Must-have Soldier Perks

[trihero]

If you have a pure (or close to pure) high aim rocket technical, a Rifle is far more compelling. The SMG is only really good if you want to maximise Flame Thrower use because you've maximised your flame thrower uses.

Fire in the Hole comboes well with Javelin Rockets, because long range shots have higher aim penalties than medium range shots.

Erm, I mean, I usually do pick fire in the hole myself, just showing why it's not an autopick. I don't need to be convinced that fire in the hole is good.

Even if you had high aim and carried a rifle, there are quite many situations where you want to control/suppress an enemy rather than fire at it. Suppression offers enough compelling alternative to FIH, imo.

With a pure Rocket technical, salvo comes into its own. On any given activation, you can take the shot from wherever you happen to be and then move into cover or take another shot (with your Rifle, because you aren't carrying a rubbish SMG on your high aim technical). You don't have to worry about whether or not you've moved before you take the shot and you don't have to worry about whether you are in safe cover or not before you take the shot. Salvo (especially combined with Javelin Rockets) on timed missions makes Rocketeer much more useful. It's also not even that bad compared to the other choices on untimed missions.

Yes, I know how salvo works, I used it in vanilla to do things like blow up cover then shoot. I get it. It wasn't bad (although after I experimented, I finally always picked hail of bullets in vanilla to assassinate codexes with bluescreen rounds).

With respect to LW2's technical, usually though, you have people on your team who capitalize much better on exposed targets like a serial sniper, or just a ranger. And I dunno, tact sense makes it look pretttty bad, but that's just imo. I guess I prefer my technical to do his job (expose cover with rockets, crowd control with fire) and don't get in the way (defense) in that order. Having him do damage with a rifle is somewhere ranked below those priorities for me.

[Tuhalu]

Erm, I mean, I usually do pick fire in the hole myself, just showing why it's not an autopick. I don't need to be convinced that fire in the hole is good.

...

Yes, I know how salvo works, I used it in vanilla to do things like blow up cover then shoot. I get it. It wasn't bad (although after I experimented, I finally always picked hail of bullets in vanilla to assassinate codexes with bluescreen rounds).

With respect to LW2's technical, usually though, you have people on your team who capitalize much better on exposed targets like a serial sniper, or just a ranger. And I dunno, tact sense makes it look pretttty bad, but that's just imo. I guess I prefer my technical to do his job (expose cover with rockets, crowd control with fire) and don't get in the way (defense) in that order. Having him do damage with a rifle is somewhere ranked below those priorities for me.

I'm replying to your comments, but this is a public forum, so the reply wasn't just for your sake. Please don't take it personally. I like to include as full a reasoning as possible, so that my position is unmistakeable.

Tactical Sense is good if you think your Technical is going to get shot at consistently. A Technical that kills from BVR (beyond visual range) is not getting shot at consistently. Especially since they can take the shot and then back out of LOS/range as and when needed. You don't get shot if you can take out an enemy with overwatch fire as they move to engage either. This is much easier if your BVR rocket has significantly reduced their health.

If you do get close, it's because you feel safe using your flamer on them, so you aren't too worried about getting shot anyway.

I don't like to give up on volume of fire just because someone else in the team might be able to do it better. Sometimes you need the one extra shot to make sure every enemy dies.

[Jacke]

I just realised we're talking about Technicals in two topics at the same time.

Then there's using a Technical as a Haven Advisor, when they'll be the only soldier on Rendezvous missions and otherwise dragged in on other Haven missions. I like to gear them with a Rifle, Plating, Grenade, and Flashbang.

If a dedicated Advisor, highest likely is a LCpl or Cpl with 2Lt, so that's not too many perks. I'm not sure you'd be able to dedicate the Tech to suppression, so'd likely go with Fire in the Hole to be sure that rocket goes close to target.

Or would Roust be better for that long range flame shot? And Napalm-X to be absolutely sure to disorient and panic?

[DerAva]

I came into this topic fully expecting to see a discussion about "Failsafe" and how it should probably be a GTS unlock for the whole class (bring back GTS unlocks!), and not just a perk that you always take because the other perks on this rank are questionable at best (Why is Field Surgeon still a thing anyway?)

[Jacke]

I came into this topic fully expecting to see a discussion about "Failsafe" and how it should probably be a GTS unlock for the whole class (bring back GTS unlocks!), and not just a perk that you always take because the other perks on this rank are questionable at best (Why is Field Surgeon still a thing anyway?)

GTS unlocks and Proving Grounds upgrades!

Failsafe is very nice, especially allowing a low hack Spec go for those sweet low chance benefits without worrying about negative consequences. But there's always Primary Weapon build Specs who'd want Ever Vigilant. And the impact of early game heavy combat missions has me making my first Specialist a full Medic build to get to Field Medic and Field Surgeon hopefully before that. And Bugs are still a pain.

[Hyzersurface]

I think the must-have perks depend on everyone's play style, so are not fixed. For me, I agree with the choices on
1) Revival protocol. This really helps me a lot, not only means that I can do something to save my panic soldier, but also means that I can just ignore some enemies like sectoid and drones when I can't control all of them. Since my specialist always stays back like my sharpshooter, I don't need to worry about him/her being controlled somehow.
2) Jammer. Not just because it's useful, but the other option Fallback is simply a very bad ability. Once I used it on my concealment shinobi in order to retreat her back into cover and thus not to be revealed by the other pod. But instead of falling back defensively as the description says, she just moved forward and revealed herself, triggering the other pod which is too far away for me to kill. This single action just completely ruined that mission. After then, I just completely banned that perk from my tree and all of my officers pick jammer no matter whether they need it or not.

I partly agree with
1) Volatile mix. I take it on all my grenadiers, both explosive and support grenadiers. Since I just don't know how to use ghost grenade appropriately, and increased radius is always good.
2) Conceal. This is just the game-breaking ability. The other two choices are also decent, but I only use my shinobi for scouting. The sword shinobi can shine in some situations, but it's very situational.

Besides, I don't agree with your other choices. The reasons are already said by other people.

[justdont]

I came into this topic fully expecting to see a discussion about "Failsafe" and how it should probably be a GTS unlock for the whole class (bring back GTS unlocks!), and not just a perk that you always take because the other perks on this rank are questionable at best (Why is Field Surgeon still a thing anyway?)

Failsafe is a "too little too late" case. About the only real moment where having it gives you big difference - is when you're trying to hack full-health sectopod to your side. Here it is indeed very bad to grant a stat boost with failed hack.

Otherwise - lampposts are extremely random and their effects are extremely random even further. But even if there's a nice effect in it - if you're not undertaking full stealth mission, then it's usually possible to hack a lamppost for nice bonus at some point, without worrying much about failing (usually on the last turn before extraction or in other edge cases, e.g. when you're ready for enemies to come). If your Specialist is for running full stealth missions specifically - yes, in those cases Failsafe might work well.

And MECs/Drones usually aren't even a major problem when you're far enough to have access to Failsafe. Or if they are, by that time you have the option to shutdown them instead with 100% or nearly 100% chance, or lower their hack defense through various means.

PS: Field surgeon is a very strong skill, by the way, especially given that 0% supply raids are a major thing of any LW2 campaign. Less wound time give you a pretty nice additional safety margin against rare lucky hits.

PPS: Although I forgot that Failsafe works for skullmining/skulljacking too, and in this particular aspect, it's great, because Neural Feedback is a very annoying hack fail otherwise.

[Devon_v]

I think the strength of Failsafe is that it lets you hack for the hell of it. No consequences, lemme see if I can 28% control that bot. No? Oh well, blow it away, no stat bonuses. Maybe I can pull some Intel out of that lamp. I sure can't trigger reinforcements.

I think it's well placed against Field Surgeon which does nothing at all when you make all the right moves. Like Failsafe it's a safty net.

[Rex Dart]

Yeah, without Failsafe the risk is too high most of the time. Some kinda nice temporary bonus... vs. reinforcements or buffs that can (worst-case scenario) kill your entire squad.

[aedn]

I came into this topic fully expecting to see a discussion about "Failsafe" and how it should probably be a GTS unlock for the whole class (bring back GTS unlocks!), and not just a perk that you always take because the other perks on this rank are questionable at best (Why is Field Surgeon still a thing anyway?)

both failsafe and field surgeon are "what if" picks. neither is particularly good or bad, but both are useful at times. By far sentinel is the best perk at that level for specialists, problem is outside of starting 8 RNG rolls, people never typically have high aim specialists so its kind of a wasted perk as well.

Being able to significantly reduce downtime due to wounds from May - august maximizes uptime on your soldiers, squad cohesion, and in general is pretty powerful. Since wound timers are much less random then Vanilla Xcom, reducing wound times is more effective.

I tend to use a mix of both on my specialists, only really taking sentinel when i roll a high aim specialist for the extra overwatch potshots.

[JulianSkies]

Didn't really pick up most of the conversation but! Phantom on a holotarget sharpshooter is great, lets them keep marking with impunity and they serve as a backup scout when your shinobi inevitably fails

[trihero]

Didn't really pick up most of the conversation but! Phantom on a holotarget sharpshooter is great, lets them keep marking with impunity and they serve as a backup scout when your shinobi inevitably fails

Erm, you mean when your shinobi inevitably wins the mission for you? Or, when the shinobi reconceals and still goes on as usual?

Personally if this were a mid range team, having both a scout shinobi and a phantom sniper would make me lose a lot of firepower I would imagine. And I really really don't like that the sniper doesn't have an SMG, it makes scouting much slower and riskier, even if you can still limp on without the smg. (not saying snipers should be able to wear them, just that they can't currently)

[Jacke]

Didn't really pick up most of the conversation but! Phantom on a holotarget sharpshooter is great, lets them keep marking with impunity and they serve as a backup scout when your shinobi inevitably fails

That's breaking the First (and of course Second) Rule of XCOM Club: Don't Get Hit. Plan to have depth in your team, but don't plan to have a substitute for the mostly likely soldier NOT to get hit unless you're courting a squad wipe or it's a furball of CQC.

The problem with putting Phantom on a Sharpshooter of any build is they're always hauling around that Sniper Rifle and to use it means despite Phantom, they're breaking at least their own concealment. Even if you mod LW2 to allow them to carry a Rifle or an SMG, holotargetting is supposed to supplement shooting that big boomstick. It's why there's perks to have holotargetting as a free action or last for 2 turns, so the Sharphshooter can both holotarget and shoot. Or DFA+ Sharpshooters can blue move or reload then holotarget to help the squad when they can't shoot.

On a Sharpshooter the stealth perks, Phantom and Conceal, are about as close to must-not-have perks as any, partly due to the perks passed up to get them and partly due to them clashing with the Sharpshooter shootin'. It's not that you can't make a stealthy Sharpshooter, it's that the Sharpshooter already has usually good enough stealth, being out of range of LOS of the enemy and shooting with the Squad Sight. To put Conceal on my holotargetting Sharpshoot, I have him pack Shadowkeeper. If you want a soldier with Phantom and Conceal, bring a Shinobi.

I'd only consider it if the Sharpshooter had AWC stealth perks like both Covert and Ghostwalker, but it's still not going to be as good as a Shinobi for the sneaking and I still think I'd pass on Phantom and Conceal in the build. I'd just take advantage of Covert and Ghostwalker to help a Sharpshooter during squad concealment to get to a better sniper's nest. At most maybe Conceal with them for the ultimate in sneaky-sneaky repositioning or for pairing with Shadowstrike.

And I already take a Sharpshooter without Phantom or Conceal along for the ride with a Shinobi and perhaps more in those non-concealed Extract VIP from City missions. He tags along with the VIP and sometimes gets the chance to snipe at Squad Sight ranges. I've heard they get tougher later in the campaign, so that might not be for much longer.

[JulianSkies]

Didn't really pick up most of the conversation but! Phantom on a holotarget sharpshooter is great, lets them keep marking with impunity and they serve as a backup scout when your shinobi inevitably fails

That's breaking the First (and of course Second) Rule of XCOM Club: Don't Get Hit. Plan to have depth in your team, but don't plan to have a substitute for the mostly likely soldier NOT to get hit unless you're courting a squad wipe or it's a furball of CQC.

The problem with that line of thought is that when you invariably break those rules, because at some point it's going to happen, you won't have a way to deal with it. The thing about Phantom on a holotarget-based sharpshooter is that they are often not going to actually use that large gun they got, their holotarget is going to be a lot more useful (+20 hit/crit and +2 to the entire squad), specially if they're deployed like actual snipers (shooter and spotter), they're immense force multipliers you just need to have a sufficiently good force to make it worth it.
The thing is, they're already not using the gun, so might as well pick up Phantom since it contends with Deadshot (meh if not going for a crit build) and Long Watch (which not good without Death From Above).
If you're going for full spotter build, it's pretty damn useful to have Phantom since you pick basically no other perk to support your shooting. If you're not, then yeah not a good pick.

[Jacke]

The thing about Phantom on a holotarget-based sharpshooter is that they are often not going to actually use that large gun they got, their holotarget is going to be a lot more useful (+20 hit/crit and +2 to the entire squad), specially if they're deployed like actual snipers (shooter and spotter), they're immense force multipliers you just need to have a sufficiently good force to make it worth it.

The thing is, they're already not using the gun, so might as well pick up Phantom since it contends with Deadshot (meh if not going for a crit build) and Long Watch (which not good without Death From Above).

If you're going for full spotter build, it's pretty damn useful to have Phantom since you pick basically no other perk to support your shooting. If you're not, then yeah not a good pick.

Well, you've convinced me. I'll try out Phantom on my holotarget Sharpshooter. Still planning to have Vital Point Targeting rather than Conceal to get the holotarget damage bonus. He does have Covert so once I get the AWC going, it should be interesting.

Though he also has Steady Hands and Bring 'Em On. Deadshot would help improve crit chance, but Phantom opens up new possibilities.

[gimrah]

I think it says a lot for the current balance of the trees that I disagree with most of OP's choices AND disagree with many of the replies disagreeing with him. Maybe not absolutely perfect yet but it's pretty good.

[Tirak]

Don't ammo affects apply with Graze? Wouldn't that mean that taking Grazing Shot on a Area Suppression Gunner with Incendiary rounds be great crowd control? And even if it doesn't, it's a reliable way to chip damage enemy gunners out of suppressing.

[Jadiel]

I really agree that class balance is actually really good. The more I play, the more I appreciate how well designed the current trees are, and the less I feel they should be changed. There are still a couple of perks which I feel are in the wrong place (Conceal should definitely be MSGT on a Shinobi, and I'm not sure it should be on the Sharpshooter tree at all especially on the Nest Sniper side), but a lot of thought has clearly gone into the current trees, and I think they're very solid.