Skirmisher, an in-Depth Guide 🌏 XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Guide 

Got the same on mines

My favorite is pulling a priest, slashing them, slashing them again with my second move, slashing them again with bladestorm, and them slashing them again when they come out of stasis.

He has retribution

It's kind of my thing, I'm really glad that resonates with you. Subscribe for more!

Wait a minute, seriously? I don't understand why it didn't work like this for me then... In my run what happened is the Skirmisher waited for both visible enemies to complete their turn before taking his own.

QuickSaveTV that is weird indeed. It is either a bug or the Devs need to change the description.

Because if my situation was just a bug and what you describe is the way it is intended to work this skill is overpowered beyond all reason.

QuickSaveTV that is a great point. It can only be used once though right? That may be their so called balance.

I've just done a little digging and found another streamer that confirms this. it is indeed how I mentioned it works based on description. I suppose being a colonel ability, it could be said it is appropriately OP, but i think it can only be used once per mission. here is the link... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oVyDw4Iu1O4.html

Excellent points all, I'm just going to favorite this for everyone to see. Honestly, if I mentioned all of this I think we'd be stuck in this video for an hour. Oh yeah, the ruler interaction I should have mentioned, Skirmisher is definitely one of the best classes to tackle Rulers head on.

And does fusion ( tier 3 ) ripjack have guaranteed stun, or it is just the ionic ripjack? I would be very happy if you would tell me, because I always had extremely big problems with archon king, I can deal with any enemy except that bastard, it always gets me, and if I am not with full high rank solders with big stun capabilities, I almost always get near to squadwipe because that thing is so broken. You couldn't tell how long am I searching for a solution for that thing......

Only T2 ripjack stuns :D The T3 ripjack is the one that sets the enemy ablaze. He was fairly easy for me to deal with but I had experienced squad. Honestly, I cannot think of something from the top of my head, but I definitely used the Plasma Bolt caster and a whole bunch of heavy weaponry. The trick, as far as I remember, is to make sure to nuke him hard. Reaper helps a ton in spotting the Archon King ahead of time, really important, without activating him and forcing a fight. But I used this approach with every Ruler, so not sure why you struggle with him specifically.

Thanks. I am glad you telled me this :D. I struggled with him for the following reasons: -my main tactic is to rulers is spamming freeze grenade, and dps them to escape. It also worked very well with WoTC, because the ruler unlike the other enemies, moves to cover at activation even if you are obvously flanked ( if you are obviously flanked to an enemy or you don't have cover and they spot you, they stand and shoot ), and at the buildings with greatly set overwatch traps prove to be very useful -This is great until I meet this bastard. He has incredible defense, 40%, without pros it is simply impossible to get good hits. And I didn't talk about every 3rd hit of mine is a graze. But at simple archons and rules not, it is only at him. -On normal he has 4 armor, but at commander if I know correctly he has 6. The first meet is a pain in the ass, because I run out all of my stuns beofre doing any damage because I have to shred my armor. -Freeze grenade doesn't work. at viper king it is 3 ruler reactions, at berserker queen is 2, and this is very great, but at archon king it is one, so I sacrifice one shot to avoid a ruler reaction?! It simply just does nothing. -I tried range, but it doesn't work. one ruler reaction and he is above all of my soldiers, and often I don't have the opportunity to get outspreaded, so most of my soldiers is gonna be damaged, stunned, being unconcious. -The first 2 rulers escape at their 2/ and 1/3 of the HP, at viper king this means 35-40 and 10-20, at berserker it means like 80 and 40 if I am correct but it doesn't matter because he is easy. The archon king with his 110 hp escapes at 50 first, and rekts me because I had to shred his armor, and now he can shoot while flanking everyone and he is dealing a lot of damage, and obviously, I can't move. -Even if I manadge to get everyone out safely, it is a 5 or 6 heavy wounded. And I just can't imagine why can I beat all of the enemies without problem, most of the time flawless, and why is he so different.

One easy way to handle him could be using a reaper. You would need the Banish skill and 2x Claymore mines. Stick both claymores on top of him and use banish when you have high enough hit chance with a +3/+4 magazine upgrade to your rifle. This way you can deal a total of 20-30+ damage in one action, while also shredding 4 of his armor. But he is a pain in the ass just based off of his stats, that's definitely true.

Glad I could help! Sorry for necro, but your post got buried for whatever reason. RU-vid didn't notify me about it so I had to manually search for it. Also take a look at some other things people write, I have not managed to cover 100% of everything that's relevant.

I have to try to use it more, maybe I figure out the way. Thanks for all the advice.

Thanks for hearing me out! The setup you've described is something I have used extensively as well, it's not bad by any stretch, but if I'd have to recommend I'd recommend the one I did in the video. It's always about what you HAVE too, not just what's the most optimal thing to do.

Improved Superior Repeater is just OP. I auto-killed a Arcon King(?) after my first encounter with it and my Ranger made a execution shot on that Archon that is in the air, and saved my Sniper's life.

She's, in my opinion, the most difficult to deal with. She becomes significantly easier to manage once you have the tools and more experienced fighters but early on she is a menace. I guess the best advice I can give you is you don't have to win against Chosen every time you encounter them. Especially not early on. It only is really possible when you play on Normal or Easy. Anything above in difficulty, be that Commander or Legend quickly becomes insurmountable, so don't be afraid to avoid her or even retreat if necessary. Happened to me more than once on Commander, I'm sure you will find it, even more, pressing on Legend. By retreat I also don't necessarily mean full rout, sometimes it is useful to use one of your men to evacuate another one out. This way you can prevent some losses but it will make the mission more difficult. The full retreat is also okay, but try to avoid doing it as much as you can. It sets you back dramatically and makes campaign harder. The best thing to say on Assassin though is... Better hope you don't get her early. And imagine, they even nerfed her after release (the shotgun damage), but she still is by far the biggest menace.

Specialist with that scanning protocol at least 2 rangers or one and one temple with a sharpshooter with the death from above quick reflexes and 2 or three soldiers with the stock or that item that still deals damage even if missed

Exactly. Sure, Reapers have their amazing ability to scout ahead and Templars can become damage dishing tanks. But high level Skirmishers are Rangers on cocaine. Bond them up, pick extra abilities and give them a well upgraded weapon. You'll never question their power again.

Glad you enjoyed it, but I don't know how useful a video you request would be. You are going to see them eventually, just stick to it :) I would be glad to show off mods and such, but this just seems like something that would not be super useful to most people.

Appreciate the feedback. I'll try to fix that in the future.

@@QuickSaveTV I'm actually watching your Reaper breakdown now, and it is alot more left-to-right and easy to follow. I appreciate the guides. I've personally found the reaper weak until now.

You have the Shadow Ring built right? You should then be able to send out your people to find the skirmishers and also recruit one of them to your cause. OR what you're experiencing is some kind of a game-breaking bug. Haven't seen it myself so I cannot say what happened with your game.

Oh yeah. I've defeated 2 of the chosen, I'm deep in the plot, but I don't have an option to contact the Skirmishers in the Ring. I think it's because of the setting at the beginning. I also never got the Dragonova and Mox. I do have contact with the Templars, I got that when I made contact with the region where their HQ is located. I've since contacted all 16 regions hoping I'd find the Skirmishers but nope!

*Dragonova and Mox mission

That's part of the fun really and 100% accurate. It's just that I cannot even estimate your unique campaign, but I can give general guidelines and advice. But you're right, nothing beats luck and common sense.

I'm not sure I understand? Third slot of what?

When you showed what weapon mods to use , you only showed 2 mods yet the third slot was available .

Oh, in that case, what I meant to say it's up to you. Only two pieces in this are critical, imo. In other words, the two I showed I think are a must, other things are up to you.

it's like my friend who doesn't use the Reaper because he dislikes his kit. I find Skirmisher's kit really useful and exceptional in certain scenarios. Obviously he's no Ranger, but there are scenarios where he is preferable to a Ranger. But you have to remember, there are 9 classes in the core game, if you don't like something you never have to use it.

I think Skirmisher's shining spot is to bringing caos into the battlefield. He rappel ability help flanking and moving since Skirmishers NEEDS to fire A LOT. And Battlelord is a great saving ability when you accidentally activated 2+ pods. Yes, situational, but definitely balanced compared to what it can pull. (Essensially, up to 5 full turns worth of actions, if you are not suicidal and activated all pods)

I think it has like one charge per mission, if I remember it correctly.

That sounds awfully specific, lol. Also radical. Like using an Atomic Bomb to destroy a nest of cockroaches.

To an extent, yes. Definitely, agree with the fun part, but I think they also have situations where they are simply the best choice for the job.

QuickSaveTV That’s why I find them to be the least powerful. Reapers are great finishers and can deal great burst damage. Templars are allround just good, decent damage, great tanks and good utility. Skirmishers are somewhere in between. Also a quick note - Lightening reflexes isn’t a modded thing, you can get it on any soldier in the vanilla game. I would know, I have it on my Skirmisher on Console Lastly thanks for the reply, I didn’t expect it!

Sure! Thank you for watching and commenting as well! :)

Nah I just admire it I guess

I can relate to some of the things you're saying, but I disagree overall. Reapers definitely are extremely situational, but for a unit that is permanently cloaked, you cannot really ask for more :D Typically, for me, when I do not take a reaper with me the risk of the mission increases and I have to adjust for that. Skirmishers I just flat out disagree with you, they are different to a ranger and their abilities combined with the ability to spend both actions on an attack and act three times a turn (with one of the skills) they become supreme CQC fighters. But if you think of a skirmisher by comparing him to a Ranger, then yes, he's basically a shitty ranger. Ranger is still the best guy to break a fortified position. A lot of what you've said is a matter of style and preference. Perhaps the Reaper and Skirmisher just don't fit your style? Not everyone plays the game in the same way and it is honestly a lot of its charm. Thanks for sharing your points, regardless!

Yeah i've been playing some more, pretty close to my end game and i have to say once you get judgement and stuff like battle lord you have a new found apreciation for skirmishers. And well while reapers are situational once you realize they dont need to be as deadly as other classes in the same regard, they're pretty useful for sabotage and hit and run missions.

Idk why i remembered this comment out of the blue, started a second playthrough in WOTC and i now love skirmishers. I think i was just using them as regular soldiers and not using their core advantage (which is to horde as many actions as possible and to be heavy damage front line power house). Reapers i've gotten better with them by using their advantage, which is having supreme crit chances by using talon rounds, flanking and soul harvest. Overall still very situational but hey i dont despise them now, i think i just needed a second playthrough to rlly appreciate them.

@@TheOnly1Zalo Reaper's obscene flanking ability is very handy!

You will be able to eventually get a mission that will allow you to rescue your soldier. if you fail to carry out this Mission you will lose your soldier permanently.

Does it throw you off a lot? I could do what you're saying, but it would have to be a 100% different format.

Some of the skills are really strange...like "Battle Lord". Just love how ChristopherOdd made videos about the new classes when XCOM 2 came out. Don´t know why he hasn´t done the similiar for the 3 new soldiers. But here is for reference. Nobody on RU-vid has done a "skill breakdown" vid (actually showing action photos): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jWtntHx74qA.html

Thanks for feedback! I'll make sure to do it a little different in the future. I won't remake these anytime soon, but it's helpful to have a point of reference.

I still like what you're doing great work !

Thanks, brother!

I see what you're saying. In my eyes it was important not to overdo it otherwise they'd just make Champion characters a must for every party. If you watch any of my gameplay of War of the Chosen it is most certainly not the case. I think they were just really careful about balancing them and despite the fact that there are situations where Skirmishers are a perfect fit to solve the problem, old classes such as Ranger are still downright better when it comes to dismantling enemy defensive formations. I think it adds to the game, instead of just replacing the core classes with the new ones which would be really sad.

QuickSaveTV A fully leveled or hi tier reaper/templar champion characters are already somewhat broken. Just did a 2 reaper with 1 templar man team vs 13 advent. There where at least 2 andromedons and a gatekeeper in the mix and non of my guys died while managing to wipe the floor with the enemy team, though the device we were trying to protect got destroyed. One of my reapers also got spotted early so I only managed to throw 2 claymors on some of the heavy armored enemies and all of them aggroed all at the same time on my spotted reaper. Honestly I feel there is no reason to use the skirmisher as if I brought him in surgical mission like on top he wouldn't be able to tank hit's like the templar or stay hidden like the reaper. His dps is too low and not as good as a ranger or a gunslinger or a grenadier when it comes to crowd control.

QuickSaveTV My templar was mvp of that match as the enemy team managed to get him down to half health as most of the advent troops tried to focus their attacks on my templar as they can't find the other reaper that was spotted earlier as I had him switch place's with my templar and recloaked at the same time. My templar dodged 50% of the attacks as 25% missed and the other 25% was parried or deflected. My reapers in the end had to use both banish to make the kill count equality among the xcom 3 soldiers.

Just means time for mods

Liquid Knives after nearly a year of messing around with WOTC, it feels like the Reapers are the only "OP champions" out of the three factions; - templars heavily rely on support of their squad, given their need to generate kills for focus even if you're lucky, you and your squad - the skirmishers are kind of meh, since their mobility and low accuracy relies on having elevated positions they can grapple to get the aim bonus. *But some of their faction orders and resistance stuff are decent:* lowering avatar project progress, training troops to gain ability points and having the chance to generate some converted advent soldiers when starting a mission. - the reapers start out awful in my opinion, but when they're levelled up they can essentially just go through a map, marking all enemies and setting up some AOE ambushes

why would you use Wrath on a button given their counter ability????