Overview
The purpose of this guide is to help players, both new and old, to pick the right classes and skills do take down the aliens in a clean and efficient manner. It is aimed at Commander difficulty, but should work on any of the other ones. While I do not have extensive experience with the game, I have to say, it didn’t take long to reach these conclusions.I started my first playthrough on Veteran, and failed the first campaign. As I learned the mechanics, I tried again and succeeded after some harsh trials. Afterwards, I decided to take what I learned into Commander difficulty, and I found it pretty smooth-sailing for the most part, now that I knew what was what.So without further ado, let’s begin Commander.UPDATE: I have completed a new playthrough with the Alien Hunters DLC, which includes a few new items and enemies. This information also reflects the May Patch, which nerfed Grenadiers a tad.UPDATE (July 12): I have come back to try out Shen’s Last Gift, which I will be playing through in the coming week. UPDATE (July 23): Shen’s DLC looks to be about as dissappointing as Aliens Hunter, and as such, I will wait for a sale, and also for all the multiple mods I use to be compatible with it.
Overview
Michael Bay was right. Explosions are a good thing, especially in this game. The more explosives you bring to each mission, the better. They can do guaranteed damage, destory cover, and do things like shred armor, set enemies on fire, or poison them. All with huge damage and area of effect. And nobody does explosives like the Grenadier.
Simply put, this is the strongest class (save maybe the Psi Operative, but that’s a separate topic). My squad by the end had at least 3 of these guys, sometimes even 4. What makes them good is the amount of firepower they can bring to the table, mainy in the form of explosives. You will quickly learn that grenades are the answer to most problems in Xcom 2.
The Ranger is the next, offering massive damage up close to flanked targets with his shotgun. The sword is neat early one, but quickly becomes obselete. One of these dudes should be in your squad, if nothing else, to take care of powerful opponents. An up-close rapid fire at point blank range takes care of most threats. A second Ranger can also be used as well if you have the room.
The Specialist is kind of cool, but ultimately just plays support. That said, this class offers two things that no other does – healing and hacking. Healing is always handy if things go wrong (and they tend to in Commander Difficulty), while hacking can net you neat bonuses during some missions. Or you can try to take over a Sectopod for some mad fun. Having one specialist on the team is handy, though late-game i replaced him with a second Psi trooper.
The Sharpshooter is a class I ended up simply not using. It’s not awful, but it doesn’t bring anything critical to the table. It is unique in that it has essentially two upgrade paths that result in completely different soliders. The gunslinger can dish out many shots, but for paltry damage. The long-range sniper has some powerful mutli-shot abilities, but those aren’t too reliable. You can try him out, but I just didn’t find it necessary to include one of these in my squad.
The Psi Trooper is unique in that it learns all of its abilities in the base, not on the field. So you can just keep the studying, until they are ready. Fully upgraded, they are fearsome.
Final squad consisted of 2 Psi troopers, 3 Grenadiers, and 1 Ranger.
The Grenadier
As mentioned, I find this class to be the strongest due to its AOE abilities. The starting ability lets you launch grenades further than other classes, and lets you bring a second grenade into battle, for extra explosive punch. When in doubt, toss a grenade at the problem.
The Gueriila Tactics School bonus for reaching Captain is Bigger Booms, which lets explosions deal critical damage. It gives explosives a 20% chance to do an extra 2 damage.
The May Patch nerfed Volatile Mix and reduced the damage of most explosives by 1 across the board. Even so, Grenadiers are still the top class due to guaruanteed AOE, strong damage, and various effects (the Acid, Fire, and Gas Bombs)
Skills
Corporal
Blast Padding – Offers one extra armor and 66% resistance to explosive damage.
Shredder – Cannon attacks remove 1/2/3 armor from the target, based on weapon technology.
Verdict: Shredder, any day. The best way to play is to not get hit, and your squad has better defensive tricks than a bit of extra armor. But removing enemy armor never hurts, and let’s you save grenades. Padding is mose useful early, when you don’t yet have Predator Armor, so you could take it for safety, but be sure to respec everyone into shredder once you have Predator.
Sergeant
Demolition – Fire a volley at the target that damages cover, but does no damage to target. Uses 2 ammo, and 3-turn cooldown.
Suppresion – Imposes a -50 aim penalty on the target, and grants reaction fire against it if it moves. Uses 2 ammo, no cooldown. Suppresion aim penalties can stack.
Verdict – Suppresion. Demolition is not awful, but grenades take care of cover pretty well. Suppresion can be used in a pinch to lock down a powerful enemy if you don’t have other means of dealing with it.
Lieutenant
Heavy Ordnance – The grenade in your grenade-only slot gains a bonus use. Works on all kinds of grenades.
Holo-Targetting – Attacking an enemy gives the rest of your squad +15 to aim against it. Works with suppresion and any targetted attacks.
Verdict: Ordnance is the winner here, since it gives you more explosives, which is always good. Holo-Targetting is not at all bad, however, and it might not even be a bad idea to have one of your grenadiers learn it. It’s handy when you want to focus fire a large target like a Sectopod. Makes Chain-Shots and Rapid Fire more likely to get double damage.
Captain
Volatile Mix – Grenades do +2 damage. UPDATE: It no longer increases AOE.
Chain Shot – Fire a shot with -15 to aim. If it hits, fire a second time. Uses 2 ammo, 3-turn cooldown.
Verdict – With Volatile nerfed a bit, it’s almost an even match. I still like it, as 2 more damage is still quite good (and works on Flashbangs). But Chain Shot is a fine pick, if you prefer that.
Major
Salvo – Using a heavy weapon, or launching a grenade as your first action does not end your turn.
Hail of Bullets – Fire a shot that always hits. Uses 3 ammo, and 5-turn cooldown.
Verdict: Salvo takes this one easily. It lets you fire a grenade, and follow up with a weapon hit against the now exposed targets. Or just toss two proximity mines and watch everything die. Hail of Bullets is ok, but there are other ways to do guaruanteed damage (like grenades for example).
Colonel
Saturation Fire – Fire a hail of bullets in a cone, damaging enemies and cover. Uses 3 ammo, and 5-turn cooldown.
Rupture – Fire a shot that, if hits, deals critical damage. Also applies Ruptore, which cases the target to take 3 extra damage from all sources. Uses 3 ammo, 3-turn cooldown.
Veridct: Saturation Fire is pretty nice, but AOE is already covered by your explosives. Rupture, however, gives you a powerful option to deal with single, powerful enemies. 3 extra damage from all sources is no joke, and sets up the enemy to be devastated by Chain Shots and Rapid Fires (Or Fan Fire if you have Snipers).
The Ranger
This is who you call when you need somebody taken out, but don’t want to destroy everything in the area. They are fast, deadly, and sneaky. The starting ability let’s you use your sword, which deals the same damage as an Assault Rifle up close. This ability can be used even after dashing, making it sort of a run-n-gun attack.
The Guerrilla Tactics School bonus for reaching Captain lets Rangers do +3 damage to flanked targets. This bonus is absurd, and lets your Rangers turn flanked enemies to paper. Does not apply to the sword, sadly.
Skills
Corporal
Phantom – When the squad is revealed, this solider remains concealed. Also, starts out concealed on missions when concealment is not availble from the start.
Blade Master – +2 damage on all sword attacks
Verdict: The sword is handy early on, but quckly falls behind on damage compared to the shotgun. As such, Phantom is more all-around useful, as it lets you scout even on missions without concealment, but picking Blademaster on your first Ranger might help deal with early enemies (it will one-shot Sectoids). You can always respec later with the Advanced Warfare Center.
Sergenat
Shadowstrike – Attacks made from concealment gain +25 Aim and +25 Critical Chance.
Shadowstep – This soldier does not trigger reaction fire or Overwatch.
Verdict: Neither of these is great. I tend to pick Shadowstrike for an extra punch once per turn, since the extra crit chance often results in a critical hit. Shadowstep doesn’t do much, since enemy overwatch is rarely an issue. If an alien is overwatching, you can just send a grenade his way to break it.
Lieutenat
Conceal – Enter concealment once per turn.
Run and Gun – Take an action after dashing. 3-turn cooldown.
Verdict: Conceal is neat, but Run and Gun is just too strong. Running a long distance and applying the shotgun up close usually results in dead aliens. This skill almost makes the sword obselete, though it’s still nice to have as backup. Conceal is decent too, and has synergy with Shadowstrike, but I find Phantom sufficient for my scouting needs.
Captain
Implacable – Gain one extra move this turn if you scored a kill. Can only be used to move, not reload, overwatch, etc…
Bladestorm – Free sword attacks on any enemy that enteres melee range.
Verdict: I prefer Implacable, since it works very well with Run and Gun, and the Ranger in general. Get up close, kill the target, the move to cover. Bladestorm can be fun, but mostly serves as a Chryssalid deterrant. Even with Blademaster, a Fusion blade does not kill anything decent in one hit (on Commader that is, Veteran might be a different story).
Major
Deep Cover – If you did not attack this turn, hunker down automatically.
Untouchable – If you scored a kill this turn, the next attack during the enemy turn against you will miss.
Verdict: Deep Cover is almost completely useless, since all it does is let you hunker after a dash. Untouchable works well with Implacable and Run and Gun, and should always be chosen.
Colonel
Rapid Fire – Fire twice in a row at an enemy, at -15 to Aim. No Cooldown.
Reaper – A chain melee attack, where the first attack always hits. Each melee kill grants an extra
action, but further melee attacks deal reduced damage. 4-turn cooldown.
Verdict: Rapid Fire completes the Ranger quite nicely, allowing him to bring down just about anything up close. Even at medium range, two shots at -15 aim are often just as good, if not better than one regular shot. Just don’t forget to reload. Reaper is fun, but unreliable. One Swing rarely kills enemies late-game, and if you soften them up before hand with a grenade, you can probably just kill them all with a second grenade.
The Specialist
The good old support class is back, with some new tricks. The main sell of the class is healing and hacking, which Specialists do better than anyone. If you have the Leader Mod form Long War Studios, they can make decent officers too.
Hacking is cool, but ultimately never necessary. You can gain unique bonuses during some missions like rescuing VIPs, because whatever prison is holding them will need to be hacked, and there is no downside to failing. The Specialist has a good chance to get a reward, which can include a permanent +20 to Hacking, which is great.
Healing doesn’t come up that often if you play right, but it pays to be prepared. Not having medkits to deal with Chryssalid Poison can lead to a disaster. The Specalist is the most efficient healer in the game.
The first ability is Aid Protocol, which spends one action to give a friendly soldier +20/30/40 defense, based on the GREMLIN tech. Not too great, but can serve as backup defense for an exposed soldier (or one you expect to become exposed).
The Guerrilla Tactics School bonus for getting a Specialist to Captain removes the aim penalty on overwatch shots, and let’s those shots hit critically (Opportunist in Xcom Enemy Unknown).
Corporal
Medical Protocol – Send the GREMLIN to heal/stabilize a friendly unit. Grants a single charge. Will have 2 charges if a medkit is equipped. MARK II and III GREMLINS heal 1/2 more, respectively.
Combat Protocol – Deal 2/4/6 damage to an enemy, bypassing armor, based on GREMLIN tech.
Robots take 4-5/7-8/10-11, respectively. Two uses per mission.
Verdict: Tough one, as they are both good. Extra medkits and remote healing are always useful, but so is guaruanteed damage. Because offense is better than defense in Xcom 2, I prefer Combat Protocol, since you can still get good healing with Field Medic. But taking Medical Protocol is just fine.
Sergenat
Revival Protocol – Send the GREMLIN to remove any negative statuses from an ally, such as Panicked, Stunned, or Unconscious. One charge.
Haywire Protocol – Send the GREMLIN to attempt to shut down or take over an enemy robotic unit. 4-turn cooldown.
Verdict: Revival might have been ok, but a single charge just doesn’t cut it. All it really does is wake up Unconscious soldiers, which you otherwise cannot do. If it had a cooldown, it would be pretty solid. Haywire is decent, and with a good Hack score can reliably shut down even Sectopods (depending on how lucky you are with those +20 Hacking bonuses from missions). Take Haywire, unless you have no interest in hacking robots, in which case Revival will serve as a backup in case of trouble.
Lieutenant
Field Medic – Medkit offers +2 charges. If you have Medical Protocol, the GREMLIN will effectively have 4 charges total.
Scanning Protocol – Trigger an instant scan in a large area around the Specialist, revealing any hidden enemies (including civilians). Two charges.
Verdict: Field Medic all day. Two extra Medkits is a very nice bonus and gives you some breathing room when your squad gets hurt. Scanning Protocol is not too good, since it has to be centered around the Specialist (and not thrown, like a Battle Scanner). Your Rangers with Phantom should do a good job finding aliens.
Captain
Covering Fire – Overwatch shots now trigger on any enemy action, not just movement.
Threat Assessment – Aid Protocol now grants a Covering Fire Overwatch shot to the ally, but cooldown is increased by 1.
Verdict: Threat Assessment seems completely superior. Since it only costs one action to use, the Specialist could grand Overwatch to a friendly, then go on Overwatch themselves. To be frank though, neither is exceptionally useful. Overwatching is not something you need anyone to specialize in.
Major
Ever Vigilant – If you spend all your actions on moves, automatically enter Overwatch at the end of turn.
Guardian – Grants a 50% chance to get another Overwatch shot, if the first one hits. There is no limit to how many times Guardian can trigger.
Verdict: These both kind of suck. Ever Vigilant means you go on overwatch if you didn’t take any action. Like Deep Cover, all it does is let you Overwatch after dashing. Guardian doesn’t seem too bad, but it is too specific, requiring that the first shot hit, and even then, only 50% of the time you get a second shot. Go with Guardian, since it might actually do something sometimes.
Colonel
Restoration – The GREMLIN flies to each soldier, healing or reviving as needed. Once per mission. This ability does not use or require any Medkits.
Capacitor Discharge – The GREMLIN does damage (bypassing armor) to an area, possibly stunning enemies there. Robots take more damage. One use per mission.
Verdict: These both are nice. I personally prefer Restoration, because your Grenadiers already have various ways to deal massive AOE damage. Mass healing, however, is not otherwise available, so you could think of it as an emergency button in case a car exploded around your squad.
The Sharpshooter
The sniper of old, this class has taken quite a nerf. In Long War, they were god-like. Here, they are a bit weak. That said, they do have access to abilities that give them the most shot per turn of any class. Their main issue is that they start out very poor.
Unlike the other classes, Sharpshooters basically have two subclasses, one focuses on long range support, other on using pistols to dish out many shots. The pistol is unique in that it has unlimited ammunition. Of the two, I prefer the Gunslinger more, since their many shots have strong synergy with Rupture or BlueScreen Rounds, being able to use the appropriate damage bonusus for every one of their shots.
The first ability gives Squadsight, which lets the sniper fire on any target within the squad’s vision, provided there is line of sight to the target. Unlike before, there is now an Aim penalty based on distance, which hurts this class quite a bit.
The Guerilla Tactics School Bonus for Captain Snipers gives them +10% chance to hit critically.
Corporal
Long Watch – Allows Overwatch to trigger with Squadsight
Return Fire – When targetted by enemy fire, automatically fire back with your pistol once per turn.
Verdict: The first of many skills that either benefit either Gunslinger or Sniper. Neither is too good, so go with whichever path you have chosen.
Sergeant
Deadeye – Take a shot with 25% Aim penalty, but with +2/3/4 extra damage based on weapon tech. 2-turn cooldown.
Lightning Hands – Fire a pistol, without using an action. 3-turn cooldown.
Verdict: Again, Snipers will want Deadeye, while Gunslingers want Lightning Hands. Lightning Hands can be useful even for Snipers though, since a free shot is a free shot.
Lieutenant
Death From Above – Killing an enemy at a lower elevation with your sniper rifle costs only a single action and does not end your turn.
Quickdraw – Firing your pistol with your first action no longer ends your turn.
Verdict: Quickdraw is excellent as it allows the Gunslinger to catch up in terms of damage to his teammates, since pistols deal on average half the damage of rifles/shotguns/cannons. It also lets you use Bluescreen rounds and other such items and gain their bonus more than once. Death from Above kind of sucks, since it only works if you score a kill, and even then, all you can do is either reposition or hunker down to set up an Aim ability.
Captain
Kill Zone – Take a reaction shot against any enemy that moves or attacks within a cone of fire. 3 turn cooldown.
FaceOff – Fire once at every visible enemy with your pistol. 3 turn cooldown.
Verdict: Finally, we are getting to the good stuff. Both of these are solid, though Kill Zone often results in many more shots (and since the sniper rifle does more damage than a pistol), often with much more damage that Faceoff would. That said, Faceoff is more proactive, since it doesn’t wait for the enemy to act first. I’m gonna sound like a broken record, but go with whichever one support your style, Gunslinger or Sniper.
Major
Steady Hands – If you didn’t move last turn, gain +10 aim and +10 critical chance.
Aim – Hunker Down now confers +20 aim to the first shot on the following turn.
Verdict: I have to say, Major rank has some really dumpster perks. Deep Cover, Ever Vigilant, and now Aim. The only use of Aim is to combine with Death from above – You kill something, then use your extra action to hunker, gaining that +20 Aim. But you have to get a kill, which can’t be a guarantee. Pretty awful. For a Gunslinger (on whose perk line it is located), it is beyond useless, since you won’t be hunkering much, you will be shotting stuff. Steady Hands is ok, and works very well for the Sniper. You should pick this perk regardless, since it does more for Gunsligers than Aim ever could.
Colonel
Serial – Each kill made with your sniper rifle completely restores your actions. With each consecutive kill you get a critical chance penalty. 4-turn cooldown.
Fan Fire – Fire the pistol 3 consecutive times at a single target. 3 turn cooldown.
Verdict: Serial is the ability that rescues Snipers from being trash. It’s like Reaper, but at range, and so is more consistent. Getting a lot of kills is not easy though, though Deadeye can help set up some kills as well. Much like Reaper, it can be hard to keep killiing when more grenades could probably achieve a similar result. But being able to fire at different targets far apart makes this skill better than Reaper, and a strong pick for Snipers. Fan Fire is basically like Rapid Fire, but with a cooldown. The main use of it is against Sectopods, alongside Bluescreen rounds for massive damage. You could get 5 shots with Lightning hands, then a regular shot, than fan fire. +5 damage for each shot turns Sectopods into scrap metal. Also strong with Rupture. Strong for Gunslingers, obviously.
Psi Operative
The fifth class, the Psi works differently from the other four. Rather than gain experience in the field, they train in the base, each time gaining new abilities and improving their stats.
When a Rookie is trained as Psi, they gain their first ability (Usually Stasis), after which they can be assigned to train further. You will have the option to train them in one of three skills, which can be taken from any available ones. This means you can learn powerful skills very early. A Psi will be training while not on a mission, and they can be deployed during training. They will resume training once the mission is over (if they weren’t wounded).
Each time they train, their stats improve, until the reach Magus (equivalent to Colonet). At this point, their stats will no longer improve, but they can continue to train to gain any remaining skills.
The Psi class is very powerful once they level up, as they have access to many powerful control efffects. Their damage potential isn’t high, but with many ways to disable opponents, they provide invaluable support. By the endgame, I used two of these.
Their main stat is called “Psi”, which is different from Will. It is what decides how effective some of their controlling effects are. But the damage of their skill is improved by investing in better Psi AMPS.
In general, you should let them train up before deployment, as early they won’t contribute much.
Skill Overview
Since you can learn everything, treat this as a guide for which skills to pick first. If you reach Magus with 7 good skills, you can deploy the Psi to full effect on all missions while letting them train in-between missions. I will grade by priority, with High being a top pick, Moderate being good if there are no High’s, and Low for skills you don’t really need, but will probably learn anyways since you can just keep training.
Soulfire – Does guaranteed psionic damage to an organic enemy, ignores cover and armor. Priority: Medium. Basic offensive attack. Deals decent damage, and best of all, ignores armor.
Can be used as a substitute for Combat Protocol.
Stasis – Completely stuns the target for 1 turn, but renders them immune to any damage or attack. Priority: High. You will often start with this. Great ability, as it allows you to disable anything. Good for when you cannot deal with a powerful enemy (Gatekeeper for example), and need a turn to breathe.
Insanity – Debilitating telepathic attack that can inflict different negative conditions, including mental control of the target. Priority: High. Basically it’s the same as using stasis, but you can still hurt the target. Mind control seems to happen a lot when your Psi Offense is high, but even panic is pretty good. Doesn’t work on robotic enemies.
Inspire – Grant a bonus action immediately to a nearby squadmate. Priority: Medium. Handy trick to have. Use it to let a grenadier toss more explosives, or to move someone out of danger. It doesn’t have unlimited range though, it works only on nearby allies.
Soul Steal – Using Soulfire now heals you for half of the damage dealt. Priority: Low. The Psi is rarely in danger, so this is mostly a convenience. Soulfire doesn’t hit that hard, so this will heal for maybe half of what a Medkit would.
Stasis Shield – Stasis can be used on friendly units. Priority: Low. I have never once cast Stasis on a friendly. It’s a nice flexibility, but almost never comes up,
Solace – The Psi Operative is surrounded by an aura that immediately extinguishes or blocks any mental impairments for themselves and any nearby allies. Passive. Priority – Low. This doesn’t do that much until the last mission, where immunity to mind control is very useful. A Psi doesn’t need this to be a beast, but be sure to get it eventually, as it lets you take on the Final Boss with more ease.
Sustain – Once per mission, when the psionic soldier is reduced to 0 hit points, he is instead reduced to 1 hit point and put into stasis for 1 turn. Priority: Medium. I have never needed to use it, as I generally keep my Psionic fellas out of danger. Still, as a safety net, it is very useful. Definitely get this before the final mission.
Schism – Insanity now does a small amount of guaranteed damage, and applies Rupture to the target. Priority: Medium. Nice upgrade to an already solid skill. Rupture means that after the target is panicked, you can then decimate them with ease, and extra guaruanteed damage never hurts.
Fortress – The Psi Operative is immune to fire, poison, acid, and explosive damage. Priority: Low. Certainly not a bad skill, but again, your Operatives should stay out of danger.
Fuse – If an enemy is carrying explosives, they can be remotely detonated by the Psi Operative. Priority: Low. Hilarious, but hardly necessary. By the time you have access to powerful Psi Operatives, enemy explosives aren’t really an issue.
Domination – Permanently mind controls an enemy. Only one successful Domination can be performed per mission. Priority: Highest. Overwhelmingly the most powerful skill the Psi has. With maxed out Psi and a decent AMP, you have high chances to take over most aliens. With the Alien Amp, you have 70% chance to take over a Gatekeeper, and at least 90% for anything else. Each Psi can only successfuly control one alien, but if it fails, it goes on cooldown. Absurdly overpowered skill.
Null Lance – Project a beam of psionic energy that damages every target it passes through. Priority: High. Powerful attack that hits hard and can hit multiple targets via cover, while ignoring armor. Damage scales with the AMP. One of the Primary attacks you have, though it has a long cooldown.
Void Rift – A large AoE ability dealing moderate damage and a chance to inflict insanity on all targets in the storm. Priority: High. The damage isn’t that high, but the chance to cause Insanity on targets is pretty nice. With Schism, it even causes Rupture. Treat this as a super-powered Flashbang Grenade.
Item Selection
Before we talk about how to outfit our troops, let’s do a quick rundown of the items available.
Explosives:
Frag Grenade/Plasma Grenade – The bread and butter of your Grenadiers, and your best friend early one. Provides cover destrution, armor reduction, and guarnateed damage. Very strong early one until you get the more powerful Bombs.
Flashbang Grenade – Useful early on as a defensive trick. Has a pretty big area of effect and should hit an entire enemy pod if there aren’t obstacles in the way. With Mimic Beacon nerfed, it remains useful even later on as a backup defensive play.
Smoke Grenade/Bomb – Mimic beacons and Flashbangs are more effective for defense.
Incendiary Grenade/Bomb – Pretty good, as it does heavy damage and weakens enemies. The Burning after effect and lingering damage does NOT work against robotic units, however, though it is more devastating against organic targets, as it disables many of the enemy abilities.
Acid Grenade/Bomb – Very strong, melts away armor very well, and does lingering damage. Unlike the fire verison, this DOES work against robotic units, but doesn’t disable abilities unlike fire.
Gas Grenade/Bomb – Large AOE that applies debuffs to organic enemies, reducing their Aim and Mobility.
EMP Grenade/Bomb – Acid Bombs are probably better, since they take care of armor, and will also hurt other kinds of troops. Bluescreen rounds take care of your anti-machine needs anyways.
Proximity Mine – Expensive, but provides the biggest explosive bang and area of effect. Has been nerfed by more than other explosives, meaking it fall behind a bit. You might want to stick to bombs which have other effects in addition to damage, but it still has its uses.
Misc:
Mimic Beacon – NERFED IN PATCH. Since it cannot take cover now, it gets killed a lot faster. Also, the synergy with Aid Protol is lost, making the Beacon basically only absorb 1-2 shots. Not too bad, but now I would say it’s on par with Flashbang, and not superior anymore.
Battle Scanner – Cool, but I havent found much use for it. Rangers with Phantom do a good job of scouting ahead.
Mind shield – Eh, not worth a slot. Later on. Solace from Psi troopers will provide this to the squad.
Medkit/Nanomedkit – Basic healing is always useful. Specialists will make the best use of this.
Skulljack – Handy for the extra Hacking bonus, and for story related missions.
Overdrive Serum – Cool, but it gets wasted after you use it, which is dreadful. There is a mod that fixed that though, which makes this pretty good actually.
Ammo
Tracer Rounds – Neat for Snipers for the extra accuracy.
Talon Rounds – Great for Rangers. Makes them crit 100% of the time if they have the right upgrades.
Venom Rounds – Pretty strong. If you are lucky enough to get them, somebody should equip them for sure.
A.P. Rounds – Eh. Armor can be dealt with by Grenadiers with Shredder.
Dragon Rounds – Not as good as Venom, since the burning doesn’t always trigger.
Bluescreen – Very handy for beating robotic machines. Someone in the squad should have these.
Vests
Nanoscale Vest – 1 hp isn’t enough. You are better off briging another Medkit or a grenade.
Hazmat Suit – Fire, acid, and poison aren’t that big of a deal, as long as you don’t walk into them.
Stasis Vest – Pretty neat, actually, but i prefer to bring more explosive options intead.
Hellweaver – Pretty amusing Chryssalid deterreant, but not much more than that.
Plated Vest – Good enough defense, but like before, I prefer to go on offense rather than defense.
Loadout
Now that we have a better picture of our squad, let’s talk equipment. Every soldier will be able to bring two items with them (or one plus either grapple or a mounted heavy weapon). As well, each soldier can bring a PCS to boost one of their attributes, along with various weapon upgrades.
Ranger
PCS of choice: Mobility. Getting around fast important, since Run and Gun has a cooldown. Untouchable and Implacable should keep you out of danger. Extra health is useful if Mobility is not available, or Dodge if you want the Health for Grenadiers.
Weapon Uprades – Laser Sight for more crits, extra magazine for when you Rapid Fire a lot. Hair Trigger will sometimes let you get even more kills.
Items – Talon Rounds for sure, for extra crits and damage. Second item will either be grapple from Wraith suit, or a Mimic Beacon/Medkit.
Grenadier
PCS of choice: Health, or Aim if available. Grenadiers are the most likely to get hit. More Aim helps gun down targets as well if you can’t toss a grenade.
Weapon Upgrades – Scope for more Aim, Extra Magazine or Free Reloads to keep the ammo going, expecially if you chose Chain Shot, Suppresion, or Rupture.
Items – Your best grenades. The grenade-only slot should have either a Proximity Mine, or an Acid Bomb. Gas and Incindary Bombs are also powerful, but those should be carried by other grenadiers in their grenade-only slots, since they will get double use via Heavy Ordnance. Plasma Grenades should be used if you don’t enough bombs. The last slot should be either Mimic Beacons or Bluescreen rounds if you are expecting heavy robotic resistance. Later on, you can give them the W.A.R. suits and whichever powered weapons you managed to roll.
Specialist
PCS of choice: Doesn’t matter too much. Specialists spend more time healing and supporting than shooting anyways. Still, if you have spare PCS, Aim, Mobility, or Health are all useful.
Weapon Upgrades – Scopes for more Aim are always good, Repeater if you want a chance at some instant-kills (frankly, I dislike the Repeaters alltogether). Hair Triggers can be used to fill any blanks as well.
Items – A Medkit for sure. Field Medic will make it go a long way. An extra Mimic Beacon or flashbang is always handy. Also, you can give them Bluescreen rounds for extra anti-machine response. Also, once you research Skullmining, give them the Skulljack for the extra Hacking Bonus.
Sharpshooter
PCS of choice: Aim of course. Mobility can also work for a Gunslinger.
Weapon Upgrades – this only applies to the Sniper Rifle, as the pistol does not get upgraded. Any special ammo, however, does carry over to the pistol. Go with Scope for accuracy, and Extra Magazines/Free reloads for powerful Killzone and Serial killstreaks.
Items – Snipers should carry Medkits for backup, while Gunslingers should use any special ammo, like Viper or Dragon, since their pistol makes better use of it. Bluescreen is also pretty potent when you can fire many times per round. The grapple is handly for Snipers as well, to get to good elevation quickly.
Psi Operative
PCS of choice: Sadly, there isn’t one that improves Psi, so any leftover ones you have can work. Psi Operatives rely mostly on their abilities, so they don’t really benefit from PCS. Health and Mobility are always useful, though.
Weapon Upgrades – Don’t need any, since you will rarely fire your weapon. Any spare Scopes are always good.
Items – Medkits, flashbangs, or Mimic Beacons are always handy to have. Or give them Bluescreen/Viper/Dragon rounds instead.
Alien Hunters DLC
This DLC adds 4 new weapons for you to use, each tailored to a different class. It also has 3 new armors, available after you defeat each rulers. The first 4 can be aquired relatively early. While we are on the topic, I will provide some brief advice on how to deal with the Rulers as well.
New Weapons:
Shadowkeeper – Basically an upgraded pistol. Can only be equipped by a Sharpshooter. It is a pistol with improved Aim, Crit chance, and a unique ability, Shadowfall, that guaruantees a hit and puts the unit in concealment.
Basically, you should use it over the regular pistol. It upgrades to Magnetic and Beam versions too, so it doesn’t fall behind. It makes running a Gunsligner actually viable, while making the Sniper seems useless now.
Bolt Caster – A single shot weapon, with better damage than other weapons of that tier. It has improved Aim and a chance to stun.
This can be used by either Specialist or Ranger, but since the Ranger wants his Rapid Fire shotgun blasts, I would give this weapon to the Specialist. It upgrades to the Beam tier, and is the hardest hitting regular weapon. It cannot be upgraded though, so no extended magazines for this one (it would be totally OP if you could). I just gave it to my healer and never thought about it again. Good weapon.
Hunter’s Axe – This melee weapon is made for the Ranger, and offers better damage, with a 1-per-mission ranged attack that doesn’t cost an action.
Pretty much just a superior sword. Better damage and a free ranged attack are very nice. What’s more, the axe throw benefits from the Guerrila Tactics bonus (+3 damage to flanked targets), which allows the ranger to score two kills during the same turn if two enemies are flanked. Give this to your best ranger and upgrade it, ignoring the sword completely.
Frost Bomb – Can be equipped by anyone. Tosses a grenade that freezes units for one turn (friendly or foe). Frozen enemies are easier to hit, but are resistant go acid and fire (not poison though).
Due to how small the AOE is on this one, only a grenadier can make any use of this. It does not upgrade, sadly, but is a handy trick for shutting down powerful enemies. The Freezing works on machines, but Getekeeper and Sectopod resist it, only losing one action point for the next turn. It is also handy for dealing with some of the Rulers, as it restricts multiple actions from them. While the Rulers are out there, give this to a Grenadier with Heavy Ordinance, so you get two uses out of it.
Ruler Armors
Killing a Ruler allows you to make a new armor based on the Ruler. These are basically upgraded versions of your normal armors, and also upgrade when you get Elerium and Powered Armors.
Serpent Armor
Aquired from killing the first Ruler, the Viper King. Similar to a Spider/Wraith suit, giving dodge and mobility bonuses (and grapple), but has a unique ability. The ability targets an enemy and if it hits, the target is frozen. Advent also get pulled out of cover (not Mechs though).
Pretty neat piece of armor that looks really cool. Can be given to either Gunslinger or Ranger, whomever you want the extra speed and Grapple for. Whether this armor is better than Wraith is debatable, and comes down to whether you want the extra freeze or the wall-phasing. I would go with the freeze, but keep in mind that the freezing attack CAN miss.
Side Note: Some Vipers will panic when they see this armor.
Rage Armor
This one you get from the Berserker Queen, the second Ruler. It is basically a WAR suit, and has room for a heavy weapon. What is different about it is that it also gives the user a melee attack that does decent damage. The important part is that this attack does NOT cost an action, allowing you to close distance faster, while keeping action points. You should definitely make this and give to someone.
Side Note: Some Mutons will panic when they see it (apparently also Berserkers, based on my observations).
Icarus Armor
You get this one for beating the last Ruler, the Archon King. It is essentially the Predator/Warden suit, with slightly better stats, some really cool gimmicks. First is the ability to vault over obstacles, similar to the way you could jump up roofs in the first game with the right Gene Mods. The other is the real treat – it is a FREE action that allows you to effectively teleport across the battlefield, not unlike how Floaters used to do it in the first game. Difference is that, again, it is a FREE action, allowing you to act afterwards. Very deadly when given to a Ranger, since they can get anywhere they want for some flanking Rapid Fire action. This suit makes the final boss a lot easier, since you can hunt them down very easily with this.
Side Note: Some Archons will panic when they see this.
Dealing with the Rulers
I will close this section with some tips on how to survive against the Rulers. You get the mission to aquire the 4 items early, and soon after, there will be another one where you encounter the first one (the Viper King), after which the rules will spawn randomly during missions. DO NOT START THIS MISSION! It is a surefire way to lose your campaign, because dealing with Rulers with basic equipment is terrible. Having them show up during a time mission, like an extraction, expecially while you have other aliens to deal with, is very very bad for you. Wait for a while until you get higher ranks of soliders and better gear.
The idea is to kill the viper king on the first encounter so that you have one less to worry about.
The Rulers get a free action everytime one of your soliders takes an action, which means they can really ruin your day. The Frost Bomb helps a bit, by limiting several of their actions. However, the Rulers become more resistant to it, with the Archon King only losing one action.
You will want to scout each mission more carefully, so that if you run into a Ruler, you do not have to fight it along with other aliens.
When a Ruler takes enough damage, they will create a portal and run away. When they return again, they remain damaged and if you shred their armor, it remains shredded. Sometimes, you may need to push in the damage just to make it run away, if you don’t think you can kill it.
Poison, Acid, and Burning help, as they will afflict the Ruler every action, and rack up the damage. Freezing the Ruler, then following up with Rupture and Rapid Fire blasts do wonders for quickly reducing their health.
I have not tried Psionics on the Rulers, but know that Dominate will not work on them (obviously, that would be way too funny). Not sure about how Stasis affects then, or whether they can be panicked via Insanity.
Hope this helps.
Leader Pack & Other Mods
So finish up, I will go over the abilites available from the Leader Mod from Long War Studios, and will finish up with the mods I personally use and recommend.
To get the perks, you have to upgrade the Gueriila Tactics School. Once you do, you can train soldiers, by having them pick one of two available options.
A soldier must be at least of Sergeant rank to be able to train, and will need to level up further to get more ranks, with Colonel being required for the highest rank. During Training, the soldier is not available for missions.
First Rank:
Collector – Killing any non-human enemy has a 50% chance to grant 1 intel point as long as the leader is healthy.
Get Some – Once per mission, spend an action to grant all allies within Command Range a +20 bonus to Critical Hit chances for the remainder of the turn.
Verdict: Collector appears to be bugged, and I ended up getting way more Intel than I should have. Assuming it works properly, I like it over Get Some, as it provides a constant, if unremarkable bonus, while extra crit chance for one turn probably won’t turn the tide. That said, I don’t find either ability that good.
Second Rank:
Defilade – Soldiers within Command Range of the leader receive +5 bonus to defense value provided by cover.
Focus Fire – Spend an action to pinpoint a target and grant your squad cumulative Aim bonuses and 1 Armor Piercing on attacks against that target for the rest of the turn.
Verdict: The Command range is fairly decent, so Defilade should cover most of your squad. That said, I do prefer Focus Fire for when I run into Sectopods and such. Still Defilade is pretty solid, so if you want to be more cautious, go for it.
Third Rank:
Fall Back! – Spend an action to grant a free but uncontrolled defensive action to any visible ally.
Scavenger – Mission rewards of supplies, Alien Alloys and Elerium increased by 30% after successful missions. Chance of collecting extra Alien Alloys and Elerium from aliens.
Verdict: The defensive action in question is the soldier running to nearby cover. Whether or not you should pick it depends on how far along you are in the campaign. If you get Scavenger early, its pretty strong, as you could always just sell excess alloys and Elerioum. If you are in the late-game though, you probably don’t need the resources, in that case, go for Fall Back.
Fourth Rank:
Fire Discipline – All allies within Command Range of the leader gain +10% to hit on reaction fire.
Oscar Mike – Spend an action to give all allies within Command Range +3 Mobility for the remainder of the turn. Usable once per mission.
Verdict: I dislike both of these, as they are too situational. Bonus to reaction fire rarely comes up, mostly when you are waiting for Advent reinforcements. The extra mobility isn’t really needed either, unless you need to get to extraction fast. Since it lasts only one turn, and only works in the command range, don’t expect some crazy manouvers with this one. Of the two, I would go with Reaction Fire.
Fifth Rank:
Lead by Example – The leader improves the Aim, Will and Hack of soldiers within Command Range by half the difference between soldier and leader.
Combined Arms – All allies within Command Range of the leader do +1 damage with all successful attacks.
Verdict: A landslide victory for Combined Arms. Extra damage from attacks is amazing (affects Psi attacks too) and makes cleaning up mobs easier. Lead by Example is actually terrible. Only your Specialist could have enough Hack to give a meaninful bonus, but no one else needs to Hack. Will is a mostly useless stat also, and high level soliders will have high will anyways. So you are left with only an Aim bonus, which probably will be something like 5 Aim to other troops at most. I guess the idea is to help new solidiers get better, but Combined Arms works all the time and is always useful.
Other Mods I like:
Long War Perk Pack – Top tier mod that adds three new classes and loads of new perks.
Overwatch All – adds a command to overwatch all soldiers, or all except the current one. This should just have been in the base game.
Evac All – Same idea, but with Evac. Should also have been in the base game.
Free Camera Movement – Gives you more options for turning the camera around, making it easier to navigate. Should have been in the base game.
Instant Avenger Menus – Speeds up transitions between menus in the Avenger. Saves time, which is good.
Muton Centurion Pack – Adds a new Muton, a more powerful variant with extra health and armor. More variety in aliens is always nice.
Engineer2Scientist – Makes Advanced Warfare Center and Psionic Labs be staffed by a scientist, instead of Engineer, which makes sense. Makes Scientists more useful.
Gotcha (Flank Preview Evolved) – Allows you to see when an enemy will be flanked depending on where you move.
Commander’s Choice – Allows you to choose the classes of your squaddies. I never really understood why Firaxis does not allow us to just choose classes automatically. Less necessary than in Xcom 1, since Guerrlia Tactics School lets you train rookies.
Start With Squad Size Upgrades – Makes you start with six teammates immediately (except during Gatecrasher). I like it, because having only four sucks. The first thing you would always do is rush towards this upgrade anyways.
Advanced Modular Weapons – Adds an upgrade to the Proving Grounds to give all your weapons another upgrade slot. Removes the corresponding continent bonus.
SMG Pack – Adds a new weapon, the SMG, which does less damage, but offers more mobility and better stealth.
Stabilize Me! – Adds a new option to stabilize a fallen teammate with their own Medkit. Really, how did something like this get overlooked? Should have been in the base game.
Capnbubs Accessories Pack – More fashion choices for your solidiers.
Advanced Ballisics and Materials – Adds two more projects in the Proving grounds, one to upgrade your special ammo and the other to upgrade the special armors (Hazmat Suit, etc…).
More Gatekeepers and Sectopods – Adds more of these badasses to the lategame. Fun Fact: During the mission to disrupt the ADVENT network, where you only take 3 soldiers, I had to figtht 2 Gatekeeprs and 4 Sectopods. Fun Times. Use at your own risk.
Better AI – Makes the enemies a lot more dangerous. The AI will go for flanking and kill shots a lot more often, so no more Sectoids mindlessly raising zombies when they could get an easy kill.
More Mission Types – Adds a few mission types, such as Defend the Haven. Spices up the game somewhat.
Experimental:
Reliable Damage – Causes all attacks to deal the average damage, based on the damage, accuracy, critical hit chance, and such. This means a weapon that does 3-5 damage will ALWAYS deal 2 damage at 50% hit chance.
Makes the game a little easier, by eliminating those “Oh S***” moments, where RNG decides that you need to lose your entire campaign. I would recommend combining this with a mod that makes the game harder (like More Gatekeepers and Sectopods).
Final Thoughts
The above suggestions are based on my experiences. I was able to breeze through Commander Ironman using them, and will likely try out Legend at some point.
So to summerize, one Ranger for to confirm kills against powerul targets. With maxed crit chance, they can defeat an Avatar with a single Rapid-Fire up close (sometimes, depening on damage rolls).
Three Grenadiers will take care of Area-of-Effect, cover removal, and general crowd control. With their powerful bombs and proximity mines, they make short work of most things.
The last two slots will be some combination of Sharpshooter, Specialist, and later on Psi. I ended with two Psis, but Specialists can be useful as well.
I hope this helps. Good luck out there. Give em Hell, Commander!