XCOM 2 Tips: Specialist Build & Equipment Guide (How to Level Up & Equip Specialists)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ค. 2024
- Welcome to my series of tips for XCOM 2. Today we'll talk about what abilities to choose as you level up a specialist as well as which gear to bring on missions.
I'll continue uploading these tutorial videos with XCOM 2 tips assuming there is viewer interest. If you're interested in seeing a particular topic covered, please let me know in the comments.
If you find this video helpful, please consider giving it a like or share so others can find it.
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XCOM 2: The Story So far - Earth has changed. Twenty years have passed since world leaders offered an unconditional surrender to alien forces. XCOM, the planet's last line of defense, was left decimated and scattered. Now, in XCOM 2, the aliens rule Earth, building shining cities that promise a brilliant future for humanity on the surface, while concealing a sinister agenda and eliminating all who dissent from their new order.
Only those who live at the edges of the world have a margin of freedom. Here, a force gathers once again to stand up for humanity. Always on the run, and facing impossible odds, the remnant XCOM forces must find a way to ignite a global resistance, and eliminate the alien threat once and for all.
Key Features:
• XCOM ON THE RUN: Take command of the Avenger, an alien supply craft converted to XCOM's mobile headquarters. New open-ended gameplay lets you decide where to guide your strike team, how to grow popular support, and when to combat enemy counter-operations.
• RECRUIT RESISTANCE FIGHTERS: Five soldier classes, each with its own skill tree, let you create specific soldiers for your tactical plan.
• TACTICAL GUERRILLA COMBAT: New gameplay systems offer more tactical flexibility in combat. Use concealment to ambush enemy patrols. Loot enemies for precious gear and artifacts. Rescue VIPs and save fallen comrades by carrying them to the extraction point.
• A NEW BREED OF ENEMY: A diverse cast of enemies from powerful new alien species to the ADVENT, enforcers of the alien regime, offer a distinct tactical challenge.
• RESEARCH, DEVELOP AND UPGRADE: Configure and build rooms on the Avenger to give XCOM new capabilities on the battlefield. Use your Scientists and Engineers to research, develop and upgrade weapons and armor to fit your preferred tactics.
• EACH MISSION IS A UNIQUE CHALLENGE: Go on missions around the world, from wildlands to the heart of the alien-controlled megacities, to the depths of alien installations. There are virtually infinite combinations of maps, missions and goals.
• CREATE CUSTOM MODS: Community-focused tools allow you to create your own campaign, tactical gameplay, aliens, classes, strategy game features, and share within the Steam Workshop.
• ENGAGE IN HEAD-TO-HEAD MULTIPLAYER: Mix-and-match squads of humans and aliens and battle head-to-head on randomly-generated maps.
According to Firaxis Statistics, Rangers have the most kills of any class. They are followed closely by sharpshooters while specialists were dead last. - เกม
Wow. Tom Hanks has pretty extensive knowledge of XCOM 2
There's a lot of down time between takes when you're shooting a movie and you have to fill it somehow!
Now see I was going to say Kevin Smith dead on. Seems like a game Kevin Smith would enjoy.
Lollll
@@TonnsOfFun118
Yeah I definitely hear more Kevin Smith than Tom Hanks, but regardless, Tapcat's videos are great!
@@SeanUCF I was just bout to say the same thing 😂
I once served with a great Corpsman named Christopher Neil Hariss. He was a great friend that I talked to every day until he unexpectedly passed away. Our entire unit was devastated as was I. His memory lives on as one of my best field medics as he was in real life. Till' Valhalla Neil!
I love the specialist so much that I take two of 'em on missions. One medic and one hacker. Medic heals and hacker punishes robots... and both can be included in an good overwatch trap. They remind me of XCOM's support troops.
Few things more satisfying than two specialists with Guardian proccing multiple times on overwatch.
6 guardian specialists
Threat Assessment is the best skill in the game, I don't see why so many people have no respect for it lol. Not only does it give other players an extra shot, but if they are already on overwatch, it'll guarantee two shots. I usually just double overwatch my specialists with threat assessment and with guardian they usually just keep shooting until either everything is dead or they run out of bullets. Its the most OP combination in the game. Or if a ranger gets close and misses a kill or doesn't do enough damage, threat assessment guarantees they'll get the kill on the enemy's turn to avoid damage. PLUS it still adds to their defense with aid protocol, keeping them from being hit if they're surrounded by multiple enemies. Because of threat assessment and guardian, I always keep two specialists on every mission. Most underrated class in the game.
I'm new to the game, wondering if ever vigilant is also automatic with allies that are under mind control? I usually move away from the mind controlled ally if I dont have a shot at the controller, I'd hate to shoot my own unit unless i have to.
@@dafox626 I haven't run into that problem so I'm not completely sure honestly.
@@dafox626 good question, I would guess no but if you have a colonel specialist her will should be well enough to withstand mind control
Love the break down for Threat Assessment thanks!
Yeah, it also lets your classes that are better shooters shoot even more. Your grenadiers can shred more, your rangers can crit more, etc etc. I think it gives sharpshooters the pistol overwatch, which isn't ideal, but it's not bad if they wind up in a bad position.
hiiiii this is tapcat
I find the stock useful on specialists as well, great for polishing off low health dangerous enemies in cover without wasting grenades.
Specialist is probably my favorite class in the game. I carry two, a medic and a hacker, in each mission. The two sides are different enough to *almost* feel like entirely different classes.
Great video!
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
yup they are essential, other class is replaceable by hero class and spark, pity that spark cant hack too well or else hacker will lose his job too, but its a good thing it is that way or else I'd be scratching my head open on who to replace the open spot, my team is basically two specialist hacker and medic with spark and three hero class, in case of replacement needed I still get two backup specialist of a hacker and a medic, with extra replacement of sniper sharpshooter and heavy gunner grenadier and a two rangers of a assault and scout, the scout will replace the skirmisher if needed, the assault will replace tempest if needed, and the sharpshooter will replace reaper if needed, occasionally the grenadier will replace spark, sadly i don't see the need for me to use psi operative since the hacker and medic is much better of a supporting unit, maybe I will try to modify my build some time to see if I can integrate them into the team
Covering fire and Guardian are super useful, especially for those teleporting Codex's that don't set off overwatch and go behind ur doods. You'll overwatch before they shoot because they shoot. And 50% to do it again
I feel this should be a dual video, as the Hacker and Medic specialists each have a slot use.
Covering Fire is extremely useful, especially when Guardian is involved. I have not been able to use Threat Assessment enough to justify it's inclusion.
Restoration is the "Break Glass" ability.
I tend to have both a hacker and a medic.
My hacker gets Combat, Haywire, Scanning and Capacitator Discharge (hich also acts as a Flashbang) protocol for dealing with hostiles. Neutralizing a Sectopod for a full turn can give you a huge breather to take care of the trash first;
My medic gets Medical and Revival Protocol, Field Medic and Restoration.
Both get Ever Vigilant and Covering Fire. Covering fire isn't that great, but Threat Assessment actually make my specialists less effective. Aid protocol is just great at killing enemy accuracy on a "bait" trooper, or when shit just goes wrong and one of your soldier gets severely wounded, and increasing the cooldown of that ability by 1 turn? Absolutely. Not. An. Option.
My specialists tend to get Stocks for the purpose of breaking Overwatch, and whatever is left after equipping the rest.
Actually, my campaign where I won in Commander without losing a soldier, I had a grenadier flash the last avatar, and get my medic to run to where he saw the Avatar. The Avatar moved, my medic fired a reaction shot through Ever Vigilant, his Advanced Repeater activated, campaign won. I got lots of Repeaters this campaign.
Threat assessment saved my butt on more than one occasion when I play, underrated ability if you ask me.
This is a nice build man.Though its hard to resist going for the haywire protocol. Its been really effective when I the 20 plus hacking bonus 3 times on 1 person . XD
If I had that much of a hack skill, I might consider it as well. What I really wish is that Combat Protocol and Haywire were in the Captain and Major slots and then I'd take them pretty much every time.
if they were that high on the skill tree they'd be kind of underwhelming for me. I get where you're coming from though.
Same here, I get your point (although I'm even more underwhelmed with what's sitting there now!). Put another way, I wish that Combot Protocol, in particular, was not sitting on a row with one of just two must-have abilities for a decent medic.
I typically go with 1 medic 1st and then a combat hacker specialist. That way I have options
I usually go with combat first, then medic, and I like to have two on any squad. Having guarranteed damage is so good in the early game, and having someone that can deal massive damage to robotic enemies like Septopods and Advanced Mecs is soo good to have in the late game. Same reason why I don't go with the Heal All ability for my medics, either. An extra area of effect that has a high chance of disorienting enemies? Sign me up.
I normally go with 2 specialists,1 dedicated medic and a scout/hacker.Some hacking skills are underwhelming but most of the time,Hacker specialist is a beast at taking down mech units 100% of the time,not to mention he can pretty much shutdown any pesky Andromedon or Heavy MEC.I get the approach of not needing a medic and replacing him with a combat capable member,but I just cant assume everything will go as planned so I bring one along.
My usual team by the final mission: Hybrid Grenedier, Pistol Sniper, Phantom Ranger, Fully leveled Psiop, and 2 Specialists.
Thanks man. Some great advice here. Can’t wait to put it to good use!
Glad it was helpful!
I generally prefer to take covering fire. I think it synergizes very well with ever vigilant. In this way I can heal a critically wounded soldier, and then sprint to their position to cover them. It makes the specialist nearly as mobile as the ranger, meaning that long bounds are easier to do, since your soldiers can do them together.
I try to have a Medic on every mission but sometimes that hacker is game changing. Yeah, that sectopod that you guys are all hovering around? It works for me now!
thanks for all the help tapcat! would you consider making a seperate video for a combat specialist, the way you did for gunslinger?
Not only would I consider it, I've been thinking about it ever since I made this video. The main issue was that I really disliked the combat hacker build that I had used in the past and didn't want to promote it in any way. Since then, I've thought about an alternative build that might be better, but I'll need to get some serious play time before knowing if it's worth recommending to other players. So the short answer is that this may well happen, but probably not right away.
I've seen some great tips that set them up as an anti-robot unit, but admittedly I'm still new to xcom2. All your videos have been a great help! I feel like the challenge for you to make those strategies/videos would bring out inventive ways that many players would find useful.
(p.s. dont forget to add gunslinger vid to the playlist of xcom2 tips i think its missing)
It's true that they have advantages against robots, but they are nowhere near as good in that role as a grenadier with blue screen rounds. And in the late game, they are least effective against the robotic enemies you most need them to dominate. There's no question that they can be useful at times, but I think some people value them based on a few moments out of an entire campaign when they are at their best rather than a consistent level of performance.
You aren't kidding. Sectopods being disabled doesn't seem as useful as a truck load of damage from BSrounds. Thanks for the feedback, all these videos help a ton!
Thank you Sir!
Dude I have to say, Guardian is literally the BEST SKILL in the ENTIRE game.
remember to not let water get anywhere near the gremlin
I actually use haywire protocol to great effect with my hacker. For me it has probably been the most helpfull ability out of every ability in the game.
I almost always bring two specialists with me. One medic and one hacker. works like a charm
Nice guide, altho i just prefer to have full on hacker (especially for that combat protocol bypassing that armor)
i found out that weirdy enough medic class was better in enemy unkown beacuse you usually take more damage and have less health, and in this game you can avoid damage much more easily
The only difference I make is the haywire protocol because taking remote control over Mecs and SectoPods gives you a huge advantage. It's mind control for robots early in the game because it takes a while to get psy ops. Other than that I build my specalist the exact same way!
For my first specialist, I picked everything in the combat hacker tree but field medic and ever vigilant.
I feel that offence is better than defense in xcom. I could still heal my crew up to 3 times with field medic, but guaranteed damage of combat protocol and ability to disable robots or control them is too hard to pass.
Such an underrated class my combat/hacker specialist absolutely destroys a few days ago mag rifle- scope i think advanced and expanded mag. With guardian overwatch after overwatch. Killed the viper king without him even getting a shot nor move off
I've always found Haywire protocol to be a quality choice, a decent chance of shutting a sectopod down for a couple of turns seemed OP to me in my playthrough
It's easily in the top 3 of the "combat hacker" abilities. My beef with it is that I always have a decent chance to fail at hacking a Sectopod or Gatekeeper even when I'm a colonel with a skulljack who has gotten at least one +20 bonus. So when I most want the ability, it's fairly unreliable. That said, there are also times when it comes in very handy.
I agree it needs to be easier with a boss hacker to hack a sectopod, but even without just shutting them down (fairly consistantly) and gaining the momentum control of the encounter is huge. Once the others are dead shredding its armour with grenadier shots rather than explosives and one round of coordinated fire is great, So much better than having to focus-fire on it (losing damage to armour) to get it off the board then being fairly open to reprisal from the accompanying soldiers.
im not sure if you have done so already, but what build would you use if your looking to build a specialist focused on combat than healing. love the videos, they've been very helpful in my current ironman campaign on PS4
Hi Chris, thank you for the kind feedback and I'm glad my videos have been helpful to you! My recommendation would probably be to pick the following abilities: Medical Protocol, Haywire Protocol, Field Medic, Threat Assessment, Ever Vigilant, and Capacitor Discharge. That's if you want some balance. It stinks that Combat Protocol is such a good ability but to take it is to absolutely cripple your ability to heal. At any rate, that's my suggestion. If you want to be more aggressive then you can take Combat Protocol first but I'll tell you right now that the choice will almost certainly cost you the lives of some soldiers over the course of a campaign.
I've personally never seen much value in picking Medical Protocal for the first specialist. At a point in the game where any shot could potentially kill your units, having guarranteed damage just seemed so much more useful on higher difficulties, where enemies start with four health, a crucial one health more than your minimum damage.
love your videos
Thank you, glad to hear it!
Threat assessment is a VERY good skill if you know what you're doing. It allows you to nearly guarantee a kill on an enemy if you have a teammate in position to shoot them. Often I'll rush a high crit ranger in, secure a kill and then pick up a second kill because of the covering fire overwatch granted by it.
I can't remember having taken that specific action, but I love the idea. I already bait attacks with an Implacable / Untouchable ranger every chance I get and this makes that sooo much better.
Nice tactic! I assume you mean once the ranger is untouchable.
Exactly, you can turn your Untouchable ranger into a poor-man's mimic beacon by re-positioning somewhere that an enemy could flank him (but preferably not where more than one can). Adding overwatch to that maneuver is definitely something worth trying.
hello there.
this build up guidance is very helpful and I'd like to try this on my next specialist. but still, I think Specialist class can be more aggressive by putting on different skill.
my specialist start by medical protocol which is keystone for squad survival in early game, then I choose haywire protocol as my second skill to deal with turret and MEC(most time just shut them down). third on is field medic in order to deal with upgraded enemy(with higher damage and health). forth is threat assessment, sometime I use this on conceal scout ranger just in case, or someone else has better position for overwatch. I choose guardian on fifth skill, even though it depends on accuracy and "luck" of the specialist, but I have already seen several times the specialist continuously triggered guardian and finally taken care of an Andromeda. the last skill I choose is capacitor discharge. because with the time goes on, more mechanical units such as sectopod or heavy MEC will shown up, with the upgrade of Gremlin, this skill can deal massive damage(8 to organic, 10+ to mechanical) to these mechanical units and cause disorientation.
the weapon upgrade I choose is scope+extend magazine. obviously it is for guardian skill, allowed specialist able to fire maximum 7 times in overwatch, and save action point from reload to do something else. the load out is the same.
if you have any suggestion of my specialist build up, please let me now. I've posted your ideal to my friends and they are all surprised and agree with them.
I agree that unless you like to live VERY dangerously then having Medical and Field Protocols are essential. The other healing-type abilities are optional (recommended, but optional).
If you're prepared to take just that minimalist healing package and consider everything else up for grabs in an effort to be more aggressive, I think that Haywire Protocol and Capacitor Discharge are the two to go for.
I personally see Guardian as a "highlight reel" ability that seems amazing because of the handful of times when it fires off several times. It's easy to forget about the majority of the time when it does actual nothing. I prefer consistency from mission to mission and knowing that I can move twice and still get overwatch can seriously add to a specialist's mobility. If you do go for Guardian, then I'd swap out Threat Assessment for Covering Fire. Like you, I prefer Threat Assessment but if you're going to take an ability that spins a roulette wheel for a chance at extra damage then you might as well spin the wheel as many times as possible.
If you do go that route, then seek high ground whenever possible. Once concealment is broken, there's a significant aim penalty for overwatch and the elevation bonus will help you do more than waste ammo with those shots. I'd also say that you shouldn't expect to get a ton of hits unless you can scrounge up a Perception PCS and a decent scope. While you're at it, a Superior Repeater starts to look better and better on a rifle that is shooting that often (assuming any of this actually works!).
Again, I recommend having an amazing healer rather than the above but for anyone looking to play something more spicy instead, that's the best approach I can think of.
That’s the right build
Hello TapCat. Thanks for the massive and quality content on xcom2. I see that you chose the medics specs of the specialist. I usually ignore the medics on battlefield because even If i restore max health on an injured soldier even when he returns to the ship he remains wounded and inactive. so I doubt the usefulness of healing on the battlefield. can you tell me what you think? Maybe there is something I didn't understand?
The value of the medic is keeping your soldiers alive long enough to make it back to base. If you don't take a lot of wounds in the first place, then you're not going to get a lot of value from healing abilities. But I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them. And it's really just a question of how often I hit a mission where I need them because I've yet to have a campaign of all flawless missions.
That's my two cents, but I don't make any pretense that my builds are the only way to succeed. I can honestly say that they've carried me to numerous victories even at the highest difficulty so I know that they work. But there are other experienced players who prefer different builds and strategies and that's fine too.
@@TapCat dont worry about the build you do. I know every player is different in its way of using its percs. I like yours a lot. Thanks for having replied and for your advices 😉 you do a great job 👍
a good hybrid option is taking field medic and medical protocol but also haywire and capacitor discharge.
I agree that those two healing abilities are the most critical to take and that if you want to venture into combat hacking then the two abilities you mention would be the top picks.
Man, the combat hacker skills in the first 2 upgrades are so good against MECs and Sectopods and all the other robotic enemies. Sometimes combat protocol shuts down a robot for a while too.
Pick a specialist to be a healer and a second specialist to be a hacker! It's worth it to have both
I'll be honest, I don't think there's a harder choice for me in the whole game than the one between Medical Protocol and Combat Protocol. They're both outstanding, and really feel foundational to what a specialist should be. I really wish we could take both and if you're playing WotC, then I would do exactly that.
I almost never build a medic unless I have a lot of extra rookies for some reason. Combat hacker with an eye towards beeing the overwatch specialist seems to work best for me. Instead of healing my troops, I like to focus more on killing the aliens.
AGREE 100%
Going out of my way to try find high combat intelligence just for specialist. I love having healer in the group, especially in a game like xcom, but they hard pressed to generate kills for xp to leveling without their other half of the tech tree.
Just started playing
Revival also restores a team member who is mind controlled by a codex. Useful to know if you can´t get to the codex to kill it.
Just started playing on my Switch and you have saved my life so many times. You have made me think of this game in a totally different way, noob to legendary in a couple of weeks and I work so that is a short time 🙂
That's awesome, sounds like you're doing great!
Nothing sweeter in this game than seeing that little black box say EXECUTED! above a tough enemy's head when using repeaters. EXECUTED!!!!
I always bring a Medic and a Techie.
I think you've really overvalued healing and slept on combat protocol. 2 hp worth of guaranteed damage, 4 against robots (also ignoring armour) twice a mission, will allow you to confidently cap enemies that just needed that extra nudge. The range on the action is incredible, and because it's guaranteed, you don't have to give up a valuable defensive position to dangerously chase that flank (which might spawn a new pod). Even after you've got a superior stock, combat protocol will still get used as it doesn't use ammo, keeping more actions for your specialist free.
Less shots coming back at you, less useful healing is.
Also, Guardian is amazing if you're able to consistently set overwatch traps. In many instances I'd prefer it to the sharpshooters Killzone.
I like threat assessment for seting up when I know there is an alien ruler coming.
That's a good point!
Sorry it is me again, I gotta ask I have gremlin mark 3 but wasted all those heals do O regenerate them by having my specialist chill at the avenger??
You'll get a new set of heals for each mission reglardless of rest time.
@@TapCat thanks again 👍
specialist is always the back bone class of xcom 2, other stuff can be replaced by spark or hero classes
Would using combat protocol which is the gremlin attack for guaranteed damage worth it? I have the shens last gift dlc and I’m pretty sure this would come in handy
Combat Protocol is an excellent ability. It's always made me sad that I have to choose between that and Medical Protocol because they're both so good. I tend to take Medical because without it, your specialist is kind of worthless as a healer and I feel like that's going to cost me some soldiers' lives over the course of the campaign. But if you're playing in War of the Chosen where you can but extra abilities, then getting both is well worth it.
Do you have a combat hacker specialist build? I dont wanna do every specialist as a medic.
I strongly disagree about Threat Assesment. I use it as a tactical option all the time for my ranger and it's pretty helpful.
My opinion of Threat Assessment has gone up since I made this video. It's still a bit situational, but I agree that there are times when it can be very effective and that will most often involve a ranger.
If your people are getting hit to the point of needing regular healing in the base game even on legend, then you are doing something wrong. With a bonus skill like death from above or serial Specialist can be devastating when geared for an offensive build.
Tenga su like buen hombre
I once had a grenadier equipped with a repeater kill the Berserker Queen at nearly full health on our first encounter with it. I still can't believe it.
That's the thing about repeaters. If they trigger at the right time, they're just amazing. And then you can go several missions in a row where they do literal nothing. But there's no doubt that killing the Berserker Queen with one is a highlight you're not going to forget anytime soon!
Have you ever tried to run a combat hacker? I think I might try it out and run 2 specialists
I tried a few times, but I had very bad luck trying to get my hacking skill high enough to do the job reliably. Any time, I'd get offered a chance to boost hacking skill, I'd either fail the test or wouldn't take it in the first place because it had both a low chance to success and severe consequences for failing. The hacking skills can be really sweet, but you're basically at the mercy of RNG to get there. I do know that other players have gotten a lot out of hacker specialists, though.
Always have a machine destroter/hacker too.
When your soldiers get hit, even if you heal them to max, they will still be in hospital for a long time. Because of that I'm not a fan of battle medic, so I always go for combat hacker. My ability tree is full combat hacker, except I choose ever vigilant over guardian.
i have 1 combat hacker and then 1 full medic hacker
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Welcome to the channel, thanks for watching!
me to, really useful channel
hacking a sectopod with a 23% chance, then proceed to wreck the aliens sh*t ist the most satisfying things in the known universe.
for my most current play through, I've been using full fledged medic specialist so I can't prevent deaths and completely restore health so none of my guys are wounded after the match I personally prefer the medic build
I'm with you. I've tried the combat hacker and there are some advatages there but I'd rather have the medic to keep my heavy hitters alive and fighting.
+TapCat I have to disagree
Combat hacker is super fun to play with.
For example,my combat hacker with all hacker abilities saved my rangers life better than a medic.So,the ranger got flanked by a robot,and two chrysliaids showed up.My combat hacker shooted them both,thanks to guardian.Then she used combat protocol which did double damage to a robot.So my ranger was safe now and finished off all enemies left.Plus he saved the combat hacker when she got surronded by 2 faceless.
reallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy late comment, but in legend i find killing things before they hit me so i dont have to heal is also an effective strategy. Combat protocol easily takes out mechs when they show up at the start of the 2nd month.
War suit add some hacking power too.
2 specialist is good in early game so you can get a mec killer(bluescreen ammo) and a medic(med pack)
in late game just replace the medic with psi
Personally, I prefer grenadiers as MEC killers because they will shred its armor and even if they don't get the kill, they've made it easy pickings but I certainly appreciate that not everyone wants to approach it the same way.
TapCatVids specialist with bluescreen ammo was my go-for mec killers. Tho in hindsight a heavy with shred and bluesceen is probably better.
I will still use my run n gun sniper as a close range team-killer tho :D
If the AWC gave my sharpshooter Run and Gun, I'd feel pretty cheated so I salute you if you took that and found a way to get any kind of use out of it!
TapCatVids my playthu is like
lighting hands
one turn pistol shot
run n gun gain 2 action
sniper rifle shot/fanfire/face off
fan fire can almost kill anything without armor
Face off can kill a field of enemies
Sniping can help sometimes
run and gun on a sniper is amazing.
Medics are nice, but it kinda felt like planning for failure when I first played; I know better now, seeing as how you can have catastrophic failure at any moment
I've honestly always been torn about that myself. But you're not going to go through a campaign without wounds and if you're not jumping on the heals, then soldiers will die. I will say that if you play War of the Chosen then you can have the best of both worlds by grabbing some of the stronger abilities from the other side of the ability tree like Combat Protocol and Haywire Protocol.
But, didn't you tell to do everything so enemy cannot shoot? Im confused.
I have a Medic .. and a Hacker in my roster. My Medic attends all forays, my Hacker sometimes.
There are times when a couple of those hacker abilities come in handy, no doubt about that.
When to use Resteration? When you are screaming HOLY SHIT IM FUCKED at the screen
That's pretty much it, yeah. On one hand, it can be a wasted pick because when things are going well it does nothing for you at all. But, oh how sweet it is when you're getting worked over and can bring the squad back up toward full health with a single action!
TapCatVids Then all the aliens die. It's beautiful.
my specialist dont shoot much because his other abilities have far more value than just dealing some damage, especially when he gets guardian.
You might want to change the description tap
Done (and thank you for the heads-up)!
TapCatVids no problem
Eh, I prefer the hacking to shut down sectapods and turrets, and my PCS is dodge or health, just to keep my medic in the fight longer
Why is the medkit essential if the Gremlin is going to be doing your healing?
First, the medkit can be used by someone other than the specialist. Second, a specialist who doesn't take Medical Protocol won't be able to heal at all without a medkit. If he does take it, he'll still get just one heal per mission. Equipping the medkit gives you 1 extra charge plus 2 more if you also take Field Medic. In other words, you can get up to 4 heals per mission if you equip a medkit to your specialist and a maximum of 1 without it.
TapCat Ah field medic buffs the medkit too!
with WOTC, super specialist with both hacking and heal
No argument from me. And if there's one promotion choice in the whole game where I could take both, it's Combat Protocol and Medical Protocol. Both feel like they are a foundation of what the specialist should be and I hate that I can only have one.
@@TapCat you can spend ability point in Training center to get both 😉
I will be sending a team of combat hackers on the Shen's Last Gift. Along with Lily, I will have a lot of anti-mech options.
With Psi Operatives and Combat Hackers, you can control the all the various enemy types. If you are lucky when hacking, getting the bonus to hacking on success is awesome.
That's an interesting thought. My concern is that while Lily gets unlimited uses of her zaps, your specialists will be limited to just 2, right? I fear you're going to run out of juice long before the end. My idea for that mission involved multiple grenadiers with shredder but I must admit that your plan sounds like more fun and I hope it works!
TapCatVids It depends what rank I deploy my Specialists for that mission. If I deploy with them with at least one Sergeant, that gives me extra options. Either disabling or controling the mechs. I might save up the Combat Protocols for the Sectopod fight.
Let me know how it goes, I'm curious whether you can push enough damage through the armor without anyone who can shred. If you have magnetic weapons that will help a lot. (So would blue screen rounds, for that matter, but that trivializes the whole mission.)
I've got a question.. if one of my specialist has combat protocol instead of medical protocol, what items should i equip him with? I mean the medkit is useless with out medical protocol
I wouldn't call the medkit useless, but it definitely loses a lot of its value. You can consider a grenade and some experimental ammo from the proving ground. Once you get mimic beacons, they are the single best thing you can use.
i mean i dont want to go against the clearly more experienced guy, but cover fire and guardian are extremely op against alien rulers and the chosen, of course it's a gamble, but then again every action in xcom is a gamble why not go for the high risk high reguard when in the end everything is high risk in this damn game XD
FYI, none of the expansions had been released when I recorded this vide. The Chosen and alien rulers didn't exist.
@@TapCat yeah I assumed as much, though it got me asking why threat assessment instead of covering, even without dlc, if u go for ever vigilant already wouldnt it be the first unit to enter line of sight? then threat assesment seems more of a liability
My legendary runs are going a lot better since i forgot specialists and sharpshooters exists, they add soo little in the early game wich is the most important part of the game :( Just saying
Gunslingers get respectable pretty quickly, probably faster than rangers, and they're really useful in the late game. I don't love specialists myself but you're really going to make it hard to succeed at hacking missions without one. That said, if you're making it work for you then just roll with it and have fun.
i always feel that specialist as use for medic. but i feel like is too plain
Not gonna, lie, I've always felt the same way to some extent. There's always a nagging feeling that I'm not getting enough value out of them. But soldiers take damage and if you don't have adequate healing then they will die and the specialist is the only one who can fill that role. So it's not sexy, but it is important.
I honestly find this unit almost useless. If it wasn't for his ability to hack from a distance, I would never bother using this unit ever. I dunno, but that's just me. lol
With my playstyle, I have no use for a medic.
I mostly agree with you. I do have use for a medic at times, but I would probably forego that in favor of a soldier that would do more to keep me from needing one in the first place (in other words, help me kill them before they hurt us). It speaks volumes that when the AWC has granted a specialist just one good ability like holo-targeting or shredder, it was a HUGE lift to their usefulness. Without that, they are basically the unit I use to kill a severely weakened, low-priority target. Not exactly an inspiring role on the squad. But, as you say, you can't do without the hacking, so I dutifully bring one along every time.
The main reason this units medic abilities don't mean much is because healing a unit does nothing to keep them from needing recovery time after a mission anyway.
I just go all hack on these guys.
It is a shame that they don't reduce hospital time when you heal a soldier during the mission similar to the effect the SPARK self-heal has.
I just make mine as to more of field control, rather than heal, i'll rather use a 2x heal(or 1xheal allies) so capacitor discharge is a go,go for me since I can damage a lot of enemies at once, as well as stop supression and overwatches of a group of enemies is just too good
Threat assessment + shot = 2 attacks with a single soldier.
Restoration can help your dudes survive some harder encounters (Archon king without a building to hide in), guardian can help with actualy killing the king.
I always thought of specialists as a little sacrifice in tactical strength for bonuses in the strategy part of the game (hacking rewards). Sometimes they even come as a great help with remote objective and tower hacking. Sure, there are better options if you want to kill aliens, but they can pull their weight.
I run 1 Medic, 1 Hacker
*Specialists dont chew through ammo*
Looks at my specialist that empties her entire magazine of 6 shots at a pod activation singlehandedly killed them all thanks to her covering fire/gaurdian abilities procing multiple times in a row.
Nah, they dont use that much ammo XD
I prefer "Combat Protocol" first, and retrain the specialist later for "Medical Protocol". The 2 points garanteed damage help a lot at the start of the game, to kill the bad sectoid that mind controls your soldier and hides befind full cover.
The bolt caster makes a perfect starting weapon for the Specialist. You have only one in the team, and you need not buy the magnetic weapon or even the plasma rifle.
The specialist is also the class that levels fastest. And thats important for buying the upgrades to 5 and 6 team members. Use "Combat Protocol" and the bolt caster and let him get many kills, and you will have soon more team members.
I actually thought about recommending Combat Protocol as a starter pick and then using the AWC to swap out later. I'd like Medical a little sooner than I'm likely to get the chance to retrain into it and that's the main reason I didn't recommend it in the video, but I wouldn't knock the approach either.
I also agree that the bolt caster is a good fit for Specialists (and rookies), I just don't assume that people have Alien Hunters, so I didn't talk about it (or the other AH weapons). I don't know that I'd want to go through the whole campaign that way, though, I'm giving up a large percentage of my total actions to reloading on the timed missions.
The first time I encounter the viper king he died trying to escape when my specialist was placed on overwatch with repeater. Also the second time I played the campaign shens robot sectopod thing died as he was just coming through the window because of the same thing. Hahaha it was so funny.
By shens robot I mean julian.
another thank you heroin lord
did not know kevin smith played X-Com
Kevin Smith is a man of many talents!
Are u kidding me guardian is broken in my opinion I've gotten so many extra overwatch shots with guardian
How is Covering Fire not useful? It’s helped me kill enemies for doing something other than moving!
Specialists is the wost class. Might as well bring a grenadier. Open for discussion.
The issue is that you need the remote hacking on certain missions. And they are best with skulljack.