ME3 Character Guide: Salarian Infiltrator

Greetings everyone. Excited for the upcoming Reckoning DLC? I know I am. But for now, let's take it back to the early days of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer with one of the original characters: the Salarian Infiltrator. Ah, the nostalgia. For the record, one of the classics is the Claymore Salarian Infiltrator. It's a good build, but it seems to me that Salarians are more suited for sniping. That would be my assumption based on lore. Ah yes, "lore"...

Salarian Infiltrator
Tactical Cloak: 4-damage, 5-recharge speed, 6-sniper damage
Proximity Mine: 4-radius, 5-damage taken
Energy Drain: 4-damage, 5-drain, 6-armor boost
Salarian Operative: 4-weapon damage, 5-headshots, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 3

I really like the Black Widow out of all the sniper rifles. It can shoot three rounds per mag, but still packs a punch. The Valiant and Indra are good, but not particularly great on him. And the Javelin is far greater on the Geth Infiltrator. In my opinion, the Black Widow is the best overall bar none. However, I can see the M-98 Widow, Mantis, or even Viper as effective alternatives.

As for ammo mods, you can't go wrong with Armor Piercing. You can use Phasic rounds, but the beauty of the SI is that he has Energy Drain, so Phasic rounds are not necessary. Disruptor rounds are great for Geth. Warp rounds are great for Reapers/Collectors, but I tend to save them for my biotic characters.

We all know and love/hate Tactical Cloak, so no need to explain why I take all damage evolutions, right?

Proximity Mine is used for boss-level enemies so that they can be taken down quicker. I almost always take the radius and damage taken evolution to debuff clusters of enemies. It makes for a great support power. For the SI, recharge speed is completely unnecessary when cast under TC because the TC recharge overrides Proxy Mine's recharge. Also, the damage evolution is negligible compared to 3 ranks in Fitness, so I skip evolution 6 of Proxy Mine altogether. For enemies that are hard to pin down like Phantoms and Banshees, use TC and Proxy Mine from a distance and they will engage their shields, forcing them to stand still for a moment. Free headshots.

As demonstrated by Caineghis.


What makes the SI a great sniper is Energy Drain, which helps to bypass enemy shield gate, which is a great hindrance to snipers. The damage and drain evolutions are there to restore your shields. The more damage you do with Energy Drain, the greater percentage of your shields are restored. However, I found the armor boost evolution to be more useful than the extra damage. Overall, I think 40% damage reduction for 10 seconds is going to keep you alive better than 40% extra damage. That's my experience, anyway.

In addition, it stuns lesser enemies (including Dragoons!) for a short time, letting you line up an easy headshot. It's also very useful as a survival tool against bosses and damage over time effects. Always keep an eye open for shields/barriers that can be leached.

For the passives, all weapon damage since your sniper rifle is your main focus. Then 3 ranks in Fitness for slightly better durability. I found this build to be much more durable than a pure damage build with no Fitness, and honestly the mediocre power damage bonuses are pretty negligible compared to added survivability.

The real key to this build is mastery of your sniper rifle. They require more aim than your other weapons, but they are very rewarding especially on Infiltrators. Practice practice practice. And use your sniper rifle rail amps!

That's about it for the guide. Wish I could put up a sniper rifle guide, but I'm not that good at sniping. Plus I'm a lowly console scrub, I couldn't possibly aim with those clunky thumbsticks. =)
Cheers, enjoy the build, stay classy.

-Grun7mas7er

ME3 Character Guide: Salarian Engineer

Hello readers. Today marks another chapter in the guide book for the original characters. I was thinking about a Krogan guide, but since I already did a guide for the Turian Soldier and Sentinel, I decided that it would be better to balance it out with a non-soldier/sentinel class. The Salarian Engineer is comparable to a popular high school kid that everyone forgot about in college. By that I mean that the SE was popular in the early days of ME3 multiplayer when nobody could beat Gold without it, but now it is merely a decoy. Granted, the decoy was invaluable and that alone made this class worth playing, but the SE has very low offensive capability, so advanced players generally ignore it. But since it looks like Bioware will be banishing us back into the dark ages with the upcoming Piranha nerf, it seems pertinent that we revive the SE. (Yes, I know the Piranha nerf isn't that severe, but still, F.U. Bioware). But let's get on with it.

[Because of balance changes, I might recommend something like this: Salarian Engineer (30 Oct 2012)

Old Salarian Engineer
Energy Drain: 4-damage, 5-drain, 6-damage
Decoy: 4-duration*, 5-shock, 6-exploding decoy*
Incinerate: N/A
Salarian Operative: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-weapon damage
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

*I use an offensive decoy, but if you would rather use a defensive decoy, then go with 4-durability, 6-shields & duration. There is no good reason to take recharge speed though.

I made this build taking into consideration that newer players and not advanced players would be using this class. You might think it's "becuz SE is for teh n00bs". Not so. The SE is actually the best support class (arguably) because he draws so much fire away from your teammates. The reason why advanced players don't use it is because they have a lot of good weapons and so it is better for them to use the weapon classes while the new players with not-so-good weapons provide support with caster classes. In other words, players with good weapons should use weapon classes, players without should use caster classes. If you're playing on higher difficulties, it just works out better for everyone that way. But you already knew that.

So for the example build I chose the Viper since it is uncommon, and therefore very accessible, lightweight, reasonably powerful since the numerous buffs, and it synergizes well with Energy Drain. (Btw, my computer is telling me that 'synergizes' is not a word, but ME3 players know better than to listen to spell check). What you do for most enemies is use Energy Drain to strip shields and stun them, then follow with a headshot. Nice and clean. Except for all the brain tissue. Anyway, Energy Drain is also the key to your survival since you can instantly recharge you shields. Don't get out of cover without it. Use it often like your life depends on it. Because it kinda does.

If you thought Energy Drain was important, then you've forgotten about Decoy. Besides letting you look at your awesome color combination, this Decoy draws 99% of nearby enemy fire. Just put it between you and the enemy. Keep it up and you'll make it to extraction.

*[Recent balance changes have made Decoy less effective at distracting enemies, especially melee enemies, severely reducing the effectiveness of the Salarian Engineer].

I would only take Incinerate if you have no decent weapons. I don't find it to be very useful on higher difficulties. However, I am open to different playstyles, so you could choose a mix of Decoy, Incinerate, and Fitness, depending on your preference. [Since the Decoy nerf, I would put 3 ranks into Decoy and fill out Incinerate].

For the passive bonus, I chose power damage just to make sure Energy Drain can drain shields all the way. Then I chose weapon damage instead of weapon weight when using the Viper, but if you have a heavier sniper rifle like the Black Widow, then it would be better to pick sniper rifle weight. You should have a reasonably low cooldown just so you can use Energy Drain when your shields are low, but you don't need to skimp on weapons just to have a 200% cooldown. (In general, anything around 100% cooldown is good enough).

Finally, I take Fitness for durability. The SE actually has decent shields with maxed out fitness. Which helps you stay alive. But remember that the Decoy should be the one taking all the fire, not you.

I think that's it for this character. There's not much to it besides remembering to use Decoy and Energy Drain for survival. Though I should note that the SE is much more effective against Geth than Reapers. Cerberus are ok. Anyway, thanks for reading. More guides to come.

-MACave11i

Gameplay by Stardusk.