Chain Lightning perk bug

[Stroggus]

Hello again!

Chain Lightning WITH Arc Pulser perk doesn`t shoot mechanical enemies (also they can`t be targeted with this perk). Although regular Arc Thrower attack with Arc Pulser perk works as intended.

[Daergar]

Hello again!

Chain Lightning WITH Arc Pulser perk doesn`t shoot mechanical enemies (also they can`t be targeted with this perk). Although regular Arc Thrower attack with Arc Pulser perk works as intended.

Can you stun mechanical units? If not, then there is no reason chain lightning would fire at them, given the wording.

[Arcalane]

Hello again!

Chain Lightning WITH Arc Pulser perk doesn`t shoot mechanical enemies (also they can`t be targeted with this perk). Although regular Arc Thrower attack with Arc Pulser perk works as intended.

Can you stun mechanical units? If not, then there is no reason chain lightning would fire at them, given the wording.

Yes, most Mech units can be stunned - they suffer the Shutdown status which is functionally identical. SPARKs can be Stunned by Drones and Stun Lancers in particular. There aren't too many XCOM weapons which can inflict Stun to begin with, or ones that can do not regard MECs as valid targets (i.e. psi powers) but there are one or two out there.

[Stroggus]

Hello again!

Chain Lightning WITH Arc Pulser perk doesn`t shoot mechanical enemies (also they can`t be targeted with this perk). Although regular Arc Thrower attack with Arc Pulser perk works as intended.

Can you stun mechanical units? If not, then there is no reason chain lightning would fire at them, given the wording.

Yeah, no reason WITHOUT Arc Pulser perk (that gives you dmg vs mechanical with your arc thrower and stuns them). But I am talking about Chain Lighting + Arc Pulser here.

[Daergar]

Hello again!

Chain Lightning WITH Arc Pulser perk doesn`t shoot mechanical enemies (also they can`t be targeted with this perk). Although regular Arc Thrower attack with Arc Pulser perk works as intended.

Can you stun mechanical units? If not, then there is no reason chain lightning would fire at them, given the wording.

Yes, most Mech units can be stunned - they suffer the Shutdown status which is functionally identical. SPARKs can be Stunned by Drones and Stun Lancers in particular. There aren't too many XCOM weapons which can inflict Stun to begin with, or ones that can do not regard MECs as valid targets (i.e. psi powers) but there are one or two out there.

What I get for being too succinct. Yes, I know mechanical units can be stunned, I just do not believe Arc pulser perk does anything to the Arc thrower except make it able to damage mechanicals and lower their hack defense, just as the description states.

My point was that a skill stating "Fire your Arc Thrower at every visible enemy who is capable of being stunned." would thus not fire at mechanicals, since it cannot stun them, only lower the hack defense.

Or I could be wrong and it's a bug, just that the wording is there, plus it strikes me a very over-powered ability given how no mechanical can take cover and you could stun every single one you have within range every five turns? Not counting every non-mechanical, at the same time? That'd be nuts.

[Arcalane]

What I get for being too succinct. Yes, I know mechanical units can be stunned, I just do not believe Arc pulser perk does anything to the Arc thrower except make it able to damage mechanicals and lower their hack defense, just as the description states.

I haven't had a chance to test it on mech units lately. Although I can state for the record that it can stun Gatekeepers, which is... entertaining.

Or I could be wrong and it's a bug, just that the wording is there, plus it strikes me a very over-powered ability given how no mechanical can take cover and you could stun every single one you have within range every five turns? Not counting every non-mechanical, at the same time? That'd be nuts.

To be fair, it's one of the three 'capstone' abilities of the class -- it's in the same promotion/rank tier as Serial, Reaper, Double Tap, and many other endgame perks.

[trihero]

I haven't had a chance to test it on mech units lately. Although I can state for the record that it can stun Gatekeepers, which is... entertaining.

Arc pulser doesn't stun mechical units; it does exactly what it says some damage and lower hack defense. It's funny how you guys are reporting about chain lightning but never tried to see what arc pulser itself does on a mech unit. Technically there's nothing wrong with chain lightning, since the arc thrower/pulser can't stun mechanical units.

[Arcalane]

Hey, I use it on a regular basis- I just couldn't remember whether or not it actually stunned them off the top of my head, and didn't feel like playing the RNG to test it.

But yeah, it can't actually stun them so I guess it's technically working as intended as far as the wording goes.