Assault (Long War)
The Long War Assault is similar to the vanilla Assault. Their signature ability is Run & Gun, which works exactly as it does in vanilla XCOM.
- Primary Weapons: Carbines, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, SMGs, Shotguns.
- Secondary Weapons: Pistols, Machine pistols, Sawed-off shotgun.
- Class-Limited items: Impact Vest, Shredder Ammo, Breaching Ammo.
Abilities
Rank | Ability | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Specialist |
Run & Gun Allows firing or Overwatch after Dashing on the turn Run and Gun is activated. 2 turn cooldown. | |||
No other bonuses. | ||||
Lance Corporal |
Steadfast
Never panic as a result of getting wounded, allies panicking, allies getting wounded or killed, or the intimidation ability. |
Close Combat Specialist Confers a reaction shot against any enemy who closes to within 4 tiles. Does not require Overwatch. Warning: Will activate even if unit is concealed. |
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. | |
+5 Will. | No other bonuses. | No other bonuses. | ||
Corporal |
Aggression Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%). Aliens visible via squadsight are not counted for bonus. |
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. | ||
+3 Will. | No other bonuses. | No other bonuses. | ||
Sergeant |
Close Encounters The first standard shot made within 4 tiles of the target does not cost an action. Cannot combine with Run And Gun.
|
Rapid Fire Take two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a -15 penalty to Aim.
|
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.
| |
+3 Will. | No other bonuses. | No other bonuses. | ||
Tech Sergeant |
Resilience Confers immunity to critical hits. |
Executioner Confers +10 aim and +10 critical chance against targets at or below 50% health. | ||
No other bonuses. | No other bonuses. | +2 Aim, +2 Will. | ||
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). | |
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. |
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.
| |
+1 Mobility, +4 Aim, +4 Will. | No other bonuses. | No other bonuses. |
- If Training Roulette is on, and Lock n' Load is acquired: reloading as the first action also stops Hit and Run from activating.
*Perks tagged with blue are fixed even with Second Wave Training Roulette option is enabled
Stat Progression
- 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: Mobile Offense
Long War Assaults are quite similar to vanilla Assaults. They are more mobile than Infantry while packing less firepower, swapping Light 'Em Up for Run & Gun. Due to the existence of the Infantry class that excels at mid-range combat with rifles, Assaults tend to equip shotguns and use their mobility to engage at close range, though using them as a medium range flanker with an assault rifle is also viable.
Assaults are fairly simple soldiers, and the choice in their build tends to be a simple one of offense vs defense at each rank, with some mobility thrown in. A role-changing perk however is Lightning Reflexes, allowing them to draw out overwatch fire much like a Scout can, though they have to wait until Master Sergeant to do it.
Assaults make very good covert operatives. They have high base HP, allowing them to survive better without armor, Lightning Reflexes to not be hit by overwatch when running to comm arrays, and they can use Run & Gun to hack arrays on the same turn after dashing.
Sample Builds
Tank Psi Assault
Covert Operative
Anti-EXALT
Stormtrooper
Perk progression | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- | Lance Corporal |
Corporal |
Sergeant |
Tech Sergeant |
Gunnery Sergeant |
Master Sergeant |
Perk by tier |
or Template:Extreme Conditioning (Long War) |
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Build Overview | ||||||
Stat Boosts | +2 aim, +2 will | |||||
Strengths | great mix of utility and damage | |||||
Weaknesses | requires tech and soldier development to unlock build's potential | |||||
Preferred battle sites | All | |||||
Most common Loadout | Gauss Stuttergun, Shredder Ammo, Targeting Module, situational items | |||||
Power Ranks | SGT for performance, GSGT for damage | |||||
Description | This build is enabled by the Gauss Stuttergun (with upgraded ammo from Ammo Conservation). Although shotguns are the usual weapons associated with Assaults, SMG-type weapons make for a good alternative owing to their Mobility boost, which creates more opportunites to flank. Unfortunately, at the start of the game SMGs are severely limited by their low ammunition (2), poor base damage, and poor crit rate. However, tech progress and soldier promotions change the picture significantly. With Ammo Conservation, the Gauss Stuttergun now has twice as much ammunition (4) and base damage that is only 17% worse than the Assault Rifle equivalent at the same tech. Aggression and Executioner compensate for the lack of base crit rate, resulting in a mobile soldier that can contribute in all types of engagement. (At MSGT, VPT can be dropped for Extra Conditioning for a more survivable soldier.) | |||||
Strategic Analysis | Before Stutterguns, an SMG should not be used: take a Shotgun or Assault Rifle instead as you see fit. Also note that, even with flanks and Aggression, this build will rarely manage to get guaranteed 100% crits (100% to-hit rates can't be assured either!). It should be used early in a turn, with other soldiers available to follow up and take advantage of its success, or compensate for its failures. |