Poacher

The Poacher is the Pelter’s dark cousin — the Profane province’s ranged specialist. Instead of the Pelter’s quick flurry of folded darts, the Poacher carries a long-barreled pitch rifle on a folding stand. It cannot fire on the move: it must plant its stand for 2 seconds before the first shot — and then every shot hits like a falling shelf.

The trade is stark. A Pelter chips steadily and keeps its feet; a Poacher stands still, breathes, and deletes a third of a line infantryman’s health with a single crack. Its 34-damage rounds come slowly (one every few seconds) but reach further than the Pelter’s darts, letting a planted line of Poachers start killing before most enemies can answer. The price of all that barrel is the body behind it: 45 HP of paper-thin fold that ambles along at a laborious pace between firing positions.

Strategy

The Poacher is a positional weapon — it rewards the player who chooses the ground and punishes the one who wanders. Plant a rank of Poachers behind your Piercers and let attackers walk into pre-set fire; every repositioning costs you 2 seconds of silence, so pick spots you can hold. Their long reach makes them superb at sieging static defenses and picking off healers and support folds sheltering at the back of a fight. On the other side of the ledger, anything fast that reaches them wins instantly: a single Pursuer pass or a Parrot flock will shred a Poacher line with no reply. Screen them always, watch your flanks, and treat every deployment like a small ambush — because that is what a Poacher is for.