Soldier

Soldiers are one of the Templar Classes you may choose to deploy on missions.

Overview
Soldiers are powerful, all-around combatants that often form the mainstay of Templar deployments. Soldiers have the immensely useful Overwatch talent that provides unmatched defense of choke points. Many soldier attacks can harm multiple foes, making them one of the go-to classes for dealing with clusters of foes. They also have multiple group buffs that can dramatically change the offensive strength and mobility of an entire squadron.

Soldier builds are usually typified by which kind of automatic rifles they choose to use. Plasma rifles with the shortest range make use of powerful short-range attacks for massive damage while standard assault rifles offer a balance between damage and range. They also have access to extended range assault rifles that trade some of the standard assault rifles' damage and penetration in exchange for the longest-range attacks a Soldier is capable of. Soldiers have significant resilience to enemy attacks, making them an asset in nearly any situation, no matter how thick the fighting.

Starting Attributes
Soldiers begin with the following attributes, skills, and class features:

Class Features

 * Base HP: 98 + 1 per level
 * HP Modifier: + 7 HP per Fortitude
 * Toughness Modifier: 100% of Fortitude
 * Resistance Modifier: 100% of Willpower
 * SP Cost: 400 + 5 x Level, maximum = 450

Attributes

 * Fortitude: 4
 * Willpower: 3
 * Focus: 2
 * Strength: 3
 * Quickness: 3

Skills

 * Gunnery: 4
 * Warrior: 2
 * Tactics: 2
 * Evasion: 3
 * Grenades: 2

Starting Talents
The Soldier starts with a single rank in Burst Fire, Grapple, Overwatch, and Calling Shots.

Usable Gear
The Soldier uses Leviathan or Plasma Rifles, Gauntlets, Weapon-Mods (War Gear shared with Neptunes), and Targeting Systems (War Gear shared with Berserkers.) Soldiers wear Infantry Armor (also used by Engineers) and Heavy Armor (also used by Captains and Berserkers).

Burst Fire
Ranged attack that can hit a small group at weapon-range for a very small heat cost. Has a large accuracy bonus at the highest ranks but begins with no bonus at all.


 * Weapon: Rifle
 * Max targets: for rank 1 and 2,  for higher ranks
 * Range: weapon's range (or 5?)
 * Cost: 2 AP, +3 Heat

Grapple
Single-target melee attack that ends movement when used but grants a short buff if it connects and deals damage. As it uses 1 AP and only 3 heat this can be a good talent for the Soldier to use when only 1 AP remains and no further movement is necessary in some situations. Because the Soldier will typically have a high strength to use his/her assault rifles, this can be a somewhat accurate attack for the Soldier, despite being a melee attack.


 * Weapon: Gauntlet
 * Buff: 3 turns on hit
 * Max targets: 1
 * Range: 1 (melee)
 * Cost 1 AP, +3 Heat
 * Restriction:

Overwatch
The staple of the Soldier's skills. Covers a 3x3 area with suppressing fire, slowing enemy movement through the zone and granting defensive attacks when enemies attempt to pass through. See Overwatch for mechanics. Ends the movement and all further action for the turn when engaged. Consumes 6 Heat when engaged (initially placed) and then 6 Heat per defensive attack performed. Overwatch will remain active the following turn without re-selection permitting the savvy commander to allow the defensive position to be maintained another turn without paying the engagement heat cost again and allowing all movement points to remain unused, venting heat quickly. Gains moderate accuracy at higher ranks and significant damage bonuses; ranks 6+ grant a small bonus to critical hit chance.


 * Weapon: Rifle
 * Max targets:
 * Range: weapon's range
 * Cost: 2 AP, +6 Heat to engage, +6 Heat per shot
 * Restriction:

Calling Shots
Group buff that enhances ranged accuracy and at ranks 2+ grants a moderate bonus to critical hit chance. Has limited uses that increase substantially with improved ranks of the talent. It requires 2 AP to use which encourages use before the soldier is within range of enemies (because that will often only leave enough AP for a single attack that turn.) The heat cost is significant at 15 Heat, and cannot be used while overheated. This further encourages using it before combat has initiated. Because the Soldier has a starting Tactics of 2, this talent will affect only 2 allies without investment into Tactics.


 * Buff: 4 turns
 * Max targets:, limited by the Soldier's Tactics skill
 * Range: 3
 * Cost: 2 AP, +15 Heat
 * Restriction:
 * Ordnance: Leader-in-the-Rank's Resupply

Concuss-Grenade
Group ranged attack with limited uses, moderate range, and a powerful debuffing effect. Requires 1 AP per grenade thrown, allowing to soften a foe before shooting them. Hits a 3x3 area. The debuff from these grenades lowers MP and Dodge. These may be thrown at a range of 4 tiles which gives some room to begin a turn with a grenade followed by a retreat and ranged attacks or overwatch. Such a strategy could effectively keep foes from being able to close the distance with the Soldier. Unlike other grenades, higher ranks of this talent will not increase the number of uses per deployment. The Soldier only carries 3 grenades.


 * Weapon: Grenade
 * Hinder: 3 turns
 * Max targets:
 * Range: ?
 * Cost: 1 AP, +6 Heat
 * Restriction: (3)
 * Ordnance: Grenadier's Resupply

Shredding Fire
Short-range group attack that deals massive damage with a bonus to penetration. The range of this attack is limited to 3 tiles, even if you equip a rifle with higher range. Thus it is typically to the Soldier's advantage to equip a powerful plasma rifle with a natural range of 3 anyway. Hits enemies in a V shape initially, expands to a cone shape at rank 5 and an extended cone shape at rank 10, hitting up to 6 targets if the foes are in an optimal position. While the range of the attack is quite limited and might seem to not merit investment, the enormous damage bonus elevates the skill to a high-risk/high-reward ability. Has double the Heat cost of Burst Fire and crucially grants no bonus to accuracy at any rank. Missing while face to face with Xeno is going to be a bad time.


 * Weapon: Rifle
 * Max targets: up to rank 4,  up to rank 7,  above
 * Range: 3
 * Cost: 2 AP, +6 Heat

Lock-Down
Self-only buff for 3 turns that increases parry and armor by moderate amounts. Has limited uses that are increased at higher ranks. However, the emergency situations in which the Soldier finds him/herself that merit the use of this ability are hopefully few enough that in practice he/she will never run out during a deployment. Higher ranks grant a bonus to all resistances, giving some resilience to atypical attackers. Useful when an assault (such as a close up salvo of Shredding Fire went horribly wrong leaving you with 1 AP and a host of melee Xeno nearby.


 * Buff: 3 turns
 * Max targets: 1
 * Range: 0 (self)
 * Cost: 1 AP, +15 Heat
 * Restriction: ,

Defensive Stand
Group buff that enhances many defenses for 4 turns, starting with dodge and armor. A defensive counterpart to Calling Shots, matching its AP and Heat costs, but the Soldier doesn't start life with a free rank in this talent. Has poor bonuses until at least rank 3 where it starts to gain auto-block. At rank 5+ it begins to gain parry as well. Like Calling Shots, it will only affect 2 Templars unless you invest in Tactics.


 * Buff: 4 turns
 * Max targets:, limited by Soldier's Tactics skill
 * Range: 3
 * Cost: 2 AP, +15 Heat
 * Ordnance: Leader-in-the-Rank's Resupply

Rallying Charge
The crown jewel of the Soldier. Group buff that enhances damage and MP for 4 turns. Incredibly useful for forced marches (i.e. almost always) as well as when the group requires some extra damage to wipe out many foes in a short space of time. Has limited uses that increase substantially with improved ranks of the talent. Ranks 6+ begin to add accuracy bonuses but also lower dodge and armor slightly.


 * Buff: 4 turns
 * Max targets:, limited by the Soldier's Tactics skill
 * Range: 3
 * Cost: 1 AP, +6 Heat
 * Restriction:
 * Ordnance: Leader-in-the-Rank's Resupply

Charger
If you have only one Soldier in your squad, then the build is very straightforward. Equip a Leviathan Rifle and dump most talent points into Rallying Charge. Put one point into Concuss-Grenade, and consider allocating two more points to Burst Fire to have a slightly larger AoE. That's it. Rallying Charge is the best talent in the game for the MP and the damage bonus it gives to the squad. The Dodge and Armor debuffs are insignificant in comparison. Make sure that Tactics is high enough to buff the whole squad at once.

When moving, always have Rallying Charge on. The damage bonus is still very useful when not moving, though. The only problem is that it is Heat Restricted, so having a Blitz Sink Engineer (on shorter missions) or Paired Sinks (on longer missions) is quite important.