A Guide to Characters, Very Hard

Breaks down and ranks every character for Very Hard difficulty. Guide game version: 1.1.7.8

Introduction

THIS GUIDE WAS DESIGNED FOR VERSION: 1.1.7.8

Shardpunk has eleven human characters and three bots, of which you get three humans and one bot, plus a random extra human. These starting four are one of the most important parts of a run. Character strength varies widely, and a good party is infinitely stronger than a bad one. As the title suggests, this tier list is designed with Very Hard difficulty in mind.

Throughout this guide, I will also give recommendations for skill upgrade order. If this guide tells you to upgrade one thing and another, you want both of them around the same time but I don't believe the order matters. If it tells you to upgrade one thing or another, you either only need one or won't have enough skill points for both. After the upgrade order finishes, put remaining skill points wherever you want, although you preferably go back to or options.

As an overview, here are two tier lists. The first one is based on raw strength, while the second one is adjusted for the early game.

Analysis: Mycroft - Anne

Mycroft Valentine

Overall Rank: A
Adjusted Rank: A+
Mycroft is overall a solid character. Ground Slam deals middling damage as it only one-shots grunts at this difficulty, but it is an on-demand area stun that deals damage for the price of one skill point, which is very good. Search Old Stashes isn't great, as proper use of Looting Spree means that you should ideally get all the loot you need during levels. Although Weapon Boost took a sizeable nerf, it is still a monster if you can afford the weapon parts to make it viable. I'm personally not a fan of Old Soldier's Advice as aggressive flanking and use of cover makes its benefits less relevant. Dread reduction is good, though. Improved Armour means that Mycroft can get very tanky. Solid character, but nowhere near game-breaking.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Slam 2
2. Armour 3 and Boost 3
3. Slam 3

Tilly Rexworth

Overall Rank: S
Adjusted Rank: S
Since the playtest days, Tilly was very strong. Although she got nerfed very hard, she is still as strong as ever. Katana Slash and Sharpen the Katana mean that she has two damage scalars that cost skill points instead of weapon parts. This means that she can get excessive amounts of damage while not being a burden on gun-focused characters. Katana Combo lets her slice through multiple rats in a turn. If you use your squad to whittle down enemies Tilly can't 2-shot or is too far away from to do so (unlikely if you have the Run! team skill), she will clear 5-6 enemies in a turn. You can also add grenades between slashes to help with groups of enemies. Tie this to a ridiculous 2-turn cooldown, and Tilly will regularly clear pods for you. Swift Movement is only really good for its third rank. Mechanic is ridiculous for its first rank alone, as it means your bot effectively cannot die. The bot also seems to have naturally higher target priority, so as long as you don't mess up with enemy AoE, you have the best tank in the game. Tilly has extraordinary offence and gives insane tanking potential to your bot.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Mechanic 1
2. Sharpen 3
3. Combo 3
4. Swift Movement 3 or Slash 3

Gideon Shaw

Overall Rank: C+
Adjusted Rank: C+
If you've played with Gideon, you might be surprised with how I ranked him. Hear me out. Gideon's main gimmick is Multi-Overwatch, which lets him break the action economy in twain on the enemy turn. However, it is very limited. You need the enemy to move, which means that it does far less if the enemy is already in range. Melee enemies move first despite their usually reduced threat, meaning the increased number of grunts means that they will be eating most, if not all, of your shots. You also have to not get hit, which means that what gets through will screw you over. All this doesn't matter if you can't kill your targets, and the 7-HP shooters and shotgunners of Very Hard make this an issue when Gideon only scales through weapon parts. He simply falls off compared to characters that can just kill the enemies on your turn. Don't bother with Quick Shot, you've done something wrong if you're relying on it. Serial is nice, but unlike Silas or Tilly, Gideon needs both AP to shoot, meaning he can only shoot once per kill and the chain lasts until the bottom of his clip without free reloads. Critical Overwatch helps with the one-shot issue, but that's one of many. Gideon is a very cinematic character, but he ultimately has issues.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Serial Shots 3 and Multi-Overwatch 3
2. Critical Overwatch 3

Michael Kipps

Overall Rank: C-
Adjusted Rank: C
Michael did get buffed slightly, but is still very weak. Pep Talk is decent for dread. Tactical Order lets a spent ally use Extra Effort or a spent Tilly/Silas use Combo/All In, which is nice. Cover Expert 1 gives Michael more flexibility for positioning, but the higher ranks give too low of a dodge chance to be useful. Free vents in general aren't that useful as TTK is low, you get adequate downtime, and it doesn't cost much to reload. Clean Weapon is now a damage scalar that Michael can sink points into, but there are better characters that have damage scalars alongside other skills. Michael is your third charge of Extra Effort and not much more.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Tactical Order 2
2. Clean Weapon 3
3. Cover Expert 1 and Tactical Order 3

Hector Turner

Overall Rank: A
Adjusted Rank: A
Hector is atrocious. He's a politician.
So, remember how Hector used to be a bottom-tier character? Yeah, that changed. Untouchable has twice as many charges as it used to, which makes a big difference when tanking. 6 misses means that enemies will struggle to hit him during the first turn or if weakened. Propaganda Talk is also absolutely busted with the buff Calm and Collected got. Between the two, you can get a total of 192% increased crit chance spread across your team. Add in a 20% crit bonus from a melee ability or tier 2 aim upgrades, and you can guarantee crits for 2-3 characters. As it turns out, giving most of your team +3 damage with upside is pretty good. His other skills still suck. Blade Slash is only better than Katana on the first level, Slice Them is bad Ground Slam, and Blade Overwatch is trash because you have to be standing on a spawn point to use it. Calm and Collected plus Hector, however, makes up for it.
1. Propaganda Talk 3
2. Untouchable 3
3. Blade Slash 3

Anne Claxton

Overall Rank: A-
Adjusted Rank: A
Anne is probably the most forgettable character of the cast, but that doesn't mean she's bad per se. Power Shot is below par seeing as the weapon parts you put in Aim to get it to actually land probably would've let you kill your target without using the ability had you put them in Damage. Cheer Everyone Up is one of the best dread reducers due to its lack of action cost. Speed Boost is good, as extra movement speed always helps and the dodge chance lets you potentially weave through Overwatches. Bombardment at base may not deal enough damage to potentially one-shot ranged enemies anymore, but is guaranteed damage that's hard to come by in the early game, hence the tier increase. It also deals solid damage when upgraded, although its area is low. Improved Armour is generically good.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Bombardment 3 (2 is good enough on lower difficulties) and Speed Boost 1
2. Cheer Everyone Up 1
3. Speed Boost 3 and Improved Armour 3

Analysis: Rose - Leah

Rose Jennings

Overall Rank: C
Adjusted Rank: B-
Despite being the only character with two positive starting traits (which, of all things, was one of the most updated parts of Shardpunk development), Rose isn't great. Heal Everyone is a downgrade from the former Salvage Bandages, as its base feature performs as well as food, which is more available than bandages, and the points one could invest into making it good could also be used on combat tools to avoid taking damage in the first place. Rush It! is good as more actions equal more damage. However, the bum rush into point-blank crit shotgun doesn't work well as unlike a dedicated melee character, Anne needs to spend an action to get into range. Field Medic's buff makes Rose a potential tank, but costing a stim and requiring a damaged ally in the right position makes it hard to use. Improved Overwatch would be nice if Rose didn't have a shotgun, which is not a good weapon. Weak Spot's damage can be a lifesaver in the early game (especially with her minimum 1 damage), but it doesn't scale great depending on your comp.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Weak Spot 1
2. Rush It! 3
2. Weak Spot 3

Gunter Knapp

Overall Rank: S-
Adjusted Rank: S+
If I had a nickel for every time a sniper in a turn-based tactics game where one or more squads of humans fight back against an oppressive, superior force of non-human enemies was better off using their pistol than their sniper rifle due to action economy shenanigans and a lack of heat/ammo, I would have two nickels. Gunter was merely okay before, but then update 1.0.26 gave him +4 damage while Loner is active. His pistol at base has a greater minimum damage than some weapons can ever get without temporary bonuses. This makes him a monster at the early game and gives him a whopping THREE damage scalars: pistol or rifle upgrades that use skill points or weapon parts respectively, Energy Cell Tuning which costs skill points, and Loner, which is free. Couple that with the aim buff that lets him fire at 95% accuracy through low cover, and he makes the early game considerably easier while packing a punch in the late game. Penetrating Shot also lets him damage the action economy a little, although it can be hard to use. Focus isn't worth upgrading as Loner gives you all the aim you need, and Precision Shot gives you options for dealing with hard cover as well. Gunter is the undisputed king of the early game.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Penetrating Shot 1
2. Energy Cell Tuning 3
3. Penetrating Shot 3
4. Precision Shot 3 or Pistol Shot 3

Silas Mitchell

Overall Rank: S+
Adjusted Rank: S-
Yeah, Silas is broken again. His main weakness used to be his stress gain potentially causing him to take permanent negatives, which could stack up. The fact that he couldn't lose stress from resting also helped with this balance. Now, Silas loses dread from resting, which you want to do anyways to recover from that 90% trait roll and get 100% crit, and the only negative for stresscapping is panic. This means that All In and Push the Limit are essentially free. Annihilate a pod at the push of a button. Silas' mental state is a disposable resource. All In as aforementioned is a a little powerful when you can use it at basically no downside. Push the Limit is more actions and doubles as a Run! at higher levels, which is good generally good. Pat Your Revolver is a damage scalar whose downside is nullified by any dread reduction. Gallows Humour is literally action negative at worst and action neutral at best, it's a waste of time. Sadistic is okay if you aren't using Calm and Collected to 100% crit Silas. In the early stages, Pat 1 + 2 damage upgrades lets him always 1-shot grunts, meaning his early game isn't that bad. Both scalars or scalar + crit lets him reliable 1-shot ranged enemies. Everything together gives him the last feasible damage threshold at 10, letting him guaranteed 1-shot specialized enemies and a good number of elites. The fact that he's a sidegrade to playtest Silas is... troubling.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Pat Your Revolver 1 (get 2 weapon part damage upgrades)
2. All In 3
3. Pat Your Revolver 3
4. Push the Limit 3

Julius Brick

Overall Rank: A
Adjusted Rank: B+
Julius, AKA the killdozer with a chainsaw on the end. Chainsaw isn't great as a damage dealer as its second damage scalar doesn't apply to the first hit, but 2 armour lets Julius get incredibly tanky, especially since that armour replenishes. Taunt is okay as a support tool. While +5 max damage is hilarious, Go Aggro was heavily nerfed with the addition of dread as stress gain is penalized and stresscapping isn't. Not that it was good in the first place, +5 maximum damage is more funny than actually good. Improved Armour is Improved Armour, and getting up to 5 armour is both hilarious and good. Search Through Scrap isn't really worth it, you should be able to craft/loot enough grenades to get by and Julius' level of tank is more valuable.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Chainsaw 3 and Improved Armour 3
2. Taunt 3

Leah Walker

Overall Rank: A+
Adjusted Rank: A
Leah got nerfed a bit by dread, but is still powerful. Blink is like Rush It, but it can actually be used to flank enemies. A free action for about two actions of movement almost makes up for her use of a pistol in the early game, especially since a gunner in an entrenched position can be a surprisingly difficult hurdle on the first mission. Life Drain is very useful as guaranteed damage and healing, especially when she has self-damage abilities. Although it doesn't quite deal enough damage to one-shot a grunt at level 1, its best use is a guaranteed finisher and HP topper anyway. Shock Trap is a nice tool to shut off melee enemies and can be tossed on top of enemies to effectively immobilize them. Energy Discharge is amazing when upgraded due to its wide area stun and noticeable, if non-lethal, damage. Dread does make spamming this worse, but if you aren't running Silas you can afford to stack rests to get rid of it. Blink into Discharge into Life Drain is an especially potent combo. Sacrifice, while good on paper, is honestly not really necessary given weapon parts, especially due to its cost in medical supplies.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Life Drain 1
2. Energy Discharge 3
3. Life Drain 2 and Shock Trap 1

Analysis: Automatons

Support Unit

Overall Rank: B-
Adjusted Rank: A-
Outside of an obvious marketable plushie choice, the support unit is exceedingly okay. Support Mode isn't great past the early game, where you can kill things faster than reloading becomes a problem, and can be completely useless depending on your team comp. The aim from upgrades is nice (a total of 3 things give max damage apparently), but it forces you to stay still and severely limits how well you can use cover. Lay Low is actually a bit of a downside as it means the Support Unit doesn't start with Dynamo Boost, which increases flexibility by a lot. Intimidate does give a free turn, but it got ruined by an absurd cooldown and you won't be needing the extra turn past the early game. Stun grenade is a stun, which is nice. It's good for the early game, but the others are better past that.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Intimidate 1
2. Stun Grenade 1
3. Dynamo Boost 1
4. Support Mode 3 and Dynamo Boost 3

Medical Unit

Overall Rank: A
Adjusted Rank: C-
Wow, how did the medical unit go from being somewhat decent to the worst unit in the game? It's because it is utterly useless until you get Stim Spray 3. If you can position well and don't have enough firepower to clear a pod, Stim Spray 3 gets you two extra turns: one for the full refill of AP, and one for the 90% dodge chance that gives you full immunity to non-explosions if you ate last night. The rest of the unit, however, is not. Dynamo Boost is decent but the medical unit doesn't have many payoffs, Discharge is a nice, wide stun at max, and Revive isn't good because ideally no one goes down anyway. Stim Spray is the main redeeming quality, and you effectively don't have an automaton before you get it.
Recommended upgrade order:
1. Stim Spray 3
2. Discharge 3
3. Dynamo Boost 3

Combat Unit

Overall Rank: S
Adjusted Rank: S
The combat unit is powerful. Not just because it gives you more gun, although more gun is more gooder, but because Shock Attack is busted. It deals enough damage to kill or cripple an entire pod, has a chance to stun, cannot miss, and has a low cooldown to boot. With Dynamo Boost to make up for relatively short range, the combat unit has a high chance of obliterating entire pods. Ground Slam is missing the good part, but it is potential free damage on top of movement. Cone Blast is okay but overshadowed by Shock Attack. I'd put Shock Attack right below the honours of first-playtest All In or Katana Combo.
Recommended Upgrade Order:
1. Shock Attack 3
2. Dynamo Boost 3
3. Regular Shot 3

Closing Remarks

In addition to raw power, you should keep your characters' damage scalars in mind. Tilly and Gunter, for example, are strong because they get damage from their skills, which means that you can stack weapon parts on characters that scale with them rather than spreading them out. I believe that the strongest team composition right now is Tilly, Silas, Hector, and the combat unit. The fourth character does not matter as Hector gives everyone guaranteed crits, Silas with guaranteed crits, a maxed-out gun, and abilities spammed without reck is hilariously busted, and Tilly plus combat unit are a good combo for the first three levels.
However, take this with a grain of salt. Plenty of characters are infinitely viable at lower difficulties before the rats get thick, some characters may suit your playstyle better, and this doesn't take combos into account. If you're struggling with Very Hard, Silas, at least 2 aim upgrades, Calm and Collected for 80% rest crit chance. Happy hunting, survivors.

[Sanyek]

Thanks for updating your guide! It really helped me get through hard and now very hard doesn't feel so daunting because of your tips. However I am sad you removed the quips you had written for Silas, they were really on point and such a nice touch lmao

[Stryk3r]

@bryqu definitely remembered not being able to do it at some point, but some quick testing would show that you're right (outside of overwatch, but that makes sense). Probably just weird LoS or something.

[bryqu]

"Tactical Order no longer appears to work on spent allies" - double-checked that, but can't confirm it. You can still grant an AP to a character that has no AP left (assuming that I understood your comment correctly).

[Stryk3r]

@phantasmal Untouchable does make Hector good at popping overwatches due to recent buffs. I wouldn't really give it any more credit, though. Assassins aren't too much of an issue because they are a melee unit, meaning they tend to get annihilated before they connect. He also barely has any offence compared to alternatives that can facetank just as easily, such as anyone with armour.

The issue with setting Bladewatch up is that it takes an action to activate. Defence pods just don't tend to be that close. Hitting spawns is good every now and then, but far less reliable than something someone else can do after the pod spawns.

Team skill points are far cheaper than character skill points. You get a team skill point every level, and you can afford to take a short detour with them. Meanwhile, you get character skill points much slower, and some characters actually have skills to spend them on.

Silas does have a rough start, but I honestly feel like he's got it better than Hector.

[phantasmal]

Personally I think you severly underestimate/sell Hector.
Untouchable is not purely defensive, you can use it offensively as well, by popping Overwatches that might be inhibiting your carries from getting into range. Also good to dodge Assassins hits so you don't have to deal with the poison.

He makes a good forward scout, rearguard or bait, as he pretty much never has to worry about getting caught out in the open.

Bladewatch is alright to block off a spawn point or corridors by just sitting in the middle of it. Since it doesn't generate heat or require weapon parts, he can spam overwatch far more easily than any one else. Gunmen killing units before he can is a fallacy, as you shouldn't be setting him up in a way that Bladewatch provides 0 value.

Having Propaganda Talk means you can spend your team skill points on something other than extra stress healing and shelter points.

Just my opinion of course.
Def would pick him over Silas, as Silas just has such a rough start.