I thought I was ready for Ironman mode after beating XCOM 2 on regular difficulty. I knew the mechanics, I knew the enemies, how hard could it be? Turns out, without the ability to reload when you mess up, the game is completely different. On my first Ironman run, I sent my ranger charging ahead to scout, accidentally triggered three enemy pods at once, and lost my entire A-team in one turn. 10 hours of progress, gone, just like that.
If you’re about to try your first Ironman run, don’t make the same mistakes I did. These 10 simple tips will help you stay safe, avoid wiping your squad, and actually beat the campaign without savescumming.
1. Build Guerrilla Tactics School FIRST
This is non-negotiable. The very first building you build on the Avenger has to be the Guerrilla Tactics School. No exceptions.
Why? Because it lets you upgrade your squad size from 4 soldiers to 5, and then later to 6. Early game, 4 soldiers is way too small. You can’t handle even a single pod of enemies properly, let alone if you accidentally trigger a second one. The GTS also gives you access to extra XP gain, which lets your soldiers level up faster.
I wasted my first month building a power relay instead, and I struggled for weeks because I only had 4 guys on every mission. Don’t do that. Build GTS first, everything else can wait.
2. Use a Phantom Ranger to Scout
Never, ever move your entire squad forward together. That’s the easiest way to accidentally trigger half the map’s enemies at once. Instead, bring a Ranger with the Phantom ability, and send them ahead alone to scout.
Phantom lets your Ranger stay concealed even after moving, so they can sneak right up to enemy pods and see exactly where they are, without being spotted. That way, you know exactly where the enemies are before you bring the rest of your squad in. No more surprises, no more accidentally pulling three pods at once.
This single tip saved my last Ironman run. I used my scout ranger to map out the entire map before we even started fighting, and I never got ambushed again.
3. Fight One Pod At A Time
This is the golden rule of Ironman mode. No matter how strong you think you are, never fight more than one group of enemies at the same time.
I know, it’s tempting to run in and kill two groups at once to save time. But the RNG in this game is brutal. If you miss a few shots, and both groups of enemies get to attack you back, you can lose half your squad in one turn. And in Ironman, you can’t reload to fix it.
Take it slow. Kill one pod completely, then move on to the next one. It’s slower, but it’s safe. And safe is how you win Ironman.
4. Flashbangs and Mimic Beacons Are Your Best Friends
Stop saving your items for “later”. Use them! Especially flashbangs and mimic beacons. These two items will save your life more times than you can count.
Flashbangs stun enemies, and they stop them from using their special abilities. Got a Sectoid that’s about to mind control your best soldier? Flashbang him. Got a Berserker that’s about to charge your squad? Flashbang him. They’re cheap, they’re available from the start, and they turn a deadly enemy into a harmless punching bag for a turn.
Mimic beacons are even more broken. Throw one down, and the enemies will all attack the hologram decoy instead of your soldiers. If you mess up and trigger two pods? Throw a mimic beacon. If your soldier is about to get swarmed? Throw a mimic beacon. I’ve won entire missions just by spamming mimic beacons when things went wrong.
5. 90% Hit Chance Is NOT 100%
I can’t stress this enough. Just because the game says you have a 90% chance to hit, that does NOT mean you will hit. I’ve had a 95% sniper shot miss on the final turn of a mission, and that miss got my best soldier killed. That’s Ironman RNG for you.
Always plan for the worst case. If your shot misses, what happens? Can your soldier survive the counterattack? Can the rest of your squad clean up the mess? Never bet everything on a single 90% shot. Always have a backup plan.
6. Never Stand Too Close Together
I see new players do this all the time. They bunch all their soldiers up together, right next to each other, because they think it’s easier to support each other. Big mistake.
Enemies love this. They’ll throw a grenade at your bunch, and it will hit all of your soldiers at once. Or they’ll use an AoE spell, and wipe half your squad in one hit. I lost three soldiers on my first run because I had them all standing close together, and an ADVENT grenadier threw a grenade right at them.
Spread your soldiers out. At least two tiles apart, minimum. That way, if an enemy throws an AoE, it only hits one of you, not all of you.
7. Rooftops Are Death Traps
Rooftops look great, right? You get an aim bonus, you can see the whole map, what’s not to love? Well, they can explode.
I put my sniper up on a rooftop once, thinking he’d be safe up there. Then an ADVENT enemy threw a grenade at him. The grenade blew up the floor of the rooftop, and my sniper fell three floors to his death. Just like that. One second he was my best sniper, the next he was gone.
Never put your soldiers on rooftops unless you’re 100% sure there’s no enemy that can blow up the floor under them. And even then, think twice. It’s not worth the risk.
8. Don’t Be Afraid To Evac Mid-Mission
If things go wrong, you can evac. You don’t have to finish the mission. I know, it feels like quitting, but losing your best soldiers is way worse than failing a mission.
I had a mission once where I accidentally triggered three pods, and my squad was getting wrecked. I tried to tough it out, and I lost three of my highest-ranked soldiers. Those guys were irreplaceable, and that mistake cost me the entire campaign.
If you’re in over your head? Call the evac. Get your soldiers out. You can always come back and do the mission later. Your soldiers are way more important than any mission reward.
9. Don’t Rush To Master Classes
Those fancy Master classes look cool, right? Gremory, Dark Knight, War Master? Don’t rush to get them on your first Ironman run.
They require level 30 soldiers and multiple A-rank skills, which takes forever to get. And by the time you get them, the game is almost over anyway. The regular Advanced classes are more than strong enough to beat the entire game.
Just stick to the simple ones: Grenadier, Specialist, Ranger, Sharpshooter. They work, they’re easy to unlock, and you don’t have to waste weeks training weird cross-class skills to get them. Save the fancy hybrid builds for your New Game+ run.
10. Keep Training New Recruits
It’s easy to get complacent when you have an elite squad of badasses that can clear any mission. But things go wrong in XCOM. One bad pod pull, one bad RNG roll, and half your elite squad can be dead.
If that happens, and you haven’t been training new recruits? You’re screwed. You’ll be stuck with a bunch of rookies that can’t hit the broad side of a barn, and you won’t be able to recover.
Always keep cycling new recruits into your missions. Train them up, level them up, so if your A-team gets wiped, you have a B-team ready to go. I learned this the hard way, when I lost all my elite soldiers and had nothing to replace them with.
Final Thoughts
Ironman mode is tough, but it’s also the most fun way to play XCOM 2. There’s nothing like the tension of knowing that one wrong move can end your entire campaign. But if you take it slow, play it safe, and follow these tips, you’ll be fine.
I spent three failed runs before I finally beat Commander Ironman, and most of those failures were because I was being too greedy, too impatient, and trying to do too much too fast. Once I slowed down, and started playing safe, everything just clicked.
You don’t need any fancy meta builds or broken exploits. Just stick to these simple tips, and you’ll beat the campaign before you know it.