Ethereal (XCOM: Enemy Unknown)

For the alien in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, see Ethereal (The Bureau: XCOM Declassified).

Ethereals are alien commanders in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Description

The Ethereals are the psionically gifted yet physically frail leaders of the alien invasion. Possibly due to extreme age or the energy requirements of their overdeveloped brains, their bodies have atrophied to an alarming degree. Some of their organs are underdeveloped and some sensory organs are not working at all. Despite being physically infirm, they are extremely resilient in combat and their devastating mental abilities can wipe out an entire XCOM squad in short order.

The Ethereals used a combination of mind control and forced evolution to subjugate and mold the numerous races that make up the alien invasion. Many of the races that XCOM faces were uplifted by the Ethereals and experimented on in order to create superior beings. Ultimately, they were all deemed to be failures and now serve as troops for the next invasion.

The first Ethereal is encountered during the Overseer Crash Site mission; if playing XCOM: Enemy Within, it is possible to encounter an Ethereal first during the XCOM Base Defense mission instead. Ethereals replace Sectoid Commanders on any UFO Crash Site or UFO Landing Site mission thereafter. Ethereals are typically accompanied by one or more Muton Elite.

Abilities

Ability	Description
Mindfray	Causes the target to lose grip on reality, inflicting penalties to Aim, Will, and mobility, and doing 5 base damage. Robotic units are immune. Lasts 2 turns, 1 turn cooldown.
Rift	Devastate an area with a storm of psi energy. The rift does more damage against targets with low Will, and reduced damage against target with high Will. 4 turn cooldown.
Psi Lance	Project a bolt of pure psi force at an enemy.
Mind Control	Very difficult psi technique that, if successful, grants control of the target for 3 turns. Does not work on robotic enemies. 5 turn cooldown.
Psi-Drain	Drain health from an ally.

Traits

Trait	Description
Hardened	Reduces the chance of suffering a critical hit by 60%.

Research

Ethereal Autopsy - Unlocks Mind Shield production
Interrogate Ethereal - Grants All Technology research credit

Tactics

Ethereals are formidable opponents and fighting them should not be taken lightly. Ethereals are extremely durable with 20 health (25 on Impossible), 40 Defense coupled with the Hardened trait (practically giving them permanent full cover), and an innate psionic shielding ability that can reflect shots back at the firing soldier for reduced damage (33% of the original attack)^[1]if the shot misses; even Suppressing shots can be reflected. However, explosive damage from rockets and grenades, reaction shots, and Kinetic Strike Module strikes cannot. Ethereals have a standard movement range but their ability to float while moving gives them slightly more mobility than one might expect.

Above all, it is an Ethereal's psionic powers and high Will that makes them most dangerous. Ethereals can easily Mind Control most soldiers (especially ones that ranked up without the benefit of Iron Will training), although they generally seem to prefer the use of Psi Lance or Mind Fray to inflict damage instead. Ethereals also have the ability to drain health from allied units, using it to heal themselves at the expense of their support troops. This ability extends to your XCOM soldiers when mind controlled, so exercise caution when selecting abilities. Their final ability is Rift, which summons a vicious maelstrom of psionic power with a large blast range (5 squares) and high damage potential (up to 15); be wary of grouping soldiers too tightly unless they are close enough to the Ethereal that it would risk damaging itself with this ability.

Even in death Ethereals pose a threat, as they release a withering flare of psionic energy upon dying, dealing 4 damage to all units within a small radius and potentially damaging ship components. However, in XCOM: Enemy Within, Ethereals killed with a MEC's Kinetic Strike Module do not explode.

Although an Ethereal's high Will grants it superior resistance to psionic attacks, while not recommended, attacking an Ethereal with Psi abilities isn't impossible. In order to psionically attack an Ethereal, your Psionic soldier will need a Mind Shield, high amounts of Will (e.g. Psi Armor), and a squad right behind them in case something goes wrong. Fighting an Ethereal at its own game is tough, but if you do manage to Mind Control it you will get the "Xavier" achievement as well as knowledge of the Ethereal's abilities, movement range, and defenses in single player mode.

In XCOM: Enemy Within, Ethereals are immune to the effects of a Flashbang Grenade. Despite their high Will rating, they can be panicked by using a MEC's Flamethrower on them.

Notes

Extra caution should be used when attacking Ethereals while trying to recover Meld in XCOM: Enemy Within; their death throes can destroy adjacent Meld Canisters.
Lacking a "weapon" per se, the Ethereal's "weapon" is the Psi Locus. Its equivalent of Fire is Psi Lance, and non-mind controlled Ethereals will generally use it only when all of their psionic powers are on cooldown.
It might be possible on the easiest difficulty with the Enemy Within expansion (possibly on higher difficulties or without the expansion) to have a soldier with high enough will to have a 100% chance of success mind controlling an ethereal. If you want to try this, it is recommend having that soldier ranked up with iron will and giving him/her a mind shield and psi armor. This could be easier with the Second Wave options Not Created Equal and Hidden Potential activated.

Multiplayer

Ethereals cost 10500 points, so they are unusable in ranked matches; however, Ethereals are still powerful units in Multiplayer, especially with their Rift ability which can do a large amount of damage to targets that have a low Will (it also damages robotic units and it kills Cyberdiscs outright).

Trivia

Despite being described as physically frail, Ethereals have health pools comparable to Muton Elites and Berserkers coupled with a significantly higher Defense rating; because of this, Ethereals are the most sturdy organic enemy in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It is said by Doctor Vahlen, however, that they possess "an incredible pool of psionic energy"; this, coupled with their high Defense, ability to reflect projectiles, and resistance to critical hits, strongly implies that their remarkable durability is actually a manifestation of their awesome psionic powers, rather than the toughness of their physical bodies.

Since the Uber Ethereal's dialogue in the final mission hints that the Ethereals were failed experiments who were "cast out", "doomed to feed off the Gift of lesser beings", and who "failed to ascend as they thought we would", and since he outright states that the purpose of their myriad invasions against the other alien races they encountered was to find a species that combined an "enduring physical form" with "the Gift", it is highly probable that their final intent was to enlist humanity's aid in an upcoming struggle with an unknown enemy (potentially their creators). XCOM 2 suggests that the Ethereal's goal all along was to utilize humanity as a host species for their minds in order to combat an unknown psionic alien threat.
Performing an autopsy on an ethereal will prompt Dr. Vahlen to mention that an individual can live to be several thousand years old.

Gallery

References

↑ DefaultGameCore.ini. Game file. XCOM: Enemy Within (2013).

[1] DefaultGameCore.ini. Game file. XCOM: Enemy Within (2013).

[1]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Enemies
Aliens	Berserker • Chryssalid • Cyberdisc • Drone • Ethereal (Uber) • Floater (Heavy) • Mechtoid Muton (Elite) • Outsider • Sectoid (Commander) • Sectopod • Seeker • Thin Man • Zombie
EXALT	EXALT Heavy (Elite) • EXALT Medic (Elite) • EXALT Operative (Elite) • EXALT Sniper (Elite)