Xcom2 Guide: 10 Tips & Tricks I wish I knew when starting Xcom2

[@SykenPlays]

Quick Summary: #1 Ranger: Bladestorm has a chance to miss, as it counts as an overwatch attack. The Katana doesn‘t miss as their only weapon. Bladestorm cannot be parried by the muton and super-seeds every other ability by triggering before they are executed (with the exception of stasis from priests and lightning field from Sectopods). Katana also ignores armor, which is helpful. #2 - Arashi does not suffer from shotgun ranged penalties. To be confirmed it is not affected by psionic bombs either. #3 Grenadier: Salvo allows to lop up to two grenades per turn or one grenade + a shot. #4 Chain shot on Sarcaphagus or other mission objectives has a chance to miss, since the chance to hit is set to 100% before hit malus is applied. #5 Supression penalty is removed once enemies have moved and is thus only partially effective. #6 Indistructable cover cannot be removed with demolition (everything else can). #7 Specialist: Threat assessment + Overwatch stack, both of them can trigger guardian. #8 Aid protocol is not ending the turn. Revival protocol counters unconscious, paralyzed and other nasty effects and can be used to immediate revive specter cloned targets, stunlacer lanced targets or the VIP in the lost mission with the auto-turret. #9 Warlock‘s Assault Rifle always crits against psionically active targets. #10 Reaper: Banish and Rupture / Amplify are a nasty combination to immediate eliminate strong enemies such as the rulers. They count as one action, although they are creating multiple shots. #11 (bonus) Using a reaper to circle around an enemy pod will force another pod to move between Reapers position and the mission objective, if you master the movement, you can manipulate the entire POD placement of advent.

[@simonburling3762]

8. Also the VIP's unconscious guard.

[@Squadron007]

#don't melee a mutton

[@reginoldogiuseppe7457]

supercedes* In case you want to perfect your command of English

[@TapCat]

About time someone made a halfway decent video on this topic!

[@SykenPlays]

Thanks TapCat, I thought sharing some tips and providing them in a fun way might be helpful for everyone! :)

[@admiralbone2002]

One exception (correct me if I'm wrong) to the assassina katana is lightning reflexes. It will miss against this. Comment on demolition, it can be used to detonate cars if the enemy is hiding behind it

[@SykenPlays]

You are correct, lightning reflexes always overwrites whatever hit chance you are having. 100% miss even if the weapon elsewise would have hit.

[@cale115]

Finally someone talks about revival on the first teammate recovery mission with the timed auto gun defense. Revive the soldier and have hi. Run back with the vip.

[@SykenPlays]

Yep, a nice little trick :)

[@mikb5165]

Thank you, professor sectoid!

[@SykenPlays]

I'll let him know that you enjoyed it :)

[@jdavis6630]

Your channel will be lit when xcom3 releases. I have been following you a long time and won’t stop.

[@SykenPlays]

If and when it ever releases :) But even without it, I am glad having a friendly community, so nothing is lost :)

[@Sidewaysgamer]

Solid video so far. I know it's late but if I might recommend something for the future. When talking about the tips show gameplay pertaining to what your talking about so we get a visual of what your talking about making it easier to understand. Juat my opinion obviously

[@weiwenng8096]

FYI, Banish doesn’t allow crits (same with Hail of Bullets), so a laser sight isn’t useful if your Reaper is doing that. They could benefit from a scope, because Banish reduces hit probability. That said, Reapers are good at getting crits because they can flank targets unseen, and they get high base crit damage. I always take Silent Killer, and laser sight means they can land a kill shot on a harder target - if they crit, which isn’t guaranteed, though. It feels like the weapon attachment system isn’t always well thought out. Anyway, I run a mod which changes repeaters to add crit damage. I philosophically dislike the instant execution mechanic. With that, it really makes sense to run laser sight plus repeater on my Reaper anyway, then I respec their weapon to allow for Banish.

[@SykenPlays]

Good point, I didn't know the crit prevention of banish. Thanks for pointing that out.

[@cale115]

Always love any xcom from syken.

[@SykenPlays]

Glad you liked it Cale, appreciate the feedback.

[@justinmoseley6440]

Great tips. So many nuances. Love the banish, bladestorm stack, the threat assessment stacks were preem. Problem is remembering them all.

[@SykenPlays]

Glad that you liked it!

[@Interdimentionalbunny]

Another Supression Tip. Use it on sectopods if you cant kill them in one turn. The sectopod will use his actions to shoot and most likely miss every single time

[@SykenPlays]

That is a good one.

[@BIadelores]

About the grenadier: While it's tempting to build them exclusively around explosives, Grenadiers have very high base damage and some very powerful attacking abilities. In the late game, it's generally better to begin building them around this, since grenade damage falls off and becomes more about utility (cover blown, shredding etc). They have the worst base aim out of all soldiers (Except Sharpshooters when shooting with Snipers up close), so deck them out with aim bonuses and upgrades and put them in high ground. If you get lucky, with the training center you can further get abilities like Serial or Death from Above which refund actions when getting kills, so place them as you would place a Sniper.

[@ZeroChance5]

Neat! Learned a few new things, thanks.

[@SykenPlays]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@ankitk236]

Secret Lore: Syken never started XCOM, XCOM started Syken (and it still regrets doing that)

[@SykenPlays]

LoL, that is the Chuck Norris joke of Xcom - I like it :)

[@ankitk236]

@@SykenPlays no u

[@DashingSteel]

Doctor Vahlen was really fucking around when she made him. The elusive Fourth Ruler.

[@ankitk236]

@@DashingSteel As long as Bradford is still around to provide sage advise to his unruly prodigal son, there's still hope...

[@zion5637]

:59 Ranger\ Bladestorm 2:34 Arashi 3:45 Grenadier\Salvo 5:00 Grenadier\Chain Shot 6:20 Grenadier\Supression 7:15 Grenadier\Demolition 8:53 Specialist\Threat Assessment 10:00 Specialist\Aid Protocol 11:32 Warlock Rifle 12:31 Reaper Banish

[@SykenPlays]

Thanks a lot for the effort!

[@SIUNIT06]

Advent heavy MEC's missile barrage also supersedes bladestorm, a very painful lesson I learned when my ranger decided to slash after the rest of the team ate a bunch of missiles to the face. Given how messy the coding in the game can be, I wouldn't be surprised if other things that are "cast" could all go before bladestorm, just like stasis.

[@SykenPlays]

Lightning Field and Stasis were the two exceptions that I was aware of, the missle barrage is a new one. I will add that to the list. Blazing pinions for instance is triggering Bladestorm, so it cannot just be the "cast" animation. Mind control, mind spin, reanimate and others also trigger it.

[@SIUNIT06]

@@SykenPlays Interesting, sounds like stasis is the odd one out in that regard. I was aware of that one, but I didn't realize lighting field also behaved that way.

[@stefans2143]

Thank you for sharing all of your experience! This is a great addition to the series where we could see the tips in action ;) One point though: As in the last video about the enemy prios: The movie in the background is very disturbing, makes it hard to watch. Maybe its only me, but I would prefer a stillstanding background a lot lot lot ;) Thanks anyway and keep it up!

[@SykenPlays]

Good point, unfortunately the 50 tips that I prepared will have movies ^.^

[@rf6486]

Good evening. Would it be possible to have videos like this but for XCOM Enemy within? As much as I manage to finish XCOM 2 in legendary but enemy within in impossible, it's a different story. When we see zemalf's recent run on this game which will very quickly end in a lost game even though he had finished the same game 10 years ago without even losing a country or a soldier, we wonder if it is the same game…

[@jimulatt7215]

Watch Pete Complete's impossible run on Xcom 1...he kicks that games ass and does a great job explaining every choice he is making.

[@SykenPlays]

I did not plan on doing more xcom1 content at the moment. If the right opportunity arises, I would certainly add a few videos. Ask Zemalf if he really fails it whether he is interested in give me the savegame for a saving your disaster campaign - that would likely be one of those situations where I would cover the game again.

[@daghlie]

Appreciate the videos👍

[@SykenPlays]

Thanks Daghlie

[@endersender350]

Great stuff!

[@SykenPlays]

Thanks mate! :)

[@docrock3234]

There is a theory that if you suppress a stun Lancer, or a melee unit, the penalty will carry with them as they make their way to you with the swing… it’s up for debate in the forums. Nobody really has a clear view of it. I had it worked for me once actually, it was the only time that I tried it. It worked not conclusive enough though I know.

[@SykenPlays]

I do not know the answer - none really does unless you coded the game. From my experience suppressing stun-lancers is a bad idea from the beginning, so you should not find yourself in that situation

[@jimulatt7215]

Demolition always says it has an 81% chance to hit but I have used it *a lot* and it has never missed once. Am I just lucky or is this a bug and it is actually 100%?

[@SykenPlays]

I saw that as well, my reading is that the hit chance is simply bugged and doesn't really mean anything. Would need to look deeper into examples and the coding to be sure though

[@iapetusmccool]

It's usually 85% for me, and I've had it miss.

[@craigrussell7542]

Syken points the way!

[@SykenPlays]

Glad you took something from it Craig.

[@littlegreen6355]

Good advice. :) I have slightly different preference for Banish mods. I prefer Superior Magazine, Superior Repeater and Superior SCOPE (Banish cannot crit and shoots with -15% aim).

[@SykenPlays]

That is a good idea with the scope.

[@cannibalholiday]

If you have a bunch of promoted characters before you build the warfare center, does re-speccing them have a chance of triggering the skill bonus if you missed it before?

[@SykenPlays]

That is a vanilla question, they changed it in WOTC. In Vanilla the answer is no.

[@cannibalholiday]

@@SykenPlays Thanks :) I've only got Vanilla for now.

[@msgrell7774]

Oh my god! I never realized i could revive my guys when shadowbound until right now.... Well, thanks for telling me, i feel like an idiot 😁 And also didnt know about the warlocks rifle, tha tis useful! :) As always, solid tips Syken!

[@SykenPlays]

Glad you took something from it. which is why I did the series.

[@wolfe8035]

Dude Templar with Bladestorm. OP af.

[@SykenPlays]

They are quite good once they have Bladestorm *swoosh* (lightsaber sound)

[@justinmoseley6440]

Also the chosen weapons tips

[@SykenPlays]

They are helpful weapons if you know their nuances.

[@lucagubernati4695]

A podcast would have been enough for this tutorial. You should highlight skill/item where they actually are during mission and build. I am sure i should know all of these terms, and i'm confident i crossed all, but it is not actually immediate for xcom-world new player.

[@SykenPlays]

Great suggestion, thanks

[@krzysztofchlebio8513]

Hey syken when long war?

[@SykenPlays]

The next run will be the collaboration with TapCat and then it is long war time.

[@krzysztofchlebio8513]

@@SykenPlays Btw quick question, what rounds do u take on a more gun focused specialist with the warlock rifle since it crits on psionic targets? A.P for gatekeepers and avatars?

[@jyyyb]

Banish plus repeater plus extended mag and plus 5% weapon mod = guaranteed ruler one shot

[@SykenPlays]

That is a nasty combo

[@bluntlyhonest6803]

Only tip i got for all Xcom players. Get a box of flashbangs ASAP. cant understate how useful they are.

[@SykenPlays]

They break Mind Control, They disable special abilities (i.e. poison spit), they reduce the aim of the enemies (provide additional stacking cover), they reduce movement speed (prevents enemies from taking flanking positions), they disable psionic powers. All of that in a HUGE radius.

[@bluntlyhonest6803]

@@SykenPlays yup. thats why folks should get them.

[@zion5637]

Pro Viewer Tip : Perhaps you could number the 10 tip series..i.e, 10 tips #1, 10 Tips #2 etc? The "additional, more additional, yet more addtional, additionally addtional and conditional additional etc" naming conventions are a bit confusing.. Just having a bit of fun I hope you know, but thanks! As always I suggest watching the full video for nuance etc. Bur seriously -do it now. Now get off my lawn!

[@SykenPlays]

Good tip, I will take it into consideration and give it a bit more structure. I thought initially that the videos should stand their own ground, but I can see the line of reasoning.

[@DmytroBogdan]

The tips are good but presentation is poor. When you're talking about skill or weapon rather show ingame screen highlighting that feature insted of sectoid face

[@SykenPlays]

Good feedback, appreciate it

[@azairvine]

NEW tips?! O_O

[@SykenPlays]

Yep, more are coming.

[@GridicA]

I watched 3:30 of this video, and I'm a beginner. I have NO idea what all this stuff your saying is. not very helpful if you don't even show the stuff/effects on screen

[@SykenPlays]

Good feedback, I appreciate it

[@GridicA]

@@SykenPlays I've now put about 18 hours into the game. Now I think I'm ready to keep watching your video. I just thought at the time, you used too much complexity for someone new. Even down to the abilities you mentioned (bladestorm, ect.) being like a LVL 4 ability, most new players need more basic knowledge.

[@zero1zerolast393]

3:12 That is false, you will lose all your ammo.

[@jyyyb]

Suppression is pointless, never even picked it