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FragPunk is a new 5v5 free-to-play tactical shooter with a roster of 13 playable Lancers from NetEase, currently available on PC and coming to Xbox Series X|S and PS5 in the future. It's a tactical shooter in the style of Valorant and Counter-Strike, with the main mode featuring several rounds, bomb sites, and no respawns. What makes it different is the Shard Card system, which causes different gameplay-altering effects every round, like giving the enemy team big heads for easy headshots or removing one of the plant sites.FragPunk also features a roster of playable characters, called Lancers, each with their own unique abilities they can use in combat. While FragPunk is a game far more about your ability to quickly aim and hit shots, these abilities can provide information about enemy locations or deal extra damage with unique weapons. The roster features just over a dozen characters at launch, and while all of them are certainly viable, it's hard to deny that a few of them have more powerful abilities. Here's our ranking of the best FragPunk characters to play. 13. SpiderSpider takes the bottom spot thanks to his overly situational abilities. He can set up two portals that he can use to travel back and forth between, although setting this up more than one room apart takes more time than rounds of FragPunk really allow. His teleportation trap works well when it lands, throwing a grenade that teleports enemies inside of it to wherever you throw them from, but it takes an extensive amount of time to detonate, and while it will pull enemies in, the delayed explosion makes it easy to avoid. His Spider Web traps are his best ability, blinding and slowing enemies who walk through it, and makes for a solid defensive choice, but unless you are prepared to crack the perfect teleportation strategies, Spider isn't a great pick. 12. JaguarJaguar excels at exposing and disrupting the enemy team, but his abilities don't quite live up to some of the other Lancers on the roster. He also has a trap, Live Wire, that deals electric damage over time to any who walks in, making it good for blocking pathways. His smoke can blind enemies in front of him, but needing some vision of the enemy makes it a tough ability to use, and it has a small area of effect. I Can See For Miles gives Jaguar a movement speed boost and lists the number of nearby enemies, fully exposing them if they have low health or are affected by Jaguar's abilities. It's an effective ability, although it requires you to already have your enemies in your traps. 11. CoronaCorona is designed around rushing the enemy team, which can be a very dangerous tactic in this type of shooter. He has a short-range dash, which can also be used vertically as well, but the range is quite short and you have to lower your weapon, making it tough to use in combat. He can create small areas of fire, which will continuously deal damage to enemies inside of it, and it provides Corona with damage reduction and a speed boost while he's inside of it. Though it works well for both dealing some damage or pushing, it does require you to give away your presence to throw it down, since it activates automatically upon hitting the ground, which isn't true for all of the throwable abilities in FragPunk. He does have a blind, but it only affects people looking at him, forcing you to push into a fight if you want to blind someone instead of throwing a blind before heading in. 10. SonarSonar is all about detecting enemy locations and hiding your own team's locations. These skills are certainly great in this type of game, but you don't have a ton of flexibility in what you can do, and since your best ability, the Echolocation device, is stationary, it can be difficult to reposition if necessary, and it can be necessary quite often. Echolocation periodically reveals moving enemies in a large circle around the placed item. The Sonic Surge ability exposes enemies in a circular tunnel you shoot out, which gets more range as you charge it. It also fires a second delayed blast, knocking enemies back and dazing them. Lastly, the Sound of Silence dampens your footsteps and nearby teammates' footsteps while also making you immune to enemy Echolocation scans if they have a Sonar player of their own. 9. ChumChum has a fairly uncommon kit on the FragPunk roster, and while it is fun to use, it feels at odds with the tactical shooter gameplay. Chum can spawn Chomper, a small land fish who can patrol an area, chasing enemies he spots. If fed the Explosive Bait (which can be used as a mine if not fed to Chomper), Chomper will follow you and rush at an enemy it spot in order to explode near them. You can also feed him Smoking Bait, which will cause him to spew smoke as we walk. While his default mode works decently as a trap, the Explosive Bait mode takes too long to react to an enemy, usually detonating after you or the enemy have already been killed. Since Chomper operates on his own, his actions aren't as precise as other abilities, which is an issue in a shooter with this short of a time-to-kill. 8. KismetKismet has a nice spread of strong abilities, but none of these feel quite as impactful as those belonging to Lancers higher on the list. Kismet can scan enemies, creating a circular area in front of where she is looking. While it has less range than a throwable, it can go through walls, making it especially good for scanning approaching enemies before they enter the room. Her grenade ability deals a strong amount of damage, not enough to one-shot--though it's pretty close--but more importantly, it ignores barriers like walls. That means if any enemy is using cover, you can still hit through that. Lastly, she can turn invisible and invulnerable, but she is unable to see enemies while in this state. It's good for repositioning, but you can also easily pop back up in front of an enemy if you aren't careful. 7. SerketSerket takes the seven spot thanks to her flexible teleportation. Serket can conceal herself and deploy a drone, which she can choose to teleport to. You can see enemies, although they appear as sandstorms so you won't know who exactly it is, but the flexibility of choosing if you want to teleport or not makes this ability much handier than Kismet's, even if they are similar. Serket can also deploy a sandstorm, which disrupts visibility, letting it either move continuously in a straight line or stop it on a specific spot. She also has a throwable that pulls enemies in range of it and slows them once in it, making it useful for blocking lanes or disrupting enemies hiding behind cover. 6. PathojenPathojen uses two different area-of-effect deployables, one for healing teammates or herself, and one for dealing damage. Her healing field lasts for an extended period of time and heals either yourself or teammates, and with it being the only healing-focused ability in the game, it's quite valuable to have. Her damage-based throwable operates as a trap, either getting triggered manually or by an enemy walking over it. It creates a field that deals damage over time, and while it likely won't kill someone unless they are low on health, it does block lanes and lets you know when an enemy is approaching from a certain direction. Pathojen can also build barriers that can block doorways or act as cover. 5. NitroNitro is a phenomenal defender, and her drone can be used to take an enemy out fully if utilized properly. Nitro can deploy three blocks as cover, absorbing a decent amount of damage before breaking, letting her create new areas to hold down an objective. She can deploy two auto turrets, which will shoot enemies who come into range and deal a good amount of damage, especially if placed in a way where they both target a single enemy. Last is her drone, which can be a little cumbersome to use and deploy in the middle of a fight, but it deals good damage and can at the least give you an advantage over an enemy by taking out some of their health, or kill them completely if they don't react fast enough. 4. BrokerIf you haven't noticed by now, Lancers with high-damage abilities are taking the top spots on this list, because the low TTK just makes being able to deal extra damage important. Broker has multiple damage-dealing abilities, including his rocket launcher. You get two shots per round, with a direct hit capable of one-shotting an enemy, but it does decent splash damage and knocks enemies back, making it great for pushing back enemies holding a corner. Broker's Cherry Bomb creates a bunch of small bombs in a large area that will explode after a short delay once an enemy approaches, making them good for blocking off an area. Lastly, Broker can also fire a smoke screen in a long line, reducing visibility. 3. HollowpointWhile you can pick a sniper rifle for your loadout, Hollowpoint gets a railgun that works similarly as part of her kit. The railgun takes a moment to charge, but she gets multiple shots per round and it can one-shot an enemy by hitting them in the head or chest. This also means you can still equip something more close-range as your primary weapon, giving you both options when your opponents can only have one or the other. She can set up mines that attach themselves to enemies and expose their location until they remove them and she can deploy a forward-moving smoke screen that exposes enemies it touches. 2. AxonAxon has a phenomenal set of abilities and is certainly a contender for the top spot on this list. His Super Freak ability makes him immune to blinds, even if used after being blinded, which can protect you from rushing enemies who think they have blinded you. His sticky grenades can stick to enemies and explode for 50 damage each, but you get several charges, and holding the ability will throw them rapidly, letting you overwhelm an area enemies have set up in. Last is his best ability, Electric Guitar, which is a shotgun with 12 shots in it per round. It deals a ton of damage and fires pretty quickly, making it extremely powerful in close-range combat. 1. ZephyrZephyr takes the top spot because her invisibility allows her to get a free kill in many situations, which is huge in a game with no respawns. Zephyr can activate cloaking, which lasts for a short period. While invisible, you can only melee and will be revealed if you take damage or fire a gun, but a charged melee to the back will one-shot an enemy, making it useful for taking down an enemy holding down an attacking lane by sneaking up on them. Zephyr also has a beacon she can place, which she can teleport back to by reactivating the ability, offering a quick escape. Fade Away lets her set up a field, inside of which her invisibility lasts indefinitely unless Zephyr takes damage. While mastering the art of melee kills with Zephyr might take some time, it makes pushing on an enemy simple and taking even one person off the board can give you a ton of momentum in a round.
