Take aim with Rukyuk Amberdeen, a long-ranged supporter who uses covering fire to assist his team from afar.

Backstory

"All I need is to believe I'm doing a little good in this world. With that, I can stay on the right track."

The technomagical city-state of Willat society is stratified by magical ability. Rukyuk was born into this order without the ability to use magic, a condition which relegated him to the lowest echelon of society. Nonetheless, he dreamed of joining the ranks of the Willati grenadiers, and trained night and day to become an expert in non-magical weapons and munitions.

Eventually, this path led him to leave his home and travel the world as a mercenary. Seeing the world opened his eyes to the plights of those oppressed by governments and societies, as he had been. He founded the Champions of Indines, a mercenary order dedicated to fighting oppression and defending those who could not defend themselves, regardless of their wealth or circumstances.

Pros

• Huge ranges that apply pressure to the entire map.
• Some of the best artifacts in the game.
• Controls a wide area with his assist ability.

Cons

• Folds immediately in melee combat.
• Relies on long, clear lines of sight for his best effectiveness.

Gameplay

Rukyuk is a dedicated mid and long-range warden who brings a suite of support abilities and high damage output to a team. He can cover distant corners of the map, rearrange all figures in an area, and control his and his allies positioning through a suite of excellent artifacts.

Team Role

Rukyuk is a Supporter. More than just a supporter, however, he’s an aggressive combat supporter. Fights that happen under the effect of Rukyuk’s overwatch are difficult for opponents to win, and most of his direct attacks have unusually high damage for their range and speed.

Rukyuk’s biggest weakness is his inability to compete in melee. All of his signature attacks have minimum ranges, so if he’s engaged by an opponent, he is forced to rely on normals or allies to protect him. This weakness makes it very difficult to hold points, even though he is excellent at contesting them.

Card Preview

Strafe Gunner

The key card in Rukyuk’s kit, Strafe Gunner, combines movement, long range, slow speed, and high power to provide an attack that’s very difficult to contest. In the most ideal use cases, you’ll attack a target from safety behind cover, then step out and shoot, ‘out-slowing’ their response. If you can get Rukyuk to a reliable spot on a corner of the board, this can even be used to safely siege the enemy throne. On defense, Strafe Gunner will out-damage most pokes, allowing you to win the exchange against poorly thought-out opportunity attacks.

Castle Boots are an extremely powerful artifact that can be used to evacuate from an opponent’s strike. The use cases for this effect are vast, and it opens up a huge space of discovered play.

Magnum Blast

Rukyuk’s answer to approaches. Magnum Blast isn’t useful at very close range, but it can get a Tank or Bruiser off of your point in a big hurry. The high speed and big push together mean that you’ll often knock the target out of the range where they can retaliate against you.

Rocket Boots are another tool that allows a mid-ranger like Rukyuk to simply win strikes uncontested against melee types by popping out of their range before attacks are even revealed. This artifact allows you to bluff medium range attacks in melee, making it critical for teams that have few melee fighters.

Force Grenade

An incredible repositioning tool that is the fastest way to clear a point on the map. Force Grenade effectively scrambles the position of wardens, allowing Rukyuk to maximize his own support while spoiling his opponent’s support. Its only real weakness is the minimum range at which it is useful.

Evasive Scarf, like Rocket Boots, lets you change the setup of the attack. This tool can be much more effective at getting you behind cover and out of the opponent’s effective range, even if they have longer ranges at their disposal.

Kick (Normal)

Kick is Rukyuk’s only melee capability. The move is quick, but does no damage, relying entirely on assistance from your allies and collisions to get its damage. This move is often best used by your allies, who can kick a target out of position and into Rukyuk’s line of fire for a total of +4 damage (+2 more if you get a collision).

The Telescope is one of the strongest artifacts in the game, allowing you to attack from a position of relative safety from behind terrain.

Conclusion

Rukyuk brings a huge bump in power and board control to his team, plus the ability to threaten distant targets and disrupt positional team comps. While he suffers from severe limitations in close combat, this can be mitigated by pairing him with Wardens who will cover his flank.