Squad for final mission in WotC

[Peter Griffin]

Having unlocked the mission some time ago I'm building my soldier's skills when I realised that I've got more soldier classes than spots available in my squad- the 4 main classes, PSI, 3 hero factions and SPARKs.

I have 3-4 colonels in each of the 5 base classes as well as 2 Reapers, a Templar and Skirmisher.

The only thing I'm sure of is that I won't be taking any Sparks, because I only have one and he's only halfway up his skill tree.

My plan was to boost the Combat Intelligence stats on my best team members to gain them ability points, but if I'm better off with all PSI and Heroes then I'm wasting my time since the former can't gain any abilities and the latter are pretty much maxed already.

So what's the ideal squad for this mission? I've already gotten the Chosen weaponry and done all the research so I've unlocked the gear. I may need to do some proving ground stuff if the warden armour isn't beefy enough for my guys, but the fact that it's the only one that has 2 utility slots is a big bonus as it means most of my guys don't have to choose between special ammo and grenades.

EDIT: I forgot to say, I'm playing this on Commander difficulty.

[grapplehoeker]

Your 3 Resistance heroes plus any three regular units and the commander is all you will need.
The three regular units don't even have to include a psi.
They should all be wearing Vahlen suits though. The panic effect on seeing the RAGE, King Archon and King Viper suits is more than worth it and the mobility bonuses make these armours invaluable.
Spoiler...

Just remember killing the Avatar is your goal. Make it a priority to finish each incarnation in one turn. This is where the mobility of the team really helps. Your ranger in a RAGE suit, another ranger in the Viper suit, your Templar, your Mox and whoever you put in the Archon* suit can cover pretty much the whole of the central chamber and control the field. (*If you do use a psi, I'd have them wear the Archon suit and save your Icarus jump for locating the final Avatar incarnation.)
Meanwhile, your Reaper can be used as a spotter to locate the avatar for the others and eventually take him out with a banish shot.
When it comes time to kill the third and final avatar, there may well be overwhelming numbers of Advent units in play. None of that matters as long as you succeed in killing the third avatar. Killing him is game over and the Advent units are unimportant. So, once you have the third avatar in your sights, ignore the Advent units and focus on the avatar.
Prior to WotC, my strategy was to hunker down in the antechamber and send out hitmen to get to the avatar. However, the experience gained from the Chosen strongholds taught me that killing the avatar quickly and controlling the central chamber is key to completing this mission efficiently. The Resistance heroes plus the Vahlen suits make this possible, so the unit choices for the regulars isn't really that important now.
I prefer to use two rangers since together with the Templar, they can cover the field, make use of their reaper skill and are pretty much unstoppable with their untouchable/parry ability.
Each hit on the avatar will force him to teleport around the chamber, so if you control the central field of action, he will invariably port to a position where another one of your units can hurt him again. Eventually, he'll land in a position to make a killshot.
I'd wish you luck, but you really won't need it. While it is fun, I found the finale to be a little too easy and a bit of an anti climax after all of the hard work it took to get here ;)

[red255]

I normally take two PSI 1 Reaper, 1 sharpshooter, 1 ranger and 1 specialist.

that allows me to carry the 3 chosen weapons on people good at using them.

The specialist has medkits and since I'm not going to be skull jacking I can let him have a War Suit and carry a heavy weapon.

Heavy weapons on the ranger and psi too. PSI had plated armor and alot of dodge added, got whacked by an archon, took 1 damage (on legend) due to armor and dodge. He takes less than three damage, just soul fire it back.

The Sharpshooter has A Wraith suit and bluescreen rounds.

you want to use the Ruler Armors fine. Ruler armors then. I don't have alien hunters.

If my reapers suck I'd take two sharpshooters.

[Peter Griffin]

I was about to say, after hearing the horror stories about the Alien Rulers being OP pre-WotC I wasn't going to turn that on but apparently they've been balanced for the expansion so I might have to re-enable it.

[KRON]

You bring the best of the best on the last mission. It doesn't really matter which class, since the best of the best of any class can deal tons of damage in their specific ways. It's more like which way do you prefer rather than which way is the most damaging.

[Fringehunter7719]

Two psi, at least one sharpshooter, a medic and whatever else I feel like. That won't include any sparks or skirmishers and will include a scout though.

[KRON]

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

Two psi, at least one sharpshooter, a medic and whatever else I feel like. That won't include any sparks or skirmishers and will include a scout though.

You do know that you get the achievement for killing an Avatar with a Spark, right?))

[Fringehunter7719]

Originally posted by KRON:

You do know that you get the achievement for killing an Avatar with a Spark, right?))

I probably saw it once, but it's not the sort of thing that appeals to me personally.

[Aranador]

If you have that many colonels and stuff, then you've got more than enough power to crush the last mission pretty much whoever you bring. I suggest saving the game, then trying some different combinations out just for the funzies.

[Peter Griffin]

I forgot to say, I'm playing this on Commander difficulty.

[learnedhand]

Ultimately, there is no single "best" squad. The mission is long, broken up into two parts, so you want a variety of tools and not too heavy a reliance on abilities/items that are charge based, else you may blow your wad long before you've reached the end.

Good use of the commander's avatar is probably the most important thing since he can fill in many deficiencies in your team that may sprout up.

You want good burst damage, because taking down the avatars often mean only a brief window of opportunity before being swarmed by large numbers of enemies.

[Peter Griffin]

I remember that for the first part you can only take 3 soldiers- for the next part, are those guys still available or am I to choose 6 different ones?

That's always been my concern when it comes to grenades in particular- aren't the starting enemies randomly generated once inside the facility? I vividly recall having to face two sectopods simultaneously last time- can't remember how I defeated them...

[red255]

Originally posted by Peter Griffin:

I forgot to say, I'm playing this on Commander difficulty.

in non-war of the chosen i'd take 4 psi troopers and 2 sharpshooters on the final mission. on commander, because it doesn't take that long to train them up.

but in vanilla if you mind control some large units like gatekeepers, you keep them into the final room, but war of the chosen gets rid of your dominated units and teleports you into the final room.

still probably a good bet, just you don't have your pick of andromedons and gatekeepers to bring with you into the final room.

[JaegerBane]

The squad for my most recent playthough was made up of Psi/Sharpy/Spec/Ranger/Grenadier/Templar (all bonded) and it worked really well, though tbh I think that was more down to the fact that these guys were where I concentrated most of my AP and Covert Op buffs so I doubt the composition had that much effect on how awesome they were.

For the penultimate skyscraper part, I just took my second-best Psi, Mox and Dragunova. Worked fine too. Just had Outrider spot targets, the Psi to mess/CC everything and Mox cleaned up any loose ends every turn.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Your 3 Resistance heroes plus any three regular units and the commander is all you will need.

Do you in fact even want to take 3 Resistance heroes? I frankly find them lacking except the Reaper - whom I do find indispensable.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

Two psi, at least one sharpshooter, a medic and whatever else I feel like. That won't include any sparks or skirmishers and will include a scout though.

I am still not a fan of 2 Psi Ops teams. They are still primarily utility, and they do not seem to bring enough firepower for me. But on the other hand, I guess if you perma-Dominate a strong unit, the combined firepower is probably sufficient.