XCOM: Chimera Squad Ironman Impossible Hardcore

XCOM: Chimera Squad Ironman Impossible Hardcore No Healing
Yup, the game is as the title says. This is Week 1 of 11 in a full campaign of XCOM: Chimera Squad on Impossible, Ironman, & Hardcore difficulty with No Healing enabled. Outside of house rules inside the campaign itself, this is as difficult as Chimera Squad can possibly be, in terms of campaign difficulty.
► Got a retro game you want reviewed? Subscribe and send me a message.
► / soulmata
► / jaycanplaygames
In Week 1 we take on the Sacred Coil, and you will see that no real challenge has set in yet. Sacred Coil are selected first because they can be problematic if you take them on too late, but early on really only have two threatening units: MECs and Purifiers. The MECs are easily disposed of with Patchwork nuking them down to 1-2hp with a single spammable attack, leaving you to prioritize the Purifiers. Nothing much else Sacred Coil ever throws at you is threatening.
Our starting squad is composed of Blueblood, Claymore, Terminal, & Patchwork. Get used to these 4, as they'll be pretty much the default squad for much of this campaign. This is for obvious reasons - Terminal is, aside from the fact she does hardly any damage, probably the single-most OP Agent, with a spammable ranged heal, the ability to give up an action to someone else who does more damage, can open security doors, and can carry 3 utility items once trained. Blueblood starts out pretty weak, but quickly transforms into perhaps the most direct-damaging Agent you can get, able to shoot 7+ times in a single turn with the right special weapon and training. Claymore is your champ for cover removal and spamming explosives, and can get real cheesy when Run & Gun and actions given to him, as Run & Gun stacks with his perk that allows Shrapnel to have no cooldown. It's easy to get 2 or even 3 and more Shrapnel Bombs out on a single turn. Patchwork is probably the most underclassed in this squad, but her potentness in the early game and her charm are enough to keep around for the entire campaign. After all, it's not like we need more firepower at that point anyway.
Our early strategy will focus on buying as many Tranq rounds as we can for that precious Intel, and then just shooting things in the face.