Turian Havoc Soldier: 200 Waves Edition + Stim Pack Discussion

Greetings everyone. This is an updated Turian Havoc Soldier guide as well as something of a response to the Stimulant Pack nerf that happened a while ago. What happened was Bioware heard the cries of some members of the community that the Turian Ghost Infiltrator was overpowered. One source of this power was Stimulant Pack, which made him essentially invincible while dealing extra-insane amounts of damage. Why Bioware gave the Turian Ghost Stim Packs but not the Turian Saboteur is beyond me. Just that simple switch would make the TGI less powerful while giving the Saboteur a fair shot, but I'll try not to cry over spilled milk.

The balance changes were:
Simulant Pack Power
- base damage bonus decreased from 10% to 5%
- base max shield bonus decreased from 2000 to 1200
- evolution 5 weapon damage bonus decreased from 10% to 8%

Havoc Strike Power
- base cooldown reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds
- base damage increased from 500 to 600

So Stim Pack got nerfed which did weaken the Ghost, if only slightly, while neutering the Havoc to a much greater extent. Why? Because the Ghost has Tactical Cloak, giving him a brief 100% damage bonus for assault rifles. Do you think a 7% damage reduction to his assault rifle makes much of a difference? To compensate for the collateral damage to the Havoc, Bioware buffed Havoc Strike to a level that it probably should have been at on launch. At the end of the day the Havoc loses a potential 1600 shields from Stim Pack, which gives him the considerable durability necessary to use Havoc Strike in the first place. The Ghost, however, can still use Tactical Cloak and Stim Pack to get away from any situation unscathed more or less the same as before.

To wrap up this rant, I propose that Bioware improve the viability of Havoc Strike by doing one or both of the following: a) rebuff Stim Pack, b) buff Havoc Strike base damage & force. My vision is a Havoc that can use both Cryo Blast and Havoc Strike for massive damage bonuses and Stim Pack for survivability, plus a slight damage bonus for the cherry on top. Havoc Strike should have enough damage and force to take the Incendiary Strike evolution and still rival Biotic Charge. The player would be able to use a 6/6/6/4/4 build, having both decent passive damage and shields. However, the greatness of the build would be in the active powers.

For now, I'm using a pretty generic and non-dynamic build. Nevertheless, it's a good one and definitely Platinum worthy, if a little boring.

Turian Havoc
Stimulant Pack: 4-max shields, 5-pack capacity, 6-survival
Cryo Blast: 4-radius, 5-cryo explosion, 6-frozen vulnerability
Havoc Strike: N/A
Armiger Legion: 4-damage & stability, 5-headshots, 6-damage & stability
Fitness: 4-durabilty, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

I recommend using AP ammo with this setup. It's just the best for dealing with armored targets. Accept no substitutes!

For weapons, this guy is great with just about anything (Turian passives yo!). The reason I take the Harrier is that it has great all-around specs. It's accurate and has great DPS. It's recoil is mitigated by your stability bonuses. Then I take the Talon for shield-stripping duty and as a sidearm in case I run out of Harrier ammo. Sure you could take the Acolyte, but it's slower and not as good in general combat. It's a tradeoff. The Talon with the magazine upgrade is sort of like the new Piranha (though nothing could ever really replace our beloved Piranha). I've generally used the Talon as a lightweight weapon with decent damage, so it's cool to have a chance to use it more like an actual shotgun.

Stimulant Pack: the hallmark of the Armiger Legion Turians. Great tool for survivability and as a bonus you some get additional damage. Sort of like a mix between a Survival Ops Pack and Adrenaline Rush. For this build, I take all shield bonuses because this is just like a refillable Ops Pack. The base duration is already pretty good, and the more the better. It's a real lifesaver, especially on Platinum when you're often forced out of cover and your shields take forever to recharge. In case you didn't know, Stim Packs count as grenades in the sense that using a Grenade Capacity Mod will give you extra Stim Packs. you're the only character using grenades in the game, then use these liberally. If there's another person running around taking grenades, then you can't tank as often. Either way, it's really awesome how much fire this guy can soak up with Stim Packs.

I use the standard Cryo Blast on this character. All debuff evolutions and radius to debuff more enemies. As Garrus himself once told me, "debuff all the things". Throwing a snowball at an enemy is just about as effective as charging into them headfirst, even if it's not as spectacular.

Skip Havoc Strike until they buff it more. It does give you a brief 50% damage reduction bonus, though, so it's not totally suicidal if you decide to spec into this power. What's cool about Havoc Strike is the synergy with Cryo Blast. It does 3x force to frozen enemies, so you can see how it could be really good for decimating lesser enemies. Also, using weapon synergy on top of the debuff is a very powerful combination. This is why I have high hopes for the future of the Havoc.

For the passive power, I take all weapon damage bonuses since this is a weapons build. Cooldown isn't  really an issue with this build as long as you don't drop into a negative penalty. And lastly I take all durability evolutions for Fitness. Tankiness is the Havoc's strong suit.

Thanks for reading everyone, and don't forget to calibrate your weapons.

-Grun7mas7er