Gunner (Long War)

   Gunner

The Gunner class is similar to a suppression specialized Heavy in vanilla XCOM. Their signature ability is Suppression, and they are the only class that can use the Light Machine Gun and Squad Automatic Weapon line of weapons. Suppression is improved over vanilla, working to restrict the target's ability to use rockets and grenades as well as its vanilla effects. To compensate, the Gunner loses the vanilla Heavy's rockets.

Primary Weapon: SAWs, LMGs, Assault Rifles, Carbines, SMGs.

Secondary Weapon: None.

Class-Limited items: Armor-Piercing Ammo.

Abilities

Rank	Ability
Specialist	Suppression Fire a barrage that pins down a target, granting Opportunist reaction fire against it if it moves. Imposes a -30 penalty to aim and reduces range of many area-of-effect attacks, including grenades. Also negates overwatch from the target while suppression is active. Lastly, enemy AI prioritizes breaking the suppression by shooting the suppressor, so it functions as a mini-taunt. Not possible with shotguns, sniper rifles, or strike rifles.
	No other bonuses.
Lance Corporal	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.	Covering Fire Allows certain reaction shots to trigger on many enemy actions, not just movement (excludes reload, overwatch, and hunker down actions).	Holo-Targeting Shooting at or suppressing enemies confers +10 Aim to allies' attacks on those enemies until end of turn.
	No other bonuses.	+ 2 Aim.	No other bonuses.
Corporal	HEAT Ammo Your primary weapon, not including shotguns, does an additional 50% of its base weapon damage to robotic enemies after any damage reduction is assessed.	Opportunist Eliminates the Aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows reaction shots to cause critical hits.	Shredder Ammo The Shredder debuff causes any unit hit to take 40% additional damage (after DR, rounded down) from all sources. Gunners and MECs apply the Shredder debuff for the remainder of the current turn to any target struck by their primary weapon. Rocketeers get an extra rocket that is weaker than a standard rocket (60% rounded down), cannot penetrate cover, has a +50% larger blast radius, and applies the Shredder debuff to all targets struck by the rocket for the next 3 turns.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Sergeant	Will to Survive Gain 1.5 Damage Reduction (DR) if in cover and not flanked.	Executioner Confers +10 aim and +10 critical chance against targets at or below 50% health.	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.
Tech Sergeant	Rapid Fire Take two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a -15 penalty to Aim.	Ready for Anything If the unit fires without taking any other costly action, it automatically enters overwatch at the end of its turn.	Double Tap Allows a second action restricted to Standard Shot, Precision Shot, or Disabling Shot as long as the first action was a Standard Shot, Precision Shot, Disabling Shot, or Flush provided no costly actions were taken. 1 turn cooldown. (Note: Double Tap is cancelled in the following cases: (1) the first shot results in a kill, and no more enemies are visible to the unit, or (2) for gunners only, the first shot depletes the ammo.)
	No other bonuses.	+ 2 Aim.	No others bonuses.
Gunnery Sergeant	Resilience Confers immunity to critical hits.	Platform Stability Shots taken before any costly actions have +10 Aim and +10% critical chance. Also grants +10 aim for purposes of reducing scatter if the soldier has not moved this turn, and increases range of Blaster Launcher (which does not scatter).	Danger Zone Increases area of effect of Suppression, rockets, grenade launchers and proximity mine launchers.
	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.	Sentinel Allows two reaction shots during Overwatch, instead of only one.	Mayhem Confers +2 damage for suppression, SAWs, LMGs, explosive grenades, proximity mines and rocket launchers. Confers +4 damage for sniper and long rifles, marksman's, strike and reflex rifles using Standard Shot or Precision Shot.
	+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
			*			*
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: Medium Range Offense / Offensive Support

The Gunner is akin to the vanilla Suppression Heavy, but with a key difference: the Long War Gunner has mediocre aim, compared to the vanilla Heavy's abysmal aim, meaning that unlike the vanilla Heavy she can put out reasonable damage with the machine gun when nothing needs suppressing.

In a sense the Gunner's first "perk" is their ability to use SAW and LMG-type weapons. Both LMGs and SAWs cause the reaction shot taken against a suppressed target to suffer no aim penalty and be capable of critting. SAWs have higher damage and larger magazines than assault rifles, with a mobility penalty. LMGs are even more restricted on mobility, but have even higher damage and larger magazines and have extended range. A major decision when building a Gunner is deciding if they will use a LMG or SAW-type weapon. SAW gunners have more mobility but shorter range, so will value some mobility and defense as well as offense. LMG gunners will be more interested in offense. Note that Suppression works at the LMG's full range.

Gunners have a lot of flexibility in their builds, with many viable combinations. Several strong utility perks are available, including Holo-Targeting and Shredder Ammo and of course Suppression. One potential offensive support build combines the debuff perks; Gunners can suppress in AoE with Danger Zone, apply Holo Targeting on those targets, make it inflict damage with Mayhem, and thus shred them with Shredder Ammo. Some strong offensive perks are also available in Double Tap, Rapid Fire and HEAT Ammo.

Sample Builds

HEAT Gunner

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Flush	HEAT Ammo	Will to Survive	Rapid Fire	Resilience	Extra Conditioning
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+7 will, +4 aim, +1 mobility
Strengths	shreds mechanical units, very durable
Weaknesses	limited offense and utility against non-mechanicals
Preferred battle sites	All except EXALT missions
Most common Loadout	SAW; SCOPE, AP ammo, Alloy/Chitin plating, and/or Medkit
Power Ranks	CPL and TSG for dmg, SGT and MSG for durability
Description	HEAT Gunners are your premiere anti-mechanical unit, and also fill out fairly well as a Suppression unit. Flush, in addition to being a useful execution ability, synergizes well with allies with Opportunist overwatch. HEAT largely counterattacks the Flush damage penalty, allowing the Gunner to take +30 Aim shots at roughly the same overall damage against flying mechanical units. Non-flying mechanical units take pretty huge damage from a Rapid Fire HEAT combo as well, especially thanks to the high base damage of Gunner weapons; you're also decently mobile with Rapid Fire too. Will to Survive, Resilience, and Extra Conditioning combine to render Suppression a much safer ability, as enemies will often fire at the Suppressing unit to break Suppression.
Strategic Analysis	Early on, HEAT Gunners make short work of drones and seekers with HEAT Flush shots when other soldiers are struggling to hit Flyers and get through their DR. Against flying Cyberdiscs they may struggle somewhat to score hits reliably, but they really come into their own against Mechtoids and Sectopods, being the most easily trained and developed way of bringing to bear the massive damage needed to destroy them. Only the advent of MECs threatens to challenge the HEAT Gunner's dominance of the anti-robot role, but MEC suits and troopers are very expensive and time consuming to field compared with TSGT Gunners.

Bullet Wizard

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Holo-Targeting	Shredder Ammo	Will to Survive	Double Tap	Danger Zone	Mayhem
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+3 will
Strengths	High utility, especially late game; good candidate for officer
Weaknesses	limited/inconsistent offense, needs MSG rank badly
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	LMG; SCOPE/Neural Gunlink/Illuminator Gunsight, Alloy Plating, AP Ammo, and/or Medkit
Power Ranks	TSG for damage/shred, MSG for AOE suppression shredding
Description	Despite the huge gun, the Bullet Wizard is fundamentally a support soldier. When you hit, you hits very hard (and can shoot twice thanks to Double Tap), but more often you will be pinning enemies down with Suppression or softening them up for kills by other units using Holo-targeting and Shredder. Before MSgt, you can choose either to Suppress a target or attack and try to Shred it on hit (both will apply Holo-targeting). Danger Zone provides a small buff to Suppression by boosting it's area of effect by 2, enough to catch a couple extra foes. Mayhem is the true lynchpin of the build, as it causes your Suppression to inflict damage, which also causes it to inflict Shredder. Thus, by MSgt, the Gunner can automatically inflict not only Holo-targeting but also the Shredded status to not one but a whole group of enemies using Suppression, softening them up for easy kills by teammates. Mayhem's light damage may be completely absorbed by DR, but if not it can allow for automatic kills of low-health units.
Strategic Analysis	Bullet Wizards provide a range of support in all kinds of firefight, making enemies easier for squadmates to kill even if the Gunner can't do it herself, or pinning them down with highly-intimidating Suppression. Furthermore, LMG suppression can be used at squadsight range, which keeps the Gunner safe from counterattack and can utterly lock down a target. At maximum rank, Bullet Wizards become incomparable for dealing with the large mobs of enemies the late-game regularly inflicts on XCOM. AP Ammo can help compensate for the lack of HEAT Ammo and a SCOPE helps to increase the odds of causing shredded status (prior to MSGT). Bullet Wizards make decent Officers as Command is a good backup option if you're forced to move and thus can't shoot your LMG.

Overwatch Gunner

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Covering Fire	Opportunist	Ranger	Ready for Anything	Platform Stability	Sentinel
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+4 aim
Strengths	high damage output
Weaknesses	discourages use of suppression, vulnerable
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	LMG, SCOPE, AP ammo
Power Ranks	CPL and MSG for overwatch, TSG for overall damage
Description	This gunner build forgoes utility and anti-mech specialization to focus on simply dealing high damage with overwatch. You may want to build another soldier for Suppressing since this gunner will usually not have time to do so. Ranger can be dropped for Will to Survive for a bit of survivability if desired, but the LMG’s range should usually keep this soldier far enough away from danger.
Strategic Analysis	Cover with good sightlines is extremely important for this soldier. Try to position your squad around this unit so that when aliens charge in or go for flanks they are severely punished. Consider giving Officer or Psionic training so something can still be done even when a minor reposition is necessary.

Jack of All Trades

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Holo-Targeting	HEAT Ammo	Will to Survive	Rapid Fire	Danger Zone	Mayhem
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+3 will
Strengths	shreds mechanical units, good utility
Weaknesses	somewhat vulnerable
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	SAW, armor plating, SCOPE
Power Ranks	TSG for damage, MSG for AOE suppression shredding
Description	A compromise between a HEAT gunner and a Bullet Wizard, this build brings part of the magic of the Bullet Wizard to your primary robot killer. Useful from the beginning of the game with its mix of utility and damage, midgame brings in heavy robotic damage and late game it comes online again with massive utility. Consider taking Double Tap if you plan on primarily using an LMG series weapon.
Strategic Analysis	Plays similarly to a HEAT gunner, except with the option to hang back and suppress multiple targets later in the game (especially against non-mechanicals). As it doesn't take many defensive perks, needs a squad with defensive support, like Smoke Grenades and Flashbangs. Running forward for a range bonus on Rapid Fire shots should only be done when needed.

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