Can I beat XCOM 2 WOTC using only Sharpshooters (again)? (Ep. 10)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Episode 10. My attempt at beating an XCOM 2 WOTC challenge run using only Sharpshooters in combat (again).
XCOM 2 Challenge Run Playlist: • Can I beat XCOM 2 WOTC...
Watch these challenge runs in full on my second channel. The Drifter's Archives: / @thedriftersarchives
Original Sharpshooters only run: • Can I beat XCOM 2 WOTC...
Twitch: / thedriftersbroadcast
Discord: / discord
Music Featured
Messiah by Handel: • Händel Messiah - Halle...
Running Errands by TrackTribe: • TrackTribe - "Running ...
Sad Day by Bensound: www.bensound.c...
What Can Never Be by The Tunnel: thetunnelsf.co...
Free sound effects from www.fesliyanst... and mixkit.co/
I wanted to mention this on the vod video, but I had already commented (unless I DID comment this and am remembering wrongly):
But I love how you killed the viper king, like just imagine being him. You’re a master of ice, yet you’re frozen and thus helpless; then this madman in a suit of burnt beef jerky runs up to your bodyguard and decks him, killing him; then turns to look at you, slowly pulls out THE big iron [on his hip] and puts 5 shots into your skull. Brutal, and yet morbidly comical.
Fear the Beef Jerky Man.
Ironic. Master of ice, killed with ice.
I can just imagine the warlock watching XCOM busting into his base with absolutely no advance warning. He panics, and still dressed in a bathrobe, he fumbles for his gear and starts a dramatic monologue while wondering why the hell advent intel didn't alert him. Seconds later, the XCOM team stops. One of them yells "We got the wrong stronghold", they fix up the entrance, then they run off leaving an entire base worth of confused advent troops.
Lol
Warlock so powerful, he mind controls Drifter to select HIS base instead of sneaky lady.
Took me a moment to realize you meant Drifter, not Drifter
@@AaronCorr these conversations always drift to some extent so I wouldn't feel bad. B
XCOM bursting in and rolling into the wrong Chosen's lair is a very XCOM thing to do.
*That’s XCOM baby*
Johnny English came to mind with that part.
I read this comment right as that happened
"If we miss enough times, the enemy will think we are doing it on purpose and expect a trap"
- Every sharpshooter in xcom, probably
Only Xcom Sharpshooters are so precise…
@@Jaydee-wd7wr Precise yes, accurate no. They always miss by exactly one foot.
@@BobMcBobJr The point blank miss on berserkers is the best.
They have to completely move the weapon out of the way and the barrel is still inside them (to which one could imply the bullet is coming from the other side of the alien's body)
Only Xcom sharpshooters are this precise.
Edit: Oh well, someone commented first.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one.
Last time on The Drifter's Broadcast:
_"I'M BAAACK!"_
_"AND BETTER THAN EVER!"_
_Warlock wipes out the whole squad._
Now back to the show.
Ah, a seth viewer has found their new haven, welcome friend.
I understand the reference
The tank... it hungers
Welcome, my fellow seth watcher
It's interesting how throughout this whole challenge series, Drifter has learned more about just how the various classes operate fully, as well as develop new strategies and tactics. Given how Psi operatives work logistically, they can be a really good way to hone one's ability to preserve troops. Really plan out what to do, and not send someone running into a million sectopods. Only thing missing is a "No Meme beacon" run, to learn to play without mimic beacons, because you won't always have one.
Sometimes typos are a fantastic gift, and I love the idea of a meme beacon.
*sees advent soldiers get ready to kill squad*
*deploys doge meme beacon*
such target
very shoot
wow
@@ethangarofolo8170 That wasn't a typo
If you want to get those squad size upgrades quickly, send your highest rank soldier out on covert ops that have a promotion reward. I once had a colonel before my entire force was on lieutenant just by sending them out over and over again on promotion ops.
He’s done that before and I’m sure he focuses on those rewards especially. The major advantage of that early promotion farming is a full squad size for the first retaliation mission, which happens quick and can be devastating when the Chosen come into play.
Dang it... I'm supposed to be a functional adult but I guess we are watching "Revenge of the Sharpshooters"
Watching after work to maintain balance
You lost that title lost ago.
Same
I am in law school, it’s the middle of exams, I had one this afternoon and another this Wednesday and I’m still here about to binge watch the whole thing. I’m an absolute shill for Drifter content.
@@bendre1997 you could say you’re going on a bendre ;)
I notice you don't use mindshields often well just in case you thought they are useless let us go over their benefits real quick:
-Prevents any sort of battle madness from happening as a result of low will (convenient sure but not exactly useful)
- Prevents any sort of negative mental effects from affecting your soldiers (which includes but not limited to unconscious, disoriented, dazed, panicked, mind control, stunned and {in theory} the blindness status from the Assassin's grenade)
-When psionic enemies target units that possess the return fire trait, the psi attack fails and that unit gets to freely fire on that enemy, this should (in theory) work with the feedback resistance order as well
Mindshields make the Warlock pretty much obsolete, the Assassin can't daze anyone (from melee attacks, The wave attack and the grenade) and if you bunch up your units against the hunter, he'll waste a turn using his grenade which won't affect your units with mindshields. You also can't be affected by the Beserker's (queen included) ability to stun, disorient and render units unconscious, the advent priest and sectoid are also rendered useless as well
-Basically removes all the drawbacks from utilizing tired soldiers
-You know those traits that you have to get rid of in the infirmary? Well the mindshield nullifies the effects of those traits, meaning any soldiers with fear of (insert enemy/status here) or even any of the compulsive disorders won't have those traits affect them if they possess a mindshield
Please note: Psi attacks like the psi bomb from the codex, soulfire/null lance from avatar and Rift from gatekeeper will still deal damage
Soldiers will ONLY go down or lose actions from stasis, bleeding out or straight up death.... nothing else, not even fear will prevent them from carrying out the commander's will
Mindshields are the only thing that make legendary difficulty bearable in the early to mid game, I also recommend giving the soldier you want to rush to Sgt rank for the squad size bonus just to make sure they don't suffer from any of the drawbacks of having low will
yup its one of the BEST item vs psi enemies, especially the warlock. i dont understand why he never uses it.
I like how hilariously OP the endgame was despite how brutal the early game was. I'm sure with some luck you could do that final mission without a single injury because chain kill goes brrr.
I couldn't help but laugh at the mention of '... the great talky one'. More great content as always. I'll have to show up for a stream one of these days.
drifter kicks in the door
Warlock: "So, come to settle an old grudge for last time? So be it. I shall show you the might of the Eld-"
Drifter: "Sorry wrong door. listen, your sister has been kicking my butt all throughout this timeline and I am actually here for her. so uhh... I'll come back and finish our thing later... so its like what two doors down?"
dumbfounded Warlock: "uh, yeah two doors down on the right."
Drifter: "Thanks, I appreciate it. now if you excuse me. "
*walks away*
"ASSASSIN YOU STEALTHY B!÷
I actually discovered your channel searching for a sharpshooter only run just before you released your first sharpshooter run. Thoroughly impressed and thanks for making a second attempt, definitely gave me the closure I needed!
A small tip for dealing with the Assassin as Snipers:
Like you mentioned, her Vanishing Wind ability is brutal for your Snipers, as they lack mobility to chase her. This is compounded by the fact that her Sword Strike ability does not trigger Overwatch shots, meaning setting a trap is pretty worthless. Bending Reed (when she relocates after a melee attack) also does not trigger it.
So, what do you do?
Well, the answer is Battle Scanners. It's not a fun one, but it's necessary. Why? Because if you catch her before she gets within melee range of your units, you CAN Overwatch Trap her (provided she doesn't also have the Shadowstep strength). When you don't try to counter her cloaking, you're letting HER dictate your engagements, not the other way around. This is especially bad with a class that cannot move very much, as you demonstrated in the video. Starting engagements with her with an Overwatch trap is health that she will NOT regenerate until her next turn, as her regen only triggers at the start of her turn.
You'll want her to start all your engagements by Blue-moving into LoS. This makes her more likely to use either her grenade or Harbor Wave, both of which aren't a big deal if they hit one person.
Additionally, you could use a Soldier as bait and equip them with a Mindshield to make them immune to the Dazed effect, which might proc a Return Fire (I don't know how that ability works with abilities that ignore Overwatch, which is why I use the term "might"). She'll be right in your face, so you're very unlikely to miss her and there's no enemy cover to get in the way (which is Return Fire's biggest weakness, in that it takes the enemy's cover into consideration when it triggers, meaning it'll likely never hit an enemy in Full Cover).
Don't let her take the initiative, she'll roll around at the speed of sound and your boys will have their heads spinning (metaphorically and literally if she hits them).
21:10 "a reprieve from the great talky one" I can't stop laughing, someone help me
I personally don’t think of a Avenger defense mission as something bad, with Advent continuously shipping in more cannon fodder it’s easy to get a promotion for every single soldier on the field if you’re patient enough.
Edit: You can also sell all the corpses you get during the mission for fat cash.
Wait you can get the corpses on the avenger defense missions? I always assumed we just bugged out without them like we would if it were a VIP mission with the firebrand timer.
@@Onemanfunnyfarm if is a ufo attack you get no corpses if it is a chosen attack you get the corpses
I love the Hunter UFO encounters so much, I purposefully fail some some Ops to get them to spawn because I love controlling a lot of soldiers at once, however, the games doesn't seem to like them, since on my current run, they simply refuse to knock me down
Don't you know? The aliens hate fun.
I like that mission too, heck even base defense on the original XCOM was something I enjoyed, I built my base design around it even though it slowed down some of the things I needed, like interceptor hangers.
Yeah I hope XCOM 3 has bigger tactical battles that makes it feel like a war instead of covert ops
maybe you would like the long war mod, sometimes is just good to play xcom 2 LW in easy and just controll a lot of soldiers
@@lil_vault_boy I think in Xcom 3 you will start with 4 soldiers and go to 6 soldier like in previous games. Developers probably think, that having more than 6 soldiers and more enemies would make the missions too long for an average player. There might be some special missions with bigger soldier counts. They might put 8 soldier as second wave option.
Kinda surprised by the lack of killzone in this. Out of all the sniper abilities, that'd be the one ability I'd call OP aside from serial. If you killzone a pod and then activate it, then you will take shots against them twice. Once when they scatter for cover and the other when it's their turn. Get on higher elevation or pair some scope + perception pcs and they'll kill just about every pod on their own. Ap rounds would usually be my go to for them.
52:57 Warlock: you picked the wrong house fool
Drifter: HEY HEY HEY, WARLOCK, ITS ME DRIFTER, CHILL, CHILL!!
I think you might even be able to shoot your pistol 5 times in a single turn, and that is without any bonds
Lightning hands
Normal shot
Fanfire
Then you could give the soldier a bonus action with the bondmate so now we are at 6 pistol shots and then use dual strike or maybe even the second charge of the bonus move if the bond is lvl'd high enough
You would need to use second teamwork, Dual strike will always use the Sniper Rifle.
@@Tibsbb if you are going for the meme only handcannon yes, but that would be the most available attacks i believe
I remember my very first UFO mission on Legendary I sent out a reaper to scout the disruptor in the first turn, and had a sharpshooter already in position to take a squad sight shot. That plus a lucky hairtrigger meant completing the mission in one turn
It's interesting that the Sharpshooter who is the most powerful X-Com 2 unit has been the most problematic run vs the Specialist who is considered the weakest being the easiest run.
The Specialist is, much like Support in Enemy Unknown before it, a jack of all trades, master of none (kind of the opposite of its name), so they're bad in a team that already has every role covered, but good when they're more individualized and covering each other's weaknesses. Sharpshooters meanwhile are cripplingly overspecialized in doing massive burst damage, which is great in a team that mostly does chip damage, but terrible when they have to cover every role.
Sharpshooter’s development is so slow. Until they get Serial or Fan Fire, I’d rather bench them for another Ranger or Grenadier.
1:01:09 I am DYING! This caught me so off guard it was hilarious, I hate when those pesky "civilians" reveal you, more like undercover advent simps
1:25:23 god damn Leeson doesn't mess around. Took an andromedon's fist to the face and then fired his rifle one-handed just to flex. That man is insane
Taking it slow and methodical is really rewarding in this game specially that you can cheese the game by delaying the story events and opening up new areas to focus down the chosen. It really makes this game a breeze. It was really satisfying to see you adapt a different approach to this than you normally do, maybe you've picked up some nice strategies going forward.
It doesn't help that due to the Fatigue/Will forced changes it encourages this or other exploits even more.
WotC destroys game balance especially with the Hunter/Warlock being free AP.
@@Buglin_Burger7878 Don't know what you mean. I play frequently on commander difficulty. If you know what to do this game is really easy.
It's basically how I played my first time. Fuck rushing to the end, I want the chosen dead, the rulers dead, as many max level soldiers as possible with the best weapons possible before I bother to continue the story mode.
Granted, I was playing on easy, but I'm more of a completionist than a speedrunner, I don't like rushing games without exploring all they can do.
@@JayHog1992 Yes agreed. But since the log is always visible on the left new players might be tricked to thinking they need to do specific things, which for experienced players trigger unwanted things to happen (like exploring a new area/continent that spawns a new chosen etc). I don't think new players know you can take it slow and kill one chosen at a time.
@@orarinnsnorrason4614 Can't speak for the majority, but I did that fine, which makes sense to do.
Plus my friend kinda semi spoiled me that if I didn't, the game would get much harder near the end.
Oh hell yes, have been waiting for this retry! This will be a good watch.
damm found your channel for a few weeks watched every xcom video, than reinstalled xcom 2 played it for 8 hours go whiped deinstalled it and every time you upload a video i get the urge to reinstall it again, btw great videos.
"Slow and steady wins the race" *cuts to 11/12 avatar project bar*
I had a sharpshooter in my last run, I sent him on lots of resistance orders to increase his aim, by the end of my run I didn't see a shot below 80% for several missions in a row
As i always said from certain game: "Overconfidence is a slow and incidious killer"
NEVER PLAY RECKLESS! more with a group of snipers. That make you looks like a noob in Xcom 2 and you already got A LOT of playthroughs to know the gigst of how the same works.
Still, you had a nice done at the end except when you screw it twice.
A yes the DD that shall not be named as that game dwarfs in comparison to the nightmarish horrors that is that!!!!
38:40 - Talks about how long the mission took (around 45 minutes)
Me who just watch another 2.5 hour video from Odd, "45 minute mission is rather short for this game :) "
Odd does run roughly 168,492,625,749,273,742,916 mods though...
Hey i really love this series!!!! keep up the good work. :>
I'm loving all these challenge runs.
When you are out of classes an interesting idea might be playing the game with exactly one of each class. More versatility but losses would be nasty since you can't replace them.
18:31 Your videos always have the greatest quotes
I love watching your content
The muton running towards fear is probably a result of diversifying the fear reactions with obsession or fixation. I once had an assault with a phobia of robots spend three turns running straight to a MEC from across the map where all of the other members of ADVENT were the real danger I had to keep her safe from. It was straight into med bay's therapy slot once it opened up again.
Thanks for the video. And grateful for the change in screen format -- the picture in picture thing was disorienting
Sharpshooters are my favorite so much fun but I think that comes from my want to go slow regardless
“ADENT might have went on living but they made one fatal slip when they tried to match the sharpshooters with the big irons on their hips”
You're getting better and better at this. I'm curious to see what future challenges will look like. Can you beat XCOM 2 using only rookies? Can you beat XCOM 2 using only GREMLINs? Can you beat XCOM 2 using only finger guns?
Can you beat Xcom 2 using secondary weapons only...
Sharpshooters have always been my favorite class.
Slow, powerful, patient.
Perfect accuracy.
Never miss.
Ever.
I'm so glad my favorite class got a rematch, thanks Drifter you're the GOAT!
Great redemption arc for the sharpshooters!
Have watched every one of your videos so far, looking forward to the psionics only ;)
Early Improved Pistols.
Yeah, definitely a gamechanger. And I 100% agree that Lightning Hands is the better choice over Deadeye in general.
..
Oh god, Dr Bob is incredible 😂
The assassin requires a wall to climb up. In the last run when you destroyed the floor, there was no wall for her to climb up. If you watch her while she climbs, she does this back flip double jump thing of the wall.
One of my favorite things about watching smaller, less experienced youtubers is how I can see them improve throughout every upload. Both in making the videos, and in the games they play. It is super satisfying to see someone make a mistake, and then use the knowledge they gained from that experience to put themselves in an advantageous position later on. You are probably the best example I have found of this so far. Never stop improving my friend. Never stop.
the shadowkeeper adds 15% aim AND 10% crit you any soldier that carries it. it seems to add NOT only to pistol shots! its totally awesome!
I call shenanigans on you pulling Meat Shield 2 back at 35:53. A good meat shield is thrown head first into danger at the first chance.
1:07:57 Revenge at last.
And as we reach the end, this was a great video and a well-deserved redo.
Have you considered building a laboratory first? They increase the chance of getting a breakthrough/inspiration allowing you to get tech way earlier than usual if you're lucky. You should try it out once
The Problem with the lab is that it sets the player back in everything else ecept technology. I prefer the Lab as building Nr. 3. Many more player don't build the lab at all.
GTS is basicly a must-have if you want to play the first retalitation mission with 5 people instead of 4 and most likly looose. On Legendary, it's basicly a death sentence for your campaign to loose the first Retaliationsmissions.
And early Resistence-Ring is must-have to reduce Avater Project and potentially get some sci advancement for weapon and armor. Without resistence Ring you gonna lose the strategic game, right at the beginning.
The lab-first-build is a high risk high reward build, that force the player to survive long enough with just 4 soldiers while also aggresivly scanning regions and supply crates on the map to buy all the new stuff.
@@Berek71182 in my last gamethrough, i lost the first mission after gatecrash, so i didn't have an engineer for the first 2 months...
What a start!
Haven't built a lab in years haha.
@@TheDriftersBroadcastBuilding a lab is so helpful. In my last run I had:
+1 damage to assault rifles
Another +1 damage to assault rifles
+1 damage to pistols
+1 damage cannons
+1 damage to Reaper’s rifles
Extra weapon upgrade slots to cannon, Reaper rifle, assault rifle
That’s all in one campaign.
I've seen someone beat it with only one sharpshooter and it was awsome to watch, tho you also have good content as well
and thus a meme was born 1:01:10
random ADVENT civilian: spots drifter and his crew
drifter: you have lost life privileges *throws grenade*
I gotta ask. does the commander count as a psy trooper?
and can you thus use him if you go for "psy" only troopers?
Edit: I'd say: go for it
Pretty sure last mission is not the real problem with psionics but rather the painful experience before you get psi chambers and at least some abilities up...
@@krieshake agreed, so let him use the commander for once :p
@@krieshake Oh definitely. If Drifter can manage to get that far, he could probably beat the mission with a squad of 4. But at that point, why not bring the Commander anyway?
Nah.
After the Psy Op run, I would like to see him play with some of the proficiency class mods.
Is the intro music from red vs blue? I swear I’ve heard that before
It is similar to som RvB things isn’t it?
No idea, sorry.
Freaking awesome video. Love that someone is still making XCOM 2 content of high quality on UA-cam
I just finished watching the first sharpshooters run, no way did i time it this perfectly
bro that assassin did a deadly smart move with that blade
Love the videos.
I know I’m not the only one waiting for if you can beat Xcom 2 war of the chosen (without many mods) without firing a gun? While obviously there would have to be some defined rules for if “a gun is” or if the challenge was without firing a primary weapon. As what a gun is might change when you are using Psi ops, templars, Skirmishers, etc. I know I personally have like over 800 hours in Xcom 2 but, I can’t imagine playing the game without a number of mods that change gameplay or improve quality of life.
Finally, a new Drifter upload! I love this series!
Very cowboy hats, such quickdraw, wow!
enjoying the streams and the Videos m8. Great job as always
Don't worry, patience in XCOM is also an issue for me
Also, I respect you for playing without the surgiucal fix mod. The Surgical SitREP is supposed to reduce the enemies as well to compensate for your smaller squad, i.e. pods of three should be pods of two. However it doesn't work without a mod. Vanilla Surgical can be a slaughter due to even numbers.
Huh, I didn't even know this was a thing, I just thought surgical strike was supposed to be an awful sitrep
Everytime you set up an overwatch ambush with their revolvers, it reminds me a western-
Congratulations, Commander. We were rooting for you!
Appreciate the support, Jim.
This run was well played, but gotta give a massive advantage to getting such powerful breakthroughs early game.
never thought i'd see a chosen go down in a scene reminiscent of the end of Red Dead Redemption, music included, yet here we are. Excellent content as always ! can't wait to see what happens next
I really like your challenge runs and think it would be interesting to see how you play Long War with it's new classes. Doesn't even have to be a solo class challenge, just a normal playthrough would be nice to see.
You're pragmatic. Calculating. Experienced , and yet it gives me great pleasure when Advent humbles you. It means there is still more to learn. I feel the same way. It's the new chess and I hope xcom3 builds on that.
Having the warlock's death synced with the bell in the music was a nice touch. Excellent video and brilliant gameplay commander. Great job!
Glad to see you changed your mind since your response to my comment on the last run about using sharpshooters as snipers with pistol backup rather than running them around like rangers. I love sharpshooters, so was good to see sharpshooters using the awesomeness they possess at colonel level.
Always happy when I see these pop up
Congrats on beating the sniper only run also the way you took out the hunter was a big brain play and the serial kill deaths at the end were amazing great work once again also let's appreciate the fact liason was hit by an adromedon and one handed relflex shot with his sniper rifle hilarious stuff(I know it's a glitch but still hilarious)
Awesome run, Drifter! Good work as always, and I’m happy to see some new characters taking the lead on this one!
Hyundai really did just say "omiwa shindeiru" and went to work in the finale.
Simo Häyhä would be proud of you
Drifter I have to be honest... I found your luck. I have it. It crawled it's way into my game, got a supply raid in the early game, 2 instant autopsies around the same time, 3 i think inspired researches (one of which was mag weapons), I think 2 sabotage covert ops, and a nice cherry on top the thing that makes timers not go down as long as the squad is concealed
I usually enjoy bringing at least 2 sharpshooters on my missions, so this was fun(ny) to watch. Good job man, I'm enjoying these series.
Hey drifter I watched your twitch content and even made a character but I have a hard time watching something for a long time so these videos are perfect for me and I’ll keep on watching you from UA-cam
Ok, let's be real. We are in the middle of set reviews for the upcoming magic the gathering set, and i still clicked on this video as fast as I could, just because these runs are a fucking event!
Loving the constant scribbled out names for the class you are using. Keep it up Drifter love these videos thanks for the great content.
53:00 "To step foot in this SCARED temple" lol
Gotta work in 8 hours... Gotta sleep rrlatevly now... I will watch this video anyways? Hell. Yeah.
Once again, after we finish all classes-videos, i would love to see you pick up the challenge that all pods are triggered as soon as you break concealment. Perhaps even with starter classes using the current mod, but then you get to pick whatever you like
52:58
a scared temple? such great personification!
Back again with another banger. Well done.
The xcom2 wiki states that the alien UFO interception mission can be avoided if it's a part of a dark event
Yeah, from my expirence if you keep moving locations during the dark event it doesn't find you
Little XCOM funcact i recently learned the theme for the lost enemy combat post the first mission is called "All Hope is lost" and i think that is hilarious
been waitin for this one
Well done Drifter! I personally like Sharpshooters for their cool looking guns and the pistols also have a cool feeling to them but they are as you said not as good as some of the other classes for this particular run.
The warlock in the first sharpshooter campaign was a nigh unbeatable demon, in this one? Not so much
I literally forgot psionic's exist
With the way you set up that last shot of the run with that whole redemption speech, I honest to god thought you missed XD
40:20 it's times like these where it's good to have spare alloy and elerium to sell. Elerium especially sells for a lot, to the point where you'd get more bang for your buck by buying it over the supplies from the black market.
Drifter, please make a one hour video of Xcom fireteams blasting aliens while playing the gunslinger theme music!
No commentary needed!
Sharpshooters are some of the most annoying early game, but later game with serial can be the most satisfying. I miss the flying suits from the first game though to give them height advantage anywhere.
I honestly think sniper is the strongest class in the game. Send a late game sniper with darklance and icarus armor together with a reaper for scouting and squadsight, and this sniper will be able to clear the whole map on his own. No as strong as a late game sniper in Enemy Unknown though. The archangel armor made them unreasonable.
I was waiting this, im going to enjoy it, as you cant imagine
Will you do psi operative only run?
Yeah.
Called it on last stream! It is true sniper run.
"Don't try it! It's over Advent! I have my Snipers on the High Ground."
Now this is something I can get behind from across the map.