Shinobi (LW2)
The Shinobi serves as our primary scouting unit, using a sword to deliver stealthy close-range attacks.
Overview
- Primary
Rifle, SMG or Shotgun
- Secondary
Sword
Shinobis provide excellent flank security and forward recon, screening out accidental, unwanted activations and ensuring the only enemies who spot you are the ones you’re ready to kill. Their stealth means they’re also capable of taking on some mission types entirely on their own, though the all-or-nothing stakes of dodging patrols or dying alone makes solo sneaking an approach not for the faint of heart. The Shinobi tree is littered with tempting combat-focused perks that sound excitingly effective, so it’s important we understand the real strength of the class—Concealment is absurd. Other classes can compete with and surpass the damage or defensive capability of even the most combat-oriented Shinobi, but none can compare to their mastery over the art of invisible.
Branches
The Shinobi is closest to the vanilla Ranger class. They are specialists in stealth and short range combat.
- Left branch
"Saboteur" type Shinobi are pure infiltrators, skirting past even the most watchful eyes on the strategic and tactical layers of the game to ensure early warning on enemy forces before your main force encounters them, while losing out on potential squad damage each turn you choose not to break concealment.
- Right branch
"Kenshi" type Shinobi assassinate the enemy with their bladecraft, pure, simply, and lethally, and can slay even the most terrifying of enemies in a single strike if an ally has disoriented or stunned them, though great care must be taken to avoid brazen charges that provoke other enemy forces or leave the shinobi exposed to fatal retaliation.
- Center branch
The center-branch perks offer a variety of defensive and primary weapon perks, allowing a Shinobi to be built as a covert-capable light rifleman in battle (or a more defensible blade assassin). Remember that while the SMG is the weapon of choice for most Shinobi, you may find that Assault Rifles and Shotguns are better choices for certain direct-combat builds!
Abilities (As of LW2 Version 1.3)
Mouse-over 
for more information.
| Rank | Ability | ||
 Squaddie |
  When the squad is revealed, this soldier remains concealed. |
 Attack any enemy within movement range with your sword. Deals +1 damage for every 4 tiles between your starting position and the target. |
 Attack an adjacent target with your sword. Uses one action. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saboteur | Kenshi | ||
 Lance Corporal |
 Activate this ability to reduce enemy detection range against you by 25% for the rest of your turn as well as the following turn. Four-turn cooldown. |
 Gain +10 aim and +10 defense when 7 or more tiles distance from any ally. |
 All sword attacks deal +1 extra damage and have +10 Aim. |
 Corporal |
 This soldier does not trigger overwatch or reaction fire. |
 Confers +10 aim and +10 critical chance against targets at half or less of their original hit points. |
 You may parry melee attacks and counterattack with your combat knife. Also gain +10 dodge. |
 Sergeant |
 Enemies have 25% smaller detection range against you. |
 Gain 3 dodge per enemy you can see, up to a maximum of +30. |
Template:Cuthroat(LW2) |
 Staff Sergeant |
 While concealed, gain +50 bonus aim and +50 bonus critical hit chance when attacking enemies. |
 Makes partial cover count as full. |
 Free sword attacks on any enemies that enter or attack from melee range. |
 Tech Sergeant |
 Ranged attacks against flanked enemies deal +2 damage. |
 Start each mission with 100 bonus dodge. The bonus is removed after you take damage for the first time. |
 A devastating chain melee attack where the first melee attack cannot miss. Each melee kill in Reaper mode grants an extra action, but further melee attacks have reduced damage. |
 Gunnery Sergeant |
 This soldier has significantly reduced infiltration times while on missions. |
 Once per turn, gain an additional action after taking a standard shot at a flanked or exposed target with your primary weapon. |
 If you hit with a melee attack during your turn, gain a bonus move. |
 Master Sergeant |
 Immediately enter concealment once per mission. |
 Fire twice in a row at an enemy. Each shot suffers an Aim penalty of -15. There is no cooldown on this ability. |
 Sword attacks against unconscious, stunned, panicked or disoriented enemies have +50 aim, +50 crit and deal two points of additional base damage. |
Stat Progression
| Rank | Per Level | Total | ||||||||||
 Health |
 Offense |
 Will |
 Mobility |
 Dodge |
 Hacking |
Health |
Offense |
Will |
Mobility |
Dodge |
Hacking | |
Squaddie |
0 | 2 | 8 - 16 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 8 - 16 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Lance Corporal |
0 | 2 | 8 - 16 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 16 - 32 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
Corporal |
1 | 2 | 4 - 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 20 - 44 | 0 | 5 | 15 |
Sergeant |
0 | 2 | 4 - 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 24 - 56 | 0 | 6 | 20 |
Staff Sergeant |
0 | 2 | 4 - 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 28 - 68 | 0 | 7 | 25 |
Tech Sergeant |
0 | 2 | 4 - 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 32 - 80 | 0 | 8 | 30 |
Gunnery Sergeant |
1 | 2 | 4 - 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 36 - 92 | 0 | 9 | 35 |
Master Sergeant |
0 | 2 | 4 - 12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 40 - 104 | 0 | 10 | 40 |
This class also gains 1 point of strength, though it's not clear what that does.
Perk Details
- Ghostwalker reduces a solder's infiltration cost by 2%.
- Tradecraft reduces a soldier's infiltration cost by 25%. The extra infiltration time you’ll save allows you to bring another, more damage-focused class to pick up the Shinobi’s slack while they focus on sneaky recon.
- Covert, though not mentioned in the description, reduces a soldier's infiltration cost by 5%.
- Fleche calculates damage based on where the soldier started their turn, this can lead to big hits using an officer with command. If the shinobi has to run through fire on their Fleche path, they will not finish the attack before starting to burn (even though the animation plays out).
- Bladestorm does not trigger on enemies with Shadowstep.
- Bladestorm can trigger a Muton's Counter Attack.
- Shadowstep does not protect the Shinobi from a Muton's Counter Attack.
- Lone Wolf does not trigger while Aid Protocol is applied to the Shinobi because the Gremlin is within 7 tiles distance. (this bug will be fixed in 1.3)
See Also
| XCOM Units in Long War 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Starting |
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| Unlockable |
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