Talents that buff & debuff Initiative

[John Robinson]

"Hit hard, hit fast, hit often."   William "Bull" Halsey, Admiral, USN

I'm currently convinced the single most important weapon in crew combat is initiative.

Talents that add Initiative

All buffs stack but not 2 of the same name at the same time

Name	Req	Effect	x x x x | x x x x	Init
Hitman Rush	Assn 1	Buff self +2 Initiative, 3T	On Init
Lifeline	C-Med 8	+2 Initiative, 3T	o o o o | o o o o	12
Aggressive Advance	Exo 1	buff self +2 Initiative, 3T	o o o x | x o o o	wep
Tactical Edge	Mil 1	+4 Initiative & Push	o o o x | o o o x	6
Boarding Rush	Mil 11	+4 Initiative, 2T	On Init
Raining Steel	Pist 1	+3 Initiative, 3T	On Init
Frontline Brave	Sol 8	Entire team +2 Initiative 3T	x x o o | o o o o	12
Vanishing Act	Snip 1	+2 Initiative, 2T	o o o x | Buff	8
Eagle Eye	Snip 5	+2 Initiative, 3T	o o x x | Buff	8
Disappearing Act	Spy 1	+2 Initiative, 3T	o o o x | Buff	8
Killer's Aim	Spy 11	+2 Initiative, 3T	o o o x | Buff	6
Bravery Line	Swrd 1	+3 Initiative, 3T	On Init
Irid-Laced Resolve	XenoH 1	Xeno Only +2 Team 3T	On Init
Fervor	Zeal 8	+2 Initiative for 3 Turns	x x o o | x o o o	6
Infliction Rage	Zeal 11	+3 Initiative, 3T	On Init

Captain Starting Traits
Assassin	On Edge:   +1 Strength, +1 Fortitude, +3 Initiative. (unlock required)
Bounty Hunter	Born Hunter: +2 Resilience, +10% Accuracy, +2 Initiative
Commander	Motivating: +2 Charisma, +2 Wisdom, +1 Initiative,
Xeno Hunter	Inner Flame: +2 Resilience, +1 Fortitude, +2 Initiative
Zealot	Single-Minded: +2 Resilience, +2 Initiative

Equipment:  You can purchase from contacts , or salvage equipment that adds
+Initiative bonus to the wearer.  Heavy armor will always subtract initiative from the wearer.

Talents that Debuff subtract Initiative

Name	Req	Effect	x x x x | x x x x	Init
Smoke Bomb	Assn 1	2 Targ causes -2 Initiative, 2T	x x x o | T T x x	12
First Blood	Assn 1	front line enemy -3 Initiative, 3T	On Init
Arterial Slash	Assn 8	causes -3 Initiative, 3T	x x o o | o o x x
Frag Grenade	Bhunt 11	2 Targ, -2 Initiative 3T	x x x o | T T x x	16
Toxin Terror	C-Med 5	2 Targ causes -2 Initiative 3T	x o o o | T T x x	12
Poison Grenade	C-Med 5	2 Targ -2 Initiative 3T	x x x o | T T x x	16
Damning Aim	Mil 5	-2 Initiative, 3T	x o o o | o o x x	wep
Scorn	Com 11	2 Targ,  -4 Initiative, 2T	x o o o | T T x x	8
Burrowing Shots	Exo 5	Xeno Only  -4 Initiative 3T	o o o o | o o o x	1.5w
Tricky Gunplay	Pist 5	-6 Initiative, 2T	x o o o | o o o x	2xW
Concussion Grenade	Sol 8	2 Targ,  -4 Initiative, 3T	x x x o | T T x x	16
Target Acquired	Snip 1	-2 Initiative, 3T	On Init
Unseen Fear	Snip 8	2 Targ, -2 Initiative, 2T	o o x x | T T x x	12
Sneak Attack	Spy 8	-4 Initiative for 3 T	o o o x | o o o o	wep
Devastating Charge	Swrd 5	-2 Initiative 2T	x x o x | o o x x	1.5w

Xeno Beetle  

Radiation Swarm	Xeno Lvl?	+2 Initiative, +26 Radiation dmg, +15% Critical.  Turns unknown.
Scittering Rush	Xeno Lvl ?	+4 Initiative, +10% Melee Acc, +10% dmg/ Critical Turns unknown
Void Endurance	Xeno Lvl ?	+3 Initiative, +25% Deflect, +20% Armor, +25% Resist, Remove Debuffs. Turns unknown
Scorn	" "	Same as Commander? -4 Initiative 2 Targets, 2 Turns

Note: The above talents are ones I've seen so far. Used by the beetle Xenos. 

The beetle buffs are overpowered, and in bad need of rebalancing. 
They remind me of Vurnak's lair in HoS before some much needed balance was applied.
I remember bypassing that part of the story line because it was just too frustrating until
changes to monster speed and damage were made.  In STF the equivalent of speed is Initiative.

I'm still studying this, but just one beetle killed my entire combat team in two battles playing on basic level. 
I don't know what the xeno beetle starting initiative range is but suspect its fairly high, and the buff costs low.

The beetle was able to debuff and attack multiple times in a single round.  My best fighter was
killed with 2 attacks in the same round before the entire team could get off more than 1 attack, that being a concussion grenade.
The grenade might have been immediately debuffed, or missed.  Currently there is no way to tell in the combat log.

Exo-Scout has, Burrowing Shots, Xeno only -4 initiative target attack.

Xeno Hunter has no Xeno only attacks that debuff initiative. 
The hunter is supposed to be a Xeno combat specialist!
  
I recommend one low cost 2 target, Xeno only, initiative curse attack.
 
The character is seriously flawed without some kind of Xeno only initiative debuff talent.

[fallen]

Great notes and summary -- indeed, Initiative is one of the more defining stats in crew combat.