What's Combat Intelligence? | FAQ XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Game Guide

How do you get both of these types? It's rather simple - a soldier has to level up (which grants them personal AP), or complete one of the actions described in the chapter above (for which they get both the regular AP and the XCOM AP). In both cases, the exact amount the soldier gets is dependant on the Combat Intelligence parameter, a new stat that can be looked up on any soldier's card.

Combat Intelligence determines how many AP you get.

This parameter can take 5 levels of value:

1. Standard - the soldier gets 3 AP for leveling up;
2. Above Average - the soldier gets 4 AP for leveling up;
3. Gifted - the soldier gets 5 AP for leveling up;
4. Genius - the soldier gets 7 AP for leveling up;
5. Savant - the soldier gets 10 AP for leveling up.
6. Note - the three new classes - Reaper, Skirmisher and Templar, get more points than shown above because it's the only way of developing these classes. Regardless, the Combat Intelligence still allows them to get more AP.

Each of these is awarded upon the soldier's recruitment / acquisition. What rank do they get depends solely on luck. The chances are as follows:

1. Standard - 50% chances (1 in 2);
2. Above Average - 25% chances (1 in 4);
3. Gifted - 15% chances (1 in 6);
4. Genius - 9.5% chances (1 in 10);
5. Savant - 0.5% chances (1 in 200).

Obviously, most soldiers lands somewhere between Standard and Above Average, perhaps Gifted. The best is, as you can see, rather rare, so it's possible you won't get even a single soldier like that. Fortunately, there's a way of ameliorating that - some of the Covert Action missions let you change that parameter for soldiers who finish them, so with some patience, you can help the luck.