Mass Effect 3.6: Are you engaging in reproductive behavior with this thread?

[Landis963]

First off, thanks for the platinum tips. It probably helps that I'm too scared to try anything above silver. EDIT: outside of controlled Geth farming, that is.

Second off, Ransk is now ready to join the ranks () of his promoted multiplayer comrades, putting Soldier and Sentinel on the chopping block. That leaves two last playable chars that I currently have statted, a lv. 18 Infiltrator I've painted black and dubbed "Tex", and a lv. 16 Fury Adept I've dubbed "Misty" for easily discernable reasons. Remaining is the Engineer, lv. 4 after I jumped the gun on promotions, and the Vanguard, lv. 14 (IIRC). I may have an extra Novaguard or Battlemaster in there, I'll have to check. All of which means: Commendation Pack for me yay!

[Farix]

So I finally moved up to Gold and the game rewards me by in 4 sequential premium packs giving me the Slayer, Devestator, Krogan soldier, Geth Infiltrator, and first Asari adept. Not that I'm complaining about getting new classes but I'm just now getting used to my Fury.

Does the slayer have te same rank six evolution for either Armor or Shield damage?

Nope, final rank is melee damage/health & shield


I vote that there should be a new option when choosing who to fight labeled 'Not Geth.'

[Beowulf DW]

I prefer to go durability for Fitness on my Vanguards, but I always take the alternative to shield recharge speed - that's what Charge is for.

With that and a melee booster and/or a melee damage weapon mod, the Slayer is plenty durable enough, given how quickly they can get out of trouble.

Sounds good. I'll give it a try.

[SiuiS]

So I finally moved up to Gold and the game rewards me by in 4 sequential premium packs giving me the Slayer, Devestator, Krogan soldier, Geth Infiltrator, and first Asari adept. Not that I'm complaining about getting new classes but I'm just now getting used to my Fury.

Yeah, game will do that to ya. I am rockin' everything but the slayer, and I'm still getting battlemasters an justices and quarians and gear and ultrarares and... Yeah. RNG is a meanie face.

Nope, final rank is melee damage/health & shield

Then as much as I hate to say it, forgo melee. The damage isn't high enough to be worthwhile, and that is time you could spend using biotic charge or web phase disruptor instead. It doesn't pan out as worthwhile I don't think.

I vote that there should be a new option when choosing who to fight labeled 'Not Geth.'

You'd have I pick a faction and stick with it. Cerberus is a good one.
Myself I am tired of firebase: white. It's a terrible level with an easy exploit. Giant is the same but better! Glacier has forgiving cover and circuit patterns. Ghost is a Fury's wet dream! And I always drop on white where everyone knows what to do, but no one wants to be the sort here and wait guyso everyone crowds the worst possible spot to be and gets shot to death, or I drop on London where everyone likes to sit in the killbox and get murdered rather than controlling the terrain and the enemy spawn points.

I've found random enemies on firebase giant both easier and more fulfilling than geth on firebase white. On platinum.

[RagingKrikkit]

So, I tried to get another pair of Shepards* going back in ME1, but for some horrible reason, I couldn't stay attatched to the game. I guess ME1 has such a slow start-up (namely the 5 hours I spend running around the Citadel doing sidequests) that I jumped them into ME2 and hit the ground running.

*I decided midway through ME1 with my first female Shepard that all my ME games would be done with two Shepards, one male and one female, with names beginning with the same letter.

[Wraith]

*I decided midway through ME1 with my first female Shepard that all my ME games would be done with two Shepards, one male and one female, with names beginning with the same letter.

Mine are always like that, though invariably the Male will be Adrian. I'm betting that about 50% of the people here will get the reference.

I vote that there should be a new option when choosing who to fight labeled 'Not Geth.'

In the same vein, I would like there to be a difference between "Any Enemy" and "Random Enemy". I much prefer playing a variety of different games with different tactics and skills required, so to always get the same thing over and over again is tiresome. Trivial, perhaps, but it'd still be nice.

On another note, yesterday I asked for a Bronze game and was unceremoniously dropped into Wave 9 of Platinum. With a level 4 Turian Soldier.

I made it to the middle of Wave 10 having used ALL of my Medigel and then the team wiped trying to do a Hacking mission (all the while, some whiny little 14 year old screeching 'USE THE MISSILE LAUNCHER, DUMBASS!' in everyone's ear, despite being the first one to be insta-killed by a Banshee....), but I cant complain too loudly - 3 levels and 60k credits for 3 minutes work.

As a bonus, that money gave me enough to pick up a PSP that finally gave me an Asari Adept and Geth Infiltrator - I've been trying to get a Geth Infiltrator since they were first available, and had pretty much given up hope.

Too bad that, after all that, they suck.

Long story shirt, I consoled myself by running through a game with my Krogan Sentinel, O'Reilly. I love my Krogan Sentinel - because of him, I no longer fear Phantoms of any kind, not after seeing several dozen of them ragdoll and go tumbling off the map after being headbutted into oblivion.

[Tome]

Too bad that, after all that, they suck.

Wait, what? Are you talking about the Geth Infiltrator there? Because they're still one of the strongest classes in the game at the moment, and that doesn't show any sign of changing in a hurry. A little flimsy, maybe, but their DPS is the highest in the game. The Asari Adept is also still a very strong class.

[Wraith]

Then allow me to rephrase myself: They suck for what I wanted to do with them.

I don't yet have the Widow, Javelin or Black Widow, so I'm not able to make use of their high-damage-through-walls tricks. All I wanted was to be able to see the enemy coming, drop a Prox. Mine in front of them and then finish them off with a Valiant round to the head as they sprawl across the floor.

Which, quite frankly, is a lot more difficult than it needs to be thanks to the 'code' that has been scrawled across the screen in Hunter Mode. My visibility is shot to heck, and the range of the power doesn't quite get me what I want.

No doubt that with the right equipment they're very good, but I find that with 'the right equipment' then most classes are very good and I'm disappointed that GI's have such specific requirements. QMI all the way

[Beowulf DW]

Then as much as I hate to say it, forgo melee. The damage isn't high enough to be worthwhile, and that is time you could spend using biotic charge or web phase disruptor instead. It doesn't pan out as worthwhile I don't think.

It was this passage from the wiki that first piqued my interest in melee:

The melee for this character is somewhat different than others, and when mastered can be much more powerful and effective than other heavy melee attacks. When a heavy melee is called for the character will lunge forward and strike with the sword via a "phase" effect. The forward movement can be avoided, however, and multiple strikes made, by repeatedly engaging in melee while controlling the direction of the character. The character will move in and out of phase with each strike as fast as you make them, which means that you can repeatedly strike an enemy in melee seemingly from another dimension so quickly that they cannot strike you back. This takes practice, but when mastered allows the slayer to literally shred just about any enemy in a few seconds, even Banshees or Brutes. Using melee upgrades which increase damage makes this an extremely powerful form of attack, and can be useful when dealing with a very powerful enemy, or where you are surrounded by several with few avenues of escape. This is also a much faster option than the Biotic Slash, which is slow to implement and can get you killed in such a situation.

Sadly, it doesn't say what difficulties this can be done on.

Now I'm wavering on Phase Disruptor vs. Biotic Slash. Curse my indecisiveness!

[Farix]

Which, quite frankly, is a lot more difficult than it needs to be thanks to the 'code' that has been scrawled across the screen in Hunter Mode.

Agreed, I know it takes some getting used to but the code is just distracting.

Now I'm wavering on Phase Disruptor vs. Biotic Slash. Curse my indecisiveness!

I'd say go with Phase Disruptor if you're looking to try melee, that way you can pop a few shots with it before Charging in to get your barrier back and hacking away with melee. That being said definitely put 3 points into Slash since it can go through walls and set of biotic explosions, something I don't think (not sure) the Disruptor can do.


Welp my run of new characters is over, got one last one with the N7 Paladin before going back to 3 straight packs of useless shotgun upgrades...yay...

I'm really enjoying using the Fury in a supportish role on Gold, either following around a vanguard/adept and priming for them or just holding a chokepoint setting off my own explosions while everyone else holds another/hunts down the stragglers. Still get shredded anytime I have to run around though.

[Joran]

As for Platinum, I've played a grand total of 3 times using my Destroyer for two and my Slayer for another. I only managed to make it to wave 3 in one game. It's damned hard if you're not prepared for it.

I... was not prepared.

the horror... the horrow...

I think I'll stick to Gold for now.

[Tome]

Now I'm wavering on Phase Disruptor vs. Biotic Slash. Curse my indecisiveness!

Phase Disrupter is useless in my experience. The damage is minimal, the shield loss is devastating and Biotic Slash has enough range that you don't actually need Phase Disrupter anyway.

[SiuiS]

In the same vein, I would like there to be a difference between "Any Enemy" and "Random Enemy". I much prefer playing a variety of different games with different tactics and skills required, so to always get the same thing over and over again is tiresome. Trivial, perhaps, but it'd still be nice.

You mean how saying any will just not differentiate, so if the only gold game available is white/geth/gold that's where I go?

If you guys like that, try white/geth/platinum. The ten minutes it takes to get past wave 3 is worth more than a bronze match, wave 6 is worth a gold match, and wave 10 is worth an additional gol match.once you get beat wave 3 there is no "wasting resources" as any expendable used will come inter jumbo pal you just bought yourself at the cost of two rockets and an ops pack.

On another note, yesterday I asked for a Bronze game and was unceremoniously dropped into Wave 9 of Platinum. With a level 4 Turian Soldier.

I made it to the middle of Wave 10 having used ALL of my Medigel and then the team wiped trying to do a Hacking mission (all the while, some whiny little 14 year old screeching 'USE THE MISSILE LAUNCHER, DUMBASS!' in everyone's ear, despite being the first one to be insta-killed by a Banshee....), but I cant complain too loudly - 3 levels and 60k credits for 3 minutes work.

Good on you! It's all about not bowing out and screaming until you die. *nod*

Then allow me to rephrase myself: They suck for what I wanted to do with them.

I don't yet have the Widow, Javelin or Black Widow, so I'm not able to make use of their high-damage-through-walls tricks. All I wanted was to be able to see the enemy coming, drop a Prox. Mine in front of them and then finish them off with a Valiant round to the head as they sprawl across the floor.

Which, quite frankly, is a lot more difficult than it needs to be thanks to the 'code' that has been scrawled across the screen in Hunter Mode. My visibility is shot to heck, and the range of the power doesn't quite get me what I want.

No doubt that with the right equipment they're very good, but I find that with 'the right equipment' then most classes are very good and I'm disappointed that GI's have such specific requirements. QMI all the way

Ah. See, I don't understand the problem people have with the graphics. You have a triangle of clear space. Anything in that triangle dies. Ignore the rest of the screen. If there is a red thing, point the middle of your screen at it

Use the mantis X! It's as strong as a low level widow. Or put a smart choke on the claymore, you can snipe with it! Or use a geth plasma shotgun! Or heck, slap a thermal capacity upgrade and an AP upgrade on the geth pulse rifle, you he a good few bullets with cloak bonus, geth damage bonus, hunter mode bonus, and you've got a more accurate, higher capacity Revenant at lower weight so you can spam the proxy mines!

That's really all you need for now. Shake up your perceived role a bit. Play a heavy duty caster, bring the get plasma SMG. Use the heat sink, and I'd you have it the SMG ap mod. Cloak, throw a proxy mine for around 700 damage. When it recharges, throw another proxy mine for 840 damage an start shooting, you'll have the 20% boost, ignore basically all their armor, an rip through walls. With a viper or mantis, you can follow the same formula, with a slightly slower recharge; a Mantis X with 5 ranks of passive on my sentinel (human) gives me a 180% recharge, and on the geth infiltrator than can be boosted to a full 200%. And you know what?

You don't need a full 200% bonus. I've rocked platinum with 150%, which is fast enough for two proximity mines during a cloak with enough time left over for a single shot at 40% boost (pushing something like 85% with a geth+geth weapon).

As an infiltrator you don't need sniper distances. You can play it calm and cool. I surrounded, wait for your cloak to recharge. Cloak, drop a mine at their feet, and book it. Reposition. You control the field. Never let yoursel feel like the enemy has the advantage. They don't. Otherwise why would they send eleven waves after little ol' you?

It was this passage from the wiki that first piqued my interest in melee:



Sadly, it doesn't say what difficulties this can be done on.

Now I'm wavering on Phase Disruptor vs. Biotic Slash. Curse my indecisiveness!

Fascinating. First, can you link this wiki? The only one I've found has NO me3 multiplayer info. I am sad about that.

Second, try them both. Biotic slash is good but boring. Phase disruptor is biotic slag without a cool down. Respect. Promote. See what piques your interest.

Phase Disrupter is useless in my experience. The damage is minimal, the shield loss is devastating and Biotic Slash has enough range that you don't actually need Phase Disrupter anyway.

I dunno. I hear this a lot but iveaeen some slayers own with phase disruptor. I think it's all about how you use them.

Then again, score means nothing. I come
In last about half the time, but if I stop using proximity mine for fifteen seconds suddenly My team is overwhelmed. So some things have value that aren't flreflected in the scoreboard.

[Psyren]

Fascinating. First, can you link this wiki? The only one I've found has NO me3 multiplayer info. I am sad about that.

You mean the main one? They have tons of MP info: power advice, bugs to avoid/exploit, even tactics advice by enemy type.

[Beowulf DW]

You mean the main one? They have tons of MP info: power advice, bugs to avoid/exploit, even tactics advice by enemy type.

Yep. That's the one.

[Zevox]

Now I'm wavering on Phase Disruptor vs. Biotic Slash. Curse my indecisiveness!

Biotic Slash is overpowered as all hell, while Phase Disruptor is underwhelming and can get you killed if used at the wrong time. I tried going with both (a caster-style build) at first, and it was ultimately no contest what I respecced to - ignore Phase Disruptor, max everything else.

Edit: Leviathan Trailer, for anyone interested. I think I'll end up holding off on getting it after all though, since I'm now in the middle of playing Persona 4 proper on top of Arena. Just can't get excited for anything else right now.

Zevox

[SiuiS]

You mean the main one? They have tons of MP info: power advice, bugs to avoid/exploit, even tactics advice by enemy type.

Sigh. That doesn't actually contain any useful information for me at all, aside from what the ammo does. What I want is a base damage number for everyone's melee capability. The lists I've seen aren't updating.

Oddly, searching multiplayer on that wiki never worked for me.

[Dhavaer]

What I want is a base damage number for everyone's melee capability.

Human Adept & Vanguard, all asari: 150/500
All other common humans, all salarians and quarians: 150/600
All drell: 225/600
All turians: 200/675
All krogan: 300/700
All geth: 200/375
All batarians: 190/1000
All vorcha: 250/600
Phoenix Project humans: 400/350
Fury: 350/350
Demolisher: 300/550
Paladin: 150/400
Slayer & Shadow: 250/700
Destroyer: 450/500

[Psyren]

Edit: Leviathan Trailer, for anyone interested. I think I'll end up holding off on getting it after all though, since I'm now in the middle of playing Persona 4 proper on top of Arena. Just can't get excited for anything else right now.

Zevox

Thanks for the link. For myself, I can't seem to put ME down (2 or 3) so I'll be getting it for sure.

The like/dislike ratio under that video is also pretty heartening. Oh well

[SiuiS]

Human Adept & Vanguard, all asari: 150/500
All other common humans, all salarians and quarians: 150/600
All drell: 225/600
All turians: 200/675
All krogan: 300/700
All geth: 200/375
All batarians: 190/1000
All vorcha: 250/600
Phoenix Project humans: 400/350
Fury: 350/350
Demolisher: 300/550
Paladin: 150/400
Slayer & Shadow: 250/700
Destroyer: 450/500

Huh. That puts a +100% slayer or shadow on even footing with a javelin. This would explain the armor boost then, as being able to rapid-shot javelin blasts at an atlas or prime would chew through its armor as fast as my sword did.

Let's see. My strongest melee gear gives me +8.5%, a rank three consumable grants +100%, fitness grants like, 35% plus an additional 75% if you heavy melee kill a target. Right? Bah. I'll actually look this up instead of guess.

EDIT: right. Sword mastery hits +105%, like most of the fitness trees. Melee boost items hit +25%, Tac cloak hits +130%, and I can get +100% from expendables and +10% from gear. That's 270% boost, or 320% against your choice of armor or kinetic barriers. I of course chose armor. Next time it will be barriers though, for certain.

From 700 damage, a heavy melee attack inflicts 1,890 damage from cloak and a flurry of regular sword strikes would deal 675 each. Or 2,240 heavy, 800 light against defenses.

At base 600 damage, shadow strike benefits from the above as well as its own power evolutions. This means it has a flat +100% over the heavy melee attack, and strikes at 2,220 normally and 2,520 against defenses. This doesn't quite pan out though, as my pure shadow strike N7 Shadow was terrible, unable to really do anything but cloak, strike and die. Hm.

What I want to know is how the damage vet time mechanism works; it says 40% DoT, over like 8 seconds. Does that inflict almost half again the final amount... Does it inflict 40% of 600 and only do a piddling 240? Or does it do 40% of (600 + chosen evolutions within the power) giving it a shot at 400 damage with all three damage upgrades?




End result of 675 damage per light melee attack is still pretty snazzy though.

[Psyren]

Concerning the Shadow - I can't speak for the math, but I can say the DoT is useful for more than just damage. It keeps Phantoms that survive your hit from recloaking, it prevents healing/shield recharge on tougher targets, and it can be tech-bursted.

I'll probably give barrier damage a try myself. Even with the armor-damage boost, I don't do a whole lot against an Atlas, Prime or Banshee - and SS on a Ravager, Brute or Pyro can all too-easily be fatal. I tend to leave those to my teammates, and mop up the more troublesome ants - engineers/turrets, guardians, nemeses, and especially marauders/centurions.

Meanwhile, on Gold I tend to need a second hit (albeit a small one) to finish off most Phantoms, though I can certainly one-shot one that someone else is keeping at bay. A damage boost vs. barriers would most likely let me drop them in one blow, freeing my team up to focus on more obvious threats... while still racking up the points for me.

Edit: Also, fun gif cribbed from the BSN
I lol'd hard.

Not pictured - rolling over like a drunk turtle on every planet exploration mission ever



EDIT: Unless I'm doing something wrong, I can confirm that promotion war assets apply to all Sheps. I started a brand new ME2 import Shep after not playing or promoting any MP classes for a week (during my ME2 playthrough.) He started the game with an extra 975 war assets from my MP characters, despite me not playing MP once since importing him. This of course put him over the "Minimum" threshold on the war assets screen even though the only story mission I'd done was Mars. Am I missing something?

[SiuiS]

Concerning the Shadow - I can't speak for the math, but I can say the DoT is useful for more than just damage. It keeps Phantoms that survive your hit from recloaking, it prevents healing/shield recharge on tougher targets, and it can be tech-bursted.

I'll probably give barrier damage a try myself. Even with the armor-damage boost, I don't do a whole lot against an Atlas, Prime or Banshee - and SS on a Ravager, Brute or Pyro can all too-easily be fatal. I tend to leave those to my teammates, and mop up the more troublesome ants - engineers/turrets, guardians, nemeses, and especially marauders/centurions.

Meanwhile, on Gold I tend to need a second hit (albeit a small one) to finish off most Phantoms, though I can certainly one-shot one that someone else is keeping at bay. A damage boost vs. barriers would most likely let me drop them in one blow, freeing my team up to focus on more obvious threats... while still racking up the points for me.

The tech burst setup was the best I've used. Slash, dodge back and then electric slash to set off the explosion, and weaken anyone in the group. Pretty brutal. I can't remember if I got the damage or the secondary effects on shadow strike. I don't think the damage reduction on decloak has been that useful, because using a power before decloak means I get shot down while invisible, but te speed boost was nice on my second build.

As for atlases an such, the armor damage evolution helps tons. You just have to be brave enough to use it right. Shadow strike, electric slash/tech burst a purple times to break shields, then shadow strike once, and just start mashing the melee button. Each strike takes off a noticeable chunk of prime armor, and atlases are chumps anyways. Never been able to try on a banshee sadly.

My justification for barier damage is that a shot to a hunter would leave him with a sliver of health. Doing the math, I'm guaranteed to one-shot that guy if he has any barriers at all, because the extra damage will carry over.

[Psyren]

I'm already one-shotting Hunters if that's what it's for, I'm sticking with the armor boost then. In fact, the only unarmored enemies I don't one-shot are Phantoms, as above.

And I agree, I definitely don't take the DR upon decloak. I never decloak out in the open; thanks to the "free power" and "longer duration" evolutions, I have plenty of time after SS to run for cover and recharge safely, even on Gold. I've found that if you decloak in cover, it takes enemies a couple more seconds to notice you even though you're visible. Even Turrets derp for a few seconds before pointing in your direction.

The same is true for decloaking while reviving a teammate. They tend to focus fire my buddy while he's in invincibility frames, giving me plenty of time to slip away from the fracas (and be ready to revive again, if necessary.)

[SiuiS]

I'm already one-shotting Hunters if that's what it's for, I'm sticking with the armor boost then. In fact, the only unarmored enemies I don't one-shot are Phantoms, as above.

And I agree, I definitely don't take the DR upon decloak. I never decloak out in the open; thanks to the "free power" and "longer duration" evolutions, I have plenty of time after SS to run for cover and recharge safely, even on Gold. I've found that if you decloak in cover, it takes enemies a couple more seconds to notice you even though you're visible. Even Turrets derp for a few seconds before pointing in your direction.

The same is true for decloaking while reviving a teammate. They tend to focus fire my buddy while he's in invincibility frames, giving me plenty of time to slip away from the fracas (and be ready to revive again, if necessary.)

Are you sure you're playing on gold then? Reviving someone always breaks your cloak. Or it does on gold and up.

Although I think I may have picked the decloak DR upgrade, instead of the damage boost. That would explain my issue.

[Psyren]

Are you sure you're playing on gold then? Reviving someone always breaks your cloak. Or it does on gold and up.

That's what I said "decloaking when reviving a teammate."

Even though you become visible right away, they still take a couple of seconds to notice you - at least that's what happens for me.

Although I think I may have picked the decloak DR upgrade, instead of the damage boost. That would explain my issue.

My cloak is damage at every opportunity, except for the duration upgrade point. Duration gives me a lot of survivability.

[SiuiS]

That's what I said "decloaking when reviving a teammate."

Even though you become visible right away, they still take a couple of seconds to notice you - at least that's what happens for me.

You did indeed. I somehow managed to completely misunderstand and misread that. Sorry.

My cloak is damage at every opportunity, except for the duration upgrade point. Duration gives me a lot of survivability.

Haven't experimented too much, but I believe I use duration/recharge/power, my thinking being that in any situation where I have the time to cloak and then charge up a melee attack, I have the time to reload and drop a power instead.

I've used melee and damage boosts in various combinations though. The shadow became an exercise in precision timing, in order to get off two powers while cloaked - without duration I had maybe a full recharge open to me before it broke on its own. Dropping an extra 1.3 times the damage with shadow strike was neat though, as was the boosted electric slash.

Geth infiltrator... Not so much though. Melee was too slow and too dangerous. I ended up mainlining the GPS and barely used melee a all; waste of a cloak spec if you ask me.

[Sholos]

All-out offensive build for the Shadow.

[Tome]

Just gave the Hurricane a whirl on my Destroyer. Worked brilliantly, killing Brutes in a single clip, but there was a rather annoying glitch.

When Devastator Mode is active the Hurricane won't fire it's last bullet in a clip, meaning you have to manually reload every time. Which is annoying, since the Hurricane can burn through a clip fairly quickly and has an otherwise extremely fast reload.

[Edge]

Well, I threw all of my classes into the promotion grinder earlier today. Not sure if I can motivate myself to level them any time soon. Darksiders 2 is distracting me from all things Mass Effect quite well.

[KillItWithFire]

Just gave the Hurricane a whirl on my Destroyer. Worked brilliantly, killing Brutes in a single clip, but there was a rather annoying glitch.

When Devastator Mode is active the Hurricane won't fire it's last bullet in a clip, meaning you have to manually reload every time. Which is annoying, since the Hurricane can burn through a clip fairly quickly and has an otherwise extremely fast reload.

That's not really a problem if you're like me and have ORD, (Obsessive Reloading Disorder) I sometimes try to reload when I have a full clip!