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Players in Squad must select a Role before they can spawn in. The role determines what equipment your soldier has as their loadout; ranging from your choice of rifle, handgun, grenades, and special items. The role you select largely influences what you will do on the battlefield; from reviving and healing other players as Medic, providing suppressing fire as Automatic Rifleman / Machine Gunner, or to destroying enemy vehicles as Light Anti-Tank / Heavy Anti-Tank.

The available roles depend on the faction. For instance, the Raider is only available to the Insurgents and an extra Marksman is available to the British Armed Forces. Many of the roles have multiple kits to choose from, meaning you can change your equipment load out (if available) within the same role. Roles are restricted based on various factors; see the Role Restrictions section for more information.

Changing Roles and Kits[ | ]

At the beginning of each match and after a player dies, they can choose which role they wish to spawn in as. Within the Deployment Menu (default Enter), players can see more details of each role in the Role Loadout tab or a more condensed view in the Deploy tab. Players can also change their role in-game at an Ammo Crate or at a vehicle, although restrictions do apply. Note that when you switch roles outside the deployment menu, players must pay the full cost of the loadout in ammunition points, and if players switch Loadouts in the Deployment Menu, they will spawn in with the minimum allocated ammunition. The only exception to this is if players use an Ammo Crate, spawn at the main base, or it's the first time the player spawns during the match. Players must be careful to not select a new loadout outside of main as this can cost the team a lot in ammunition points.

A select number of roles also have different kit loadouts to choose from, which alter the role's playstyle with different choices of rifles, optics, or special weaponry. Squad Leaders, Medics, and Riflemen have a choice of kits with different optics for their primary weapon, while Light Anti-Tank and Heavy Anti-Tank kits often have different anti-tank weaponry to choose from.

Types of Roles[ | ]

Roles are broken into four different role types; Command and Support, Direct Combat, Fire Support and Specialist. Below you will find information on each role:

Role Type Icon Role Description
Command and Support
Icon Squad Leader kit Squad / Cell / Section Leader Leader of a squad. Responsible for leading the squad, deploying assets, placing rallies, and coordinating with other squad leaders.
Icon Lead Crewman kit Lead Crewman Leader of a squad. This role is necessary for crewing APCs, IFVs, and MBTs in the driver, gunner and commander seats.
Icon Lead Pilot kit Lead Pilot Leader of a squad. This role is necessary to fly helicopters.
Icon Medic kit Medic Critical to the survivability of a squad. Medics are equipped with more bandages and a First Aid Kit.
Icon Crewman kit Crewman This role is necessary for crewing APCs, IFVs, and MBTs in the driver, gunner and commander seats. Reduced ammunition makes this role unsuitable for direct combat.
Icon Pilot Pilot This role is necessary to fly helicopters. As with the crewman, reduced ammunition makes this role unsuitable for direct combat.
Direct Combat
Icon Rifleman kit Rifleman / Fighter Equipped with a standard loadout, specialized for general-purpose combat. Only role equipped with an Ammo bag which can resupply friendly players.
Icon Raider kit Raider Equipped with a fast-firing sub-machine gun, this role is perfect for close-quarter combat. Exclusive to the Insurgents faction.
Icon Ambusher kit Ambusher Equipped with rifle grenades and explosives, this role is perfect for medium-range ambush. Exclusive to the Irregular Militia faction.
Icon Automatic Rifleman kit Automatic Rifleman Provides sustained direct fire support and suppression for the Squad. Equipped with a Light Machine Gun. This role is available for both Squad and Fire Support role types and features different loadouts.
Fire Support
Icon Grenadier kit Grenadier Provides fire support with launched grenades. Can also mark areas or targets with smoke.
Icon Light Anti Tank kit Light Anti-Tank Capable of dealing with most light armor and vehicle threats.
Icon Marksman kit Marksman Capable of medium to long-range direct fire support, this role's weapon comes equipped with a powerful optic. This role is also available as an additional Direct Combat role for the British Army.
Icon Scout kit Scout The Scout role was replaced with the Sapper role in the Alpha 13.0 update. It was reintroduced in 6.0 with suppressed rifles for the VDV.
Icon Infiltrator kit Infiltrator Equipped with machine pistol and AT grenades. This role is perfect for close-quarter infiltration, surprise attacks on armors, and taking out radios. Exclusive to the Irregular Militia faction.
Specialist Icon Sniper kit Sniper Capable of long-range direct fire support, this role's bolt-action rifle features 1-shot kill potential and a high-powered optic.
Icon Machine Gunner kit Machine Gunner Provides sustained direct fire support and suppression for the Squad. Equipped with a General Purpose Machine Gun, this role provides greater penetration and power over the Automatic Rifleman.
Icon Heavy Anti Tank kit Heavy Anti-Tank Only kit that can fire a Tandem rocket, capable of damaging and destroying heavy armor.
Icon Combat Engineer kit Combat Engineer Equipped with mines and C4, this role is perfect for sabotage behind enemy lines. Can construct and deconstruct with the Entrenching tool faster. Exclusive to conventional factions.
Icon Sapper kit Sapper Equipped with binoculars, mines, TNT, and IEDs. This role is perfect for scouting enemy positions and guiding fire. Exclusive to Insurgents.
Icon Saboteur kit Saboteur Equipped with mines and TNT. This role is used to disrupt enemy logistics from behind their lines. Exclusive to Irregular Militia Forces.
MISCELLANEOUS
Icon Recruit kit Recruit A stripped-down kit capable of only self-defense. This kit is reserved for players kicked or removed from a Squad.
Icon Unarmed kit Unarmed Equipped with no weapons, instead has the ability to hold up the player's hands with the Right Mouse Button.

Role Restrictions[ | ]

03 01 01 Basics 1 Spawn-menu tab role kit-restrictions

The majority of roles in Squad are restricted in some way. There is a role limitation system which, in short, means the roles available to choose from depend on different parameters, such as the size of the squad and how many of the roles have been claimed by other players on the team. This post discusses these limitations and the reasons for. There are four basic types of limitations: Squad-Size Limitations, Role-Number Limitations, Role-Type Limitations, and Team-Wide limitations.

  • Squad-Size Limitations: The most fundamental limitation is the size of your squad. As the number of players in a squad increases more roles become available, and vice-versa. In other words, roles require a certain squad size. Many roles, such as the Rifleman, have certain kits that are unlocked based on the squad-size as well. See the Squad-Size Restrictions section below for more information.
  • Role-Number Limitations: Many roles are limited to a certain number per squad. For instance, Medics are limited to two per squad. Each role has a number indicating how many are available and how many are claimed. So "1/2" means one of the two available slots for this role has been claimed. Some roles, such as the 1st rifleman kit with iron-sights, are unlimited.
  • Role-Type Limitations: Roles in the Fire Support role type are limited to three per squad. This means that no more than three roles under the Fire Support role type can be claimed by a single squad. For example, a squad can have 1x Grenadier, 1x Light Anti-Tank, and 1x Marksman; or, the squad can have 1x Grenadier and 2x Light Anti-Tank.
  • Team-Wide Limitations: This limitation restricts certain roles to a maximum number per team. For instance the Sniper, Machine Gunner, Heavy Anti-Tank, Combat Engineer, and Sapper, are restricted to two total per team. In addition, some roles are only available (unlocked) when a team reaches a certain number of players. For instance, the first Heavy Anti-Tank is unlocked when a team reaches 15 players, and the second is unlocked when a team reaches 20 players. See the Team-Wide Restrictions section below for more information.

If role restrictions have changed and made a role or kit no longer available that was previously claimed, a player can continue to use the role or kit until they change to another role or kit. In other words, if role limitations remove a role, this won't snatch it away from you at the same instance. This is to prevent other players from intentionally claiming roles by leaving and re-entering squads.

Squad-Size Restrictions[ | ]

The following faction-based tables show when a role is unlocked based on the squad size. As the squad size increases, additional roles and kits are unlocked and available for the squad members to choose from.

Conventional Factions[ | ]

Role / Squad size 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Command

and Support

Squad Leader 1st kit

2nd kit

3rd kit w/ Optic
Lead Crewman x
Lead Pilot x
Medic 1st kit 2nd kit w/ Optic
Crewman x x x x x x x x
Pilot x x x x x x x x
Direct Combat Rifleman 1st kit

2nd kit

1/3 3rd kit w/ Optic 2/3 3rd kits w/ Optic 3/3 3rd kits w/ Optic
Marksman GB x
Automatic Rifleman 1st kit
Fire Support Automatic Rifleman 2nd kit w/ Optic
Grenadier x
Light Anti-Tank 1st kit 2nd kit w/

Optic

Marksman x
Specialist Sniper x
Machine Gunner x
Heavy Anti-Tank x
Combat Engineer x

Unconventional Factions[ | ]

Role / Squad size 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Command

and Support

Squad Leader 1st kit

2nd kit

3rd kit w/ Optic
Lead Crewman x
Medic 1st kit 2nd kit w/ Optic
Crewman x x x x x x x x
Direct Combat Rifleman 1st kit

2nd kit

1/3 3rd kit w/ Optic 2/3 3rd kits w/ Optic 3/3 3rd kits w/ Optic
Raider INS x
Automatic Rifleman 1st kit
Fire Support Automatic Rifleman 2nd kit
Grenadier x
Light Anti-Tank 1st kit 2nd kit w/ Optic
Marksman x
Specialist Sniper INS x
Machine Gunner x
Heavy Anti-Tank x
Sapper x

Team-Wide Restrictions[ | ]

The following is a list of the roles that are restricted to a maximum number per team. These restrictions are applicable across all factions. In addition, these roles are unlocked when the team reaches a minimum number of players.

Direct Combat Roles[ | ]

  • Automatic Rifleman (primary): Max 4 per team. Unlock 1st at 3 players, 2nd at 9 players, 3rd at 15 players, 4th at 21 players.
  • Marksman GB: Max 4 per team. Unlock 1st at 5 players, 2nd at 15 players, 3rd at 25 players, 4th at 35 players.

Fire Support Roles[ | ]

  • Automatic Rifleman (secondary): Max 4 per team. Unlock 1st at 6 players, 2nd at 12 players, 3rd at 18 players, 4th at 24 players.
  • Grenadier: Max 4 per team. Unlock 1st at 5 players, 2nd at 15 players, 3rd at 25 players, 4th at 35 players.
  • Light Anti-Tank (primary): Max 4 primary kits per team. Unlock 1st at 3 players, 2nd at 9 players, 3rd at 15 players, 4th at 21 players.
  • Light Anti-Tank (secondary): Max 4 secondary kits per team. Unlock 1st at 6 players, 2nd at 12 players, 3rd at 18 players, 4th at 24 players.
  • Marksman: Max 4 per team. Unlock 1st at 10 players, 2nd at 20 players, 3rd at 30 players, 4th at 40 players.

Specialist Roles[ | ]

  • Sniper: Max 2 per team. Unlock 1st kit at 15 players, 2nd kit at 20 players. Limited to 1 per squad.
  • Machine Gunner: Max 2 per team. Unlock 1st kit at 15 players, 2nd kit at 20 players. Limited to 1 per squad.
  • Heavy Anti-Tank (primary): Max 1 per team. Unlock at 15 players. Limited to 1 per squad.
  • Heavy Anti-Tank (secondary): Max 1 per team. Unlock at 20 players. Limited to 1 per squad.
  • Combat Engineer: Max 2 per team. Unlock 1st kit at 15 players, 2nd kit at 20 players. Limited to 1 per squad.
  • Sapper: Max 4 per team. Unlock 1st at 5 players, 2nd at 10 players, 3rd at 15 players, 4th at 20 players. Limited to 1 per squad.

Best practice[ | ]

Role priority:

  1. Squad Leader - Every squad leader should be equipped with a squad leader kit in order to deploy assets and requires fewer squad members to deploy a rally.
  2. Medic - Medics are responsible for reviving incapacitated squad members and fellow teammates. They are responsible for extending the longevity of the squad on the battlefield and are necessary for extended engagements. Reduces ticket loss.
  3. Light Anti-Tank / Heavy Anti-Tank - Especially needed on maps with lots of vehicles. Heavy Anti-Tank kits should always be claimed and additional Light Anti-Tank kits may need to be filled depending on the armor threat.
  4. Rifleman - Those playing as rifleman are the backbone of the squad, responsible for general purpose combat and tasks. They also have an ammo bag to supply the whole squad anywhere on the map.
  5. Other Fire Support / Specialist roles - Automatic Rifleman, Machine Gunner, Grenadier, Marksman, and Sniper are responsible for providing fire support for a squad. Each role excels in specific situations such as attacking vs defending an objective.
  6. Combat Engineer / Sapper - These roles excel in disrupting enemy supply lines with anti-tank mines and demolition charges. Engineers are exclusive to conventional factions and sappers are exclusive to unconventional factions.

Priority 1 and 2 should always be filled.

Priority 3, 4, 5, 6 should be discussed based on the map and the task your squad is going to complete - speak with your Squad Leader.

Tips[ | ]

If you mouse-over the symbols in the Role tab, you will see a tooltip with details about each role as well as the reason, if any, why that role is unavailable

Gallery[ | ]

Trivia[ | ]

Even though some kits look like they have body armor, there is no difference in health and when shot the blood impact effect will still be shown

See Also[ | ]

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