Faceless (XCOM2)

A hulking sack of flesh and internal chitin, this enemy accomplishes what the Thin man failed to do: perfect mimicry of human appearances. Faceless appear in Reprisal missions, mimicing civilians to be rescued. when approached for evac, they will change into their true form. With high levels of health, they are a force to be reckoned with, with a surprising amount of movement, and a AoE claw attack. As you'll often discover them right in front of the soldier who just tried to rescue it, they are highly dangerous traps set out for you.

To detect them ahead of time:

• Use a Battle Scanner or the GREMLIN scan ability.
• If there's an alien or ADVENT trooper nearby who is curiously uninterested in shooting at them, they're probably a Faceless. You can reveal it with an AOE attack.
• Faceless don't count towards the counter of unrescued civilians in a mission, so if the green counter says there's one civilian left, and there are two in front of you...
• Reload your last save after getting surprised by one.

Faceless will transform on your turn if you try to rescue them. If an XCOM soldier is close but hasn't come close enough to rescue, they'll transform during Alien Activity, and can immediately act on the turn they reveal. There is a Dark Event that may place Faceless in missions other than the Retaliation Strikes, so keep an eye out for that one. If all other aliens are killed, any hiding Faceless will automatically transform. Also keep in mind that they can jump, so elevation and ladders are not obstacles for them. Their melee attacks swipe, destroying cover around the target, and potentially hitting a second soldier if you're grouped up.