Between missions in the Caestus Metalican, you can view your friendly units with 
. Make sure you come here before starting any missions to see if you have unlocked anything new that will make things easier going forwards. At the bottom of the screen are you Tech-Priests which can be upgraded and have new items equipped, whilst the top of the screen shows your Skitarii units and all you can do here is view them.
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Tech-Priests
Tech-Priests are the most important part of your team. They deal the most damage, can be upgraded for a variety of situations and they are also the only ones capable of completing objectives. Furthermore, if all Tech-Priests die on a mission then it is failed so you want to focus on keeping them alive. You start the game with only 2 but mission rewards can grant you a further 4. They are all identical and can only be differentiated on a mission by their name and small picture so try to remember who is who when sending them into combat.
When building your Tech-Priests up, choose upgrades, weapons and equipment that compliment each other. It is better to specialise your Tech-Priests for certain roles.
Discipline trees
Tech-Priests can have new skills unlocked by clicking the Discipline tree on the left. The Discipline trees are unlocked one part at a time using Blackstone, the currency in game, and every unlock grants you a bonus. Each unlock also increases that Tech-Priests rank and as their rank increases, so does the cost of Blackstone. The 1st rank is around 120 Blackstone and the 20th is around 1000. There is no level cap but it is unlikely you will have your Tech-Priests going above rank 25. Rank up your Tech-Priests evenly. If you rank one up more than others, you will find yourself struggling.
There are 7 Discipline trees that each focus on a special aspect of gameplay. Each tree will unlock 5 skills and 4 body parts, alternating. The body parts can be equipped to boost stats, however there is no bonus for only using parts of the same discipline tree so mix and match for the best results. The 5th skill in each line is quite powerful so try to have every Tech-Priest follow at least 1 line to its 5th skill. Try to mix Discipline trees that compliment each other. Plan out your Discipline trees ahead of time as these upgrades are permanent.
There are 2 achievements related to Discipline trees for completing 1 and then 2 Discipline trees on a single Tech-Priest. This will be a combined cost of around 8000 Blackstone. Whilst you should achieve this naturally in all 3 playthroughs anyway, if for some reason you have not then spend several missions saving up your Blackstone. Make a save then spend it all at once to gain these achievements. Revert the old save if you need the Blackstone elsewhere.
- Knowledge is power
Have a Tech-Priest unlock a full Discipline tree
1 guide
- One with the Machine
Unlocked two full Discipline trees with a Tech-Priest
1 guide
Explorator - Scouting and melee class designed to move across the battlefield quickly, unhindered and do serious melee damage when you reach a target. Their final skill boosts several stats if your Tech-Priest does not to have a ranged weapon equipped. The Explorator has one of the best all-round heads and best melee arms. It pairs well with Tech-Auxilium and Lexmachanic.
Secutor - Skitarii support class designed to boost their stats. Their final skill lets you drop a Skitarii anywhere during combat which is rarely helpful. The Secutor has one of the best all-round heads and best all-round arms. It pairs well with Enginseer and Dominus.
Tech-Auxilium - Tech-Priest support class designed to boost their stats. Their final skill lets you reuse a canticle which is a game changer. The Tech-Auxilium has the best all-round body. It pairs well with Explorator and Lexmechanic.
Lexmachinic - CP gathering class designed to collect CP from every possible source. Their final skill instantly fills the CP meter. The Lexmechanic has one of the best all-round arms. It pairs well with Explorator and Tech-Auxilium.
Enginseer - Healing class designed to heal units faster. Their final skill completely restores all HP to all Tech-Priests or Skitarii. It pairs well with Secutor and Xenarite.
Dominus - Ranged attacking class designed to do more damage from far away. Their final skill boosts several stats if your Tech-Priest does not have a melee weapon equipped. Note that this voids opportunity attacks. The Dominus legs are the best in game. It pairs well with Secutor and Xenarite.
Xenarite - Mixed healing and attacking class which feels more like leftover skills. Their final skill automatically revives the Tech-Priest if they die, once per mission. This does not work in Permadeath. The Xenarite has one of the best all-round heads, the best body and for health. It pairs well with Enginseer and Dominus.
The following skills are universally good and could be applied to every Tech-Priest regardless of their role: Explorator 3-Escape, Tech-Auxilium 1- Cognition Freedom, Dominus 3-Attack Protocol, Xenarite 1-Zealous Metals.
Augmentations
Each Tech-Priest has a series of Augmentation slots available on their body for items, weapons and various bonuses to be applied. Each has 1 head, body, arms and legs slot which you can fill with the parts you unlock on your Discipline trees. Each also has 1 melee weapon and 2 ranged weapon slots. There are also 2 Support and 2 Weapon-Support slots, however these weapon spaces are not true weapons. Each Augmentation equipped takes up space. To see how much space you have equipped, look at the top left corner of your Tech-Priests view screen just below their rank. You will see several rows of spanner symbols. Each green symbol is space that is taken whilst white symbols means there are free space. When hovering over augmentations, they will indicate in the bottom how much space they require. All 4 body parts will only require 1 space but all other equipment will require more space, the better it is. To gain more space, increase your Tech-Priests rank. A Tech-Priest rank 25 will have enough space to carry the most powerful kit in all slots. Until you get to that point, prioritise filling all slots with low level kit instead of just 1 or 2 high level items. When you start off with only a few spaces prioritise yourself the following items in this order: Power Axe, Phosphor Blast Pistol, Macrostubber, Curatio Mechadendrite.
Weapons
Weapons will be unlocked as mission rewards and occasionally be found as a result of certain Glyphs and Events. There are 31 in the game and rather than explain them all, I'll tell you the ones you should aim to equip.
Power axe - There are several melee weapons in the game but this is the most powerful and will always be unlocked immediately. Equip it to every member of your team in every playthrough, except your full Dominus Tech-Priests. Note, the melee weapons are different to ranged weapons as each one has 3 tiers. Each tier deals more damage but costs more augmentation space. As you unlock later tiers, use them instead of the base model if you can fit them.
Phosphor Blast Pistol - This low damage energy pistol is unlocked immediately and will be a staple of your team. It costs no CP and reveals enemy stats so use for scouting and hitting low health enemies. Equip to every member of the team when starting off, only trading out when you are comfortable that you can afford to use CP costing attacks more frequently.
Phosphor Serpenta - Upgraded version of the Blast Pistol above. It deals more damage but costs 2 CP. Found early game.
Heavy Phosphor Blaster - Same stats as the Serpenta above but it has a wide cone area of effect and costs 4 CP. Equip it to a Dominus to rain death on hoards of enemies but be wary as the AoE can friendly fire. Found late game.
Macrostubber - This low damage physical pistol is unlocked immediately and costs 1 CP. A useful tool to start the game off but can be replaced easily later on.
Torsion Cannon and Heavy Grav Cannon - This blackhole generator will hit one enemy at long range then create a circular area of effect hitting with medium energy damage at the cost of 5 CP. It's a situational weapon but equip it to a Dominus and you'll be sure to make the most out of it every now and then. Don't let friendly get caught in its area of effect. Found late game.
Cognis Flamer - This cone area of effect physical weapon not only does decent damage but also leaves a burning effect doing extra damage over a few turns. It only costs 2 CP to use but be wary of its area of effect that can hit friendly units too. Found early game.
Arc Scourge - This melee weapon actually goes in a ranged weapon slot. It costs 3 CP to use but upon hitting its first target with energy damage, it then hits nearby enemy units in an area of effect attack. Unlike all other weapons in the game, this will not hit friendly units within its area of effect. Essential to equip this extra melee weapon to all Tech-Priests in your melee only playthrough and any full Explorators in all other runs.
Support
Support items are always equipped on your Tech-Priest's backpack. All support items have 3 tiers, the 1st tier being unlocked early on and only taking 1 augmentation space and the later tiers being unlocked later on and taking more space but providing more of a benefit. Not all of these are useful but some are must-haves.
Omnispex - Make enemy attacks likely to miss this Tech-Priest for 1 round. Higher tiers increase likelihood of missing. Costs 1 CP. Do not use.
Spot light - Boost this Tech-Priest's armour for 1 round and force nearby Necrons to target them. Higher tiers increase armour boost and range of Necron attraction. Costs 1 CP. Do not use.
Curatio Claw - Heal self or another friendly unit nearby. Higher tiers increase healing rate. Costs 1 CP. Heals more for Enginseer. Equip to your Enginseer and only use on heavily damaged units.
Noise Reducer - Reveal enemy stats in an area. Higher tiers increase area. Equip to 1-2 in your team and use straight away instead of wasting Servo-Skulls.
Cognitive Canister - Boost Skitarii damage. High tiers increase damage boost. Costs 1 CP. Do not use.
Scanner - Gather CP from a target such as a CP station or downed enemy at range. Tier 2 increases CP gained, tier 3 increases range. Equip 1 early game if you find yourself short on CP much but later this will be unnecessary thanks to the Lexmechanic.
Sanctus Canister - Boost a Tech-Priest stats until their next attack. Tier 2 increases stats, tier 3 increase on all Tech-Priests. Costs 1-3 CP. Equip to your Tech-Auxilium but use only when necessary.
Power Field Generator - Boost physical attacks for 1 round. Higher tiers increase the attack boost. Costs 1-3 CP. Reduced CP cost for Explorator. Equip to your heavy hitting Dominus and/or Explorator.
Energeia Enhancer - Boost energy attacks for 1 round. Higher tiers increase the attack boost. Costs 1-3 CP. Reduced CP cost for Dominus. Equip to your heavy hitting Dominus. Consider giving 1 out in your melee only playthrough to help boost the Arc Scourge.
Refractor Field Generator - Shields damage for 1 round in an area. Higher tiers increase the damage shielded. Costs 1 CP. Reduced cooldown and greater shield for Tech-Auxilium. Equip 1-2 to your Tech-Auxilium and use them amongst your units to protect as many as possible between turns.
Cog Occularis - Makes units untargetable (see previous section) and increases likelihood of a critical hit on their first action. Higher tiers increases likelihood of critical hit.
Weapon-Support
Weapon-Support don't belong in either category as the game itself will use the names interchangeably. They are always equipped on your Tech-Priest's upper robotic limbs. They have 3 tiers and act similarly to other Support items.
Infestus Mechadendrite - Low damage physical melee attack which also knocks enemies back. Terminals, turrets, shield generators and enemies that take up 2x2 space cannot be knocked back. Higher tiers increase damage. Equip to Dominus to stop them getting melee trapped. Consider equipping to others as this free attack costs no CP and is useful in many situations.
Cognition Mechadendrite - Take 1 CP from a targetable unit within melee range. Units hit cannot have CP stolen from again. Higher tiers take more CP. Equip to Lexmechanic to harvest even more CP.
Curatio Mechandendrite - Heal self or another friendly unit nearby. Higher tiers increase healing rate. Equip to most, if not all, Tech-Priests. The Claw version of this heals more but as this does not cost CP, it is more versatile. Use all the time, even if you just take a little damage. Healthy Tech-Priests are happy Tech-Priests.
Xenarite Mechandendrite - Low damage physical melee attack which also applies acid damage over several turns. Higher tiers deal more damage. Costs 1-3 CP. Do not use.
Suggested Build 1 (normal playthroughs)
Tech-Priest 1 - Scout - Explorator x Lexmechanic - Power Axe, Phosphor Serpenta, Macrostubber, Noise Reducer, Power Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Cognition Mechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 2 - Light Sniper - Dominus x Secutor - Heavy Phosphor Blaster, Macrostubber, Energeia Enhancer, Cog Occularis, Curatio Mechadendrite, Infestus Mechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 3 - Healer - Xenarite x Enginseer - Power Axe, Phosphor Blast Pistol, Cognis Flamer, Curatio Claw, Refractor Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Infestus Mechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 4 - Support - Tech-Auxilium x Lexmechanic - Power Axe, Phosphor Serpenta, Macrostubber, Sanctus Canister, Refractor Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Cognition Mechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 5 - Melee - Explorator x Xenarite - Power Axe, Arc Scourge, Energeia Enhancer, Power Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Xenarite Mechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 6 - Heavy Sniper - Dominus x Xenarite - Torsion Cannon, Cognis Flamer, Energeia Enhancer, Power Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Infestus Mechadendrite.
Suggested Build 2 (melee playthrough)
Tech-Priest 1 - Explorator x Lexmechanic - Power Axe, Arc Scourge, Noise Reducer, Power Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Cognition Mechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 2 - Explorator x Dominus - Power Axe, Arc Scourge, Energeia Enhancer, Power Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Xenarite/InfestusMechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 3 - Explorator x Xenarite - Power Axe, Arc Scourge, Energeia Enhancer, Power Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Xenarite/InfestusMechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 4 - Explorator x Tech-Auxilium - Power Axe, Arc Scourge, Sanctus Canister, Refractor Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Xenarite/InfestusMechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 5 - Explorator x Enginseer - Power Axe, Arc Scourge, Curatio Claw, Refractor Field Generator, Curatio Mechadendrite, Xenarite/InfestusMechadendrite.
Tech-Priest 6 - Explorator x Secutor - Power Axe, Arc Scourge, Cognitive Canister, Sanctus Canister, Curatio Mechadendrite, Xenarite/Infestus Mechadendrite.
Skitarii
The Skitarii are your supporting forces that aid your Tech-Priests in their missions. At first glance you will notice that they have worse all-round stats, they cannot interact with objectives or be upgraded in the way that Tech-Priests can. You will also notice you have an infinite number of them, even on Permadeath, so can send several of the same Skitarii into battle and use them all again next mission. They are cannon fodder. Their main role will be distracting the enemy and performing a few side effects like gaining CP, revealing stats, mopping up downed corpses and occasionally doing a little bit of damage here and there. You start with a basic Skitarri unit, the Servitor, which is free to use in missions and will be your bread and butter each mission. Even if you find you don't like the Skitarii, fill all empty spaces in your roster with these before each mission because you never know when they might be useful. Other Skitarii will cost Blackstone with each unit used in a mission and you are only refunded that Blackstone if the unit comes home alive, less if they returned wounded. So read the below descriptions before choosing your new expensive Skitarii because it might not be worth it. Skitarii also cost CP to summon in missions and can only be summoned between turns so plan where you are placing them, when you are placing them and whether you're better off waiting if you're low on CP.
Starting the game, only the Servitors will be unlocked. You unlock more Skitarii and upgrades for all of your Skitarii as mission rewards. Each Skitarii has 2 upgrades which usually increases their damage, health and unlocks 1-2 new skills. There is an achievement for unlocking each of the Skitarii units. Unfortunately the game has randomised mission rewards so I cannot tell you exactly which missions will give you which Skitarii. Also if you fail certain missions or run out of time to complete further missions, it is possible to miss out on some rewards so there is a small chance of missing unlocking these Skitarii and therefore the achievements. This is one of the reasons I recommend rushing missions so you have more time to find future Skitarii. If you do not have all Skitarii unlocked in your first playthrough, keep an eye out for them in your subsequent playthroughs and make sure you go for them as soon as your team is strong enough.
Servitor - Unlocked immediately. Costs 0 Blackstone, 1 CP. Low-medium physical melee attack, low health, low movement. Collects CP when hit. Upgrade makes nearby enemies target this unit. Your new favourite cannon fodder. Their ability to collect CP when hit makes them pay for themselves in most situations, and then some. Best used to place between enemies about to attack to protect your Tech-Priests. Use 2+ in all missions. Having a support team of just Servitors is a valid tactic.
Ranger - Unlocked early game. Costs 16 Blackstone, 2 CP. Low energy long ranged attack, low health, low movement. Reveals stats when firing. Rangers are decent snipers with their great range, however their low damage makes them unusable in many situations. Best used in large maps where they can be far from danger. Use 1 in boss fights, optional in other missions.
- Galvanic Rifle
Unlocked Skitarii Ranger
Ranger Alpha - Unlocked early game. Costs 12 Blackstone, 2 CP. Low-medium physical melee attack, low health, low movement. Avoids opportunity attacks. Again, this unit is very situational. Best used at moving through groups of enemies to hit a single target, but a Tech-Priest could do that. Optional in all missions.
- Power Ranger
Unlocked Skitarii Ranger Alpha
1 guide
Vanguard - Unlocked early game. Costs 17 Blackstone, 2 CP. Medium physical ranged attack, low health, low movement. Upgrade allows them to attack twice. Possibly the most useful after the Servitor. Best used as a mid-range sniper. Use 1 in boss fights, optional in other missions.
- Radium Ready
Unlocked Skitarii Vanguard
1 guide
Vanguard Alpha - Unlocked early game. Costs 11 Blackstone, 2 CP. Low energy melee attack with AoE, low health, low movement. The AoE of this unit only does 1 damage so often won't hit at all. Best used in those few missions where you're swarmed by Flayed Ones and want to soften them up. Optional in all missions.
- Taser Goad
Unlocked Skitarii Vanguard Alpha
1 guide
Sicarian Infiltrator - Unlocked early game. Costs 16 Blackstone, 2 CP. Low physical ranged attack, low health, high movement. Untargetable at the start of combat. Infiltrators are handy at moving through the battlefield at the start to reach enemies without being spotted, however their low attack makes you wonder what they'll do when they reach them. Optional in all missions.
- Sensory overload
Unlocked Sicarian Infiltrator
1 guide
Sicarian Rustalker - Unlocked early game. Costs 16 Blackstone, 2 CP. Low-medium physical melee attack, low health, low movement. Ignores armour on attacks. Upgrade increases attack with each further attack. The Rustalker's ability to ignore armour and increase its damage the longer it lives can make it a powerful weapon, if you can keep it alive that long. Best used next to a healing Tech-Priest who can stop it being a one-hit-wonder. Optional in all missions.
- Transonic Blur
Unlocked Sicarian Rustalker
1 guide
Kataphron Breacher - Unlocked late game. Costs 24 Blackstone, 3 CP. High energy ranged attack with AoE, medium health, low movement. Takes up 2x2 space on the map. The Breacher is a very powerful Skitarii unit to have on your side but unfortunately the high Blackstone and CP cost is a real put off. Not to mention the fact that it is unlocked late game where your Tech-Priests are already stronger. There's no ideal time to use this unit but it can be fun to play with. Optional in missions against stronger enemies.
- Battle Servitor
Unlocked Kataphron Breacher
Kastelan Robot - Unlocked late game. Costs 29 Blackstone, 5 CP. High physical ranged attack with AoE, low physical melee attack, medium health, low movement. Takes up 2x2 space on the map. This robot looks all powerful at first but it handles like a slug and it's rare you'll find yourself in a position to make the most of its attacks. Not to mention it's high CP cost which could be much better spent on just about anything else. When to use - never.
- Legio Cybernetica
Unlocked Kastelan Robot
4. Enemy units and combat2. General hints and tips
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