With the recent War of the Chosen DLC expansion for XCOM 2, several new structures are available for construction on the Avenger. This has been leaving many players wondering about the best build order for the Avenger and its structures.
While I don’t believe there is a truly incorrect method in how you start building, there are certainly some strategies that are more useful than others. Despite every structure being important, I’m a huge proponent of the idea that you can make nearly any build order work. But it’s worth keeping in mind that the first several structures you work toward will set the tone for your whole campaign.
In this XCOM 2 guide, I’m going to go over a streamlined build order for the Avenger that should suit your playstyle and goals for the WotC campaign. (Want to skip the rundown and jump straight to the finalized build order? Click here.)
Things to Consider Before Starting Your Build Order
Before you can know what an “optimal” build order for the Avenger is, there are several things you should consider first:
- Your play style
- The difficulty you’re playing on
- Whether or not Ironman is enabled
- Random possibilities (not friendly ones)
Personally, I prefer a high risk, high reward style of play for my A team. I like to utilize two rangers and their melee abilities. In WotC, I support these rangers with a Skirmisher, Templar and a support specialist. I also play on Commander difficulty. As a result of this team style, it’s quite common for my soldiers to get injured. So my priorities would be different than someone who takes a slightly safer or more standardized approach.
The final consideration — those random possible that can and will affect your game — will likely be heavily dependent on Dark Events and what strengths or weakenesses your Chosen enemies have. You’ll often have to play these by your ear and adapt quickly.
Personalizing your build order is going to be a large part of developing your system to get what you want out of your early game. However, the first two buildings on the avenger will usually be the same in every play through.
What to Build First in XCOM 2: WotC
The first three buildings you choose are potentially the most important factors in how smoothly your early game runs. Assuming you’ve skipped the “Lost and Found” tutorial to War of the Chosen, the list of buildings you can construct immediately after your first mission is as follows:
- Guerrilla Tactics School
- Resistance Ring
- Training Center
- Laboritory
- Workshop
- Power Relay
This list is in descending order based on importance — which means the GTS (Guerilla Tactics School) and Resistance Ring should be your first two buildings. There are a number of reasons for this that I’ll outline below.
Squad size is an extremely important factor in deciding fights against ADVENT, so starting with the GTS is possibly the best option for everyone. It allows you to send more squadies to flank around enemies, scout more efficiently, and potentially deal much more damage. Additionally, the GTS has other bonuses you can unlock that will further increase your soldiers’ ability to fight.
The Resistance Ring is a new structure added with War of the Chosen. Covert actions can be executed from this ring — and these actions come with many possible rewards and outcomes. From the Resistance Ring you can begin to track down the Chosen, counter their attempts at sabotage, and lay the groundwork to rescue captured XCOM operatives. There are also potential material rewards for covert actions, and even permanent stat increases to soldiers who participate in these actions.
For those reasons alone, starting with the Resistance Ring is just as viable as starting with the GTS, depending on what approach you want to take. But either way, you’ll want to consider building these two structures on your Avenger before worrying about anything else.
Everything else on the list above is not as useful to rush as your first or second building. The Training Center is something you will definitely want to build — but only after you’ve entered the mid-game and have build the Resistance Ring and GTS. If you build it any earlier, you won’t have enough ability points or even enough soldiers of the appropriate rank to utilize the Training Center to its maximum potential.
Workshops and Laboratories are even less useful early on due to the low number of Scientists and Engineers. But with the Resistance Ring, recruiting Scientists, and Engineers becomes a lot easier.
Finally, you simply don’t need to rush a power relay. You’ll start out with plenty to get going on your campaign against ADVENT.
What To Build Later On in XCOM 2: WotC
After you have a few wins against ADVENT under your belt and you’ve researched a couple of technologies, the next two structures you build are going to be important: The Proving Grounds and the Infirmary.
I won’t delve into a detailed explanation of why the Proving Grounds is an important build choice, but I will say that it’s going to be a requirement for the skulljack — so you need it to complete the main story.
Much like the Resistance Ring above, the Infirmary is a new structure in War of the Chosen that allows for faster healing. And it also lets you staff soldiers with negative traits so that they can lose one of those negative traits every five days. Staffing an Engineer in the Infirmary lets you heal wounded soldiers at twice the rate, which is a huge boon at certain points in the game. Essentially, building the Infirmary should be a priority because it’s vital that your XCOM squadies are ready to fight.
Complete Build Order for XCOM 2: WotC
Like I said earlier, the “best” build for your Avenger in War of the Chosen is one that aligns not only with your play style, but also with the game’s mechanics.
You may have noticed my omission of support structures such as Power Relays and Workshops or Laboratories. That’s because there isn’t really any point in the game where you simply must build them. I’ve finished XCOM 2 many times without ever building some of these support structures. While you should opt to build Power Relays over Exposed Power Coils for maximum output on your Avenger, you should do this according to when you actually need additional power — not any specific timetable.
Resistance Comms are also omitted here, as they’re another structure that you should only build when you really need it.
With all that in mind, a finalized, optimum build order that works for most players is as follows:
- Resistance Ring
- Guerrilla Tactics School
- Infirmary
- Proving Grounds
- Training Center
- Psi Lab
- Shadow Chamber
XCOM is generally far less brittle, and far more devastating when you build the Avenger in this general order. You unlock the ability to send soldiers on covert actions early on — allowing you to establish early access to the three resistance groups, their soldiers, and their abilities.
An early Infirmary build means you can staff an Engineer in the structure and cut the healing time for your XCOM soldiers in half, while opening up a staffing option that can remove their negative traits. An upgraded Infirmary allows you to create Hypervital modules, which removes any wounds or fatigue on a soldier for one mission so that you can make use of them. (Just remember that you can only use this once per soldier for the entire campaign.
Building the Proving Grounds is useful once you’re in the early mid game so that you can construct the skull jack for the primary story mission — and later on it’s great for working on sparks and other extremely useful equipment.
Later on in the mid game, the Training Center is useful when you finally have enough ability points to utilize it and improve your soldiers.
And last but not least, the Psi Center and Shadow Chamber are useful toward the late game, and should be focused on last because their requirements bar you from constructing them earlier in the campaign.
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There you have it! That’s the best build order for the Avenger that I’ve discovered in my time playing War of the Chosen. If you have any questions or build order suggestions of your own, leave them in the comments below! And be sure to check out the rest of our XCOM 2 guides for more tips and tricks that will help you through the WotC DLC.
- Console Commands for XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
- XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Tired Soldiers Tips
- XCOM 2: War of the Chosen DLC Factions Guide
- XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Cheat Engine Guide
Published: Sep 12, 2017 09:57 am