Meet Blackburn, The Last Soldier.
Blackburn will tactically sow the seeds of destruction among the enemy team.
Basic Gameplay
Blackburn’s primary, Equalizer, is made to be versatile for every situation; You can put down one target or chip away with the AoE setting. When you’re stuck behind a wall, just have Blackburn toss over his Proteus Grenade. Enemies are rarely out of reach for him. In the case you find yourself out of range, pop your Adrenal Stim to help you pick up your step and dole out the damage. It’s also a free action, so always be ready to see him with Might! He’s an experienced soldier that knows to keep his back to the wall. His Blitz always puts him next to cover and lays down suppressing fire during the blast phase. You can’t just be worried about Blackburn on the ground, because he’s got some pretty hefty backup flying in the skies above. He can call down strafing fire that’ll wreck all enemy’s silly enough to make the mistake of lining up for him.
Blackburn’s tactical prowess makes him hard to play against, but there are ways to counterplay his positioning. He’s only able to dash to cover, which makes his destinations somewhat predictable. Plan your shots accordingly, and definitely punish him after he’s Blitzed. Grouping against Blackburn is basically a death sentence because his toolkit provides plenty of ways to punish cuddle puddles. Keeping him off the battlefield as much as possible is another way to ensure he isn’t constantly dishing out the damage. Learning when and how to focus him down may just mean you get to live to see another round!
Abilities
Equalizer
Attacks either a single target with high damage or a group of enemies with lower damage based on targeting.
Proteus Grenade
Throws a grenade dealing area of effect damage. It can go over walls, and even be modded to heal.
Adrenal Stim
Inject yourself with a free action stim that grants haste and might until the end of the turn.
Blitz
Dash to cover and then choose a direction to set up overwatch, damaging enemies in a cone during blast phase.
Scorched Earth
Call in an air strike to deal massive damage to enemies in a line.
Advanced Tactics
When playing as Blackburn:
- Use the “wide fire” mode on Equalizer to cover locations your enemies may dash to.
- Keep a wall between you and your target on the turn Proteus Grenade is available. You can deal damage while potentially not taking any.
- Stay near cover as much as possible when you move so that you can dash into an advantageous position with Blitz.
- Blitz is a dash ability that fires in blast. Use it to evade enemies’ dash abilities and then damage them in return.
- Blackburn works well with characters who reveal: Blitz, Proteus Grenade, and Scorched Earth can easily finish off targets that escape around walls.
Coming up against Blackburn:
- Scorched Earth hits all his targets in a line across the entire battlefield.
- Avoid grouping up when Blackburn is at full energy.
- Blackburn’s dash is on a five turn cooldown and he can only move a short distance. Focus him down after he uses Blitz.
- Blackburn is stronger when he’s next to cover. Try to push or pull him out of covered areas while fighting him.
- Just because Blackburn is behind a wall don’t assume you are safe. Many of his attacks have ways to circumvent barriers.