Ideas for Reworking the Perk Trees

[Doctor Sticks]

So I wanted to post this thread for people to pool ideas about how to make more balanced and interesting classes. Some of the perk choices didn't sit too well with me, so I started digging around the perks trees.

So far, I have given Shinobi Combat Fitness instead of Serial, since I don't understand why a Shinobi would ever take Serial. Also, I replaced Cutthroat (Which i think is lackluster), with Blademaster, so that Ghostwalker has some real competition.

What would you change? If you could redesign the perk trees from scratch, what would you change?

I could use extra ideas.

[wizard1200]

I think all classes should have one general perk tree and two class specific perk trees:

GENERAL (Infiltration is a core game mechanic and every class should be able to use it):
- Phantom
- Ghostwalker
- Covert
- Shadowstrike
- Conceal (1 charge, breaking concealment activates a cooldown of 3 turns)
- Tradecraft
- Ghost Grenade (1 charge, breaking concealment activates a cooldown of 3 turns)

[DaviBones]

A Shinobi takes serial for a flank-spec. You must take Hunter's Instinct for it to work, and Shadowstrike helps.

Tactical procedure is:

• Scout an isolated enemy pod
• Sneak the shinobi around the other side, find cover with good LoS (Low Profile helps here)
• Activate the pod with main squad (Preferably with AoE to soften them a bit if they have a lot of HP)
• The Shinobi, still concealed, is now flanking everything (AI doesn't account for concealed units when scampering)
• Pop serial
• Pop some heads

It is actually quite effective if you set it up right, although you need to be sure your Shinobi himself won't get flanked by another pod, and you may need to take an assault rifle depending on how far ahead/behind your weapons tech is. Like a flamethrower spec Technical, they may seem lackluster, but truly shine on missions where you have unlimited time (and patience) to set up an ambush on, say, a rainbow pod. This mainly includes Network Towers, Base Assaults, Troop Ambushes, and Supply Raids.

Not for everyone, but setting up ambushes is one of my favorite things in LW2 so I quite like them. They are one of the few choices for cleanup of lots of low-health targets, meaning they complement AMF and Double-Tap snipers quite well.