I agree on the not-usefulness of gas, once you've moved past the Advent-heavy missions. Maybe it was just a run of bad luck, but statistics are starting to weigh against it as I track my hack success/fail rates. hack first then shoot shoot then hack shoot two troopers then hack, etc.) I noticed that the hits seemed random on each reload but the hack bar never made that 82% chance. I thought it might be a non-random RNG problem so I tried it with various combos (e.g. Just on a lark I reloaded and tested 10 times an 82% visible hack, and missed every one. I consistently fail 82-85% rolls, which makes me think it's not a flat roll. I'm continuing to have problems with hack percentages. I've also noticed that aliens will now suicide in order to throw a grenade at my troops on high rooftops, which they did not do on lower difficulties. If that's random, so be it if that's programmed into the AI that's very cool. I am noticing this playthrough that the map is giving me much less easy early high ground than on lesser difficulty. Sometimes I'll just set all the bad guys on fire and then pull back/hunker while they burn out.

The free pistol shot plus one pistol-at-every-visible-enemy can be really brutal, especially if you equip them with flame bullets. I tend to run 2x sniper, one in a death-from-above build and one pistol build. I also rarely use sword because I can't control where it leaves the ranger. I like that they'll stay stealthed (makes evacuating civilians SO much easier) but their lack of range makes me nervous.

I got through it with three or four wounded troops, no deaths finally. The rate of enemy reinforcements was brutal and I'm behind the tech curve. I had to retry the 'UFO hunts you down' mission three times to get it right. I'm struggling with my second play-through and may yet lose it. I've used fire a little but in the end prefer acid > plasma > fire.

I was unimpressed with the gas grenade because while it adds dmg/debuff, it:Ĭ) renders a non-trivial proportion of the battlefield impassable to your own guysĭ) does no extra armor damage or regular damage Game Discussion > Outside Azeroth - General Chatter

Xcom 2 run and gun or conceal