How to take on Chosen Assassin, please?

[Stallionista]

I can take on the Warlock and Hunter quite well in any given mission, but the Assassin has always been a thorn in my side. I even resorted to a trick i saw on a Ronar video where you pull your squad back and let the reaper stay up and that should reveal the assassin as she walks into the reaper's view before reaching your squad, and in theory should prevent the BS "rush in and swipe at someone".. what annoyed me just now is how this failed to work and she just killed my best solder in one hit. It's insanely demoralising.

May someone help me out please, how do other people navigate the map once the assassin spawns in and how do you manage her? Thank you in advance!

[Jouchebag]

She's vicious. I often figured she wasn't meant to be perfectly countered--instead it would be a given to sacrifice a unit to locate her and pray they bleed out instead of die.

There is the Battle Scanner, but if you don't know to expect her you likely wouldn't bring one.

[looplick]

I try to time her approach. She's usually close to attacking a few turns after spawning. Battle Scanners are key early game. You can increase the scan area if you want in the DefaultGameCore.ini file. I have mine set to 14 tiles instead of 12. Search (Ctrl+F) for BATTLESCANNER_RADIUS. Templars with Parry also work very well against her.

[Jouchebag]

Yeah, a templar with parry as bait is good advice.

[MrUnclean]

Using ronar's tactic or using templar as bait are your best bets.If you cant do any of these then you will most likely need to sacrifice 1 of your soldiers and if you know you will have to resolve to that just sacrifice the worst one.When it comes to fighting her rangers in my opinion are the best.Once she exposes herself just use the run and gun abillity,rush in her face and blow her head with your shotgun(you will most likely get a crit as well which will inflict a lot of damage)The more she stays in the game the worse it will be so you need to deal with her quickly.Rangers are also good because they can be used as templars (in a way).if you have the ability where killing someone guarantees that the next hit you will get will be a miss, you may use that in your advantage as well to counter her attack.

[Razorblade]

The best strategy I've found is to bring a Spark and a Templar. Send the Spark way out front to tank the first few hits, then send in the Templar to tank with Parry.

Of course, this is just if you need to kill the Assassin because the objective is vital to complete. If the objective isn't vital, running away is always an option.

[Jouchebag]

Originally posted by Mr.Unclean:

Rangers are also good because they can be used as templars (in a way).if you have the ability where killing someone guarantees that the next hit you will get will be a miss, you may use that in your advantage as well to counter her attack.

Untouchable. A little hard to time it so she attacks on that turn, but it's viable.

[Stardustfire]

untouchable wont help you much, the templer can endless tank her, even when she is immun to melee the parry still is useable after hitting her. just hit something that stands in the direction from where she comes, and after she attacked the templar first time you can glue the templar to her with parry, and with a little luck she even sticks at him. and dont forget the mind shield against her habour wave.

[MrUnclean]

yeah I know that the untouchable tactic will be a bit hard and lucky to pull off but then again since in WOTC there is the system where soldiers get tired there is also a high chance that you will just launch a mission without a templar so in that case it can work as an alternative.

[mosspit]

@OP

To pre-empt the Assassin, go by the rule of after an appearance, the percentage of Assassin appearance on regions protected by the Assassin is

• 0% - First mission
  
• 0% - Second mission
  
• 50% - Third mission
  
• 100% - Fourth mission and above

This allows you to setup a strong team like having a Reaper and/or a Templar on missions where Assassin has 50%/100% chance of appearing. This is of course excluding Dark Events like Wild Hunt, and scripted appearance of the Chosen on Golden Path missions.

Once the Assassin spawns, you will need to estimate the time it takes for her to move from the spawn location to your team. It's usually 1-3 turns. It is best to set up near the edge of the map to limit the direction of approaches. And choose to hold your ground at places with limited surrounding cover. Remember cover does nothing against her slash attacks.

If you using a Reaper, have him/her about 1 move in front of the team at areas where the most areas behind cover can be revealed. If the Reaper doesn't reveals the Assassin, I would use Battle Scanners at areas not covered by the Reaper.

If you still can't reveal her, place the soldiers that you think that are dispensable slightly ahead of the team. If the Assassin attacks, she usually target based on proximity. Her slash attack will never outright kill a soldier and will always send the soldier to "bleed-out" status. So bringing a medikit(s) if you have inventory to spare is not a bad idea.

Once revealed, the Templar strategy apples. Templar is still the bane of the Assassin (and other Chosens really), due to a dependable and reusable Parry ability which unlocks at just Corporal level.

[Jouchebag]

Didn't know the timing for Chosen appearance was that predictable. I assume the % resets if you defeat the Chosen? There's also the Wild Hunt Dark Event to toss into that mix.

Still, I would definitely prepare the Battle Scanner if you got a feeling she's coming. In a game like XCOM, you want to control as many variables as possible and the Scanner just works. And keeps working for a couple turns.

[mosspit]

Originally posted by Jouchebag:

Didn't know the timing for Chosen appearance was that predictable. I assume the % resets if you defeat the Chosen? There's also the Wild Hunt Dark Event to toss into that mix.

Still, I would definitely prepare the Battle Scanner if you got a feeling she's coming. In a game like XCOM, you want to control as many variables as possible and the Scanner just works. And keeps working for a couple turns.

Yes it resets to 0% after her latest appearance. And I will even throw in some unsolicited info. The Wild Hunt Dark Event doubles her appearance rate. So it means the appearance rate becomes:

• 0% - First mission
  
• 0% - Second mission
  
• 100% - Third mission and above

From a planning perspective, Wild Hunt is actually a desirable Dark Event. This is because it removes the RNG of her appearance from the 3rd mission. So you can plan your "anti-Assassin" team with greater certainty instead of worrying about them tiring out due to consecutive missions.

[red255]

words.

So what stage of the game are we in?

early stage we can just ignore it when she stuns someone, the assasin will drain info or capture and operative and bugger off. neither is a campaign ender. and is easier than having her kill some of your squad.

later on when we have some experience and situational things. a squad of 6 and gear, depends on her strengths and weaknesses. but overwatch is pretty useless, so you have to Actively seek her out and reveal her. after you reveal her, focus on her.

if you are having trouble you likely are trying to overwatch because you fallen into an overwatch habit.

i think having a training facility, and buying scanning protocol for your specialist, (and maybe battle scanners) should be considered if you expect her. I normally just wear armor, tank her hit then nuke her with heavy weapons.

[Fringehunter7719]

Originally posted by mosspit:

@OP

To pre-empt the Assassin, go by the rule of after an appearance, the percentage of Assassin appearance on regions protected by the Assassin is

• 0% - First mission
  
• 0% - Second mission
  
• 50% - Third mission
  
• 100% - Fourth mission and above

This is good info and useful advice, but it's also worth knowing that certain missions prohibit chosen appearance and certain missions mandate it. This can alter the pattern somewhat.

For example the first mission after contacting a region controlled by a chosen you haven't yet fought they will always appear (if the mission type allows it), regardless of this counter. Conversely if you raid a facility where an alien ruler is stationed then even a 100% chance of a chosen appearing won't trigger them (although I have read this can be influenced by certain popular mods).

[Jouchebag]

Originally posted by red255:

So what stage of the game are we in?

I normally just wear armor, tank her hit then nuke her with heavy weapons.

You most likely need armor beyond her current tier to tank her by being really efficient on the Avenger. Even then, pray she doesn't get a crit. Depending on her current tier, she can do 3-7 or max 8-9 damage while bypassing 5 armor. Definitely better to scan for her, keep a Reaper with Target Definition, or a Templar with Parry... or all of them.

Man I love her shotgun though. She did not appreciate it enough.

[mosspit]

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

Originally posted by mosspit:

@OP

To pre-empt the Assassin, go by the rule of after an appearance, the percentage of Assassin appearance on regions protected by the Assassin is

• 0% - First mission
  
• 0% - Second mission
  
• 50% - Third mission
  
• 100% - Fourth mission and above

This is good info and useful advice, but it's also worth knowing that certain missions prohibit chosen appearance and certain missions mandate it. This can alter the pattern somewhat.

For example the first mission after contacting a region controlled by a chosen you haven't yet fought they will always appear (if the mission type allows it), regardless of this counter. Conversely if you raid a facility where an alien ruler is stationed then even a 100% chance of a chosen appearing won't trigger them (although I have read this can be influenced by certain popular mods).

That's why I specifically mentioned about regions protected by the Assassin...