XCOM 2 - the best early research and how to unlock It
How to effectively plan your research path as you play through XCOM 2, and unlock all of the options necessary for achieving your goals.
When it comes to research and unlock opportunities in XCOM 2, you really are spoilt for choice. There are several powerful and potentially awesome research paths available to you soon after starting the game and so, in true XCOM style, you're going to have to make difficult decisions early on.
Deciding what to research and when will ultimately determine which facilities, training opportunities, weapons and equipment your soldiers have access to, and could impact not only your future progress but also your overarching mission plan and playstyle. The paths outlined below highlight some viable focused specialisation research options that can be started early on, and unlock myriad upgrade options along the way.
Psionics Path
Primary Research Order: Alien Biotech > Sectoid Autopsy > Psionics
Secondary Benefits/Unlocks: Alien Autopsies > Advance Warfare Centre > Mindshield > Advanced Psi Amp
Those intent on gaining access to the Psi Operative soldier as soon as possible will want to follow this path to unlocking XCOM 2's fifth class, which brings with it a range of additional benefits. As well as facilitating the training of the Psi Operative, this path also opens up future alien autopsy options and grants access to a number of useful offensive and defensive items.
The Mindshield, unlocked through the Sectoid autopsy, provides complete defence against the alien's Psionic attacks, while the Advanced Psi Amp increase the Psi Offense and attack strength of Psi Operatives. If you want to harness the power of Psionics and start wielding defensive items and offensive weapons to maximise your effectiveness in this field, this is the path for you.
We've got a detailed breakdown for unlocking the Psi Operative - for a rundown of all of the Psi Abilities in the game, refer to the Soldier Abilities page of this guide.
Soldier Enhancement Path
Primary Research Order: Alien Biotech > Modular Weapons > ADVENT Officer Autopsy > Hybrid Materials
Secondary Benefits/Unlocks: Alien Autopsies > Advance Warfare Centre > Mag Weapons > Proving Grounds > Plated Armour
The good news is that if you're not chomping at the bit to unlock the Psi Operative, you can spend time and resources elsewhere to enhance your standard soldiers. The bad news is that there are high costs involved in terms of both time and resources.
Still, the Advance Warfare Centre enables the speedier recovery of wounded soldiers, which is essential for getting your squad back up to strength inbetween early encounters. Guerrilla Training School can be built early on to start unlocking squad-wide benefits such as Lightning Strike, which offers a significant boost to squad mobility during the first two turns of a mission and considerably alleviate time pressures, along with Wet Work to provide a +25% bonus to soldier experience gains and Squad Size 1. This boosts the number of soldiers available on a given mission from 4 to 5.
Weapons and Armour Path
Modular Weapons > Hybrid Materials > Magnetic Weapons > Plated Armour
Secondary Benefits/Unlocks: Mag Weapons > Gauss Weapon Research > Predator Armour > Spider Suit > E.X.O. Suit > Alien Autopsies
This expensive strategy forgoes the benefits of training individual soldiers or creating limited-use items in the short term, for the longer term advantages of outfitting your soldiers with the best weapons and armour as soon as possible. Modular Weapons offers the ability to not only modify existing weapons with weapon parts found in the field, but also to inflict maximum damage on the alien forces as quickly as possible by unlocking the next tier of armaments via Magnetic Weapons. It's an expensive route and requires a ruthless Commander who's willing to put their faith in the impressive military hardware that will soon become available to them.
Final thoughts on research
These three Research Paths represent hard paths towards achieving specific goals. Individual progress will depend on your own preferences, and it's possible to pick and choose from each of these paths to create your own bespoke route in the opening hours of the game. Whichever path you choose, be sure to check in with the Black Market from time to time to see if it's offering perks that can help expedite your Research projects, as discussed on the index page of this guide.
- Our guide continues with a step-by-step explanation for building your base in XCOM 2.
- You can find the rest of our XCOM 2 guide from the first page of this article.