Long War Class Builds - Rocketeer

I'm a Rocketman.

I haven’t always been a fan of the Rocketeer. When I first started playing Long War (beta 13), I had a few mishaps with stray rockets, and blew up my own squad a couple times, and so then I started using the Commanders Choice option, just to completely eliminate this dreadful class from my barracks. I despised the Rocketeer. Since then the Rocketeer has changed, and I’ve learned how to fire rockets correctly, and so we have patched things up, put our differences behind us, and this is a love story.

No other class has saved my squad, solved my problems, turned defeat into victory, as frequently as the Rocketeer. They are essential in April as the only real counter to both Thin Men and Floaters, and good against pretty much everything. Occasionally a rocket goes astray, and its a huge setback, and that is the strongest endorsement of the class I can give. If any other class misses a shot in April, which they are prone to do, it is rarely as meaningful. But if your rocket doesn’t land on that pod of 4 Thin Men, you are in deep trouble.

---

• Ranger

• Fire in the Hole

• Shredder Ammo

• Mayhem

• Shock & Awe

• Tandem Warheads

---

Ranger

Adding a little more damage to every rocket is great. Also, when your Rocketeer runs out of rockets, Ranger will give you a bit more damage with their gun.

Alternatives: HEAT Warheads or Will to Survive

HEAT Warheads is about as good as Ranger. It is certainly better in the early game, and most Long War commanders seem to prefer it over Ranger. Heat Warheads will enable the Rocketeer to make short work of Drones and Seekers, destroying entire pods in a single action. Many of the nastiest enemies in the game are robotic (Cyberdiscs, Mechtoids, and Sectopods) and this perk will help soften them up as well. Floaters and Heavy Floaters do not count as robotic.

Will to Survive is a solid skill, especially for a soldier that will not have spare equipment slots for plating. But the Rocketeer should not be placed in many precarious positions, and shouldn’t draw too much fire.

---

Fire in the Hole

This is a fantastic ability that will reduce rocket scatter by almost one full tile. The difference between a rocket that lands, and one that goes astray is enormous. Fire in the Hole is a transformative ability that will allow the Rocketeer to carry his squadmates through April and May.

Alternatives: Rapid Reaction or Snapshot

These are both terrible abilities. Rocketeers need to steady, not overwatch. Rapid Reaction might prove useful after the Rocketeer is completely out of rockets, but by that time you should also be out of enemies. Snapshot is equally bad. If the Rocketeer needs to reposition, it is far better to then steady, rather than fire a wild rocket. Even with Snapshot, moving and firing a rocket is an act of reckless desperation.

---

Shredder Ammo

There is not much to say here. A shredder rocket is almost as good as a normal rocket, and so this skill is fantastic. With 4 rockets, the Rocketeer will be able to throw one rocket per pod on standard missions, and won’t need to be as miserly with ordinance on longer missions.

Alternatives: Platform Stability or Suppression

Platform Stability is identical to Fire in the Hole, except that it competes against much better abilities at this rank, and there are diminishing returns for additional aim. Platform Stability is great; but you don’t need it as much as another rocket.

Suppression will give the Rocketeer something useful to do after running out of rockets. I prefer to extend the Rocketeers value with an additional rocket, but Suppression is good as well. Ammunition will be more of an issue for Rocketeers, than it is for Gunners and Infantry.

---

Mayhem

This is a great ability that bumps up the damage on rockets so that they keep pace with the increasing HP of your enemies. With 4 rockets, it will add a lot of damage.

Alternatives: Tactical Sense or Opportunist

Tactical Sense is a decent ability, but if you are fielding MECs at mid game, the enemy will usually prefer to target them, instead of your Rocketeer, who is likely in solid cover, and further away. TacSense is a reasonable choice if you grabbed suppression at the last rank, and expect to draw fire.

Opportunist is intended to pair with Rapid Reaction, I guess, but I never grab that, so I never grab this.

---

Shock & Awe

Yet another rocket. By the time my soldiers reach this level, longer and harder missions are more prevalent. Terror Missions are an absolute nightmare in late game, and there is the Base Defense to worry about. 5 rockets may be a bit more than what is usually needed, but when you need rockets, you really need them. Alternatively, one utility slot can be used to carry the shadow device, leaving the rocketeer with 4 rockets total, which is more than enough on most missions.

Alternatives: Extra Conditioning or Double Tap

I don’t like Extra Conditioning for the same reasons I don’t like Will to Survive and Tactical Sense. It is defense on a soldier that shouldn’t take many shots.

Double Tap is a great skill for a shooter but is only ok on a Rocketeer. It is hard to support this skill with gear and other abilities. Ranger is the only ability that complements it, and a scope loses out to additional rockets. Shooting twice is just not as good as firing a rocket, and so once again this is an ability that will only help once the rockets are gone, and it competes against another rocket, and loses.

---

Tandem Warheads

This is a fantastic ability that will add a ton of damage. By the time soldiers reach this rank, my primary officers should be granting additional aim, and the scatter range should be extremely low and perhaps 100% when steadied. This means I can paint the rocket target area to hit numerous enemies and still deliver the full weight of damage to each of them. As rocket damage ordinarily falls off from 100% at the center to 25% at the edge, this is a massive upgrade.

Alternatives: Javelin Rockets or Danger Zone

Danger Zone is not as good at optimizing rocket damage as Tandem Warheads, especially when there are fewer targets. Concentrating damage is usually preferable to hitting more targets, and Tandem Warheads is likely to add more total damage anyway. Also Danger Zone makes it harder to center the rocket on enemies nearby your troops.

Javelin Rockets is an interesting ability that seems like it would be especially useful on the base defense. I haven’t tried it, and so I can’t speak to its utility, but lots of players like Javelins.

---

Rocketeer Tips:

• To help aim rockets, you can use the F5 and F2 keys to toggle the camera perspective, which I describe in this post: More Accurate Rockets with this one Weird Trick!

• Steady a rocket.

• Some Rocketeer builds attempt to give the Rocketeer something to do when the rockets have all been spent, but this limits their rocketing potential. Instead I like to make Rocketeers psi soldiers, which gives them more abilities without compromise.

• If your Rocketeer is slowing down your squad I suggest equipping and SMG or carbine. That’s how I always equip them.