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
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