Ex-Cerberus Phoenix Adept: Spectre Edition

Hello everybody and welcome to another Mass Effect 3 multiplayer guide. Initially, I was of the opinion that the Phoenix Adept was one of the weaker characters. Balance changes shifted that opinion, Smash got buffed and nerfed, Singularity got buffed, and I think it ended up being a pretty strong character. A bit slow and squishy compared to Dragoons, but dat Smash...

Ex-Cerberus Adept
Singularity: 4-radius, 5-recharge speed, 6-detonate
Smash: 4-biotic combo, 5-force & damage, 6-armor damage
Lash: 4-detonate, 5-damage over time, 6-shield penetration
Phoenix Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage
Fitness: 3

In terms of weapons, I've tried a few different guns and don't feel as if I've hit the nail on the head, but in my most recent ventures I managed to score 200k+ with this character using the Talon. It's not as consistent against shields as the Acolyte, but it does comparable damage and it's more useful all-around.  It has a great attack pattern with Smash: two shots and Smash, two shots and Smash. Using a power after emptying the clip will also "hide" your reload animation with good timing; in this case, Smash right after you fire the last shot in the clip - your gun will reload during the Smash animation. This trick works with all guns and powers, but the timing varies.

I recommend using the heavy barrel for a whopping 40% extra damage (and it's glitched so that it won't actually affect your cooldown). Also, take the power magnifier to buff your powers even more. Then I would recommend either Warp ammo (synergy with biotics) or Disruptor ammo (strip shields faster, but interferes with biotics).

I recommend the Geth Scanner since this character is squishy. I believe that situational awareness trumps a measly 20%-30% shield boost any day. It also lets you Smash enemies through walls more effectively. Wallhax ftw!

Singularity: With this character, I decided to use Singularity as a time-bomb rather than spec-ing it as a biotic primer. With all the power damage bonuses, the detonation does over 1200 damage across 7 meters. That's like a bonus biotic explosion. Everything else was built around that. You don't want duration because then it takes 20 seconds for Singularity to detonate instead of 8 seconds, so take radius. I took recharge speed because lift damage would kill lifted targets too fast - I want to be able to use Lash on them to create biotic explosions to damage other enemies. But in most situations lift damage would be better, especially for Phantoms. Remember that Singularity staggers most human-sized enemies within the field, and the detonation staggers even more enemies (I have seen it stagger Atlases and Banshees - I can't imagine that Primes or Crabs would be any different).

Smash: The steak and potatoes (or rice, if you're MasterReefa [BSN reference]) of the Smashdept. It has an inherent 150% damage bonus against armor, shields, and barriers. With the armor damage evolution, that increases to 262.5% (if my math is straight) damage bonus to armor and barriers. Factoring in all the power damage bonuses, Smash does upwards of 4500 damage to armor and barriers. It detonates biotic explosions and primes them too if you take the biotic combo evo. It deals 2.5x force against Lashed targets and can hit up to two targets.

Lash: The Phoenix is a ladies man. Back in the Cerberus training program, the Phantoms and Nemeses  just couldn't escape the lure of his Lash. Yeah, okay maybe the story is a bit silly. But seriously, Lash is great for incapacitating those pesky Phantoms and Nemeses. Also great for stealing Guardian shields. And of course, it's great for any other unarmored enemies.

Phoenix Training: Power damage. 'Nuff said.

Fitness: Just 3 ranks for a little bit of durability. This character is still pretty squishy, and he doesn't get any damage reduction during his ridiculously long Smash or Lash animations. But what can you do? Well I want a new Phoenix with Barrier, Annihilation Field and Smash. The ultimate close quarters Adept!

Strategy: Since this character is so squishy, you can't run around in the open. Play carefully and stick to close quarters if possible. Always try to have a solid piece of cover to get behind in case of Banshee Warps, Atlas missiles, Praetorian lasers, etc.

TBC...

-Grun7mas7er

On "Spectre Edition" Guides

Hello everybody. It's been a while so I'm going to ramble on about stuff you don't care about.

A while ago I was nominated/inducted/chosen by some friends to join S.P.E.C.T.R.E., which is a group of the "best" players on Bioware Anti-Social Network. I've grown as a player before and after that point (and continue to), and so I though my guides should reflect that. A lot of them are outdated and/or straight out wrong, and so with these "Spectre Edition" guides, I hope to bring you the most complete and accurate guides that I can. This will be easier since new balance changes are no longer changing the game constantly, but I am not a data miner, so I can't explain every nuance of the character as well as some people can.

As a "Spectre", I suppose I'm now subject to higher expectations and greater scrutiny. So my build standards are generally:
a) Built with Platinum in mind (Platinum worthy),
b) I can score well with them, generally 200k points indicates to me that the build works (not that score is that important), and
c) I try to make the build unique and avoid "clone kits", for example, building the Vorcha Soldier and Sentinel the exact same way.

So that's the story behind the Spectre Edition guides. Coming to a blog near you. Peace out.

-Grun7mas7er