Popular Post Lord_of_Ra Posted August 29, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted August 29, 2023 (edited) Hello Commander, On the PSNP trophy guide, it’s recommended to do an Ironman + Legend playthrough to get a bootload of trophies out of the way. However, Xcom 2 is a very complex game that needs a lot of researching to play and beat, even for Enemy Unknown vets. To help with that, I put up this complementary guide. It’s a breakdown of my personal experience with Legend / Ironman + a compilation of all the resources I used to get through this nightmare. I hope this hub will help you beat the alien scum, and restore peace to earth. Last, but not least, this hub is based on VANILLA Xcom 2, NOT the DLCs as they change a lot of how to play. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- General tips Best classes Best PCS mods Best weapon upgrades Abilities I used for each class Most important resources to collect Best researches Best buildings Best Continental Bonuses Best items to get. Aliens: Kill priority Dark Event Priority How to Handle the Avatar Project Doom Countdown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- General tips -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Always have your squad close by. Only make a soldier wander off if you’re sure you can get a good kill that won’t cost you a wound in your next turn. If the RNG is not working in your favor, change the order of your moves. For example, if you move your ranger first and the RNG sucked, reload and move the grenadier instead. This will change the whole RNG order of shots and misses. Only activate one pod at a time in missions. A pod is essentially a group of aliens waiting to be discovered (image below). Any more than that and it might cost you an injury. Never sprint when discovering terrain, you will lose your fighting chance with that soldier and it can cost you if a pod discovers you. ALL missions (minus the final) can and should be done Flawlessly. An injury means not playing your hard-worked soldier for almost a month! Getting a soldier killed is a taboo and should be avoided. Save scum, save scum, save scum! If you don’t have PS Plus I highly recommend you format at least 2 usb drives and have different backups so you can backtrack even two missions before in case you mess up something. Xcom 2 is a game where a mistake done outside missions can come back to bite you later on. There is a glitch to control the reinforcements flare on missions. If you get the flare at the end of an enemy turn, save and restart the game. The flare will be gone and you can keep focusing on the aliens on ground. The flare will come up later, so use this to delay it until you’re ready to take them on. Destroy cover with grenades, destroy and damage as much as possible. RNG always favor enemies’ cover much more than yours. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best classes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From best to worst: Psi Operative: Several AOE abilities and can inflict lots of statuses to enemies like Mind-Control, panic, and even permanently control any organic enemy like Gatekeepers. I would recommend bringing 2 fully trained Psi Ops to the final mission. Grenadier: Cover destruction, and lots of AOE damage with grenades and some abilities. Also, they have shredder for armor, which is invaluable for later game. Ranger: Give it the ability to shoot two times per round, and you’ll have an absolute shotgun powerhouse. Great for flanking and sometimes melee damage, although I would not recommend the blade abilities, as they are pretty sub-par on damage. Specialist: Almost on par with rangers. Their best use is the hacking ability since they disable robots in one shot, leaving them standing for easy picks or focus on other enemies. These hacking bonuses are absolutely necessary for later missions (most dangerous enemies will be robotic later on). Sharpshooter: They are an ok class to have, but need later abilities to shine. Looking back, I think they’re not that needed, and could have done a better job in the final mission with another Psi Op or Grenadier/Ranger. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best PCS Mods -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PCS Superior Speed: Best mod for Rangers and other mobile units like Specialists and Psi Ops. Invaluable to have at least one unit with this to chase the Avatars on the final mission. PCS Superior Perception: Best mod for Grenadiers and Sharpshooters, and pretty much every class you want to prioritize nailing damage. Nothing else is needed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best weapon upgrades -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I used the same layout as a reddit post I saw, and it turned out great. Even if you don’t have a superior-tier upgrade, use it anyway and change it later, the bonuses might save your rear. Note: The () means the extra slot you get with Armed to the Teeth continental bonus. Ranger: + Superior hair trigger + Superior laser sight (+ Superior expanded magazine) Grenadier: + Superior expanded mag + Superior scope (+ Superior hair trigger) Sharpshooter + Superior scope + Superior expanded magazine (+ Superior autoloader) Specialist/Psi Ops + Superior scope + Superior repeater (+ Superior hair trigger) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities for each class -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are pictures of the abilities I used after thorough internet research. Try them out! I found them pretty good to get me through the playthrough. Only one I didn’t end up using was Field Medic on the Specialist, I would recommend you get the other one instead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most Important Resources to Collect -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Intel: Mainly used for expanding the network and making resistance contacts and relays, both of which are needed for getting supplies monthly, and buying those sweet weapon/armor upgrades. Moreover, you need intel to buy very important resources from the black market and reach alien facilities faster. Intel is absolutely fundamental for a lot of progress that could make or break your whole playthrough, and should always be prioritized unless you are in a crisis for other supplies. Scientist/Engineers: Engineers are needed until you can fill up the avenger with buildings and staff them up to get everything you need. They are the backbone for being able to expand your resistance network counter (getting you more monthly supplies), cure soldiers faster, train the psi op operative, build story-needed constructions, etc. While scientists are in charge of researching alien techno to get better weapons and armor for soldiers fast. If you want to get access to the items and upgrades you will need in your road, you need to be on the lookout for these. Alloys/Elerium: Needed for building the upgraded armor and weapons, I would only recommend you mine these if you have a shortage of them to get the next sweet upgrade since you’ll have supply-run missions and other means to obtain them. Supplies: You will be getting missions for these, and monthly income as well. However, you can hit a shortage of them too in the first few months on Xcom. Everything else (Assorted loot, soldiers, increasing resistance contacts, etc.) only matter if you have the time to research them on the map, but they are not as much priority as the other four. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best researches --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lab I would absolutely recommend the roadmap laid out from a steam forum (link on bottom). Bold letters are the ones I filled in from that road: - Modular weapons - Start alien biotech - Do resistance comms ASAP and contact the black site region. - Finish alien biotech - Magnetic weapons - Advent Officer Autopsy - Muton Autopsy if you have proving ground ready, otherwise postpone. - Radio Relay if done fast - Gauss weapons - Hybrid Materials - Plated Armor - Faceless Autopsy - Sectoid Autopsy - Start Psionics BUT do not continue if you don’t have the means to get the Psi Lab. - Elerium - Advent Mec breakdown if proving ground is ready - All Plasma weapon projects/Psionics - Finish Psionics - Gatekeeper Autopsy - Turret Breakdown - Powered Armor You might need to swap a few of these depending on what’s going on, so please don’t take this as the only go-to route for research. The main priorities are getting the weapons and the second tier armor. Next are the Faceless Autopsy, and if proving ground is ready, Muton and Advent Mec breakdown. Everything related to the Psi Op is best saved for mid-late game imo. Pic of all lab projects I did: Proving Ground -Skulljack -SkullMining -Plasma Grenades <- EXTREMELY important to get ASAP. -BlueScreen Protocol I didn’t end up using any experimental grenade, armor, advanced explosives, etc. Although it might be worth getting AP Rounds from Experimental Ammo if you can. They might make your life easier on the final mission. Pic of all proving ground projects done: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best buildings -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are lots of different opinions online about what you should build first. I’ll leave out story-related buildings since you have to get them anyway, although I would recommend to get the Proving Ground early to get started on sweet researches to get useful stuff: GTS (Guerrilla Tactic School): It’s almost unanimous that this should be the very first building to get. No contest here, the GTS will get you some insanely useful bonuses (like Squad Size upgrades) and you can promote rookies to any base class you want. Resistance Comms: At first it will not look that useful in early-game, but you’ll quickly see the need to expand your network to control different aspects of the game. This is the building that lets you do that, so I would prioritize this one. Power Relay: All buildings need power, and Relays are the ones that provide it. Definitely build one as soon as you have resources to spare. Note: DO NOT build them on Exposed Power Coil slots, even if they give you +7 energy. Exposed Power Coils are better to save for the Shadow Chamber and Psi Lab, since they make their upgrades energy-cost free. Psi Lab: The only reason it’s ranked fourth is because you cannot access it early, and it’s very costly. This building lets you train Psi Operatives, which is an absolute must-use unit for mid-late game, especially the final mission. As soon as you are able, definitely get started on this building, (remember to build it on an Exposed power coil for energy-free cost upgrades). Workshop: workshops are great if you are lacking engineers for tasks on buildings adjacent to it. They deploy two Gremlins to work as engineers for the buildings on its sides, so it’s best to build it on a middle slot. Advanced Warfare Center: I’ll be honest, I consider the AWC one of the least useful if you know what you are doing. It’s an ok insurance for wounded soldiers since it will shorten the healing time, but it’s not that big of a deal (wounded soldiers on the AWC with engineer staffed will still take about 20 freaking days to get back!). Also, re-training soldiers abilities is a waste of time since you should be carefully choosing the best abilities every-time you level up anyway. The only semi-useful bonus is that with the AWC, every-time you level up a soldier, there’s a chance you will get a bonus ability from another class, however, I only got it to happen twice in my entire playthrough. All in all, I would not consider the AWC a great investment. Defense Matrix: Only useful for having an easier time during the UFO story mission late game. You can easily slot this building for last, as it’s more like a one-time user. That being said, I would still recommend it since the turrets you deploy for that mission can make your life easier. Here's a picture of my layout (with some errors since I didn't follow all the info above): ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Best Continental Bonuses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Pursuit of Knowledge: 20% boost on research times for lab. Very useful for getting upgrades sooner. -Quid Pro Quo: During mid-late game you might hit a shortage of Elerium and Alloys for upgrades, and the only option will be to buy them from the black market. Moreover, you will need the market for getting the best PCS and weapon upgrades faster. This bonus will give you 33% discount for every item there. -Future Combat: 50% off all GTS tactics bonuses, which is very useful for clearing up all the GTS upgrades offered. Highly recommend you get this bonus mid-game if you can, so you can start getting your soldiers extra abilities (they’re pretty darn good). -Armed to the teeth: Extra slot for weapon upgrades, making it 3. Very useful for overall performance and the final mission. Every other bonus is ok, but not as good as these. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Best Items to get -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We already covered Weapon Upgrades and PCS, so here I will focus on items you can buy using Supplies. That being said, I would like to make a special mention on doing your best to get Facility Leads by using the Skullmining ability on Advent personnel. When researched, these will give you an opportunity to assault a facility to stall the Avatar project counter on a region you haven’t contacted yet. Contacting regions takes a long time, and these devices will potentially save your playthrough by giving you options to get stall the Avatar project (more on that below). As for supply items: Mimic Beacons: I cannot stress enough how important these things are for making your life a LOT easier on missions. When deployed, they create a decoy that aggros the aliens and 4/5 times, it will make them get out of cover to focus on destroying the beacon. This gave me an extra chance to get rid of a pod, or to leave a dangerous enemy alone while I focused on killing the rest. Take note that beacons usually survive a max of 2 attacks, so plan carefully before tossing one. Bluescreen Rounds: Every soldier class minus the specialist should have these equipped during mid-late game missions. They offer +5 damage to robotic enemies, and almost all dangerous enemies later on are robotic (Heavy Mechs, Sectopods, Codex, etc). Very useful to get around 5 of these and just put them on your guys. Remember to have upgraded armor to get the second item slot for these. Everything else you should buy would be Weapon/Armor/GREMLIN/PSI AMP/Grenade Launcher Upgrades. Layout of soldiers for final mission (Looking back, I would change some bluescreen rounds for other items like tracer rounds, AP rounds, etc.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aliens: Kill priority -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you start, you probably won’t have enough power to kill an entire pod, and you will have to rely on aliens failing shots or doing minor things to your team. As such, you need to plan out what to kill to get the least chance of getting damaged next turn. Ranked in kill priority: ADVENT soldier staff/Chrysalids: These guys WILL hurt your team unless they fail a shot/strike or don’t toss a grenade, all of which rarely happen. I cannot stress enough how brutal and tactical you need to be to make sure these jerks die ASAP. Vipers: Vipers are probably just as bad as the guys above, since almost all their attacks are a guaranteed hit like the tongue hit and vice grip, or just throwing an acid bomb at you to poison the soldiers. Mutons: Mutons are like a beefed up version of advent soldiers, but with less movement. Still a nasty threat though. Andromedons: Similar attacks to advent soldiers, but these guys suck up hits like crazy, and that’s what makes them dangerous. I will put their second stage here as well, as they can leave a trail of poison and punch your soldiers out. The reason they are not ranked higher is that there aren’t many of these in a mission, so it’s easy to pick them out and isolate them. Archons: Archons are terrible mostly in groups of 2+, so it’s not too scary to meet the first few ones since they are with some weaker aliens. Moreover, they don’t shoot much and mostly hit with their staffs. If their staff hits connect, they hurt, but if they fail, they’re pretty open to get wrecked. Berserkers: Berserkers are a coin toss, and the reason is they can’t attack from a distance. If you have enough distance, you can force them to take the two moves without hurting your soldiers, and that makes it possible to focus on other aliens. If you can cut out their movement, they’ll be even less of a threat. However, depending on the layout, if they’re too close, then you have to focus of these since they can one-shot soldiers. Sectoids: Sectoids are surprisingly one of the least threatening enemies of the alien community. If you kill their companions, chances are they will mostly focus on either reviving them as zombies, which takes their turn and the zombies don’t even move, or either panic/mind-control one of your soldiers, which is ok. Most of the time, you’ll have the next turn to kill them before their status effects really take a toll on your bois. I wouldn’t worry about them too much. Faceless: Faceless might seem intimidating, but they are extremely easy to isolate, and leave for last. Normally they appear on Retaliation missions when you run close to a survivor that turns out to be a Doppelganger. If you trigger them, you can always reload and move to another route far from their toggle circle. Gatekeepers/Sectopods: The hardest enemies to beat are imo the easiest to leave for last. This is because by the time you encounter them, you will have Mimic beacons available and/or means to stall them, which gives you an extra turn to kill everything in the pod but these, and then end them on the next. Moreover, sectopods can be disabled easy with the specialist. Now, if you don’t have mimic beacons or a way to stall them for at least one turn…God bless you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dark Event Priority -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIP: Make a save before the dark events pop up. They are random, so reload until you get a selection that is easy on the consequences. MUST COUNTER -Hunt Xcom: I only encountered it once in my whole playthrough, and yes, definitely counter this one to avoid a VERY nasty mission. -Alloy Padding: Armor is pretty tough to break until later game when you get Magnetic weapons and plasma grenades. Definitely prioritize this one if you don’t have either and/or are in early-mid game. -Infestation: Infestation adds chrysalids to missions, and chrysalids are always a pain in the rear to deal with (see Alien: Kill priority). Almost always they will hurt your soldiers on their turn. Add that to timed missions and…well, it’s just plain hell. Always prioritize this one. -Rapid Response/Show of Force: Excellent to counter as long as you don’t have infestation on your selection. Both really makes timed missions more painful than they are, as sometimes the reinforcements are already on-screen as an extra 1-2 pods. OK TO COUNTER -Avatar Project Minor/Major Breakthroughs: Great to counter if nothing else looks threatening. However, if you don’t have means of countering the AP countdown, definitely make these a priority. -Alien Cypher: Alien Cypher can only mess you up if you have plans to expand to regions or use the black market, since it will kill your intel reserves. If you’re not using either, don’t worry about it. -New Construction: Similar to the Avatar Breakthroughs. If you have problems with the avatar project, counter it. I would also counter it if you don’t have too much relay coverage. MEH - Alien Infiltrator: I popped this one more than once, and I actually never encountered a Faceless on missions. Even if you do, they are very easy to isolate, and this event could actually work in your favor to get you corpses to make Mimic Beacons. -Resistance Informant: They make retaliation missions happen sooner, but if you’re used to them, which Legendary pretty much forces you to, I wouldn’t worry too much about these. The missions’ difficulty is based on the month, not on the frequency they happen. -Vigilance: Vigilance only makes stealth slightly more difficult, and mission performance barely relies on stealth on Legendary past the first few turns. -Viper Rounds: They just add more power to the enemies’ attacks if they connect. Again, your goal is to never let a soldier get hit in a mission in the first place, so it doesn’t really matter if your enemies have more attack power. -Advent Midnight Raids: Meh, let them happen, they will never hurt your playthrough. -Advent Rural checkpoints: They barely made my life harder. Don’t worry about these. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to handle the avatar countdown project -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The way the avatar countdown works in Legend is as this: -Step 1: Red bar follows up slow or fast, depending on the amount of Alien facilities on map. -Step 2: If the bar fills up to the max, then the final countdown begins with 22 days. -Step 3: If final countdown ends… So, how to counter? Most storyline missions and “Alien Facility Assault” missions will not only stop the final timer but reduce progress bars on the project itself. Do note that any day lost on the final countdown will NOT be recovered on Legend, unless you have less than 7 days left, in which everytime you hit the final timer, you will always have 7 days left. Example: -Timmy hit the first final countdown at 22 days. -Timmy countered it by clearing a facility or story mission missing 3 days left. -Time passes, and the final countdown hits again. -Final countdown is now at 7 days. Best ways to counter the project: -ALWAYS counter the project until you have 1-3 days left on the final countdown. Make use of every day to do your best game progress and upgrading. Do NOT waste missions clearing the avatar project while you have days to spare. This is because you might hit a roadblock later on for clearing all your missions too fast, and end up with a potentially lost playthrough since you have nothing left to do, or can’t reach a region fast enough. -Focus your intel on expanding your network asap, to reach Assault facilities. -Prioritize skullmining advent scum once you get skulljack, to get chances of obtaining Facility Leads. These items, when researched, will provide access to an alien facility in a random region that hasn’t been reached yet. I cannot emphasize enough how these saved my playthrough twice. -Reload your save if your facility lead gets you access to a facility you are already making your way on. Make sure the facility lead result is on region you have no resources to spare to reach until much later. I cannot emphasize this enough. Facility leads are very scarce, and this is imo the best way to make use of them. -Do story missions on final countdown if possible. Again, it all boils down to countering the project until the last minute. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personal road to platinum (looking back) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legend + Ironman mode. No deaths, and focusing on beating the game. Have 1-2 backup saves ready. Make one of the backup saves before the Assault the Advent Tower mission (before reaching point of no return). Beat the game on Legend + Ironman. Reload the Save with free roam available – Change difficulty to commander, and focus on getting all (obv. minus Exquisite Timing) trophies related to commander. Save the Commander+ ones related to the final mission after you have all free roam related Commander + Trophies done. -----IMPORTANT: You CAN obtain Commander trophies by lowering the difficulty from Legend, but you must swap from Legend to Commander, DO NOT tick any other difficulty than this when going for commander trophies or you will void them.----- Make sure during this cleanup, train 3 Psi Ops, and have a fully leveled/customized Ranger. Make another backup save of this file, destroy the GTS, and make a squad of 3 psi ops and a ranger, or whichever best classes you consider best for final mission, and beat it to get “The few and The Proud.” Once done with everything Commander+ Related, reload your backup save and change difficulty to Rookie. Focus on getting everything miscellaneous from the game. The only trophies you can’t get in a Legend + Ironman run are Exquisite Timing, Brutal Collection, and Pile ‘Em Up. This brings down the need to spend more time on the Exquisite Timing save, since you’ll already have lots of final upgrades available on your Ironman Run, and makes getting miscellaneous stuff much easier and faster. In the end, you’ll have this road to plat: Legend + Ironman + Commander/Rookie reload saves to get almost everything from the game. Exquisite Timing Run + changing difficulty to Rookie after beating final mission, and getting “Brutal Collection”, and “Pile ‘Em Up.” Plat profit -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Thoughts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are all the main aspects on Xcom 2 that I remember. Once again, this is just a personal view on the game on legend, and what ended up working the best for me. In the last section, I reference as many webpages as possible that I visited to help me out. Every player is different, and these pages provide even more resources to read on. Remember, the most important tip to beat legend is to read, read and read more. The more prepared you are, and the more backup plans you have, the more chances to succeed. Thank you for your time, and if there’s anything you don’t understand, please tag me in the comments, and I will do my best to clarify and edit. Good luck! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- List of webpages used and referenced -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Xcom 2 PSNP trophy guide: https://psnprofiles.com/guide/5391-xcom-2-trophy-guide -Xcom 2 playstation trophies trophy guide: https://www.playstationtrophies.org/game/xcom-2/guide/ -Best weapon/PCS upgrades: https://www.reddit.com/r/XCOM2/comments/khmkly/best_weapon_upgradespcss/ -Continent bonuses: https://xcom.fandom.com/wiki/Continent_Bonus_(XCOM_2) -Best research path: https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/1621726179574736715/ -Exposed Power Coil Best uses: https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/412447613562164965/ -Xcom 2 Heavy weapons list: https://xcom.fandom.com/wiki/Heavy_Weapons -Exquisite Timing guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=646058257 -Misc. posts: https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/4bhs3j/xcom2_what_are_the_differences_between_commander/?rdt=48329 https://www.reddit.com/r/XCOM2/comments/jp6scm/who_needs_tygan_final_mission/ http://www.vigaroe.com/2020/08/xcom-2-alien-analysis-avatar.html https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/154643795215130539/ https://www.reddit.com/r/XCOM2/comments/vu49tg/best_base_layout/ https://www.reddit.com/r/XCOM2/comments/p6ap0e/just_researched_a_facility_lead_do_they_expire_or/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/71ylf0/what_are_the_best_weapon_upgrades_for_each_class/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/0/3071999401492573594/ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/163467-xcom-2/73256089 Edited August 29, 2023 by Lord_of_Ra 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonjabii Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 This is really helpful thank you! How stable is the ironman with ONLY the base game no alien/hunters/wotc because my ironman run just crapped out on the final mission and I'm scared about attempting a second but I've read the base game is more stable. I do backup saves but it looks like I'm stuck in a situation where I can load it but it crashes the next turn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_of_Ra Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 (edited) 3 hours ago, Moonjabii said: This is really helpful thank you! How stable is the ironman with ONLY the base game no alien/hunters/wotc because my ironman run just crapped out on the final mission and I'm scared about attempting a second but I've read the base game is more stable. I do backup saves but it looks like I'm stuck in a situation where I can load it but it crashes the next turn. Base game is definitely more stable. The only glitches you might encounter are some graphics crapping out in some missions, but nothing game breaking or that it doesn't fix itself. And yeah, base game is already difficult enough, I wouldn't attempt this with DLCs on unless you like the extra challenge. Edited March 20 by Crono 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now