XCOM 2 is, for sure, one of the best turn-based strategy games, but it’s also pretty divisive. Even some of its biggest fans (like me) think that several major things about its gameplay could stand to be significantly improved. With a fairly steep learning curve and truly unforgiving late-game missions, it’s not a game for everyone.
Unless you mod the crap out of it.
XCOM 2 has a healthy and active modding community; as of right now, there are over 5,000 free mods available through the Steam Workshop. Whether you want to overhaul the game entirely and turn it into an RPG, make it way harder (but also more interesting), or just download some new guns and soldiers, there’s something for everyone.
So, let’s dig into the best XCOM 2 mods we can recommend.
#1 Long War 2
If you’re aware that mods for XCOM 2 exist, then you’ve at least heard of Long War 2, so let’s start with the biggest and most popular mod, shall we?
Long War 2 is, without doubt, the most well-known (and most polarizing) XCOM 2 mod out there. It completely overhauls almost every aspect of combat, adds new classes and abilities, introduces all-new infiltration mechanics, adds a bunch of weapons, greatly expands the Avenger, and makes the campaign roughly ten times longer.
The creators of Long War 2 have said that one of their main reasons for making the mod stemmed from their belief that the campaign is too short; by the time you finally get comfortable with the mechanics and start getting attached to your soldiers, the game is over.
Combat in Long War 2 is extremely lethal, and if you just barrel head-first into a mission, you will find yourself hopelessly outnumbered every single time. That’s where infiltration missions come in—you can send a pair or a small squad of soldiers into an area before attempting a mission there, and over time, they’ll reduce the enemy numbers and awareness to manageable levels (or they might get themselves killed, that’s always a risk).
As its name suggests, Long War 2 is all about the long game. You absolutely must plan far ahead, try to account for every possible variable, and train up at least a half-dozen squads of high-level experts to have any chance of success. If you’ve always wanted to take a slower approach to XCOM 2 and savor its rich tactical flavors over a single winner-take-all campaign that could very well span hundreds of hours, this is the mod for you.
#2 Use My Class
By default, you have no control over any of your soldiers’ career paths—you just have to hope that your rookies randomly evolve into the class you want when they level up. Use My Class is a simple mod that allows you to pre-select an eventual permanent class for your rookies, guaranteeing that they’ll faithfully live out your plans for them once they’ve earned enough experience.
In case you were wondering, Use My Class is compatible with Long War 2 and can be used with any of the new classes from that mod.
#3 Mass Effect N7 Weapon Pack
One of the hardest parts of XCOM 2 is the very beginning when you have to scrape by for several hours with some of the crappiest weapons imaginable. Magnetic weapons are your first real upgrade, but they’re not that much of an upgrade, and it takes a fair chunk of time and many resources to unlock and build the significantly better plasma weapons.
The Mass Effect N7 Weapons Pack contains a handful of guns that are just powerful enough to make the game’s early hours more tolerable, but not so strong as to be overpowered. The basic versions of them are available in unlimited quantities and can be equipped on all of your soldiers right after the tutorial mission. Plus, once you unlock magnetic and plasma weapons, you’ll gain access to the cooler-looking N7 variants of those weapons, too.
#4 Bio Division 2.0
There’s a decent variety of enemy types in XCOM 2, but variety is one thing you can’t have too much of, right? Bio Division 2.0 is a (mostly) complete collection of about a dozen individual mods that add poison-themed variants of almost every enemy in the game.
The basic bio troopers, for instance, carry gas and acid grenades and are immune to both. Some of the stronger bio enemies are truly nasty—they can do things like constantly regenerate health or hit large areas of the battlefield with nasty status effects. Some even have unique autopsies that enable you to research and craft powerful new gear.
#5 A Better Chosen
If you’ve ever felt like some of the new enemies in the War of the Chosen expansion are slightly lame, you’re not alone. This mod overhauls all of them—the Warlock in particular—to make them more interesting (and more terrifying) without making them so strong as to be excessively frustrating.
The Chosen units will now try to kidnap your soldiers much more frequently, and most of them have been given several new minor abilities to use while their nastier skills are on cooldown. The Warlock can temporarily jam your weapons, while the Hunter can target well-positioned XCOM soldiers and force them to move to strategically weaker locations. Defeating the revamped Chosen units in combat will require you to study them carefully and position your soldiers with meticulous care.
#6 Dedicated Pistol Slot
Sick of not being able to carry a sidearm into battle without it taking up one of your two valuable weapon slots? Me too. Most of the primary weapons in XCOM 2 are heavy, have small magazines, and are slow to reload, so it’s definitely not uncommon to find one of your soldiers being slowly flanked while both of his weapons are empty.
This simple mod allows every soldier to carry a pistol in addition to two larger weapons. As a bonus, it’s compatible with many other pistol mods, including Long War 2 Secondary Weapons, Autopistols Overhaul, and Primary Secondaries. Enjoy your expanded tactical options!
#7 Musashi’s RPG Overhaul
Have you ever wanted to multi-class your XCOM soldiers? Maybe give a rocket launcher to your medic or have your sniper learn some of those awesome Ranger stealth skills? You’re out of luck—even with Long War 2. That is unless you try Musashi’s RPG Overhaul.
This mod adds a new class (simply called “Soldier”) that has access to a total of 88 skills, most of which are taken from or based on Long War 2 skills. The difference here is that you can mix and match them any way you like. You’ll hit the level cap long before you get all of those skills (that would be ludicrously overpowered anyway), but you still have a lot of freedom to build your soldiers in almost any way you please.
As an added bonus, this mod is theoretically compatible with many others, including Long War 2, because it simply adds its own new class with its own skill trees. All other classes, whether from the base game or other mods, should work just fine.
#8 SuperSoldiers
Have you beaten XCOM 2 three times already? Do you think you’ve paid your dues and earned the right to carve a path of utterly one-sided destruction through Advent troops with ridiculously broken characters? Then the SuperSoldiers mod is for you.
This mod lets you create ultra-strong characters from one of six templates, including Halo’s Master Chief and Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard. All of them have tremendous advantages in combat, but also have significant drawbacks and upkeep costs.
For example, the Ghost Operative is virtually undetectable and deals tremendous damage while cloaked, but can’t carry much ammo and is a sitting duck in open combat. Cyborgs are my other favorite—they’re hard-hitting, durable melee units that can vaporize almost any enemy, but they’re highly dependent on batteries that run out quickly.
Final Words
There you have it! Which of our 8 best XCOM 2 mods sound the most fun to you? (You can even use all of them at once—probably. We’re about 90% sure they’re all compatible with one another.) There are thousands of XCOM 2 mods on the Steam Workshop, and we’ve only tried a fraction of them, so tell us about some of your other favorites in the comments!
Tip: Some mods increase a game’s hardware requirements. If you wish to install a huge number of XCOM 2 mods, make sure to have a $600 gaming PC or a similar rig.
If you’re looking for a different game with similar RPG elements, make sure to check out our list of the best role-playing games of all time.
If you just love modding, here are our other lists of remarkable mods to sift through: