Blitz/Squad Blitz: Soldier/Squad gains 1 free use of 'Run And Gun' ability.
Possible Rewards (1 of the following pairs):
Override: Soldier gains complete immunity from the next 2 attacks.
Facility Lead: Recover a lead on an Alien Facility.
Distraction: Squad recovers all action points already spent this turn.
Disorient: Disorient enemies for 2 turns.
Deception: Gain control of a random enemy for 2 turns.
Central Command: Gain control of all robotic enemies for 1 turn.
If a map has multiple towers, they will all have the same rewards/penalties but individual Tech scores, thus different success/failure rates.
Success does not break pre-mission concealment.
Hacking them only cost one action and is not turn-ending. Security Towers are fixed rotating structures emitting red light that can be found on many maps.
Lasts 2 ( ADVENT Heavy MEC) to 3 ( ADVENT MEC) turns.
Abilities which deal extra damage to robotic enemies do not apply that damage to hacked units.
Ends early if the affected unit is put into stasis (eg: by enemy Priests).
Controlled enemy units can not be used to collect loot.
However, this does not apply to Turrets, which may be fired immediately.
As a consequence, it will have wait 1 turn before it can act.
A unit that has been taken over by a Specialist will have no moves available in the turn of takeover.
However, if the controlled unit is visible to other enemies it will trigger detection.
Successfully taking control will itself not break concealment.
Abilities which stun units will cause shut down on robotic enemies instead.
Successful shutdown of a unit in a pod of enemies does not trigger that pod.
The Codex and Gatekeeper are only vulnerable to some robotic damage effects.
Sectopod, Andromedon Shell (2nd stage) not Andromedon (1st stage).
ADVENT MEC, Heavy MEC, Turret, Heavy Turret, Superheavy Turret.
Targets vulnerable to hacking attempts and increased damage effects include:
Attempting to hack a frozen unit (possibly stunned also) will have no effect.
Hacking a unit does not remove its Overwatch.
Hacking a unit ends the Specialist's turn, regardless of the result.
Failed hacking attempts will grant the unit a 'Supercharge' buff (increased Aim and Defense).
Successful hacks will not break concealment.
Haywire Protocol is turn-ending, regardless of success or failure. The Hack ability has a 1 turn cooldown, while Haywire Protocol's is 4 turns.Ī Specialist with the Haywire Protocol ability may attempt to shut down (stun/disable) a mechanized unit or take control of it entirely. Reapers and SPARKS will never exceed skills of 45 and 30 naturally, and although Reapers become invisible to Security Towers, neither is particulary effective. Specialists are able to increase their Hacking skill with each passing rank, eventually exceeding 150 with the appropriate upgrades, and their skill set contains multiple options for disposing of mechanized threats. The Hack ability (with Remote Hacking) allows an XCOM Specialist to not only hack primary mission objectives, such as workstations, chests, doors and ADVENT Security Towers remotely, but a variety of additional mechanized units like ADVENT MECs and Turrets using the Haywire Protocol ability. However, not all three are equal to the task. Notably, only the Specialist, SPARK and Reaper may perform hacking attempts of ADVENT Security Towers. Any soldier class in XCOM 2 and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen can hack mission objectives.