In two decades of alien occupation, Earth has become a much different war zone. The soldiers of XCOM are no longer defending – they've gone underground and on the offensive. Outnumbered and outgunned, they strategically attack vital enemy positions and break into enemy intelligence nodes.

Survival in occupied Earth requires a special technological touch, and fortunately, the Support role of Enemy Unknown has evolved in fill that need. Here's your first look at the Specialist, one of five new classes coming to XCOM 2.

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“ The Specialist is support versus offensive. So when you say support: healing, support buffs, boosting stats.

"The Gremlin is thought of as a secondary weapon," said XCOM 2

The versatility of the flying Gremlin is extended by the fact it can path anywhere, but must be guided and directed by the Specialist as his or her action move for a turn; it doesn't move on it's own. When properly upgraded, you can send it out to hack a terminal remotely, or you might use it to cast an area-of-effect stun attack on the enemy.

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"The Specialist is support versus offensive," Foertsch said. "So when you say support: healing, support buffs, boosting stats." For example, you can send your Gremlin to follow your squad’s Ranger and give them protection (presumably less enemy chance to hit) while they scout the terrain.

“ Hacking is a prominent tactical gameplay mode that you will encounter on almost every mission.

"Hacking is going to be a prominent tactical gameplay mode that you will encounter on almost every mission type," Foertsch said. "You hack devices, workstations, and you can do that at range with the Gremlin.” Every soldier will have the ability to hack, but only the Specialist will be able to increase their hacking skill quickly, allowing them to hack faster than any other class - and when combined with the Gremlin’s remote hacking power, they could prove indispensable for many missions. They might also be able to activate certain things in the environment that no other character could.

Though hacking plays an important role in the procedurally generated secondary objectives coming to XCOM 2's maps , it's also useful in the usual combat scenario against enemies – specifically the undisclosed robotic enemies that the aliens have come up with in these past two decades. Foertsch explained an ability called Intrusion Protocol, which would allow the Specialist to hack and actually take over robotic enemies – basically a form of Mind Control. The Specialist might not pack much of a punch by themselves, but they’ll be able to set them up for the rest of your team to knock them down.

Brandin Tyrrel is an Associate Editor at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrandinTyrrel