Assault Class

The Assault Class is a soldier class in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

The primary role of the Assault Class is aggressive reconnaissance, flanking, and drawing enemy fire.

“	Movin' at the speed of death.	”
–Assault soldier activating Run & Gun

XCOM Database

“	As the first and last units on the ground, these troops are initially equipped with XCOM's proprietary combat shotgun. However, they may still deploy with the assault rifle.	”
–XCOM Database, XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Tactical Description

The first ones in... and the last ones out: be extremely wary of over extending with an Assault. Assaults are the definitive reconnaissance and close-quarters combat (CQB) unit, and will most likely be "pointman" in any given situations. Often the closest unit to aliens, it will be shot at the most. Based solely on quantity of fire directed towards your assaults, they can go down with frightening rapidity if advancing unsupported.  Consider giving your assault the best armor and HP boosting items available for this reason.  While in EU short bounding movements with supporting Overwatch could be used in all situations, giving the assault a solid base of fire to back him up, the time pressure imposed by turn-limited Meld Canisters in EW require a faster and riskier movement pace, which may sometimes leave an Assault dangerously isolated and exposed.

As the only soldiers able to equip shotgun-type weapons, and possessing the skills required to maneuver and employ them effectively, they are also the most dangerous close-quarters troops on XCOM's roster. While shotgun-armed Assaults will be able to inflict heavy damage with high critical rates when using their mobility to flank enemies at short range, note that the effectiveness of shotguns diminishes rapidly with increasing distance. Therefore, swapping to a pistol may be expedient for mid-range targets, particularly in situations where advancing to close range is not viable.

Weapons

The Assault class is the only class that has a choice between two types of primary weapons: shotguns or rifles. They use pistols as a secondary weapon.

Shotguns

Weapon	Base Damage	Crit Damage	Crit Chance	Range
Shotgun	3 - 5	6 - 8	20%	Short
Scatter Laser	5 - 7	9 - 11	20%	Medium
Alloy Cannon	8 - 10	14 - 16	20%	Medium

Source: Tactical Info, XCOM: Enemy Within

Rifles

Weapon	Base Damage	Crit Damage	Crit Chance	Range
Assault Rifle	2 - 4	5 - 7	10%	Short
Laser Rifle	4 - 6	7 - 9	10%	Medium
Light Plasma Rifle	4 - 6	8 - 10	10%	Medium
Plasma Rifle	6 - 8	11 - 13	10%	Medium

Source: Tactical Info, XCOM: Enemy Within

Foundry Upgrades

• Ammo Conservation: Increase ammo capacity by 100%.

Pistols

Weapon	Base Damage	Crit Damage	Crit Chance	Range
Pistol	1 - 2	2 - 4	0%	Medium
Laser Pistol	1 - 3	3 - 5	10%	Medium
Plasma Pistol	2 - 4	5 - 7	0%	Medium

Source: Tactical Info, XCOM: Enemy Within

Abilities

When a soldier is promoted, some ranks allow a choice between two abilities.

Rank	Abilities	Description
Squaddie	Run & Gun	Allows to fire or enter Overwatch after dashing.
Corporal	Tactical Sense	+5 Defense per enemy in sight (Max +20).
	Aggression	Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (Max +30%).
Sergeant	Lightning Reflexes	Force the first reaction shot against this unit each turn to miss.
	Close and Personal	In XCOM: Enemy Unknown: Confers +30% critical chance against adjacent targets. The bonus declines with distance from the target. In XCOM: Enemy Within: The first standard shot made within 4 tiles of the target does not cost an action. Cannot combine with Run & Gun.
Lieutenant	Flush	Fire a shot that causes enemies to run out of cover. The shot is easy to hit with, but does reduced damage.
	Rapid Fire	Take two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a -15 penalty to Aim.
Captain	Close Combat Specialist	Confers a reaction shot against any enemy who closes to within 4 tiles. Does not require overwatch.
	Bring 'Em on	Adds 1 damage on Critical hits for each enemy the squad can see (up to 5).
Major	Extra Conditioning	Confers bonus health based on what type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.
Colonel	Resilience	Confers immunity to critical hits.
	Killer Instinct	Activating Run & Gun now also grants +50% Critical damage for the rest of the turn.

Second Wave

Main article: Second Wave

Hidden Potential

Main article: Hidden Potential

Assaults gain 1-5 Aim per level, the rest of their stats increase in-line with the other classes.

Training Roulette

Main article: Training Roulette

Requires XCOM: Enemy Within:

Only Run & Gun, Close and Personal, Rapid Fire, and Killer Instinct are gauranteed rolls for Assaults. The rest of their tree is randomized.

MEC Augmentation

Main article: MEC Trooper

Requires XCOM: Enemy Within:

Any Assaults that undergo augmentation into a MEC Trooper gain Shock-Absorbent Armor, reducing damage received from enemies within 4 tiles by 33%.

Skill Comparisons

Some players who have completed Ironman on Classic and Impossible difficulties recommend choosing Rapid Fire and Lightning Reflexes.

Tactical Sense vs. Aggression

• Tactical Sense always-on defensive boost guarantees at least 5%.
  • Tactical Sense allows a soldier to end a turn in partial cover, and still retain "high cover" quality.  This allows scouting for a Squadsight Sniper, and more direct attack paths to the enemy while remaining in relative safety. It helps when being flanked, aiding in dodging potentially lethal critical fire.
  • Tactical Sense has no effect against "melee enemies" (i.e. Chryssalids and Berserkers) which hit automatically.
    • Tactical Sense causes aliens to ignore "high cover" soldiers; instead opting to shoot at another "easier" soldier on the front line, when available. This can negate the advantage of Tactical Sense in certain engagements.
    • Tactical Sense is less relevant late in the game, where aliens have significant Aim bonuses, psionics, and other specials. At this point, the most efficient counter is to kill them before they get a turn to act, and as such Aggression contributes more to clearing groups effectively. On the other hand, as the early game is so difficult and the late game is relatively easy, Tactical Sense may be more advantageous overall.

• Aggression always-on bonus critical chance guarantees at least 10%.
  • Aggression's bonus fully stacked is +30%, combined with a shotgun (+20%) on a flank (+50%), results in 100% critical hit chance (except against Hardened enemies); this makes risky flanking maneuvers a sure bet and a decisive victory.
    • Aggression aids in overcoming critical-chance reduction on enemies with the Hardened property, such as Sectopods, Ethereals, and Cyberdiscs.
  • Choosing Aggression means it rarely stacks to 30%.
    • Moving up with more than one alien alive and in sight is risky and often hazardous since you can potentially activate more aliens as you charge in, resulting in the Assault getting overrun.
    • Due to the possibility of front-line fighters missing their targets and leaving the Assault compromised and surrounded, the prudent Assault generally moves up last, after all other shots have been decided; thus, a lot of the aliens providing the Aggression bonuses might be killed.  ***Hold back on guaranteed kill actions such as rockets, Sniper shots from high ground, or grenades until Aggression Assaults have fired to preserve their bonus.

Lightning Reflexes vs. Close and Personal

• Close and Personal tactically allows the soldier to move in to point blank range (i.e. within 4-tiles), shoot at no cost, and then move back into cover; or take three shots per turn (if combined with Rapid Fire). Note that this ability is defined such for Enemy Within; in the vanilla game this ability merely gives an increased critical chance against adjacent targets but does not remove the action cost.
  • Close and Personal synergizes very well with Ghost Grenade or Ghost Armor; particularly useful in late game, allowing a soldier to close in and unload multiple shots against high valued targets.
    • Choosing Close and Personal though, means that the squad sacrifices mobility: if the enemy is in Overwatch, then they may have fewer "safe" options to trigger it.

• Lightning Reflexes forces the first reaction shot against this soldier each turn to miss.
  • Lightning Reflexes allows negation of enemy Overwatch and Suppression without worry of reaction fire, thus freeing up your squad to move into a better position. As it's not always clear if an enemy is on Overwatch in the fog of war, Lightning Reflexes remains useful on all playthroughs.
    • Lightning Reflexes is highly useful against robotic enemies on Overwatch and high-damage units (eg. Sectopods).
    • Lightning Reflexes dominates Council Missions where Thin Men frequently spawn on Overwatch behind your lines which can make the first few Council Missions the most challenging missions of a whole game playthrough.
    • Choosing Lightning Reflexes though, means that the squad sacrifices firepower: if the enemy is a high valued target, then they may lack the means of killing (or capturing) it in one turn.

Flush vs. Rapid Fire

Flush augments the effectives of Squad Tactics; while Rapid Fire increases lethality.

• Flush hits for 50% with a +30 Aim; if combined with +20 Aim from Scope and Light Plasma Rifle, it will overcome high cover and hit any target reliably.
  • Flush is essentially a re-usable grenade: Flush removes enemy cover, often forcing the target to seek low-cover or exposed positions, allowing the rest of the squad to cut it down.
• Rapid Fire's two shots at 60% are always better than one shot at 75%.
  • Taking two shots will average net-gain damage in most situations. If flanking foes within 10 tiles, the range bonus compensates for the abiltiy's -15 Aim penalty.

Close Combat Specialist vs. Bring 'Em On

• Close Combat Specialist confers an "always on" reaction shot against any enemy within 4 tiles.
  • Close Combat Specialist will always "trigger"; unfortunately, this includes soldiers under the effect of Ghost Armor, Mimetic Skin or a Ghost Grenade. The only way to prevent this is to have the soldier maintain a discreet distance from the enemies while cloaked.

• Bring 'Em On adds 1 damage on critical hits for each enemy the squad can see (up to 5).
  • Bring 'Em On synergies with Aggression and Close and Personal in allowing an Assault armed with a shotgun to reliably deliver hard hitting critical hits at close range.

Resilience vs. Killer Instinct

• Resilience confers immunity to critical hits.
  • Resilience's critical hit immunity (along with additional effects) can be provided by Combat Stims.

• Killer Instinct grants +50% critical damage to Run and Gun.
  • Killer Instinct synergies with Rapid Fire and Bring 'Em On. Conventional shotguns inflict a minimum of 10 damage; up to a maximum of 31 with an Alloy Cannon if five enemies are visible, per critical hit. This is enough damage to eliminate bulky high-threat targets such as sectopods with a single soldier, though it should be noted that this is neither reliable nor safe, as it relies on critical hits and requires placing the soldier in a high-risk position with line of sight to an uncomfortably large number of enemies.

Builds and Tactics

Main article: Squad Tactics (XCOM: Enemy Unknown)

Assault Class builds suitable for all difficulties and DLCs:

Vanguard Soldier

Early-game "pointman" build (1-2 months):

Skills

Tactical Sense, Lightning Reflexes, Rapid Fire, Close Combat Specialist, Resilience

Equipment

Respirator Implants, S.C.O.P.E., Laser Rifle, Carapace Armor

Upgrades

Tactical Rigging, Mimetic Skin

Tactics

Trips Overwatch hot zones and flushes foes out of high cover. This allows for Advancing Cover and Squadsight kills.

Close Quarters Soldier

Mid-game "breacher" build (3-4 months):

Skills

Aggression, Close and Personal, Rapid Fire, Close Combat Specialist, Resilience

Equipment

S.C.O.P.E., Chitin Plating, Alloy Cannon, Ghost Armor

Upgrades

Tactical Rigging, Ammo Conservation, S.C.O.P.E. Upgrade, Mimetic Skin, Hyper Reactive Pupils

Tactics

Aggression will always give a minimum 10% boost to critical chance. If that doesn't kill the target, Close Combat Specialist will provide yet another shot should the target move(which if flanked will most likely move).

Psi-Rifleman Soldier

Late-game "lineman" build (5+ months):

Skills

Aggression, Lightning Reflexes, Rapid Fire, Bring 'Em On, Resilience

Equipment

S.C.O.P.E., Chitin Plating, Alloy Cannon, Ghost Armor or Psi Armor

Upgrades

Tactical Rigging, Ammo Conservation, S.C.O.P.E. Upgrade, Mimetic Skin, Hyper Reactive Pupils, Mindfray, Psi Panic, Mind Control

Tactics

Allows Rifleman to excel in mid range shootouts against numerous lesser enemies or mind-controlling high-valued targets. The key point in this tactic is making excellent use of fireteam discipline.

Lightning Reflexes provide the flexibility to seek out good cover for this without fearing enemy reaction fire. Use Heavies to break cover and wipe out groups with a hail of accurate, medium damage gunfire from long range without having to flank and potentially alert extra groups. 

Equipment and Upgrades

Equipment

• Items that provide additional health Nano-fiber Vest, Respirator Implant^EW, or Chitin Plating can support the longevity of a front-line Assault.
• High Mobility armors such as Ghost Armor or Skeleton Suits can allow the Assault to close in easier, but they do sacrifice health; the Ghost Armor's cloaking ability can mitigate this by allowing the soldier to advance or retreat unseen.

Gene Mods

Requires XCOM: Enemy Within expansion:

• Hyper Reactive Pupils confers +10 Aim after missing a shot, making the second shot of Rapid Fire more likely to hit if the first misses.
• Mimetic Skin allows an Assault set up flanking attacks and deliver close range shotgun blasts with maximum Critical hit chance.

Multiplayer Assault Classes

The following is a detailed break-down of the Assault class stats and abilities in multiplayer mode. 

Class	Points	Health	Aim	Defense	Will	Abilities
Recon	600	7	67	0	45	Run & Gun
Gunner	2250	9	79	0	65	Run & Gun - Aggression - Lightning Reflexes - Rapid Fire - Bring Em On
Commando	3000	10	85	0	75	Run & Gun - Aggression - Lightning Reflexes - Rapid Fire - Bring Em On - Extra Conditioning - Resilience
Psi Warrior	4750	9	81	0	70	Run & Gun - Tactical Sense - Lightning Reflexes - Rapid Fire - Close Combat Specialist - Extra Conditioning     Psionic: Mindfray - Psi Panic - Mind Control

Note: Each soldier class has a base cost of 800 points, which would need to be added to the values above to determine the point value of a particular build. The above point and stat values reflect the default (i.e. 0 point) equipment load-out.