Defender

“

Upgrade and manage your Defenders.

”

— In-Game Description

A Defender is a Non-Playable Character type in Save the World that can assist in a player defense. They can be called upon during a mission via a utility trap called a Defender Post. The Defender Post is only available to use if the player does not have a full team. 

Defenders are available in five quality types: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. The better the quality of the defender, the higher they can be ranked. Unlike Survivors, Defenders don't have personalities.

Types

Defenders are available in five weapon categories:

Female Rifleman	Male Rifleman	Jill
Female Gunslinger	Male Gunslinger	Idris
Male Bruiser	Val
Female Shotgunner	Male Shotgunner
Female Sniper	Male Sniper

Arming

Upon using a Defender Post, you are prompted to assign the defender a weapon and a specific amount of ammo. Subsequent use of the weapon will lower its durability, and the ammo used is not recoverable.

If the Defender Post is destroyed during the course of gameplay, the Defender disappears and its weapon and ammo are returned to the player.

Best Gun Defender Perks

• Weapon Damage
• Rate of Fire
• Crit Chance
• Reload Speed

Rate of fire and reload speed of course means that your defender will eat bullets, but it really does a lot to increase their overall DPS.

Best Melee Defender Perks

• Weapon Damage
• Shield / Shield Regen
• Health / Health Regen
• Crit Chance

Your Bruiser is going to be up close and personal with a lot of husks and since they won’t move like a player, they will take quite the beating. Health and shield are essential to keep them alive so you don’t have to keep running over to revive them. The major benefit of using a melee defender is actually that they are a good distraction to keep husks off your fort, so you actually want them to take a beating.

Tips/Notes

• Defenders can be mighty useful when they're blocked in using a weapon perk that increases stand-still damage, such as the Bundlebuss or the Obliterator.
• During combat, Defenders will not die. They will enter a revivable state once their hit points drop to zero.
• Using Defenders does not lock out players from joining a group. If another player is found, one of the Defenders is de-summoned and the new player takes its place.
• Levelling a few core Defenders (rather than all owned) is preferable, as XP used is also XP that could go to a player's Hero otherwise. Higher-level Defenders are more useful on missions; lower levels tend to be much weaker.
• Defenders WILL NOT ever fire the Third Rail. Due to it's charge up likely clashing with their AI.
• Due to an issue with the ammo saving perk on Defenders, Multi-shot weapons such as the Bundlebuss and Deathstalker grant ammo instead of using it. Duribility is still used, though.

Trivia

• Prior to Update v6.30, Defenders could be assigned to a zone's Defender Squad, increasing the player stats and allowing for selected Defenders to be used within the Zone.