Bladestorm FTW

Add War of the Chosen? And in my experience the Bladestorm is far and away better than implacable

I haven't played XCOM in quite a while now and this guide might need some updates for later patches and DLCs. If you note that something is off or outdated, please let me know and I will add notes to the guide. I'm primarily playing Wasteland 3 right now and spending my efforts on updating my guide for that game. I have a full-time job as a Manager, so my time available for playing games these days is quite limited. Still appreciate the feedback and I hope this guide has been useful for you people. :)

If you need a guide on how to take a selfie, then there's something wrong with you.

Thank you for the guide, Hanna. I just got XCOM and never played any of the earlier editions, so this guide should help.

A fine guide. Sorry the comments below are so lame.

6 rangers and you'll never lose with the flank bonuses

Thank you this guide helped me a lot to get a comfy start

Id always take one "variable" with me. This slot was typically dependent on the mission I was going on and what I expected to face. Id usually bring a Templar(Gatekeeper Killer)another specialist, or another assault class.
I never had to use fancy tac grenades, and never bothered with some of the more obscure abilities. My playstyle favors acquiring and neutralizing the most dangerous targets as quickly as possible and maintaining a terrain advantage, and utilizing my team in a fashion that supports rapid elimination of threats. Think part action movie, part Seal Team 6

I cant stress this enough...even more so than with Xcom EU, you need to play smarter. Use the terrain to your advantage EXTENSIVELY, and optimize your team to fight and support one another. Overwatch is your bestfriend, Bondmates save lives, every unit is as strong as the other makes it. There's no right way or one shot guide to building a more effective team.

I had one hacker specialist and one medic specialist, but by the end of the game, they were both pretty square on every ability. I bonded a specialist to my sniper, because the specialists serve as natural "spotters" with many of their support abilties making them ideal "Overwatch" for the Overwatch.
I always took 2 rangers. One optimized for assault with a rifle and good armor, grenades(I never used fancy tac grenades. Just frag/plasmas) and a vest, mindshield(critical for early game, before you get high willpower and/or psi soldiers, when those FUCKING Sectoids are still prominent) and the other optimized for CQB. My "Reaper" could chew through anything from Advent to Andromedons. With a Stasis Vest and the right armor, and the "Reaper" ability she could clean the field almost singlehandedly

-My primary weapon attachments were Auto Loaders and Repeaters. Especially for snipers.
Real Shit, a high level sniper with a superior repeater, superior auto loader, death from above, and good Bondmate, can reasonably wipe out the greater portion of the enemy in a single move. At least the lighter enemies. With Squadsight a sniper in a high place on overwatch is death incarnate, and I favored my snipers immensely.
-I always optimize my heavies for Mech Busting. Armor stripping abilites and weapons. I dont bother with suppression, because I seldom use the cannon. My Grenadiers are there to bring the boom, and a good grenadier can strip the skin off a Gatekeeper or a Sectoid easily