Scout (Long War)

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Scout

The Scout is a unique class that doesn't have an equivalent in vanilla XCOM, combining elements of Assaults and Snap Shot Snipers. The Scout's signature ability is Lightning Reflexes, greatly reducing the chance to be hit by overwatch fire while moving. Scouts are the only class other than Snipers that can use marksman rifles, but they cannot use sniper rifles.

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

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

Class-Limited items: Marksman Scope, Chameleon Suit

Abilities

Rank	Ability
Specialist	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.
Lance Corporal	Holo-Targeting Shooting at or suppressing enemies confers +10 Aim to allies' attacks on those enemies until end of turn.	Damn Good Ground Confers +10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation, in addition to the usual elevation bonuses.	Lone Wolf +10 Aim and Critical Chance if not within 7 tiles of an allied unit.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Corporal	Low Profile Makes partial cover grant the defense bonus of full cover.	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.	Deadeye Confers +15 aim against flying targets.
	No other bonuses.	+1 Aim.	+1 Aim.
Sergeant	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.	Aggression Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%). Aliens visible via squadsight are not counted for bonus.	Battle Scanner Scanning device that, when thrown, creates a new source of vision for 2 turns. Grants 2 uses. Increases throw range for battle scanners by 70% (does not stack with other perks).
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Tech Sergeant	Concealment When the soldier moves to high cover, enemies without special capabilities will not target the soldier (but CAN sense him/her). Does not work if any enemies have line of sight to the soldier's starting position. Leaving cover, being flanked, firing, hacking arrays, and capturing meld will break this concealment. Low Profile units will not gain this bonus by occupying low cover. Firing from concealment grants +30% crit.	In the Zone Killing a flanked or uncovered target does not cost an action. Confers a -1 base damage and -10% critical hit chance penalty for each successive In The Zone kill.	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.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
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.	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.
	+4 Aim, +4 Will, +1 Mobility.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.

Stat Progression

Rank	/level	total	/level	total	/level*	total*
Specialist	0	0	4	4	5(6)	5(-6)
Lance Corporal	0	0	3	7	5(6)	10(-12)
Corporal	1	1	4	11	3(4)	13(-16)
Sergeant	0	1	3	14	3(4)	16(-20)
Tech Sergeant	0	1	4	18	3(4)	19(-24)
Gunnery Sergeant	0	1	3	21	3(4)	22(-28)
Master Sergeant	1	2	4	25	2(3)	24(-31)

• 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: Scout / Mobile Offense

In Long War, battlefield awareness is very important and the rebalanced ranges for weapons mean that line of sight and situational awareness is more important than ever. This is where the Scout comes into play.

Scouts have a great deal of flexibility in how they can be built. Here are some roles they can fill:

• Point-man

A major role of the Scout class is leading the charge, drawing out overwatch fire with their Lightning Reflexes so that the rest of the squad can advance. A Scout specialized in this role will be built defensively, with perks such as Tactical Sense, and Resilience. Resilience is particularly important, since some aliens have Opportunist, and even with Lightning Reflexes eventually your scout will be hit by overwatch fire. They will typically be armed with SMGs for mobility, though given they're usually at the front, shotguns are also good in this role.

• Close range combatant

Scouts are mobile enough to act a lot like an Assault, getting flanks at close range even without Run & Gun. Key perks to getting the most out of Scouts in this role are In The Zone or Hit & Run, allowing a Scout to move up to an enemy, kill them (or even several of them with ITZ) with flanking shots and then move back to safety. Shotguns are the weapon of choice for this role.

• Mid-to-long range flanker

A flanker Scout will use their mobility to move around the side and get a flanking shot at medium-to-long range, either with a Marksman Rifle or Assault Rifle. Squadsight is available from Marksman Scopes to allow the Scout to use the full range of marksman rifles to make this easier.

Any of these roles can also benefit from the Scout's support perks such as Holo-Targeting, Battle Scanner and Flush.

Incidentally, Scouts also make for great covert operatives, as their wide variety of perks that increase mobility and survivability help immensely during Covert Operations against Exalt cells.

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