Chryssalid

General Information

Chryssalids are an alien Terror Unit accompanying Snakemen. As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:

• Terror Mission
• Base Defense
• UFO Ground Assault (Terror Ship or Battleship)
• Alien Base Assault
• Cydonia

Nasty. Toothy. Very very fast. Able to implant an egg (that turns you into a Zombie) with little regard for body armor. The ability of single Chryssalids to multiply and wipe out entire squads makes them more feared than even the tougher Ethereals.

Note though that their lack of ranged attack or flying ability makes them easy meat once you have flying armor. Weak against explosives, says the UFOpedia entry below, but the USG says Chryssalid Damage Modifiers: Fire-80%, Stun-90%. AP works but you may want to skip the rifles and go straight to Autocannons or better.

A HORRIBLE way to meet one is shooting a relatively harmless zombie with reaction fire as it shambles in for melee... then a Chryssalid pops out and SPRINTS at you, turning your squad into cheese. Always bring Incendiary rounds to Snakemen sites to take out the Zombie, as this will prevent the Chrys hatching.

Jasonred: Only works if the KILLING BLOW was Incendiary. Good luck hoping your reaction shots used Incindary ammo. ... In other words, while it's nice knowing about the Incendiarys not birthing Snakemen, I don't think it's actually all that useful. Chrys are in fact LESS dangerous than most aliens during X-com's turn, since they only have melee and can't reaction fire. If you have enough TU to kill a zombie with Incendiary, it's more practical to auto-shot him with Lasers or Plasma. ... Just don't kill Zombies with Grenades. During Aliens turn, reaction fired Incendiary's aren't a safe technique.

Statistics

TUs:               110-124
Health:            96
Energy:            140-163
Reactions:         70-82
Strength:          110-128
Bravery:           100
Psi Skill:         N/A
Psi Strength:      50-58

Damage:                110-128
Close Combat Accuracy: 80%
TUs:                   14

Live Specimen

The crab like claws of this creature are a powerful weapon in close combat. The high metabolism and strength of this creature give it speed and dexterity. Instead of killing its victim it impregnates it with an egg and injects a venom which turns it into a walking Zombie. A new Chryssalid will burst from the victim shortly after impregnation. Chryssalids are associated with the Snakeman race.

Autopsy

The exo-skeleton of this creature is extremely tough, but surprisingly vulnerable to explosive ammunition. The brain is well developed, and its cell growth rate very fast. The creature carries twenty eggs which are laid inside other organisms. This creature is a very effective terror weapon.

Notes

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Chryssalid:

• Chryssalids have 110TU, and each melee attack costs 14TU. This means they can be out of visual range at the beginning of the turn and cross the 21 intervening tiles and still attack you in the same turn!
• They can perform 7 attacks per turn max at Beginner difficulty and 9 at Superhuman difficulty.

See Also

Snakeman

Zombie

[[Tentaculat