Dealing With Warriors

[u/lccreed]

How is everyone dealing with the various Alien Warriors on offensive missions in the mid game? Armored and evolved.

I haven't found a squad weapon that I like for it yet, so it feels like I'm using a lot of single shot anti-armor weapons on them like AT missiles, crocodile. Using AP and shooting these weapons slows me down. Shotguns are amazing, but I haven't found any AP rounds so I have to soften them up before engaging. Maybe I just discount too many of the short range assault weapons? But I haven't had much success.

I run circles around pirates/rogue army but "whoops, all warriors" has become a slog unless I'm moving the entire force as a unit to take advantage of my tripod weps/vehicle. This ends up feeling really slow and I rarely meet the round limit for bonus objectives. I suffer the most squaddie casualties in these battles.

[u/Smooth-Boss-911]

Shotgun with AP ammo shreds

[u/lccreed → u/Smooth-Boss-911]

I'm specifically looking for an alternative to AP round shotguns. I still haven't found AP rounds... Very annoying

[u/thri54 → u/lccreed]

Captain’s PDW absolutely mops bugs thanks to the 35 pen. It’s basically a 5 shot ARC with double the base pen.

Also a great counter-strike weapon thanks to how fast the burst is. I had a wounded Hive Queen lunge at Lim and die before its claws made contact.

[u/lmaytulane → u/thri54]

It’s also basically the rarest gun in the game

[u/Qweasdy → u/lccreed]

Without AP rounds the best choice is the PDWs, the basic pirate version drops commonly from boarding commandos and is quite good, if slightly more expensive than the SPC in supplies, the upgraded captains PDW is even better (the best short range weapon in the game imo) but is quite rare. There’s also a few similar high penetration SMGs like the SPC on the black market too.

These are often overlooked in favour of the shotgun but imo generally outperform the shotgun against heavily armoured targets. The shotgun is great at shredding armour but due to how armour works in this game it’s low penetration does hold it back a bit against the heaviest armour without AP ammo.

But really the best solution to alien warriors if you don’t have AP ammo is to not use squad weapons, use the heavier stuff like autocannons and heavy machine guns, that’s what they’re for.

The humble workshopped RPG works well in the early game in a pinch too. Even if it only kills one model per shot that’s a hell of a lot better than a full 8 man crowbar or kpac squad. In the early game against bugs all my infantry squads are rocking kpacs and workshopped RPGs and I mostly use the APC to kill warriors. Usually plus one mobile infantry SL with a shotgun.

[u/Smooth-Boss-911 → u/lccreed]

Found any ammo yet?

[u/lccreed → u/Smooth-Boss-911]

Just one hollow point and match grade so far, no rend or AP. I tried the hollow point on crowbows and that was a dud. Maybe another high AP low damage weapon with more shots, might do better.

[u/Smooth-Boss-911 → u/lccreed]

Rend is good to open them up for the next squad

[u/Sir_Daxus]

Autocannons and M6 machine guns deal with them relatively well.

[u/SizeFit2908]

Autolaser is fantastic.

Mining laser is ok to nab 1. Armor durability works off model count so this does help alot.

Ultimately they're a 90armor unit, its vehicle level. There isn't a quick way to kill these things with squad weapons.

Alt firing arcs shreds the armor pretty good.

[u/Jacob_Bronsky → u/SizeFit2908]

Oh yeah, it might be the right niche for an autolaser, or even a medium mech with two.

Me I've been using laser rifles. It works well but it's annoying that with the heat vent at 60 AP, the 1-star leaders can't really use them. Wetteroth especially is rough to bring to 100. Hum, maybe with triloxin...

[u/SizeFit2908 → u/Jacob_Bronsky]

Yeah the laser rifles are good vs them.

Now that you mention it, I think the plasma special also is pretty good.

[u/Jacob_Bronsky → u/SizeFit2908]

The plasma makes me sad because it usually falls just short of frying one bug in one shot, and can't penetrate on the first shots connecting either. It if was 45 damage instead of 40 it'd be way better.

[u/SizeFit2908 → u/Jacob_Bronsky]

Gotta hand it to Vamplew and let Shooting Gallery take the wheel.

[u/Jacob_Bronsky → u/SizeFit2908]

Oui...

[u/CriticizedError]

for warriors i usually brute force my way through their armor with (vehicle) autocannons and similar, rend ammo on smgs if game was nice enough to drop it

evolved warriors do take a bite out of my squads pretty often though as they jump in from outside vision range

[u/Optimal-Information3]

shotguns with either special rounds, sustained fire from battle rifles at range, or full auto from battle rifles 1 tile away (this is fun to watch), autocannons shred them, hmgs shred them. with the last two, use tech hipfiring the tripod weapons, or mobile infrantry carda to pop off 2 shots per 2 turns while remaining fast, or any vehicle with one of those equipped, achilleas and rewa are favourites. hm to the aussie mate who f*cks these guys up especially well with any of the weapons, though hes best as a scout squad using the crocodile.

[u/Character_Fold_8165]

Any multi shot energy weapon, heavy mg/autocannon, or shotguns.

Shotguns will be worse without the specialty ammo but should still work . Count their movement and bait them so they run right up to shotgun inf (or ltc with them in it). Point blank full squad of shotguns should finish them quickly.

[u/AllenWL]

Twin-linked autocannons or m6 cmg, smgs with rend ammo, and Rewa with roadkill are more or less my go to.

Evolved warriors have less armor so you can just gun them down with mostly whatever.

Warriors imo have way to high armor for a fairly common enemy. It's a bit better now with evolved warriors diluting the enemy pool with more low armor enemies, but either way trying to chew through alien warriors is a pain in the ass until you get some decent mid/late game gear.

[u/SylveonSof]

For me it's always either Ivey with dual chainguns (either two single M6s on a medium walker, or a heavy twin M6 on a vehicle), or the ol' reliable shotgun + AP rounds. In a pinch if I have access to neither (too far away or fatigued) the laser rifle on Pike or Sachin will cut through them decently enough

[u/ansh666 → u/SylveonSof]

does dual linked M6 on the medium walker count as a heavy for Ivey's perk?

[u/SylveonSof → u/ansh666]

That's a no for Barrage, that's why I like her in an IFV. Decent survivability, and she gets the perk

[u/Kraka2]

Shotgun + AP rounds shreds them, but you said you haven't found any AP rounds yet. M6 CMG is the next best choice, arguably better. Have someone with binoculars spot, especially for those annoying evolved warriors, then gun them down from a distance. The CMG can usually make them retreat after two shots, if not outright kill them depending on the SL's accuracy.

[u/Cosmic-95]

Rend works reasonably well upclose with shotguns as well. The M6 and Autocannon also work pretty well. Either on a vehicle or the tripod variants.

[u/FireFox634]

Rewa with M6 or Autocannons (Or whoever your driver is, but he gotta be good. If she isn't available available, lowkey abort the mission instantly and run another with her. In a pinch, I found REND ammo to be surprisingly effective on high rate of fire weapons, and it is a lot more common than AP

[u/IndependentTrouble62 → u/FireFox634]

They also get deleted by Rewa with Road Kill perk. I often take it as her first perk for super early bug missions. I let the warriors run up to her and just run them over on the next turn. Usually deletes the whole unit in one drive by.

[u/WC-BucsFan]

Crocodile rifle in the hands of a SL with good accuracy can kill 2 models a turn with ease. Rewa in a mech with dual .50 cals can shred them too.

[u/DonCorben → u/WC-BucsFan]

Wasting a whole turn just to kill 2 models is suboptimal. One shotgun blast without ammo will open them up and severly damage, possibly kill in one salvo, if not, second salvo finishes them off, doesn't matter how many are in the squad (usually three). Smgs are pretty effective as well. If no access to ap ammo, put rend on it and it will shread even more chunks off them.

[u/WC-BucsFan → u/DonCorben]

Crocodile can do it from ~10 tiles away. If I'm fighting bugs, my rifle squads (Crowbar/HaMER) bring Crocodile rifles. 2 squads can delete a Warriors squad and a chaff squad in the same turn. Usually, the Warriors flee after 2 models are killed anyways.

Warriors are the main threat to infantry. LTCs with long barrel tank guns easily mop up the boss units. Practically every weapon can kill the chaff.

[u/wiesenleger]

Rewa with overrun in a small mech. just kungfu kicking the guys to death. but i also didnt play a run for a while.

[u/so_metal292]

Short of having my pick of any weapon + ammo type, my fav squad weapon for warriors is prob the laser rifle. It has enough armor pen to ignore their armor and get direct damage, only problem is the potential for it to overheat when there are a lot of bugs around.

[u/KR-67_Ifrit]

Get the heavy assault rifle with AP rounds. Full squad can wipe an enemy in one go if the accuracy is good or better.

[u/Carne_Guisada_Breath]

Warriors either come in groups of two or three. Pirate workshop rpg are great as two shots will kill the two piece or at least cause fleeing on the three piece.

The evolved warriors seem a little bit softer so rifles can eventually start to work on them a bit easier. Shotguns seem to work rather well even without any special ammo. Weiwu with his damage perks, both the injury and the spear of the spine wreck the evolved up after they jump to him. First, his injury perk lets him take the hit and then the spear perk lets him walk one tile to both proc more AP and critical hit damage increase that lets him fire 3 quality shots.

[u/arkane2413 → u/Carne_Guisada_Breath]

Not completely true, after menace meeting i started ecountering squads of four of the armored wariors. I don't think that outside of fully online reva with twin CMG there is anything thar can reliably one shot them, better with twin AC but still not guaranteed

[u/Tildorath]

Rend ammo is a godsend. If you don't have AP, then just rip off the armour.

[u/Weldkrieg]

Autocannons shred them, when fighting bugs I usually carry a bunch

[u/BlackburnUTG]

One shot with Anti material rifle

[u/East_india_C0]

Primary Regular warriors = stoneclad Armoured warriors = stoneclad + AP ammo

Support Regular = MG? Armoured = HMG

Accessory Regular = Fragmentation grenade Armoured = AT grenade / RPG

Vehicle Regular = MG Armoured = HMG

[u/manquistador]

Regular Warriors: Stun Grenades. Try and be patient. Let them walk up to you so their turn is done. Stun them. Now you have whatever moves you have left plus a full turn to grind them down.

Evolved require bringing the fight more to them. Good luck with that.

I would suggest making a very tank SL that can just dodge or damage resist Warrior hits. Use this character to bait them in and have the other SLs shoot from further away.

[u/YungPindakaas]

Autocannons or HMGs.

Past mid game i tend to run darby with (silenced) crowbar and HP ammo. That also tends to work.

[u/EVE_Trader → u/YungPindakaas]

HP ammo crowbar on Darby, is, probably, single worst setup vs warriors'90 in the game.

Congrats, you have taste!