Every job is improved by borrowing from another job
Here is the thing about the six jobs in SteamWorld Heist 2, and it is the most useful thing on this page:
Not one of the six is improved most by its own skills.
Each job has one specific structural weakness, and in every case the fix is a pair of skills lifted from two other jobs.
| Job | Its one weakness | Borrowed fix | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sniper | Sometimes there is no cover to reach | Fortify + Build Cover | Boomer + Engineer |
| Reaper | Has to get close, and dies there | Hard Shell + Sidestep | Brawler + Flanker |
| Boomer | Blows itself up with its own rockets | Blast Shield + Focus | Brawler + Sniper |
| Brawler | Long cooldowns and short reach | Cool + Nimble Feet | Flanker + Flanker |
| Engineer | The pistol misses | Mines + Perfect Aim | Boomer + Sniper |
| Flanker | Gets hit in close range | Payback + Momentum | Brawler + Reaper |
Read that table down and a pattern appears. Every borrowed pair is a patch, not a damage upgrade. The Sniper does not borrow more damage; it borrows somewhere to stand. The Boomer does not borrow more explosions; it borrows survival from its own explosions.
How job switching actually works
The mechanism is simple and it is the reason your whole crew converges later in the game.
- Your job is your weapon. Snipers use rifles, Reapers use SMGs, Boomers use rocket launchers, Brawlers use hammers, Engineers use pistols, Flankers use shotguns. Swap the weapon and the job swaps with it.
- Level a job to unlock its skills. You have to actually put time in as that job.
- Once unlocked, buy the skill with Cogs and keep it after you change jobs.
That third step is the engine of the whole system — and also the reason two different crew tier lists can disagree so violently, since a levelled bot can carry almost any loadout. See the crew guide for that argument.
The natural consequence: your crew members feel increasingly similar as the game goes on. The only thing separating them at the end is their personal skills.
The six combinations
Sniper — Fortify (Boomer) + Build Cover (Engineer)
The Sniper excels at long-range fire from cover, which makes the Boomer’s Fortify a natural fit: it strengthens whatever you are hiding behind, so your cover lasts longer and does not get blown away.
But sometimes there is simply no cover to reach. For that, the Engineer’s Build Cover is a free action that places cover wherever you like — which is a huge benefit to a job whose entire survival plan depends on having some.
Also worth Cogs: damage, and especially movement, since a Sniper that cannot reposition is a Sniper with no angle.
Reaper — Hard Shell (Brawler) + Sidestep (Flanker)
Reapers are offensive powerhouses using multi-attack and aura abilities to bury the other side in a handful of turns. They are also frontliners by nature, which means they take hits.
So the fix is one defensive and one escape: the Brawler’s Hard Shell for armour, and the Flanker’s Sidestep for an instant teleport as a free action when a position turns bad.
Useful abilities in its own line: Rage and Momentum. And because Reapers are short-mission terrors but fragile in long ones, some healing ability or item goes a long way.
Boomer — Blast Shield (Brawler) + Focus (Sniper)
Boomers throw explosives, and the dirty secret is that a rocket fired at something too close damages the Boomer too.
The Brawler’s Blast Shield reduces explosion damage to 1 — so even when your shot goes wrong, you do not take yourself out with it. That alone is the best skill on the Boomer, and it is not a Boomer skill.
Then the Sniper’s Focus rewards exactly what you are already doing: standing somewhere advantageous and hitting it. One source also recommends the Slot Machine to carry an extra item, and landmines as a way to lock down an area while you bomb from behind cover.
Brawler — Cool (Flanker) + Nimble Feet (Flanker)
The Brawler is the closest thing the game has to a tank, with heavy single-target damage and Adrenaline healing it on every kill.
Its problem is pacing. Its big Charge attacks sit on long cooldowns, and it has to walk into melee to use them.
So the fix is entirely a Flanker package: Cool reduces all your cooldowns by 1, which means you get the Charges off far more often, and Nimble Feet adds a point of movement so you can actually reach. If you prefer, the Engineer’s Greased Up does similar work for moving through doors.
Know the ceiling before you invest. Many enemies are functionally immune to melee — flying drones, ceiling-mounted turrets and the like — and their numbers rise sharply in the final zone. If a mission needs ranged power, take a Reaper or Flanker instead.
Engineer — Mines (Boomer) + Perfect Aim (Sniper)
The Engineer is support: boosts, healing, and a pistol. Its two problems are that it is fragile and that the pistol is underwhelming.
Mines from the Boomer keeps melee units from reaching you at all — they walk into the explosion instead. And Perfect Aim from the Sniper gives the pistol a full aimline and steadies your arm, which turns the game’s weakest weapon into something you can actually land shots with.
One important limit if you take Tristan as your Engineer: his Always Prepared makes Repair items a free action, but it explicitly does not cover job abilities like the Engineer’s Maintenance Protocol.
Flanker — Payback (Brawler) + Momentum (Reaper)
The Flanker is arguably the best overall offensive job in the game: enormous damage up close, and even more from behind thanks to Backbiter. Its mobility also makes it the best treasure-collector, which you need to complete missions properly.
Being that close means getting hit, so the fix is to turn that into an advantage. The Brawler’s Payback gives you more damage on your next turn after you are damaged — the Flanker’s signature move is getting hit on purpose.
Then the Reaper’s Momentum on top, which one source singles out as having a huge impact on Flanker effectiveness and worth picking up as fast as possible. Add Sidestep and Nimble Feet for the hit-and-run loop.
Four things that will save more runs than any build
1. Upgrade weapons before anything else. Your weapon tier has a huge impact on damage output. If you are stuck in a new area, go sink Navy ships on the world map to gather Gallons and get every crewmate onto the highest tier available. You will notice the difference immediately.
2. Walk out of melee. Do not swing back. By default the game encourages crew in melee range to whack their attacker. This is almost never right. There are no attacks of opportunity and no penalty for leaving, so step out and shoot them.
3. Bait melee enemies. On missions with respawning melee enemies, keep your party a few steps back from the spawn points. Enemies then waste their first turn walking toward you, which hands you an action-economy advantage for free.
4. Reload early and often. There are no quicksaves, and reloading your autosave only takes you two turns back. If a fight has turned, reload at the first sign — two turns is very little room.
And one mission-structure note: the alarm system means hanging around to pick off infinitely spawning enemies is usually a mistake. Once the objective is done, make for the exit before the heavies arrive. You can always come back and 100% a level later.