The Menace Personnel Dossier: Who to Hire
You are staring at the hiring screen, sweating over which pixelated soldier to entrust with your limited budget, and you have no idea who is actually going to do the job.
The recruitment pool in Menace is a trap. You see those gold stars next to a name like Darby or Achilleas and your gamer brain immediately goes, "More stars equals better." That is the quickest way to starve your campaign of resources. High-tier soldiers are expensive divas who demand massive Supply costs just to get out of bed. If you field a full team of three-star legends, you won't have enough points left to buy them decent guns.
I’ve run the numbers, burnt through the recruits, and watched enough good men die to tell you exactly who is worth the paycheck. This isn't a tier list based on vibes. This is an analysis of the "Promotion Tax," the hidden growth stats, and the specific builds that turn these misfits into a coherent fighting force.
The Economy of Flesh
Before we talk names, we need to talk math. Every Squad Leader (SL) has a Supply Cost and a Promotion Tax.
A 3-Star SL like Darby costs a fortune to deploy. Every time you promote her, that cost goes up significantly. A 1-Star SL like Carda costs peanuts. Her promotions are cheap.
This means you can often field a 1-Star unit with three or four upgrades for the same cost as a "stock" 3-Star unit. You need to balance your roster. You need one or two expensive "Carry" units supported by cheap, reliable grunts. If everyone is a hero, nobody gets paid.
The Infantry Roster
These are the poor souls you’re sending into the meat grinder.
Darby (3 Stars): The Expensive Scalpel
Darby is the queen of special operations. Her stats are insane right out of the gate. Her innate ability, High Value Targets, disables special weapons on anything she shoots. That is cute, but the real reason you hire her is because she is the only one who understands the concept of stealth.
The Build: Invisible Darby You ignore her damage potential and lean entirely into her sneakiness.
Key Perks: Covert Ops (Massive concealment boost) > Scout > Ambush > Vanguard Deployment.
The Strategy: Give her a suppressed weapon and a Camouflage Kit. She isn't there to fight the whole army; she is there to spot targets for your artillery and snipe high-value officers without ever being seen. She is expensive, but vision wins wars.
Kody (3 Stars): The Sledgehammer
If Darby is for finesse, Kody is for people who just want to watch the world burn. His innate perk, Guerilla, gives him huge accuracy and damage bonuses against healthy targets. He is your "Alpha Strike" option.
The Build: The Tankbuster
Key Perks: Athletics > Vanguard Deployment > Tankbuster > Assassin.
The Strategy: Kody doesn't care about fair fights. You equip him with 2 squaddies (to keep him cheap) and the biggest anti-tank weapon you can find—an RPG or an Anti-Materiel Rifle. He deletes the enemy's heaviest unit on turn one, then probably gets suppressed. Worth it.
Pike (2 Stars): The Force Multiplier
Pike is mandatory. I don't care what your playstyle is. You need Pike. His innate ability, Taking Command, lets him transfer 40 Action Points (AP) to another Squad Leader. This breaks the game's economy.
The Build: Naked Pike This is the most cost-effective build in the game.
Key Perks: Inspiring Presence > Command: Rally.
The Strategy: You give him the cheapest armor and the worst guns. You bring only 2 squaddies. He sits in the back, safe and sound, and just shouts at your actual killers to give them more AP. He effectively lets your heavy tank shoot twice. Do not sleep on this.
Tech (2 Stars): The Action Hero
Tech is weird. His innate perk, Get Motherf*cked (yes, really), lets him fire heavy special weapons without deploying. Usually, firing a minigun requires you to set up a tripod and lose your movement. Tech just hip-fires it while sprinting.
The Build: Muscle Support
Key Perks: Quick Hands > Bags & Belts > Die Hard.
The Strategy: Tech has the highest base HP and damage reduction. With "Die Hard," he takes 90% less damage when his squad is dead. I’ve seen a solo Tech survive situations that would kill a tank. Load him up with grenades and heavy ordnance and let him be the distraction.
Lim (2 Stars): The Flanker
Lim is your close-quarters specialist. His innate perk makes his promotions cheaper, so you can build him fast.
The Build: Mobile Infantry
Key Perks: Run & Gun > Mobile Infantry > Berserk.
The Strategy: You stick Lim inside a fast vehicle (we’ll get to Exconde in a minute). The vehicle drives him up the flank. Lim jumps out, uses "Run & Gun" to close the distance, and unloads an SMG into the enemy's rear armor. "Berserk" gives him AP back on kills, letting him chain multiple murders in one turn.
Carda (1 Star): The Long Game
Carda starts with terrible stats. She is awful. But her innate perk, Out of the Craters, means she gains stats every turn of combat. She also has the highest "Growth Potential" in the game.
The Build: Emotional Support Recon
Key Perks: Scout > Call Out Target > Team Spirit.
The Strategy: Because she is so cheap, you use her as a budget spotter. "Team Spirit" buffs your whole army just by her existing. If she survives enough missions, she eventually grows into a monster stats-wise, but you have to babysit her through the early game.
The Motor Pool (Pilots)
You need someone to drive the tanks. Do not put an infantry leader in a driver’s seat; they suck at it.
Achilleas (3 Stars): The Luxury Import
Achilleas is the best pilot, hands down. He is also the most expensive. His innate perk gives him Action Points when his vehicle takes damage, which rewards you for playing like a maniac.
The Build: Mechanized God
Key Perks: Shield Wall > Lancer > Full Send.
The Strategy: Put him in a Mech (Walker). Walkers are distinct from tanks and benefit from his specific perks. He is your frontline brawler. Just be prepared to pay the bill for his deployment cost.
Rewa (2 Stars): The Aggressor
Rewa gets stronger the more she kills. Her perk Revel in Slaughter stacks accuracy and discipline for every unit destroyed.
The Build: Roadkill
Key Perks: Roadkill > Drive-by > Berserk.
The Strategy: "Roadkill" buffs the actual act of running people over. It is hilarious and effective against light infantry. She is high-risk, high-reward. If she gets caught out, she dies fast, but she can snowball a mission if you let her loose on the weak enemies first.
Exconde (2 Stars): The Taxi Driver
Exconde is a religious zealot who thinks his truck is a church. His perk Sentry makes his vehicle provide better cover.
The Build: Jesus Take The Wheel
Key Perks: Fervor > Divine Intervention.
The Strategy: "Fervor" gives a massive movement discount if you leave the medium weapon slot empty. This makes him the fastest unit in the game. Pair him with Lim. Exconde drives Lim across the map for 1 AP, Lim jumps out and kills everyone. It is the best combo in the current meta.
Bog (1 Star): The Budget King
Bog is old, tired, and has bad stats. But he has Recycled Parts. This perk lowers his vehicle's HP by 30% but reduces its Supply cost by 30%.
The Build: Battle Taxi
Key Perks: Recycled Parts > Overload.
The Strategy: Armor in Menace is more important than HP. Lowering HP doesn't matter if the armor holds. Bog lets you field a heavy vehicle for the price of a light one. Use him to haul troops or mount long-range artillery where he won't get shot at. He is the ultimate economy pick.
The Verdict on Hiring
Do not hire based on impulse. Build a team that fits your budget.
If you take Achilleas, you need a Bog to balance the books. If you take Kody, you need a Pike to feed him AP. If you take Darby, make sure you actually play stealthy, or you are wasting points.
The best commander isn't the one with the shiniest soldiers, it’s the one who still has enough points left over to buy ammo. Choose wisely.
