Sectopod (XCOM: Enemy Unknown)

For the enemy in The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, see Sectopod (The Bureau: XCOM Declassified).

Sectopod
Statistics
Aim	80 | 80 | 90 | 90
Critical Chance	0 | 0 | 10 | 10
Defense	30 | 30 | 30 | 30
Health	30 | 30 | 30 | 30
Health (EW)	- | - | - | -
Mobility	12 | 12 | 12 | 12
Will	0 | 0 | 0 | 0
Damage Modifier	- | - | - | -
Attributes
Weapon	Chest Cannon Cluster Bomb
Abilities
Traits
Gene Mods

A Sectopod is an enemy in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It's a massive bipedal robot with a heavily armored central 'head' that houses several potent weapon systems.

Description

The Sectopod is an extremely dangerous robotic enemy. It appears around six months into the campaign (usually after researching Heavy Plasma) and is usually accompanied by two to three Drones. It is often found aboard larger alien ships and during late game Terror Site missions. The Sectopod's primary threats come from its very high health and its Cannon Fire ability which allows multiple devastating attacks in a single turn. While extremely powerful weaponry is required to reliably kill a Sectopod, these deadly machines are most definitely not invincible.

In XCOM: Enemy Within Sectopods take 50% less damage from all sources, effectively doubling their health as well as the amount of damage repaired by any escorting Drones. This, combined with the reduction of the HEAT Ammo bonus against mechanical units from 100% to 50% makes them one of the most significant threats in the game. Many of the strategies listed in this article were formulated before the release of XCOM: Enemy Within and thus will not work as specified, they will have to be modified in order to be effective against Sectopods with their new trait.

Sectopods cannot be selected to be on your squad in multiplayer.

Deployment

Sectopods first appear during the seventh month (September), or February 2016 if the "Marathon" Second Wave option is enabled. There is a limit of one per mission the month it is introduced, and two per mission thereafter; however players have reported up to 4 Sectopods appearing on a single mission in Normal mode. These deployment limits do not appear to apply to Impossible mode.

Sectopods can be deployed for several mission types, including terror sites and large UFO landing and crash sites, but are not encountered during abduction missions.

Abilities

Ability	Description
Cluster Bomb	Mark a large area and, after one turn, saturate it with a barrage of explosive mini-bombs.
Cannon Fire	Beam attack that causes high damage and grants free Overwatch. If the Sectopod does not move, Cannon Fire can be used twice (against different enemies).

Traits

Trait	Description
Hardened	Reduces the chance of suffering a critical hit by 60%.
Reinforced Armor EW	Reduces all damage taken by 50%. Damage taken is rounded up to the nearest whole number.
Robotic	Immune to fire, poison, and several Psionic abilities.
Stun Immune	This unit cannot be stunned with the Arc Thrower; taking a live specimen is not possible.

Capturing

• Cannot be captured.

Research

• Sectopod Autopsy - Unlocks Advanced Construction Foundry project

Notes

• Despite its size, the Sectopod, like the Cyberdisc, can fit through one tile wide doors and pathways.
• In addition to the Cluster Bomb, Sectopods have a separate, accurate and deadly plasma Chest Cannon that it utilizes for Overwatch. They automatically enter Overwatch after using their Cannon Fire ability.
• While the Sectopod has a self-destruct animation upon its death, it does not deal damage to the surrounding area like the Cyberdisc.
  • This issue has been fixed in XCOM: Enemy Within, with the Sectopod dealing 5 damage to all units within 3 tiles upon death.

Tactics

General

• It may seem obvious, but the best way to deal with a Sectopod is to keep your squad together and in good cover. Sectopods can take damage, and dish it out, but concentrated fire from Plasma weapons can take them down without your squad suffering too much hurt.
  • What is counter-intuitive is to attack the Sectopod, but this is actually the best strategy for dealing with lone Sectopods. Given their low movement and high defense, they can't trigger Overwatch reaction shots easily, and even if they do trigger them, the shots are inclined to miss after penalties are applied. Attacking the Sectopod also allows the player to choose the grounds of engagement and the cover available to them.
    • Do make sure that the Sectopod doesn't have too many allies nearby
  • Upon engagement, lead with the heavy's damage abilities like Rocket Launcher, Shredder Rocket, and secure the kill with Headshot and Double Tap, or the Assault's, Run and Gun with Rapid Fire abilities.
    • In XCOM: Enemy Within, a squadmember with Mimetic Skin is incredibly helpful in scouting ahead to locate said Sectopod and possible allies. In an engagement, the MEC (preferably one with Shaped Armor) should stay on point to tank damage, while his squad members follow up.
• Using Drone Capture against an accompanying Drone, or Mind Control against a nearby alien may cause the Sectopod to attack it. If close enough, the Sectopod can damage itself with its area of effect (AoE) attack.
  • In XCOM: Enemy Within, the Sectopod's Chest Cannon no longer causes AoE damage.
• Suppressing a Sectopod with a Support, Heavy, or S.H.I.V. reduces its accuracy. Under such circumstances they seldom move, so don't expect to score a free reaction shot this way.
• It is possible to buy time in a fight against the Sectopod by clustering soldiers together in good cover, causing it to prepare for a Cluster Bomb barrage instead of immediately using its direct-fire weaponry. However, in all likelihood it can result in massive splash damage as well.

Heavy

• Holo-Targeting can help compensate for the Sectopod's high Defense rating.
• Using Bullet Swarm to fire twice with a Heavy Laser or Heavy Plasma can deal significant damage to a Sectopod.
• The HEAT Ammo ability (+100% damage vs. robotic enemies) is invaluable against the Sectopod. When combined with Heavy Plasma, a Heavy can reliably inflict 20 points of damage to a Sectopod. Combining this ability with the use of the Rocket Launcher can also produce devastating damage with the added benefit of destroying any accompanying Drones. Combining HEAT Ammo with the Mayhem ability grants the possibility of a one-shot kill against a Sectopod when used with a Blaster Launcher or using Heavy Plasma with Ghost Armor (firing while cloaked = 100% critical hit chance).
• In XCOM: Enemy Within, the above tactics with a Heavy are not as effective due to: 1) the nerf on HEAT Ammo damage bonus from +100% to +50%, 2) the Sectopod's 50% damage reduction ability, and 3) cloaking only confers +30% critical hit chance.
  • A Shredder Rocket can help counteract the Sectopod's 50% damage reduction ability.

Sniper

• Can engage a Sectopod from far outside its effective range if using with the Squadsight ability.
• Armed with at least a Laser Sniper Rifle, a Sniper can inflict substantial damage when making use of the Headshot or Double Tap abilities. Alternatively, scoring a critical hit with a Plasma Sniper Rifle will almost completely kill a full health Sectopod.
• The Disabling Shot ability can provide valuable time for fellow squad mates to temporarily react to the Sectopod without fear of retaliation. However, on certain platforms, it has been proven that Disabling Shot has no effect on the Sectopod. Furthermore, a known glitch may cause using Disabling Shot on a Sectopod to give it unlimited Overwatch fire.
• In XCOM: Enemy Within, the above tactics with a Sniper may not be as effective due to the Sectopod's 50% damage reduction ability. However, Disabling Shot does properly disable a Sectopod's Cannon Fire ability, although not its Overwatch plasma cannon.

Assault

• Armed with the Alloy Cannon and enough critical boosting abilities, an Assault can kill a Sectopod with two critical hits.
• It is possible to achieve a kill against one with a full health bar in a single turn if the soldier in question also has the Rapid Fire ability, providing that both shots successfully hit.
• In XCOM: Enemy Within, the above tactics with an Assault are not as effective due to the Sectopod's 50% damage reduction ability. However, high ranking Assaults with Titan Armor and Combat Stims can weather a Sectopod's attacks for up to 4 turns.

Hover S.H.I.V.

A squad consisting mostly (or entirely) of fully-upgraded Hover S.H.I.V.s is an expensive, but extremely effective attack formation against Sectopods:

• One S.H.I.V. can suppress it each turn, reducing its Aim by 30. This, combined with the S.H.I.V.'s base 20 Defense, makes it very difficult for the Sectopod to shoot back effectively.
• While flying, Hover S.H.I.V.s gain +20 Aim, which helps counteract the Sectopod's high Defense rating.
• Even if the Sectopod does manage to land a few lucky hits, the Sentinel Drone ^EW ability will repair the damage over time.
• If the S.H.I.V.s are armed with plasma cannons, each successful hit deals about 10 damage (5 in XCOM: Enemy Within).
• In addition to the cost, a drawback to this strategy is that fewer human soldiers in a squad means less XP / rank gains.

MEC Trooper

• A Sectopod can be stunned by MEC-3's Electro Pulse ability for one turn, provided the MEC Trooper can get close enough to bring the Sectopod into range.
  • Electro Pulse does not prevent the Sectopod from using its Cluster Bomb ability if it was initiated the previous turn.
  • Electro Pulse followed by two hits with a MEC Trooper's Kinetic Strike Module upgraded with MEC Close Combat the following turn deals a total of 23 damage to a Sectopod, leaving it with only 7 HP, which, given two turns, can easily be made up with a few shots from supporting soldiers.
  • Bear in mind that if the MEC Trooper remains in close quarters when the Sectopod is destroyed it will incur 5 damage.

Psionic

• The Rift ability granted to The Volunteer is possibly the best damage-dealing ability against Sectopods, as robotic units are counted as having effective Will of 0.

Gallery

Concept Art

The Sectopod's inclusion in the game was revealed at the end of the Developer Walkthrough video

A Sectopod takes aim.

A Sectopod fires its Chest Cannon.

A Sectopod murders an XCOM soldier.