Scout (Long War)

Scout

The Scout is a unique class that doesn't have an equivalent in vanilla XCOM, combining elements of Assaults and Snap Shot Snipers. The Scout's signature ability is Lightning Reflexes, greatly reducing the chance to be hit by overwatch fire while moving. Scouts are the only class other than Snipers that can use marksman rifles, but they cannot use sniper rifles.

Primary Weapon: Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, Carbines, Marksman Rifles, Shotguns, SMGs.

Secondary Weapon: Pistols, Machine pistols, Sawed-off Shotgun.

Class-Limited items: Marksman Scope, Chameleon Suit.

Abilities

Rank	Ability
Specialist	Lightning Reflexes The hit chance of reaction fire against this unit is reduced by 90 percent for the first shot, and by 70 percent for additional shots.
Specialist	+1 Mobility.
Lance Corporal	Holo-Targeting Shooting at or suppressing enemies confers +10 Aim to allies' attacks on those enemies until end of turn.	Damn Good Ground Confers +10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation, in addition to the usual elevation bonuses.	Lone Wolf +10 Aim and Critical Chance if not within 7 tiles of an allied unit.
Lance Corporal	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Corporal	Low Profile Makes partial cover grant the defense bonus of full cover.	Ranger Confers +1 damage with primary weapons, rocket launchers, MEC secondary weapons and sidearms. Negates the long-range accuracy penalty with sidearms when shooting beyond 14 meters.	Deadeye Confers +15 aim against flying targets.
Corporal	No other bonuses.	+1 Aim.	+1 Aim.
Sergeant	Flush Fire a shot that may cause non-flying enemies to run to new cover. The shot is easy to hit with (+30 aim), but does reduced damage (-50% base weapon damage), and consumes extra ammo (2 ammo). Hunkered units will not relocate.	Aggression Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%). Aliens visible via squadsight are not counted for bonus.	Battle Scanner Scanning device that, when thrown, creates a new source of vision for 2 turns. Grants 2 uses. Increases throw range for battle scanners by 70% (does not stack with other perks).
Sergeant	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Tech Sergeant	Concealment When the soldier moves to high cover, enemies without special capabilities will not target the soldier (but CAN sense him/her). Does not work if any enemies have line of sight to the soldier's starting position. Leaving cover, being flanked, firing, hacking arrays, and capturing meld will break this concealment. Low Profile units will not gain this bonus by occupying low cover. Firing from concealment grants +30% crit.	In the Zone Killing a flanked or uncovered target does not cost an action. Confers a -1 base damage and -10% critical hit chance penalty for each successive In The Zone kill.	Hit and Run Your first standard shot of each turn against an uncovered or flanked target does not cost an action. Does not work against flying units, and cannot be used if Run N' Gun activated.
Tech Sergeant	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Gunnery Sergeant	Tactical Sense Confers +5 Defense per enemy in sight (max +20).	Bring 'Em On Confers 1-4 bonus damage during critical hits (which is then multiplied by 50% due to the critical hit). The damage is higher when more enemies are in view (including squad sight vision). This results in +1.5 dmg for 1-2 enemies, +3 dmg for 3-4 enemies, +4.5 dmg for 5-6 enemies, +6 dmg for 7 or more enemies.	Sprinter Grants +4 mobility (roughly 3 tiles movement).
Gunnery Sergeant	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Master Sergeant	Extra Conditioning Confers 1-4 bonus health based on which type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.	Vital Point Targeting Confers 2 bonus damage with primary guns, and +1 damage with sidearms, against humans and alien targets whose species have been autopsied.	Smoke & Mirrors Allows one additional use of all support grenades during each mission. It also increases charges from Smoke Grenade and Battlescanner perks by 1.
Master Sergeant	+4 Aim, +4 Will, +1 Mobility.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.

*Perks tagged with blue are fixed even with Second Wave Training Roulette option is enabled

Stat Progression

Rank	/ Level			Total
Rank			*			*
Specialist	0	4	5(-6)	0	4	5(-6)
Lance Corporal	0	3	5(-6)	0	7	10(-12)
Corporal	1	4	3(-4)	1	11	13(-16)
Sergeant	0	3	3(-4)	1	14	16(-20)
Tech Sergeant	0	4	3(-4)	1	18	19(-24)
Gunnery Sergeant	0	3	3(-4)	1	21	22(-28)
Master Sergeant	1	4	2(-3)	2	25	24(-31)

Note that, even without Hidden Potential turned on, there is a chance of gaining 1 extra will per level (shown in parentheses above). Psionic soldiers can also gain 1-6 extra will per psi level (1 + rand(6)).

Tactical Advice

Role: Scout / Mobile Offense

The Scout is a versatile, mobile generalist class, capable of dishing out good damage output while providing a host of utility. Singularly, the Scout is a master of reconnaissance, able to provide situational awareness and thus battlefield control like no other unit can, but this is not it's only use; potent damage dealing perks like Hit and Run or In The Zone (gained relatively early at Tech Sergeant) make the Scout mobile & lethal at any range, and are some of the more mobility-focused of the multi-attack perks to boot.

Scouts have a great deal of flexibility, able to be built to fill anywhere from one to all three of the following roles, depending on degree of specialty:

Scout: A major role of the Scout class is in their ability to recon - in Long War, the importance of situational awareness and the existence of extended range on some weapons means that gaining vision of the battlefield is more important than ever. A scout can spot for the team, moving forward into a position that may draw enemy contact and then escaping relatively safely using the core class perk Lightning Reflexes if any major threats choose to Overwatch. Even better is advancing under Concealment, which is an effective method of gaining vision with almost no risk, so long as it is employed properly. The Scout class also gains the Battle Scanners perk relatively early which provides substantial vision out to a massive distance, which may be supplemented with Smoke & Mirrors later on for an extra charge.
Mobile DPS / Off-DPS: The Scout can be specialized as a primary damage dealer thanks to the presence of multi-attack perks Hit and Run or In The Zone combined with other potent damage increasing abilities (Aggression, Bring Em On, Ranger, Vital Point Targeting, and even Lone Wolf), allowing a damage-focused Scout to effectively compete with other classes in a niche role as a heavily mobile flanking DPS unit. While other DPS classes gain an edge late game (most notably, Infantry and Snipers at Master Sergeant, and Gunners after flying armor), the Scout readily transitions into one of the best DPS MECs in the game, the Pathfinder. Marksman Rifles can be used to make extended range attacks from risky positions, while the large ammo capacity of Shotguns makes them deadly for a close quarters In The Zone build.
Utility / Fire Support: The Scout class contains a veritable toolbox of utility skills that can round out any squad. Concealment and Smoke & Mirrors can make for a decent Support Grenadier, able to Flashbang or Chem enemies from close range without breaking concealment; this is especially potent if the Scout also brings support psionics like Mind Merge or Psychokinetic Strike. Holo-targeting and Flush offer utility value in various circumstances as well.

Incidentally, Scouts also make for great covert operatives, as their wide variety of perks that increase mobility and survivability help immensely during Covert Operations against Exalt cells. Concealment is particularly valuable for mid-to-late game Covert Extractions, where the sheer quantity of enemies make direct engagement with EXALT almost impossible.

Lance Corporal

Holo-Targeting is a solid support ability that allows your Scout to fill a fire support role and give your entire squad +10 aim against a target of your choice. It will help immensely both in the early months when your squad has poor aim overall, as well as in the mid-to-lategame when fighting tough leaders and bosses with high defense. However it can also be found on other class perk trees as well as on MECs and SHIVs (via an item), and multiple instances of Holo-Targeting do not stack, so be sure to plan out who is getting it and how many Holo-Targeters you plan to bring. Lone Wolf is solid for DPS scouts, both the Marksman Strike Rifle and Shotgunner variety, though it can be difficult to activate without making a deliberate attempt to do so. As for Damn Good Ground, the aim bonus is somewhat superfluous given that height advantage already provides +20 aim; similarly, the +10 defense bonus isn't bad for urban environments which have a lot of low cover rooftops to fight from, but it tends to not be particularly useful in other maps and is outclassed by perks like Low Profile for that reason.

Corporal

Low Profile is the go-to perk here, giving your Scout a near-universal +15 defense and freeing up heavy cover for your allies. That said, the other two options have their own niche. Ranger is a very versatile and solid perk for damage scouts, granting +1 damage and useful secondary weapons if your primary runs out of ammo; it's particularly good for Shotgun builds as well to give them a medium-range option. Deadeye synergizes well with an In The Zone Marksman build as it helps you kill chain fliers.

Sergeant

Battle Scanner is an amazing perk with so much utility, including: letting you preview and prepare for pods, allowing you to move aggressively through the map to grab more Meld or take flanks, blocking fog-of-war civilian heart attacks, and activate pods from Squadsight with Rockets, Snipers, and LMGs. However, Aggression is core on damage Scouts for boosting your critical rate and its synergy with Bring 'em On. Flush is the ugly duckling here, up against far too many good perks. It's an attack with +30 aim and half damage that forces enemies to move. It synergizes well with Suppression and Overwatch, and you can use it as an execution attack thanks to its significant aim boost.

Technical Sergeant

Hit and Run is a versatile, bread-and-butter damage perk for Scouts, letting you shoot twice a turn while also moving as well, so long as your first shot is a flank. It's solid for damage builds and allows a crit Scout to compete as a more mobile version of a crit Infantry. It also synergizes well with Holo-Targeting Fire Support builds as you can tag two different targets in a turn. You may need to set it up with cover destruction, or use the Scouts high mobility to hit flanks. In the Zone is somewhat more situational than Hit and Run as it requires you to kill the target, but has significantly more upside as you can potentially shoot many more times each turn, at least until your ammo runs out. It is excellent for both crit Shotgun and squadsight Marksman Strike Rifle builds. It also works on Fliers, unlike Hit and Run. Concealment is a unique perk available only to Scouts which allows the Scout to effectively act as an unlimited use, unlimited duration portable Battle Scanner; it also carries with it a respectable amount of offensive utility in the form of a bonus to your critical hit chance when breaking stealth. It is essential to complete late game Covert Operations, and also pretty useful for safely farming hundreds of meld a month off crashed small and medium UFO maps. However you can find yourself in very tricky situations if you get too aggressive with your movement and end up in vision of multiple inactive pods that keep patrolling closer and closer to your Scout.

Gunnery Sergeant

Bring em On is core on damage builds, particularly any that took Aggression at Corporal, providing up to +6 damage on your critical hits. Sprinter is good on concealment and utility builds as well as to set up flank shots for Hit and Run or In the Zone. Tactical Sense is an excellent perk for discouraging enemies from firing at you but it comes at the cost of missing out on better perks.

Master Sergeant

Extra Conditioning is a nice pickup for any build, with a bunch of free stats to aim, mobility, will, and HP. Vital Point Targeting is great for damage builds, or just adding decent damage to any Scout build even if you didn't invest in it per se. It also helps counteract some of the stacking damage penalties on In the Zone builds. Smoke and Mirrors has some synergy with Concealment as support grenades don't break stealth, but is probably the least useful choice of the bunch.

Sample Builds

Concealment Recon


Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Holo-Targeting	Ranger	Battle Scanner	Concealment	Sprinter	Smoke & Mirrors or Extra Conditioning
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+4 will, +5 aim, +1 mobility
Strengths	Excellent recon, holo support and solid chip damage in firefights
Weaknesses	fragile and lacks damage due to lack of aim perks
Preferred battle sites	Abductions, UFO missions, Council Missions, Covert Extractions
Most common Loadout	Marksman Scope, Motion Tracker, Flashbang, Psi Grenade, Chem Grenade, Mimic Beacon, and/or Shadow Device
Power Ranks	SGT and TSG for recon
Description	Pure information and utility build that utilizes Concealment to make the scout a permanent, portable Battle Scanner. You should still take the Battle Scanners perk anyways because it's just that good, especially when you can chuck it 70% past visual range. Low Profile does not work with Concealment; Ranger in its place allows some offensive utility, and allows a Strike Rifle to be combined with a heavy pistol for damage at all ranges. Smoke and Mirrors allows the Scout to maintain concealment while throwing offensive Support Grenades or utilizing Psi powers; you can take Extra Conditioning instead to allow the Scout to slug it out when the firefight starts. Sprinter allows the Scout to aggressively move forward to hit heavy cover and also grab meld.
Strategic Analysis	Get your Scout hidden near the front line to plan engagements and get your snipers, LMG gunners, and Rocketeers get into position for a devastating first strike. Use a combination of Battle Scanners, Motion Sensors, and the Scout itself to collect information about what you're up against to prevent your squad from walking into a multiple-pod trap. Use a Strike Rifle and Heavy Pistol for their high base damage. Caution: Concealment can get your Scout pinned, as you cannot move in sight of an alien without activating it.

Crit Scout


Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Lone Wolf	Ranger or Low Profile	Aggression	Hit and Run or In the Zone	Bring 'Em On	Vital Point Targeting or Extra Conditioning
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+1 Aim
Strengths	Great damage and great mobility
Weaknesses	Runs out of ammo fast and can be quite squishy
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	SCOPE/Neural Gunlink/Illuminator Gunsight, Targeting Module, Hi Cap Mags
Power Ranks	TSG brings the build online, GSG and MSG both bring lots of damage
Description	Interestingly, Scouts can take a build path very similar to crit infantry or crit assaults. Compare to Infantry, Hit and Run functions even better than Light Em Up against enemies out of cover, but only against enemies out of cover; Scouts can also use Strike Rifles, which come with higher base damage and crit rate than an assault rifle, though Scouts can't use Rapid Fire and don't get Lock n Load. Alternately, take In the Zone for a highly mobile shotgunner build that dive into the thick of things and solo entire pods before fleeing out of line-of-sight; you won't be able to move as far as a Rapid Fire assault, but you can deal with condensed groups of foes very effectively. You’ll need a lot of cover destruction on hand and/or need to take aggressive flanks (which can be dangerous to do sometimes) in order to take full advantage of the build. Lone Wolf, Aggression, Ranger, Bring Em On, and Vital Point Targeting combine to maximize the damage output of either a Hit and Run flank or an In the Zone kill chain. Extra Conditioning and/or Low Profile can be taken instead of Vital Point Targeting and Ranger, to trade raw damage for more reliability and safety.
Strategic Analysis	Plays similarly to crit infantry (for Hit and Run) or Crit Assaults (for In the Zone). Good positioning is needed to activate Lone Wolf. Always make sure you shoot uncovered targets first if possible once you have Hit and Run. With In the Zone, stay out of line of sight so you can't be shot at until the moment to strike is ready, and manage your kill chain very, very carefully so you can flee back out of sight when you're done.

Covert Operative


Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Lone Wolf	Ranger	Battle Scanner	Concealment	Sprinter	Extra Conditioning
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+5 aim, +4 will, +1 mobility
Strengths	Good mobility, good intel with battle scanners and motion trackers, can maintain stealth with concealment, can’t be pinned due to Lightning Reflexes, needed for Covert Extractions
Weaknesses	Must hold Alien Trophy to stop panic, having active pods with no relay in blue move range is very dangerous, not too useful in Covert Data Recovery
Preferred battle sites	Covert Operative Deployments
Most common Loadout	Alien Trophy, Motion Scanner
Power Ranks	SGT for intel, TSG for stealth, GSG for mobility
Description	The two main classes that generally perform well as Covert Operatives are scouts and assaults. Scout Operatives are effective at gaining lots of intel about their surroundings and moving into relay range without activating pods prematurely thanks to Concealment and Battle Scanners. They are arguably mandatory once you're on the second half of EXALT missions and it stops being feasible to beat Covert Extractions by killing all EXALT units rather than just extracting (25-30 Exalt vs. 4 XCOM troopers + covert operative is tough even if everything goes well). Ranger, LR, Extra Con, and Sprinter will help immensely once the bullets inevitably start flying.
Strategic Analysis	Good use of motion scanners and battle scanners is key to keeping this operative out of danger. Your priority for covert extractions is to hit the transmitters one after the other in consecutive turns and then extract; killing EXALT is useful along the way but wiping them out is not. Getting in blue move range of the first transmitter, or even reaching it while concealed, is crucial; if the operative activates a pod before getting in range, break line of sight (or take full cover) at a location in range of the transmitter for next turn and pray to RNGsus (keep in mind that concealment DOES NOT ACTIVATE when an enemy can see the scout’s starting location). On Covert Data Recovery, finish off low hp enemies when possible while chaining transmitters.

Runner


Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Holo-Targeting	Low Profile	Flush	Hit and Run	Tactical Sense	Extra Conditioning
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+4 aim, +4 will, +1 mobility
Strengths	High utility, noteworthy damage potential
Weaknesses	Damage output is inconsistent due to lack of aim perks, Lightning Reflexes will eventually/occasionally backfire
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	Scope/Neural Gunlink, Marksman Scope, and/or Chameleon suit
Power Ranks	SGT for intel, TSG for stealth, GSG for mobility
Description	This is a default Scout build for use in squads that want a Scout for the utility it provides with Lightning Reflexes, but don't expect to need Scout features such as Concealment/Battle Scanner or an In the Zone build, that instead provides broader utility in general firefights. Holo-Targeting works well with Flush, below, and generally helps the Scout contribute more towards squad firepower. Low Profile lets the Scout use a wider range of cover, leaving the choice full-cover spots to team-mates. Tactical Sense helps the Scout dodge Overwatch fire and reduces the chance of them being targeted in other situations, but sprinter is an alternative if you just want to race these soldiers after Meld as fast as possible!
Strategic Analysis	Holo+Flush will set up easy shots for squad-mates who are good Overwatchers. With Hit & Run, the Scout can provide considerably more with their own firepower, with the option to slip back to a position fully out of sight after the first shot. To make the most of this soldier, you’ll need the courage to run enemy overwatches when other soldiers need to move.