LWOTC Class Builds - Skirmisher
All the soldiers who can attack 3 times in a single turn at LCPL rank, raise your ripjack in the air.
LWOTC Ufopaedia: Skirmisher
I love the new Skirmisher. This is the strongest soldier on day 1, but requires a good bit of experience and finesse to use properly. The Skirmisher starts with Hit & Run, which enables two attacks, but only when flanking opponents; thankfully that is made easier with the innate grapple ability. Often the Skirmisher can grapple to a rooftop for a flanking shot with the height advantage. This is really strong and will allow your Skirmisher to steamroll advent troopers.
Things get even more absurd at LCPL rank, which offers two skills that enable the Skirmisher to attack 3 times in a single turn. And it keeps getting better and crazier from there. The Skirmisher can obtain more grenades than a Grenadier, or another grapple attack (that also enables 3-attack turns), or an ability that truncates an ally’s cooldown timers. Topping off the crazy, the Skirmisher has two completely unique abilities that pause combat during the enemy’s turn, so the Skirmisher can attack yet again.
I think the best Skirmisher builds will focus on using either grenades or grappling to maximize the number of attacks the Skirmisher can take each round. I prefer the grenades. My build can attack twice, even without a flanking shot, and control enemies, which other builds lack.
Monkey Bomber
Total Combat
Packmaster
Chain Shot
Damn Good Ground
Manual Override
- Nothing -
Lethal
Total Combat:
This ability turns your Skirmisher into a grenadier that can also shoot twice. It is extremely powerful early on, and great throughout the campaign. Grenades suit the Skirmisher; occasionally creating flanks by destroying cover, and controlling enemies once you obtain Incendiary/Frost grenades. If that wasn’t enough, Total Combat also grants +5 aim, and +1 mobility. This is absurdly good. The other skills at this rank are also quite good, but not as reliable or as easy to use. I call this build the Monkey Bomber because of a very powerful maneuver I often use, that combines the grapple with grenades; the Skirmisher grapples to a flanking position, then throws a grenade, shoots with Hit & Run, then attacks a third time.
Alternatives: Justice or Battlefield Awareness
Justice will pull a target to your location, and deliver a slash attack. This attack, when successful, will also create a flanking shot, leading to 3 attacks in the same turn - just like Total Combat. On the other hand, this all depends on Justice hitting. If it misses, and no alternative flanking shot is available, then the Skirmisher is limited to only 2 attacks, both at an enemy in cover. Unlike a grenade, Justice does not guarantee damage, and has a 4 turn cooldown. This is a very strong ability, but it is less reliable and flexible than Total Combat, so not as good, imho.
Battlefield Awareness is like Untouchable, but with a 4 turn cooldown timer that is triggered when it makes an enemy miss. I haven’t used this ability but it sounds pretty good in the early game, when the Skirmisher should be able to generate kills, and your squads should be able to neutralize at least 2 of the 3 units in a normal sized pod, leaving only one enemy to shoot ineffectually at an exposed Skirmisher. Battlefield Awareness is much more complicated than the abilities it competes against, and it seems like it would make combat much more fiddly.
Packmaster:
With Packmaster the Skirmisher becomes better with grenades than a Grenadier,1 while still having the ability to shoot twice. On longer missions the Skirmisher can take 6 grenades; on shorter missions, 4 grenades and specialty ammunition makes more sense.
Alternatives: Wrath or Reflex
Wrath is very strong. It will grapple the Skirmisher to an enemy, while also slashing him with the ripjack, then from that adjacent tile the Skirmisher can take a free shot using Hit & Run, then attack again; 3 attacks in all. This is sometimes dangerous because the Skirmisher must move adjacent to an enemy, potentially activating another pod.
Reflex grants one extra action point when attacked, and +15 crit resistance. This ability should be paired with Combat Awareness or avoided. I don’t really like this ability. With Combat Awareness and Reflex, the Skirmisher will not be able to attack 3 times, unlike the other common Skirmisher builds. At higher ranks there are abilities that provide a useful way to spend extra actions (Combat Presence, Whiplash, Manual Override, etc.) but until then, Reflex will only grant extra mobility or a reload.
Chain Shot:
Skirmishers don’t have the best aim or the biggest guns, but using the grapple will often provide some bonus aim, and that can make Chain Shot a great finisher. When paired with Damn Good Ground at the next rank, this ability will often be guaranteed to hit. With Chain Shot this build has the potential to attack 4 times in a single turn.
Alternatives: Combat Presence or Implacable
Combat Presence allows the Skirmisher to give an action to a squadmate. It doesn’t add a lot of value to my build which can use up any and every action point by throwing grenades, which is usually about as good as what an ally could do with the extra action.
Implacable is a very strong ability on a Ranger, but I doubt it will deliver quite as much value to a Skirmisher with my build. This is because Hit & Run works very differently than Light’Em Up. LEU can be used with the first action, which can trigger Implacable, enabling the Ranger to move to a better position, and then shoot again; Hit & Run should not be used with the first action, because that would eat one of the Skirmisher’s action points. Instead, this build will want to use every action point for an attack and that typically means throwing a grenade with the first action - which is unlikely to trigger Implacable. When the Skirmisher takes his first shot, he should already be flanking an enemy, and thus already in good position, and so he would benefit less from an additional movement.
Damn Good Ground:
The grapple will make it easier for a Skirmisher to make use of this ability, and with multiple shots on most turns it will deliver a lot of value. It can also gives the Skirmishers a bit of defense which is nice. DGG is a good pick for every Skirmisher build.
Alternatives: Whiplash or Formidable
Whiplash is not a free action, nor is it guaranteed to hit. It is only better than throwing a grenade in a few circumstances, and even then not much better.
Formidable is a solid choice for any soldier without a vest.
Manual Override:
Manual Override will speed up cooldown timers on a squadmate by 3 turns. If you think about the most powerful abilities in the game (Stasis, Disabling Shot, Chain Lightning, Cyclic Fire, etc.) this ability seems like it would be very strong, and indeed it can be - but not as often as I had expected it to be, or perhaps, not as often as it should have been, because I simply forget to use it. Manual Override requires some mindfulness and preparation to get full value.
Alternatives: Interrupt or Retribution
Interrupt is pretty good. Triggering this ability will pause combat once during the enemy’s turn, and allow the Skirmisher to attack yet again. There are some limitations to Interrupt; an enemy must be in line of sight of the Skirmisher and must actually do something, and this won’t work during pod activation. Unlike overwatch it triggers after the enemy takes their action, not before.
Retribution grants a free ripjack attack on any enemy that enters or attacks from melee range. This is going to be strong when paired with Justice or Wrath but otherwise not very good.
- Nothing -
I don’t like any of the skills at this rank all that much. Instead of selecting one of them, it is possible to spend those 25 Action Points on XCOM row abilities. You can only do this with hero class soldiers by the way, and it only makes sense for the Skirmisher at GSGT rank. Perhaps I am taking advantage of an unintended loop hole, but it’s not a very significant advantage, so what the hell, let’s go shopping.
Alternatives: Full Throttle or Judgement or Close Encounters
Full Throttle will add a lot of mobility to this class which should prove useful from time to time. The Skirmisher is already pretty mobile with the grapple, but more mobility is always good.
Judgement will cause attacking units to panic if they fail a will check. This skill may be useful if you go with the Combat Awareness/Flex build.
Close Encounters is a great ability that conflicts with Hit & Run, as only one of them can grant an extra action per turn. This skill should add some value, but not often enough to justify the cost.
Lethal:
The Skirmisher is going to be shooting a lot no matter which build you use. Lethal will make all those shots a good deal stronger.
Alternatives: Reckoning or Battlelord
Reckoning is a great ability which allows the Skirmisher to ripjack slash within yellow move range, but only costs a single action point to use. This should also give the Skirmisher a flanking shot, and thus 3 or more attacks on this turn. Reckoning is more valuable to Skirmisher builds that do not already have Justice/Wrath, because it is somewhat redundant with those skills. It’s tempting, but Lethal can add value every turn, whereas Reckoning has a 4 turn cooldown.
Battlelord is the craziest ability in the Skirmisher tree, and perhaps the whole game. It is similar to Interrupt, pausing combat during the enemy’s turn so that the Skirmisher can attack, but unlike Interrupt, it costs an action point and pauses combat after each enemy in line of sight takes their turn. If the Skirmisher can see 5 enemies take an action, then the Skirmisher will get 5 additional actions, and he can use these actions to drop Incendiary Grenades on the enemies who have not yet moved and so prevent them from attacking your squad. This is very cool, but is only useful when numerous enemies are left alive and mobile. Usually you will not leave very many enemies alive at the end of your turn, and they are often stunned or in stasis and thus unable to trigger Battlelord. Still this ability may prove to be a life saver during a crisis.
Alternate Builds
I recommend watching DerAva’s Skirmisher build video, in which he breaks down his 3 builds: Reflex, Justice, and Total Combat. 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 XCOM row I don’t see many abilities that affect choice of build; most are shooting skills, and every Skirmisher build is going to shoot a lot. There are a few grenade perks which I would love to grab. Cutthroat is the only offensive melee skill, but I would need much more than that to switch over to the Justice/Wrath build.
Eventually the Grenadier will overtake the Skirmisher with Grenade skills. I think they are about equal at TSGT rank, and the Grenadier is better with grenades at MSGT rank.
I love these guides. I found them invaluable for LW2 and I'm thrilled to do a second LWTOC after reading your new posts. I hope you do one for the Templar class since that was the one hero class I couldn't find a good use for in my first run.