When to do Shen DLC mission?

[Zigg Price]

So, in Alien Hunters, the consensus (that I saw) was to hold out on doing the Nest mission due to the difficulty and the difficulty it added to the campaign. ItWas said, generally, to wait for tier 2 gear/whenever you are taking down the Blacksite.

So what is the difficulty of the new Shen mission? Do it before the Nest? Wait until tier 2/3?

Try to avoid spoilers, please. I have not been able to loaf the DLC, and I will probably be starating a new campaign , so won't be getting to it immediately.

[denna3]

Last Gift mission scales. Do it early - weak bots, keep on waiting - strong bots. On veteran its beatable with conventional weapons on Month 1-2 with like 1 Sergeant and a medkit.

Lily will carry your sorry ass through the encounter.

[Zigg Price]

Oh very nice. That's awesome. This game never fails to disappoint! Thanks for the info.

[denna3]

Lolwat? You understand that doable doesnt mean its easy?

[Zigg Price]

Never said the word "easy."

[King Cringe]

Its definately doable month two as soon as you get it. I've been able to do it on legendary as soon as I get it. The three times i've done it i've lost 2 men the first time , one the second then none the last though the last one was lucky. I don't know if you'll be able to do it without deaths but just remember that besides unarmored units , the enemy will prioritize easy to hit enemies so hacking enemy robots is a must since theyll take the aggro due to being easy to hit. Same goes with turrets

[Chitoloco]

Originally posted by denna3:

Last Gift mission scales. Do it early - weak bots, keep on waiting - strong bots. On veteran its beatable with conventional weapons on Month 1-2 with like 1 Sergeant and a medkit.

Lily will carry your sorry ass through the encounter.

I never got around to doing it until I had plasma weapons, mostly just to see the new content. The bots had 4 HP. Doesn't seem like they scale.

[Giant Space Hamster]

Originally posted by Prismbox:

Originally posted by denna3:

Last Gift mission scales. Do it early - weak bots, keep on waiting - strong bots. On veteran its beatable with conventional weapons on Month 1-2 with like 1 Sergeant and a medkit.

Lily will carry your sorry ass through the encounter.

I never got around to doing it until I had plasma weapons, mostly just to see the new content. The bots had 4 HP. Doesn't seem like they scale.

I agree that I have done Shen's Last Gift both very early and very late in campaigns and have not seen the HP scale at all. It was a cake-walk when I did it late game. Reasonably challenging for early game. If you wait until you have Bluetooth rounds you've waited too long and it won't be any fun =)

(Yes I know they are "bluescreen" or whatever but to me they will always be Bluetooth)

[Lemonhead]

If you think you can take on a sectopod, then you're ready.

[It That Betrays]

First time I did it with conventional weapons and it was A Bad Deal. Next time I did it with T2 weapons/T1 armor and only had one injury. I think that was the sweet spot - it felt like I played well and was rewarded as opposed to steamrolling it.

[Medusahead]

Unlike the alien hunters you can do Shen's Last Gift as soon as you get it. Although if you're playing on a lower difficulty you can wait until you have magnetic weapons. If you're on legend I'd recommend doing the mission as soon as possible because that spark is extremely valuable.

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by ;366298942104463656:

Unlike the alien hunters you can do Shen's Last Gift as soon as you get it. Although if you're playing on a lower difficulty you can wait until you have magnetic weapons. If you're on legend I'd recommend doing the mission as soon as possible because that spark is extremely valuable.

A bit off topic, but I fail to see how spark is so valueable on legend.
You will have to replace one of you regular troops, and spark does not have the range and aim of snipers, ability to scout under concealment or mobility of rangers or the high hacking score and a variety of support/anti-robatic abilities of specialists.
The only class I can see spark repacing on legend is grenadier — and even that is questionable since humans can use PCS and weapon mods AND use special grenades AND apply holo targeting for everyone to benefit from.

[Zyrrashijn]

Try out "Rainmaker" in combination with the plasmablaster ;)

[Tamiore]

Originally posted by Zyrrashijn:

Try out "Rainmaker" in combination with the plasmablaster ;)

By the time I get plasmablaster on legend I will, in all likelihood, have two psi ops well-trained and ready for action, and everyone else at captain or above, with proper PCS and weapon mods.
At that point heavy weapons are most definitely something I just add to any other class instead of replacing that class with spark for a few extra point of damage and increased area on a one-charge-per-mission ability.

[marshmallow justice]

as soon as it pops up

[Kunovega]

Originally posted by denna3:

Last Gift mission scales. Do it early - weak bots, keep on waiting - strong bots. On veteran its beatable with conventional weapons on Month 1-2 with like 1 Sergeant and a medkit.

Lily will carry your sorry ass through the encounter.

Are you sure it scales? I'm pretty sure it's easy and is always easy.

I did it on commander with a 4 man squad (doing the no squad size upgrade achievement) and I waited till somewhat late to bother with it and the mission was insanely easy, the enemies all had very low hp and I basically just walked through it flawless without even getting hit.

I think it's designed to be done early with conventional weapons but I see no signs of it scaling to be harder if you wait for it.

In fact I think the only value to a spark is if you get one early enough to level him; I got him so late he was worthless and too far behind to bother.

The ruler DLC mission is similar, the snakes and such are all crazy easy no matter how long you wait to do it. The only thing that makes that one hard is the ruler at the end (and the fact that the rulers will keep showing up after that) ~ but even then, the mission itself and the rulers don't actualy "scale" they are a preset difficulty and its just up to you when you trigger them