History Characters / XCOM2ADVENT

* PartyScattering: Their entire combat style is dedicated to splitting up your squad. The first attack they lead with is a psionic vortex that disables all weapons within an area of effect and collapsing in on itself in the next turn damaging everyone inside it, discouraging clumping your troops and forcing them to scatter. The teleportation means cover is nearly useless. Since it copies itself every time it takes damage that means you're encouraged to use powerful attacks instead of whittling it down slowly.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: Like the regular Archon, but UpToEleven. The standard Blazing Pinions is rather easy to avoid, since you get an entire turn to move your squad away to new cover, but the King's equivalent, Devastate, impacts the next Ruler Reaction, so once he fires his missiles, you have one move to decide which lucky soldier gets to avoid the overlapping explosions with enhanced radius. The only way for other soldiers to escape is if they can use a free-action ability to move away. Luckily the explosion's base damage is quite low, but it can inflict status debuffs and it'll destroy the floor under a soldier's feet if they're above ground level.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: In one of her [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "The Reason You Suck" speeches]] to XCOM, she tells them that fearing the Elders as cruel, despotic tyrants is just the result of XCOM projecting their own humanity onto them[[note]]She is absolutely right: the Elders don't particularly ''care'' about being cruel, despotic tyrants, they just need humanity pacified long enough to complete the Avatar Project[[/note]].

* DumbMuscle: Implied by the research report when decoding an ADVENT {{Data|Pad}}pad. It says that these devices are very simple and easy to use after you get past the alien encryption system, and that may tell something about the intelligence of ADVENT troops outside of tactical combat.

* TheQuisling: They serve as the public face of the ADVENT's armed forces, being highly visible on patrols and security positions while the aliens hide nearby. [[spoiler:{{Averted|Trope}} once you learn that they're all manufactured soldiers and were never human in the first place.]]

* SlaveRace: While it was already implied in the base game, the existence of Skirmishers in ''War of The Chosen'' fully confirms that ADVENT Troopers are little more than a race of mind-controlled slaves for the Elders to command, with their own personalities having been shut down by the control chips implanted on their bodies.

* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that they were never fully human, but human-alien genetic hybrids manufactured from scratch and activated when necessary.]]

* WeaksauceWeakness: According to Verge in Videogame/XCOMChimeraSquad, ''jam'' of all things causes lethal allergic reactions in all sectoids.

* WeaksaunceWeakness: According to Verge in Videogame/ChimeraSquad, ''jam'' of all things causes lethal allergic reactions in all sectoids.

* PureEnergy: They appear to be entities made of pure data held together as a sort of living hard light hologram.

* EliteMooks: Once you progress enough into the game, you will get to fight tougher versions of them, with the Elite version being the strongest. These look and behave with few differences[[labelnote:*]]Advanced and Elite Troopers get a grenade that the basic versions lack, and Advanced and Elite Officers have additional abilities beyond just marking target (the mark gets more powerful as well)[[/labelnote]], but they always have upgraded health, firepower, and accuracy to contend with your own troops' upgrades, making them threatening even when faced with your Magnetic/Beam-equipped soldiers.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: ADVENT Troopers are known to [[JustShootHim simply aim and shoot at a soldier]], although in the beginning their aim is ''[[ATeamFiring abysmal]]''. If you hit them with a flashbang, it doesn't look like they're even trying. Their aim gets slightly better if an Officer Marks a target, but even higher-level Troopers have fairly poor aim.

ADVENT's melee specialists, originally deployed during the early stages of ADVENT's occupation to quell civil unrest with their non-lethal stun batons. Tygan and Central note that Stun Lancers are an odd case where the early units were actually better than the ones fielded later, as if the aliens had lowered the level of genetic invasiveness for some reason.

* FireBreathingWeapon: Even though they were originally made to torch the Lost, they'll turn it on XCOM without a second thought. With the ''War of the Chosen'' changes to will and panic, they can panic fatigued troops.

* AssistCharacter: They fulfill the same battlefield role as the Sectoid, only better. Priests will rarely deal any direct damage to XCOM, but they're very good at disabling your troops, turning them against each other, buffing their own comrades and soaking up disproportionate amounts of firepower. They can also spell doom for timed missions due to Sustain, that keeps them alive for one more turn after they should be dead already.

* PsychicLink: Holy Warrior allows them to mind-merge with another ADVENT unit like the Sectoids from the last game, buffing the target unit's health and accuracy but automatically killing them both if the Priest is killed while the link is active.

The hulking mechnical soldiers serve as heavy support units for ADVENT's forces, wielding a handheld autocannon and shoulder-mounted grenade launcher.

* LogicalWeakness: Despite being a robotic unit, your Psi Operatives can detonate their grenades. They are also vulnerable to being hacked by your specialists.

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: It is implied you're fighting a multidimensional entity. It's possible every single codex you fight is actually just a different facet of the same entity existing in multiple points throughout our reality.

* KungFuProofMook: Mutons can [[NoSell block]] Ranger sword strikes and Templar Rends, then follow up with a CounterAttack with their own [[BayonetYa spiky bayonet]]. In turn, that counter-attack can itself be countered with Parry, or no-selled with Untouchable.

* DigAttack: Chryssalis can burrow into the ground as a form of Overwatch, vanishing from sight until an enemy moves within their attack radius, at which point the Chryssalid interrupts their turn to burst out of hiding and attack. Fortunately a Battle Scanner item or Specialist's Scanning Protocol ability will reveal them.

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: white alabaster locks on bodies that contain the minds for the rulers of the alien's ruling caste. {{Averted|Trope}} for the Commander's Avatar, who's as good as the Commander themself.

* BrownNote: The blood-curdling roar she emits when she spots XCOM is enough to panic your entire team in one fell swoop. Worse, the effect is ''map-wide'', so there's absolutely no way to avoid it aside from your operatives having very high will scores.

The titular antagonists of the ''War of the Chosen'' expansion, this trio of alien siblings has been deployed by the Elders to recapture XCOM's Commander and destroy the Resistance once and for all. The Chosen will oppose XCOM on the battlefield, counter their efforts on the strategic level, and even train themselves to better counter XCOM's tatics as the campaign continues.

* BossBanter: They'll comment on every little action you do, such as chiding you for spamming grenades or employing psionic powers against them on the battlefield, to commenting on how far the Avatar Project is progressing on the geoscape.

* BenevolentAlienInvasion: ADVENT presents the invasion twenty years ago as such, where the benevolent "Elders" ended the "chaos of the Old World" and gave humanity technologies such as clean energy and the CureForCancer. Part of XCOM's mission is to show humanity the truth about ADVENT's intentions for the planet.

* ImpossiblyDeliciousFood: Everyone agreese, the alien regime might be evil, but their ADVENT Burders are delicious. [[MysteryMeat Just don't think too long about what you're eating.]]

* KillOnSight: This is how ADVENT reacts to any Resistence members, which they can interpret as "anyone living outside a sanctioned settlement." On urban maps you can even find wanted holograms of your top soldiers from your curent, or previous game.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After successful operations in ''War of the Chosen'', you might hear the [[PropagandaMachine ADVENT Propaganda]] lady assure citizen that the firefight they heard and saw was a ''planned'' exercise with simulated casualties, or that the shutdowns at the local gene clinic are due to hardware upgrades rather than dissident activity.
* UnderwaterBase: [[spoiler: The final mission, Operation Leviathan, sees you lead an assault on the aliens underwater base.]]
* {{Veganopia}}: The aliens have banned the keeping of pets and livestock. Despite this, 'advent burgers' are still available. Lore states they are made of reconstituted protein, but suspiciously does not reveal what the protein is reconstituted from...

* WrittenByTheWinners: ADVENT spend a good portion of the 20 year time skip writing that their invasion was benevolent and destroying any evidence of the contrary, to the point of phasing out much of human culture as a whole and replacing it with a lifestyle reliant on alien technology and adulation of The Elders.

ADVENT's humanoid "peacekeepers" form the bulk of the alien regime's manpower on Earth. While ADVENT citizenry are told that these soldiers are made up of native volunteers, a quick examination of their bodies reveals them as something less than human. Beyond basic line infantry, they come in a vairety of sub-types serving specialized battlefield roles, from field commanders to shock troops.

* ArtificialStupidity: [[EveryCarIsAPinto Taking cover behind cars that are about to explode]], [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny charging forwards to hit the Mimic Beacon despite the soldier standing right next to them]]... the list goes on.

Stun Lancers are melee specialists, originally deployed during the early stages of ADVENT's occupation to quell civil unrest with their non-lethal stun batons. Tygan and Central note that Stun Lancers are an odd case in the ADVENT program's history, where the early units were actually better than the ones fielded later, as if the aliens had lowered the level of genetic invasiveness for some reason.

These ADVENT support units use a projected energy barrier to add ablative armor points to their allies, though these defensives disappear should the Shieldbearer die. Their weapons aren't great and they can choose poorly which person to shield, making them somewhat akin to the Sectoid of the original ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown''.

* WomanInWhite: Her portrait when talking with/scolding you throughout the final mission shows her wearing ivory-colored armor. [[SubvertedTrope At least until she gets pissed off and returns to the normal Ethereal color scheme]].

* ManInWhite: They wear all-white armors...
** LightIsNotGood: ... and are just as malignant as everything else about ADVENT.

Introduced in the ''Shen's Last Gift'' DLC, Julian is the former XCOM base AI, upgraded by Raymond Shen and given sentience after XCOM's defeat. He sees himself as Dr. Shen's true heir and Lily as his "sister". He was captured by ADVENT and integrated into one of their facilities, where he built the ADVENT MEC for them, based on Shen's design for the SPARK. Eventually he tired of ADVENT and turned the facility against them. He now seeks to reunite with his "sister" and settle accounts [[spoiler:as well as force her to upload him to a physical body]]. [[spoiler:At the end of the DLC's mission, Lily can upload him into a SPARK's body, after stripping some of his higher functioning and programming him to be unable to disobey XCOM]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: His greatest desire ever since [[spoiler:he backstabbed ADVENT]] was to [[spoiler:use Raymond's SPARK robot as a physical body]]. After [[spoiler:XCOM escapes from his factory, you can let him do just that, after making sure to [[RestrainingBolt edit his systems so that he is utterly loyal to XCOM]] first. He gets his body, and it can indeed be exactly the body he asked for, just not the freedom he thought would come with it]].
* BigBrotherBully: He tries to kill his "sister", Lily, several times, and insists that her father favored him over her. [[spoiler: The player can have her reprogram him to follow all of "Chief Engineer Lily"'s directions, but he still doesn't like her.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: He mostly talks in snark and condescending sarcasm. It's possible that Shen programmed him to be this way. [[spoiler:The only time this isn't the case is when [[ThisCannotBe Lily activates the SPARK, revealing that it wasn't made for him.]]]] [[spoiler:If he's placed in a SPARK, he displays this trope even worse than before as he's forced to obey, fully aware of that fact, and sarcasm is his only means of protest.]]

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: [[spoiler:After he's defeated, Julian can be uploaded into a SPARK body, as mentioned, having been reprogrammed by Shen to be subservient to XCOM.]]

--> '''Julian''': '''[[SuddenlyShouting OVERDRIVE!!]]'''... [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Sorry]].
* ShoutOut: He's named after Julian Gollop, one of the creators of the original X-Com.
* TokenEvilTeammate: He's an asset in XCOM's war against ADVENT, but he would quite happily kill off everyone in XCOM if [[spoiler:he wasn't prohibited by his [[RestrainingBolt reconfigured programming]]]].

A new faction of zombie-like beings introduced in ''War of the Chosen'', apparently created when humans were exposed to [[CallBack the green gas from the alien pods from]] ''Enemy Unknown''. No friend to the aliens, they will attack ADVENT and XCOM alike.

* BodyHorror: The Lost are covered in glowing green pustules due to exposure to the chemicals that made them the way they are. Tougher Lost tend to have [[{{Squick}} larger, swollen pustules]]. Their corpses' flavor text also mentions that once they're killed, their bodies rapidly break apart and turn into unidentifiable piles of desiccated limbs.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: They're alluded to in the ''Resurrection'' prequel novel before they appeared in the DLC.

* GangUpOnTheHuman: The Lost have a 70% chance to target XCOM troops over advent, leading to swarms sprinting past nearby aliens to swarm XCOM units miles away. Changing this to a fair 50-50 chance was among the first {{Game Mod}}s to appear after ''War of the Chosen'' was released.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Of the humans-exposed-to-alien-chemicals kind. To complicate it further, a dead Lost can be raised by a psionic as a zombie.
* OutsideContextProblem: In the midst of a rebellion against the ruling Alien government, a zombie apocalypse manages to get itself in the middle. Occasionally lampshaded by Bradford when your squad returns from a mission in Lost territory. Should the Lost World Dark Event be active, then there's a sizable chance that swarms will appear in any mission. This extends to missions in ADVENT city centers, [[FridgeHorror raising questions about how safe they really are]].

The alien regime that has ruled Earth for two decades following their successful invasion. While ADVENT has rebuilt some of the world's cities into shining futuristic metropolises and present themselves as humanity's saviors, their intentions are far from benign, and they will fight tenaciously to maintain their grip on the planet.

[[folder:The Chosen as a whole]]

A trio of alien siblings deployed by the Elders to capture the Commander and destroy XCOM once and for all.

* AchillesHeel: They all have randomized weaknesses which XCOM can exploit, like a vulnerability to melee attacks or several attacks in one turn, or being easier to hit from elevation. However, they are ''always'' weak to attacks from their opposing faction (the Assassin could have weakness to attacks from the Skirmishers, for example). This can be hilarious if the weaknesses synergize: if the Assassin is weak to explosives and the Reapers, [[NoKillLikeOverkill and the Reapers are equipped with claymores...]]

* ArchEnemy: Each serves as one to a randomly chosen resistance group, who gets a damage bonus against them in combat. If the player wants to find a Chosen's stronghold they'll need the help of the Chosen's arch-nemesis group.
* BossBanter: They'll comment on every little action you do, such as chiding you for spamming grenades or employing psionic powers on them. That extends to developing events such as the Avatar Project's progress or their siblings' current rate of success on you.

* CowardlyBoss: Cause enough damage and they will teleport back to their stronghold in order to lick their wounds.
* DontFearTheReaper: Conversely, ''because'' they can't be killed permanently and ''know it'', they tend to act with somewhat reckless abandon: while they fight to win, they don't particularly care if they lose, and may take dangerous actions to try to win [[spoiler: even if their sarcophagus is destroyed]].

* IWantThemAlive: While they can and will use lethal force, they will prioritize stunning XCOM soliders so they can interrogate them and find the location of the Avenger. The kiddy gloves are off during a Stronghold assault, though.

* NoNonsenseNemesis: Not normally (not that they have a choice in being blatant or not, it's impossible to miss their teleportation beams) but if they fill their Intel gauge, they figure out how to track the Avenger reliably. At that point the gloves come off: expect to see them sooner rather than later, and when they come, they're going to come with everything their can get their hands on in a bid to end your campaign.

* ResurrectiveImmortality: Each Chosen has a "Sarcophagus" which collects and uses psionic energy to revive them and must be destroyed before they can be permanently killed.

* WasOnceAMan: If the in-game archives are true, all three were once human and were created by the Ethereals as their personal hitmen.
** With the release of the comic, this has been confirmed for the Hunter.

* IAmTheNoun
--> "I am the blade of the Elders!"

* RazorWind: Though usually limited to melee attacks, she can use her blade to throw disorienting wave at your troops.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Her Arashi shotgun hits harder than an XCOM-built Storm Gun, but uses an assault rifle's accuracy table, making it effective at a surprisingly long range. It also comes included with more mods than you can normally fit on a weapon, with a superior Hair Trigger, Extended Magazine, Laser Sight and Stock. Luckily for players, it's her backup weapon and the Assassin will only use it if a melee attack is impractical.

* WarmUpBoss: She's the first Chosen you encounter if you do the tutorial, and due to being in the middle of a Lost-infested city and not even being there for XCOM, she runs early.
* WasOnceAMan: Ambiguous. While the Other Chosen are definitively enhanced humans, the Assassin may either be a former human or a clone.

* BerserkButton: Doesn't really ''lose'' it, but his AffablyEvil demeanor takes a noticeable turn for the vicious when you break the "rules" of his little game by bringing the fight to his stronghold, and he warns you in no uncertain terms that he's not playing around any longer.

* DeadpanSnarker: Even when you've destroyed his sarcophagus and put him on his last legs, he continues to quip. The guy even mouths off ''to an Ethereal''.
-->'''Hunter:''' Now that wasn't supposed to happen! And just when I was starting to like you! You're the reason why this world can't have nice things.

* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: He thinks that hunting XCOM is this, seemingly in large part because by now he's already had a turn at killing just about anything on the planet worth hunting. Even more pronounced in that XCOM can and does hunt and kill him right back.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: He can shoot soldiers from ''across the map'', and has an unnatural ability to call his shots. The Reapers have intel stating that he once shot a man from a mile away, and must have fired before the target started moving; the Avenger crew suspects his rifle must have something to do with it, a theory partially proven right when Tygan finds an advanced targeting system on the Darklance, which supplemented his already outstanding aim.

* WasOnceAMan: Information in the archives implies him to have once been a member of the Reapers, or at the very least good enough to be one of them if he weren't one of the Chosen.
** The comic confirms that the Hunter is a former Reaper named Tomko.

* TakenForGranite: Seemingly turns to stone upon [[spoiler: his defeat, exclaiming that he can finally hear the Elders' voices unobstructed, that they are both near and around him, and that they are coming for him. It's unclear if his body petrified because of his genetic mods being unstable or his vast Psionic power simply collapsed on itself when he died]].

ADVENT's humanoid "peacekeepers" form the majority of enemies that XCOM fights. While ADVENT citizenry are told that these soldiers are made up of volunteers serving the alien regime, a quick examination of their bodies reveal them as something less than human. Beyond basic line infantry, they come in a vairety of sub-types serving specialized battlefield roles, from field commanders to shock troops.

A mysterious new enemy, seemingly an improved version of the Outsider. It has several strange abilities that force your party to scatter and improvise.

Introduced in ''War of the Chosen'', Spectres are mechanical humanoids capable of creating "dark copies" of XCOM soldiers.

The Avatar Project is the ultimate goal of the alien presence on Earth: the creation of artificial human-Ethereal hybrids which the Ethereals can inhabit in order to abandon their old, dying bodies. In battle, all Avatars possess the psychic powers of Null Lance, Dimensional Rift and Mind Control, and carry both a psionic repeater and a psi-amp.

** Immune to flashbangs, so no, you can't nullify their potent psionics by blinding the living daylights out of them. [[OneHitKill They aren't invulnerable to Repeaters though]]. They're also immune to mind control outside of the consciousness that's already mind-controlling the Avatar.
** In ''War of the Chosen'', they're more resistant to being frozen: it simply them one action point rather than actually freezing them for multiple turns, just like Alien Rulers.

* EvilCounterpart: To XCOM's Psi Ops. They even have similar equipment loadout (assault rifle + PSI amp).

* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: The Elders have one of their own Avatars turned against them by XCOM in the endgame: Tygan uses the 'blank' template body from the Forge and the Blacksite genetic sample vial, plus cooperation from the Commander with the stasis suit they were wearing when they were rescued in Operation Gatecrasher, in order to pilot the Avatar body via the very Psychic Network they used to control ADVENT forces.

** GlassCannon: The Commander's Avatar does not have a teleport and is generally squishier, but their mind control cannot be interrupted since aliens don't have Solace available and you are likely to open with [[OneHitPolykill Null Lance]]. Enemy avatars do have Null Lance, but [[ArtificialStupidity it's very low on their priority list]].
* LoadBearingBoss: Played with. Killing the [[spoiler:third and final]] Avatar doesn't directly lead to the destruction of the Avatar Base, but the Commander's [[BeamOWar psi battle with the Ethereals]] does, though it's left nebulous whether [[spoiler:the battle itself caused catastrophic damage to the base, or defeating the Ethereals did it]].

* PlayerAndProtagonistIntegration: For the final level, the commander controls an Avatar psionically. It's offensively as powerful as normal Avatars in psionic powers, regeneration and immunity to all status effects, though it has lower health and no armor, and [[HeroMustSurvive has to survive the mission]]. Your soldiers all have a psionic link connecting them to the Avatar in gameplay, meaning that you, the player, are controlling your troops through the Avatar as well.

[[folder:Rulers in general]]
The main antagonists of the ''Alien Hunters'' DLC. A trio of alien clones created by Dr. Vahlen, who removed some of the genetic alterations made by the Ethereals. [[GoneHorriblyWrong As it turns out]], those mods were meant to ''[[RestrainingBolt limit]]'' their potential.

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: They get an action for ''every action'' your team makes (dubbed "Ruler Reaction"), meaning they can attack or move far more times than they should have any right to. Combined with their greater durability and new abilities, they force the player to use a very specific strategy or else any mission that they show up in turns into a nightmare. ''War of the Chosen'' nerfs this ability ''very'' slightly by making it so Rulers will not react to the Reload action or to anything that happens out of their line of sight. Both in the expansion and in the base game, they also don't react to free-action abilities, such as using a grappling hook or an attack that gets a Hair Trigger bonus.

* DamageSpongeBoss: Ruler health pools range from 50 HP (Viper King) to 100 HP (Archon King) on Normal, supplemented with a good amount of armor. For comparison: ADVENT's toughest unit, [[BossInMookClothing the Sectopod]], has 28 HP. It's not uncommon for any one of them to have more health than all other enemies on the map ''combined''. Needless to say, it takes ridiculous amounts of firepower to take them down, though you don't have to do all of it in one go.
* DemotedToExtra: The rulers will appear in ''War of the Chosen'' if you have ''Alien Hunters'', however they take a backseat to the titular Chosen, who are XCOM's primary adversaries. Checking the "Integrate content" box while setting up a new campaign means they don't even get their introduction mission and simply [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere appear out of nowhere]] without any explanation as to what they are or why they exist.

* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Don't let the game "integrate" their content into your new ''War of the Chosen'' campaign if you want to know why these creatures exist and where they came from. If you do, they'll simply pop up during high-stakes missions to ruin your day without any introduction whatsoever. The most you get is a text message to warn you about some extremely dangerous alien in the area before you board Firebrand.

* HumanPopsicle: Vahlen discovered the trio as embyros perserved within an intact and functioning cryostasis unit in the abandoned Alien genetics lab that she made her hideout at.

* MarathonBoss: There's a reasonably good chance to kill the Viper King when he first pops up, but that's because he's the weakest Ruler, has almost no backup when fought, and his spawning can be avoided until your team is in the perfect position for some serious Overwatch overkill. The other Rulers are neither as predictable nor as fragile, and they're almost always surrounded by other ADVENT forces that force you to split up your firepower. Combine this with their ginormous health pools and it becomes likely you'll have to fight them across multiple missions again and again until they finally bite the dust.

!!Viper King

----

!!Berserker Queen

Codenamed "Subject Beta", the Berserker Queen is the second Dr. Vahlen's three test subjects, and likewise the second that XCOM encounters. She is equipped with enhanced chemical pumps and powered fists, and can stun or panic several soldiers at the same time.

* {{Cyborg}}: Her autopsy report notes how her combat gear including her oversized weapons are tied directly into her central nervous system, to the point that even her cold dead corpse is dangerous to approach due to residual reflexes.

* PowerFist: She dual-wields enormous piston-driven pile drivers the size of fridges.

* UnstoppableRage: Even worse than "normal" Berserkers.

!!Archon King

* ThatOneAttack: Devastate, the Archon King's favorite action. Unlike Blazing Pinions, you can only move one soldier away from the missiles' marked impact area.

Insectile horrors deployed as indiscriminate terror-weapons by the ADVENT. Their abilities have shifted from the first XCOM: Instead of creating zombies, their victims mutate into cocoons that eventually pop out three new Chryssalids.

** GiantEnemyCrab: The ''It Came From The Sea'' mini-campaign features Chryssalids leaping out of the ocean, implying that they're crustacean in nature. [[spoiler: The fact that the ADVENT beacons The DJ was using as radio transmitters were meant to lure them out of the ocean causes Bradford to muse about just ''what'' the Chryssalids actually are.]]
* ExplosiveBreeder: Chryssalids are not only able to pull off their "convert a victim into a gestator for new Chryssalids" trick, they are now able to produce ''three Chryssalids per corpse''. Fortunately, a gestator will only give birth once per turn, so you should destroy a gestator quickly to save your soldier's life or use it to farm Chryssalid corpses if you wish to produce some important items from them.

* LogicalWeakness: If you mind control a chryssalid and it creates a cocoon out of a dead enemy, the chryssalids spawned from it don't magically become yours; you aren't controlling them, only their parent.
* ManOfKryptonite: Arm a Bladestorm ranger with a fusion blade and send them into a suspected Chryssalid burrowing ground. Watch the Chryssalids beeline towards them, only to be hacked apart - and the survivors being set on fire and thus unable to attack. If the Bladestorm Ranger has the Assassin's katana, [[InstantDeathRadius any and all Chryssalids will be dead when they get into melee range]].

* TunnelKing: Chryssalids can rapidly dig into the ground and burrow around the map to out-stealth XCOM, though certain gear and skills can counter their efforts. What makes this particularly dangerous is that burrowing is their own form of going into Overwatch, so if you move within one's sight radius, it'll rush in to claw-kick you.

Observing the horrified reactions humanity had to the Floater and its grotesque melding of cybernetics and flesh, the ADVENT redesigned their aerial troopers into the Archons, regal and elegant figures deliberately sculpted to have an angelic mien. Not that this has changed their personality.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Even ignoring the whole "alien cyborgs designed to resemble angels so humanity would accept them better" thing, Archons are unusual. They appear as perfect male human upper torsos, with their forearms replaced by elegantly crafted golden gauntlets, a bullet-shaped golden helmet covering their upper face, and mechanical "wings" consisting of two struts on their back that house multiple burning jet-thrusters. Their look is also very reminiscent of an Egyptian god's.

* BishonenLine: Deliberately designed to look more beautiful and human-like, so as to receive a better response from humanity. They're also one of the most powerful enemies in the game now, rather than the cannon fodder Floaters used to be.
* BodyHorror: Implicit: the Archon's torso has visible "panel seams" on it, implying that the ADVENT created it by extracting the organs and nerves from a Floater and embedding them in a completely mechanical shell.

* DeathFromAbove: In addition to the Floater's ability to fly across the battlefield and shoot from the air, the Archon has access to the "Blazing Pinions" ability, where it bombards several targets in an area beneath it with multiple missiles. It takes a full turn between the missiles being launched and them hitting the targets, and they have enough splash effect to explode volatile cover like gas tanks.

* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Zigzagged. All Archons are sculpted so that they appear to be wearing ornate helmets, specifically so they are more visually appear "good" to humans, so averted. On the other hand, they're alien monsters, so... played straight, sort of.

* MacrossMissileMassacre: The "Blazing Pinions" ability involves firing a barrage of missiles skyward, that then one turn later turn around and bombard the ground where the Archon designates. Needless to say, this absolutely ''wrecks'' cover and anything caught inside of it. It can trigger explosives too.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: [[https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/shacknews/assets/editorial/2015/10/XCOM%202_Firaxicon_Archon_Screenshot.jpg The Archon]] is essentially the upper body of a male human with gloves, helmet, pauldrons, and ''nothing else''. Justified in that the revised appearence is designed to make them less intimidating to humans than the original design.

* TurnsRed: When an Archon is wounded, it goes into a Battle Frenzy that grants additional actions and starts lashing out in melee range.
* UnstoppableRage: As mentioned under TurnsRed, Archons grow vastly more aggressive the more damage they take. When hit, they howl while shaking a fist at their aggressor, then often activate Battle Frenzy and drop the tactical use of Blazing Pinions air strikes in favor of lashing out with their staves. Taken UpToEleven by the ''Alien Hunters''-exclusive [[KingMook Archon King]], naturally.

[[folder:Gatekeeper]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_88.jpeg]]
Reminiscent of the Cyberdiscs of old, Gatekeepers are floating metallic spheres which encase a mass of tentacled flesh. They can attack XCOM through energy beams and necromancy.

* BringMyBrownPants: If forcibly panicked, [[https://gfycat.com/WickedLoathsomeHarrier the Gatekeeper nervously shifts in place and begins to drip yellow fluid.]] It's possible it's leaking blood or coolant, but it's definitely evocative of this trope.
* CombatTentacles: It can flail its tentacles into XCOM soldiers to MindControl them, or use them as a [[LifeDrain life-draining]] melee attack.
* {{Cyborg}}: ADVENT's most powerful biomechanical unit. Its autopsy report notes that the tentacled mound of flesh inside the armored shell relies completely on said shell's sensors to perceive its surroundings. Removing it would probably leave the pilot organism blind, deaf and mostly helpless, if it even survived the separation.
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Gatekeepers explode when destroyed.
* DegradedBoss: A lone Gatekeeper provides the boss battle for the [[spoiler:Codex Brain Coordinates]] mission, the op that officially introduces these creatures to the player. Afterwards they appear as part of regular pods. If you postponed the [[spoiler:Codex Brain Coordinates]] mission long enough, you'll even start encountering them before they're properly introduced, downgrading them from {{Degraded Boss}}es to powerful but otherwise normal enemies from the get-go.
* DirtyCoward: They don't flee the battlefield outright, but if they take damage while their shell is open, they'll instantly close it to double their armor value like the old Cyberdiscs did. Sounds helpful for controlling what they can do (their most dangerous attacks can only be performed in their open state), but unfortunately, opening/closing the shell is a free action, so they don't suffer any drawbacks from turtling up.
* EldritchAbomination: The Gatekeeper's initial appearance is a white spherical ball. Then it peels back the shell to reveal a pink body with four tentacles. It's difficult to comprehend the exact nature between the non-existent source of levitation and the automatic (and floating) components of its white surface.
* {{Expy}}: Of Cyberdisks, serving as mid-to-late game heavy unit that can change between open and closed form with powerful attacks targeting a wide area. Their partial flight, tentacles, and ability to raise zombified corpses also makes them one for the Tentaculat from ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep''.
* EyeBeam: Its most mundane attack (and the only one it can perform in its closed form) is a huge psionic beam fired from its central eye. It hurts when it hits but has low accuracy, and Gatekeepers rarely use it anyway. You'll mostly see it if a Gatekeeper leads the pod closest to the data tap you must protect during the respective mission type.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: A Gatekeeper with its shell closed boasts heavier armor than literally anything else in the game. Opening its shell halves its armor value, but three pips (on Normal) are still nothing to sneeze at. Shredding is essential when fighting them.
* LifeDrain: Its Consume ability heals the Gatekeeper for same amount of damage dealt by the attack, with the added bonus of raising the target as a zombie if it's killed by it.
* LightIsNotGood: Like most psionic alien units, Gatekeepers are shiny white and gold on the outside, and sociopathic murder machine on the inside.
* TheNecromancer: Capable of raising dead humanoids from around it. Specifically, its [[PsychicPowers Gateway attack]] will turn anyone killed by the blast or even pre-existing corpses within the blast's range into zombies, while its Consume ability will do the same if it kills an organic enemy.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: They're prone to flattening the distress beacon of [=UFOs=] they're supposed to protect by moving through it, as well as killing [=VIPs=] they're supposed to protect by catching them in their Gateway attack's area of effect. At least the latter example can be construed as intentional in order to prevent the VIP from falling into XCOM's hands alive.
* {{Oculothorax}}: Its appearance is very reminiscent of a floating eyeball. As a twist, the shell works as an eyeball for the creature inside, who has no sensory input on its own.
* PowerFloats: One of the most powerful psionic units in the game, and the only one to float without obviously technological levitation or propulsion.
* PsychicPowers: One form of its attacks involves firing psychic energy in forms very similar to an Ethereal's.
* SinisterGeometry: Unnaturally spherical and non-threatening at a first glance.
* SuperToughness: Not only do they have the toughest armor in the game when closed, beating out even Sectopods, they also boast the second-highest amount of health of any alien unit (20 HP) after the Sectopod's 28 HP.
* ThereWasADoor: You could mistake it for a self-propelled pearly white wrecking ball with how it gladly obliterates whatever terrain and cover is in its way.
* WaveMotionGun: The only things it can do when its shell is closed is moving or shooting a massive, high-damage psionic energy beam [[EyeBeam from its eye]].
* WeaksauceWeakness: While immune to hacking, the Gatekeeper's reliance on mechanical life support means that they're vulnerable to EMP grenades/bombs, Bluescreen Rounds, and Combat Protocol/Capacitor Discharge, all of which ignore their otherwise prodigious armor.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Andromedon]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_613.jpeg]]
Combining the strength of machinery with the intelligence of organics, Andromedons are a new alien threat seated within powerful Battlesuits.
----
* AchillesHeel: Massive armor and health. Very little resistance to mind-affecting psionics. And when they're reduced to AnimatedArmor, they can be hacked and take additional damage from Bluescreen munitions, and the plasma gun loses effectiveness.

* TheBerserker: Andromedons are normally fairly intelligent ranged enemies, but when "killed" the helmet shatters and kills the pilot. The battlesuit then reactivates in autonomous mode to charge into melee.

[[folder:'''SPOILERS''']]
!!Avatar
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/avatar_5.jpg]]

The Avatar Project is the ultimate goal of the alien presence on Earth: the creation of artificial human-Ethereal hybrids which the Ethereals can inhabit in order to abandon their old, dying bodies. In battle, all Avatars possess the psychic powers of Null Lance, Dimensional Rift and Mind Control, and carry both a psionic repeater and a psi-amp.

Returning from the first game, the brutish Mutons have been enhanced with human cunning.

* OneHitKill: They can use "Execute" on a stunned target, a death sentence where health doesn't matter.
* PinnedDown: They retain the "Suppression" ability they had in the last XCOM.

A mysterious new alien menace unseen in previous installments. The Faceless are covert troopers, using their shapeshifting ability to walk amongst humans in order to root out "malcontents".

!!Muton Berserker

This unit from the first game returns as the strongest melee unit in the game.

* ActionGirl: All Berserkers are female, as confirmed by WordOfGod at their [[https://youtu.be/YCNOTJuDmXs?t=1168 Pax Prime Panel]] and the in-game flavor text for Berserker attacks.
* BareFistedMonk: They are 'only' armed with something like knuckle dusters, everything else is bare hide.
* TheBerserker: Just like the name suggests.

* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: These female Mutons are much bigger and more aggressive than their male counterparts, maybe due to lacking the human DNA infusions that made Mutons smaller but smarter.

* TurnsRed: Taking any amount of damage enrages them, which increases their mobility. However, landing ''two'' non-lethal hits in succession results in the Berserker turning on her own pod in blind rage, assuming no XCOM troops are closer than the closest pod member.
* UnstoppableRage: So unstoppable in fact, that an enraged Berserker can willingly commit friendly fire if other ADVENT troops are closer to her than your operatives.

The alien regime that has ruled Earth for the past two decades. While ADVENT has rebuilt some of the world's cities into shining futuristic metropolises and present themselves as humanity's saviors, their intentions are far from benign, and they will fight tenaciously to maintain their grip on the planet.

* DeflectorShields: Their main gimmick is spawning such shields for themselves and their allies. Unlike the game's armor mechanic, which reduces incoming damage by a set amount, this shields act as an extra layer of HP that must be depleted before the shielded unit takes damage.

One of the ADVENT's servitor-species. Implied to have been the subject of genetic fusion experiments with human DNA. Instead of the weak little alien it used to be, it now serves as a much more powerful lieutenant alien, and instead of mentally merging with each other, they commonly revive dead enemies to serve as soldiers or use their mental powers to drive your troops insane. In a worst-case scenario they even mind control your troops.

* AssistCharacter: They have a plasma gauntlet, but hardly ever use it. Instead, they act as a force multiplier for the actual soldiers by making more enemies for you to fight through psi zombies reanimation, and incapacitating part of your squad with Mind Spin.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Implied: they seem to have more human-like features this time around, such as mouths with teeth and a much larger size.
* LogicalWeakness: They run around butt-naked and use mental attacks. This makes them take extra damage from melee attacks, and disrupting their concentration by way of simple flashbangs completely neuters their psionic abilities.
* MindControl: They start with this from the get-go, although in a diminished form; Mind Spin is a randomized telepathic attack that can randomly do this, disorient the target or simply confuse it into a panic.
* TheNecromancer: Can use ''Psi Reanimate'' to resurrect dead civilians and soldiers (XCOM and ADVENT alike) to fight for them.

* PokeInTheThirdEye: Their psychic abilities are vastly greater than before, but they have one glaring weakness: hitting them with a flashbang destroys their concentration and they immediately lose control of anyone they've controlled and any zombies they've created die instantly. In ''War of The Chosen'', they also die quite easily when attacked by The Lost due to their melee vulnerability.

* SuperWristGadget: [[ExposedExtraterrestrials The only thing they wear]] is a wrist mounted [[PlasmaCannon plasma gun]] that also acts as some sort of communications device and psionic focus.

Female humanoid cobras, another of the ADVENT's many servitor-species. They wield plasma-based guns and can use their prehensile tongue and crushing coils to capture & kill XCOM troopers.

* AmazonBrigade: The ''Alien Hunters'' DLC demonstrates that Vipers have both sexes, and that regular Vipers are all female.
* BattleHarem: Applies to the Viper Nest in the ''Alien Hunters'' DLC. The population of the cave includes the only male Viper (the King), the half-dozen female Vipers that he's been mating with, and [[ZergRush the many, many offspring they've produced]]. That being said, XCOM wipes them all out.
* TheBeastmaster: The Viper King's lair is full of snakes, and it's implied he can attract and control them the same way he attracts and communicates with female Vipers.

* ExplosiveBreeder: They show sign of this, as a single male Viper produces a ton of progeny out of three to four females. Dr. Vahlen guesses the elders may have done their {{Gendercide}} as a form of population control.

* HumanAliens: While all the other alien races were ''humanized'' by the injection of human DNA, the Thin Men of the first game went the other direction, becoming more obviously non-human than their appearance in the first game. However, the addition of NonMammalianMammaries implies that there's still quite a bit of human floating in their DNA.

** They have the Bind ability of the Seeker from the [[Videogame/XCOMEnemyUnknown previous game]], allowing them to catch hold of, immobilize and eventually fatally crush an operative unless shot off.

* NonMammalianMammaries: Despite their reptilian nature, they have a pair of breasts. Justified as these pectoral developments being venom glands, according to Tygan's autopsy records; having the venom glands in their chest allows the Viper to spit up a cloud of the venom at enemies at range via compression of the presumably powerful pectoral muscles. As he begins his autopsy, Tygan mentions it's rather off-putting to see obviously reptilian aliens sporting "such human features", and he's not referring to them having arms. The Viper King has them too.
* OneGenderRace: The Vipers are all distinctly female, in contrast to their Thin Men disguises from the previous game. The Viper King is the only observed male, being the product of Vahlen's genetic tampering to restore the suppressed gender. The characters theorize that Vipers were forced into being this trope by the Elders as a form of population control.

* SuperSpit: As one might expect, Vipers retain the Poison Spit ability of the Thin Men. However, unlike Thin Men, they don't leave behind a poison cloud when they die.

* TheGoomba: Initial ADVENT troops are about as weak, gameplay-wise, as Sectoids from ''Enemy Unknown''. More elite ADVENT troops are much more formidable, however, especially officers. Later in the game, all basic ADVENT troops get upgraded health, but if you stay on top of your weapons research you should be able to still take out the grunts with one good shot.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: ADVENT Troopers are known to [[JustShootHim simply aim and shoot at a soldier]], although in the beginning their aim is ''[[ATeamFiring abysmal]]''. If you hit them with a flashbang, it doesn't look like they're even trying. Their aim gets slightly better if an Officer Marks a target, but even higher-level troopers have fairly poor aim.

The commanders of the ADVENT field units, Officers mark targets and join in the shooting. Identifiable by unique helmet models, Officers often join ADVENT reinforcement pods after missions start, and have brutal ranged options, including making one of your troopers a higher target priority or throwing cover-shredding grenades. However, there are almost never more than one of these per mission.

* KeystoneArmy: Implied with the officers: they can direct ADVENT troopers to perform better and seem to have better AI decisions than the basic troopers. When they are killed, the other ADVENT troopers are more likely to perform worse and make poorer tactical decisions, which makes them easier for you to kill.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: While all ADVENT units can be skulljacked, Officers are the only type to be guaranteed to get a two-pronged holographic blade jabbed through their mouth and into their brain at some point of the campaign (and since it's an instant kill if it lands, it's a useful way to take out the high-health Advanced and Elite versions).
* LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Whereas their subordinates wear exclusively black, white or orange[[note]] the latter only with ''War of the Chosen'' installed[[/note]], Officers are easily recognizable by their bright red armor. They also have an exceedingly rare Commander version that only appears during "Neutralize Field Commander" missions; those guys are [[GoldColoredSuperiority clad in green and gold]] instead. They are referred to by Central as ADVENT Generals, and they have all the abilities of the other Officer variants, as well as a guaranteed spawn of at least Advanced Troopers. Their death or capture is invariably the priority mission objective.

Stun Lancers are specialised troopers, originally deployed during the early stages of ADVENT's occupation to quell civil unrest with their non-lethal stun batons. Tygan and Central note that Stun Lancers are an odd case in the ADVENT program's history, where the early units were actually better than the ones fielded later, as if the aliens had lowered the level of genetic invasiveness for some reason.

* TheBerserker: Stun Lancers are extremely aggressive and will make every effort possible to get into melee range to use their lances. This also makes them predictable and exploitable, if still dangerous: if a Stun Lancer ''can'' charge a soldier in melee, they ''will'', which can force them into a disadvantageous position. While they ''are'' smart enough to not charge ahead if they can't follow the charge with an attack, that opens up their second weakness: their subpar aim.

Another type of ADVENT specialist, the Shieldbearer uses a projected energy barrier to add ablative armor points to their allies. Unlike the armor XCOM can wear, the Shieldbearers' armor projections neutralize incoming damage ''entirely'', but also disappear if the Shieldbearer should die. Their weapons aren't great and they can choose poorly which person to shield, making them somewhat akin to the Sectoid of the original ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown''.

* BarrierWarrior: They can spawn a [[DeflectorShields shield barrier]] to give themselves and any allies in the vicinity an extra layer of health. It's likely their first move in a fight.
* DeflectorShields: Their main gimmick is spawning such shields for themselves and their allies.

* ShootTheMedicFirst: Take out those Shieldbearers first, or else you'll have a much tougher time dealing with all the ADVENT troops it's buffed. Even if they managed to raise their shield, killing them will instantly remove it again from everyone affected. The Shieldbearers seem to be well aware of this strategy; unlike pretty much every other ADVENT unit, they generally won't actively engage XCOM units, preferring to run behind cover and pop their shield.

* FireBreathingWeapon: Even though they were originally made to torch the Lost, they'll turn it on XCOM without a second thought. With the ''War of the Chosen'' changes to will and panic, they can cause panic to fatigued troops.

Similar to the XCOM's MEC Troopers from ''Enemy Within'', [=MECs=] are hulking mechanical exo-armor used for heavy support. This time, they are created and deployed to oppose XCOM.

* EvilKnockoff: These MEC drones are derived from captured Robotics research belonging to Chief Engineer Shen, which is also the basis of the MEC troopers in ''Enemy Within''. As seen in the ''Shen's Last Gift'' DLC content, ADVENT has factories and development facilities putting their captured knowledge to good work.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: While many of the alien troops are variants of previously fielded forces, the ADVENT MEC not only has almost the exact same design as the MEC trooper chassis from ''Enemy Within'', they even use many of the same animations. They even fill the same tactical niche of heavy support troopers who can circumvent or destroy cover while soaking up gunfire. The only difference is that ADVENT MEC are automated robots unlike XCOM's piloted cybersuits.

** Proper use of Squadsight can allow a Sharpshooter to repeatedly shoot the turret without it being able to shoot back. Unfortunately, each shot does little damage thanks to its armor so it can take several turns to chip away at its health unless it's shredded by someone else.
** Like all robotic enemies, they can be hacked by your specialists. While they are quite hard to take control of, they are fairly easy to knock out using Haywire Protocol.

!!The Speaker

A human-looking mouthpiece for ADVENT and the Aliens, he bears a resemblance to the Thin Men seen during the events of ''Enemy Unknown'' and ''Enemy Within''. He is always seen in cutscenes contributing to ADVENT's propaganda machine and decrying XCOM as a terrorist organization.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: His appearance and his manner of speaking is meant to resemble a preacher or televangelist, and it's enhanced by his all-black outfit reminiscent of a priest's cassock and the cross-like ADVENT logo hovering behind him and his lectern as he speaks.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: He's only ever referred to as "The Speaker", even by other ADVENT announcers.
* FauxAffablyEvil: His choice of words during his speeches tends towards sugar-coating the less-savoury deeds that ADVENT are committing, disguising the abduction of humans not aligned with the Aliens as the "preemptive arrests of known collaborators".

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:After using [[PropagandaMachine the ADVENT Tower to broadcast the message of ADVENT across the entire globe]] [[VillainWithGoodPublicity and getting universal praise from it]], [[DoNotAdjustYourSet XCOM highjacks the ADVENT Tower to interrupt one of his speeches]] [[BrokenMasquerade and reveals how ADVENT is really]] [[HumanResources processing humans for genetic manipulation]]. [[OhCrap The Speaker only has enough time to realize the truth is revealed to the world at large]] [[DisneyVillainDeath before being tackled by his now enraged audience]] ([[VillainExitStageLeft and escaping to continue being the spokesman of ADVENT]]).]]

* MaliciousSlander: He constantly degrades all pre-ADVENT government institutions and XCOM as being corrupt, blames all pre-Unification civilian losses on the cruelty of the old governments, and constantly considers XCOM as terrorists.

--> '''Speaker''': A revolutionary gene therapy, yes, but! So! Much! More!
* SinisterShades: Like the other Thin Men before him, he wears dark glasses.

* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:After XCOM sabotaged the global live broadcast and informed the world of ADVENT's true motives, the Speaker is seen being pursued by an angry mob. However, he continues to address the player and humans in general during the final mission immediately afterwards, suggesting that he somehow escaped them, possibly by using the Thin Man's signature [[InASingleBound jumping ability]].]]

* VillainousCrossdresser: He is presumably a female like the Vipers and original Thin Men, at least from a genetic standpoint.

* GodGuise: according to the Skirmishers, during their service to ADVENT the Elders were viewed as Gods.

ADVENT's humanoid "peacekeepers" form the majority of enemies that XCOM fights. While most people are told that the soldiers are human volunteers who are willingly serving ADVENT, a quick examination of their bodies shows that they are genetically altered humans, with yellowish blood, snout-like noses and oversized eyes, which are concealed behind heavy armor and helmets with only their mouths visible.

There are four sub-types: Basic Troopers simply shoot at you and are the weakest enemies in the game, Stun Lancers rush your troops with melee attacks, Shieldbearers are heavily-armored and create protective forcefields around themselves and their allies, and Officers have double health points and the ability to mark your troops for attack. ''War of the Chosen'' adds Priests, wielders of psionic powers offensive and defensive alike, and Purifiers, who use flamethrowers and incendiary grenades to set targets on fire.

* ArtificialStupidity: [[EveryCarIsAPinto Taking cover behind cars that are about to explode]], [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny charging forwards to hit the Mimic Beacon despite the soldier 'standing right next to them']]... the list goes on.

* EqualOpportunityEvil: While all ADVENT troops are pale skinned, they are are evenly split between male and female, though their bulky armor and distorted voices often make it difficult to tell the difference. In general, high-pitched ADVENT are female, while low-pitched are male.

* EvilCounterpart: To XCOM agents. They come in distinct classes, like the Stun Lancers contrasting the Ranger. ''War of the Chosen'' adds the Priests, contrasting the Psi Operatives, and Purifiers, flamethrower users like E.X.O. and W.A.R. Suit users (or the Technicals from ''Long War 2'').

* MagneticWeapons: They wield magnetic weapons, in contrast to the actual aliens, who all use {{Plasma|Cannon}} like in the initial invasion. The weapons are initially [[PlayerCrutch weaker]] than the assault rifles XCOM wields, for game balance, but they increase as the game goes on.

* SlaveRace: While it was already implied in the base game, the existence of Skirmishers in ''War of The Chosen'' fully confirms that ADVENT Troopers are little more than a race of mind controlled slaves for the Elders to command, with their own personalities having been shut down by the control chips implanted on their bodies.

* TranshumanTreachery: Conducting autopsies reveals that ADVENT soldiers were once ordinary humans who have been subjected to extreme genetic modification by the aliens. [[spoiler:Then you find out [[SubvertedTrope they were never ordinary humans]].]]

* PoliceBrutality: Unlike what their propaganda says, ADVENT soldiers are ''not'' professional and even-handed enforcers. In the gameplay footage shown at E3, when a firefight breaks out down the road at the Unification Day parade, ADVENT troops on the other side walk away from the gunfire to disperse the crowd by ''rifle butting'' the panicking civilians. Bradford notes that the Stun Lancers were originally deployed to quell riots early on in the occupation, but as time passed they became increasingly brutal and rarely used in that role. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration In-game, the "stun" lances can, in fact, stun a target that the attack doesn't kill, but that's mostly a side effect.]]

* WhatTheHellHero: The main point of her BreakingSpeech and DealWithTheDevil offer.

Click [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/XCOM2 here]] to return to the main ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' character page.

[[folder:ADVENT Trooper]]

The bulk of ADVENT's soldiers, Troopers and their sub-types form the majority of enemies that XCOM fights. While most people are told that the soldiers are human volunteers who are willingly serving ADVENT, a quick examination of their bodies shows that they are genetically altered humans, with yellowish blood, snout-like noses and oversized eyes, which are concealed behind heavy armor and helmets with only their mouths visible.

* ArbitraryGunPower: The Magnetic Rifles used by ADVENT troopers and officers are initially ''weaker'' than the conventional assault rifles XCOM start out with for no discernible reason besides game balance[[note]]it can be extrapolated that the troopers faced at the beginning of the game are intended more as police-like peacekeepers than warfighters, and that the Advanced and later Elite ADVENT soldiers are an escalating response to XCOM's actions, but this is never confirmed in-game[[/note]].

* BoringButPractical: [[https://xcom.com/xcom-2-stats/ Statistics show that]] the humble ADVENT Troopers actually count for ''17%'' of all kills, globally. To put in reference, the next highest kill count goes to Mutons, at 9%. And it makes sense; they don't waste time doing fancy Psionic moves that ultimately do nothing like the Sectoid. All they do is shoot, and maybe throw some grenades. But really, that's all they need.

* TheGoomba: Initial ADVENT troops are about as weak, gameplay-wise, as Sectoids from ''Enemy Unknown''. More elite ADVENT troops are much more formidable, however, especially officers. Later in the game, all basic ADVENT troops get upgraded health, but if you stay on top of your weapons research you should be able to still take out the grunts with one good shot.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: ADVENT Troopers are known to [[JustShootHim simply aim and shoot at a soldier]], although in the beginning their aim is ''[[ATeamFiring abysmal]]''. If you hit them with a flashbang, it doesn't look like they're even trying. Their aim gets slightly better if an Officer Marks a target, but even higher-level troopers have fairly poor aim.
* InstantExpert: [[spoiler:While the Commander was comatose, ADVENT was draining the Commander's mind for battle data]] to instantly train their troops by digitally transferring skills to them.

* MagikarpPower: At the beginning of the game, they have [[LethalJokeCharacter only '3' HP]], and [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy abysmal aim]]. However, as the game progresses, they improve, being replaced by Advanced and Elite troopers with grenades.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute:
** Statistically, ADVENT Troopers start out nigh-identical to ''Enemy Unknown'''s Sectoids (same Aim, Health, Mobility and average damage) with some minor variations by difficulty that tend to make them slightly less powerful[[note]]Troopers have 1 more hit point on the second-highest difficulty, but Sectoids have equal health and better aim on the highest; starting weapons in ''2'' are also about 1 point more damaging, making it easier to kill Troopers in one shot[[/note]]. [[DivergentCharacterEvolution The similarity lessens later on]], as while Sectoids were phased out by stronger aliens (disappearing entirely in the base game and being reduced to Mechtoid shield-makers in ''Enemy Within''), ADVENT Troopers have stronger variations (Advanced and then Elite) and can also be powered up by Dark Events.
** They are also similar to ''Enemy Within's'' EXALT troops in that they are humanoid enemies, who use similar powers and abilities as XCOM.

* WeHaveReserves: [[WeHaveReserves If the ADVENT stasis trains and gene clinics are anything to go by]], ADVENT has millions of Troopers ready at their defense.

[[folder:ADVENT Stun Lancer]]
Stun Lancers are specialised troopers, originally deployed during the early stages of ADVENT's occupation to quell civil unrest with their non-lethal stun batons. Tygan and Central note that Stun Lancers are an odd case in the ADVENT program's history, where the early units were actually better than the ones fielded later, as if the aliens had lowered the level of genetic invasiveness for some reason.

* TheBerserker: Stun Lancers are extremely aggressive and will make every effort possible to get into melee range to use their lances. This also makes them predictable and exploitable, if still dangerous: if a Stun Lancer ''can'' charge a soldier in melee, they ''will'', which can force them into a disadvantageous position. While they ''are'' smart enough to not charge ahead if they can't follow the charge with an attack, that opens up their second weakness: their subpar aim.
* EliteMooks: Stun Lancers are more dangerous than other ADVENT types, since their batons are capable of [[NonLethalKO knocking a victim unconscious]] [[OneHitKill regardless of their health]], Stunning them or Disorienting them in addition to dealing considerable damage with high accuracy. They're also the second-most common type of ADVENT unit, right behind Troopers.
* NonLethalKO: Their stun batons deal high damage by default and can kill a weakened soldier, but their most dangerous trait is their chance to knock the target unconscious even if it had plenty of health left after being hit. An unconscious XCOM soldier is essentially dead unless revived by a Specialist.
* PoliceBrutality: Central mentions that Lancers used to serve as police units specializing in quelling riots by non-lethal means, but grew increasingly unhinged and brutal over the years. By the time you fight them, the "non-lethal" part has long been thrown out the window and any non-deadly incapacitation is merely a bonus.
* PsychoSerum: According to their autopsy report, Lancer bodies are flooded with combat drugs. It also notes that their lips curl back in a [[SlasherSmile psychotic sneer]] upon death.
* SlasherSmile: Their corpses apparently put one on due to all the drugs in their system.
* StaticStunGun: Stun Lancers wield alien stun batons that can knock targets out cold, permanently taking them out of the fight unless a Specialist revives them. That said, they're not inherently non-lethal – they deal high damage and can definitely kill an XCOM trooper with low health.

[[folder:ADVENT Shieldbearer]]
Another type of ADVENT specialist, the Shieldbearer uses a projected energy barrier to add ablative armor points to their allies. Unlike the armor XCOM can wear, the Shieldbearers' armor projections neutralize incoming damage ''entirely'', but also disappear if the Shieldbearer should die. Their weapons aren't great and they can choose poorly which person to shield, making them somewhat akin to the Sectoid of the original ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown''.

* BarrierWarrior: They can spawn a [[DeflectorShields shield barrier]] to give themselves and any allies in the vicinity an extra layer of health. It's likely their first move in a fight.
* DeflectorShields: Their main gimmick is spawning such shields for themselves and their allies.
* GroundPunch: How they activate their shield - they charge their fist, then punch the ground at their feet, causing red energy to burst through cracks in the ground for a moment.
* HeavilyArmoredMook: Base-level Shieldbearers sport two points of armor and a deployable forcefield that soaks up three points of damage. End-game Shieldbearers have three armor pips (only Andromedons, Sectopods and Gatekeepers have more) and can absorb five points of damage with their shield. That being said, even the elite version has very little health when compared to other units of the same tier.
* HerdHittingAttack: Of the supportive variety. Their shield boost ability covers a huge area around the user; if there are ADVENT troops anywhere near the Shieldbearer, chances are they'll benefit from his support.
* LightIsNotGood: Shieldbearers can be readily identified by their white color scheme, at least in the base game. With ''War of the Chosen'' installed, they're easy to mistake for Priests and vice versa at first glance.
* MyBloodRunsHot: Their corpses are mentioned as still being warm to the touch, hinting at additional Muton genetic material added to their genome.
* NoOntologicalInertia: Killing a Shieldbearer instantly disables the shielding they gave other ADVENT troops before. Just one more reason to shoot them first even after they deployed their shield.
* ShieldBearingMook: ADVENT Shieldbearers don't wield a literal shield, but they do carry a forcefield that fulfills the same purpose.
* ShootTheMedicFirst: Take out those Shieldbearers first, or else you'll have a much tougher time dealing with all the ADVENT troops it's buffed. Even if they managed to raise their shield, killing them will instantly remove it again from everyone affected. The Shieldbearers seem to be well aware of this strategy; unlike pretty much every other ADVENT unit, they generally won't actively engage XCOM units, preferring to run behind cover and pop their shield.
* StoneWall: Their defenses are way up there and their mobility isn't too shabby, but their damage output is among the lowest of all ADVENT, moreso because they prefer supporting other troopers than shooting at targets themselves.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Shieldbearers can be countered by killing them, obviously, but their shields are pierced by Bluescreen Rounds: a sniper with Bluescreen Rounds and a good position can take out a shieldbearer with a single shot, even with shields up. Given the prevalence of powerful units that are ''also'' weak to Bluescreen Rounds by the end-game, even Elite Shieldbearers are more of an annoyance than a genuine threat, especially when you factor in their less-than-stellar combat skills.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:ADVENT Officer]]
The general leaders of the ADVENT field units, Officers mark targets and join in the shooting. Identifiable by unique helmet models, Officers often join ADVENT reinforcement pods after missions start, and have brutal ranged options, including making one of your troopers a higher target priority or throwing cover-shredding grenades. However, there are almost never more than one of these per mission.
----

[[folder:ADVENT Priest]]
Introduced in ''War of the Chosen'', these clerics preach the word of the Elders and use their psychic powers to supplement ADVENT troops. They fill a role not unlike the original Sectoid, but their additional abilities tend to make them more threatening than the original invasion's Sectoids were.

* AchillesHeel:
** Like most psionic enemies, Priests can't use their numerous abilities while affected by a flashbang grenade, making them much less of a nuisance. It even seems to block their supremely annoying Sustain ability.
** If they're set on fire, they'll tend to shoot with their rifles instead of using their psionic powers
* AssistCharacter: They fulfill the same battlefield role as the Sectoid, only better. Priests will rarely deal any direct damage to XCOM, but they're very good at disabling your troops, turning them against each other, buffing their own comrades and soaking up disproportionate amounts of firepower. They can also spell doom for timed missions due to Sustain, that keeps them alive for one more turn after they should be dead already.
* BadassPreacher: They certainly play the part, using religious posturing when they're encountered, while also being equipped with Psi Amps and battle rifles. They're also as durable as their other specialist counterparts.
* {{Expy}}: Of the old Sectoid Commander, being a reasonably competent and durable psionic unit that can either harass your squad or provide support. They don't carry a grenade, but the firepower of their rifles is higher.
* LastChanceHitPoint: Like the XCOM [=PsiOps=], Priests have access to the Sustain ability, that gives them a chance to go into stasis at 1 health when they would take lethal damage, although unlike the [=PsiOp=]'s version, it's not guaranteed.
* ManInWhite: They wear all-white armors...
** LightIsNotGood: ... and are just as malignant as everything else about ADVENT.
* MindControl: One of their abilities.
* MoreDakka: An aesthetic example. When they fire their rifles, it's always in a long and fast 6-round burst instead of the "4 then 2" of other ADVENT troops and XCOM with magnetic rifles.
* TheNecromancer: Raising psi zombies out of corpses in the field is one of their abilities.
* OneHitKill: Notable for being the only enemy type with a high chance to avert this. Sustain has a trigger probability of 20-66%, depending on the Priest's rank, making it highly likely that an Elite Priest survives hits that would turn a Sectopod into slag. If that happens while the Priest is standing on the Avenger's ramp during a UFO Defense mission, you're screwed.
* PsychicLink: Holy Warrior allows them to mind-merge with another ADVENT unit like the Sectoids from the last game, buffing the target unit's health and accuracy but automatically killing them both if the Priest is killed while the link is active.
* ShootTheMageFirst: Their defensive abilities can make them (and themselves) much more durable while their offensive skills can sow considerable chaos in XCOM's ranks very quickly. If even one Priest is loose on the battlefield, you'll want to get rid of them as soon as possible.
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: They're essentially the mid-to-late game upgrade to the Sectoid, with the same abilities plus a few new ones, decent armor, and much more health.

[[folder:ADVENT Purifier]]
Introduced in ''War of the Chosen'', these ADVENT soldiers are equipped with flamethrowers specifically to purge the Lost.

* FacelessGoons: Even more than other ADVENT. Their helmets also cover their mouths, [[FireBreathingWeapon for obvious reasons]].

* KillItWithFire: Even though they were originally made to torch the Lost, they'll turn it on XCOM without a second thought. With the ''War of the Chosen'' changes to will and panic, they can cause panic to fatigued troops.

!! ADVENT Mechanical Units
[[folder:ADVENT MEC]]
!!ADVENT MEC
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_25.jpeg]]
Similar to the XCOM's MEC Troopers from ''Enemy Within'', [=MECs=] are hulking mechanical exo-armor used for heavy support. This time, they are created and deployed to oppose XCOM.

[[folder:ADVENT Turret]]
!!ADVENT Turret

!!Codex

!!Sectopod

!!Sectoid

!!Viper

!!Muton

!!Faceless

!!Chryssalid

!!Archon

!!Gatekeeper

!!Andromedon