Note: This post is a revised version of my Long War 2 Technical build, with changes to the text/build as appropriate for the new rules and skills in LWOTC. All changes to the rules/mechanics of LW2 are displayed in bold.
LWOTC Ufopaedia: Technical
At the beginning the campaign, the most powerful XCOM class is the Technical. They immediately have the ability to torch or rocket your enemies, and carry you to victory. They are the superstars of the early game, glowing brighter than every other class. And then… the rest of your barracks catches up. Grenadiers get Incendiary/Sting grenades, Psi Operators emerge from glowing purple tubes, shooters learn how to shoot straight, Specialists upgrade their gremlins, and so forth and so on.
The Technical remains strong throughout the campaign because flamethrowers and rockets are always great. Just not as great as they were in the early game.
Rocketeer Hybrid
Fire in the Hole
Biggest Booms
Burnout
Tandem Warheads
Incinerator
Quickburn
Bunker Buster
Fire in the Hole:
A well aimed rocket can win a mission, whereas a stray can do next to nothing. With this ability you can fire a rocket with less than 1 tile of scatter predicted. This will mean targeting 3 enemies is very possible and removing all cover is likely. It is virtually guaranteed to blow up normal vehicles. A direct hit will put most early/mid game enemies on death’s doorstep if not directly in the grave.
Alternatives: Suppression or Roust.
Suppression is a bad choice for so many reasons. The Technical already has a flamethrower to disable enemies, and that is more effective control. The Technical can carry a grenade and a flashbang which are usually better options than suppression. Technicals needs to carry an SMG in order to approach inactive pods from concealment, in order to torch them, and that weapon doesn’t have the ammo to support this ability. Suppression doesn’t work here.
Roust is a neat little ability that can be used in creative ways, such as Area Suppressing a group of enemies, then rousting them. It can also finish off heavily wounded enemies behind high cover. It is not as good as Fire in the Hole, which is a shame because it is fun to use.
Biggest Booms:
Biggest Booms has a 50% chance to add +3 damage. This is more helpful than you might expect in the early game, when a little extra damage can go a long way. By late game it won’t matter so much. Still it is a good choice at this rank. The Technical will eventually be able to carry 2 rockets, as well as 2 grenades, so you can get a lot of mileage from this perk. I used to take Napalm-X at this rank, but I’ve found that I am just as often expecting the rocket to save the day, as the flamethrower, and this ability is more likely to make that happen.
Alternatives: Napalm-X or Fortify.
The flamethrower has a 60% chance to burn targets. There is an additional 50% chance the tile under their feet will ignite and they will burn when they move, meaning you have about an 80% chance to disable enemies with the flamethrower. Napalm-X only really matters when the burn fails - they may still be neutralized by the additional chance to panic. This effect scales with the gauntlet, 50 with a regular gauntlet, 65 with the Mark II. It is only a marginal improvement on controlling the enemy, but failing to control enemies can get someone killed. Also, it is nice when an exposed enemy panics and then fails to take cover. Now they are an easy target.
Fortify is only ok. The Technical is often up front, and in whatever cover is available, and may carry only plating, using 2 slots for grenades/flashbangs. For these reasons some added defense is nice. Fortify has a 5 turn cooldown, but usually there is one critical turn where it can help. I find that the Burnout ability at SGT rank does much the same as this, and I prefer to take that one.
Burnout:See AlsoLWOTC - Mid/Late Game Strategy
This ability will put your Technical in a defensive cloud of smoke, which grants +20 defense. It is very useful for a soldier that needs to get in close. The cloud will sometimes offer some defense to your squadmates which is nice, or the enemy, not so nice. It is probably better than the other abilities at this rank.
Alternatives: Concussion Rocket or Shredder.
Concussion Rocket is the weirdest damn thing in the game. It may stun or disorient enemies in the blast, and does a tiny bit of damage, but gives them defensive smoke cover in a wide range. This could be useful in rare situations, such as when there is just one enemy left and he is on overwatch. So you can fire this rocket to remove the overwatch, then have your Assault run in and shotgun him, which will hit regardless of the defensive bonus. Or if you are trying to run to the evac and need to stall a pod of Advent... Or something like that. In LWOTC, Concussion Rockets will no longer stun or disorient your own soldiers so they are a bit more useful, as you can use them to put your own soldiers in smoke.
Shredder is good for a shooter… Technicals are not shooters. It is only just ok on the Technical who already can shred with rockets and grenades. Another problem is that later in the campaign I like to give the Technical Redscreen Rounds to assist in hacks. Shredder conflicts with that role, weakening the robot you are trying to recruit. This skill might be worth taking if supported by a multi-shot ability acquired in the XCOM row.
Tandem Warheads:
Tandem Warheads is a good perk. It can increase damage a good amount when your rocket is targeted between 2 or 3 enemies. Also the Technical will soon be able to carry 2 rockets with an E.X.O. Suit. This ability does not increase environmental damage - but that doesn’t matter so much for rockets.
Alternatives: Formidable or Phosphorus.
Adding 2 HP is good for any soldier, especially one that needs to get in close. The Technical is often called upon to tank for the squad. With this ability, and TacSense at GSGT, they can survive a few shots, especially if they are in smoke or supported in other ways.
Phosphorus is good. It enables the flamethrower to shred armor and apply damage to enemies with fire immunity. This allows you to damage purifiers, but they are still immune to the burning status effect.
Incinerator:
This is the most highly anticipated ability for the Technical, and it’s only 1 tile! Amazing how much that matters. The thing about the Flamethrower is that it works best when you are concealed and the enemy pod is closely packed, and in this scenario, you will be unable to relocate. You have to guess where the pod is moving and get there first. With Incinerator, your Technical is much more likely to hit 5+ enemies with a fire ambuscade.
Alternatives: Javelin Rockets or Fire and Steel.
Javelin Rockets are pretty good. Most of the time the enemy is moving towards your squad and the standard rocket range is far enough, but if your squad is spread out (which is very common on retaliation missions), then Javelins will prove very useful.
Fire and Steel is a nice perk, but damage is not the primary goal of either rockets or flamethrowers. Rockets remove cover, and Flamethrowers set bad guys on fire. Damage is nice but a bit more is only marginally helpful.
Quick Burn:
Quickburn is similar to Salvo but better because it gives your soldier a free action. This ability allows the Technical to move into position, burn some enemies, then do something else. Great.
Alternatives: Tactical Sense or Salvo.
TacSense is good. It makes your Technical very difficult to hit when paired with a Defense PCS, burnout, and Fortify. With this ability the Technical is something like a Tank, but not really. The enemy will likely just shoot someone else unless the Technical is uncovered, and that will likely get him killed. Overdrive Serum or Mind Merge would be necessary to support an uncovered Technical and those items/abilities would be doing the heavy lifting. If you use your Technical as a tank, then you will probably want to equip Predator Armor rather than an E.X.O. suit, and that will mean one less Rocket.
With Salvo, using a rocket/grenade will not end your turn. Usually this will give you an extra action when you toss out ordinance, which is only okay. The problem with this ability is that the Technical will often want to move in order to make effective use of his flamethrower or grenades. Salvo only works if the Technical stays in the same spot, which is very limiting, and it is most likely that this skill will only allow the technical to make an extra attack when firing a rocket. This might be good if the Technical also has some good shooter skills.
Bunker Buster:
The area of effect on this sucker is laughably large. Of all the abilities in the game, this one may be the most fun; it will tear open a spherical hole in a building causing advent soldiers to plunge to the ground, leaving numerous helpless targets wide open on the flattened devastation… You know, fun. It is a great final ability to pick. Bunker Buster will uncover your enemies. A lot of them.
Alternatives: Rapid Fire or Firestorm.
Rapid Fire is not great on the Technical. The Technical needs to use an SMG to approach pods during concealment in order to incinerate them. The Technical will not have a Perception PCS either. Still this ability can be quite good if you give the Technical Redscreen Rounds, and a Laser Stengun, making him a solid softener of hack targets. Or it can be paired with shredder to remove armor on Sectopods.
Firestorm is a very powerful ability that is very hard to use effectively, because the Technical must position himself at ground zero. This can often require an officer granting the Technical an additional action, which is costly. Also moving into the center of the enemy position is, well, dangerous. And likely to activate another pod, so even more dangerous. The results are fun, as it will light almost everything within the blast radius on fire. Dangerously fun, this ability is only just good, not great.
Alternate Builds
If you want to consider some other Technical builds I would recommend watching DerAva’s Technical build video, in which he breaks down his 2 builds: Flamer and Rocket. His series on class builds also contains a lot of information on game mechanics and how those interact with various abilities, and is worth watching even if you know what build you want to use.
Considering the XCOM row, I don’t see much that would justify a significant change to my build. There are some very good defensive skills available, which could combine with TacSense and Formidable to make for a better tank, but that build would still not be as good as a Templar.
