XCOM 2
80 Achievements
1,520
147-185h
Not throwing away my shot
Killed an alien ruler while it attempted to escape
20
2.05%
How to unlock the Not throwing away my shot achievement in XCOM 2 - Definitive Guide
The easiest two are obviously the Viper King and the Berserker Queen. You can combine this achievement with 'Regicide' (kill a ruler the first time you encounter it), but this is not recommended. Ideally, you should whittle down the ruler's health for one or two encounters, so that when it does choose to escape, it'll have low enough health to easily finish off.
To increase your chances, carry a frost bomb or two into missions where you're expecting a ruler to appear. Stasis-capable Psi Ops work as well. When you've done enough damage to the ruler, it will summon the pink escape portal. Freeze/Stasis the ruler now, you should get two or three moves to put a couple of your best Overwatch guys ready. Shotgun-focused Rangers and Specialists with the Guardian skill are ideal.
Also note that this achievement becomes easier to complete the later in the game you complete the 'Alien Nest' mission. So don't hurry on that, wait for at least Magnetic Weapons, or even Plasma, before letting the rulers loose. The mission will not expire on you.
- Delayers like statis, stuns or frost grenades (to buy some time)
- Overwatch
- Your rangers' "Bladestorm" passive
The tricky point is that these bosses will play after EACH OF YOUR ACTIONS (except for a few exceptions like SPARK's overload and such). Management of your turns is critical. If possible, heal, buff yourself and place correctly before engaging.
When around half of the remaining ruler's HP have been depleted, it will open a void portal and, from this moment, will focus on escaping. When that happens, throw frost grenades / stuns and remove as much HP as possible without killing the beast. You can also use the stasis to buy some time but keep in mind you won't be able to score any damage while it's active. This remains convenient for going on overwatches and placing your Rangers between the ruler's current location and the portal so that their Bladestorm passive triggers.
Finally, when the guy goes out of its frozen / stunned / stasis state, it will try to make a run for the portal. Overwatches will trigger, rangers' storm will pour down the poor guy and, bliing, you'll get the trophy.
Missable!
Like Regicide, this is an easily missable trophy that requires some setup. The trophy description is also misleading. It should read "Kill an alien ruler with Overwatch while it attempts to escape." If the alien ruler opens a portal and you attack/kill it, the trophy will not pop. To get this trophy, you must have Overwatch activate while the alien ruler runs to the portal. This can be a bit tricky, because you will need to do enough Overwatch damage to kill the alien ruler. You may want to whittle down the alien ruler's health across multiple missions to make this easier.
Putting a unit into Overwatch counts as an action so if you wait until the alien ruler opens a portal, you will only have time to put one unit into Overwatch. On the other hand, if you have e.g. 3 units already in Overwatch and then the alien ruler opens the portal, you can put another unit into Overwatch and have 4 units attacking the alien ruler as he flees. This would give you a higher chance for a successful hit and thus more damage. As with Regicide, backup your save beforehand in case anything goes wrong.