Tier list of base classes?

[Slayer_Gauge]

I beat the game a year ago when it came out and just got exp. 'My' guy ended up as a ranger again, I remember they were great early/mid but faded late. Whats the consensus on classes? Are swords still useless late game?

[NoGas]

Double-tap shotguns with superior laser sights, superior hair triggers, bladestorm, and untouchable are the next best thing to a fully upgraded Psi in my opinion. They're absolutely beastly. Need those specialists for heals. Grenadiers are good when youre going against armored targets, but otherwise they're just okay. I never really liked Sharpshooters until recently. I pistol-minded sharpshooter is amazing against the Lost, it's basically just a joke when they show up.

[Slayer_Gauge]

So the rangers are pretty decent then?
I went pure sword build first time for 'coolness' but it faded fast in terms of power.

[Slayer_Gauge]

Any comment on sword viability?

[Dynellen]

Ranger/sword got a lot better since the release. Among other things they got increased damage and accuracy which makes a huge difference. They had like 90% accuracy at release which lead to the Ranger standing in the middle of nowhere with a living enemy in front of them quite often but now with 100% accuracy they can reliable do the job of cleaning up weakened enemies.

[DarkFenix]

Sword ranger in WotC is monstrously powerful. Get the Katana and go to town on everything, doing absurd damage, never missing, and ignoring their armour. Bladestorm means the Lost and Chrysallids will never threaten you again, you can also likely wipe out whole waves with reaper.

The only soldier I have more lethal than my ranger is my sharpshooter (112 kills in 28 missions to my ranger's 98 in 26). He can blast through whole waves of enemies too, but he can do it from half the map away, bit of an advantage.

Those are easily the go-to classes for damage, as both have abilities to help them get more attacks out of their turn. The specialist and grenadier both lack such abilities, relegating them to a supporting role.

With the ability points system, your soldiers can eventually get ALL their skills from both lines (plus a small random selection, my ranger for instance has both shredder and blast padding). So that terrible choice you had to make between two great skills? Now it's just a temporary affair. Having to take two specialists to cover healing and hacking? Not any more.

[Slayer_Gauge]

I could see how snipers getting both is good, but with a sword ranger the scout skills dont seem like theyd help much

[Doc]

Originally posted by Slayer_Gauge:

I could see how snipers getting both is good, but with a sword ranger the scout skills dont seem like theyd help much

Think of a ranger with both skill trees as Batman. They can be a predator, waiting for the optimal moment to strike. Then they annihilate their enemy in close combat.

[Sines]

Sword Rangers got a huge buff in WotC for several reasons. First off, shotguns just aren't what they used to be. The crit-penalty isn't bad, since it's made up for in improved flanking bonuses for all weapons, but putting Rapid Fire on a 5 turn cooldown is... huge. It's still good for cracking a really tough nut, but it's a rare affair.

More notably is what the AP system has done to the game. No more do you have to choose between being a Sword Ranger and a Scout Ranger. This was a HUGE impediment to Sword Rangers in Vanilla, especially since you wanted a spotter to make sure your sword attacks would be safe. Being able to take both Phantom and Blademaster is huge. So is taking Implacable and Bladestorm (Kill one enemy, move next to another, kill them as soon as they act. Works similarly well for Stasis'd Priests). Having both Reaper and Rapid Fire is nice too, as you have both your "Kill a lot of weak enemies" skill, and "Kill one really tough enemy" skill. And you can of course link them together.

The Katana from the Assassin is just icing on the cake, doing more damage than a Fusion Sword, penetrating 5 armor, and always hitting. Losing the burn-effect is a VERY small price to pay, especially given how Untouchable and Implacable encourage you to kill your enemies immediately.

Overall, Sword lost out in the original due to all the competition it had. Now that you don't have to make either/or choices, and a weakening of the competition in the form of the Rapid Fire nerf, things work out a lot better.

[Slayer_Gauge]

Thanks for write up, can you only make one good sword ranger than because of katana?

[Slayer_Gauge]

Sharpshooters seem weak early

[VaultBoy]

With the increase in melee units, having some sword skills so that Bladestorm does more damage is almost necessary. Additionally, being able to grab both skills from the tree is great. And, the XCOM skills can luck you into some awesomeness. Ranger with Serial is amazing, especially with Implacable.

My Ranger and Sharpshooter were by far my MVPs. Especially, after you get the specialty items. The only thing that was close in kills was my Reaper, but that's because the Reaper killed most of the Lost.

The way they allow you to buy other items on the skill-tree allows for some extremely powerful soldiers.

[.O.]

Originally posted by Slayer_Gauge:

Thanks for write up, can you only make one good sword ranger than because of katana?

You don't need a katana to be good, but you are better with it.

Originally posted by Slayer_Gauge:

Sharpshooters seem weak early

sharpshooters are strong throughout imo, it just depends on the rest of your team. If you have a concealed scout? A sharpshooter can clear the map without ever being in any danger.