How do you use skirmishers?

[Slippery Williams]

I love reapers and templars because of their strengths, i.e. scouting ahead and dropping claymores near groups of enemies for your grenadier to blow up for super exploder damage, or using the Templar with parry as decent melee damage and then a free Decoy beacon with his parry skill, but I just can't find a solid role for my skirmisher.

I love the grapple for free movement, hence why I give my snipers spider suits asap, but his range or accuracy, or damage for that matter are all average. I like the idea of grapple pulling someone to me which I've used now and again, but outside of that and the one use electro whip (which combat protocol outshines in every way) I can't get much use out of him. Even being able to shoot twice or shoot then move sounds good but he doesn't have the damage, range or accuracy where it's worth not taking a ranger with the similar move after kill skill or run and gun.

I want to like him but every other class has obvious strengths and I can't see why I'd bring him along when I can't figure out what he's the best at.

How do you guys use him?

[Jesterofgames7712]

Stick em with a hair trigger, special ammo, and Laser sight,
Buy parkour and boom. Moving and shooting both carry the chance to be free actions.
Speaking of free actions the electric whip is also a free action.
As for how I use them? Mopping up weaker troops or denting harder targets.

[Abrakadabra]

Originally posted by Dragonkick:

I love reapers and templars because of their strengths, i.e. scouting ahead and dropping claymores near groups of enemies for your grenadier to blow up for super exploder damage, or using the Templar with parry as decent melee damage and then a free Decoy beacon with his parry skill, but I just can't find a solid role for my skirmisher.

I love the grapple for free movement, hence why I give my snipers spider suits asap, but his range or accuracy, or damage for that matter are all average. I like the idea of grapple pulling someone to me which I've used now and again, but outside of that and the one use electro whip (which combat protocol outshines in every way) I can't get much use out of him. Even being able to shoot twice or shoot then move sounds good but he doesn't have the damage, range or accuracy where it's worth not taking a ranger with the similar move after kill skill or run and gun.

I want to like him but every other class has obvious strengths and I can't see why I'd bring him along when I can't figure out what he's the best at.

How do you guys use him?

Thats the thing.

They arent great at one single thing.

But they can provide a variety of services, very mobile, can pick off 2 weaker targets, can pull ppl out of cover with reasonable aim without having to use a frag. Later on theyre pretty good, though not as strong as a fully equipped grenadier, ranger or sniper and I wouldnt take them over a specialist or reaper. Theyre good early to midgame when your reaper is tired and you got a spot to fill or when too many grenadiers are injured. Theyre allrounders, can cover distance effectively. Very good for when you wanne take high rish of ambush covert ops.

Skirmisher with its grappling hook can survive those missions quite nicely and reiably.

[KRON]

I upgrade their aim through covert actions to about a 100, put expanded mag, auto-loader and hair-trigger, give him incendiary rounds and I use him as the main guy to shoot the lost. Also with high aim his other attacks also become that much more reliable.
I like the skirmishers because they're pretty much the only class that can actually benefit from being shot at. I mean, he has a skill which gives him +1 action if he gets attacked and skirmishers have a pretty high chance of getting Return Fire skill, which allows them to shoot back at whoever attacked him(which can actually hit quite a lot with high aim).
And skirmishers also have skills which can give him huge benefits from killing lots of the lost, like +2 mobility for each kill during their turn.
Just look at that
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1288578701

I feel like their only problem is that they must have upgrades to their aim and preferably to their health, mobility and dodge. Other classes are useful without upgrades to those stats.

[Slippery Williams]

Hm okay, also do the grapple attacks use 2 or 1 ap? I can see his gun being more useful up close if he can use it to finish off an enemy after them being pulled closer.

So he's to be treated like a unit to use who can fill in the role of most of your squad if you need to let one rest? Also great point about the extra mobility on a kill with the lost, plus I'll focus on giving him better aim

Very good point on using him on covert/ambushed missions, the grapple would make those much easier

[KRON]

Originally posted by Dragonkick:

Hm okay, also do the grapple attacks use 2 or 1 ap? I can see his gun being more useful up close if he can use it to finish off an enemy after them being pulled closer.

Any of his attacks use 1 ap and don't end the turn, with the exception of Saturation Fire, if he's lucky enough to get it. He even has a skill which makes throwing a grenade or using an item no longer ending the turn.
Also he has a skill which transfers one action to a squadmate(simillar to psi-op's Inspire). And with colonel skill Manual Override he can do that quite often.

[Perplex]

Scope, Mag and Repeater. Perception PC

I use them for their utility, justice, wrath and grapple is amazing. The ability to shot twice in a turn is also really good, the fact they have bladestorm(retribution) makes them perfect to park next to guys or pull someone out of cover then shot at something else.

They are my fav hero class by far. They can do so damn much. With AP rounds or Bluescreen rounds they are really deadly.

They must get tactical slot (extra utility item). I also love when they get saturation fire and the +2dmg to granades.

[Stardustfire]

not to mentation his version of close combat, what makes his rope attacks even stronger. pull him to an enemy, shot another enemy after that, and in alien turn he slaughter the first one that stands beneth him and trys to move away now. also a repeater dont need high dmg guns, but it profits greatly from the option of 2 shots a round (nearly granted 3 with sup haittrigger and the mod enhancing order)
another really strong skill is his order, it cant be used without los, but as big plus it has only a cooldown, not charges like the teaming skill, and it isnt bound to a special soldier. this can give your all 3 rounds another attack for your templar as example, letting the templar double parry at a regular basis. or the one shot more needed from a grenadier, or the third action for your specialist to hack the objective just in time....
a skirmisher with a few ranks is no 1 man army but enhances your team nonetheless above the boarders of a single more soldier.

[lPaladinl]

Might want to train their Aim up since they have naturally low aim to compensate for their skillset.

With good aim though, they can be pretty powerful with the ability to attack many times every turn, having a lot of movement options with their grapple, a free action attack, and free overwatch shots when fired upon.

They also raise their crit chance when attacking multiple times in the same turn.

So when you build their weapons with many attacks in mind, they're really good with repeaters and laser sights for getting the most out of crits.

They can be decent with grenades having their own version of salvo plus volatile mix as well, giving them potentially an extra attack.

[Slippery Williams]

So, I stated a legendary difficulty game and happened to start with a skirmisher. After someone here mentioned nearly every attack only costs 1ap I kept this in mind and holy hell he's much better now I know this. Added an advanced stock on his gun and have been pulling and murdering dudes with the grapple, grappling across buildings then super-manning into enemies with the ripkack from the rooftops after mopping up the stragglers.

Being told nearly all the skills only use 1ap really turned my opinion around on him, especially with how accurate the ripjack grapple attacks are

[lPaladinl]

Originally posted by Dragonkick:

So, I stated a legendary difficulty game and happened to start with a skirmisher. After someone here mentioned nearly every attack only costs 1ap I kept this in mind and holy hell he's much better now I know this. Added an advanced stock on his gun and have been pulling and murdering dudes with the grapple, grappling across buildings then super-manning into enemies with the ripkack from the rooftops after mopping up the stragglers.

Being told nearly all the skills only use 1ap really turned my opinion around on him, especially with how accurate the ripjack grapple attacks are

Actually I think every attack move they have is 1AP, with the exception of grenade use before you get the perk for it.

Basically, if you've ever seen how good Lightning Hands can be on a Sniper, or Salvo on a Heavy, crank that up to 11 with the Skirmisher.

Also worth mentioning is not only do they have great DPS with a lot of chances for crits, but their mobility with the grapple is great since they can cover massive distances with the right map elements, but also pull themselves to enemies.

Plus you can displace enemies with the grapple pull, which has a lot of value people overlook.

With their lash attack they can attack 3 times in one turn.

[red255]

OK, I figured out how to use skirmishers after a lengthy time of avoiding them.

ok so you recruit one at squaddie and ignore it. dismiss it eventually and recruit one around the end of the month so it delivers in the next month, and get a second one the next month so you have a pair.

next we want to bond them together FORM soldier bonds. so they are a pair. together.

now we what to give them a superoir scope, an expanded mag and a repeater. one gets venom rounds the other gets dragon rounds.

now with return fire and reflex, its a class that sort of is designed to get shot at, and well, return fire. it gets shot at it can return fire on that turn and gets an additional AP to shoot next turn.

Now as a team they can boost each others aim. team mates get a bonus to aim for standing next to each other, picking the same targets etc.

they also get team strike so they can shoot a target firing into it some fire, poison and death. with their team strike attack.

the skirmisher's ultimate attack is the SLASH attack which can be done as a first move, using Both moves after the slash attack he gets a second action which allows you to shoot or grapple to a better position, or pull second enemy to you, so they all get retribution which is basically bladestorm the following turn.

their other move is to use their grapple to get on high, then use their ripjack to grapple to an enemy, and their second ripjack attack to pull a second enemy to them, and then finally finish up with retribution.

and at colonel they get manual override to reduce their cooldowns by spending an action (so up to 2 actions a turn to reduce cooldowns by 1 each turn to wind them back up)

[Koroshi_Teyaru]

Skirmisher is the "crutch" class if you start with one (no lost and abandoned). If you make a point of getting height whenever feasible, the accuracy isn't too bad. While the 2 actions every turn are very handy. Especially early on, when the Skirmisher is the only guy with a grapple and salvo, and Advent is mostly troops. They are also really handy when taking on the Chosen (especially their target).

They tend to fade a bit late in the game (about level 3 weapons) and don't have anything like banish or portable claymores.

[talemore]

Their late game abilities, I honestly never used any overwatch on a skirmisher.

And given a shot for every X enemies on the screen means you done something wrong.

Some abilities are weak and only provided a single use each mission.

If you lucky you gain a long range AoE and It's really the only good use and It's not even the skirsmisher's original perk.

[lPaladinl]

Originally posted by Koroshi_Teyaru:

Skirmisher is the "crutch" class if you start with one (no lost and abandoned). If you make a point of getting height whenever feasible, the accuracy isn't too bad. While the 2 actions every turn are very handy. Especially early on, when the Skirmisher is the only guy with a grapple and salvo, and Advent is mostly troops. They are also really handy when taking on the Chosen (especially their target).

They tend to fade a bit late in the game (about level 3 weapons) and don't have anything like banish or portable claymores.

The only problem with your statement is that Skirmishers can attack 3 in the same turn, negating the weakness of their weapons. Not to mention their advantage of having better chances to crit in the same turn due to attacking more often, and being able to use retribution if you pull a target to you/yourself to them and they have just enough HP to die next turn from a melee reaction.

You're doing like 14-18 damage per turn with them on average between 2 attacks with room for a third, which is higher than most classes unless they manage to be able to strike more than once in a turn, which not every class can do without a hair trigger.

And if you want to argue with hair triggers... imagine what happens when you put it on a skirmisher that attacks so often you see it activate more often on top of already attacking more often.

They deceptively appear weak, much like how Gunslingers appear weak until you realise even 2 pistol shots when upgraded is better than a single rifle round. Or having that extra pistol attack and still being able to shoot with a primary adds up to quite a lot.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by lPaladinl:

The only problem with your statement is that Skirmishers can attack 3 in the same turn, negating the weakness of their weapons.

Negate the piss-poor damage, yeah. Negate the piss-poor accuracy, kind of. Negate the piss-poor ammo capacity, heck no, it just makes it even worse.

Not to mention their advantage of having better chances to crit in the same turn due to attacking more often

Their crits deal pathetic amounts of bonus damage. The ballistic and magnetic bullpop only deal 1 extra damage on crit, and beam does 2 more.

They deceptively appear weak, much like how Gunslingers appear weak until you realise even 2 pistol shots when upgraded is better than a single rifle round. Or having that extra pistol attack and still being able to shoot with a primary adds up to quite a lot.

The problem with the comparison is that the Gunslinger still has the sniper rifle. When the pistol isn't the appropriate weapon to use, you use the rifle. Except the bullpop is an inappropriate weapon to use in the same situations the pistol is, but the Skirmisher doesn't have a rifle.