I’ve been playing a lot of Fragpunk lately. It’s scratching that Apex Legends itch when Apex Legends itself isn’t hitting the spot. I’ve never really got into tactical shooters before, that whole walk-stop-shoot is kryptonite to my Titanfall-pilled brain. I want slick movement and good gunplay, and Fragpunk has both in spades.
When it comes to competitive games like this, players gravitate towards a meta. It’s no surprise that everyone wants to know the same thing when it comes to Fragpunk. Best Lancers. Best weapons. Best stickers. You name it, people want to min-max this game to the nth degree. But that’s not how you should play it. At least, not for the moment.
Fragpunk’s Best Lancer Isn’t Real
I read a list that said the best Fragpunk Lancer is Axon. I played Axon in my next match. I hated him. His electric guitar is cool, but his slide is underwhelming (doubly so coming from Apex) and I just didn’t gel with his abilities, guitargun notwithstanding.
Our own Harry Alston kindly ranked Fragpunk’s Lancers, so I tried a couple off his leaderboard. I understand why Pathojen is rated S-tier, but I don’t want to play the healer. Broker gets a big old missile launcher, but it felt clunky compared to my preferred sniper rifle. Put simply, it’s just not my preferred playstyle. Then I tried Zephyr.
Zephyr is perfect. An ice-cold assassin and diehard TTRPG player (yes, really), Zephyr can turn invisible and stab your opponents before they know you’re there. She can set a beacon to teleport across the battlefield – perfect for placing at A site and then pushing B. She’s tricky to learn, but you can pull off some wild plays with her skillset.
I love playing Zephyr. I love it when I get a triple kill through my invisibility cloak, I love it when I mess up and reveal my position in between four opponents. I love it when I win, I love it when I die. Playing Zephyr is great.
The important takeaway is that I don’t just enjoy playing as the character because she’s good. As I played more Fragpunk and other players picked Zephyr ahead of me or I decided to try something new, Hollowpoint became a strong second favourite of mine. Hollowpoint, who Harry classed as A-tier – good, but nothing special. Her Smoke Screen either gives you great intel or scares off enemies and allows you to make up crucial ground. Add on a devastating railgun and it’s a recipe for fun.
Time To Experiment
Fragpunk is a brand new game. Nobody is great at it. Sure, Shroud is probably better than you. Players who have thousands of hours in Valorant have an advantage over newcomers to the genre. But the intricacies of Fragpunk haven’t been worked out. There is no defined meta or countermeta.
This is the time to have fun. Play with a wide variety of Lancers, try out different weapon combinations, pick the silliest shard cards. I will never not take the one that makes you slide across the map. Or the one with the tortoise shells. Or the big heads. Or the flaming shotgun shells.
There’s so much fun in Fragpunk right now, so embrace it. This game, as with all competitive games, will reach a point where there’s a defined meta and playing as Chum will be effectively throwing a match. Sorry for throwing Chum under the bus, but it could be any Lancer. So use this opportunity, while the playing field is as level as it ever will be, to master Chum and be the best Chum who ever lived.
Fragpunk is an incredibly well-balanced game. Even the Lancers that Harry deigned to be B-tier, Chum included, have some usability if you put in the time and effort to learn how they work. The same goes for the weapons. I prefer the Meat Maker to the Boom Broom, but it’s a close call between the two shotguns. It all depends on your playstyle, your character, and your shard cards. Fragpunk rewards adaptability, and you will be rewarded for creativity.
I’m not going to stop you from reading Harry’s guide to the best Lancers in Fragpunk, but if I were you I’d select one at random and play a few rounds. Not feeling it? Do it again. This roster is so balanced and diverse that you’ll find your perfect match eventually, whether they’re S-tier or B-tier. And when else other than a game’s first week, when everyone’s figuring things out, will you have the opportunity to do that?
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