The Strongest Unit in XCOM 2 (WOTC) - A Strategy Overview

I have over 1000 hours played in Xcom2. I still have yet to use the faction heroes in a single campaign outside of the rescue and required missions. I use hundreds of mods and multiple new classes, but I still go with basic soldiers. I have only used Sparks in a couple of campaigns. I think the core classes and some of the modded classes are so fun to level and build out, I always just focus on the soldiers. Great guide, and it might just give me the motivation to attempt a campaign using the heroes.

guys i bought wotc dlc after i play and like vanilla game but i dont have most of these items in my playthrough, should i start new game to get these?

What is the 'order of abilities?

Do you have a guide for this?

Brilliant theorycrafting on an underappreciated stat!

interesting

A bit late but i have (i think) an important question. I always choose Tactical Rigging on my Skirm's, and one of the Vest's you can develop make you totally immune to Environmental Effects like Poison, Fire, and also (i think) Explosions. So with this Vest, you get a Fortress ability. Could this not negate a lot of the few downsides mentioned in this Video, like Sectopod's Exploding ??

Oh, I know this is primarily a Skirmishing based strategy, but give it up for Reapers with Banish and Repeaters, and extended mags.

Hunker down in XCOM 2 does not make you immune to crits like it did in XCOM EU. Instead it just gives you +50 dodge which does block crit damage when it triggers, but it's only a 50% chance to stop a crit on it's own. That's one area where other classes can get an edge since the majority of classes can get higher dodge. Serpent armor for example is +40 dodge so 90% base chance to negate crits and halve any damage taken. Ironically you actually mentioned how important Dodge was to the strategy and how exceedingly high it should be, but skirmishers are tied for the lowest potential dodge stat in the game. On the "no enemies has over 80 aim" comment, that's not entirely true. Officers will always use mark target before shooting which gives them 85-90 effective base aim and sectopods always have high ground bonus aim so they basically always have 90. Of course any enemy can have high ground and benefit from mark target so some enemies will have 100-110 aim when shooting at you. You also mentioned getting more than one return fire shot per turn, but unless your running mods that skill can only trigger once per turn.

It's also worth noting that the skirmisher is not what makes this work and they aren't the "strongest" unit in this set up. The specialists are the only important piece which you do hint at. The main advantages for the Skirmisher is the ability to make attacks with a somewhat decent weapon and still hunker down plus their intimidate (which isn't always good since many enemies like mutons will target the closet Xcom unit with AoE attacks when they panic). While retribution might sound like bladestorm it's not, and it's not exactly a good reason to use the skirmisher (it is a pretty decent skill though). Without aim buffs, retribution only has a max 56% chance to hit (it seems reliable in the video because those vipers have a +24% chance to be hit). Compare that to the Ranger's 77% without the katana, and the Templar's 100%, while their melee weapons also do more damage. Bladestorm is also guarantee to hit before the enemy, while retribution is not.

This is an interesting strategy and one that's worth pointing out since most players wouldn't consider it, it just seems like the focus and framing was misplaced on the skirmisher rather than just focusing on the basic idea of defense stacking with specialist and giving a more flexible idea of the many ways the game lets you apply that strategy while still doing decent damage. Not saying the skirmisher is bad to use here (they're one the better default options), it just seems weird to frame the idea around them when they are entirely replaceable.

You already mentioned that Sharpshooters can do this, and death from above means that they can attack with their sniper and still hunker down. Sharpshooters that roll Run and Gun also interact with the ability in a unique way that basically just gives them a third action and even lets them move, use the regular sniper, and still hunker down. They don't necessarily need the chosen weapons to start competing with the skirmisher, the chosen weapons do make them significantly more effective though. I don't see the reason to say those weapons aren't part of the "underlying class" when they are the only ones who can use those weapons and those weapons are part of their natural power progression. It's not like return fire is a natural part of the skirmishers progression since you only have a 70% to get the skill on any particular skirmisher

Keep in mind that any base class that roles Death from Above can also attack and hunker down to a more extreme degree with their superior primary (potentially killing multiple enemies per turn before hunkering down). The base classes also have better dodge in light armor.

Grenadiers can use explosives and heavy weapons while still hunkering down.

Rangers with bladestorm can always just stand near someone to get an attack and still hunker down. Plus they can trigger untouchable multiple times a turn which protects from explosives and the assassin. Reaper also provides you an occasional free attack or 2 before hunkering down.

And of course just using 6 specialist means your front soldier can always have 2 Threat assessment Overwatches + Guardian + CUP for an average of 3 decent attacks per turn while still hunkering down with that theoretical 90+ dodge and using up to 5 combat protocols/blaster bombs a turn. The other way of looking at this is that you can literally cut the "Front man" out and just replace them with one of the 3 specialists and fill their slot (and the other 2 slots) with any of the 4 potential "squadsight" units in the game (specialists, reapers, Psi ops, Sharpshooters) backed up by powered heavy weapons to have even better damage output.

Psi Ops are another interesting late game unit to use for this. They don't make the best front man, but they can dominate Archons or Gatekeepers who both have high base defense and dodge so they can play the front since they can hit similar defense without hunker down and they can both be very deadly while the Psi op uses its abilities from outside LoS. The Psi ops also solves a lot of the issues you pointed out in the video via stasis and fortress.

You also somewhat dismissed the Templar in other comments but I think you underestimate how its mechanics work. I get that it might not seem to fit naturally since it doesn't work well with Hunker down, but they don't need hunker down. Once they have deflect and mentally awake they have an always on 30% chance to block damage. With 40 defense against 80 aim that's only a 28% to get hit with no cover. This starts to work though when you have Reflect which is a completely separate roll. At 3 focus that's only an 18% chance for an 80 aim enemy to hit and that's before any defense. Aid protocol makes it 8% compared to the skirmisher who still has a 10% chance. Plus the Templar has innate dodge unlike the skirmisher. Keep in mind that every enemy that attacks also has a 45% chance to hit themselves (arguably better than return fire which only works once and has a 30% reaction fire penalty).
Hunker down can reduce more enemies to 0 aim which is better, but The other big thing is parry which works on explosives and assassins and with gifted actions you can stack multiple parries. Of course they're also the only other class that can roll fortress and sustain which makes this strategy more effective and safer. XCOM skills are not needed though; they only need Parry, reflect, and Deflect to work, XCOM skill are just nice to have like return fire is on the Skirmisher (Bladestorm BTW is a 67% chance for a random Templar). Their AoE abilities are nice too and they can even make a moving mimic with the same high defense abilities and with bladestorm it can get a guaranteed free attack every single turn while still hunkering down and reducing the chance your front man ends up with wound time.

its pretty cool and satisfying. im give it a go

I have never used a skirmisher in all my runs. Time to reinstall the game and try this.

Why does your skirmisher has 2 slots of utility items?, is it a mod?, since the top tier armor only has 1

downloaded xcom2, started a game, cinematics ended, what the fck is this piece of shit reaction, uninstalled. thought its fps

Actually thought you were trolling in the first half, but after you explained it, it sounds great. Can't wait to try it out.

As a SPARK enjoyer, I love seeing more unconventional strategies to clean house with.

i know this isn't exactly the topic: but this is the juiciest Faceoff map i've ever seen in my life

I tried to listen but just drooled on myself with my mouth open.

This is genius, bravo 👏 Now I have to redownload XCOM for my annual failed playthrough. I have yet to beat the game, been trying since its launch haha 😅

Is someone still playing XCOM 2 multiplayer on the Xbox Series X|S in 2023? Please respond I really want to play. :(

how do you make them look so cool?

pfff 6 heavy mechs with op heavy weapons and you're unstoppable

Tried this and it works as advertised. Thanks for your testing and perfecting of this, The Reddest of Goats! Just a side not, a blademaster, bladestorm, untouchable and reaper Ranger can do likewise under the same 3 Specialists, etc strategy....maybe not entirely as effective but it comes very close.

the thing is, the late game is definitely the easiest part of xcom, so this strat might seem all shiny and special but like, why bother? any bunch of colonels will probably win on legendary if you play smart

I just finished a game and I was about to move onto a different game for a while, but after seeing this, I think I might have to stay with XCOM for one more game. This strategy is ingenious. Looking forward to more insights from you. Thanks for this strategy!

bro do more vids

Mind=slightly blown

That goes without saying

Warlock watching this video: yes, yes

Wait, even if a soldier is healed fully before the mission ends, they will still become injured afterwards from any wounds, which means downtime. Considering the skirmisher is a hero character, that means you only get, what, 2 max? You wouldn't be able to use this strategy for every mission.

This is one of the coolest xcom videos I’ve ever seen, if not THE coolest.

I’m doing my first beta strike campaign and finding the skirmisher shining too. It was slow going, but I’m really liking him. I never conceived of using him like this though. Good stuff

Would this work for overhauled mods like long war of the chosen?

Basically you have made a lore accurate master chief.

XCOM veteran, i played and finished LW2 time ago and i was back to playing another campaign. Just did a not easy mission with a captain skirmisher, major reaper and specialist a corporal and a squaddie specialists and, as a fail safe measure a top rank psy. Was the recover UFO mission; the reaper just disabled the transmitter and killed a couple stragglers, the specialists and the psy killed a few zombies summoned by the Warlock and the skirm did all the job requiring just a couple cures because a mech used his AOE against him, two zombies exploded near him and a spectre managed to CRIT and near kill him; i was hunkered and aided but i also was flanked First attempt aborted after four rounds when the skirm was mind controlled, second one switching dragon ammo with a mind shield went smooth. Was a really long mission because i still lack Judgement and Battle Lord and having to use standard ammo killing an Andromedon took a very long time and i had to search for the last spectre because he decided i was too hard for him and started hiding. Once i level him up to colonel and i research plasma ripjack i'm sure i will do better; just hope to get tactical riggin because having a better ammo will sure help; just hope to be lucky at the random XCOM skill when promoted. Next time i'll also bring a better group of specialists and, as you suggest, a sniper to kill some enemies from afar.

"strongest unit"

Where templar?

this is incubation but in hd

Bravo. I did setup something slightly like that with Rangers and Templars once to power grind The Lost (nearly frying my PS4 and Switch on the process...), but this one is just leagues better put together. And on legendary no less! Thanks so much for writing it all down too. A GOAT you are indeed, sir.

One problem is when one of the Chosen has shadowstep, especially the Assassin. She can wipe up a team with this strategy, and you can never be truly prepared for that.

Very interesting, I wanted to return to this game, will give it a try

Genius

I need xcom 3 asap!

A small question. Which version or which addon are you playing? I don't remember my XCOM2 WOTC having that many stats, abilities and so forth...

very in depth and well made video!

well made. Felt like a mini-thesis. Earned my sub! Looking forward to more gaming insights from you :D

Holy crap, this is brilliant. I think you just broke the game.

My skirmisher is a male, will this strategy still work?

👍

Wow this strat is pretty insane, I think I’d want to try this jsut for the sake of getting the Ironman achievement. There’s no way Firaxis even dreamed of a squad setup like this when they were balancing the game lmao

This is nice and all until enemy unit crits you through full cover (becouse 10% base crit chance most units have on Legendary). Alpha strike is where its at. Kill everything before it have a chance to shoot. I can see this strategy somehow work on Beta strike setting.

Funny and all, but not my xcom. You can keep that broken mechanic.

Interesting. I've always wondered if there was some alternative way of using Skirmishers to make them more useful than "unit to use when barracks are full of tired and/or wounded soldiers". I'll employ this strategy next time around.

Excellent narration! Best I've heard in a while.