Torvald is the assault character from the 4th tier of hunters, and is the first DLC assault hunter. Torvald is one of the hunters who came to Cabot's assistance after the colonist's evacuation.
Biography
Torvald was reborn as a Cyborg after being ripped apart by a Monster. Stronger than ever, his Mortar Cannons are a lethal long range threat. Up close, his Autofire Shotgun blasts through enemies and his Shrapnel Grenades rip them apart.
Torvald was the Chief Technical Officer aboard the EbonStar Light Cruiser ELSG Ajax - an engineer with a specialty in robotics. While transporting a Monster in secret, the Monster escaped and killed the crew, leaving Torvald the sole survivor. Floating in space by himself, Torvald was kept alive by the onboard AutoDocs, though most of his limbs were destroyed. In order to exact revenge, he ordered his personal robots to rebuild his limbs, then restored the ship to be dive-capable. At some point afterward, he wound up on Shear and attempted to take on a Monster by himself. Sunny found him in bits and pieces at Broken Hill Foundry after his failed attempt and repaired his legs.
Torvald was a professional discus-thrower before he became a marine for Ebonstar.
Personality
After the destruction of the Ajax (and most of his body), Torvald is focused on nothing but revenge on the Monsters and will not stop until they are all destroyed.
Described as a "gloomy Norwegian", Torvald is often pessimistic, nihilistic, and fatalistic. His dark and stoic attitude contrasts strongly with Sunny's bright and cheery personality.
Weapons and Equipment
Autofire Shotgun
Torvald's fully automatic shotgun empties its entire clip at the push of a button, dealing heavy damage to up-close targets and taking advantage of any critical points the monster might have. It is best used in conjunction with the Shrapnel Grenade.
- Clip Size: 8
- Pellets Per Shot: 6
- Damage Per Pellet: 10
- Rounds Per Minute: 400
- Reload Time: 2s
- Minimum Spread: 7m
- Maximum Spread: 7m
Shrapnel Grenades
Similar to Val and Lazarus' rifles, the Shrapnel grenade places a large amount of weak points on the monster, allowing Torvald to tear through targets with his autofire shotgun and giving an edge to any other teammate with a bullet-based weapon.
- Mine blast damage: 20
- Radius: 8m (beginning damage decay at 7m)
- Reload time: 1.11s
- Bonus damage per target: 1.5x
- Duration: 15s
- Maximum targets spawned: 10
- Minimum targets spawned: 2
- Shrapnel spread: 5m
Mortar Cannon
Torvald's shoulder mounted (120mm) Mortar Cannons do an extreme amount of damage at sizeable range. When fired, five mortars fire in rapid succession from his back towards the targeted area, arcing upwards before falling back to earth. While the mortars provide devastating power at exceptional distances, properly leading the target is a must for damage. Torvald cannot aim the mortar cannon up close, and its damage potential is limited in areas with tight ceilings. The Mortar Cannons, while they have a limit to their range, still holds for the heavy damage weapon with the highest range in the game if Torvald aim in a specific angle, allowing the mortars to fly all across the map.
- Rounds per Minute: 300
- Clip Size: 6
- Reload time: 6s
- Minimum targeting range: 8m
- Maximum targeting range: 60m
- Mortar arming distance: 8m
- Spread radius: 3m
- Damage per mortar: 175 (within 5m, decaying to 0 at 8m)
Class Ability: Defense Matrix
Applies a strong damage resistance buff to the Assault to help reduce heavy damage while active.
- 55% damage reduction shield
- 10 second duration
- 30 second cooldown
Downed: Bloch Pistol
- Used only when downed
- 350 rounds per minute
- 1.6 second reload
- 12 damage per shot
- 12 shots per magazine
Progression
| Lvl | Reward | Lvl | Reward | Lvl | Reward | Lvl | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start | 11 | 50 Keys | 21 | 50 Keys | 31 | 50 keys |
| 2 | Badge | 12 | Badge | 22 | Rocket King - Superior | 32 | Badge |
| 3 | Rocket Man - Minor | 13 | Poisonous Rounds - Major | 23 | 50 Keys | 33 | 50 Keys |
| 4 | 50 Keys | 14 | 125 Keys | 24 | 50 Keys | 34 | 125 Keys |
| 5 | 125 Keys | 15 | Badge | 25 | 125 Keys | 35 | Skin |
| 6 | Gunslinger - Minor | 16 | 125 Keys | 26 | 50 Keys | 36 | 125 Keys |
| 7 | Badge | 17 | Destructive Force - Major | 27 | Badge | 37 | 125 Keys |
| 8 | 125 Keys | 18 | Badge | 28 | Acidic Rounds - Superior | 38 | Badge |
| 9 | Extra Force - Minor | 19 | 50 Keys | 29 | 50 keys | 39 | 125 Keys |
| 10 | 125 Keys | 20 | 125 Keys | 30 | 125 Keys | 40 | Hunter Skin |
Rewards for perks that are already at level 3 are replaced with a 200 keys reward.
Tactics
- Rotate your abilities. All hunter weapons reload on their own when not in use, so switching between the Autofire shotgun and Mortar cannon will allow you to output constant DPS. When both are reloading, toss a shrapnel grenade on the monster to improve your damage further.
- Like all Assaults, Torvald is best at danger-close ranges, but his mortar cannons give him more leeway than most. When your shield is down, consider backing up a little and playing tactically.
- Always use your personal shield after you have been damaged, not before. This forces the monster to spend more time trying to incapacitate you; when your shield is up the medic can easily heal you back to full.
- Torvald is very powerful when he has lots of weakpoints to exploit: his shotgun can do exceptional damage to multiple weak points. Combine sniper rifle fire with the Shrapnel grenade to deal extra-heavy damage.
- The shrapnel grenade / shotgun combo is also useful in conjunction with a DoT perk, like Acidic rounds. The grenade exposes multiple weak points, which count as direct hits, allowing the DoT to hit. In combat, this means you can whittle the monster's health down quickly; it's also useful as a pursuit, either to soften the monster before engaging, or to stop it from regenerating its armor.
- Torvald and Abe are a devastating tag team; a quick Shrapnel grenade and their combined shotguns can easily wreak havoc on a Monster's health. Especially if Lazarus is around to add even more weakpoints.
- Torvald can interrupt the burst of his weapons by quickly switching to another weapon, it is best used with the mortars to prevent them from emptying themselves.
Weaknesses
- Torvald's damage potential can be crippled if he is kept at C.Q.C range, limiting the potential of his Mortar Cannon. He still is able to dish out considerable amounts of damage with his AutoFire Shotgun however, so care must be taken when dealing against him.
- Fighting in roofed caves can limit the range of his Mortar Cannon, as he needs a lot of vertical space for his mortars to travel long distances undisturbed.
Relationships with other Hunters
- Abraham "Abe" Presley: Torvald acknowledges him to be very intelligent and 'more than he seems,' in the Dropship conversation 'Childish,' when Abe acknowledges the origin of Torvald's tattoos (as a way to remember the men on the Ajax who perished). Otherwise, Abe and Torvald appear to have a respectful relationship towards one another, and Abe particularly admires Torvald's fighting ability, enthusiastically calling him a 'fusion powered murderous anti-monster machine,' in the appropriately named Dropship conversation FPMAMM. Abe also likes their fighting odds better when Torvald is on the team. Torvald has mentioned to Caira that he does not talk much to Crow because Abe and Caira make up the difference - So it should be noted that Torvald finds Abe and Caira too talkative for his liking.
- E.M.E.T: Torvald considers him annoying, due to E.M.E.T. mistaking him for a robot. E.M.E.T. is insistent on this even when Torvald informs E.M.E.T. that he has one human arm and also has a man's heart, due to E.M.E.T. not being able to distinguish that Torvald can be part robot, part man. He prefers the company of Alex "Slim" over E.M.E.T. Their relationship is explored in the Dropship conversation, The Heart of a Man.
- Alex "Slim": The two of them consider each other good friends, as Torvald opens up to Slim about what occurred on the Ajax. The two of them seem to share a pessimistic view of the Monsters and of Shear in general, believing that Sunny is being an optimist about even escaping. Sunny, in turn, considers the both of them to be 'downers.' Torvald even states that it is an honor to serve with Slim, and respects him enough as a soldier to believe that Slim would win a fight between himself and Abe.
- Jack: Torvald considers him annoying. But then, most of the team does. Jack openly mocks Torvald's appearance and voice through his Jackal persona, which causes Torvald to state that he will kill Jack after he implies that Torvald will never experience the touch of a woman nor a man because of how he looks. However, Torvald seems to tolerate Jack when he is not using his Jackal persona to taunt him, and even accepts that he is technically 'naked' when Jack points it out to him.
- Val: Torvald appears to view Val in a similar way that Slim does, in that he does not trust her due to her being a CIG9 agent. Torvald also doesn't believe that Val is on Shear just to learn about the Monsters, though Val accepts that fact. After Val informs Torvald that there was a CIG9 agent on the Ajax, Torvald suspects that perhaps one of CIG9 agents may have released the Monster, which resulted in the crew being killed. Val denies this, but it demonstrates that Torvald feels hostile towards the idea of spies and particularly the implication of spies being on the Ajax. His attitude changes when Val informs Torvald that the spy was Lieutenant Henry Palmer, a Chief Petty Officer on the Ajax. Torvald apparently knew Palmer, and insisted that he was a good man and not a spy, then concludes that he no longer knows what to believe. Regardless, despite Val being open with Torvald about CIG9 in general, he still appears to harbor general mistrust towards her and CIG9.
- Lazarus: Torvald is familiar with Lazarus and the Lazarus device in general, as Torvald remembers that they had a Thanatologist onboard the Ajax. However, he does note that the Lazarus man aboard the Ajax did not survive, and consequently was unable to save those also on the Ajax who perished. When telling Lazarus this, Lazarus reassures Torvald that he will be the 'better man' in this scenario, and Torvald hopes that he is right. Torvald described the Lazarus man on the Ajax as a 'dedicated soldier,' so it is safe to assume he feels the same about Živkovic.
- Cabot: Much like how Torvald disagrees with Sunny about their odds of escaping Shear, he also disagrees with Cabot on the same subject. In a Dropship conversation called 'Foolish Optimism,' Torvald states that despite Cabot's optimism, he respects Cabot due to him being a good leader and being willing to fight alongside his team against the Monsters. Additionally, Torvald makes it clear that one of the reasons he is willing to fight with Cabot and the rest of the Planet Tamers is because of Cabot's selflessness and team spirit. Cabot in turn appears to respect Torvald, and is even willing to ensure Torvald will be joining Cabot and the others if they escape Shear.
- Sunny: While Torvald tolerates her, he finds Sunny annoying due to her overbearing optimism. However, due to their history Torvald seems to be grateful to Sunny for repairing him when he had broken much of his body from a solo fight against a Monster at the Broken Hill Foundry. Their discussions often revolve around Sunny annoying Torvald through her enthusiasm and insistence on being optimistic about their situation on Shear. While Torvald mostly appears bothered by her, it is safe to assume he considers her to be a friend and someone to rely on, due to the history and familiarity between the two of them.
Screenshots
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS5A_esb-T4 - Torvald Basic Training Tutorial | Official Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5BRf2CME9k - Torvald Advanced Training Tutorial | Official Video
Trivia
- Torvald, just like Markov, has cybernetic parts, and both are Assault Classes. Though according to Torvald himself, it's a patch job from various autodocs and made out of spare parts from assault drones. He met Sunny when he was chasing a monster on his own. However his legs were torn off, so Sunny had to patch him up.
- Torvald's name is Danish/Norwegian for "Thor's Chosen".
- Torvald calls himself a robotics engineer in the opening dialog before some battles.
- Torvald transported a monster a year prior to the battle of Shear. The monster was being transport on the ship called the 'Ajax' until it escaped. The monster destroyed the ship, killed most of the crew and almost killed Torvald. Torvald had to give his robots a final command, to rebuild him. Resulting in the cyborg Torvald is today. However Torvald is still activly searching for the monster that almost killed him.
- In a conversation with Slim, Torvald mentions his friend who was a First Generation Basilisk soldier. Torvald tells Slim his friend went insane due to changes made to him and that he's lucky to be one of the Third Generation Basilisk soldiers.
- He obliges Slim by accentuating the human portion of the phrase, "bug man."
- He is aggravated by Sunny, and hates to admit that he appreciates her.
- He was an all-pro Ultimate discus champion in his younger years.
- His cyborg body is fusion powered, and any food he eats is burnt to fuel the generator.[1]
- In a conversation where Abe comments on Torvald's tattoos, Torvald said that everyone of his crew members got them to commemorate their first dive into Cherenkow space except him because he thought it was childish. He got the tattoos after they died to remember his crew.
- Torvald's overall character bears many similarities with the Doom Slayer from the Doom franchise. Both originally being marines and engineers, having a deep desire of revenge fueled by hate, and having a heavy arsenal at their disposal, including a shotgun as their signature weapon.