HEAT Warheads is considerably stronger than its description suggests, particularly against flying robotic pods.

The reason is how HEAT interacts with explosive damage falloff.

A few interesting conclusions:

• At the edge of a rocket explosion, HEAT can increase damage against robotic enemies by 200%, rather than the advertised 50%.
• With Shredder Rockets, that relative increase can reach 333%.
• This makes HEAT especially valuable against Drones and Seekers, where multiple enemies may be caught near the edges of the blast.
• The effect is particularly significant with early-game rocket launchers, when a few extra points of damage can determine whether a Drone survives.

I've written up the mechanics, calculations, and actual weapon damage numbers here:

Countering Flying Robotic Pods: HEAT Warheads and Explosive Falloff

There's also a separate entry covering explosive damage falloff itself, including numerical examples.

Curious whether other Long War players have been valuing HEAT Warheads with this interaction in mind.

Playing LWOTC for xcom, friend suggested it since I played xcom 1. Second mission I have all rookies, a chosen shows up, squad wipes me and I have no clue how to win this. I don't want to skip the mission because its the mission where the reapers and other faction meet and idk if I get another chance at it. Please send help.