Note: This post is a revised version of my Long War 2 Spark 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: Spark
One of the best things about LWOTC is how it improves upon the Spark class with only a few minor tweaks. First, and most important, is that you can acquire a Spark much earlier in the campaign. All you need is the Proving Ground, a bit of cash ($50), an elerium core, and 3 engineers.1 The Spark is far more valuable in the early game, and can absolutely crush advent during this period, which is a lot of fun. Acquiring a Spark quickly will also allow him to level up sooner, which will help him survive against late game enemy fire power.
The second change is to the Spark’s giant gun. It can now use weapon mods, helping this shooter hit its target. There is also a new Spark gun at each weapon tier (Laser and Coil were missing in LW2), and the tier 3/4/5 weapons all have bonuses to aim and crit. More aim was exactly what the Spark needed to stay competitive with the other shooter classes in the late game.
A lot of my builds are hybrids, where I design a soldier to be good at two things, rather than great at one thing. This is not something I am actually trying to make happen. Instead, my builds have just evolved to be hybrids because I needed them to perform multiple tasks, or be effective in different situations. And this is what happened to my Spark build. The Spark can tank, or overwatch, or apply shred/holo, or burst damage, and he will perform each of these roles effectively. At first I built my Sparks to be primarily offensive, but I found that such a build could not stand up to late game enemy firepower, and what I really needed was a soldier to tank shots during the Invasion mission (this is back when playing LW2, btw). So I switched to a pure tank build, and that helped my squads survive.
In LWOTC, the Invasion mission is much easier, but tanking is still a useful role. I am sticking with the tank skills, and pairing that with Hunter Protocol, which is very strong. This build was tested on my first Avenger Defense; it works well as a tank, and still has most of the Spark’s offensive potential.
I don’t even know what to call this hodge-podge build; so I am using the nickname I always give to my Spark.
Sparktacus
Adaptive Aim
Rainmaker
Bulwark
Repair
Cool Under Pressure
Damage Control
Hunter Protocol
Adaptive Aim:
This is a good ability that will improve the Spark’s aim when shooting multiple times with Overdrive. If the Spark fires the Shredder Gun when Overdrive is triggered this won’t help much. But on critical missions, the Spark will use Overdrive more than once, and can deliver 2-3 heavy hitting shots when he does. Without Adaptive Aim, he will likely miss the 2nd and 3rd shot.
Alternatives: Formidable or Combat Awareness.
Formidable is a good ability that won’t matter in the early and middle game, because the Spark is quite tough against early game firepower. In the late game, this ability may allow your Spark to tank one extra hit, but maybe not. The other defensive abilities are better than Formidable, and the survival of your Tank will depend more on luck, and Damage Control.
Combat Awareness is good if you plan to grab Sentinel, and mostly worthless if you choose Repair at SSGT. I am taking Repair.
Rainmaker:
This is a strong ability that will allow your Spark to hit additional enemies with the Shredder Gun, and do extra damage. The increased area of effect is quite large, typically allowing the Spark to hit 3-4 enemies.
Alternatives: Body Shield or Shredder.
Body Shield is not very good. The Spark is tough and unlikely to be killed by 1 enemy, which is how many enemies this skill affects. Again, the Spark won’t benefit much from more defense until late game.
Shredder is really good on an overwatching Spark with Hunter Protocol; starting off each encounter with a chance to shred a bunch of enemies. But the Spark is a less reliable source of shred than a Gunner/Ranger as they have better multi-shot abilities. If you have a Gunner/Ranger with shred in your squad, then you don’t need shredder on the Spark. This is still a solid ability, which will enable the Spark to serve as a Boss Killer, but only if the Overdrive ability is not on cooldown.
Bulwark:
Bulwark adds a point of armor and enables the Spark to act as high cover. This will allow your Spark to march down an open street protecting a squadmate. Acting as high cover is the more significant advantage, because Bulwark only adds one additional armor, and numerous enemies will be able to shred it. In the late game most advent troops carry grenades, while Mutons and Advent Gunners get Shredder. A Dark Event will grant Shredder to more enemies. MECs love to rocket you. Even if they fail to shred armor, they start hitting for 8+ damage. Nothing can stand those shots for long. If you get your Spark to Champion rank, and acquire Damage Control, the synergy with this ability will help further, and maybe this ability will allow your Spark to tank one extra hit.
Alternatives: Holo Targeting or Strike
Holo Targeting is a little easier to find on the XCOM row, than it was to acquire from the AWC. It is still rare, and the Spark is one of only two soldier classes that has it as a base class ability. If you field Holobot officers, then Holo Targeting is not even worth considering here. Otherwise the rarity of the skill means it is worth considering, but Holo Targeting does not work well on the Spark, which has only one multi-shot ability, Overdrive, and that has a long cooldown. On the other hand, the Spark is a good opener that might kill the enemy outright - if not, well now he’s holo targeted.
I’ve never tried Strike, but the internet says it’s bad. Also I like to avoid activating additional pods, and choose abilities that encourage me to play smart, so I probably wouldn’t choose Strike here, even if it was good.
Repair:
This is a great ability, and one of the two most significant of the Spark’s defensive skills. It can be used twice, healing 6, 8 or 10 HP, depending on Bit level. This effectively doubles the Sparks HP, provided he gets a chance to repair himself before being destroyed. This is a real concern because when you really need the Spark to tank (I’m thinking of a Chosen Avenger Defense) he could end up eating a lot of shots all in one turn. Repair is best paired with Damage Control, to insure that the Spark survives long enough to heal. You can skip this ability in favor of Sentinel, and more damage output. But the Spark is one of only 2 units in the game that can tank without significant support from squadmates (the other being the Templar). In my opinion, it is worth trading one overwatch shot during pod activations, for the ability to tank against late game enemies.
Alternatives: Sentinel or Intimidate.
Sentinel is a great ability that will give your Spark an extra overwatch shot which can be very powerful when paired with Cool Under Pressure at the next rank. I would love to grab Sentinel on my Spark - too bad it competes with Repair. In my experience overwatching is only really effective during pod activation, and not during a prolonged fire fight. One extra shot during activation is great, but it is not going to make the difference on a Chosen Avenger Defense, or a Psi Gate gone wrong. Whereas Repair might make a huge difference in those precarious situations.
Intimidate is not very good based on what I’ve read. Having never played with this ability I can’t say for sure, but others have said that it doesn’t work very often.
Cool Under Pressure:
Cool Under Pressure is a very good ability, that becomes great when paired with Sentinel and/or Hunter Protocol. This works better in LWOTC than it did in LW2, in part because the Spark can equip a Hair Trigger on his weapon. With the Spark’s high mobility, he will likely be on overwatch when an enemy pod is activated, and can protect the squad by disabling enemy activation fire.
Alternatives: Bombard or Channeling Field.
Bombard has incredible range - it can be fired to any location within squadsight. It does a modest amount of damage, based on Bit level, but is more noteworthy for cover destruction. Bombard seems to break all destructible cover regardless of durability. This makes it a great weapon to have on an Invasion. If the beacon is on a roof you just need to get eyes on it, and then the Spark can nuke it. The Invasion mission is not nearly as difficult in LWOTC, as it was in LW2, and it is not worth taking Bombard just to make it easier. One other benefit in LWOTC, is that Bombard is extremely useful in destroying the cover used by the Chosen without damaging them; a great way to set up Cyclic Fire or Banish.
I’ve never tried Channeling Field but it doesn’t sound great. The Spark already hits extremely hard. His problem is aim.
Damage Control:
This is a very powerful ability that turns the Spark into a Tank. With Bulwark and tier 3 armor, the Spark has 4 armor; Damage Control will make that 6, almost guaranteeing that it can survive a late game flurry of shots. Having survived, the Spark can then use the Repair ability. The Spark is still not as good at tanking as the Templar, but can do the job with the right spec.
Alternatives: Wrecking Ball or Nova.
Wrecking Ball sounds fun. But also dangerous as it could easily activate more pods. I’ve never tried it.
I have never tried the Nova ability either.
Hunter Protocol:
Hunter Protocol grants a 33% chance to get an overwatch shot per enemy - not per pod. It is very likely to give your Spark an extra shot or two whenever a pod activates within it’s visibility range. Great. Hunter Protocol should be paired with Cool Under Pressure to maximize its effectiveness. Hunter Protocol shares the same problems as overwatching - many enemies have either Lightning Reflexes or Shadow Step and it is generally less effective than directed fire. It is also less useful on those missions where enemies are dropping in at random locations or your squad is spread out (I am thinking of retaliations in particular); in those cases, it is difficult to position the Spark within range of pod activations. Whatever. This is a great ability that should gift the Spark a number of extra shots, and that number increases in proportion to the size of the threat. Be sure to equip the best expanded magazine to prevent the Spark from running dry.
Alternatives: Sacrifice or Impact Fields.
Sacrifice only protects nearby squadmates, though the way the ability is activated suggests otherwise. It is difficult to position your squad to take advantage of this ability, and for that reason it is probably not worth picking. On those missions when you really need help (Chosen Avenger Defense) your squad is very likely to be spread out.
Impact Fields looks good, but inferior to Sacrifice - which along with additional defense will also protect the Spark’s squadmates.
Alternate Builds
I recommend watching DerAva’s Spark build video, in which he breaks down his single build: Spark. His class build videos also contain a lot of information on game mechanics and how those interact with various abilities, and is worth watching even if you stick with your own build.
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Another benefit is that you don’t have to play through the Lost Tower mission anymore, which is fun the first couple times, but then tiresome.
