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ME3 Character Guide: Asari Vanguard

For some reason I don't see a lot of Asari Vanguards. I guess it's because people don't know how to play them effectively. But since Bioware decided to buff grenades, which was an interesting balance choice, I thought it would be relevant to post a grenade character. Here's a link to the September 25 balance changes if you're interested. Anyway, I have two different builds that I have been using. The Grenadier plays more like a soldier class, relying on weapons and grenades for offense. The Commando is the more "traditional" Vanguard, using a mix of biotics, weapons, and grenades. It's up to you to choose which one suits your play style.

Asari Vanguard Grenadier
Biotic Charge: 4-radius, 5-power synergy, 6-barrier
Stasis: N/A
Lift Grenade: 4-damage, 5-max grenades, 6-damage & radius
Asari Adept: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

The most important thing for using the Grenadier build is the Grenade Capacity mod. I would recommend at least level III. At level V, you'll be holding a max of 9 grenades, which is really good.

If you've read my Vanguard guides, then you already know what Biotic Charge can do. Just to review it, you can stagger enemies, including Phantoms, by charging them. Very useful. Power synergy gives you a whopping 40% power damage & force bonus for 10 seconds, which is also very useful. Finally, it restores your barriers, in case you didn't realize that.

Another important tip is to use Biotic Charge before throwing a grenade to get the power synergy bonus. Considering all the damage bonuses, your Lift Grenades will be doing upwards of 2500 damage in a 6.5m radius. Not too shabby. You can even get a Killstreak medal with them. Nice! For Phantoms, I have read that they will not use their hand of denial if they are not targeted when you throw your grenade. In that case, throw it on the ground or ricochet if off a wall. Or you could initiate the throw off to the side and then quickly aim back at them just before the grenade leaves your hand.

I max out power damage for this build to make the grenades even more powerful. Then I pick weapon damage for evolution 6 because I don't need the weight reduction since I have the Talon IX, which gives me 197% power recharge speed. Weapons are optional with this build, I just like to have a 190%+ recharge speed for Biotic Charge.

Asari Vanguard Commando
Biotic Charge: 4-radius, 5-power synergy, 6-barrier
Stasis: 4-stasis strength*, 5-bonus power, 6-vulnerability*
Lift Grenade: 4-damage, 5-max grenades, 6-damage & radius
Asari Adept: 4-damage & capacity
Fitness: 4-durability

*Stasis evolutions are optional. Duration/bubble offers very good crowd control and a greater margin of error. Stasis strength/vulnerability is excellent for headshots. However, I find bonus power to be more advantageous than recharge speed. 

Your weapon depends on your play style. I use a headshot build since I have the Paladin X and more than enough Targeting VI consumables, but I have seen people use the Cerberus Harrier on this build with great success. Again, up to you.

The only difference between this build and the Grenadier is that you have Stasis. I would recommend playing somewhat more cautiously since you don't have as much offense or defense. Stasis really helps with your survival, so use it against any and all unarmored enemies. Try to take on enemies one or two at a time using Stasis, and use your Lift Grenades for groups of enemies.

Here's a video by Stardusk. Not a guide video, but some gameplay nonetheless.



Well, there's not much more I can say about this build. I haven't found an appropriate video guide yet, and hopefully this guide isn't too unfocused. I've been somewhat occupied lately and I don't have any holidays in the near future, but that's neither here nor there. As usual, I appreciate your readership and support. Stay tuned and take care.

-MACave11i

The "Best" Builds on Platinum: the Ultimate Team

Edit: due to recent developments in the ME3 multiplayer arena, this strategy may be significantly less effective than it used to be.

Hello all. I realize that I may have been neglecting my experienced N7 readers, so I decided to make a Platinum guide for you guys. Since we all have difficulty finding a decent Platinum PuG, I thought I'd make a guide for it so that nobody will have an excuse to... well... suck.... Anyway, this is an offensive, weapons-based team that I have found to be consistently awesome on Platinum. The only flaw is that powerful weapons and classes are not readily accessible to newer players. However, I think that in a pinch a moderately experienced player could effectively play the Demolisher. Since I advocate the use of two demolishers, you really only need two experienced players to be the "DPS-ers", or the Destroyer and Geth Infiltrator. Besides that, this setup works fine with random players since you don't have to coordinate biotic explosions or anything. In fact, if you have a decent team, you won't even have to move around the map very much, except for objective waves. Those are generally the hardest, but again, if you work together and avoid enemy spawns, you can do it. So, let's get on with it then.

1. Typhoon Destroyer
Why?: The Destroyer has one of the best, if not the best, damage to shield ratios of all the characters. Not only can he consistently dish out heavy damage, but he can also take a lot of punishment.
Tips:
- Use Warp Rounds IV for maximum effectiveness against armor and barriers. Your Demolishers can handle the shields.
- The Typhoon gets a 1.5x damage multiplier after sustained fire (once the rate of fire reaches maximum). This bonus is more noticeable on high-level Typhoons.
- The Typhoon gets reduced recoil when firing from cover. All players get slight damage resistance, accuracy bonus, and are immune to stunlock while in cover.
- The Destroyer is immune to stunlock even out of cover.
- If a Banshee grabs your teammate, run up and launch multi-frags at her. This will usually save your teammate.


or Particle Rifle Destroyer
- Use Incendiary Rounds IV for stacking burn damage.
- Particle Rifle gets a 4x damage multiplier after sustained fire (when the beam becomes brighter). This bonus is more noticeable on high-level Particle Rifles.
- The PR gets a magazine capacity bonus as it levels up.
- The PR gets headshot bonuses.
- The PR can shoot through walls with the Piercing Mod.


2. Geth Infiltrator
Why?: The Geth Infiltrator currently has the greatest burst-DPS in the game (up to 120% weapon damage bonus without consumables or Proximity Mine debuff). When a Banshee teleports into your base, you want to be able to kill it as fast as possible.
Tips:
- Use Armor-Piercing Rounds IV to shred armor and shoot through walls with your Hunter vision.
- Tactical Cloak's cooldown depends on how long you use it. If you use TC right before you shoot, you will get the damage bonus and a very short cooldown.
- Using TC before launching a Proximity Mine gives it a damage bonus and negates the cooldown of Proximity Mine. Always cloak before shooting a mine.
- Proximity Mines are very good for killing smaller enemies from Swarmers to even Phantoms.
- If an enemy is taking cover, shoot a mine at them. Proximity Mine has a large radius so it can knock them out of cover through walls.


3. N7 Demolisher (edit: fixed link)
Why?: Having two Demolishers on your team ensures that enemy defenses are effectively dealt with before they get close to you. It also ensures that your team never runs out of ammo.
Tips:
- Have two of these on your team for maximum debuffing and resupplying.
- Use Cryo Ammo IV on a Scorpion for the ultimate anti-Phantom weapon.
- Alternatively, use Disruptor Rounds IV on a Scorpion or Acolyte to prime tech bursts, then use an Arc Grenade to trigger it.
- Reset your Supply Pylon often to keep your ammo and grenades in stock.
- Spam Arc Grenades to drain enemy shields. If you're doing your job, enemies should be unshielded by the time they get close.
- Use Homing Grenades on armored targets at mid-to-close range to debuff their armor for your teammates to make mincemeat out of.
- If a Banshee or grabs your teammate, run up and hit her with a Homing Grenade. This will usually save your teammate.


This concludes my Platinum guide. I will add more tips periodically. Thanks for reading.

-MACave11i

ME3 Character Guide: Salarian Engineer

Hello readers. Today marks another chapter in the guide book for the original characters. I was thinking about a Krogan guide, but since I already did a guide for the Turian Soldier and Sentinel, I decided that it would be better to balance it out with a non-soldier/sentinel class. The Salarian Engineer is comparable to a popular high school kid that everyone forgot about in college. By that I mean that the SE was popular in the early days of ME3 multiplayer when nobody could beat Gold without it, but now it is merely a decoy. Granted, the decoy was invaluable and that alone made this class worth playing, but the SE has very low offensive capability, so advanced players generally ignore it. But since it looks like Bioware will be banishing us back into the dark ages with the upcoming Piranha nerf, it seems pertinent that we revive the SE. (Yes, I know the Piranha nerf isn't that severe, but still, F.U. Bioware). But let's get on with it.

[Because of balance changes, I might recommend something like this: Salarian Engineer (30 Oct 2012)

Old Salarian Engineer
Energy Drain: 4-damage, 5-drain, 6-damage
Decoy: 4-duration*, 5-shock, 6-exploding decoy*
Incinerate: N/A
Salarian Operative: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

*I use an offensive decoy, but if you would rather use a defensive decoy, then go with 4-durability, 6-shields & duration. There is no good reason to take recharge speed though.

I made this build taking into consideration that newer players and not advanced players would be using this class. You might think it's "becuz SE is for teh n00bs". Not so. The SE is actually the best support class (arguably) because he draws so much fire away from your teammates. The reason why advanced players don't use it is because they have a lot of good weapons and so it is better for them to use the weapon classes while the new players with not-so-good weapons provide support with caster classes. In other words, players with good weapons should use weapon classes, players without should use caster classes. If you're playing on higher difficulties, it just works out better for everyone that way. But you already knew that.

So for the example build I chose the Viper since it is uncommon, and therefore very accessible, lightweight, reasonably powerful since the numerous buffs, and it synergizes well with Energy Drain. (Btw, my computer is telling me that 'synergizes' is not a word, but ME3 players know better than to listen to spell check). What you do for most enemies is use Energy Drain to strip shields and stun them, then follow with a headshot. Nice and clean. Except for all the brain tissue. Anyway, Energy Drain is also the key to your survival since you can instantly recharge you shields. Don't get out of cover without it. Use it often like your life depends on it. Because it kinda does.

If you thought Energy Drain was important, then you've forgotten about Decoy. Besides letting you look at your awesome color combination, this Decoy draws 99% of nearby enemy fire. Just put it between you and the enemy. Keep it up and you'll make it to extraction.

*[Recent balance changes have made Decoy less effective at distracting enemies, especially melee enemies, severely reducing the effectiveness of the Salarian Engineer].

I would only take Incinerate if you have no decent weapons. I don't find it to be very useful on higher difficulties. However, I am open to different playstyles, so you could choose a mix of Decoy, Incinerate, and Fitness, depending on your preference. [Since the Decoy nerf, I would put 3 ranks into Decoy and fill out Incinerate].

For the passive bonus, I chose power damage just to make sure Energy Drain can drain shields all the way. Then I chose weapon damage instead of weapon weight when using the Viper, but if you have a heavier sniper rifle like the Black Widow, then it would be better to pick sniper rifle weight. You should have a reasonably low cooldown just so you can use Energy Drain when your shields are low, but you don't need to skimp on weapons just to have a 200% cooldown. (In general, anything around 100% cooldown is good enough).

Finally, I take Fitness for durability. The SE actually has decent shields with maxed out fitness. Which helps you stay alive. But remember that the Decoy should be the one taking all the fire, not you.

I think that's it for this character. There's not much to it besides remembering to use Decoy and Energy Drain for survival. Though I should note that the SE is much more effective against Geth than Reapers. Cerberus are ok. Anyway, thanks for reading. More guides to come.

-MACave11i

Gameplay by Stardusk.

Borderlands 2 and Future ME3 DLC

Hello all. I realize that a lot of the ME3 community will be moving to Borderlands 2. Fortunately for you dedicated Mass Effect fans, I will continue to keep up with ME3. Actually, I'm not even planning on getting Borderlands 2 for quite a while. When I do, I'll probably do some guides for it as well.

So there have been rumors of more DLC and a major patch in order to keep the ME3 community intact (although it is arguable that the community has already been fractured beyond repair, even without BL2). I think this would give ME3 a much-needed upgrade. The game is a little stale right now, but I'm not really expecting Bioware to fix it very much because by then they might as well make a new game. I mean Bioware will have to fix around half of the guns because they don't work beyond Bronze. They'll have to add new game types and factions to keep things interesting. The list goes on, and the only significant changes to the game are balance changes (the biggest changes are nerfs, imo) and DLC. It's just not going to happen.

That's all for now.

-MACave11i

ME3 Character Guide: Turian Sentinel

http://kalence.drupalgardens.com/me3-builder#43!1D01565!!244513!6FEE3

Hello readers. While we're on the subject of Turians, I thought I'd make a guide for the Turian Sentinel. I have to say that this was probably my favorite class at launch. It's an extremely versatile character and as such, there are many ways to build it. Because of this, I will actually be going over two different builds that seem to be popular among advanced players.

Reaper Slayer build

Tech Armor: 4-damage & radius*, 5-power damage, 6-durability

Warp: 4-damage, 5-expose, 6-pierce

Overload: N/A

Turian Veteran: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-damage & stability

Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

As the name suggests, this build is best against Reapers, but is also serviceable against Cerberus and Geth with a change of weapons. The general purpose of this build is to be a support class by using Warp to debuff enemies. Warp is a fantastic power because it makes any team better. It primes and triggers biotic explosions, triggers tech bursts, and weakens enemy armor for weapon classes to take down. I would not recommend skipping Warp if you are playing on higher difficulties, and same goes for the expose and pierce evolutions. 

The other strength of the Turian Sentinel is his tankiness. Not only does he have pretty good shields (thanks to the recent buff), but Tech Armor gives an extra 35%-50% damage reduction, based on how you choose to evolve it. For the Reaper Slayer build, I choose damage & radius because detonations are good for getting husks and swarmers out of your way. The extra 5% damage reduction is nice, but pretty negligible. Tech Armor also gives you a 30% power damage bonus, which is nice.

I said on the Turian Soldier guide that Turians should take advantage of weapon damage and stability evolutions but for the T. Sentinel it's acceptable to choose damage & capacity since it has a significant effect on your cooldown time. Even then you still have the same weapon damage bonus as a wimpy Salarian (no offense, Salarians).

Then you have your Fitness spec'd for shields and health. Nothing new there.

Here's a video for your enjoyment. Thanks to Stardusk for the insight.





General purpose build
Tech Armor: 4-durability, 5-power damage, 6-durability
Warp: 4-damage, 5-expose, 6-pierce
Overload: 4-chain overload, 5-recharge speed*, 6-shield damage
Turian Veteran: 4-damage & stability
Fitness: 4-durability

The strategy is basically the same except that you now have Overload to help deal with shielded targets. There is an option between recharge speed and neural shock depending on your play style. Neural shock will cause unprotected enemies to fall to the ground for a short time, which can be useful, but is a hindrance if you want to line up headshots. That's why I would choose recharge speed, personally.

Choose a good all-around weapon that can take on mobs and bosses. Weight isn't too much of an issue here since you will be using powers in between shots, rather than shooting in between powers. The Turian doesn't have a lot of power damage bonuses either, which is even more of a reason to bring a good weapon along. Use Overload to drain shields and stun weaker enemies, then finish them off with your gun. Use Warp for the big armored enemies. But above all, remember that Turians are good with guns.

Special thanks to zHHk for the gameplay footage below.




That just about wraps it up. Hopefully this guide is helpful and we'll see more Turians out on the battlefield. Thanks for reading and take care.

-MACave11i

ME3: How to Quit a Game Without Losing Consumables

Manually disconnect so that the game doesn't save your 'quit'.

Now, I wouldn't advocate quitting from a game and leaving your team short one player, but I understand that life happens and it sucks to lose whatever amount of medigel or missiles you used and get no credits or xp for it. At least this way you can keep your equipment.

Goodbye, Platinum

Hello everyone. I have a spontaneous opinion article for you today regarding the sad state of the ME3 community. Honestly I'm surprised there is still a community to be spoken of, considering the short-sighted design of Mass Effect 3's multiplayer.

What are the problems? There are many. So many that sometimes I just quit mid-game because I simply don't care if I wasted my time and consumables. Sometimes it is that bad.

These days, I mostly play the game for fun by using different builds, but on occasion I want to unlock a new gun or something to fill out my manifest. And let's face it, EA/Bioware designed the RNG store to keep people interested in the game in order to make money. You may have heard a story or two about ME3 players emptying hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of micro transactions into the store. Remember to thank them for paying for your "free" DLC.

Anyway, when I need credits, I go to Platinum because I can get 135,000 credits in around 20 minutes with a good team (legitimately, mind you). Bioware did give us Platinum because many players weren't feeling challenged enough by Gold anymore. And the credit bonus is great when you have maxed out your gold weapons and are looking for Ultra Rares. At that point, it all comes down to dumping massive amounts of credits into PSPs. Platinum is undoubtedly the most time efficient way to make credits.

Alas, it takes an indefinitely long time for me to even find a decent Platinum PuG. Even if I find one, it only lasts for one or two games, and then disperses. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who is that interested in ME3 anymore who I can play Platinum with. I know that my interest is dwindling as a result.

I suspect that 99% of Platinum public games are either missile glitchers or newbies looking to be hand-held through Platinum. I have been in both kinds of games before, and I'll tell you they are no fun. Let's face it: Platinum is just bait for the sharks and guppies.

Look, I like ME3 and I like making guides to help people step up their game, but the vast majority of players will never see this blog. The vast majority of them won't even look at any guides because they simply don't care. And if you're a casual gamer, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But I can't play with you on Platinum if you're like that. Dare I say, I wish there was some kind of prerequisite for Platinum. That way I wouldn't have to go through the grueling process of finding a good game.

As it is, I will not be playing Platinum public games anymore. I just can't keep playing like that. It's just not fun. So goodbye, Platinum. I hope things get better someday.

-MACave11i

Turian Soldier: 200 Waves Edition

Hello everyone. I recently finished my 200 waves for the Turian Soldier, so here is an updated 200 waves guide. The Turian Soldier is still one of the best weapon characters in the game, and his skills are so versatile that he can literally carry any weapon in the game and make it better. I find his skill set best for assault rifles and SMGs, but that's just me. Specifically, I like the Typhoon, which is what I use for this build.

Turian Soldier (Typhoon)
Marksman: 4-firing rate, 5-headshots, 6-accuracy & firing rate
Concussive Shot: 4-force & damage, 5-recharge speed, 6-shredder
Proximity Mine: N/A*
Turian Veteran: 4-damage & stability, 5-headshots, 6-damage & stability
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

*for lighter weapons, try skipping Concussive Shot and taking
Proximity Mine: 4-radius, 5-damage taken, 6-recharge speed

For the Typhoon, I recommend taking the magazine upgrade. The other mod depends on the enemy. Against Cerberus, try AP ammo and high caliber barrel. Against Geth, try high velocity barrel and Disruptor ammo. Against Reapers/Collectors, try Warp ammo with high velocity barrel. These are not prescriptive, so try out different combinations against different defense types.

You should tailor this build to suit the weapon that you have. For those of you new to the Turian Soldier who have no idea what weapon to choose, here is a list of preferred weapons and mods:
Assault Rifles (most work well with mag upgrade and extended barrel)
Typhoon
Revenant
Saber
Pistols (mag upgrade, heavy barrel)
Eagle
Talon
Scorpion
Shotguns (smart choke, high-velocity barrel)
Claymore
N7 Piranha
Geth Plasma Shotgun & Graal (spare thermal clip, high caliber barrel)
SMGs (mag upgrade and/or heat sink, high-velocity barrel)
Hurricane
Tempest/Locust
Sniper Rifles (spare thermal clip or piercing mod, high-caliber barrel)
Black Widow
Indra
Krysae (haven't tried this personally, but seems like rate of fire boost and recoil reduction would be good)

Generally, I spec Marksman for rate of fire and headshots because higher rof equals better DPS, better DPS means taking down enemies faster. The additional headshot bonus works well, too. Few weapons would benefit more from accuracy than rate of fire. Also, learn to reload cancel, which is basically canceling part of the reload animation, allowing you to get back to shooting things faster.

The best way I can explain this for console players is that once you see your magazine count go back to full, press any button normally reserved for an action. Doing this will cancel the reload animation. On Xbox, popular buttons are the A and Y button. However, these can cause you to dodge, take cover, or use a power that you don't want to. The A button works best on characters that don't have a dodge move, such as the Turian Soldier. You can also use the right or left bumper if they are assigned to a power. I prefer these buttons since I don't have to take my thumb off the aiming thumbstick.

If that didn't make sense, here is a video tutorial by Caineghis.


Concussive Shot is great for heavy weapon builds since it has a fast recharge speed. It's also useful against Phantoms, since it has a damage bonus against barriers and the shredder evolution allows you to target them when they're cloaked. Even if you miss, they'll either dodge or block it, giving you a chance to line up a shot.

Proximity Mine is great for light weapon builds since the recharge speed is pretty hefty. It's great for debuffing bosses as well as for limited crowd control. Whatever power you choose, it's still only secondary to your weapon.

The non-Armiger Legion Turian passives are amazing. You get 55% recoil reduction, 37.5% weapon damage bonus, and 30% headshot bonus. Best weapon passives in the game.

Fitness is self-explanatory. All shields and health. You're still fairly squishy, mostly as a result of pitiful mobility. This Turian doesn't have a dodge or jetpacks, so I recommend using an Adrenaline Module for better mobility. Hopefully you'll get sync-killed less that way.

That's really all that I can think of for this guide. Mostly it's about learning to use your weapon, and what mods and ammo types to use. Thanks for reading, and hopefully this was helpful to some people.

-Grun7mas7er

For those interested, here is a video guide by Stardusk.

A Beginner's Guide to ME3 Multiplayer

I suck at Mass Effect 3. After about a week without playing video games of any sort, my gameplay was lacking in skill and showing no signs of improvement. Like the Call of Duty franchise. I died almost immediately upon spawning into my first game. It was on silver. I rage quit. I played on bronze. I still died. I switched to my rare weapons. Nope. Still died. Shows what I know. Honestly, I don't know why you two take advice from me anyway.

Then I had an epiphany. This is how newbies feel every day (I assume). And they don't have all the fancy characters, weapons, gear, etc. that I take for granted. They probably have only 2 medigels/missiles/thermal clips/ops packs. And there are more and more of them flocking into the (notoriously elitist) Mass Effect 3 community. They have probably been kicked before...from a bronze lobby. How do they get by? Now, I had planned on making individual guides for the original six human characters, but instead I'm leaning towards a more comprehensive beginner's guide to the starting six. For the newbies!

This will in all likeliness end up to be a disorganized series of articles. But this is a blog. I do what I freaking want. I don't have a fancy journalism degree or anything of the sort that allows me to write professional one-sentence paragraphs like they do in, say, the New York Times. They don't pay me enough to do this!

So here we go. Mass Effect 3 101 (not to be confused with Mass Effect 3101, coming March 3101), a crash course in Mass Effect 3-ology. Take notes.

Starting Classes (A Class About Classes?!):
I thought to myself, how can someone new to the game make him/herself useful? And this is not only to remove the burden of carrying a new player, but to make the game more enjoyable for the new player as they progress. Have you ever been on a team of advanced players who take all the kills (and fun) out of the game? Yeah. It sucks. New players can't use all the fancy weapons and gear to maximize their combat efficiency, but they can level up their character to 20 and use the build to its fullest potential. So here are the builds for the six starting classes.

Note: all of these builds take maxed out Fitness because I think newbies need it until they get the hang of the game and more medigel capacity. It's all optional though; In general, Fitness is the most expendable branch, as advanced players know.

1. Human Adept
Singularity: 3
Warp: 4-damage, 5-expose, 6-pierce
Shockwave: 4-force & damage, 5-reach, 6-recharge speed
Alliance Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

Brief Overview- This is more of a utility adept, rather than a combo adept -- that is, powers are spec'd to make the most of that particular power, rather than relying on biotic explosions. Unless you are on a biotic team, I find this to be most effective. Use Singularity on unarmored/unshielded targets (red health bar). Don't underestimate it. You can use it to incapacitate lesser targets while you concentrate on more threatening targets. You can also use your weapon to drain shields first and then follow with a Singularity (good for Phantoms). Use Warp on armored targets. The expose and pierce evolutions weaken them and make them a little easier to take down with your gun. Shockwave is good for lines of enemies or knocking enemies out of cover. It is also quite spam-able.


2. Human Soldier
Adrenaline Rush: 4-damage, 5-duration, 6-shield boost
Concussive Shot: N/A
Frag Grenade: 4-damage, 5-max grenades, 6-armor-piercing
Alliance Training: 4-weapon damage, 5-power damage*, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert
*If you can hit headshots, take the headshots evolution instead.

Brief Overview- Use Adrenaline Rush as often as possible. It gives you a 70% weapon damage bonus and doubles your shields for a short duration. It also instantly reloads your weapon. When your shields are down, use it to instantly restore half of your shields. Use your frag grenades liberally on groups and bosses. I recommend starting with a weapon that can put out sustained DPS, such as an assault rifle or SMG. Once you get the hang of it, move up to a high damage-per-shot weapon, such as the Claymore. Remember to reload cancel. On consoles, you can reload cancel while in Adrenaline Rush with the Adrenaline Rush button (Y on Xbox).

If you don't know what reload canceling is, it is a "feature" that Bioware "put" in the game that shortens the reload animation, allowing you to get back to shooting things quicker. Ex. The Claymore has one shot per reload, so reload canceling is crucial. You shoot, wait until the mag count goes from 0 to 1, then reload cancel, essentially doubling your rate of fire. In this case: shoot-->reload animation starts-->mag count at 1-->reload cancel (press Y while in Adrenaline Rush)-->shoot-->repeat.


3. Human Engineer
I already made a guide for the Human Engineer, so follow the link above.


4. Human Sentinel
Tech Armor: 4-durability*, 5-power damage, 6-durability
Warp: 4-damage, 5-expose, 6-pierce
Throw: N/A
Alliance Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert
*Optional: damage & radius is also a good choice for getting things like husks out of your face.

Brief Overview: Now this is admittedly a weird build, but the Sentinel is a weird class -- skilled at many disciplines, but master of none. You can see that I am a little biased against biotic explosion builds, since I skip Throw on this build. But by skipping Throw, you get a tank with good power damage and decent weapon capabilities. Use Tech Armor for some good damage reduction and detonate it when things get claustrophobic. Use Warp to debuff any and all enemies, but particularly armored ones. Then follow up with your gun (your weapon choice is totally optional for this build, just make sure it's not too heavy).


5. Human Infiltrator
Tactical Cloak: 4-damage
Cryo Blast: 4-radius, 5-cryo explosion, 6-frozen vulnerability
Sticky Grenade: 4-damage
Alliance Training: 4-weapon damage, 5-headshots, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

Brief Overview: Were it not for the Geth Infiltrator, I think the Human Infiltrator would be more celebrated, though Infiltrators are very powerful in general. Since the Infiltrators outclass all the other classes in terms of damage output (even after the nerf -- I can only fondly reminisce on the unholy destructive powers of the pre-nerf Infiltrators), I think it's fair if newbies gravitate towards them. How else are you supposed to get kills with a Predator, right? Tactical Cloak is your bread-and-butter power. Use it before you shoot to get a brief but massive damage boost. Cryo Blast is also very nice for debuffing any enemy, much like Warp. In general, you should be using Tactical Cloak-->Cryo Blast-->gun. Use your Sticky Grenades against mobs of enemies and large bosses (these things have a tiny blast radius, so precision is critical). Grenades also benefit from Tactical Cloak, so use the same tactic as with your gun: TC-->Cryo Blast-->Sticky Grenade. Cryo Blast isn't required for either of these combos, but it is easier to stick a frozen or slowed enemy and the debuff is really useful.


6. Human Vanguard
Biotic Charge: 4-radius, 5-power synergy, 6-barrier
Shockwave: N/A
Nova: 4-force & damage, 5-power recharge, 6-pierce
Alliance Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage*
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert
*This depends on your weapon. You definitely want a 200% recharge rate for this character, so if you need to take weapon weight instead, do it.

Brief Overview: Well, I have to start this one with a disclaimer: I rarely use the Human Vanguard, so this guide is somewhat theoretical. It's not that it's a bad class or that it is out-shined by the other Vanguards, but that Vanguards (and this one in particular) require you to host a game in order to not die every 5 seconds. Vanguards are notoriously crippled by lag, which can lead to the dreaded "Vanguard glitch" where the player Biotic Charges into some parallel dimension in which they are stuck under/over the map where they cannot be killed, but they cannot move either. At this point, they are just a liability to their team.

The combo is easy to use, but difficult to master. First, Biotic Charge into an enemy. Next, use Nova. Then, repeat. You are invincible during the Biotic Charge animation, and Vanguard pros know that you can merge the Biotic Charge animation with the side-rolling animation by side-rolling immediately after charging, thereby extending your invincibility frames. This brief moment of invulnerability gives you just enough time to use Nova before Biotic Charging again to restore your shields. Always have your next target in your sights while using Nova so that you are not caught in the open with depleted shields. So the more concise combo would be: Biotic Charge-->side-roll-->Nova (looking for next target while in Nova animation)-->Biotic Charge and repeat. Just look out for the bigger enemies.




So that about wraps up the builds for the starter characters. I hope all you aspiring N7 Troopers find this helpful, and maybe you won't have to be a Conrad Verner (thumbs up if you got the reference. Not Youtube, never mind). The great thing about ME3 is that even if you don't have all the rare weapons and gear, you can still do well if you have the knowledge to build your character effectively, which is what I hope to convey with these builds. Thanks for reading. And thanks for your patience with my slow publishing rate. Take care.

-Makavelli
MACave11i