XCOM 2 Tips: Grenadier Build & Equipment Guide (How to Level Up & Equip Grenadiers)

[@DrSatain]

Just getting into XCOM 2. Even 4 years later, these videos have been invaluable. Thanks so much!

[@TapCat]

Glad to hear it!

[@zethicalyt2406]

If you get the dlcs grenadiers shredder is a must, almost all enemies added to the dlcs have armor, and for some like the alien leaders, alot of armor

[@LogicAndCompassion]

@@zethicalyt2406 Im almost at the end of my Vanilla Xcom 2 run. So im LOVING this already, will "war of the chosen" be super amazing in comparison?

[@stuartbagley2586]

David Payne Yes. War of the Chosen is fantastic. I was dreading it when I started because I thought The Chosen would be super annoying, but they are used very well. The new classes are great as well.

[@LogicAndCompassion]

@@stuartbagley2586 Totally a necro reply, but i beat WoTC and was fantastic. The chosen are balanced really well. There is alot of strategy in dealing with which ever chosen you get first. Now im trying the hardest difficulty, and early game, man, it kicks my butt. Hahaha

[@meftor]

Hey TapCat. I had the original XCOM and got rid of it because I thought it was too hard. Turned out I just sucked. I just beat XCOM 2 on Rookie and am now stomping through on Veteran. You literally taught me how to play this game! Your vids are awesome.

[@TapCat]

That's great, I salute you for giving the series another chance and taking the time to get up the learning curve. Congrats on the win, good luck the rest of the way on your new campaign!

[@niklasmolen4753]

I think XCOM Enemy Unknown is more fun. However, I play both to vary myself. But XCOM Apocalypse is the best of them all.

[@jamesglancey8785]

"In every grenadier you ever make, take shredder over blast padding" Finally! Someone agrees with me! Thank you!

[@TapCat]

You're welcome!

[@lschnitzer7770]

James Glancey personally I like to have a frontline "tanky" grenadier.

[@lamjeri]

Problem with blast padding is that your enemies do not have to use grenades and when they do, they do not have to target the grenadier. And they probably won't unless you put more soldiers close to eachother. Which you do not want to do. You will use shredder in almost every mission. Blast padding? In my current playthrough, that abillity would have been used only once and it would shield me from 3 damage.

[@Wilsontripplets]

TapCat I feel like there is a case for blast padding for the innate armor you get with it paired up with an exo/war suit gives you some dmg resistece for him/her

[@yulfine1688]

@@Wilsontripplets except taking damage means that you waste a solider why take damge when you can kill first its pointless to mitigate damage when you lose that soldier often for a month or more...

[@bleedingpepper]

Interesting build. My grenadier builds are a mix of both categories. I find grenades really useful despite the nerf (I must admit, as I bought the game late on, the patch was already in place so I actually have no basis of comparison). As other players say, it's guaranteed damage, hits multiple enemies, and destroys cover. I tend to favour one plasma grenade (utility slot), and one acid grenade (grenade slot - once you have Heavy Ordinance, you get two acids). Plasma is used for destroying cover, while acid is best used to strip away armour. Also the acid damage can be useful (especially against Alien Rulers), and if I'm faced for multiple enemies, I can afford to leave enemies with the acid effect on them with 1-3HP left, and stand a good chance of them dying at the end of my turn (but before theirs). My grenadier build consists of: Shredder Suppression Heavy Ordinance Volatile Mix Salvo Rupture In terms of other upgrades, I tend to go for Scope, Expanded Mags, and PCS-wise I go for the one that boosts accuracy. I once got lucky with the bonus perk via the AWC and got Rapid Fire, so with the accuracy boost all of the stronger enemies (Gatekeepers, Sectopods, Alien Rulers) were no problem whatsoever as I was able to strip their armour away just like that. Also, while I don't use Suppression that much, I still find it useful in some situations. Usually when there's an enemy in high cover, and you're at the end of your turn and unable to take them down and have poor shot percentages, I use Suppression to lock them down, reduce their ability to accurately hit me, and bide myself time to move up on the next round.

[@MrAnxiety86]

Aside from rupture, I disagree with the rest. Sure, grenades got nerfed, but that's because they were so amazing to begin with. Guaranteed AOE damage and cover destruction?? Salvo allows the grenadier to attack twice if they don't move. While hail of bullets is nice, using a grenade to destroy cover and following that with a shot will usually mean you get to hit twice (as cover is destroyed with the first shot, leading to a flanked second shot). Chain shot doesn't strike me as a good skill, as you take a big risk at maybe hitting twice. Volatile mix synergies well with salvo and heavy ordinance. Holo targeting is the only one i regret passing up.

[@MrAnxiety86]

Also agree with shredder and suppression.

[@TapCat]

Hi, Carlos, thank you for watching and taking the time to post. I understand your points and am not saying that the grenade powers are bad, just that I prefer the others since I have to choose. Breaking up cover is obviously useful, but at higher levels many of the toughest enemies don't utilize cover to begin with. Cover also doesn't provide nearly as effective a shelter when I have rangers that can flank any aliens remotely close by and a sharpshooter who can hit almost anything. And I still have grenades to use when I want with the added flexibility of holo-targeting if I've run out. Chain shot may not impress you, but paired with blue screen rounds, it makes Andremedons, Sectopods, and Gatekeepers trivial. You're nailing them for 25-30 damage and shredding 6 armor with a single soldier and I quite enjoy that (Andromedons are a little different than the other two, but this still works very well). Having 2 of these grenadiers in a group also helps ensure that you'll almost always have holotargeting on Archons, Gatekeepers, and any other high-defense enemies so they die quickly. I know that a significant number of players love playing the grenadier package and all I can say is that people should do whatever is fun and/or effective for them. Personally, I've tried both and I find this both more powerful and more enjoyable. I'm not saying that this is the only way to play, just that it's a very efficient path to killing aliens quickly. I'm recommending it to newer players to help them get traction in XCOM 2, and fully expect that those who complete a campaign or two will ultimately branch out and try different builds and tactics. Whether they stick with my suggested builds or prefer something else is of no consequence to me, I just hope they're helpful (or at least interesting) in the meantime.

[@MrAnxiety86]

Hmm. Those are very good points actually. I tend to use my grenadiers to kill the weaker enemies and shred the large ones with grenades so I can focus on the big guys with everyone else . Of course, I've only gone through the game once (PS4) but am planning my first iron man run next. I look forward to the rest of your tip vids before I get too far into that!

[@TapCat]

I've played 3 full campaigns plus multiple partial and still find my perceptions subject to change. After I uploaded my ranger build video, a couple of viewers challenged one my assertions regarding Shadow Walk and after reflecting on it I felt like they were right. I was overvaluing it based on experiences I'd had before patches changed some alien behaviors. If there's any build you haven't tried, you might want to consider giving it a go and really trying to make it work. You may or may not like it as much or more as what you've gotten used to but it's always valuable in a game like this to explore the options and find new ways to tackle alien encounters. Just something to consider on your next run, which I wish you luck with!

[@madcourier6217]

Carlos Hernandez You could always train a pure grenadier in the beginning of the game and then retrain them as a heavy gunner later on.

[@DG-gx1qf]

Thanks very good information will try that never too old to learn 👍

[@TapCat]

Happy to help, good luck!

[@ElodieHiras]

Different perspectve time, because if your build works for you then it's good, but here's mine just for different perspective: I use Shredder, obviously. Demolition, because I am stingy with grenades and my grenadier usually don't carry many damaging grenades, so when I see an enemy taking cover, I can wreck his hideout with 87% chance. Works almost every time. Heavy Ordinance, Volatile Mix, Salvo. Can't count the times a flashbang saved my squad. Rupture, because usually my sniper is handling the trash units and I usually find enemy units that absolutely *need* to die fast. Scope, expanded mags, Tracer Rounds, Flashbangs in grenade only slot (Flashbangs are the only grenades I'm not stingy with, because they affect a large area and completely wrecks aliens by removing their special abilities and killing their accuracy), Acid Bomb (for big juicy targets).

[@stuartbagley2586]

ElodieHiras WOW. We use pretty close to the same set up. I use flash bangs in the utility slot though. You’re right about how good they are. Catching specters or codexes before they do their thing is gold.

[@electric_boogaloo496]

My first grenadier had suppression. Your damage per turn isn't very high in the early game and accuracy also sucks. But enemy count is also low. So suppression is practically stealing a turn from an enemy who has the best chance at hurting your team. That combined with aid protocol has saved my Ranger so many times. I grenade can't kill, and I don't have many actions left on my turn, save grenade and suppress.

[@teamextreme334]

2022 guy here, 6 years later and your vids are helping me learn to play for the first time, coming from the mess known ass Total War Warhammer 3.......this is amazing and im loving the challenge. Some people wonder...what will they say about me, when im gone, what will they remember....i remember Col. Tapcat leading they way threw every mission, never leaving the troops behind, and always making sure my load out is probper for my mission, i remember a time i was backed up hard behind enemy lines...the fir was coming heavy from the otherside of a gas station..i was there to get a VIP, they were determined to not let me leave now that they caught me....things were looking bad...real bad...and then, i took a breathe, and a vido message came in from Col Tapcat..he said...(use your abilitis, dont forget you have grenades, use them)..those words never rang threw more clear....we blew those bastards sky high, got the VIP and evac quickly...thanks Col. The Advent dont have a chance. OVER AND OUT!

[@TapCat]

That is AWESOME and I'm very happy to hear that you found my videos helpful!

[@kgamer121]

You should do a video on Heavy Weapons. Which heavy weapons you find the most useful, and what kind of build to go for to effectively use them.

[@TapCat]

That's an interesting idea, thanks for suggesting it. I've tended not to use them much because I find mimic beacons and upgraded ammunition to be SO good and you lose that second inventory slot with the armor that holds heavy weapons. But lately I've been thinking about trying to use them more in my next campaign. If that experiment goes well, then I could see doing a video along those lines.

[@shreks5556]

TapCat shredder cannon works very well when enemies line up loosely which they do

[@justinvanvolkenburg5298]

Good points up to Salvo. Being able to use a grenade and not ending a turn can do wonders for a team in overwatch. Especially if the aliens had armor.

[@yulfine1688]

yeah id take that of chain shot while holotargeting activates on the first shot negating the -15 aim it doesn't mean youll hit while you can still take 2 shots anyways do aoe damage and destroying cover for flank shots and on gatekeepers and such still shoot and holotarget for the rest of your team. While chain shot is technically 2 shots as well and higher damage overall shredding more armor and dealing more damage than grendades and shot would I feel it still has a lower chance and is only good against single targets. So take 2 grenadiers one with chainshot and one with salvo that way you have both for different situtations and each one is useful. I love this game hoping for a number 3 soon..

[@MrKuger9]

It would be nice see some of these in action perks, attachments, and equipments in action. To give noobies like me a better understanding of what I should be aiming for when leveling up.

[@rosalinapeach7305]

TapCat your videos are freaking helpful!!

[@TapCat]

Thanks, I'm always happy to hear when someone finds one of my videos useful.

[@daymongray3516]

The great thing about the game is the warfare center gives your soldier an additional ability they wouldn’t normally receive. With that ability in mind you can create a custom skill build for each character. That being said I agree with these builds and his reasoning.

[@JayFunningham]

I personally prefer building a dedicated gunner and grenadier separately. The gunner, when equipped with a superior scope, expanded mag and aim PCS becomes a soldier who: almost never misses, shreds the life out of armour, boosts your squad's aim and then can either fire again (with chain shot) or rupture so that your team have boosted aim and damage against that enemy. It takes some investment but the gunner is unstoppable at highest rank.

[@TapCat]

Exactly, I love all of those things about the heavy gunner and they are cornerstones of my squad.

[@longislandlegoboy]

I'm determined to use demolition on my next run, because I want to see it be used.

[@niklasmolen4753]

I always choose Demolition and Heavy Ordnance, because I used a lot of grenades. Good for blasting walls and creating shortcuts.

[@garrettmesser3977]

Chain shot, hail of bullets, and rupture are all single attack abilities. Volatile mix, salvo, and saturation fire all stack. In 1 turn you can have 2 attacks shredding armor on anything in the blast radius. With 2 grenadiers with saturation fire nothing will have much armor or health when they are done and they refresh. Anything that survives the grenadier can be cleaned up by a reaper ranger, or a sharpshooter with face off and lightning hands

[@xx_gamer_xx8315]

I love building mine to launch grenades and set up reaper or serial.

[@Noblity54]

Soften them all up then mop up time with the ranger. Once I realized this, the game became much easier- the right action is not the obvious one in this game

[@TheSuperhomosapien]

I prefer auto loaders over expanded magazines just because of Codexs. If they disable your gun you can just reload for free.

[@yulfine1688]

Free reloads are pointless use flashbang against them stops them easily. Keep soldiers spread out so it hits one maybe 2. Multiple options over less ammo.

[@Bsolazy]

How come the exo suit wasn’t mentioned at all? I know this is an old video so it might not have been implemented yet but I usually run exo with shredder on my Grenadier’s I like it but is there a better option?

[@davide2711]

Love your videos. Thank you.

[@TapCat]

Thank you for watching and for the positive feedback!

[@andycarr4354]

Any ability that lets you attack twice is S tier. Salvo is on of these so always take this. Use the training centre to add Volatile Mix and Heavy Ordinance to your build and you get best of both. Aim PCS and Superior scope on Grenadier will negate the -15 aim penalty of chain shot, or on high ground ignore most enemy cover!

[@alantheschmallan1933]

Holotargeting, shredder, superior scope, bluescreen rounds, autoloader on 2 grenadiers and perception ofc... yumyum

[@siddislikesgoogle]

I agree that grenadiers are about shredding armour and helping to improve the aim of the team. However, while HoloTargeting adds 15 to aim for everyone against that single target, I find that unless we´re overwatching and waiting for enemies to break cover, non MEC enemies are always IN cover. Low cover gives -20 and high cover -40. If I miss my Holoshot, I make no damage but compensate everyone´s aim a little, and that's great, BUT if I use a grenade, I will destroy cover, which is a +20 or +40 aim boost for everyone and I am guaranteed damage plus shred. If several enemies are grouped close, I´ll get them all, perhaps even eliminating their cover as well. Which means the boost to aim is now in effect against more than 1 target Having that extra grenade can make all the difference and if you use salvo later, you can lob 1 and take a shot at a now exposed enemy, which will be easy to hit, even for grenadiers, meaning a grenadier could solo a weak enemy, freeing up a whole turn for another teammate to do something else. The special power of the grenadier is the launcher, so equipping them with 3 frags plus something like the frost bomb/EMP grenade means you can consolidate all your grenading ops into the specialist, who has better range and can take perks to improve damage and blast radius. I think this frees everyone else from equipping damage grenades and taking equipment that improves their performance in their own role instead of using up a valuable utility slot to be inadequate frag grenadiers for 1 turn. As for blast padding...the amount of times I´ve had to eat muton/MEC grenades really makes me consider this over shredder since the latter only works if you land a hit with the minigun, which is great mostly against MECs who can´t use cover. Anyway once you eat a nade, you´re out of cover which means you´ll take shots from other enemies until the turn ends. I think w/blast padding the cumulative damage is reduced just enough to ensure you can survive this scenario, maybe even to the point where you don´t need to use up a medical charge (e.g if you eat a grenade and then a shot misses you) and that 1) frees up AP for your medic 2) saves healing charges for later or for mates that are critically wounded.

[@GurneroMaelstrom]

Hi, do you use spark units late game my friend? I love them so much but I feel them kind of weak, but I still wanna keep at least 1 spark or another mec on my parties. What do you think about my idea?

[@TapCat]

I'm afraid that I agree with you. They are weak units and if your goal is strictly to have the most effective squad then I would leave them behind. That said, I also think that this is a game and you should have fun with it. So if you love the SPARK, then bring one and get all you can out of it. I have no doubt that you can still win and it will make the victory both more satisfying and enjoyable playing with the squad that you really like rather than the one you "should" play with.

[@GurneroMaelstrom]

thx mate

[@kiran5964]

MOOtons. Accurate enough.

[@hazeddon]

Thanks for these bro, very very helpful. Just out of curiosity, do you ever plan on doing one of these for the SPARK? Didn't like those units in EW, hoping to hear they're better in this game.

[@TapCat]

Sadly, my experience with the SPARK failed to convinced me that it's worth tying up a spot on my squad for one. By the end of the campaign, I was regularly leaving it back at the base because it was so underwhelming. My best advice is to save your money and skip that DLC unless you just really feel like you have to try it yourself.

[@hazeddon]

TapCat I got the digital deluxe edition(console player), so it came with the SPARK DLC. Looked through it's abilities and really wasn't impressed, was hoping you'd say otherwise. I'll probably mess around with a couple on my lower difficulty playthrough's just to get it out of my system and then focus on the real shit for Commander and Legend. On the flipside the Psi Operative has been a pleasant surprise, a lot stronger than I thought it'd be. So much so that I can see myself fast tracking it on subsequent playthrough's.

[@TapCat]

My only beef with the psi soldiers is that it's very hard to find resources to get them going until it's too late to get them fully promoted before the end-game. On lower difficulties, it's probably easier but it's kind of a bear on Legend. That said, I'll probably try to rush psionics myself on my next campaign. I wouldn't do it every time, but I think it's worth doing at least once.

[@tekkenbd30fan70]

yes bro your previous vide about the base expansion helped a great deal thanks bro

[@alih6953]

Nice Video friend! Could you do a video on the Archeon King as well?

[@jayceyoung1866]

I don't know if you're going to see this comment on such an old video but, since frost bombs have been added to the game would you suggest taking heavy ordinance to have two freezes every mission?

[@TapCat]

No, I don't. I consider holotargeting an essential skill that will be consistently useful from the time you get it through the final mission. Frost bombs are good but their value declines in the late game because they only rob gatekeepers and sectopods of 1 action rather than a full turn. Their function is also served at least as well by other tools such as mimic beacons. If I could take Heavy Ordnance in place of a lesser ability like Suppression then I'd do it every time but holotargeting is too fundamental to give up in my eyes.

[@SaltyRocksPew]

TC, preferably I like having one grenadier to lead the squad with a holo targeting shred hail of bullets then a second to backup with a frost bomb and salvo (becuse frozen targets are easier to hit) then have that grenadier shoot and he will probably hit because of the aim buff sand hopefully shred the last of the armour., and then everyone else shoots.

[@Protpallyplaya27]

Your voice is so soothing. :)

[@NoLow2727]

Idk about y’all but I got a color class for each rank and it works great and I always make Psi operative Purple Rookies always brown because they 💩 Squaddies Are always tampon color cause they bleed 🩸 the most Corporal are Green because they moving up in rank lol Sergeant are Yellow because they always serious Lieutenant’s are white cause it’s fit right and captain’s are blue cause it’s obviously a good color for a Captain The majors are orange because the second before last rank color gotta look sick and Colonel are Black 🫡 Your Welcome 🙏🏾 hope this helps 😅

[@CaptainBipto]

Which of the perks from ACW would be beneficial for a Grenadier? I was looking at Kill Zone, Serial, Covering Fire, Rapid Fire. Any suggestions?

[@TapCat]

Well, you don't get to choose it is randomly assigned at the time of character creation and then revealed later on. But if I could pick one it would be Rapid Fire. Getting a much better version of Chain Shot that you can use every turn is amazing. I had a grenadier with Rapid Fire in my last Let's Play and put Blue Screen rounds on her. She was an automatic MEC killer, soloed the 2nd phase of the Andromedon, and even Gatekeepers and Sectopods were severely dented when she was done with them. I also had a grenadier with Kill Zone and it didn't work nearly as well as I thought it would. I think Serial and Kill Zone both need that sniper range and view from a high perch to be great and squad sight is a key part of that.

[@jackieyuen5509]

Are grenadiers allowed to use primary weapons other than the heavy cannon? Like Rifles or shot guns?

[@TapCat]

No, the heavy cannon is their one and only choice.

[@seb2750]

Does holotargeting give the aim bonus on first shot or second shot for chainshot?

[@TapCat]

I have often wondered whether a grenadier receives an aim bonus for the second shot when using Chainshot or it the bonus doesn't go into effect until the next soldier gets to take a crack at it. I've never found a definitive answer, but I will say that missing the 2nd half of chain shot has been extremely rare for me. In fact, I'm not positive it's ever happened. So my best guess is that the grenadier gets the bonus but I can't state that for a fact.

[@snap26neo]

This is all your opinion and doesn't mean it's the best for everyone. With the said, I don't think you are using the demolition side of grenadier correctly. Went through the game on legendary iron man mode and I honestly being able to spam grenade launchers and destroy cover constantly made it way easier than it should have

[@KingShrykull92]

In what way were grenades nerfed? I'm not aware of this and I completed a playthrough before any of the dlc's released. I've also styarted a new playthrough and I haven't noticed anything.

[@TapCat]

They reduced the damage for all grenades. And coming up, grenades are effectively getting nerfed again with War of the Chosen because using one will bring the Lost down on your head on a number of missions. They won't do less damage, but they will be less attractive (although still invaluable in many situations).

[@Budumpum]

Demolition is useless for me, I’d rather put myself in a better position. I always take suppression, it comes handy sometimes if you’re out of moves or other options and want to limit the possibilities of having soldiers injured. Mimic beacon could be too precious for the situation if there’s more to come and ammo can be easily replaced. If they shoot at you, they’re likely to miss. If they move, it’s probably from full cover, so the reaction shot actually has better chance of hitting than a low % shot, hence I’m using suppression instead. At least this way I may get some health down or even a kill. But in my experience, they are more likely to take a low % shot more often than not. And suppression helps me control the field, while minimising the risk.

[@TapCat]

If I were making the video today, I'd probably take suppression as well. I don't love either ability but I have found that to be the more useful of the two as time has passed.

[@whee38]

Any advice for the SPARK class

[@TapCat]

I played the SPARK in one campaign and didn't find a way to get enough value out of it to make it worth tying up one of the six slots on the squad. Maybe I just didn't pick the right abilities, but I reached a point where I was ready to retire it and don't have advice on how to make them good. That said, they are giving the SPARK an upgrade in War of the Chosen, so I'll probably give them another try and hopefully have more constructive advice at that time.

[@whee38]

TapCat okay. Thanks

[@matthewbennett7435]

Personally I found a way to make a Spark work really well in my squad. Eventually becoming an integral part of it. I end up using them as a tank for damage if I can't kill a pod on contact, and as an aggressive heavy gunner to get hard hitting flank attacks without worrying if I leave him behind enemy lines. And I Like that I can send them in wounded for when I have other troops wounded. Admittedly as you get better at the game there tanking aspects lose a little luster as you'll be killing pods on contact often but I still like taking them in to use as an aggressive option I don't have to worry about dying from being flanked. Replaces an additional grenadier on the squad usually, especially after the grenade nerf. I go like this. Abilities: BULWARK I take it for the armor as it allows me to send in a spark to draw fire away from my troops. On higher difficulties I tend to not use the full cover aspect as much to avoid unit clumping, but It's there in a pinch. STRIKE: Allows for a spark to get even more aggressive and hit while dashing plus puts them in the middle of enemies to draw fire while still dealing good damage. INTIMIDATE: I don't love either choices here. I imagine you could use wrecking ball to good effect but I never got the hang of it. I preferred just a constant chance to panic an enemy especially cause my sparks get shot at a lot. REPAIR: Very powerful ability that scales with better armor. It allows you're spark to have a ton of survivability. Allowing them to take shots then repair them and take more shots. Also since sparks can be taken on mission even if wounded you can take a wounded SPARK repair at the beginning or after he gets hit once and its like a fresh SPARK. Very good if you have lots of wounded soldiers. CHANNELING FIELD: I don't think hunter protocol is very good because SPARKS aren't incredibly accurate and its just too chance based for me. Channeling field lets me get better damage as my SPARK gets shot at and as stated before they get shot at a lot allowing for powerful shots after being targeted multiple times. SACRIFICE: I use sacrifice as a oh shit I triggered multiple pods and no mimic beacon or as a oh shit theres a sectopod/gatekeeper that I can't kill this turn and don't want to get a soldier killed or wounded for weeks. It's a panic button to save your soldiers from getting killed. I like it because it softens mistakes which on Commander+ Ironman means death for a soldier or two. I haven't used nova but I have heard that some people use it to just deal massive damage in one turn but I prefer sacrifice. Both are good I imagine. Shredder as a starter allows for you to better deal with armor which is very good on high difficulties. Overdrive lets you get better into position or just deal more damage when facing big pods. Mechanical chassis allows you to ignore fire so you can get in close and its fun to watch Vipers try to poison your SPARK with a breath attack and do nothing. Hack on the SPARK I almost never use I'd much rather have my specialist handle it but If you need to get a timed objective done and you have one turn left and the only way would get your specialist in 0 cover and thus killed then the spark can do it but you are incredibly unlikely to get the bonus stuff but again it's there in a pinch. Personally I really enjoy using sparks in my playthroughs and when I heard they were getting a buff I was pretty excited. Looking forward to using them in War of the Chosen especially since they have better accuracy (one of their main drawbacks) and you can mod their weapons now(another previous drawback) I imagine slapping on a laser sight to get better crits as I have them rush forward and extended mags to help out the mag size of three.

[@moth8550]

You're a lifesaver

[@TapCat]

I'm glad to hear that you're finding these useful.

[@MrODST57]

Yo tap cat do you have a favorite class? If so what is it?

[@TapCat]

I probably love the ranger most of all with the gunslinger a close second.

[@MrODST57]

TapCat Personally enjoy the Grenadier most followed by gunslinger .So much fun to blow up half the map sometimes

[@TapCat]

I enjoy grenadiers a lot as well. TBH, I love all of them except specialists.

[@MrODST57]

TapCat That's because specialists got loaded with all the support skills and hacking only measures up.if you get hacking boosts .

[@JJ_Five_Two]

TapCat, did you play socom? You sound just like the urgent fury guy.

[@TapCat]

No, I literally had to search for the word to see what it meant. I guess someone out there must just sound a lot like me!

[@JJ_Five_Two]

Haha. Wow, thanks for the quick reply. I just started playing xcom2(on xbox one x) a few days ago and after getting destroyed on 2 campaign attempts in a row I was about to give up. I found your videos and after watching a few, I've been having success. I'm only on rookie, but I will definitely up the difficulty after finishing. Couldn't have done it without you. I had no clue what I was doing in between missions.

[@Ravenjim93]

You forgot to mention that you can double your frost bomb charges and range with heavy ordenance (well not the range from that skill) Being able to take an enemy out of the game for a few turns is exceptional in tough situations

[@TapCat]

It's not a question of forgetting, I focused on the base game because that's the only thing I know everyone will have. Also, it was important to me to keep these short and that means I can't cover all the possible benefits or uses of the abilities I am recommending, let alone those that I'm not.

[@Ravenjim93]

Yea that seems like a fair point. My point tho was that its not like heavy ordenance salvo and volatile mix are useless but indeed have their uses. But as you said you had to keep it short in which case i cant argue with that.

[@TapCat]

I agree that the trio of grenade powers are far from useless and now that it's possible to to get both you will see me invest some Ability Points in picking up at least some of them for one or more grenadiers in my War of the Chosen playthrough.

[@themoosemanguy1537]

how to kill the other two rulers PLS!!!! today I lost my 6th soldier to the berserker thing. Really afraid of the archon

[@TapCat]

FYI, I'm working on the Berserker Queen video and will almost do the Archon King after that.

[@Hutchino46]

easy, shoot it with a repeater equipped and keep reloading the game until you execute it :'D

[@umkm2k]

I look at Shredder the same way you talk about Deadeye. Effective later on, but not ideal at lower levels. I've been on the receiving end of a plasma grenade from a surprise Muton appearance on normal and my soldier (who only had 2hp and 1 point of armor after an unlucky crit) only took 2 damage from it, letting him limp away with 1hp instead of killing him. I always make sure to diversify my grenades so that I can deal with armored enemies with guaranteed hits early on rather than give a low level gunner Shredder and have to pray to RNGesus my 70-80% hit chance pays off. I agree that Shredder is better, but that point of armor and some backup damage resistance can pay off big time early on. Especially when armored enemies aren't a big threat yet. Great videos, I'm happy to see you're still responding and making new content! Keep up the good work!

[@zoecornish]

sniper load out would be nice pls

[@TapCat]

That will be the next video, and should go live within the next few days.

[@zoecornish]

many thanks

[@synthwavesmatter8466]

Salvo is way better than hail of bullets. You can upgrade aim easy with a scope or perception pcs . Grenade will destroy cover than blast away a tough enemy like andromedon

[@Ruslakall]

Salvo is much better than hail of bullets, it allows you to shoot a grenade or use a heavy weapon and shoot in the same turn. This means you can remove cover and fire at the enemy. Hail of bullets is just meh, you should equip superior scope anyway on all grenadiers so they should always have at least 85% even 100% hit

[@TapCat]

If I were recording this today, I would also take Salvo over Hail of Bullets.

[@Theknifeninja333]

Hello TapCatVids! Do you have a business email I can get in contact with you at?

[@XCalPro]

I also have returned back to XCOM 2. Game is timeless and everything else out right now is not as good. That being said, I find Heavy Gunners are the least useful class. I don't use them. My squad in mid-game is usually 1 Medic, 1 Ranger, Spark, and 3 Snipers. May have to make changes for end game, though.

[@LogicAndCompassion]

I almost depend on having at least one grenadier so that i can lob a flash bang across the map. Those pesky mind controllers, ya kno? Haha

[@stevethebarbarian99]

No way, not in my opinion. Shredder for sure, and agree on Shredder/Supression, I rarely use either. Holo Targeting might be good early on, but later, when you get Superior Perception and Superior Scope all round, you just don't need it. They are all over 100% to hit in the open. Heavy Ordnance is better. Salvo is much better, getting to both blow away cover then shoot. I do prefer Rupture though, and Superior Expanded Mag.

[@yulfine1688]

Holo targeting is for any high defense or dodge units. Also even late game not everything uses perception and scopes rethink on that one. You do not need to blow up cover when you're flanking with rangers or the heroe units. Snipers should have 100% almost every single time they shoot if not every time. Perhaps think a bit more rather than a small boost in damage. Instead of that take more utility that's actually important

[@voiceoftreason9212]

Gonna disagree with you on Chain Shot. Having done the math, this gives you an average damage multiplier (if your base hit chance is above 54% which represents the break even point). That multiplier isn't very large though until you get to very high hit chances and it comes at the expense of high variance: your chance to score no damage at all is increased by 15%, which is quite significant. When you get to a high base hit chance (i.e. for a normal shot), let's say 85%, the damage multiplier is 1.4 (i.e. +40% damage on average), which sounds great but it comes at the cost of DOUBLING your chance to miss entirely. In Xcom 2, missing can be very costly. Also, at that point, your chance of double damage is only 49%, i.e. a coin flip. Is it worth it? I don't think so. I'm very averse to taking pot shots that have a 50-50 chance of doing something good, whilst increasing your chance of punching air and making you more vulnerable. It may feel great when it connects but it's not good strategy to rely on the RNG, imo. If I've got a 100% shot, why take a 15% gamble on missing entirely for a 72% chance of double damage? Too risky for me. I'd rather build a strategy based on near certainties. Volatile Mix is a superb ability: a guaranteed 40% increase in grenade damage (which never fails) and if you use your grenades wisely they will strike multiple opponents. By contrast, how many enemies are you going to damage with chain shot on a mission, given the 2-turn cooldown and given the increased chance to miss? At most one per encounter, so maybe 4 or 5 enemies but it's going to miss at least once, so... now Volatile Mix looks like a MUCH better choice by quite a long way.

[@godswatching2863]

PC looks alot better then my ps4

[@stepanvurm6735]

Anyone else noticed INTEGRATED WARFACE? :DDDD

[@TapCat]

Oops!

[@dougformerlysekkohegane9303]

Intergrated Warface..

[@MrX-ok3jq]

heh, moo-tons

[@J4ckmaestro]

haha 'mootons'

[@ElPsyKongroo]

Mootons lmfao