One enormous shell every two seconds, and a kick that throws your own tank backwards. It comes from the sniper line, but it's nothing like a sniper, and treating it like one is the fastest way to lose with it.
At 0 stat points. Bullet speed and range include the global bullet-speed and range multipliers.
| Tier | 3 |
| Unlock level | 30 (12,205 score) |
| Upgrades from | Vantage |
| Upgrades into | Level 45: Amalgam, Cataclysm, Skipjack, Bombardier, Sailfin, Starburst |
| Barrels | 1, very wide |
| Reload | 2.0 s between shots (0.50 shots per second) |
| Bullet speed | 257 px/s |
| Bullet range | 232 px |
| Bullet damage | 28 per shell (+8.75 per Bullet Damage point) |
| Bullet penetration | 5 |
| Bullet size | Radius 14.5 (a Recruit bullet is 8.5) |
| Spread | ±0.4° |
| Recoil per shot | 15× a Recruit shot |
| View | 1.125× view multiplier |
| Drones / traps / turrets | None |
| Body | All body multipliers 1.0. Top speed 168 px/s at level 30, 108 max HP at level 30 |
Look at the range before anything else. A Sledge shell flies at 257 px/s and lives for 0.9 seconds, so it stops at 232 px. That's the shortest reach of any gun class at tier 3, shorter than a Recruit's. Sledge is a close-range class that happens to sit in the sniper branch. It keeps the sniper line's wider view, which helps you find targets. It doesn't keep the sniper's reach.
What you get instead is weight. Each shell does 28 damage with penetration 5, where a Recruit bullet does 8 with penetration 2. The shell is big, radius 14.5, so it's hard to dodge at close range. It shoves whatever it hits about three and a half times harder than a Recruit bullet does. And penetration 5 means it keeps going: one shell can go through a drone or a small shape and still hit the tank behind it with most of its damage.
The recoil is the other half of the class. Every shot kicks you backwards 15 times as hard as a Recruit shot. Two things follow from that. First, you can't fire while chasing, because each shot throws you away from your target. Second, the kick is a movement tool. Aim behind you and fire, and the shell goes one way while you go the other, fast. That's your escape and your engage: fire backwards to close distance, fire at the enemy to get away.
The rhythm is slow. One shot every two seconds means each miss leaves you open for a long time. Pick the moment, land the shell, and use the recoil to reposition during the reload.
Sledge beats things that come to it. A Bastion or Vector diving in takes a 28-damage shell and gets shoved back. Drone swarms lose several drones to a single shell because of the penetration. A trap has 40 health, so two shells clear one, and the shell's knockback shoves shapes out of your way.
It loses to anything with range. Every sniper-line class, and even a Duet-line tank at 300 px, can hit you from outside your 232 px. It loses to high-volume close classes like Volley if your first shell misses, because two seconds is a very long time to be facing 67 damage a second.
Sledge has six level-45 options. Four of them fire special missiles, which is why Sledge is the most varied branch at level 45.