PALADINS - CHAMPIONS OF THE REALM: RUCKUS CHARACTER GUIDE

With the recent arrival of Paladins on the Nintendo Switch, now is the best time to get started in the game. If you're not sure what characters you want to play, or are having trouble understanding the playstyle of some characters, check out our handy Character Guides! Today we will be looking at Ruckus, a powerful Frontline champion who blows away competition

Ruckus, one of the first Frontline champions in Paladins, is a basic, yet powerful champion. Ruckus is a small goblin piloting Bolt, a sentient mining mech which has been repurposed for combat. Before looking at the best loadouts and playstyles for Ruckus, let's do a quick overview of his abilities, talents, and cards.

ABILITIES

Minigun	Incredibly fast firing miniguns that deal 40 damage per shot every .04 seconds once fully spun up. Maintain fire to continually speed up the rate of fire. Effective at Medium Range. It takes 1s to fully spin up.
Missile Launcher	Fire 2 Explosive Missiles dealing 250 Area of Effect Damage each.
Advance	Boost in the direction you're moving. Advance has 2 charges, and can be used while shooting. Each charge is generated individually every 5s, and there is about a 1s cooldown between charges.
Emitter	Create an energy shield around you for 3.5s. The shield has 2500 health. Nearby enemies are slowed 10% for 2s. Emitter can be used during Hexa Fire
Hexa Fire	Reveal two additional miniguns that deal 120 damage every .04 seconds and two rocket launchers that deal 250 damage every .25 seconds. Your Movement Speed is reduced to 5% during Hexa Fire but you gain 10% damage reduction.

TALENTS

Aerial Assault	Overdrive	Rocket Barrage	Flux Generator
Advance gains a 3rd charge. Using Advance while standing still causes you to boost upwards.	Deal up to 40% more damage based on your missing health.	You may hold up to 3 charges of Missile Launcher	Increase the health of Emitter's Shield by 1250 (For a total 3750 HP)

CARDS

Air Cooled	Advance heals you for 80-400 HP		At The Ready	Hitting an enemy with Missile Launcher reveals them for 1-5s
Countermeasure	Dropping below 30% of your maximum health grants you a 150-750 HP Shield for 4s		Crystal Capacitor	Reduce the cooldown of Missile Launcher by 0.7-3.5s
Dampener	Gain 150-750 Health		Regenerative Alloy	While Emitter is active, generate 5-25 ammo per second
Extended Magazines	Advance generates 15-75 ammo		Fuel Reserves	Increase the distance of Advance by 7-35%
Metal March	Gain 3-15% damage reduction for 2s after using Missile Launcher		Nano Technology	Heal 50-250 HP per second while Emitter is active
No Chill	Increase your movement speed while firing by 5%		Opulence	Heal for 100-500 HP after using Missile Launcher
Proximity	Activating Advance grants 3-15% damage reduction for 3s		Quick Loader	Eliminations increase your reload speed by 7-35% for 5s
Refraction	Reduce the cooldown of Emitter by 1-5s		Warden	Increase the duration of Emitter by 1-5s

RECOMMENDATIONS

Because he is a Frontline, Ruckus excels at maintaining point control, whether that means holding the point in Onslaught, protecting the Payload in Siege, or locking down a location in Team Deathmatch.

For point control, the talent Flux Generator will allow you to survive even the most powerful of attacks by almost doubling your health pool. This talent is best paired with this loadout:

Level 5 Nano Technology, Level 2 Countermeasure, Level 2 Dampener, Level 3 Refraction, Level 3 Air Cooled.

This loadout allows you to use Emitter more often, but also use it as a healing ability. Aside from this, it makes Advance act as both a healing ability and an escape ability, allowing you to heal for a total of 480 HP while escaping, and Countermeasure gives you a small boost if you're in peril.

While there may be other combinations of talents and loadouts that are effective, this loadout paired with the Flux Generator talent allows players to sustain themselves through several fights. Using Advance or Emitter can heal in between fights, and the Refraction card allows players to keep putting their shield back up.

Now that you have a solid, rounded loadout and talent chosen, whether it was the pair I've recommended or one that you've created or found elsewhere, you need to decide what to purchase in-game.

For Ruckus, the best items to purchase from the Item Shop vary heavily on the composition of your team and the enemy team, but there are some items that are always a good pick. In the Utility category, Chronos is almost always a surefire purchase, granting cooldown reduction on all abilities. In the Defense category, Haven is a good purchase, since most characters primarily use direct damage.

In the remaining categories, they can be filtered down by looking at both teams. Looking at the Offense category, there are three good choices. If the enemy team has a strong tank with a lot of shields, such as Barik, Ash, or Makoa, then Wrecker is an excellent purchase because of Ruckus' insane rate of fire allowing him to melt through shields. If the team has a strong healer, like Jenos, Seris, or Grover, Cauterize is a must-have, as it will greatly reduce their effectiveness.

In the Healing category, there are two good choices for Ruckus players. Rejuvenate is an excellent choice if you have a strong dedicated healer or multiple healers on your team. Otherwise, Life Rip is incredibly powerful on Ruckus because of his rate of fire.

LAST MINUTE TIPS

Playing Ruckus may seem complicated at first, knowing what to press and when for the best results, but he is a character with a short learning curve. The biggest thing to remember is that as a Frontline, Ruckus should always be one of the first characters to arrive at the point and you should never leave. As long as you use Emitter often and sprinkle some Missile Launcher shots in with your Minigun fire, this should not be a problem.

Once you've earned your ultimate ability, you have to be careful about how you use it, because it has a 1s activation. This activation time means you're relatively defenseless as you announce your intentions to everyone around you, before unloading six times your usual fire onto them. If you are playing with characters like Seris, Maeve, or Terminus Hexa Fire is a good pairing with some of their abilities. Seris and Maeve have good ultimates to pair with Hexa Fire, and Terminus' Shatterfall ability can slow or stun enemies, making them easy pickings for your ultimate if you time it right.

Don't forget about using Emitter during Hexa Fire, and don't forget about firing while using Advance. These little things are what allows you to gain the upper hand against your enemies.

Lastly, remember to have fun! If playing Ruckus isn't for you, check out our other guides to try and find the best fit for your playstyle.

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