How to Unlock the Recon Class in Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Aliens: Fireteam Elite has four classes you can choose from at the beginning of the game: Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, and Doc. Each of them, of course, has its strengths and weaknesses, though Gunner and Demolisher are clear favorites for beginner classes. But there’s one hidden class: Recon. How do you unlock it? 

The Recon class is “locked” at the beginning of Aliens: Fireteam Elite. It doesn’t even have a spot in the Loadout Kits menu. The only way you’d know something was afoot is if you looked at the game’s trophy/achievement list, where Kitted Out requires you to “level 5 Kits to rank 8.”

You unlock the Recon Class by finishing the campaign mode. Easy as that.

You’ll need to make it all of the way through the game’s four chapters and 12 levels. It doesn’t matter what difficulty you play on (casual works just fine), and you can do it without playing multiplayer with friends (AI bots work just fine, too). 

After completing the last level, the Recon Class will appear in the Loadout Kits menu at the bottom. Like all other Kits, it begins at Level 1, and you’ll need to play through campaign missions again or the newly unlocked Horde Mode to level it up and unlock its class-specific Perks and Abilities. 

Though you might expect it based on the name, the Recon Class doesn’t start with a rifle or sniper but instead a pulse rifle and sub-machine gun. The class acts more in a quasi-support capacity — much like Technician with its Sentry Turret and Doc with its Trauma Station and Combat Stims — because many of its Perks and Abilities help the team.

PUPS “reveals nearby enemies to your entire team, and lowers their damage by 20% for a short duration.” Couple it with the Red is Dead Recon Perk, which gives you and your team a 10% damage increase on revealed target, and it’s one of Fireteam Elite‘s best core Abilities for multiplayer. 

The Support Drone Ability “replenishes nearby allies’ ammo and provides them with computer-assisted combat metrics, which increases their accuracy and stability by 20%, and grants a small amount of hit points whenever they kill a target.” Pair this with a Universal Core Perk like Quick Charge III, and you’ll be able to keep your fireteam supplied and killing Xenos throughout any mission. 

This class also gets Focus, which “increases accuracy and stability by 10%” for every two headshot kills you get within 10 seconds of each other. It stacks three times. 

And that’s how you unlock the Recon Class in Aliens: Fireteam Elite. It’s too bad that this class isn’t available from the beginning of the game, since it would be incredibly helpful to anyone playing the game, whether that be single-player or online multiplayer. But at least it gives an increased incentive to play through the campaign. For more on Aliens: Fireteam Elite, consider heading over to our guides hub or checking out our survival guide.