Grenadier Gunner

Abilities: Launch Grenade, Shredder, Suppression, Holo Targeting, Volatile Mix, Salvo, Rupture

With eight builds to fit in six slots, you can t bring everything on every mission. There s some key things to consider if you can only bring one Grenadier or Specialist. For the Grenadier, Holo Targeting and Rupture are key abilities too big to miss out on - giving your entire squad +15 aim and +3 damage respectively are huge buffs that shouldn t be ignored. Shredder, Volatile Mix and Salvo ensure your Grenadier can weaken armored enemies while also providing heavy explosive power.

Hacker Medic

Abilities: Aid Protocol, Medical Protocol, Haywire Protocol, Field Medic, Threat Assessment, Guardian, Capacitor Discharge

For the Specialist, Medical Protocol and Field Medic provide the sustainability you need for lategame firefights, while Haywire Protocol ensures you won t be caught flat-footed against tough robotic opponents like Heavy MECs, Andromedon Shells, and Sectopods. When all else fails, try out your own builds and squad loadouts—creativity and experimentation will yield you powerful strategies all your own. Good luck!

More of our recommended XCOM 2 soldier builds: Ranger / Specialist / Grenadier / Sharpshooter

Grenadier build: Heavy Gunner

Abilities: Launch Grenade, Shredder, Suppression, Holo Targeting, Chain Shot, Salvo, Saturation Fire

Gear: EXO/WAR Suit, Rocket/Blaster Launcher, Grenades

Accessories: Perception, Scope, Autoloader (Bonus: Expanded Magazine)

The Heavy Gunner provides incredible support fire capability, backed up with a respectable amount of explosive ordnance. Shredder and Chain Shot combine to wreak havoc upon robotic enemies, while Holo Targeting ensures every follow up shot from the squad gains a significant accuracy boost. Suppression keeps enemy heads down and neuters their aim, and Salvo allows you to remove enemy cover then tear them apart with a follow up shot. Its alternative, Hail of Bullets, may tempt you with its guaranteed hit chance—but by the time you reach Major, you should have enough Scopes and Perception PCS chips to make the extra accuracy redundant, while extra explosions are never unnecessary.

Rupture is a key skill that you must have on at least one soldier in your squad, but if you bring multiple Grenadiers, I recommend Saturation Fire on your Gunners. This build sacrifices explosive potential for cannon power, so the skill gives back some AoE capability while also making good use of your high aim to hit multiple enemies at once. The fact that it also applies Shredder is just icing on the cake.

Aim is critical for Heavy Gunners, as missing your Chain Shot is the difference between wiping out a Sectopod and being fodder for its angry, angry lasers. Autoloaders and Expanded Mags help to counteract the huge amount of ammo you ll burn through, and a Rocket (or later, Blaster) Launcher grants some more AoE potential to Salvo off towards your enemies.

Grenadier build: Demolitions Expert

Abilities: Launch Grenade, Blast Padding, Suppression, Heavy Ordinance, Volatile Mix, Salvo, Rupture

Gear: EXO/WAR Suit, Shredder/Shredstorm Cannon, Grenade, Acid Grenades

Accessories: Conditioning, Stock, Autoloader (Bonus: Expanded Magazine)

Typically responsible for millions in property damage, Demolitions Experts are the purest form of Grenadier. Heavy Ordinance, Volatile Mix and Salvo allow you to blow things up effectively and often, while Blast Padding allows you to take damage instead of just dishing it out. Suppression remains an effective pinning perk over the less reliable Demolition (who needs a cover destruction perk when you ve got five explosives?), and Rupture provides powerful single target damage to round out your otherwise AoE focused arsenal.

Acid Grenades and Shredder/Shredstorm Cannons are excellent picks for Demo Experts, making up their lack of Shredder with plenty of armor removal capability. Blast Padding combos well with a Conditioning PCS to make this soldier your main tank—and with the extra armor of an EXO/WAR Suit (and even a Plated Armor vest) you ll be approaching incredible levels of toughness. Autoloaders and Expanded Mags are still good to keep your suppression fire going, while a Stock makes the most of your lack of accuracy by ensuring damage regardless.

Once you pick up Rupture, consider accessorizing your Demo Experts more like their Heavy Gunner brethren—Scopes and Perception chips will make your Rupture more reliable, which will allow ridiculous damage combined with your squad and particularly with your Gunslinger.

More of our recommended XCOM 2 soldier builds: Ranger / Specialist / Sharpshooter / Hybrid builds

Specialist build: Combat Hacker

Abilities: Aid Protocol, Combat Protocol, Haywire Protocol, Scanning Protocol, Threat Assessment, Guardian, Capacitor Discharge

Gear: Predator/Warden Armor, Skulljack, Miscellaneous

Accessories: Perception, Scope, Expanded Magazine (Bonus: Repeater)

The Combat Hacker is an immensely powerful support unit who can control the battlespace with surprising efficiency. Combat and Haywire Protocol are obvious counters to robotic enemies but the former is also very useful for picking off wounded enemies in cover. Scanning Protocol gives you free recon on demand, while Threat Assessment and Guardian let you provide impressive amounts of overwatch, either from an Aid Protocol enhanced teammate or from the Hacker themselves. Capacitor Discharge is a large AoE with shocking damage that can also stun and disorient enemies.

Much of the Specialist s efficiency comes from Aid Protocol being a single action ability. You can send your Gremlin to assist a teammate and still take a second action afterwards - granting Threat Assessment to an ally and then going on Guardian overwatch yourself is a huge amount of cover fire threat for any enemy to test. We want Perception, a Scope and an Expanded Mag to make the most out of Guardian—more aim and ammo to keep those chain hits coming.

A Skulljack with the Skullmine upgrade grants extra power to each hack you attempt, and the extra item slot is yours to use—a Mimic Beacon s a powerful pick if you need a suggestion.

Guerilla Op objectives can grant you +20 to your hack score on a good attempt, so use them to boost your Specialist s tech power as often as you can. It ll be worth it when you re hijacking Sectopods at Colonel.

Specialist build: Battle Medic

Abilities: Aid Protocol, Medical Protocol, Revival Protocol, Field Medic, Threat Assessment, Guardian, Capacitor Discharge

Gear: Predator/Warden Armor, Medkit, Miscellaneous

Accessories: Perception, Scope, Expanded Magazine (Bonus: Repeater)

The Battle Medic trades anti-robotic capability for increased support potential. Medical and Revival Protocol allow you to remotely heal allies and remove negative effects from them such as panic. Field Medic increases your sustainability, while Threat Assessment and Guardian remain my preferred picks for any type of Specialist compared to their alternatives. Restoration is the most powerful healing skill available but one I choose to avoid—while it could single-handedly save the day if every member of your squad is wounded or dying, I feel that situation is rare enough that normal healing can suffice. Instead, Capacitor Discharge means your Medic still has some teeth, and a powerful AoE skill to assist with multiple enemy cleanups.

Just like Aid Protocol, Medical and Revival Protocol are also single actions, allowing you to assist a friendly and then take a second action afterwards. We still want aim and ammo to boost Guardian s power, but a key difference is we no longer need a Skulljack, as without Haywire Protocol your Specialist has less need for a high hack score. A Medkit is naturally core, leaving another item slot to do with as you see fit.

The Battle Medic becomes more important later in the game as enemies land more and greater damage per turn. Ignore this build at your own peril—sooner or later, you ll likely regret not having a healer in your squad.

More of our recommended XCOM 2 soldier builds: Ranger / Sharpshooter / Grenadier / Hybrid builds

Ranger build: Shotgunner

Abilities: Slash, Phantom, Shadowstep, Run and Gun, Implacable, Untouchable, Rapid Fire

Gear: Spider/Wraith Suit, Talon Rounds

Accessories: Speed or Perception, Laser Sight, Autoloader (Bonus: Hair Trigger)

The Ranger is one of the most powerful units you can command. Phantom s extended stealth allows constant recon of the enemy, allowing you to position and ambush with perfect intel. Shadowstep with Run and Gun lets you hit anyone, anywhere, anytime with powerful (and accurate) shotgun blasts, while Implacable and Untouchable get you out of the dangerous situation you just charged into.

Rapid Fire is the crown jewel—doubling your potential damage every single turn for a paltry -15 aim penalty. The shotgun s inherent accuracy at close range combined with near-guaranteed crits from Talon Rounds and a Laser Sight ensure you won t regret the trade off. The Spider/Wraith suit s mobility and grapple only enhances this lethal combination of speed and power, and an Autoloader offsets your constant ammo dumping, keeping you ready to kill at all times.

A Speed PCS further boosts your mobility for flanking, or Perception will let you Rapid Fire reliably from longer distances. What you value more is your call.

Ranger build: Blademaster

Abilities: Slash, Blademaster, Shadowstep, Conceal, Bladestorm, Untouchable, Reaper

Gear: Spider or Wraith Suit - Hazmat Vest, Plated Vest, Overdrive Serum

Accessories: Speed or Perception or Conditioning, Laser Sight, Repeater (Bonus: Hair Trigger)

Melee-focused Rangers don t get the same raw damage as a Shotgunner, instead providing versatility and multiple target capability. Grabbing Blademaster is a given, and Shadowstep lets you charge targets while ignoring enemy overwatch. Conceal provides Phantom s power in an active ability instead of a passive, and with no need for Run and Gun it s an easy pickup. Bladestorm lets the Ranger control his immediate area and Untouchable keeps you safe after your aggressive charges leave you exposed.

Reaper is huge—if your squad can lower the health of enough enemies to within the Blademaster s kill range, you can chain kill all of them in one go. The key is mobility and grappling, as both will allow you to reach more enemies for your kill chain. A Laser Sight is still mandatory for your Shotgun, and a Repeater means when a new pod stumbles into your Blademaster s overwatch, you ll have a chance to instantly kill one of them, which is well worth the slot on a weapon we ll otherwise rarely use.

Speed, Perception and Conditioning are all great PCS choices here—charge enemies from further away, ensure you never miss a sword strike, or have extra health to survive a brutal melee brawl.

More of our recommended XCOM 2 soldier builds: Sharpshooter / Specialist / Grenadier / Hybrid builds

Sharpshooter build: Gunslinger

Abilities: Squadsight, Return Fire, Lightning Hands, Quickdraw, Faceoff, Steady Hands, Fan Fire

Gear: Spider/Wraith Suit, +1 Damage Ammo (your choice)

Accessories: Perception, Scope, Repeater (Bonus: Hair Trigger)

Gunslingers are the damage carries of XCOM 2, and that title is well deserved. Lightning Hands, Quickdraw and Fan Fire allow this soldier to put out more damage in a single turn than anything else in the game, bar a Rapid Fire crit combo or a very angry Sectopod. Return Fire provides yet more damage by hitting back at enemies during their turn. I prefer Steady Hands over Aim—I rarely hunker my Gunslingers and instead prefer to keep shooting, so the passive nature of Steady Hands gives me more benefit.

The core of a Gunslinger s power is ammo items—Dragon and Venom rounds each give them +1 damage on every pistol hit while also applying either burning or poison effects, dealing damage over time and debilitating your enemies. Particularly when combined with Faceoff to shoot every enemy in sight, this +1 damage quickly adds up to a ridiculous benefit over the course of many painful hits. Conversely, armor is where Gunslingers struggle—their many small hits tend to be wasted on well protected enemies.

High aim is critical for a Gunslinger, so a Perception PCS is essential. For weapon attachments, stick a Scope and Repeater on your rarely used rifle - when you do use it, it s probably due to facing a tough and well armored enemy. Your pistol might not kill a Sectopod, but executing it with a Repeater rifle shot might just help. Otherwise, shred the armor and go to town—once you ve removed an enemy s armor, a Gunslinger s pistol is more than enough to kill anything that moves.

Sharpshooter build: Sniper

Abilities: Squadsight, Long Watch, Deadeye, Death from Above, Kill Zone, Aim, Serial

Gear: Spider/Wraith Suit, Tracer Rounds

Accessories: Perception, Scope, Expanded Magazine (Bonus: Hair Trigger)

The Sniper is less flexible than a Gunslinger and suffers from being very static, a handicap in most of XCOM 2 s timed missions. However, their ability to attack any target in their view combined with some powerful skills still makes them highly effective. Long Watch and Deadeye provide Overwatch and improved damage from squadsight range. Kill Zone is a critical skill that lets you lock down an entire cone of the map with covering fire, which is why we take an Expanded Mag - we want the ammo reserves for shooting up to 6 enemies in a single move. Death from Above combos well with Aim, letting you hunker after every high ground killshot to gain accuracy for your next attack.

Serial allows the Sniper to kill for free, refunding actions for every enemy you drop while the ability is active. While all of these abilities work at Squadsight range, the aim penalty incurred for this requires some serious offsetting—we ll want the best Scope we can find as well as a Perception PCS to boot. If you ve earned the extra attachment slot through the continent bonus, you can try a Hair Trigger to give yourself the occasional free shot, or try an Autoloader to as much as quadruple the amount of enemies you can kill in a single Serial chain.

Tracer Rounds stack your aim even further to further counter the Squadsight penalty, but feel free to take whatever you like instead. A Spider/Wraith suit is important though, as it gives you free and easy access to high ground which is critical for your Sniper s effectiveness.

More of our recommended XCOM 2 soldier builds: Ranger / Specialist / Grenadier / Hybrid builds

Creating characters you love in XCOM 2 is just as difficult as coping with their irrevocable deaths. XCOM 2's character editor is a good set of tools—much better than XCOM: Enemy Unknown, where I would reroll my game several times until I got the gender/nationality mix that I liked. But for me there's nothing worse than chasing ADVENT around the globe with a cast that doesn't quite 'fit' in XCOM 2's universe. 

I can build a terrific Wolverine, but if XCOM 2 rolls him as anything but a blade-wielding Ranger, it jumbles the already-shuffled fiction I've constructed. Furiosa is a convincing Grenadier, but only when she's wearing armor and face paint that's available through the Resistance Warrior Pack pre-order bonus. Once you upgrade to second-tier armor, she stops looking like she stepped right off of Fury Road.

Emily Blunt, on the other hand, is the most thematically appropriate XCOM 2 cameo conceivable. In Edge of Tomorrow, her character Rita Vrataski:

1. Fights a hopeless war to save humanity from aliens who have colonized Earth
2. Wears a movement-assisting suit that looks identical to XCOM 2's E.X.O. Suit
3. Has a big sword, but also shoots things
4. Speaks with a British accent (I recommend "UK English 2" in XCOM 2)
5. Is an alien killing god-badass

Maybe the biggest piece of Venn diagram overlap, though, is the way Edge of Tomorrow's premise mirrors the way we play XCOM 2. Edge of Tomorrow sees Blunt and Tom Cruise's characters trapped in a Groundhog Day-like time loop, unable to escape mankind's fate of losing a worldwide war against aliens. Vrataski is right at home in a setting where loss and setback are inevitable, but even further, it's arguably canon to create her again in-game if she dies. Or, if you're not playing on Ironman, reload your save file if she's killed.

All of that symmetry was too perfect for me to keep on Twitter. 'Full Metal Bitch,' Vrataski's moniker in the movie, sadly doesn't fit all the way in XCOM 2's nickname field, but maybe a mod will address that. In the meantime here she is doing what she loves: vaporizing aliens with a wrist-mounted cannon.

I've added Rita to our growing list of downloadable XCOM 2 custom characters.

XCOM 2, the character creation game with a small strategy component, is finally out (and it's amazing). This time around, XCOM 2 has a significantly more robust character creation kit that allows you to export your soldiers to a file, which you can then share and throw at unwary internet passersby. The problem is, the game doesn t exactly tell you how to go about it.

Here s how you can create, export, and propagate your creations with the rest of the world.

Step one: create some characters

From the main menu, click Character Pool, and then Create Character. Think about who will break your heart the most when an alien eats theirs, and do your magic. Dwell on what you ve created. Is it right for man to play God? Yes? Good. Moving on.

Step two: export the characters to a pool

Next, we need to create a new character pool, which is simply a bin file the game exports the characters of your choosing to—the shareable bit. Head back to the main Character Pool screen and you ll see a list of every character you ve created so far. Check the boxes next to the characters you want to share and click Export Selection.

First, we need to create a new Character Pool where our grumpy little Jedi will live. Click Create New Pool and a prompt will come up asking you to name it. Type in something recognizable and hit Confirm to get dumped back to the character pool list. Now, this is important and easy to miss: your characters have not been exported yet. Click on your newly created character pool to get a prompt that asks if you really want to copy your character into the selected pool. Hit Yes.

Your custom soldiers are sent to the titular pool where they ll chill in some temperate, sterile waters sipping on a fruity cocktai—er, wrong pool. They ll actually be chilling in a bin file located by default in your documents folder.

Step three: share

Find the Importable folder and look for your character pool bin file.This is what my file path looks like on Windows 10:

C:\Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\XCOM2\XComGame\CharacterPool\Importable

Copy and distribute the file using whatever method suits the sharing: flash drives, cloud storage, a few floppy disks, or dog courier.

Importing characters

To import custom soldiers from other sources, copy the provided bin file to the Importable character pool folder—the same place your character pools export to—and boot up XCOM 2. Head to the Character Pool from the main menu again, but this time, click on Import Character. Find the name of the bin file you d like to import from and give it a click.

Finally, select the characters you d like to import and, boom, they re in your active character pool, ready to assist with the alien murder whenever necessary.

Want some practice? We'll have some soldiers to show off soon. In the meantime, share yours in the comments.

XCOM 2 launched today, and so has the very first user-created mod: The ACORG-47. It's a gun. But it's not just a gun. It's also a corgi.

That's right, a corgi, as in a deliciously cute little dog with its tongue lolling carelessly from its mouth. And if you think it's silly, well, you're not the only one. I feel legit bad that this is the first XCOM 2 mod to be released, the developer, JonTerp, wrote in the mod description.

Be that as it may, its leadoff position was immortalized on Twitter by the folks at Firaxis, and they don't seem bothered by it at all. And why would they be? Maybe it doesn't fit with the whole grim, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it motif of XCOM 2, but on the other hand... So adorable! Oh yes he is! Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You are! Yes you are!

Anyway.

XCOM 2 was designed from the start to be more moddable than its predecessor, with a proper suite of modding tools including a Visual Studio isolated shell app and the Unreal editor used to build the game, plus the script source code and an estimated 50GB of assets. That opens up whole realms of possibilities that just weren't available in Enemy Unknown, which can only be beneficial to the future of XCOM 2. Not that it isn't an outstanding game in its own right: Have a look at our XCOM 2 review to find out why.

Good boy!

Presenting the first user-created #XCOM2 mod. The ACORG-47! https://t.co/t4j4BGjpH7 pic.twitter.com/SXSx1w5jvX

— Firaxis Games (@FiraxisGames) February 5, 2016