Mass Effect 3.7: "That was for Thane"

[SiuiS]

Understandable. I only bring it up because the chaos that is platinum makes it fun. Not Rio, but the blood pack hitsquad. Or any similar synergized adventure.

[Landis963]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Not really. Aside from "actually has low enough recharge to regenerate like a vorcha" you can play however you're comfortable. On the destroyer, both grenades and hawk missile work well. Heck, grenades come back fast when you sit on a box, fire and reload. So mufti frag might be what the doctor ordered.

How do you mean? Because I've never seen a Krogan char do that, let alone another race. Grenade+missile is basically how I've been leveling my destroyer (the one That Would Not Leave), except I've had to deal with the low cooldown that comes with giving him a Typhoon. (i.e. I haven't been dealing with it, because NSeven Destroyer sneers at caster playing).

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Other side. The landing zone is on a platform adjacent to the AA guns. The opposite direction, at the back of the maze of boxes. I'll try and get pictures later.

The idea being that the team gathers and fights their way to the LZ come extraction? Or that by wave 10 everyone's got what they came for?

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Nope. When set to Reapers, you get every reaper unit, and most geth and Cerberus units, but aside from extraction I don't recall ever seeing either of the new units. I've also noticed that when set to reapers, you never fight collectors. I'm not sure if it is cyclical, or if the main three do not include collectors.
I have heard that when fighting the collectors you end up fighting all factions at once, but haven't tested it. this would make collectors on platinum Hard Mode.

Huh. Of course, Collectors being hard mode period goes without saying. That's actually rather good. Bombers kill entrenched positions dead (Which, BTW, is how geth farming both on White and on Goddess died). Actually, Cerberus or Geth Platinum (without resorting to Collector Platinum, which just seems insane) would be a good test of this. If Collectors show up, but not Reapers, then that'd be a pretty good sign.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Then you have to actually aim XD

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I've done some weird things. Reegar carbine, SMG with AP barrel to shoot through walls. Try to compensate for whatever you feel your weakness is. I stick to the acolyte because as a volus, I can shoot over cover and stay protected, it's light, and when just sittin in the divot I get board so I occupy my time with bank shots. I usually bring the collector SMG but that's just so I don't take mom from others. The tempest works for me.

I've been using the Geth SMG since, well, pretty much since I got it unlocked (for my SMG needs, that is), since it's the closest thing to a machine gun the SMG slot has. It is rather lackluster against armor, but biotic booms take care of that quite nicely, especially if Dark Channel's the base.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

If you aren't worried about shields (arc grenades or even disruptor/phasic ammo) then double up on the armor penetration. Generally, look at the load out of the others and shore up weaknesses. If there are 3 acolytes, I'm using a machine gun with warp/cryo rounds.

Last I checked, I only had some phasic ammo, but I'm pretty sure I can do something to boost that.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I was hopin you wouldn't ask :P

Everyone I play with, self included, prefers short cloak duration an high damage. So the ideas given are for that. A long cloak and an ops pack can leave the three prime damage dealers at the box to draw most enemies while the infiltrator runs out, achieves the objective and fights his way back. It's also the most gamble of a job; sometimes you'll burn through rockets, gel and ops packs just to finish, and other times if you get all four and die you can just bleed out, and trust that the Box Of Complete Security will see your squad through.

Fair enough. I assumed it would be taking care of the "hack 4 objects" missions.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

debuffing, sorry. Entirely sloth and momentum on my part, I usually catch that.
Geth infiltrator has damage/damage taken/damage. Salarian infiltrator has radius/damage taken/recharge speed. Turian soldier uses radius/damage taken/damage. The important part is the boost to damage from all sources - with the volus engineer it's +45%, and with the volus adept its +65% if you've got both in the party. The faste you kill the enemy the less they kill you.

That's what I thought. Also, that last part is exactly why I consider it just fine to, if a boss monster is out of frame/far enough away not to matter, kill the honor guard of low-level mooks first, just so they're out of the team's hair.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Speed is paramount, otherwise it's your call. Both have advantages. I personally prefer size and carrier effects over sheer damage, but I fully admit sometimes it's unoptimal.

On Platinum, I'd think that a larger area-of-effect would give your teammates more room to breathe (tying up a larger number of enemies with Singularity or Cryoblast, for instance), although I will admit that one-power-one-kill has its merits as well.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Play by ear? Enemies rarely show up at both ends until wave seven, so both vorcha crossing streams while the Krogan and tech guy cause a ruckus goes a long way. The explosions tend to wipe out any one side pretty quickly. I suppose this is something the individual player will have to get a feel for though.

Not until wave 7? Really? You'd think the enemy would realize to attack from both ends much quicker. Or there simply aren't enough enemies in a single wave before that point where they'd path to both ends.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I am numerically unsure. The explosion from ballistic blades can do it, and two flamer streams and a fire explosion can do it. It's not 100% but provided you're cautious and help each other up, three guys can pull through the wave. Two guys can once you're halfway through, even, but the unlucky banshee gibbing occasionally sees one guy left. They tend to be hit or miss.

I'm fairly certain a biotic explosion can do it on silver, and, of course, killing the banshee before she kills the hapless teammate will interrupt it.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I admit to being bored even on platinum with WGPlatinum, and miss my old dropping into random games and going the distance. But I inevitably end up against the collectors and that goes poorly, so I stopped. WGPlatinum was easy money but slllooooowww.

Is there a WGPlatinum strat for those of us that don't mind slow?

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Resource management. How many times have you decided to not mash Spacebar, let yourself bleed fast so no one enters a ba situation to "save" you? You conserve gel, you know your team can pull through, you'll be back next wave. But I always see this guy who hits medigel as soon as he drops no matter how close his allies are an I just don't get it.

Try to save your gel for the last second. Or if you go down trying to revive a guy, get up after about 50%, so you still have time to revive him. You'll find if you stay in that lobby, the idea spreads.

I just hammer the mic button and say something along the lines of "Don't rez me yet, there's [insert number and type of baddies], get rid of them first" while continuing to hammer the spacebar hoping that they can get rid of them before an executioner comes along with his groin-stomp of doom. And when I have it, my gel is always saved for the last second.

[Mr._Blinky]

So would anyone who plays on 360 be interested in doing some Gold/Platinum runs in the next week? Most of the people I used to play with have unfortunately moved on to other games, and I seem to have terrible luck with randoms. My best class at the moment is the Turian Ghost, but I can play most classes with some degree of competency.

Gamertag is Hells DM, if anyone's interested.

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Landis963

How do you mean? Because I've never seen a Krogan char do that, let alone another race. Grenade+missile is basically how I've been leveling my destroyer (the one That Would Not Leave), except I've had to deal with the low cooldown that comes with giving him a Typhoon. (i.e. I haven't been dealing with it, because NSeven Destroyer sneers at caster playing).

Shield recharge. Krogan rage evolution 5 gives you 15%, barrier or fortification give you 15%, biotic sphere increases it another 25%, a multicapacitor or stronghold hear grants roughly 10%, and a shield power cell 3 grants 30%, for a total of ~95% faster shield recovery; we did a test run on gold (to see if it was the strategy and not our play style) and both Krogan - one battlemaster, one soldier - reported "vorcha-like shield regeneration, [faster than] a banshee warp." if tech armor has a shield recharge speed boost, then all Krogan, all batarians, and the N7 destroyer all gain instantaneous regeneration. You can carry any guns you like; in fact, heavy guns are better, even on caster classes. More reliable.

The idea being that the team gathers and fights their way to the LZ come extraction? Or that by wave 10 everyone's got what they came for?

I surprised my team by rushing to extraction poit, an we held it on a bubble no problem. I personally got grabbed by a banshee because I ran out of rockets due to poor aim on wave 10. You get 10% more credits (15,000) for the two minutes extra an extraction costs. Extraction is totally worth it.

Huh. Of course, Collectors being hard mode period goes without saying. That's actually rather good. Bombers kill entrenched positions dead (Which, BTW, is how geth farming both on White and on Goddess died). Actually, Cerberus or Geth Platinum (without resorting to Collector Platinum, which just seems insane) would be a good test of this. If Collectors show up, but not Reapers, then that'd be a pretty good sign.

Yeah. Still, grain of salt. My usual run has so much fire and smoke an bloody screen that I can't tell what's there. I just sort of point towards the orange reticle and lifebar.

I've been using the Geth SMG since, well, pretty much since I got it unlocked (for my SMG needs, that is), since it's the closest thing to a machine gun the SMG slot has. It is rather lackluster against armor, but biotic booms take care of that quite nicely, especially if Dark Channel's the base.

Oh. Hm. If tech armor allows for recharge boost, then Valkyrie is my new favorite class.

I use the high velocity AP barrel on most SMGs. I don't need more damage against non-armored units, I do need to shoot through cover, and I do like murdering brutes. So.

On Platinum, I'd think that a larger area-of-effect would give your teammates more room to breathe (tying up a larger number of enemies with Singularity or Cryoblast, for instance), although I will admit that one-power-one-kill has its merits as well.

Well okay, I you're going to make me think about it...

You aren't going to OHKO anything on platinum. Which means the target WILL be hit by another power and gun fire. The target generally will not survive two powers and an explosion, so as long as the damage range of two powers together is around 70% of the total health, you're fine.

So yes, area and Carrier effects are superior for damage in most instances. For proximity mine, I prefer damage, but that I because it has a use other than tech bursts.

Not until wave 7? Really? You'd think the enemy would realize to attack from both ends much quicker. Or there simply aren't enough enemies in a single wave before that point where they'd path to both ends.

Most waves up to that point are a banshee, two brutes, four pyros, three marauders, a bunch of cannibals, and on wave six centurions, engineers and phantoms, a prime and if we are really unlucky, drop a brute, add an atlas.

Between 2 flamers, snap freeze and biotic charge only the heavies and maybe a well hidden phantom have any health left after a few seconds. It's only when there are three or four spawns like this they get to use faster than we knock them down.

Is there a WGPlatinum strat for those of us that don't mind slow?

Nope. Theoretically, the far far back can be held using Justicar recharge shenanigans, but it's highly open so heavy stacks can still drop you.

I just hammer the mic button and say something along the lines of "Don't rez me yet, there's [insert number and type of baddies], get rid of them first" while continuing to hammer the spacebar hoping that they can get rid of them before an executioner comes along with his groin-stomp of doom. And when I have it, my gel is always saved for the last second.

I know on my system, I can't always hear people when I don't have a headset on. An when I can, they aren't always intelligible. An one of my friends broke his headset, so I've been texting him an hopin he gets good reception.

Originally Posted by Mr._Blinky

So would anyone who plays on 360 be interested in doing some Gold/Platinum runs in the next week? Most of the people I used to play with have unfortunately moved on to other games, and I seem to have terrible luck with randoms. My best class at the moment is the Turian Ghost, but I can play most classes with some degree of competency.

Gamertag is Hells DM, if anyone's interested.

I'm game. I usually play late, though; 08:00 GMT. I believe. It's 4:30 now, my math is off. Either Monday or Tuesday (US) I'll be on much earlier.

[TamerBill]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

So you delete everything you don't want gear from (I suggest leaving Earth or Retaliation) and buy the ever loving Moon Princess out of PSPs. Wash, rinse, repeat. Redownload the deleteDLC while you sleep, happy with your newfound bounty.

Deleting and redownloading hundreds of megabytes whenever you want to buy something didn't strike you as inefficient? Just move the folders from 'Program Files/Origin Games/Mass Effect 3/BIOGame/DLC' to somewhere else, then move them back afterwards.

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by TamerBill

Deleting and redownloading hundreds of megabytes whenever you want to buy something didn't strike you as inefficient? Just move the folders from 'Program Files/Origin Games/Mass Effect 3/BIOGame/DLC' to somewhere else, then move them back afterwards.

Of course it did. That why I'm advocating this in addition to blowing millions of credits. doing it every time you get 99,000 is stupid.

And unfortunately my Xbox does not have folders

[Zevox]

So, has anybody else noticed a new bug of late, where powers will just randomly do nothing to their target? And I don't mean they pass through them, I mean they appear to hit, but don't hurt them. Overload won't even chain if this happens. Seems to happen most often with Geth Bombers, but I've seen it on other enemies too. Gets pretty irritating at times.

Oh, and something great I discovered today: unlike with Tech Bursts, Warp can detonate a Fire Burst and still prime a biotic combo . Yep, Engineer and Adept teams just keep looking better ever since that change to Fire and Cryo Bursts.

Zevox

[Mr._Blinky]

Originally Posted by Zevox

So, has anybody else noticed a new bug of late, where powers will just randomly do nothing to their target? And I don't mean they pass through them, I mean they appear to hit, but don't hurt them. Overload won't even chain if this happens. Seems to happen most often with Geth Bombers, but I've seen it on other enemies too. Gets pretty irritating at times.

Oh, and something great I discovered today: unlike with Tech Bursts, Warp can detonate a Fire Burst and still prime a biotic combo . Yep, Engineer and Adept teams just keep looking better ever since that change to Fire and Cryo Bursts.

Zevox

Yeah, I've had problems with trying to Overload Bombers and having it do nothing. It's rather frustrating.

[Landis963]

Originally Posted by Zevox

Oh, and something great I discovered today: unlike with Tech Bursts, Warp can detonate a Fire Burst and still prime a biotic combo . Yep, Engineer and Adept teams just keep looking better ever since that change to Fire and Cryo Bursts.

Zevox

Whut.

Originally Posted by Zevox

Warp can detonate a Fire Burst and still prime a biotic combo

8D.

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Zevox

So, has anybody else noticed a new bug of late, where powers will just randomly do nothing to their target? And I don't mean they pass through them, I mean they appear to hit, but don't hurt them. Overload won't even chain if this happens. Seems to happen most often with Geth Bombers, but I've seen it on other enemies too. Gets pretty irritating at times.

Oh, and something great I discovered today: unlike with Tech Bursts, Warp can detonate a Fire Burst and still prime a biotic combo . Yep, Engineer and Adept teams just keep looking better ever since that change to Fire and Cryo Bursts.

Zevox

I've had targeting issues, where the bomber moves slightly and no power hits directly behind it, looking like a hit but from the side missing by a mile.

Also, I think warp can detonate electric bursts and still prime, it's just inconsistent. It's also inconsistent in general. I've had to throw an incinerate up to tree times to finally get a burst out of some powers, and have actually had someone else detonate my incinerate with a proxy mine before I finally got the tech burst.

I will give that it's unlikely though. Trials with my old Turian sentinel went poorly last I tried.

[Zevox]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I've had targeting issues, where the bomber moves slightly and no power hits directly behind it, looking like a hit but from the side missing by a mile.

As I said, I've seen this with other units too, and with powers that don't have a travel time, but rather just hit instantly, like overload. Just today I had my Salarian Engineer's Energy Drain mysteriously fail to affect a Geth Drone (from a Prime), which I was trying to use it on to replenish my shields. That was a very unpleasant surprise, to say the least. Also later in that match had the same thing happen when using it on a Geth Prime.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Also, I think warp can detonate electric bursts and still prime, it's just inconsistent. It's also inconsistent in general. I've had to throw an incinerate up to tree times to finally get a burst out of some powers, and have actually had someone else detonate my incinerate with a proxy mine before I finally got the tech burst.

I will give that it's unlikely though. Trials with my old Turian sentinel went poorly last I tried.

Hm, weird. I know I've found trying to get electric bursts off my Turian Sentinel or Engineers extremely inconsistent, but I was chalking that up to the electric residue not lasting long enough for warp/incinerate to always get there in time to detonate it. Other bursts I haven't found inconsistent at all, though. Well, except for the whole "do Cryo bursts work on armored/shielded enemies" thing, which I at first assumed they didn't since my Quarian Engineer couldn't seem to get them to happen, but now I've seen some of my Adepts detonate them on enemies like Dragoons and Geth Primes that have been chilled by a Cryo Blast or Cryo Ammo.

Still, biotic and fire bursts I haven't found inconsistent, at least so far.

Zevox

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Zevox

As I said, I've seen this with other units too, and with powers that don't have a travel time, but rather just hit instantly, like overload. Just today I had my Salarian Engineer's Energy Drain mysteriously fail to affect a Geth Drone (from a Prime), which I was trying to use it on to replenish my shields. That was a very unpleasant surprise, to say the least. Also later in that match had the same thing happen when using it on a Geth Prime.

I never mentioned travel time at all. Overload, energy drain, dark channel an reave are the powers I've experienced it with, on hunters, bombers, marauders, Dragoons and sometimes a mobile nemesis. The overload burst or the wavy reave cloud appears behind them close enough to outline them, like they are standing in front of a fire. I chalke it up to poor aiming on my end, as I'm going for headshots (198 more!) with the talon, and when holding the aiming button the highlighted targeting reticle gets finicky, dropping off temporarily due to a millimeter discrepancy.

Hm, weird. I know I've found trying to get electric bursts off my Turian Sentinel or Engineers extremely inconsistent, but I was chalking that up to the electric residue not lasting long enough for warp/incinerate to always get there in time to detonate it. Other bursts I haven't found inconsistent at all, though. Well, except for the whole "do Cryo bursts work on armored/shielded enemies" thing, which I at first assumed they didn't since my Quarian Engineer couldn't seem to get them to happen, but now I've seen some of my Adepts detonate them on enemies like Dragoons and Geth Primes that have been chilled by a Cryo Blast or Cryo Ammo.

Still, biotic and fire bursts I haven't found inconsistent, at least so far.

Zevox

My "professional" (ha!) opinion is that cryoblast sucks. Cryoblast > incinerate doesn't always do ice explosions, incinerate > cryoblast pretty much never does fire explosions. I assume it is because cryoblast itself does not inflict damage. Using snap freeze, this problem went away entirely, and using incendiary ammo > incinerate generates firebursts consistently, using cryo Ammo > cryoblast does not generate ice bursts consistently. I have nothing but surmise for this however, as due to some issues with connection I rarely host games. I cannot isolate enough variables to check out anything.

[Zevox]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I never mentioned travel time at all. Overload, energy drain, dark channel an reave are the powers I've experienced it with, on hunters, bombers, marauders, Dragoons and sometimes a mobile nemesis. The overload burst or the wavy reave cloud appears behind them close enough to outline them, like they are standing in front of a fire. I chalke it up to poor aiming on my end, as I'm going for headshots (198 more!) with the talon, and when holding the aiming button the highlighted targeting reticle gets finicky, dropping off temporarily due to a millimeter discrepancy.

But powers with instant travel times literally cannot miss if you have the target highlighted properly. If the target is in cover and your angle is poor it might hit the cover instead, but if it's out of cover (which has been the case every time I've seen this), there's no room for error. Maybe you've missed due to the headshot thing you mentioned screwing with whether your targets were properly highlighted, but that definitely wasn't the case with the ones I've seen.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

My "professional" (ha!) opinion is that cryoblast sucks. Cryoblast > incinerate doesn't always do ice explosions, incinerate > cryoblast pretty much never does fire explosions. I assume it is because cryoblast itself does not inflict damage. Using snap freeze, this problem went away entirely, and using incendiary ammo > incinerate generates firebursts consistently, using cryo Ammo > cryoblast does not generate ice bursts consistently. I have nothing but surmise for this however, as due to some issues with connection I rarely host games. I cannot isolate enough variables to check out anything.

Cryo Blast -> Incinerate is completely consistent on enemies without protections. Cryo Blast is also quite handy in and of itself, since it can be specced to increase damage done to the target from all sources (to a greater degree than Warp with Expose) and weaken armor. And a Quarian Engineer can take the rank-6 Incinerate evolution that causes Incinerate to deal double damage to frozen or chilled enemies. Since Cryo Blast has a substantially shorter cooldown than Incinerate, that means that even with no burst, doing Cryo Blast -> Incinerate is good extra damage on anything without shields/barriers (since Incinerate does very little to those). That's basically the bread-and-butter of a Quarian Engineer.

You're quite correct that Cryo Blast cannot detonate bursts because it does not deal damage, that much is true. But of course that's not what it's for - it's a debuff, not an attack.

I have no idea what the issue with cryo bursts on protected enemies is, though. That's just got me scratching my head.

Edit: So, tonight after playing what I decided would be my final game, I was feeling a little weary and discouraged. For whatever reason I decided that, since I had enough money for one Premium pack, I'd address this by taking a chance on picking one up without removing any DLC first, and just see what I got. Wonder of wonders, what I got was a Volus Engineer.

So, a week of getting Premium packs with just the first DLC and I still don't have a Geth Engineer, but the one and only pack I've bought with the newest DLC installed immediately gets me an ultra-rare class. Honestly, I don't even know what to say about that anymore.

But enough about that - anyone care to recommend builds for the little guy? I perused his powers, but I really don't see anything jumping out at me immediately. Recon Mine looks like it could be very handy in any of several ways, Shield Boost I'm imagining is essential given their inability to take cover and low health, and I have no idea what to do with Proximity Mine, as I've never used it in single- or multi-player. Is 6/6/6/5/3 a good spread, as for most casters, or should I focus on more Fitness to offset the Volus lack of durability? If so, at the expense of what?

Zevox

[SiuiS]

On volus, I sugget 6/6/6/5/3. Fitness is almost a waste of time if you have shield boost.

Recon mine, area of effect/?????/invasive scan is boss. I species my most recent for straight damage and it's honestly underwhelming. The lack I radius hurts and the damage isn't accuse enough to make up for not being able to shoot things better.

Proximity mine is an awesome power an I'm sad you haven't tried it. Either /radius/damage taken/recharge or damage/damage taken/damage work wonders. Radius and recharge allow you to spam an explosive which goes off near enemies, and increases the damage a group takes. Including on ye second mine, which does 20% more, and readies your other abilities faster. Straight damage is nice though too, and is my go-to for geth hunter. It's a workhorse power.

Shield boost works best with DR at rank six, but otherwise spec to your heart's content. I like radius, because I work with ranging allies a lot. Above silver, extra duration is useless but on silver it may be pretty slick.

For the passive, pick up 30% better shield boost at rank five.

Originally Posted by Zevox

But powers with instant travel times literally cannot miss if you have the target highlighted properly. If the target is in cover and your angle is poor it might hit the cover instead, but if it's out of cover (which has been the case every time I've seen this), there's no room for error. Maybe you've missed due to the headshot thing you mentioned screwing with whether your targets were properly highlighted, but that definitely wasn't the case with the ones I've seen.

It's only been a noticeable problem this last week, but I have enemies sporadically drop highlight for a split second. Several instant powers seem to have trouble tracking, mostly against geth. You haven't had annoying until the fifth time you fail to chain-stun a group of hunters and get dropped instead.

Cryo Blast -> Incinerate is completely consistent on enemies without protections. Cryo Blast is also quite handy in and of itself, since it can be specced to increase damage done to the target from all sources (to a greater degree than Warp with Expose) and weaken armor. And a Quarian Engineer can take the rank-6 Incinerate evolution that causes Incinerate to deal double damage to frozen or chilled enemies. Since Cryo Blast has a substantially shorter cooldown than Incinerate, that means that even with no burst, doing Cryo Blast -> Incinerate is good extra damage on anything without shields/barriers (since Incinerate does very little to those). That's basically the bread-and-butter of a Quarian Engineer.

You're quite correct that Cryo Blast cannot detonate bursts because it does not deal damage, that much is true. But of course that's not what it's for - it's a debuff, not an attack.

I have no idea what the issue with cryo bursts on protected enemies is, though. That's just got me scratching my head.

Zevox

Does it really do more than warp? It only increases damage on frozen targets. I've found cryoblast to be all around disappointing with anything but the havoc soldier. Before the new burst mechanic, there was no noticeable damage increase against chilled or frozen targets from incinerate, there was no noticeable increase from cryoblast on weapons, either from straight freezing or armor weakening. I use it anyway just in case but it seriously seemed like wasted effort aside from the area still hitting and getting enemy dodges out of the way early.

And cryoblast can trigger bursts once in a blue moon. I've gotten tech burst on occasion and one highly anomalous fire burst. No one else targeted or shot the guy as I was in a solo match, and ammo wouldn't cause a burst even if it primed it. But there we were, silver, at the bottom of tuchanka, and the assault trooper goes up in bloody red chunks and a fiery sphere instead of freezing.

[Callos_DeTerran]

You only get a Cryo-Burst when the enemy is frozen, they can't just be chilled. So, in other words, you can only get a cryo explosion on an enemy that has health and no barriers/shields and only once they've completely frozen (ie they're falling over).

Once you have that in mind, cryo explosions drop in usefulness since...well...just look at what you need to do to tripper a cryo explosion with cryo blast!

[Zevox]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

On volus, I sugget 6/6/6/5/3. Fitness is almost a waste of time if you have shield boost.

Hm, in that case, wouldn't it be best to take 6/6/6/6/0? Or is that too much of a risk?

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Recon mine, area of effect/?????/invasive scan is boss. I species my most recent for straight damage and it's honestly underwhelming. The lack I radius hurts and the damage isn't accuse enough to make up for not being able to shoot things better.

Hm, okay. I'd likely take damage at 5, since I go for minimum cooldown time with my guns anyway, making recharge a bit redundant. You're sure about invasive scan over armor damage at 6 though? That 75% damage boost looks awfully big, given how much damage the power does even with just the rank 5 damage boost.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

For the passive, pick up 30% better shield boost at rank five.

Really? Even though the power itself gets several boosts to that, and it's up against a general power damage boost?

Originally Posted by SiuiS

It's only been a noticeable problem this last week, but I have enemies sporadically drop highlight for a split second. Several instant powers seem to have trouble tracking, mostly against geth. You haven't had annoying until the fifth time you fail to chain-stun a group of hunters and get dropped instead.

Huh, weird. I can't say I've seen the highlight dropping myself though.

In any event, whatever the specific bug may be, I really hope they fix it soon.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Does it really do more than warp?

Eeyup. Warp's Expose does 15%, Cryo Blast with both Cryo Explosion at rank 5 and Frozen Vulnerability at rank 6 is 25%.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

It only increases damage on frozen targets.

Not unless the power description is wrong - both upgrades specifically say "frozen and chilled targets." And I'd swear I've seen it do just that when I hit big, armored enemies that my allies are shooting at with it.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I've found cryoblast to be all around disappointing with anything but the havoc soldier. Before the new burst mechanic, there was no noticeable damage increase against chilled or frozen targets from incinerate, there was no noticeable increase from cryoblast on weapons, either from straight freezing or armor weakening. I use it anyway just in case but it seriously seemed like wasted effort aside from the area still hitting and getting enemy dodges out of the way early.

I certainly noticed the difference with Incinerate before the burst change - when I promoted my Engineer class to respec my Demolisher's arc grenades, I played a game with my Quarian Engineer while leveling up during which she had Incinerate at rank 5, just shy of having the upgrade that doubles its damage versus frozen/chilled enemies. I was trying to make cryo bursts out of mooks as I usually did, and found it much harder, because I couldn't simply cryo blast -> fire a little -> incinerate for a quick kill, since incinerate wasn't doing nearly as much as when I had her with that upgrade.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

And cryoblast can trigger bursts once in a blue moon. I've gotten tech burst on occasion and one highly anomalous fire burst. No one else targeted or shot the guy as I was in a solo match, and ammo wouldn't cause a burst even if it primed it. But there we were, silver, at the bottom of tuchanka, and the assault trooper goes up in bloody red chunks and a fiery sphere instead of freezing.

Huh, that's weird. Must be some kind of bug though - if the power were supposed to trigger bursts but wasn't doing so, I think they'd have noticed and fixed it by now. The reverse happening in extremely rare cases though, I could see slipping through the cracks.

Originally Posted by Callos_DeTerran

You only get a Cryo-Burst when the enemy is frozen, they can't just be chilled. So, in other words, you can only get a cryo explosion on an enemy that has health and no barriers/shields and only once they've completely frozen (ie they're falling over).

Once you have that in mind, cryo explosions drop in usefulness since...well...just look at what you need to do to tripper a cryo explosion with cryo blast!

That's what I thought when I first played my Quarian Engineer after that change, but I've since seen cryo bursts go off on enemies that don't even have health, including Dragoons and Geth Primes. So yeah, there's something screwy there.

Zevox

[Tome]

Originally Posted by Zevox

Hm, in that case, wouldn't it be best to take 6/6/6/6/0? Or is that too much of a risk?

The Volus dies to a mean look anyway, so it's really not all that dangerous to completely skip Fitness. You do have to get the hang of using Shield Boost and his melee abilities though. (Need to pop out of cover to slap a mine on an Atlas? Cloak. About to get mown down by a Brute?Put your shield up.)

Originally Posted by Zevox

Hm, okay. I'd likely take damage at 5, since I go for minimum cooldown time with my guns anyway, making recharge a bit redundant. You're sure about invasive scan over armor damage at 6 though? That 75% damage boost looks awfully big, given how much damage the power does even with just the rank 5 damage boost.

The thing about Recon Mine is that the cooldown, even with 200% weight bonus and cooldown boosting equipment, is still about 5-6 seconds. You simply can't get it to the point where you can use it frequently enough to rely on it for damage. Using it for the AOE damage boost is much more useful. Detonating it is more of a last resort measure, like when you need to stop a synch kill.

If you want a power for spamming look to Proximity Mine instead (but take the Damage Taken upgrade at 5 anyway, because stacking the two on top of each other is great for bringing down bosses).

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Callos_DeTerran

You only get a Cryo-Burst when the enemy is frozen, they can't just be chilled. So, in other words, you can only get a cryo explosion on an enemy that has health and no barriers/shields and only once they've completely frozen (ie they're falling over).

Once you have that in mind, cryo explosions drop in usefulness since...well...just look at what you need to do to tripper a cryo explosion with cryo blast!

Nah, it does go off on chilled targets. It's just weird on when it happens. Ice bursts off of bomber drones is my specialty, although ice and fire on primes is nice.

Originally Posted by Zevox

Hm, in that case, wouldn't it be best to take 6/6/6/6/0? Or is that too much of a risk?

Yeah, 6/6/6/6/0 is best, but that's with gun enhancement and stuff. I figured you preferred caster play, and would occasionally be hit pretty hard during power cooldown. Once you get used to cloaking and dodging. Once your shield is gone, no amount of fitness will let you survive more than one bullet. And the damage boost on the heavy melee is pretty sweet.

Hm, okay. I'd likely take damage at 5, since I go for minimum cooldown time with my guns anyway, making recharge a bit redundant. You're sure about invasive scan over armor damage at 6 though? That 75% damage boost looks awfully big, given how much damage the power does even with just the rank 5 damage boost.

Well, 75% more against armored opponents hit by the mine, versus 25% more to every target within twelve meters is easy for me; especially since if you stop a single regular proxy mine on the leading edge of the scan area means once it's hit every enemy in there get hit by 45% more damage from all sources. The recon mine explosion costs you recon, generally kills enemies anyway, an the heavies take more damage from allies with a boost than the 75% on its own.

Really though, I think the loss of the radius killed it more than the loss of invasive scan. I plan on trying it out soon.

Really? Even though the power itself gets several boosts to that, and it's up against a general power damage boost?

I use the volus almost specifically as a support class. Medic, debuff, recon, field support. Both the volus and the Krogan have a huge enough amount of shields to require a lot of bonus shields. Also, consider the importance of healing; 3 seconds of regenerating shields which is also increased. That Extra 30% means you can stand in a pyros fire without dying. It makes the extra duration possible for consideration.

Eeyup. Warp's Expose does 15%, Cryo Blast with both Cryo Explosion at rank 5 and Frozen Vulnerability at rank 6 is 25%.

nnnno, I am pretty sure that the sum total of warp is 25%. I am however tired and having a nightcap, so I'll come back to this.

Not unless the power description is wrong - both upgrades specifically say "frozen and chilled targets." And I'd swear I've seen it do just that when I hit big, armored enemies that my allies are shooting at with it.

Yeah. Chilled is inconsistent, but it does occasionally happen.

I certainly noticed the difference with Incinerate before the burst change - when I promoted my Engineer class to respec my Demolisher's arc grenades, I played a game with my Quarian Engineer while leveling up during which she had Incinerate at rank 5, just shy of having the upgrade that doubles its damage versus frozen/chilled enemies. I was trying to make cryo bursts out of mooks as I usually did, and found it much harder, because I couldn't simply cryo blast -> fire a little -> incinerate for a quick kill, since incinerate wasn't doing nearly as much as when I had her with that upgrade.

I will take your word for it. The damage from the explosions exceeds the bonus. So it's good.

[Edge]

Regarding Cryo Explosions: Cryo Blast can only set them up on completely frozen targets. Snap Freeze, on the other hand, sets them up on both frozen and chilled targets, which is partially why it's so much better.

[Avilan the Grey]

I am still unable to use Ashley since there is a bug on my machine where her omnitool is constantly flickering on and off. I have not heard of anyone else having this bug, but for me, as soon as she takes cover, she turns on and off her omnitool indefinitely and only at rare occasions shoot at anyone.
Most irritating is the constant sound from the omnitool.

[Sholos]

Originally Posted by Callos_DeTerran

You only get a Cryo-Burst when the enemy is frozen, they can't just be chilled. So, in other words, you can only get a cryo explosion on an enemy that has health and no barriers/shields and only once they've completely frozen (ie they're falling over).

Once you have that in mind, cryo explosions drop in usefulness since...well...just look at what you need to do to tripper a cryo explosion with cryo blast!

Not true at all. For armored critters, throwing Incinerate (and maybe Carnage) or Throw will cause an explosion if they're chilled, and on shielded/barriered mooks using an anti-shield power will cause an explosion if (and this is the important part) there are still shields left.

[Zevox]

Originally Posted by Tome

The Volus dies to a mean look anyway, so it's really not all that dangerous to completely skip Fitness. You do have to get the hang of using Shield Boost and his melee abilities though. (Need to pop out of cover to slap a mine on an Atlas? Cloak. About to get mown down by a Brute?Put your shield up.)

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Yeah, 6/6/6/6/0 is best, but that's with gun enhancement and stuff. I figured you preferred caster play, and would occasionally be hit pretty hard during power cooldown. Once you get used to cloaking and dodging. Once your shield is gone, no amount of fitness will let you survive more than one bullet. And the damage boost on the heavy melee is pretty sweet.

Hm, okay then. Though actually, I did just recently get a respec card in one of my batches of first-DLC-only Premium Packs, so I could try 6/6/6/6/0 and then switch to 6/6/6/5/3 if I find the total lack of Fitness too much.

Originally Posted by Tome

The thing about Recon Mine is that the cooldown, even with 200% weight bonus and cooldown boosting equipment, is still about 5-6 seconds. You simply can't get it to the point where you can use it frequently enough to rely on it for damage. Using it for the AOE damage boost is much more useful. Detonating it is more of a last resort measure, like when you need to stop a synch kill.

If you want a power for spamming look to Proximity Mine instead (but take the Damage Taken upgrade at 5 anyway, because stacking the two on top of each other is great for bringing down bosses).

Ah, okay then. That would explain what I've seen the couple of times I've played with Volus Engineers, actually - they seemed to be less interested in detonating the Recon Mine than I'd expect.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

Well, 75% more against armored opponents hit by the mine, versus 25% more to every target within twelve meters is easy for me; especially since if you stop a single regular proxy mine on the leading edge of the scan area means once it's hit every enemy in there get hit by 45% more damage from all sources.

Huh, alright, good point.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I use the volus almost specifically as a support class. Medic, debuff, recon, field support. Both the volus and the Krogan have a huge enough amount of shields to require a lot of bonus shields. Also, consider the importance of healing; 3 seconds of regenerating shields which is also increased. That Extra 30% means you can stand in a pyros fire without dying. It makes the extra duration possible for consideration.

Alright. Interesting play style option, though I'm not sure whether it's one I'll want to go for.

Originally Posted by SiuiS

nnnno, I am pretty sure that the sum total of warp is 25%. I am however tired and having a nightcap, so I'll come back to this.

Not unless there's a base 10% damage increase to affected targets without Expose that the power makes no mention of. The base description only mentions weakening armor, which is a separate effect - and one which Cryo Blast also gets, and gets a bonus to from Frozen Vulnerability at rank 6. Though Warp also gets a bonus to it of equal size from Pierce at rank 6, and neither mentions what their base rate is, so it's impossible to compare them there.

Originally Posted by Edge

Regarding Cryo Explosions: Cryo Blast can only set them up on completely frozen targets. Snap Freeze, on the other hand, sets them up on both frozen and chilled targets, which is partially why it's so much better.

That... is extremely weird. There's no other burst type that operates like that - for everything else, priming powers all work alike in this respect. Makes me seriously wonder if one or the other isn't a bug.

Zevox

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Sholos

Not true at all. For armored critters, throwing Incinerate (and maybe Carnage) or Throw will cause an explosion if they're chilled, and on shielded/barriered mooks using an anti-shield power will cause an explosion if (and this is the important part) there are still shields left.

Huh. That seems consistent with memory, although I cannot test the shield explosion part. I did try a dry run last night to see if I could get cryo bursts off of protected targets but I never made it to Dragoons. All I really learned is a level 1 quarian engineer without turret is much less fun to play than I thought.

Originally Posted by Zevox

Ah, okay then. That would explain what I've seen the couple of times I've played with Volus Engineers, actually - they seemed to be less interested in detonating the Recon Mine than I'd expect.

I've only seen a volus top the charts once, and he was packing some heat. I think an optimized multishot shotgun, and detonated his mine ASAP. Left the rest of us in bad spots to survive though, and I don't like situations where instead of rounding a corner and picking up a team mate, you get more kills.

If you want a more standalone build you'll need the volus adept. The power cool down bonus caps at +200%, and biotic spheres gives you +60%, do you can carry a gun as heavy as +50% and still have decent speed on shield boost. Combat volus engineers are less support and more hit and run. Lot of cloaking, dropping bombs, leading enemies and detonating.

Not unless there's a base 10% damage increase to affected targets without Expose that the power makes no mention of. The base description only mentions weakening armor, which is a separate effect - and one which Cryo Blast also gets, and gets a bonus to from Frozen Vulnerability at rank 6. Though Warp also gets a bonus to it of equal size from Pierce at rank 6, and neither mentions what their base rate is, so it's impossible to compare them there.

Wow, you're right. What surprises me is that I misread the last evolution. It increases the damage of warp against barriers and armor, but I recalled something about damage boost entirely. Unless the Valkyrie has a unique warp.

[Strife Warzeal]

I seem to have ran into a bit of a glitch in my game. I started playing because my friend invited me to a game and I had three characters that I know I haven't unlocked, being both ex-Cerberus characters and the Vorcha Soldier. I can't choose any appearance options, not even the primary color. At the same time I also lost access to my N7 Fury.

Now, I'm unsure if this related or not to the glitch but is everyone else seeing the new classes like Drell Infiltrator and Geth Soldier? As I can see their Cards in the selection screen now and I'm not sure whether my game is just messed up or if they added them.

Final note: this is an Xbox copy, anyone have any ideas?

[Zevox]

Well, I've tried out the Volus Engineer. The little guy is weird for me, but I think I do enjoy him.

Shield Boost is awesome, full stop. Recon Mine is very handy, though honestly I wasn't noticing the slow-down effect it was supposed to have. The fact that its cooldown kicks in when deployed rather than when detonated is actually kind of nice - discourages re-deploying it unless you've got some breathing room, but allows detonating it whenever it seems like a good idea without a cooldown. Makes it a good panic button if a bunch of weaker enemies are swarming you, or a good finisher for a weakened high-tier enemy that you need dead right away.

Proximity Mine I'm having some trouble with. I went damage/damage taken/damage, and it does do some nice damage, but the part where I hit things with it is proving annoying. It doesn't always seem to detonate on impact when I shoot it directly at things, and shooting it at their feet has been inconsistent as well. Sometimes I even get enemies not setting it off despite being practically on top of it. So, a question: does the radius boost from rank 4 increase just the explosion radius, or also the radius within which an enemy will trigger it? If the latter, it may be worth it for me to switch to that.

One problem I'm having with him is finding a gun to use, though. Even with the class talent rank 6 weapon weight decrease, his low carry capacity is a problem there, and since he doesn't have any particularly great general-use damaging power I do need to rely on a gun a bit more than I usually do. I was initially using the Geth Pulse Rifle, but honestly, even the damage boosts from the mines don't make its damage output worthwhile. So I did some experimenting with weapons I wouldn't normally use, including a couple I had used in single player and not liked. I probably did best with the Vindicator, but I still don't like it, with its relatively low ammo, awful accuracy at a distance, and substantial recoil using the zoom. I probably most liked the Mattock, but I only have it at rank 5, which is currently getting me 142% cooldown, for a good extra second or more on my cooldowns. So that'll need more ranks before I'll want to use it on him regularly. I don't know what to do for a weapon for him in the meantime, honestly.

And in some great news, I finally got my Geth Engineer! Actually, I got him twice in as many packs, much to my surprise, and partial annoyance, but hell, I'm just happy to finally have him.

I won't need as much advice on him as with the Volus, but I would like some nonetheless. I'll likely go my standard caster 6/6/6/5/3 with him, though I admit am a tad leery of Hunter Mode halving my shields when that's the Geth's main defense. That almost makes me want to put more in Fitness, but I'm not sure what I'd skimp on for it.

For Hunter Mode the first two choices are easy - power recharge and damage over weapon boosts any day - but I don't know about the last one, which is either a general damage boost or a speed and vision radius boost. And for the Geth Turret I'm most indecisive. It's clearly a choice between more firepower and better healing at each level, and I really don't know which I'd want to focus on. I'm pretty sure I'll take the flamethrower at rank 6, since I know from my Quarian Engineer how well that works, but the other two... I really don't know.

Zevox

[SiuiS]

Originally Posted by Strife Warzeal

I seem to have ran into a bit of a glitch in my game. I started playing because my friend invited me to a game and I had three characters that I know I haven't unlocked, being both ex-Cerberus characters and the Vorcha Soldier. I can't choose any appearance options, not even the primary color. At the same time I also lost access to my N7 Fury.

Now, I'm unsure if this related or not to the glitch but is everyone else seeing the new classes like Drell Infiltrator and Geth Soldier? As I can see their Cards in the selection screen now and I'm not sure whether my game is just messed up or if they added them.

Final note: this is an Xbox copy, anyone have any ideas?

I checked just now. I have no visual. So it's your box. Perhaps the lobby you joined was hacked?

Originally Posted by Zevox

Well, I've tried out the Volus Engineer. The little guy is weird for me, but I think I do enjoy him.

Shield Boost is awesome, full stop. Recon Mine is very handy, though honestly I wasn't noticing the slow-down effect it was supposed to have. The fact that its cooldown kicks in when deployed rather than when detonated is actually kind of nice - discourages re-deploying it unless you've got some breathing room, but allows detonating it whenever it seems like a good idea without a cooldown. Makes it a good panic button if a bunch of weaker enemies are swarming you, or a good finisher for a weakened high-tier enemy that you need dead right away.

Proximity Mine I'm having some trouble with. I went damage/damage taken/damage, and it does do some nice damage, but the part where I hit things with it is proving annoying. It doesn't always seem to detonate on impact when I shoot it directly at things, and shooting it at their feet has been inconsistent as well. Sometimes I even get enemies not setting it off despite being practically on top of it. So, a question: does the radius boost from rank 4 increase just the explosion radius, or also the radius within which an enemy will trigger it? If the latter, it may be worth it for me to switch to that.

One problem I'm having with him is finding a gun to use, though. Even with the class talent rank 6 weapon weight decrease, his low carry capacity is a problem there, and since he doesn't have any particularly great general-use damaging power I do need to rely on a gun a bit more than I usually do. I was initially using the Geth Pulse Rifle, but honestly, even the damage boosts from the mines don't make its damage output worthwhile. So I did some experimenting with weapons I wouldn't normally use, including a couple I had used in single player and not liked. I probably did best with the Vindicator, but I still don't like it, with its relatively low ammo, awful accuracy at a distance, and substantial recoil using the zoom. I probably most liked the Mattock, but I only have it at rank 5, which is currently getting me 142% cooldown, for a good extra second or more on my cooldowns. So that'll need more ranks before I'll want to use it on him regularly. I don't know what to do for a weapon for him in the meantime, honestly.

And in some great news, I finally got my Geth Engineer! Actually, I got him twice in as many packs, much to my surprise, and partial annoyance, but hell, I'm just happy to finally have him.

I won't need as much advice on him as with the Volus, but I would like some nonetheless. I'll likely go my standard caster 6/6/6/5/3 with him, though I admit am a tad leery of Hunter Mode halving my shields when that's the Geth's main defense. That almost makes me want to put more in Fitness, but I'm not sure what I'd skimp on for it.

For Hunter Mode the first two choices are easy - power recharge and damage over weapon boosts any day - but I don't know about the last one, which is either a general damage boost or a speed and vision radius boost. And for the Geth Turret I'm most indecisive. It's clearly a choice between more firepower and better healing at each level, and I really don't know which I'd want to focus on. I'm pretty sure I'll take the flamethrower at rank 6, since I know from my Quarian Engineer how well that works, but the other two... I really don't know.

Zevox

Proximity mine has an erratic flight path; consider it an inaccurate gun. The mine does not always go straight out your barrel to the reticle point, nor does it always go straight from the barrel. On the volus, it tends to hit a degree or two left of the actual targeting reticle. It also only detonates upon a hit, or after having a moment to set; if you toss it literally at their feet, they may step over it out of range. It's best for popping Guys out of cover or dropping ahead of you while fleeing.

For gina I pack an SMG or an acolyte. I've seen lightweight snipers and shotguns but haven't tried them. The eagle is a godsend on this dude though.

For hunter mode, remember that odds are you'll have a turret to heal you. And hunter mode ups all damage - guns, powers, the works.

-

I think Cryoblast stuff is a purposeful change. I used incinerate and such, for fire explosions. I found that you can no longer prime a shielded target with fire, but if you prime them, and drop their shields, suddenly they are on fire. So cryo affecting armor, fire not affecting barriers, tech being new to barriers might be purposeful shifts to change the dynamic.

[Morty]

Still getting a hang of the Volus Adept. I die a lot, even if I spam Shield Boost. I need to learn to use the mini-cloak they get instead of melee. It can be a lifesaver. And when used right, Shield Boost can let the squad face off an Atlas without much danger.
Also, I'm not sure about something. Namely, whether or not Energy Drain detonates fire explosions. I thought it did, but it doesn't seem to work.
Finally, I unlocked Piranha just now. I'll try it out with my Krogan Soldier and see how it works.

[Sanguine]

Originally Posted by Morty

Also, I'm not sure about something. Namely, whether or not Energy Drain detonates fire explosions.

Only on synthetics IIRC.

[Strife Warzeal]

Originally Posted by SiuiS

I checked just now. I have no visual. So it's your box. Perhaps the lobby you joined was hacked?

I was joining a friend's game and he was the only one there, so I doubt it. The new classes that aren't released yet look really good; especially one of the Volus.

Do people want to see the skill lists because, for now, apparently I'm the only that's seeing them?

[Zevox]

Originally Posted by Strife Warzeal

I was joining a friend's game and he was the only one there, so I doubt it. The new classes that aren't released yet look really good; especially one of the Volus.

Do people want to see the skill lists because, for now, apparently I'm the only that's seeing them?

The wiki has them already - I noticed that when checking the listings of gear there, to see what I have and would want from each DLC.

Honestly, I'm disappointed by quite a few of them. The Volus Vanguard is just the Volus Adept with Stasis traded for Biotic Charge, which is the same mistake of lazy class design they made with the second DLC. The Batarian Vanguard just takes the requisite Vanguard power (Biotic Charge), the power that the first two Batarians share (Blade Armor), and throws in Lash, which seems quite ill-suited to Vanguards to me.

On the strictly-personal-preference level, I was hoping I'd like the Volus Sentinel and Batarian Adept, but the former has no offensive powers (just Decoy, Shield Boost, and Combat Drone, making it a complete support class that will be totally reliant on guns to do damage), and the latter has grenades and can't combo his other two powers (Warp and Lash) on enemies with armor.

On the up side, the Turian Saboteur finally gives us an Engineer with Sabotage, and the Vorcha Hunter looks like something I might actually try, unlike the existing Vorcha. But yeah, otherwise, it looks like the new classes I'll most use/enjoy are already out - the Krogan Shaman and Asari Valkyrie.

Edit: I was wrong about the Asari Infiltrator, my bad.

-------

So, anyone have advice for me on statting that Geth Engineer?

Zevox