Weapon Upgrade Builds Guide

Overview

A collection of builds for the customizable weapons of Xcom 2. Gives some general advice on how to use weapon upgrades and a list with recommended upgrades based on their synergy with the most used soldier skills of each class.

Introduction

Hello, commander. My name is Venereus and this is my weapon upgrade builds guide for Xcom 2. You can find me at [link] (my other social media links are listed there too).

The following guide is a small collection of builds for the customizable weapons equipped by your soldiers in Xcom 2, wich can be improved once the “Modular Weapons” technology has been researched. Primary weapons (assault rifles, shotguns, cannons and sniper rifles) start with one slot for weapon upgrades, also known as mods, and gain a second slot once upgraded to their second technological tier. The third and last tier does not come with another one, but a third slot can be added by obtaining the “Armed to the Teeth” continent bonus, wich may or may not be available depending on the campaign, since continental bonuses are randomized for each new campaign. The purpose of this guide is to help you choose what to put in these slots.

How to read this guide

The builds are named after the soldier skill they’re designed to optimize and consist of a description of that skill followed by a list of three recommended weapon upgrades, ordered by priority:

1. The first one works well on it’s own for the weapon and class in question, so it’s ideal for the early game when you only have one slot and have not yet unlocked the build’s namesake skill.
2. The second one is the mod that best combines with the namesake skill. You can equip it by the mid game once you get the second slot, or use any other mods while you wait to unlock the relevant skill.
3. The third one is for the hypothetical third slot, so it’s considered optional and likely obtained closer to the late game. It may combine well with the namesake skill or just be all around good for the weapon and class in question.
   Below the list are three paragraphs explaining the reasons behind each chosen weapon upgrade.

The builds ignore the quality tier of the weapon upgrades, as they can adequately perform their intended function at any tier. However, it might sometimes be a good idea to replace a low tier third mod with any other higher tier mod.

For a detailed description of all the available weapon upgrades and their quality tiers, check here[xcom.wikia.com].

Before moving on to the builds, keep in mind these few general tips for building your weapons throughout your Xcom 2 campaign:

• Stock upgrades of any quality shine the most during the early game, when your soldiers have lower accuracy and enemies left alive with 1 or 2 hp are more common.
• On the other hand, repeaters become more valuable in the late game when you’re facing several types of enemies with huge hp pools. Against such targets, an instant execution saves you a lot of actions and skill cooldowns.
• The random perks awarded by the Advanced Warfare Center can turn a soldier class on it’s head. Modify your weapon builds accordingly. For example, if you get the Hail of Bullets skill, and plan on using it often, an auto-loader or expanded magazine will offset the 3 ammo cost, while a scope becomes less valuable, since Hail of Bullets is guaranteed to hit.
• Also, note that repeaters can’t be triggered by damage from stocks since the Alien Hunters patch. It used to be a cool combo.

And now, without further ado, the weapon builds.

Rapid Fire shotgun build

Rapid Fire: Fire twice in a row at an enemy. Each shot suffers an Aim penalty of -15. There is no cooldown on this ability.

1. Laser Sight (increases critical chance, up to double effect by proximity to target).
2. Auto-Loader (grants a limited number of free reloads per mission).
3. Hair Trigger (small percent chance on hit to gain a free action).

Laser sights are pretty standard on shotguns, they work well with their short range and your chance to critically hit on flanking shots becomes high enough to be reliable.

Multiple uses of the Rapid Fire skill will deplete your ammo pretty fast, and an auto-loader is a great solution to that problem. An expanded magazine can also help, but those are better suited for the classes with skills that chain regular shots, like Kill Zone Sharpshooters and Guardian Specialists, whereas you can always reload before using Rapid Fire.

The hair trigger is your best shot at taking advantage of Rapid Fire having no cooldown, short of getting the Serial perk or using your Psi Operative’s Inspire skill on your Ranger. The chance is low but since it’s per hit and you’re shooting twice every time, it will happen often enough. If you picked the Implacable ranger perk (gain a move-only action after making a kill), a hair trigger activation will let you move once and then shoot again.

Kill Zone sniper rifle build

Kill Zone: Take a reaction shot against any enemy that moves or attacks within a cone of fire. 3 turn cooldown.

1. Scope (increases aim).
2. Expanded Magazine (increased magazine size).
3. Auto-Loader (grants a limited number of free reloads per mission).

Due to their 2 AP cost, sniper rifle shots are a big investment, and scopes help make sure that they pay off. The increased aim counteracts the squadsight penalty, helps when your sharpshooter is lagging behind and shoots from far away, or allows you to ignore a target’s cover when closer to the frontline.

The expanded magazine maximizes the potential of your Kill Zone and Serial uses, you want them to end because you run out of targets and not because you run out of ammo. It also allows you to reload less often, keeping your sharpshooter from straggling too much.

For the same reason, an auto-loader is the perfect choice to top off the build.

Guardian assault rifle build

Guardian: Grants 50% chance during Overwatch to perform an additional shot if the previous Overwatch shot hits. There’s no limit as to how many times Guardian can trigger.

1. Scope (increases aim).
2. Expanded Magazine (increased magazine size).
3. Repeater (small percent chance on hit to instantly kill a target).

Every successful hit while on overwatch can trigger Guardian, so to get the best out of Guardian you need to hit as often as possible. The scope takes care of that.

An expanded magazine will make sure that you have enough bullets if your specialist gets a lucky streak with Guardian and chains a lot of shots. And if you don’t get a long chain, then you won’t need to reload before trying again the next turn.

Rifles deal the lowest damage of all the primary weapons, but since you already have good aim and a decent chance of hitting multiple enemies, a repeater is the best way to make those hits count by giving each of them a small chance of outright killing the target.

Rupture cannon build

Rupture: Fires a shot that deals critical damage. The target, if hit, will also take 3 additional damage from all sources. Uses 3 ammo. 3-turn cooldown.

1. Scope (increases aim).
2. Auto-Loader (grants a limited number of free reloads per mission).
3. Expanded Magazine (increased magazine size).

Rupture only applies it’s awesome effects if it hits, so good accuracy is a must to make it work. Similarly, skills like Shredder, Suppression and especially Chain Shot benefit greatly from the increased aim provided by a scope.

The skills Suppression and Chain Shot use two ammo, while Hail of Bullets and Rupture use three. Normally you will only use one of these skills per turn and you’ll usually need to reload to get the necessary ammo to do so. The free reloads granted by an auto-loader will allow you to reposition your Grenadier or take advantage of Salvo before firing.

An expanded magazine gives you additional ways of dealing with the aforementioned ammo costs, so it’s a good addition to the build.

Saturation Fire cannon build

Saturation Fire: Fire a hail of bullets in a cone damaging every enemy and all cover within. Uses 3 ammo. 5-turn cooldown.

1. Stock (guaranteed damage on missed shots).
2. Repeater (small percent chance on hit to instantly kill a target).
3. Auto-Loader (grants a limited number of free reloads per mission).

This build is for Grenadiers using explosives instead of shooting and the related gunner skills. They don’t shoot often and don’t expect to hit, so a stock fits their playstyle nicely.

Saturation Fire makes a great combo with a repeater, since each successful shot can trigger an execution and you’ll probably be hitting more than one target with the skill.

An auto-loader offsets the ammo cost of Saturation Fire while also saving you from spending action points on reloading, allowing you to focus on shooting and launching grenades.

Psi Operative assault rifle build

Psi Operatives rarely fire their weapons, opting instead to make use of their psionic skills. Consequently their rifles usually get random leftover mods, but if you can afford to be picky, these are good choices.

1. Stock (guaranteed damage on missed shots).
2. Hair Trigger (small percent chance on hit to gain a free action).
3. Auto-Loader (grants a limited number of free reloads per mission).

If you find yourself using your highly versatile Psi Operative to take a regular shot, you most likely want the result to be reliable. The stock makes firing the rifle less of a gamble and instead turns it into an extra skill similar to combat protocol.

If the hair trigger gives you a free action, you get to use one of those cool psionic powers on top of shooting, or you can shoot again. The chance to get an activation is low, especially considering that you have to hit first, but it’s definitely the upgrade with the most potential to synergize with the Psi Operative’s skillset.

The wide range of skills available to the Psi Operatives makes their action points highly valuable, so reloading for free is a nice benefit to have. Get an auto-loader for this reason.

The end

That’s the end of my guide, I hope it helped. Thanks for reading and good luck!