My number one goal with each class to stay simple. I prefer small effect that work turn after turn to big flashy abilities that require a specific set of conditions to shine or only happen on some missions.

I also focus each class on what they do well as opposed to making them well rounded. This mostly means a lot of my classes don’t really care about shooting. Grenadiers, shinobis, specialists, technicals & psi-ops will never be star shooters so I do not take shooting abilities for them. I’d rather focus on bolstering what they do well.

In each case, look at the randomized XCom row abilities as soon as you promote. They may have something that encourages you to change the build

You can purchase xcom abilities beyond the soldier’s current rank

Casey has excellent class guides for LWotC 1.0. They are fairly out of date now but I recommend reading them for some insight into a lot of my choices.

General soldier info: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Soldiers_(LWOTC)

I recommend taking a look at the page for each class.

A note for loadout: I generally am writing about what they will have in the mid-to-late game. Early on I want a few flashbangs in each squad. I won’t have special ammo yet so that gets easier. Do not sleep on flashbangs.

Table of contents

Things each squad needs

Make sure squads have:

• Scout - Shinobi / Reaper (in a pinch)