| “ | You have been judged, and I am your punishment. | ” |
–The Warlock | ||
The Warlock is one of the Chosen in the XCOM 2: War of the Chosen expansion.
Both his name and insignia are randomly generated for each playthrough. Click here to generate another set.
Background[]
Of the three Chosen created by the Elders, the Warlock is said to be the oldest, the first of their attempts at harnessing the latent Psionic potential of humanity. Unflinchingly loyal, the Warlock believes himself to be the true favored child of the Elders and tolerates little in the way of disobedience or disrespect towards his masters. In battle, he is a champion of Psionic power, wielding it with a degree of confidence not seen outside of the Elders themselves. He has taken a particular interest in the Templar faction, as they attempt to reclaim the power of humanity that he himself expects to harness as his reward for serving the Elders.
ADVANCED INTEL SEQUENCED FOR ADVENT CHOSEN "WARLOCK"
FILE 209858: PARTIAL DATA RECOVERED FROM ADVENT NETWORK BREACH 2026.08.17
"...child exhibits exceptional Psionic tendencies; initial recovery team suffered 94% casualties during first encounter despite limited engagement. Use of mechanized units allowed for extraction from original discovery point in sector 11. Encampment and all known observers purged per standard doctrine."
FILE: 208781-A: THERAPY TRACKING MODULE EXTRACTED FROM CLINIC PRA-004A 2026.09.02
"Now eight weeks into the initial therapy treatment prescribed by my superiors, the boy, noted as subject "O," has grown increasingly unstable to the point of near hysteria when faced what can only be described as "visions" derived from his tremendous Psionic sensitivity. While I personally have no inclination towards questioning the will of the Elders, the introduction of this new genetic material has only accelerated the subject's march towards a condition of irreversible psychosis."
FILE: 208781-B SECURITY MODULE CLONED DATA FROM PRA-004A 2021.10.17
"WITNESS_L2: I wasn't in the lab at the time, but I heard Dr. Havertan tried to interrupt subject O's scheduled therapy and the entire building went up. By the time I got there, the whole clinic was flooded with Psionic energy, I couldn't even get close. I can only speculate, but I have to guess the doctor must have tried to break the infusion cycle. Whatever he did, something changed in there...I saw "O" inside, free from the chamber... but he wasn't trying to escape. He was just standing there... laughing. I haven't seen anything that happy in a long time."
FILE: TMPL-A102 TEMPLAR COLLECTED ACCOUNTS OF "WARLOCK" 2030.00.00
"We know the one you speak of, we refer to it as the "Warlock," and it has haunted us for some time now. It is a being of unmatched Psionic power, perhaps near to that of the Elders themselves. They have absconded with much of the Earth's life force, and it would serve us all well to see it returned. Eyewitness accounts and collected intel to follow. -GEIST"
COMM: TMPL-REF FIRST REPORTED SIGHTING APPROXIMATED 2027.8.9 TEMPLAR SCOUT HITKA
"We all felt its presence long before we ever saw it. Where it moves, there is a great disruption in the flow of energy, the Earth below us feels it as well. At first we believed it to be just another alien, albeit a powerful one at that. But then it began to speak from the distance as if it stood just before us. It called out to us in the Elders' name, and warned us that our time here was nearing its end. Once it fell silent, we moved away as quickly as possible, not knowing what to think."
CHOSEN WARLOCK REPORTS GATHERED BY TEMPLAR SOURCES 2030.00.00-
"...it was as if he stepped out of the Void itself, suddenly it was just there with us, declaring our ways an affront to the Elders. I have never felt a power like it before..."
"I saw it raise the dead! Some of theirs, and some of ours! His power transcends our world!"
"He is the Elders' most loyal zealot, a fanatic to match even the most devoted followers of Geist himself."
"It knows more about us than any other alien we've encountered. It speaks to us as if we were old acquaintances. Another trick of the Elders no doubt."
"We have heard rumors of others like him, but we have never seen him travel with any sort of companions. He seems to show disdain even for those others who share the same master."
Interactions[]
The Warlock is a powerful, psionic specialist warrior that uses tricks and psionic powers to manipulate the battlefield as he wishes. Although all Chosen can and will use psionics, the Warlock uses more diverse powers like doing a chain stun, teleport allies at will, mind control, teleport anywhere on the map or summon Spectral Zombies, which will run at player characters and explode. If the Warlock is unable to use psionics, then he can still fight effectively with his assault rifle.
The best way to counter the Warlock is to use Mindshields as this will prevent the warlock from using his more offensive psionic powers against you to devastating effect. As with all chosen, strong focus-fire perks like holo-targetting, fan fire, chain shot, dual strike and rapid fire will help whittle down the Warlock. Players are encouraged to use the Warlock's adversary (Reapers, Skirmishers or Templars) against them; they will deal additional damage.
All Chosen are immune to mental impairment effects (Disoriented, Panicked, Stunned, Mind Controlled, etc). This is particularly relevant to Warlock because it's not possible to restrict his Psionic abilities by using a Flashbang Grenade. However, the Chosen are not immune to poison, fire, or acid and afflicting burning to the Warlock will prevent him from using his Psionic attacks.
Abilities[]
Spectral Zombies: The Warlock, if not engaged, will use this ability to spawn 1-4 spectral zombies (Number of zombies is based on warlock's training level, and 6 to 10 HP based on difficulty) near your soldiers. If not killed on the turn they spawned, they can prime themselves to explode upon death.
Spectral Army: Summons a number of spectral entities (Stun Lancers) - the number depending on the Warlocks training and strength - and goes into Stasis, making him invulnerable to any damage. These spectral units has the same HP as the zombies and deals as much damage as the real units as well as causing Dazed on hit. Killing all spectral entities will make him break out of Stasis.
Teleport Ally: The Warlock can teleport another enemy unit, usually to a flanking position.
Mind Scorch: Fires a wave of psionic energy at a soldier, which will chain up to 2 additional soldiers if they're all next to each other. All soldiers will be Dazed upon hit.
Mind Control: Similar to any other alien mind control. The major difference is that the Warlock's Mind Control can be used every turn and he can have multiple mind controlled XCOM soldiers. Due to his mental impairment immunity, this isn't as straight forward to break.
Extract Knowledge: As with all other Chosen, the Warlock can extract information on the Commander from an adjacent dazed soldier on the field. This will increase the Warlocks current knowledge, and he will teleport out immediately after.
Kidnap: As with all other Chosen, the Warlock can also choose to capture an adjacent dazed soldier - and subsequently teleport out with the captured soldier in tow. The soldier will remain unavailable until the Commander starts a covert operation to rescue the soldier.
Strategy[]
While the other Chosen can be taken out fairly rapidly, the Warlock has several tools which can make him very elusive in the field. He is the toughest of all the Chosen in terms of Health and Armor. Through training, he often gains the ability to teleport after taking damage, his Mind Scorch can daze up to three soldiers halving your fire power, and his Spectral Army will place him into stasis and making encounters longer.
The Warlock's personal damage output is quite low and he can almost be thought of as a support unit, inflicting daze to multiple soldiers and summoning in additional units, rather than inflicting high damage himself.
When encountered in the field, whether to take him out first or last will depend on the type of battlefield. In a close quarters environment, such as a tunnel level, it usually a good idea to take him out as soon as possible, even if you endanger soldiers to do so, as both his Mind Scorch and summoning abilities can rapidly turn an engagement against you. However, in more open environments, his spectral soldiers will find it harder to reach your troops and your troops can spread out more, limiting the threat of Mind Scorch.
Naturally, Mindshields are very useful against all of the chosen. For the Warlock however a mindshield is even more useful as it prevents the Warlock from turning your own troops against you and makes almost all of his psionic abilities completely useless. The Warlock is also unable to use his Psionic attacks while burning so bringing items like Dragon Rounds can be effective. However, this will cause the Warlock to shoot his rifle, which can be more dangerous depending on the situation.
Due to the Chosen's immunity to mental impairments effects, if the Warlock Mind Controls an XCOM soldier, there are very limited options to break the soldier from his control besides killing the Warlock. Moving a Psi Operative with the Solace ability near the mind controlled soldier, moving the controlled soldier's bondmate to an adjacent square with at least a Level 2 Bond or freezing the warlock with a frost grenade are the only ways to break the Warlock's Mind Control. He can also end his own mind control by using spectral army, putting himself in stasis.
When the Warlock uses Spectral Army if one can kill the last of his Spectral Lancers on HIS turn through Overwatches or other measures, the Chosen will break out of Stasis with no ability to act, ending the round. This can give you the best opportunity to take him down as all of your soldiers will then have all their actions back while the Chosen could potentially be left in a fatally bad spot.
When fighting the Warlock in his stronghold, the battle becomes a damage race. As enemy units will be summoned in throughout the fight, forcing the Warlock back into his sarcophagus to heal before he can summon an additional set of enemies is vital, so as not to be overwhelmed.
It is highly advised to bring mobile troops, such as rangers (preferably equipped with mobility improving armor like the Serpent Suit or Wraith Armour) as they can flush the Warlock out when he teleports away into a hard to reach position, forcing him into the firing line of sharpshooters. The Ranger's "Rapid Fire" ability will also shoot twice without allowing him to teleport, meaning that with high critical strike chance, a Ranger can remove most of the Warlock's health in a single action. In addition, movement abilities like the grappling hook and Icarus Jump can provide you with many ways to get to the Warlock in hard to reach positions.
In addition, any soldiers who can gain bonus moves, such as the Sharpshooter with "Death From Above" or "Lightning Hands" or the Grenadier with the "Salvo" ability are extremely useful, as they will be able to help deal with additional summoned enemies and then fire again against the Warlock. For this reason, Skirmishers are extremely useful against the Warlock as making multiple attacks in a turn is their specialty and the Warlock can potentially take additional damage from Skirmishers, meaning a full upgraded Skirmisher is capable of exceeding 20 damage to the Warlock with their bullpup alone.
Rewards for Killing[]
Unlike the other two Chosen, you only receive one weapon from the Warlock when you take him out permanently.
Disruptor Rifle - Guaranteed critical hits on psionic units. Comes with four permanently attached mods: Superior Scope, Superior Stock, Superior Hair Trigger and Superior Expanded Magazine.
Gallery[]
Easter Eggs[]
- One of the Warlock's dialogue references the first XCOM (2012) and its expansion, stating "The true unknown enemy is within."
- Once the Warlock's Sarcophagus is destroyed, the Warlock quickly becomes paranoid, giving some foreshadowing dialogue (mentioning some "whispers" that can be heard clearly right before dying), likely referencing the extended ending to the expansion, and following game (as "they are coming") .
- The Warlock has unique dialogue appears if he extracts knowledge from Jane Kelly (the Ranger from tutorial mission): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=salPjWj-N2I
Behind the scenes[]
- After the Hunter or the Assassin is destroyed, the Elder in the proceeding cutscene will notice the Warlock feeling arrogant, and will punish him for it.
- Interestingly, the Warlock appears to be the oldest of the Chosen, having a wrinkled face. Whether this is due to chronological age or the intense psionic power he possesses is currently unknown.
- In the book XCOM FACTIONS its stated that there is already one chosen countering the Templars, implying that the Warlock was the first chosen created.
- Uniquely amongst the Chosen, the Warlock seems to petrify upon death. It is unknown if this is related to his line "They come for me..." regarding the Elders, or if it's something that would have happened to the other Chosen had they not died of their injuries first (or commited seppuku, in the case of the Assasin)
- Both his name, pseudonym, and insignia are randomly generated in each campaign (see for a randomly generated example to the right)
   |
|---|
| Prefix | - | Suffix | Name | Moniker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jax | - | Il | Madron | Heart | butcher |
| Kon | Rai | Masha | Soul | eater | |
| Fal | Mai | Neylor | Light | slayer | |
| Ref | Hur | Mordenna | Dawn | killer | |
| Gur | Mon | Vallinor | Mind | ripper | |
| Dhar | Dessurik | ||||
| Dhay | Khomain | ||||
| Tessura | |||||
| Balladhur | |||||
- Insignia
