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.

Krogan Soldier: 200 Waves Edition

Hello esteemed readers. So I'm trying out a new thing where I make "200 Waves Edition" guides for characters after completing the 200 wave challenge with them (or approximately that many waves if there is no such challenge for the character). This way I have a very solid understanding of the character and how to play them effectively. It takes a little longer but I think that it will improve the quality of these guides. I do play the characters before making the guides of course, usually pretty extensively, but this way I have a greater sense of experience with the individual characters that I didn't have before the challenges were introduced. And of course I will continue to update old builds as time permits.

Krogan Soldier (Fire Explosions build)
Fortification: 4-durability, 5-power synergy
Carnage: 4-damage, 5-incapacitate, 6-armor damage*
Inferno Grenade: 4-damage, 5-damage, 6-radius & shrapnel
Krogan Berserker: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage
Rage: 3*

*Alternatively, put 3 in Carnage and max out Rage.

Recommended weapons:
ARs: Falcon, Harrier
Shotguns: Geth Plasma, Wraith, Graal, Reegar, Piranha

Recommended ammo bonus: Incendiary, Disruptor (especially if against Geth)

Now I'll explain the build because when I first saw it I was a little skeptical. It does look a little strange on paper (A Krogan without maxed Fitness? This is blasphemy!!!). But I assure you it is quite good in actual gameplay. First, let's look at Fortification. Evolution 4 is obvious because this is not a melee build. Evolution 5 is obvious too, since this is a grenadier build, and grenades benefit from power damage bonuses. What's not so obvious is why we choose 3 ranks of Rage over evolution 6 durability. It's all about the math.

Using an approximate DR formula (since the real one is complicated):

Health/Shields with 40% damage reduction, no Rage
1250/1667
Health/Shields with 30% DR, 3 ranks of Rage
1446/1929
Health/Shields with 40% DR, no Rage, Cyclonic Mod IV
1250/4167
Health/Shields with 30% DR, 3 ranks of Rage, Cyclonic Mod IV
1446/4071

As you can see, the Krogan Soldier is more durable with 3 ranks in Rage over rank 6 of Fortification in all cases. So do yourself a favor and take this advice. Whether or not you take a Cyclonic Mod is up to you.

Since it was buffed, Carnage is reasonably good. When you take Fortification power synergy into account, Carnage does massive damage to armored targets. It's still quite weak against shielded targets, however. It can also incapacitate unprotected mooks, such as Husks,  which is quite useful. But these powers are just bonuses. The main purpose of Carnage on this build will be to trigger fire explosions from your Inferno Grenades. With this combo, you will be able to annihilate spawn points and a well-thrown grenade will net you a killstreak medal.

Your Inferno Grenades are your bread and Carnage is your butter. With the appropriate damage bonuses, you can make an entire spawn zone go up in flames, killing all but the toughest of enemies with a single grenade. Thanks to its inherent armor damage bonus, even Brutes and Scions don't stand a chance. With the massive damage over time potential (nearly 670 dps with the above build), the last thing you want is for a Phantom, Banshee, or Praetorian to cancel that damage with their space magic bubble. Generally this means that you don't want to use Carnage on them until the damage over time has finished.

For Krogan Berserker, I took all power damage bonuses and weapon damage at the end. You'll have great weight capacity and decent weapon damage bonuses. This is primarily a power-based build though, despite it being a soldier (and a Krogan one at that). Rage has been explained above.

That's about it for this build. Try it out and if you like it, I encourage you to check the 'like' box below. If you really like it, feel free to subscribe to future builds. Thanks for reading.

-Grun7mas7er

Here's a video guide by Stardusk, which I found very helpful and inspiring.

Krogan Shaman Adept: 200 Waves Edition

What's up everyone. So I've spent a decent amount of time with the Krogan Shaman. In fact, I actually sat down with him for a brief interview. Here's how it went.

MACave11i: Hello Mr. Krogan Shaman. Welcome to ME3 multiplayer.

Krogan Shaman: Thanks. It's good to be here.

M: So tell us a little about yourself.

KS: I like to make things explode.

M: I see. Is that why you prefer Warp and Shockwave?

KS: Yeah. They make really good explosions.

M: There's some discussion on BSN about why you like Warp instead of Reave. Can you comment on this?

KS: Reave is for Drell.

M: Yes, but it can prime multiple targets for shockwave detonations and gives you additional damage reduction on top of Barrier.

KS: I'm Krogan. I don't need more damage reduction.

M: Fair enough. But Reave would make for really good synergy with the Krogan Vanguard. Reave and Biotic Charge would be awesome for crowd control.

KS: We're Krogan. We just kill things. Doesn't matter how.

M: Well that answers that. You heard it right here, folks. Thanks for being here with us on ME3 multiplayer, Mr. Krogan Shaman.

KS: Yeah, yeah. You humans talk too much. Now where's the free food you told me about?

And that's why the Krogan Shaman has Warp instead of Reave. Now... the glorious build.

Krogan Shaman
Barrier: 4-blast effect, 5-power synergy*
Shockwave: 4-radius, 5-detonate, 6-recharge speed
Warp: 4-detonate, 5-expose, 6-pierce
Krogan Battlemaster: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage
Rage: 3*

*You can replace power synergy with durability if preferred. You can even take 5 ranks in Rage and 3 ranks in Barrier for faster shield regeneration. I've used that build on Platinum and I approve.

I recommend Warp Ammo or Incendiary Ammo
For your weapon, anything that is relatively lightweight. Preferably it is effective against shielded targets from Marauders to Preatorians, as your Warp-Shockwave combo is either inefficient or negated by their shield.


As you can see, this build is all about Biotics. The Krogan Shaman actually has really good potential in terms of available powers. He's arguably the most well-rounded Adept in the game right now and I'll explain. If I were to make a custom Biotic character, I would pick Barrier (or Tech armor) for durability and power damage bonus, Warp for debuffing, and some kind of Biotic trigger, either Throw or Shockwave. Since Shockwave is generally better, this really is about as powerful as you can make an Adept. The other option is to take another debuffer instead of a detonator. This brings Annihilation Field to mind. And as you may have noticed, that would be the same power set as the upcoming Asari Valkyrie Sentinel, which I think will be more powerful than a lot of people realize.

Now that I've spent a good deal of time playing the Krogan Shaman, I've settled on the build above. As you can see, it's a power-oriented build rather than a pure weapons build. I have no qualms with a pure weapon build, but I like to play different characters...well...differently. I feel like the weapon build would be rather boring, but if that's your thing go ahead.

The question I sometimes have to ask myself is: why do I take Barrier if it slows down your biotic explosion combos? There are a few reasons and I think they justify the slightly slower recharge speed. One is the Barrier detonation, which is useful for CQC and compensates for your lack of mobility. When a Phantom gets up close and you can't get away, don't hesitate to detonate your Barrier and create some space between you and that Phantom while she is staggered. Shockwave can achieve this as well, but is not nearly as reliable. The second reason is the useful power synergy evolution, which boosts the damage & force of all your powers, including the Barrier detonation (I am told). Finally, the most obvious reason is the damage reduction. For this build, the math says you'll have 1800/1800 health/shields, which is essentially the same as if you had maxed Rage, but with the added power damage bonus. With a Cyclonic IV, you'll have 1800/3800. I'm reasonably sure that 3 ranks of Rage trumps 10% DR for the final evolution of Barrier. It is a whopping 35% health/shield bonus, after all.

Shockwave is just your standard detonator and mook killer. With all the power bonuses, Shockwave has rather good damage and force. It's also fairly spam-able. Apart from that, use it to detonate Warped targets. Remember that the power of your biotic explosions are determined by the rank of the powers used and any evolutions that specifically increase the damage & force of biotic explosions. For example, rank 6 Warp with detonate + rank 6 Shockwave with detonate does more damage & force per explosion than if Warp and Shockwave were only at rank 5. Currently, this is the most powerful biotic combo available.

I use the 'standard Warp' for this character. Rank 4 is detonate for obvious reasons. Next, I choose expose to debuff enemies and deal more weapon damage. Finally, I take pierce to weaken armored targets for even greater weapon damage. Nothing new here. I should note that using Warp ammo on targets affected by biotics gives you a significant weapon damage bonus, depending on the level of your ammo mod. Or you can use Incendiary ammo to set targets on fire, then trigger fire explosions with your biotics. Using these ammo mods can increase your damage output significantly.

For the passive bonuses, I take all power damage & force evolutions. Even though they don't affect biotic explosions, they give your biotics a decent boost in addition to Barrier's power synergy. Then I take weapon damage for the final evolution. When you step back and examine all of the offensive capabilities of this Krogan, you can see that this is a very diverse, very powerful character.

Last but not least, you have three ranks in Rage to give you a little bit of added durability. Believe me, the added health bonuses are quite useful. If you need some more health & shields, consider replacing rank 5 of Barrier for rank 4 of Rage. This is the closest to an Adept tank that you can get.

I hope you all found this guide somewhat helpful. Remember, if you like this you can check the like box. If you really like these guides you can subscribe. Either way, thanks for reading and have fun with the new builds. Peace.

-MACave11i
Grun7mas7er

Below is Stardusk's guide to the Krogan Shaman. Watch and learn.