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The Faceless is an alien enemy encountered in XCOM 2. It serves as the aliens' primary infiltration unit.

The threat of this unit being hidden among the general populace in conjunction with civilians having a chance of removing Concealment from the squad makes not only civilian rescue missions, but civilians in general much more of a liability.[explanation needed]

Description[]

This unit disguises itself as a normal-looking civilian until provoked, whereupon it transforms into it's true, alien form. Unnaturally tall and consisting of a gelatinous fluid, these alien foes have significant reach with their claws. The Faceless can move both farther and with more agility than may be expected from their size and lumbering gait. The Faceless has sight of 12 as civilian, but typical 27 in alien form.

Appearances[]

  • There will always be at least one Faceless present on Retaliation missions.
  • These enemies are most common on Retaliation missions, but they can appear in any mission with civilians present if the Alien Infiltrator Dark Event is active.

Behavior[]

  • The Faceless will reveal themselves under the following conditions:
    • If a member of the XCOM squad stands within a tile that would rescue the civilian the Faceless is disguised as.
    • If they take damage.
    • If they are scanned via Battle Scanner or Scanning Protocol.
    • If they are the last alien units remaining on the mission.
    • If none of these conditions are met, they will reveal themselves after a random number of turns.
  • The Faceless will exclusively only attack XCOM's units.
  • The Faceless do not target Mimic Beacons.
  • The Faceless do not take cover.

Abilities[]

  • Claws: The Faceless only attack is an area-of-effect (3 tiles) melee swipe with its claws that can damage multiple units and civilians for 3–4 damage[explanation needed] and destroy cover. Unlike most enemies, Faceless are still able to use their melee attack while Disoriented.
  • Regeneration: The Faceless automatically self-heals for 2 HP before their turn [explanation needed]. Poisoned and Burning status effects are cured. [explanation needed]
  • Leap: The Faceless can jump to higher surfaces such as roofs and cliffs.

Tactics[]

  • Having a squad member on Overwatch may deal some damage on a Faceless revealed on the same turn before it has a chance to attack.
  • The Faceless have a defense stat of 0 on all difficulties; it is not difficult to hit them, especially from elevation.
  • Avoid dashing units to civilians that have not been scanned. If the civilian turns out to be a disguised Faceless, it will reveal itself when a soldier gets too close. Because they have dashed, they will not be able to react to the Faceless' revelation.

Notes[]

  • Civilians that turn out to be a Faceless in disguise do not count against the remaining civilians in Retaliation missions.

See Also[]

Quotes[]

We'd heard rumors about some kind of shape-shifters, I'm guessing this is it.

Central Officer Bradford

Gallery[]

Bugs[]

  • Due to a bug, soldiers may not be able to shoot the Faceless if it reveals itself during the player's turn.

Trivia[]

  • The Faceless is similar to the Thin Man.
  • The Faceless may be a reference to X-Com: Terror from the Deep's Deep Ones and Calcinites. The Calcinite is a gelatinous creature (albeit in a diving suit) that attacks with powerful close-combat claws; the Deep One has a face that looks almost exactly like the Faceless, complete with red eyes.
SSPoisoned Icon NOTE: This article or section is in need of cleanup or verification. Please help the XCOM Wiki by improving it. Reason: Thoroughly cover the aspects (test in-game and preferably backup it up with datafiles):
1. Regeneration ability properties and mechanics (e.g. are Poisoned and Burning status effects cured as it is claimed here?).
2. Faceless appearance cases and patterns (there is an instance when the Faceless doesn't appear in the 1st retaliation mission, when the Chosen makes its first appearance (no tutorial Reaper/Skirmisher mission; 6 enemy units in total, Legend diff) - how consistent this and alike cases).
3. How many hidden Faceless can appear on a mission while "Alien Infiltrator" dark event is active?
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