I know this video is two years old but i just completed my first campign in xcom 2 about a week ago and i had a comment about your opinion towards proximity mines. I agree, they definitly are hard to place when youre trying to predict where the enemy is going to go/take cover. But if youre using them to start an engagement, like placing a proximity mine at the feet if a pod when you havent broken concealment, its incredibly useful for wiping out entire pods with only a single shot. If you posistion the redt of your team in overwatch and break concealment after placing the mine with a soldier with the clearest shot, the pod will scatter, activating the mine and sometimes eliminating all the enemies at once. Worst case scenario, 3 enemies now how severe wounds and can be cleaned up pretty quick if youre smart about it!
This comment 100%. You don't even need to take a shot with a soldier to use the mine. On your turn place the mine in the center of a patrolling pod and set an overwatch trap, when the enemy turn comes around they will move triggering the mine and scamper(wasting their turn) into an overwatch trap. If they happen to survive you get a safe turn to finish them off. They are one of the few ways you can break concealment without giving the aliens a turn. You can also stack them or use them like reaper claymores instantly wiping out any pod.
@@co8wei stacking prox mines with claymores is the easiest, most reliable & safe way to "delete" a pod of enemies that you need to kill quick. Underrated as hell for sure
@@co8wei exactly!! its literally making it almost impossible for you to not beat the crap out of any pod in the game if you do it that way! blasting them with high area damage, full overwatch trap (especially with salvo), and even another FULL turn to slaughter the survivors (if any). its totally OP when used this way!
I’ve found that the proximity mines can be a great addition to an ambush before you are spotted by a pod. You spot a pod. A heavy mech unit, an advant officer, and a stun lancer. I open up with a proximity mine. Then set up a kill zone around them. Then open up a void rift to get them moving. They take the 4 from the void rift. Trigger the proximity mine. Then my sniper gets a shot at each one. After all this I still have 3 soldiers with full movement left to act.
I wanted to mention this to. Proximity mine triggers in ENEMY movement and does not reveal your troops when thrown. So you launch the mine right in a ball of enemies, then overwatch the rest of the your squad. On the enemy turn the immediately blows up, all your troops overwatch, the enemy runs for cover, and you get a full turn to clean up whatever didn't survive. Contrast that to traditional ambushed where 5/6 soldiers overwatch, and one soldier tosses a grenade. You get your overwatches and then the alien gets their FULL TURN to attack you. Given Overwatch has no crits and aim problems I don't even like traditional ambushed unless you know the aliens are going to walk into your trap, which Proximity mine guarantees.
@@AnishChari yes basically adds a full turn to finish an ambush perfectly. totally OP. makes ambushing totally safe against any pod. you can literally annihilate 2 pods stacked on each other easily this way, especially when you add a claymore or two.
The niche use I found for refraction field is to allow you to cheese rulers with a sharpshooter. Usually you do it with a Reaper but we know that sometimes things go wrong and they might be dead or recovering from injuries/resting. So, if you do not have the option to bring a stealth scout to the party and there is a high likelyhood a ruler will show up, hey, it's there. That tip doesn't make the item much better but it may help out someone.
Very helpful stuff. The only real use for proximity mines is to throw them onto an enemy landing area when their dropping troops. Sweet explosion with almost guaranteed kills.
I know this is a old video but some things to add on to some of these items for old and new players that might not know. Mind Shield prevents any negative conditions that occur from lowered will, so you can have a soldier with zero wile and they will operate with no issues, this is best for early game and early midgame to keep sending out powerful units with no draw backs. Battle scanners can also reveal faceless, and don't knock you out of stealth, and keep enemies reveled so if chosen or specters vanish they stay reveled. And the skull jack gives you 20 to your hacking making it beast to pair with your specialist, however it can be kind of funny, the skull jacks hacking boost dose stake with the gremlin so if your character has a hack of 100, a mark III gremlin which gives you 40, and you hack with the gremlin you will have a hack score of 160. But the opposite is not true, when you use the skull mining you only have the character and the skull mining boost so it only comes to 120.
@@SykenPlays i hope you check the comments and now you know that proximity mines can be devastating in ambushes (especially on the enemy's turn), and that mindshields are super useful especially vs the warlock, making him basically do nothing. when in a direct fight with him (even one mindshield on your frontliner can do that).
Little note about Mind Shield is it will stop battle panic as well. So if you need to send out tired units you can pop a mind shield on them and they won't be effected by any negative traits. Also it seems even on legendary the AI ignores the fact you're immune to mindcontrol and almost feels like they go out of their way to try and mind control your units who are immune. This can be really helpful vs the Warlock as on legendary he can be very dangerous if he chooses to shoot his gun he will hit you in full cover if given the chance and quite often even crit and kill one of your squamates. Flashbang is nice for getting rid of mindcontol but it does come at a cost to your action economy and often leaves sectoids taking pop shots at your units even at a reduced chance to hit they have nailed my guys in half cover quite a few times. Lastly it will also stop your units from being disoriented by chosen and also stops lancers from landing a stun. So it has quite a few uses that aren't obvious stated in the description. Great guide Syken I am enjoying your videos!!
Back to my L/I with 0 deaths and trying to pull as many flawless as possible.. never knew each posion or fire dot trigger repeater chance, need to watch all your guide now :)
The pros mine is good at opening against the first pod. You are concealed and the enemy doesn’t see you as it walks up. Put the line in the pod, it blows up when the enemy starts patrolling and then triggers the pack and all your over watches on the enemy turn
After Chimera squad popped out, I've come back to XCOM2 to relive earlier memories - it's nuts to find out NOW that with a repeater and damage over time rounds can potentially off pretty much anything if you get lucky.
Yes, it was a great option in VANILLA, it does not work anymore in WOTC. That being said, it still works with multi-shots. So a superior repeater and a reaper with banish are a deadly combo.
@@SykenPlays have you ever considered doing long war 2 playthrough? I am looking at it for my next challenge and would definitely be glad to learn the ropes.
Hi Andrey, I have had a couple of requests for it so far, the reason why I didn't approach it was simply because it ends up in between 250-350 videos to complete it and given how viewer counts fall off after the first 10 videos, it effectively means I am producing 240-340 videos for a very small number of viewers. With limited time at my hands to do this here, I need to find challenges which I reasonably can finish in a certain amount of time :)
Watched most of the videos and enjoyed hearing your points of view. One point that I do disagree with you is on Flash Bangs and Mind Shields. In XCOM 2, I would agree with you that Flashbangs are more useful. In WotC and the new enemies such as Advent Priest and the Chosen themselves, mindshields are superior. The amount of Psi attacks in the game as well as Dazed attacks from the Chosen mean that there are potentially multiple times when a soldier can be mind controlled or panicked in a single mission. Placing mind shields on your front line soldiers will negate 99% of these attacks and you don't have to waste a turn by throwing a flash bang.
That is a fair point and in my latest Legendary Ironman 2men run, where actions were vary valuable, I also changed my view on the quality of the mindshields quite a bit. Had a templar with Immunity to explosions, fire, acid, poison and all mind affecting abilities. Only way to counter him was basically stasis.
I agree with you on mindshields as I was about to comment about them being a hard counter to chosen warlock but you covered it. Flashbangs though I feel are still just as useful in wotc as you need them even more than before because of advent priests and it takes awhile to get a full set of them.
mindshield is actually devastatingly effective vs the warlock, especially if you put it on frontline units like rangers and templars. it makes him basically do nothing during the entire fight with him! flashbangs are useless vs the chosen. also nice vs priests and sectoids. only 1-3 are needed really, to keep your best frontliners safe. even one can ruin the psionic enemies, if you position them carefully.
@@SykenPlays well here you say they are very bad and almost useless...so you should probably fix this and explain how its best to use them in your opinion, vs strong psi enemies, specifically those with mind control, they can be great. the warlock specifically is destroyed by them!
20:10 Dragon Rounds are really good against the Lost because when they burn they panic if they don't get killed right out. I love it on Sharpshooters with pistols.
Great guide and great author! I learned so much. Just two comments: number one my favorite armor is to Icarus suit. Still have two slots and also get to fly around. Number two: my preferred grenade is acid since it shreds the most armor and has a DOT. Why did you prefer gas?
Good to hear that, glad you took something from it. The Gas grenade does not only shred, but also has damage over time and on-top of that a debuff to enemies to-hit chance (which is huge, because it improves your survivability).
Doing everything right would mean the infirmary is a useless building, but it's not. Unless you save scum everything you're occasionally going to have problems that require spending resources on "useless" stuff. Medkits are useless if you're not getting hit as well but the options medkits provide to deal with unexpected problems like poison or a dying teammates can save infinitely more resources than you have to spend to replace lost teammates or to cope with failed mission that a "useless" item might have saved. Everything has value, it's up to individuals to think creatively about where the value comes from.
Hello Syken, did not hear you say this is the video and most people probably don’t know but EMP bombs Instantly kill Codex’s!? It’s phenomenal especially after you do the hijacking mission. You can even kill multiple of them at once if they’re together. You never have to worry about them again. Let me know if this helps
Hi Joey, that is a good point, but unfortunately doesn‘t hold true for all difficulty levels. On Legendary, the Codexies have 14hp, the emp grenade with specialization can deal 10 at most and if it doesn‘t stun the codex, they will replicate (it is not treated as a Flashbang in this regard).
I like to use a proximity mine on a non activated pack and then follow up with a grenade to set it off. Wipes out pods, might be better to bring another grenade though.
Hello Robin, Great point, the reason, why I valued it less is that there is a finite amount of consumables, using two of them to wipe out a single pack is inefficient. From an efficiency standpoint, normal grenades are better through their higher explosion radius and their ability to remove cover just as well. :)
@@SykenPlays I just started using proximity mines in my last playthrough and I found them to be more efficient than any other grenades. The best thing about proximity mines is that they don't break concealment when deployed and they benefit from grenadiers abilities like volatile mix and biggest boom. On missions, I would have a grenadier place a proximity mine in the middle of a pod, then my reaper place and shoot a claymore. This sets off both explosive and doesn't break my squad's concealment. In the late game phase, this can do 16+ damage, which kills most units or get them within one shot.
@@KhanhTran-xp7yn Hi Quoc Khanh, thanks for adding the perspective, that is certainly one way of dealing with it. I have judged them relatively low because your strategy - although efficient - requires a lot of consumables and it is therefore a trade-off whether to use the proximity mines + additional explosives on only a single pack.
Were Gatekeepers changed to Mechanical in WotC? They're considered biological in vanilla. Bluescreen rounds also require proving grounds initially for Bluescreen Protocol unless that's different as well. They also lower hack defense in vanilla. Talon Rounds can also be very strong on a Specialist who has Guardian since in combination with the GTS buff that grants bonus 10 aim and chance to Crit. I have actually seen my specialist empty their magazine during Overwatch and land critical hits on every single shot.
Hi Malacite, the Gatekeepers have not been changed, they always have been biological units (and thus are affected by special ammunition like poison), but at the same time they are prone to bluescreen rounds. They cannot be hacked, but they can be disoriented and they can also be mind-controlled.
You can put the proximity mine on a red reinforcement spot to damage all arriving enemies - that's the only good usage, otherwise it's useless, you're right.
wrong. you can also place it during a concealment ambush on a pod, let them keep the patrol while you overwatch, making them activate with the blast ON THEIR TURN, giving you full overwatch ambush AND a full turn to wipe out the survivors! u literally cannot fail to annihilate any pod this way.
Does flashbang trigger mimic transformation if thrown at civilian? The same as overdrive serum could be said for a medkit. Yes, immunity to poison is good but if player need constantly use medkits in mission then he probably need to work on his strategy. Although, one medkit per squad is a good choice to recover from a misstep. Frost bomb is an early game item you get it before the first mission with mimics (forgot how its called, "abduction"?)
Gatekeepers are special, it is one of the very few hybrid units and has its own set of rules, I have already prepared a video for them, just haven‘t had the time to upload it yet
Sorry for being late to the game... but I can't seem to find a guide regarding what PCS and weapon mods you suggest for each class? :) I could be wrong though... :D
Hi mate, I can certainly cover that in a future guide, at this point I have quite a few guides to go through before taking this on. The short version to answer your question is: There is no definitive correct choice - Speed is good for most agents, aim is good for either snipers or low-aim classes like grenadiers and dodge/hit points is good for specialists to make sure that they cannot be one-shot. Hope that helps you in the meantime.
@@SykenPlays thanks! :) yeah, I’ve been putting speed on my scouts and aim on my grenadiers/snipers. :) Also putting scopes on everything. My only concern now is that I am playing on C/I, and the damn Hunter chosen has brutal AND planewalker. 😳
wait wait wait waitwaitwait, does DOTs from dragon and poison rounds REALLY triggers the repeater bonus from the weapon each time they tick?? if yes, it is NUTS and i heavily under estimated them, and repeater in general... I don't like RNG, and most of the time i try to nullify it, so i rarely focus on advanced repeater, exeption on my specialists with "unlimited" overwatch shots as far as they hit, because it can clear out a pack in one go... but one thing i mainly struggle with are the 3 boss mobs (viper, zerk and archon, idm the chosen most of the time), and knowing that could change it drastically! Does it stacks? By that i mean if i have 2 characters with repeaters, one with poison rounds and the other with dragon rounds, does both DOTs triggers the effects of their associated repeater?
It does, but it has been patched in WOTC, if you look at my 4men play-through of the alien hunter expansion, you will see that they used to trigger quite a bit :)
@@SykenPlays it is insane xD i think i will probably look at it, but curently i am on your WOTC guides playlist, and legacy playlist. I really like how you think the game, definatly put me back on my place (if it make sense in english, i am french, i mean by that i thought i was relatively good, but in reality i am just average) and i think the main thing i will look after on your playtrough is how you deal my nemesis: the fucking defend the transmitter in the late game... one time it has been shot in 3 turns, before i could even be in range of it, it was just absurd, since then i always dodge them as much as i can... thanks for all the advices through all your vids!
At the very start of the game I like rookies because the force pool of soldiers is very small. I like the resistance center first because I like to get a reaper quickly if I don't have one. In the early game especially skirmishers are very handy so I also want to find that faction. For me the guerilla training center is second.
I know this video is two years old but i just completed my first campign in xcom 2 about a week ago and i had a comment about your opinion towards proximity mines.
I agree, they definitly are hard to place when youre trying to predict where the enemy is going to go/take cover. But if youre using them to start an engagement, like placing a proximity mine at the feet if a pod when you havent broken concealment, its incredibly useful for wiping out entire pods with only a single shot. If you posistion the redt of your team in overwatch and break concealment after placing the mine with a soldier with the clearest shot, the pod will scatter, activating the mine and sometimes eliminating all the enemies at once. Worst case scenario, 3 enemies now how severe wounds and can be cleaned up pretty quick if youre smart about it!
This comment 100%. You don't even need to take a shot with a soldier to use the mine. On your turn place the mine in the center of a patrolling pod and set an overwatch trap, when the enemy turn comes around they will move triggering the mine and scamper(wasting their turn) into an overwatch trap. If they happen to survive you get a safe turn to finish them off. They are one of the few ways you can break concealment without giving the aliens a turn. You can also stack them or use them like reaper claymores instantly wiping out any pod.
@@co8wei stacking prox mines with claymores is the easiest, most reliable & safe way to "delete" a pod of enemies that you need to kill quick.
Underrated as hell for sure
@@co8wei
exactly!! its literally making it almost impossible for you to not beat the crap out of any pod in the game if you do it that way! blasting them with high area damage, full overwatch trap (especially with salvo), and even another FULL turn to slaughter the survivors (if any).
its totally OP when used this way!
Awesome advice
I’ve found that the proximity mines can be a great addition to an ambush before you are spotted by a pod. You spot a pod. A heavy mech unit, an advant officer, and a stun lancer. I open up with a proximity mine. Then set up a kill zone around them. Then open up a void rift to get them moving. They take the 4 from the void rift. Trigger the proximity mine. Then my sniper gets a shot at each one. After all this I still have 3 soldiers with full movement left to act.
I wanted to mention this to. Proximity mine triggers in ENEMY movement and does not reveal your troops when thrown.
So you launch the mine right in a ball of enemies, then overwatch the rest of the your squad. On the enemy turn the immediately blows up, all your troops overwatch, the enemy runs for cover, and you get a full turn to clean up whatever didn't survive.
Contrast that to traditional ambushed where 5/6 soldiers overwatch, and one soldier tosses a grenade. You get your overwatches and then the alien gets their FULL TURN to attack you. Given Overwatch has no crits and aim problems I don't even like traditional ambushed unless you know the aliens are going to walk into your trap, which Proximity mine guarantees.
@@AnishChari
yes basically adds a full turn to finish an ambush perfectly. totally OP. makes ambushing totally safe against any pod.
you can literally annihilate 2 pods stacked on each other easily this way, especially when you add a claymore or two.
Just an fyi, when he says "Talon rounds" again later, he means "Tracer Rounds". Great guide as usual btw.
Good catch :)
@@SykenPlays You can add in an on-screen clarification.
The niche use I found for refraction field is to allow you to cheese rulers with a sharpshooter. Usually you do it with a Reaper but we know that sometimes things go wrong and they might be dead or recovering from injuries/resting. So, if you do not have the option to bring a stealth scout to the party and there is a high likelyhood a ruler will show up, hey, it's there.
That tip doesn't make the item much better but it may help out someone.
Not a bad idea, it is actually an item that can be used from time to time :)
Very helpful stuff. The only real use for proximity mines is to throw them onto an enemy landing area when their dropping troops. Sweet explosion with almost guaranteed kills.
Glad you liked it and thanks for the inpu
I know this is a old video but some things to add on to some of these items for old and new players that might not know.
Mind Shield prevents any negative conditions that occur from lowered will, so you can have a soldier with zero wile and they will operate with no issues, this is best for early game and early midgame to keep sending out powerful units with no draw backs.
Battle scanners can also reveal faceless, and don't knock you out of stealth, and keep enemies reveled so if chosen or specters vanish they stay reveled.
And the skull jack gives you 20 to your hacking making it beast to pair with your specialist, however it can be kind of funny, the skull jacks hacking boost dose stake with the gremlin so if your character has a hack of 100, a mark III gremlin which gives you 40, and you hack with the gremlin you will have a hack score of 160. But the opposite is not true, when you use the skull mining you only have the character and the skull mining boost so it only comes to 120.
Good point Derrick,
the guide indeed is a bit older and I was even thinking about re-releasing it with WOTC changes.
Your guides are amazing, I went into xcom 2 blind and failed my campaign in 16 hours lol! your tips are making my second run much more successful :D
Hi Reef,
great to hear that it is helping you. Good luck on your run!
@@SykenPlays
i hope you check the comments and now you know that proximity mines can be devastating in ambushes (especially on the enemy's turn), and that mindshields are super useful especially vs the warlock, making him basically do nothing. when in a direct fight with him (even one mindshield on your frontliner can do that).
Little note about Mind Shield is it will stop battle panic as well. So if you need to send out tired units you can pop a mind shield on them and they won't be effected by any negative traits. Also it seems even on legendary the AI ignores the fact you're immune to mindcontrol and almost feels like they go out of their way to try and mind control your units who are immune. This can be really helpful vs the Warlock as on legendary he can be very dangerous if he chooses to shoot his gun he will hit you in full cover if given the chance and quite often even crit and kill one of your squamates. Flashbang is nice for getting rid of mindcontol but it does come at a cost to your action economy and often leaves sectoids taking pop shots at your units even at a reduced chance to hit they have nailed my guys in half cover quite a few times. Lastly it will also stop your units from being disoriented by chosen and also stops lancers from landing a stun. So it has quite a few uses that aren't obvious stated in the description. Great guide Syken I am enjoying your videos!!
Good point, thanks for sharing
Back to my L/I with 0 deaths and trying to pull as many flawless as possible.. never knew each posion or fire dot trigger repeater chance, need to watch all your guide now :)
The pros mine is good at opening against the first pod. You are concealed and the enemy doesn’t see you as it walks up. Put the line in the pod, it blows up when the enemy starts patrolling and then triggers the pack and all your over watches on the enemy turn
After Chimera squad popped out, I've come back to XCOM2 to relive earlier memories - it's nuts to find out NOW that with a repeater and damage over time rounds can potentially off pretty much anything if you get lucky.
Yes, it was a great option in VANILLA, it does not work anymore in WOTC. That being said, it still works with multi-shots. So a superior repeater and a reaper with banish are a deadly combo.
Best xcom 2 channel i've come across so far. Kudos to you. Subscribed
Thanks for the friendly comment and welcome.
@@SykenPlays have you ever considered doing long war 2 playthrough? I am looking at it for my next challenge and would definitely be glad to learn the ropes.
Hi Andrey,
I have had a couple of requests for it so far, the reason why I didn't approach it was simply because it ends up in between 250-350 videos to complete it and given how viewer counts fall off after the first 10 videos, it effectively means I am producing 240-340 videos for a very small number of viewers.
With limited time at my hands to do this here, I need to find challenges which I reasonably can finish in a certain amount of time :)
Watched most of the videos and enjoyed hearing your points of view. One point that I do disagree with you is on Flash Bangs and Mind Shields. In XCOM 2, I would agree with you that Flashbangs are more useful. In WotC and the new enemies such as Advent Priest and the Chosen themselves, mindshields are superior. The amount of Psi attacks in the game as well as Dazed attacks from the Chosen mean that there are potentially multiple times when a soldier can be mind controlled or panicked in a single mission. Placing mind shields on your front line soldiers will negate 99% of these attacks and you don't have to waste a turn by throwing a flash bang.
That is a fair point and in my latest Legendary Ironman 2men run, where actions were vary valuable, I also changed my view on the quality of the mindshields quite a bit.
Had a templar with Immunity to explosions, fire, acid, poison and all mind affecting abilities. Only way to counter him was basically stasis.
I agree with you on mindshields as I was about to comment about them being a hard counter to chosen warlock but you covered it. Flashbangs though I feel are still just as useful in wotc as you need them even more than before because of advent priests and it takes awhile to get a full set of them.
Just keep your bonded teammates within 1 move set distance from eachother. So mindcontrol or any mind affecting abilities are nullified.
Mind shield allows you to use shaken troops without the will penalty
mindshield is actually devastatingly effective vs the warlock, especially if you put it on frontline units like rangers and templars. it makes him basically do nothing during the entire fight with him!
flashbangs are useless vs the chosen.
also nice vs priests and sectoids. only 1-3 are needed really, to keep your best frontliners safe. even one can ruin the psionic enemies, if you position them carefully.
Mindshields are one of my favorite items :)
@@SykenPlays
well here you say they are very bad and almost useless...so you should probably fix this and explain how its best to use them in your opinion,
vs strong psi enemies, specifically those with mind control, they can be great. the warlock specifically is destroyed by them!
So glad i found this channel :)
20:10 Dragon Rounds are really good against the Lost because when they burn they panic if they don't get killed right out. I love it on Sharpshooters with pistols.
i think they also spread the fire to other lost!!
Great guide and great author! I learned so much. Just two comments: number one my favorite armor is to Icarus suit. Still have two slots and also get to fly around. Number two: my preferred grenade is acid since it shreds the most armor and has a DOT. Why did you prefer gas?
Good to hear that, glad you took something from it.
The Gas grenade does not only shred, but also has damage over time and on-top of that a debuff to enemies to-hit chance (which is huge, because it improves your survivability).
Doing everything right would mean the infirmary is a useless building, but it's not. Unless you save scum everything you're occasionally going to have problems that require spending resources on "useless" stuff.
Medkits are useless if you're not getting hit as well but the options medkits provide to deal with unexpected problems like poison or a dying teammates can save infinitely more resources than you have to spend to replace lost teammates or to cope with failed mission that a "useless" item might have saved.
Everything has value, it's up to individuals to think creatively about where the value comes from.
That is one way of looking at it, thanks for the input.
Funny how in X-Com 1994 - proximity mines are the most important item - but useless in XCOM 2
Hello Syken, did not hear you say this is the video and most people probably don’t know but EMP bombs Instantly kill Codex’s!? It’s phenomenal especially after you do the hijacking mission. You can even kill multiple of them at once if they’re together. You never have to worry about them again. Let me know if this helps
Hi Joey,
that is a good point, but unfortunately doesn‘t hold true for all difficulty levels. On Legendary, the Codexies have 14hp, the emp grenade with specialization can deal 10 at most and if it doesn‘t stun the codex, they will replicate (it is not treated as a Flashbang in this regard).
I like to use a proximity mine on a non activated pack and then follow up with a grenade to set it off. Wipes out pods, might be better to bring another grenade though.
Hello Robin,
Great point, the reason, why I valued it less is that there is a finite amount of consumables, using two of them to wipe out a single pack is inefficient. From an efficiency standpoint, normal grenades are better through their higher explosion radius and their ability to remove cover just as well.
:)
@@SykenPlays I just started using proximity mines in my last playthrough and I found them to be more efficient than any other grenades. The best thing about proximity mines is that they don't break concealment when deployed and they benefit from grenadiers abilities like volatile mix and biggest boom. On missions, I would have a grenadier place a proximity mine in the middle of a pod, then my reaper place and shoot a claymore. This sets off both explosive and doesn't break my squad's concealment. In the late game phase, this can do 16+ damage, which kills most units or get them within one shot.
But overall great video, attempting my legendary run rn
@@KhanhTran-xp7yn Hi Quoc Khanh, thanks for adding the perspective, that is certainly one way of dealing with it. I have judged them relatively low because your strategy - although efficient - requires a lot of consumables and it is therefore a trade-off whether to use the proximity mines + additional explosives on only a single pack.
Were Gatekeepers changed to Mechanical in WotC? They're considered biological in vanilla. Bluescreen rounds also require proving grounds initially for Bluescreen Protocol unless that's different as well. They also lower hack defense in vanilla.
Talon Rounds can also be very strong on a Specialist who has Guardian since in combination with the GTS buff that grants bonus 10 aim and chance to Crit.
I have actually seen my specialist empty their magazine during Overwatch and land critical hits on every single shot.
Hi Malacite, the Gatekeepers have not been changed, they always have been biological units (and thus are affected by special ammunition like poison), but at the same time they are prone to bluescreen rounds. They cannot be hacked, but they can be disoriented and they can also be mind-controlled.
@@SykenPlays huh, Combat Protocol doesn't do extra damage though.
Cool buddy but how do you flashbang the Warlock? He mind controls your Bladestorm Templar and you lose the run
You can put the proximity mine on a red reinforcement spot to damage all arriving enemies - that's the only good usage, otherwise it's useless, you're right.
wrong. you can also place it during a concealment ambush on a pod, let them keep the patrol while you overwatch, making them activate with the blast ON THEIR TURN, giving you full overwatch ambush AND a full turn to wipe out the survivors! u literally cannot fail to annihilate any pod this way.
Does flashbang trigger mimic transformation if thrown at civilian?
The same as overdrive serum could be said for a medkit. Yes, immunity to poison is good but if player need constantly use medkits in mission then he probably need to work on his strategy. Although, one medkit per squad is a good choice to recover from a misstep.
Frost bomb is an early game item you get it before the first mission with mimics (forgot how its called, "abduction"?)
Waaayyy late on the release of this video, but proximity mines are incredible if you happen to get a Reaper with the Tactical Rigging perk.
It can be a good item under the right circumstances, yes.
But Gatekeepers can be poisoned too. Is it both mechanical and biological?
Gatekeepers are special, it is one of the very few hybrid units and has its own set of rules, I have already prepared a video for them, just haven‘t had the time to upload it yet
Sorry for being late to the game... but I can't seem to find a guide regarding what PCS and weapon mods you suggest for each class? :) I could be wrong though... :D
Hi mate,
I can certainly cover that in a future guide, at this point I have quite a few guides to go through before taking this on.
The short version to answer your question is: There is no definitive correct choice - Speed is good for most agents, aim is good for either snipers or low-aim classes like grenadiers and dodge/hit points is good for specialists to make sure that they cannot be one-shot. Hope that helps you in the meantime.
@@SykenPlays thanks! :) yeah, I’ve been putting speed on my scouts and aim on my grenadiers/snipers. :)
Also putting scopes on everything.
My only concern now is that I am playing on C/I, and the damn Hunter chosen has brutal AND planewalker. 😳
I disagree on the proximities mines.
So helpful. Thank you
wait wait wait waitwaitwait, does DOTs from dragon and poison rounds REALLY triggers the repeater bonus from the weapon each time they tick?? if yes, it is NUTS and i heavily under estimated them, and repeater in general...
I don't like RNG, and most of the time i try to nullify it, so i rarely focus on advanced repeater, exeption on my specialists with "unlimited" overwatch shots as far as they hit, because it can clear out a pack in one go... but one thing i mainly struggle with are the 3 boss mobs (viper, zerk and archon, idm the chosen most of the time), and knowing that could change it drastically!
Does it stacks? By that i mean if i have 2 characters with repeaters, one with poison rounds and the other with dragon rounds, does both DOTs triggers the effects of their associated repeater?
It does, but it has been patched in WOTC, if you look at my 4men play-through of the alien hunter expansion, you will see that they used to trigger quite a bit :)
@@SykenPlays it is insane xD
i think i will probably look at it, but curently i am on your WOTC guides playlist, and legacy playlist. I really like how you think the game, definatly put me back on my place (if it make sense in english, i am french, i mean by that i thought i was relatively good, but in reality i am just average) and i think the main thing i will look after on your playtrough is how you deal my nemesis: the fucking defend the transmitter in the late game... one time it has been shot in 3 turns, before i could even be in range of it, it was just absurd, since then i always dodge them as much as i can...
thanks for all the advices through all your vids!
Well I useond shield on my Templar with Fortress. Literally immune to practically almost everything.
If you use mods, that is of course an option. The templar benefits from further defense abilities.
@@SykenPlays Sadly I play on Xbox... ☹️
At the very start of the game I like rookies because the force pool of soldiers is very small. I like the resistance center first because I like to get a reaper quickly if I don't have one. In the early game especially skirmishers are very handy so I also want to find that faction. For me the guerilla training center is second.