There are four classes in Alien Swarm with two characters in each class—each acting something like a subclass with unique specializations.
Officer
Officers are leaders in the field. Capable of enhancing their team's strength with their presence, officers are key members to any squad. They are the only ones capable of wielding the M42 Vindicator combat shotgun and M478 Proximity Incendiary Mines.
Sarge
Bio: Joseph Conrad is a tough, experienced soldier. He's one of the few people to have survived a large-scale Swarm invasion, an experience which forged him into the driven man he is today. A strong commander, he leads both by example, and through the not-so-gentle application of verbal foot to ass. He knows his team well and pushes hard to keep them at their best.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Leadership | 5/5 | |
|
Vindicator Damage | 2/5 | |
|
Explosives Bonus | 2/5 | |
|
Health Bonus | 4/5 | |
|
Damage Bonus | 3/5 |
Jeager
Bio: Karl Jeager is the son of the son of a corpsman, military to his war-hardened bones. He's a hard-charging killing machine with a true warrior's spirit. He believed in the soul-freeing joy of combat and has always suspected he'll die in the line of duty. And if that happens, well, he can't imagine a better way to go.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Leadership | 3/5 | |
|
|
Vindicator Damage | 5/5 | |
|
|
Explosives Bonus | 4/5 | |
|
|
Health Bonus | 3/5 | |
|
Melee Damage Bonus | 2/5 |
Special Weapons
Marines who utilize Special Weapons focus primarily on high-powered armaments capable of ripping through most targets. They are the only ones capable of wielding the S23A SynTek Autogun and the IAF Minigun.
Wildcat
Bio: Growing up, Wildcat hadn't anticipated following in the footsteps of her military family. In school, she'd dreamed of corporate life, business suits, a nice corner office. But the swarm took that away. Every able-bodied man and woman in her age cohort was funneled into hopeless defense of the colonies. By the time she was twenty-five, the cause was lost—the colonies decimated, her family dead and scattered. Wildcat transferred into an elite unit to continue the fight.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Autogun Damage | 4/5 | |
|
Piercing Bullets | 2/5 | |
|
|
Damage Bonus | 4/5 | |
|
Reload Speed Bonus | 3/5 | |
|
Speed Bonus | 4/5 |
Wolfe
Bio: Wolfe is an ex-con turned soldier. At his last sentencing, the judge gave him a choice: jail, or the Interstellar Armed Forces. It was the chance he needed to turn his life around. He took top honors at boot camp, easily beating the other enlisted men at everything from hand-to-hand combat to special ordinance disassembly. When his sentence was up, he found that he not only liked military life, but was good at it—and was consequently offered a position in Special Ops.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Autogun Damage | 5/5 | |
|
|
Piercing Bullets | 3/5 | |
|
|
Damage Bonus | 2/5 | |
|
|
Reload Speed Bonus | 2/5 | |
|
|
Health Bonus | 3/5 |
Medic
Medics are essential members of any team, eschewing heavy firepower for healing abilities. They are the only ones who can carry the IAF Heal Beacon and IAF Medical Gun into the field.
Faith
Bio: Faith has the heart and soul of a medic. She's here to help people and believes in the Interstellar Armed Forces' mission to protect the Allied Systems against hostile alien assault. Despite having seen plenty of action, she's still genuinely impacted by the human tragedy she sees and tends to take losses personally. She's deeply concerned for the welfare of her team.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Healing | 5/5 | |
|
Infestation Curing | 3/3 | |
|
|
Damage Bonus | 1/5 | |
|
|
Reload Speed Bonus | 2/5 | |
|
|
Speed Bonus | 3/5 |
Bastille
Bio: Leon Bastille was born on a prison world, child of political prisoners; when political tides shifted, his family was released. It was a world run by black marketeers, where he learned basic medicine hands-on. He also received a strong, if informal, academic education (the prison being full of philosophers, authors, educators, poets, and priests). Bastille is naturally suspicious of others, but also an excellent combat medic.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Healing | 4/5 | |
|
|
Infestation Curing | 1/3 | |
|
|
Damage Bonus | 3/5 | |
|
|
Reload Speed Bonus | 3/5 | |
|
Combat Drugs | 3/5 |
Tech
Techs are marines who are specialized in engineering and cyberwarfare. They are the only ones capable of hacking secure systems and the only ones who can use the 22A7-Z Prototype Assault Rifle.
Crash
Bio: David Murphy, reputedly a child hacker genius at tech school, didn't take long to fall onto the wrong side of the law. At the age of 21, he was responsible for the notorious Starbase Systems Crash, allegedly costing the Trade Leagues millions in lost credits. Murphy is now serving time in the IAF as part of his sentence.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Scanner | 3/3 | |
|
Engineering | 1/3 | |
|
|
Damage Bonus | 3/5 | |
|
|
Reload Speed Bonus | 4/5 | |
|
|
Explosives Bonus | 2/5 |
Vegas
Bio: Vegas has an almost savant-like talent for counting and memorization, a skill he put to use in various gambling houses where he won big at poker and blackjack tables. However, fortune is fickle, and after racking up massive debts and angering some important people, he had to get out. Vegas joined the IAF so he could earn the money to pay back his debts(or a sizable seed fund with which to earn back the rest), and to get away from people who want to crush his kneecaps.
| Attribute | Points | Relative Strength | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Scanner | 3/3 | |
|
|
Engineering | 3/3 | |
|
|
Health Bonus | 3/5 | |
|
|
Reload Speed Bonus | 2/5 | |
|
|
Melee Damage Bonus | 4/5 |