XCOM Enemy Guide: Sectopod

XCOM Enemy Unknown was released in 2012.  It is a remake of the popular 1994 game.  XCOM is a turn based strategy game in which you try to halt an alien invasion.  You choose what you want to research and what you want your engineers to build, as well as managing your troops and relations with all of the countries in the XCOM project until a mission comes up.  Once you accept the mission you get a taste of the real gameplay.

You will drop 4-6 soldiers into an area where they will have one of several objectives, though you will always have to fight aliens, which will develop and you will end up fighting stronger enemies the farther into the game you progress.  Each turn your soldiers get two actions.  One is to move, and then you can move again or fire your weapon, reload, etc.  You will need to move your troops into cover, hopefully flanking the enemy’s position in order to get bonuses to aim and  critical hit chance.

Sectopods are one of the toughest enemies in the game.  They have a massive amount of health, around 30, and get two attacks each turn.  Their laser attack, which can be used twice, does splash damage as well as destroying cover and doing a lot of damage.  It also grants the Sectopod free overwatch.  The Sectopod can also use an attack that destroys cover in a large area, as well as damaging anyone in the blast radius.  This attack takes a turn to “charge”.

Sectopods are incredibly dangerous, and as such, are priority targets.  They have massive range, health, and damage.  It is also hard to get a critical hit on them.  They do not use cover but they do have a bonus to their defense.  Because Sectopods are so hard to kill, it’s best to start by hitting them with snipers and heavy troopers.  Snipers using the double tap perk or heavies with the heat ammo perk can do a lot of damage. If they fail to bring it down then continue using other squad members until it is dead.  If you fail to kill it in that first round, good luck not taking a casualty.

Never put a squad member in low cover (except snipers with the low profile perk) around a Sectopod.  That choice is almost instant death.  High cover will go a long way towards keeping your soldiers alive, though with two attacks, it is very easy for the first shot to destroy someone’s cover and then kill them with the second shot.

Sectopods are slow moving, but you should not try to outrun them.  If they have someone to spot for them, their range is more than good enough to shoot and kill one of your soldiers.  Also, do not forget about their automatic overwatch.  Move assault troops with the lightning reflexes perk first, to draw this attack, and then move your other soldiers.

Bringing down a Sectopod is incredibly difficult and you cannot capture or interrogate one.  You’ll find that the rewards you get for destroying them are, for the most part, completely useless.  This makes sectopods the worst enemies to fight in the game.  However, if you can bring enough firepower down on them to kill them in one turn, you will be alright.

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