Electro Pulse is a Tactical Subsystem for MECs in XCOM: Enemy Within.
Description[]
Electro Pulse is an Area of Effect ability that deals 5 damage to all units (excluding the user) within its radius, with a 2 turn cooldown. Robotic enemies are stunned for one turn in addition to being damaged.
Tactics[]
- Electro Pulse is recommended for MECs with Kinetic Strike Module (KSM), as the extra movement will allow the MEC to get into position easier. Furthermore, disabled robotic enemies will be an easy target for the KSM.
- Electro Pulse has a radius of 4 tiles. It is relatively large and care should be exercised lest your own soldiers be affected by it.
- The shock wave of Electro Pulse goes through any obstacle, including walls. It is therefore possible for a MEC that is outside of a building to Electro Pulse enemies that are inside.
- Electro Pulse does not break the effects of a Ghost Grenade, allowing the MEC to easily approach a Sectopod in Overwatch mode.
- Electro Pulse ignores the 50% damage reduction normally granted to Sectopods, and Mechtoids under the effect of Mind Merge. With the Sectopod's buff in Enemy Within, this effectively doubles the value of the 5 damage that Electro Pulse deals (which is equivalent to 10 damage from other weapons which would be halved), which is extremely valuable even without taking into account the EMP effect that will stun the Sectopod for a full turn.
Notes[]
- Perhaps a separate tactic all by itself, the Electro Pulse does not explode cars, it does not even ignite them. This of course means that your adjacent units are safe if not inside the pulse's area of effect.
- If a Sectopod is disabled by Electro Pulse when it is preparing to use Cluster Bomb, it will still fire its Cluster Bomb in the next turn but will remain disabled. It is not known if this is a glitch.
- On the tactical selection screen when upgrading to the MEC-3, the description for this subsystem displays incorrect information, it states that the system stuns organic enemies, not synthetic. The information screen when selecting the MEC chassis displays the correct information.
- Contrary to Proximity Mine, Electro Pulse affects targets in the same turn as when used. This can come in handy when you absolutely need to kill all hostiles in sight during your turn for some reason (like trying to decrease strike team injuries to zero). Where as using Proximity Mine would just place a movement detecting mine near hostiles but would not even trigger if they decide to fire after remaining stationary. This latter situation would require either a catalyst explosion like a Frag/Alien Grenade, a Rocket, or the use of Flush (or even perhaps a Flamethrower) which means using more actions of more soldiers. Conclusion: Electro Pulse is better against targets with 5 or lower HP, or involving less teamwork if you want to finish a group of enemies during your present turn.
- Despite area shown Electro Pulse doesn't damage flying units.
Gallery[]
Targeting
Effect