What's up everyone? Yet another Mass Effect 3 multiplayer guide for your face. As always, I've always strived for proficiency in all characters (except for maybe the lolVoluses and lolJuggernaut), so I've been going back to the good ol' characters, including the Human Vanguard. I never really gave the Novaguard much play back in the day because of the Vanguard glitch, etc., even though it was really powerful even back then. So yes, it's still a viable class. Check the technique.
Human Vanguard
Biotic Charge: 4-radius, 5-power synergy, 6-barrier
Shockwave: 4-radius, 5-detonate, 6-lifting shockwave
Nova: 4-force & damage, 5-half blast, 6-pierce
Alliance Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage
Fitness: 3
*or go traditional
Biotic Charge: 4-radius, 5-power synergy, 6-barrier
Shockwave: N/A
Nova: 4-force & damage, 5-half blast, 6-pierce
Alliance Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert
I really like the Talon on this character. I think the Acolyte would be good too (frankly, it's good on almost any character), but the Talon has synergy. You don't have to charge it up before firing, and it has a shotgun-like spread, so it's great for close quarters.
If you're not with a tech/biotic team, then use Incendiary ammo so you can prime your own fire explosions. Otherwise, use Warp or AP ammo so you don't override your teammates' more powerful tech/biotic explosions. The Novaguard is a great detonator. Best Biotic Detonator*.
You can use the Commando Package or Geth Scanner or whatever you like. It's not prescriptive for this character.
Biotic Charge: If you're surprised by the evolutions here, well, maybe you should L2P scrub.
Shockwave: So...there's this hipster kinda thing going on where people actually spec into Lifting Shockwave. It does have nice synergy with Nova, make no mistake, but it's a balancing act that I have not yet mastered. So I can't personally endorse it because I haven't gotten it to work. It's funny because people used to say L2P scrub if you took Shockwave on the Novaguard. Now it's SUPERPROL33TSKILLZ. So I'll leave it up to you. You can either go with a 6/6/6/5/3 build or go with 6/0/6/6/6.
Nova: is the signature power or the...er...Novaguard. So I usually take force & damage to compensate for half blast. Then I take pierce for better damage against defenses. It's not a lot of damage because of half blast, but that's to balance out the massive advantage. With half blast, you can use Nova twice per shield cycle, and you are invulnerable while using Biotic Charge and Nova. You see the potential here, right? You can Biotic Charge, Nova, and Nova again - and you're invincible the whole time.
Of course, you can't be stuck in the open with no shields while Biotic Charge cools down, so we need to extend those invulnerability frames by Nova-canceling. You can do this by using Nova and interrupting it with light melee or dodging. How you cancel is situational, e.g. when carrying a package you should use the light melee to cancel to avoid dropping the package; use side-roll when you want to avoid getting into a fist-fight with a Geth Prime.
The bottom line: you are invulnerable to all damage (except sync-kills, of course, unless the sync kill animation finishes within your 1.5 seconds of invulnerability frames) as long as you continuously nova-cancel. While high-dps enemies like Cerberus Turrets can give you some grief by punching through your shields in between frames, they can still be dealt with as I will explain later.
Alliance Training: All you need is the power damage bonuses and weight capacity. The extra force & damage puts Biotic Charge over 1000N, enough to stagger Phantoms, which is the important part. You get enough weight capacity to carry a Talon X and maintain a 200% cooldown, which is generally important for Vanguards. If you skip Shockwave, take weapon damage (or weight capacity if you have a low-level Talon).
Fitness: With this build, you're relying on Nova for survivability. Still, it helps to have the extra shields and health if you slip up. If you skip Shockwave, go for the durability branch.
Strategy: Basically just Biotic Charge, Nova, Nova. But mix it up a little. Pop a quick shot in between Novas, for example. Or Nova-cancel in between Novas to extend your invulnerability while Biotic Charge cools down.
Cerberus Turrets- these are what will give you the most trouble, especially when there are more than one of them. You can safely Nova-cancel with light melee at them, doing pretty pitiful damage, but at least you won't die. This isn't what I would consider to be safe, though.
Bosses- know when they can sync-kill you and when they can't. Then you'll know when it's safe to charge them or not. Atlases can sync-kill after their ground-pound melee attack. Banshees can sync-kill when they have the glowing aura around them. Praetorians can sync-kill when they are walking, but not when floating. Geth Primes can't sync-kill you, but their elbow of doom can stagger you and leave you open to enemy fire.
Phantoms and Scions are primed for a sync kill after their melee animation. Note that all it takes is one frame of this melee animation for them to become primed; They do not necessarily need to finish the animation to sync kill you. If I'm not mistaken, Brutes can sync kill after their swipe and smash attacks, but not charge.
As with all Vanguards, I recommend hosting whenever you use this character. You need your Biotic Charge, Nova, and Survival Ops Packs to be as responsive as possible for this aggressive play style.
And that's about it for the Novaguard. Thanks for reading and stay classy. Most of all, enjoy the build.
-Grun7mas7er
Check out Lord Sirian's Novaguard gameplay!
No comments:
Post a Comment