Blueblood: Fond Farewell over Cascade Lance?

[KT Chong]

Blueblood in my game has reached the Senior Agent rank. I have to select either Fond Farewell or Cascade Lance as his next ability. I searched for past discussions and recommendations on this topic. Most other people recommend Cascade Lance over Fond Farewell. (I selected Ever Vigilant over Warm Welcome for Blueblood's Field Agent ability.)

I have rarely used Lancer Shot - because enemies simply do not line up in a nice straight line for Blueblood to lance them. Even when they do, Blueblood have to re-position to get a precise aim. I have used Lance Shot only once in about 20 missions with Blueblood, and it was for two enemies.

On the other hand, Blueblood has reached his pistol down to the last ammo plenty times. Especially with Ever Vigilant, he has been constantly shooting down to the last ammo, (and reload with a Superior Auto-Loader on his pistol.) That means picking Fond Farewell (last bullet inflicts double damage) seems to be way more useful than Cascade Lance (additional damage for each additional enemy hit with Lance Shot.)

However, I am still early in the game. I am in the investigation of the first Faction, Gray Phoenix. I wonder if situations will change when Blueblood reaches his final rank (Principal Agent) and gets the ultimate Faceoff ability. Blueblood can use Faceoff to keep shooting in the same turn until he runs out of ammo. So Faceoff will be optimized if his pistol is outfitted with a Superior Expanded Magazine weapon mod. However, the Superior Expanded Magazine mod will also makes him less likely to reach his last ammo that triggers Fond Farewell. Faceoff can only be used once in every mission. So I do not know if it is worthy trade-off for the consistent. repeatable double damage of Fond Farewell.

Here is another consideration: I have an inkling that another faction has caster enemy types that can summon and reanimate zombies. When that caster enemy is surrounded by zombies that he/she has summoned, Blueblood will be able to use Cascade Lance to strike through the zombie mobs. However, will zombies line up in a straight line? I dunno, I have not reached that part of the game yet. I just do not want to pick Cascade Lance with the anticipation that it will become useful against zombie mobs or later in the campaign... only to find out it is meh, and then I will not be able to respec Blueblood.

I am looking for suggestions only because what ability I think is more useful (Fond Farewell) goes against what most other strategy guides recommend I should pick (Cascade Lance). Other people who have played the game probably knows what will happen later in the game, which I do not know now.

As of now, I have rarely used Lance Shot on multiple enemies. I have only used Lance Shot once in about 20 missions, and I used used on only two enemies lining up nearby Blueblood for him to be able to move and reposition properly. Will Lance Shot/Cascading Lance become useful later in the game against another faction, or will it become a rarely useful ability?

[Tola]

I definitely prefer Fond Farewell, I had the same problem you do with how rarely things line up to use the lance all through playing to get all timelines and have at times destroyed something like an android with self-destruct armed before it could rush my position because it just happened to be the last shot.

[KT Chong]

I've just completed the Take Down Gray Phoenix mission to prevent a UFO from taking off. In each of the three encounters of that final mission, enemies actually lined up properly in straight lines. The second encounter was set in a narrow corridor, and enemies lined up in two straight lines on both sides of the corridor. All three encounters had enemy lined up in columns for Blueblood to execute Cascading Lance.

Then I checked out some "Let's Play XCOM Chimera Squad" videos on YouTube to find out if later missions would have more scenarios for Blueblood to utilize Cascading Lane... which made me decide to roll back to a couple missions to re-select Cascading Lance over Fond Farewell for Blueblood.

[Porygon]

There's no bad choice here. You *will* *frequently* get times when 2 or 3 enemies line up for a Lancer shot. Even hitting just 2 enemies with it is usually worth expending the ability, rather than waiting for an almighty 4-5 enemies to line up. It's also *very* important to remember that the Lancer beam shot is guaranteed regardless of cover or bonuses. Blueblood is accurate but he can absolutely miss with his pistol.

And yes, your suspicion is absolutely correct, you will have to face Psi enemies that can and will raise psi zombies against you often. They won't always line up neatly, but there will usually be at least one in between you and a more powerful enemy. Very good targets for area attacks or Lancer Shot.

BUT my preference is still for Fond Farewell and Warm Welcome before that.

Faceoff is still quite good without the Superior Expanded Mag. If you take Fond Farewell, don't increase the mag size. Take autoloader instead and add laser sight for even more crit or scope for aim.

[RasaNova]

There is no wrong choice, but if you rarely use Lance then probably better to go with the other. But I'd recommend using Lance more often. Even if enemies don't line up, it's a way to do massive damage across the map ignoring obstacles or line of sight and it never misses.

[KT Chong]

I ended up choosing Cascading Lance for one reason: Phase Lance can shoot through walls!