used in long range and upon getting within thirty feet of them will make them defenseless.
- Ghost Rider at Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, his chain has incredible reach and he's able to punish several ranged characters with more ease. His close range options, on the other hand, is limited (although if you can land a Penance Stare, you can dish out good damage. Problem is, 3 bars and a grab move, good luck landing it well)
- The Tatsu Steed dream eater along with the various beetle dream eaters in Kingdom Hearts 3 D possess a variety of extremely long range attacks, but next to nothing for dealing with close range targets effectively. Taking them out first is generally a good idea, as they make going toe to toe with other more melee capable enemies a pain.
- Chester from Tales of Phantasia uses bows and arrows in combat, letting him deal damage on par with Cress from afar.
- Hunters started as 'Fights exclusively at range' in World of Warcraft; they were able to use melee weapons but did Scratch Damage with them. *
Hunters who used their melee weapons did exist, often without pets as a self-imposed challenge were derided as Huntards since they did MUCH less damage. . But with the Mists of Pandaria expansion, they've lost their deadzone and can use their abilities and ranged weapons in melee range.
- This is Peacock's specialty fighting style in Skullgirls. Most of Peacock's special attacks are projectiles of some kind, such as cannonballs, bullets, walking bombs, car/plane-riding bombs, and lasers. On the other hand, she's not very good at mixing up the opponent up close...
- The X-Universe series features the Missile Frigate and the Bomber ship classes, which rely on long-ranged anti-ship missiles rather than projectile weapons for their offensive capacity. The ships are capable of leveling entire sectors and fleets on their own, but god help you if a fighter gets close to the ship and starts shooting your missiles down as soon as they launch, because at best, the ships have only a pair of rear-facing turrets, and some of them don't even get that.
- Most fire-support assets in MechWarrior Living Legends sacrifice close range usability for withering firepower to pour down-range. Long Ranged Missiles fire massive salvos of accurate, guided missiles, but will simply arc over targets within 150 meters (and assets that carry LRMs often only carry LRMs). Arrow IV launchers fire a single massive high-explosive guided cruise missile, but have a minimum range of 300 meters and will generate an enormous amount of heat when fired; plus, the launcher is so heavy that assets typically can only carry the missile launcher, with nothing for up-close fighting. The Long Tom Artillery Piece is a 30 metric ton cannon which can one-shot any asset lighter than 50 tons with a direct hit, but it almost always requires assistance from allies to find a good firing solution, while the gun is incapable of aiming down to fire at nearby enemies, plus it has tissue paper for armor and no secondary weapons.
Real Life
- This was the whole point of archers.
- Bows were ultimately replaced by firearms. Now, pretty much all soldiers are primarily this trope.
- Of course for even farther fighting, we have snipers and designated marksmen.
- Beyond that, artillery. Artillery batteries usually can't even see their targets, and have to be told "Shoot THIS SPOT" by a forward observer near the spot in question.
- From the point of view of the animal kingdom, of course, this is humanity's hat.
- Perimeter shooters in basketball.
- The days of ship to ship confrontation are long gone, with the advent of aircraft carriers, and long range missiles, navy battles are fought in BVR(beyond visual range).
|
|
