Long-Range Fighter

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Someone or something who specializes in ranged combat, but may be less effective against close-up threats. There are three types:

• Type 1: Characters who fight almost exclusively long range.
• Type 2: Characters who can fight at any distance but prefer long range.
• Type 3: Characters who can fight at any distance but has more long range abilities.

Mostly applies to video games, but may count for characters in other media. First person shooters are exempt from this since almost everybody fights long-range in those games. Being fast but unskilled in defense and strength might be one of the reasons.

Examples of Long-Range Fighter include:

Anime And Manga

• In Gundam Wing, Trowa's "Heavyarms" gundam was equipped exclusively with long-range weapons, where the other Gundams relied more often on Beam Sabres or other close-range weapons. Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz upped the ante with "Heavyarms Custom" being equipped with even More Dakka. Its appearance in Gundam Battle Assault 2 reflects this, with almost its entire repertoire of attacks being of some manner of projectile or shot.
• After War Gundam X: Leopard Gundam in a nutshell, as well as its upgraded form of Leopard Destroy.
• Gundam 00 has this in the form of Virtue Gundam and its successor Seravee Gundam, as does Dynames Gundam and its successor Cherudim Gundam. Reborns Gundam also does this while in the form of Reborns Cannon.
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED has a few of these as well. Of the first generation Gundams, the Buster Gundam was the only one without some form of beam saber, leaving it entirely reliant on its combinable beam guns and missiles. Of the second generation Calamity Gundam was armed entirely with a variety of guns. Few if any mobile suits in the sequel were quite as specialised carrying at least an Emergency Weapon to cover close combat.
• The eponymous lead character of Lyrical Nanoha series specializes in ranged combat (though her melee skills are just as good, by the misfortune of repeatedly having to face close-range fighters in combat). Her favorite student Teana is almost exclusively a ranged fighter from Nanoha Striker S onward.
• Temari, and to a lesser extent, Tenten in Naruto. Temari has a giant fan that she uses to blow giant gusts of wind at her opponent, and qualifies for Type 3. Tenten has a variety of weapons at her disposal and can fight any distance from the opponent, however her jutsu are mostly used from a far distance, making her a Type 2.
  • Deidara attacks with animated sculptures made of exploding clay. He at first appears to be a Type 1 (being explicitly called a long-range specialist), but then shows himself to really be a Type 3, having both the physical capability and a few techniques for escaping from close range. He was even capable of getting away from a whole team of close-range specialist while missing both of his arms.
• Usopp in One Piece is a Type 3. From all of the weapons he's invented, he has a few different hammers for different occasions for close-range and that's about it.
• Volkein from Gun X Sword fits into this easily as all of its weapons are guns and missiles.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion: Applies to Ramiel and to an extent Arael especially since they have no known close range attacks.

Live Action Television

• Ultra Seven: Dinosaur Tank. Name says all although it does have some close range capabilities.
• Ultraman Dyna: Satan Lovemos is pretty much laser guns and cannons on treads.
• Ultra Galaxy Monster Battle: The King Joe Blacks with their large arm cannons and energy blasts while divided into ships. Also applies to Litora to a lesser extent.

Tabletop Games

• The entire Tau race in Warhammer 40,000 have this as their hat, to the point where they employ another race entirely as mercenaries to deal with hand to hand combat.

Video Games

• Sakura, Part 1, in Naruto video games. She often has a good, fast, and strong shuriken combo.
  • In the US-exclusive Naruto Clash of Ninja Revolution series, Komachi. She can throw needles at her opponent at a very fast speed, and she is the only one who initiates their special move with a long-range attack.
• Street Fighter II's Dhalsim is pretty much the forefather of this in fighting games. He can attack from a halfscreen away, using his extendable/retractable limbs; though they are punishable. To make up for this, he suppliments his arsenal with breath attacks that can strike from anywhere onscreen. And, in later installments, he gains the ability to teleport (originally a glitch); used chiefly to put distance between himself and the opponent.
  • Street Fighter III has Necro, seen by many as the new and improved model. His limbs are flexible, whereas Dhalsim's are linear, plus his attacks are faster; making them harder to predict or react to. And, while he's primarily a ranged fighter, he's just as lethal in close quarters. A stark contrast to his predecessor.
• In a RPG example, Final Fantasy VII allows you to put a character in the front row or back row during fights. In the front row, characters receive a raise in attack and decrease in defense, and the inverse is true for the back row. Some characters have long range weapons, meaning they won't receive a decrease in offense in the back. Barret uses his Gun Arms, though not all of them are long range, Vincent and his guns, and Yuffie's shurikens.
  • Other Final Fantasy games like II, IV, and VI also have rows, and since a single character can equip different types of weapons, everybody can be turned into a long range fighter.
• Another RPG example in Persona 3. Yukari and Aigis use bows and guns, respectively, and are type 3, and your main character can choose to use a bow, making a rare example of a video game Type 2. On the field, their attacks have a large reach and can hit most opponents easily compared to short range weapons. In battle, long range characters have the advantage of not falling when they miss an attack, however they have a relatively low accuracy.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy has a few. Terra's attacks usually launch enemies away and chain into larger attacks, for example. Kefka is an interesting example: he can cast some long range spells, but they usually make erratic movements because of his Confusion Fu. Laguna uses his gun in most of his attacks.
• This is what made Nu-13 so deadly in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. She had a 5-hit meterless projectile combo that hit 3/4 of the screen away, making it impossible for some of the slower characters to approach.
• Diablo: The Rogue character class in Diablo, and the Amazon character class from Diablo 2, along with the Rogues you can hire in Act I. Both specialize in bows, crossbows, and javelins.
• The Vanquisher from Torchlight specialises in ranged weapons and ablities (although she can also use traps and close ranged ambush tactics).
• Several ships in the Star Control games are this, but none so much as the Earthling Cruiser. The Cruiser has a very weak short range attack, but if an enemy can close, the Cruiser is probably toast. If the Cruiser can stay away, however, it can pretty much kill anything with its MX Peacekeeper missiles, which can cross the bulk of the screen and have excellent (they're called fire-and-forget for a reason) tracking. The Chenjesu Broodhome is also very much one of these. The Mmrnmhrm X-Form could transform from a long-range fighter to a short-range one, making it one of the deadliest ships in the game. On the Hierarchy side, the Spathi Discriminator could fire a long-range tracking missile from the rear of the ship, meaning it could shoot while running away.
• The Pixies in Monster Rancher have nothing but long-range attacks.
• Samus Aran, Olimar, and Zelda from the Super Smash Bros. series all specialize this way.
• In Dune II the missile tank couldn't hit targets that were close to it. If it tried to the missiles would go wild and hit random squares close by.
• Smash TV and the sequel Total Carnage: The playable characters use only firearms, no melee weapons.
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance: The two catapults used by dark elves in Niffleheim are exclusively used in long range and upon getting within thirty feet of them will make them defenseless.
• Ghost Rider at Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, his chain has incredible reach and he's able to punish several ranged characters with more ease. His close range options, on the other hand, is limited (although if you can land a Penance Stare, you can dish out good damage. Problem is, 3 bars and a grab move, good luck landing it well)

Real Life

• This was the whole point of archers.
• Bows were ultimately replaced by firearms. Now, pretty much all soldiers are primarily this trope.
  • Of course for even farther fighting, we have snipers and designated marksmen.
• From the point of view of the animal kingdom, of course, this is humanity's hat.
• Perimeter shooters in basketball.