LWOTC Class Builds - Sharpshooter

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

Note: This post is a revised version of my Long War 2 Sharpshooter build, with changes to the text/build as appropriate for the new rules and skills in LWOTC. All changes to the rules/mechanics of LW2 are displayed in bold.

LWOTC Ufopaedia: Sharpshooter

I’m not sure how I feel about this class in LWOTC. It’s true that in LW2, Kubikuri was too strong, but it also required a good deal of preparation and experience to guarantee a kill, which made Kubikuri quite satisfying to use. I will certainly miss using it. Sometimes a nerf is needed, and appropriate, but it still makes the game less fun to play. Oh well.

Kubikuri has been replaced with Disabling Shot which serves the same purpose; dealing with boss enemies. It also functions in a similar way which encourages crit stacking. Disabling Shot is a great skill, but it won’t actually kill a Sectopod, only control it, and so the Sharpshooter is less important to bring on missions than the soldiers that can actually shred and kill boss enemies; Gunners, Rangers, or Reapers with shredder and/or bluescreen rounds.

Sharpshooters are great soldiers, dealing high damage with high accuracy, but they are now more of a supporting role, rather than the focal point of the squad.

DFA

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• Death From Above

• Center Mass

• Precision Shot

• Low Profile

• Deadeye

• Kubikuri Disabling Shot

• Double Tap

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Death From Above:

The ability you select at LCPL rank is extremely significant. Perhaps the most significant choice at any rank for all the classes. DFA allows the Sharpshooter to chain steadied shots, when shooting with a height advantage and making a kill. It is incredibly powerful, and when paired with other Sharpshooter abilities will often allow your squad to remove the most dangerous enemy on the board, each turn. In flat terrain, this ability is meaningless. Also the Sharpshooter’s line of sight can be obstructed by trees or buildings leading to a frustrating situation where there are lots of enemies, but none can be targeted. However, on the longest and hardest missions of the campaign DFA is almost always going to count, and count big.

Alternatives: Rapid Targeting and Snap Shot.

Rapid Targeting: This allows your Sharpshooter to use the Holotargeter without ending their turn, and it is free to use once every 4 turns. This is good, but not nearly as good as DFA. The reason to choose this ability is because you intend to take the 4 other abilities that improve your Holotarget skill, which will eventually be comparable in effectiveness, if not better than DFA. You are not so much picking an ability here, as you are picking your entire build track. So let’s discuss the Holobot build. With all those abilities your Sharpshooter can Holotarget an entire pod, giving your squad +20 aim, +20 crit, and +2 damage for 2 full turns. Not bad. The biggest issues I have with the Holobot is that it means I am not shooting with a shooter class, but instead buffing the rest of my squad, which is often composed of mostly non-shooters. If you use a lot of guaranteed damage abilities, and high probability shots, which you should, it is better to bring another shooter than a Holobot.

Snap Shot: This will allow your Sharpshooter to move and shoot. When I started playing LWOTC, I picked Snap Shot on my first 2 Sharpshooters thinking it would make the bonus actions granted by bond mates more effective. This was a mistake. Level 1 bond mates only grant bonus moves, not bonus actions. Advanced Teamwork is not available until well into the campaign, and even then it is not worth taking Snap Shot.

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Center Mass:

This ability adds a point of damage, which is very good. It will lose significance as you acquire weapons with higher damage, but is still nice, and can sometimes make the difference, keeping your chain of steadied kills going.

Alternatives: Damn Good Ground or Phantom.

Damn Good Ground looks great, especially when paired with DFA, but it suffers from the same problem as Center Mass, falling off in value as the Sharpshooter gains aim. Quicker than you would expect, the Sharpshooter will have guaranteed shots on most uncovered enemies from elevation. By the end game, the Sharpshooter should have an aim of ~115 with equipment. With elevation that would be 125. If steadied with a Superior Stock; 150. Damn Good Ground might matter when you are not steadied, otherwise it won’t matter at all. Well not exactly, as it still gives you +10 Defense, and if your steady chain is broken by a min roll on damage, it may help you get back on track. It is a perfectly good choice here, seeing as how Center Mass falls off in value as well. One consideration is that Center Mass helps at all times; Damn Good Ground only when you have elevation.

Phantom makes sense if you are going to build a holobot, who can spend every turn holo targeting and commanding squadmates to do more shooting.

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Precision Shot:

This ability will often guarantee the crit against an uncovered enemy, and adds some damage as well. It usually allows the Sharpshooter to one shot kill even the top tier enemies throughout the early and middle of the campaign. It is incredibly good.

Alternatives: HiDef Holo or Lone Wolf.

HiDef Holo is great if you are going the Holotargeter track. Otherwise it is near worthless.

Lone Wolf is ok. It is a little different in LWOTC; granting +12 aim/crit when the soldier is 7+ tiles away from an ally, but prorates the bonus for a distance of 4-6 tiles. As with Damn Good Ground, this ability falls off in value as the Sharpshooter gains aim. It doesn’t rely on elevation, but instead requires you to fiddle with soldier placement. Separating the Sharpshooter from the squad can be dangerous, and could mean denying elevation or high cover to a squadmate in order to gain this bonus. Its tricky to use. In my limited experience with Lone Wolf I’ve found that it steals my focus away from more important concerns, and tempts me to make bad compromises.

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Low Profile:

This ability is okay, granting a bit more defense for a low HP soldier. Rooftop ledges mostly give half cover, so the Sharpshooter will often find this ability useful.

Alternatives: Independent Tracking or Long Watch.

Independent Tracking: Great if you are going the Holotargeter track. Otherwise near worthless.

Long Watch: Allows overwatch shots to trigger at squad sight, which is terrible. This can activate pods you had no intention of activating. If you have DFA you will almost always want to be steadying when you are not shooting. If you are a Holotargeter, you will take Independent Tracking, not Long Watch.

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Deadeye:

Deadeye is great. The aim penalty is usually trivial for a Sharpshooter and it grants a significant bonus to damage (50% of base weapon damage), which will often guarantee a kill. By the time you get this ability, the aim penalty will often not matter very much. The tandem of Precision Shot and Deadeye will allow your Sharpshooter to alternate between 2 highly effective special shots.

Alternatives: Aggression or Vital Point Targeting.

Aggression is a very good ability for a DFA Sharpshooter. Steadied shots already have a bonus to crit, and with Talon Rounds and Aggression a crit can usually be guaranteed against flanked targets. It also works well with Precision Shot, and Disabling Shot. It is a worthy alternative to Deadeye.

Vital Point Targeting is great if you are going the Holotargeter track. Otherwise near worthless.

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Kubikuri Disabling Shot:

Kubikuri is one of the most powerful abilities in LW2, capable of killing any enemy in the game with a single shot. Disabling Shot is new in LWOTC, and it’s great. The target is disabled for a turn; if the shot crits, the target is disabled for 3 turns. The reason this ability is so good is because it is the only guaranteed way of controlling a Sectopod, other than killing it. The other options, Hack and Sting Grenades, have a less than 50% chance of succeeding.

Alternatives: Multitargeting or Hunter’s Instinct.

Multitargeting is great if you are going the Holotargeter track. Otherwise near worthless.

Hunter’s Instinct adds 2 points of damage on flanked targets. This is very good, but it is not as uniquely beneficial as Disabling Shot.

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Double Tap:

All of the abilities at MSGT rank are great. You cannot pick wrong here. Double Tap will give your Sharpshooter a steadier boost in power. Having one extra shot every other round. This sounds simple, but with DFA it gets tricky. You need to make a kill on the 2nd shot (which will not be steadied) in order to keep your steady chain unbroken.

Alternatives: Alpha Mike Foxtrot and Serial.

Alpha Mike Foxtrot is great. +4 damage on every shot, and another +2 on crits; usually enough to kill any tier 3 advent soldier and most aliens in the late game. This ability works more smoothly with DFA, than Double Tap, but it limits you to one kill per turn, whereas Double Tap enables 2 kills on lower HP targets.

Serial is reminiscent of Long War’s In The Zone, as it refunds your actions if you make a kill. Unlike ITZ this happens even if the enemy was in cover, which means it is easier to use and extremely powerful. Sadly, this ability has a 7 turn cool down in LWOTC. In my first few successful LW2 campaigns I chose Serial exclusively. Here is the big problem I have with it. To get the most value out of Serial you need to chain a lot of kills. Typically this means starting with the highest HP target where you have a guaranteed kill and working your way down. But late game enemies have a ton of HP, so getting numerous targets down to where you can guarantee a kill is hard. Usually I am tempted to start with a shot that needs to crit in order to kill, because my Sharpshooter is steadied and thus the first shot is the most likely to crit. If I miss, the chain breaks before it has even begun. Serial seems designed to create “That’s XCOM baby!” moments.

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Alternate Builds

I recommend watching DerAva’s Sharpshooter build video, in which he breaks down his 2 builds: DFA and Holobot. His class build videos also contain a lot of information on game mechanics and how those interact with various abilities, and is worth watching even if you stick with your own build.

Considering the skills on the XCOM row, there are a lot of skills that enhance shooting, and almost none that would enhance the officer holobot - the exception being Field Medic. The Holobot does not need any special equipment and is well suited to carrying medikits. Still, I think I would only go this route with a Sharpshooter if he had extremely low aim.