The dangerous setting is not the one with the biggest enemy-health number. It is the one you cannot undo after committing to the campaign.

Two rules to know before pressing Start

Permadeath cannot be changed after the campaign begins. If an Operator suffers three injuries with Permadeath enabled, they are permanently KIA. Hawks cannot be permanently killed in combat; Hawks going down fails the mission instead.

Beskar Mode uses one persistent save. You cannot manually save, and your choices and consequences are permanent within that campaign.

Who should use Beskar Mode?

Use it when you actively want the campaign to preserve mistakes and outcomes. Do not turn it on because “Ironman is the real way to play” if you are still learning mission objectives, enemy passives, or how utility and AP work.

If you want Ironman-style discipline without a single-save dependency, keep Beskar off and choose not to reload tactical mistakes. That remains a player rule rather than a mode guarantee, but it preserves a recovery path if a technical issue occurs.

Hard and Expert: what to expect

Difficulty changes enemy combat behavior, but the full Hard and Expert stat table is not listed here yet. Treat exact claims about enemy bonuses, starting Bond values, or Den facility restrictions as not confirmed until you can see them in your current campaign.

Quick recommendation

Player	Difficulty approach	Permadeath	Beskar
First tactics game	Start with a forgiving difficulty	Off or optional	Off
XCOM-experienced, first Zero Company run	Normal/Hard	On if you enjoy roster stakes	Off
Wants a harsh tactical campaign	Hard/Expert	On	Optional
Specifically wants irreversible Ironman consequences	Your preferred difficulty	On	On

Use the Difficulty Selector for a recommendation based on save tolerance, tactics experience, and how much permanent roster loss you actually want.

Patch 1.1 and the risk you are accepting

Patch 1.1 (October 2026) is worth reading before you commit a permadeath or Beskar campaign, because several of its fixes are exactly the failures those modes punish:

• Beskar saves were being temporarily deleted. Fixed. That is the one bug that could make a mode built on irreversibility look like it lost your run.
• A crash specific to Beskar mode was fixed, along with various general crash and visual-stutter fixes.
• Save corruption on a sudden or forced shutdown was fixed, so a machine power-off is less likely to cost you a campaign.
• Preorder and Deluxe Edition items were not being granted. Fixed. If your bonus gear never appeared, update and re-check before replaying a campaign for it.

Practical reading: none of this changes the difficulty rules, injuries or the permadeath switch itself. It removes failure modes that made those rules unfair. If you were holding off on a Beskar run because of the save-loss reports, that specific cause is patched.

Patch 1.2: the same rules are now configurable

Patch 1.2 (October 2026) added Campaign Modifiers — extra rules you can switch on when starting a campaign, on any difficulty, from the Difficulty Settings menu via Additional Campaign Options. Selected modifiers take effect after you complete the tutorial, so they cannot be added to a campaign already in progress.

• Injury limits — Instant Death, Two Strikes, or the default Three Strikes.
• Risk of death — none (default), a flat 20% on any tactical defeat, or 20% rising to 40% and then 80% for each Operator.
• Health progression — normal (+1 Maximum Health per 3 Focus Points), reduced (+1 per 6), or none.
• Bond progression — no Cross Training from Bond level increases until Bond Level 4.
• Lockouts — talents, Specializations, weapons or the recruit refresh can be locked for the whole campaign.
• Tactical pressure — Assist Shots Can Miss, Enemies Can Critically Hit (5% chance, +8 damage) and a 99% cap on Operator hit chance.

Before choosing, remember that Instant Death also rewrites For My Brothers: under it, Trick can be downed and injured once per mission, and a second defeat in the same Tactical Mission kills him. The Patch 1.2 modifier reference lists every option and the balance changes shipped alongside them.