| “ | It would seem that ADVENT has been deploying their so-called "Priests" into combat. Their implants provide significant enhancements to whatever latent psionic energy they may have once possessed. | ” |
–Richard Tygan | ||
The ADVENT Priest is a new ADVENT enemy introduced in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. These ADVENT units use Psionic abilities to support nearby allies and disable enemies.
They are first deployed in late March. Advanced Priests replace the standard Priests around May and Elite Priests will then replace them from June and after. They act as replacements for ADVENT Officers as pod leaders.
Description
The ADVENT Priest is an ADVENT unit, wearing pure white armor similar to ADVENT Shieldbearers, but with a more angular helmet to distinguish them. The helmet and pauldrons are adorned with a white and gold pattern.
They are equipped with a standard-issue ADVENT Mag Rifle and an Alien Psi Amp to use for Psionic actions.
Abilities
The ADVENT Priest does not have a large number of abilities, but has one unique to it. The Advanced and Elite Priests gain an additional ability.
- Holy Warrior: The Priest merges their mind with that of an organic ally, giving them boosts to Aim and Critical Chance as well as applying a shield to the unit. If the Priest is killed while this ability is active, the recipient of Holy Warrior is also killed.
- Stasis: Places an enemy into Stasis, preventing them from taking any actions but also preventing them from taking damage.
- Mind Control: Takes control of an enemy's mind, giving them full control of their actions for 2 turns. Mind Control ends if the Priest is killed, put into Sustain, or Disoriented. Advanced and Elite Priests only.
- Sustain: If the Priest were to be killed, they are placed into Stasis with 1 health instead of dying. Identical to the Psi Operative ability. The chance of triggering begins at 20% for ADVENT Priests, but raises to 50% for Advanced Priests, and finally 66% for Elite Priests.
Tactics
- Priests will typically only use Holy Warrior if they are not visible to XCOM troops. However, they will not count in Concealed units for this, so players may want to keep their unconcealed units out of sight range of the Priest in order to proc Holy Warrior for a double kill.
- Priests will always use their Psionic abilities before resorting to their Mag Rifle unless the Priest has a flanking shot. Players should plan accordingly.
- A Mindshield or a Psi Operative with Solace will render your units completely immune to the effects of Mind Control. Since Mind Control is a dangerous ability, it is a good idea to put Mind Shields on soldiers you don't want controlled or bring a Psi Operative with Solace on a mission where Priests are.
- Players should consider the Priest's Sustain ability before attempting to kill them; Sustain will not trigger Implacable, Untouchable, or other effects that require a kill to activate.
- Abilities such as the Ranger's Bladestorm or the Skirmisher's Retribution allow the player to place their soldiers next to Priests so as to wait for them to move or take an action after waking from Sustain, thus allowing them to potentially kill the Priest with a melee attack.
- Disorienting a Priest will prevent it from using any of its abilities. It will also break mind control, so flashbang grenades are very useful against Priests.
- Stunning or freezing the Priest are also viable ways of removing Mind Control from your units.
Trivia
- This is the only ADVENT unit with a uniquely painted mag rifle, in contrast the usual all-black. In addition, their Mag Rifles fire differently than others, releasing a rapid burst of six rounds unlike the steady fire by other ADVENT soldiers.
- The ADVENT Priest's Stasis ability differs from the Psi Operative's Stasis insofar as ending the turn once used whereas the latter's Stasis only requires a single action and does not end the turn.
Gallery
