Ability Points are a game mechanic for XCOM 2 added in the War of the Chosen DLC.
Ability Points are earned in combat and by accomplishing specific Covert Actions. Ability Points can be used to buy skills for your soldiers in the Training Center: you can purchase any skill available to the soldier's class, as well as a small number of randomly-selected skills from other classes. Skirmishers, Reapers, and Templars have four branches of skills and can acquire the available ones without the Training Center. The variety of randomly-selected skills is also limited to certain classes, e.g. it is impossible to have a Templar with Tactical Rigging, a Skirmisher with Kill Zone, etc.
Each soldier earns Ability Points at promotion. The amount of points gained depends on the soldier's Combat Intelligence level. Skirmishers, Reapers, and Templars earn Ability Points at promotion independently of their Combat Intelligence (which also cannot be increased by undertaking the Tactical Education Coverts Actions): each promotion gives them 10 base Ability Points, increasing by 2 for each new rank.
There is also a team-wide Ability Points pool, which can be spent on any soldier. You earn team Ability Points through Skill Events and by accomplishing specific Covert Actions.
Notes[]
- The total amount of ability points you can earn in one mission via combo kill, flanking shot, height advantage shot, or ambush kill is capped at 2.
- Ability points earned by temporary soldiers under the player's command from mission objectives or the bonuses Double Agent and Volunteer Army will still be added to the team-wide pool of XCOM ability points.
- Increasing a soldier's combat intelligence level (via certain Covert Actions) allows you to increase the soldier's total number of ability points (the effect is stronger the higher the current combat intelligence level and the rank of the soldier).
Trivia[]
- In the base game the Advanced Warfare Center can grant an ability from other soldiers classes to a soldier when one ranks up.
NOTE: This article or section is in need of cleanup or verification. You can help the XCOM Wiki by improving it. Reason: extensively test in the game how much more AP a non-Standard Combat Intelligence level Resistance Hero can gain -- once a Genius Skirmisher got 20 AP when promoting from Corporal to Sergeant, previously having 0 AP.