Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 keeps the co-op bug hunt of the first Fireteam Elite, but the class roster was rebuilt rather than copy-pasted. Cold Iron Studios shipped five remade USCM roles - Marauder, Duelist, Machinist, Hunter, and Medic - plus Specialist, a customizable sixth class unlocked by progressing the others. Every class still builds around a primary weapon and a signature toolset from the named Fireteam Elite 2 weapons, while the sequel adds customizable sidearms, bigger perk grids, attachments that improve a gun's stats, and deeper weapon augments. The official class videos show those kits in action, and those same loadouts are what players take into the campaign and Horde mode. Before the dropship leaves, each marine can also slot an Armory Challenge Card that shuts off a kit ability or a gun for a higher reward multiplier. A four-player fireteam can run four at once.
Marauder
The Marauder is the heavy force-multiplier class evolved from the original Demolisher. It pairs a rifle with a heavy weapon and brings two distinct shoulder-mounted kits: the smaller Blast Cannon for close pressure, and larger Titan Rockets for big explosive answers. Blast Cannon modifiers include options like Blastwave and Thermal Cannon, while Titan Rockets can lean into effects such as Phosphorous Rocket or Rocket Mines. Returning heavies for the class include the M12A1 Rocket Launcher and the OCAP-91 Volcan heavy flamethrower. Those sit alongside smartguns and other swarm-clearing tools from the wider Colonial Marine weapons arsenal.
Two signature perks define the class. Rampage stacks on kills and, at 25 stacks, spikes fire rate, reload speed, and movement speed for eight seconds at the cost of stability. Reactive Charges answer melee hits with a concussive knockback blast on a 30-second cooldown. Marauder is the marine you bring when corridors stop being rooms and start being hives.
Specialist
The Specialist is the endgame class, not a sixth fixed job. It runs unlocked kits from the other classes: mix abilities, weapons, and perks from Duelist, Machinist, Marauder, Hunter, and Medic into one custom marine. You do not start there. Level those classes first, then slot the unlocked pieces here during the campaign, once enough kits are leveled rather than only after the last mission. Borrowed tools include the Machinist's Shredder Bodyguard, the Hunter's Particle Beam, the L56A3 Smartgun as a signature weapon, and perks like Focus Fire and Doctor's Orders. Once those pieces are unlocked, Specialist is the buildcrafting class for Horde mode, specific enemy packs, or a friend's squad.
Duelist
The Duelist is the renamed and reworked successor to the original Gunner, built around sustained rifle combat, mobility, and explosive answers. Unlike the first Fireteam Elite, where each class was locked to a fixed primary and secondary pair, Duelist carries two primary weapon slots. That means two rifles into a mission, with mid-fight swaps between styles as enemy packs change. Signature rifles include the DB-48 Daittyo Heavy Rifle for stable sustained fire and the HNT-1 El Alamein Revolver Rifle for accurate, high-damage precision shots, alongside returning favorites like the M41A "Classic" Pulse Rifle. Those two new rifles cover the sustained and precision jobs, and the Classic Pulse Rifle stays in Collection as a returning option.
Two passive perks reward staying aggressive. Stay on Target ramps Duelist damage the longer hits keep landing, while Mobility boosts movement speed, improves stun recovery, and extends the Stay on Target bonus so the damage streak lasts through longer fights. Signature tools lean into adaptable offense: Burst Configuration can be tuned toward Fragment Configuration for explosive area damage or Precision Configuration for sharper single-target output, and the class Shrapnel Grenade upgrades into either a cluster grenade or a remotely detonated charge for swarm control. If your squad needs a marine who can hard-focus big targets - from synthetics to heavier Xenomorph variants - without giving up rifle flexibility, Duelist is the starting point.
Machinist
Machinist replaces the old Technician with a more offensive tech kit. Where the first game leaned hard on deployables and pistol play, Fireteam Elite 2's Machinist brings energy weaponry, a modifiable Sentry Turret, and a flying Bodyguard drone into the main combat loop. Signature plasma tools include the SMB-94 Zephyr Plasma Emitter and the EDS-93 Plasma Discharger Mk.2, while the Sentry Turret can lean into Rumble Turret or Gas Turret variants. The Bodyguard ability is a machine-gun drone sentry with its own kits: Shredder Bodyguard and Artillery Bodyguard.
Two unlockable perks reward playing around your hardware. Cross-Platform Synergy gives allies near your turret 10% damage resistance, and standing near it yourself regenerates the turret for 5 health every second. Scalable Machine Learning grants 10% reload speed and stability whenever your machines and item-based turrets score a kill, stacking up to five times. That makes Machinist the class for holding space: plant hardware in a corridor, melt denser packs with plasma, and cover flanks while the rest of the fireteam focuses priority targets. Against smarter Xenomorph variants, pathogen creatures, and synthetic crawlers, that deployable utility is what holds a corridor when those enemies would otherwise walk past a rifle line.
Hunter
Hunter is the remade Lancer role, rebuilt around slowing prey and cashing in weak-point damage. Signature weapons include the BD-03 Djinn Personal Railgun and the Type 111 Directed Particle Emitter, with control kits such as Particle Pulse (Particle Beam / Cryo Pulse) and Stasis Bolt (Vlad Bolt / Arc Bolt). That makes Hunter the mid-fight controller: less raw firepower than Marauder, less gadget zoning than Machinist, but strong once Drones and runners are frozen or pinned. Unlockable perks No Mercy and No Rest both lean into weak-point stopping power and damage, so the class gets stronger the cleaner those shots land.
Medic
The Medic is the updated Doc class, and it is still the combat medic who fights in the same rooms it is trying to keep people alive in. The kit is built around Combat Stims (Adrenaline Surge / Overclock) and a returning Advanced Trauma Station that can upgrade into a Buffing Station or a Poison Station. Signature weapons lean close: the Armat X1 Fireball and Weyland-Yutani's Type 21 Tactical Shotgun Mk.2. Unlockable perks Bedside Manner and Surgeon's Hands speed up revives and stop knockback during pickups, so the class can keep a collapsing push alive against Exploders, Sirens, and Wardens instead of only healing after the line has already broken.
Conclusion
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 treats the six classes as distinct jobs in a four-player fireteam, not six skins on the same rifle marine. Marauder clears rooms with rockets and heavy guns, Specialist mixes unlocked kits into one marine, Duelist handles flexible primary DPS, Machinist owns tech and plasma control, Hunter slows prey for weak-point kills, and Medic keeps the squad standing. Four-player Colonial Marine fireteams now fill those seats, and leveling the remade classes is what feeds Specialist later. That mix matters more than it did in the first Fireteam Elite, both in the campaign and in Horde mode, because thicker packs punish a squad that brought four of the same job. The game shipped on August 25, 2026.
External Sources
Tag Categories: Aliens Fireteam 2 Lore | Alien Lore | Colonial Marine Lore | News
