XCOM: Enemy Unknown FAQ

by Edalborez   Updated to v1.01 on

Table of Contents

  1. Version History
  2. Game Overview
    1. Controls
    2. Flow of Gameplay
    3. General Tips
  3. XCOM Headquarters
    1. Research
    2. Engineering
    3. Barracks
    4. Hangar
    5. Situation Room
  4. Combat
  5. Mission Control
    1. Priority Missions
    2. General Missions
    3. Council Missions
  6. Squad Management
    1. Loadout
    2. Customize
  7. Abilities
    1. Assault
    2. Heavy
    3. Sniper
    4. Support
    5. Psi Powers
    6. Miscellaneous Powers
    7. S.H.I.V.s
  8. Appendices
    1. Research - Appendix
    2. Engineering - Appendix
    3. Build Facilities
    4. Hangar Items
    5. Gray Market
    6. Enemies
  9. Cheats
  10. Credits / Contact Information

This is not a beginning-to-end walkthrough. The mission structure of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is very freeform and there is no guarantee any player will have the exact same random events or available options in their playthrough.

Version History

v1.00 - October 21st, 2012

  • Squad Management and Abilities ~90% complete, need additional analysis and range testing
  • Appendix has entries listed with prerequisites.
  • All other sections generally "complete", pending fixes and additional content.

v1.01 - October 22nd, 2012

  • Added note on bullet reflection to Ethereals
  • Added note on death explosion for Cyberdisc/Sectopod
  • Minor typo adjustments

v1.02 - October 23rd, 2012

  • Added stat growths to each class entry
  • Added brief build suggestion/summary to class entries
  • Added note to Sqaudsight about overwatch behavior
  • Added missing Combat Drugs and Dense Smoke entries to Support
  • Added Gray Market list to appendix.
  • Removed incorrect statement about Steam Vents being invisible on Impossible
  • Added costs of new recruits in Hire Soldiers
  • Minor typo/format adjustments

Game Overview

Controls

Controls are listed onscreen when at XCOM headquarters. The table below lists controls during battle.

Xbox 360 PS3 Action
A X Take action
B Circle Cancel
X Square Swap weapon
Y Triangle Overwatch
LB/RB L1/R1 Previous/Next unit
LT L2 Zoom camera out (when held)
RT R2 Target mode
Left Stick Move cursor
Right Stick Pan camera
L3/Left Stick Click Details (when applicable)
R3/Right Stick Click No function
Start Pause menu
D-pad Up/Down Height adjust
D-pad Left/Right Rotate camera
Back Select End turn

Flow of Gameplay

Upon starting a new game, you'll be prompted to select Easy, Normal, Classic, or Impossible difficulty. You can also choose to disable/enable tutorials or Ironman settings. Ironman settings allow for only one save file which autosaves as you progress. If you lose an Ironman game, you will have to start over from the beginning on a new file.

Easy:

  • Base starts with Officer Training School
  • Monthly funding increased by 50%
  • Start with $175 base funds

Normal:

  • Base starts with Officer Training School
  • Start with $175 base funds

Classic:

  • Start with $100 base funds
  • Engineers/Scientists awarded from satellite fundings halved
  • Enemies generally have more health and ~+10 Aim/Crit
  • More enemies can be active at once compared to Easy/Normal

Impossible:

  • Start with $75 base funds
  • Engineers/Scientists awarded from satellite fundings halved
  • Enemies generally have more health than Classic and ~+10 Aim/Crit
  • More enemies can be active at once compared to Easy/Normal

The beginning of the game varies slightly depending on whether Tutorials are on or off.

If Tutorials are enabled, the first few missions, and the time spent at XCOM Headquarters inbetween them, will guide the player to perform certain tasks.

If Tutorials are disabled (or if playing on Impossible), the player will have full control over their actions from the introductory mission.

The goal of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is twofold:

  • Stop the alien invasion - Complete Priority missions
  • Maintain panic levels across the globe - Prevent 8 countries from leaving XCOM

The gameplay of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is mainly divided between base management at XCOM Headquarters and Combat during missions.

At XCOM HQ, you can take your time and manage any number of facilities, tasks, and resources. When ready for a mission, visiting Mission Control and scanning for activity will start progressing time at a very fast rate. When you discover alien activity you can choose to deploy for combat or ignore it. There are no immediate consequences for ignoring a mission but panic can rise as a result.

Combat is turn-based, controlling a squad of 4-6 soldiers as they complete various objectives. Soldiers grow stronger as they earn more kills and take part in missions, but any soldier that takes damage will have to spend a few days recovering from their wounds. If all soldiers die during a mission, the game is not lost. You will simply need to use additional soldiers as replacements.

At the end of each month, the Council grades you on your performance and provides funding. Generally, responding to all alien threats in a month successfully will be received favorably while ignoring or failing missions results in a low grade.

There is a final Priority Mission which acts as a "point of no return" for the playthrough, but gameplay can continue indefinitely until players either accept the final mission or lose 8 countries.

General Tips

XCOM Headquarters Tips

In regards to panic:

  • Any countries at maximum panic level (5) will leave at the end of the month
  • Countries at maximum panic whose panic level rises again will immediately leave

  • Funding is only provided at the end of each month. Any other funds must be obtained from selling on the Gray Market or as rewards from missions.
  • Funding is influenced by the number and locations of satellites across the world. Making satellites and Uplinks should be a high priority.
  • Deploying satellites reduces panic immediately, but funding they provide only comes at the end of a month.
  • Similarly, monthly costs for Facilities and Interceptors only count at the end of a month and only if they have been completely constructed.
  • When considering mission rewards and panic is not a concern, generally take Engineers or Funding instead of Scientists.
  • Responding to Alien Abductions lowers panic in one country, but raises panic across the entire continent for ignored locations.
  • Try to always have a Research project active. These only cost time and resources, not money.
  • Facilities and some items from Engineering require time to build. Plan ahead.
  • Items ordered in bulk from Engineering will be delivered at the same time, not 1 every X days.
  • Satellites can be constructed before you have the Uplinks to support them. Uplinks take 14 days to build while Satellites take 20.
  • Adjacent facilities count in any direction.
  • All types of power generators provide adjacent bonuses to each other, as do Uplinks with Nexuses.
  • A 2x2 square of Uplinks can cover 12 countries. A 2x2 square of 2 Uplinks and 2 Nexuses covers all 16 countries.
  • Build Thermo Generators over any Steam vents in your base.
  • Try to fill out each floor with Facilities before digging deeper. Lower levels cost more to excavate.

Combat Tips

  • Save often, with multiple saves if possible. You can't save-scum until a shot miraculously misses, but you can take different moves to avoid a bad scenario.
  • Train extra soldiers so they can sub in when your veterans are wounded. Early on, try to take at least one Rookie each mission.
  • Conversely, bring your highest ranking soldier as much as possible early on to progress towards Officer Training School upgrades.
  • Don't dash into unknown territory. Advance slowly as a group.
  • If no enemies are in range, always Hunker Down or be on Overwatch.
  • If facing low hit chances, it's better to play defensively. Back up and get into Overwatch, or Hunker Down to weather the coming attack.
  • Be in cover whenever possible, with full cover preferred over half cover.
  • Cover provides Defense bonuses as long as an enemy is at a frontal angle. Enemies from left/right/back (flanking) ignore the cover bonus.
  • Most environments are destructible to an extent. Grenades and rockets offer a manual method of doing so, while missed shots (especially from Plasma weapons) can also destroy terrain.
  • When Suppressed, enemies react in different ways:
    • Enemies with a ranged attack will typically not move, and will sometimes not fire if their odds to hit are low enough.
    • Melee enemies will generally always move, triggering your reaction fire.
  • When Sectoids are under the effects of Mind Merge, killing the "sender" also kills the "receiver".
  • If a soldier becomes mind controlled, killing the "sender" will free the soldier. They will be able to take 1 action on a freed turn.
  • Chryssalids are fast but have no ranged attack. Overwatch and Suppression are effective against them.
  • Muton Berserkers charge a short distance towards soldiers that damage them. Lure them closer to your squad and team up on them.
  • Mutons, Cyberdiscs, Heavy Floaters, and Muton Elites aren't shy about using grenades to blow up your cover if it will expose multiple soldiers.
  • Sectopods always get one Overwatch shot even when they have already taken two actions.
  • Sectopod attacks cause a lot of collateral damage; the cover you use in one turn may not last to the next turn.

XCOM Headquarters

At XCOM HQ, you can assign Research to your scientists and have your Engineering team develop new technology or build new equipment. From the Barracks you can manage and customize your squad members. The Hangar bay lets you manage your anti-UFO aircraft defense. From the Situation Room you can observe panic levels across the globe, sell unwanted goods on the Gray Market, and review your current priority objectives.

Research

  • More scientists resuolts in quicker research

Assign New Research: Only one research project can be done at a time. Changing to another project pauses progress on the current research.

Research leads to more Research, Engineering products, and Foundry projects. Interrogating live aliens awards Research Credits towards certain fields of study, decreasing the time it takes to complete a Research or Foundry project by 50%.

See Research - Appendix for more information.

Engineering

  • More Engineers results in cheaper manufacturing costs

Buy/Build Items: Allows you to purchase weapons, items, armor, and air defense tools like Satellites and Interceptor armaments. Weapons, items, and armor for ground troops is developed instantly, but other items take time to build.

Build Facilities: Manage and build additional facilities in the base, each providing additional benefits.

Solid spaces must be excavated to build over them. This costs more depending on which sublevel you're excavating: $10 for level 1, $20 for 2, $40 for 3, $80 for 4. To access a new sublevel you will need to build and maintain a new level of the Access Lift. Excavation takes 5 days.

Steam vents can be found on some blocks. Steam vents provide no additional benefit to facilities, save that Thermo Generators can be only be built on them.

Foundry: Essentially the Engineering version of Research. Unlike Research, you can take as many simultaneous Foundry projects as you desire. These projects add new abilities, strengthen equipment, or open new equipment for purchasing.

See Buy/Build Items and Foundry in Engineering - Appendix for more information.

See Build Facilities for more detail on specific Facilities and their benefits.

Barracks

The Barracks are where you manage your XCOM soldiers. You can also use the Officer Training School and Psi Labs from here to further augment your squad if you have these facilities constructed.

View Soldiers: Edit details of your squad. See Squad Management

Officer Training School: Bonuses for the whole squad can be purchased here if you possess a soldier with a high enough rank. The bonuses only apply if the OTS is still intact; removing it will bar access from upgrades until it is rebuilt.

Ability Cost Rank Effect
Squad Size I $50 Sergeant Squad size increases to 5 soldiers
Squad Size II $75 Captain Squad size increases to 6 soldiers
New Guy $250 Major New recruits begin at Squaddie rank
Rapid Recovery $150 Lieutenant Allows soldiers to heal from wounds twice as fast
Don't Die On Me $275 Colonel Higher ranking troops are more likely to be critically wounded than killed in battle
Wet Work $125 Sergeant Kills grant additional experience to soldiers
Iron Will $200 Major The Will bonus gained from promotions increases

Visit the Psi Labs: Soldiers can be placed here to test their Psionic potential. Psionic testing takes 10 days, during which a soldier cannot be used for missions. After 10 days have passed, a soldier will either develop the gift of Psionics or be permenantly without them. A soldier cannot be retested.

High Will has been stated to improve the odds of a soldier having the gift. If you are playing a non-Ironman run, note that the chance to pass or fail is calculated when you place a soldier in the Psi Labs. If you save beforehand you can see if a soldier has the gift, reloading and pulling them out if they fail.

View the Memorial: A chronicle of dead soldiers is listed here.

Hire Soldiers: If needed, you can hire new Rookie soldiers to add to your ranks. If you have the "New Guy" upgrade from the Officer Training School, they will be Squaddies instead of Rookies. New soldiers take 3 days to arrive.

New soldiers cost $10 on Easy/Normal, $15 on Classic/Impossible

Sometimes Alien Abduction missions will award a soldier who starts at a higher rank. These soldiers do not come with preset abilities and can be assigned as you desire. Their stats may vary from that of a naturally-raised Rookie.

Hangar

From the Hangar, you can manage your anti-UFO aircrafts. Each continent can hold 4 aircrafts.

Interceptors are the basic aircraft. They are not very durable, but are the only option for air defense for most of the game. $40 build cost, $20 monthly maintenance cost.

Firestorms are an advanced model available after the appropriate research is performed. Tougher, faster, and more expensive than an Interceptor. Firestorms are bought from the Build Items section of Engineering, rather than directly from the Hangar menu. Firestorms are built in the Hangar of the continent where XCOM Headquarters is located, but can be transferred to other locations once they are built.

When a UFO Attack occurs, choose an aircraft to respond and counterattack. UFO combat plays out automatically until one of the two crafts is destroyed, engagement time runs out, or when you choose to manually abort an attack. It's strongly recommended to abort when your aircraft is 1-2 shots away from destruction, as repairs only cost time while destruction requires replacement. If the UFO survives, it's possible to send another aircraft to re-engage. If the UFO is shot down, you can send a ground squad to attack the UFO crash site.

With the proper Research, items can be made in Engineering to provide a one-time boost to aircraft accuracy, speed, or evasion for a short time.

See Hangar Items for aircraft weapons and equipment.

Situation Room

At the bottom of the screen, the current Priority objective(s) will be displayed. Click L3/More Info for more detailed descriptions.

Launch Satellite: You can view worldwide panic levels from here and deploy satellites, if you have any, provided you have Uplinks to support them. You can also see the monthly income and bonuses provided by each country.

After the introductory mission, one continent is selected as the home base for XCOM Headquarters. If Tutorials are enabled, only North America or Europe can be selected. The continent selected provides a bonus as if you controlled the entire continent and determines starting funds.

Starting funds:

  • $175 (Easy/Normal)
  • $100 (Classic)
  • $75 (Impossible)
  • Add monthly funding of starting country (bolded entry in table below)
  • Monthly funding +50% on Easy

Example: Starting in North America on Classic difficulty, players will have $280 starting funds.

North America South America Africa Europe Asia
United States: $180 Argentina: $70 Egypt: $70 United Kingdom: $100 China: $100
Canada: $100 Brazil: $80 South Africa: $80 Russia: $150 Japan: $100
Mexico: $50 Nigeria: $100 France: $80 India: $60
Germany: 100 Australia: $60

Having a satellite over each country on a continent (or starting on one) provides an additional bonus.

North America - Air & Space: All aircraft and aircraft weapons cost 50% less to purchase, build, and maintain. Saves a bit of money over the course of an entire playthrough.

South America - We Have Ways: Autopsies and Interrogations are completed instantly. I would strongly encourage not starting in South America. With only 2 countries it's relatively easy to just claim this bonus if desired. Autopsy and Interrogation research tends to be quick anyways.

Africa - All In: Monthly XCom funding increased by 30%. One of the better starting options, and a good goal to claim in any case. Considered one of the more useful bonuses, either from starting in Africa or claiming it as soon as possible.

Europe - Expert Knowledge: Labs and Workshops cost 50% less to build and maintain. A somewhat niche utility bonus.

Asia - Future Combat: All projects in the Foundry and the Officer Traning School cost 50% less. Handy, but there aren't very many of these upgrades to save 50% on.

Visit the Gray Market: Sell unwanted alien goods here for extra funds. Some items will be clearly marked as having no research benefit and can be sold freely. If you need some extra funding, don't be shy about selling corpses or other goods. Some are used for manufacturing items or research, but you will generally always have a good supply of corpses from new missions.

Council Requests: Sometimes a country may request an order of goods, usually an Engineering-made item or alien goods. These have a generous time limit for the order, but no penalty is imposed for not fulfilling a request other than not getting the associated reward.

Combat

Combat plays out as a turn-based affair; your squad of 4-6 soldiers goes first, the aliens then take their turn, and the process repeats until mission's end.

Characters have 4 basic stats:

  • Health: Determines how much damage you can take before being wounded or killed.
  • Will: Determines user's ability to resist panic and use/defend against Psi powers.
  • Aim: Base accuracy
  • Defense: Base evasion

Under most circumstances, each player unit has 2 action points to spend during their turn on actions like moving and attacking. Generally actions in a turn can be done in the following orders:

  • Move, then perform an action.
  • Perform an action (ends turn without moving).
    • Some actions can only be done before moving; takes 2 action points.
  • Move twice the normal distance ("Dashing"), but can't perform actions afterwards.
    • Dashing provides a small defense boost against reaction fire.
    • Can also move as 2 separate actions instead of dashing in one move.

Abilities possessed by each class and enemy can slightly alter the rules of using action points.

You are not required to use all of a character's action points at once. For example: you can move Unit A, then take Unit B's whole turn and come back to Unit A.

One important facet of combat is cover. Soldiers die very easily when in the open. Cover provides a boost to defense. At its most basic form, accuracy is merely calculated as [Aim-Defense]. Thus, even being in half cover provides a 20% increase in evasion.

Cover provides defensive bonuses against any enemy in a near 180-degree arc. Units who are directly to the side or anywhere behind a unit in cover are "flanking" the unit in cover. This nullifies their cover defense for the flanker's attack. Attackers who are adjacent to a unit in cover (within 1 tile) also count as flanking. 

     A
B--------D
C       X

In this example, X is a unit in cover. C and D's attacks count as flanking while A and B still have to deal with the defense boost.

The shield indicator next to a unit in cover shows what kind of effects are in play:

  • Blue shield for player units, red for enemy units
  • Half-full shield = half cover, +20 defense
  • Full shield = full cover, +40 defense
  • Yellow shield = being flanked from one or more directions

Enemies in XCOM: Enemy Unknown typically don't move until disturbed by the player. In most cases, disturbing the enemy plays a small cutscene close-up of the enemy group and awards them a free movement to either advance or get to cover on a player turn or a forced second movement on an enemy turn.

Enemies are always typically banded together in squads of two or three. Disturbing one enemy in a squad prompts all of its members to move, even if you can't see them all. Once disturbed a squad will act more aggresively or defensively depending on the enemy type.

Sometimes "sound waves" will be heard by one of your soldiers from some part of a map you haven't yet explored. This gives you a visual indication of which direction you can find a group of enemies. If the origin of the "wave" is red the enemy squad is usually very close, within 1-2 movements.

Soldiers who take damage in combat will need to spend a few days recovering from wounds afterwards. Bonus health granted from items and armor allow for a wounded "buffer" where you can take damage and not have to recover. For example, a soldier with 5+10 health will not be counted as wounded unless they fall to 4 HP or lower. Healing a soldier who has crossed into the wounded threshold with a medikit does not remove the wounded status.

When soldiers take damage or die, there is a chance that they or other soldiers will panic. Panicking soldiers can't be controlled for the turn they panic and the following player turn. Initially after becoming panicked, soldiers will usually either shoot a random friend or foe, Hunker Down, or run for cover. The following player turn they will simply do nothing. The odds of becoming panicked decrease with higher Will.

Soldiers who lose all of their HP either die instantly or become critically wounded. Critically wounded soldiers can be stabilized using a medikit, but will otherwise die permanently in three turns. If the mission is completed during the three turns, critically wounded soldiers also survives. Critically wounded soldiers take a permanent decrease to their Will value.

Sometimes when things aren't going your way, it can be better to abort a mission instead of continuing. Moving all soldiers into the highlighted area near your landing zone allows you to abort the mission and take all surviving soldiers back to base. You can also choose to abort from the pause menu, but any soldiers outside the landing zone will not be extracted. No alien corpses or artifacts are obtained from a failed or aborted mission.

Following is a basic description of actions available to most or all player units. See Abilities for class-specific or Psi-related abilities.

Fire: Shoot with your equipped primary weapon or pistol. Consumes ammo for primary weapons.

Overwatch: Fires at the first enemy that moves within your sight radius. Overwatch shots cannot inflict critical hits and have a small Aim penalty (-15).

Reload: Fully reloads a primary weapon.

Hunker Down: Only available in cover. Doubles defense bonus from cover (half cover now gives +40, full cover +80) and provides immunity to critical hits, but shortens user's sight radius to 3 tiles until their next turn. Cover bonus is not applied towards enemies that flank a Hunkered Down soldier.

Switch Weapon: Swaps from primary weapon to pistol and vice-versa. Counts as a free action. Heavies do not take a pistol and cannot swap weapons.

Mission Control

Scan for alien activity and deploy for ground and anti-UFO missions from the Mission Control room.

Scanning advances ingame time at a rapid rate. Progress is temporarily halted when an important update arises, such as completed Research, Facilities, or discovering alien activity.

Missions do not have to be undertaken immediately, but will expire quickly (usually within a day) and reflect poorly on your monthly evaluation if they do so.

Note that alien strength and variety increases as time progresses. A few species only appear after certain Priority missions, but delaying your progress will still result in fighting tougher enemies before too long.

Priority Missions

  • Please note, there's no need to rush priority missions. Take your time to manage funds, panic levels, upgrades, and so on before advancing.

1A: Introduction (tutorial)

You will first play a scripted mission to introduce you to the controls. Afterwards you will be able to select your starting continent between North America or Europe.

Complete the required operations as the game commands. After the tutorial mission, a few more preset missions will follow:

  • Alien Abduction mission, choosing between one of two locations to respond to.
  • Target Escort mission, escorting a VIP.
  • UFO Attack, raiding a downed UFO.

After this, you are given freedom to act as you please for the remainder of the playthrough. Priority mission path now intersects with that of the non-tutorial introduction.

1B: Introduction (non-tutorial)

Select your starting continent from any of the 5. You will then immediately deploy on an introductory mission with 4 Rookies. Complete this mission and you'll be free to continue as you please.

2: Containment

  • Research Xeno-Biology
  • Construct the Alien Containment Facility
  • Research the Arc Thrower
  • Build an Arc Thrower
  • Use the Arc Thrower to capture a live alien
  • Interrogate a live alien

The goal for this phase is to capture a live alien. Doing so requires a few steps of construction and research. The Arc Thrower is best used on weakened enemies with 3 or less health. Use Pistols if necessary to limit the amount of damage you deal. Recommended that you give the Arc Thrower to an Assault soldier (who are usually closest to enemies anyways) or a Support soldier with Sprinter.

3: The Alien Base

  • Capture an Outsider
  • Research Outside Shard
  • Build the Skeleton Key
  • Assault the Alien Base

Outsiders can be found in UFOs, so be sure to take your Arc Thrower on these missions.

The Alien Base will likely be the longest mission yet. It's highly recommended to have a Support or two with Medkits. Some paths will split but they all unite at the same general places.

The final room will have a Sectoid Commander. Commanders have psionic powers, most notably Mind Control. Take care not to hit any brainwashed allies by accident. Completing the Alien Base mission reduces worldwide panic by 2.

4: The Hyperwave Beacon

  • Research the Hyperwave Beacon
  • Construct the Hyperwave Relay
  • Scan with the Hyperwave Relay

Important note: before building the relay, take some time to outfit your Interceptors with better weapons or start developing Firestorms. What the Hyperwave Relay reveals may not be easy to handle for regular Interceptors. Also perform an autopsy or interrogation on the Sectoid Commander to gain access to the Psi Labs. Start testing soldiers for Psi candidacy and start using those who are gifted.

It may take a few weeks of scanning before the relay picks up anything, so just continue with your everyday procedure until then.

5: The Overseer UFO

  • Research an Advanced Fighter Craft
  • Intercept the Overseer UFO
  • Assault the Crashed Overseer UFO

It's possible to have a Firestorm built beforehand and strongly recommended to do so. Interceptors will only last a few seconds against the Overseer, whether by time or by damage taken. Firestorms can only be built from your starting country's hangar, but it's advised to transfer one to each continent for general UFO defense.

The Overseer UFO is much like any other UFO crash site, save for the Ethereal inside of it. Ethereals are tougher psionic enemies than Sectoid Commanders. They seem to prefer using Mind Control whenever it's available, so use that as a free turn to finish off any other minions before focusing fire.

6: Final Preparations - The Temple Ship

  • Build the Psi Labs facility
  • Develop and create the Psi Armor
  • Research the Ethereal Device
  • Construct the Gollop Chamber
  • Use the Ethereal Device
  • Assault the Temple Ship

To begin the final assault on the Temple Ship, you will need one soldier who can wear Psi Armor (and furthermore use Psi abilities). The choice of soldier doesn't matter, but whoever you chose must be part of the final mission squad and must survive to the end of the mission.

Using the Gollop Chamber crosses a point of no return. No further research, engineering, or missions can be done. The only thing you can do is launch the final mission. If you still want to do other tasks, simply delay activating the Gollop Chamber.

The Temple Ship, like the Alien Base, is a long indoors mission. The ship is split into large chamber with multiple paths. Access to the next chamber is only granted when all enemies in the current chamber have been defeated. If a door isn't opening, look around in dark corners for enemies you may have missed.

  • Section 1 enemies: Sectoids, Sectoid Commanders, Drones, Cyberdiscs
  • Section 2 enemies: Heavy Floaters, Chryssalids
  • Section 3 enemies: Thin Men
  • Section 4 enemies: Mutons, Muton Berserkers
  • Section 5 enemies: 2 Sectopods, Muton Elites
  • Final section: Muton Elites, 2 Ethereals, Uber Ethereal

Killing the Uber Ethereal completes the mission, no matter how many other enemies are left. When you beat him, you've completed the game!

General Missions

Alien Abductions

Alien Abductions are the simplest variety of mission. No secondary objectives are involved. Defeating all aliens completes the mission.

However, Alien Abductions force you to choose between 2 or 3 locations. Each provides a different reward for completing the mission. The country you aid will have their panic level reduced, while panic will rise across the continent in other locations.

Alien Abductions can only occur in countries without satellite coverage.

Terror Attack

In Terror Attacks, you need to aid 18 civilians against alien forces. Civilians are extremely weak and will die in a single hit. Civilians can be "saved" by moving next to them within 2 tiles (shown by a blue ring around civillians). Any civilians unrescued but still alive when all aliens are killed will count as being saved. You don't immediately fail if all civilians die, but save as many as possible.

Ignoring a Terror Mission, regardless of the country's panic level, causes them to leave the XCOm project.

UFO Contact / Crash Site

UFO Contacts involve an air-to-air battle between your aircrafts and a UFO. Shooting it down allows you to raid the crash site.

UFO crash sites tend to have valuable resources like Alien Alloys and UFO Flight Computers. The alien crew will usually be inside the ship or not far from the wreckage.

UFO size classes for general missions can vary, with larger ships having more enemies and usually tougher as well. These classes include:

  • Small Scout
  • Large Scout
  • Abductor
  • Supply
  • Battleship

Ignoring UFO sightings can eventually lead to UFOs shooting down your satellites. Shooting down a UFO but choosing not to raid the crash site does not seem to have any negative effect on panic levels.

UFO Landing

UFO Landings are similar to Crash Sites, but the UFO is intact. This yields more valuables in comparison. Enemies tend to be more spread out around the map.

Ignoring UFO sightings can eventually lead to UFOs shooting down your satellites.

Council Missions

Asset Recovery

Functionally these are like Alien Abduction missions. No secondary objectives are involved, just kill all aliens.

Bomb Disposal

Bomb Disposal missions require the squad to find and disarm a bomb within a turn limit. Power nodes located on the map add one turn to that limit when deactivated. Disarming and deactivating count as a "free" action like opening doors.

After disarming the bomb, a final wave of enemies appears on the following enemy phase. Killing these enemies, in addition to any of the original enemies still alive, will complete the mission.

Ignoring Bomb Disposal missions seems to have a negative effect on panic levels.

Target Escort

Target Escort missions involve finding a VIP and escorting him/her to the starting location. When you find the VIP, move within 2 tiles of and you will be able to control them like a regular unit. VIPs have no weapons and low health, so keep them safe on the way back. Additional enemies appear on the turn after you gain control of the VIP. As soon as they reach the starting location, the mission is completed.

Squad Management

Loadout

Armor provides extra health to soldiers. Normally any soldier that takes damage during a mission becomes wounded afterwards. Health provided by Armor acts as a buffer for that wounded threshold. For example:

A soldier with 8 health takes 3 damage. They will be wounded afterwards. A soldier with 5+3 health takes 3 damage. They will not be wounded. A soldier with 5+3 health takes 3 damage, is fully healed by a Medkit, then takes 3 more damage. Will not be wounded.

Armor may also confer additional benefits, such as increased Defense, Will, movement, or extra abilities.

Armor Health Defense Other
Body Armor 1
Carapace Armor 4
Skeleton Suit 3 10 Grapple, Move +3
Titan Armor 10 Immune to poison, walk through fire
Archangel Armor 8 Flight, 6 fuel
Ghost Armor 6 20 Grapple, Stealth, Move +3
Psi Armor 6 10 Will +20, Move +2

Primary weapons provide the bulk of a soldier's firepower. Each shot consumes ammo. Spare ammo is unlimited, but weapons must be reloaded after firing a certain number of shots. Some abilities use more than 1 ammo per shot.

  • All weapons have a range of 27 tiles unless otherwise noted.
  • All weapons have a damage range of (Base Damage +/- 1). A weapon with a base damage of 4 will do 3-5 non-critical damage.

Assault Rifles: Usable by Rookie, Assault, and Support

  • All Assault Rifles have a base ammo count of 4.
Name Base Damage Critical Bonus Critical Damage Other
Assault Rifle 3 10% 4
Laser Rifle 5 10% 7
Light Plasma Rifle 5 10% 7 +10 Aim
Plasma Rifle 7 10% 10

Shotguns: Usable by Assault

  • All Shotguns have a base ammo count of 4?.
  • Shotguns are less accurate at longer distances
Name Base Damage Critical Bonus Critical Damage
Shotgun 4 20% 6
Scatter Laser 6 20% 9
Alloy Cannon 9 20% 13

Light Machine Gun: Usable by Heavy

  • All LMGs have a base ammo count of 3.
Name Base Damage Critical Bonus Critical Damage
LMG 4 0% 6
Heavy Laser 6 0% 9
Heavy Plasma 9 0% 13

Sniper Rifle: Usable by Sniper

  • All Sniper Rifles have a base ammo count of 4?.
  • Sniper Rifles are less accurate at close distances.
  • Sniper Rifles have 100 range, but Squad Sight must be taken to use this extra range.
Name Base Damage Critical Bonus Critical Damage
Sniper Rifle 4 25% 6
Laser Sniper Rifle 6 30% 9
Plasma Sniper Rifle 9 35% 13

Secondary weapons include infinite-ammo Pistols and the Heavy's Launchers. Pistols provide a less powerful but reliable backup weapon for the classes that possess them, while Rockets excel at area damage and cover destruction.

Pistols: Used by all except Heavy.

  • Pistols have infinite ammo and do not need to be reloaded.
Name Base Damage Critical Bonus Critical Damage
Pistol 1 0% 1
Laser Pistol 2 10% 3
Plasma Pistol 3 0% 4

Launcher: Used by Heavy

  • Cannot be reloaded or used for Overwatch, Suppression, etc.
  • Launchers have a base ammo count of 1.
  • Blaster Launcher can curve and are not obstructed by obstacles in direct line of sight.
  • Rockets have a 10% chance of veering slightly off-course.
Name Base Damage Critical Bonus Critical Damage
Rocket Launcher 6 0% 12
Blaster Launcher 9 0% 13

Items such as Grenades and Medkits provide offensive, defensive, or passive abilities available for use. All soldiers can equip one item. Support soldiers at Major rank or higher can equip two, but some items cannot be equipped twice

Item Active Effect Passive Effect Uses Equip 2?
Frag Grenade 3 damage, ~2 radius, 15 range 1 Yes
Alien Grenade 5 damage, ~2 radius, 17 range 1 Yes
Nano-fiber Vest +2 HP No
S.C.O.P.E. +10 Aim No
Arc Thrower Stun + Capture, ~2 range 2 Yes
Chitin Plating +4 HP, reduces melee damage No
Mind Shield +30 defensive Will No
Combat Stims [Immune to criticals, halved damage, increased movement, resist panic] 2 turns 1 Yes
Medikit Restores 4 base health, can stabilize/cure poison, 2 range Poison immunity 1* No

  • Medikit uses for Heal and Stabilize/Revive are shared.
  • Grenades can hit allied units; the tagrt circle will be yellow and a warning will pop up when confirming a friendly fire selection.
  • Arc Thrower cannot stun Cyberdiscs, Drones, Chryssalids (and their Hatchlings/Zombies), or Sectopods.

Customize

From this menu, you can change a soldier's first and last name. Characters who promote to Sergeant rank can also be assigned a nickname. Names do not affect combat ability or stats, with the exception of 4 cheat code-related names, so feel free to name your soldiers whatever you want.

Nationality and gender can't be changed, but have no effect on gameplay.

Abilities

All soldiers start out as a Rookie. All Rookies begin with 40 Will and 65 Aim. Starting health is also the same, but depends on the playthrough difficulty:

Difficulty Easy Normal Classic Impossible
Health 6 5 4 3

Rookies will, after gaining enough experience, promote to a Squaddie. From here their path is now permanently set towards one of 4 classes. As they gain more experience, they promote to Corporal, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, and Colonel.

Each rank offers a choice between one of two abilities, except for Squaddie and Major which only have one.

Each class has static level growths to HP, Aim, and Will. Will seems to be the same for all classes: +2-8 per rank, plus an extra 2-6 bonus if Iron Will is purchased from the Officer Training School.

Assault

Assaults are good picks to start off any engagement. Their skillset allows them to play hit-and-run, is suited for close ranges and is moderately effective at dealing critical damage.

Growths:

Rank HP Aim
Squaddie 1 5
Corporal 0 3
Sergeant 1 3
Lieutenant 0 3
Captain 1 3
Major 0 3
Colonel 1 4

Abilities:

Rank Skill 1 Skill 2
Squaddie Run & Gun
Corporal Tactical Sense Aggression
Sergeant Lightning Reflexes Close and Personal
Lieutenant Flush Rapid Fire
Captain Close Combat Specialist Bring 'Em On
Major Extra Conditioning
Colonel Resilience Killer Instinct

Run & Gun: Allows firing or Overwatch after Dashing on the turn Run & Gun is activated. 2 turn cooldown.

  • Using Run & Gun is a free action, but it must be activated before taking a second move or Dashing.
  • Activating Run & Gun disables all commands for the rest of the turn except Fire, Flush, Rapid Fire, and Overwatch.

This is a great ability that exemplifies the Assault's strengths. Use hit-and-run tactics or make a risky move for a more accurate and deadly shot.

Tactical Sense: Confers +5 Defense per enemy in sight (max 20).

  • Enemies in sight range of other allies do not count, only those that can be seen and targeted by the ability holder are considered.

Aggression: Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%).

  • Enemies in sight range of other allies do not count, only those that can be seen and targeted by the ability holder are considered.

Tactical Sense is considered the safer option and is exclusively advised on higher difficulties.

Lightning Reflexes: Forces the first reaction shot against this unit each turn to miss.

Close and Personal: Confers +30% critical chance against adjacent targets. The bonus declines with distance from the target.

  • Presumably, +30% from 1 tile distance, +20% from 2, +10% from 3.

Lightning Reflexes is immensely useful, allowing your Assaults to trip enemy overwatch fire and allow other soldiers to move freely. Close and Personal is not recommended if only because Lightning Reflexes is so much better.

Flush: Fire a shot that causes enemies to run out of cover. The shot is easy to hit with, but does reduced damage.

  • +20% Aim.
  • Consumes 3 ammo instead of 1.
  • Does not force an enemy to move if they are not in cover or are incapable of taking cover.
  • Enemies forced to move will trigger reaction fire.

Rapid Fire: Take two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a -15 penalty to Aim.

  • The second shot (and second ammo unit) is not fired if the first shot kills.
  • Can be performed with a Pistol.

Rapid Fire is usually more useful in most situations. Flush can be redundant or unneeded if you prefer to attack enemies in cover with grenades or rockets, but combos well with other soldiers using Suppression, Overwatch, In The Zone, and so on. Hard to go wrong here.

Close Combat Specialist: Confers a reaction shot against any enemy who closes to within 4 tiles. Does not require Overwatch.

  • Limited to one reaction shot per enemy move.
  • Seems to trigger when enemies cross the 4 tile "boundary"; doesn't seem to trigger on enemies that move around within 3 or less tiles.

Bring 'Em On: Adds 1 damage on critical hits for each enemy the squad can see (up to 5).

  • Enemies in sight range of other allies do not count, only those that can be seen and targeted by the ability holder are considered.

Since Assaults are usually the forward-most members of a squad, Close Combat Specialist will likely see more use.

Extra Conditioning: Confers bonus health based on which type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.

  • Medium armor awards +2 health, Heavy awards +4.
  • The bonus health is not seen in the Barracks menu, but will be displayed during missions.

Provides a nice bit of extra health, but be sure to weigh the benefits of Medium armor abilities versus the extra health of Heavy armor.

Resilience: Confers immunity to critical hits.

Killer Instinct: Activating Run & Gun now also grants +50% critical damage for the rest of the turn.

Resilience is recommended on higher difficulties, as enemies are more likely to hit and crit. Killer Instinct has good synergy with shotguns, other offensive Assault skills, and/or Ghost Armor.

Assault abilities in general are very polarized, focusing heavily on defense or offense. Offensive abilities are also better tailored to Shotgun-wielding Assaults. While going straight down the left or right hand paths works, using a hybrid build leaning towards defensive can also be effective:

Pure Defense Hybrid Pure Offense
Run & Gun
Tactical Sense Tactical Sense Aggression
Lighting Reflexes Lightning Reflexes Close and Personal
Flush Flush or Rapid Fire Rapid Fire
Close Combat Specialist Close Combat Specialist Bring 'Em On
Extra Conditioning
Resilience Resilience or Killer Instinct Killer Instinct

Heavy

Heavies tend to be less accurate than other classes, but they boast high damage and powerful cover-busting rockets alongside several team support options.

Growths:

Rank HP Aim
Squaddie 1 2
Corporal 0 1
Sergeant 1 1
Lieutenant 0 1
Captain 1 1
Major 0 2
Colonel 1 2

Abilities:

Rank Skill 1 Skill 2
Squaddie Fire Rocket
Corporal Bullet Swarm Holo-Targeting
Sergeant Shredder Rocket Suppression
Lieutenant HEAT Ammo Rapid Reaction
Captain Grenadier Danger Zone
Major Will to Survive
Colonel Rocketeer Mayhem

Fire Rocket: Fire a rocket using an equipped launcher. This ability can not be used after moving, nor more than once per mission.

  • Free-aimed ability, can be shot at higher/lower elevations.
  • Damage based on equipped launcher.
  • Destroys most terrain in addition to dealing damage.
  • Can hit allies; target area turns yellow to signify friendly fire.

Rockets are useful against groups, but are also invaluable for destroying enemy cover.

Bullet Swarm: Firing the primary weapon as the first action no longer ends the turn.

  • Using Fire as the first action allows the soldier to make a second move (with no further action) or use any ability except Rockets.

Holo-Targeting: Shooting at or suppressing enemies also confers a +10 Aim to any allies' attacks on those enemies.

  • Bonus applies even if the Heavy misses.

Holo-Targeting is well-suited to a Suppression-focused Heavy or for general squad support. Bullet Swarm aids greatly in a Heavy's versatility, allowing them to potentially fire and Hunker Down in the same turn for added safety, fire twice, fire and use a Psi power, and so on.

Shredder Rocket: Fire a rocket that causes all enemies hit to take +33% damage from all sources for the next 4 turns. The rocket's blast is weaker than a standard rocket's.

  • Shredder Rocket ammo count is separate from that of the normal Rocket.
  • Base damage: 4

Suppression: Can fire a special shot that grants reaction fire at a single target. The target also suffers a -30 Aim penalty.

  • Consumes 2 ammo instead of 1.

Shredder Rockets allow your Heavy to act as a large damage multiplier for the rest of your squad on sturdy targets. Suppression is more of a deterrent for most enemies than a true counterattack, but can inflict some guaranteed damage with Mayhem at Colonel rank.

HEAT Ammo: +100% to damage against robotic enemies.

  • Bonus damage applies to Drones, Cyberdiscs, and Sectopods.
  • Bonus applies to any type of attack from the Heavy.

Rapid Reaction: Confers a second reaction shot, if on Overwatch and the first reaction shot is a hit.

Robotic enemies can be difficult to handle, so HEAT Ammo is the recommended option. Heavies have low Aim compared to other soldiers so Rapid Reaction is usually less useful.

Grenadier: Allows to carry 2 grenades in a single inventory slot.

Danger Zone: Increases hit area of rockets and suppression by 2 tiles.

  • Suppression now affects the designated target and enemies within 2 tiles of it.
  • Applies Holo-Targeting effect to all enemies affected.

If you frequently take grenades with your Heavy, consider Grenadier. Otherwise choose Danger Zone. Danger Zone is especially recommended if you also took Shredder Rocket.

Will to Survive: Reduces all normal damage taken by 2 if in cover and not flanked.

  • Presumably, "normal damage" means all regular shots and does not apply to grenades or Psi powers.

Solid boost to soldier durability and another reason to always be in cover.

Rocketeer: Allows 1 additional standard rocket to be fired per battle.

  • +1 to Fire Rocket count, does not increase Shredder Rocket count.

Mayhem: Confers additional damage based on weapon tech level to Suppression and all area-effect abilities (1 damage per tech level).

  • Supression now also deals a 100% accurate guaranteed amount of damage to any target(s); 1 damage for LMG, 2 for Heavy Laser, 3 for Heavy Plasma.
  • Rocket Launcher/Shredder Rocket damage +2, Blaster Launcher damage +3.
  • No effect on Grenades.

Mayhem offers a sizable upgrade to either Suppression or all Rockets. Rocketeer's extra rocket can be handy on late missions packed with tougher enemies. Hard to go wrong here.

The Heavy's abilities are divided between offense and team support. Almost every option is viable for a Heavy build, but Bullet Swarm and HEAT Ammo are highly advised for any hybrid build. If you take Suppression it's recommended to pair it with Danger Zone and Mayhem, otherwise you may as well be suppressing with a Support instead. Grenadier is not recommended in these build, but don't let that stop you from choosing it.

Hybrid Offensive Supportive
Fire Rocket
Bullet Swarm Bullet Swarm or Holo-Targeting
Shredder Rocket Suppression
HEAT Ammo HEAT Ammo
Danger Zone Danger Zone
Will to Survive
Rocketeer or Mayhem Mayhem

Sniper

Snipers are best suited to keeping their distance, since they can't move and use their rifles in the same turn. That said, Snipers boast tremendous damage, high accuracy, and great critical hit capability.

Growths:

Rank HP Aim
Squaddie 0 10
Corporal 1 3
Sergeant 0 3
Lieutenant 1 3
Captain 0 4
Major 1 7
Colonel 0 10

Abilities:

Rank Skill 1 Skill 2
Squaddie Headshot
Corporal Snap Shot Squadsight
Sergeant Gunslinger Damn Good Ground
Lieutenant Disabling Shot Battle Scanner
Captain Executioner Opportunitist
Major Low Profile
Colonel In The Zone Double Tap

Headshot: Fire a shot with +30% critical chance and extra damage on critical hits based on the tech level of the sniper rifle. 2 turn cooldown.

  • +2 critical damage from Sniper Rifle, +3 from Laser, +4 from Plasma

A solid offensive option against enemies who won't go down from a regular hit.

Snap Shot: Removes the sniper rifle's restriction on firing and Overwatch after moving. Any shots taken suffer a -20 Aim penalty.

  • Aim penalty does not apply if Sniper shoots before moving.

Squadsight: Allows firing at targets in any ally's sight radius.

  • Must have an unobstructed line of sight to targets.
  • Maximum attack range 100 tiles (roughly 4x as much as regular sight range).
  • Targets who can only be seen by Squadsight will be identified by a yellow crosshair icon over the red enemy icon.
  • Squadsight does not normally apply to Pistols.
  • Squadsight's extra range does apply during Overwatch, and even applies the effect to Pistols.

Squadsight is unquestionably one of the influential abilities in the game. This sets Snipers clearly apart from other classes as a reliable, high damage, high crit rate operative while being well out of harm's way. Snap Shot allows a Sniper to be more capable on the run, but Gunslinger can make up for this weakness while keeping Squadsight. In addition, this usually makes Snipers an inferior imitation of every other class. Snap Shot's aim penalty will eventually not be as severe at higher ranks, if you opt to use it.

Gunslinger: Confers 2 bonus damage with pistols.

Damn Good Ground: +10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation in addition to the usual elevation bonuses.

Gunslinger allows most pistols to deal damage comparable to assault rifles, which helps if Snipers are required to move and shoot without Snap Shot. Damn Good Ground is a good choice for perching Snipers on rooftops or using Archangel armor.

Disabling Shot: Allows the Sniper to fire a shot that causes the target's main weapon to malfunction. The target may use Reload to fix the weapon. The shot cannot inflict a critical hit. 2 turn cooldown. -10 Aim penalty.

  • Abilities, psi abilities, and items like Grenades can be used while disabled.
  • Some enemies (Sectopods, melee enemies) are not affected by Disabling Shot. The effect occurs but no actions are locked.

Battle Scanner: Scanning device, when thrown creates a new source of vision for 2 turns. Can only be used 2 times per battle.

  • Enemies revealed by Battle Scanner do not react as if spotted.
  • (Confirm) Throwing distance seems twice as far as a regular Frag Grenade throw, reveals ~4 tile radius.

Battle Scanner can be thrown a fairly far distance while Disabling Shot is good for softening targets for capture or pacifying a gun-toting enemy.

Executioner: +10 Aim against targets with less than 50% health.

Opportunist: Eliminates the Aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows reaction shots to cause critical hits.

Neither option here is particularly groundbreaking. Opportunist allows Snipers to keep the full extent of their Aim on overwatch, which can be helpful for the first "expecting" turn against an enemy squad. 50% health can be a large amount for late enemies like Sectopods, and it's nice to have that extra chance to finish enemies off.

Low Profile: Makes partial cover count as full.

Full cover can be scarce; being able to use full cover bonuses from any cover is a significant boon to survivability.

In The Zone: Killing a flanked or uncovered target with the sniper rifle does not cost an action.

Double Tap: Allows both actions to be used for Standard Shot, Headshot, or Disabling Shot, provided no moves were made. 1 turn cooldown.

  • Triggers automatically on turns where the conditions are fulfilled. If the second shot is not used, Double Tap can be triggered the following turn.

In The Zone, if supported by allies with Grenades, Rockets, or Flush, can be very effective at mowing down whole groups of enemies. Double Tap is a more reliably triggered alternative and allows for 2 very damaging shots on a single enemy if you desire.

Most Sniper abilities focus on covering for a weakness or enhancing a strength. Due to this, almost any ability can be taken and you'll still have a perfectly serviceable Sniper.

Versatility Superiority
Headshot
Squadsight Squadsight
Gunslinger Damn Good Ground
Disabling Shot or Battle Scanner
Executioner or Opportunist
Low Profile
In The Zone or Double Tap

Support

Support soldiers do as their name suggests. They don't particular excel in offense but boast a wide variety of squad support skills.

Growths:

Rank HP Aim
Squaddie 1 5
Corporal 0 3
Sergeant 1 3
Lieutenant 0 3
Captain 1 3
Major 0 3
Colonel 1 5

Abilities:

Rank Skill 1 Skill 2
Squaddie Smoke Grenade
Corporal Sprinter Covering Fire
Sergeant Field Medic Smoke and Mirrors
Lieutenant Revive Rifle Supression
Captain Dense Smoke Combat Drugs
Major Deep Pockets
Colonel Savior Sentinel

Smoke Grenade: Deploy a smoke grenade once per mission. The smoke confers +20 defense to all units, not just allies, and lasts during the enemy turn.

  • Multiple Smoke Grenades don't stack, but a unit can have Smoke, Dense Smoke, and Combat Drugs active at the same time.

Useful for an emergency defense boost. Essentially gives half-cover even to exposed troops.

Sprinter: Allows the support to move 3 additional tiles.

Covering Fire: Allows reaction shot to trigger on enemy attacks, not just movement.

A Sprinter Support makes a good candidate for using the Arc Thrower, as well as allowing the Support to be more flexible in regards to positioning.. Since Covering Fire only triggers after an attack, the target enemy will likely be in cover and accuracy will be reduced as a result.

Field Medic: Allows medikits to be used 3 times per battle instead of once.

Smoke and Mirrors: Allows 1 additional use of Smoke Grenade each mission.

If you don't plan on using medikits, you'll obviously get more mileage out of Smoke and Mirrors. Even if you don't plan on taking other medikit-enhancing abilities, 3 uses is also 3 potential stabilizations and/or poison cures.

Revive: Allows Medikits to revive critically wounded Soldiers at 33% of maximum health instead of just stabilizing them.

  • Revived soldiers can take no actions on the turn in which they are revived.

Rifle Suppression: Fires a barrage that pins down a target, granting reaction fire against it and imposing a 30 penalty to aim.

Revive is better for a medic-focused Support, Suppression for other items. Suppression discourages many enemies from moving, which can allow for easier flanks by other squadmates.

Dense Smoke: Smoke Grenades have increased area of effect and further increase units' Defense by 20.

  • Stacks with Combat Drugs' effects, but not from another Combat Drugs effect or the base +20 smoke defense.

Combat Drugs: Smoke Grenades now contain powerful stimulants that grant +20 Will and +10% critical chance for all units in the cloud.

  • Stacks with Dense Smoke's +20 defense, but not from another Combat Drugs effect or the base +20 smoke defense.

Combat Drugs allow for offensive applications with Smoke, but you will likely be using this ability for defense more than offense so Dense Smoke is advised. Having two Supports, one with each ability, is also an option.

Deep Pockets: Confers an additional item slot in inventory.

  • Cannot equip 2 of the same item among: Chitin Plating, Medikit, Nano-fiber Vest, S.C.O.P.E.

The benefits of an extra item slot speak for themselves. Take an offensive item to go with a Medikit/Arc Thrower, bulk up with both health-boosting items, or use any number of item combinations.

Savior: Medikits restore 4 more health per use.

Sentinel: Allows two reaction shots during Overwatch, instead of only one.

Savior for a Medikit-focused Support, Sentinel otherwise. If you tend to only carry Medikits for stabilizing purposes, you will probably get more mileage out of Sentinel.

The main point of divergence for Supports is the increased capability of being a Medic and how far down that path you plan on going. At a certain point, it's encouraged to go moderately offensive even on a medic build.

Medic Offensive
Smoke Grenade
Sprinter Sprinter
Field Medic Field Medic or Smoke and Mirrors
Revive or Rifle Suppression Rifle Suppression
Dense Smoke Dense Smoke
Deep Pockets
Savior or Sentinel Sentinel

Psi Powers

A character who has developed "the gift" can use Psi Powers in addition to the abilities of their class. Psi Ability ranks are gained separately from regular class abilities; using Psi powers successfully earns progress towards the next rank. There are 3 levels of Psi Abilities, but a 4th level will be available under a special circumstance. See the spoiler section below for more on that ability.

Psi powers do not take aim and defense into account. Success rate is determined by the user's Will vs the defender's Will.

Psi Rank Skill 1 Skill 2
Psionic Mindfray
Psi Specialist Psi Inspiration Psi Panic
Psi Operative Telekinetic Field Mind Control

Mindfray: Causes the target to lose grip on reality, inflicting penalties to Aim, Will, and mobility, and doing 5 base damage. Robotic units are immune. Lasts 2 turns. 1 turn cooldown.

Virtually guaranteed 5 damage to enemies with low Will. Can be an effective alternative to a potentially low accuracy shot at enemies behind cover.

Psi Inspiration: Removes Mindfray and panic from all allies within 3 tiles, and strengthen their Will by +30 for 2 turns. 4 turn cooldown.

Psi Panic: Cause target to panic on its following turn, if the target's Will is overcome. Robotic enemies are immune. 2 turn cooldown.

Panic is unreliable; it can be a mild inconvenience to an enemy or can backfire and act like a wasted turn on the part of the user. Psi Inspiration isn't significantly better. Consider using Panic for psionics with high Will, Inspiration for those with low Will.

Telekinetic Field: Create an immobile telekinetic field that lasts through the enemy turn. The field distorts and deflects incoming attacks, granting +40 Defence.

Mind Control: Very difficult psi technique that, if successful, grants control of the target for 3 turns. Robotic enemies are immune. 5 turn cooldown.

  • After successful control of an enemy, cannot use their turn until the following player turn.
  • Mind Control odds calculated with a -30 Will penalty on the user.
  • On the 4th enemy turn after a successful Mind Control, enemy regains full control over target.
  • Mind controlled "allies" can't be directly attacked, but must be killed to end a mission.

TK Field essentially grants full cover to everyone in a very large radius, while Mind Control can potentially award you with a decent decoy. As with Inspiration vs Panic, take Mind Control with high Will psionics, TK Field for those with lower Will or if you simply prefer it.

Spoiler. Highlight text to view

Before the final mission, you must choose one soldier to wear a Psi Suit and use the Gollop Chamber. This soldier will instantly be promoted to a Psi Operative if they weren't already. This soldier will also gain access to a special fourth Psi skill:

Rift: Devastate an area with a storm of psi energy. The rift does more damage against targets with low Will, and reduced damage against targets with high Will. 4 turn cooldown.

Rift, unlike other offensive Psi powers, can be used against robots. This does heavy damage as they have 0 Will. Rift is aimed freely like a rocket or grenade and requires line of sight to place. Rift leaves behind a field where it hits; targets inside the field at the beginning of the next turn will take even more damage.

Miscellaneous Powers

These are granted from other sources, such as Armor.

Grapple: Using a grappling hook, permits rapid elevation change and access to tactically advantageous positions.

  • Counts as one move.
  • Generally needs to latch on to high places or obstacles, such as fallen tree trunks, guardrails, rooftops, etc.

Toggle Flight: Flying units can bypass ground obstacles. They can remain in flight if they have sufficient fuel.

  • Requires Archangel Armor to use.
  • Has 6 units of fuel initially, a Foundry upgrade can increase this to 12.
  • Cannot dash while flying; moving a dash-equivalent distance will consume 2 fuel.
  • Staying in flight while not moving does not consume additional fuel.
  • If a soldier runs out of fuel over unmaneuverable terrain, they will be stuck for the remainder of the mission.

Stealth: The Ghost Armor's stealth systems can be activated up to 4 times per battle. Activating Ghost Mode does not cost an action or end the wearer's turn. The wearer becomes invisible to enemies, but must re-activate Ghost Mode each turn to remain so. Firing from stealth confers a large conus to critical hit chance.

  • Enemies cannot directly target a soldier under the effects of Stealth.
  • Offensive actions disable stealth early. Using Overwatch does not disable stealth unless a reaction shot is fired.
  • Critical chance +100% while under the effects of Stealth.
  • Using Mind Control does not break Stealth.

S.H.I.V.s

S.H.I.V. units are mechanical soldiers. They don't earn promotions but can be effective replacements for Rookies and high ranking soldiers alike. Like soldiers, S.H.I.V. units who are damaged in battle need to be sent in for repairs afterwards and are unusable for a few days. Destroyed units are "killed" like any soldier.

Type Unit Name HP Will Defense Aim Other
S.H.I.V. THUNDER 10 0 20 70
Alloy S.H.I.V. GOLIATH 18 0 20+10 70 Can be used as half cover
Hover S.H.I.V. LIGHTNING 18 0 20+20 70 Flight mode, 12 fuel

S.H.I.V. units:

  • Do not receive defensive bonuses from being in cover.
  • Cannot be healed by Medikits
  • Are immune to Poison
  • Have the Hardened ability, reducing the chance they will be critically hit.
  • Must use ramps or other natural inclines to go up/down elevation.

With Foundry projects, S.H.I.V. units can be upgraded:

  • Weaponry can be upgraded to Laser or Plasma, improving damage and Aim. Laser: +15 Aim. Plasma: +25 Aim.
  • Arc Thrower can heal S.H.I.V units.
  • S.H.I.V. units can use Suppression.

At the time of writing, S.H.I.V. units are somewhat buggy. If a S.H.I.V. appears to be invisible on the loadout screen (and in the case of Allow/Hover/weapon upgrades, does not reflect the proper bonuses to stats, don't bother using it and just dismantle it immediately as it wil not function properly in battle. Sometimes a S.H.I.V. will still appear but have a lower-tech mounted gun than it should have. These still function properly in all other respects.

Appendices

Research - Appendix

Research Archives

Entries listed in the order they appear in the Archives.

Days to complete will vary with research credits and number of Laboratories/Scientists. Unless otherwise stated, all Prerequisites are other Research projects.

Research Prerequisite Cost Reward
Xeno-Biology 4 Sectoid Corpses Facility: Alien Containment
Arc Thrower Xeno-Biology 10 Weapon Fragments Engineering: Arc Thrower
Outsider Shard Capture: Outsider Engineering: Skeleton Key
New Fighter Craft Alien Nav Computer + UFO Power Source 75 Weapon Fragments, 10 Alloy, 10 Elerium Engineering: Firestorm + Hover S.H.I.V.
Hyperwave Communication Priority: Alien Base 30 Alloy, 30 Elerium Facility: Hyperwave Relay
Ethereal Device Priority: Overseer UFO Facility: Gollop Chamber
Weapon Fragments Obtain: Weapon Fragments 5 Weapon Fragments Engineering: S.C.O.P.E., Foundry: S.C.O.P.E. Upgrade
Alien Materials Obtain: Weapon Fragments 5 Weapon Fragments Engineering: Nano-fiber Vest
Experimental Warfare Weapon Fragments or Alien Materials Engineering: Phoenix Cannon, Facility: Foundry
Elerium UFO Power Source 10 Elerium Foundry: Improved Arc Thrower
Psi Armor Ethereal Device 10 Alloy, 10 Elerium Engineering: Psi Armor
Carapace Armor Alien Materials 10 Alloy Engineering: Carapace Armor and Alloy S.H.I.V.
Skeleton Suit Carapace Armor 15 Alloy Engineering: Skeleton Suit
Titan Armor Carapace Armor + Elerium 15 Alloy, 5 Elerium Engineering: Titan Armor
Ghost Armor Titan Armor + Hyperwave Communication 15 Alloy, 15 Elerium Engineering: Ghost Armor
Archangel Armor Titan Armor + New Fighter Craft 15 Alloy, 15 Elerium Engineering: Archangel Armor, Foundry: Advanced Flight
Beam Weapons Weapon Fragments 10 Weapon Fragments, 5 Alloy Engineering: Laser Pistol + Laser Rifle, Foundry: Improved Pistol II
Precision Lasers Beam Weapons 5 Weapon Fragments, 5 Alloy Engineering: Scatter Laser + Laser Sniper Rifle
Heavy Lasers Beam Weapons 5 Weapon Fragments, 5 Alloy Engineering: Heavy Laser + Laser Cannon, Foundry: S.H.I.V Laser
Plasma Pistol Obtain: Plasma Pistol 40 Weapon Fragments, 5 Elerium Engineering: Plasma Pistol, Foundry: Improved Pistol III, can use recovered Plasma Pistols
Light Plasma Rifle Obtain: Light Plasma Rifle 40 Weapon Fragments, 10 Alloy, 5 Elerium Engineering: Light Plasma Rifle, can use recovered Light Plasma Rifles
Plasma Rifle Light Plasma Rifle or Obtain: Plasma Rifle 40 Weapon Fragments, 10 Alloy, 10 Elerium Engineering: Plasma Rifle, can use recovered Plasma Rifles
Heavy Plasma Plasma Rifle or Obtain: Heavy Plasma 40 Weapon Fragments, 10 Alloy, 10 Elerium Engineering: Heavy Plasma, Foundry: S.H.I.V. Plasma, can use recovered Heavy Plasmas
Plasma Sniper Plasma Rifle or Heavy Plasma 50 Weapon Fragments, 10 Alloy, 10 Elerium Engineering: Plasma Sniper Rifle
Alloy Cannon Plasma Rifle or Heavy Plasma 40 Weapon Fragments, 25 Alloy, 5 Elerium Engineering: Alloy Cannon
Plasma Cannon (Light) Plasma Rifle or Heavy Plasma 30 Weapon Fragments, 10 Elerium Engineering: Plasma Cannon
Fusion Lance Obtain: Fusion Core (Battleship UFO) 50 Weapon Fragments, 10 Alloy, 20 Elerium Engineering: Fusion Lance
Guided Fusion Launcher Obtain: Fusion Core (Battleship UFO) 75 Weapon Fragments, 20 Alloy, 10 Elerium Engineering: Blaster Launcher
Alien Nav Computer Obtain: UFO Flight Computer 2 UFO Flight Computers Facility: Satellite Nexus, Foundry: Stealth Satellites
UFO Power Source Obtain: UFO Power Source 1 UFO Power Source Facility: Elerium Generator
EMP Cannon Elerium + New Fighter Craft + Plasma Cannon 20 Elerium Engineering: EMP Cannon

All Interrogations require one live captive, while all autopsies require one corpse. Interrogations also produce one corpse when finished. Must research Xeno-biology to perform Autopsies. Must have an Alien Containment facility to perform Interrogations

Research Reward
Interrogate Sectoid Credit: Beam Weapons
Interrogate Floater Credit: Basic Armor Technology
Interrogate Muton Credit: Plasma Weaponry
Interrogate Sectoid Commander Credit: Psionics, Facility: Psionic Labs
Interrogate Berserker Credit: Armor Technology
Interrogate Thin Man Credit: UFO Technology
Interrogate Heavy Floater Credit: Flight
Interrogate Muton Elite Credit: Weapons Technology
Interrogate Ethereal Credit: All Technology
Sectoid Autopsy Engineering: Uplink Targeting (Aim)
Sectoid Commander Autopsy Facility: Psionic Labs
Floater Autopsy Engineering: Defense Matrix (Dodge)
Thin Man Autopsy Foundry: Improved Medikit
Muton Autopsy Foundry: Ammo Conservation
Chryssalid Autopsy Engineering: Chitin Plating
Cyberdisc Autopsy Engineering: UFO Tracking (Boost)
Berserker Autopsy Engineering: Combat Stims
Heavy Floater Autopsy Foundry: Advanced Repair
Muton Elite Autopsy Credit: Plasma Weaponry
Drone Autopsy Foundry: Drone Capture
Sectopod Autopsy Foundry: Advanced Construction
Ethereal Autopsy Engineering: Mind Shield

Engineering - Appendix

Buy/Build Items

Entries listed in the order they appear on the purchase list. Costs are base values. Costs (in money, Elerium, and Alloy) can be reduced by having more Engineers

Items and Armor are built instantly

Name Prerequisite Engineers Cost Elerium Alloy Items Required
Nano-Fiber Vest Research: Alien Materials 5 $20
S.C.O.P.E. Research: Weapon Fragments 5 $20
Arc Thrower Research: Arc Thrower 5 $35
Chitin Plating Autopsy: Chryssalid 15 $105 10 4x Chryssalid Corpse
Mind Shield Autopsy: Ethereal 35 $215 45 15 1x Ethereal Corpse
Combat Stims Autopsy: Muton Berserker 15 $60 5 1x Berserker Corpse
Medikit 5 $25
Skeleton Key Research: Outsider Shard 15 $30 15 15 1x Outsider Shard
Blaster Launcher Research: Guided Fusion Launcher 35 $360 85 65 1x Fusion Core, 2x UFO Flight Computer
Plasma Sniper Rifle Research: Plasma Sniper 25 $340 35 40
Heavy Plasma Research: Heavy Plasma 25 $340 40 40
Alloy Cannon Research: Alloy Cannon 25 $275 25 70
Plasma Rifle Research: Plasma Rifle 20 $265 25 40
Light Plasma Rifle Research: Light Plasma Rifle 20 $125 10 20
Plasma Pistol Research: Plasma Pistol 20 $120 15 25
Laser Sniper Rifle Research: Precision Lasers 12 $35 25
Heavy Laser Research: Heavy Lasers 12 $30 25
Scatter Laser Research: Precision Lasers 12 $30 25
Laser Rifle Research: Beam Weapons 12 $25 15
Laser Pistol Research: Beam Weapons 10 $10 10
Psi Armor Research: Psi Armor 30 $540 55 30
Ghost Armor Research: Ghost Armor 40 $410 80 65
Archangel Armor Research: Archangel Armor 35 $310 50 75
Titan Armor Research: Titan Armor 25 $200 15 50
Skeleton Suit Research: Skeleton Suit 15 $35 10
Carapace Armor Research: Carapace Armor 10 $30 15

SHIVs, Satellites, and Firestorms take time to build. Ship weapons and items are built instantly.

Name Prerequisite Engineers Cost Elerium Alloy Items Required Days
Firestorm Research: New Fighter Craft 20 $125 40 60 UFO Power Source, 2x UFO Flight Computer 14
Satellite 5 $100 20
Hover S.H.I.V. Research: Heavy Weapons Platform + New Fighter Craft 20 $125 30 30 1 Barracks Capacity 7
Alloy S.H.I.V. Research: Heavy Weapons Platform + Carapace Armor 10 $80 20 1 Barracks Capacity 7
S.H.I.V. Research: Heavy Weapons Platform 5 $50 1 Barracks Capacity 7
Fusion Lance Research: Fusion Lance 35 $100 15 25
EMP Cannon Research: EMP Cannon 30 $150 15 25
Plasma Cannon Research: Plasma Cannon 20 $135 25 25
Laser Cannon Research: Heavy Lasers 10 $40 25
Phoenix Cannon Research: Experimental Warfare 5 $35
Defense Matrix (Dodge) Autopsy: Floater 10 $50 3x Floater Corpse
UFO Tracking (Boost) Autopsy: Cyberdisc 10 $20 2x Cyberdisc Wreck
Uplink Targeting (Aim) Autopsy: Sectoid 5 $10 3x Sectoid Corpse

Foundry

Entries listed in the order they appear on the purchase list. Some Foundry projects benefit from research credits, reducing development time.

  • Days incomplete

Name Prerequisite Engineers Cost Weapon Frags Elerium Alloy Items Required Days Reward
Heavy Weapons Platform 5 $70 7 Enables S.H.I.V. manufacturing
Alien Grenades Obtain: Alien Grenade 20 $75 20 10 25 1x Alien Grenade 7 Unlimited spare Alien Grenades
Improved Medikit Autopsy: Thin Man 15 $125 20 4x Thin Man Corpse 14 Medikit healing +2 HP
Improved Arc Thrower Research: Elerium 10 $100 20 20 20 4x Drone Wreck 14 Arc Thrower high success at 6 HP, from 3 HP
Advanced Repair Autopsy: Heavy Floater 20 $175 10 30 4x Heavy Floater Corpse S.H.I.V. and aircraft repair time reduced
S.H.I.V. Laser Research: Heavy Plasma 10 $100 15 30 S.H.I.V. weapon upgrade
S.H.I.V. Plasma Research: Heavy Lasers 20 $200 30 30 45 S.H.I.V. weapon upgrade
S.H.I.V. Repair 10 $70 15 15 Arc Thrower can heal S.H.I.V. units
Drone Capture Autopsy: Drone 10 $175 20 4x Drone Wreck Arc Thrower can "mind control" Drones
Ammo Conservation Autopsy: Muton 15 $150 20 90 6x Muton Corpses Doubles primary weapon ammo count before reloading
Advanced Flight Research: Archangel Armor 25 $325 50 50 2x Heavy Floater Corpse, 2x Drone Wreck, 2x Cyberdisc Wreck Hover S.H.I.V. + Archangel armor fuel doubled
Advanced Construction Autopsy: Sectopod 30 $375 20 30 50 2x Sectopod Wreck Build or manufacture at 2x speed for 2x funds and resources
Improved Pistol I 5 $75 5 Pistol Critical Chance +
Improved Pistol II Research: Beam Weapons 10 $150 25 20 Pistol Aim +
Improved Pistol III Research: Plasma Pistol 20 $250 50 10 10 Pistol Damage +
S.H.I.V. Suppression 15 $40 7 S.H.I.V. units can use Suppression
Stealth Satellites Research: Alien Nav Computer 20 $150 20 20 3x UFO Flight Computer Satellites harder for aliens to shoot down
S.C.O.P.E. Upgrade Research: Weapon Fragments 10 $75 15 S.C.O.P.E. also increases critical chance by +10

Build Facilities

Laboratories, Workshops, and Satellite facilities need progressively more Engineers/Scientists to build more.

Power, Thermo, and Elerium Generators confer adjacency bonuses with each other.

Satellite Uplinks and Nexuses confer confer adjacency bonuses with each other.

Facility Function Adjacency Power Cost Monthly Days to build Prerequisite
Access Lift Reach lower levels 2 $50 $10 5
Laboratory Research speed +20% Research speed +10% 3 $125 $24 10 6 Scientists
Workshop +5 Engineers +7% Engineering refunds 3 $130 $26 10 6 Engineers
Power Generator +6 power +2 power $60 $11 5
Thermo Generator +20 power +2 power $200 $23 8 Only Steam Vents
Elerium Generator +30 power +2 power $275 $29 14 Research: UFO Power Source
Satellite Uplink +2 satellite capacity +1 satellite capacity 5 $150 $15 14
Satellite Nexus +4 satellite capacity +1 satellite capacity 8 $300 $26 21 Research: Alien Nav Computer
Officer Training School Officer Training School access 3 $125 $25 8 Sergeant rank soldier
Alien Containment Enables alien capture 5 $85 $18 7 Research: Xeno-biology
Foundry Foundry access 3 $75 $20 10 Research: Experimental Warfare
Psionic Labs Psi lab access 3 $200 $30 14 Autopsy or Interrogation: Sectoid Commander
Hyperwave Relay See number/type of enemies in UFO crash/landing 10 $250 $50 21 Research: Hyperwave Communication
Gollop Chamber Temple Ship access 3 $400 $100 14 Research: Ethereal Device

Hangar Items

Changing equipped weapon takes 1 day

Name Hit Chance Range Fire Rate Damage Armor Penetration Other
Fusion Lance 90% Long Slow High High Firestorm only
EMP Cannon 100% Short Medium High High UFO crash site has more valuables
Plasma Cannon 85% Long Medium Medium High
Laser Cannon 85% Short Rapid Low Medium
Phoenix Cannon 95% Short Rapid Low Low
Avalanche Missiles 70% Long Slow Low Low

The following provide temporary bonuses in UFO combat. Each is consumed after use.

Name Effect
Defense Matrix (Dodge) Next 2 enemy attacks miss
UFO Tracking (Boost) Halts enemy escape for 5 seconds, reduces approach time for short range weapons
Uplink Targeting (Aim) Next 2 attacks hit

Gray Market

Corpses and alien materials can be sold for extra funding on the Gray Market. A few items exist whose sole purpose is to be sold, while others have potential research or manufacturing benefits.

Items whose only purpose is to be sold will have their entry preceded by an asterisk. All other entries can be assumed to have a corresponding research option with the exception of UFO Fusion Core which is only used for manufacturing. Note that sometimes council requests will call for these items, so it can be worthwhile to keep some spares on hand if you're not desperate for funding.

Item Price Foundry Manufacturing
Sectoid Corpse $5 Uplink Targeting (Aim) (x3)
Sectoid Commander Corpse $10
Floater Corpse $5 Defense Matrix (Dodge) (x3)
Heavy Floater Corpse $6 Advanced Repair (x4), Advanced Flight (x2)
Thin Man Corpse $5 Improved Medikit (x4)
Muton Corpse $5 Ammo Conservation (x6)
Muton Elite Corpse $8
Berserker Corpse $5 Combat Stims (x1)
Cyberdisc Wreck $7 Advanced Flight (x2) UFO Tracking (Boost) (x2)
Ethereal Corpse $15 Mind Shield (x1)
Chrysallid Corpse $5 Chitin Plating (x4)
Sectopod Wreck $10 Advanced Construction (x2)
Drone Wreck $2 Improved Arc Thrower (x4), Drone Capture (x4), Advanced Flight (x2)
Elerium $3 Various Various
Alien Alloys $2 Various Various
Weapon Fragments $1 Various
UFO Flight Computer $40 Stealth Satellites (x3) Blaster Launcher (x2), Firestorm (x2)
UFO Power Source $75 Firestorm (x1)
UFO Fusion Core Blaster Launcher (x1)
*UFO Flight Computer (Damaged) $20
*UFO Power Source (Damaged) $30
*Alien Surgery $25
*Alien Surgery (Damaged)
*Alien Stasis Tank $10
*Alien Entertainment $17
*Alien Food $10
*Alien Food (Damaged) $5

Enemies

Enemies generally travel in groups of 2 or 3. Enemy formations will be noted in each individual enemy's entry. Some very early missions have fewer Sectoids or Thin Men than formations show, but these gold true for the remainder of the game. Enemies listed in alphabetical order.

Enemies do not actively seek out players until alerted, though they will attack civillians during Terror Attacks.

Base damage and Base crit damage are the middle point in damage ranges; minimum is -1, maximum is +1. Melee damage values for Chyrssalid and Muton Berserker may have a wider damage range, currently unconfirmed.

Any held weapon breaks into 2 weapon fragments if killed by methods other than explosives. Stunning an enemy with the Arc Thrower will award its weapons intact.

Chryssalid

Formations:

  • 3x Chryssalid

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
8 120 N/A 10 6 10 20 +2 Damage, +10 Crit Chance +2 Damage, +10 Crit Chance

Uses melee attacks. High mobility.

Leap: Can jump up any vertical distance while moving.

Poisonous Claws: Melee attacks inflict poison. Poison causes 1 damage a turn for 3 turns and reduces Aim by 20.

Implant: Humans killed by melee are implanted with Chryssalid egg. Corpse rises as a Zombie next enemy turn. Zombies spawn Hatchlings in 3 turns. Hatchlings eventually mature into regular Chryssalids.

Hardened: -60% chance to be critically hit.

Cyberdisc

Formations:

  • 1x Cyberdisc + 2x Drone

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
16 0 70 10 8 13 10 +4 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +4 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Cyberdisc Cannon

Open/Close: Cyberdiscs receive bonuses to defense and chance to avoid crits in closed position, and can only attack in open position. Switching to open position is a free action. Switching to closed position costs 1 action, and Cyberdiscs automatically close when damaged.

Death Blossom: Deals 4-6 damage to all nearby targets. Closed position only.

Bombard: Can toss grenades twice as far

Hardened: -60% chance to be critically hit.

Explodes on death, dealing damage to surrounding units (friend or foe).

Drone

Formations:

  • 1x Cyberdisc + 2x Drone
  • 1x Sectopod + 2x Drone

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
3 0 60 10 2 4 0 +2 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +4 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Drone Beam

Overload: Self-destruct, dealing 5 damage in surrounding area. Cannot move and use Overload in the same turn.

Repair: Heals a robotic unit for 3 HP.

Hardened: -60% chance to be critically hit.

Ethereal

  • 1x Ethereal + 1x Muton Elite
    • Ethereals lead UFO parties after completing the Overseer UFO

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
20 120 N/A 40 7 +25 Will +5 HP, +35 Will

Uses psionic attacks.

Psi Lance: Will-based. Fires a psi blast at an enemy. Can affect robotic enemies. Targets with less Will take more damage.

Rift: Devastate an area with a storm of psi energy. The rift does more damage against targets with low Will, and reduced damage against targets with high Will. 4 turn cooldown.

Psi Drain: Drain health from a non-robotic ally.

Mindfray: Will-based. 5 damage to non-robotic targets, penalizes Aim, Will and mobility for 2 turns. 1 turn cooldown.

Psi Panic: Will-based. Causes panic on non-robotic targets. 2 turn cooldown.

Mind Control: Will-based. -30 will during success calculation. Grants control of a non-robotic enemy for 3 turns. 5 turn cooldown.

A percentage of shots fired at Ethereals will also deal damage to the attacker. Possibly only applies to missed attacks, needs confirmation.

Floater

Formations:

  • 2x Floater
  • 3x Floater
Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
4 10 50 0 5 9 10 +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +2 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Light Plasma Rifle

Evasion: +20 defense while flying; cannot be flanked while flying

Launch: Uses 2 action points to move anywhere on the map.

Heavy Floater

Formations:

  • 2x Heavy Floater
  • 3x Heavy Floater

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
12 25 70 10 7 12 10 +2 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +4 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Plasma Rifle, Alien Grenade

Evasion: +20 defense while flying; cannot be flanked while flying

Launch: Uses 2 action points to move anywhere on the map.

Bombard: Can toss grenades twice as far

Muton

Formations:

  • 3x Muton
  • 2x Muton + 1x Muton Berserker

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
8 10 70 10 7 12 10 +2 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +2 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Plasma Rifle, Alien Grenade

Suppression: Grants reaction fire to a target and reduces target's aim by 30.

Blood Call: Muton species within 15 tiles (?) have +20 Will, +20 Aim, and +2 mobility for 2 turns. 4 turn cooldown.

Intimidate: When wounded for the first time in a turn, attempts to panic the attacker.

Muton Berserker

Formations:

  • 2x Muton + 1x Muton Berserker

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
20 80 N/A 20 8 13 33 +1 Damage, +10 Crit Chance +5 HP, +3 Damage, +10 Crit Chance

Uses melee attacks.

Bull Rush: Charges into a piece of cover, attacking any nearby units.

Bloodlust: When damaged, advances 4 tiles towards attacker and has a chance to panic them.

Hardened: -60% chance to be critically hit.

Muton Elite

Formations:

  • 3x Muton Elite
  • 1x Muton Elite + 1x Ethereal

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
14 20 80 20 9 15 10 +10 Aim, +10 Defense, +10 Crit Chance +4 HP, +20 Aim, +10 Defense, +10 Crit Chance
Weapon: Heavy Plasma, Alien Grenade

Bombard: Can toss grenades twice as far

Outsider

Formations:

  • 1x Outsider
  • 2x Outsider
    • Outsiders lead UFO parties until completing the Alien Base, disappears from the game afterwards

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
3 5 9 10 +2 HP, +10 Aim +2? HP, +20 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Light Plasma Rifle

Sectoid

Formations:

  • 2x Sectoid
  • 3x Sectoid

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
3 10 65 0 3 6 10 +10 Crit Chance +1 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Plasma Pistol

Mind Merge: Merge minds with the target, granting +25% critical chance and +1 health. Lasts until the next enemy turn. +1 HP adds to current health; remains healed when Mind Merge fades. Killing a Sectoid who is currently using Mind Merge will also kill their target.

Sectoid Commander

Formations:

  • 2x Sectoid Commander
    • Sectoid Commanders lead UFO parties after completing the Alien Base but before completing the Overseer UFO

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
10 90 85 20 3 6 10 +4 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +4 HP, +35 Will, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Plasma Pistol

Mindfray: Will-based. 5 damage to non-robotic targets, penalizes Aim, Will and mobility for 2 turns. 1 turn cooldown.

Psi Panic: Will-based. Causes panic on non-robotic targets. 2 turn cooldown.

Mind Control: Will-based. -30 will during success calculation. Grants control of a non-robotic enemy for 3 turns. 5 turn cooldown.

Greater Mind Merge: Grant Mind Merge effect to all regular Sectoids nearby. +25% crit chance, +1 HP.

Sectopod

Formations:

  • 1x Sectopod + 2x Drone

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
30 0 30 12 19 25 +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Sectopod Cannon

Cannon Fire: Attacks with a beam cannon, attack has a small area of effect radius. If the Sectopod does not move, can be used twice (against different targets). Can't critical on Normal or Easy.

Cluster Bomb: Marks an area one turn, then bombards it with explosives the next turn.

Hardened: -60% chance to be critically hit.

After being alerted to your prescence, every turn thereafter grants Sectopods one automatic Overwatch shot even if 2 actions were already taken.

Explodes on death, dealing damage to surrounding units (friend or foe).

Thin Man

Formations:

  • 2x Thin Man
  • 3x Thin Man

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
3 15 65 0 3 6 10 +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance +2 HP, +10 Aim, +10 Crit Chance

Weapon: Light Plasma Rifle

Leap: Can jump up any vertical distance while moving.

Poison Spit: Sprays a poison cloud with 1 tile radius at distant target. Poison causes 1 damage a turn for 3 turns and reduces Aim by 20.

Emits a 1-tile radius posion cloud on death.

Zombie

Humans killed by Chryssalids arise as Zombies the following turn.

Health Will Aim Defense Base Damage Base Crit Damage Crit Chance Classic Modifiers Impossible Modifiers
10 0 8 13 0 +2 Damage, +10 Crit Chance +4 HP, +4 Damage, +10 Crit Chance

Uses melee attacks.

Poison: Melee attacks inflict poison. Poison causes 1 damage a turn for 3 turns and reduces Aim by 20.

Burst: Chryssalid hatchling bursts out if Zombie is not killed within 3 turns.

Cheats

Specific combinations of first and last name will prompt you to summon an XCOM hero unit, each of which comes with very powerful stats and gear. Summoning a hero disables achievements for the remainder of the playthrough, so just use them for fun or if you're having trouble.

All heroes start at Colonel rank. The heroes cannot be tested for psionic potential normally. However, if the soldier you rename to that of a hero character's was a Psionic, the newly made hero will also adopt that Psi rank. You can make multiples of a specific hero as well.

Sid Meier: Support + Psi Operative

  • HP: 20
  • Will: 200
  • Defense: 0
  • Aim: 100

Abilities:

  • Smoke Grenade
  • Sprinter
  • Smoke and Mirrors
  • Revive
  • Dense Smoke
  • Deep Pockets
  • Savior
  • Mindfray
  • Psi Inspiration
  • Psi Panic
  • Telekinetic Field
  • Mind Control
  • Rift

Gear:

  • Psi Armor
  • Plasma Rifle
  • Plasma Pistol

Joe Kelly: Heavy

  • HP: 20
  • Will: 100
  • Defense: 0
  • Aim: 100

Abilities:

  • Fire Rocket
  • Holo-Targeting
  • Suppression
  • Rapid Reaction
  • Danger Zone
  • Will to Survive
  • Rocketeer

Gear:

  • Titan Armor
  • Heavy Plasma
  • Blaster Launcher

Ken Levine: Sniper

  • HP: 20
  • Will: 100
  • Defense: 0
  • Aim: 200

Abilities:

  • Headshot
  • Snap Shot
  • Gunslinger
  • Disabling Shot
  • Opportunist
  • Low Profile
  • In The Zone

Gear:

  • Archangel Armor
  • Plasma Sniper Rifle
  • Plasma Pistol

Otto Zander: Assault

  • HP: 100
  • Will: 100
  • Defense: 0
  • Aim: 100

Abilities:

  • Run & Gun
  • Aggression
  • Lightning Reflexes
  • Rapid Fire
  • Bring 'Em On
  • Extra Conditioning
  • Resilience

Gear:

  • Ghost Armor
  • Alloy Cannon
  • Plasma Pistol

Credits / Contact Information

Copyright 2012 Edalborez (Matthew Halverson)

This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

Following is a list of websites currently allowed to host this guide. The latest version can always be found on GameFAQs.

  • GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com)
  • NeoSeeker (www.neoseeker.com)

Contact Information

If you wish to use this guide or an element of it as part of your own work or wish to host it on your web site, please send an email with "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" as the subject line to zeroblade@comcast.net

If you have a correction or addition to make to the guide, here are a few ways to get in contact, in order of preference:

  • Send an email (listed above, please put "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" in the subject line)
  • Send me a private message on GameFAQs

Credits

  • Firaxis Games and 2K Games for developing/publishing this game
  • My friend Stormthorn for intoducing me to this game
  • Data for enemy and research/engineering/etc adapted from UFOpaedia and the Bradygames guide.
  • You, the reader, for using this guide.

Feel free to contact me with suggestions or corrections and I'll do my best to make those adjustments and credit you.

This document is copyright Edalborez and hosted by Neoseeker with permission.
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