Sharpshooter | Soldier Classes XCOM 2 Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
The Sharpshooter class is used for long-distance combat, from where the soldier can massacre almost anyone with the help of sniper rifles. Because of that, the sniper of XCOM 2 is extremely vulnerable to close combat, which is why there always should be a soldier nearby to protect him / her.
By picking up the proper abilities, the Sharpshooter will be able to shoot from almost any place, from distances beyond the reach of enemies' counterattack. The pistol is the additional, secondary equipment of the Sharpshooter, which is, strangely enough, quite an effective weapon.
This class starts with the Squadsight ability, allowing it fire at enemies that are in the sight range of other soldiers, provided that the line of sight of the sharpshooter and the target is not blocked.
Available abilities
Level | Ability 1 | Description | Ability 2 | Description |
Corporal | Long Watch | Allow Overwatch to trigger with Squadsight. | Return Fire | When targeted by enemy fire, automatically fire back with your pistol once per turn. |
Sergeant | Deadeye | Take a shot with a small aim penalty for a significant damage boost. 2 turn cooldown. | Lightning Hands | Fire your pistol at a target. This attack does not cost an action. 3 turn cooldown. |
Lieutenant | Death From Above | Killing an enemy at a lower elevation with your sniper rifle costs only a single action and does not end your turn. | Quick Draw | Firing your pistol with your first action no longer ends your turn. |
Captain | Kill Zone | Take a reaction shot against any enemy that moves or attacks within a cone of fire. 3 turn cooldown. | Faceoff | Fire once at every visible enemy with your pistol. 3 turn cooldown. |
Major | Steady Hands | If you didn't move last turn, gain +10 aim and +10 critical chance. | Aim | Hunker Down now confers +20 aim to the first shot on the following turn. |
Colonel | Serial | Each kill made with your sniper rifle completely restores your actions. With each consecutive kill you get a critical chance penalty. 4 turn cooldown. | Fan Fire | Fire the pistol 3 consecutive times at a single target. 3 turn cooldown. |
Selecting abilities
The Sharpshooter should focus mainly on increasing the effectiveness of attacks from a distance, which is why you should take the following abilities:
- Long Watch - allows the soldier to make an overwatch shot if the enemy is in the sight range of an ally, which works extremely well when a sharpshooter is located far behind the rest of the squad and a normal overwatch is not working.
- Deadeye - an ability vastly increasing the damage the sniper can deal, while at the same time decreasing the chance to hit. During the first few hours of the game this ability won't be of much use, given the lack of aim of an inexperienced soldier, but later on will become one of the most powerful abilities in the game - hitting an enemy with it, especially if it scored a critical hit, will kill almost any target.
- Death From Above - the ability to get back an action point is always worth it. Your sniper should always look for a high elevation spot to shoot from, which is why this ability is so effective.
- Kill Zone - this ability can be simply described as an upgraded version of the Overwatch, allowing the soldier to fire at 3 different targets, without the aim penalty of the overwatch. With some luck it can take out the whole 3-man group of enemies, but at the same time it uses a lot of ammunition.
- Steady Hands - sharpshooters should not change their position frequently, which is why this ability will be active most of the time. It negates the aim penalty from the Deadeye a little bit, giving a huge increase to the critical chance at the same time.
- Serial - in a proper scenario, this ability will allow you to kill even 4 or 5 enemies during a single round. If you want to use it, you should equip the soldier's weapon with an attachment increasing the clip size.