Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 – Best Class Guide (Solo, Squad, and Beginners)

Let me cut through the noise: every class guide out there tells you to “pick what fits your playstyle,” which is useless when you’re staring at six classes and a 42-slot perk board. I’ve broken down every ability, perk, and unlock path so you can decide in minutes, not hours. Whether you’re dropping solo, running a full four-man squad, or just starting your first mission, here’s the exact route I take — and the one I’d recommend you take too.

Quick Answer

• New players: Start with the Duelist. Its damage perk rewards the shooting you’re already doing, and the Mobility perk makes stun recovery far less punishing.
• Solo players: Start with the Machinist. A turret is a teammate that never makes a mistake, and its plasma weapons only spend ammo when overheated.
• Squad of four: You need a Medic on the team — with no revives at launch, preventing damage beats healing it. Pair with a Machinist for turrets and a Marauder for heavy clearing.
• End-game goal: The Specialist class requires leveling other classes first. Every class you level becomes a piece of that final build.
• Friendly fire activates at Intense difficulty and above.

How Classes, Perks, and Progression Actually Work

Before you pick anything, you need to understand the system underneath. Every class carries two kit abilities that belong to it alone. Each ability has its own upgrade paths that change what it does — so the same ability can play completely differently depending on your build.

On top of that sits a perk board, which now has 42 perk slots instead of the 32 the first game gave you. That’s a 31% increase in build flexibility, and it matters more than you think when you’re stacking class perks with universal ones.

Weapons change too. You now carry a signature weapon tied to your class, which means your loadout identity is baked into your class choice, not just your abilities.

Here’s the part most guides skip: every class levels separately. Picking one is a real time investment, but that time is never wasted. The Specialist class at the end requires you to level the others first, so there is no wrong first pick — only a slower route to the build you eventually want.

All Six Classes at a Glance

Here’s the quick table I use when I’m deciding what to run:

Each class owns a different job on the squad. The Duelist deals flexible damage. The Marauder brings heavy explosive weapons. The Machinist builds turrets and holds ground. The Hunter picks apart weak points. The Medic keeps everyone standing. The Specialist is the end-game class that you have to earn.

Duelist Class Guide: Why I Start Here

The Duelist is the flexible all-rounder that leans hard into raw damage — and it’s my default recommendation for anyone who mainly wants to shoot things well.

Its class perk is called Stay on Target: dealing damage grants stacks that raise your damage by 2% each, up to 20%. Stacks fall off the moment you stop dealing damage, so the Duelist rewards staying aggressive.

A second perk called Mobility grants 10% movement speed and 20% stun recovery, and extends how long your Stay on Target stacks last by 50%. That’s the difference between losing your damage bonus in a bad stun and keeping it through a fight.

For abilities, you get Burst Configuration, which hands you a huge experimental gun, and a Shrapnel Grenade with a remote detonator or a cluster option.

Marauder Class Guide: Blast Cannon and Titan Rockets

The Marauder is the heavy class — the answer to a wall of xenomorphs coming down a corridor.

Its first ability is the Blast Cannon, which you can push toward burning or thermal damage. The second is Titan Rockets, which can take phosphorus or gain homing. Both are built for the moment a room turns into a swarm.

The Marauder carries a perk called Reactive Charges: getting hit by a melee attack triggers a blast that knocks nearby enemies back, on a 30-second cooldown. That’s your panic button when the swarm closes in.

The defining perk is Rampage: every enemy you kill stacks Rampage on you. Hit 25 stacks and your fire rate, reload speed, and movement speed all jump. The cost is stability, and the whole thing lasts 8 seconds.

This tells you exactly how the Marauder wants to be played — keep killing and keep pushing forward. If you stop, you lose the buff. If you hesitate, the swarm wins.

Machinist Class Guide: Sentry Turret and Bodyguard

The Machinist is the tech class that holds ground — and my personal pick for solo play.

Its first ability is the Sentry Turret, which can be turned into a gas turret or a rumble turret depending on your build. Its second ability is Bodyguard, a turret that flies along with you, splitting into an artillery version or a shredder version.

The real reason to bring a Machinist is what the turrets do for everyone else:

• Allies standing near your turret gain 10% damage resistance
• When you stand near it yourself, the turret regenerates 5 health every second
• A second perk hands you 10% reload speed and stability whenever your machines get killed, stacking up to five times

The developers confirmed your sentry guns do no friendly fire damage — which matters more at Intense difficulty and above.

Hunter Class Guide: Weak Point Damage

The Hunter is the control and precision class, slowing things down so you can hit exactly where it hurts.

The first ability is Particle Pulse, which can become a Particle Beam or a Cryo Pulse. The second is Stasis Bolt, which splits into a Quad Bolt or an Arc Bolt.

The perks define the class:

• No Mercy raises your weak point stopping power by 50%
• No Rest raises weak point damage with your weapons by 50%

The Hunter is built for players who aim carefully instead of spraying. It also gets a personal railgun as a signature weapon, specifically used to counter armored mini-bosses.

Medic Class Guide: Why It Matters More Now

The Medic brings a Trauma Station for healing and Combat Stems for the squad. Combat Stems heal your teammates and reduce cooldowns at the same time.

There is also a passive called Guardian: when you shoot something that is attacking your ally, that ally gets healed.

On paper, this is the class everybody skips. But one detail changes the whole calculation.

At launch, you can still pick a teammate back up when they go down, but you cannot bring somebody back after they fully die. A dead player spectates until the mission ends.

This makes stopping damage far more valuable than healing it afterwards, and makes the Medic much stronger than it looks on the select screen.

Specialist Class: How to Unlock It

The Specialist is not really a sixth class — it is the end-game goal, and you cannot start as one.

To build a Specialist, you have to level your other classes first. Playing as the Specialist raises your Specialist rank, which unlocks unique perks and items and gives you more room on the perk board.

The abilities themselves have to be unlocked on the class they came from. For example, get a Medic to level 10 and everything that Medic can do becomes available. Then you combine it with anything else you have unlocked elsewhere.

The team showed builds mixing Duelist guns with Machinist turrets and Marauder rockets. That’s the payoff for leveling everything.

Best Class for New, Solo, and Squad Players

Here’s the route I actually follow, broken down by scenario:

New players: start Duelist.

• It asks the least of you and teaches you the game
• Its damage perk rewards the thing you’re already doing, which is shooting
• You don’t have to manage a turret or track anyone else’s health bar
• The Mobility perk makes recovering from a stun much less punishing

The Marauder is the other reasonable beginner pick — big weapons are forgiving when a swarm closes in and your aim falls apart. Note that friendly fire switches on at Intense difficulty and above.

Solo players: start Machinist.

• A turret is a teammate that always does exactly what you expect
• Plasma weapons deal thermal damage, which early enemies hate
• They only spend ammo when you overheat them, so patient bursts never run dry

The Hunter is the other solo pick worth considering — Stasis Bolt buys you time, and nothing solo is more valuable than time.

Full squad of four: get somebody on Medic.

• With no revives at launch, a Medic who prevents a death is the whole difference
• Then take a Machinist for turrets and a Marauder for heavy clearing
• Leave a Hunter or a Duelist to handle armored targets

That covers healing, area control, and single-target damage. Co-op is cross-platform, and so is voice chat.

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• Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 – Beginner’s Guide and Tips