The early missions of XCOM 2′s campaign are a tough slog. Your troops are weak, they panic at the slightest mishap and are extremely vulnerable to alien mind control. As somebody who has many a rookie on the memorial wall of the Avenger, here is some advice that I wish I had been given before embarking on the quest to rid humanity of its alien threat.

Stun Lancers are the single biggest threat in the early game

Armed with an electrified baton, Advent Stun Lancers may not seem threatening compared to mind controlling Sectoids and strangling Vipers, but they do dish out the single greatest non-lethal threat to your early XCOM squad: unconsciousness.

One zap of the baton is all it takes to separate an XCOM soldier from their mental faculties and Stun Lancers can execute their baton attack from a full turn’s movement away, meaning as soon as you can see them they can close the gap and hit you. While their attack is not a 100% chance to render its victim unconscious, if it does your soldier may as well be considered dead for the remainder of the mission should you not yet have the ability to deal with the effect, very likely at an early stage.

With a squad of only four soldiers, losing one to unconsciousness is catastrophic, but even worse is in a timed evacuation mission when the unconscious soldier must be carried to the evac zone, rendering another of your soldiers incapable of firing. On missions without an evac you can leave them where they lay to be picked up upon completion, but the inconvenience of being down 25% of your squad still stings.

So how do you deal with them? If progressing carefully you should have a full turn to attempt an attack on them, and standard tactics of using grenades to destroy their cover and give your squad better shots work well. Should you not be able to kill them first turn, overwatch is your friend as the Stun Lancer must move to close range to attack.

Setting up angles of cover so that the overwatch triggers right as the Stun Lancer approaches is a bonus, but if you have that level of control over the situation you can probably launch an offensive instead. If concealed you should aim to take them down with your first attack, but make sure to have explosives in your back pocket to finish the job.

A Viper’s hold can be broken by a single shot

Vipers have a nasty habit of pulling your soldiers out of cover and into danger then squeezing them to death. Luckily this hold can be broken by a single shot, and then the victim of the squeeze will get a full turn themselves to get into cover and blow the exposed Viper away (unlike the similar alien attack from Enemy Within). It can actually be an effective tactic to lure Vipers into this move so you get a point blank shot at them, but you can never be sure if they will go for this attack or their far more problematic poison bomb so you best deal with them from a distance and know that if they grab you, one shot frees the victim.

Countdowns finish at the end of “one”, not “zero”

You will face a lot of timed missions in XCOM 2, especially evacuations, and it is handy to know that the turn the countdown hits one is the last turn you have. You’ll want to be in the evac zone by the end of that turn or your soldiers will be left behind and captured. Luckily you can evac without any actions remaining, so a sprint to the evac zone will still allow you to escape that turn.

Just because you are concealed, doesn’t mean you are safe

Concealment is crucial to getting the upper hand in a mission, but it is easily broken. Aside from making sure you don’t break windows when moving about, you need to be aware of where the enemy is moving and that just because a tile isn’t marked as dangerous doesn’t mean it can’t have line of sight to other enemies you are yet to uncover. Try and anticipate which direction enemies are patrolling and set up an ambush rather than chasing them along their route, and avoid the temptation to sprint into an area you don’t have clear vision of.

Overwatch is your friend in ambushes

Concealment gives you one clear shot at an enemy, and you need to make that one shot count as enemies will scurry to cover as soon as you fire. If you want more shots at open enemies, have your squad use overwatch before taking the first shot, as the enemies scurry overwatch will give you another free shot at them. It makes targeting specific enemies a bit tougher but can give you the best chance to deal maximum damage.

When you need to mindjack an Officer, don’t do it on a timed mission

Without saying too much, things will be a lot easier for you if you wait until the coast is clear and you aren’t under any time pressure when you decide to mindjack an Officer to progress the story. Some rockets in your back pocket wouldn’t go astray either.

Know what ends your turn, and what doesn’t

Reloading no longer ends your turn, and some weapon upgrades even allow you a free reload. Firing a rocket doesn’t cost both actions in a turn and the Specialists “Gremlin” actions don’t end a turn either, meaning you can put an aid protocol on or heal a soldier then still take a shot.

On the flip side, picking up a target (such as a wounded soldier or VIP) doesn’t cost you an action but putting them down does. You are best off making sure the coast is clear before carrying somebody.

May these tips help your Rookies to live to see Squaddie, and beyond. Do you have anything that’ll help out other players? Sound off in the comments area, below.

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