Ivan

CONTRACT

HIRING COST : $42,000
EQUIPMENT COSTS : $11,546
TOTAL COSTS : $53,546

STARTING GEAR

Gear	Image
AK-47 assault rifle
5.45x39mm x30
Reflex sight
Bearskin cap
Kevlar vest
Military boots

ATTRIBUTES

SKILLS

TRAITS

Tough: Takes less damage in melee combat

Death wish: Morale increases when health is low

Assault rifle: Skilled at using assault rifles

Strengths/Weaknesses

Ivan is good at shooting things and making large explosions. He's got plenty of potential thanks to some extremely high starting attributes. But his only natural skills are in marksmanship and explosives--and stealth, to a lesser extent.

He gets a bonus for using his starting AK-47 thanks to the assault rifle trait boost, though his other two traits, tough and death wish, aren't nearly as useful.

The tough trait is a good thing to have whenever enemy melee fighters rush into your squad's midst, but the morale boost you get for death wish really just isn't worth risk you run of losing your expensive merc hire permanently.

Tactics

Ivan forms the second half of the so-called "I-Team," alongside his nephew Igor. The two pair well together, too; they both can shoot, but Igor's secondary skill is mechanical to Ivan's explosives.

Ivan makes for a great and highly dependable front-line merc on his own, but you'll get the most bang for the many bucks you spend hiring him by putting the two Dolvich mercs into the same squad.

Long-Term Play

Ivan could certainly benefit from having a few more points spent on bulking up his dexterity and marksmanship. Focus on dexterity first because that attribute governs his secondary skill in explosives.

You should also definitely work on improving that, at least into the 80s. Stealth also seems to make sense, though you likely won't be using Ivan to sneak around very frequently.

Instead of stealth, look to attributes like intelligence, which boosts experience gained, and perception, which makes Ivan more effective in Guard Mode.