Gunner (Long War)

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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.

Secondary Weapon: None.

Class-Limited items: Smartgun Kit, Armor Piercing Ammo, Alloy Bipod.

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 others bonuses.
Lance Corporal	Covering Fire Allows certain reaction shots to trigger on many enemy actions, not just movement (excludes reload, overwatch, and hunker down actions).	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.	Holo-Targeting Shooting at or suppressing enemies confers +10 Aim to allies' attacks on those enemies until end of turn.
	Provides +3 Aim.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Corporal	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.	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.	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.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	Provides +2 Aim, +2 Will.
Sergeant	Tactical Sense Confers +5 Defense per enemy in sight (max +20).	Executioner Confers +10 aim and +10 critical chance against targets at or below 50% health.	Danger Zone Increases area of effect of Suppression, rockets, grenade launchers and proximity mine launchers.
	Provides +2 Aim.	Provides +2 Will.	No other bonuses.
Tech Sergeant	Ready for Anything If the unit fires without taking any other costly action, it automatically enters overwatch at the end of its turn.	Rapid Fire Take two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a -15 penalty to Aim.	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.)
	Provides +3 Aim, +2 Will.	No other bonuses.	No others bonuses.
Gunnery Sergeant	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.	Extra Conditioning Confers 1-4 bonus health based on which type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.	Will to Survive Gain 1.5 Damage Reduction (DR) if in cover and not flanked.
	No other bonuses.	Provides +2 Aim, +2 Will, +1 Mobility.	Provides +3 Will.
Master Sergeant	Resilience Confers immunity to critical hits.	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.
	Provides +2 Will.	Provides +3 Aim, +2 Will.	No other bonuses.

Stat Progression

Rank	/level	total	/level	total	/level*	total*
Specialist	1	1	3	3	5(6)	5(-6)
Lance Corporal	0	1	3	6	5(6)	10(-12)
Corporal	1	2	3	9	3(4)	13(-16)
Sergeant	0	2	3	12	3(4)	16(-20)
Tech Sergeant	1	3	3	15	3(4)	19(-24)
Gunnery Sergeant	0	3	3	18	3(4)	22(-28)
Master Sergeant	1	4	3	21	3(4)	25(-32)

• Note that even without Hidden Potential switched on there is a Random (1) Will per level. This is properly shown in brackets. Psionic soldiers receive additional random will as well.

Tactical Advice

The gunner tends to fall into one of two main roles in Long War, depending on your playstyle:

Role 1: Medium Range Offense / Offensive Support (Most common Role)

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. 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, have extended range, and suffer no aim penalty and can crit when taking their reaction shot at a target that's being suppressed. 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.

Role 2: Medium Range Defensive Position / Offensive Support (Less common)

Perk set: Covering Fire, Shredder Ammo, Danger Zone, Ready For Anything, Extra Conditioning, Sentinel

This build was created for the mid-game. Equip a Smartgun Kit (eliminates Overwatch Aim Penalty) and a Squadsight Machine Gun. However it's still decent at the early game as soon as you get to Ready for Anything, but lacking a Smartgun Kit may cause you to miss a lot of shots.

Now the Covering Fire / Sentinel / Smartgun combo will create a unit adept at hitting units that close into it's field of fire with massive amounts of overwatch damage. Note this is more useful on maps with little cover (or cover you have destroyed) to force enemies to close with you over a no mans land of open space. Combine this with a scope and elevation bonus and you can expect to hit most shots.

This then leads into a unit which, thanks to the HMG, can fire at targets in squadsight range (Normal + 5 tiles). Since this is always going to be a fire without moving due to HMG restrictions, Ready For Anything will trigger on every normal shot you take, allowing you to kill an approaching enemy then re-establish the Covering/Sentinel/Smartgun overwatch. This is especially useful for picking off Lightning Reflexes enemies who would otherwise neutralise your defensive position.

Finally, you can use the increased range Danger Zone Shredder Suppression to offer support to offensive moves.

Specialising in Overwatch, it's effectiveness drops off in the Late game when more specialised support set-ups become more helpful and more and more enemies carry counter-overwatch perks such as Lightning Reflexes.

Sample Builds

Machine Gunner - Damage build on early Gunners with high base aim stats, deploy with squads expecting to advance slowly, on most missions, particularly those with mechanized forces expected.)

At Lance Cpl: Covering Fire for the bonus aim and improved overwatch efficiency.

At Corporal: HEAT Ammo if you don't have enough anti-mech solutions yet. OR Ranger if you'd like the bonus Aim and Will.

At Sergeant: Executioner for the bonus stats and circumstantial aim/crit bonus.

At Tech Sgt: Double Tap to gain an aimable bonus shot every two turns (especially useful if you're using HEAT Ammo!). OR Ready for Anything for maximum volume of fire efficiency (up to 3 shots per turn with Sentinel, but you don't choose who eats overwatch fire).

At Gun Sgt: Resilience for the bonus Aim and Will; your Gunner should have extremely high aim at this point.

At Master Sgt: Sentinel for the bonus shots on overwatch; LMG carriers usually wear medium armor to restore mobility and aren't generally close to the front, so Extra Conditioning isn't as helpful.

Equip completed build with: LMG-class weapons for static raw damage output and larger magazine, medium/light armor for mobility, Alloy Bipod for bonus aim on first shot (also doesn't subtract mobility), Smartgun kit for accurate overwatch fire, third item situational if available.

Machine Gunners make excellent psi candidates; build offensive psi to allow them to assault enemies even after moving. No core gene mods.

Juggernaut - Gene-modded CQB-Flank Tank build on Gunners with high base mobility and HP stats, deploy with squads expecting high-aim enemies, on missions with time-sensitive objectives (meld, bomb nodes, turn limits, etc.), particularly before advanced MECs are available.

At Lance Cpl: Covering Fire for the bonus aim and improved overwatch efficiency.

At Corporal: HEAT Ammo if you don't have enough anti-mech solutions yet. OR Ranger if you'd like the bonus Aim and Will.

At Sergeant: Tactical Sense for improved survivability; this gunner will draw a lot of fire if used properly, and a flying gunner with tac sense packs an unflankable +60 Defense (+20 TS, +30 Flying, +10 Archangel Armor).

At Tech Sgt: Rapid Fire for double damage potential on low-evasion high-threat targets. Juggernauts will move most turns, making RFA and Double Tap less useful.

At Gun Sgt: Will to Survive for improved damage reduction when actually injured. Resilience is also an acceptable choice if you find yourself flanked often.

At Master Sgt: Extra Conditioning for bonus HP, mobility, aim, and will.

Equip completed build with: SAW-class weapons for close-in maneuver warfare, heavy armor for tanking (Archangel is ideal, Titan is good), Chitin Plating OR Reinforced Armor for DR against melee/general DR, third item situational if available. (As of Beta 14, Walker Servos is a shoe-in if available, and will allow Chitin Plating and Reinforced Armor to be used together)

Gene mod Iron Skin (Damage Reduction), Smart Macrophages (Healing more efficient), Secondary Heart (Minimum strategic impact if knocked out mid-battle), and Smart Bone Marrow (Faster Wound Recovery). No core psi talents.

Support Gunner - Support build on extra Gunners with low base aim stats, deploy with squads otherwise packing plenty of firepower on missions where large groups of cover-using foes are expected.)

At Lance Cpl: Flush for isolating and killing squad leaders. OR Holo-Targeting to improve anti-group effectiveness.

At Corporal: Shredder Ammo as core perk, allowing other allies to push through increased damage on targets damaged by the gunner. (The debuff lasts several turns, so don't hesitate to target different groups of enemies to spread the debuff around.)

At Sergeant: Danger Zone as core perk, allowing suppression and debuffs to be applied against multiple clustered targets (spreads to 2 tiles from primary target).

At Tech Sgt: Rapid Fire to grant increased effectiveness against single low-evasion high-value targets, such as Mechtoids and Sectopods; if both shots hit, the second shot deals increased damage thanks to the Shred effect applied by the first.

At Gun Sgt: Resilience for bonus stats and crit immunity; mid-game and late-game single threats are dangerous enough to periodically warrant a direct attack from this soldier.

At Master Sgt: Mayhem as core perk, causing suppression to deal damage. Any enemy this gunner suppresses is additionally holo-targeted and, barring high DR, also lightly damaged, which in turn shreds their defenses.

Equip completed build with: SAW-class weapons for mobility, Heavy armor for safety, Armor Piercing Ammo to confirm mayhem damage through DR, remaining items situational.

No core gene mods or psi abilities.

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