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does ninja serial reaqire you to use smgs? or can you do it with shotgun rifles or bowcaster?

SMGs are per definition in the "rifle" weapon category and therefore can't be treated differently than ARs or the Bowcaster. If you are talking about the Shinobi Brigadier skill, it's just a regular Serial, applying to kills with your primary weapon.

Skill's description changes depending on your current weapon. If your shinobi carries SMG, the text will say "kills made with SMG", if shotgun - the text will change. Same happens with melee weapons ("sword" vs "axe").

Yeah you can use it with any primary weapon. I've experimented with a serial shotgun build and it's pretty fun but I don't think it's quite as good as axe-reaper with a smg for mobility. Mileage may vary though.

interesting this opens up possibilities

Serial with Shotgun works wonders. In original Xcom 2 I had an Assault with Serial and it was quite remarkable, though it does not trigger against flying targets sadly.

8wayz wrote:Serial with Shotgun works wonders. In original Xcom 2 I had an Assault with Serial and it was quite remarkable, though it does not trigger against flying targets sadly.

In LW2 it triggers on any kill, including against flying targets, does not require flanking/uncovered.

However it's also mutually exclusive with run and gun, which it wasn't in vanilla. It has to be activated before doing any costly actions and will grey out run and gun, likewise if you activate run and gun first it will grey out serial.

The best combination perk for it is implacable, which Shinobi have in their tree and others need AWC luck for, and some classes are barred from because it's mutually exclusive with a few other perks, like hit and run which assaults get, and death from above that sharpshooters get.

With implacable and serial you can: activate serial > move > kill > move > keep killing. Implacable is once per turn though, so you can't run around half the map like you can on a good reaper streak.

Silliest is if you get this combo on a grenadier/technical. Serial > salvo grenade / rocket > implacable move > shoot enemies whose cover you just destroyed.