How can I tell if a civilian is a Faceless?

Faceless are dangerous to deal with, moreso when they are concealed as civilians. An outcome of a Dark Event is to have Faceless in missions as civilians, and it's known that even "fleeing" civilians can be Faceless. How do I detect these guys before its too late for my squad?

xcom-2

Best Answer

If a civilian is on fire, but still alive, it's a Faceless. Civilians have few enough health that they can't survive being on fire. I suspect the same is true of a civilian that's fallen from a height, but I'm not sure about that one.

Pictures about "How can I tell if a civilian is a Faceless?"

How can I tell if a civilian is a Faceless? - Crop woman with organic banana in hands standing in kitchen

How can I tell if a civilian is a Faceless? - From above of crop anonymous male unwrapping sticky tape roll on parquet near paint brushes in house

How can I tell if a civilian is a Faceless? - Woman speaking with faceless black man in park

Quick Answer about "How can I tell if a civilian is a Faceless?"

Battle Scanners (can be built after ADVENT Trooper Autopsy) deployed in range of civilians will reveal a Faceless if they are one (and will force them to transform)

Specialist ability 'Scanning Protocol' will allow you to scan an area an reveal enemies and Faceless.

XCOM 2 Tips: FacelessTactics Guide (How to Kill Faceless for Beginners)

More answers regarding how can I tell if a civilian is a Faceless?

Answer 2

IME it's generally pretty simple to tell: you don't know the difference, but the aliens do! If you see a civilian surrounded by active, heavily-armed aliens, and they haven't shot him yet despite having had plenty of turns to do so, shoot him yourself because he's one of theirs. (By "active" I mean that you've discovered a group of aliens in the area and they've done their silly "war cry and then run for cover" thing. If they have a "civilian" in their midst, he's almost certainly not a civilian.)

So far, I've never had one of the "low-hanging fruit" (the civilians that start off right by your starting point with no real chance of the aliens reaching them before you do) be a Faceless. Not sure if that's just luck or if it's deliberately set up that way, though.

Answer 3

Another strategy I use is to approach the civilian. If the civilian is a faceless it will always reveal. At least I've never seen one to not reveal upon me approaching.

Now of course this is risky business and if you are not close enough with a soldier to approach the civilian from the first move then you're in for a treat.

That's why I almost always use a ranger that has both Run&Gun and Implacable. I kill the faceless with a good shotgun and retreat :)

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Rachel Claire, SHVETS production, Anete Lusina, John Diez