Can I beat XCOM 2 WOTC using only LW2 Shinobis?

Episode 27 of my XCOM challenge run series. My attempt at an XCOM 2 WOTC challenge run, using only the LW2 Shinobi class.
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All music featured is listed in the end credits of the video.
Free sound effects from www.fesliyanst... and mixkit.co/
Download the XCOM 2 TDB Community Character Pool: drive.google.c...
XCOM 2 Challenge Run Playlist: • Can I beat XCOM 2 WOTC...
Regular Mod List:
[WOTC] Configurable Posthumous Chosen Covert Action Risks
[WotC] Revival Protocol Fixes
[WOTC] New Promotion Screen by Default
Evac All - WotC
X2WOTCCommunityHighlander v1.24.0
Defense Matrix Sabotage Fix
[WOTC] Cost-Based Ability Colors
[WotC] Instant Loot
[WOTC] SPARK Repair Fix
Dont Unequip
[WOTC] Commander Avatar Restoration
Stop Wasting My Time - WotC
Reward Decks Refresher
[WotC] Mod Config Menu
Missing Packages Fix + Resource
[WotC] Gotcha Again
[WotC] Numeric Health Display
[WOTC] Detailed Soldier Lists
[WOTC] Less Overwatch Lock Ups!
[WOTC] Extended Personnel Info
Insider Knowledge Fix
(WOTC) Starting Soldiers
[WOTC] Alien Hunters Community Highlander v1.24.0
[WOTC] Faster Reload Animations
(WOTC) Zip Mode Combat Protocol Camera Fix
[WOTC] No Enemy Intro
Immersive Strategy Layer
Hush Little Chosen
Narrative Control
Missing Packages Fix - Parcels and Maps Edition

[@loknathshankar5423]

Just wondering if we are going to get more close range action 😁 Edit : Viewers, we are in for lots of close range action + misses

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

You are too good to me!

[@loknathshankar5423]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast Supporting my favorite creator, that's all 🙂

[@whitepaws60]

13:04 What a legendary "I've fucked up" noise lmao

[@MrCatofdoom]

woof howl

[@wispfire2545]

Oof, I felt that one too

[@tirushone6446]

it's sounds like he's reacting to someone getting hit with a sick burn

[@VolcanicSpacePizza]

Losing no civilians on a retaliation? Yeah that's happened afew times I think. Losing no civilians on the FIRST retaliation mission? I think that's a first.

[@goldengolem4670]

One time in xcom 1 the mission was so small i triggered all squads by moving my soldier once (half of them on my turn, the other half on the enemy move). I somehow killed them all without a single civilian casualty. Terror missions are so whack in both games lmao

[@StormwalkerNesasio]

"Why is General even a strength?" Oh boy, General was probably responsible for one of the most brutal squadwipes I've ever gotten. It may not seem like much at first, but when I was taking on the Warlocks stronghold mission, I ended up losing a soldier on the first stage, only bringing 5 into the sarcophagus chamber. When the warlock spawned I got him to below half health but couldn't finish him. He then ends up using both general and spectral army on the same turn, 4 spectral lancers and 4 elite troopers. Already down 1 soldier there was just too much hp for me to chew through in 1 turn and I end up having several soldiers on low hp with almost all of my consumables used up. After destroying the sarcophagus he comes back but I can't finish him off in 1 turn, so I get him below half hp... and he uses the general/spectral army combo AGAIN, another 8 enemies in one turn. After desperately trying to get rid of them all I lose 3 soldiers, the Warlock mind controls another, who then kills my final soldier for the squadwipe. I definitely learned to be wary of that chosen and strength combo on future runs.

[@yesthisisprodigy4242]

Thats XCOM BABY!, god i love the stories this game creates.

[@VolcanicSpacePizza]

Yeah what I've found is that all the other summoning strengths summon at most 2 units while general summons 4. It's that strength in numbers where it's real power lies. I remember this was abit of a problem in the necromancer run too.

[@goldengolem4670]

I aint saying "Skill issue" or anything, but i am curious, what level of equipment/soldiers did you go in with? Was it on insanity?

[@StormwalkerNesasio]

It was on Legend, yeah. I can't remember my exact loadout but I think I was on mag weapons while in the process of getting the resources to upgrade to plasma. The soldier I lost on the first floor was due to activating multiple pods at once mid turn, and while focusing on the more dangerous enemies, a stun lancer managed to get an unconscious roll on my revival protocol specialist.

[@shellshock7043]

The only sad part of these vidoes is that it takes too long to upload.

[@tazamane9705]

I forgot to mention it last time you were confused about Lone Wolf but it's not a typo. It does not grant any critical chance. The reason it even mentions critical chance is because the skill's description goes +(Value in the skill's .INI file) Aim/Crit Chance/Defense. It's easier for modding for the skill to just display the value set in its INI rather than requiring the modder to edit the localization file every time they change a value. Source: Me making custom classes using the LW2 Perk Pack.

[@twinodoom]

1:31:29 The Purifier AI breaks on protect the Device because the Purifier is a melee unit that doesn't have a single target attack, causing it to keep hugging the device. Which is probably good because the Purifier's flamethrower could instantly destroy the device using environmental damage if the AI wasn't prevented from targeting it. Ironically, if the Device were killed by the explosion while the Purifier was the last enemy, the mission would be considered successful because it detects the mission succeeding from all enemies being killed before registering the Device being destroyed.

[@Adam4ik3579]

How the F is purifier a melee unit? It has flamethrower, pistol and grenades.

[@twinodoom]

@@Adam4ik3579 They only have a pistol if you use mods that give them one, which also solves the issue by giving the Purifier a standard shooting action. The AI isn't programmed to intentionally use non-shooting attacks on the Device, so it can't use the grenade or flamethrower. The Purifier functions on almost the exact same AI as the Faceless and Berserker, and tries to run into melee range of the target before using the flamethrower. The main difference is that the Purifier also considers cover because it can be flanked, and it doesn't hyperfocus on XCOM as aggressively as the Faceless does for some reason.

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

The flamethrower being a melee attack does explain why they can't use it when disoriented. Interesting.

[@necromancedkoatle]

32:38 “He has Kinetic Plating…” Me: Not that bad when you have swords to attack with “…Low Profile…” Me: Similarly not bad “…and Melee Immunity.” Me: Oh. Oh dear.

[@Cynry]

If they were going for the french "flèche", which means arrow or sometimes just a quick guy, you nailed the pronunciation.

[@mitchellmarinac6893]

They are, it's also a term used in fencing for a sort of running attack, and pronounced as it would be in french.

[@Cynry]

@@mitchellmarinac6893 oh good to know, yeah that's likely what they were going for

[@laelienriviere5735]

@@mitchellmarinac6893 Frenchie here, I instantly caught about the fact it was a French word, did not click on the fact that it was fencing. Well caught, friend!

[@laelienriviere5735]

Frenchie here. You said Flèche perfectly well. Thank God, otherwise the video would have sounded long. x)

[@goldengolem4670]

I like the name "Time out Coffin" for the resurrection device.

[@rougenarwhal8378]

59:00 considering the past two minutes, along with the rest of the campaign, I JUST CAN'T IMAGINE why he might be afraid of vipers. poor boy

[@Plaine]

18:13 This is explainable. That pod was not on alert. The troopers were standing next to the rock, but inactivated pods don’t take cover. When the spectral zombie died, it out that pod on alert, enabling them to take cover. The troopers behind the rock took cover, activating the cover lean-out, and and they then occupied the adjacent tiles around them, one of which was in LOS.

[@MofuggerX]

Big props to this campaign's MVP, the Tactical Legacy Pack / XCOM UFO Defense soundtrack. Doubt the soldiers would've been as motivated to get the job done without it!

[@TheDragonman55]

It seems Jane Kelly picked up Plot Armor's plot armor after it failed him.

[@martinricardo4503]

In my game play, Shinobis suffer the highest mortality rate due to my overly zealous use of Fleche. I have missed sword attacks on many Sectoids.

[@Time_Sync]

I vote for calling the "Resurrection Device" the Washington Monument! Having a full squad of Phantom troopers is weird, given how wacky the stealth and line of sight mechanics are in this game... I'm always wary of stealth tactics, since it pretty easy for only a small portion of the squad to be in line of sight, and the aliens will focus fire more as a result. You always seem to handle stealth pretty decently though! Nice work as always, Commander.

[@nobunagaoda8439]

1:20:10 Combatives work as parry where it stops their attack and lets you hit counterattack, what I noticed on my shinobi run is when you get BLADESTORM it doesnt play nice with Combatives. It's one OR the other but they both wont play well together

[@evilbob840]

I was wondering about this. I've gotten it on non-LW classes (built using the LW classes and perks mod) and haven't seen it not trigger. Maybe I didn't notice it not triggering a time or two, but Drifter's experience didn't seen normal.

[@nobunagaoda8439]

@@evilbob840 It's something along the lines if you attacked enemy with bladestorm game probably considers you used your counterattack on the enemy, if enemy ran up to you to melee you'd then parry and counterattack instead of bladestorm, that is my experience since when stun lancer comes close they get parried instead with counterattack cause they came into your range with an attack

[@Babadui]

Well that sucks balls. Bladestorm is just better overall at least, since that triggers everytime an enemy gets close to you, but the counter only having a chance to proc (and only activating once per turn none the less) AND not triggering at all if you get Bladestorm (which you should) means that skill is pretty trash like this. If they fix the bug it would be much better of course, but still, it's only a chance of counterattacking, instead the guarantee slash you get with Bladestorm.

[@Ironsuaba]

In LWOTC, at least, they work together without issue... It's odd that it breaks otherwise tbh

[@evilbob840]

@@Ironsuaba I know Tedster is still actively updating LWOTC, maybe he fixed the interaction between them at some point.

[@h4hyena]

Man I have been waiting for to long. Saw this on the archive channel and couldn't wait.

[@lemonaj4408]

17:58 i am sorry, but i just started laughing soo hard at that piont. Like this run is comedy from the start.

[@shayminthedoctor9663]

I always called the sarcophagus "the Chosen Vending machine" It's dumb I know but I find it funny

[@BananaGatorProds]

What an insanely cursed run. Though this is the type of playthrough that ends up being the most memorable because of how close it was at times.

[@7highstraight]

Alpha's 1v1 against the Hunter on the roof was a really badass set piece.

[@cerbralone]

only to whiff a 95% hit against the faceless to absolutely send me

[@techwizsmith7963]

I've recently started a LW1 campaign, and that blacksite mission is exactly how it's been going. I feel your pain. I've had all 5 pods on the map spawn stationary on the same tile and trigger all at once, before

[@peamercreamy4656]

Ah yes, this is just like using the art of Ninjustu. Stealth approaches, strike from the shadow, slash and shoot them. 55:35 I guess I’ll call that Stasis Chamber. Ps. Extended Information mod will allow to see hit, crit, dodge chance when attacking enemies including when enemies attacking your soldiers and overwatch attacks. At 9:10 a Sectoid missed with around 85% hit chance.

[@basicmonkey1341]

I absolutely adore this series

[@Theshockmaster5eva]

The resurrection device does resemble some sort of minimalist obelisk. You could call it an obelisk, though it isn't exactly an attractive or exciting title. Maybe the modern art project?

[@31emanual]

You're pronouncing Fleche correctly as "flesh". Also, Fleche is actually a move you use in fencing where you essentially "run into" your opponent and use the speed and surprise to score a point. It's also extremely committed once you do it.

[@nekomiaou]

J'aurais appris un truc, mais il faut dire que je n'y connais pas grand chose en escrime.

[@knownas2017]

Honestman rules are very intelligent. I had an Ironman run(end game), a zombie walked up into the air through a bridge, and then my game crashed. ... and my one Iron Man save file, corrupted. So, keep doing Honestman!

[@LoIazors]

Marvelous video as always, keep it coming

[@stephanwagner6189]

Chosen Mummy is a cool name for the sarcophagus

[@snakehorde]

Flèche is a french word. And you pronounce it perfectly. Thank you for this little thing...

[@Jakobsh2]

Good Lord. We're staring into the abyss with these challenges.

[@daankoorn630]

i am looking forward to see a long war of the chosen run. If you do so, i would be interested to hear your expectations of how each class would perform and to kind of rank what your favourites would be. (and of course a retrospect on why you where wrong/right)

[@MonsieurNab]

the fridge is a good name

[@David-ol6fw]

Hell yeah brother been waiting for this one.

[@TheMNWolf]

You know how Rimworld has the different GMs with distinct personalities that you can choose from? The XCOM 2 GM is George RR Martin.

[@fissshy7]

golden chocolate bars - nickname for sarcophagus pillars because you chew through them so quickly

[@qberrygamz7049]

if you wanted a one off joke for the chosen's coffins. I like "tomb of the Talky ones"

[@digitaldevil696]

Will to survive is an excellent perk for shinobi btw, at least in LW environment, where there are much more enemies on the field, however IF the perks based on the amount of enemies you can see (+defence on will to survive, +crit chance on bring them on, +crit damage on aggression) take lost into account, that is gonna be hilarious

[@ttineyastrana4353]

I usually call the sarcophagus The Monolith or The Obelisk

[@mrjblacc85]

1:07:45 The Sectopods detection radius should not be trusted, due to it being several tiles wide, not having a 1x1 footprint.

[@M.d.h3333]

Would love a normal style run with all the LW2 classes! not just confined to one of them

[@paganhorde4463]

Your pronunciation of flèche is correct. It mean arrow in French and it also used to describe an aggressive lunge forward in fencing.

[@omegavulture8379]

Petition to have the sargophagus called a Chosen cooker.

[@pauselock5581]

The existance of another challenge run makes me really happy :)

[@BattleUnit3]

Achon gets on the Avenger ramp "Finally, victory against the fools of XCOM" Ninja Kitty appearing behind him "Think again soy boi"

[@genzo53]

The Aussie accent just adds flavor to these videos. It just makes them soothing. I put it in background sometimes.

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

Thank you, king! 🙏

[@genzo53]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast Welcome, king!

[@genzo53]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast And may the RNG be forever in your favor! Naaah just kidding! I enjoy your suffering. It provides literal hours of entertainment.

[@digitaldevil696]

The high number of casualties is kinda expected from shinobi - only run. I've heard it said many times, that LW2 early missions successes are often payed in shinobi's blood and that is correct here as well 😅

[@ilikewater1575]

This one time, one of my soldiers had an ability that let it shoot more than once in a turn (it wasn’t marauder) and he missed 2 94% shots in a row back to back 💀💀

[@takenname8053]

These are truely Close Range hours!

[@Wicvho]

One Class left the Technicals

[@stephanwagner6189]

And Shadow step doesn't ignore suppression, I learned that the hard way on my second run

[@Alelip1000]

Hello Drifter, thanks for the video! May I suggest, regarding your query at 55:39, "the pained pane" as a synonym for the resurrection device/sarcophagus ? you sure do whack it hard every time you meet it, so I think it fits. Have a good weekend!

[@RinIsArty]

So, since you do these LW class runs, there's something I'd be really interested to see that you might find fun. "Can an ADVENT rebellion beat xcom 2" There's a mod called Exvent where you can have rebel advent troopers, officers, and stun lancers. Or even using the various playable aliens mods for andromedons, codices, etc. A run with no humans would be a fun one I feel like.

[@syferpolski4344]

Don't forget the priests and shieldbearers, probably the best advent classes

[@RinIsArty]

@@syferpolski4344 alas the exvent mod has unfortunately not added them yet afaik

[@donnik5523]

Its so nice to see, that you've released another challenge run.

[@matril328]

I just cracked up at « coup de grâce » You said « hit of fat » as in a piece of meat. The tier 4 sword is definitely a piece of lard

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

If it's good enough for Michael Cole, it's good enough for me!

[@NandolfBlockbuster]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast Grâce should be pronounced like grass. I don't quite understand why people pronounce it gra since in English, ce is never silent as far as I know.

[@Clone003]

My man is back and torturing himself again, appreciate it drifter

[@Zombie-qy3os]

Babe wake up. Drifter just uploaded again.

[@imonlyhuman6716]

Fleche as in Flechette rounds? Then it'd be something to do with many little needles... probably. I did one retaliation mission with no civilian casualties only once, I don't know why but the only enemies that spawned were 5 or 6 Chrysalids and the berserker queen. The Chrysalids died before they could do anything meaningful and the queen was too focused on my squad to kill a civilian. To this day I think that mission was broken somehow, it shouldn't have been that easy.

[@NandolfBlockbuster]

Well, yes and no. Flechette is a word borrowed from French. Flèche in French means arrow, and Flèchette means a small arrow (In English it would be dart). Now the Fleche in this context isn't about the arrow, but the fencing move of attacking in a dash, thus making your sword strike like an arrow. As for flechette rounds, they are called that way because they contain small needles, or darts. So while they don't quite exactly have a link together in the context they are used, both words came from the same origin.

[@whoknows8864]

I genuinely thought priests were guaranteed to go into sustained. There have only been like 2 times in my 3 playthroughs when they actually died, so i just figured it was a bug.

[@gldni17]

Ah, my second favorite LW2 class. Very nice. ^_^

[@2leggedhorror]

holy crap he is alive

[@stephanwagner6189]

What are you gonna do after LW2 classes? I have two suggestions: Playable Aliens only and Akimbos only. PS: Random Question. Does anyone know if mind controlled Specialists can haywire Sparks? Would love to know.

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

I'll probably do some non-solo class runs tbh.

[@Alelip1000]

> Does anyone know if mind controlled Specialists can haywire Sparks? holy cow this man is asking the real questions!

[@DrTarte]

It's been a while since I've thought about *close range* Today is a good day.

[@Tekisasubakani]

You could call the sarcophagus the "Shiny Brick" or "Metal Toblerone".

[@Foof__]

Hey! I've been watching for about a year-ish now, the comback from the LW2 sharpshooters run was crazy. I'm not sure if you've been suggested this before, but have you thought about doing an "Alien Only" Run for Xcom 2? I.e only being able to use aliens such as the viper, andromodon, sectopod, etc?

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

I plan to one day do something like that, yeah.

[@Foof__]

@@TheDriftersBroadcast Oh hell yes, I'll be waiting for it like one of those villians in the big chairs with a cat.

[@twbillionare9568]

Damn KZbin hasn’t been recommending your videos I try to watch all of them when I spot them time to binge tomorrow

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

Click the notification bell! 😇

[@Lies-are-Life]

Losing troops faster than you can get em? Dont worry, i do that all the time. The average lifespan of a guardsman in my playthrough is 1 missions, maybe 2. PS: I did operative rescue missions and only got revealed after hacking door with 1 shinobi lol

[@Isalan88]

Sarcophagus = The Drywall

[@glenmcgillivray4707]

Monolith of Shame, aka Time out corner.

[@sebastienwall5853]

This is gonna be a good one!

[@evilbob840]

About the breaking concealment not being shown: are you using "Gotcha Again"? I see a couple people complaining about what seems like the same thing on Steam. There is a newer version ("Gotcha Again Redux") that doesn't seem to have that same problem. It does include "Peek From Concealment" and "Misclick Protection" in it, but they can be disabled if you don't want them.

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

I think I am using the original, yeah. Thanks for the info.

[@eduardorocha1585]

It would be cool if there was a mod that added the xcom 1 classes into xcom2 so you can continue the series

[@doomslayer7670]

Actually, lore accurate Kelly.

[@Cynry]

01:09:20 Ok apparently I'm the pronunciation police, now, but whatever. This one, "coup de grâce", sounds more like coup de grass, with the french r and doubling down on the a (wish I knew phonetics rn). The way you pronounced it sounded like "coup de gras", which doesn't really exist but would be someone using his fat to hit :D

[@Xuphilo_CHSM]

Hey, I’ve been having concealment issues as well, specifically with SPARK units. It’s really annoying, because I got a mod that fixes concealment glitches, yet they’re suddenly happening again, and I’m worried the mod might have broken for some reason.

[@Ian501st]

And so, my sunday has been made great

[@TheMNWolf]

I don't know how you pronounce it, but I do know that it is a French word. And it has something to do with sword fencing as well.

[@somedm3080]

The sarcophagus synonym; eviler iPad.

[@jcbdippo5658]

For the sarcophagus, have you considered the PS5?

[@BattleUnit3]

Call the Resurection Device "The Mast"

[@SchleebaYT]

Another XCOM video YESSSSSS!!!

[@NotDalesDeadBug]

Self insert character rolls genius. Seems legit lol

[@Actually_Nessy]

Well, there go my next two hours

[@Ironsuaba]

So combatives is excellent, and the description way undersells it. It gives 10 dodge, 90 dodge vs the first melee attack on the soldier per turn and allows the shinobi to parry, aka avoid all damage and get a free hit in, if you dodge the melee attack.

[@MonsieurNab]

Coup de Grâce is pronounced "cou de grass" btw :)

[@kala457]

The only sad part about these videos is that there isn’t enough room for everyone’s characters 😢

[@wimdyslim]

I really wanna see Drifter do Xcom 1 Long War

[@twinodoom]

38:03 General mostly just exists so that a Chosen can keep the ability instead of replacing it with one of the other Reinforcement abilities.

[@therandomscout6590]

I was gonna ask if you could try the hand to hand combat mod but that would take too long

[@TheRazer456]

another drifter xcom video, we're eating good today :D

[@DeathEatsCurry]

It's a shame Plot Armor didn't realize that WOTC frequently loses the plot.

[@JamesHall-zs7ui]

Btw u uploaded at the right time ima go on an hour car ride in a min and u save me

[@piotrkubik2307]

Can't wait for specialists only!

[@JeremyTheBreadKnife]

Fleche is a fencing move when you more or less run at and stab your opponent lmao. It's pronounced flaich where the eche is pronounced as aich

[@JeremyTheBreadKnife]

On a side note it's not uncommon to miss them so atleast that added up lmao

[@anthonychase6906]

This is Long War of the Chosen (LWOTC) not long war 2 right? Just using the term interchangeably?

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

It's the regular game, but with LW2 classes.

[@randomguypi-uf2jc]

quick heads, up, potemkin is the name of a guilty gear character and i think you're mispronouncing them name slightly. there is more emphasis on the T, po TEM kin

[@brentramsten249]

1:06:20 is not moving after you melee attack not just the description of 'bending reed'?

[@TheDriftersBroadcast]

That makes sense.

[@lordkilljoy9652]

Call the resurrection stones the Rock or Dwayne

[@emberthecatgirl8796]

Shinobis die a lot because they are ultra cursed