Job Coverage
# Squad Composition Guide
A MENACE squad should be built around jobs, not around fake role spreadsheets. The useful question is whether the squad can survive first contact, convert the right targets, control uncertainty, and still leave the campaign healthier than it found it.
Anchor
Absorb first contact without letting the whole squad shape collapse. This job keeps the rest of the plan playable when the map pushes back earlier than expected.
Overbuild risk: Too many anchors turn the squad into a wall that cannot convert pressure into progress.
Conversion damage
Finish the exposed or controlled target once suppression, angle control, or terrain use already made that target worth killing.
Overbuild risk: Stacking finishers without enough setup creates squads that look deadly but cannot create the safe turns they need.
Information or control
Reveal the board, simplify enemy options, or deny the one angle that would otherwise ruin the turn.
Overbuild risk: Pure utility starts underperforming when the squad has no one actually cashing in on the information it bought.
Recovery or sustain
Protect campaign integrity by making imperfect turns less expensive and preserving action economy after contact goes wrong.
Overbuild risk: Too much sustain can hide the fact that the squad still lacks a clean way to solve decisive fights.
# Build the Squad Around Mission Pressure
| Mission Pressure | Composition Bias | Common Failure |
|---|---|---|
| Unclear or mixed-pressure mission | Start with one anchor, one converter, one info-control piece, and one sustain slot, then use the last slot for the briefing's real demand. | Defaulting to a favorite lineup before naming the mission's actual failure condition. |
| Entrenched or armored pressure | Keep one stable front, then bias the flex slots toward breach support and durable conversion instead of generic damage stacking. | Adding more raw damage without solving how the squad will open the hard target safely. |
| Wide reconnaissance or fragile timing map | Preserve mobility and information value while keeping one fallback body that can hold the line if the read is wrong. | Overcommitting to stealth or speed until one messy contact exposes the squad's lack of recovery. |
| Campaign-preservation operation | Choose roles that lower attrition, reduce exposure, and exit the map with a healthier next mission state. | Treating every mission as the place to test your highest-ceiling composition. |
# Rules for Honest Composition
Build around the next ugly turn
A good squad is not designed around its best turn. It is designed around the turn where first contact went wrong and you still need the mission to remain recoverable.
Flex slots must stay honest
If your flex slot never changes, it is not a flex slot. MENACE briefings matter too much for that. Let the mission shape decide the last answer you bring.
Weapon choices only matter after job coverage is real
Players waste time chasing perfect loadout language before the squad even has coherent jobs. Coverage first, loadout tuning second.
# FAQ
What is the most important role in a MENACE squad?
The role your current campaign is missing most often. In many runs that is an anchor or a control piece, because those jobs prevent the turn from becoming unrecoverable before damage ever matters.
Should every squad have the same structure?
No, but every good squad should still cover the essential jobs somehow: survive contact, convert advantage, read or control the board, and preserve enough recovery to continue the campaign.
How should I read squad composition advice here?
This page is not a fake optimal loadout spreadsheet. Read it as a way to assemble job coverage around mission shape, not as a promise that one exact roster formula is always correct.
Last updated: July 10, 2026