Medic (Long War)

    Medic

The Medic is similar to a Field Medic specialized Support in vanilla XCOM. Their signature ability is Field Medic, which grants one free use of a medikit per mission and allows additional Medikit items to be used two times per battle instead of one.

Primary Weapon: Carbines, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, SMGs, Shotguns.

Secondary Weapon: Pistols, Machine pistols, Sawed-off shotgun.

Class-Limited items: None.

Abilities

Rank	Ability
Specialist	Field Medic For soldiers, grants one free use of a medikit per mission and allows additional medikit items to be used two times per battle instead of one. Also allows Restorative Mist items to be used three times per battle instead of once.
	+1 Mobility.
Lance Corporal	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.	Steadfast Never panic as a result of getting wounded, allies panicking, allies getting wounded or killed, or the intimidation ability.	Field Surgeon Reduces (or, for 1 HP flesh wounds, eliminates) Wounded timer on soldiers who sustained HP damage but were not Critically Wounded. Does not affect wound sustained by sending fatigued soldier on a mission.
	No other bonuses.	+5 Will.	No other bonuses.
Corporal	Rapid Reaction If on Overwatch, confers a bonus reaction shot (to a maximum three shots total) for every reaction shot that is a hit.	Smoke & Mirrors Allows one additional use of all support grenades during each mission. It also increases charges from Smoke Grenade and Battlescanner perks by 1.	Revive Allows Medikits to revive critically wounded Soldiers at 33% of maximum health instead of just stabilizing them.
	+3 Aim.	No other bonuses.	+2 Will.
Sergeant	Ready for Anything If the unit fires without taking any other costly action, it automatically enters overwatch at the end of its turn.	Smoke Grenade Deploy a smoke grenade once per mission. The smoke confers +20 defense and prevents flanking for all enemy and allied units. Lasts 2 turns. Taking the perk on level up also allows an additional action after deploying a smoke grenade.	Paramedic Once per turn, this unit may use a medikit without spending an action.
	+3 Will.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Tech Sergeant	Opportunist Eliminates the Aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows reaction shots to cause critical hits.	Dense Smoke Increases the defense bonus from smoke grenade from 20 to 40.	Combat Drugs Smoke grenades confer +20 Will and +20% critical chance in addition to the original 20 defense. The area of effect is also increased by 25%.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Gunnery Sergeant	Lock N' Load Primary weapons receive one additional shot or burst before a reload is required, and you may reload your primary weapon as the first action of your turn without ending the turn.	Bombard Throw or launch grenades over exceptionally long distances (+50%).	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.	Packmaster Limited-use small items (including those from perks) receive 1 additional use.	Savior Provides 2 item-free medikit charges and +4 healing bonus to medikits. Restorative Mist units restore three more health per use.
	+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	6(-7)	1	3	6(-7)
Lance Corporal	0	2	6(-7)	1	5	12(-14)
Corporal	0	3	4(-5)	1	8	16(-19)
Sergeant	1	2	3(-4)	2	10	19(-23)
Tech Sergeant	0	3	3(-4)	2	13	22(-27)
Gunnery Sergeant	0	2	3(-4)	2	15	25(-31)
Master Sergeant	1	3	3(-4)	3	18	28(-35)

• 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

Medics are a diverse class focused on healing and supporting their squad. Each medic lends a hand in a different way but all of them are good healers and have ways to deny the enemy good shots on your team. How you build your Medic is, of course, up to you but the perk choices they have at each rank are generally divided into three archetypes: Field Medic for healing the squad, Tactical Support who providing cover and defense or the Battle Medic providing fire support through Overwatch. If you choose to be a purist in a role or a jack of all trades it's up to you.

Lance Corporal

Suppression is probably the go to pickup at this rank, limiting the enemies ability to do much of use and giving the medic a way to contribute in most firefights without consumables. Steadfast has niche use to prevent panic chains (it always automatically triggers and eats one of the potential panic chain checks), and it also provides a hefty will boost specifically for officers and psionic medics. If you are debating whether to take Field Surgeon, don't. The perk has no effect whatsoever in an actual battle, and its effect on the strategic layer of the game is minimal at best and equally nonexistent at worst.

Corporal

Rapid Reaction is core on Overwatch medics, but it will take until Opportunist at TSgt for you to really enjoy its effects; for now your aim will be garbage so it's a borderline wasted perk for a couple levels. Smoke & Mirrors helps for not just support smoke grenades but also offensive support grenades like Chem, Flashbangs, etc. Having more of them to throw lets you use them more liberally, which improves the viability of your build generally. Revive is one of those perks that inevitably seems to draw the ire of Murphy's Law: when you don't have it, you need it, and conversely when you have it you never need it. Realistically speaking you can complete the vast majority of missions while down a soldier, and if you're regularly finding yourself in situations where you need to revive downed soldiers you can fix that by playing better.

Sergeant

The go-to perk choice here is Smoke Grenade, which not only gives you a free item-less Smoke Grenade but also lets you throw a Smoke Grenade as your first action for 1 AP. Realistically speaking you probably won't be able to do much else right now as your second action except Suppress (at least until you get Bombard) or reload, but that's still a solid turn and the action economy later once you can start chucking Chem Grenades or Flashbangs deep into enemy territory is unreal. Ready for Anything is pretty neat but not required on Overwatch builds, and the bonus will is also nice for officer and psionic builds, but it can be annoying to use as you can't move. Paramedic is a solid alternative to RfA for Overwatch builds, as you can move to an ally, heal them up, and still Overwatch at the end... though frankly you won't be healing mid-fight particularly often.

Tech Sergeant

For Overwatch builds, Opportunist is the only choice, eliminating the aim penalty your Overwatch shots have been laboring under and unlocking the potential of the Rapid Reaction perk you took at Corporal. For support grenade builds, you'll have to make a hard choice between Dense Smoke and Combat Drugs. Frankly the +40 Defense of Dense Smoke is obscene and renders any soldier in cover within its area of effect completely unhittable. But Suppression and Bombard support grenades also frequently come with aim debuffs, and can render the additional defense of Dense Smoke unnecessary. Combat Drugs has a wider AoE and provide an incredibly large Will and Critical Chance bonus in addition to a wider area of effect, improving the offensive and defensive power of a broad swathe of your troops. But

Gunnery Sergeant

Bombard is mandatory on a support grenadier as it allows you to make much better use of offensive support grenades like Chem Grenades, which are a core part of your kit; you can't really justify a slot in the late game for a soldier that can only throw Smoke Grenades and Suppress. Fire Support builds will probably want Lock n'Load here as they can suffer some pretty obscene ammo costs between Suppression, Rapid Reaction and/or Ready for Anything. Sprinter is kind of the ugly duckling here; a very good perk overall for many different classes but hard to really justify for medics outside of very specific hybrid builds that don't truly specialize in either grenades or shooting.

Master Sergeant

If you are debating whether Savior or Packmaster is the most worthwhile final choice consider the following:

• Basic medic gets 1 free use without a Medikit item (3 total HP of healing or 6 with the Improved Medikits foundry project), and 3 with the item (for a total of 18 HP of healing).
• With Packmaster, they'll get 2 itemless uses (12 HP of healing), 5 with an equipped Medikit (30 HP of healing)-- as well as additional uses of any other consumables (grenades, Battle Scanners, Arc Throwers, ect)
• With Savior, 3 itemless uses (30 HP of healing), and 5 when carrying a Medikit (50 HP of healing).

In general, support grenade medics that picked up Smoke Grenade, Bombard and Smoke & Mirrors should synergize further with Packmaster. Extra Conditioning is very nice on Overwatch medics, what with the all-round boosts to your stats, but you can justify Savior as well for a huge infusion of item-free healing potential (especially if you picked up Paramedic).

Sample Builds

Field Medic

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Steadfast or Suppression	Revive	Paramedic	Opportunist	Sprinter	Savior
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+7 will
Strengths	large healing potential, decent overwatch support
Weaknesses	vulnerable to concentrated fire, limited engagement potential outside of overwatch
Preferred battle sites	All, especially long missions that will require healing
Most common Loadout	Medkit(s), other support items
Power Ranks	SGT and MSG for healing output, TSG for overwatch utility
Description	These medics are support units and are geared towards defensive roles. Their titular Field Medic perk makes them invaluable during longer operations, such as the Alien Base Assault or Battleship UFO missions. Steadfast’s will boost makes medics with this perk very good candidates for psionic or officer training, both of which will also increase their support utility. However, Steadfast can be dropped for Suppression to take a more active role in the fight. And if Suppression is taken, consider dropping Sprinter for Lock N Load to keep ammo flowing. Opportunist is taken because no other perk synergizes with smoke grenades, but a smoke grenade upgrade can be taken if you don’t want to overwatch and plan on bringing at least one smoke grenade every mission.
Strategic Analysis	Try to keep the squad topped off on health for the duration of the mission, though minor chip damage can be ignored to save charges for more serious wounds especially on longer missions. Overwatch whenever possible for the lockdown utility against units that respect it as well as the potential for landing very good, high damage shots on any enemies that challenge it by moving. Medics lack any real tank perks but with Paramedic they can immediately heal themselves without spending any action points if they get hit, so give them heavier armor to take advantage of their minor damage absorption capabilities and since they won’t be going for any aggressive flanks.

Tactical Support

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Steadfast or Suppression	Smoke & Mirrors	Smoke Grenade	Combat Drugs	Bombard	Packmaster
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+5 will
Strengths	support grenade master
Weaknesses	almost no offensive potential, grenade supply is limited
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	Medkit, Flashbang, Battle Scanner, Chem Grenade, Psi Grenade, Mimic Beacon, and/or Shadow Device
Power Ranks	SGT for support options, GSG for range, MSG for longevity
Description	Medics are more than just healing units, and this build focuses on support items. Smoke and Mirrors, Dense Smoke and Packmaster make them great at creating cover for advancing friendly troops and keeping them from getting hit, with Combat Drugs available to put an offensive twist on smoke grenades if desired. Since Smoke Grenades can be used as a free action thanks to the perk, you can also sling some Psi abilities or Suppression too. Bombard also makes offensive support grenades like Chem, Flashbang, and Mimic Beacon better, as well as allowing decent use of Battlescanners. This medic tries to prevent allies from taking damage in the first place rather than heal off damage inflicted, so medikits are less preferred at held items but can still be taken on longer missions. Can feel mediocre in early/mid game until GSG/MSG ranks and psi/officer abilities truly enable the build.
Strategic Analysis	Due to their defensive support perks it is advised to them keep away from the front lines, working best when they can lay down covering smoke or debuff enemies. Offensive support grenades like Chems and Flashbangs can be difficult to use safely until Bombard, so consider stocking up on Smoke and Medikits until then. When advancing forward out of cover, make sure the medic is the last to move so that if needed a smoke grenade can be deployed to save anyone left standing out in the open. Psionic or officer training is highly recommended due to high base will and endless desire for more support options.

Battle Medic

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Suppression	Rapid Reaction	Ready for Anything	Opportunist	Lock N' Load	Extra Conditioning or Savior
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+7 will, +7 aim, +1 mobility
Strengths	good overwatch utility/dmg
Weaknesses	lacks support of other medic builds
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	SCOPE, Medkit, and/or Hi Cap Mags
Power Ranks	LCL for utility, TSG for dmg, GSG for ammo supply
Description	These Medics focus on using accurate guns to punish enemies for anything they try. With Rapid Reaction, Ready for Anything, and Opportunist, they are death machines capable of attacking up to four times in a single turn at high accuracy. Suppression is useful for giving a utility option to an otherwise fully aggressive build, but will go through ammo very quickly until Lock N Load is picked up. To sacrifice some combat potential for more healing support, Extra Conditioning can be dropped for Savior. This build unfortunately does not become powerful until TSGT, when medics can pick up Opportunist.
Strategic Analysis	Early on, simply suppressing enemies will be the most consistent means of using this soldier (consider bringing Hi Cap Mags to suppress twice before needing to reload). Once Opportunist enables Rapid Reaction to be consistent and Lock N'Load allows an effectively unlimited supply of ammunition, however, you can dish out decent damage each turn. Lack of Covering Fire means Flush support is greatly recommended to prevent being too passive. This makes a decent Officer candidate as well; while medics don't exactly push out massive damage, they often feel obligatory to field thanks to all the free healing off Field Medic and Savior, so you might as well share some of your above-average will and get an extra active ability (Command) to use in emergencies.

Guardian

Perk progression
-	Lance Corporal	Corporal	Sergeant	Tech Sergeant	Gunnery Sergeant	Master Sergeant
Perk by tier	Suppression	Rapid Reaction	Paramedic	Opportunist	Sprinter	Savior
Build Overview
Stat Boosts	+4 will, +7 aim, +1 mobility
Strengths	good overwatch utility/dmg, good healing potential
Weaknesses	lacks any smoke grenade perks
Preferred battle sites	All
Most common Loadout	SCOPE, Medkit, Chem Grenade, Smoke Grenade, Shadow Device, and/or Hi Cap Mags
Power Ranks	SGT for healing support, TSG for overwatch, MSG for healing ability
Description	These Medics are a combination of a traditional field medic and an overwatch build. With Rapid Reaction and Opportunist, movement is extremely dangerous for the enemy, more or less just as effective for that purpose as you would expect, bar lacking Lock N'Load, meaning reloading will be a very common annoyance. But with Paramedic and Sprinter, this allows you to rush up to a wounded soldier, heal them for free, and then overwatch to heavily discourage any aliens from advancing closer to your patient. Suppression can be chosen over Steadfast for the possibility of instead suppressing the enemy who shot at your patient to begin with.
Strategic Analysis	Simply put, throwing Paramedic into your soldiers' ability tree opens up a whole bunch of new action-combinations to protect wounded soldiers, from run-heal-suppress to run-heal-overwatch to run-heal-ghost/chem if you carry the appropriate grenade, and so on. Just about as useful as a full-speced medic (bar revive, of course) and with plenty of utility outside of healing you wouldn't otherwise get.

Field Surgeon

Field Surgeon removes 1 HP worth of damage taken in combat at the end of the mission for every wounded soldier before the fatigue/hospital calculation takes place. Wound times are calculated according to the soldier's lowest HP at any point in the mission; deeper wounds lead (linearly) to larger Wounded timers (before Fatigue time is added on). Thus, with Field Surgeon, a soldier who only sustained 1 HP of health (not armor) damage will not require any hospital time. For soldiers with "deeper wounds" (more than 1 HP lost), Field Surgeon will calculate Wounded timers as if the maximum damage sustained on the mission were 1 less.

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