Perks for assault rifle user and explosive expert?

[Crorens]

I like to have "balanced" teams with some guys that just run assault rifles with no other particular role, specifically im using Wolf and my IMP, and i dont know which perks to take. Also my explosive guys (barry larry) have no perks for them, except for breach and clear, do you guys have any builds?

Its easy for melee, snipers, overwatch and medic, but i dunno what to to with my assault rifle guy or explosives. Thanks

[Triplefox]

The best AR traits/perks are the ones that improve bursting accuracy(trait, see Ice or Ivan), and crit rolls/damage. AR bursting gets results by being good on average, and adding improved crits to that improves the average damage. Add some interrupt attacks and defensive perks to that and that's the build.

For explosives mercs, give them a shotgun and let them get in close; Breach and Clear's free move is designed for this, it's an amazing way to finish enemies that took a grenade hit but aren't dead. Shock Assault is an obvious benefit here, as well as the Strength perks giving health and grit. Line Breaker, if you can reach it, will give a little bit of extra AP to let you do a Take Cover. You can also run melee mercs as shotgunners in a lot of cases. Just be wary about using your shotgun guys if you need to avoid civilian damage, they will routinely AOE chip for -10 and aggro them. Have them snipe instead or something.

[Furin]

For me assault rifles work well with the sharpshooter line, so more crits for headshots, then single, hidden bullets to the face, burst only if close/armored and I must make sure to kill that dude and remain hidden a 100%.

But I always play setting up my team in an L shape, get good cover, shoot one guy and lure the rest of the enemies in single file. They try to uncover my hidden guys, then stop once they found the first one and start shooting at him. As long as you don't shoot with the discovered merc you can use your still hidden folks to sneak kill the enemies and then rehide the uncovered one and get another kill in. Getting in cover at the end of the turn is recommended, for the extra 5 ap when 10 dudes show up the next turn. (I play with x3 enemy multiplier). Enemies will run in zergling style and only take a break if they want to regroup, so if no one's coming and you know they are close, expect multiples the turn after. The AI always tries to prevent you from rehiding, but it sucks at it :)

Explosives are for retreating mostly, throw a stun grenade then run, besides that good for removing enemy cover. RPG can wipe out clumped enemies.

With x3 enemy multiplier you sometimes get huge groups of enemies clumped together and can lay waste with grenades but damage is pretty weak and only Ivan can safely get away after a grenade shower with his extra ap/kill perk. Ofc you can get creative with proximity tnt and whatnot but I never found a real good use for explosives besides the described scenarios. I just don't understand why using something that either does weak damage or damage over time is useful in comparison to a single bullet in the head from the "hidden" status (silenecer optional really, sound does not make you unhidden, it only lures more lams to the slaughter).

Shame there is no plantable mines though... waiting for a mod.

[Crorens]

Originally posted by Triplefox:

The best AR traits/perks are the ones that improve bursting accuracy(trait, see Ice or Ivan), and crit rolls/damage. AR bursting gets results by being good on average, and adding improved crits to that improves the average damage. Add some interrupt attacks and defensive perks to that and that's the build.

For explosives mercs, give them a shotgun and let them get in close; Breach and Clear's free move is designed for this, it's an amazing way to finish enemies that took a grenade hit but aren't dead. Shock Assault is an obvious benefit here, as well as the Strength perks giving health and grit. Line Breaker, if you can reach it, will give a little bit of extra AP to let you do a Take Cover. You can also run melee mercs as shotgunners in a lot of cases. Just be wary about using your shotgun guys if you need to avoid civilian damage, they will routinely AOE chip for -10 and aggro them. Have them snipe instead or something.

What perks inprove burst accuracy?

[Rhapsody]

Crit perks, because assault rifles have fairly low attack costs and several weapons have enhanced crit rates. Aiming perks are also good, especially in conjunction with aiming-related mods.

Sharpshooter is a great perk for many assault rifles because the perk's damage boost will bump rifle burst damage just high enough to eliminate many opponents with just one attack. You don't need to worry about ending up with unspent AP when you have extra aiming levels that can also enhance your damage with Deadly Aim perk, so there's opportunity to make really economical and lethal attacks.

Arterial Shot and Shock and Awe can also give a decisive damage boost, and assault rifles generally have good accuracy so you can go for arm and leg shots if necessary. Dire Warning benefits from burst firing and it should also be possible to trigger with grenade launchers.