Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

[Tome]

I prefer using an SMG on casters myself. The Hurricane in particular has a lot of punch for it's weight.

And I'll have to disagree about Volus during uploads. That's one of the times when continuously spamming Shield Boost is a good idea, particularly if you hide behind your allies.

[Luzahn]

Aha! Ex-Cerberus Vanguard. I'm thinking I'll be going with a casting build on him, charge+smash. Need to decide whether to spec into lash or not, seems redundant with charge.

[CreganTur]

Aha! Ex-Cerberus Vanguard. I'm thinking I'll be going with a casting build on him, charge+smash. Need to decide whether to spec into lash or not, seems redundant with charge.

In my experience you can't charge into combat with him the way you would a NovaGuard or Krogan Vanguard. Charge is motly bacup to quickly regen your shields or set off an explosion.

Lash is uber-useful since it's fast to spam and on a lot of maps you can earn kills by throwing enemies out of bounds. Once you get the evolution to ignore shields/barriers you can toss around anything that isn't a Heavy. Slam is also great, especially when you're hiding behind cover and killing things on the other side of the wall.

[Morty]

The Batarian Brawler worked unexpectedly well. I ignored Lash, instead focusing on Charge, Blade Armor and the passives. I charged, shot and punched. With the bonus to weapon damage from Charge, following it up with backing away and firing is pretty effective. I used my favorite shotgun, the Eviscerator. And I was durable enough to get to safety even after charging into a group of enemies. Plus, charging put me in their melee range, meaning they were damaged by the Blade Armor. Not too bad, all in all. We lasted until extraction, even though there were only three of us.
Now, what this build isn't good at dealing with is heavies. Fighting Geth Primes consisted of lots of hit-and-run tactics. Since one of the other two players was a Krogan Battlemaster, we had trouble with them. I ended up using four missiles.

[Edge]

And here's my N7HQ. Which in comparison to others posted makes me feel once again that I play too much.

[Luzahn]

Hmm, it's a difficult choice. I was playing around with both Charge and Lash fully upgraded, but the play style there really seems to favor Fitness, which I only had on three (Rank 6 Phoenix Training seems rather useless)

If you're lucky with Charge's Bonus power, a Smash is devastating. If not, shoot him a bit.

Lash seems really oriented around setting off biotic explosions. Maybe 3 levels of Charge or lash would work...

On that note, can Lash trigger the electrical effect on Smash for detonations?

[Dhavaer]

So that's what the banner is for 100% completion. Does it look like anything?

Light blue with Sheploo's face.

[Farix]

So that's what the banner is for 100% completion. Does it look like anything?

The banner is a headshot of Male Shep making his angry/badass face from the cover art, not particularly unique but fitting I suppose.



In other news some of the Black Ops 2 physical copies got shipped with the second disk containing the data from ME2.

[CreganTur]

In other news some of the Black Ops 2 physical copies got shipped with the second disk containing the data from ME2.

I'm guessing this is a mistake?

[Edge]

Hmm, it's a difficult choice. I was playing around with both Charge and Lash fully upgraded, but the play style there really seems to favor Fitness, which I only had on three (Rank 6 Phoenix Training seems rather useless)

If you're lucky with Charge's Bonus power, a Smash is devastating. If not, shoot him a bit.

Lash seems really oriented around setting off biotic explosions. Maybe 3 levels of Charge or lash would work...

On that note, can Lash trigger the electrical effect on Smash for detonations?

Lash is a problem power, because it can't prime or detonate explosions on armoured targets. The Ex-Cerby Adept makes it work much better in my opinion, since they don't need cooldown for Charge.

I personally run my Ex-Cerby Vanguard as Lash-less melee build:

Biotic Charge 6: Radius, Power Synergy, Barrier
Lash 0
Smash 6: Biotic Combo, Force & Damage, Armour Damage
Phoenix Training 6: Damage & Capacity, Power Damage, Weapon Damage
Fitness 6: Durability, Martial Artist, Power Synergy

I usually run him with an ULM Talon with a melee stunner.

The strategy here is Charge group of mooks, immediately heavy melee to stagger. If barrier at 50% or below Charge, if not, heavy melee again. Bosses are dealt with by Smashing through walls, Charging them whilst primed, and immediately rolling back. If your current wall-Smashing location becomes compromised, reposition.

[Dhavaer]

Also here is my manifest again.

And a preview of the balance changes (which are again delayed)

• Increasing the XP/Score multipliers for Gold and Platinum difficulties. We are seeing a tendency for players to play at lower difficulties in order to complete challenges, so hopefully this will entice players to keep mastering the higher difficulties.
  
• Reducing the shield gate cooldown.

[Psyren]

Aha! Ex-Cerberus Vanguard. I'm thinking I'll be going with a casting build on him, charge+smash. Need to decide whether to spec into lash or not, seems redundant with charge.

No, get Lash! Imagine a Pull that can kill mooks, fast cooldown and all. And you can detonate combos without putting yourself in danger, e.g. alone against a Banshee/Atlas. Or toss Phantoms/Collector Captains/Marauders off the map. Or pull Nemeses/Rocket Troopers out of hiding from range. Spec for the one that lets you throw shielded foes, and get the combo boost as well.

[Morty]

Here is my profile. I actually had no idea I'd maxxed out all the common weapons.

[Farix]

I'm guessing this is a mistake?

I hope so, otherwise Activision is trolling its fan base. Someone just messed up at the factory the disks were written at and used a ME file rather than that from BO2. Quality control dropped the ball and didn't check, dunno how many of the disks are like this.


Had a thought today, what would people think of a dlc where you get to play as Big Ben fighting on Earth with Anderson while Shepards off touring the galaxy?

N7HQ link

[Luzahn]

Giant ambulatory clocktowers would be pretty effective at combat, it's true.


And I guess I'll be going Lash 6 / Charge 3 or something. The charge evolutions aren't all that major of an upgrade, while Lash's shields pull is incredible. I'm just glad I pulled that respec card on my first veteran pack looking for one.

[Edge]

Giant ambulatory clocktowers would be pretty effective at combat, it's true.


And I guess I'll be going Lash 6 / Charge 3 or something. The charge evolutions aren't all that major of an upgrade, while Lash's shields pull is incredible. I'm just glad I pulled that respec card on my first veteran pack looking for one.

The charge evolutions aren't all that major of an upgrade

But, but... restoring all of your barriers every Charge!

[Luzahn]

But, but... restoring all of your barriers every Charge!

I love that upgrade, but the plan is to make them dead before I need that. And I have to skimp somewhere.

[Edge]

I love that upgrade, but the plan is to make them dead before I need that. And I have to skimp somewhere.

Problem is, playing on any difficulty above Bronze, that isn't really feasible. At least, you can't really out and out rely on it.

[Luzahn]

Hmm....your arguments have persuaded me.


And by arguments, I of course mean the glory of Power Synery that I just noticed.

I'd only ever played Shotgun vanguard before this, never really explored their biotic potential.

[Morty]

Good news: I got the hang of the Volus Adept.
Bad news: I lost connection during the extraction wave.

[Psyren]

I hope so, otherwise Activision is trolling its fan base. Someone just messed up at the factory the disks were written at and used a ME file rather than that from BO2.

Wait, so Activision and EA use the same factory? Interesting...

I love that upgrade, but the plan is to make them dead before I need that. And I have to skimp somewhere.

Dump Fitness imo. You're a caster, keep your head down (when you're not charging.) And Smash through walls.

[CreganTur]

Just be wary about trying to get Smash off directly after Charging. It has a logn animation startup and you can be killed quite quickly if you're not careful.

[Luzahn]

I'm noticing a lack of weapon mods on my part. Could this be from neglecting the Recruit packs? Specifically I'm looking for a pistol melee attachment; I could've sworn one existed in singleplayer.

Just be wary about trying to get Smash off directly after Charging. It has a logn animation startup and you can be killed quite quickly if you're not careful.

Yeah, I've been noticing this. If I actually use it in melee range, I just get punched. Luckily, the Charge knockback's been giving me enough room.

Hmm, I think I may like brawler builds a little too much. Hell, my Paladin runs around with a shotgun. May need to rethink this.

[SiuiS]

Sius, I play Gold exclusively, and I'm with Zevox on this one - not all of the casters you've labelled as casters are in fact casters. Personally, I don't think ANY Infilitrator, except the N7 Shadow, is a caster (Though the Ghost comes close.)

If I can leverage our hopefully common D&D backgrounds for a second, I think some classes belong to a hybrid catergory - "gishes," if you will. These classes can succeed with their powers alone, but not effectively enough to eschew firearms entirely.

Done it. With every class on that list. As a caster, specifically.
This isn't hypothetical. I'm not crunching numbers and guessing. So pick a build. Use it exclusively for a week (around 30 hours or so gameplay, minimum). Work on the ins and outs of how it functions. And then say whether it woks or not. Because where you're saying "I don't think this can possibly work", I'm saying "this has worked".

The new Geth Trooper is just awesome! Earned him over my big gaming binge weekend. I tested him out on Silver and with Fortification I was able to just wade into enemies with my Flamer spouting death in every direction.

Fun facts!
Advanced hardware gives you a shield recharge boost at rank 1, and also rank 5. Fortification can give you a boost at rank 5 as well. This is a total of +40% shield recharge. With gear, an an expendable, this gets as high as 85%. At 82%, from stronghold package, I had shields like a vorcha has health. It's amazing.

Flamer seems to mess with this. Regeneration of shields is delayed during the flamer attack animation, and it becomes very noticeable when you go from instant shield regen, to having to wait out the power.

Hunter mode's shield reduction is additive. If you have health/shields from
Advanced hardware up to 5, then you're walking around with 1,100 shields with hunter mode on. The DR on top of that (30% base, I think) means you've got a functional 1,430 shields with almost instant recovery. It gets to the point that only an attack stein enough to one-shot you can get through and kill you.even enemy pyros, all you need is to hop sideways and you begin to recover. It's fantastic.

I'm building to a 6/5/5/5/5 build. Not sure where I'll keep the 6, though. I think it may end up being more useful in fortification, hunter mode, or advanced hardware than in flamer. I'm also not positive the numbers crunch out so roundly. So here's hoping.

That Phalanx looks like your best bet to me. 200% cooldowns are vital on Volus because their native cooldowns are long.

Depends on the volus. You can pull a grueling 150% on the engineer, and the adept works as low as 25%, if you've mastered cloaking.

[Psyren]

Done it. With every class on that list. As a caster, specifically.
This isn't hypothetical. I'm not crunching numbers and guessing. So pick a build. Use it exclusively for a week (around 30 hours or so gameplay, minimum). Work on the ins and outs of how it functions. And then say whether it woks or not. Because where you're saying "I don't think this can possibly work", I'm saying "this has worked".

But how long did it take you? As, say, a human infiltrator or Turian soldier - without firing your gun once, or resorting to rockets - to bring a Gold Banshee down from full health? I'm honestly curious. And feel free to link a video as well - again, not challenging, I'm genuinely interested in how efficiently such a thing would work.

I'm noticing a lack of weapon mods on my part. Could this be from neglecting the Recruit packs? Specifically I'm looking for a pistol melee attachment; I could've sworn one existed in singleplayer.

It does exist, and it's very handy for the Shadow. Spamming Veteran packs should get it for you.

[Luzahn]

It does exist, and it's very handy for the Shadow. Spamming Veteran packs should get it for you.

Ah, excellent. I assume all mods aren't commons then?

[Corvus]

I tried out the Krogan Shaman today. Given my kromance, I really want to like it. I just can't. Doesn't seem to work for me. That could be because of how buggy shockwave is. Throw shockwave at warped target right in front of you and nothing happens. Very annoying. May need to reconsider how I play it.

In other news, is the Collector SMG one of the worst ultra-rares going around? The fact that it doesn't need ammo doesn't make up for its small 'clip' size it uses and other factors.

It wasnt a total wasted day. I'm getting back into the drell adept and his biotic martial arts awesomeness.

[Falgorn]

I tried out the Krogan Shaman today. Given my kromance, I really want to like it. I just can't. Doesn't seem to work for me. That could be because of how buggy shockwave is. Throw shockwave at warped target right in front of you and nothing happens. Very annoying. May need to reconsider how I play it.

In other news, is the Collector SMG one of the worst ultra-rares going around? The fact that it doesn't need ammo doesn't make up for its small 'clip' size it uses and other factors.

It wasnt a total wasted day. I'm getting back into the drell adept and his biotic martial arts awesomeness.

Just got the shaman, too. I'm veryyyy new to the multiplayer, so I don't know much about how good/bad he is; all I know is that he can explode, and he's a krogan, so all my dreams came true.
More seriously, I unlocked the Vorcha Sentinel no more than fifteen minutes ago. Tips?

[Krade]

And here's my N7HQ. Which in comparison to others posted makes me feel once again that I play too much.

Here's mine. If it makes you feel any better, you only have about 30 hours on me. I also haven't been playing much since Borderlands came out... And then XCOM... And now CoD:BO2...

I have too many games to play.

[Psyren]

Ah, excellent. I assume all mods aren't commons then?

That particular one is Uncommon. The manifest will show you the rarity of all the lootz.