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For the identically named Red Alert: Aftermath unit, see Shock trooper (Aftermath). |
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Shock troopers are elite Scrin infantry units appearing in Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath.
Contents
Background
Deployed in packs of three, the troopers are responsible for devastating attacks on Earth's cities in the early stages of the invasion. Each shock trooper is a large, rounded, insect-like techno-organic construct roughly the size of a small car. Like other Scrin infantry, Shock Troopers appear to have been tailored for combat using advanced alien bio-engineering technology.
Shock troopers are armed with a beam weapon by default, which is capable of taking on light human ground vehicles. When upgraded with plasma discs, they are even more dangerous and are able to attack aircraft.
Furthermore, they can be upgraded with blink packs that allow them to teleport instantaneously from one point on the battlefield to another within a short distance. Traveler-59 shock troopers are automatically equipped with blink packs, since the Traveler Sect mostly concentrate on speed. Reaper-17 can use the reinforcement ability Shock Pods, which deploys three veteran Shock Trooper squads to any location on the map instantly, via Blink Packs.
They do not appear vulnerable to anti-infantry weapons as one may expect, due to their techno-organic nature, but Sniper teams, Black Hands and Commandos are nonetheless effective against them. A division of Shock Troopers with the plasma disk upgrade, supported by Buzzer swarms, can stop an air, armor, and infantry attack dead in their tracks.
Abilities
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Blink packs | When activated, the selected Shock Troopers teleport to the target location. Groups of Shock Troopers teleport together, clumping up in the process. This targeted ability has a range of 750 and a 30 second cooldown (Ctrl+A). |
Upgrades
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Plasma Disc Launchers | Provide Shock Troopers with additional firepower and allowing them to target aircraft (Ctrl+S). | Purchasable at any Stasis Chamber for $1500 and takes 0:45 to research. |
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Blink packs | Allow Shock Troopers to teleport to the selected location (Ctrl+D). | Purchasable at any Stasis Chamber for $500 and takes 0:15 to research. |
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Advanced articulators | Add 85% speed to Shock trooper when upgraded (Ctrl+A). | Purchasable at Traveler-59 Stasis Chamber for $1000 and takes 0:30 to research. |
Game unit
They are comparable to the Zone Trooper in many ways. Their Blink Packs serve a similar purpose to the Zone Troopers' jump jets, and they are both the heaviest infantry unit that either side can deploy, effective against more resilient targets such as tanks and even buildings. While the Zone Trooper is merely protected against Tiberium, Shock Troopers heal from it. And when upgraded with plasma discs, Shock Troopers can easily down all but the most well armored air units and retain their devastating firepower against ground units. They are also much more inexpensive compared to Zone Troopers, not to mention a lower tech level required to train them (Zone Troopers require a Tech Center, while Shock Troopers do not require a high tech building to train, notably, the Technology Assembler). However, they are even more vulnerable to powerful anti-infantry weapons due to their low number of squad members. Sniper teams are especially effective, being able to cut the "squad" down to one trooper in seconds and then finish off the remaining trooper soon after. They cannot replace the fallen squad members either, unless they are somehow able to capture an Armory.
Assessment
Pros
- Plasma discs upgrade greatly increases their power and allows them to hit aircraft
- Cheaper than Zone Troopers and Zone Raiders
- High accuracy
- Deadly against most vehicles
- Can be healed by Corrupter (or Mechapade's toxin segment) and in tiberium fields
- Cannot be suppressed nor crushed except by heavy Tier 3 units or Dozer blades Scorpion tanks and Reckoners
- Advanced articulators grant them very high speed (T-59 only)
- Blink Packs allows them to ambush enemies and escape from difficult situations
- Highly effective for harassment with plasma discs and Blink Packs
- Available in tier 4 support power (Reaper-17 Only)
Cons
- Almost useless to anti-infantry
- Vulnerable to dedicated anti-infantry units such as Black Hands, APCs, snipers
- Attack is very weak when unupgraded and can only inflict significant damage in numbers
- Cannot attack aircraft by default; must upgrade in order to attack them
- Cannot garrison building
See also
- Zone Trooper --- GDI Heavy assault infantry
- Black Hand Trooper --- Nod Heavy assault infantry
- Sniper Team --- GDI Anti-personnel infantry
- Shadow Team --- Nod Anti-personnel infantry
Trivia
They share some similarity with the Starcraft 2 Stalker, an all-purpose cybernetic unit of the Protoss race, both boasting the ability to 'blink'.
Gallery
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References
 Scrin Third Tiberium War Arsenal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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