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So i'm doing a retaliation mission and my colonel reaper(elena dragunova) is mind controlled by the warlock. the problem is he is immune to flashbangs. Also waiting 4 turns for the mind control to be over is not an option since the dumb resistance soldiers keep shooting her just like they would shoot a regular enemy. i alt-f4'd the game(ironman/legend) which i am not proud of. i do have the frost bomb but i don't think freezing the warlock or elena is going to help me. the worst thing is she is not going to bleed out since technically she is an enemy(i'm assuming this).

How do i save my reaper? :(

EDIT: I have no psi operatives, all remaining 5 soldiers have plasma,beam weapons and of rank major with bladestorm and untouchable abilities. No mind shields, no grenades. 3 berserkers, 2 mutons,2 codexes,a chrysallid producing thing, a faceless, warlock with 50hp and 7 armor.

On a More Important Note: The Objective here is to keep her from dying, everything(and i do mean everything) else is secondary.

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    Killing the mind-controlling enemy releases the mind-controlled soldier... but, in this case, that's probably not helpful advice: if you could kill the Warlock in one turn, you'd do so anyway...
    – Ghotir
    Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 15:20
  • @Ghotir i would kill him if he didn't have 7 armor and 60hp also if i didn't activate 3 pods at the same time. :(
    – Can'tCode
    Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 15:32
  • Psi-units with the skill 'solace' will cancel mind control when they walk within range of the allied unit. Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 15:55
  • If you want to ask about your exact scenario, we'll need the full details of your game. If the question is as it looks in the title, this is just asking for a list of ways to stop mind control. Which is it? Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 16:01
  • @StephenLeppik I miss read the last part, I thought it was an in game objective to keep Elena alive and I didn't remember that objective being a thing on any retaliation missions
    – l I
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 11:53

3 Answers 3

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If keeping the Reaper alive is your only priority, then simply EVAC the remaining soldiers as quickly as you can. This will fail the mission, costing you that Resistance contact… but Elena will live. Given the situation you described, the mission is probably a lost cause anyway.

If you have one soldier left that is MC'd by the Warlock, then the mission will immediately fail with them being Captured. I know this from when I was doing the Codex Brain Coordinates mission with a single soldier. I'm not sure if this stays the same for retaliation strikes, but the objectives are fairly similar so you should be good.

After the mission, you can locate them through the Resistance Ring (with L2 bondmates if possible) as soon as your current covert action is finished, and then mount a rescue.

This has the following additional side effects; I really don't believe in a true "nothing else matters" scenario unless you have an Instant-Win Condition or are faced with a game over if you fail:

  • The Warlock may gain some additional knowledge on XCOM's operations.
  • You might need to do a mission or two without her. But, you should be used to this.
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  • Nice. I think this answer is in fact the only way to keep the soldier alive given that she does not have a level 2 bondmate, there are no psi units, and killing the warlock is not possible. Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 7:07
  • good outside the box thinking
    – l I
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 12:35
  • @lI an almost "nothing else matters" still opens lots of options.
    – Nissa
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 14:41
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If she happens to have a bondmate that is at the rank 2 bond (or higher) on the mission, you can move him/her next to Elena to cleanse the effect.

Other than that, there is no way of removing the mind control short of killing the chosen or killing the resistance soldiers and waiting for it to wear off.

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  • umm, are you sure about this? i think this only works on things like disoriented or panicked.
    – Can'tCode
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 15:59
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    @KalyanamKiran I can confirm bondmate level 2 removes MC. Just tried it in game and succeeded.
    – l I
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 16:39
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I think this isn't as well known, but using the Frost Bomb (note to others, this comes with the Alien Hunters DLC) on the Warlock will remove mind control on your soldier.

Vigaroe reports this in his well-researched blog on XCOM. I can further attest that I have done this. Vigaroe says that the Frost Bomb will not remove any action points from the Warlock or other Chosen, however.

This option is available very early in the game. The OP reported that Elena was at Colonel, which implies late or possibly mid game. In the mid to late game, you should be able to alpha strike the Chosen within 1-2 turns. That is, every single person focuses fire. If someone is mind controlled and no other enemies are on the map, then strongly consider running to a flank shot or even to point-blank range, abandoning cover if necessary. Obviously you will need to exploit the Chosen's weaknesses. Using the psi operative ability Stasis will shield the soldier for one turn. On other enemies, it should break mind control, but the Warlock's mind control is not affected, per Vigaroe.

If you are at the very beginning of the game and the Warlock is your initial Chosen, the best move is likely to be just avoiding the mind controlled soldier. In Retaliation missions with resistance soldiers active, this could get your soldier shot at.

On Legendary difficulty, where supplies are not a critical shortage and alien corpses are very abundant, I tend to build mind shields for everyone. Building them for just your close combat soldiers, i.e. Templars and Rangers, is probably sufficient. If your Reaper got mind controlled, then, without intending to pile on and blame the victim, consider reviewing your tactics to see if you could have avoided that event. Reapers should be in stealth almost all the time. The skill Silent Killer isn't adequately described in game - if they land only kill shots, they are guaranteed to stay in stealth. I argue this skill is mandatory. If the Warlock was weak to Reapers, then you would contribute by using the Claymore and perhaps Sting (that skill allows one shot which is guaranteed not to break concealment). At lower levels, I do tend to have my Reapers abandon stealth at the end of the engagement, treating them like a sniper with a weaker gun.


The accepted answer mentions that captured soldiers can be rescued. This is not guaranteed to be true in the base game. The game may or may not offer you the rescue mission. If you play the Lost and Abandoned tutorial, you are guaranteed a mission to rescue Mox. This is the only exception. Or you can install the mod Always Recruit and Rescue. Many people play with mods. Anyway, in the base game, if you lost your Reaper, you should shortly get the option to recruit a new one from the Reapers.

A mod that indirectly helps is A Better Militia. This reworks the militia. It nerfs their gun damage and I think it lowers their aim stat. However, it also gives them the ability to use flashbangs, suppression, and overwatch. In fact, militia soldiers tend to prefer these abilities to shooting. They will soften the enemy up. But you will have to finish the enemy off - the author reports that this was their intent. In this case, your mind controlled soldier would be less likely to be shot at, and would take less damage per hit. I haven't been in the author's situation, but it's likely that she would maybe draw one actual shot per turn, with low probability to hit. She might also draw overwatch fire, which comes with a hit penalty.

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    Alternatively, anything with area of effect that stuns or disorients probably does the trick too, temporarily. As in use it on the militia NPCs. Or just kill the milita NPCs - depending on mission type, this usually only comes with minor drawbacks such as lower rewards.
    – Amarth
    Commented Feb 20 at 17:03
  • @Amarth That's worth thinking about.
    – Weiwen Ng
    Commented Feb 20 at 19:36

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