Assault (Long War)

   Assault

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	Will to Survive Gain 1.5 Damage Reduction (DR) if in cover and not flanked.	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.	Killer Instinct Activating Run and Gun grants +50% critical damage for the rest of the turn.	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

Rank	/ Level			Total
			*			*
Specialist	1	3	5(-6)	1	3	5(-6)
Lance Corporal	0	2	5(-6)	1	5	10(-12)
Corporal	1	3	3(-4)	2	8	13(-16)
Sergeant	0	2	3(-4)	2	10	16(-20)
Tech Sergeant	1	3	3(-4)	3	13	19(-24)
Gunnery Sergeant	0	2	3(-4)	3	15	22(-28)
Master Sergeant	1	3	3(-4)	4	18	25(-32)

• 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

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Close Combat Specialist or Steadfast	Will to Survive	Close Encounters	Resilience	Sprinter	Extra Conditioning
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+10-15 will, +4 Aim, +4 Mobility
Strengths	very tanky, good will for psi training
Weaknesses	must get close with shotgun to attack reliably
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	Reinforced Armor, Alloy Plating/Chitin Plating/Impact Vest, Alien Trophy/Mind Shield/Psi Screen
Power Ranks	CPL and MSG for tanking, SGT and GSG for shotgun brawling
Description	A durable, tanky assault for early-mid game, especially before you get MECs. With the right build and equipment, can be about as good as MECs at tanking even in the lategame while also being a lot cheaper to field, though MECs can bring flamethrowers for CC as well as significantly higher base damage. Perks also provide plenty of bonus will to make a good psi soldier later in the game. Close Combat Specialist can be dropped for Steadfast if you want max will gain and a freed up item slot in exchange for less shotgun brawling potential, however late game psi units will likely want to carry a Mind Shield which grants Steadfast anyways. Sprinter is very important to allow flexible use of Titan Armor and/or heavy tank items without needing Walker Servos.
Strategic Analysis	Assaults tank by baiting attacks towards them by dropping their Defense as low as possible while increasing their flat DR and HP as high as possible. The AIs targeting priority is roughly as follows: #1 potential one shot kills (including but not limited to flanks), #2 flank shots (even if unlikely to kill), #3 groups of 2 or more they can grenade/acid spit, #4 foes using suppression that they can get LoS on, and #5 the highest accuracy shot they have. You must avoid presenting them with #1, #2, #3, and #4 with good play and positioning (LMG squadsight suppression is good here if you want to use an assault tank while also using Suppression), then drop your defense lower than all nearby allies in order to be the main target for #5. 0 (or worse) base defense and Reinforced Armor are essential here, and the Psi ability Distortion Field (+10 def to nearby allies except the Assault) is useful as well. You should also be in low cover as well, unless all of your allies are in high cover or outside line-of-sight. Stack Will to Survive (perk), Cover (low or high), Fortiores Una (officer perk), Iron Skin (gene mod), Reinforced Armor (item), and Titan Armor (armor) for 5.3-7.5 flat DR depending on the circumstance; you can optionally add Psi Screen (item), and/or Mind Merge (psi perk) on top of this for up to ~11 flat DR. This build should always be fitted out with a shotgun, its massive range bonus in close proximity make starting aim and aim perks unnecessary even when firing at enemies in cover. If you know there are several pods left on the map you may want to refrain from using Run and Gun for fear of activating them; instead simply holding ground, tanking fire, and crowd controlling or supporting with psi abilities while the rest of the squad dispatches of the first wave of enemies. Once the map has been at least partially cleared, the assault can be unleashed mop up stragglers with extreme prejudice.

Covert Operative

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Steadfast	Ranger	Hit and Run	Executioner or Resilience	Sprinter	Extra Conditioning or Lightning Reflexes
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+6 aim, +11 will, +1 mobility
Strengths	Run and Gun gives clutch mobility, can pick off weakened enemies easily, doesn’t need to carry Alien Trophy
Weaknesses	lacks intel from Battle Scanners and Concealment
Preferred battle sites	Covert Deployments
Most common Loadout	Reinforced Armor, other tank items, Alien Trophy
Power Ranks	CPL and MSG for tanking, SGT for shotgun brawling
Description	The two main classes that generally perform well as Covert Operatives are scouts and assaults. Assault operatives are effective at contributing finishing damage in fights and utilizing Run and Gun for massive bursts of speed toward transmitters. Executioner can be dropped for Resilience for a bit more tank in the event the operative is ever shot at, and Extra Conditioning can be dropped for Lightning Reflexes if you want safety vs. overwatch.
Strategic Analysis	Good use of motion scanners is key to keeping this operative out of danger. Run and Gun is very useful sometimes for a needed burst of speed to hit a transmitter, but try to save it for only when you truly need it. Try to spoonfeed kills whenever possible, especially on Data Recovery missions.

Anti-EXALT

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Close Combat Specialist	Ranger	Hit and Run	Resilience	Sprinter	Vital Point Targeting
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	N/A
Strengths	high dmg output, great mobility
Weaknesses	limited effectiveness at long-range, and vs flying and/or armoured targets
Preferred battle sites	Covert Extractions and Data Recoveries, Terror missions
Most common Loadout	Hi Cap Mags, armor plating or Alien Trophy, machine pistol and shotgun
Power Ranks	SGT for dmg, GSG for mobility
Description	EXALT come in large numbers, and often have fairly high Health, but should be unable to fire on most turns and have no damage resistance. All this makes Assaults of this type the best possible source of damage per turn against them. On Data Recovery missions two or three Assaults with this build, supported by a few other soldiers, including some with Overwatch builds, should make short work of the enemy, often not even giving them a single turn of effective fire. The build can also be effective on Terror missions, with CCS coming into its own against Chrysalids and Zombies.
Strategic Analysis	The plan is simple: charge headlong into EXALT positions and blast them apart while the comm hack prevents them from fighting back. After using Run and Gun to close the initial gap, take aggressive Hit and Run flanks to kill at least two EXALT per turn. Keep in mind you can use the Ranger-boosted machine pistol to hit long range flanks. EXALT love to dash toward the “hack zones” presented by the Encoder and Relay, so position your Assault accordingly to punish them with CCS shotgun blasts whenever you can.

Stormtrooper

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Flush or Close Combat Specialist	Aggression	Hit and Run	Executioner	Bring 'Em On	Vital Point Targeting or Extra Conditioning
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.

See also

Long War: Soldiers
	Soldiers Assault Infantry Rocketeer Gunner Sniper Scout Medic Engineer
	MEC Troopers Marauder Valkyrie Archer Goliath Jaeger Pathfinder Guardian Shogun
	Officers Psionics Gene Mods S.H.I.V.s