Krogan Vanguard: 200 Waves Edition

What's up everyone? Welcome to yet another 200 Waves guide. This time I'm covering the Kroguard. Now this guide is going to be a little weird because I'm proposing a "non-optimal" build for this character. Why's that, you ask? While I was playing 200 waves for this guy, which is a repetitive task in itself, I came to the realization that all I was really doing was charging and shooting or charging and following with a heavy melee... repeatedly. This was with the conventional "optimal" build. You know, the invincible one that skips Carnage.

I decided for myself that I wanted a more dynamic character. I thought of the possibilities when I recalled Urdnot Wrex from single player. In the first Mass Effect, Wrex was the most badass Krogan mercenary in the entire galaxy (then he got soft and was replaced by Grunt, who starred in one of my favorite cutscenes in ME3). He reminded me a little of Canderous from Knights of the Old Republic, but I digress. Anyway, Wrex had Barrier, Carnage, and a shotgun. No Biotic Charge. Now I do like to role-play in ME3 multiplayer from time to time and I thought that this would be a cool build to play. Unfortunately, we can't use Wrex's armor... :(
Krogan Battlemaster
Biotic Charge: N/A
Carnage: 4-damage, 5-incapacitate, 6-armor damage
Barrier: 4-blast effect, 5-power synergy, 6-durability*
Krogan Battlemaster: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage*
Rage: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

*Depending on your weapon, you may consider altering your evolutions to improve power cooldown. I would rather sacrifice some durability than some weapon damage, but this is entirely based on your preferences.

I recommend using Incendiary Ammo for this character, since you can trigger Fire Explosions with Carnage. And who doesn't like Fire Explosions?

In terms of weapons, I like to use shotguns on Krogan, partly out of roleplaying sensibility. I believe the Wraith strikes the perfect balance between weight, damage, and range, but seeing as not everyone has a high-level Wraith, the Piranha is a good substitute as it satisfies the weight and damage requisites. If you prefer, you can use the Graal or Geth Plasma Shotgun, but you may want to compensate for the additional weight.

Have you ever wanted to play a charge-less Vanguard? Well this is it, and it makes the most sense out of them all. Who needs Biotic Charge on a Krogan? Meh. Skip it.

Carnage is just a classic Krogan power. It's great for taking out those hard armored targets and it blasts smaller targets to pieces. I take damage over radius. Then I take incapacitate, which is nice for crowd control. It's useful being able to knock smaller enemies off their feet. And finally I take armor damage, which is going to be more useful on higher difficulties. Carnage is inherently weak against shields/barriers, but does massive damage to armored targets. Pro tip:
1. Shoot enemy with Incendiary Ammo.
2. Shoot enemy with Carnage.
3. ???
4. Profit.

This character actually has surprisingly good synergy even without Biotic Charge thanks to Barrier. It compensates for the lack of a dodge move, it boosts your power damage, and it improves your already good durability. I often forget about the utility of Barrier explosion on the Biotic Charge build as it's simply not necessary. Without Biotic Charge, all of a sudden you realize the necessity of this power -- it is great for getting melee creatures out of your face. As a Krogan, if you get swarmed by Husks, Abominations, or Phantoms, you can easily get locked into a grab animation because you can't dodge. You don't want that. Barrier explosion is your solution, as it will stagger all nearby enemies and leave a single unprotected enemy dangling in midair. The best part is that it does extra damage to biotic barriers. Useful against Phantoms.

Additionally, the power synergy evolution boosts power damage even further, improving Carnage and Barrier explosion. Finally, the last evolution is preferential, based on your cooldown requirements. I prefer a cooldown under 4 seconds for Carnage with Barrier on. Use Narida's class builder to figure out your own cooldown needs.

I take all power damage evolutions for Krogan Battlemaster, since this is somewhat of a caster build. Then I take weapon damage for better damage output, since weapons are half of the equation. For Rage? All durability, no contest there. If you want a melee build, take Biotic Charge. You scrub.

Well, that's about it for the build. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more guides.

-Grun7mas7er

Ok, I've got to give credit to Stardusk, the first person who advocated a similar build for the Kroguard (as far as I know). It's a little dated, so I gave it an upgrade of sorts. You can check out his video below.