Beginner's Guide to Xenoplague Hero Skills and Synergies

In this week’s video, I breakdown each of the 4 Xenoplague Hero Skills, and analyse how well each of the 6 races synergize with the secret tech.

Overview

So I just found out about this section on steam a few days ago, and I have over 15 beginner's guides on my youtube channel that you may find helpful, which I have been posting at a rate of 1 video per week.

I just posted my Beginner's Guide to Xenoplague Hero Skills in Age of Wonders: Planetfall on youtube:

In this week’s video, I breakdown each of the 4 Xenoplague Hero Skills, and analyse how well each of the races synergize with the secret tech.

BIG SHOUT OUT TO THOSE WHO ARE ACTIVE ON THE FORUMS AND REDDIT. I LOOKED AT NUMEROUS THREADS TO RESEARCH THE CONTENT FOR THIS POST AND THIS VIDEO.

I expect that the 2 expansions planned in 2020 will introduce new combinations with the Xenoplague class, but I did want to cover the synergies that exist between the Xenoplague class and the races that are currently in the game.

The Hero Skills

Rapid Movements - costs 2 skill points - gives +5% evasion per hex traveled (really good)

Parasitic Spray - costs 3 skill points - requires lvl 4 - can stun an enemy for 1 round while also spreading xeno infection. Great if your amassing xenoplague units.

Spore Feeding - costs 4 skill points - requires lvl 6 - when a unit under the control of this hero kills an enemy within 3 hexes, then they heal 15 hp.

Regenerative Spore Cloud - costs 6 skill points - requires lvl 8 - heals hero and adjacent biological units 8 hp per turn.

General Synergies

The Xenoplague secret tech pairs well with biological and/or cyborg armies, and does not pair well with Psi-fish and the Autonoms, or the Forgotten NPC factions.

Recommended Backgrounds: Decadent + Xenoplague Close Quarters Equipment (creates tanky melee commander, who spreads parasitic infections) + Star Union Scholar (to get plague pods as quickly as possible)

Xenoplague Units

Pustule - 40hp 1a1s - This unit has a repeating melee attack, and comes with skitter and small target (making it really hard to hit). Prime rank gives the unit ability: Evasive.

Bloated Pustule - 25hp 0a0s - This unit blows up when killed. Only attack self destructs. prime rank cannot be achieved (Reinforcements don’t get experience)

Destroyer - 45hp 2a1s - This unit has a repeating melee attack, which heals 25 hp when it kills a unit. and its ranged attack is a single attack, which melts armor. Prime rank gives the unit ability: Evasive

Plague Lords - 65 hp 4a1s - This unit has three attacks: One repeating range, one single range, and a repeating melee. Can resurrect a xenoplague unit once per battle. Regenerating cloud heals this unit and adjacent biological units 8 hp per turn. Prime rank gives the unit ability: Range.

Racial Synergies

From what I can tell, all 6 races have valid strategies for this secret tech, but some are better than others.


(1) Assembly - Both the assembly race and the xenoplague tech focus heavily on melee units and health regeneration. They both also benefit a lot from taking on risky combat early and using the rewards to snowball your empire's strength. Has no Animal or Mechanical units, which means you can get the most out of plague pods as possible.

Assembly trait combo: Reassemble (heals or resurrects cyborg!) Cybernetic overdrive (refill action points on any cyborg!!) Stabilizers are nice, but not worth grabbing if you can get stag res another way i.e. piloting.


(2) Kir'ko - one of the two races with access to biochemical damage research. All units are biological units (no mechanical or animal units), and all of them can use all the xenoplague mods. The Swarm Shield mechanics pair nicely with the AoE heal provided by plague pods. Like the assembly, this faction has a lot of melee units.

Kir'ko trait combo: Shrouded step is great with a melee hero. Fury of the Swarm, gives +20% damage to the units getting swarm shield from the commander. Echo of the Swarm, units swarm shielding with the hero get an additional +1 shields with this skill. Invigorating Pheromones gives +5 hp to all biological in the army, which applied to all kir'ko and xenoplague units. Guiding Presence is amazing, and I try to take as soon as I hit level 12 with a kir'ko leader (increases effective and optimal range by 2 hex and accuracy by 25% for 2 turns for all friendly units).


(3) Amazon - Animals can’t use plague pods. They have less melee units than kir'ko and assembly. Strong animal units, with a focus on biological units.

Amazon trait combo: Visual Acuity (I always get), Renewal (30 hp heal that applies to cyborg) Animal Discipline (+5 hp) applies to all xenoplague units! Call of the Wild brings in a random animal unit on your side of the battle!!


(4) Syndicate - You can place cerebral control collars on pustules and destroyers to make them indentured. The Syndicate get a lot of energy from things like the Noble Diplomats Doctrine, and can support large armies filled full of pustules. Xenoplague also provides melee units to support he ranges units that the syndicate produce.

Syndicate trait combo: deploy cerebral control collars (mind control), shield battery (everyone gets +1 shield). Escape module heals 15 hp once per battle when the commander reaches 0 hp.


(5) Vanguard - Consists of mostly mechanical units. No animal units means you can apply plague pods on all of the vanguard units.

Vanguard trait combo: Coordinated strike (+40 easier to hit), dig in (+2 dam res)


(6) Dvar- the Dvar units are quite tanky, and therefore should get plenty of opportunities to apply parasitic infections. The Dvar have a lot of mechanical units, so they benefit less from the healing provided by this secret tech. By having no animal units, the dvar can apply plague pods on all of their units.

Dvar trait combo: Stubborn (stagger immunity), Siege Master (+2 dam res)

[KromactheRave]

Something to note about Amazon Xenoplague: the tyrannosaurus update added a stat buff to animal units while under Amazon control. Xenoplague units get this bonus.

[Nuke]

Just a quick tip for the Amazon when using xenoplauge, you can use primal control to create an army of hard hitting melee units from the local wildlife then equip them with xenografted muscles and the xenoplauge parasite so they can infect and are immune to other primal override attempts.

[DFens]

Awesome, thanks!