Xeno Hunter Crew Combat

Tame the savage beast

Introduction

Most of the information in this guide is inspired from some scattered Steam Discussion posts by JimmysTheBestCop on his Xeno-fighting crew. I just collated what I found to be some of the most useful information during my recent playthrough. I had been running a captain on hard for some unlocks, including the Jyeeta Invasion, and got soundly trounced during a ground battle. After discovering his strategy and hiring some new recruits, I found it worked absolutely brilliantly. Unfortunately, the Jyeeta invasion ended soon after, so I missed the unlock. :( Trying again on another playthrough, and I'm quite impressed.

This build is heavy on buffs, debuffs, self-healing, and mobility (both you and the enemies). You're not going to be pumping out massive damage right away, but you're going to be either dodging everything or only taking minor damage. Once your buffs/debuffs are up, though, your team are gods. If, in the unfortunate circumstance that your enemy happens to have a high-init sniper who gets a pot shot off, first, every slot can heal themselves until the medic gets a chance to patch them up.

I was a bit worried that the combat would take way longer than my previous dps-heavy builds, but almost every trash fight (versus humans) still ended in 2 turns, same as before. Rarely, they end on the first. You're not pumping out damage every action, but fights still end quite quickly, once the stage is set. There's also a lot more strategy involved in picking the right skill at the right time against the right target, so it's more interesting and satisfying gameplay.

Composition

Fortunately, most of the skills necessary for this build are low-hanging fruit.
You can get the basic build working very quickly, so early game crew combat is certainly possible.
You don't need everything listed below, but make sure everyone's got two to three of the best skills before going ham. Here's a rough breakdown of who's in which slot, and what their skills are:

1: Zealot/Blade dancer/Swordsman

    1 Zealot
        * Unstoppable Force: buffs defense
        * Incensed Strikes: good damage, removes buffs, debuffs init
    1 Blade Dancer
        * Feint: low damage, debuffs init and defense, advances
    5+ Swordsman
        ^ Rash Courage: melee offense buff, advances
        ^ Strength of Steel: self-heal, melee and debuff defense

2: Zealot/Wing Commando/Swordsman

    Note: get some extra levels on Soldier going to 5 in WC
    1 Zealot
        * Unstoppable Force: buffs defense
        * Incensed Strikes: good damage, removes buffs, debuffs init
    5 Wing Commando
        Breakneck Assault: moderate damage against two targets, debuffs init and defense, advances
        Knife Work: buffs melee offense and defense on two crew members
    1+ Swordsman
        ^ Rash Courage: melee offense buff, advances
        ^ Strength of Steel: self-heal, melee and debuff defense

3: Xeno Hunter/Bounty Hunter/Soldier

    5 Xeno Hunter
        ^ Irid-Laced Resolve: buffs whole team init, defense
        ^ Unfailing Stand: self heal, removes debuffs, buffs defense
    8 Bounty Hunter
        * Unfaltering Ire: removes buffs and debuffs offense on two targets
        Resolute Hound: self heal, removes debuffs, buffs defense
    1+ Soldier
        * Suppressing Fire: good damage, debuffs offense, knocks back

4: Combat Medic/Military Officer/Doctor

    1 MO
        Tactical Edge: buffs init, offense, defense
    8 Combat Medic
        * Cleansing Purge: removes debuffs, restores hp and morale
        * Vaccination Watch: buffs defense
	Lifeline: buffs init, heals big hp
    1+ Doctor

or

4: Combat Medic/Military Officer/Spy

    1 Spy
        Disappearing Act: enables stealth, buffs init and defense
        Shadowed Fire: great damage, requires stealth
    1 Military Officer
        Tactical Edge: buffs init, offense, defense
    8+ Combat Medic
        * Cleansing Purge: removes debuffs, restores hp and morale
        * Vaccination Watch: buffs defense
        Lifeline: buffs init, heals big hp

Jobs with '+' means you can pump leftover points into it after the basic requirements are met.
Talents with '*' means they are a priority. I use them in every fight.
Talents with '^' means they are a priority against xeno.

Of the '*' talents, Unstoppable Force and Unfaltering Ire are the most important to have and use. Get them ASAP. Use them every time the buffs fall off your guys (UF) or the enemy has a buffed/un-debuffed enemy in the front line (UI). Tactical Edge is great, but it's a bit clunky. It moves your guy forward, but it can only hit slots 2-4. The problem is that Feint and Breakneck Assault both advance, so you could end up moving your unbuffed guy out of buffable position accidentally (or get advanced by enemy talents). Just keep a watch on who needs to be buffed, and try to avoid using a mobility talent until then.

You CAN cast TE on slot 3, but I haven't really needed it, and it interferes with slot 2's abilities until they get back in position. The nice thing about two swordsmen in slots 1 and 2 is that they're generally ok if they get swapped around, but it's super-nice to have some extra mobility talents, in case they get really mixed up.

You've got plenty of other great talents to choose from, after you've learned the basic moves. Keep in mind that the talents listed above are absolute priority, but if you have a free action, these work pretty well:

Swordsman: Flash Fury (awesome talent, almost made it required), Sharp Counter, Devastating Charge
Soldier: Discipline, Burst Fire, Covering Fire (in case you get pulled forward), Fearsome Charge (for the reverse)
Combat Medic: ... skill saves, I guess?

I wouldn't recommend pumping points into spy or MO, since there's not a lot else in those jobs that works well for a combat medic at range 4, except maybe Sneak Attack. That's expensive, though, requiring 8 points in spy, which is a big loss of doctor/pistol skill points from CM.

Healer

The most interesting choice in this list is how you want to build your healer. Early game, you may want to run with combat medic plus doctor, for the extra doctor/tactics/command skill points. Once your healer starts being useless for half the fight and you've got enough tactics/command crew, spy is much better.

Since your healer is in the very back, the only weapons he could hit with from there would be rifles, which he has no skill-ups for... UNLESS he picks up Spy, which grants him a powerful long-range pistol attack and a nice self-buff, which synergizes nicely with CM's pistol skill leveling. You still won't be pumping out the damage like your front-liners, but that's not his primary job.

I debated whether I should include Lifeline as a required talent or not. I almost never use it, but it's nice to have a big emergency heal available. Plus, it does provide a minor init buff if you have spare actions to burn and nothing to do with it.

Captain

I knew I wanted my captain to be Xeno Hunter, so he was the XH in slot 3. You don't need to make a combat captain, but your ship's officer slots are pretty tight if you don't, and it's already going to take a bit of work to gear everyone up. Making a combat captain just makes things a bit easier and faster in the beginning. Plus, his sky-high initiative means he can debuff (UI) the two front-line enemies before anyone else moves. A lot of folks really like to make their captains front-line melee, but that's a bit too dangerous for my liking. My favorite job is Military Officer, but I didn't really want him to be the healer, though it would have been safer.

Equipment

Armor: Orgich Plating
Yes, it's only level 4 armor. On the other hand, compared to Keepers Plate, you trade 2-4% ballistic soak for an extra 5-10% melee soak. When fighting Xeno, melee defense is king. Plus, it's cheap. You do miss out on a couple dodge, too, but I still dodge 90%+ attacks, and what I don't dodge only does minor damage.

Gear: Melios Scale
+2 fort, +2 init, and +10% armor are huge. Find a specialist gear dealer ASAP.

Melee: Vigeur Dripblade
Yes, it's only a level 6 weapon. On the other hand, compared to Stri-Edge Blade, you gain 1 init, 8% pierce, and 6 parry for a loss of 6-14 damage and 3 accuracy. Since this is a defensive build, and our soldiers are spending massive amounts of time buffing/debuffing, the loss of offensive stats is not as important as the gain in defense and init. Do remember to pick up the De Rivesh Blade, when the event pops. It will give you a further 12-14 damage, 4 accuracy, and 12% pierce, for the modest loss of 3 parry. I think this trade-off is worth it.

Soldier: Tactical Snubber
It's got the lowest init cost of contact weapons, best accuracy, and second-best parry. Other snubbers have better damage, pierce, or parry, but init cost is super-important, and again, this is a defensive build. Bahamut is a straight upgrade from Tactical Snubber, so pick up the pit fighting event. Super-easy event, for this team.

CM/MO/Doc: Vigeur Dripblade
He can't really use a gun in slot 4, anyway, so why not give him a nice defensive weapon,
in case he gets out of place and attacked.

CM/MO/Spy: Secureline Pistol
It's a pretty bad gun, really. It's got the lowest damage for a contact weapon, no parry, etc., but it's only 6 init, so that's what won me over. You shouldn't need parry in slot 4, anyway, especially since you're usually stealthed. If someone takes damage, and you need to toss out a heal, you're going to be glad you've got the leftover init. Heirlock's Otrike is NOT an upgrade, unfortunately, at least not for us. The extra damage isn't worth giving up 3 more init per shot.

Officers

Most starting ships only support 5 officers. Most of them require adding an officer quarters to make space, though. Making 4 of them combat crew is a tight squeeze. Let's assume you don't want a combat captain, which can be dangerous on harder difficulties.

The doctor works well as a combat healer for the early game, but you should keep on eye on replacing him later if his stats are bad and/or you want to go the spy route. That means you'll need to pick up some doctor crew, somewhere, as well as finding a contact that can recruit CMs, MOs, or Spies. Finding an MO recruiter is as easy as selecting the FDF Commander as a starting contact. If you haven't unlocked him yet, do some research on how to meet more contacts, and try to find one that recruits any of those three.

If you've got a free officer slot (and you usually do), you can go ahead and promote a Soldier, right away. Add Xeno Hunter and Bounty Hunter jobs, and you're good to go.

Next, you can usually fire a navigator or engineer officer, whichever you have. You already have lots of navigators, and they're easy to replace. Engineers are harder to replace, but you can do without. I highly recommend having at least one around mid-game, though. Promote your Swordsman to fill his position, and give him Zealot and Blade Dancer.

Finally, the most painful part: firing the Quartermaster. I hate doing this. The Quartermaster is a great early-game crew member. Instead of firing him, though, you could keep him on as temporary combat crew. Make him QM/Zealot/Swordsman and have him fill slot 2 until you find a Quartermaster recruit for your normal crew. Keep another Swordsman around to level up alongside him, so he can fill the slot when you're ready.

You'll want some talents to improve attributes of new recruits and make sure your combat team has over 20 Quickness, Wisdom, and Fortitude. Melee with 20+ strength is an added bonus. Keep an eye to replace any of your combat crew that are under that threshold. Obviously, more is better, but that's an ok place to start. The easiest source of improved recruit talents is Military Officer's rank 5 talent Recruiter's Eye. You should be hiring loads of these guys anyway, so give a few of them (or all of them) this talent and go to town on hiring/firing folks until the talents are all on cooldown.

If you find a good candidate to replace one of your current crew combat members, don't do it right away. Let the new recruit gain some talents, first. Then, when they can use the basic talents necessary for their job, dispose of the dead weight.

Tactics

These are general tactics I use against both humans and Xeno. Slots are numbered from the center. In other words, the ally and enemy closest to the center of the room are both in slot 1, and the ally and enemy furthest from the center of the room are both in slot 4.

Most tactics take the form of "if this, then do this", but you'll need to use your best judgement. Is it better to move an undebuffed enemy into debuffing range or to knock back a dangerous melee out of melee range? These are choices you'll have to make for yourself. I've listed the order of
precedence my mind goes through, below.

There are several things to consider and prioritize:
Can I get this enemy to waste his turn repositioning or rebuffing?
Can I completely drain this enemy's initiative?
How likely am I to outright kill this enemy?
How can I spread the most buffs/debuffs possible?

First round, every fight:
Xeno Hunter activates Unfaltering Ire, debuffing front-line enemies
Melee both activate Unstoppable Force, massively buffing defense
Combat Medic has two choices: Tactical Edge vs Vaccination Watch
Vaccination Watch is a fairly weak defensive buff, but it applies to the whole team.
Tactical Edge is a strong buff, but it must be cast twice, and getting your melee to stay in the right spot can be tricky.

Every round, thereafter:

Xeno Hunter:
If neither front-line enemies are debuffed
Activate Unfaltering Ire
Or if one front-line enemy is not debuffed, has initiative left, and is almost dead
Suppressing Fire him
Or if either front-line enemy is not debuffed
Activate Unfaltering Ire
Or if enemy in slot 3 is not debuffed
Suppressing Fire slot 2
Or if melee enemy is in front line
Suppressing Fire him until he's either dead or in the back
Or if long-range enemy is in slot 3
Suppressing Fire slot 2, bringing the long-range enemy into the front line
Else
Activate damage talent on most-damaged enemy

Melee:
If I need healing or buffs
Activate Strength of Steel
Or if I need buffs or repositioning
Activate Rash Courage
Or if front-line ally doesn't have Knife Work
Activate Knife Work
Or if front-line enemies can be debuffed
Activate debuff, prioritizing big initiative hits
Or if melee enemy can be pushed to back line
Activate knock back talent
Or if long-range enemy can be pulled to front line
Activate knock back talent on enemy in front of him
Or if enemy has initiative left and is almost dead
Activate damage talent
Else
Activate damage talent on most-damaged enemy

Combat Medic:
If ally needs major healing
Activate Lifeline
Or if ally needs moderate healing or morale or is debuffed
Activate Cleansing Purge
Or if allies need Vaccination Watch
Activate Vaccination Watch
Or if ally needs Tactical Edge
Activate Tactical Edge
Or if ally does not have Lifeline
Activate Lifeline
Or if I am Spy and not stealthed
Activate Disappearing Act
Or if I am Spy and stealthed
Activate Shadowed Fire on most-damaged enemy

Again, these are not hard and fast rules. Each decision is situational. It may be that I decide it's more important to stealth a spy than it is to throw a heal, depending on how many enemies are active, and how much health is missing, etc., etc. The closest I get to a "hard and fast rule" is "always have UF and UI active".

Versus Humans

The tactics above work fine for humans, but are a bit overkill. You can leave out some of the melee defense talents, like Rash Courage or Strength of Steel. It doesn't hurt, though, especially if they have Swordsmen in their ranks. I've tossed around the idea of having a dedicated "Human Hunter" crewman that I sub in for the Xeno Hunter, but this really works fine for both.

The only thing you need to worry about with humans is high-initiative Snipers. If their team can put out a few good shots at the start of the battle, you could be in real trouble. Luckily, I've not lost a fight that way, but I have had a melee go down before he had a chance to buff himself. I did end up firing him, though. The way to counteract that is to gear your crew appropriately, as described above, and to make sure their stats are up to snuff. The key to survival is preparation.

Final Thoughts

Unless you're exclusively doing exploration, you'll need a good ship. Make sure to have lots of defensive modules (usually DPMs) and some way of debuffing their range change/escape. You'll also want to make sure you've got lots of Military Officers and/or Commanders onboard. They help with everything, and I try to shoot for at least 10 of them. Your healer doesn't really count, since he only has one level in MO. Some useful talents are Twitch Surge (Pilot), Flash Charge (Navigator), Boarding Assault (Gunner), and Blood Game (Bounty Hunter). Invest in some boarding effect talents, too, especially Thrown Wrench (Mechanic).

How to build your ship is kind of beyond the scope of this guide, but this should point you in the right direction. I've found crew combat to be a major limiting factor in many of my games, so I'm very happy to have found a build that works for me. I hope it helps someone else out there, too.

Big thanks to JimmysTheBestCop for all his very informative posts!

[Nalgarryn]

I tried, very good.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

I was like wow this is a lot like how I play lol. Nice write up. I also might be in the minority but I don't like Engineers at all. I much rather have mechanics. I like mechanic talents better. Engineer talents are good really early game to save you money from repairs and new ship cost. I don't think I ever not fire my starting Engineer lol. No need for him.