Phoenix Point: Assault

Main: Phoenix Point:Soldiers

Legendary difficulty

Overview

• During the early game, the Assault/Sniper provides multiple accurate shots per turn. However, this build gets overshadowed by other more powerful builds by the midgame.
• One of the most powerful builds in the game is the Assault/Heavy, combining the ability to dash in, make huge melee attacks and then gain AP per kill in order to repeatedly kill more. In it's bare state, it's quite powerful, but can be made even more powerful with certain specific personal perks.
• During midgame, with the Strongman and Sniperist perk, an Assault/Berserker build can be created that works by the same principle as the Assault/Heavy build, but with ranged weapons.
• Although the two above builds are very strong, they do need other builds to support and complement them. Based on what personal perks are available, other builds are available:
  • Assault/Infiltrator
  • Assault/Technician

Skills

Level	Name	Learn cost	Description	Use costs
				AP	WP
1	Assault training	0	Proficiency with assault rifles and shotguns	passive
2	Dash	10	Move up to half your movement range. Limited to 2 uses per turn.	1	3
3	Return fire	15	Shoot back at an enemy when it attacks, providing that soldier is using a direct-fire projectile weapon with proficiency, and the enemy is within half perception range.	passive
4	New class	50	Choose a secondary class to train in	passive
5	Ready for action	20	Reloading and inventory actions do not cost any Action Points	passive
6	Onslaught	25	An ally within 10 tiles recovers 2 Action Points	2	4
7	Rapid clearance	30	Recover 2 |Action Points for each enemy killed, until the end of the turn	0	5

Personal perks

Personal perks

Name	Description	Recommended class	Comment	Early game	Mid game	late game
Biochemist	All attacks that damage a target also inflict 1 Virus Damage virus damage (per bullet) [1]	Assault/Sniper (expendable)	Assaults shoot in bursts with their rifle and shotgun, so you get good mileage out of this.	Not worth 25 SP early game. Better spent on something else.	Mid game you start to get some heavy armored melee units, some of them quite big. If you manage to put into system an effort to panic them, stun them and eat them, it will improve your overall economy quite a bit. Probably best with a sniper/assault build as an expendable, being able to dash in and shoot three times with the assault rifle.
Bombardier	Gain mounted weapon proficiency with +20% range and +10% damage	Assault/Heavy (not worth it) Assault/Infiltrator (A-Tier)	Increased damage and range for rockets.	You wont be getting any rocket launcher early game, and neither will you have the economical strength to keep firing it.	Even if If you already have perks for a Assault/Heavy, the 25 SP required for this perk is actually quite expensive just for adding a bit of range and damage to the rockets. Sneak Attack adds a lot of extra damage to Rockets, and since infiltrators can't increase the range with Boom Blast or even use the rockets reliably due to a lack of proficiency, this perk becomes more valuable. However, the heavy armor required to equip the rocket lowers stealth quite a bit. But on the other hand, you want to initiate with the rockets, and you don't really need the stealth after that. Having heavy armor, the decoys you build a really durable. If you manage to combine this with Close quarters specialist and decide you already have enough of the preferred Assault/Heavy build, then you can combine the Dash with melee weapon for huge melee sneak attack against one enemy. Use vanish to get into stealth mode, dash in and you give a 170% melee hit that also gives 510% daze damage. Synergizes also with Quarterback. Even then, this build is expendable, combining heavy/infiltrator is much more potent.
Cautious	20% bonus accuracy and -10% damage dealt	Assault/Sniper (expendable)	With a sniper dual class, you get mobility with Dash, AP reduction with sniper abilities, sniper rifle for long range, assault rifle for mid and shotgun for short range, a very potent build for the early game, even more so with an accuracy increase from 130% to 150%.	This perk with a Assault/Sniper increases the the range of the Phoenix Assault Rifle from 25 to 37.5 (NOTE: the independent assault rifle has only 17 range. 17 is enough for most builds, but this build stacks range). And you get to shoot three times for 6 WP, followed by a free pistol overwatch. If you also got Trooper, it's 170% accuracy, then the range increases from 25 to 42.5. With that accuracy, you get to shoot off limbs that stick out of the edges of a shield.	Combining Cautious and Trooper, the Laser Assault Rifle increases its range 32 to 54. That's 50% accuracy aiming against a human sized unit on the other side of the map. The build deals out a lot of accurate damage, specially if you put him in a sniper armor, behind front line soldiers with heavy armor. This unit will remove most enemy HP and then have a heavy with Inspire take the kill shot and feed this build with WP. The build gets less impressive as heavy explosives and infiltrators get into the scene.	The Cautious/Trooper combo is even better on a Sniper/Infiltrator build, having all the benefits of an Assault/Sniper except for the dash that is anyway a waste AP not used for damage, but adding the superior infiltrator abilities. A similar effect can on the other hand be achieved with only Cautious and the light sniper rifle. The laser assault rifle has 32 range, 38 with the bonus from Trooper, the light sniper rifle has 51 range and can have sniperist for extra damage, so the sniper/infiltrator build doesn't really need the Trooper/Cautious combo to shine. So while the Cautious/Trooper build is really strong early game, but is sub standard during the second half of the game. The Cautious/Biochemist combo and a shotgun might be nice to farm Pandorans even during the end game as an expendable soldier. Close Quarters Specialist (Assault/Heavy) and Strongman (Assault/Berserker) both have an accuracy bonus that might be tempting to combine with Cautious.
Close quarters specialist	Gain shotgun proficiency with +20% accuracy and melee weapon proficiency with +20% damage	Assault/Heavy (S-tier)	Increased damage for the Heavy/Assault build, 170% melee damage.	You won't have any shotgun during the early game, and most enemies will die from a bash with heavy weapon, so it's not spectacular. Best to improve other stats early on and work towards the midgame build.	The heavy assault build shines during the second half of the game. Get a melee weapon, dash in, activate Rapid clearance, one-hit-kill and get two AP back, dash to next guy, one-hit-kill get two AP back, dual move back. Great for securing flanks, enabling the rest of your squad to focus on some other direction.	Add speed from a priest, get max out the speed and strength stats, get some bionics or mutations, have another assault inject AP, have somebody with high perception scout the map and this build can very well clear the entire map in one turn
Farsighted	Additional +2 to willpower and 10 perception	Assault/Infiltrator (A-Tier) Assault/Sniper (Expendable)	Improves range of Return Fire activation with 10 tiles and improves scouting range.	Early game, you don't have gear that can improve perception, so this will be the only source. Having this, you get to spot Pandorans earlier, maybe allowing you to not alert them before your soldiers are in position for an ambush. It will also increase the range for Return Fire shot at a distance. However, putting yourself in a position where you get shot in order to return fire requires being in a heavy armor. That lowers stealth, so it defeats the purpose of scouting undetected. There, choose if you are going to scout undetected with light/medium armor for better initial conditions before the first engagement, or going for a Return Fire build. If you go for Return Fire build, you want to do so with something that hits hard, so either with heavy weaponry or a sniper. Heavy weapons are useful if you are on a map with little open terrain, as the enemies will pop out at close range where the heavy weaponry hurts the most. On open maps, you want a sniper rifle. Heavy weaponry can have improved accuracy with the Strongman perk. Sniperist increases damage of the sniper rifle to match heavy weapon levels. Having Strongman requires you to wait until you can get Berserkers for the S-tier terminator build, so don't take too much risks. Same with S-tier Sniperist. If you got neither of those two and the soldier is expendable, take on heavy armor and take sniper as second class for the added accuracy during the early game. The +2 WP is put to good use by the Sniper/Assault. Cautious improves chances to connect the shot even further. Healer also helps.	The Assault/Infiltrator build with Thief and stealth armor can go solo undetected. Infiltrator lacks mobility, Dash solves that. With Farsighted, you got even lower chance of getting detected. For a third perk, you want something that enables stealth attacks with greater potency: Trooper for improved assault rifle, Close quarters specialist for melee and shotgun, Quarterback for throwing grenades at their back and get the daze effect, Sniperist for devastating light sniper shots. Strongman for Grenade launchers. However, note that many of those perks lead to S-tier builds, but it can be worth deviating from those builds if you get them combined with Thief and Farsighted.
Healer	30% bonus healing and +2 willpower	Assault/Technician (A-Tier) Assault/Sniper (Expendable)		The Sniper/Assault build based on return fire can be very strong early game, offering mobility, increased firepower when required, free overwatch, free return fire and heavy armor. It gets even better if it can self-heal for 0 AP, allowing it to stay its ground during intense engagements. It also spends a lot of WP. Healer helps on both fronts. I want to stress the difference between being forced to spend your AP on retreating to another spot, surrendering your previous selected good spot, or being able to self-heal, shoot, and overwatch.	Technician get to use Medikit for 1 AP, and assault get to pick it up from the backpack for free, and dash to whoever needs it, then dashing back to security. If you give them heavy armor, you might combine the healer role with self-healing for 1 AP heavy front liner with Return Fire that also increases his armor for 1 AP.
Quarterback	25% bonus grenades range and +2 speed [2]	Assault/Heavy (S-tier) Assault/Infiltrator (A-Tier) .	Quarterback allows huge range with when combined with the heavy ability, or better more damage with improved range when combined with an infiltrator.	This is quite useless early game, since you don't have a lot of grenades to spam, enemies are unarmored and you avoid battles with humans. 25 SP can be better used otherwise.	With improved economics, each stunned worm at the end of the fight can be turned into a grenade. So grenade spam is affordable. The Assault/Heavy build is a powerhouse by himself due to the Dash-Brawler-Rapid Clearance combo. That combo requires a lot of speed, and this perk adding two on top of the max is very welcomed. Adding some more grenade range on top is a nice bonus, however, It's probably better to not activate Ready for Action and Boom Blast and instead focus on improving speed, so the extra grenade range does probably nothing. The Assault/Infiltrator build also benefits a lot from extra speed, and will benefit more from the extra grenade range. Stealth throwing grenades behind the enemies back will increase their damage from 50 to 75, and cause 225 shock damage, most certainly dazing most enemies.
Reckless	10% bonus damage dealt and -10% accuracy	Assault/Heavy (S-Tier) Assault/Infiltrator (A-Tier)	Improved explosives and melee damage
Resourceful	25% bonus carry weight and +2 strength		Assaults can change equipment for zero AP, this allows for a lot of equipment to be carried.
Self defense specialist	Gain PDW and handgun proficiency with +10% damage, +10% accuracy and +10 tiles hearing range	Sniper/Assault (expendable)	Sniper/Assault build can have free overwatch with the PDW, and shoot for 0 AP as long as there is WP to expend.
Sniperist	Gain sniper rifle proficiency with +25% damage and -4 willpower	Assault/Berserker (S-tier)	Note: Do NOT give this to a Assault/Sniper. The lowered willpower will ruin the soldier.	Assault/Berserker build, shooting sniper shots from front line and returning fire with it, can shooting 4 times in a turn if they get too close.
Strongman	Gain heavy weapons proficiency with +20% accuracy and -15 perception, +2 strength	Assault/Berserker (S-tier)	Terminator build
Thief	25% bonus stealth and +1 speed	Assault/Infiltrator (A-Tier)	Secondary pick to Trooper for Assault/Infiltrator
Trooper	Gain assault rifle proficiency with +10% damage and +20% accuracy	Assault/Infiltrator (A-Tier)	Optimal: Increased damage to rifle, add infiltrator for mobility and damage bonus, hits like a truck. I don't know how this combines with Cautious or Reckless. Sub-optimal: Increased assault rifle accuracy, add sniper for even more accuracy and four shots per turn, having a solid expendable unit.

Early game

Start of early game

• The Assaults will provide reliable overwatch fire with a wide cone, be able to Dash to meet new threats and provide two shots per turn without WP use if they don't move.
• There are a lot of personal perks that make them useful for the mid and endgame, so you won't have any issue finding recruits with promising personal perks. Unfortunately, they all have shitty stats on the highest difficulty, so don't mentally assigned them to your A-Team unless they have two or three perfect personal perks.
• Dash is great and should be activated on all assaults. The rest of the abilities should only be activated if they enhance the build they are going towards, or if they are future bench warmers.

End of early game

Sniper assault:

• For the final stages of the early game and start of the midgame, you want to take a future benchwarmer and turn him into a sniper assault. Give him the first three sniper abilities and the two first assault abilities. Then get 12 will and put rest into strength to increase his health points. When the user gets underwhelming due to improved Pandorans, bench him and bring him only for heaven defense as an expendable.
• Until they get sniper rifles, Pandorans shoot with the assault rifle they have on their hand, with very low accuracy. Having a free shot back at them is nice. Being close with a sniper rifle makes it more probable to get a kill.
• With Quick Aim and an Assault Rifle, you get four shots in one turn. You will need 9 will to quick aim three times, and with the last AP go overwatch thanks to Extreme Focus.
• Personal Perks: Biochemist - early Pandorans have barely any will, so chances are good that they will freak out after two bursts if they don't die. During early midgame, they can help out by shooting at high HP melee Pandorans to capture them in order to turn them into food.

Heavy/Assault:

• This can be a future S-Tier build with the right personal perks.
• Dash and jumping adds a lot of mobility. War Cry adds safety.
• Melee, shotgun, Heavy weapons give a lot of flexibility
• Grenades free from the backpack with extra range
• Inspire gives WP to everybody.
• Perks:
  • Primary: Close Quarters Specialist: Gain shotgun proficiency with +20% accuracy and melee weapon proficiency with +20% damage
  • Primary: Quarterback: 25% bonus grenades range and +2 speed
  • Secondary: Resourceful: 25% bonus carry weight and +2 strength
  • Secondary: Reckless: 10% bonus damage dealt and -10% accuracy - even harder melee and grenades

Future consideration

• Strongman: Terminator build, with Berserker as secondary class.
• Sniperist: Long range terminator build

Midgame

Start of midgame

• The heavy assault build shines during the second half of the game. Get a melee weapon, dash in, activate Rapid clearance, one-hit-kill and get two AP back, dash to next guy, one-hit-kill get two AP back, dual move back. Great for securing flanks, enabling the rest of your squad to focus on some other direction.

Endgame

Start of endgame

• Assault/Heavy: Add speed from a priest, get max out the speed and strength stats, get some bionics or mutations, have another assault inject AP, have somebody with high perception scout the map and this build can very well clear the entire map in one turn