Again the point is extra mobility make them easier to play, and not bother on shotgun skills is ignoring skills more difficult to play so you get an efficient soldier easier to play. Secondly you can jump in and make a SMG critical build. And the lower damages from SMG aren't that much a disaster with critical and double fire from Rapid Fire. Secondly the extra mobility and the frequent Run and Gun make it much easier to play, because it's easier to find good movements and good positions. In case a new pod is triggered by a run and gun, you can still throw a possible devastating Chain Lightning. For example, Electroshock, Arc Pulser, Stun Gunner, Extra Conditioning, Rapid Fire, Bring 'Em On, Chain Lightning. Take care that such build will still involves the problem of revealing pods because the SMG range is short.ДЇirstly they suit very well some Electroshock builds.

Im' still exploring such builds but for some reasons I find them easier to play than pure shotgun close range builds. Stun Gunner definitely worth it for a build aiming Chain Lightning but if your soldier has a quite high aim you can choose another skill. Arc Pulser really worth it only from hacking perspective, it can't stun mechanical and the damages aren't that high. Lightning Reflexes is a fine option and only gave up on a safe way to ensure disable special skills of one target. Such build isn't just pick all Electroshock skills, many variations are interesting, for example: A quite good option if your squad is oriented to hacking enemies. Before that it's a tool for hacking enemies, a good tactical tool, and you can build him for using an Assault Rifle not a Shotgun then you get a solid soldier with some tactical tools. I don't have the very positive or optimistic point of view of Spah7 but he brings good points.ДЄn Assault build simple to use is the Electroshock build, once you'll get Chain Lightning you'll get an amazing tactical tool. Delete remaining two Mutons one by one while untouchable. Third muton fires flanking shot, but assault is Untouchable.

Close Encounters triggers, stun second mutton. Turn one, bust glass roof and blue move to muton 1 (also flanking muton 2 but not within shotgun range) destroy it with a 100% crit. My Gunnery SGT Assault faced down a three muton pod all by himself in a house with bad LoS for all my shooters. High level, well equipped assaults are monstrously deadly. My shinobi almost always goes last, and if necessary, breaks cover to save the assault.ДЄssaults are most powerful against smaller pods as they get more chances to flank without retaliation. Also, I tend to use my assaults in the middle of the turn, when the outcome of some of the other chancier shots have been resolved and I know whether or not that flank is safe. So I usually pick targets that are well within the expected damage range.

A mid range class can afford to not kill an opponent, but a flanking assault is exposed when you fail to kill someone at point blank. I find that my assaults dip in effectiveness slightly around April/May, but pick up with weapon upgrades. If you don't mind losing Lightning Reflexes, you can also take Slug Shot. It forces the enemy to reposition themselves or get flanked. My assaults approach with blue move and hunker if no shots present themselves. You don't have to shoot with the assault every turn. You can beat anything up to and including a Very Light with no trouble at all. My preferred 4-man midgame squad is one Technical, one Assault, one Grenadier with incendiaries, and a Specialist (either officer or overwatch). Add a Specialist to support and they'll generally be fine even in tough situations. If you pair the Assault up with a Technical (who can be expected to take out another 2-3), then that's most of the enemies on the mission. Besides, even if you do trigger something, who cares? Just kill them too.ДЄ standard Extremely Light mission has around 9 enemies, and an Assault can easily kill 2-3 of them. Yes, you'll sometimes trigger additional pods, but that's really not a big deal (if you trigger stuff on your turn, it doesn't get to take yellow alert actions). Assaults and Shinobis are the only early-game classes that can double move and attack, and their attacks hit hard enough to kill nearly anything in March/April. If you use assaults well, they can practically win you the game before psi soldiers ever get running.

Xcom enemy within assault build