Introduction

This guide will comment on and explain all 88 achievements in a nut shell. You can browse by DLC, or search for individual achievements by name. It is not here to explain all game mechanics, but will hint at some to guide for success.
The content is put together here by me for reference, according to my own knowledge by playing the game and having successfully done all of the achievements. If you feel like you have something to add, you can use the comment function or send me a message, I might then add it to the content and add you to the list of contributors (see below at the end).

XCOM 2 – story related

Any achievement that will or have to be fulfilled “automatically” (or under certain conditions) if you follow the story to the end successfully (besides difficulty related achievement, see next chapter).

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First Blood
Complete the tactical tutorial
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This is of course technically missable if you never play the tutorial (check ‘Play Tutorial’ when starting a new campaign).
EASY – follow the steps that are displayed and teach you how to play the game. At completing the mission, you will net the achievement.

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Rebel Radio
Build Resistance Comms
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Resistance Comms is a facility that can be built in an Avenger slot, after completing Resistance Communications research. As the story advances, you will eventually have to get in contact with other regions to check for local sites, so this is not missable under normal conditions. There are ways to add to your contacting abilities, but they won’t suffice.
EASY – finish building the facility.

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Rise of the Resistance
Make contact with a region
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Making contact with a new region besides your starting one. This is doable when you have researched Resistance Communication and built a Resistance Comms facility.
As certain locations will need you to travel to and make contact with neighboring resistance cells, this is not missable.
EASY – get in contact with a region and scan until contacting time is finished.

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Codebreaker
Build the Shadow Chamber
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The completion of the Shadow Chamber facility will gain you this. You need to research Alien Encryption first.
EASY – open up a slot in your Avenger for it and build away.

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A Horrible Truth
Recover the Blacksite Data
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The Blacksite mission will appear once you are introduced to the Avatar Project. The region of the site needs to be contacted first. Make your way through the map to the facility, enter and claim the Blacksite Vial from the point of interest in the rear, then head to the extraction point.
EASY – a very good mission to rely on your strategic capabilities, can be done early on. Needs you to extract the soldier holding the Vial to complete.

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With Extreme Prejudice
Skulljack an ADVENT Officer
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You need to have at least one Skulljack, an item that is being built as a Proving Ground project.
Equip the Skulljack on any soldier (specialists aren’t better for this task right here), and use the Skulljack (not Skullmine!) ability on an ADVENT Officer unit. The attack will have a 70 percent chance, so you might need some tries…
EASY – Officers are a common nuisance, and sooner or later you might hit your 70%. Once it hits, read on at “A Grim Key”.

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A Better Human Being
Recover the Forge Item
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The Forge item comes from the Forge, a mission site available after the Blacksite Vial research in the Shadow Chamber. Much like the Blacksite mission, you will have to fight your way to a point of interest to pick up an “item”, this time you have to use one of your soldiers to really “carry” it all the way to the extraction point, putting him out of play for that time and being slowed.
MODERATE – ADVENT is a bit more alerted than the Blacksite, it seems… still, doable.

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A Grim Key
Recover a Codex Brain
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Sometime after the Blacksite mission, you will encounter Codices – or use the first one that gets generated when skulljacking an ADVENT Officer. Kill a Codex during any mission (update: doesn’t need to be a mission where you don’t have to evac), then your loot (the codex brain) will be brought home to the Avenger.
EASY – get rid of a codex and all of their copied pieces entirely, then complete the mission.

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A Dark Doorway
Recover the Psi Gate
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The Psi Gate can be recovered from another special mission, encountering a (Psi-) Gatekeeper. Locate the site by completing Shdow Chamber researches for the recovered Forge Item and the Codex brain. Contact the local region and complete the mission (nothing to “carry” here).
MODERATE – enemies on that site are triggered by advancement, you can prepare very well.

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A God Falls
Kill an Avatar
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You will meet your first Avatar when skulljacking a Codex, after having finished prerequisites for recovering the Psi Gate it will be one of your story missions. The Avatar will appear once a Codex is skulljacked, you might want to single out that enemy first when it’s in a group. Defeat the Avatar, and the achievement will pop right away. You might want to chose an untimed mission for your try to give you enough time to successfully end that mission.
MODERATE – preparation for the engagement with the Codex is advised, thus adding to your chances to kill the uber-alien afterwards.

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A Line Crossed
Complete the Avatar Autopsy
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After defeating the Avatar unit (see ‘A God Falls’), and you have completed all other Shadow Chamber project thus far (the Stasis Suit, Codex Brain), another project will be unlocked: ‘Avatar Autopsy’. Begin and complete research.
EASY – research will be done by your scientists.

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A Final Stand
Create the Commander’s Avatar
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Begin Operation Leviathan – the final mission in your campaign to end the slavery of mankind on human earth. This is not the Network Tower mission, but the mission afterwards. Achievement will be awarded right after cutscenes/loading screen.
EASY – achievement is awarded when beginning the mission. But you better be prepared!

XCOM 2 – campaign ending related

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Earth Avenged
Overthrow the aliens at any difficulty level
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Once you successfully finish the last mission on any difficulty level, you have freed earth and the right to wear the ‘Earth Avenged’ badge.
EASY – can be done on rookie level.

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Defender of Humanity
Overthrow the aliens on Commander difficulty
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You must start and end the campaign on at least Commander difficulty, and may not lower the level during it to Rookie or Novice.
MODERATE – a challenge for new players.

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Immortal Commander
Overthrow the aliens on Legend difficulty
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You must start the campaign on Legend difficulty, and may not lower the level at any time to another difficulty setting.
HARD – only the most experienced players will have fun with that setting.

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Valhalla
Beat the game on Commander+ difficulty in Ironman mode
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Chose Commander or Legend difficulty mode, and turn on Ironman mode as well. You may not save, and all your decision will be final. You may swith between Commander and Legend difficulty any time.
ULTRA – prepare for the most beauftiful challenge of this game.

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The Few and the Proud
Beat the game on Commander+ difficulty without buying a Squad Size upgrade
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Chose Commander or Legend difficulty mode, and don’t lower difficulty below. Don’t buy Squad Size upgrades, so you will have to stick to 4 soldiers in most of the missions.
HARD – versatility and power will be lacked. You may want to have your ultimate build for all classes, rely on power and advance slowly during untimed missions.

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The Untouchables
Beat the game on Commander+ without losing a soldier
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Chose Commander or Legend difficulty mode, and don’t lower difficulty below. You may not lose a soldier, that means you can’t have a soldier killed/bled to death permanently.
HARD – the war will take it’s toll. Most of the time, a save game will help you out, but you will have to work on it not to load any second round to feel good.
Can also be done on Ironman mode. 😉

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Exquisite Timing
Beat the game on Commander+ difficulty by July 1st (July 15th for War of the Chosen)
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Chose Commander or Legend difficulty mode, and don’t lower difficulty below. Go through the story as fast as possible, only doing the necessary advancements in any aspect of the game, while completing missions flawlessly – if so, you will have some hours or days left when trying the final mission before 30th of june 23:59 (or 14th of july 23:59 in WotC).
As all DLCs add some things here and there, helping you, but also adding things to do on the strategic level, you might consider playing XCOM 2 turning everything off to help you gain some time.
LEGENDARY – the most diffcult achievement in XCOM 2.
Consider using the help of https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=646058257.

XCOM 2 – mission achievements

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Meat Over Metal
Kill a Sectopod on the same turn you encounter it
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Encounter as in activating it. You have a full turn to accomplish the kill, so (depending on the activation) you might also have overwatches during the enemy turn before or after your turn.
A guaranteed try will be the Blacksite mission where you encounter a Sectopod patrolling the front of the building.
Repeater kills will do it, and bluescreen rounds, shredding attacks, soldiers with multiple attacks, or the specialist’s various means of handling mechanical enemies can help greatly.
EASY – but will take your whole squad not to be surprised early on.

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Like Clockwork
Complete a successful ambush
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Kill a whole enemy pod, coming out of concealment, during that turn.
This can be done easily in one of the very first missions, where pods are small and enemies have low HP. The pod needs to be triggered from concealment by an attack (must not be a kill) on a flanked or open target (normally so when the pod moves around the map), the rest of the pod can be defeated then by ordinary means.
EASY

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Mechlord
Hack and take control of a Sectopod
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This requires a specialist to hack (‘Haywire Protocol’) a Sectopod and take control over it (‘Control Enemy’ in the hack sequence. Anything that helps with getting your hack stat up is good (equipping skulljack, improving gremlins, leveling up, having hack rewards for chests with +hack, chosing side missions in WotC with +hack reward, attacking with hack supporting abilities or items (bluescreen rounds).
MEDIUM – requires a bit of luck to get over that high grade of the Sectopod.

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Nick of Time
Evacuate a soldier whose bleed-out timer is still running
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Extract a soldier who is bleeding out in the evac zone before the timer runs out. For the sadistic players: you could of course try to set this up, have your evac zone ready to pop or get near a static one, use explosives to deal damage to your friend, and then evac him safely.
MEDIUM – ‘Stay With Me’ from GTS can help.

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David and Goliath
Kill a Berserker in melee combat
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A Ranger with a sword, Templar with bladestorm or Skirmisher with a ripjack attack finishing off a Berserker will net you this achievement.
EASY – just make sure you kill the big guy, or he’ll get very angry. Very.

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Breathing Room
Kill a Viper who is strangling a squadmate
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Instead of killing any serpent in sight, let one use its special attack on one of your squaddies. Then have an attack kill it outright.
MEDIUM – the Viper might not always do what you wish it to do, and be sure to defeat it with your freeing attack.

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Come Back To Me
Kill a Sectoid who is currently mind controlling a squadmate
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Simliar to ‘Breathing Room’: when your squadmate is being controlled, focus your attacks on the controlling Sectoid to kill it.
EASY – better kill it the same turn.

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Stop Hitting Yourself
Kill an enemy with a hacked turret
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While having control over a turret via the specialists Haywire Protocol, deal the killing blow to an enemy unit.
EASY – can use all versions of Turret.

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Have a Nice Trip
Cause an enemy to fall to its death
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Falling to death means that the enemy needs to come down from a non-flying elevated position (up on the roof) and be killed by the damage when it arrives on the ground. To achieve that, you have to destroy the ground below it with explosives.
EASY – damage the unit so that the falling damage will be lethal, and don’t forget to include the damage from your explosive.

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Car Wrecked
Cause an enemy to die in a vehicle explosion
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Have an enemy standing or hiding beside a vehicle get killed by the car explosion. Enemy needs to die via the vehicle explosion damage, not your damage (if you use grenades/rockets/…).
EASY – can also be done via environmental damage skills as the Reapers Remote Start ability.

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Heroes of the Resistance
Beat a Retaliation mission with no more than 3 civilian deaths
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This one requires you to act fast and go out of your way to find those civilian-killing pods, as well as killing them really fast. Have your squad lunge forward, rescue civilians with your first moves if you can. The first retaliation missions spot less enemies, but have you underpowered as well. Works also in later stages.
EASY – watch out for the Faceless.

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Cyberlord
Earn a second tier hack reward
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When hacking a target (objectives, doors, but also mechanical enemies), you have to chose between two rewards, an easy and a harder one, the latter one being the “second tier” reward. The success percentage is related to your hacking stat, to improve you can level up, use (better) equipment (skulljack, Gremlin upgrades).
EASY – you will eventually get to a point where it’s a good chance. With Shen’s Last Gift DLC, you might try with Lily in the Lost Towers mission for a good quick possibility.

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Brutal Collection
Skulljack each different type of ADVENT soldier (does not have to be in same game)
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Skulljack or skullmine following units successfully (reach the percentage to skull*):
ADVENT Trooper
ADVENT Stun Lancer
ADVENT Shieldbearer
ADVENT Officer (need to skullJACK for story)
Codex (need to skullJACK for story)
ADVENT Priest (if WotC)
ADVENT Purifier (if WotC)
EASY – besides, it’s great fun to extract some infos out of the guys.

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Now Am I Become Death
Kill 3 enemies in a single turn, with a single soldier, without explosives
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Rangers or Skirmishers with several actions, or abilities that grant yourself or teammates actions will help you out.
You need to kill, not only hit three different enemies, not using explosives for the kill.
When playing with the Lost, this becomes quite easy even for normal soldiers.
EASY – the Lost just wait for your bullets.

XCOM 2 – mission achievements 2

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Who Needs Tygan?
Beat the final mission using only conventional gear
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The final mission is the one after the Network Tower infiltration.
You must stick to conventional base gear for your outfitting slots: armor, weapons, secondary weapons/items.
Special gear is not allowed (chosen weapons, hunter weapons, legacy armor, …).
Weapon mods and upgraded items (Plasma Grenades, upgraded med kits) and PCSs can and should be used freely with any level (up to superior).
EASY – can be done on rookie level – just don’t bring your funny bunny with you.

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Pile ‘Em Up
Kill 500 aliens. (does not have to be in same game)
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Well yeah… 500… just don’t begin counting them. You might have to do several campaign runs anyways. Depending on your difficulty settings, it might pop sooner or later – more difficult, more aliens to pile.
EASY – it will pop when you have forgotten about it.

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Overpowered
Beat a mission on Commander+ with a squad composed entirely of soldiers of the same class (but not Rookie)
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You have to fill your ranks up to your maximum squad size. In the beginning, you might want to try all grenadiers for the guaranteed explosive damage, but there are some opportunities later when you have leveled up your guys and can field a bunch of rangers or specialists that support each other well with their abilities.
EASY – there are some funny setups, try one that you like!

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Heavy Metal
Kill an enemy with every heavy weapon in the game (Doesn’t have to be in the same game)
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Heavy Weapons need to be bought from the Proving Ground facility. There are two types of projects, Experimental Heavy Weapon (EHW) and Experimental Powered Weapon (EPW), that will randomly provide you on of the 7 needed weapon types:
Rocket Launcher (EHW)
Shredder Gun (EHW)
Flamethrower (EHW)
Blaster Launcher (EPW)
Plasma Blaster (EPW)
Shredstorm Cannon (EPW)
Hellfire Projector (EPW)
Try to build one of each. Remember, another campaign counts as well!
Equip the weapon in a mission (needs EXO or WAR suit, or SPARK).
Kill at least one enemy with the weapon.
MEDIUM – takes some luck and ressources, and the setup for the missions.

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Beginner’s Luck
Beat a mission in June or later using only Rookies
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Beginning June 1st 00:01, take only rookies with you (can’t use upgraded soldiers via the GTS ability) and beat the mission successfully. Equipment can be used freely, and you can get rookies killed – but you have to complete mission objectives!
MEDIUM – be aware that these are the total newbs that carry your Heavy Armor and Weapons, but it is doable – let the kids earn their spurs.

XCOM 2 – strategic level

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Bring It Down
Sabotage an alien facility
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ADVENT facilities available on the world map need to be infiltrated and successfully sabotaged.
EASY – sooner or later you will want to reset the Avatar Project counter.

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Tinker
Build an experimental item in the Proving Grounds
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Once Proving Grounds is active, you can start producing any “Experimental…” named item group.
These become unlocked through autopsies, and can be Ammo, Armor, Heavy Weapon, Powered Weapon or Grenade.
EASY – any item will suffice.

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Room to Grow
Upgrade a facility
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Upgrades for facilities are made through the facility view in the Avenger itself (if an arrow in the corner of the facility is available, it will mean you can upgrade it).
EASY – Power Relay upgrade will be needed probably anyways very early on. Else, depending on your choice and Engineer availability.

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Shadow Broker
Sell goods worth 1000 supplies to the Black Market (Can span multiple games)
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The Black Market will appear quite early as a new POI, once investigated you need to fly there and then will be able to sell your surplus.
EASY – lookout for “wanted” items or sell some of your valuable stuff. If you’re playing through several campaigns, sell anything before your last mission run that you don’t need.

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Rumor Hunter
Complete a Rumor
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Scan and investigate one of the POIs on the map that give you ressources such as supplies, intel, engineers…
EASY – you will want to do that anyways for scarce ressources.

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Locked and Loaded
Upgrade a weapon
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Upgrade any weapon with a mod. Research Modular Weapons first, then use any attachment to upgrade your weapon in the soldier outfit screen / armory.
EASY – you will find mods as a drop in missions (yellow item).

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Excalibur
Completely upgrade a beam weapon with superior grade weapon upgrades
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You have to attach superior type modifications to a beam type weapon of your choice, so that in every available slot there is a superior mod.
EASY – superior mods will fly in mid to late game through missions or the black market. Beam Weapons will have to be researched, then attach mods to any one.

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Shen’s Legacy
Build a facility in every Avenger slot
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There are 12 slots in the Avenger that needs to be filled.
EASY – depending on your strategy, you will fill the Avenger sooner or later with all the needed infrastructure – actually, there might be less space than facilities you would want to buy. 😉

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The Sun Never Sets
Build a radio relay on every continent
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There are six continents all over the world, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. You need to build at least one relay on each of those, and when you have finished building the last one, all others must be active.
EASY – if you lose one region and the installed relay, you have to build it up again (or in another region of the same continent).

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Global Resistance
Get all of the continent bonuses available in a single campaign
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To get all 6 continent bonuses, you need to make contact with ALL regions, and install 1 to 2 relays on each continent (needed number right under the continent name on the map).
MEDIUM – you have to go and conquer the whole world, which will divert you from the campaign a bit.

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Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Apply a PCS upgrade to a soldier
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A Personal Combat Stimulator is an enhancement that is found as mission loot or can also be bought from the black market. Equip one of your soldiers with one after building the GTS.
EASY – you will eventually find PCSs and will have the harder choice who to upgrade with what type.

XCOM 2 – other

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The Most Dangerous Game
Win a multiplayer match.
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All multiplayer modes work. To find a game, you have to build your squad and enter the Arena, the system will try to find a match for you. The community discussions page here in steam is a point to find some fellow to try a game, or you just get lucky that someone else is also looking for the achievement.
MEDIUM – fights are different than in single player, of course, as there is not an AI, but an I behind the screen. Might take some time to find a match.

War of the Chosen

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A New Alliance
Complete the Lost and Abandoned mission
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Complete the DLC mission, needs to activated at the start of the campaign.
EASY – this will introduce you to the Lost and is “story related”.

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A Rival Silenced
Permanently defeat one of the Chosen
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The 3 Chosen will harrass you during your campaign, but you will not be able to defeat and kill them. To do this once and for all, you have to attack them in their respective strongholds, which you will have to search for through the Resistance Ring and the special ‘Hunt the Chosen’ missions that are available. One of the Chosen is related to one of the factions. For the third hunting mission, you will need a Major rank soldier.
In the attack on the stronghold, the Chosen will be defeated once you have destroyed the sarcophagus first and then kill the Chosen unit.
MODERATE – has a lot of prerequisites, but you will want to get rid of one of the Chosen when you can.

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Zombies in a Barrel
Get 15 Headshots against Lost in a single turn
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The headshots are not the problem. You will have two things to consider: Attract enough Lost so there are at least 15 available, AND have enough ammunition/ways to shoot and reload.
EASY – some explosions will attract new hordes, if you position yourself up on a roof with Auto Reloaders and Expanded Magazines, you will get it safely enough.

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Born in the Darkness
Get four kills from Shadow mode with a Reaper in a single mission
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The Reapers concealment is the shadow mode. Kill four enemies while concealed. You may of course lose shadow mode, but there are abilities to help you stay concealed or become concealed again.
EASY – you have a full mission time. Make sure the Reaper deals mostly killing blows, as that will prevent from adding to your revealing chance.

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Circle of Psi
Raise a Templar to maximum Focus level, spend it all, and reach the max again in a single mission
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The Templar will collect Focus energy through some of his abilities when leveled up, and may use that energy to power other abilities.
Have your maximum level of energy (shown at the bottom left in purple for the Templar) collected (energy bar level full), then spend all of the energy on abilities that use them, and then start collecting again for full level.
EASY – Rend and Volt abilities help you to do this very soon in the campaign.

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Can’t Stop the Fighting
Perform three offensive actions against the same target with a Skirmisher in a single turn
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The Skirmisher itself gains abilities that will enable him to perform several offensive actions (Total Combat, Whiplash, Reflex), but you can also use other action-giving abilities on other soldiers to give the skirmisher opportunities to attack.
The drawback here is to have the same target allow for three consecutive actions that won’t kill him during the first two, so don’t try on a low HP target.
EASY – needs a bit of a setup, maybe don’t take your best Bullpup with you.

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It Takes Two
Form a level 3 bond between two soldiers
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Form a bond between two soldiers, and get on missions to improve the connection between them (also via Resistance Ring). For the upgrade of the bond beyond the first level, you need the Training Center, and some bonding time.
MEDIUM – will take some time, and you have to use the couple(s) continously.

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Weary Warriors
Complete a mission with all Tired soldiers and no casualties
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Take only tired soldiers with you on a mission, and have noone killed. Soldiers will become tired if you don’t cycle much between missions, so you might get a full squad soon.
EASY – is also doable with less than a full squad.

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Fully Operational Resistance
Raise XCOM’s influence with all three factions to High in a single game
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The influence can be raised via the ‘Hunt the Chosen’ resistance missions in the Resistance Ring. Complete all Part 3 missions for all factions.
MEDIUM – will require some time and you have to fulfill prerequisites for the missions.

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No One Left Behind
Rescue a soldier who was captured by the Chosen
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From the beginning of the campaign, Pratal Mox will be captured during the story, or later in your missions when the Chosen takes away some unit from the battlefield (unit gets dazed by Chosen, then taken away).
Sometime later, you will have the chance to do a covert mission to locate and extract the missing soldier (he’s named in the mission text, so if you have several captured, you know who you’re going to free), so accept that mission and bring the soldier to the evac zone.
EASY – stealth is a key element here for such missions, so Reapers are not a bad idea for the rescue team.

Alien Hunters

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A Forbidden Experiment
Investigate the Abandoned Research Facility (Secret)
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The Abandoned Research Facility mission is part of the Alien Hunters DLC narrative. You can only get the chance to activate it when activating the DLC and not integrating it into WotC.
While scanning for a weapons cache, the investigation site will appear. You can opt to set back the mission indefinitely, the site will remain indefinitely. On that mission, the Ranger character of Bradford is joining you.
HARD – at least if not prepared, and if you want to achieve other achievements in the same occasion (‘Regicide’ and ‘Not Throwing away my Shot’).

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Viper Vanquisher
Kill the Viper Ruler
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The Viper King if the first of the Rulers to appear normally in the mission for ‘A Forbidden Experiment’. The unit itself is (like the other Rulers) extremely powerful because of its ability to react to every move (not turn!) you make. Rulers tend to run away and portal themselves out of trouble if they get a decent amount of damage, so you have to nail him down with well placed attacks, saving your most intense actions for to catch him while he’s running. Frost Bomb and Stasis work well, but only take away some of his reactions, not turns (!).
As the Rulers are DNA manipulated beings, some special weapons from the AR cache will help greatly.
HARD – can be done in the DLC mission, or afterwards when he reappears guarding facilities.

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Berserker Breaker
Kill the Berserker Ruler
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The Berserker Queen is the second Ruler. Kill her like the Viper Ruler, same rules (no pun intendend) apply.
HARD – will appear sometime later after the investigation.

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Archon Annihilator
Kill the Archon Ruler
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The Archon King is the third Ruler with the most HP, but also has an upgraded version of the Blazing Pinions ability that will drive you mad.
Kill him before he can escape. Same rules apply as well.
HARD – even more joy if you can take him out.

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Kingslayer
Kill all alien rulers in a single game
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If you defeat all three Rulers in a campaign setting, you will get this achievement. You don’t have to kill them the first time you encounter them, and damage done to them will carry over to the next encounter, so you can slowly whittle them down.
HARD – but they won’t show up together in one mission, fortunately.

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Deadly Arsenal
Purchase all of the final tier Hunter Weapons
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There are three upgradable Hunter Weapons: Bolt Caster (Assault Rifle), Shadowkeeper (Pistol), Hunter’s Axe (Melee). Upgrade them individually in Engineering when you have researched a new level of weapons. You will have Plasma Bolt Caster, Powered Shadowkeeper and Fusion Axe. After the last upgrade, you will gain the achievement immediately.
EASY – needs lots of supplies, alloys and crystals.

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Now I Am The Master
Use all ruler armor abilities in a single mission
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You must have achieved ‘Kingslayer’ (thus eliminated all three Rulers), have them autopsied and create all three ruler armors from the Proving Grounds, which all have one special standalone ability. These armors can exist only once, so be careful not to lose them on a dead soldier in a mission.
The Serpent Suit (Viper King) has Frostbite, the R.A.G.E. Suit (Berserker Queen) has Rage Strike, and the Icarus Armor (Archon King) has Icarus Jump.
Perform all three actions in a single mission (so you have to equip all 3 armors on 3 soldiers), where the Frostbite and Rage Strike have to hit the target. As Rage Strike can only be used once per mission, if you didn’t hit, try the next mission.
EASY – after you have defeated all the Rulers, activating their armor’s ability won’t give you headache.

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Enemy Adopted
Use a ruler armor ability against an alien ruler
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As you can only use the Serpent Suit or the R.A.G.E. Suit “against” a unit, you have to kill one of the corresponding Rulers first, to try that suit against the other two. You have to successfully hit the Ruler with the ability.
EASY – especially the Frostbite will help you against the other Rulers.

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Regicide
Kill an alien ruler the first time you encounter it
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You only have three chances to do that, one for every ruler that you encounter, as you can only get first impressions once, right? 😉
As you can delay the DLC mission and prepare for that, and the setup in that mission is partly helpful (elevated position), you might want to try on the Viper King. You have to stop the Ruler from using the portal, overwatch shots can be set when you discover the Ruler, then take it away with your biggest guns – or stopping abilities so he can’t run. A well placed mine beforehand will also add to the damage.
HARD – but not undoable.

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Not Throwing Away My Shot
Kill an alien ruler while it attempts to escape
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“…while it attempts…” means it is the Ruler’s turn, and he already opened up the escape portal, and is now on it’s way towards it. Only if he would be able to reach and use the portal will a kill count (if you hindered him with fire or other environmental means to get there in one move, it won’t help).
There are some ways to do that, Overwatch at front, but also a well placed Ranger with Bladestorm can do the trick.
HARD – timing and placement is needed, as you have to kill it on its way out. Just don’t miss!

Shen’s Last Gift – story/DLC related

Have Shen’s Last Gift DLC installed and enabled when starting a campaign (with WotC, it can not be the “integrated” mode, so beware!).

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Make ‘em go Boom
Kill an enemy primed Derelict MEC before it can self-destruct
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In the Lost Towers mission, the Derelict MECs can use their abilty to “self-destruct” attack. During the enemy turn, the Derelict MEC ends his turn arming (preparing for the self-destruction), the next turn it may activate the destruction to deal explosive damage.
During that time frame, between the activation and the explosion, the MEC needs to be killed.
EASY – Derelict MECs are found en masse, and they are quick to kill. You might want to force activation of the ability by using a specialist (Lily Shen come in handy, here) and Haywire in Derelict MEC to activate it yourself, then killing it.
CAUTION: Needs the Lost Towers mission playable (DLC activated and non-integrated)!

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A Torch Passed
Beat the Lost Towers mission
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The mission itself will appear as a point of interest on the world map you have to scan. There will be a cutscene where Lilys rover will go a bit crazy, and you have to scan for the mission to appear and be accetable.
You might want to prepare and take your time to do the mission, as it will appear very early in the timeline where your equipment and level might make it harder than it needs to be.
The mission itself will feature Chief Engineer Lily Shen with a full Specialist build, she is quite capable of doing some mechanical tricks (Haywire will be a winner). Consider taking units that are good against robotic units and have abilities that will help you defeat hard targets. As the mission stages will require you to move fast, traditional sharpshooters will not shine very mich, Grenadiers with Shredder will be helpful.
HARD – you need the timing in your campaign and prepare for the mission to make it easier, and the mission itself has several stages with increasing difficulty.
CAUTION: Needs the Lost Towers mission playable (DLC activated and non-integrated)!

Shen’s Last Gift – SPARK

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Just Like Dad Used To Make
Build a SPARK unit
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SPARK units are built in Proving Ground, once the DLC mission “Lost Towers” is completed (if Shen’s Last Gift is disabled, after completing “Mechanized Warfare” Proving Ground project (needs ADVENT Robotics research as prerequisite); or if you have WotC integrated DLC active, then after building Proving Grounds). You will need resources depending on your difficulty level (2 Elerium cores, 100-150 supplies, 20-30 alien alloys, 5-10 Elerium crystals, and 14-20 days without Engineer).
EASY – just buy it, depending on your resource level. Once the SPARK unit is built, the achievement will pop.

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Rise of the Robots
Complete a mission with three or more SPARK units in the squad
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Have three (or more) different SPARK units in your roster, and complete a mission. Your team setup should take into account the effectiveness of your party, best done after upgrading squad size in the GTS. Also consider fulfilling ‘Our new Overlords’ with one SPARK and then use that upgraded one and two lower ranked ones if you’re going for all achievements in one run.
EASY – the Lost Towers SPARK-01 unit counts of course.

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Always be Shooting
Hit three shots on a single turn with a SPARK unit after using its Overdrive ability
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The SPARK unit needs to activate its zero tier ability “Overdrive”, and then hit three shots.
The achievement does not need to have three shots on the same target, neither will3you have to kill your targets, just hit.
While you can rely on luck, you can of course help your robotic friend to hit: Have holotargeting on an enemy, level up your SPARK to have higher aim, chose Adaptive Aim on Aspirant level as an ability to remove original aim penalty of Overdrive, position on the battlefield to get better range modifiers (up or nearer to your targets), have your weapons modified (in WotC only), or any other means to improve aim. With WotC, shooting and killing Lost will also gain you the achievement easily.
Don’t forget to have reloaded for at least three bullets!
EASY – you can improve your RNG luck with several means.

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Axles to Axles, Bolts to Bolts
Defeat a robotic enemy with a SPARK unit
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Have an active SPARK unit in your mission roster. Have your SPARK actively deal the killing blow to a mechanical enemy (ADVENT MEC, ADVENT Turret, Codex, Sectopod, Spectre, Andromedon Shell, Gatekeeper (closed shell)) in normal gameplay.
The SPARK unit gained on the Lost Towers mission is also viable, have it destroy a Derelict MEC or Turret there.
EASY – maybe needs a bit of a setup, but go for mechanical units with low health. Or blast an elevated Turret to death with a rocket.

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Running on fumes
A SPARK unit survives a mission it started with less than half health
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SPARK units that are damaged during a mission cab be healed in the Engineering repair facility. Once you have your SPARK unit returning from a mission with less than half health (f.ex. max 4 out of 10, if playmode is normal), and then enter another mission and the SPARK survives, the achievement triggers.
The Engineering repair procedure should probably be switched off for your designated SPARK unit, depending on the time between your first and second mission here, in order not to heal and get to or over half of your HP total.
To get one SPARK to under half HP, you can either wait for one to be hit enough in the course of a mission (or deliberately putting him in the enemies lines), or for a more safe and predictable way use explosives/area damage including your SPARK or other means to substract from it (f.ex. the Nova ability in the SPARK Champion level will help in a calculatable manner, and you can link it to ‘Our New Overlords’ achievement.
MEDIUM – you need timing or preparation for this and have the SPARK without full HP in your second mission.

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Our New Overlords
Promote a SPARK unit to Champion rank
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Have a SPARK unit get experience to rank up to 6th level (max level, “Champion”).
MEDIUM – keep your SPARK safe and level it up. Will take some time and you have to invest in your SPARK.

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Bells and Whistles
Outfit a SPARK unit with the highest tier weaponry and armor
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The highest tier weaponry and armor is level 3, so you have to research Plasma Rifles (for Elerium Plasma Cannon) and Powered Armor (for Anodized Chassis), buy this equipment in Engineering (needs significant amount of supplies, elerium and alloys) and have your SPARK outfitted with both. Tier 2 equipment (Helix Railcannon, Reinforced Frame)is not needed to be applied before.
EASY – takes some time for the research, and needs you to invest ressources.

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Matter Over Mind
Defeat an Avatar with a SPARK unit
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As the Avatar unit will only be deployed in the mission where you skulljack a Codex or in the very last mission, there aren’t many opportunities. Luckily, you can prepare for both occasions, but it’s probably more easy to do it on the Codex-mission.
Have your SPARK unit deal the killing blow on the Avatar.
MEDIUM – needs a bit of a setup, as the Avatar will teleport around and maybe out of reach for your SPARK.

Tactical Legacy Pack

for all TLP achievements, WotC is needed.

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Honorary Level Designer
Complete a Skirmish Mission
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Go to “Legacy Hub” in the main menu, and chose option “Skirmish”.
Configure your squad, start the mission and complete it.
EASY– just complete it.

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Playing For Score
Complete a Local Challenge
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Go to “Legacy Hub” in the main menu, and chose option “Challenge Archives”.
Chose a challenge of your liking, start it and complete it.
EASY– just complete it.

Legacy Operations

With active DLC, go to “Legacy Hub” in the main menu, and chose option “Legacy Operations”.

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Campaign Microcosm
Complete a random legacy operation
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Start a new random legacy operation by hitting “[+] Generate New Resistance Operation”, configure your operation, and play through successfully until the end of the last map.
MEDIUM– 7 missions, but just lengthy.

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Deja Vu All Over Again
Complete the ‘Blast From the Past’ legacy operation with a gold medal
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Start the ‘Blast From the Past’ legacy operation, and finish it successfully with at least 220000 points.
Unlocks Legacy Weapons for single player campaign.
HARD– getting the points on “Normal” is a matter of getting things done really fast and without errors. Nightmare will make it more challenging for combat, but you will also have more opportunity to get those precious points – recommended playmode!

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Bug Fisherman
Complete the ‘It Came From the Sea’ legacy operation with a gold medal
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Start the ‘It Came From the Sea’ legacy operation, and finish it successfully with at least 300000 points.
You must have completed prior legacy operations once (silver or gold is not needed).
Unlocks Legacy Armor for single player campaign.
HARD– getting the points on “Normal” is a matter of getting things done really fast and without errors. Nightmare will make it more challenging for combat, but you will also have more opportunity to get those precious points – recommended playmode!

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Fully Operational Battlestation
Complete the ‘Avenger Assembled’ legacy operation with a gold medal
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Start the ‘Avenger Assembled’ legacy operation, and finish it successfully with at least 260000 points.
You must have completed prior legacy operations once (silver or gold is not needed).
Unlocks Legacy Helmets for single player campaign.
HARD– getting the points on “Normal” is a matter of getting things done really fast and without errors. Nightmare will make it more challenging for combat, but you will also have more opportunity to get those precious points – recommended playmode!

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The Gang’s All Here
Complete ‘The Lazarus Project’ legacy operation with a gold medal
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Start ‘The Lazarus Project’ legacy operation, and finish it successfully with at least 250000 points.
You must have completed prior legacy operations once (silver or gold is not needed).
Unlocks new stances for single player campaign.
HARD– getting the points on “Normal” is a matter of getting things done really fast and without errors. Nightmare will make it more challenging for combat, but you will also have more opportunity to get those precious points – recommended playmode!

After Legacy Operations

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There’s A Future In The Past
Complete a single player campaign with Tactical Legacy Pack content
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Once you have completed ‘Blast from the Past’ legacy operation (no need for silver or gold medal) or any other of the 4 scripted legacy operations, and finish a “standard” single player campaign (=complete the final map) afterwards, you will get this achievement.
You don’t have to have items equipped on soldiers for the achievement, but they need to have been unlocked and available to be equipped (soldier loadout screen).
An already ongoing campaign can also be used, but should be checked for the appearance of unlocked legacy items (soldier loadout).
EASY – well, at least to do it – you still have to win a single player campaign.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading, giving advice and supporting XCOM gamers all over the world.
Leave a comment below if you have any suggestions or additions.

That’s XCOM, baby!

Special credits go to Jeffy and his guide for “Explicit Timing”.

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