Shinobi Builds

[Jacke]

EDIT: Updated my builds and narrowed it to two.

Shinobi Scout
Ghostwalker - Shadowstep - Covert - Shadowstrike - Conceal - Tactical Sense / Tradecraft - Reaper / Rapid Fire

Shinobi Blade
Cutthroat - Shadowstep - Blademaster - Bladestorm - Coup de Grâce - Tactical Sense / Implacable - Reaper

Below is the original text of this post.

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I've got 3 Shinobi builds, expecting most of them to be Scouts. '/' means I'm unsure but favouring the first perk. Comments and suggestions on all choices welcome!


Shinobi Scout
Ghostwalker - Lone Wolf / Shadowstep - Covert - Shadowstrike - Conceal - Tradecraft / Tactical Sense - Rapid Fire / Serial

Shinobi Shooter
Low Profile / Ghostwalker - Shadowstep / Lone Wolf - Hunter's Instinct - Shadowstrike - Conceal - Tactical Sense - Rapid Fire / Serial

Shinobi Blade
Cutthroat - Shadowstep - Blademaster - Bladestorm - Coup de Grâce - Tactical Sense / Implacable - Reaper


Wasn't considering going with any Shooter build at all. Then I noticed my first two Shinobis had these AWC perks:

Offensive: Damn Good Ground, Flush, Rupture
Defensive: Covering Fire, Field Medic, Combat Fitness

Offensive: Deadshot, Aggression, Run and Gun
Defensive: Flashbanger, Cool Under Pressure, Close Combat Specialist

I really needs Scouts with Ghostwalker. But both of these really should be Shooters. Scouting without Ghostwalker? Or go with the Shooter build but with Ghostwalker instead?

Also, tried looking but couldn't tell for sure. Does Deadshot's crit chance +10% only apply to the primary weapon?

[leudaimon]

I don't think I would use a shooter build anyway, instead prioritizing other soldiers for the AWC. For a shooter to be effective you wouldn't use an SMG, and then the shinobi loses its point.

regarding the actual builds, I guess I'm going with the majority with the common build being the covert guerrilla ops build. Mine is a little different from your scout:

Ghostwalker - Shadowstep - Covert - Evasive - Conceal - Tradecraft - Reaper

This guy shouldn't atack at all, that's why i don't get shadowstrike. Reaper is there but shouldn't be that necessary also. Remember that this guy will probably be an officer, so use his training time in the GTS instead of the AWC. Anyway, a few stuff may be useful.

The sword build may be useful in some situations, but less so than the covert one. Mine is also a little different, with some focus on survivability:
Cutthroat - Shadowstep - Blademaster - Bladestorm - Hard target - Tactical Sense - Reaper
For this build, I would look for AWC perks increasing survivability, mobility and crit chance. I'm not sure if combative is possible on a shinobi, but that would be perfect.

[trihero]

I agree with leuda's builds for sneaky and swordy. I've tried some variants and they just seem too cutesy more than functional.

A lot of people criticize shadowstep but you begin to run into a lot of enemies who overwatch a ton (mechs overwatch on the turn you activate them for instance), and those rapid reaction guardians are nothing to laugh at, and it takes some effort to remove overwatch sometimes. Having a 100% immunity to the overwatch saves you in those crucial instances where you need to get out of there or slice someone critical.

I like lone wolf a lot but shadowstep in practice probably saves you more headaches.

[Jacke]

In light of what leudaimon and trihero say, I will cut it back to two builds, the Scout and the Blade.

Shinobi Scout
Ghostwalker - Shadowstep - Covert - Shadowstrike - Conceal - Tactical Sense / Tradecraft - Reaper / Rapid Fire

Shinobi Blade
Cutthroat - Shadowstep - Blademaster - Bladestorm - Coup de Grâce - Tactical Sense / Implacable - Reaper

Would really like to have Low Profile for the Scout build, but for scouting Ghostwalker is just so important. As is Covert. And Conceal supports Shadowstrike to use it twice. Tradecraft and Implacable would be good, but I just think Tactical Sense for both builds would be better. Rapid Fire is if there's AWC skills that would benefit it.

A Shinobi could get Shredder. Does Rapid Fire with Shredder shred the target twice if both hit?

[wei270]

i actually find flaking shot build very effective in small fights because with concealment you get two shadow strike flank on a enemy that pretty much is gonna guarantee a crit, and if you have serial you can make sure you can clear that pod in one turn. so i take them primary for 4 man team mission where the enemy is light and below.

so i have 3 build for shinobi

sword for fun
stealth very obvious reasons
and the small team tactics flankers

and since shinobi arguably has the most defenses skills one could potentially make one for enemy vip extraction mission where he is just the one that carry the vip and run lol

[trihero]

Does Rapid Fire with Shredder shred the target twice if both hit?

Yes.

@wei270, I was considering making a "tanky" shinobi to be sort of like a bullet magnet for those missions where full on stealth might not quite be possible. Theoretically you'd be super hard to hit; in low cover you'd be the same as high cover with lone wolf +10 defense, tac sense for another +20, pop a smoke bomb and you're at 95% defense. You'd need to be wearing a mind shield and medikit to guarantee you don't get rekt by mind control/poison, and even better if you have a hellweave so if a snake grabs you, it instantly gets burned and you are freed.

Sounds really cute at least...I have a feeling though if you're that high on defenses they might actually focus down the VIP because the AI prefers to target things with less defense.

[Undershaft]

and since shinobi arguably has the most defenses skills one could potentially make one for enemy vip extraction mission where he is just the one that carry the vip and run

That gives me an idea. *If* (!) picking up unconscious characters doesn't break stealth (never tested that) and medkits can be used on civilians, then patch 1.2 might bring a cheesy exploit for VIP extractions: You use the medkit's new sedate ability on the escortee, pick him up with the shinobi and stealth-carry him to the extraction zone.

[trihero]

Picking up unconscious soldiers does break stealth.

[Undershaft]

Picking up unconscious soldiers does break stealth.

Ah, so much for that idea, then. Good - one shouldn't be able to do that.
Still curious, though: Can a soldier use Conceal while carrying somebody? If so, then this exploit would work again.

In any case, it might be a sensible option to carry a sedated VIP, even without stealth. To my knowledge, carrying a character doesn't slow you down - or does it? If you take a shinobi with 18 movement and an smg, you could *really* try to outrun the aliens, as wei270 suggested.

[trihero]

I haven't tried using conceal while carrying someone, but I imagine either it doesn't work or it would reveal you instantly.

Carrying a soldier doesn't slow you down, but it disables all your moves including grappling hook. I guess I don't see what point you're trying to make; if you can knock a VIP unconscious and carry him to the evac then yes, you should because you get a better reward, you don't need a medikit's sedate to do it. But often times it's so much easier just to get line of sight, sniper or rocket it, then get out.

[Undershaft]

I'm not talking about enemy VIPs - I'm talking about prisoners and escortees (I thought the term applied to every important civilian).
The idea is to sedate a friendly civilian with your first move, put them on your shoulder and profit from the soldier's superior movement.

[Undershaft]

I was just thinking about a weird way of pulling off assassination missions with this technique. You use two shinobis (one with medkit) and a sniper. You take the shot with the sniper, which ends their move. Then you sedate them with the first shinobi (who afterwards reconceals), pick them up with the second, who then yellow moves to the extraction zone and airlifts. Boom. Take a sniper shot and exit the area with two soldiers in one turn; extract the concealed character one turn later. Mission accomplished

[Valaska]

Blade Shinobi you ask?

Cut-throat - Infighter - Blademaster - Bladestorm - Hard Target - Tactical Sense - Reaper

Set higher defense and dodge units with mobility as a Shinobi, give them warden, carapace, tactical vests (maybe just tactical vests if you are hard up for mobility) and then just... Charge. If they get rapid deployment and a smoke grenade they can literally stand in the middle of 16+ enemies and just dodge every shot coming at them. Throw on an aid protocol and you virtually have an untouchable god that the enemy refuses to target anything else.

My shinobi reaper is in about 200 kills herself at the moment. I don't think there is any other build for a blade shinobi than what I just proscribed here. Anything else will be sub-optimal and lack the ability to do damage and survive at the same time. If you want to run riskier you can give them shadow armor too which will up their dodge even more, give them a Dodge or Defense PCS. Honestly, your Shinobi can be a tank and burst DPS all at once.

Implacable is a complete waste on their skill tree and I implore you not to choose it ever, no matter what kind of Shinobi you are making. Give them that defensive ability, it counts for a lot especially in high cover, but even out in the open can have use.

*Edit* My bad, she is almost at 300 kills lol.

[celeryman]

My top shinobi right now has: Cutthroat, Shadowstep, Blademaster, Evasive and Hard Target. Combat fitness and rapid deployment via AWC.

You get a lot of mileage out of Cutthroat and Blademaster, Shadowstep is just too good to pass up imo, and Evasive makes you extremely hard to hit even when you do risky out-in-the-open attacks. Especially true if you get aid protocol to cover those situations.

I haven't tinkered with blademaster - it seemed really situational compared to being hit less often by direct attacks. Unfortunately, there's guaranteed damage which can eliminate the evasive bonus. Just seems to me that shinobi can carve a bloody path constantly with only those two sword feats, so stocking up on defensive perks seems wise.

[JulianSkies]

To note I do think your stealth shinobi could use rapid fire as the last ability, I've had my my stealth shinobi go on wild flanking adventures when I got myself in a bad spot and start harassing the enemy from behind taking down a few very important targets.
Since he also has a pistol for shadowfall he can also burst pistols really good.

[trihero]

wild flanking adventures

Sounds kinky o.O

[Lexcalibur]

You have a really rare opportunity for a special build with that second Shinobi. If I had seen those AWC perks, I would have built a shotgun-serial-implacable shinobi, provided the mobility was decent.

Ghostwalker - Lone Wolf (or Shadowstep) - Hunter's Instinct - Shadowstrike - [Any] - Implacable - Serial

Also, where is face-off in the pistol tree? Those perks would allow you to do a face-off ambush with close to 100% crit on everything. Use RnG/Ghostwalker for perfect positioning, crit all the mobs with an additional +2 on flanked enemies (hopefully all of them), and then walk away via Implacable. After that, you effectively have a +2 shotgun for the rest of the mission.

Since it uses Ghostwalker, it's mostly identical to a scout-shinobi right up until Hunter's Instinct at SGT. Just train another shinobi asap and have the new one take over scout duties once this one hits SGT.

[Hazelnut]

Valaska,

I have often taken Implacable myself and it's fantastic, but TBH it's a waste once you get Reaper. I need to respec them to Tac Sense.

One difference I make for my blade shinobis is to take Conceal instead of Hard Target. I roll with only one in a squad so they have to scout before reaping. Conceal means I can reap when needed and still carry on scouting. To make up for this I tend to take Evasive rather than Bladestorm.