I often try different builds for fun, just to see what works.
Covering Fire is absolutely terrible as part of an overwatch build because it will simply make your soldiers take bad shots against targets in cover
However, it's a very effective secondary control tool for combat/medical specialists - it provides an aim debuff and stacks with other aim debuffs
Often times mid game you'll have hard targets and be forced to take shots from things you've flashbanged or suppressed - but flashbang doesn't help as much against 80+ aim targets
Covering fire helps ensure those shots are even less likely to hit or wound your soldiers, and makes it a viable option in what is - in my opinion - a pretty weak tier.
(also consider that in LW2, AI ignores often runs overwatch and suppression shots anyway - meaning that overwatch isn't that effective for 'pinning' targets like it was in LW1)
The covering fire aim malus is pretty low. Not sure exactly how much it reduces aim but it ain’t much.
It is also may not matter as many enemies don’t shoot and your specialist may not be on overwatch. Often I am doing something else with this soldier (hacking, combat protocol) and I like to use the SMG weapon, so overwatching is less effective.
On Covering Fire:
I often try different builds for fun, just to see what works.
Covering Fire is absolutely terrible as part of an overwatch build because it will simply make your soldiers take bad shots against targets in cover
However, it's a very effective secondary control tool for combat/medical specialists - it provides an aim debuff and stacks with other aim debuffs
Often times mid game you'll have hard targets and be forced to take shots from things you've flashbanged or suppressed - but flashbang doesn't help as much against 80+ aim targets
Covering fire helps ensure those shots are even less likely to hit or wound your soldiers, and makes it a viable option in what is - in my opinion - a pretty weak tier.
(also consider that in LW2, AI ignores often runs overwatch and suppression shots anyway - meaning that overwatch isn't that effective for 'pinning' targets like it was in LW1)
The covering fire aim malus is pretty low. Not sure exactly how much it reduces aim but it ain’t much.
It is also may not matter as many enemies don’t shoot and your specialist may not be on overwatch. Often I am doing something else with this soldier (hacking, combat protocol) and I like to use the SMG weapon, so overwatching is less effective.
Field Surgeon is also pretty strong.