Secondary Weapons (Long War)
This page may be outdated. It is up-to-date for version b15e. The latest version is 1.0. |
Similar to primary weapons, Long War broadens the amount of sidearms available, adding five machine pistols, one per weapon tier, and adding the Sawed-off Shotgun, a sidearm that is unique to the Ballistic tier. See the Primary Weapons page for more information on the new weapon tiers.
While the number of Rocket Launchers and MEC secondary weapons remains unchanged, explosives in general have received an overhaul. Unlike vanilla, where explosives dealt a fixed amount of damage to all enemies within the blast radius, in Long War, explosives deal a variable amount of damage that scales with the distance to the center. The further a target is from the center of the blast, the less damage it will take. This also applies to destructible environment, which is a little more durable in general compared to vanilla.
Soldiers belonging to the Gunner class and SHIV units cannot equip secondary weapons of any kind.
Soldier sidearms
Pistol
As the default sidearm weapons, Pistols are quite similar to their vanilla counterparts, but now have a limited amount of ammunition, similar to primary weapons, and need to be reloaded independently from primary weapons. In addition, Pistols incur large aim penalties when firing at longer range, though the Gunslinger perk negates this penalty entirely.
There are no Pistol equivalents for the Gauss and Pulse Laser weapon tiers, though there are Machine Pistols.
Name | Usable by |
Aim |
Dmg |
CrD |
Weapon ammo |
Weapon range |
Overwatch range |
Special properties |
Prerequisites | Cost | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other | ||||||||||||||||
Pistol |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
1-3 (2) |
3-4 (3.2) |
2 (3) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk | XCOM starts with an unlimited supply | ||||||||
Laser Pistol |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
+6 | 2-4 (3) |
4-5 (4.5) |
2 (3) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk | Beam Lasers | 15 | 30 (45) |
4 (6) |
0 (2) |
10 days (5.0 days) | ||
Plasma Pistol |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
3-5 (4) |
5-7 (6.0) |
2 (3) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk | Compact Plasma Weapons | 90 | 120 (180) |
10 (15) |
30 (45) |
1 (6) |
1 Alien Pistol | 12 days (6.0 days) |
Machine Pistol
Machine Pistols can be equipped instead of regular Pistols, providing more damage at the cost of a penalty to both mobility and aim. Like regular Pistols, they have a limited amount of ammunition, and incur large aim penalties when firing at longer range, though the Gunslinger perk negates this penalty entirely.
Unlike regular Pistol, there are Machine Pistols available for the Gauss and Pulse Laser weapon tiers, though their penalties may cause you to consider if it's worth it to equip these weapons over Laser Pistols.
Name | Usable by |
Mob |
Aim |
Dmg |
Crit |
CrD |
Weapon ammo |
Weapon range |
Overwatch range |
Special properties |
Prerequisites | Cost | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other | ||||||||||||||||||
Machine Pistol |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
-1 | -8 | 2-4 (3) |
4-5 (4.5) |
2 (3) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk | XCOM starts with an unlimited supply | ||||||||
Heater |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
-1 | -2 | 3-5 (4) |
5-7 (6.0) |
2 (3) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk | Beam Lasers | 15 | 25 (37) |
5 (7) |
0 (2) |
12 days (6.0 days) | |||
Gauss Autopistol |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
-1 | -8 | 3-5 (4) |
5-7 (6.0) |
3 (4) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk Ignores 0.34 of target's DR |
Gauss Weapons | 35 | 40 (60) |
8 (12) |
3 (4) |
0 (3) |
12 days (6.0 days) | ||
Blaster |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
-1 | -8 | 4-6 (5) |
+8 | 6-9 (7.5) |
2 (3) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk | Pulse Lasers | 60 | 80 (120) |
20 (30) |
20 (30) |
0 (4) |
12 days (6.0 days) | |
Plasma Mauler |
Rookies Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts Snipers |
-1 | -8 | 4-8 (6) |
8-11 (9.1) |
2 (3) |
30 | 30 | Aim penalty at long range without the Gunslinger perk | Compact Plasma Weapons | 90 | 150 (225) |
30 (45) |
30 (45) |
2 (7) |
1 Alien Pistol | 12 days (6.0 days) |
Sawed-off Shotgun
Sawed-off Shotguns are unique to the Ballistic tier, providing an alternative weapon for the Pistol slot that allows the wielder to pack a punch. They deal the same damage as regular Shotguns, which exceeds the damage of even Plasma Pistols and Blasters, the Machine Pistols of the Pulse Laser weapon tier. Only the Plasma Mauler deals the same amount of damage.
However, Sawed-off Shotguns carry quite the disadvantage. First, these weapons can only fire once before they need to be reloaded, and no ammo capacity upgrade can improve this. Second, they can only be fired at point blank range. Third, because they are basically Shotguns, they suffer more from damage reduction than other weapons.
As they are based of Shotguns, they are unavailable to Rookies and Snipers. While they technically need to be produced, their only cost is a Shotgun, something XCOM has in unlimited supply. This basically allows you to create a bunch of Sawed-off Shotguns directly after the first mission is complete at no actual cost, keeping them available even if you currently have no plans to put them to use.
Name | Usable by |
Mob |
Aim |
Dmg |
Crit |
CrD |
Weapon ammo |
Weapon range |
Overwatch range |
Special properties |
Cost | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other | |||||||||||||
Sawed-off Shotgun |
Assaults Infantry Engineers Medics Scouts |
-1 | -12 | 4-8 (6) |
+4 | 8-11 (9.1) |
1 | 3 | 4 | Restricted to point blank range Enemy DR is 50% more effective |
0 (2) |
1 Shotgun | 1 days (0.5 days) |
Secondary weapons
Rocket Launcher
Long War revamped the accuracy of rockets. Instead of a fixed 90% chance to accurately hit from vanilla, the chance of an accurate shot now scales with aim and distance. When you aim a rocket, you see a distance in tiles, indicating the expected average scatter distance. 68% of all rockets will remain within this scatter distance, 95% of all rockets will remain within twice the scatter distance, and 99.7% of all rocket will remain within three times the scatter distance. Rockets can scatter left, right and in distance, but cannot scatter in height. Unblocked (no "Shot is Blocked" warning) rockets that veer off course will travel through most destructible terrain to their destination, destroying it in the process. If they encounter an allied or enemy pawn, they will detonate immediately.
A higher aim reduces the expected scatter distance, while firing a rocket over a longer distance increases the expected scatter distance. Firing a rocket after moving also decreases the range and increases the expected scatter distance. Bonuses and penalties to aim, such as steadying a weapon or carrying a small item that provides an aim bonus, do affect rockets as well. The only exception is the aim bonus provided by primary weapons, such as Beam Lasers and Carbines, which only apply to shots made with the primary weapon. When a soldier fires a rocket with 120 aim (including bonuses), the rocket will always hit accurately. This is indicated with "100%" instead of the distance in tiles.
Rocket Launchers are generally reserved for Rocketeers, but Engineers that pick up the Fire Rocket perk can also equip Rocket Launchers. This replaces their Pistol slot. Rocketeers, but not Engineers, can equip small items to provide them with additional rockets.
Name | Usable by |
Mob |
Dmg |
Weapon range |
Blast radius |
Special properties |
Prerequisites | Cost | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other | ||||||||||||||
Rocket Launcher |
Engineers Rocketeers |
-1 | 4-10 (7) |
30 | 6.0 | +1 mobility per rocket fired during mission | XCOM starts with an unlimited supply | |||||||
Recoilless Rifle |
Engineers Rocketeers |
-1 | 6-12 (9) |
30 | 6.0 | +1 mobility per rocket fired during mission Ignores 0.34 of target's DR |
Advanced Gauss Weapons | 45 | 100 (150) |
50 (75) |
10 (15) |
0 (4) |
14 days (7.0 days) | |
Blaster Launcher |
Engineers Rocketeers |
-2 | 8-16 (12) |
30 | 6.0 | +1 mobility per rocket fired during mission | Fusion Weapons | 110 | 600 (900) |
130 (195) |
70 (105) |
3 (20) |
2 UFO Flight Computers 1 Fusion Core |
20 days (10.0 days) |
MEC secondary weapons
MEC troopers have a variety of options for their secondary weapons, allowing them to fulfill different types of roles. In addition, MEC troopers can equip more than one secondary weapon, the exact amount depending on the Exoskeleton that they are wearing. Be advised that unlike vanilla in Long War you have to build the systems yourself and they do cost a lot of meld.
Name | Usable by |
Mob |
Dmg |
CrD |
Blast radius |
Special properties |
Prerequisites | Cost | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Other | ||||||||||||||
Flamethrower |
MEC troopers | -1 | 4-6 (5) |
6-9 (7.5) |
Causes panic unless targets make a will test against 50 (80 with Jellied Elerium foundry project) |
Alien Biocybernetics MEC Warfare Systems |
35 | 150 (225) |
30 (35) |
10 days (5.0 days) | ||||
Restorative Mist |
MEC troopers | -1 | 5.0 | Heals allies within the area of effect | Thin Man Autopsy MEC Warfare Systems |
28 | 120 (180) |
30 (35) |
14 days (7.0 days) | |||||
Kinetic Strike Module |
MEC troopers | -1 | 9-15 (12) |
15-21 (18.0) |
Melee weapon | Floater Autopsy MEC Warfare Systems |
30 | 200 (300) |
30 (45) |
25 (37) |
30 (37) |
10 days (5.0 days) | ||
Grenade Launcher |
MEC troopers | -1 | 2-6 (4) |
6.4 | Gauss Weapons MEC Warfare Systems |
30 | 150 (225) |
25 (37) |
30 (35) |
10 days (5.0 days) | ||||
Proximity Mine Launcher |
MEC troopers | -1 | 6-14 (10) |
4.0 | Advanced Gauss Weapons MEC Warfare Systems |
55 | 180 (270) |
25 (37) |
40 (60) |
40 (46) |
14 days (7.0 days) | |||
Electro Pulse |
MEC troopers | -1 | 3-9 (6) |
Max 1 per soldier Stuns robotic units 3 turn cooldown |
Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons MEC Warfare Systems |
85 | 180 (270) |
30 (45) |
50 (75) |
50 (56) |
1 Arc Thrower | 14 days (7.0 days) |