Assault (LWR)
The Long War Rebalance Assault is similar to the vanilla Assault. Their signature ability is Close Encounters.
- Primary Weapons: Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, Carbines, SMGs, Shotguns, Arc Weapons.
- Secondary Weapons: Pistols, Autopistols, Sawed-off Shotguns.
- Class-Limited items: None.
- Attribute Growth: Mob x3.
Abilities
| Rank | Ability | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Specialist |
 Close Encounters The first standard shot against an enemy within 4 tiles will leave this unit with 1 AP but reduces mobility to 3.3 tiles during their next action. Grants immunity to critical hits and reaction fire from enemies within 4 tiles. | ||||||
 Lance Corporal |
 Will To Survive Increases DR of all cover to 60% but grants 10 less defense. For XCOM, grants Steadfast. .png) Steadfast
Provides +2 armor HP, immunity to panic, and reduces injury times by 30%. |
 Run and Gun Activate to allow shooting or overwatching at 0 AP if the last AP was spent moving. When active: Gain +20 crit, +20% crit damage, immunity to reaction fire, but the AP discount from Close Encounters is disabled. 2 turn cooldown. Cannot activate if out of ammo and does not work with the stun rifle. |
 Breacher The first grenade use each turn costs 0 AP but reduces mobility to 3.3 tiles until it has no AP remaining or the end of the turn. This soldier's grenades do not damage this soldier gain +35% weapon damage and +35 penetration but have -70% range. Equipped grenades receive an additional use and have no weight. | ||||
 Corporal |
 Extra Conditioning
Grants +2 armor HP and +0.6 mobility, and a 10% chance for all end-in-idle actions to cost 0 AP. |
 Brawler If this unit is idle and has not been damaged this turn, incoming shots within 4 tiles graze (dealing only half of the original damage). |
 Fragmentation Explosives critically hit exposed targets, have double the bleed chance, and apply 2 stacks if they cause bleeding. | ||||
 Sergeant |
 Pistolero Reaction shots from pistols gain +50% weapon damage, +50% close range aim bonus, and the ability to crit. If idle at end of turn, draws their pistol. If wielding a pistol, fire a reaction shot at any enemy within 4 tiles that acts. [Pistolero reaction shots bypass half of cover DR/def and require hit chance >30] |
 Ranger
Grants +1 damage to all weapons and equipment, +0.6 mobility, and +10% throw/rocket range. Sidearms additionally gain +2 damage, +20 aim, and 1 AP reloads. |
 Killer Instinct Grants +30% crit damage. | ||||
 Tech Sergeant |
 Rapid Fire Fire twice with your primary weapon; accuracy gains above 50% hit chance only contribute half to final hit chance. | ||||||
 Gunnery Sergeant |
 Tenacious Defense Grants +2 armor HP. Grants +20 crit resistance when protected by cover. |
 Aggression Shots gain +10% crit damage per enemy in sight. |
 | ||||
 Master Sergeant |
 |
 Lock n' Load
Reloading any weapon costs only 1 AP and dashing automatically reloads the active weapon. | |||||
Tactical Advice
Role: Mobile Offense / Counter-Offense / Melee Bodyguard
Long War Rebalance Assaults are more specialized than vanilla Assaults. They are more mobile than Infantry and capable of much greater burst damage output at close range. Since their innate ability is Close Encounters, they typically want to be close to the enemy at all times, whether they are tanking damage or dealing it, and Shotguns are a natural choice for their close range focus. SMGs are also viable due to their high crit, mobility and crit damage boost. They are specialist for close quarters urban maps, but also excel in UFOs where they can ignore Outsider Close Combat Specialist ability.
On the defensive, Assaults are second only to Overwatch builds in their ability to resist aliens pushing XCOM soldiers out of position. Assaults are especially good at dealing with Aliens that are melee only and designed to force XCOM out of position, like Chryssalids and Berserkers. Close Encounters makes the Assault Class immune to crits within 4 tiles, and so enemy AI has a tendency to respect a minimum of a 5 tile range away from the assault. This may or may not be useful to the Assault, but this buys space for the rest of the squad.
Assaults are fairly simple soldiers, and the choices in their builds tend to be a simple one of offense vs. defense at each rank, with some mobility thrown in.
Sample Builds
Run and Gun Assault
The R&G Assault aims to maximize mobility and damage potential to enable extremely long distance sprinting in order to dispatch high value targets that are too hard to reach by other means. It is a high risk high reward build that uses surgical precision removals to turn the tide of entire battles - though it will often leave the Assault isolated from any support. The close range crit nullification of Close Encounters alleviates some of the risks. Still, it remains by essence an extreme build that operates on a razor edge; RnG Assaults generally burn brightly but briefly and few of them will reach the higher ranks due to grave wounds or even death.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recommended Weapons: Shotgun or SMG. Secondary Sawed-off/Autopistol if mobility allows (especially with Pistolero)
Recommended Equipment: High Cap Mags, Damage-increasers, Mobility-increasers, Survivability-increasers, Psi Frayer/Conduit.
Notes:
- Most ranks for a RnG Assault offer a choice between added damage and added survivability; it's up to you to figure out what mix of each you want.
- At CPL, you can opt to take Extra Conditioning for the extra stats and free action chance, but you may find that without Brawler, your shots won't be as accurate as you wish against particularly evasive targets.
- Psionic Assaults benefit well from the added flexibility that psi abilities can offer, as well as most of the psi items.
- Every body part has a gene mod that will help reduce the high risk of harm and/or death inherent to the build. Additionally, Muscle Amp offers greatly improved mobility on a large number of maps.
Breacher Assault
This build provides the Assault with unparalleled close range damage. The assault class's forced close range playstyle thanks to Close Encounters lends itself well to Breacher which also benefits from being in close range of enemies. Fragmentation, Ranger, and Blast add some range and more damage to the Assault's grenades, maintaining their relevance as the campaign goes on. The innate offensive power of the class allows it to still perform decently once out of grenades. This will happen very frequently as the class lacks can use many grenades quickly at a 0 AP cost for the first each turn; psi abilities are thus a good choice to increase the available options of this build.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recommended Weapons: Shotgun or SMG.
Recommended Equipment: HE grenades, AP grenades, Alien/Plasma grenades, Mobility-increasers, Psi Frayer.
Notes:
- The choice at SGT between Ranger and Killer Instinct is one of consistency vs potential; Ranger gives you a little bit of everything as well as a reliable sidearm, while Killer Instinct makes your Frag crits much scarier, in addition to buffing up other weapons' crits.
- It may be worth sacrificing explosive amounts or the power of the Shotgun in exchange for more mobility; being too slow to approach is a good way to accomplish nothing, no matter how many grenades you're carrying.
- Psi is a strong option for this build to add utility after grenades inevitably run out, especially if an amplifier such as a Psi Frayer or Aurora Armor is used on top.
Tank Assault
This build focuses on defensive perks to build a durable combatant able to both tank efficiently at range and to shrug off otherwise devastating hits in close quarters. While very sturdy this build does not lack offensive prowess and uses the high base damage of the shotgun coupled with high damage Pistolero hits to good effect. This does severely limit its effective fighting range however, and on an open map it may lack the opportunity to close in to reliably deliver its damage. Nevertheless it will most often prove a strong and dependable vanguard for your forces if properly supported.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recommended Weapons: Shotgun
Recommended Equipment: Platings (Chitin especially), Combat Stims, High Cap Mags, Special ammo, Mobility-increasers, Psi Defender/Frayer.
Notes:
- As the sole source of Brawler on biotanks, Assault Tanks make for great terror mission specialists while equipped with Chitin Plating and Breaching Rounds. In the right situations, chryssalids and other melee enemies may simply kill themselves on your brawling Assault. This pairs particularly well with flashbangs and Red Fog to reduce their damage. Extra Conditioning makes them more well rounded with a little of everything and is definitely competitive.
- Tank Assaults additionally work well for combating Outsiders on UFOs; Close Encounters renders them immune to Close Combat Specialist, and a tank assault can shrug off any close range attacks provided they are not flanked. They can potentially even be the one to hold the Stun Rifle, but you may prefer having the high damage of a primary to kill Outsiders and prevent them from growing and healing while someone else moves in with the Stun Rifle.
- Psi, like on other Assault builds, is a great way to maintain relevance while closing in on targets or keeping distance as needed. Psi Defender is also a strong item on any tank.
.jpg){kind=small}
