Bedlam is a new fun little game by Skyshine. It’s a turn-based tactical combat (akin to X-COM) with a discrete strategic map to explore with random points of interest (like in Faster Than Light) all in a distinct stylized post-apocalyptic skin.
Its strategic map is standard fare with a few minor twists, but its tactical map has some interesting new mechanics. Specifically, each round you have only two actions total with your entire team, regardless of the number of members you have remaining. This same restriction applies to the enemy as well. This means action economy is even more important, and combined with perma-death for your characters combat is very high risk.
Deadeyes
The first unit up on the list, and they are your typical glass cannon sniper. I really, really want these guys to be good. Now that their veteran rank will have 3 move and Rogue AI’s won’t teleport and attack, they are a much stronger choice… once you get them to veteran. The new map changes make it better for keeping these guys alive, but it’s still challenging.
Their primary use is to countersnipe enemy Deadeyes. Once you get a collection of Elite unites, one of their primary threats are enemy Deadeyes thanks to the headshot mechanic, which does immense damage in a single attack. Because of their long range, the best way to shut them down is often your own Deadeyes.
With the Elite Deadeye, you can create a tougher sniper that can really collect quite the body count. Taking up four squares is a pain in the ass for a sniper though. This is a strong choice to take on enemy Elites, but unfortunately it doesn’t very well on the boss without invisibility. With invisibility, it’s just more obnoxious to get to the right range.
Frontliners
Okay, I’ve seen a lot of players look at these guys and pass them over, thinking that because of their 2 base damage that they are worthless. They couldn’t be further from the truth.
What you really want to do is level these guys up to Veteran status as soon as possible, and then just start farming the kills. Yes, it will be difficult to level them up, and yes, they’re easy to lose with how weak they swing. However, it is entirely worth it. As leveling up just increases damage, their low base damage stops mattering. This level mechanic means that hit points, movement, and range are the key differences between your units, and Frontliners are the best in two categories.
Elite Frontliners are even better. The highest HP units you can get; a huge bonus in a perma-death mode. Their four square size means that they can block off enemy advances and threaten much larger areas and actually can survive that much attention and abuse.
Gunslingers
As far as I’m concerned, these guys are pretty worthless. While they do have a nice combination of movement and range, they are tough to level up due to how little damage they deal at the start, and they don’t really get any more impressive at Veteran status. The best suggestion I have for them is a speed bump.
And the elite version isn’t really any better. Bigger size just makes the Gunslingers range issues even more awkward, and more HP doesn’t make up for the problems.
Trenchers
Basically these guys tend to be a slightly weaker version of Frontliners once they are both raised to Veteran status. While they have an extra square of range, they are much slower, and can almost never attack twice on the same target (which is key for taking on several tougher opponents). However, compared to Frontliners, they are significantly easier to level up.
Like Elite Frontliners, Elite Trenchers are quite solid. High HP combined with the pushback of their attack makes them resilient, and they put out good damage from the start. If there were more traps on maps (or perhaps a way to set them yourself), Elite Trenchers may be on par with Elite Frontliners.
And that about wraps it up for the BEDLAM class guide.