XCOM 2 Tips: FacelessTactics Guide (How to Kill Faceless for Beginners)

[@orangesoda4535]

I once set a full 6 man overwatch trap in anticipation of a faceless charge. All 6 shots missed, it smacked a truck, killing 2 soldiers and panicked the rest. It was not a good day.

[@leifjbj]

That’s XCOM baby

[@diddlenfiddle7311]

Well overwatch has an aim penalty. Also they're already out of cover so why use overwatch in the first place?

[@Bunnymafia8150]

@@diddlenfiddle7311 maybe it was out of line of sight and he didn’t want to give up his position

[@trumplostlol3007]

@@diddlenfiddle7311 The aim penalty doesn't justice 4 consecutive misses. If each soldier has a chance of 70% and the overwatch penalty is 20%, the chances of missing 4 consecutive overwatches is 0.5^4 = 0.0625 = 6.25%. But I have many 2, 3, 4 overwatch misses and seldom get 0 or 1 overwatch misses. I am 100% certain that Xcom 2 doesn't not actually use a random number generator to calculate the actual shooting results cause I repeat the same mission using the same moves and every time exactly the same result will happen.

[@diddlenfiddle7311]

@@trumplostlol3007 The number are already worked out so you can't save scum. Also no you're looking at it wrong. 50% is always going to be 50%, no matter how many times you do it. With xcom you can't assume you're in 100% control of the outcome, it's just as much about dealing with bad turns as it is anything else.

[@debclatterbuck6708]

PSA: if he is situated​ on a roof, faceless can potentially slap the floor out from underneath a soldier causing him to take fall damage. I lost a sniper that way and it really sucked.

[@shinigamimiroku3723]

Yeah, same thing happened to me when I was playing a couple of weeks ago... x_x

[@grandmagunsales2125]

Same but with an andromedon Dude tried to punch my sniper, missed and hit the car next to him making it blow up, then when I ran him to the roof to try to get away the bloody thing followed, and missed a punch again punching through the floor. The worst part was it killed the androm with fall damage along with him too so this moment is now immortalized in a screenshot thanks to "Have a nice Trip"

[@anstorner]

One of them attacked my grenadier who is at the front of a car and made it explode, damaging the faceless but didn't hit the grenadier for some reason (took melee damage but no explosion damage)

[@Dcook85]

Scanner protocol/Battle Scanners are a must in every retaliation mission I do. Revealing them outright on your terms is the best way for sure.

[@grandmagunsales2125]

And since mimic beacons are a must against the later missions this is like the only alien you actively want to find in missions

[@willemverheij3412]

It's important to stay away from explosive stuff even with no other enemies around. I once had a faceless come out of hiding and swipe at my soldier who was next to a car. Instant death.

[@Sha-hn2hf]

Willem Verheij learned the hard way long ago 😂😭

[@isaaclee2084]

Commander I would refrain from using explosives

[@jek_si2251]

PSA: Disorientation no longer stops melee attacks,, just reduces their chance to hit.

[@theuselessteammate2097]

No?

[@N1ghtwalk3r]

​@@theuselessteammate2097 In WOTC, yes

[@theuselessteammate2097]

@@N1ghtwalk3r don't have wotc, should've clarified imo. Still thanks for doing so retroactively

[@desolator4662]

My first time facing faceless, I didn't pay attention and like "the hell is that goo things!" then it disappeared out of sight. Next round try to find it, open one door and it stand in a room head on the ceiling! And to continue its intimidation, it's wreck entire house in half and nearly kill my guy. It has the greatest introduction by my luck lol

[@gustavofelipedelgado6746]

scanner protocol reveal them in all map

[@TapCat]

True, I should have mentioned that!

[@DileepNow]

Faceless were dangerous in the early game. Later on they pop up and immediately die to a bladestorm. Yeah, I usually have the ranger running around to rescue people. Btw, love your XCom2 series, watching them to compare strategies. There is a lot to this game.

[@Svoorhout85]

First time encountered a faceless I savescummed, put my team on overwatch around the civilian and then used my last move to throw a grenade at him.

[@TapCat]

Lol, that should work too!

[@MrODST57]

lol thr 1st time i saw one I got sqaud wiped by it

[@TapCat]

Ah yes, the squad wipe... one of XCOM's favorite tools for gentle instruction!

[@memto2376]

"You gotta be fucking kidding" - Every player on their first Faceless encounter

[@blueskadoo1402]

Mine was "Aww, wtf is that." as it then proceeded to hit the car in front of 2 squaddies and insta killed them. got another "wtf." after that. lol

[@shinigamimiroku3723]

@@blueskadoo1402 That was basically my reaction too... XD

[@Lordbowser666]

Myn was fine

[@zakxii9944]

if your ranger stays conceal and get into range of the civilian, the civilian wont react if it is a faceless

[@deadNdivine12]

Really?

[@zakxii9944]

@@deadNdivine12 yep, actualy happened to me, unless it was a bug

[@noriakikakyoin1423]

Dude your tips have helped me a metric fuck ton i went from a god awful player to a pretty decent one thanks for all the tips

[@TapCat]

You're welcome Theo, and thank you for the positive feedback!

[@silenceinwhisper]

Faceless are why I no longer approach any civilians in any rescue mission unless absolutely necessary, however if you take the time to look at the civilians you can usually tell that some of them are a bit….different. That’s all I can say right now. Advent is listening

[@NuclearConvoy]

That cover wrecking ability will also cause things that can explode to do so sometimes. Which is more dangerous than their dumb claws.

[@TapCat]

If I didn't mention that, I should have. It can be extremely painful if one of these guys swings at you while you're standing next to a car, a guaranteed kill in the early game.

[@NuclearConvoy]

@@TapCat learned it the hard way for sure. Just started playing this week so very fresh in my mind.

[@ShadowFire287]

Some of this information was good. at first I was thinking "what's the difficulty? Just shoot them with lots of bullets."

[@FODOR00]

It is possible to damage the faceless with grenade even before it transforms while it is still disguised as a civilian.

[@Red-wb2ey]

A Faceless once triggered off in the distance, Ran into the building some of my soldiers were in, Swung at the car I was using for cover The car exploded, killing the faceless.

[@xxiSHTAr9000x]

Did it kill you as well?

[@R_E_X_O_]

Having to fight 3 of these with 5 Squaddies/Corporals and a Chosen was not a great time

[@TapCat]

I can well believe that!

[@gaelicprincess4937]

I actually read in the wiki that Faceless can still use their melee when disoriented, unlike most other aliens you confront in the game.

[@TapCat]

While the wiki isn't always accurate, my guess is that they're probably correct. A few things were patched after I made the "How to kill..." videos and they particularly nerfed effects like burning that used to shut down melee attacks. It would make a lot of sense to me if they did the same thing with disorientation.

[@nathanstewart8362]

this whole video boils do to basically shoot them thanks for the useful info!

[@aeroz2804]

Thanks man.

[@ShadowHunter120]

At least mutons don't freaking tear the floor up or blow the car to hit you. Faceless are why I only rescue civilians with a squad member with a charge of teamwork ready.

[@Framidan]

I do not know what I am doing wrong in this type of Retaliation missions, I simply cannot find any civilians, the only ones I find are faceless, I am repeating it and I always fail. I am not a newbie at all, I played Apolypse and XCOM Enemy unknown and both succeeded.

[@TapCat]

That sounds like a bug to me. I've played a lot of retaliation missions across multiple campaigns and there are never more than 2 faceless with the rest being true civilians.

[@Framidan]

@@TapCatwell, I've never rescued a single civilian so I can assume it's a bug. How do I solve it? Should I reinstall the game?

[@TapCat]

You can try reinstalling and you can try starting a new campaign. Those are the only ideas I have, but you could try posting something in the 2K forum for XCOM 2 and see if they can offer any help.

[@Framidan]

@@TapCat ok. I'm on It, thank You!

[@Schneeregen_]

I had a faceless stand next to a car and puch my soldier, killing himself in the proccess

[@TapCat]

That's pretty funny!

[@meemeleem]

alternate strategy that may or may not work sometimes but has single-turn kill potential: position a high level ranger with the melee skills near someone you suspect is a faceless, just far away to prevent the transformation with the rest of the squad waiting, then use the scan ability with a specialist so you can instantly melee the faceless and the rest of the team can fire away if you don’t get a melee crit

[@robertgrays8790]

That soulless stare... o.o

[@lastraven7205]

I tried to flash bang one once and it didn't seem to stop his melee attacks

[@TapCat]

I recorded this years ago and they've since nerfed some of the things that used to be effective against melee opponents. Setting them on fire no longer stops their attacks either.

[@lastraven7205]

@@TapCat ahhh

[@drakeneumann1708]

the funniest thing ive seen in xcom is in retaliation mission i had a few mecs and soldiers and didnt see a faceless yet when i civi moved in front of the mec who was on overwatch who then shit the faceless which was awesome

[@TapCat]

That's awesome!

[@trainermac1178]

I never knew that if you set any mele unit on fire it renders them useless

[@TapCat]

I hate to tell you this but after I made this video, they patched the game and removed that vulnerability from at least some of the aliens. I know for a fact that berserkers and archons can still do melee attacks while burning and no longer assume that this trick works against any enemies. The change was made when they released Alien Hunters and I'm fairly certain it was done so that the Berserker Queen wouldn't be a total joke.

[@Krethak]

I can confirm, also they're completely immune to disorientation, they can still melee, they don't even get a aim penalty on it. I was relying on it on my L/I attempt and that stupid thing one shot critted my grenadier who revealed it -.-* I suspect that I can't count on Flashbang, or fire for Berserkers (as you said) or Chrysalids either u.u And here I was thinking a dedicated Blademaster Ranger with Fusion Blade, Fire Vest and Mediket would be the ultimate Faceless/Berserker/Chrysalid Killer :/

[@TapCat]

I believe that a flashbang does affect both their aim and mobility, but there's still a chance that you can get hit and possibly killed. The blademaster ranger with hellweave is the most impractical concept that I routinely see hyped online. They don't do enough damage to kill anything and you don't even have a way to reliably bait the alien into approaching the guy you want them to attack. I get why people love to see those pre-emptive strikes but there are more effective options available (IMHO).

[@Krethak]

I don't know about the mobility Loss to a disoriented Faceless, but I've got a Mod (Perfect Information) that should show me the real hit percentage of every attack made and the Faceless had still 95% :/ (granted I've already seen that attack fail twice) As for the Hellweave Blademaster Combi, it's because of burrowed Chrysalid. Sure you can set up a perimeter of Overwatch and THEN move a unit forward, but that is painstakingly slow and you can't afford that in timed missions at all. The Hellweave Blademaster would (at least in Theory) be able to be the gunpoint and take care of the offender right themselves rendering them unable to melee with a Fusion blade strike that ignites them. That Aside, I'll try my attempt on L/I #60 tomorrow at least I made it already past the first Retaliation mission a couple of times only to get Squad wipes in the next Extraction mission (I hate those with passion, maybe another topic for you in your Guide videos? ^^ ) Also thanks for your tuts, I'm watching your L/I run by now since all the other so far breezed through it with shit ton of luck and not a single hit taken in like the first 10 mission and for you I see a wounded soldier or two in the first couple mission and know you still pulled through, I'm thrilled to watch that ^^

[@TapCat]

Thank you for clarifying that you were using a mod to determine what the Faceless chance to hit was, that adds major certainty! Now I'm wondering if all melee attacks are unaffected by disorientation or if this is an oddity of the Faceless. And I assume that this is a bug and not intended, but that doesn't help much when you're on the battlefield. I'm glad you find my Let's Play videos helpful. I certainly have my share of rough missions but I agree that most people are likely to have to deal with hospital stays, deaths, etc. in a legend/ironman campaign as well as just rough missions in general. It's helpful to see how to deal some of that because it can be pretty scary when things go wrong and you know there's no reload available.

[@Geobeetle]

Tldw: Just shoot it

[@neuneuil499]

civilian move if ennemi is next to them faceless disguise not litle tip

[@paulleepoy7236]

I got jumped by a faceless one time but I had him on overwatch and wasted his ass

[@Charles.Wright]

I've heard legends of people scoring successful hits with overwatch. Can't wait to see it IRL! (I'm only 16 hours in...)

[@aaronh.4670]

One of the times I encountered a faceless my solider was on top of a bus the faceless attacked he destroyed the whole vehicle my solider fell the bus exploded and took the damage from the faceless

[@TapCat]

Wow! People talk about getting screwed by the RNG, but these are the kind of random events that can _really_ stick it to you.

[@weebslayer3411]

Stuff of Nightmares

[@DSlyde]

You've dropped a space between faceless and tactics in the video title. It can mess with searches sometimes but you did get 80k views so maybe that's fine not to fix

[@jada_9827]

Yogurt! *FeelsGoodMan*

[@joshuagauthier4130]

Stop showing spoilers for top videos you're ruining it for people that haven't played the whole game

[@TapCat]

I've read and re-read your comment multiple times and don't understand what you're trying to say. First, I don't control where these videos appear on KZbin, the site has its own algorithms that handle all of that. Second, there are no spoilers in my thumbnails or titles unless you're talking about the mere existence of an alien like the Faceless. Of course, Firaxis spoiled that by heavily promoting them in pre-release videos many months ago so I'm not exactly breaking new ground there. In short, I have no idea what it is you think I'm spoiling, let alone where or how I would be doing that.

[@feedthemeat543f]

+TapCatVids sparks are really good at dealing faceless their armor and built in defense makes it hard for the faceless to do any real damage and strike can easily kill them

[@TapCat]

I'm not the biggest fan of Sparks, but that sounds pretty reasonable to me.