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The Archon King, or Subject Alpha, is a special, and far more powerful, Archon alien.

He is the third and last Alien Ruler of the game. He also is the hardest to kill.

Like other rulers, he does one action after every action any XCOM squad member takes, during a special "Ruler Reaction" phase.

Abilities[]

  • Like all Archons, he ignores height, obstacles and can stand in the air.
  • Devastate: An upgraded version of Blazing Pinions that deals less damage (2-6 compared to Archon's 4-7) but can disorient, stun and knock unconscious. Devastate hits on the next Ruler Reaction and cannot be interrupted by killing the Archon King.
  • Icarus Drop: The Archon King grabs one of your unit and flies high into the air. On the next ruler reaction, if not interrupted, he will smash his victim on the ground, dealing 3-9 damage. It can be cancelled by any damage, and the grabbed unit will take no damage from the fall.

Notes[]

  • Like all alien rulers, you can unlock a new autopsy by killing him, which lets you develop an armor based on his appearance and abilities: It unlocks the Icarus Armor.
  • If the WotC expansion is enabled, the Archon King will not take a Ruler Reaction if an XCOM soldier is not in their line of sight, or if they take a neutral action (such as reloading).
  • Ending turns will not trigger the defrost tick on Alien rulers. This makes it possible to completely shut down a ruler by only attacking with Lightning Hands and ending turns to refresh the cooldown.

Tips[]

For notes and tips about dealing with Alien Rulers, see Alien Rulers.
  • Burn and Acid Burn are very effective against him, since any damage will always cancel his grab at the beginning of his Ruler Action. Therefore, you only have to worry about his "Devastate" ability, by not clustering your soldiers together.
  • Like with all Alien Rulers, a Psi Op's Stasis ability will lock the Archon King down for an entire turn, denying him his Ruler Reaction phases.
    • This also keeps an active "Devastate" from resolving and attacking your soldiers until the stasis ends, providing you the only opportuntiy to move all your soldiers out of the way.
  • Ending turns will not trigger the defrost tick on Alien rulers, however it will attack for every characters turn that was skipped.
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