BlueStacks' Beginners Guide to Playing XCOM Legends
XCOM Legends emphasizes the use of strategic elements that can prove to be confusing for most beginners when trying to get into the game. Learning how every element works can take a while if you’re doing it by yourself, but once you read up on this beginner’s guide, you’ll be all set and ready to go. Let’s take a look at some of the most critical parts that players need to learn about the game and some useful strategies that you can learn about when interacting with them.
The most difficult part about playing XCOM Legends is probably trying to learn the fundamentals of the game. Once you understand how the game works, everything will be easy to understand to the point that you’ll be able to progress in the game smoother compared to a beginner trying to learn the ropes. Here are the things that you definitely need to learn about or expand your knowledge on so that you can get the start that you deserve when playing.
Collecting Characters
The most prominent feature in XCOM Legends is the fact that players need to collect characters that they’ll need to use in fighting against enemies. Players can summon characters in the gacha system or collect some as rewards for finishing missions and story quests. There’s no doubt that it’s important for players to collect characters, especially duplicate copies of characters they already own, so that they can rank those characters up through fusions which will open up bonuses for the unit.
There are different currencies that players can use to summon characters but the most common one that players will be able to collect is Elerium, which is the game’s premium currency but is attainable for free when completing missions or claiming them at the shop. It’s a good idea to save this resource so that you’ll be able to spend them on characters instead of wasting them on stuff like skipping the upgrade duration on something you’re researching in the game.
Unit Roles and Types
Once you’ve collected a lot of units, your biggest problem will be creating a balanced team. Just putting in the strongest units with the highest damage coverage might be a good strategy in PvE, but in the Shadow Arena, having tanks, healers, and damage dealers is important when creating the perfect team. Players will also need to keep in mind type advantage/disadvantage so just playing a single type of unit might not be the best strategy if you want to win more of your matches.
Roles refer to a unit’s duty in a team. Tanks are defensive units that protect the entire team by taking the brunt of the enemy’s hits. Healers are units that focus their resources in trying to keep the team, especially the tank, alive as long as they can. Damage dealers are your standard units that deal a large amount of damage to a single enemy or a group. In terms of unit types, it’s an attribute that determines what the unit is strong or weak against when dealing or taking damage.
Items and Gear
Items play a big part in XCOM Legends since they are the biggest source of stats for characters in the game. Items and gear are randomly acquired when finishing missions or through the Idle Chests. Characters can equip a certain number of items, depending on their rank in the game. Each item also comes from a certain gear set. Completing the required number of items equipped on the character from a single set will provide a huge passive bonus to the character.
The most important piece of equipment that players will need are artifacts, which can be acquired randomly when players summon characters. Each character can equip a certain type of artifact that’s created specifically for their class so even if you summon a lot of artifacts, that doesn’t mean your team will be stronger. Each artifact also contains a specific passive ability that might or might not be perfect for the type of team you’re trying to run.
PvE Game Modes
One of the places where players can get a boatload of rewards is from the PvE game modes, which are the Campaign and Special Operations. The campaign is basically the main story mode where players will get to know about the game’s lore and progress to solve the problems that occur in the world. Completing parts of the campaign will yield rewards and also unlock certain game features. That in mind, it’s a good idea to try to finish Chapter 1 of the campaign as soon as possible.
The Special Operations game mode is a daily challenge that players can attempt for a limited number of times each day. Once a player finishes a special op, the next level will become available to them and is carried over the following day. Completing a certain number of Special Ops stages will yield rewards. It is important to complete your daily special ops stages because the currency that players acquire here are used in upgrading research materials in the game.
The Shadow Arena
The Shadow Arena is the most appealing feature of any game. This is basically the PvP game mode where players can challenge other player’s teams in battles to increase their rank. Keep in mind that enemy player’s units are controlled by an AI, so the attacking player will always have the advantage in terms of command inputs. However, players might still want to consider the gap between their team and the opponent because stats play a big part in this game mode.
The Shadow Arena is a place where players can collect points so that they can rank up until you reach the number 1 spot. A player’s rank will reset once the Season ends, to which everyone will start climbing from the bottom once again, so even new players will have the chance to compete with players who started way before them. Depending on how high the player climbs in the ranked ladder, the game will reward the player with goodies that will help their account progress.
