FragPunk guide: The best Lancers to choose for Shard Clash matches

06.03.2025
Di Jason Rodriguez, Contributor
FragPunk is a team-based hero shooter from Bad Guitar Studio and NetEase Games. 13 heroes known as Lancers are available at launch, and each one of these combatants has their own unique abilities.

Our FragPunk Lancers guide discusses the best character for each particular role or playstyle. Some are great for dealing damage to opponents, while some are better at gaining control of the battlefield through the use of traps and detectors.
 

FragPunk Lancer unlock and roles


FragPunk has five Lancers available by default: Broker, Nitro, Hollowpoint, Jaguar, and Pathogen. The rest can be unlocked through the following means:
  • Lancer Statue: Obtained via daily logins; lets you unlock one Lancer upon usage.
  • Currencies: You can spend gold, the basic in-game currency earned from matches and events. Alternatively, you can use FragPunk Coins, the game’s premium currency.
  • Membership: You can purchase a monthly membership to make all Lancers available for that month. There’s also an annual membership which unlocks all Lancers, including those that will be released in the future.
The Lancers fulfill multiple roles in battle, and it's important to have a good mix of these roles on your team. These include straightforward damage dealers and those with area-of-effect skills. Likewise, there are abilities that allow you to place traps, detect enemies, and debuff enemy movement or vision. Our FragPunk best Lancers guide looks at the ideal heroes for each particular aspect, even if they have skills meant for other roles.
 

Best support Lancer: Pathogen

 
  • Role: Health recovery, fortification defense, and trap placement.
  • Skill 1: Emotional Rescue - Creates a biomedical healing field that restores HP to all allies within its radius.
  • Skill 2: Shroom Wall - Constructs a destructible fungus wall on the ground or in a doorway.
  • Skill 3: Killer Queen - A poison trap that deals damage over time (DOT); can be activated manually or triggered when an enemy approaches.
  • Passive: Chemical Romance - Pathogen is immune to poison damage.
FragPunk is characterized as having fast time-to-kill (TTK). This means you only need to land a few well-placed shots to take out your opponent. Still, you should keep yourself and your teammates in tip-top condition if you want to survive, as even a sliver of health can spell the difference between victory or defeat.
Fragpunk Guide The Best Lancers To Choose For Shard Clash Matches Pathogen
Since other health restoration methods come in the form of randomized card draws, Pathogen’s Emotional Rescue skill is very handy due to its rapid health regeneration. Just don’t cast it when enemies are close, as you and your buddies present very enticing targets when you're all bunched up.
 

Best stealth-based Lancer: Zephyr

 
  • Role: Assassin, area delay, and teleportation.
  • Skill 1: Midnight Rambler - Become temporarily invisible, but only melee weapons can be used in this state; cloaking mode is automatically deactivated upon taking damage or when using firearms.
  • Skill 2: Fade Away - Creates a temporary field that extends Zephyr’s Midnight Rambler invisibility. This can be disrupted if Zephyr is attacked.
  • Skill 3: Get Back - Throws a dagger beacon that can be activated to teleport to its location; does not remove the invisibility effect of Midnight Rambler.
Zephyr is one of the best Lancers in FragPunk, especially for players who want to get the job done while being as stealthy as possible. A combination of Midnight Rambler and Get Back lets you get into the thick of the fray without being detected. You should then follow this up by stabbing your foes or shooting them from behind. Given the fast TTK, you can get the jump on your opponents without them knowing.

Fade Away is another great skill to use, especially when you’re defending a bomb site. If you think enemies are getting too close, activate it and remain hidden in a corner while you wait to ambush a hapless target.
 

Best sniper Lancer: Hollowpoint

 
  • Role: Skill damage, trap placement, and vision control.
  • Skill 1: Meteora - Switches to a single-shot railgun; aiming down the sights charges the weapon and detects enemies in your field of view.
  • Skill 2: Smoke Screen - Releases a forward-moving smoke screen to reveal enemies.
  • Skill 3: Paparazzi - Deploys a trap that attaches to a target and exposes their location; can be destroyed or removed via interaction.
Players that are confident in their sniping abilities ought to try Hollowpoint, who is one of the best FragPunk Lancers due to her kit. Her Meteora ability lets you do a charged shot with a railgun, unleashing tremendous damage that’s likely to eliminate any foe with ease—provided you hit them, of course.
Fragpunk Guide The Best Lancers To Choose For Shard Clash Matches Hollowpoint
The rest of Hollowpoint’s kit can be somewhat underwhelming or situational, so you should make the most out of Meteora when you can.
 

Best detector Lancer: Sonar

 
  • Role: Area delay and detection.
  • Skill 1: Echolocation - Deploys a device that periodically reveals enemies when they move.
  • Skill 2: Sonic Surge - Launches a sonic wave that exposes all enemies that it hits; releases a delayed sonic blast that knocks back, dazes, and further exposes enemies within range.
  • Skill 3: Sound of Silence - Dampens the footsteps of the player and surrounding teammates; grants immunity to Echolocation scans.
Having a Sonar in your team is integral if you want to reveal the locations of hostiles. The Echolocation skill has decent range, which means you can spot rivals as they move around the area. What makes her even more invaluable is that Sound of Silence masks the sound of the team’s footsteps, making it great for pivotal moments in a round. With it, you should be able to get the jump on your enemies even if you’re sprinting toward them.
 

Best teleportation and trap placement Lancer: Spider

 
  • Role: Teleportation, area delay, and trap placement.
  • Skill 1: Teleporter - Creates two teleporter devices that can be recalled remotely.
  • Skill 2: Spirited Away - Places a trap that teleports enemies to the location where Spider used his skill.
  • Skill 3: Spider Web - Places a trap that briefly blinds and slows down enemies.
Spider has several tricks that help you control the battlefield. His Teleporters allow you to move around the map swiftly and seamlessly. There’s also Spider Web and its debuffs—the device itself is harder to spot since it’s fairly small and sticks to walls. Lastly, the Spirited Away skill can confuse your targets as they’re suddenly moved toward your last location, allowing you to blast them with close-range shots.
Fragpunk Guide The Best Lancers To Choose For Shard Clash Matches Spider
 

Other available Lancers


Even if they didn’t make the cut in our FragPunk best Lancers guide, there are still several heroes that remain viable in Shard Clash and other modes. For instance, both Axon and Corona are ideal choices if you want to fight enemies head on. Axon’s Electric Guitar deals tremendous damage at close range, while Corona can do a Fast Lane dash and strike foes with blazing fury.

Kismet, meanwhile, is a good choice thanks to her Hello, Goodbye scanner, as is Sekret for her Gold Dust Woman ability, a tornado that slows down hostiles that are in its trajectory. Jaguar’s Live Wire and Electric Avenue allow him to wield the powers of electricity to debilitate the rival team, whereas Broker’s bombs and Goddard’s Vengeance rocket launcher ensure an explosive playstyle. Lastly, both gadget wiz Nitro and rocky robot Chum emphasize the use of minions, such as the Chug-Chug turret and Chomper drone, respectively.

We hope our FragPunk best Lancers guide helps you ascertain which heroes are great for your preferred role or playstyle. Just remember that every character is viable if you play to their strengths.

Those looking to squad up and try out unique characters should download FragPunk, which is free to play on the Epic Games Store.