DC Universe Online Preview: New Munitions Power Brings '80s Movie Action To The DCU

DC Universe Online is getting ready to expand their existing Powers options with a new power set that is a bit of a departure from what is already available in the game. The new power is "Munitions," and it allows players to build character with no super powers at all and still have a significant effect on the battlefield. ComicBook.com was shown a preview of the new power set in action.

Previously, guns have been solely the purview of the "weapons" aspect of a character's build, often leaving players to depend on separate super powers to really play their character's group role to the fullest. Munitions changes that by offering a power set designed around weapons like shotguns, rifles, explosives, and rocket launchers, so that you can build a character that has no super powers at all, along the lines of Sgt. Rock, Arsenal, or Deathstroke.

A munitions character, like any character, can be built as a damage dealer, or can be used to fill the controller role in a group. The munitions power set allows players to swap between several weapons, and to empower their allies with buffs by restoring energy. What makes it most unique may be its incredible mobility, darting in and out of combat and rocket jumping over enemies.

The Munitions power set is split into two skill trees, "Guts" and "Glory." Guts deals primarily with more conventional weapons – guns, grenades, rocket launchers, and the like. Glory delves with weapons that are a little less conventional, like particle guns, smoke grenades, flak cannons, and electric nets.

There's no sense in carrying around a whole armory's worth of weapons if you're not going to use them all with frequency. To encourage this, Munitions has a feature called "Bullet Frenzy" that grants a damage bonus for cycling through weapons over a four second interval.

The flavor of the power is over-the-top. While it draws inspiration from DC Comics characters like Sgt. Rock and Arsenal, and also draws inspiration from 1980s action movies heroes. A munitions character will frequently be seen wielding a minigun, and has an ability called Killer Instinct that sees him or her tying a bandana around their head.

"Those guys are comic book characters," Senior Creative Director Jens Ansersen says of the 80's action heroes. "It's a live action comic book, practically."

Having seen the power in action, it looks quite different from what's already available and really exciting to play. It moves with much more agility than anything DC Universe Online has offered before, and really does seem to follow through on allowing players to create a whole new character theme. The most comparable power set previously released would probably be Gadgets, but munitions feels much more action heavy, channeling Rambo and Commando as much as Sgt. Rock and Deathstroke. We look forward to getting to try it out hands on.

There's no firm release date for the Munitions update just yet, but Daybreak Games says it will be arriving in the recently updated DC Universe Online marketplace soon.

Check out some screenshots of the new power in action in the gallery below.