The ADVENT Officer is an ADVENT enemy encountered in XCOM 2. They assume the role of ADVENT squad leaders and commanders.
Description
Appearance
ADVENT Officers are easily the most ornate of all ADVENT foot soldiers. (Past their similar gray body suit) They wear a red version of the ADVENT trooper's boots, but they also wear a pair of red plates that protect the outer sides of the upper legs. Their entire torso from neck to groin is covered with angular gray armor plating with red markings on the breastplate. Attached to the back of their breastplate is a red cape adorned with the ADVENT logo.
The arms of the Officer forgo full-forearm bracers for plates that simply cover the outer forearms, as well as a pair of red plates that cover the front of the upper arms. The pauldrons are box-shaped and decorated with a red stripe.
Easily the most defining feature of every ADVENT Officer is their helmets. Officer helmets have a peaked design with a red front and top and gray sides, held onto the head with a metal chin bar. Like all ADVENT infantry, the Officer's helmet masks their nose and eyes, the latter of which is similar to the eyes of a Sectoid.
The helmet also conceals a surgical scar in the back of their head. This scar is due to a psionic implant that is inserted into the brain during the Officer's creation. This implant allows Officers to connect to the ADVENT psionic network.
Behavior
Wherever ADVENT troops are deployed, there will always be at least one ADVENT Officer. While they only possess slightly improved stats, their true specialty lies in their ability to buff and direct other ADVENT units toward a target. Beyond that, they use similar weaponry and at best, have more health and possibly extra armor. They also seem to be bilingual, as they have been seen giving orders in English to their troops. This is presumably to avoid civilian suspicions about their alien biology.
ADVENT Officers will direct other units in the squad to attack specific enemies with their Mark Target ability. Nearby ADVENT units will prioritize marked targets for attacking, unless there are better odds attacking another enemy unit (i.e. units with no cover), or the unit does not have sight of the target.
Abilities
- Mark: Designate an XCOM soldier for focused fire. Grants +15 Aim to all ADVENT units that fire on the target, including itself.
Tactical information
As specialized field commanders, they improve the stats of their comrades, and more importantly, can use Mark to direct the fire of nearby troops. This will give increased Aim to other ADVENT Troopers when attacking the Marked unit. They use the Magnetic Rifle like the other ADVENT units, and can throw a grenade if they find a clumped up group of soldiers.
Officers will often prefer to Mark targets rather than shoot, especially if their target is behind heavy cover. However, if they don't move, then they can Mark and fire in the same turn. Therefore, forcing an Officer to move by flanking it or destroying its cover is beneficial, even if you are unable to eliminate the Officer.
As time goes on, they receive two upgrades: Advanced Officers are deployed in mid-May (mid-June on Legend) and Elite Officers in mid-July (mid-September on Legend).
Advanced Officers have more HP (8/12/12/13) and more damage (5-6 with the Rifle, 3-4 with the grenade and the grenade now shreds 2 points of armor). On every difficulty except Rookie they receive +15 Dodge and +10 Will.
Elite Officers have even more HP (9/16/15/16) and damage (7-8 with the Rifle, 3-6 and shred 3 with the grenade). They receive +10 Defense and +5 Will on Veteran and above and +5 Aim on Commander and Legend.
Notes
- Mark Target will not work while mind controlled.
- Using the Skulljack on an ADVENT Officer will progress the story, but a Codex spawns after the successful Skulljacking. Once an ADVENT Officer has successfully been Skulljacked, it cannot be done again. However, ADVENT Officers, like all ADVENT troops, can be Skullmined.
- ADVENT troops will prioritize marked targets when attacking. On higher difficulties, it is a good idea to Hunker Down a marked XCOM Soldier in heavy cover in order to prevent the troops from dealing too much damage to a marked soldier while other squad members deal with them.
Multiplayer
- ADVENT Officers are pricier than Troopers, but less expensive than most aliens.
- They have a multitude of excellent abilities and good midline stats, making them very good units to round out squads and to fill out or lead ADVENT-centric squads.
- Mark Target confers +15 percent accuracy on a certain target. If an enemy is in the open, or in low cover, Mark Target can be a good option in order to boost the odds of hitting the target.
- The magnetic rifle only deals 3-4 damage. It's an okay weapon, but against 3+ armor enemies such as Andromedons, it's insufficient. Use the Officer to mark the target in this situation. If one is engaging a light to medium enemy such as another Officer or a Sectoid, the Magnetic Rifle is an ideal weapon, with the Officer's high accuracy of 75.
- The ADVENT Officer has an ADVENT grenade. Use this weapon to destroy cover as one would use a standard Frag Grenade.
- In an ADVENT-centric squad, one can use Officers as either squad leaders or squad-filling units. In such an "elite" squad, a few units can hang back and mark multiple targets for the rest. They pair very well with Shieldbearers.
Trivia
- An early render of the ADVENT Officer shows it carrying what appears to be a unique mag pistol. This weapon was cut from the final game and was replaced with the standard ADVENT mag rifle.
Gallery
