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MEC Trooper (LWR)

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In General

The (M)echanized (E)xoskeletal (C)ybersuit troopers remain fundamentally the same as in Long War. Although Long War introduced new MEC classes as well as soldier classes, Long War Rebalanced has cut down the former 8 MEC classes into 4, more generalized classes. This also increases flexibility in choosing which soldiers to augment, as each MEC class can be created from 2 different soldier classes.

As with vanilla, MEC Suits cannot take cover beyond breaking line of sight. Fortunately, they possess a limited amount of innate defense and have innate damage resistance, making them more difficult to take down. Some MEC classes can increase this damage reduction even further with perks.

MEC troopers cannot function without a MEC suit, meaning that any surplus MEC troopers will be useless unless given a MEC suit of their own, but also suffer from Fatigue and need to rest after each mission, more so than normal troopers. The suits can be cycled between operators and rearmed as long as you have enough operators for them. Barring injury or fatigue, it is possible to have a MEC on every mission. Like gear from your other soldiers, MEC gear can break if your MEC takes health damage, and there is a chance to recover the suit and equipment if the MEC trooper dies in combat.

Even though they are heavily mechanized, MEC troopers are still human beings and are affected by panic and psionic powers like Mind Fray.

For semantics, MECs are considered soldiers, as opposed to SHIVs which are not. Thus, abilities that cause an affect on soldiers will still affect MECs. However, MECs are not considered biosoldiers. MECs, SHIVs, and biosoldiers all fall under the broad category XCOM units or just units.

Augmentation

Like vanilla, MEC troopers are chosen from the soldier roster on the base. Only soldiers with a rank of Lance Corporal or above, that are not Officers, are eligible for MEC training.

Augmenting a soldier costs 90 meld and 70 credits and takes 20 + 20% of the soldier's fatigue and wound time in days. This means augmenting a soldier removes 80% of their fatigue or wound time and can be an effective way to get wounded soldiers back on the battlefield.

Augmented soldiers will have their mission count reset to 0, which reduces their fatigue accumulation after missions.

Augmented soldiers lose all XP and revert to SPEC rank upon being augmented. They also will lose all non-special quirks, genetic modifications, and psionic abilities.

MECs (augmented soldiers) cannot become officers, receive genetic modifications, or train in psionics.

In order to augment, you need to research Alien Biocybernetics (prerequisites Alien Materials and Sectoid Interrogation), then build a Repair Bay. Augmentation is available in the Engineering tab of the strat layer. Alien Biocybernetics also unlocks the MEC-1 Paladin.

Attributes

Their attributes reset to: 

10 HP, 19.3 mobility, 65 aim, 30 will

For each rank above LCPL the MEC will gain average bonus attributes as follows: 

0.44x mobility, 1.33x health, 2.66x aim, 5.33x will

For each base HP above 7 the MEC will gain average bonus attributes as follows: 

0.22x mobility, 0.66x health, 1.33x aim, 2.66x will

The bonuses are variable and range from approximately 50% to 150% of the average. The actual formulas for calculating the bonuses is:

Success Rate

For each base HP above 2 the soldier will gain a 20% chance of augmentation success.

For every 10 days of fatigue or injury (modified by campaign length) the soldier will lose a 1% chance of augmentation success.

Failure to convert a soldier into the MEC will occur immediately (if they fail), will consume the 50% of the augmentation cost, and the soldier will be wounded equivalent to the time they would have spent being augmented.

MEC Armamentarium

Armor

MEC Exoskeletons (or Armors) provides multiple options per tier, splitting upgrades into Survivability and Mobility. The MEC-1 Paladin can be upgraded to either the heavy HMEC-2 Defender for a focus on more Survivability, or the light LMEC-2 Valiant, for a focus on more Mobility. Both of these armors have two different options for the final tier, as well.

MEC Armors have one primary weapon slot, one to three small equipment slots and one to three large equipment slots. The upgrades that go in these slots are researched and manufactured separately, and can be swapped out for each mission, giving them a high degree of tactical flexibility.

For more information see the specifications on MEC Armors.

Weapons

Primary Weapons include the same basic Minigun/etc. as the base game.

Secondary Weapons include Grenade Launchers, MINE Launchers, Kinetic Strike Modules, Electropulses, and Restorative Mists.

Equipment

Utility upgrades include MEC-specific upgrade modules, along with a handful of items shared with SHIVs.

General Usage

The first thing to note is the Skyranger can only carry a maximum of 2 MECs into an engagement.

MECs are Offensive Support troopers, delivering high firepower to the battlefield, as well as supporting perks such as One For All.

Due to the MEC's variety of weaponry, ranging from the powerful Kinetic Strike Module to the less damaging but equally useful Grenade Launcher, the offensive capabilities of the MEC are great and offer a lot of tactical variety. However they are less useful as frontline fighters than one might think, due to their rather low ammo capacity and inability to take cover. This means that they, more often than not, become relegated to an Offensive Support role akin to the Rocketeer, though with more armor and a cooler sounding voice.

With a high base HP and somewhat high damage reduction, MECs can take quite the beating, however they are not invincible. During the late game, they are quickly killed by precise and hard hitting plasma fire from the Muton Elites, Mechtoids or the ever annoying Sectopods. Their maximum health can be boosted by items and Foundry projects, increasing their durability significantly. Classes such as the Goliath also compliment the MEC's "Tank" role, by giving a higher base defense and also several abilities centering around damage and/or panic reduction.

MEC Classes

Some MEC class variants, such as the Shogun, allow for more tactical diversity, while others can give a different spin on a well-established class such as the Marauder compared to the Assault. Overall the MECs are designed to perform differently than the soldier classes they replace.


All MECs gain the perks:

One for All
One for All
One for All

Upon activation: +20% DR, remove all base defense, critical hit immunity, reactive fire disabled, negates Critical System Targeting and Explosive Shots on incoming attacks, and acts as full cover element. Lasts until unit moves or uses an arm-based weapon. Does not trigger reaction fire.


Indomitable
Indomitable
Indomitable
If above half HP, fatal non-psionic non-melee damage reduces this unit to 1 HP instead.


Jaeger

 The Jaeger is created from the Sniper and Scout classes. Jaegers excel at delivering accurate and mobile fire at various ranges, and emptying multiple shots with Hunter.
Hunter
Hunter
Hunter
This unit cloaks at the beginning of each turn if it can see an enemy, has ammo, and is idle. All hiding (Cloaked or Stealthed) breaks at the end of turn or after a non-movement action. When cloaked, shots gain +50% weapon damage and +30 crit. Grants Combined Arms [All weapons and equipment deal +1 damage].
Lock n' Load
Lock n' Load
Lock n' Load
Reloading any weapon costs only 1 AP and dashing automatically reloads the active weapon.

Marauder

 The Marauder is created from the Assault and Infantry classes. Marauders have a more offensive-mobility focus than other MECs. Marauders are extremely useful for securing time-sensitive, sparsely-covered objectives with their mix of firepower, mobility, and durability compared to regular soldiers.
Onslaught
Onslaught
Onslaught

The first use of the Kinetic Strike Module each turn will leave this unit with 1 AP but reduces mobility to 3.3 tiles during their next action. Grants Ram.

Sprinter
Sprinter
Sprinter

Grants +1.3 mobility and +10 defense. Doubles damage from Ram.

Goliath

 The Goliath is created from the Gunner and Rocketeer classes. Goliaths have the most Defense-related perks, and thus excel in the tanking role. Goliaths can also utilize various offensive perks such as Double Tap and Grenadier.
Absorption Fields
Absorption Fields
Absorption Fields
Gain 5% DR. Shots from beam weapons (laser/pulse/drone/cyberdisc) lose half of their penetration when targeting this unit.
Kinetic Dampening
Kinetic Dampening
Kinetic Dampening
Grants proximity-based DR from shots against this unit over 10 tiles away (+5% DR per tile further than 10). Grants 1 penetration resistance.

Shogun

 The Shogun is created from the Engineer and Medic classes. Shoguns are particularly flexbile due to their innate Collateral Damage and range of support perks, granting them the ability to assault, support, and tank.
Collateral Damage
Collateral Damage
Collateral Damage

Use a full magazine of ammo to destroy some cover and deal 20% of base weapon damage per ammo spent in a 5 tile radius up to 8 tiles away and then reload the main weapon. Leaves this unit with 1 AP and reduces mobility to 3.3 until out of AP. Does not work while in One For All. Destroys Corpses. 3 turn cooldown.

Packmaster
Packmaster
Packmaster
Equipped medikits, grenades, and mists receive an additional use. Grants +2 HP to healing from Restorative Mists.

Guide to using MECs - Build overview

MEC soldiers are the strongest XCOM has to offer, so in any campaign one can't go wrong by prioritizing MECs and researching Biocybernetics tech as soon as you can. Once you get the tech, you have to build MEC suit and "augment" one of the soldiers to become a MEC. Augmentation lasts 20 days, or a bit longer if you try to augment injured soldier, so it is good to start early with the process. Once first MEC is out and ready to fight, best to immediately augment another and more or less continue doing this for the rest of the game. Once you have 8 MEC soldiers you are pretty much set to always have two available for every mission. Optimal number is probably between 8-12, and you can get this many and pretty much try all the builds. MECs are not invulnerable so it is good to have some extra in case some of them die.

Starting MECs

Starting MECs have access to Paladin MEC suit with one large and two small items. MEC weapons do large amount of damage - big gun after all - and they are often able to just flank aliens and score critical hits. While they are resistant, aliens do have counters. Drones will hurt them badly, Thinmen as well, and even Sectoids come in numbers and shoot twice so damage adds up quickly. Since you start with only one MEC, their protection and smart play is vital. Regarding items, at beginning they only have access to one large item Kinetic Strike Module (KSM) - which is one of the best MEC weapons entire game. KSM can one-shot most of the aliens for quite some time. MEC has to be in melee range, but KSM will never miss. MEC can also use Scopes and similar items. Note about Heavy Mags: while it is great to have lots of ammo, it is quite heavy, probably not good idea to use it unless you really need to. Better to have mobility and flank for kills.


  • Marauder - Most common starting MEC is probably Marauder and there are couple of reasons for that. Marauder is the best at utilizing KSM, practically he is built for it. Marauder is unique in sense that he can punch the alien for 1 AP, and afterwards he gets another action, which then he can use to either move, shoot another alien or go to OFA. That is a lot of flexibility. Besides that, Marauder is well rounded in offense and defense. He operates quite well on its own without much support from the team. Marauder with KSM is also excellent for handling terror missions, ie. punching Chryssalids is one good way to get rid of them. He also has some disadvantages, as he is not great at handling Drones and Floaters.
  • Shogun - Shogun is quite strong starting choice due to its unique Collateral Damage ability. This is Rocket Launcher like ability, it has huge AOE, a bit lengthy cooldown, but it is very accurate and has higher damage. To use Collateral Damage well you just need to build Heavy Mags for extra ammo as Collateral Damage scales with ammo count. This will solve most of the air alien issue in the missions, provided that you have Collateral Damage on cooldown when it is needed. So you may try to time using this ability properly. Collateral Damage can also be well used against ground targets, but damage will be reduced by cover, so it is not as strong. It can destroyer weaker cover, so may lead to flanks and free kills. Besides Collateral Damage nothing stops Shogun from using KSM to punch aliens as well.
  • Goliath - Goliath is tank type of MEC primarily, but he also has strong early DPS abilities. Grenade build is strong Goliath build, Sentry gets you extra shot and control with large MEC gun and Double Tap with large weapon can one-shot lots of enemies and scales nicely into killing mechanical enemies if you want to go with that route. He can use KSM and Heavy Mags as well. Further in the game he will be more tank than damage dealer, which may be just the way to go. Bio tanks were nerfed a bit, while MEC tanks got buffed.
  • Jaeger - This MEC is best known for his great scaling damage and huge critical hits. Very fun. He has unique ability to go stealth when he sees aliens, which then allows him to avoid overwatch. Stealth gives him extra critical hit chance so he often one-shots aliens. It is tempting to go in and blow up aliens, but he is fragile type of MEC. Almost all his abilities are offensive, which perhaps makes him risky first choice for starting MEC. If you happen to get hit couple of times and get injured, you will end up on bench and without MECs for a few missions. If you choose Jaeger for starting MEC, take special care to protect him, can't just go yolo all the time. Drones are especially nasty counter to Jaegers, Holo Targeting will disable stealth for duration and make Jaeger even more vulnerable.

Keeping your MECs alive and well - MEC Suits - Defense vs Damage Reduction

Regardless of MEC you are using, if they lose their armor, they become vulnerable and have to play much more cautious. If MEC gets injured you just lost valuable assets for days if not weeks. Injured MEC has to hide and will likely contribute little or nothing. So, priority number uno, keep them healthy.

This is primarily done with:

  • Positioning - MECs are strong, but so are the aliens. Make smart choices, when going for kills limit vision, choose proper angles. You don't want your MEC to be shoot at with 3+ aliens in most cases. Aliens can move so don't be naive, they will go around and shoot you if they can. If you can't hide MEC from too many eyes, use other means of protection. Proper positioning is one of the most important skills to have.
  • MEC suit choice and defense vs DR
    • DR - If MEC is going to be tanky and attract shots, go for high DR. That means when building advanced suits choosing the heavier bulky one with better DR. Use Alloy Carbide Plating or Core Plating s well and pick some of the defensive perks. Things that kill MECs are critical hits - and you have Fortified perk and OFA to counter that. Some alien leaders have Critical Strike Targeting that do extra damage to MEC - you want to limit sight here and eliminate them immediately. Drones will also Holo Target MECs so get rid of them asap, and limit vision if possible to protect MECs. These MEC may be tanky, but they are not immortal, position them well and use other means to protect them.
    • Defense - MECs that will be primarily damage (dps) classes with offensive perks mostly, don't want to be shot at.. at all. Main way to achieve this is to stack defense stat on them. Aliens will refuse to shoot them, opt for other targets, go overwatch and what not. There are couple of items and perks that increase defense and these are excellent choice. Remember, if you keep your MEC alive and well he will continue doing tons of damage, don't neglect defense. Couple of hard hits on dps class and your offensive items will quickly lose all the value. Light MEC suits add extra defense and they are the choice here. They are also more mobile, so use that to position MECs properly, limit their exposure.
  • Distractions - This one is simple and strong. If you don't want aliens shooting at your MEC give them juicy target. To protect dps MEC, let aliens see your tank MEC, he will draw fire. Or place SHIV or bio tank in low cover under their nose. If you go yolo and isolate your Marauders and Jaegers, well aliens will have nothing else to shoot at and that is not going to end well.
  • Defensive items and healing - Smoke your MECs if they are too exposed, don't neglect this. MEC is more worthy than other soldiers. Flashbang and acid aliens, use psi powers, whatever helps. Healing is also important, you can use Engineer repair, Medic Combat drugs or pick Servo Motors on MEC.
  • OFA - MECs in OFA stance will be immune to critical hits and have increased DR, but they will most likely be hit for some (usually) small damage. In general you want tank MECs to be in OFA, while other MECs ideeally should be never shot at. If you do expect to receive high amount of damage, you may as well take your losses and rather go in OFA. Better to control damage taken than to possibly die. If you are in tough spot, smoke the MEC or expose other soldiers to bait aliens to avoid kill the MEC.
  • Acid protection and Thinmen - Acid will eat alive your MECs. Either have Engineer nearby or Alloy Carbide Plating/Core Plating. Eliminate Thinmen on sight, at least they are not fat with hp.

Marauder builds

General note about Marauders is that they are excellent KSM users, punchers, and their damage is strong for entire game duration. They are often exposed and it is smart to build them tanky and pick tanky perks. As the game goes later and alien damage and threat level increase this will become more and more important. Eventually, you will want to put Marauder more in OFA stance and in general position them more cautiously. Very late game they are one of the best counters to Sectopods, Etherals and Sectoids Commanders. That pretty much makes them invaluable. Every Marauder will eventually get Sprinter perk and we rate mobility as one of the best stats.

  • Close Combat Specialist (CCS) Marauder is quite solid choice for first Marauder build. CCS allows Marauder to hit multiple targets in 4-tile range and this includes flying aliens. His damage when shooting does not scale well later in the game, but its good enough to efficiently get rid of aliens in early months of campaign. Thinmen are a bit nasty since they can avoid CCS reaction shot, but you can punch them into oblivion. The build picks on Lock 'n Load which reloads the gun on dash, so you can dash quite far and kill pack of aliens sometimes. Quite strong. One problem of this build is that if you want to rely a lot on CCS you cannot go in OFA so Marauder is vulnerable to bigger hits. For that reason you would want to pick Fortified or Grit ability early, but then you miss on Brawler - which is an excellent early pick. You don't get into late game if you lose early so picking early strong perks has a lot of merit. Later on in game you can make more Marauders with different builds more suited for late game.
  • Dash n Bash Marauder is another good starting choice - simply ram and kill the alien. Can't miss, even tho ram sometimes has a bit wonky targeting. Plus you get to punch after dash. He has huge mobility range so he can solve lots of bad situation in council missions for example. Cooldown is a bit longer on his dashing ability and he can't go in OFA stance after dash and punch. Usually not a problem, since you dash to obscure corner to kill annoying alien. This was strongest build, but it got some KSM damage nerfs so it is more equal to other builds now. Still excellent, especially for larger maps due to his ability to dash far and punch.
  • Jetboot Marauder was buffed with 2 second cooldown on Jetboot Module skill and currently he is probably as good if not better than other builds. Marauder is puncher and Jetboot Module makes it possible to punch more often and get to the places where other MECs simply can't get to. Works quite well on urban maps. He does not have max range of other builds, but has more mobility more often than both other builds. He can often take shortcuts to get to destination and it is quite hard to estimate exactly how good this is, but be sure - it is good. This build usually don't dash, he wants to get to alien, punch it and then you are flexible to try to do more damage or go in OFA.

Large items:

  • KSM goes on pretty much every Marauder. Late game Thumper as well. This limits versatility a bit - that is why we say he is puncher primarily.
  • Flamethrower is good early pick. Marauder goes in close, punches one alien, and you can fry all the rest. It may be a bit hard to use upgraded Flamethrower since that requires extra slot.

Small items:

  • Heavy Mags is interesting choices for CCS Marauder. You can dash into aliens and always have enough ammo. Other builds don't need this item.
  • Flak ammo might be interesting sometimes to kill pesky fliers, especially on CCS build. If you feel creative. Or just use Scope a bit.
  • Prediction Computer and Combat Computer - a bit later items, both give defense plus other bonuses Marauder can use. Whatever helps him not getting hit is great.
  • Alloy Carbide Plating and Core Plating both excellent protection items. If unsure equip these.

More details about each Marauder build with some extra guide and tips you can check in the link.

Shogun builds

Shogun is unique thanks to its Collateral Damage ability (among other things) and its ability to do tons of AOE damage. It still can do similar things as other MEC soldiers, but whatever you build into, you always have that large AOE damage to help the squad. AOE works both on ground and flying and it is especially good way to hurt Drones, Floaters and H. Floaters and remove that pesky Tactical Mobility buff. From here on you can choose what kind of Shogun you want by going deeper into builds. All Shoguns have access to strong Packmaster ability, and in case of Shogun, it turns him into quite potent AOE healer. This has lots of synergy with Repulsor on advanced body armors.

  • Tank Shogun is nice tanky build that keeps ability to do lots of AOE damage. Goliath, which ultimately is better tank, can't match this level of damage. No need to hardcore tank when you can kill aliens. Tank builds are naturally using Grenade Launchers and Shogun has nice selection of perks if you want some boost there as well. It is good early choice as well, since XCOM needs both damage and tanking help. Later on he just becomes better with ability to heal himself and the squad.
  • Grenadier Shogun brings lots of AOE damage into the squad. Grenade launcher is not available very early (need MEC Warfare Systems), so this build is best picked mid or late game. Grenade Launcher is not the most damaging weapon (cover negates it a lot), but it is excellent utility. It breaks overwatch and disorients, both is needed whole game. Shogun can pick up lots of extra range so he can place this grenades very well, and that also allows him to get better hits and more damage. If built later he quickly gets access to Packmaster and Restorative Mists heal creating strong full-package MEC.
  • Hit and Run Shogun is interesting strong build that can actually do ton of single target damage. Depending on your style you might pick this one, it is safer than Jeger for example, as he can retreat (or go in OFA) after hit and run attack. Jaeger might be better single target damage dealer overall, but he does not have huge AOE ability as Shogun and he can't really retreat. Plus you get all utility that Shogun offers. The build is good pretty much always, but perhaps shine best when you get core items (Restorative Mists) and perks (Packmaster).

Large items:

  • Restorative Mist is key Shogun item, once he gains Packmaster trait. You can skip it, but it is really good so why gimp yourself.
  • Grenade launchers are natural choice for Shogun, they work from OFA and Shogun is good at tanking and going into OFA.

Small items:

  • Heavy Mags - every Shogun wants this item, it increase Collateral Damage a lot, don't sleep on it.
  • Alloy Carbide Plating and Core Plating both excellent protection items. If unsure equip these.
  • Hit and Run Shogun relies on flanking damage so damage booster items are good. Other builds don't care much.

More details about each Shogun build with some extra guide and tips you can check in the link.

Goliath builds

Goliath is a bit different than other MECs, really interesting to learn a new style of playing. He is primarily tanking class and you will appreciate to learn how he can stand like a boss in OFA and take hit after hit, while you deal with very tough situation. You may think it is useless at first to "spend" a MEC on sitting as a brick, but he is actually doing lots of work distracting everyone from killing your team. And while in OFA, you can launch grenades and deal good damage as Goliath. But he doesn't have to turn into brick, 2 out of 3 builds are playing a lot out of OFA. Just when things get really tough, you have that option to go tankier than other MECs can. Every Goliath will get Kinetic Shield perk (just not early), the one that alien Outsiders have and he becomes very resistant to attacks from distance. Besides that he has tons of other defensive perks to choose from.

  • Grenadier Goliath is strongest grenadier build and natural extension to Goliath play style. He can fire grenades normally, our out of OFA. If you have to choose, probably go to OFA first, he will draw most of the fire to himself. The build has damage grenade perks, better than Shogun in that aspect, but they do come with higher ranks. So this build is probably best built mid to late game.
  • Sentry Goliath is going to overwatch and shoot up to 3 times while being extra tanky. He has also the option to pick Reactive targeting systems and auto go into OFA stance, which is quite nice if you are learning to play with this class. He can do a lot of damage at times this way.
  • Double Tap Goliath will be shooting like "normal" MECs when Double Tap is on. He usually picks up Critical Strike Targeting perk that deals extra damage to mechanicals. This is really good way to handle strong mechanical enemies, like Cyberdisk for example. He can take couple of shots back, when most of others would die. He is also good vs Drones, Seekers and Mechtoids, but can deal with anything really. Big gun + shoot twice = lots of damage. If Double Tap is on cooldown you may opt to OFA for a turn sometimes. This is good second or third MEC perhaps, it will come out roughly in time when you need him against tougher mechanical enemies.

Large items:

  • Grenade launchers are natural choice for Goliath. Good idea to bring one even if you don't pick Grenadier build.
  • Restorative Mist could be used as well if you focus on tanking, every bit of HP is that much stronger as Goliath.
  • Flamethrower can be used to get extra damage from Goliath. This way he can actually do ton of AOE, it may be just what you need. More dps is always good.

Small items:

  • Alloy Carbide Plating and Core Plating both excellent protection items. Since he primarily tanks you want these - you may already have lots of defense, but more means hitting breakpoints. Makes things easier.
  • Double Tap build will want to shoot flying aliens - good idea to pick Flak ammo. He also uses Scope well.

More details about each Goliath build with some extra guide and tips you can check in the link.

See also

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