v1.4 Soldier Skills

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Jacke
Posts: 623
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:10 am

v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by Jacke »

With my new v1.4 Legendary campaign underway, I'm looking at polishing up my various soldier skills builds.

I'm interested in what you think.

EDIT: Updated after reading the first bunch of replies.

Here's what I have now. Within a builds, skills separated by '/' are ones I'm not so sure of, with the more likely picked skills coming sooner. For Sharpshooters, I'm really not sure about which skill to take for the last pick. In most cases, I'm going to need to experiment a bit, sometimes with builds outside these.

The more numerous builds of a soldier class come first.


Assault
Lightning Reflexes - Close and Personal - Killer Instinct - Extra Conditioning / Formidable - Close Encounters - Close Combat Specialist / Bring 'Em On - Lethal / Street Sweeper

Assault Stunner
Lightning Reflexes / Electroshock - Arc Pulsar - Stun Gunner - Extra Conditioning / Formidable - Close Encounters - Close Combat Specialist / Bring 'Em On - Chain Lightning

Grenadier
Rapid Deployment - Heavy Ordinance - Bluescreen Bombs - HEAT Warheads - Sting Grenades - Volatile Mix - Full Kit

Grenadier Support
Rapid Deployment - Protector - Bluescreen Bombs - HEAT Warheads - Sting Grenades - Volatile Mix - Full Kit

Note: the Grenadier Support has HEAT Warheads over Dense Smoke as Smoke isn't likely to be carried by the Grenadier over Flashbang and damage grenades, especially Frag/Plasma Grenades received from a Specialist's Airdrop.

Grenadier Sapper
Sapper - Heavy Ordinance - Formidable - HEAT Warheads - Chain Shot - Volatile Mix - Full Kit / Combat Engineer

Gunner
Combatives / Grazing Fire - Formidable / Lockdown - Shredder - Demolition / Chain Shot - Cool Under Pressure - Rapid Fire - Traverse Fire

Ranger (Crit)
Close and Personal - Locked On - Aggression - Executioner - Bring 'Em On - Rapid Fire - Rupture

Ranger Reaction
Ever Vigilant - Pump Action - Cool Under Pressure - Suppression / Fortify - Grazing fire - Rapid Reaction - Kill Zone

Sharpshooter
Death From Above - Center Mass - Precision Shot - Low Profile - Deadeye / Aggression - Hunter's Instincts / Kubikuri - Serial / Double Tap

Shinobi
Blademaster - Combatives - Covert - Shadowstrike - Reaper - Whirlwind - Conceal

Specialist Officer
Combat Protocol - Field Surgeon - Trojan - Airdrop - Failsafe - Full Override - Capacitor Discharge

Specialist React/Medic
Sentinel - Field Surgeon - Medical Protocol / Trojan - Airdrop / Field Medic - Cool Under Pressure - Full Override - Kill Zone / Restoration

Technical
Roust - Napalm X - Burnout / Shredder - Phosphorus - Incinerator - Salvo / Quickburn - Rapid Fire

Technical Flamer
Roust - Napalm X - Burnout - Phosphorus - Incinerator - Quickburn - Firestorm

Technical Rocketeer
Fire in the Hole - Biggest Booms - Shredder - Tandem Warheads - Javelin Rockets - Salvo - Bunker Buster

SPARK
Adaptive Aim - Rainmaker / Bulwark - Formidable / Holo Targeting - Repair - Bombard - Damage Control - Sacrifice
Last edited by Jacke on Sat Jul 15, 2017 3:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by Dwarfling »

My opinions:

Assault: Lightning Reflexes is just too good not to pick up. There're waaay too many overwatch alert actions, usually more than one, and you always want to stay on the move. If your intention is to get Chain Lightning, then pick Stun Gunner and that's it.

Also, Close Encounters is better than the rest of the options, because 4-tiles and closer is where you always want to be with a Close and Personal shotgunner. Plus H&R doesn't work against the non-cover enemies, which most of the time is that you want to be killing ASAP. Shooting point-blank twice thru cover is also a good option to have. Basically Hit and Run is only better than CE when you got to shoot a flanked enemy that's 5 tiles or further away. I usually stun on those cases, after shooting something 4 tiles away.

I wouldn't ditch Extra Conditioning so easily either, since your Assault is a much better soldier every time R&G is up, and you want that to be the case as often as possible. You can't just wait while there's a timer ticking.

Grenadier: You probably always want Volatile Mix and Full Kit. Salvo is alright I guess, but not against +1 radius for your Incendiaries. Ghost Grenade is super situational. Sapper is very good, only thing it commonly doesn't work against are the large trees, I always get it on my Boomer Grenadiers, since it synergizes with Rangers, Sharpshooters and Gunners. I start bringing Incendiaries on them instead of Flashbangs, so I pick Biggest Booms instead and carry a mix of Plasma and Incendiaries.

Gunner: If my gunners got the aim to be actually shooting stuff, I want to have Center Mass, Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire. Cyclic is pretty good against anything that charges at you in the open (robotics, Gatekeeper, Berserker, Archon), you know, the stuff you bring a shooty Gunner for.

Ranger: you want to avoid Covering Fire because it will make you take shots with low odds. You need to hit to activate Rapid Reaction. Kill Zone is not that much better than Rapid Reaction, while the extra stats from Combat Fitness are great. Weirdly enough I often take it over Rupture too because I almost aways want the Ranger to shoot three times. I don't think single Suppression is worth it over Fortify, one of the best skills in the game, but Executioner is an okay pick.

Sharpshooter: Kubikiri is great but you need to build for it (Talon rounds, Elite Laser Sight+Stock, Get Some). The DFA Sharpshooter is, right now, a better choice over the others. Even if you start with low aim, you can usually stack enough aim by the end to make them work. I prefer to end up with AMF to improve on the DFA chains.

Shinobi: I wouldn't be so rigid and split my Shinobis based on stats. Usually the tankiest ones end up with most of the blade skills, the ones with high aim go mostly down the middle and the ones with avg or stats that make no sense take the stealth route.

Specialists: told you in your other thread, you don't really need medics. And Combat Protocol is great.

Technicals: rocket technicals are a no go at the moment, but if yours have good aim, picking Fire in the Hole instead of Roust is a good option, if only to guarantee that your rocket goes where it must go. I also prefer Bunker Buster despite going mostly Fireman skills, because I think Firestorm is too gimmicky, so FitH helps with that too.

SPARK: going down the middle and grabbing Bombard is probably the most viable choice. Use them as you would a shotgun Assault.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
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Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by stefan3iii »

My builds are quite similar.
Jacke wrote: Assault
Lightning Reflexes - Close and Personal - Killer Instinct - Formidable - Hit and Run / Rapid Fire - Close Combat Specialist - Lethal / Street Sweeper
I like Slug Shot instead of LR, the 2 armor penetration is quite useful, and overwatch is generally pretty easy to clear in this game. I take aggression instead of Formidable, so I can crit robots. But your choices are very reasonable too.
Assault Shocker
Lightning Reflexes / Electroshock - Arc Pulsar - Stun Gunner - Formidable - Rapid Fire / Hit and Run - Close Combat Specialist - Chain Lightning
I don't use stun gun assaults.
Grenadier
Rapid Deployment - Heavy Ordinance - Bluescreen Bombs - HEAT Warheads - Sting Grenades - Salvo / Volatile Mix - Full Kit
This is the only grenadier I build now. I like Salvo now more than volatile.
Grenadier Support
Rapid Deployment - Protector - Bluescreen Bombs - Dense Smoke - Sting Grenades - Volatile Mix / Salvo - Full Kit / Ghost Grenade
Problem with dense smoke is that you have to give up a precious grenadier item slot to put in a smoke grenade. Any other soldier can have a smoke grenade instead, since it never needs the launch range from a grenade launcher. The extra defense is strong, but not strong enough to overcome this problem, I don't think this perk should've been nerfed in 1.3.
Gunner
Combatives - Formidable - Shredder - Demolition - Cool Under Pressure - Rapid Fire - Traverse Fire
Combatives!? That's madness, Center Mass is very good, it's a 20% damage boost in the early game, and significant the entire game. I take Hail instead of shredder, I generally rely on shredder guns to do my shredding.
Ranger (Crit)
Close and Personal - Locked On - Aggression - Executioner - Bring 'Em On - Rapid Fire - Rupture
I haven't built a crit ranger, can you actually get enough crit at mid range to be useful? Aggression and Close and Personal aren't exactly reliable, and the damage boost from BEO grows so slowly with the number of enemies on screen.
Ranger Reaction
Ever Vigilant - Covering Fire - Cool Under Pressure - Suppression / Fortify - Grazing fire - Rapid Reaction - Kill Zone
I've tried to use reaction fire soldiers, and continue to dislike them. Relying on overwatch fire is far too unreliable, and too often results in disaster. I much prefer to just kill/CC everything on my own turn.
Sharpshooter Sniper
Death From Above - Damn Good Ground / Center Mass - Precision Shot - Low Profile - Deadeye / Aggression - Hunter's Instincts / Kubikuri - ?
Always center mass. Deadeye is a must pick perk, it's ridiculously good. I'm trying to use Kubikiri on one sniper in my current campaign and already regret it, probably needs the +20% crit from plasma sniper before it's useful. I think Serial might still be a bit better than Double Tap. If I only have one SS on the mission I like him to have Serial, if I have 2 or more SS, than I prefer 1 Serial and the rest DT. AMF is an extremely strong perk that nobody should pick because it's in the same tier as two even more hilariously strong perks.
Sharpshooter Snap Shot / Officer
Snap Shot - Center Mass - Precision Shot - Low Profile - Aggression - Kubikuri - ?
I tried a snapshot SS, and soon realized I'd rather just have a ranger/gunner. SS is useful because they can stack aim/crit bonuses from high ground and deal amazing reliable damage turn after turn. Running around on the ground gives all that up.
Shinobi
Blademaster - Combatives - Covert - Shadowstrike / Low Profile / Bladestorm - Reaper - Hit and Run - Rapid Fire
I always take Shadowstrike. I'm starting to change my mind on rapid fire, I get the idea behind Reaper -> Hit and Run -> and then finish with Rapid Fire. The issue is that my Shinobis almost always have a shredder guns equipped, and are officers, so they already have a very strong action to finish a reaper chain. Scouting is also critical, and SMGs are just safer to scout with than shotguns. I think I'm going to start taking Conceal instead of Rapid Fire from now on. For example ending a reaper chain with Conceal -> Shredstorm Cannon with shadowstrike is going to be a much stronger finish than rapid fire.
Specialist Officer
Revival Protocol - Field Surgeon - Trojan - Airdrop - Failsafe - Full Override - Capacitor Discharge
I used to make specialist officers, but now all my officers are Shinobi. I always take Combat Protocol, very strong early game, and comes up useful the entire game to finish off low HP enemies safely.
Specialist Reaction
Sentinel - Covering Fire - Trojan - Ever Vigilant - Cool Under Pressure - Full Override - Killzone
Tried it, hated it. Specialists get no damage or aim perks, so even when sentinel hits the damage is unimpressive. I also hate reaction fire builds in general though.
Specialist Medic
Revival Protocol - Field Surgeon - Medical Protocol - Field Medic - Savior - Full Override - Restoration
Nope. I rarely take damage. When I do take damage either my soldier died due to some 1 shot crit or something, or I just pay extra special attention to that soldier for the rest of the mission to avoid him taking damage. I sometimes bring a medkit on a soldier to a mission that has chrysalids, or for very long missions to stabilize a soldier in the worst case.
Technical
Roust / Suppression - Napalm X - Shredder / Burnout - Tandem Warheads / Formidable / Phosphorus - Incinerator - Salvo / Tactical Sense - Rapid Fire

Technical Flamer
Roust - Napalm X - Burnout - Phosphorus - Incinerator - Quickburn - Firestorm

Technical Rocketeer
Fire in the Hole - Biggest Booms - Shredder - Tandem Warheads - Javelin Rockets - Salvo - Bunker Buster
I hate roust. It's super strong in the early game, for gently baking low hp enemies to death, but the fact that it makes enemies move is infuriating. Invariably, they fall further back away from your squad, making it much harder to actually kill them. Flush on the gunner is also the most worthless ability for the same reason. Honestly, I'd be more likely to take roust if it DIDN'T cause enemies to move.

I also think people underestimate Fire in The Hole, it makes the rocket very strong, and even makes move and fire rocket a viable action. I build all my technicals the same way:
Fire in the Hole, Napalm X, Burnout, Tandem, Incinerator, Quickburn, Bunker Buster.
Whole point of the technical is to destroy cover with rockets, or to control enemies with fire.
SPARK
Not sure about anything for the SPARK
I bring SPARKs mostly to get shot at in yellow alert. I don't give them +Defense, because I want them to get shot.
Adaptive Aim, Rainmaker, Strike, Repair, Bombard, Damage Control, Sacrifice.

Sparks' aim is too low to be a shooty spec, and they run out of ammo quick too. They also don't get a gun upgrade at Coil Tech, so they fall behind there. On the other hand, their shredder gun with rainmaker and bombard are amazing. I really like Bulwark too, but I prefer rainmaker now.

Nova needs to be buffed, the AOE is too small to ever actually hit more than 2 enemies. It's blocked by cover. Wrecking ball sounds great in theory, but in practice I find it too finicky to actually do what I want. Also easy to destroy your own soldier's cover accidentally.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by stefan3iii »

Dwarfling wrote:My opinions:
Gunner: If my gunners got the aim to be actually shooting stuff, I want to have Center Mass, Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire. Cyclic is pretty good against anything that charges at you in the open (robotics, Gatekeeper, Berserker, Archon), you know, the stuff you bring a shooty Gunner for.
Gunners in my opinion have the most broken perk tree right now. Assuming you're going to go Traverse + Rapid Fire, which basically every high aim shooty gunner should, then Cyclic Fire and Chain Shot are worthless, because Traverse + Rapid Fire is strictly better than both of those abilities in every situation. So you're in this weird situation where two entire tiers of his tree have dead perks in them, that get completely obviated by later perks.

Also, with Rapid Fire at GSGT and Traverse at MSGT, the gunner doesn't get good until GSGT, and really good at MSGT. If I was smart, I would probably take Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire anyway, just to make the gunner useful earlier in the campaign, but it also feels bad, taking perks that you know will just be useless later.

I really think rapid fire should be removed from his tree, there's already a problem with him being too similar to the ranger and this made it even worse. Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire should be buffed to compensate for removal of rapid fire.
Psieye
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by Psieye »

I dislike covering fire on rangers (I go Ever Vigilant -> Locked On) but OW specialists do a lot for me. I don't care if the covering fire actually hits, what I care is stacking enough modifiers that the aliens have 0% chance of hitting me. I think the AI takes the existence of covering fire into account when calculating hit chances. With Combat Awareness, this can mean the difference between getting shot at all (and thus taking a shot at something in cover) and making the AI give up into an OW wall.

I need to test that theory more. Need to engineer a situation where the covering fire -10 aim is the difference between >0% and 0%.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
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2nd
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Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by Dwarfling »

stefan3iii wrote:Gunners in my opinion have the most broken perk tree right now. Assuming you're going to go Traverse + Rapid Fire, which basically every high aim shooty gunner should, then Cyclic Fire and Chain Shot are worthless, because Traverse + Rapid Fire is strictly better than both of those abilities in every situation. So you're in this weird situation where two entire tiers of his tree have dead perks in them, that get completely obviated by later perks.

Also, with Rapid Fire at GSGT and Traverse at MSGT, the gunner doesn't get good until GSGT, and really good at MSGT. If I was smart, I would probably take Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire anyway, just to make the gunner useful earlier in the campaign, but it also feels bad, taking perks that you know will just be useless later.

I really think rapid fire should be removed from his tree, there's already a problem with him being too similar to the ranger and this made it even worse. Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire should be buffed to compensate for removal of rapid fire.
Usually when I get Chain and Cyclic is because I'm aiming for Saturation Fire (and Rupture I guess). I'd go with the build you're talking about if the Rangers weren't already doing that job with better bonuses and earlier in the tech tree (I like to go Plasma > Lance > Storm > Beam Cannon). Sure the Cannon hits harder buuuuut, I rather do other stuff with them.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
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Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by stefan3iii »

Dwarfling wrote:
stefan3iii wrote:Gunners in my opinion have the most broken perk tree right now. Assuming you're going to go Traverse + Rapid Fire, which basically every high aim shooty gunner should, then Cyclic Fire and Chain Shot are worthless, because Traverse + Rapid Fire is strictly better than both of those abilities in every situation. So you're in this weird situation where two entire tiers of his tree have dead perks in them, that get completely obviated by later perks.

Also, with Rapid Fire at GSGT and Traverse at MSGT, the gunner doesn't get good until GSGT, and really good at MSGT. If I was smart, I would probably take Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire anyway, just to make the gunner useful earlier in the campaign, but it also feels bad, taking perks that you know will just be useless later.

I really think rapid fire should be removed from his tree, there's already a problem with him being too similar to the ranger and this made it even worse. Chain Shot and Cyclic Fire should be buffed to compensate for removal of rapid fire.
Usually when I get Chain and Cyclic is because I'm aiming for Saturation Fire (and Rupture I guess). I'd go with the build you're talking about if the Rangers weren't already doing that job with better bonuses and earlier in the tech tree (I like to go Plasma > Lance > Storm > Beam Cannon). Sure the Cannon hits harder buuuuut, I rather do other stuff with them.
I feel like Rapid Fire is a better rupture anyway, it does more damage than rupture but has no cooldown.

Here is how I build my gunners:
Center Mass - Lockdown - Hail - Demolition - Cool Under Pressure - Rapid Fire - Traverse

My build makes them one of the strongest soldiers at the end of the game, maybe THE strongest, but dragging them along on missions until they reach GSGT is so painful. And even when they finally hit GSGT, rangers have also hit GSGT and are already shooting three times a turn. It's just annoying having to baby sit gunners the entire game, before they become good.
Jacke
Posts: 623
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:10 am

Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by Jacke »

Thanks for all the feedback, dudes. I've updated my original post and I'm getting a better idea of what I want to do.

One set of changes I want to point out is to Specialist. After reading Dwarfling's comments here and in another topic, I revised my builds. For my Officer build, I've decided to swap Revival Protocol out, manage without it, and put in Combat Protocol. And for a second Specialist to put even more Hacking in a squad (all those MECs), I may go with a combined Reaction/Medic build.

Specialist Officer
Combat Protocol - Field Surgeon - Trojan - Airdrop - Failsafe - Full Override - Capacitor Discharge

Specialist React/Medic
Sentinel - Field Surgeon - Medical Protocol / Trojan - Airdrop / Field Medic - Cool Under Pressure - Full Override - Restoration

Field Surgeon apparently stacks, although it may not just double.

Also, I'd really like to stick to one build of Gunner, currently:

Gunner
Combatives / Grazing Fire - Formidable / Lockdown - Shredder - Demolition / Chain Shot - Cool Under Pressure - Rapid Fire - Traverse Fire

I picked Combatives and Formidable to help lock down Mutons, as Xwynns has demonstrated so many times. Unfortunately, I suspect that will get a good hit of the nerf bat soon. Going with Grazing Fire and Lockdown helps strengthen Overwatch and Suppression. And Grazing Fire helps with Chain Shot. I explain Shredder below.

There are a lot of problems with the differing needs across a campaign at the different difficulties. There's 2187 possible builds for each of the 8 soldiers classes. Only a few are good. Some perks useful early in the game (like Assault's Slug Shot) are quickly superseded by other perks or items. And when they exclude a fantastic skill like Lightning Reflexes.... And it's hard when you're still learning how they work together yet the time cost for redoing a build in the AWC is daunting (leading to getting around that). And it's hard to run a barracks with a lot of different builds as soldiers are less interchangeable when training, wounds, and KIA's force swapping.

Anyhoo, want to focus on some of the particulars.

1. What do you think about the cone attacks, Assault's Trench Gun and Street Sweeper and Gunner's Saturation Fire? Besides all the pixel-hunting mania of grenades, rockets, and flame attacks.

2. Especially as I'm planning to use them as the most common Haven Advisor, what about Suppression on Technicals? On Rangers, I can see it maybe on a reaction fire build. But with Technicals, being able to shut down the special functions of a enemy when the rest of the squad is a bunch of Rebels would be helpful. Roust can do that too, but only once; but maybe once is enough.

3. And speaking of Roust, I see it not really needing to kill an enemy (followup shots can do that) but controlling them while they're burning and putting some damage on them. To take advantage of its forced move, you need another soldier on overwatch before flaming. And Roust is such a long range shot you can just reach out and touch almost any enemy in sight. Would be better if it has 2 charges.

4. I like to go with Shredder on Technicals and Gunners because it's a Sgt perk and that means it's available early. Well before Shredder Rounds and Shredder Guns. It's a primary weapon perk and that means it isn't limited to consumables nor requiring soldiers to have a particular round like AP and Shredder Rounds. And still useful later in the campaign as enemy tend to have more armour and stacking shredding helps.

5. I think Rupture is aimed at those very tough targets that require many shots to kill. Hitting them with a Rupture first means all the shots will do more damage, likely requiring less of them to finish it off. It's better to have on a Ranger than a Gunner as for Gunners it excludes the very good Traverse Fire.
Dwarfling
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Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by Dwarfling »

1. I feel like Trench Gun requires a particular stat line on the soldier. You want high mobility to be able to get to the sweet spot, and high aim so that the cone actually hit some tiles away. You don't always get those kind of soldiers to be Assaults. Street Sweeper is great, but with Lethal you guarantee 2x2 damage every time you're in Close Encounter zone. Had one of each at the end of my last campaign, both felt very useful.

2. Suppression isn't a guarantee that the target won't run the overwatch, live and use the ability anyways. Both FitH and Roust are better, but I lean towards FitH, even on flamethrower-centric builds. Hell, I make all my Technicals flamethrower-centric except for FitH and Bunker Buster. Late game they might do crap damage against M3 but at least they can crowd control and destroy the toughest cover.

3. Roust is... And ok skill. Even with crap aim, I think having FitH is better because you can then rely on the rocket to break stuff. Roofs, cars...

4. I just never build my Technicals to shoot and Burnout is just a necessity if you want to use half cover to get the right burnination. On Gunners with high aim? For sure.

5. Problem I got with Rupture is that the classes that get it are the ones that actually deal the damage. On the Ranger you trade the Rapid Fire action, which will do more damage. And on the Gunner you can be doing a number of other multishooting actions. And Plasma weapons already add rupture.
Last edited by Dwarfling on Sat Jul 15, 2017 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
JulianSkies
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Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by JulianSkies »

Personally, on my dragon technicals I do like to take roust, neat finisher, useful for a pinch burnand also combos especially well with your overwatch troops, that I am exits fond of.
Jacke
Posts: 623
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Re: v1.4 Soldier Skills

Post by Jacke »

I decided not to bother with Snap Shot Sharpshooter whether Officer or not. This was literally the first time I took Snap Shot and I was missing the better aim at range with DFA and getting that action point back on kills to steady. Even the Holotarget Sharpershooter I ran in my 1.1/1.2 campaign felt better. Respec'ing her into a DFA Sharpshooter.

Speaking of respec, I really don't like the time it takes in AWC. In a Legendary campaign, it's 5 days per soldier rank. For the Gunner, who's the current worst case of wanting one build while leveling and another at MSgt, that would be 35 days in the single AWC tube each. Maybe half if the soldier had the AWC perk Quick Study? And that means experimentation is brutal. Almost demands using INI editing or console commands.

I also forgot one of the cone attacks: Gunner's Iron Curtain at SSgt. Anyone used that recently?

I can see using it with Shredder at Sgt to shredder multiple targets, which is certainly possible now with all the MECs ADVENT gets. But position is the bane of the cone attacks. And I think Iron Curtain is the worst perk on its tier, either Demolition or Chain Shot is better.

Further on Gunners, I really wish Traverse Fire would let Chain Shot and Rapid Fire be used in the same turn. It would be one way of solving the leveling build having superseded powers at MSgt.

Still mulling over the slightly tanky Muton-baiting build.

Combatives - Formidable - Shredder - Chain Shot / Demolition - Cool Under Pressure - Rapid Fire - Traverse Fire

But more likely going to go with a mixed reaction/multishot build.

Grazing Fire / Center Mass - Lockdown - Shredder / Hail of Bullets - Chain Shot / Demolition - Cool Under Pressure - Rapid Fire - Traverse Fire

I really like Shredder and Chain Shot quickly doubles that in a turn. Grazing Fire improves the threat of overwatch and suppression and getting the second shot out of Chain Shot. After Cool Under Pressure and getting to MSgt, could respec with Centre Mass and Demolition. Despite the guaranteed damage of Hail of Bullets, I really think I'll stick with Shredder.

I've also been thinking over the Technicals, besides other builds. I really like Shredder. But it helps to have multishot perks, either direct or reaction, thus the Gunner combo of Shredder at Sgt and Chain Shot at SSgt. But unless the AWC gives suck a perk, the Technical has to wait until MSgt to get Rapid Fire. And that means passing up the other 2 top tier perks.

I was thinking of taking Suppression at LCpl in my common Technical build. But Suppression like Overwatch really works better with Cool Under Pressure. Rangers get Cool Under Pressure at Sgt and Suppression at SSgt. Gunners start with Suppression, have Area Suppression, and will eventually get Cool Under Pressure at TSgt, as well as having Lockdown and Mayhem available. But Technicals only get Cool Under Pressure from the AWC and only as the third defensive perk. That's almost worse than Gunners waiting until TSgt.

Shredder would be nice. But with Phosphorus all the flame attacks shred. And going with Roust means that's a shredding attack at a good range. Burnout does make flamethrower shots safer. So here's my build now. Back to Roust and still mulling on Shredder and Quickburn. Will also do at least 1 pure flamer build and 1 rocket build. Except maybe not Concussion Rocket.

Roust - Napalm X - Burnout / Shredder - Phosphorus - Incinerator - Salvo / Quickburn - Rapid Fire
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