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This article appeared in Quake II  

!Q2-Gunner
Gunner (Q2)
Health

175

Will gib when health is

-70

Attack Damage
Drops

Grenades
Bullets

Found in
[Source]


This cybernetic terror eats Mutants for breakfast before coming to work - on you. He does have one weakness, though. It takes a second for his hand to open up into the machine gun so take advantage of the brief delay.

—Quake 2 Manual

In Quake II, a Gunner is a humanoid Strogg with a Machine Gun replacing its right forearm and a rapid-firing Grenade Launcher replacing its left. It is more durable than an Enforcer, equally durable as an Iron Maiden, but less durable than a Berserker. They first appear in the Comm Center in Unit 1 and have the distinction of being the most common foe encountered in Quake II's single-player campaign.

Behaviour and Attacks[]

Machine Gun: The Gunner fires a volley of bullets, each hit dealing 3 damage. Like the Enforcer's chain gun, it takes a moment to aim and fire. It is a hitscan weapon, and in the original game it can be avoided by consistently strafing, but its accuracy against a strafing target is improved somewhat in the 2023 remaster.

Grenade Launcher: The Gunner can launch four grenades in quick succession, each doing up to 42 damage if they hit the target directly. Its grenade launcher fires with less delay than the Machine Gun, giving the player less time to react. The grenades can be avoided by strafing, but they can bounce off walls in unpredictable directions, and they deal splash damage. In the original game, they tend to fire forwards at the same angle each time and then fall down thanks to gravity, making them ineffective if the target is on a different level of elevation compared to the Gunner. However, the 2023 remaster gives the Gunner a better ability to adjust his grenade angles for elevation. As a mitigating factor, the Gunner fires its grenade volley with slightly more delay in the 2023 remaster.

When fired upon, a Gunner will sometimes duck. While crouching to avoid fire, it may sometimes fire a grenade in reply.

In the mission pack Ground Zero and the 2023 remaster, Gunners may continue to fire several grenade volleys if they lose sight of the player, usually aimed towards where they last saw their target.

Strategies[]

  • Do not underestimate the power that Gunners possess. Despite seeming like a mid-tier foe, their grenade volley fires with minimal delay and can cause severe damage to you if it catches you by surprise. Always be ready to strafe to avoid the grenades, but beware that they inflict splash damage and can bounce around in unpredictable directions. In the original game, the best way to be safe from the grenades is to be somewhat higher up than the Gunner; its grenades simply won't be able to hit you and then you need only fear its less dangerous machine gun. However, the 2023 remaster does improve the Gunner in this regard.
  • A Gunner is best fought at medium to long range, so that you have time to react if its fires its grenade volley at you. The Railgun, Rocket Launcher, Chain Gun or Hyperblaster are good options. If you must fight them at closer range, the Super Shotgun is an option and can kill Gunner with two well-placed shots, but you must beware its grenades.
  • Like the Enforcer, Gunner will sometimes duck to try to avoid your fire. A ducking Gunner can still be hit by aiming low. However, unlike the Enforcer, Gunner will sometimes fire a grenade at you while in this crouching position, so be careful.
  • Gunners have a new behaviour in Ground Zero, which was carried over into the main game with the 2023 remaster; if they lose sight of the player, they will sometimes continue to fire several grenade volleys in the general direction of the hidden player, or where the player was last seen. If you take cover while fighting Gunners, it may be wise to stay in cover a little longer until the grenade volleys have stopped.

Appearance statistics[]

Campaign Easy Medium Hard/Nightmare
Quake II 171 194 210
The Reckoning 88 110 126
Ground Zero 132 148 187
Quake II 64 56 81 99
Quake II PSX 60 79 102
Call of the Machine 60 73 77

Trivia[]

  • Gunners are the most frequently-encountered Strogg in the Quake II single-player campaign, both in terms of number of levels they appear in, and the number of individual Gunners. They appear in no less than 26 levels - the closest contender being the Berserker who appears in 19. Furthermore, assuming the hardest difficulty setting is chosen, 210 individual Gunners are encountered; the closest contender being the Machine Gun Guard, encountered 170 times. The Gunner is also the most frequently-encountered enemy in Ground Zero, appearing 187 times on the hardest difficulty setting.
  • There's an unused animation for the Gunner launching grenades while running.
  • Gunners appear to have no armor at his back, revealing their metal spine.
  • When idle, a Gunner makes an odd grumbling sound that may or may not be intelligible speech. It sounds something like "It's all about war", or perhaps "It's over now for you", but it probably isn't meant to be human speech at all.

Death Messages[]

  • Player was machinegunned by a Gunner (Machinegun)
  • Player was popped by a Gunner's grenade (Grenade)

Sounds[]

Sounds
The Gunner talking
The Gunner spotting an opponent
The Gunner being injured
The Gunner being killed

Gallery[]

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