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.
| 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. |
| 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 or 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |