Beating the ADVENT aliens in the XCOM 2 turn-based strategy game isn’t a piece of cake. Even on the rookie level, that game’s harder missions can be tough to complete with poorer soldiers. To defeat ADVENT’s Avatar Project, you’ll need to make the most of your supply resources aboard Avenger and get your battle tactics right during missions. Here are some XCOM 2 tips to help you defeat the alien menace.
Position Soldiers on Rooftops and Clifftops
Most of XCOM 2’s missions have building rooftops or clifftops your soldiers can climb up. You can climb onto rooftops by zooming out of the map and clicking the top of buildings. Positioning your troops atop buildings gives you a notable advantage against aliens on the ground because it increases your shot percentage hit chance (the elevated ground bonus is +20 aim). Your soldiers will usually have better-shot chances against aliens when firing down from roofs and cliffs. So, making the most of rooftops and clifftops on missions will enhance your hit rate.
A 100 percent hit chance for a soldier aiming from the rooftop.
Keep Snipers Back
Snipers, otherwise sharpshooters, aren’t snipers for nothing. Those soldiers’ sniping guns are most deadly when fired from a distance. Sharpshooters’ sniper rifles are less accurate when fired at close-range targets. When close to targets, snipers’ pistols will have better hit chances.
To enhance sniper rifle accuracy, keep your sharpshooters further back from aliens than other soldiers. They’re most effective when placed atop buildings and cliffs, which will boost shot accuracy. Use your Ranger and Grenadier-class troops to take on aliens at closer quarters with snipers positioned further away from targets.
A sniper aiming for a distant turret gun.
Reload Your Guns When Aliens Aren’t Visible
An important thing to note in XCOM 2 is that you fight aliens when your soldiers catch sight of them. After finishing off a group of aliens, more enemies won’t be activated until you spot them. The best time to reload your guns and heal troops is when there aren’t any enemies visible after finishing off a bunch of aliens. Make the most of those quiet moments to replenish ammo and heal troops before moving to new map areas. Then your guns will be fully loaded for the next bunch of hostiles you encounter.
Build a Guerrilla Tactics School ASAP
Players start XCOM 2 with squads of four soldiers. However, you can expand squad size to six with the Guerrilla Tactics School built in the Avenger. It makes life easier to have six soldiers instead of four for completing missions. Build the Guerrilla Tactics School ASAP so you can increase your squad sizes with its Squad Size 1 and Squad Size 2 upgrades sooner rather than later.
The Guerrilla Tactics School you can train rookies at.
Guerrilla Tactics School is also one of the best things to add to the Avenger because it enables you to train rookies into squaddies. You’ll have more squaddie soldiers and fewer rookies for missions when you’ve got a Guerrilla Tactics School.
Use Grenades to Blow Away Enemies’ Cover
All your soldiers get equipped with grenades, which can often come in handy during missions. They’re even more useful during earlier missions that include weaker enemies grenades can eliminate in a single throw. Save your grenades for harder-to-hit aliens positioned behind better cover. Aside from harming the alien, a grenade will also blow away at least some of its cover, making it easier to hit for the rest of your squad. Use your grenades at the beginning of turns to give the rest of your squad clearer shots at targets afterward.
A soldier aims a grenade throw at an alien behind a rock.
Make the Most of Concealment Ambushes
Most missions start with your squad concealed, which gives you the element of surprise for your first attack. You can usually quickly kill off a few enemies during your first attack wave by setting concealment ambushes. Before launching the first strike against a group of aliens with a soldier, position and then set all other concealed troops to overwatch. Well-positioned concealed troops will blow the hell out of aliens when they start scurrying for cover after your first attack. As enemies will usually be grouped close together at the beginning of missions, tossing a grenade first can often be an effective way to break concealment.
The Overwatch option for launching concealment ambushes.
Build Radio Relays
Radio Relays are transmission towers you can build in regions after completing the Radio Resistance research project. They reduce the intel cost for making contact with new regions and increase supply income in the regions you build them. So, make sure you build some Radio Relays to boost crucial supply drops. Lower regional intel costs will also enable you to purchase more black market items.
The Install Radio Relay option for building Radio Relays in regions.
Carry Dead Soldiers to Evac Zones
You cannot revive dead soldiers after aliens have killed them. However, you can salvage the equipment (items) they’re holding by picking them up and carrying them back to evac zones for extraction. So, pick up dead soldiers and extract them on missions that end with evac zone points if you want to save their gear.
A soldier carrying a deceased trooper to an evac zone.
Divert Enemies With Mimic Beacons
The Mimic Beacon is a very useful item. A Mimic Beacon is a decoy hologram you can toss to divert aliens away from your soldiers. All enemies (including robotic ones) will always move toward and attack the hologram you’ve placed until it’s eliminated. Such decoys can save your soldiers from enemy attacks on the turns placed and leave aliens exposed and vulnerable.
Two or three Mimic Beacons will certainly help you out on missions. The decoy diversions they generate can be life savers when battling tougher enemies, such as Sectopods and Gatekeepers. To obtain that item, you’ll need to research Alien Biotech and Faceless Autopsy.
Enhance Your Soldiers’ Aim
The higher your soldiers’ aim stats are, the less they’ll miss targets. Enhancing your soldiers aiming will reduce the frequency they miss shots, which does help a bit. You can boost aiming by equipping your troops with basic, advanced, and superior scope weapon upgrades and the PCS: Perception combat sim. So, snap those upgrades up at the black market whenever they’re available.
You can get ahead of the game with those XCOM 2 tips. Now it’s time to have some fun teaching those pesky aliens a lesson in XCOM 2!
