Swords...

[T-Breezy]

Just a little feedback, my .02 as it were.

Ditch the swords for rangers. It's like I have a button on rangers labeled, "push to suicide."
1: Running up to a mob is highly likely to reveal yet more aliens
2: It is highly unlikely you will magically sense which direction to arrange cover for your charging idiot
3: It can be counterattacked.

So, to recap, your ranger can draw down yet more aliens, while exposed out of cover, and fail to do anything but take a huge amount of damage from the counterattack. Just like the first game, you're way better off with a second sniper, heavy, or specialist. At least they don't have a kill me button.

Like the game, but can we stop ****ing around with the frontline class and actually have one?

[nurseryguy33]

Rangers are the best dmg dealing class in the game if used correctly. A shotgun ranger can kill off Codex with one action, something Snipers can rarely do. As for swords its really situational. I stop using swords after I get plasma.

I also started a new game where I tinkered with the ini files and gave all tiers of swords and extra +2 to dmg AND 3 pierce (meaning it bypasses 3 armor). Much more fun with swords now, especially blademaster ones.

[JollyCooperative]

In my own limited experience rangers are great at recon and Shotgunning, with swords going from niche early game utility to rather pointless. Bladestorm is pretty neat, though.

[ZeroHindsight]

The Ranger is treated like an assassin/scout class whereas the Grenadiers are your warriors/tanks. Just look at their skill trees and it's pretty evident.

If you want something absolutely dead, Run N Gun with the shotgun. The only times you want to ever use your sword is if the enemy is pretty close to dead and you can spare yourself the need to reload. Or if you want to chance Stunning/Burning a target on your first turn, but that's a wasted chance.

[Darth Hernia]

There's a katana mod that gives the swords some use, since it shreds armor and +mobility.

[WishFish]

I don't get it. Swords are extremly precise and have high dmg. Combined with other ranger skills like move after kill and guaranteed first miss you get the ultimate killing machines.

[Bobbers]

You can control from where you slash at your enemy. Just select the Ranger, hover over the target with your mouse and you´ll see what I mean.

[Giant Space Hamster]

Swords are no more "push button to suicide" than the entire rest of the game really. XCOM 2 is all about knowing what your options are but more importantly knowing when to (and not to) apply them. The sword CAN be very useful. It does extra damage against Sectoids. It doesn't cost ammo. It lets you attack after dashing (yes, run-and-gun also lets you do that, but is an optional skill). Upgraded versions have a chance to stun or set the target on fire. Some skills can make swords more useful as well.

There are definitely drawbacks that can make it a poor choice in a given instance though. You're spot on that it can run the risk of triggering another pod if you're running towards fog, but that just means those are probably not the times you want to use it.

[Waywocket]

The basic problem with swords is that once you've got past the first few ranks, a shotgun at close range will have a 100% hit chance but a sword won't. The accuracy starts out similar to the shotgun - or maybe even higher - and at first you don't have run and gun, so the charge is great, but the sword doesn't scale.

Once the shotgun overtakes it dramatically in both accuracy and damage, the sword ends up being useful only in a few awkward situations like when you desperately need a flank but run and gun is on cooldown, or you really can't spare an action to reload.

I still take blademaster and bladestorm because the alternatives are garbage, but I nearly never actually attack with the sword past midgame; it's basically there to stick it to surprise chryssalids.

[Giant Space Hamster]

Originally posted by Waywocket:

The basic problem with swords is that once you've got past the first few ranks, a shotgun at close range will have a 100% hit chance but a sword won't. The accuracy starts out similar to the shotgun - or maybe even higher - and at first you don't have run and gun, so the charge is great, but the sword doesn't scale.

Once the shotgun overtakes it dramatically in both accuracy and damage, the sword ends up being useful only in a few awkward situations like when you desperately need a flank but run and gun is on cooldown, or you really can't spare an action to reload.

I still take blademaster and bladestorm because the alternatives are garbage, but I nearly never actually attack with the sword past midgame; it's basically there to stick it to surprise chryssalids.

Yup! To emphasize a point, just because a tool is only useful in certain rare circumstances does not in any way make that tool useless. It just means you need to know when to apply it.

[✨Nutkun7993✨]

I honestly only use Sword at the sectoid and really a near dead enemy at first few month. After I got second tier weapon and my aim is high enough, I use no more sword unless an enemy is about to die and I want to spare some ammo.

I do not use a phantom built however. I have 3 Ranger who have appear to have sword build first and then move to anything related to survivability and damage boost. Run&Gun, Untouchable and Rapid Fire are their true power.

I use rifle however because at least they can be deadly from afar as well and plus they no longer have pistol and skill that actually boost Critical Damage. I might have one of Ranger having shotgun in some run...but I don't want take a risk of having afar enemy and only available Ranger is having shotgun...

For me I treat my Ranger as the best killer class, they moving ahead of the squad and then kill that thing right away and becoming a Mimic Beacon for one shot. They already deadly enough without AWC perks.

I play on Legend and I use no Sniper because they too slow and takes too much investment to be good. My 1-3 Rangers were the only reason I completed the timer mission fair and sound without mod.

[jouertue]

It's not the best thing all around but same goes for a lot of situational skills, suppression, combat protocol, chain shot, discharge..it could be better or worse. I personally avoid them and don't spend resources in sword builds upgrade but that's personal...pretty useful to finish some sectoid or 1hp trooper early game :)

[Sharlatan]

Originally posted by W32.Beagle:

Just a little feedback, my .02 as it were.

Ditch the swords for rangers. It's like I have a button on rangers labeled, "push to suicide."
1: Running up to a mob is highly likely to reveal yet more aliens
2: It is highly unlikely you will magically sense which direction to arrange cover for your charging idiot
3: It can be counterattacked.

So, to recap, your ranger can draw down yet more aliens, while exposed out of cover, and fail to do anything but take a huge amount of damage from the counterattack. Just like the first game, you're way better off with a second sniper, heavy, or specialist. At least they don't have a kill me button.

Like the game, but can we stop ****ing around with the frontline class and actually have one?

1. thats why you use scanners
2. you can way mark paths to take and can control exactly where you attack from.
3. so? you can counter attack also.

Swords are great, exceptional early on, and later on can be absolutely lethal to whole packs of enemies you have softened up with a bit of aoe. Plus the counter attack skill is awesome for your frontliner, they charge in, you kill them as they do. Having one sword specialist is a great addition to a team, if you learn to play and dont just ♥♥♥♥♥ on the forums.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by WishFish:

I don't get it. Swords are extremly precise and have high dmg.

Lower aim than a shotgun at the same range, lower damage even with blademaster (except at ballistic tier), lower crit chance (due to no flanking bonus) and crit damage, and doesn't benefit from Hunter's Instinct or special ammo, which makes the shotgun leap farther and farther ahead.

Originally posted by jouertue:

It's not the best thing all around but same goes for a lot of situational skills ... combat protocol

Combat Protocol is great. Guaranteed damage lets you reliably finish off enemies. Plus it one shots turrets through their armor and greatly injures other robots.

Originally posted by Nevyn:

Swords are great, exceptional early on, and later on can be absolutely lethal to whole packs of enemies you have softened up with a bit of aoe.

Or you could use Serial. Which is way better than Reaper. And then give your ranger something they're actually good at: Rapid Fire.

[Konchuharts]

Basicly they threw the gimmicky melee weapon on the gimmicky short ranged unit so basicly they nullified its usefullness.As a bonus people will just whine about the fact that the sword is useless as you can just run & gun up to them even.Despite the fact that they use the ranger exclusivly scouts who won't ever unconceal.

[Mocha]

Well wen you mess with the ini files to make reaper nota useless piece of junk, get the katana mod, give your ranger a wraith suit and mimic beacon and a vest of your choice, rangers are highly overpowered. For me anyway.