My main squad consists of.
- 3 CD Gunners
- 3 Crit Infantry
- 2 DFA Snipers (Crit Stacked)
- 1 Holobot Officer
- 1 Support Grenadier (goes boosted cores + volatile mix for incendiary)
If it's an 8 man team I drop 1 Infantry and 1 Sniper. This squad takes me a little time to form, typically it includes more Technical/Grenadier in the early game but as GTS training completes the squad starts to fill out. The reason for all the crit stacking is not just for big crits, but it also helps make grazes a very rare occurance, even against sneks. The snipers stay steadied and can often 1 shot 1 kill anything in low cover, and if they get high ground they are very dependable at killing something every turn.
I don't really have a small squad comp. It tends to be a mix of whatever is available in the barracks that can hit hard and move fast. For most 4-6 man teams I end up using the Technicals/Grenadiers from my early game main squad, breacher assaults, and the drone nerd for remote hacking on certain missions. I might mix in some of my main squad if they have nothing better to do so they can get to MSGT asap.
Your general purpose squads?
Re: Your general purpose squads?
I recorded a fairly lengthy explanation of my 12 MSGTs in my last L/I win yesterday: https://youtu.be/sj-LlDp9C9c
Talked a decent amount about why they have the perks they have, what role they fill, and how they performed.
Talked a decent amount about why they have the perks they have, what role they fill, and how they performed.
Re: Your general purpose squads?
Important note - Sharpshooters (if lucky with recruits - gunners too) should be only trained from best accuracy personal, like people with 70+ aim.
Sharpshooter - killer should hit every target
Sharpshooter-officer should give huge bonuses for all people like gunners and specialists with Lead By Example.
Core:
1) Specialist, hacker, overwatch-focused
Work: hack everything he can, overwatch (Cool Under Pressure/Covering Fire/Sentinel/Hair trigger). He is quite good to protect my sharpshooters if somebody comes near.
2) Shinobi, scout -but as I find most skills like Ghostwalker/Covert quite weak, he can kill with sword very good in difficult situation (mostly it's one-time trick for a mission to return into stealth again at the end of his turn)
3) Sharpshooter - long range, crit focused dd (Death From Above/Deadshot/Center Mass/Aggression/Hunter's Instincts/Serial/Scope/Laser sight/Expanded Magazine or Stock/Damn Good Ground or Precision Shot) - he is the one, who'll get at least 50% of kills. Most of the game he can hit with 100% chance and kill a target with one hit. Before he has Serial it will be - use 2 actions to shot - get Death From Above - use stock. After Serial - up to 6 kills/turn, easily destoying base assaults. Officer (see below) will make him even better.
4) Sharpshooter officer, holotargeting focus (Rapid Targeting/HiDef Holo/Phantom/Independent Tracking/Vital Point Targeting/Multitargeting/Serial) most important skills as officer - (Focus Fire/Get Some/Fire Discipline/Combined Arms/Lead By Example). He stays in concealment if possible and give his aura to everyone but Shinobi.
5) Gunner - overwatch/suppression focused. If enemy squad comes close enough to target sharpshooters, his job is to suppress everyone who I cannot kill right now.
6) Ranger - overwatch with assault rifle. But he is useful in lots of situations - like Rupture a Ruler/Avatar/Gatekeeper, overwatch with 3 shots, flank and kill enemies, who were dropped into middle of the squad.
I try to maintain a few such squads - 2 in the begining, around 4 in late game.
Other classes can be useful and I use them too, but mostly they are not in squads, I keep them without any squad, but add if situation asks for them. For example I like Grenadiers in short missions, but find them less useful in 30+ enemies situations.
Sharpshooter - killer should hit every target
Sharpshooter-officer should give huge bonuses for all people like gunners and specialists with Lead By Example.
Core:
1) Specialist, hacker, overwatch-focused
Work: hack everything he can, overwatch (Cool Under Pressure/Covering Fire/Sentinel/Hair trigger). He is quite good to protect my sharpshooters if somebody comes near.
2) Shinobi, scout -but as I find most skills like Ghostwalker/Covert quite weak, he can kill with sword very good in difficult situation (mostly it's one-time trick for a mission to return into stealth again at the end of his turn)
3) Sharpshooter - long range, crit focused dd (Death From Above/Deadshot/Center Mass/Aggression/Hunter's Instincts/Serial/Scope/Laser sight/Expanded Magazine or Stock/Damn Good Ground or Precision Shot) - he is the one, who'll get at least 50% of kills. Most of the game he can hit with 100% chance and kill a target with one hit. Before he has Serial it will be - use 2 actions to shot - get Death From Above - use stock. After Serial - up to 6 kills/turn, easily destoying base assaults. Officer (see below) will make him even better.
4) Sharpshooter officer, holotargeting focus (Rapid Targeting/HiDef Holo/Phantom/Independent Tracking/Vital Point Targeting/Multitargeting/Serial) most important skills as officer - (Focus Fire/Get Some/Fire Discipline/Combined Arms/Lead By Example). He stays in concealment if possible and give his aura to everyone but Shinobi.
5) Gunner - overwatch/suppression focused. If enemy squad comes close enough to target sharpshooters, his job is to suppress everyone who I cannot kill right now.
6) Ranger - overwatch with assault rifle. But he is useful in lots of situations - like Rupture a Ruler/Avatar/Gatekeeper, overwatch with 3 shots, flank and kill enemies, who were dropped into middle of the squad.
I try to maintain a few such squads - 2 in the begining, around 4 in late game.
Other classes can be useful and I use them too, but mostly they are not in squads, I keep them without any squad, but add if situation asks for them. For example I like Grenadiers in short missions, but find them less useful in 30+ enemies situations.
Re: Your general purpose squads?
1 scout (typically a Shinobi, but anyone with phantom and ghostwalk will do).
1 grenadier (needle blasty)
1 ranger
1 specialist
Then one from the list:
2nd ranger
gunner
assault
The difference for between 5 and 6 man squads is the 6th man is almost always a DfA sharpshooter, sometimes it's a 3rd ranger or second pick from the list.
Sometimes I make a dedicated VIP extraction squad, in which case I omit the specialist and replace it with an assault, otherwise as above.
Lately though I have a few more classes to pick from, since I'm running Shadow Ops classes alongside the LW2 classes. This lets me change things up a bit, and I like mixing in scrappers, dragoons, infantry, hunters, combat engineers(custom personal rebuild) and juggernauts in the all-comer squads. Recons and survivalists mostly go in the big battle squads(8+).
1 grenadier (needle blasty)
1 ranger
1 specialist
Then one from the list:
2nd ranger
gunner
assault
The difference for between 5 and 6 man squads is the 6th man is almost always a DfA sharpshooter, sometimes it's a 3rd ranger or second pick from the list.
Sometimes I make a dedicated VIP extraction squad, in which case I omit the specialist and replace it with an assault, otherwise as above.
Lately though I have a few more classes to pick from, since I'm running Shadow Ops classes alongside the LW2 classes. This lets me change things up a bit, and I like mixing in scrappers, dragoons, infantry, hunters, combat engineers(custom personal rebuild) and juggernauts in the all-comer squads. Recons and survivalists mostly go in the big battle squads(8+).
Re: Your general purpose squads?
I have yet to finish a campaign, but so far I had a lot of success with my longe range hitter squad:
2 Sharpshooters with Death From Above - the guys who kill everything.
1 Shinobi stealth - the spotter.
1 Specialist - officer and hacker.
The two sharpshooters shoot and possibly steady every round. The shinobi is not to be seen, just acting as the guy who spots the enemies to shoot at. The specialist is there for hacking lamp posts and mission targets, officering the sharpshooters (as the shinobi is usually too far away to do it) and hack the drone/MEC of every troop coming near, as those make great distractions to stop the enemy from advancing.
Missions usually go like this: find a good vantage point and murder the nearest troop from concealment (should be easier since, well, concealment). This hopefully puts a little distance between the team and the next nearest enemy. Then start murdering from halfway across the map, by the time enemies get close, the most dangerous members are already dead.
This basic setup is for 4-5 days infiltration. For serious missions (troop columns etc.) slap on a gunner and flashbang grenadier to keep advancing troops stationary and docile while the sharpshooters kill them.
2 Sharpshooters with Death From Above - the guys who kill everything.
1 Shinobi stealth - the spotter.
1 Specialist - officer and hacker.
The two sharpshooters shoot and possibly steady every round. The shinobi is not to be seen, just acting as the guy who spots the enemies to shoot at. The specialist is there for hacking lamp posts and mission targets, officering the sharpshooters (as the shinobi is usually too far away to do it) and hack the drone/MEC of every troop coming near, as those make great distractions to stop the enemy from advancing.
Missions usually go like this: find a good vantage point and murder the nearest troop from concealment (should be easier since, well, concealment). This hopefully puts a little distance between the team and the next nearest enemy. Then start murdering from halfway across the map, by the time enemies get close, the most dangerous members are already dead.
This basic setup is for 4-5 days infiltration. For serious missions (troop columns etc.) slap on a gunner and flashbang grenadier to keep advancing troops stationary and docile while the sharpshooters kill them.