Ranger Class Overview - A Guide to XCOM 2

An overview that explains my thoughts on the Ranger class, its abilities and some tips and tricks.
Muted version: • Ranger Class Overview ...
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:48 Weapon Upgrades and Equipment
2:03 Slash
3:55 Phantom
5:55 Blademaster
6:53 Shadowstrike
7:29 Shadowstep
8:10 Conceal
8:42 Run and Gun
9:33 Implacable
10:22 Bladestorm
11:48 Deep Cover
12:21 Untouchable
13:27 Rapid Fire
14:43 Reaper
16:06 Conclusion

[@frozenfairy2323]

"I wish I could say something nice about this ability." *cut to black* "But i can't." That being said in the monotone voice had me cracking a laugh.

[@orangesoda4535]

I'm amazed that I used to think bladestorm was an awful ability, but then I saw the reinforcements trap and my mind opened up

[@dragonfable66]

Theres also the lost. Watch em fall like dominoes when they get into bladestorm range

[@whimsicalchronicles8798]

a max melee ranger with the assassins katana instakills entire chryssalid pods

[@charlesfowler4308]

I find it's best when you can get bladestorm and implacable together in WOTC then you can use the extra movement on implacable to move next to an enemy with bladestorm, that combined with the assassin's blade and untouchable to protect you after the second dash turns your ranger into a god.

[@BaskinTimi]

@@whimsicalchronicles8798 it doesnt need to be max blademaster is enoguh

[@foxyelpirata6698]

An added use of Bladestorm is that if you kill the assassin and get her Katana. Your bladestorms are LITERALLY impossible to miss. Except for specters with Lighting reflexes… I think. But other than them, its impossible to miss. Also, coincidentally it deals 10/11 (Blademaster) dmg which is the same amount of HP that Chryssalid’s have in commander difficulty (haven’t tried Legend so IDK if it’s still 10 with 1 armor.) so your ranger can just run to a pod of chryssalid’s and kill them all by standing there… menacingly! Also the sneaky ones hiding will also immediately die in their “Ambush” 10/10 would commit mass Bug genocide again.

[@elvinmacospag6989]

88% sounds like a lot, but you'd be surprised by how often it misses. Sounds like XCOM, alright.

[@danielschott4639]

Great Scott!

[@necfreon6259]

I remember during my I don’t know 300 ish hours of playing this game I’m not sure about the specifics of that sense I play on ps4 but anyways i missed a 99% shot twice in the amount of time I’ve been playing this game instead of shame or anger I felt pride as I’ve been waiting for years for an opertunity in a game that a 99% chance thing failing happening it’s an achievement to me

[@harisonklever4614]

Couldn't tell you how many operatives I've lost trusting that 88% hit

[@necfreon6259]

@@harisonklever4614 hope for miracles but expect less than desirable outcomes

[@HJC1950]

Like getting aces cracked.

[@novashy7119]

This was a very nice guide in general. I like that you added the voice over and gave text, and examples with all the abilities in action. It's incredibly helpful, more then just staying on the ability screen and saying "this is how it works."

[@veegeeplz]

Thanks for the kind words. While working on the initial videos, I considered doing class-specific guides and most of the videos I found were as you described. Glad you found the end result helpful.

[@eastpaw]

Very much this. Loving these guides despite being a veteran player and sometime modder.

[@foxyelpirata6698]

There is 1 singular benefit for Deep Cover. If you have a sniper with Deep Cover or a Ranger with AIM in the XCOM abilities it makes a niche yet usable synergy. While it hasn’t happened to me, I imagine a Sniper or even a Gunslinger with +30 aim and +10 crit chance from only sitting there. being quite nice.

[@ethanhess8230]

The only use case I’ve ever had for deep cover is if you have it as a random ability on a sharpshooter with aim so you can reload and relocate then get an enhanced shot on the next turn. This would make both abilities useful even though alone they’re not good at all.

[@Rearmostbean]

Exactly. If you have random ability Aim on your ranger you now have +20 aim on first attack. That's like having a superior scope, allowing more ranged attack options. Also aim allows more movement when on fire since you can move twice. Rare but good when it is needed

[@quentinvandeutekom1790]

I can’t believe how few subscribers you have! These guides are great quality content and very informative. Sword rangers were my favorite for a long time but now I’m leaning on templars a bit more. Parry & deflect is just so good it’s like a ranger / mimic beacon hybrid, and then bring a reaper along to scout. Wish I stumbled onto these when I was starting out, but it’s nice too see most our builds are pretty similar

[@veegeeplz]

Thank you very much. I'm not really advertising these guides and I'm not really looking for subscribers. As long as people find them helpful, that's good enough for me. (And maybe the occasional nice comment. :) )

[@crosseightyeight]

Excellent guide! One thing to note about Shadowstep is that it doesn't burn enemy overwatch like Lightning Reflexes. Other units will still need to be careful. You showed that in your footage but it bears mentioning.

[@JamesCanuck]

Best class guides I've seen done for any game. Great job!

[@crosseightyeight]

Untouchable is awesome in that it avoids nearly all sources of enemy damage! Never worry about enemies that explode when they die! Or about the Codex's psionic rift.

[@AceKiller9000]

Helpful guide, very efficient- not like the others who just talk and talk rubbish. Thanks

[@tsunamistate]

I'm probably necroposting, but according to Pete Complete, you receive Shadowstrike bonus not just when concealed, but when the enemy cannot see the Ranger. So, theoretically, if Ranger is out of enemy LOS and Slashes in, he receives the aim and crit bonus. This isn't documented anywhere, but this makes Shadowstrike much more useful than advertised. Here's the video where Pete makes the claim: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYGokKmjZs1-eM0

[@bugfriendz]

shadowstrike works more often than you'd think; as it works from anytime a unit has not made line-of-sight with the ranger. if an enemy can't see (or hasn't seen) your shadowstrike ranger, they gain shadowstrike bonuses - even if not concealed.

[@xDaPrincex]

Thanks a lot man!

[@MM-cg9tk]

I agree with rapid fire, but reaper has actually helped me deal with the bugs and other enemies who are in full cover and none of my soldiers can attack them, since I already dealt with other enemies, and because of that it helped me including the retaliation strikes. Also for anyone want to know, I’m just a guy with 12 hours in this game compared to the 1000 hours professional 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@whimsicalchronicles8798]

if you have a blademaster+bladestorm ranger with the assassin's katana you NEVER miss and kill cryssalids in a single hit so you can literally just run your ranger in the middle of a cryssalid pod and kill every single one of them (even the ones hiding that ambush you on your turn)

[@fsfangamechannel6225]

I think Shadowstrike is a solid option, especially in early game, since it pretty much instantly kills some dangerous enemies, including Stun Lancers, Mecs and Mutons. It is a decent opener on the first pod you encounter, allowing you to pretty much eliminate the pod with the Shadowstrike Ranger and Overwatch ambushing with the rest of the squad.

[@barapanda2027]

I usually put phantom/shadow strike on all my rangers. Because of how I play, I prefer to have multiple scouts somewhat separated to cover more ground and sight. I usually use my other folks to deal with aliens my rangers find, and if all else fails, the rangers will likely be able to clean up. Although I generally like to go for run and gun, I like to dip back for conceal so the rangers can get 2 shadow strike shots. It comes in handy quite a lot of times for me.

[@pRopaaNS]

The reaper combines really well with sharpshooter's Faceoff ability! Add lighting hands to further weaken down single stronger enemy. And if that option is not viable, then can use a heavy with stuff like acid grenades, that combined with salvo can be spread the damage out to another gorup of enemies... - But for that the reaper needs hazmat vest to run through the goop! And then there is also specialist's Capacitor's Discharge, which though doesn't have the necessary range to weaken lots of enemies.

[@Rearmostbean]

Exactly I prefer multiple kills to single kills. Reaper allows a slash kill/shoot combo, where rapid fire is just two shots. Reaper can take out lost swarms or claymore'd pods. Allows Ranger to run with Reaper class for epic commando duties

[@Rearmostbean]

Ranger/Reaper class works well together. Reaper scouts, plants claymore or performs remote start, and Ranger goes in and cleans up with Reaper ability or shadowstrike and reconceals. Can continue on and do second time. Crazy good

[@jvmoony]

it would be great in WOTC to pick Implacable and Reaper using Ability Point.. right? and what XCOM Ability that is recomended for Ranger?

[@veegeeplz]

You wouldn't need AP though, you could just take them as you level up. Untouchable might be a better choice though, assuming you get the first kill. You'd also still risk activating additional pods. I don't tend to think too much about XCOM abilities. Since they're random, you can't really plan around them.

[@jvmoony]

@@veegeeplz many thanks for the advise

[@whimsicalchronicles8798]

@@veegeeplz to be fair since they are random it's always interesting to see what you get

[@whimsicalchronicles8798]

also like how each of the WoTC resistance classes is just some specialized variant of the ranger reapers: even more specialized scout/sharpshooter/grenadier hybrid templars: blademaster ranger/psi operative hybrid with a pistol skirmisher: basically rapid fire but weaker and usable every turn with its own method of melee attacking

[@christianwiese9887]

rapid fire and an advanced stock. would that be guaranteed damage over a large distance? that sounds op.

[@siddislikesgoogle]

Rangers are really vulnerable to codexes, because they have their own autoevade vs bladestorm, and once in base contact, they shadowbind you, which can't be resisted. That's why a medical specialist is the best partner for a ranger, because it can remove that mental status with one charge (no need to kill that codex) , and if you do find yourself exposed out there in front of an activated pod, aid protocol will shield you. And if you're bond mates, it becomes hard to overexpose a ranger since you can grant extra move and aid...

[@intotheunknowletitgo5640]

Bladestorm + axe = op

[@jdavis6630]

Nice vids. How about what mods you use.

[@veegeeplz]

For this particular series I only used a few "essential" mods. If you want the full list, here's a Pastebin: pastebin.com/38e2C9XM

[@Hotobu]

"88% sounds like a lot, but you'd be surprised how often you miss it" ... you mean 12% of the time? A little more than 1 in 10?

[@Zaki_Arx]

You'd be surprised how often you miss it when you really need to hit it... (always, when someone on your squad is about to die)

[@Hotobu]

@@Zaki_Arx ... you mean 12% of the time? A little more than 1 in 10?

[@blake7297]

Yes, despite what the number says it seems like those %80 shots miss more often then they should.

[@MM-cg9tk]

@@blake7297 not to mention the 70% misses hurts when you need to kill a archon (especially the king variant) before he lanuches blazing pylons and one heavy mec or muton with overwatch make sure they get their shots hit you

[@warlord5295]

I got to say as a class the ranger is the equivalent to the army green beret or a minute man using guerilla tactics to do as much damage as possible basically the advent troops are highly organized but can be predictable while rangers strive to be as unpredictable as possible.

[@ItsMinoAgain]

Hey, you need to do one for Psi Operatives

[@balkespower10]

1:26 CLOSE RANGE?! And what happens if this doesn't work? Do you really think this is worth the risk?

[@foxyelpirata6698]

I miss the arc thrower :( The skull Jack is just… it’s nice to one shot priests I guess… but why the feedback?

[@mpig4643]

“Close range” Ranger on 2020-2021: Ded cus covid 😂

[@jakubpospisil6514]

I know you probably don't make videos and won't reply to this coment, but you missed the fact that a ranger with bladestorm and the chosens katana can for example solo an andromedon and a good ranger can kill 10+ enemies in a single turn, take for example: you shot a granade at a group of enemies and activate reaper, you can just go to each one and kill them, and if you accidently find new enemies you're soldiers can shot u the rest and the ranger can just cut trough them + if you have High mobility and dodge you can run trough Anything and simply cut trough + if There is an advent trooper with 12 health and you deal 6 damage a hit you can just cut him once and bladestorm him the next turn + if you have untochable with impacarable you can run to an enemy soldier kill them and run to other enemy soldier and kill them the next turn with a bladestorm (i Beat xcom 2 on legendary with a team containing: 4 rangers, 1 sniper and 1 heavy) in my opinion the ranger is the top class and takes the throne [ BTW no hate towards you and i like seing that some xcom content creators existed❤️]

[@xyiux]

They forgot to nerf bladestorm in wotc because with blade master you can insta kill the lost

[@whimsicalchronicles8798]

imagine getting untouchable bladestorm and fortress as a xcom abilities with a templar >kill someone >parry >immune to explosives fire gas and acid >automatically block the first hit >automatically dodge the second hit >automatically get free hits on anyone who steps in striking range >does not elaborate >does it all over again next turn note:i am aware untouchable is not a skill templars can get

[@sheepnoisebah]

i got both on my first templar and they were rank 3 and 4. but i didnt know how to play so i had to restart

[@ravensflockmate]

I never need phantom

[@mojosilver82]

war of the chosen gives you two class that do the ranger's job better. reapers are better scouts and templars are better blade masters. that's why i stopped using rangers.

[@blake7297]

The rangers are still a good backup reaper and there's no substitute for rapid fire shotgun flanking with laser sight and talon rounds.

[@JozsefPocsi]

You can only have 1 reaper or tempelar and you only able to get a second one later so ranger is still important.

[@Nebula644]

I will concede that reapers are better scouts but rangers are better than templars because they don’t need focus to do a lot of damage and they have a weapon that can does tons of damage without having to be right next to the enemy. Along with this the katana and the arashi are broken