Intel drop for XCOM 2 - Learn the classes before the battles begin
With XCOM 2 coming to Nintendo Switch this week, there will be many gamers potentially giving the series a go, for the first time. There will be a lot of things to learn in the game, but the fun of any game is discovering them, but in order to give you a leg up, here are the five main classes that you can use, to build your squad up.
Ah the Specialist, the class that most people will likely use a lot, as they can take on a variety of different roles in combat, most importantly of course, healing. This is not to say they are only good for healing, but it is a perk that levels up as you play.
The Specialist is a class that uses the GREMLIN, something that is considered more like a secondary weapon and with each turn, you can move your main character, or it. Making use of the GREMLIN is in fact the best way to make use of the Specialist class, as you can now provide buffs to other squad members and beyond. The best part of it though, is that generally it will be ignored by enemies and can’t actually be destroyed, though should your Specialist fall in battle, the GREMLIN will go offline as well.
Your actual Specialist is not without their own means of supporting, without the GREMLIN, as they use the Assault Rifle, which is perfect for use in short to medium combat opportunities. It can also be levelled up, to give you more power in fights, though that takes time. Of course as the classes all have different skills they can level up as well, you can elect to train as a Battle Medic or a Combat Hacker. The first allows for more support of your squad, the latter turns your Specialist into more of a one person army, so you best choose wisely.
For those looking to stay away from the ground and fight from afar, the Sharpshooter is the class for you, as they are better at long range attacks, as they are the only class that uses the Sniper Rifle. That is not to say that they can’t fight up close and personal like, as they do have a pistol as their secondary weapon and can switch to it, without any fuss.
Of course, the big skill for the Sharpshooter is Squadsight, which lets your sniper, shoot enemies that other squad members can see, as long as they have line of sight. What this allows for is coverage of enemies, that might be encroach on your squad, but the further away they are from you, the more of a penalty you will incur with your shot. Of course as a sniper, you are better used, if you elevate your Sharpshooter, which in turn makes for better shots with the Squadsight skill.
Outside of that, there are again two paths you can take with your Sharpshooter, the more focused Sniper path, makes you far more deadly at a distance, or the wilder Gunslinger path, provides you with more options to shoot, usually with the pistol.
If you want a class that goes boom, then the Grenadier is the one for you, most similar to the Heavy class found in previous games, this is the class for those who want to get in close and smack down the enemy with serious damage.
The main weapon that is used by this class is a mini-gun looking grenade launcher, which allows them to fire grenades at enemies, rather than just throwing them, this is not just a small increase, most of the grenade types can double their range when fired. As you play through, you will unlock new grenade types and as you discover more types, options for how to use them against the enemy open up more and more.
When selection the specialisation for the Grenadier, you can elect to stick with dealing out damage, by going the Heavy Gunner route, which will let you shred armour and more. For those who want to damage more than just the enemies ahead of them, then Demolitions Expert is the one for you, with extra damage protection for you and less cover for the enemies, it is a chance to be your own Demolition Man
Ah the Ranger, the only class with a name that is the opposite of how it attacks, combining up-close melee attacks and shotguns, the Ranger does the best when it engages enemies with minimal distance between them.
The main skill for the Ranger is called Slash and is deadly, to any enemies that happen to get to close to this member of your squad. Any enemy that enters the movement area of the Ranger, will be attacked by their sword, so depending on how much health the have left, it could take them out of the mix. Because of that skill, the Ranger is suited for recon, as they can move on their own and are able to defend, should they need to.
Once you start to level up though, you will need to choose between the Scout or Assault specialisations, with both options changing things up greatly. Scout is for those who want to be more sneaky, with options like remaining undetected, or entering cover, without prompt. On the other side is the Assault option, which combines some sneaky moves, with a few retaliatory options, leaving them more the deadly to all enemies.
The final class, at least, before the DLC is the Psi-Ops and if the name didn’t give it away, they are truly mental, as they have psionic abilities. While not a default class, if you build a Psi Lab, you can send any rookie to it, in order to create a soldier with these abilities.
The main weapon used by a Psi Ops soldier is the Assault rifle, similar to that of the Specialist, but the difference comes in the secondary weapon. But that is not what makes this class a challenge to use, that comes down to how you unlock skills, with the other classes, it is a linear unlock schedule, here though it is the opposite. As the skills unlock at random, you can get two trained Psi Ops soldiers at once, who have wildly different skills in combat as a result, which in turn makes them more challenging to make use of.
While you can score the high powered skills early on, there is more chance of getting skills closer to your level, a bit of randomness is in play there.
So there you have, the five basic classes that you can play with in XCOM 2 and while there is a sixth, it is obtained in one of the DLC packs, which means not everyone will go for it at first. With only a few days left, which class do you think will be your favourite?
