Riot

"*Ready or not, here I come.*"

Riot is a RED Pyro TF2 Freak created by ScoutCommandoProx, and is a member of the 10-man team known as Spectre Squadron.

His theme song is “Death Wish - PAYDAY 2 OST”

His combat theme is “Breach 2015 - PAYDAY 2 OST”

## Story

"*Double-Sierra-Three on scene and ready to kick some asses.*"

Not much is known about Riot’s origins. The only thing that is known is that he at some point in his life dedicated himself to fighting for the cause of the RED company. Although not confirmed, it is theorized that he originally worked very close to the Administrator and was a high-ranking member of the Badlands Command. It is then believed that BLU did something to either him or somebody close to him as revenge for a staged assault causing BLU to lose the fight. Enraged by the events, Riot decided to step into the war personally and take the fight as revenge against the BLU Team.

Upon joining into the ranks of the RED Team, he got a bit of a head-start due to his former high-ranking position within administration, and due to him expressing his anger and hatred towards BLU, his combat trainers believed that the Pyro-class training would fit him. He had soon completed his training and went out into the field to fight his enemies, to discover that he had become a true killing machine. However, he started noticing moments when other mercenaries on his team started saving his life and sacrificing their own for it. Realising this, he decided that he wanted to focus more on protecting his own team as a way to repay them for saving him numerous times. Noticing how the Pyro’s equipment was practically useless for team defense, he started experimenting with new equipment loadouts, and soon began designing his own unique tool using a normal police shield as the scratch point.

This shield design eventually became a reality, and Riot stopped using all normal Pyro-class weapons to fully dedicate his use of the shield he had created. After seeing how effective this strategy actually turned out to be, Riot was offered a spot in Spectre Squadron, partially due to his former high rank, and partially due to the high demand of defensive-class operators in the team.

It is believed that he still operates very close to the Administrator even after his recruitment into RED, which may be the reason he is very often absent from the rest of Spectre Squadron, only meeting up with them for missions at the briefings.

Riot's most known success in battle was his presence at Operation Steel, where BLU had captured a RED base, and Spectre Squadron was sent in as a counter-attack force. Riot's shield helped absorb fire from among other, a firing squad of 8 Heavies, as well as a logistics team of 6 Engineers with sentries. This battle, taking place fairly early in Spectre Squadron's history, would come to officially establish Riot as the main protector-class operator in the team.

## Appearance

"*When we're done here, I'm gonna have to visit the cleaners, because your guts will be all over my uniform!*"

Riot has only one outfit, which is the one he uses in combat situations. This outfit consists of The Professional Touch, The Vintage Visor and The Pyrotechnic Protection. He also lacks the gas tank on his back due to him not actually carrying a weapon that requires it.

## Personality and Behavior

"*You dirtbags better be happy I'm on your side!*"

Riot is known for being extremely aggressive against his enemies, frequently insulting and taunting the opposing team. As such, unlike other Pyros, he is able to speak, albeit through a vocoder rather than his clean real voice. In combat, Riot attempts to be as communicative with his own team as possible, and is fairly calm until he gets into contact with another enemy, upon which he most likely goes into his anti-BLU rage and immediately engages.

When Riot enters his rage state, he acts extremely aggressive, insulting the enemy and pushing his own allies to take them out, sometimes even encouraging to kill them in fairly brutal ways. As such, he is an often feared operator, sometimes even feared by his own allies.

Riot does not seem to have much of a casual personality, at least not an observed one. Riot is never seen outside of combat, most likely working in contact with the Administrator or other branches of RED's elite.

## Powers and Abilities

"*I know, I know, I'm late. Now, WHO'S GOT A DEATH WISH?!*"

Riot differs heavily from a normal Pyro, to the point where the class name no longer matches him at all. Riot acts as the team’s Shielder and Breacher, paving ways through walls and doors with explosives and brute force, and then quickly absorbing all of the incoming damage. Over this, Riot has enhanced physical strength, capable of quickly knocking down enemies with only his fists. To top it off, he wears a ballistic vest, which dampens incoming bullet damage by approximately 50%, more or less depending on the caliber of the incoming bullet.

* **Prototype Combat Shield:** Although it might appear to be a simple police shield, it is constructed with an experimental mixture of light metals, ceramic and armor polymers, giving it an extremely durable frame, capable of absorbing bullets, fragments and even explosions with minimal damage whilst maintaining light weight. Riot also uses this shield as his melee weapon. This shield can also double as a battering ram against thinner surfaces like plywood and drywall.
* "**Cliff-Face" Shield Extenders:** Riot is able to extend the width and height of his shield, allowing for a wider surface for the shield to absorb damage, at the cost of movement speed and visibility.
* **Breaching Charges:** Military-grade directional charges capable of going through for example stone walls with a thickness of up to two meters. It is operated using either a 5-10 second timer or a detonator thanks to blasting caps and a directional charge of C4 placed facing the surface to be breached.
* **Intimidating Presence:** Riot’s aggressive taunting has effects on the enemy as well, not only morally but statistically as well. As long as Riot is present, engaged enemies have -50% random critical chance, and enemies are unable to gain damage resistance buffs.
* **Shock Flash:** Riot is able to fire off an extremely powerful flash of light from his shield, capable of blinding enemies for a varying time depending on distance from the flash, and can blind enemies for up to 20 seconds if they are at point blank range.

Riot’s weaponry is fairly light in comparison to other Pyros, and unlike other Pyros, does not focus on fire to deal damage. Riot’s weaponry is accustomed to his usage of his shield, which he uses for most of his defense and as his melee weapon. Riot’s arsenal consists of:

* **Tactical Pistol:** A large-magazine handgun chambering .45 ACP, this weapon allows Riot to fire back at the enemy at the same time as he uses his shield. It packs a fairly powerful punch, and allows him to keep fighting for a while without having to stop and reload.
* **Breaching Shotgun:** A compact 12 Gauge shotgun designed to hold three rounds of buckshot, made specifically for breaching purposes. Its compact size and light weight allows it to be easily carried around, however, its short barrel means that it has a fairly wide spread and unforgiving recoil, making it highly ineffective for combat purposes.
* **Smoke Grenade:** A throwable canister that releases a large cloud of smoke when the pin is pulled, effective for concealing even a larger team, allowing for lengthy actions to be performed under visual cover.
* **Incendiary Grenade:** A military-grade thermate-based grenade that, four seconds after pulling the pin, releases a large cloud of burning particles that can be used to effectively burn through structures, equipment, vehicles, as well as being able to start fires in areas containing flammable materials.

## Faults and Weaknesses

"*Oh, what's that? Think you're better than me? I THINK NOT!*"

* Riot may be extremely tank-like, but he lacks heavily in damage output since he can only effectively rely on his handgun to dispatch of stray enemies when he is using his shield.
* If Riot wants to properly aim with his pistol, he needs to move his shield aside, massively exposing him.
* It takes a lot longer for Riot to reload his pistol when he is holding his shield up.
* Riot's Shield Extenders completely prevent him from using his pistol simultaneously as his shield, requiring other allies to be present to be able to take out enemies. Riot is also unable to lower his shield when the shield is extended.
* Although Riot uses his shield as a melee weapon, it is not very powerful in terms of damage, though it is capable of stunning the victim.
* If someone disarms Riot of his shield, he becomes practically defenseless, only using his pistol to take out enemies.
* In terms of health, Riot has slightly less health than that of a common Pyro.
* Riot is marginally slower than a normal Pyro, and when he deploys his shield extenders, he becomes even slower.
* Due to his aggressive nature, he might end up running into combat too recklessly, often resulting in him taking all the enemy fire at a point where he loses his ability to protect the rest of his team.
* Riot’s breaching charges are obviously not very stealthy, and can easily reveal the position of the entire squad.
* Riot is very vulnerable when he is breaching using his shotgun, since he cannot have his shield up at the same time. However, this is usually countered by the fact that he is mostly accompanied by other operators.
* In melee combat, Riot is heavily outmatched when fighting enemies who rely on speed to get their hits through, such as Scouts.
* His shield is resistant, but it will not completely stop high-caliber bullets such as .50 rounds, and it will not stop large projectiles like shells and high-velocity rockets at all.
* Riot wears a ballistic vest, which gives him minor direct bullet resistance, but in return lacks the fire resistance that normal Pyros have.

* *Intimidating Presence* does not have any effect on enemies who Riot is unaware of.

## Trivia

* Riot’s radio callsign is Double-Sierra-Three. Sierra is NATO Phonetic alphabet for the letter S, and Double-Sierra spells out the initials for Spectre Squadron. Three is most likely referring to how the Pyro is the third character on the class selection screen ingame.
* The Shock Flash ability is partially inspired by the shield used by Blitz, a character from the tactical shooter game Rainbow Six Siege, which is capable of delivering blinding effects similar to that of a flashbang. In addition to this, his Shield Extenders are based on the shield used by the character Montagne from the same game.
* The model of the Combat Shield is that of the FBI SWAT shield from PAYDAY 2, but with  a cloth with the RED insignia covering the FBI lettering.
* Riot’s Tactical Pistol is based on an H&K USP .45 with a suppressor and a laser-light module.
* The Smoke Grenade is based on an AN-M18 smoke grenade, and the Incendiary Grenade is based on an AN-M14 TH3 incendiary grenade.
* Riot being based on a Pyro can be fairly misleading, since the only fire-based weapon he carries is his Incendiary Grenades.