Last Stand - Captain

The Space Marine Captain is the Space Marine hero for Last Stand

Overview

The Captain is, generally, a versatile hero, though he doesn't start that way. He's actually capable of both decent ranged and decent melee configurations alike, and can actually become frightfully strong at either. Boasting one of the best available health and armor pools in Last Stand and one of the best HP regen rates, he's also quite survivable.

Properly equipped, the Captain can be great for wiping out blobs, tanking ridiculous amounts of damage, powerful crowd control abilities, or challenging high-priority targets head on. Energy will always be a potential problem for the Captain, though; many abilities cost a good chunk, only one weapon increases energy regen, and only one armor gives an energy boost, often leaving him strapped for it. Furthermore, plenty of his wargear options are of questionable usefulness, so the number of viable combinations is somewhat reduced.

Kit wisely.

Armor

• Power Armor - Default
  • Armor: 62
    • Defailt space marine armor, to be replaced by better wargear. Useless.

• Armor of Resilience - Level 1
  • Armor: 128
  • Unshakable (Knockback immunity)
    • The starting armor for the Space Marine is decent; though its protective value is overshadowed by other armors, it is the only way the Captain gains access to Unshakable, which actually does have its merits.

• Armor of Vengeance - Level 9
  • Armor: 208
  • Traits: Reactive Strike (Melee attacks against the Captain have a chance to damage and knockback the attacker.)
    • The Armor of Vengeance is incredibly tanky, and useful for many builds. Reactive Strike doesn't quite kick in as often as desired, but it does help to keep some blobs away.

• Artificer Armor - Level 13
  • Armor: 162
  • +50 Health, +25 Energy
    • One of the most common armor choices on a Captain, and for good reason; its protection is sufficient, only overshadowed by the Armor of Vengeance, the energy boost is much needed for the Captain, and the health boost doesn't hurt, either.

• Armor of Fortitude - Level 17
  • Armor: 144
  • +2.5 Health Regeneration
    • While not a bad armor, exactly, the Armor of Fortitude is often outclassed by its kin; More times than not, the extra health from Artificer will match the regen of Fortitude, on top of Artificers other benefits, and the sheer tankiness of Vengeance makes it somewhat preferable as well; that said, Fortitude can work well with builds focusing heavily on health regeneration, aiming for 8.5 or 9 health per second, and works extremely well with ranged Captains.

• Sacred Relic Armor - DLC
  • Armor: 135
  • Traits: Melee Expert (Melee Damage is increased by 15%.), Crushing Blows (Melee attacks will deal additional damage in an area around the attacker.)
    • A decent set of armor, but very much a one-trick pony. The buffs it offers can make the Captain terrifying in terms of damage capability, but its armor value is the second lowest of the whole lot, sometimes leaving him more vulnerable than even with the Armor of Resilience due to the presence of knockback.

Weapons

• Bolt Pistol - Default
  • One-handed Ranged Weapon.
  • 4.8 DPS
    • As there are multiple pistol replacements, one being another bolt pistol, there's no reason to keep this, ever. Why would you?

• Chainsword - Default
  • Melee Weapon
  • 7.6 DPS
    • Like the bolt pistol, there are multiple melee weapon replacements, including another chainsword. Replace this immediately.

• Bolter - Level 1
  • Two-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 21.8 DPS
  • +0.3 Energy Regeneration.
  • Ability: Blind Grenade (10 Energy; throws a grenade that stuns a cluster of enemy targets upon impact.)
    • An often overlooked weapon that is deceptively powerful. Despite what the DPS says, its ranged attack is fucking awful and a great example of why going by pure DPS is often a bad idea; with only 50% accuracy and poor per-shot damage, the Bolter is notorious for missing and failing to do damage either to mobs or to armored targets. The blind grenades and energy regeneration, however, give it plenty of value, giving a tactically-minded Captain a great way to control mobs and high priority targets [such as the dopplegangers] as they're stunned for a few seconds, especially at its cheap energy cost. You won't get many kills with this weapon, but you can change how a battle is faring.

• Master-Crafted Bolt Pistol - Level 1
  • One-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 4.8 DPS
  • +1.5 Health Regeneration
    • Though completely unremarkable in power, to the point of forgetting its even doing damage sometimes, the additional health regeneration makes the bolt pistol useful in some builds, especially where it may be lacking otherwise.

• Master-Crafted Chainsword - Level 1
  • Melee Weapon
  • 12.3 DPS
  • Traits: Zealous (Every melee attack the Captain does gives him back 10 health.)
    • The starting melee weapon for the Captain is respectable. Though its damage is low, its attack speed is respectable, and the 10 health back per swing can allow a Captain to stay in melee combat for an extended period of time.

• Plasma Pistol - Level 3
  • One-Handed Ranged Weapon
  • 3.5 DPS
  • Traits: Corroding (Targets hit by the plasma pistol have reduced armor for a short period of time), Combat Expert (30% damage buff to melee and ranged attacks.)
    • Combat Expert alone justifies the use of the Plasma Pistol, as its damage buff makes the Power Axe or Lightning Claw all the more terrifying and makes all of the Captain's special attacks that much stronger. Corrosive and decent damage atop this is just gravy.

• Power Axe - Level 7
  • Melee Weapon
  • 19 DPS
  • Traits: Armor Piercing (The power axe ignores armor values up to 100.)
    • Though the power axe swings slow, leaving the Captain vulnerable at points, it swings HARD, especially when combined with the Plasma Pistol and Sacred Relic armor. Taking one makes the Captain very, very good at taking out single, tough targets.

• Plasma Gun - Level 11
  • Two-Handed Ranged Weapon
  • 22.6 DPS
  • Traits: Armor Piercing (The plasma gun ignores armor values up to 100.)
  • Abilities: Hellfire Grenade (15 Energy: Throws a grenade that, after 1.5 seconds from impact, does low-medium damage evenly across a pretty wide area, ignoring some armor.)
    • An incredibly useful weapon, and hard to go wrong with. The Hellfire Grenades are very useful for wiping out blobs of weaker enemies, and the plasma gun itself is an effective tool at plinking off tougher targets, especially with its Armor Piercing trait. Its only real weakness is the complete lack of any melee power without the use of Oath of Merciless Rage, and its somewhat sluggish fire rate. It's still light-years beyond the Bolter.

• Plasma Cannon - Level 16
  • Two-handed Ranged Weapon
  • 10.5 DPS
  • Traits: Knockback (Blasts from the plasma cannon will knock down infantry.), Heavy (The Plasma Cannon requires a setup time to fire, and a teardown time to move again.), Area of Effect (The Plasma Cannon's blasts deal damage over a wide area.)
  • Incompatible with Jump Pack!
    • Mixed bag, but generally under-achieves at best. This weapon can see use - especially if paired with skilled teammates (a Mekboy, for example, with Bouncy Shield, or an Eldar Farseer with Conceal), or if the player is smart enough to use the towers the map has (or Terror of Xenos). The damage it does is absolutely monstrous, and the blast range is quite large, which are all things in its favor - unfortunately it has a woefully slow fire rate and cannot be fired on the move, which hamstrings how useful it could be. Moreover, the gun's favored heavily by glitchers, both pre-Retribution (where they'd blast themselves out of the map), and post (where they'd stay inside a terrain piece), which has further tarnished this weapon's reputation. Under most circumstances, Captains wanting to fight from afar are encouraged to look towards the Bolter and Plasma Gun... Unless they specifically have a team that can back it up.

• Lightning Claw - Achievement - "The Warrior Born" [Achieve 350 kills in a single match with the Space Marine Captain.]
  • Melee Weapon
  • 10.0 DPS
  • Traits: Lightning Damage (Strikes from the Lightning Claw do additional damage to a squad over time.)
    • A terrifying blob-killer. Swinging just as fast as the chainsword, but inflicting damage to an entire squad at once as opposed to one individual, makes the Lightning Claw very, very good at eating up lesser units. It can be a nuisance to larger targets as well, though the Power Axe would be more useful in that scenario.

• Thunder Hammer - Achievement - "Fury of the Primarchs" [Kill 2,500 enemies as the Space Marine Captain.]
  • Two-handed Melee Weapon.
  • 15.0 DPS
  • Traits: Vehicle Stun, Knockback (Both are self-explanitory.)
    • A hard sell, and more of an acquired taste. You know how the Power Axe swings slow, but swings hard? The Thunder Hammer is like that, only 2-handed and slightly slower. It actually does more damage per hit, but its DPS trails behind it due to the Axe's swing speed. With this in mind, one wonders why to take this weapon, given this - and the answer is raw force. The Thunder Hammer has a tiny undocumented splash damage range, and it reliably stuns vehicles - handy for later waves, especially on Anvil of Khorne, where a Captain with this thing can render the likes of the Baneblade, Land Raider, or Battlewagon a complete joke and provide massive support to the team against other vehicles during waves, and it handles packs better than any melee option but the Lightning Claw. Whilst it will be outdamaged by the faster melee weapons, the sheer punch it has means it has a place in the hands of anyone trying to brute force it. It's not that great on paper, but used wisely, it's devastating.

• Inscribed Combat Shield - DLC
  • Shield (uses the one-handed Ranged slot)
  • +25 Armor Rating, +25 Health
  • Traits: Shield Block (reduces incoming ranged damage by 25%.)
    • The Combat Shield is a useful piece of wargear, especially for weaker armors such as the Sacred Relic Armor, protection-wise. Its buffed armor rating, health, and ranged damage reduction are all small buffs that add up pretty nicely. Can become laughable how much punishment a Captain can shrug off with the Combat Shield, Armor of Vengeance, Larraman's Blessing, and Rites of Fortitude and/or Parable of the Stalwart Brother. Worth considering.

Accessories

• Rite of Fortitude - Level 1
  • +75 Health
    • There's not much to explain here; +75 health is a noticable survivability buff to the Captain. A bit situational, as sometimes its twin the Parable of the Stalwart Brother's health regeneration is more useful, but it's hard to go wrong with it, either.

• Rift of Swift Victory - Level 1
  • Ability: Victory Charge (10 Energy, charges in a direction, knocking enemies in the way down as the Captain moves)
    • The Rite of Swift Victory grants some extra manuverability to a Captain, though it tends to be overshadowed by the Jump Pack once that becomes available, especially as sometimes the Rite of Swift Victory glitches. It does use less energy, though, and it can clear a path for teammates, so it doesn't completely lose its usefulness.

• Oath of Merciless Rage - Level 2
  • Ability: Merciless Strike (15 Energy, strikes out in a certain direction with an explosive melee attack.)
    • Do not underestimate this wargear, even though it tends to be more useful to lower-level players. It can miss, tends to be a little wonky due to targetting the ground (it does NOT target enemies; it targets where they were at time of clicking), and is susceptible to lag. On the other hand, it gives zero fucks about whether you're using a melee weapon or a ranged one, so have fun causing explosions with naught but your power armored fists. A great boon to a ranged character, and much less useful for melee characters, though it becomes quite formidable with the Plasma Pistol. It is especially bad for Lightning Claw users, due to built-in squad damage on it.

• Parable of the Stalwart Brother - Level 4
  • +1.5 Health Regeneration
    • The twin to the Rite of Fortitude, the Parable of the Stalwart Brother is a useful accessory that's hard to argue with. Sometimes the health regeneration is better, sometimes the extra health is better, sometimes both are best. It all depends on the rest of the config.

• Litanies of Hate - Level 6
  • Ability: Taunt Target (3 Energy, force a targeted enemy to stop their actions and engage the Captain.)
    • The Litanies of Hate are a powerful tool; its cheap energy cost and quick cooldown allows the Captain to draw the attention of many targets quickly, keeping fire off of his teammates and giving a lot of needed crowd control, presuming the Captain can either shrug off the attack or run away from his chasers, of course.

Also, he was one of the first heroes, so make sure that hearing "The Emperor's Will is my torch!" roughly one billion times every match won't drive you insane.

• Jump Pack - Level 8
  • Ability: Assault Jump (15 Energy, soar through the skies and crash down upon a location, knocking back any nearby foes.)
    • One of the most useful accessories to the Captain by far, the Jump Pack's increased manuverability completely changes the capabilties of the Captain, giving him the much needed ability to run away when things get too hot. Its energy cost is a bit steep, especially compared to the Tau Commander, but hardly unreasonable.

• Rite of the Tireless Crusader - Level 10
  • Ability: Revive (30 Energy, revive a fallen comrade with temporary invulnerability and full health.)
    • An extremely powerful ability, but a dangerous one on the Bloodied Colosseum. The ability to instantly revive a teammate from a distance, with invulnerability for a short time, explains itself; but the Doppleganger has this too, and has lead many defeats due to such. If this ability is brought to the Colosseum, the Captain Dopple must be brought down first, and is literally guaranteed to be an asshole on wave 20 when he decides to randomly revive the Lictor Alpha, Warboss, or Terminator.

• Terror of Xenos - Level 12
  • Ability: Fearsome Shout (35 Energy, causes all nearby enemies to retreat to their spawning points.)
    • Though its energy cost is quite steep, the Fearsome Shout is a powerful crowd-management ability, granting the team reprieve as its wide radius will cause quite a few foes to stop what they're doing and run away. It can single-handedly turn an assured defeat into a fair chance again.

• Litanies of Zeal - Level 14
  • Traits: Zealous Leadership (Melee attacks will heal the Captain and nearby allies for 5 health.)
    • The Litanies of Zeal can be a useful buff. It scales well with the Master-Crafted Chainsword, as 15 health back per swipe is nothing to laugh at, and the constant swings can cause some health-deprived allies some aid. That said, the Rites of Fortitude or Parable of the Stalwart Brother tend to be better options in the long run.

• Frag Grenades - Level 18
  • Ability: Frag Grenade (15 Energy, Area-of-attack with damage that is higher the closer a target is to the center, knocking down any survivors.)
    • Frag Grenades pack a hell of a punch, when timed right. Though the Plasma Gun's hellfire grenades are generally better for blobs, Frag Grenades can wreck some too, as well as do more damage to tougher targets. They can also grant some much needed damage to support Captains wielding weapons like the Bolter.

• Feel No Pain - Level 19
  • Ability: Feel No Pain (20 Energy, Restores health to a nearby ally.)
    • In theory, the Feel No Pain accessory should be incredibly useful, and, to its credit, it does give a large health buff. In practice, though, there are better options; the Feel No Pain's range is painfully short, forcing you to almost run up to the teammate to heal them; Revive becomes more practical at that point, and the Litanies of Zeal allow you to heal your allies just by fighting. It can be worked in, and it can be effective, but it is very situational.

Commander Items

• Larraman's Blessing - Level 5
  • Trait: Healing Aura (+2 Health Regeneration to Captain and all nearby allies.)
    • Larraman's Blessing is a wonderful buff to a party. For health regeneration strapped teammates like the Lord General, Larraman's Blessing can make an enormous difference, and it can fit in to virtually any combination of the Captain, to boot, being useful to supports, ranged, and melee Captains alike.

• Dreadnought Drop Pod - Level 15
  • Ability: Call Dreadnought (50 Energy, bring in a Dreadnought minion via drop pod. Drop Pod causes heavy cover where it crashes, and knockback to EVERYTHING nearby where it lands.)
    • The Dreadnought is a beast. A total, unrelenting beast ready to unleash tons of hate and pain to everything he dislikes on the field. The energy cost is extremely steep, but worth it; the Dreadnought is a useful companion at any time; though not without its flaws. The Dreadnought will utterly destroy any cover in its path, sometimes leaving the players without any to utilize for survivability's sake. Furthermore, it tends to wander and do its own thing, or try to catch up...to where the Captain was 20 seconds ago. Its power cannot be understated, though; the Dreadnought is pain, and its presence will be felt. Careful with the dopple versions, though; mutliple Captains with dreadnoughts can create a hell of a slugfest, potentially unwinnable.

• Orbital Bombardment - Level 20
  • Ability: Orbital Bombardment (50 Energy, call upon three powerful, destructive beams to annihilate groups and powerful targets alike.)
  • NOTE: The stunning ability of the Bombardment's beams does NOT work on Unshakable heroes or vehicles! Keep this in mind!
    • In terms of sheer, balls out power, the Orbital Bombardment is almost second to none. Its damage is incredibly high, especially if it stunlocks the desired target right in the middle of a beam, virtually ensuring their death, be they a blob of Orks or a Doppleganger. A well timed Orbital Bombardment can make all the difference; but at its energy cost of 50, and with such low energy regen for the Captain, it cannot be used lightly. It can also be one of the most effective tools against Dopplegangers, potentially allowing the team to one-shot them before they even get to do anything; so long as they don't have Unshakable or are a Tau Commander or Hive Tyrant.

Tactics & Strategy

• On Achievements:
  • Fury of the Primarchs (Which unlocks the Thunder Hammer) is a simple task. Since the Captain's job is to kill, racking up 2,500 kills shouldn't be too big of a task.
  • The Warrior Born (Which unlocks the Lightning Claw) is a little easier for the Captain, especially when using the Master-Crafted Chainsword, which makes it less of a hassle to kill 350 enemies in one match.