Beag's Long War B14 Squad Builds v1

http://i.imgur.com/rnXsyNw.png

Beag's Long War B14 Squad Builds/Tactics as of 21/11/2014

PRE-MEC
Your A-Team before you've unlocked anything but standard infantry classes. Approx. March to August/September.

Disabling Sniper
ITZ Scout
OW Infantry
Tanky Assault
Flush/HEAT Gunner
Rocketeer
Medic
Engineer

Everybody covers their roles well for the first part of Long War. Disabling Snipers are there to make sure nobody ever dies once Discs and Mechtoids show up, Scouts are crucial in this part of the game where enemy Overwatch is common and terrifying - it's all infantry-focused cover-to-cover engagements so OW is very scary, and Mutons and Floaters love to do it. OW Infantry reaps souls for the same reasons; alien infantry are constantly trying to jockey around and your Infantry holds the line like nobody else. Assault is the defacto tank at this point and handles your CQB, Flush/HEAT Gunner deals with all drones, Seekers and robots in tandem with your Rocketeer. Medic for the support nades and smoke and Engy for reliable AoE cover busting and captures.


Then MECs change everything right about the same time that the aliens are changing up their strategies into 'endless waves of Mechtoids/Berserkers'.


POST-MEC (Approx. August/September)

Disabling Sniper
Pathfinder MEC
OW Infantry
Crit Assault
Bullet Wizard Gunner
Archer MEC
Medic
Shogun MEC


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For me, Scouts feel obsolete around the time MECs hit and you have to start making hard choices for your limited squad size. It's just as easy to blitz an Overwatch with a tanky MEC than it is to play RNG Roulette with an Opportunist Muton Elite and your precious MSGT Scout in Carapace, and the only other things they bring to the table are ITZ and Scans; they keep ITZ as a Pathfinder (and are suddenly much easier to put it to use with) and the Scans can either be taken up by the Medic, Bioelectric Skin, or just a spare slot on one of your troops for when the odd Seeker pod appears. The Pathfinder also provides Shredder in an age where I phase out my Rocketeers for Archers instead. This is a transition period where EXALT is probably still alive and Sectopods/Ethereals haven't shown up yet, so OW Infantry are still kings of the situations you often find yourself in. Crit Assault is important to blitz down the big bad boss aliens that appear + the Discs, Mechtoids and Berserkers that constantly threaten you on everything from Terror to Scout crashes. Bullet Wizard Gunner eschews Flush in an age where it's outlived its usefulness (Hitting Drones, Seekers and 2hp Floaters isn't really a big scary problem anymore) for an absoloute wrecking ball of debuffs; Holo targeting, shredded, suppressed, all applied in a 5 tile wide sphere centered on supressed patient zero; the Shogun picks up the lack of HEAT Ammo slack by arriving with Light 'Em Up HEAT Ammo just in time, and can optionally take Packmaster to maximize Flamethrower charges (or damage control to be the defacto tank). The Archer provides pinpoint accurate murder in the form of Danger Zone Proximity Mines, and has a big supply of them even at MEC-1 with 5 per slot thanks to all the grenadier perks, replacing the Rocketeer pretty nicely as Shredding duties are taken up by the rest of the squad. The Medic's job is even more important now than ever as Dense Smoke and lots of medkits is crucial for keeping MECs alive through tough missions, and their ability to bring lots of Chem works great to take down big bad robots where necessary.

All in all, you lose the airbursting potential of Rocketeer rockets but gain much more reliable explosives, a great deal of shock-troop power through the MECs, a whole stack of infinite debuffing power through the Gunner, and huge damage through the Assault.


As the transition completes and there's plenty of resources for more MEC suits, replace the OW Infantry with a Rapid Fire Valkyrie. OW loses power as aliens shift from infantry to more mechanized units; Overwatch's power is in catching conventional infantry units in an exposed state while moving for big crits, while conversely, catching a Sectopod with Overwatch just deals the same damage you already would've if you'd just been shooting. Replacing the Infantry with a Valkyrie at this point resets the class into an aggressive shocktroop role that can also apply Shredder and make good use of Jetboots + brings another serving of Collateral to the squad's table, which is always welcome. This is the kind of troop I would prefer to have storming down a Sectopod in 2016; the OW Infantry is still very powerful but doesn't have the same ability to aggressively assault a hardened and mechanized opponent. The Valkyrie's Shredder also further removes any feelings of regret we may have about losing the Rocketeer's Shredder.

Very late game when Blaster Launchers are on the table, maybe cycle some specially built Rocketeers back in as fire support as the Archer Proxy Mines lose their oomph and the Blaster nullifies any problems with accuracy the Rocketeer has. Ranger and Mayhem to maximize the power of the Blaster. When Disabling is no longer necessary to handle Sectopods/etc because your squad is too baller, use Assassin Snipers with crit, damage and prec shot instead.
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For G-Mods, Psi, and Officer Billets:

Infantry are the first generation of officers; they're always useful on every mission, always in the middle of the squad, and are hardy enough/stay in cover enough to not die and freak everybody out. Officer perks that suit the early to midgame: Stay Frosty, Fortiores Una, Into the Breach, Esprit de Corps.
Gunners are the second tier of officer, taking over mid to late game. They're good candidates for the same reason Infantry are, and like Infantry are too busy shooting/suppressing to be very good Psi candidates anyway, IMO. For mid to late game Officer perks: Patria Nostra, Fortiores Una, So Shall You Fight, Band of Warriors, So Others May Live.

Genetics: Adaptive Bone Marrow on everyone to cut down on fatigue wounds/actual wounds recovery. Damping on Gunners and Infantry as they don't go Psi due to being Officers. Adrenal Neurosympathy on Strike Rifle Snipers and Infantry, Bioelectric Skin on Medics and Assaults for scouting and the odd Seeker reveal. Secondary Heart and Iron Skin a fairly easy choice for everyone else when MELD allows; eye mod goes to Hyper-reactive until flying armor becomes common, at which point everybody wants Depth Perception.

Psi:
Sniper - Inspiration, Panic, Biofield, Telekinetic
Medic - Inspiration, Mind Merge, Distortion, Psychokinetic
Assault - Feedback, Panic, Distortion, Shadow

Sniper and Medic have some support abilities to help carry their weight when they're not shooting or healing respectively; Assault should usually be shooting but has Panic for when shooting isn't helpful and Psi Shadow to scout for the squad with. Medic pulls out Psychokinetic to spread more cover busting around the squad instead of concentrating it all on a few troops.



A (very cluttered) total recap of the mid-game squad including officer perks, genetics and psi:

Disabler Sniper - Disabling and Cleanup   (Macrophages, Depth, Adrenal, Iron, Adaptive Bone Marrow) -- [Inspiration, Panic, Biofield, Telekinetic]
Pathfinder - CQB, Cleanup, Flushing, Tanking, Shredding
Archer - AoE, Anti-Mech
OW Infantry - Overwatch, Volume Fire, OW Cancelling (Damping, Hyper-reactive, Adrenal, Iron, Bone Marrow) [Officer]-[Frosty, Una, The Breach, Espirit, Others May Live]
Shogun - Tanking, Anti-Mech, Coverbust, Flaming
Medic - Healing, Support Nades (Macrophages, Reactive, Secondary, Bioelectric, Marrow) -- [Inspiration, Mind Merge, Distortion, Psychokinetic]
Bullet Wizard Gunner - OW Cancelling, Volume Fire, Mass Holo/Supression/Shredding/Mayhem (Damping, Hyper-reactive, Secondary, Iron, Marrow) [Officer]-[Patria Nostra, Una, So Shall, Band of Warriors, Others May Live]
Crit Assault. (Macrophages, Hyper-reactive, Secondary, Bioelectric, Marrow) -- [Feedback, Panic, Distortion, Shadow]


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Finally, if you're interested in some reasoning behind the accompanying colour-coded skill build picture, here's some of that. That link again - http://i.imgur.com/rnXsyNw.png

Sniper:

Strike Rifle Disabler:
In close with low profile + tac sense. Disabling targets and In The Zoning for cleanup.

Classic Squadsighter:
Lone Wolf, Prec Shot, Crit perks. Hit hard and from long range with reliable crits. When Disabling gets less important, this build will shine for better damage.


SCOUT:

King of 2015: Standard build until Scouts become redundant and replaced by Pathfinders.


INFANTRY:

Overwatch King
Damage Inf: When cover based enemies stop being a problem, damage infantry beats Overwatch infantry.


ASSAULT:
First Run: Classic covert operative grooming build with Gunslinger. Keep optimal by throwing LR in at the end instead of resilience to replace the Scout's job around the time MECs appear.

Middle Tier: Tanky Assault. Tac sense and resilience instead of gunslinger and LR. Loses importance as MECs become go-to tanks.

Shooter Assault: Flush, Rapid Fire, millions of crit perks. Provides more versatile fire support than an Infantry but less overall shots. Best used with an Assault Rifle.


GUNNER:

Standard Issue: Flush is critical early game as is HEAT. Executioner to combo with Flush. RFA + Sentinel works together to turn them into an overwatch machine along with flush by the time they hit MSGT.

Bullet Wizard: Newly buffed Danger Zone makes Bullet Wizard all the more tempting. Holo, Shredder and Mayhem applied in a zone at least 2 tiles wide, all day. Double Tap when applying those buffs to two seperate mechanized threats is necessary instead of one big clump.

Full Overwatch: Covering Fire, Heat, Tac Sense, RFA, BEO and Sentinel. Hit harder than an Infantry with Overwatches just as acccurate. Specializing in overwatching mechanized threats with HEAT and tanking the return fire.


ROCKETEER:

Standard: FITH and Javelin for better accuracy. Ranger to stay relevant without Gauss.

Rocket Infantry: Snapshot, Opportunist RFA, Danger Zone. Combo Infantryman and damage dealer.

Lategame: Snapshot and Mayhem to make the most out of Blaster Launcher.


MEDIC:

One True Build: Healing with support nades.


Engineer:

Sapper, Heat, Repair, Battlescanner each hit at critical points; when you need to blow cover, robots, capture, and replace Scouts.

Lategame, instead consider rolling your Engineers into hybrid Support/Grenadiers to maximize your squad loadouts.




MECS

Jaeger: Crit Jetboot/Squadsighter. Better accuracy but subpar to other MECs in almost every way.


PATHFINDER: Natural evolution of Scout as role shifts from Overwatch cancelling to ITZ.

Classic Pathfinder: Defensive Perks + Shredder + ITZ + Jetboots make a versatile MEC. Abuse ITZ or use Flush to apply Shredder to priority targets + make them dance for Overwatchers.

Assassin Pathfinder: All Aggression + ITZ for max accuracy. Run in, glass cannon burst a bunch of enemies with ITZ. No sustain.

Scoutfinder: More focus on tanking with LR the cherry on top.

Does everything the Scout does, better, but no scanners and can't have both ITZ or LR.


VALKYRIE:

Mass Shredder application with LEU, Rapid Fire and Collat. Consider LNL instead of VPT if Mec Ammo proves a problem, or AF if you need a tankier MEC.

A Goliath that can apply Shredder to everything.


MARAUDER:

Tanky, aggressive, but can't R&G and Rapid Fire.


GOLIATH:

Tankmaster.


ARCHER:

Proxy Mine king. DZ, Grenadeier, Bombardier, Packmaster, Mayhem = More ammo than a rocketeer, similar range, much more reliable and versatile accuracy. Needs Gauss to shine.


GUARDIAN:

When Revive isn't important and you have other Engies to take over Support Nades. Incredibly good Overwatch means the Guardian can effectively replace OW infantry. Alternatively go for Field Medic over Body Shield to replace both Medics and Infantry at once.

Alt build: Tanky healer.


SHOGUN:

Collat, tankiness at MSGT, HEAT Ammo and LEU + Packmaster are showstealers. The MEC best suited for anti-mech and flamethrower duty with light tanking to keep it in the fight and Collat to keep its versatility high.

Alt Build: An Archer without Danger Zone/Grenadier/Bombardier. Ultimately worse range and AoE damage but a serviceable hybrid that only loses some tanking ability to get there. Good pairing with a Goliath.