Shakarn Units - Tips Thread

[Maximum12567]

Hey so I'm new to the forum (but not the game, got the deluxe preorder on PS4), and I've been absolutely loving the new DLC, Shakarn are awesome!!!
However I have found no real good use for the Deadeye and the Propogater (other than as a naval unit). Base infantry seem to be more useful and cheeper. Am I missing a great addition to the stack?

Edit: fixed the name, I had thought Deadeye was wrong when it was in fact the right unit

 

[Darinby]

Deadeye is nice if you like using overwatch. The Omni-cannon is single shot so you can do a full move before you overwatch. The Deadeye gets +15 Accuracy and +15 Crit for overwatch and is stagger resistant without mods.

Propagator is for your Broadcast Doctrines. One gives +200 Morale. One gives +1 shield. One gives all enemies a 4 psi channel chance each turn to Hallucinate for 1 turn. Useful to have 1 Propagator in a multi-stack fight.

Each broadcast increases the upkeep of the Propagator by %25 so only make as many as you need.

 

[FerrokenFibrous]

Deadeyes are for picking off targets at range while they're semi-busy dealing with your Raiders and Firebrands. They're a bit squishy but they usually end up being your main damage dealers. Equip them with Hardlight and two damage mods (preferably ones that also improve accuracy) for extra pain and staggers. I tend to equip my ranged heroes with their weapon as well.

Propagators, as mentioned, are for applying broadcast operations to your stacks, but just as importantly, they also have a secondary attack with demolisher, useful for destroying cover (especially colony walls), and a healing + dispel ability. I generally kit them out with survival in mind due to their inherently low HP and defence stats, usually Xeno Defence + Scanners (or Nanites if I manage to infiltrate a Vanguard player's operations), though I may also equip a debuffing offensive mod such as Acute Pitch for their third mod slot. In the late game, if I manage to infiltrate the Assembly or take one of their colonies, I might equip them with Reassembly Module alongside Acute Pitch and the Impairing/Slowing mod at the end of the Sonic tech line.

 

[DragonZee]

Isn't it so that the second Deadeye ability puts at least 3 status effects (if you're lucky) on a unit (plus it hits 2 hexes). It's good for "softening" them.

 

[FerrokenFibrous]

Isn't it so that the second Deadeye ability puts at least 3 status effects (if you're lucky) on a unit (plus it hits 2 hexes). It's good for "softening" them.

Deadeye's default attack is also capable of doing that to a single unit due to not repeating. I don't find myself using their secondary that often tbh, due to having no stagger (or lower stagger than the regular if Hardlight is on) by default and because the AI is surprisingly decent at not letting their units get set up for a perfect line attack so I get less opportunities to pull it off.

 

[Maximum12567]

Deadeyes are for picking off targets at range while they're semi-busy dealing with your Raiders and Firebrands. They're a bit squishy but they usually end up being your main damage dealers. Equip them with Hardlight and two damage mods (preferably ones that also improve accuracy) for extra pain and staggers. I tend to equip my ranged heroes with their weapon as well.

Propagators, as mentioned, are for applying broadcast operations to your stacks, but just as importantly, they also have a secondary attack with demolisher, useful for destroying cover (especially colony walls), and a healing + dispel ability. I generally kit them out with survival in mind due to their inherently low HP and defence stats, usually Xeno Defence + Scanners (or Nanites if I manage to infiltrate a Vanguard player's operations), though I may also equip a debuffing offensive mod such as Acute Pitch for their third mod slot. In the late game, if I manage to infiltrate the Assembly or take one of their colonies, I might equip them with Reassembly Module alongside Acute Pitch and the Impairing/Slowing mod at the end of the Sonic tech line.

Ahhh okay. I just finished the second campaign path of the DLC, and had the Deadeyes weapon equipped to my hero. Mixed with Promethean mods and one from the Autonom made it quite the hitter.
I'll try and use the Propogater in the 1 vs 5 planet I just started. That last mission kept changing it up on my, the voidbringers spawned in almost 20 turns in

 

[Cainist]

Deadeye's default attack is also capable of doing that to a single unit due to not repeating. I don't find myself using their secondary that often tbh, due to having no stagger (or lower stagger than the regular if Hardlight is on) by default and because the AI is surprisingly decent at not letting their units get set up for a perfect line attack so I get less opportunities to pull it off.

I've found that a helpful function of the deadeye secondary attack is that it is good at destroying cover and then damaging the unit behind, all the while being farther away than most explosive attacks.

 

[FerrokenFibrous]

I've found that a helpful function of the deadeye secondary attack is that it is good at destroying cover and then damaging the unit behind, all the while being farther away than most explosive attacks.

It doesn't seem to destroy or hit cover for me, or at least seemingly does not do enough damage to destroy some bits of cover. I'll have to test in-game for myself again.

 

[Iguanaonastick]

It doesn't seem to destroy or hit cover for me, or at least seemingly does not do enough damage to destroy some bits of cover. I'll have to test in-game for myself again.

They don't have demolisher, so they can't destroy hard cover.

But if the enemy is hiding behind some bushes, they can definitely blast through those.