Saturday, May 11, 2013

ME3: What Packs Should I Buy? + (Un)Luckiest Arsenal Pack of All Time

What's up everyone? Just a brief overview of some of the packs available in the random number store. This is generally what you will get, though you have a small chance of getting lucky.

Recruit Pack: 2x single consumable card (Missile, Ops Pack, Medigel, or Thermal Clips), replaced by common equipment if consumables are maxed (you have 255 of each)
2x common equipment
1x common character card (62500 xp)

Spectre Pack: 1x 5-pack consumable card, replaced by an uncommon equipment if consumables are maxed
3x uncommon card
1x rare card, with a chance for an ultra-rare

Premium Spectre Pack: 1x 5-pack consumable card, replaced by uncommon equipment if consumables are maxed
2x uncommon card with a chance of a common character (125000 xp)
2x rare card, each with a chance for an ultra-rare

Jumbo Equipment Pack: 1x 5-pack Missile
1x 5-pack Ops Pack
1x 5-pack Medigel
1x 5-pack Thermal Clips (all consumable packs are replaced by a random equipment card if that consumable is maxed out)
6x random common or uncommon equipment card, or 2-pack consumable card if not maxed

Arsenal Pack: same as Premium Spectre Pack except you are much less likely to get a rare character card, and will never get a common character card (as far as I know). This means more weapons and more equipment cards.

-Grun7mas7er

The Luckiest Arsenal Pack of All Time

The Unluckiest Arsenal Pack of All Time

Friday, May 10, 2013

ME3 Character Guide: Human Sentinel

Iiiiiit's... hipster time!

Hello everyone, welcome to another Mass Effect 3 multiplayer guide. You know, according to Eric Fagnan's recent gameplay stats, one of the least played characters on Gold/Platinum is the Human Sentinel, with a pitiful 0.60% play rate. So let's show our BroSent/FemSent some love!

Human Sentinel
Tech Armor: 4-durability, 5-power damage, 6-durability
Warp: 4-detonate, 5-expose, 6-pierce
Throw: 4-force, 5-detonate, 6-force & damage
Alliance Training: N/A
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

I've tried a few weapons on this character, but in general, you can't go wrong with Collector SMG/Acolyte. You have something for shields, something for armor. Both are good at priming ammo effects. You have some crowd control and some raw DPS. You simply cannot go wrong with this combo.

I have to insist upon Incendiary ammo for this build, and not just because of Warp/Incendiary cheese. It's about comprehensive synergy with the character. For example, I know many people would be inclined to take Warp ammo. The thing is, you have only one priming power (Warp), and it's a projectile power - not reliable for biotic priming like Dark Channel or Reave. On the other hand, you have two triggering powers (Warp and Throw), making the HSentinel great at setting off ammo effects, and you can't set off Warp ammo.

Really, Disruptor ammo isn't a bad choice either because it helps out against shields, but I figure that it is more "disruptive" (pardon the pun) to a biotic team than Incendiary ammo. Nobody likes when their biotic explosion is overridden by a puny tech burst. They don't seem to mind fire explosions though, for whatever reason. Maybe they're more satisfying. So Disruptor is something you could use if you run out of Incendiary ammo.

Gear isn't a big deal with this character. Sentinels are very much the jack-of-all-trades class, so you can choose to be more tanky, take more SMG damage, more pistol damage, or use a Geth Scanner for tactical awareness. Whatever floats your boat.

Tech Armor: I go for all durability and power synergy. Power synergy isn't so important since it doesn't affect biotic explosions, but it's not like you're going to take melee damage. It gives you a convenient 30% force bonus, just enough to buff Throw to 1500N, which let's you stagger bosses on Gold. With a Cyclonic Modulator and 50% damage reduction, you'll be surprisingly tanky... for a human.

Warp: I've been trying out non-standard Warp evolutions, namely all top-row evolutions, but I have to go with the standard Warp for this build. You get the biotic explosion bonus. You get the debuffing. You get the armor weakening bonus. All of those are essential, in my assessment. Although your biotic explosions are slow, they are very powerful if you take all the detonate evolutions, only rivaled by the Warp/Shockwave combo (And technically the Pull/Shockwave combo, but really, nobody does that). And that's what makes them worth the time at all - the massive damage.

Expose is useful for debuffing bosses because as a Sentinel, you are relying on your weapons for much of the work. Then I had a debate with myself (involving a lot of yelling and fist-shaking) whether Pierce was really all that useful on this build since I run the CSMG with the high-velocity barrel, which negates most of enemy armor anyway. I concluded that even though Pierce may not have much effect on your weapon's effectiveness against armor, it does a bit more damage against both barriers and armor. This is important for the Warp/Incendiary cheese because the glitch "absorbs" the damage properties of Warp. From my understanding, the more damage Warp does to barriers and armor, the more damage the glitch does to barriers and armor (this is all put simply, as I'm not sure I fully understand the glitch).

In that light, you could argue for taking the entire top row of Warp. However, I didn't build this character around the Warp/Incendiary glitch. If I had, I would have used the Reegar. Even then, this character would still be inferior to the ultra-cheesy Krogan Soldier build. As it is, I consider it a slight bonus and nothing more.

Throw: This is your trigger power, used for detonating fire and biotic explosions. Thanks to Tech Armor, it has 1500N of force, enough to stagger bosses on Gold. This is quite useful if you turn a corner and a Geth Prime is staring you in the face. And you can always use it to send mooks flying off their feet.

Passive: I skipped this because you have enough power force with Tech Armor, power damage is largely irrelevant on this build, and because your weapons are light enough that you don't need more weight capacity. The weapon damage bonuses can be made up for with consumables/gear.

Fitness: I maxed out durability because I wanted this character to have a bit more health/shields to take advantage of that 50% damage reduction. Think of it this way: a car that gets 50mpg but only holds one gallon of gas still only goes 50 miles. The more gas in the tank, the more you can take advantage of that mileage. Same goes for your health and shields.

Strategy: The Human Sentinel has a lot of tools at his/her disposal, and that's what makes it such a fun character (though admittedly, half of it comes from your weapon choice). Keep Tech Armor on at all times, unless of course detonating it could save your life. Swarmers are dangerous, too! Use Throw at your discretion to stagger/ragdoll a target, or to force a dodge. It goes without saying, make liberal use of fire and biotic explosions.

So when you're up against unshielded mooks, you can knock them to the ground with Throw. Or you can stun them with the Acolyte and then use Throw for a fire explosion. Easy.

Use Throw to get Husks and especially Abominations out of your way.

Shielded mooks are best dealt with using the Acolyte/Throw combo. You don't want to leave these enemies on their feet - A Marauder with a Phaeston CXXVII is always a threat.

When facing armored enemies - bricks, as I sometimes call them - debuff them with Warp and chip away their armor with the CSMG. The Warp/Incendiary glitch should accelerate the damage. Use your fire and biotic explosions all the time. For Dragoon mobs, use your CSMG and Throw from a distance to keep them dodging. When you get a chance, Warp one of them and set off the biotic explosion. Watch them melt like butter.

For shield/armor enemies, Acolyte first, then Warp, then Throw. Pretty easy.

When you're up against Phantoms, use your Acolyte to strip their shields. She'll dodge and give you the opportunity to use Throw, triggering a fire explosion and knocking her off her feet. Finish her off with the Acolyte. Cake.

For bosses, use Warp for the debuff. Use your Acolyte to strip away shields, use your Collector SMG and Warp against armor. Make use of the Warp/Incendiary glitch, fire and biotic explosions. Try not to let bosses command your attention, as the Human Sentinel is not much of a boss killer - not that it's bad at killing bosses. Focus on the smaller enemies and you'll be more efficient.

That's about it. As always, thanks for reading and stay tuned for more Mass Effect 3 multiplayer guides and stuff. Stay classy.

-Grun7mas7er

Caineghis and Disciple brave ***$$$THE THUNDERDOME$$$*** with Human Sentinels.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

PUG Chronicles, Vol. 1

Just posting some screenshots from past games. The following post may be elitist, chest-thumping dramatization. 

***$$$Pickup games: four players enter. Three babies cry$$$***

Geth Infiltrator with Arc Pistol, Giant/Geth/Gold
Nerf the GI and Arc Pistol!


Female Human Sentinel with CSMG/Acolyte, Vancouver/Collector/Platinum
TGI u aint got nothin on mah FemSent


Grunt: Asari Adept with CSMG/Acolyte, Pat: Batarian Slasher, Reactor Hazard/Cerberus/Platinum
PUGing with my friend Pat. Stasis all the things!


 Grunt: Collector Adept with CSMG, Pat: Krogan Shaman, Giant/Reaper/Platinum
PUGing with Pat. Biosplosions errywhere!!!

N7 Slayer with Acolyte, Ghost Hazard/Geth/Gold
They all quit!!!

Grunt: Human Vanguard with Talon, Pat: Krogan Vanguard, Giant/Reaper/Platinum

PUGing with Pat. Outscored by a random?!!! That's OUTRAGEOUS!!!

Human Vanguard with Talon, London/Cerberus/Gold
I've had games where everyone quit because of the constant Novascream. AAAARG!!!

Come at me bread if you think you man enough. 

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Fagnan Speaketh: Recent Gameplay Stats

The Fagnan speaketh! Check out these recent stats from the past 3 months of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. 


[quote]Eric Fagnan wrote...

I just thought I would share some interesting stats. These stats are from the last 3 months of play time. Stay tuned because I will add more stats when I have time.

15 Most Played Kits (All Difficulties)

1. Geth Juggernaut (7.53%)
2. N7 Destroyer (3.97%)
3. Human Soldier (male and female combined) (3.20%)
4. Human Engineer (male and female combined) (2.97%)
5. Krogan Warlord (2.94%)
6. Alliance Infiltration Unit (2.86%)
7. N7 Shadow (2.78%)
8. Human Vanguard (male and female combined) (2.75%)
9. Talon Mercenary (2.73%)
10. Collector Adept (2.56%)
11. N7 Fury (2.43%)
12. Turian Ghost (2.41%)
13. Geth Trooper (2.34%)
14. N7 Slayer (2.33%)
15. Human Adept (male and female combined) (2.34%)

15 Most Played Kits (Gold & Platinum Only)

1. Geth Juggernaut (11.81%)
2. N7 Destroyer (5.47%)
3. Turian Ghost (4.38%)
4. Alliance Infiltration Unit (4.28%)
5. Geth Trooper (4.11%)
6. Krogan Warlord (3.01%)
7. N7 Paladin (2.83%)
8. Collector Adept (2.74%)
9. N7 Fury (2.67%)
10. N7 Shadow (2.63%)
11. Geth Infiltrator (2.62%)
12. Talon Mercenary (2.52%)
13. N7 Demolisher (2.24%)
14. Asari Huntress (1.99%)
15. N7 Slayer (1.98%)

10 Least Played Kits (All Difficulties)

1. Volus Protector Vanguard (0.40%)
2. Volus Mercenary Sentinel (0.44%)
3. Drell Vanguard (0.59%)
4. Batarian Slasher Adept (0.61%)
5. Male Quarian Marksman Soldier (0.61%)
6. Vorcha Hunter Engineer (0.67%)
7. Volus Adept (0.70%)
8. Volus Engineer (0.81%)
9. Male Quarian Engineer (0.81%)
10. Batarian Brawler Vanguard (0.82%)

10 Least Played Kits (Gold & Platinum Only)

1. Drell Vanguard (0.31%)
2. Battlefield 3 Soldier (0.36%)
3. Volus Protector Vanguard (0.40%)
4. Volus Mercenary Sentinel (0.50%)
5. Vorcha Hunter Engineer (0.53%)
6. Male Quarian Marksman Soldier (0.57%)
7. Human Sentinel (male and female combined) (0.60%)
8. Batarian Slasher Adept (0.62%)
9. Volus Adept (0.65%)
10. Human Infiltrator (male and female combined) (0.74%)

Breakdown by class (All Difficulties)

1. Soldier 28.3%
2. Engineer 16.7%
3. Sentinel 15.8%
4. Infiltrator 14.1%
5. Adept 13.1%
6. Vanguard 12.0%

Breakdown by class (Gold & Platinum Only)

1. Soldier 31.9%
2. Infiltrator 16.0%
3. Sentinel 15.3%
4. Engineer 15.0%
5. Adept 13.8%
6. Vanguard 8.0%

15 Most Used Weapons (All Difficulties)

1. Avenger Assault Rifle (5.29%)
2. Hurricane SMG (4.65%)
3. Harrier Assault Rifle (3.95%)
4. Eagle Pistol (3.16%)
5. Predator Pistol (3.13%)
6. Mantis Sniper Rifle (3.08%)
7. Reegar Shotgun (3.02%)
8. Phaeston Assault Rifle (2.76%)
9. Acolyte Pistol (2.71%)
10. Shuriken SMG (2.53%)
11. Locust SMG (2.47%)
12. Geth Pulse Rifle (2.39%)
13. Geth SMG (2.33%)
14. Phalanx Pistol (2.19%)
15. Mattock Assault Rifle (2.15%)

15 Most Used Weapons (Gold & Platinum Only)

1. Hurricane SMG (6.95%)
2. Harrier Assault Rifle (6.71%)
3. Acolyte Pistol (6.45%)
4. Reegar Shotgun (6.04%)
5. Piranha Shotgun (2.80%)
6. Geth Shotgun (2.62%)
7. Black Widow Sniper Rifle (2.62%)
8. Eagle Pistol (2.59%)
9. Geth SMG (2.46%)
10. Lancer Assault Rifle (2.33%)
11. Adas Assault Rifle (2.26%)
12. Talon Pistol (2.22%)
13. Wraith Shotgun (2.14%)
14. Collector SMG (2.01%)
15. Scorpion Pistol (1.88%)

[b]10 Least Used Weapons (All Difficulties)
[/b]
1. Venom Shotgun (0.35%)
2. Incisor Sniper Rifle (0.46%)
3. Collector Sniper Rifle (0.51%)
4. Falcon Assault Rifle (0.58%)
5. Kishock Sniper Rifle (0.60%)
6. Raider Shotgun (0.60%)
7. Krysae Sniper Rifle (0.66%)
8. Javelin Sniper Rifle (0.66%)
9. Scimitar Shotgun (0.68%)
10. Spitfire Assault Rifle (0.72%)

10 Least Used Weapons (Gold & Platinum Only[/b][b][b][/b][b])
[/b]
1. Incisor Sniper Rifle (0.23%)
2. Viper Sniper Rifle (0.32%)
3. Scimitar Shotgun (0.36%)
4. Vindicator Assault Rifle (0.39%)
5. Raptor Sniper Rifle (0.43%)
6. Venom Shotgun (0.46%)
7. Falcon Assault Rifle (0.47%)
8. Collector Sniper Rifle (0.54%)
9. Krysae Sniper Rifle (0.57%)
10. Argus Assault Rifle (0.61%)

Breakdown by difficulty

Bronze (46%)
Silver (33%)
Gold (18%)
Platinum (3%)

5 Most Played Maps (All Difficulties)

1. Firebase Dagger (13%)
2. Firebase White (13%)
3. Firebase Glacier (12%)
4. Firebase Giant (11%)
5. Firebase Hydra (6%)

5 Most Played Maps (Gold & Platinum Only)

1. Firebase Glacier (15%)
2. Firebase White (15%)
3. Firebase Giant (13%)
4. Firebase Dagger (9%)
5. Firebase Rio (5%)

Some other interesting map statistics

- On Platinum difficulty, Firebase Rio is currently played 11% of the time (3rd place overall after Firebase Glacier and Firebase Giant)
- At its height, Firebase White was played 50% of the time on all difficulties, and 70% of the time on Gold and Platinum.

[b]Completion Rate Per Faction & Difficulty
[/b]
Out of all successful extractions against a given faction, the % of matches per difficulty.

- Cerberus: Bronze (47.0%), Silver (36.3%), Gold (13.3%), Platinum (3.2%)
- Geth: Bronze (37.4%), Silver (38.0%), Gold (22.2%), Platinum (2.4%)
- Reapers: Bronze (38.3%), Silver (35.7%), Gold (17.6%), Platinum (8.4%)
- Collectors: Bronze (43.9%), Silver (44.8%), Gold (8.7%), Platinum (2.6%)

Enemy Popularity (All Difficulties)

1. Cerberus (40.0%)
2. Reapers (28.0%)
3. Geth (27.0%)
4. Collectors (5.0%)

Enemy Popularity (Gold & Platinum)

1. Reapers (38.0%)
2. Geth (29.0%)
3. Cerberus (28.0%)
4. Collectors (5.0%)

Enemy Popularity (Platinum Only)

1. Reapers (52.0%)
2. Cerberus (21.0%)
3. Geth (15.0%)
4. Collectors (12.0%)


[/quote]


Link: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/343/index/16654720/1#16654720

Saturday, May 4, 2013

How To Deal With Bosses

Notorious BSN Elitist Ashen Earth said that this post wouldn't reach the intended audience. So I'm posting it here so that maybe at least a few people will read this and learn something from it.

How to Deal with Bosses Tutorial by Professor Original Stikman
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/343/index/16628194/1#16628194











ME3 Character Guide: Talon Mercenary Engineer

Hello readers. Been a while since I put up a real guide, so let's take a second look at the Talon Mercenary. While not my favorite, he is easily a contender for best engineer when you're talking about sheer damage output. A lot of people will even argue that he's overpowered because of Cain Trip Mines. Fair enough, but look. The two engineers that preceded him were the Vorcha Hunter and Turian Saboteur. I don't care what anyone says, they're nothing special, and it's time we got an engineer that does damage.

So the Talon was a nice "farewell engineer" from Bioware. Would've been nice to see a Salarian, but whatever. I'll give you a rundown of my general-purpose (non-speedrun) build.

Talon Mercenary
Cain Trip Mine: 4-radius, 5-armor damage, 6-radius
Concussive Arrows: N/A
Armor-Piercing Arrows: 4-damage, 5-shred, 6-arrow count
Elite Mercenary: 4-power damage, 5-power damage, 6-charge generation
Omni-Bow Mastery: 4-omni-bow damage, 5-killing spree, 6-omni-bow damage

For your weapon, I highly recommend the Geth Plasma Shotgun with the omni-blade attachment. Not only does the GPS have amazing synergy with your omni-bow, but the omni-blade increases your melee damage.

I like to use Disruptor ammo for this build. It gives you an edge against enemy shields. Also, it can stun human-sized enemies, which is great for two reasons: they can't shoot you or dodge your arrows while stunned. Cryo ammo can slow, but not stun, so it is not as useful in this case.

Finally, I recommend taking the Grenade Capacity mod. At level V, you'll be able to carry a total of 10 grenades. Since Thermal Clip packs restore up to 10 grenades, this works out perfectly. You will likely burn through Cain Mines, so using Thermal Clips to refill your grenades is a must.

Cain Trip Mine: In general terms, it's the most powerful grenade out there (that's not the same as saying it's the best, however). It gets an inherent 50% damage bonus to shields, barriers, and armor. Add the armor damage evolution and it does 225% damage against armor, upwards of 5000 damage a pop. If you've seen any Cain Mine speedrun videos, you already know what it does. If not, try spamming them at an enemy spawn and see what happens.

I take radius because it already does a lot of damage, but you want it to hit as many enemies as possible so you can wipe out spawns faster. But on Platinum, especially when doing speed runs, it doesn't hurt to take one or more of the damage evolutions.

Concussive Arrows: they knock small enemies down and not much else. So they're the obvious choice to skip over.

Armor-Piercing Arrows: This is your bread-and-butter power, since you won't always be spamming Cain Mines. They do very reliable damage, especially against armor. In conjunction with your Geth Plasma Shotgun, you will be able to "one-shot" virtually any human-sized enemy on Gold. I'll explain the strategy further along.

For the passive bonus, you want all grenade-related evolutions for obvious reasons. Additionally, you want all melee damage bonuses in your Fitness tree.

Strategy: This is a melee build, and you will be using your charged omni-bow against most enemies. Omni-bow has the unique feature of snapping your camera to the target while charging it up. Aimbot? Sort of. Keep your GPS charged up, find a target, charge your omni-bow, then release the bow and the GPS at the same time. Both attacks usually hit right on target. The GPS should take care of shields and your AP arrows take care of the rest. Sometimes you have to release the shotgun as you charge the bow in order to stagger the enemy first (Phantoms, Nemeses).

Against unprotected mooks, one GPS/bow combo will usually do the trick, and the same for most shielded mooks.

Against armor block - I'll call them "bricks" - like Dragoons, Brutes, Scions, and Ravagers, simply use your AP arrows. On Gold and below, you should be able to kill a Brute with one grenade, which is three shots from your bow. So these brick enemies are very much trivialized, except for Dragoon swarms, but that's where Trip Mines come into play. Have a fallback point protected by trip mines in case you need to retreat.

Shield/armor enemies like Pyros and Bombers can be taken down in one or two GPS/bow combos. I don't find it necessary to shoot before launching the AP arrows, but maybe I'm being lazy.

Any enemies that can block your powers -- Phantoms, Banshees, and Praetorians -- require you to be more tactical with your omni-bow. When facing Phantoms, as I said above, release your GPS before your arrows. Hopefully they will stagger and will be unable to block your arrows.

Aside from your arrows, you can spam your Cain Mines. This is very effective against spawns, but also allows you to quickly take down bosses that don't block powers (Atlases and Primes), as well as the brick enemies listed above. Considering the massive damage that your mines do to armor, taking them out is merely a question of resources, not a question of capability. If you're having trouble soloing a Geth Prime on Gold, try using the Talon Merc.  BSN reference. Reported.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...  but isn't there always more to be said. I'll leave it at that. Thanks for reading. Stay classy, folks. Grunt out.

-Grun7mas7er

Thursday, April 25, 2013

I Never Thought I'd See This Day... Maxed Manifest

That day has come. I've maxed my manifest after about 700 hours, which I understand is pretty average, though some of my friends have played over 1000 hours and still haven't maxed their URs. biower plz.

Now to unlock that Best of the Best banner. LOL who needs it? 











Friday, April 19, 2013

By The Claymore! 100,000 Pageviews!

Well, we just passed 100,000 views today. Now you all know I'm just some regular gamer with a blog. I don't write for a living. I don't do this for my health. I'm doing this to help out the ME3 community because I was once a newbie myself and I realize that there's a lot of learning involved. So the fact that people are reading this blog and coming back to read more is just great. It's great to know that I'm not just writing to thin air. It's great to know that maybe I'm helping some people step up their game.

So with that, I want to thank all the readers, all the regulars and subscribers. I wouldn't be doing this without you all. Stay classy.

-Grun7mas7er
Celebrate!

Monday, April 15, 2013

ME3 Character Guide: Ex-Cerberus Phoenix Vanguard

Greetings, readers. This weekend I was playing with all kinds of different builds (taking a break from the Geth Infiltrator LOL). One of them was the Phoenix Vanguard (aka The Smashguard). I was never much of a fan of the Ex-Cerberus characters, and in my opinion the Phoenix Adept is still one of the weaker characters in the game. That said, I watched a Smashguard platinum solo one day that changed my perspective on the character. I tried it out for myself and it is pretty good, so I'm giving it Grunt's Stamp of Approval and sharing it here.

I used to use a melee build since the whips are pretty good/cool, and for the sake of variety I wouldn't rule out that build, but I've had much more success with the following:

Ex-Cerberus Vanguard
Biotic Charge: 4-radius, 5-power synergy, 6-barrier
Lash: N/A
Smash: 4-biotic combo, 5-force & damage, 6-armor damage
Phoenix Training: 4-damage & capacity, 5-power damage, 6-pistols & shotguns
Fitness: 4-durability, 5-shield recharge, 6-fitness expert

Acolyte: the key to this character, as with any caster, is weapon choice. Finding a complementary weapon isn't hard, just examine the strengths/weaknesses of your character and select an appropriate weapon. Also, look for potential combos. In this case, the Acolyte does both; it mitigates the Smashguard's weakness against shields and it applies ammo effects reliably. If you prefer, the Talon is also a good weapon for this guy. As with any Vanguard, Incendiary ammo goes a long way.

I take a Hurricane with ULM and HVB just as a sidearm for Guardians. Anything lightweight and armor piercing will do, though.

Biotic Charge: an excellent biotic/tech combo trigger, but not so great against shields. Acolyte solves this problem. Take radius for better crowd control. Then take power synergy to amp up Biotic Charge and Smash. Finally, I don't think bonus power is necessary because the Acolyte-Biotic Charge combo has a good rhythm without it. Barrier doesn't make a huge difference though, so I suppose it's up to you.

Lash: skiiiiiiip.

Smash: I take biotic combo to prime biotic explosions, and force & damage for more direct damage. Then I take armor damage. Smash has an inherent bonus of 150% against armor, shields, and barriers. With the armor damage evolution, that bonus increases to 262.5% damage against armor and barriers. With all those stacking power damage bonuses, you're looking at well over 5000 damage against armor and barriers per cast. That's not insignificant.

Phoenix Training: You want all power damage bonuses to boost your powers even more. This is very much a power-centric build. I take pistols & shotguns for the final evolution so that I can carry a heavy barrel Acolyte, a lightweight sidearm, and still keep a 200% cooldown bonus. The 10% weapon damage bonus isn't much anyway.

Fitness: all bottom row for maximum durability.

Strategy: I rate this character mostly for Gold, though he can be used well on Platinum.

Use Biotic Charge on unshielded mooks. Dead.

Keep your Acolyte charged. When you come across a shielded mook (Marauder, Centurion, etc.), release the shot to drain their shields and prime them with Incendiary ammo. Charge and boom. Fire explosion. Dead.

Same strategy for Phantoms, except they are tougher and may or may not need a follow-up shot or Charge or Smash. Whichever you prefer. Dead.

For Pyros, Acolyte for shields, Smash for armor. Fire explosion. Dead.

Same for Dragoons. Acolyte to prime for fire explosion, then Smash. Dead.

Against Brutes, hit them with Incendiary ammo, Smash for the fire explosion, Smash again (always keep cover between you and the Brute if possible, so it won't charge at you) until it's down to one or two bars of armor, then Charge for the biotic explosion. Dead.

Ravagers are tricky because if you Charge, you get covered in Swarmers. Smash only hits up to two targets, so it's possible that it will only hit the Swarmers. So use your Acolyte to mop them up and prime the Ravager for a fire explosion, then Smash until it's dead.

You have enough force to Charge bosses and stagger them, but don't continuously Charge them. After their melee animation, they can sync-kill you, so be cautious. Smash from behind cover, if possible.

Yeah... that's about it. So thanks for reading, have fun with the build. Stay classy.

-Grun7mas7er

Check out some gameplay by Master Reefa.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

ME3: The Best Team for Platinum + Speedrun Tactics

Hello readers. In the wake of rampant missile glitching that's been going on recently, I'm going to attempt to explain Platinum speedrun strategy. This strategy is just about as effective as missile glitching but it won't get you banned.

I understand the need for farming because you need a ridiculous amount of credits to buy premium spectre packs or arsenal packs, and you need a ridiculous amount of those to unlock an ultra-rare card, and there are 21 ultra-rare weapons. That's 210 ultra-rare cards, not including characters. If you have decent luck you'll get about 1 ultra-rare card out of 14 rare cards. That's 7 premium spectre packs, which costs 693,000 credits. Now multiply that by 210, you get 145,530,000 credits. Obviously this is an over-simplified calculation, but you get the point.

Despite this, people shouldn't missile glitch to achieve this sum. Not only can you get banned, but it ruins the game for the people who just want to play. Speedrunning, however, is 100% legal. It gets you the same amount of credits in the same amount of time. The only thing is that it still requires some degree of player skill, team coordination, and equipment (guns, gear, consumables).

Here is a video by HardcoreSalmon that demonstrates the general idea of the speedrun.



Now that you've seen the video, let's look at the tactics and team play.

Obviously, you'll want to play on Firebase Glacier for the fastest time, since it is the smallest map. I recommend choosing Cerberus as the enemy because of their spawn patterns. Atlases are easier to take down than Primes and Banshees.

The first character is optional but preferably an N7 Demolisher Engineer. As the Demolisher, your job is to set up a Supply Pylon in the Hallway to resupply the Talon's Trip Mines. Also, you are responsible for blocking the spawns on the Landing Pad and the Balcony by standing on the Balcony and looking towards the Talon in the Hallway (as seen in the first video). Have your missile at the ready in case a Banshee or Phantom slips through the Talon's defenses. Also be prepared to help clean up near the end of each wave after the objective is completed and/or the enemies stop respawning.

Note that on objective waves, enemies will continue to respawn until the credits pop up on your screen. If possible, save your missiles until you see the credits, then clean up the stragglers. However, don't be afraid to use a missile to clear the hack circle even if it is 3/4 of the way finished. Better to use a missile than to fail the wave.

It is required to have two Talon Mercenary Engineers on the team. One of the Talons is responsible for blocking off the Dark Room spawn and shooting Trip Mines down the stairs into the Basement. He will not see as much action as the Talon in the Hallway, whose strategy is highlighted in the video below. Basically, the other Talon's job is to stand in the Hallway overlooking the Basement and spam Trip Mines into the Basement, clearing out the majority of spawning enemies. When you run out of Trip Mines, use a Thermal Clip pack to replenish your supply. If a Banshee slips past you, call it out and have the Demolisher cover your back.



In case the Talon in the Hallway runs out of Thermal Clip packs, usually after Wave 5, then the two Talons should switch posts after the Wave 6 Objective. Don't forget to call it out!

In theory, a no Fitness Talon with the Assault Loadout for extra Thermal Clip packs would have the best grenade capacity. However, with a Demolisher on your team supplying extra grenades, you have the flexibility to max Fitness instead of Concussive Arrows and compensate with a Grenade Capacity mod. Thermal Clip packs only resupply up to 10 grenades, so you don't gain much from maxing your capacity above 12.

Finally, you want one Drell Assassin Infiltrator, though a Volus Engineer can do the job in a pinch. This guy's job is to set up a Recon Mine in the Basement to debuff and slow down all the enemies as they spawn down there. He is responsible for blocking The Nook, which is the cavity in the wall between the Balcony and the Dark Room. He needs to be able to move quickly around the map to help clean up stragglers near the end of each wave, using missiles if necessary, and run back to his post before the next wave. He is also responsible for delivery objectives, especially if he is using an adrenaline module to boost his speed even more.

I hope that covers everything. So if you were missile glitching or thinking of missile glitching, consider this as an alternative and find a team to do speedruns with. There are even speedrun groups on BSN for all platforms, so if you need teammates you can always join one of those groups.

Good luck everyone, and may the RNG store smile upon you.

-Grun7mas7er