Equipment (Enforcer)

Weapons

The Enforcer comes with a variety weapons for you to choose from. Many are overkill, while some can prove to be more of a hindrance due to the unpredictable random weapon respawn.

Laser Rifle/Autocannon

The Laser Rifle or Autocannon is your default weapon when you have no ammunition for your primary firearm.

The Autocannon upgrade makes the weapon sound like it is shooting very fast, however it only doubles the rate of projectiles fired. The shots also become slightly more erratic. This is a considerable upgrade over the laser rifle and it can deal impressive damage when enhanced with the damage intensifier.

As the Enforcer is quite taller that most common enemies, you often have to use mouse-look to lower the aim a little.

Blade Launcher

The Blade Launcher is unlocked by default. This weapon fires a series of buzzsaw blades that home in on targets. The blades can boomerang on the target, possibly striking them again. Upgrades add the ability to pick up data points and bounce off more targets.

This is probably one of the more useful of the pre-unlocked weapons due to the combination of homing ability and data point pickup. You can fire a succession of blades into a mob of enemies and quickly clear them out. Best upgraded as quickly as possible. It is a good lazy weapon to run into if you've in between your super weapons, and works well for hot-streaking.

Flame Thrower

Everyone wanted a flamethrower in X-COM - so we got one. This is the second pre-unlocked weapon. It fires a jet of flame that burns that deals continuous damage while the trigger is held. Each upgrade consumes ammunition faster but produces more jets, allowing more damage to be dealt. Useful against small groups of low hit-point enemies, but less effective against tough enemies and bosses. Flames are blocked by enemies, so only enemies immediately facing the flamethrower are hurt.

This weapon should be maxed as quickly as possible as it will frequently 'downgrade' your main weapon if you run across it in the middle of a hotstreak with a bigger and more powerful weapon.

Shotgun

The shotgun fires a bunch of pellets that spread out as they travel. It is a very powerful weapon in close quarters and when used at range it can methodically cut down groups of low-hitpoint enemies like Sectoids. It has a lot of ammunition so each shotgun pickup will last the Enforcer a good while.

The combination of good damage and longevity make it a safe weapon choice on any difficulty level. However, on harder levels its becomes less effective against mobs unless it is combined with the Damage Intensifier. On XtraSpicy difficulty, it may be better to consider a heavier alternative, such as a the Fusion Rifle.

This weapon benefits greatly from mouse-aim, as firing at a downward angle allows you to catch a nearby enemy with more pellets.

Freeze Gun

The freeze gun freezes enemies. These enemies subsequently take some damage when they thaw. Frozen enemies are solid and prove to be a hindrance to both aliens and the Enforcer.

It doesn't excel at dealing a lot of damage like most of the weapons, but it is a good weapon for stalling groups of enemies when you are fleeing from them, and is quite effective against very weak aliens like Sectoids and Snakemen. On harder difficulties like XtraSpicey, it can be quite useful as enemies often appear in very large mobs.

Each upgrades increases the area of effect of the weapon and the damage done when the enemies thaw. Note that its area-effect nature only kicks in when the main projectile hits an unfrozen enemy. Hitting a wall or floor in between several enemies will not freeze enemies in the blast radius, nor will the effect kick in if you hit a frozen enemy. This wastes the shot.

This weapon is best used in open situations where you can flee and re-target a new set of enemies as the frozen aliens fall behind. However it is very dangerous to use in close quarter combat if you are surrounded by enemies as the freeze gun will often re-target enemies that have already been frozen but not those attacking you.

It does little to bosses and isn't a particularly efficient hot-streak weapon.

Mass Driver

A linear beam rifle. Moderately powerful, instantaneous so is very accurate. Upgrades add small explosions when hitting walls and later when hitting enemies. A sniper-rifle, if you will. Good for cutting paths through mobs of enemies.

It is recommended that mouse look is activated for precision aiming.

This weapon may be a homage to the linear beam weapon used in Unreal/Unreal Tournament. Enforcer uses the Unreal game engine.

Fusion Rifle

The Fusion Rifle is best described as an energy shotgun that fires purple bouncing energy balls. Unlike a shotgun, shots are all fired at the same vertical alignment. Any missed shots will bounce off walls, allowing them another chance to strike a target. This makes for a fantastic weapon to fire indoors or against large groups of enemies. Its primary downside is that it goes through ammunition very fast.

Each upgrades increase bounce, rounds shot per attack and ammo capacity.

Lightning gun

This is quite an unusual but extremely useful short range weapon for fighting enemy mobs. It fires an arc of (purple) electricity at a nearby enemy that stuns it as long the electricity is flowing. Upgrades allow it to acquire more targets. Fully upgraded, as many as nine enemies can be attacked at the same time. Against bosses it will knock out sizeable chunks of health, but does not stun them.

This weapon packs a lots of ammo so it can last quite a long time before you need to pick up another.

Although there are weapons that provide more wide-area devastation, this weapon is a very effective weapon to use on harder difficulty levels. It is reasonably good hot streak weapon as most enemies will not be able to fight back, thus keeping the hot streak bar safe.

Vibroblade XL

The Vibroblade XL is a propeller blade that rips apart anything that the Enforcer runs into. The XL may mean Xtra Large. This weapon is part defensive, part offensive. It does continuous damage as the propeller spins. Upgrades allow the propeller to deflect light enemy fire such as from Sectoids and Cyberdiscs right back at them. This allows the Enforcer to safely close in for the attack.

This weapon is a very good anti-mob weapon as it can easily cutting swathes of weak enemies down effortlessly. Against tougher enemies it does a reasonable job of cutting them down to size. Against bosses however, its effectiveness will vary depending on the boss's combat methods and pattern.

Because this weapon requires the Enforcer to be right up against the action, it may not be the best weapon to maintain a hot-streak.

Grenade Launcher

The Grenade Launcher fires small grenades that detonate on contact. The more upgrades, the more grenades are fired per shot. Individually, the grenades aren't very powerful, but as more grenades come out, the faster enemies will fall. Works reasonably well on higher difficulty levels. Mini bosses fall easy to it while major bosses may need more damage.

In addition to weapon upgrades, this weapon benefits a lot if the Enforcer purchases upgrades that increase jump height and some movement speed. Also the enforcer's ammunition upgrade are recommend as this weapon chews through ammunition fast.

This is arguably one of the most entertaining weapons in the Enforcers arsenal in addition to being quite a formidable weapon. Definitely a weapon you should try in at least one of your play-throughs.

Rocket launcher

The rocket launcher is your stock powerful weapon. Each successive upgrade adds more missiles that are fired and spent with each attack. Different types missiles are added with each upgrade from the standard missile, seeker missiles and drunken missiles. The net effect is that a lot of firepower is thrown out at once.

The Rocket Launcher is not as powerful on a wide scale as the Nuker, but still deals a lot of damage and carries a lot more ammunition. It's effective against mobs, strong enemies or bosses. It's a hot-streak friendly weapon as well.

Psi Cannon

A slow but powerful weapon that fires a psionic blast that travels through targets. The visual appearance of the projectile is misleading as its effects extend way beyond it. Enemies standing near the projectile will get hurt. The attack itself is quite strong and upgrades will make it detonate on hitting a solid wall into a big psionic explosion. Another upgrade will cause it to throw aside enemies that aren't destroyed by the blast, except for really big enemies like the giant reaper and bosses. All in all a very effective anti-mob weapon.

There are better anti-mob alternatives available, but this is still solid choice if you have the data points to spare.

Nuker

The game's flashiest, most overpowered and perhaps most fun weapon. This weapon fires a huge missile that wipes out an entire screen of enemies in one shot - but does no harm to the Enforcer. It is very effective for combo kills and hot streaking. Weak enemy mobs do not stand a chance and bosses sustain massive damage. Weapon upgrades only add an additional shot per upgrade,.

Mouse-look can be used to quickly drop a Nuker missile at your feet in order to clear the air around you quickly if you are surrounded.

This weapon's main weakness is its low ammo count, which you can mitigate with upgrades. Either on the gun, or the enforcer's extra ammo upgrades. If you are low on Data Points, the Enforcer's ammo upgrades are preferable as it cascades to all weapons picked up.

The Professor's Choice level 3 upgrade is a highly recommended upgrade. With faster weapon respawn, you'll often have another fresh Nuker in no time. You may be able to get away with just a level 1 Nuker.

This weapon is not required to complete easier difficulties, but is almost a necessity on the harder difficulty levels.

Weapon Tips

• Though there are many weapons to unlock and choose from, it's preferable to stick to a core set of weapons through each play-through of the game so that you can benefit from their higher level upgrades and ensure a more predictable selection of weapons are randomly generated.

• When choosing to unlock a new weapon (with the exception of the Nuker), try not to buy it unless you've got enough data points to get some or all of the upgrades as well. It is far less effective at its default level than at its mid or full level.

Power Ups

Repair Pack

The repair pack helps keep the Enforcer alive by restoring lost hit points, making it one of the most useful of the available power ups. This is unlocked from the start. Every upgrade increases the amount of health that is restored.

Hot Streak Helper

The Hot Streak Helper increases the rate that the hot streak bar is filled.

When the bar is full, Hot Streak mode is activated. While in Hot Streak, the Enforcer gains a random power up at set intervals as long as it is in effect. Power ups that have not yet been unlocked can be obtained this way, and will be treated as if they were at level 1. Weapons not fully upgraded will also be temporarily upgraded.

Power up effects that are not provided during a Hot Streak include: Lazarus system, Bio Magnetic Pulse, Missile Strike, Stasis field and Invulnerator.

Speed Booster

Increases your running speed. Each upgrade increases speed. Unlocked by default.

Damage Intensifier

Increases damage ×2. Each upgrade doubles the multiplier up to a maximum of ×8 damage.

This is very highly recommended upgrade and is worth upgrading as quickly as possible. It completely changes the nature of most weapons, and turns weak weapons - including the default laser rifle/autocannon - into powerful forces to be reckoned with.

Lazarus System

After picking up a Lazarus System power up, the Enforcer is given a chance to revive once if killed during the battle. The Lazarus System is a free life. A 1-Up if you will. Only one can be in effect at a time.

Data Point Multiplier

This power up multiplies every data point you pick up. At maximum level you can multiply data points up to 5 times their amount. This is a very useful and essential upgrade as any Data Points invested in this upgrade will practically pay for themselves. Also the more Data Points gathered, the more weapons and upgrades you can invest in.

Bio Magnetic Pulse

This power up wipes out every enemy in your area in an instant. A handy power up but may be redundant if you plan to invest in the Nuker.

Stealth

This power up hides the Enforcer and makes it harder for enemies to target and shoot back. A very useful power up to assist building up Hot Streaks.

Missile Strike

When touched, launches an air strike that blankets the area in missiles. Similar to the Bio Mag Pulse in function but not as instantaneous. Again, may be redundant if you wish to invest in the Nuker or other area effect weapons.

Stasis field

Picking up the Stasis Field freezes enemies around you. A handy effect to have to slow down enemy mobs or stall major enemies.

Attack Bot

This power up creates an independent weapon pod that orbit around the Enforcer, equipped with as laser rifle that fires whenever the Enforcer fires. Similar to the auxiliary fighters in many side scrolling shooters such as the Option Fighters in the Gradius series. Upgrades increase the amount of laser beams.

Invulnerator

Since the time of mindless 3rd person shooters incarnate, there have been invulnerability devices. This power up temporarily makes the Enforcer invincible from everything except falling into endless pits. Upgrades extends its duration.

Enforcer Upgrades

Max Speed

Upgrades the Enforcer's moving speed. Upgrade this if you are finding the Enfrocer is not running fast enough. Be careful that you do not make the Enforcer too fast, as there are maps that feature bottomless pits with narrow walkways that you need to carefully navigate over.

Jump Jets

Increase your jumping height. Worth upgrading as much as possible for the added mobility, dodging incoming fire or launching mid-air attacks with certain weapons. You have to upgrade this in order to get to some hard-to-get-to places to get the BONUS or Researchable Items balls.

Ammo Capacity

Increases ammo storage for all weapons per upgrade. This is useful to take if you are finding your weapons are running out of ammunition too quickly. Weapons with low ammo capacity or weapons that chew through ammo very fast benefit greatly from this upgrade.

Auto Repair

Repairs the Enforcer slowly over time, up to but not beyond 100 hitpoints. Combined with the repair pack upgrades, this keeps the Enforcer happy and alive.

Note that the Data Point costs for this upgrade are higher than Repair Pack upgrades. It may be more efficient to concentrate on Repair Pack upgrades first.

Armor

Increases hitpoint capacity with each upgrade. If you find the Enfocer is dying too often, try and bolstering its hitpoints by putting some Data Points into this upgrade or the level 1 Professor's Choice upgrade below.

Professor's Choice

A set of variable one-off upgrades that are very useful.

1. Starting hitpoints increased to 200.
2. Replace Laser rifle with Autocannon.
3. Random weapon respawn rate increase.

All three are worthy upgrades. The level 1 update is a good starting alternative to Armor that helps the Enforcer's survivability. The level 2 Autocannon increases the Enforcer's firepower when caught between super weapons. The level 3 respawn ensures weapons are dropped more frequently. This keep the Enforcer well armed, but also increases the risk of the Enforcer running over an unwanted weapon.