Part 22

Detailed breakdown of Assault and Support class abilities in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, including rank-based perks, weapon choices, and strategic tips for maximizing their effectiveness.

This section details the Assault and Support classes, their abilities, and recommended perks in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Assault Trooper:

Rank 7: Resilience or Killer Instinct

• Resilience: Confers immunity to critical hits. This is generally not recommended as avoiding damage is more effective than mitigating critical hits.
• Killer Instinct: Using Run and Gun grants a +50% critical hit chance bonus. This is considered the better choice for prioritizing kills and keeping assaults safe.

Support:

The Support class excels with grenades, has two starting inventory slots, can heal effectively, and provides decent damage and suppressive fire.

• Aim: 89
• HP: 8

Rank 1: Smoke grenade

• Smoke Grenade: Throws a grenade that provides +20 defense to all units within its radius for one turn. This can affect MECs, SHIVs, and even enemies.

Rank 2: Sprinter or Covering Fire

• Sprinter: Allows the Support to move 3 extra tiles per action bar. This is generally not considered very useful as it can make the Support outpace the squad.
• Covering Fire: Overwatch now yields a reaction shot if the enemy attempts to shoot. This ability is useful, but penalties still apply, and shots are likely to miss if the enemy is in cover.

Rank 3: Field Medic or Smoke and Mirrors

• Field Medic: Medkits can be used three times instead of once. Useful for unexpected damage, especially when supporting MECs in a tanking role.
• Smoke and Mirrors: Smoke Grenades can be used three times. This is often considered more useful than Field Medic, as avoiding damage is a primary goal.

Rank 4: Revive or Rifle Supression

• Revive: Critically injured soldiers can be revived with a medkit (at 33% health). Without this, they would only be stabilized. However, critically injured soldiers take a significant will hit, making this ability less valuable long-term.

Rank 5: Dense Smokes or Combat Drugs

• Dense Smoke: Smoke grenades now provide +40 defense. This is considered very useful.
• Combat Drugs: Smoke grenades provide the usual 20 defense but also grant +20 will and +10 critical chance and +20 aim. This is less useful than Dense Smoke, as the primary purpose of smoke is damage mitigation.

Rank 6: Deep Pockets

• Deep Pockets: All items can be used one more time. Combined with Smoke and Mirrors, this allows for an abundance of smoke grenades.

Rank 7: Saviour or Sentinel

• Saviour: Medkits heal +4 extra HP. This is mostly useless, as it only increases healing from 6 to 10 HP.
• Sentinel: Overwatch fire now has 2 shots instead of 1. This is mostly useless but could potentially prove lethal in rare situations.

MEC Trooper:

MEC Troopers are created by permanently converting a non-rookie soldier, gaining a perk based on their original class. MECs have an Aim of 77 and 8 HP.

• Heavy MEC: +20 defense and immunity to critical hits against the first target seen.
• Assault MEC: Takes 33% less damage from attacks within 4 tiles.
• Sniper MEC: Shots taken in a turn where the MEC has not moved gain +10 aim and crit chance. This is most useful if the MEC was a Colonel Sniper.
• Support MEC: Other units in cover gain +10 defense. This is only useful if not using multiple MECs or SHIVs.

MEC troopers retain their rank and chosen abilities, as well as their Aim stat, but not its growth rate. It is generally detrimental to convert classes other than Heavy into MECs before they reach Colonel rank due to lower Aim.

Rank 1: Collateral damage

• Collateral Damage: Fires a high-ammo shot that damages enemies in a small radius and demolishes destructible cover. Damage equals the weapon's tier level. Useful in team situations.

Rank 2: Advanced Fire control or automated threat assessment

• Advanced Fire control: Overwatch shots have no penalty. Recommended if the MEC was a Colonel Sniper; otherwise, Automated Threat Assessment is preferred for survivability.
• Automated Threat Assessment: Overwatch grants a +15 defense bonus to the MEC.

Rank 3: Vital Targeting or Damage Control

• Vital Targeting: Enemies that have been previously scanned take +2 damage. Useful and deadly.
• Damage Control: Upon taking damage, subsequent damage is reduced by 2 for a few turns. Not very useful but can help the MEC tank more damage.

Rank 4: One for All or Jetbook Module

• One for All: The MEC becomes a high cover block for other XCOM soldiers (not MECs or SHIVs). The MEC cannot shoot or move while this is active. This is considered useless as it removes a heavy hitter from combat for a single soldier's cover.

Rank 5: Repair Servos or expanded storage

• Repair Servos: Heals +2 HP per turn, up to a maximum of 6 damage healed. Useful for MEC survivability.
• Expanded Storage: Gives the MEC +50% more ammo and one extra use of all limited abilities. Useful if limited abilities are frequently used, though MECs often need to reload anyway.