SteamWorld Heist 2 guide: The best jobs, tactics tips, and more

SteamWorld Heist 2 is a turn-based tactics game where you gather a ragtag crew of rusty steambots to resist the iron keel of the all-powerful Navy. But if you're going to solve the water crisis in Caribbea, you're going to need to learn a few things about combat tactics first.

Don't let SteamWorld Heist 2's charming aesthetic and abundance of robot puns fool you—it doesn't pull its punches, especially on Experienced difficulty or higher. Luckily, we've put together a guide to help you make your enemies walk the plank.
 

General tactics

On the surface, SteamWorld Heist 2 has a lot in common with other tactics games, particularly the XCOM series. SteamWorld Heist 2's tutorials are generally effective, but there are a few specific tips that really go a long way, especially as the missions ramp up in difficulty and complexity.

Take cover: Your crew members are pretty fragile, and healing can be difficult to come by. As such, a defense-first approach is often required in SteamWorld Heist 2—particularly if you want all of your crew members to survive and collect their full experience share. Some missions are long, multi-room affairs where every point of HP matters. While it can be tempting to send your sniper out in the open to headshot the heavy for massive damage, it's usually not worth it unless you're reasonably sure you can end the encounter within that turn.

Action economy is king: By "action economy," I mean the number of actions your crew can take per turn compared to enemies. By default, your characters have two Action Points per round, which they can spend moving, attacking, or performing abilities. Each mission lets you take a certain number of crew members (usually two to four) along, and you're often outnumbered from the start. Since most attacks in the game are single-target, this means that your enemies often act more times per round than you do.

Because of this, it's important to bring crew members that can attack twice (or even more) per round, or that have the ability to hit multiple targets, usually with explosives or automatic fire. The Reaper class, for instance, can attack again if they down a target, making them quite adept at dealing with large numbers of low-HP enemies. You should also make use of abilities that let you inflict damage as a free action. For example, Wesley's unlockable Grenadier skill lets him throw a grenade without using an Action Point.

Open doors the right way: Doors are always a big consideration in tactics games, and SteamWorld Heist 2 is no different. Usually, you'll want to start your turn by opening the next door with your frontliner, as that often reveals new enemies that will immediately act once you end your turn. If you end your turn by opening a door, you give enemies a chance to flank or even take a few potshots at your crew.

That said, many of SteamWorld Heist 2's missions involve a time limit or respawning enemies chasing you. In those situations, covering more ground is sometimes the better option.
 

Get a job

SteamWorld Heist 2 features a Final Fantasy-esque job system that allows you to not only customize each crew member's role, but mix and match abilities between roles to create unexpected advantages. While it may be difficult to master, you'll feel notably underpowered if you don't harness it to some extent.

A character's weapon determines what job they're currently assigned, and finishing missions grants them job-specific XP that unlocks skills. Once you level a character in multiple jobs, you can use Cogs to activate abilities they gained in other disciplines.

Below, we've run down a number of the game's key jobs, as well as some of their best abilities to grab for cross-job synergy. What jobs you decide to take into a given mission are ultimately a matter of personal taste and playstyle, but generally you'll want at least one crew member that can heal and another that can hit more than one target per turn.

Sniper

Useful abilities: Surgical Strike, Perfect Aim

One of the first jobs you obtain, Snipers are best-used in missions where you need high single-target damage, especially boss fights. Their ability to eliminate high-threat enemies from afar makes them viable in most levels. However, their lengthy reloads and lack of movement abilities can slow you down in time-sensitive situations.

I tended to use Snipers in three- or four-man missions, where they can back up their more mobile comrades. They're also quite good at fighting the game's "Rattler" skeleton enemies, since their bullets can penetrate them if they're grouped up. To get the most out of the Sniper, we recommend using Cogs on abilities that up their damage and especially their movement.
 

Reaper

Useful abilities: Rage, Momentum

Another early-game job, Reapers are offensive powerhouses that use multi-attack and aura abilities to deal a lot of damage in a short time. When properly kitted out, Reapers can trivialize shorter missions by overwhelming the other side in a handful of turns. Their frontliner nature means they take a lot of hits though, so taking some healing abilities or items can improve their effectiveness in longer levels. Gaining a few levels in Brawler or Flanker can also make your Reaper more powerful over time.
 

Brawler

Useful abilities: Hard Shell, Free Sidearm

The melee-focused Brawlers are the closest thing SteamWorld Heist 2 has to a tank role, and while they aren't very versatile, they're useful in certain situations. Brawlers deal a ton of single-target damage, and their Adrenaline skill allows them to heal themselves on every kill, making them quite survivable.

But Brawlers have one major weakness: There are a lot of enemies in Steamworld Heist 2 that are functionally immune to melee attacks, including flying drones, ceiling-mounted turrets, and the like. The Free Sidearm ability allows Brawlers to do some ranged damage, but not much. If you're going into a mission that needs ranged power, consider taking a Reaper or Flanker instead.

 

Flanker

Useful abilities: Cool, Backbiter

The speedy shotgun-wielding Flanker is arguably the best overall offensive job in SteamWorld Heist 2. Flankers deal an absolute ton of damage up close—and even more from behind, with the Backbiter ability. The Flanker's focus on mobility also suits SteamWorld Heist 2, and they have multiple abilities that help collect treasure quickly, which is a must if you're trying to 100% the game's many missions.

Simply put, once you get access to the Flanker a few hours in, there's no reason to ever go without one. That said, the Reaper ability Momentum has a huge impact on the Flanker's effectiveness, so I recommend picking that up as quickly as possible.

Miscellaneous tips

You don't necessarily need to collect all the treasure or complete the bonus to max out a mission. Though it varies, you can generally get the maximum stars for a mission by completing all the objectives without suffering any casualties and collecting the (sometimes optional) Epic Swag. You can always come back to a level later and 100% it, if you so choose.

If you're struggling, upgrade your weapons first. Your weapon tier has a huge impact on your character's overall damage output and effectiveness. If you're really struggling in a new area, gather some Gallons by sinking Navy ships on the world map and make sure that each of your crewmates is using the highest available weapon tier. You'll notice the difference right away.

There's no penalty for moving outside of an enemy's melee range. By default, SteamWorld Heist 2 encourages crewmates in range of a melee attacker to whack them back. This is almost never a good idea. There are no attacks of opportunity—and as such, there's very little reason to melee attack unless you're a Brawler. Move out of range and blast them with your gun.

Outrunning your enemies to the exit is often a winning strategy. The alarm system means hanging around and picking off infinitely spawning enemies is usually a bad idea. Once you've completed the level's main objective, make a beeline for the exit before the heavies arrive. There's nothing more frustrating than completing a near-perfect run of a tough level only to lose a star because one of your crewmates got scrapped at the last second.

Bait melee enemies. In missions with a lot of respawning melee enemies (like Rattlers), keep your party a few steps away from their spawn points. This forces enemies to waste their first turn moving closer to you, giving you enough of an action economy advantage to easily scrap them without taking any damage.

Grinding is always an option. If you really want to max out your party, you can rerun missions again and again for resources and job XP. Just keep in mind that there's an achievement for beating the game within a certain number of days, so you might lock yourself out of that—if you're the kind of person who cares about those things, of course.

Reload your last checkpoint early and often. SteamWorld Heist 2 doesn't have quicksaves, and reloading your last autosave only sends you two turns back. If it looks like you made a major tactical error and the tide is turning against you, reload at your first opportunity. Two turns is really not that much wiggle room to salvage a run.

SteamWorld Heist 2 is available now on the Epic Games Store.