Can I beat XCOM 2 WOTC using only Grenadiers?

Episode 7. My attempt at beating an XCOM 2 WOTC challenge run using only Grenadiers in combat.
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[@misterspoken2803]

I personally love this guy, his voice isn't annoying he does interesting games and overall his challenge stuff is pretty good, he explains it all really well. And he's good for both content and background content. A+ small youtuber

[@twbillionare9568]

What I love is his channel is growing fast only like 2 months ago he had just over 100 subscribers now he has 5,000

[@klutzspecter3470]

facts

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

Much love.

[@Superschokokeks]

yes that's summed up what I thought today. especialy someone who isn't into Xcom can follow this guy well (especially if they watch this series from ep1) and that's great!

[@timothyharflinger4671]

My favorite xcom youtuber easily

[@nathanielatchison5265]

“Build a man of fire, he’ll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.” Such a great quote, had me laughing for a while.😂

[@Ian501st]

Jajajajajaja god

[@blackwolfashrial7402]

I personally love blast padding. The extra armor point really stacks up when combined with war suits

[@robertharris6092]

Same

[@joelebrown4355]

I enjoy getting it later on using the soldier points, but usually I find shredder is better

[@ConnorLinley]

@@joelebrown4355 same, I always circle back to it if I have extra ap.

[@melecaogaming1567]

Tbh, the game is meant to be played in a way where you kill before they get to take shots at you. Shredding is better because it prevents you from getting shot (by killing heavy armored enemies) instead of taking the shots which will put your soldier out of commission for weeks anyways.

[@blackwolfashrial7402]

@@melecaogaming1567 fair but also note that I prefer playing with the increased health modifier for longer tactical encounters. With the increased health it's not very likely to clean sweep an entire mission so having extra armor helps mitigate the damage that is inevitably going to happen. Also the explosive damage resistance is very helpful. I can put grenadiers by cars for cover if nothing else is around or is needed to get a good shot. So when the aliens attack and cause the car to explode it's not nearly as life threatening.

[@oashen5475]

The mission where everyone is frozen, is called "Winter King". I couldn't think of a better name

[@happygol-lucky5938]

I think I figured out an even more painful challenge: Story Units Only. This means you gotta do the tutorial, gotta get outrider, Mox, the obligated templar, the sparks from the DLC.

[@alek7998]

That's masochistic. I love it

[@teecee1827]

I see one problem to that. The fatigue mechanic means that it's nearly impossible to complete the game without skipping a lot of missions, which quickly leads to a game over.

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

This would be tricky. I am thinking perhaps a "no buying soldiers" run might be more manageable. It would also allow you to get troops as mission rewards.

[@alek7998]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast At that point, wouldn't it just be an easier version of your hero runs?

[@apocratos0174]

What about: only psy ops??? Or: only one soldier of each class/ the rest are rookies???

[@LAZERAK47V2]

One thing to note about VIP Lost missions: The timer isn't really a deadline, more of a safety net. You can still reach the VIP after the timer expires, the only thing that happens is that Lost Swarms will start spawning every turn.

[@Penguinstein]

Your vids have single handedly gotten me back into xcom2. Im even attempting my 1st iron man. Thanks for the content drifter :)

[@gamesmash9859]

If you are doing it on console, make sure to back up your information frequently. I lost a solid 30+ hours because the stupid game crashed while auto saving and deleted my save. I imagine it's probably the same on PC too, but there might be some mods you can download to avoid it. Also be mindful of any mission that has the lost in it, they seem to cause crashes the most. Anyway, figured I'd share in hopes of saving someone else the heartbreak I experienced.

[@pasyjansbuc1343]

The Warlock sends his regards

[@thewizardmelech2718]

Kinda the same story for me. I also found out that XCOM 2 has the steam workshop too. There's a tank mod that's pretty sweet. It's a little OP but still quite a bit of fun.

[@jacksonwes]

Same here! Hadn't played in ages, watched this series for the last couple months, and now I have beaten the game a few times, vanilla and then with mods, and now Im considering longwar. I am so glad he reignited my tactics game passion!

[@jerometruitt2731]

Same

[@LAZERAK47V2]

That ADVENT Captain was actually on her way to becoming a Skirmisher. The Control Implant malfunctioned during that mission.

[@lisabilby2006]

which mission?

[@victorcaldera249]

52:10 here you go

[@fernando47180]

8:15 Blast padding also increases your armor by 1. It can mean the difference between life and death, particularly so at low levels. I'd have strongly recommended to take blast padding in some of your men early into the game, and retrain them later

[@pasyjansbuc1343]

Now there is only one of the great four left, the unseen force horrasing the enemies being untouchable themselves, the predators of xcom. The sharpshooter's The shitters of early game, no mobility , no way to shread. Have fun

[@gamesmash9859]

This is going to be an interesting one. Grenadiers are one of the strongest classes early game, and while I think they scale very well, they feel more like support classes late game than actual DPS carries so will see. They also have very bad aim, so I'm expecting a lot of misses this run.

[@Max-sz9ez]

I think this will be the opposite of the ranger run. Fairly straightforward in the early game but increasingly challenging the further the game progresses.

[@shinyrayquaza9]

ye my only kills are grenades with most of them

[@bruceh72]

From mid-game onwards the Gunner abilities are massive. I will often retrain a Grenadier to switch from grenades to canon use. Shred, holotarget, hail, chain, saturation etc.turn them into DPS beasts. Tracer ammo, Aim PCS, scopes and magazines or auto loaders should be prioritised.

[@jerometruitt2731]

My Grenadiers always put in work especially late game.

[@Max-sz9ez]

@@jerometruitt2731 I didn't mean, that grenadiers are not putting in work by the lategame. I absolutely love grenadiers but their role switches from reliable killer and bane of every enemy in the earlygame to more of a supportive role that shreds armor, uses utility grenades and weakens pods before your rangers and snipers go on their killing spree and reliably finish of the weakened enemies with guaranteed hits and abilities like serial or reaper.

[@plaguedokktor6420]

I can only imagine the aneurysm Valen would be experiencing if she was still with Xcom and witnessing this excessive, apocalyptic display of explosions.

[@marinary1326]

That... was wilder than I expected. It's like the game knew how strong grenadiers are and was trying to nerf them with the most nonsensical rng. Congrats on sticking through with it to the end, awesome outro, and I can't wait for the sharpshooter video ;P

[@Max-ho2pk]

I seriously love this series, I'm not afraid to say that these are the best Xcom 2 related videos on KZbin, just keep it up man

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

Thank you.

[@Voekov]

I always take shredder, but buy up blast padding later on in the campaign. The +1 armor is nice once you stack it with a war suit, and the explosion damage reduction is just a cherry on top.

[@thewizardmelech2718]

You may want to switch your order around. Blast padding is always useful no matter what but shredder doesn't do that much until mid game.

[@nicolasbram165]

@@thewizardmelech2718 but if u play on legend u might not have training center up once the armored enemy show up.. training center is always my 6th or 7th building depending on how well i do on the injured and neg trait

[@Wolfeson28]

Great comeback on this one. This campaign sounds like it would have been a perfect one for my Expected Accuracy Score (EAS) stat. It essentially quantifies the "we're missing SOOOOO many easy shots" effect, by calculating how many shots a soldier has hit above or below what's "expected" from the shot percentages. A note about the Chosen Sarcophaguses (Sarcophagi?). Shots against objects like that have a base 100% chance to hit, however when you use an ability, any inherent aim penalty from that ability also gets applied. So all of your Chain Shots actually had 85% chance to hit instead of 100% because of the -15 aim penalty. The same thing will apply to Deadeye on your Sharpshooter run, fyi.

[@YourFunkiness]

1:35:01 You're 100% correct. If you have the upgrade that damages psionic attackers, the Codex takes a hit for each unit she psi-bombs. It's a fantastic anti-codex tool.

[@CynicalComrade]

Wow, for a game that’s known for bullying it’s players with malicious RNG, I don’t think I’ve seen XCOM 2 so determined to ruin a play through. But Drifter, you pulled it off in style. I love the meta story telling and extra cinematic cues- the 1812 Overture Montage was an especially nice touch. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the Sharpshooters fare!

[@YourFunkiness]

AI: "What class is he doing this time? Oh, wait, grenadiers! Set shenanigans to maximum and put the odds of successful killshots half what it says on screen. This is not a drill!"

[@Flashboy284]

8:20 Occasionally I would take blast padding early on just for the extra armor. The explosive resistance is just a bonus for me. Most heavies would still have shredder though.

[@josephwolfe9681]

The thing about blast padding is it’s an early game buff not a late game one as taking it allows you to put off armor upgrades for a bit as your guys are capable of tanking some hits at least until mechs show up. (Mechs being one of the first enemies that can shred) while shredder is a late game buff to destroy armor of your enemies.

[@BiteSizedProduction]

"It's a covert mission on a neighborhood" "Yeah there will be a lot of cover when we're done"

[@UnPokemon]

Bruh the accuracy on that first Warlock encounter: "That's XCOM baby!"

[@draconiamagi]

You are correct about Feedback dealing damage for EACH individual target in a multitarget effect. I have had Codices and Gatekeepers basically fry themselves by attacking a squad with an AoE effect. It is very satisfying, and even more satisfying when it's with something that doesn't do damage on the first turn, or at all. One of my favorites is leaving a mind-controller unit with only a small number of HP so they self-terminate when they attempt mind control on the next turn. Feedback is probably my favorite Templar order.

[@ICantThinkOfANameB]

I do take blast padding occasionally. I run a lot of mods, so not only do Advent use more grenades, but there are often more of them, and really tanky. In a vanilla run, I double back if I got extra points to spare, but it's rarely a priority.

[@ExpensiveYNo]

“What makes me a good demoman? WELL IF I WAS A BAD ONE I WOULDN’T BE HERE TALKING ABOUT IT”

[@KalinaHitanaVTuber]

Random time for KZbin to recommend this, but I'm glad it did, because I've been having fun watching these challenge runs. It also reminds me of one mission I had where my Grenadier went SO far into Beast Mode that I ended up saving him as a permanent addition to my games. Was running a 3-man supply raid with my Skirmisher, Sharpshooter and the MVP Grenadier (codename Juggernaut). Managed to take two enemies out, but my Skirmisher went down and my Sharpshooter had to evac. This left my Grenadier dealing with two Stun Lancers, a Sectopod, and either a Sectoid, Priest or Shielderbearer (I can't remember which, but I'm leaning towards the latter because I believe that was when I learned Bluescreen Rounds could bypass their shielding). Not only did he manage to dodge every single attack the Stun Lancers flung his way, he managed to two-shot the Sectopod from full health and armour and then proceeded to wipe the floor with everyone else, winning the mission for me

[@korhol2065]

This is basically a “Fuck you rng” run and that feels so good

[@Kirbap890]

hell yes, been looking forward to this one! It'll be interesting to see the juggling of the limited supplies of explosives even though they are very powerful, vs setting up gunners who may suffer from their low aim

[@twbillionare9568]

I tend to find that if a unit has 3 actions like the chosen or Sectopod. It makes them lose 1 action unthaws them allowing them to move and attack or dash. I assume the Avatar might have 3 actions they can do

[@vegeta002]

Losing 1 action instead of 1 turn is apparently standard for Sectopods, Gatekeepers, and Avatars. Anyone else should lose a full turn.

[@goldengolem4670]

Sometimes it won't even do that, i've had a frozen sectopod which on its turn, became tall, moved, shot at my soldier, moved again and then shot at the same soldier, killing them. Because fuck me i guess.

[@Lordbowser666]

@@goldengolem4670 changing heights is a free action

[@goldengolem4670]

@@Lordbowser666 It still moved twice and shot twice when it has 3 actions

[@Lordbowser666]

@@goldengolem4670 must be a skill issue

[@chriscrane1482]

That run was insanity. I cant wait to see the next one! I was not disappointed by the number of grenade uses. The mission with all the pods in one spot was hilarious as well as the lost mission with the Assassin where like 1/2 of the building was missing.

[@jwbaker]

This was a fun one, and this whole series has been A+. I like the short format. Last time I tried this I took 5 grenadiers and a psi operative on the final mission on Legend difficulty and I got wiped out. That was just the final mission, didn't even try to do the whole campaign that way. It really looks like having Death From Above makes a huge difference to the final room action economy.

[@Dermenscha]

One thing this series is great for is drilling down deep into each class and subclass. We get to see a lot more niche situations that a normal campaign wouldn't necessarily trigger.

[@SeveryP]

I was just wondering when the next challenge will air and thanks to a lucky refresh I see it went online 2 minutes ago. Love your content man, and this is probably one of the best birthday gifts I received today, ^^ keep up your good work, you deserve more attention.

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

Happy birthday. :)

[@Superschokokeks]

0:35 well grenadiers are highly inaccurate (compared to other classes) and grenades are limited. So it would be kinda like the specialists run since Grenadier is a support class, although with the right combination of builds you may breeze through the game. My guess before finishing the video

[@EnragedPhoenix91]

What a perfect run to showcase just how hard XCOM can screw players over, and how much leeway grenadiers can give you in spite of that.

[@antongrigoryev6381]

Avatars apparently are one of those enemies on who Frost Bomb doesn't fully work, instead, it just reduces their action points by 1. Other such enemies are Chosen and, if I'm not mistaken, Sectopods and Gatekeepers. Not sure why it was able to move *and* Mind Control though. Guess it has 3 action points like Sektopod? Not sure, never checked.

[@vegeta002]

I don't know if the Avatar has 3 actions, but the Sectopods, Gatekeepers, and Avatars should be the only enemies that lose an action instead of a turn. Chosen and Rulers should be affected like normal, which is why the Frost Bomb is OP against the Rulers.

[@antongrigoryev6381]

@@vegeta002 Chosen *do* only lose 1 Action Point as far as I remember. And Rules have their own interaction with it, as instead of losing a single 2-action turn they lose several 1-action ones.

[@spinlin113]

I have made a habit of starting a video of yours and dragging it on my second monitor to listen to while I am playing XCOM2 myself. It's calming enough for me to stay calm and collected when a pod of a Muton and Andromedon run into battle while I am fighting with a sectopod and 2 advanced soldiers and some reinforcements ^^

[@TheTaxSationalSir]

Found this game om switch on sale and now having a blast. From missing a point blank shot to sniping with a shotgun. Thanks for getting Me into it

[@antoniotrivelloni8191]

That's, and I can-not stress this last part enough, *XCOM, BABY!*

[@YourFunkiness]

During your last mission there seemed to be some sort of glitch where your Grenadiers were regularly hitting enemies. Can anyone explain this? Usually in XCOM, if it says 87% chance to hit, it's a coin flip whether you miss or not.

[@luketalbot2643]

I am at least 80% certain that if a weapon has attachments, it will be upgraded to the next tier and keep those attachments. Also I love the continued evolution of the class name in the rules, it's simple but hilarious Edit - Also the reason some abilities miss the Sarcophagous is because all shots against it are set to 100%. however abilities like Rapid Fire/Chain Shot/Banish have a -Aim modifier that's applied *after* the shot is set to 100%, making it not 100% anymore

[@CErra310]

I can confirm that weapons with modifications are upgraded when squad upgrades are installed

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

I know they are normally upgraded, but not sure about if the weapon is out on a covert op at the time.

[@luketalbot2643]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast I assume not, but I can't be sure

[@Tacom01]

This man singlehandedly brought me to buy XCOM2 and I finished my first campaign yesterday .Thank you

[@Ironica82]

Congrats. Did you do the original or the WOTC campaign?

[@Tacom01]

@@Ironica82 WOTC

[@Ironica82]

@@Tacom01 Nice. Now tiss time to mod it up for some extra fun

[@dexter2392]

I got sick and have just been rewatching your previous videos yesterday because I have to stay in bed anyway. Then I wake up and the Grenadier video is out :) From a huge XCOM2 fan (1000+ hours), thank you for your work! P.S.: Also, I like taking Blast Padding on some Grenadiers who aren't gun-focused, but grenade-focused. The extra point of armor really helps should the Grenadier come under fire. You usually tend to equip EXO and WAR suits on Grenadiers, which is together 4 armor points. Basically a tank.

[@davidrosensin7985]

So here's the thing...I really like the concept behind XCOM, I really do. The game has interested me for years so I finally picked it and it's DLCs up. As someone who's played a lot (seriously, a lot) of jrpgs in the tactical vein I figured XCOM would be my jam. And while I beat it the end of the run was a slog for me. I'm not sure why, but it just felt really slow and tedious (funny coming from a veteran jrpg player, I know) So watching these runs is fantastic. Lets me see people trying stuff I may not have thought of or that I would have inevitably tried myself just without the hassle of having to slog through the game again. So thanks for these, kind sir and keep it up!

[@HannibalTheSnowman]

Yess! Such a long video, have been in need of some Xcom podcast :D I do love the rate at which you upload these videos, i just hope you don't burn yourself out.

[@jorleo1113]

I am a blast padding fan. I enjoy having units with an extra point of armor

[@lth080802]

Thank you for getting me back into xcom 2, ive been looking for a game to play and you made me fall in love with xcom again. Also when i get pissed I can just watch you miss 95% instead

[@michaeltoyos9410]

I have never even played xcom 2 but I find these runs so fascinating. I legitimately get so excited seeing these in my in box you would not believe

[@jerometruitt2731]

You should definitely play it.

[@TheMaddestMan1]

i have no words of advice from what i have learned to give for this video, grenadiers are really straight foward and really dont have any unwriten or hidden stats about how they work like other classes do good job on that run cant wait for the next one

[@bruhder5854]

"Sarcoohugs" 😂 you gotta call it that in every campaign now

[@caiusswindlehurst]

Looking forward to the video Drifter, I am glad to see Leeson is getting the respect he deserves

[@wubberson4450]

Avatars, as with… one other enemy type… I apologize, it’s been a long while since I’ve played through the game… but they are only frozen for a single turn, which runs out at the start of the next enemy turn. Either that, or they’re frozen for 0 turns, which means it runs out on the enemy turn. Either way, frost bombs do jack all against Avatars.

[@bobbobinson7788]

YES! This is the one I've been waiting for! Explosions and gunfire all around! Good fun. Shame you live on the other side of the planet, I would have loved to catch the stream.

[@nathanielanderson74]

Great outro props for the person who gave you the idea

[@LastArchangel01]

I love these challenge runs and Leeson getting the skulljack for its the most suicidal job that we have.

[@twbillionare9568]

So I was playing XCom and got the site rep that makes only advent units spawn and I remembered that previously you saw that a gatekeeper spawned. Well I saw that one was going to be in the mission because of the shadow chamber so apparently Gate Keepers count as ADVENT

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

That's some blatant false advertising haha.

[@nexusrising2047]

A few things I've discovered and I apologize if this is all stuff everyone already knows. As stated by others, take shredder and buy Blast Padding. +1 armor early on +1 armor from Plated Vest, and + 1 armor from Warden/E.X.O. Suit (+2 from War Suit). Then add dodge from covert missions. I never use the Grenadier class since it seems like they just can't hit things with their primary weapons. I did use them in the past, but they quickly faded out mid game. I'm guessing it's because I play on Commander difficulty, but I've never used Mimic Beacons. After they got nerfed, I kind of hold a grudge against them. I like to rush heavy weapons and get a Blaster Launcher asap as it lets me end the UFO mission on the first turn most of the time. It's also nice leveling a building. I'm guessing this is very difficult on Legend difficulty. I use early evac lost missions to level my entire squad since it's special skills and moving that makes them tired. Standing and shooting doesn't increase tiredness. Pick an apartment landing, blow up the floor behind it. Stand next to the ladder. Profit. It takes 4 lost kills to equal one normal kill. When a soldier has the rank increase plus sign, evac them. It takes a bit of time, but it's worth it. Don't bother using this for later rank increases (past Lieutenant) since the kills needed gets absurd. Like needing 100+ lost kills per soldier per rank. At that point use Covert Ops with rank increase as the soldier bonus. When I see that there are Psionic enemies on the next mission, specifically Priests, I equip my forward members (all in some cases) with mind shields as it shuts mine control down and shrugs off negative effects. It also nerfs the Warlock. The hunter is a joke. When he appears I relax. Sure he can do aoe stuns, but that's tolerable since he usually doesn't survive the round he's able to use said attacks in. The Assassin is the worst enemy and my primary reason to send mostly Spark units and hidden Reapers on those missions until she's dead for good. Interchangeable Upgrades is completely broken and not in a good way. Using the unequip barracks button will remove all the modules and then delete them from the game. It also causes all sorts of glitches with weapons, such as the wrong weapon being equipped or not upgrading. I look forward to your sharpshooter run. Don't forget that ammo (Talon/AP/Bluescreen rounds) works in the handgun. Sorry for the long post :p

[@kala457]

I like watching runs over and over again, because if he has bad luck he is just like : “well that didn’t go that well, but who cares”.

[@cleanitupjanny7033]

That last kill was a perfect end to a campaign with so much bad RNG. I have to admire your effort on this one, good on ya.

[@kalypso4133]

Gernadier's are one of my least used class, solely for their accuracy stat. When one miss could spell and end to a soldier, I don't find them all that useful. Use them mostly for suppression and shredding, a unit that can take a hit, but when it comes to a proper KO, Gernadier's are out the window.

[@jacklarsen4578]

They compensate for that with grenades which are reliable source of damage

[@kalypso4133]

@@jacklarsen4578 Can't KO with them without losing loot, and you need loot. So why use Grenadier when any other class has more accuracy?

[@BloodReaperZ]

Blast Padding is a nice cheap AP skill once you have the training facility, the amount of times that one extra armour has reduced injury time or keeping my soldier alive is nice. Plus it’s works against Archon Pinions (including Archon King) plus helps against dying Sectopods and Gatekeepers, sometimes you simply can’t move and just have to tank its dying blasts.

[@merrydiscusser6793]

Honestly, with the amount of shredding grenadiers have with all their grenades, taking the Blast Padding might have been the better choice for a majority of the troops. Some of the deaths might have been prevented with an additional armor.

[@SuperVideoman2012]

@@merrydiscusser6793 really? i find it beyond worthless having the option to always shred even when the grenades run out or when chain shotting a sectopod just always has more utility for me

[@merrydiscusser6793]

​@@SuperVideoman2012 Honestly depends on the amount of armor shred you already have on your rooster. If you only got one or two grenadiers in your rooster, you probably want them to shred. In this specific situation, having only grenadiers, you have tons of shred and won't really run out of grenades. Basically: The more amount of shred you already have available, the less valuable every new grenadier with shred becomes. And Blast Padding might safe one of your soldiers, allowing them to continue shredding which they can't if they are dead. The acid bomb on the squad wipe mission for example might not have been that devastating if those soldiers had the Blast Padding.

[@AaronCorr]

I always buy blast padding later for ap just because a point of armor is a point of armor

[@lardass9532]

If there's nothing super important I almost always spend the extra points to pick it up, especially if it shows up on a ranger because they can get some crazy armour values and tank a lot of stuff.

[@rolfstalker2986]

I only recently found your channel. This run was my favorite so far, and I loved the outro!

[@Treepuncher1211]

Man that advent captain that saved your soldier is definitely joining the Skirmishers after that mission lol

[@DautFromX]

i loved the part were you got squad wiped by your own grenadier and then came back, i could hear the rocky theme playing in the background

[@zero1zerolast393]

Blast padding is useless unless you plan around it. Using the right build and luck, you can have a someone with like four armor points to them

[@breadbowl22]

the leeson redemption moment had me gasp out loud. another great run, drifter

[@christophervanoster]

I’m a blast padding fan. I usually get shredder first but also train it first after I get the training center with the Ability points. Not only does it reduce explosive damage, it gives you an extra armor point. Couple that with a war suit and armored vest, you can have 4 armor. I give my grenadiers all the health buffs from the covert ops so I have like 3 grenadiers with 4 armor and over 30 health. Walking tanks that can trade with a sectopod any day of the week

[@SioxGreyWolf]

Also question, but does the disguised grenadier keep that blast padding, if so, could be a good use for blast padding,(wait that was the last game, skimp that, I think) covert ops and as the bullseye target for a group of mutons and crysalids.

[@christophervanoster]

@@SioxGreyWolf what’s a disguised grenadier?

[@SioxGreyWolf]

@@christophervanoster I believe actually it was within at least, forget which that had covert units where you sent them in with just a pistol and civilian clothes, then when things happened you retrieved them, and if things went south you might have to rescue them while they are unarmoed and with only a pistol? Was that 1 or 2?

[@christophervanoster]

@@SioxGreyWolf never heard of that so I assume 1

[@WhichWazzockWantedEmailHandles]

Does armour apply before or after dodge? If its after, a dodge boosted soldier would be a one-man-army against anything but mutons/sectapods.

[@TheImperiumLord]

Randomly found one of your Xcom 2 videos and enjoy them. Keep up the good work.

[@foxygrandpa5064]

That mission where you blow up all the entrances to your building and let everyone fight the lost was so crazy!

[@thedarkassasin8316]

Amazing video as usual glad to see all the explosion rag doll physic in xcom 2 is hilarious wonder how many kills the sniper can get also the scene of chungking grenades at all the frozen pods at the same time is hilarious and satisfying great work

[@TrueLawbringer]

Been waiting for the episode where drifter turns each battlefield into a no mans land of explosive residue and no more cover! Good luck Drifter

[@Duncecap64]

Ok so in order. Blast padding also adds +1 armor which guarantees they will live from 1 shot in the early game (Armor applies before 50% crit damage) making it useful early on and with spare points you get shread since its cheap at 10 points. Second the Avatar, they are treated like chosen and massive enemies like Sectopod and Gatekeepers, they only loose 1 action point EDIT: ok just saw the squad wipe i think a little studying on enemy priorities is in order as there is alot of focus on enemies which don't do much of anything if they live compared to ones that shoot back. A mimic beacon might not have even helped as Acid bomb is the highest priority for an Andromedon and will use it if no flank is present and has 5 tile wide radius. I think I will see the next run on stream cause improvement can be made to these runs

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

The andromoden will always shoot at the mimic beacon over acid bombing a cluster of troops.

[@antongrigoryev6381]

Yup. Mimic Beacon has the highest priority for the enemies, more than any of their usual actions. It's not just another body enemies may shoot. That's why it's so good.

[@Superschokokeks]

Two things related to chosen fortress: The door with the chrysalids was open the whole time. Happen often to me. Just the graphics didn't show it open. I'm not sure anymore how you can test if the door is closed or not without getting in danger. The other thing: lining up your troops - especially MECs on the door causes rarely a glitch which gives the enemy LoS on your soldier and gets activated. Really fun if this happen with your last soldlier for this turn. This could be related due poor perfomance. So if you've a older machine thus lags sometimes the charactermodel doesn't stop where it should and runs few meters further like a little loveable lemming, although the REAL soldier stands where you put him. But I really don't know. Xcom2 works on magic I tell ya. Ork-Waaaagh-magic. It just works because we believe it works. Anyways. I think you can imagine how frustrated I get sometimes . especially on Legend. Especially trying to do Legend/Ironman.

[@jagbanks6280]

I bought xcom 2 today because of your vids. Im loving it so far

[@ryanoz4458]

I keep checking your channel for the sharpshooters only run because that one is going to be the real challenge. Can't wait. Please also upload your failures if you have any

[@kinglyknight]

Bought xcom2 because I felt I could take it after watching your play throughs and I'm glad I did the game is pretty good

[@Matthias-pj6th]

I eagerly await the Sharpshooter Playthrough, I think it will turn out quite nicely because Sharpshooters might as well be 2 different Classes (Sniper and Gunslinger) who synergize well with each other (I.E. Gunslingers with Face Off setting up killing sprees for Snipers with either Death From Above or Serial)

[@vmk2466]

“I am heavy weapons guy” -literally everyone

[@klekman6474]

“No matter how many ADVENT come, we just blow them up” Famous ambiguous words

[@hielispace]

For the record I've only taken Blast Padding once, on my first playthrough when I took every ability at least once just to test them out. It's not even that its bad, even though it is, it's that Shredder is a must have. And why spend 10 AP on Blast Padding of all things? Salvo and/or hail of bullets (which ever you didn't pick up) are only 15 and are much better. I guess if you are in the late game and are deciding to just max out all your soldiers because you can, go for it. But otherwise stay why bother?

[@gummybear8679]

I can`t wait for you to finish up the classes and go for the ultimate challenge: "Rookies only"

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

Nooooo. :(

[@tafferinthedark]

Before watching. I don't have much faith on this one. haha Good luck! 8:33 Also, for real. Why is it always the warlock with you? 20:45 Have you ever thought that Leeson might be a Faceless sabotaging XCOM?

[@ARCEUS493ZELDA]

it all makes sense!

[@ARCEUS493ZELDA]

hell i bet red devil was too for a time since they had a nasty habit of dying in the second mission for some time

[@inc0mingr0flc0pter]

While this was a brutal campaign, it was the closest one could get to a proper guerrilla resistance: explosions, explosions, death, and explosions. Can’t wait for Sharpshooters Only. If you’re taking ideas for continuing the “Only” series, might I suggest Bolt Casters Only? One shot, one kill (you’ll hope 🤞). A true challenge that opens up class variety, but restricts powerful weapon mods and traits like Serial, Rapid Fire, and Chain Shot. Good luck, Commander.

[@OscarSanchez-vo9dx]

I could be having the shittiest day and then 1 of these videos gets released and it's an instant improvement

[@bruhder5854]

Iirc avatar is counted as a boss enemy so like with the chosen, you can only freeze upto a single action instead of a turn.

[@aaronantwine6782]

The outro was fire. Kudos, claps, finger snaps, explosions.

[@ethangarofolo8170]

That sounds right about the codex destroying itself. I had a gatekeeper cast gateway on me during Lost mission. It reanimated like 20 zombies between Lost and Advent soldiers. I had a ranger down where everything revived, and thought, “well, we’re about to see how good Bladestorm is.” Each and every one of those reanimations proc’d that psionic feedback resistance order, massively killing the gatekeeper. Which then killed those 20 or so zombies. *phew*

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

That sounds amazing haha.

[@hanzolos1852]

Do you plan on doing a psi soldier only run? That could be fun maybe I'm not sure if you would be all that enjoyable though, seeing as you can only level them in the psi chamber in the base game maybe a mod to make them level with xp?

[@jerometruitt2731]

I suggested the same on his last run

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

I'll be giving it a go. No mods that make it easier though. :O

[@jerometruitt2731]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast thats gonna be awesome. Starting out with 1 skill until you can build a psi lab. I hope in the next XCOM they make psi units a base class.

[@MrDrCthulhu]

In regards to the covert ops soldiers' weapons not getting upgraded, I'm *pretty sure* you're right, in that any weapons with attachments don't get upgraded to the next tier. I think this happened on my last run, but it has been a while, so I can't be 100% sure, unfortunately.

[@carsonhenderson9500]

Absolutely phenomenal content from one of my favorite games ever, keep up the good work!

[@fadeddragon123]

Imagine this with a permanent lost on every mission dark event. Sounds spicy

[@sircharlesvonpimpsmack7667]

Leeson is an advent agent. I'm convinced of this entirely.

[@Jimvenice2008]

Im really loving the analytical play by play. I've played this game 700hrs (at least that's what steam says) but I also played in on console...so that history is lost. It's always enjoyable to see someone else's reaction to situations and make the same silly mistakes we all do. I'll admit it....sometimes I lose a guy and I'm like "nope" - reload

[@firekin5624]

I thought It was going to be a jolly grenade lobbing adventure, not this struggle-filled madness :0

[@Lazymindflayerwithcofffee]

This will be a *BLAST*

[@symbolsukcesu6242]

Glad I found your chanel amazing content and very intesting editing and voiceover

[@Schofield101]

Fuckin' Leeson man. Only 20 minutes in and he needs his god damn redemption arc.

[@vegeta002]

I usually get Shredder, then double back for Blast Padding when the Training Centre is available. One point of armour isn't much, but it can be a lifesaver at times. Unless I'm playing a Halo-themed RPGO game, in which case ODST's will always have Blast Padding to represent their armour being superior to regular Troopers & Marines.

[@socialmoth1132]

When I'm playing war of the chosen I will get shredder too but I will also pickup blast-pading due to it giving that soldier an extra armor and I can also as a last resort use my explosive at almost melee ranges but yes it's way weaker then shredder (player who grew up with 3 XCOM games)

[@uber2140]

Blast padding fan here. Stacking armor is quite nice in late game, and getting some armor in early game is nice. By the time Shredder is "needed" a little bit later in the midgame, you should have a Training center with some ap on hand to get it. Not to mention, advent MECs throughout the game do mostly 1 of 2 things in their first turn: Stand in place and overwatch, or run forward and use his mortar attack on any grouped up units (I've also had them just use the mortar attack on a single unit). The overwatch is easy to deal with, literally any class can deal with that. If he uses his mortar, pretty often those grouped up hits can be devastating if you are on a roof, near an environmental explosive, standing at a chokepoint and now the cover is gone, etc, and the 66% explosive damage reduction just makes those turns where Andromedons, Mutons, and advent MEC explosives hit you where it really hurts, a little bit easier to deal with.