Abilities (EU2012)

Your soldiers' actions on the battlefield can influenced by their individual abilities, which are given by their rank, class, equipment and/or perks purchased through the Officer Training School.

Class & Rank Abilities

These are special perks available to each class and rank. Up reaching a certain rank a soldier has to choose exclusively

between two abilities. Click on each column to sort contents alphabetically.

Assault Abilties

Ability	Rank Required	Description
Run & Gun	Squaddie	Allows firing or Overwatch after Dashing on the turn Run & Gun is activated. 3 turn cooldown.
Aggression	Corporal A	Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%).
Tactical Sense	Corporal B	Confers +5 Defense per enemy in sight (max +20).
Close & Personal	Sergeant A	Confers +30% critical chance against adjacent targets. The bonus declines with distance from the target.
Lightning Reflexes	Sergeant B	Forces the first reaction shot against this unit each turn to miss.
Flush	Lieutenant A?	Fire a shot that causes enemies to run out of cover. The shot is easy to hit with, but does reduced damage.
Bring 'Em On	Lieutenant B?	Adds ??? damage on critical hits for each enemy the squad can see (up to ???).
Rapid Fire	Captain A?	Take two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a ??? penalty to Aim.
Close Combat Specialist	Captain B?	Confers a reaction shot against any enemy who closes to within 4 tiles. Does not require overwatch.
Will to Survive	Major?	Reduces all normal damage taken by ??? if in cover and not flanked.
Killer Instinct	Colonel A?	Activating Run & Gun now also grants +???% critical damage for the rest of the turn.
Resilience	Colonel B?	Confers immunity to critical hits.

Heavy Abilities

Ability	Rank Required	Description
Fire Rocket	Squaddie	Fire a rocket using an equipped launcher. This ability can not be used after moving, nor more than once per mission.
Holo-Targeting	Corporal A	Shooting at or suppressing enemies also confers a +10 Aim to any allies' attacks on those enemies.
HEAT Ammo	Corporal B1?	+100% to damage against robotic enemies.
HEAT Ammo	Corporal B2?	All attacks do double damage against robotic enemies. (Rockets)
Suppression	Sergeant A	Can fire a special shot that grants reaction fire at a single target. The target also suffers a -30 Aim penalty.
Shredder Rocket	Sergeant B	Fire a rocket that causes all enemies hit to take +33% damage from all sources for the next 4 turns. The rocket's blast is weaker than a standard rocket's.
Rapid Reaction	Lieutenant A	Confers a second reaction shot, if on Overwatch and the first reaction shot is a hit.
Grenadier	Lieutenant B	Allows to carry 2 grenades in a single inventory slot.
Danger Zone	Captain A	Increases hit area of rockets and suppression by 2 tiles.
Bullet Swarm	Captain B	Firing the primary weapon as the first action no longer ends the turn.
Extra Conditioning	Major?	Confers bonus health based on which type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.
Ready For Anything	Colonel A?	Allows Overwatch after shooting, even if no actions remain.
Rocketeer	Colonel B?	Allows a second use of Fire Rocket in each mission. - Also contains the name First Blood on the code.
Mayhem	???	Confers additional damage based on weapon tech level to Suppression and all area-effect abilities.
Rocketeer	???	Allows ??? additional standard rocket to be fired per battle. - Different version for the one above, possibly another upgrade.
Focused Suppression	Dropped?	Reduce target Aim by 65% and free shot if the target moves. Unsure if the ability has been dropped since it's possible that the game presents the same text but changes the percentages. Or possibly replaced with Mayhem.
Tracer Beam Rounds	Renamed?	If hit alien takes extra damage from entire squad. - most likely replaced with Mayhem. The name Tracer Beam also appears on the code for the Holo-Targetting perk.

Sniper Abilities

Ability	Rank Required	Description
Headshot	Squaddie	Fire a shot with +30% critical chance and extra damage on critical hits based on the tech level of the sniper rifle. 2 turn cooldown.
Squad Sight	Corporal A	Allows firing at targets in any ally's sight radius.
Too Close For Comfort	Corporal B?	Aim penalty for close proximity is halved.
Gunslinger	Sergeant A	Confers 2 bonus damage with pistols.
Damn Good Ground	Sergeant B	+10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation in addition to the usual elevation bonuses.
Snap Shot	Lieutenant A	Removes the sniper rifle's restriction on firing and Overwatch after moving. Any shots taken suffer a -20 Aim penalty.
Opportunist	Lieutenant B	Eliminates the Aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows reaction shots to cause critical hits.
Executioner	Captain A	+10% Aim against targets with less than 50% Health.
Low Profile	Captain B	Makes partial cover count as full.
Double Tap	Major	Both actions can be used for Standard/Precision/Disabling Shot. 2 turn cool down.
Battle Scanner	Colonel A	Scanning device, when thrown creates a new source of vision for 2 turns. Can only be used 2 times per battle.
In The Zone	Colonel B	Killing a flanked or uncovered target with the sniper rifle does not cost an action.
Disabling Round	????	Allows the Sniper to fire a shot that causes the target's main weapon to malfunction. The target may use Reload to fix the weapon. The shot cannot inflict a critical hit. ??? turn cooldown.

Support Abilities

Ability	Rank Required	Description
Smoke Grenade	Squaddie	Deploy a smoke grenade once per mission. The smoke confers +20 defense to all units, not just allies, and lasts during the enemy turn.
Sprinter	Corporal A	Allows the support to move 3 additional tiles.
Covering Fire	Corporal B	Allows reaction shot to trigger on enemy attacks, not just movement.
Field Medic	Sergeant B	Allows medikits to be used <XGAbility:FieldMedicCharges/> times per battle instead of once.
Combat Drugs	Sergeant A	Smoke Grenades now contain powerful stimulants that grant +??? Will and +???% critical chance for all units in the cloud.
Dense Smoke	Lieutenant A?	Smoke Grenades have increased area of effect and further increase units' Defense by ???.
Deep Pockets	Lieutenant B?	Confers an additional item slot in inventory.
Revive	Captain A?	Allows Medikits to revive critically wounded Soldiers at 33% of maximum health instead of just stabilizing them.
Rifle Suppression	Captain B?	Fires a barrage that pins down a target, granting reaction fire against it and imposing a 30 penalty to aim.
Savior	Major?	Medikits restore ??? more health per use.
Smoke and Mirrors	Colonel A?	Allows ??? additional use of Smoke Grenade each mission.
Sentinel	Colonel B?	Allows two reaction shots during Overwatch, instead of only one.

Psionic Abilities

Ability	Rank Required	Description
Mind Merge	Sectoid?	Psionically assisting an ally, granting the ally an array of stat bonuses. - Very likely an ability restricted to aliens.
Mindfray	None	"Use psi abilities in combat to unlock further psi training. Causes the target to lose grip on reality, inflicting penalties to Aim, Will, and mobility, and doing ??? base damage. Robotic units are immune. Lasts ??? turns. ??? turn cooldown.
Telekinetic Field	Trainee	Create an immobile telekinetic field that lasts through the enemy turn. The field distorts and deflects incoming attacks, granting ??? Defense to both allies and enemies within the field. ??? turn cooldown.
Psi Inspiration	Specialist	Removes Mindfray and panic from all allies within 3 tiles, and strengthen their Will by ??? for ??? turns. ??? turn cooldown.
Psi Panic	Operative?	Cause target to panic on its following turn, if the target's Will is overcome. Robotic enemies are immune. ??? turn cooldown.
Mind Control	Volunteer?	Very difficult psi technique that, if successful, grants control of the target for 5 turns. Robotic enemies are immune. ??? turn cooldown.
Rift	Volunteer?	Devastate an area with a storm of psi energy. The rift does more damage against targets with low Will, and reduced damage against targets with high Will. ??? turn cooldown.

(ingame descriptions appear on Italic text)

Officer Training School Abilities

These abilities can be obtained/purchased through building an Officer Training School. They have a monetary cost and require specific ranks to be purchased/activated.

Ability	Rank Required	Description
Wet Work	Sergeant	+25% experience gained from kills
Squad Size I	Sergeant	Squad size increased to 5 soldiers
Rapid Recovery	Lieutenant	Soldiers heal twice as fast from wounds taken in combat
Squad Size II	Captain	Squad size increased to 6 soldiers.
Iron Will	Major	Soldiers receive a larger Will bonus each time they are promoted
New Guy	Major	New soldiers are automatically promoted to the "Squaddie" rank
Don't Die On Me	Colonel	The higher the rank, the more likely the soldier will be critically wounded instead of killed

Equipment Abilities

These are specific abilities provided by the presence or use of selected equipment.

Stabilize

Ability	Equipment Required	Description
Heal Wound	Medikit	Use the Medikit to heal up to 4 Health Points or 8 points if the soldier is Support class
Stabilize	Medikit	Prevents a critically injured soldier from bleeding out.
Grapple Hook	Skeleton Suit Ghost Armor	Use the grappling hook to reach high locations
Stealth?	Ghost Armor	The Ghost Armor's stealth systems can be activated up to 4 times per battle. Activating Ghost Mode does not cost an action or end the wearer's turn. The wearer becomes invisible to enemies, but must re-activate Ghost Mode each turn to remain so. Firing from stealth confers a large bonus to critical hit chance.
Stun	Arc Thrower	Can incapacitate enemy targets. Higher chance if the target's health is at 3 HP or below.

See Also

Soldiers

Soldier Classes

Equipment