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The focus here is on helping you win the ground battles in XCOM 2. If you're looking for help building your base and managing the global resistance efforts, check out our guide right here.
Humanity is on the ropes at the start of XCOM 2. Aliens haven't just invaded; they're here, they run pretty much everything and they're secretly working to destroy us all.
The only people that see the threat for what it is are your allies in the human Resistance, but you don't have the numbers to push back in force. That leaves only one option: waging a guerrilla ground war. The E.T.s have superior numbers and weapons, but you've got the benefit of a clever mind and a small-yet-mobile squad.
1. Save early, save often
There's no sugar-coating this: XCOM 2's save file system is broken. While the autosave feature is aggressive, this holdover bug from the previous game has a nasty habit of slapping the wrong dates and times on your save files. For those that like to save and reload during a mission, the unsorted list of files can be a nightmare.
All of which means you should get into the habit of manually saving your game at key moments. If nothing else, make one save in each mission before you make any moves on your first turn. There's no "mission restart" feature, so doing this at least gives you a way to wipe the battlefield and start fresh if you're not happy with how the fight went down.
2. Know your soldiers' roles
This might seem obvious to some, but snipers aren't generally a good fit for close-quarters combat. Knowing what each member of your squad can do and how to best leverage their talents is vital in XCOM 2. Generally speaking, moving everyone as a group is safest. Though you should always be ready to switch that up according to a mission's needs. If you're not on a timer, for example, finding safe, high ground for your sharpshooter is a huge help.
Keep your rangers and their deadly melee attack at the front of any advance. They make great scouts, especially as they level up. Grenadiers should fall in right behind them, ready to spray the field with bullets or blow up obstacles using heavy explosives.
Specialist units can hang back a bit, regardless of whether you've upgraded them for healing or combat. Their Gremlin drones have considerable range and don't have to worry about distance screwing up their accuracy, as they never miss. During more mobile missions, it can be a good idea to move any sharpshooters and specialists together in a group so they can back each other up.
3. Don't burn your turns
Each soldier in XCOM 2 can typically perform no more than two actions on a given turn, though that gets cut down to one if you attack with your first action. That said, there's nothing requiring you to use both actions consecutively.
It's often valuable when you're first scouting a map to move a single soldier forward into uncharted territory and then, once you know the lay of the land ahead, position other soldiers around your scout based on what you learn. Sometimes it might make sense to move your scout forward a second time, though make sure you've got one or two soldiers in Overwatch — meaning they'll take potshots at any enemy that appears — before you do.
Every map in XCOM 2 is randomly generated, so there's no standard strategy that works every time. The best thing to do is to always move cautiously. Even when you're on a mission timer, there's no harm in using each soldier's actions one at a time, as opposed to burning them both on a dash. Never dash into a location that you haven't scouted yet.
4. Concealment is a powerful weapon
Many of the missions in XCOM 2 start with your squad in a state of concealment, meaning as long as you stay out of enemy sightlines — which are clearly marked with red "eye" icons on the ground — you won't be attacked. Getting spotted or staging any kind of attack or hack ends concealment for the rest of the mission (barring specific soldier abilities), so your early freedom of movement is best for setting up ambushes or sneaking around threats (usually to better set up an ambush).
An ambush in XCOM 2 can take many forms. Early on, an easy setup involves putting all but one of your soldiers in Overwatch then having that last soldier fire a shot. The suddenly-awakened enemies will scatter after that first shot, and your responding Overwatch fire should bring most or all of them down.
Later on, as enemy numbers increase and the range of attacks brought to bear against you grows, an all-Overwatch setup isn't as effective. Some foes are extremely deadly unless you can bring them down before they attack, so for occasions when you need to focus fire in specific directions the randomness of Overwatch works against you.
As with most strategies in XCOM 2, your best bet is to keep paying attention and learning how your enemies behave. Note which ones can lay waste to a squad with one attack. Which ones have area-of-effect abilities. Much like your own squad, the E.T.s each have their own role. Watch how each one behaves and learn how to counteract the biggest threats before they can mess you up.
5. Specialists are amazing Swiss Army Knives
Your specialist soldiers are accompanied by drones that offer powerful benefits. Healer-leaning specialists can send a drone out to heal distant allies or remove status effects, such as the Sectoid mind control ability. Combat-leaning specialists can deal direct, guaranteed damage, and even enjoy a bonus against robotic enemies.
All specialists also have the extremely potent Aid Protocol ability, regardless of their upgrade path. Using it assigns the Gremlin drone to a soldier of your choice, giving them a significant boost to their defense stat. If you accidentally move a scout too far out, for example, Aid Protocol can keep them alive for an extra turn as enemies close in.
All specialists also have the ability to hack certain alien facilities. Hacking works a lot like firing a gun does, with a percentage chance for completing the chosen action successfully. The better your Gremlin — research upgrades them over time — the better your shot at a good hack.
Most maps feature hackable alien transmitter towers that can provide a random assortment of bonuses, from boosting specific stats to resetting all of your soldiers' actions for that turn. There are also some missions that involve hacking an alien-controlled workstation. Most soldiers have to run up next to these to perform the hack, but specialists can deploy their Gremlin and do it remotely. This is extremely helpful when you're up against a mission timer.
Combat specialists also eventually earn the ability to hack robotic enemies, allowing you to temporarily disable or even take control of them. There's no understating how powerful this ability is, especially when you start encountering the terrifying Sectopod enemies.
6. Pay attention to your squad roster
You can only assign four soldiers to a squad when XCOM 2 begins, though upgrades eventually allow you to assign five, then six soldiers. Whatever the number is, consider the demands for each mission and put some thought into who you're going to bring along. The game automatically creates a squad out of your highest-ranked soldiers, but that's not always the ideal setup for a given mission, especially when injuries start to mount.
As with everything else in XCOM 2, there's no perfect strategy for squad setup. Early on, when you're facing weaker enemies, having two rangers along can be invaluable; their sword attack has more range than you'd think and is usually a one-hit kill. Backing them up with a specialist's Aid Protocol is practically essential. Healer-leaning specialists should also carry a medkit in their utility item slot, as it gives the Drone Heal ability extra uses.
Grenadiers are less essential in the early game. Their explosives are definitely deadly, but grenades and rockets are best at shredding the kinds of armored enemies that don't show up until much later. Still, you should spend time leveling your grenadiers alongside the other soldiers
A good four-person roster early on is two rangers, a specialist and either a second specialist, a grenadier or a sharpshooter, depending on the mission requirements. Once your roster size expands, try to make sure you've always got a grenadier along for the ride — if nothing else, grenades are excellent for bringing down walls and opening up new paths of travel.
An ideal lineup for the late game is one ranger, one healing specialist, one combat specialist and two grenadiers.
7. Plan for your escapes
Many of the timed missions require you to manually extract your squad from a designated location. Time management is key during these missions, as you have to budget time to not only reach your objective but also then get from there to the escape location.
The timers in XCOM 2 are relatively generous, but always keep an eye on them. The most important thing to remember when escaping: if you can get to the marked extraction zone, you can escape that same turn. The actual act of extracting doesn't burn any of your actions, so you can dash to the extraction area and get out safely before enemies can respond.
Source: mashable
