Don't curse the RNG-gods yet, because what you really got there is a jewel, a diamond in the rough. It might just very well be THE tool to domination.
Basic information about how to use the Venom and a gameplay video of a few different classes can be found in this thread Max Dmian made: http://social.biowar...ndex/16528904/1
This thread is not meant for basic tips on how to use the gun, but focused on the actual classes that can put this gun to good use. Of course these builds are just my interpretation of how to use the gun effectively, so any addition, hint or tip will be welcome, especially if you're doing something largely different. All builds have been Platinum-tested.
I'll only sell you Needful Things.
EDIT: I have a youtube channel now: Youtube Channel I'm planning on including one vid for every kit in this thread.
Thanks to the kind people I play with, we have even more video-footage of Venom gameplay:
Thank you jamesbrown3 aka shards7 for sharing these clips of awesomeness! (builds at bottom of OP).jamesbrown3 wrote...
These are my first runs with these classes, in my search to be one with the weapon...
Human soldier
Asari Vanguard
smash-gineer electroguard
Venomguard
Also, enjoy this lovely .gif
Thanks to ReaperRed aka TheTechnoTurian! for sharing this delicious piece of art!
I will start out with Soldiers, other classes will follow (it's way too late for me already
).EDIT: Adepts added.
EDIT 2: Engineers added.
EDIT 3: Added Vorcha & Juggernaut to Soldiers
EDIT 4: Sentinels added; added Asari Adept to Adepts; added builds by other users (thanks for sharing guys:wizard:)
EDIT 5: added gameplay-videos by jamesbrown3 aka shards7
EDIT 6: Added Infiltrators, added gameplay-videos & builds by jamesbrown3 aka shards7
EDIT 7: Vanguards added.
EDIT 8: Soldiers added: Turian, Human, Battlefield 3; Adepts added: Phoenix, Human; Sentinels added: Krogan Warlord
EDIT 9: Soldiers added: Turian Havoc; Adepts added: Awakened Collector
EDIT 10: Adepts added: Asari Justicar; Vanguards added: Krogan Battlemaster
EDIT 11: Infiltrators added: Geth; Vanguards added: Batarian Brawler, Turian Cabal
EDIT 12: Engineers added: Volus
Table Of Contents
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1. Soldiers
1.1 Batarian Soldier
1.2 Krogan Soldier
1.3 N7 Destroyer
1.4 Vorcha Soldier
1.5 Geth Juggernaut
1.6 Turian
1.7 Human
1.8 Battlefield 3 Soldier
1.9 Turian Havoc
2. Adepts
2.1 Drell Adept
2.2 Krogan Shaman
2.3 Batarian Slasher
2.4 Volus Adept
2.5 N7 Fury
2.6 Asari Adept
2.7 Phoenix
2.8 Human
2.9 Awakened Collector
2.9.1 Asari Justicar
3. Engineer
3.1 Quarian Male
3.2 Turian Saboteur
3.3 Quarian Female
3.4 Geth Engineer
3.5 Salarian Engineer
3.6 Vorcha Hunter
3.7 N7 Demolisher
3.8 Human
3.9 Volus Engineer
4. Sentinel
4.1 Asari Valkyrie
4.2 Turian Sentinel
4.3 Vorcha Sentinel
4.4 Krogan Sentinel
4.5 Batarian Sentinel
4.6 N7 Paladin
4.7 Human Sentinel
4.8 Krogan Warlord
5. Infiltrators
5.1 Quarian Male
5.2 Quarian Female
5.3 Drell Assassin
5.4 Salarian Infiltrator
5.5 Asari Huntress
5.6 N7 Shadow
5.7 Human Infiltrator
5.8 Geth Infiltrator
6. Vanguards
6.1 Drell
6.1 Asari
6.2 Volus Protector
6.3 Phoenix Vanguard
6.4 N7 Slayer
6.5 Krogan Battlemaster
6.6 Batarian Brawler
6.7 Turian Cabal
1. Soldiers
1.1 Batarian Soldier
Video
Blade Armor: 3 ranks
Ballistic Blades: 4b, 5a, 6b
Inferno Grenade: 4b, 5b, 6b,
Enforcer: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b or 6a
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Power Amplifier
This guy is meant to be a stagger machine. Basically what you want to do is run around with you Venom charged as much as possible. If you see a group of enemies, throw a grenade, double tap your charged Venom into it and then fire Ballistic Blades. That way you will be able to feed the cheese to a whole bunch of enemies at the same time. This is also the reason why I go full radius on the Inferno Grenades: to make it a mass feeding. Applying the Ballistic Blades second has the effect that the cheesing doesn't get interrupted by other DoT, so you get more DoT after the cheese has worn off plus 2 extra staggers (one from shooting the blades, one from the explosion). Charge your Venom again and double tap it into the group. Throw a second grenade if needed and repeat the pattern.
Having the Venom charged all the time gives you the chance to react flanking enemies. Just turn in their direction, double tap and shoot BB. This can also help you to get yourself out of instakills because the stagger is tremendous.
Single enemies can be attacked by shooting BB and releasing the trigger at the same time.
If you use 6a on Fitness, you should find a weak enemy to kill with a
punch first, so you can ramp up that damage on your shots, thus
enhancing the cheese. You could also to this with a single enemy in
every group you attack to keep you weapon damage up. It is by no means a
must, but if you're good at getting melee-kills "on the fly", it's a
nice way to enhance your damage output.
You could also give up BA to get 6b in the passives, but you most likely would have to give up your Power Amplifier for a Cyclonic Mod, because you need that survivability for being all up in their face all the time. It would also disturb the taste of the cheese, thus lowering your damage output in the end.
1.2 Krogan Soldier
Video
Carnage: 3 ranks
Fortification: 4a, 5b, 6b
Inferno Grenade: 4b, 5b, 6b
Berserker: 4a, 5a
Rage: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Power Amplifier
Basically like the Batarian Soldier with less crowd control due to lack of BB and Carnage's limits, but with spicier cheese thanks to Fortification and the option to detonate your own Fire Explosions thanks to Carnage.
The pattern is similar to the Batarian: find group, throw grenade, double tap, cheese it, Carnage for FE. Be sure to wait though until the cheese has been fully applied before you use Carnage, otherwise you will interrupt the ripening process. Rinse and repeat if needed. You should of course run around with your Venom charged all the time as well.
The reason not to take 5b in passives is as follows: 5% extra power damage isn't really worth it. You might consider it if your Venom is at a low level, thus heavy, but otherwise you're better off with 5a in my experience. Carnage doesn't need to be spamming, it should be used to finish off after the cheesing.
6b in Fortification or Rage can be ignored if you want 6b in passives, but keep in mind that you're going to run into mobs constantly.
1.3 N7 Destroyer
Video
Hawk Missile Launcher: 4a, 5a, 6a
Multi-Frag Grenades: 4b, 5b, 6a
T5-V Battlesuit: 4b, 5a, 6b
T5-V Internal Systems: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor Ammo, Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Module
We've all heard of the Devestator-Mode-less Destroyer. Unusual or not, the Venom is made for this build. The idea behind it is comparable to the Batarian Soldier: stagger everywhere! You have you Hawk Missiles for stagger, you gun for stagger and your grenades for stagger. Your grenades will also detonate your ammo powers, so depending on what type of explosion you want to create, plan your ammo accordingly. As always: run around with your Venom charged, find a group, double tap it and then throw grenades. Pretty straightforward, no cheese ripening involved, no cooldowns needed. If you take the Adrenaline mod, you will be able to hit mobs and resupply your grenades faster (you will need a lot more of them than with the Krogan or Batarian Soldier); the Cyclonic mod let's you approach mobs safer and stand more fire while dishing out stagger. It depends on personal ability and preference which one works out better for you. Keep in mind that you will be able to dodge without Devestator mode!
Power-passives will help out your grenades tremendously. With evolution 4b and 6a combined you will be able to hit large groups with every grenade. Don't forget to reprime targets in between barrages to get more tech-explosions (especially when using Disruptor Rounds) to maximize their effect. Your Hawk Missiles will help keeping enemies away from you and due to 5a and 6a, they will do so reliably and in pretty decent intervals. Be aware though that these activate bubbles on floating Praetorians and so on, so be careful where you're looking at or turn them off momentarily.
You could also use a secondary weapon if you have trouble with Guardians or something thanks to cooldown-indepence, but it shouldn't be necessary.
1.4 Vorcha Soldier
Bloodlust: 4b, 5a, 6b
Carnage: 3 ranks
Flamer: 4b, 5a, 6a
Resilience: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Adrenaline Mod or Power Amplifier
Another underused class that can shine with the Venom. Flamer and Incendiary Ammo make for some delicious cheese. One cool thing about the Flamer is that you can release your charged shot while being able to keep flaming (although you can't double tap it then). Helps out a lot when there's a large group in front of you.
Double tap Venom into a group, then start flaming and double tap again or start flaming first and then double tap. Delicious cheese! Use Carnage for the occasional FE. He's surprisingly tanky because of Bloodlust and his cheese is quite strong due to 5a in BL. You should be able to keep the stacks easily because he kills quite efficiently. Think of him as a mid- to close-range version of the Krogan with a crazy dodge. Pretty straightforward, the cheese is simple and efficient.
1.5 Geth Juggernaut
Video
Siege Pulse: 4a, 5a, 6b
Geth Turret: 4b, 5b, 6a
Juggernaut: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6a
Venom Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Adrenaline Mod / Cyclonic Mod or Power Amplifier
This is not your average heavy-meleeing-doing-nothing-else Juggernaut. This one is a Prime's grimy uncle. The idea is to prime everything in sight with your Venom and then spam the hell out of Siege Pulse. Due to the evolution-choices, every single pulse packs a serious punch. You can also cancel the Siege Pulse activation animation through releasing your charged Venom halway through it. That makes for even more relentless spam. Walkt around with your Venom charged, double tap it, shield puse, rinse and repeat. Keep moving and you can be a ranged and a close quarters stagger machine.
Your turret is meant to keep your shieldgate up and prime for FE's too. Try to redeploy it as often as possible to ensure shield gain. Heavy melee should be rarely necessary because of this and all the stagger.
6a on Fitness is just because Hex Shield sucks (that's right!) and 6b would lower your damage output. Noboby wants that. And it comes in handy during escorts and hacks. Yup.
1.6 Turian
Video
Concussive Shot: 4a, 5a, 6b
Proximity Mine: 4b, 5a, 6a
Turian Veteran: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Shotgun Amp, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Rounds or Disruptor, Power Amplifier / Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Mod
No Marksman? Yup, no Marksman. Venom doesn't need it. This guy's playstyle is more that of an Engineer in fact. Proximity Mine, Double Tap, Concussive Shot = profit! You'll rely on tech-explosion, which will be aplenty with this guy. Use CS whenever possible, especially on organics, the DoT is considerable and the cooldown low. Proxy mine against bosses for debuff before the double taps. If you come across a larger group, double tap once, shoot a Proxy Mine, double tap again, shoot another Proxy Mine, Boom!. Finish stragglers with CS.
This build is more focused on CC and tech explosion than your regular Marksman, but very fun to play. The Proxy Mine can actually be used as a trap on this guy because your main ability is CS. Try to lead enemies to your mines while shooting CS. If they're primed, the mine will detonate tech-explosions even when not fired directly at them. CS will eat barriers and organics, Proxy Mine weakens and detonates... nifty & a lot of fun.
BTW: 5a in CS even without Cryo Ammo, because 5b isn't that helpful, and as soon as there's some kind of Cryo in the game, it instantly becomes very useful.
1.7 Human
Concussive Shot: 4a, 5a, 6b
Frag Grenade: 4b, 5b, 6a
Alliance Training: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Rounds or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Similar to the Turian in that manner that this is another Engineer-type-Soldier. CS is to be used the same way, but since it's your only ability with a cooldown, you can use it exclusively. Double tap into mobs, CS, throw a grenade or two, CS, double tap again, CS = mob gone. Your grenade will detonate your tech-primers too and because of 5b in Frags and 6b in CS, you'll rip through organics like crazy. Not that non-organics will last that much longer
1.8 Battlefield 3 Soldier
Video
Carnage: 4b, 5a, 6a
Frag Grenade: 4b, 5b, 6a
Alliance Training: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Rounds or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Basically like the regular Human Soldier, the Orange Armpit Warrior will be more devastating because his damage to armor is overall better and he has really strong and plentiful FE's due to Carnage and his grenades. Carnage, double tap, grenades, double tap, Carnage. Surprisingly strong.
1.9 Turian Havoc
Video
Havoc Strike: 4a, 5a, 6b
Stimulant Pack: 4b, 5b, 6b
Cryo Blast: 4b, 5b, 6b
Armiger Legion: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity or Shock Trooper, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Rounds or Disruptor, Cyclonic Mod or Power Amplifier
This build focuses heavily around the use of Havoc Strike and the Venom doesn't need weapon passives, so that's why you go for Power Damage in the passives. 3 ranks in Fitness may seem a little sparse, but due to your Stim Packs, you will get a massive amount of extra shields whenever you activate one. This is also the reason why you take 6b even when this build doesn't rely on melee. The Stim Packs will be you life insurance outside of Havoc Strike, which gives you invincibility everytime you launch it. Use this to your advantage. Double tap a mob, Havoc Strike, back out, Havoc Strike again, take a Stim Pack in between if necessary. You'll detonate a tech-explosion everytime you hit a target with Havoc Strike and because of 6b, you will hit a bunch of targets at the same time, detonating one of them and priming the others for your teammates. Use Cryo-Blast to freeze lesser enemies before using Havoc Strike for CE's or to debuff bosses before you shoot them and use Havoc Strike.
Keep in mind that you can charge the Venom and release the shot mid-Havoc-Stike for a quick stagger & prime before the impact. Surprisingly high damage-output and great survivability plus great tech-detonating abilities make for a
2. Adepts
2.1 Drell Adept
Video
Reave: 4b, 5a, 6b
Pull: 4b, 5b, 6a
Cluster Grenade: 4b, 5b, 6a
Assassin: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Adrenaline Mod or Power Amplifier
Alright, this might be controversial because a lot of people hate Pull, but I think it works well with the Venom. Pull an enemy and then shoot it to oblivion with the gun. It's also great if you have to run away, you can just pull enemies out of your way. And other advantage is priming and detonating quickly: e.g. pull a Cannibal near a Brute, detonate him = damage Cannibal AND Brute + Brute is primed. Immediately double tap the Venom on him and throw Clusters = FE and BE. Other scenario: Pull enemies, throw Clusters = boom boom, immediately Reave and / or shoot to reprime and one of the Clusters migh detonate that explosion (reason to take 4b and 6a). Because of maxing it and all the evolutions, BE's primed by Pull a quite strong. Due to the stagger of your shots, your Pull will almost always connect in short to midrange. Remember that it even staggers enemies that can't be pulled! Basically it helps you spread the pain more quickly and give you an extra incapacitate-move besides your gun-stagger and the Clusters.
Otherwise use Reave on groups, double tap once and then throw grenades. Juicy explosions. I'd recommend an Adrenaline Mod to get around faster, making up for the lack of Fitness.
Or, if you really want to, you could just skip Pull altogether, but in my opinion, that is not optimal on this build (then again, I like Pull, but your experiences may vary
)2.2 Krogan Shaman
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Barrier: 4a, 5b, 6b
Shockwave: 4b, 5a, 6b
Berserker: 4b
Rage: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips or ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Martial Biotic, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
The cheese is strong with this one. Due to 5b on Barrier, the cheese will be extra spicy. So Warp a target, double tap it, wait for the cheese, shoot a different target, then Shockwave to finish of. The reason to take 4b on Shockwave is to cause multiple explosion (be they BE or FE). In combination with the shots, the priming and detonating of FE "on the fly" is pretty easy and gives him a lot of survivability. And because of 4a and 5b, detonating your Barrier when swarmed does considerable damage. The cooldown is low, so you can activate it again before you use Shockwave on the lifted target and detonate the BE set up by Barrier. This gives him a way to quickly detonate explosion even when swarmed. Combined with Venom shots, this guy becomes a stagger machine with explosions heavy enough to deal with anything in the game. That Warp-Incendiary-cheese will come in handy as well and don't forget your backhand! Here it goes too, if you're good at getting melee-kills "on the run" you can enjoy even more tankiness thanks to rage, but this is just the icing on the cake.
2.3 Batarian Slasher
Video
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Lash: 4b, 5b, 6b
Cluster Grenades: 4b, 5b, 6a
Enforcer: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Adrenaline Mod or Power Amplifier
Basically a mix between the Krogan and the Drell, he can detonate BE's and FE's easily with his Clusters and is also able to deliver the cheese. Lash gives him another great detonator / primer for singe targets, which can for example be lashed into your Cluster Grenades or so. Lash is also a very good instakill move on mooks on certain maps : depending on how you yank them, enemies can die outright when they either fly off map or land in a spot where they can't get up again. If you want to use Lash, you HAVE to max it though because without 6b, it's not effective enough. Due to the stagger of your shots, your Lash will almost always connect in short to midrange (Phantoms!).
Other then that, you can enjoy delicious cheese with Warp and multiple explosions with your Clusters.
2.4 Volus Adept
Stasis: 4b, 5a, 6a
Biotic Orbs: 4b, 5b, 6b
Shield Boost: 4b, 5b, 6b
Volus Training: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips or ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor Ammo, Adrenaline Module
That's right: NO FITNESS! You don't need it, you have Shield Boost and your heavy-melee-bubble to restore your shields and you have Tactical Cloak on your light melee. Due to the recharge speed on the Orbs and Bonus Power on Stasis, you will be able to use that power quite a bit. Stasis, double tap, then throw Orbs for detonations. He's one of the faster detonators, so be sure to prime everything in sight and then throw your Orbs. Depending on what ammo you choose you will detonate whatever tech explosions. The Venom makes him a very good crowd-control class, lots of stagger and thanks to Stasis 6a, a very nice incapacitating power. You can block entryways with him, especially if you sit yourself down in your heavy-melee-bubble as well. Because of your Orbs, you will be a good and fast detonator for you and your team (remember that Stasis also primes for BE's). 4a helps you with detonating multiple targets if they're clogged up.
Thanks to 5a on Stasis, you will be able to Shield Boost yourself before attacking a good amount of the time, which gives you even more survivability. The Adrenaline Mod helps out a great deal as well, especially if you run around cloaked as much as possible. This also gives you breathing room to find a corner to regen shields or reactivate your Orbs before going toe-to-toe again.
2.5 N7 Fury
Annihilation Field: 4b, 5b, 6b
Dark Channel: 4a, 5a, 6b
Throw: 4b, 5a, 6a
N7 Fury: 4b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips or ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Warp Ammo, Adrenaline Module
The Venom basically enables your Fury to run around even crazier than you're used to.
If you see a group, throw a Dark Channel on one of the. Start running. If you can, already detonate the channeled target or double tap your Venom, otherwise keep running. Double-tap you Venom when in AF-range to stagger, then start picking off with throw. Rinse and repeat.
Pretty straightforward. You can always start out with a DC and a Venom double tap, then throw, and then get in AF-range.
Keep in mind that your Venom will stay charged even if you phase through walls and stuff. This makes for good ambushes: Phase in, double tap, detonate, phase out.
Thanks to 5b on AF and the Adrenaline Mod, you will be crazy fast. 4b on Throw helps you out while double tapping because you can just throw the ground next to the target for the explosion without a lock-on (and you will be looking at the floor a lot!). The Warp Ammo makes for some crazy damage to every target running around channeled or stumbling in your AF.
2.6 Asari Adept
Video
Stasis: 4b, 5a, 6a
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Throw: 4b, 5a, 6a
Justicar: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Adaptive War-Amp, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Power Amplifier, Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Module
An underused class for no reason. Venom makes a lot of sense here too. Cheese, CC and strong biotics make for a good match. Use Warp-cheese on bosses and follow up with Throw for detonations. Rinse and repeat. Use Stasis on a mob, double tap and then use Throw for either a BE or FE. Rinse and repeat. 4b on Throw for the same reason as on the Fury. Think of her as a Volus Adept with less survivability, but the option to cheese and much stronger explosions. Nothing more to add, a classic remains a classic.
2.7 Phoenix
Video
Lash: 4b, 5b, 6b
Smash: 4a, 5a, 6a
Singularity: 4b, 5a, 6b
Phoenix: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Rounds, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Singularity + Venom = LOL. Trap enemies and double tap them into oblivion. You'll want to open every larger battle with this way. Then charge again and SMASH! If you release the trigger while smashing you'll fire one charged shot during your Smash, which will prime them instantly and helps out a lot with the relatively long animation. Use Lash to catch stragglers or detonate Biotics and Tech from a distance. Smash will be your main damage ability, use it whenever the situation allows it. Keep in mind that Smash will get eaten by Swarmers, which can lead to awkward situations. Use the charged Venom to eradicte stuff that'll eat your Smash. This build really shines in CQC but has some longe range capabilities.
2.8 Human
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Shockwave: 4b,
Singularity: 4b, 5a, 6b
Alliance Training: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Rounds, Adrenaline Mod or Cyclonic Mod
Very similar to the Phoenix, but more versatile with ranged abilities and the option to cheese. Pretty strong explosions too. Combines the best of a lot of Adepts with a fantastic dodge. Simple, strong, cheesy.
2.9 Awakened Collector
Video
Dark Sphere: 4b, 5b, 6a
Seeker Swarm: 4b, 5a
Dark Channel: 3 ranks
Vengeful Ancient: 4b, 5a,6a
Ancient Warrior: 4a, 5a, 6a
Venom: ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Warp Rounds or Incendiary, Power Amplifier
A.K.A. The Big Blipper. This build makes full use of the Ascension Stance and the power bonusses that come with it. Your main source of damage will be your Dark Sphere and your gun, BE's are just a side effect mostly triggered by your teammates. Before every wave, activate your Ascension Stance. It'll last for roughly 5 Dark Spheres. Reactivate after the glow wears off. Try to find a corner to cover you when doing so and keep in mind that you can cancel the animation halway through by dodging as soon as you see the Swarms appearing around you. Keep your Venom charged all the time. Dark Channel gives you some extra DoT and another, albeit comparatively weak, primer for your teammates.
The optimal pattern for your attacks after hitting Ascension Stance: Cast a Dark Sphere (keep in mind that it sticks to solid objects), throw out a Dark Channel for good measure, double tap your Venom into the Sphere & then detonate the Sphere. Double tap enemies in between cooldowns. If stuff gets close or you want to finish something off, consider throwing a Seeker Swarm. Keep in mind that you should reactivate those as soon as possible to keep that DR to dampen the increased damage taken from Ascension Stance.
The explosion from your Dark Sphere will do massive spike damage in a tight area, it'll probably take a while to get a good feeling for when to detonate to hit specific targets, but once you have it down, the results will be quite ridiculous. You'll rely on your gun for a good amount of the time too, so make that stagger work for you to keep you alive in between cooldowns.
Not stratopproved, but still pretty devastating.
2.9.1 Asari Justicar
Video
Biotic Sphere: 4b, 5b, 6b
Reave: 4b, 5a, 6b
Pull: 4b, 5b, 6a
Asari Justicar: 4b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Warp Rounds or Incendiary, Cyclonic Mod
Bubble trouble. This build is focused around heavy usage of the Biotic Sphere. Because of it's unique abilities, it detonates and primes in the same go (similar to Lash). Keep your Venom charged, Reave a group, double tap, then run up to the group and set up your bubble around them. Keep in in mind that you can release a charged shot while setting up the bubble for extra stagger and survivability while doing so. Dodge backwards after that and throw a reave in the Sphere.
You can start out the whole pattern with setting up a bubble on pulled targets too, it'll be even faster. Double tap, pull & set up the bubble for a strong BE. Keep in mind that the Bubble detonates ANY kind of explosion, which makes the Justicar a great detonator for every team. Also because of 4b, any target inside the bubble will take more damage from everything. Try to replace it as often as possible to find good choke points and detonate & debuff in a large area.
Pretty strong kit & a great addition to any kind of team due to the unique properties of the Biotic Sphere.
3. Engineer
3.1 Quarian Male
Video
Tactical Scan: 3 ranks
Incinerate: 4a, 5a, 6b
Arc Grenades: 4b, 5b, 6b
Defender: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor ,Power Amplifier
One of the best kits to use the Venom on. Thanks to Incinerate, cheesing is tasty. Thanks to Tactical Scan, the cheese is delicious. Use it on bosses, throw Incinerate, double tap and watch them melt. Repeat the Incinerate cheese if necessary. Try to scan as many big targets as possible, it'll help out a lot. Also, you can already shoot your gun during the scan animation: As soon as he moves his hand to his omni-tool, release your charged shot. You'll shoot and have the target scanned. Keep in mind that you can use Tactical Scan while being in cover without actually needing to leave it, as long as the marker is above the enemy.
Otherwise, keep your Venom charged and search for mobs. Double tap into the mob and throw an Arc Grenades. Thanks to 4b, you should hit every target primed by your shots, making for the first tech-explosion + stripping all the shields due to 6b. Then throw Incínerate for a tech-burst thanks to 5b and throw another Arc Grenade for an FE. Rinse and repeat. Keep double tapping your Venom in between power usage to reprime, finish off and chain tech-explosions together.
That's about it, as simple as it is powerful.
3.2 Turian Saboteur
Video
Sentry Turret: 4b
Sabotage: 4b, 5a, 6b
Homing Grenade: 4a, 5b, 6b
Armiger Legion: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor ,Power Amplifier
Bad kit right? Maybe with inferior weaponry, but not this one. First off all: Yes, 4 ranks in Sentry Turret. Why? Because of a 1000n force on 4b, that's why. You can use it at ANY range to stagger EVERYTHING. It also distracts certain enemies (particularly Geth), which makes for great utility.
Sabotage is your bread & butter for this one. Use it whenever possible on every enemy. The backfire damage will kick in after a second or so, damaging the enemy and staggering them. Double tap your Venom into those targets, then release 1-2 grenades. They will hit the enemies primed by Sabotage and your gun, causing tech-explosions and setting enemies on fire thanks to 5b. The stagger you will dish out by using your gun, grenades and Sabotage is enormous and the ability to detonate tech-explosions is great. He works particularly well as a detonator in tech teams, but can also hold his own. Keep in mind that you can keep your Venom charged while jetpacking. You can also release it during jetpacking, making for good hit & reatreat possibilities. Shoot grenades whenever you can to provide extra stagger.
3.3 Quarian Female
Video
Sentry Turret: 4b, 5a, 6a
Incinerate: 4a, 5a, 6b
Cryo Blast: 4b, 5b, 6b
Defender: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor ,Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Maxing the turret? Yes. This turret will be able to operate on it's own an stay alive surprisingly well. Enemies get shocked when to close, frozen in mid-range (which can be detonated) and shot by rockets in long-range. It takes a little getting used to get the placement right you'll have to replace it regularly, but it's a nice crowd control power. It also gives you stagger thanks to 4b.
Incinerate needs 6b for the cheese, so there's why you don't take 6a. Cryo Blast will still be very useful, as it give you incapacitation, stagger and debuff on a low cooldown. Great power, be sure to use it whenever you can. Keep in mind that you can stagger enemies with a Cryo Blast and also debuff them even when they can't be frozen. Cryo Blast, double tap, Cryo Blast, Incinerate, BOOM! Frozen enemies can also be detonated by throwing the turret next to them thanks to 4b.That's about it. Of course dem hips too.
3.4 Geth Engineer
Video
Geth Turret: 4b, 5b, 6a
Hunter Mode: 4a, 5a, 6a
Overload: 4b, 5a, 6a
Networked AI: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor ,Power Amplifier / Cyclonic Mod / Adrenaline Module
Also a turret for this one. It's help your survivability a lot. Thanks to 5b, it'll get you from a good distance. Redeploy as often as possible to ensure maximum survivability. Thanks to 6a, you can get FE's off it to and you have more crowd control on top of you Overload. Thanks to 4b in that power and 4a & 5a in HM, you'll be able to strip shields at a considerable rate and you can detonate you double tapped Venom primed targets easily. 5a in Overload gives you great crowd control, as it staggers every humanoid enemy (great against LOLgoons). Due to the combination with 6a, you'll hit multiple targets. Why not full chain? Because this particular spec gives Overload some really weird properties where it actually hits way more targets than it should. I've seen it bounce between 4 enemies and also bouncing off dead enemies to ones that were walking by. Just use it a couple of times and you'll see what I mean.
Otherwise, the same procedure: keep your Venom charged, double tap it into the enemies and then detonate with Overload. Keep your turret in reach and you're good to go!
3.5 Salarian Engineer
Video
Energy Drain: 4b, 5a, 6b
Decoy: 3 ranks
Incinerate: 4a, 5a, 6b
Salarian Operative: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier / Adrenaline Mod / Cyclonic Mod
One of the original badas*es has a comeback. Not only lore-wise is the Venom a no-brainer, put this guy has it all: Cheese, crowd control & survivability. He has twp primers and two detonators, thus you can use your powers accordingly. Double tap your Venom and follow up with either Energy Drain or Incinerate. Tech detonations everywhere. The Decoy allows you to make some of the most annoying units in the game (Phantoms, Captain, basically every Geth) derp. They huddle up around your skinny self and you can pick them off with double taps and tech-explosions. Use Energy Drain whenever possible for DR to stay alive, otherwise follow the old double tap & detonate pattern. Nothing fancy, just plain old Salarian bada*sgeneering.
3.6 Vorcha Hunter
Video
Incinerate: 4a, 5a, 6b
Bloodlust: 4b, 5a, 6b
Submission Net: 3 ranks
Resilience: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier / Adrenaline Mod / Shield Recharge Cells
Another bad kit, right? You might have guessed already: No, not really. The cheese is surprisingly strong with this one, thanks to 5a on Bloodlust. 5% doesn't seem as much, but you can stack it three times, so that is a considerable bonus if you can keep it up. And you will, because this guy is a good killer. Double tap your Venom and follow up with Incinerate is the basic strategy. Try to catch straggler with you net. The stagger of you gun will enable you to put enemies into submission on a regular basis, so you can make short work of Phantoms and such. It also staggers enemies like Dragoons and can be used as a trap, becaus it stays active until the time runs out. It sets up for tech-bursts too, which can be detonated with Incinerate.
It is necessesary to keep you Bloodlust-stacks up quite a bit, otherwise survivability might become a problem. I prefer Adrenaline on him over everything else, because it helps him out a lot (+it also makes you feel like a feral hunter).
3.7 N7 Demolisher
Supply Pylon: 4a, 5b, 6a
Arc Grenade: 4b, 5b, 6b
Homing Grenade: 4a, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Yup, not fitness. But you'll get ALL the grenades. She basically plays like a mix between the Turian and the Male Quarian. Double tap your Venom into the group, Arc Grenade, Homing Grenade, double tap, rinse and repeat. Massive tech explosion over a huge radius.
Use you Pylon to get your grenades "on the fly" in addition to hitting the ammo boxes and as a temporary damage buff for your grenades. It also enhances survivability due to the shield gain, which can be advantageous for a no-fitness build.
Otherwise, pretty straightforward, repeat the pattern described and you're good.
3.8 Human
Combat Drone: 4b, 5a, 6b
Incinerate: 4a, 5a, 6b
Overload: 4b, 5a, 6a
Training: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Cheese, crowd control, stagger. The whole package. Pretty self-explainatory too: Double tap, either Overload or Incínerate for tech-explosions, cheese for the bosses. Your drone gives you Decoy-like abilities and a third detonator: if it explodes near to a primed target, it'll cause a tech-explosion. Try do deploy it into mobs before double tapping for some extra spike-damage. That's about it.
3.9 Volus Engineer
Video
Recon Mine: 4b, 5a, 6b
Proximity Mine: 4b, 5a, 6a
Shield Boost: 4b, 5b, 6b
Volus Training: 4b, 5a, 6b
Venom: ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier
No fitness? No fitness! This little guy needs all the damage he can get, and being a Volus makes him very survivable anyway thanks to Shield Boost and the heavy melee bubble.
You'll want to find a good spot for your Recon Mine to set it up. Try launching it in to groups. Keep your Venom charged while doing that so you can immediately follow up with a double tap once the mine activated itself (about 1.5 sec). Double tap and fire a proxy mine immediately after, then double tap again and blow up your Recon Mine. Devastating! Blow it up as often as you can to replace it to find the juicy groups. Keep in mind that the explosion staggers EVERYTHING, so if you're teammates are about to get grabbed or an Atlas want's to shoot a rocket at you, blow it up! Use it to debuff bigger enemies by waiting a bit with the explosion and instead, launch double taps and proxy mines at them. Blow your Recon Mine up to finish what's left. Keep in mind that your light melee cloaks you. Combined with Geth Scanner, that'll give you the jump on enemies and helps with Recon Mine placement (keep in mind that it sticks to ANY surface!). Use Shield Boost when necessary, but try not to rely on it too much because it interferes with your mines ;P
A small ball of explosive fun, very entertaining to play and to behold.
4. Sentinel
4.1 Asari Valkyrie
Annihilation Field: 4b, 5a, 6b
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Tech Armor: 4a, 5a, 6b
Valkyrie: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips or ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Mental Focuser, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Warp, Power Amplifier, Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Module
Another good kit to put the Venom on: Cheese, crowd control, stagger. TA is your panic-button, detonate it when something is dangerously close in addition to double tap the Venom. Also, you could additionaly detonate AF, causing massive stagger and AoE-damage (keep in mind that you can fire a charged shot while either detonating or re-activating, giving yourself extra-survivability). That's why you want 4a on it. 5a is to incresase all your Power Damage, including the delicious Warp-cheese. Due to 5a on AF, the cheesing will be more effective. Warp a target, run up to it, double tap, wait for the cheese, then Warp again for a boom! She can take care of mobs easily due to the damage-protection on your TA and due to 4b on AF, she'll incapacitate mooks around her, making them easy to pick off.
Not as fast as the Fury, but sturdier and with the option to deliver the cheese. Pretty good package if you ask me.
4.2 Turian Sentinel
Video
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Tech Armor: 4a, 5a, 6b
Overload: 4b, 5a, 6a
Veteran: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips or ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Mental Focuser, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Power Amplifier, Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Module
Yet another good kit. The cheese is strong, thanks to Warp and 5a on TA, he has good CC with Overload and can detonate with either Warp or Overload. Use Warp-cheese on bosses, and Overload-detonations for mobs. Detonate TA when in sticky situations to provide extra-stagger. Double tap groups = Overload, Warp a boss, double tap, rinse and repeat. "Textbook!"
4.3 Vorcha Sentinel
Video
Bloodlust: 4b, 5a, 6b
Flamer: 4b, 5a, 6a
Cluster Grenade: 4b, 5a, 6a
Resilience: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Power Amplifier or Adrenaline Mod
Very good Venom-usage on this one. Due to 5a on BL, the Flamer-cheese is considerable and thanks to your grenades, you can detonate EVERY type of explosion in the game. Flamer-mechanics are the same as with the Vorcha Soldier. Flame, double tap, wait for the cheese, grenade, and repeat. You can also double tap enemies from a distance and throw a grenade for the first FE. Once you get closer, use the Flamer-Venom-Grenade pattern to quickly clear out whole groups and / or bosses. Staying alive is key with this one though. Because all of his powers are actually useful, it's not recommended to skip out on anything else but 6 in passives. You should be able to keep your BL up constantly though, because this guy is definitely the fastest-killing Vorcha in the game and he also works well with every team-composition. Be sure to only pulse your Flamer and not have it go for the whole duration, because this way, you will be able to cause a FE EVERYTIME you throw a grenade (and you'll A LOT of them) and you'll also apply cheese everytime. Pretty strong character, if a bit squishy. You could put only 3 ranks into Clusters if you want the full fitness, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. Then again, I love my grenades :innocent:
4.4 Krogan Sentinel
Video
Tech Armor: 4a, 5a, 6b
Incinerate: 4a, 5a, 6b
Lift Grenades: 4b, 5b, 6b
Berserker: 4b, 5a
Rage: 3 ranks
Venom :Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Why 4b in Berserker on the Sentinel and not on the Soldier? Answer: Tech Armor weight penalty. The Soldier doesn't need Carnage as often as the Sentinel need Incinerate. You might have already guessed it: pretty strong cheese thanks to 5a on TA, CC and survivability. Double tap into a mob, Incinerate and then throw a Lift Grenade or two. Rinse and repeat. For bosses use Incendiary cheese. Think of him as more long-ranged, more tanky Vorcha Sentinel in terms of usage. As for all Krogan: if you're good at getting melee-kills "on the fly" you can enjoy even more tankiness thanks to Rage. For Tuchanka!!!
4.5 Batarian Sentinel
Blade Armor: 3 ranks
Shockwave: 4b, 5a, 6b
Submission Net: 4b, 5a, 6b
Enforcer: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Mental Focuser, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Module
Sheeesh, another bad kit... Well, no. This one is staggertown. He is made to keep people away from him, not only because he is grumpy. Why 5a on Shockwave? Well, chances are there will be at least one biotic primer in the team, so that already makes it worthwile. But you could also use 5b if you want to give you even more options to keep enemies at bay. Use Shockwave as much as you can. Double tap and follow up with a Shockwave everytime. Use your Sub-Net to incapacitate enemies hit by you gun. Due to the stagger, it'll almost always connect. 6b gives it even more incapacitation as enemies who just walk by the net will get shocked too and flinch around. This even works when the originally netted enemy is already dead, because it stays active until the time runs out or you fire a new one. Double tap netted targets and follow up with a Shockwave for tech-explosions. Excellent detonator for any kind of team with lots of CC, stagger and survivability. Destroy your enemies!
4.6 N7 Paladin
Video
Snap Freeze: 4b, 5b, 6a
Incinerate: 4a, 5a, 6b
Energy Drain: 4b, 5a
Paladin: 3 ranks
Shield Mastery: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitor, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Disruptor or Cryo, Power Amplifier, Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Module
He has it all: cheese, CC, survivability. Double tap a group, use whatever power you feel like, follow up with a different power, double tap again. Use Incendiary-cheese on bosses. A crazy detonator / primer. 6b Shield Mastery gives you the option to just heavy melee everything that gets too close and blow it up with a Cryo Explosion. Use Energy Drain whenever possible to stay alive. Not a lot more to say, this class is as easy to handle as it is strong.
4.7 Human Sentinel
Tech Armor: 4a, 5a, 6b
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Throw: 4b, 5a, 6a
Training: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Mental Focuser, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Power Amplifier, Cyclonic Mod or Adrenaline Module
Basically a tankier Asari Adept with better cheese, but less crowd control. That's it.
4.8 Krogan Warlord
Tech Armor: 4b, 5a, 6b
Biotic Hammer: 4a, 5b, 6b
Krogan Warlord: 4b, 5a, 6a
Warlord Rage: 4b, 5a, 6a
Venom: High-Caliber Barrel / Shotgun Omni-Blade
Gear. Juggernaut Shield or Berserker Package, Strength Enhancer, Disruptor Rounds, Adrenaline Mod
MMMMRRRRRRAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRR!!!!!!
You'll hear that and insane Krogan laughter a lot while playing this guy. Biotic Hammer is your only ability, so use it whenever you can. Your cooldown will be good enough due to 4b and 6a in passives to reactivate the hammer pretty quickly, you'll probably never have to swing it without being charged due to 6b, hence why you take 5a in Tech Armor.
Keep your Venom charged ALL THE TIME (!!!), it'll help you at lot while staying alive. Make it a habit of double tapping everything before you swing your hammer. One heavy melee is usually enough to finish everything that is humanoid in size. Use the three-swing-combo followed up by a heavy melee against bosses (preferably without shields).
One of the biggest advantage of the Venom on this guy is that you can cancel your hammer-activation-animation halfway through with activating the charges. That helps you to hold enemies off until your ready to smack tthem. If you cancel the animation you can immediately follow up with a charged hammer in the same motion. As soon as you see the charges appear on your back (the noise is not a good indicator, because it will even play when the charges are not there) you're ready to swing again. Keep that in mind when you engage bosses, so you don't waste a single charge.
Try to keep moving at all cost and flank enemies. When in doubt: RUN AWAY! This guy is tanky and can take a lot of punishment, but he definitely has his limits, especially when not in Rage. Try to keep it up as much as possible and pay special attention to Bombers, Pyros, Phantoms & Banshees and you should be finde.
FOR TUCHANKA!
5. Infiltrators
5.1 Quarian Male
Tactical Cloak: 4b
Arc Grenades: 4b, 5b, 6b
Tactical Scan: 4a, 5b, 6a
Enforcer: 4a, 5b, 6b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Basically like the QME with more damage, but no cheese. Charge Venom, cloak, throw grenade, double tap, throw grenade, rinse and repeat. Tac-Scan on bigger enemies to help bring them down faster. Pretty straightforward.
5.2 Quarian Female
Video
Tactical Cloak: 4b
Sticky Grenades: 4a, 5b, 6a
Sabotage: 4b, 5a, 6b
Enforcer: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
Use Sabotage whenever possible. Due to all power-passives the backfire-damage will be considerable and your stickies will do a ****load of damage against armored target. Charge Venom, cloak, throw Sticky, double tap, rinse and repeat. Platinum dragoons will die in one cycle. Try to sabotage targets to make them stagger and then either throw a sticky next to or on to them (preferably the second). Due to their unique properties, stickies will prime AND self detonate tech-explosions depending on your ammo if stuck directly to a target. Try to make use of that. Due to 6b, Sabotage-primed-TB's do a great amount of damage. Combine those with the ones of your stickies, and a killstreak is not impossible. Very, very powerful kit if used right. Takes a little getting used to the way stickies handle, but once you get it, this kit will be crazy. For Grandma!
5.3 Drell Assassin
Video
Tactical Cloak: 4b
Homing Grenades: 4a, 5b, 6b
Recon Mine: 4b, 5a, 6b
Assassin: 4b
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Adrenaline Mod
Speed kills. Due to his good passives and TC, you won't really miss the damage from the 5 & 6 in passives. Your Recon Mines debuffs also, making your Grenades more effective as well. Charge Venom, shoot Recon Mine, throw grenade, double tap, throw another grenades, double tap, detonate Recon Mine. It's a tight, but deadly pattern. You can shoot a whole bunch of grenades under cloak and then double tap to break to get massives AoE damage. Recon Mine has crazy AoE and debuff as well. The tech-explosions will be very powerful, plenty and massive. A lot of destruction going on. Your movement speed from Fitness let's you get to the mobs faster and helps out with getting grenades & general survivability. Very devastating once you get the cycle under cloak right because of massive AoE on every single attack.
5.4 Salarian Infiltrator
Video
Tactical Cloak: 4b
Proximity Mine: 4b, 5a, 6a
Energy Drain: 4a, 5a, 6a
Operative: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Mod
The second original badass comes back even harder. Charge before cloaking, then use either Proximity Mine or Energy Drain, double tap, cloak again, use Proximity Mind. You'll get a lot of tech-explosions and your powers will do considerable damage under cloak as well. Due to all damage and power passives, a cloaked ED should drain most mooks' shields in one go and Proxmity Mine will be a great opener / finisher. Use cloak and ED to stay alive, keep your Venom charged and ready to double tap and you should be able to tear through the enemy like crazy.
5.5 Asari Huntress
Tactical Cloak: 4b, 5a, 6b
Warp: 4b, 5b, 6a
Dark Channel: 4a, 5b, 6a
Justicar: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Adaptive WarAmp, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Warp, Power Amplifier, Adrenaline Module or Cyclonic Mod
Best Warp-cheese in the game due to crazy power damage from passives and TC + a really nasty DC for the same reasons and strong biotic explosions. Cloak & use DC as a "fire-and-forget"-power. Charge Venom, Warp a target, double tap, cloak, Warp DC'ed target for BE. Rinse and repeat & watch 'em disappear.
5.6 N7 Shadow
Tactical Cloak: 4b
Shadow Strike: 4a
Electric Slash: 4a, 5a, 6a
Shadow: 4b, 5a, 6a
Sword Mastery: 4a, 5b, 6a
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner or Omni-Capacitors, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Adrenaline Module or Power Amplifier
Alright, this might seem a bit weird, but bear with me. You use cloaked SS mainly to move around or finish off mooks. Most of those have shields, so that's why you take 6a on Sword Mastery. Don't waste your time striking bosses. Keep your Venom charged and you will fire midway through a SS if you're far away or directly before your hit the enemy when close. Follow up with ES if necessary. Otherwise charge Venom, cloak, double tap, ES, double tap, repeat. Finish off with melee if necessary. Move around a lot and use cover to stay safe while using ES, it will be a great part of your damage due to tech-explosions. Very versatile, sometimes to the point where you won't really know which move to make. Just play a couple of games with her to find out what you can do when you need to. Fun & fast kit, but a bit lacking in opening punch, so pretty dependant on good Venom & power usage.
5.7 Human Infiltrator
Tactical Cloak: 4b
Sticky Grenades: 4a, 5b, 6a
Cryo Blast: 4b, 5b, 6b
Training: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Adrenaline Mod
Basically like the QFI with faster crowd control, debuff and Cryo Explosion, but a little less damage-output. Yup.
5.8 Geth Infiltrator
Proximity Mine: 4b, 5a, 6a
Tactical Cloak: 4b
Hunter Mode: 4a, 5a, 6a
Networked AI: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips/ High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Assault Loadout, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Rounds or Disruptor, Adrenaline Mod, Power Amplifier or Cyclonic Modulator
Not the melee-version of this kit, but kinda like a GE with debuff. Proxy Mine & double taps will be your main source of damage. Charge your gun, cloak, double-tap & immediately fire a proxy mine, then double tap again. First double tap will prime for tech explosion with the Proxy Mine, while the second double tap will do massive damage due to the debuff. Because of power passives and extra power damage on HM (you don't need the fire-rate because of double taps), your mine will do crazy damage. Adrenaline Mods are to be preferred, because they help you get around fast as hell (6a HM too) and because of all the stagger you bring, you will be pretty survivable anyway.
Not much more to say, simple and effective.
6. Vanguards
6.1 Drell
Video
Biotic Charge: 4b, 5b, 6b
Cluster Grenades: 4b, 5a, 6a
Assassin: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Adrenaline Mod
Basically like the Drell Adept with stronger Grenades, faster Movement Speed and Charge, but solely relying on the Venom to prime explosions. Easy concept: Charge Venom, double tap, biotic charge, grenades, repeat. Probably one of the best detonators in the game, he will detonate every type of explosion with Cluster Grenades and Charge. Keep in mind that you can keep your Venom charged and fire it in the middle of a Biotic Charge (that goes for all Vanguards of course). Very powerful kit.
6.1 Asari
Video
Biotic Charge: 4b, 5b, 6b
Stasis: 4b, 5a, 6a
Lift Grenades: 4b, 5a, 6b
Justicar: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Grenade Capacity, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Adrenaline Mod
Plays like a mix between the AA and the Drellguard. Use Stasis at range, double tap your Venom and throw a Grenade for a BE or tech explosion. Because of 5a on Stasis, you'll be able to use it a lot and instantly charge or stasis again. Throw Grenades between double taps to clean groups really quick. You'll need more Grenades for bosses though than with the Drell, but Lift Grenades work wonders on mooks and in combination with Stasis, they give you great crowd-control-abilities.
6.2 Volus Protector
Biotic Charge: 4b, 5a, 6a
Shield Boost: 4b, 5b, 6b
Biotic Orbs: 4b, 5b, 6b
Training: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Adrenaline Mod
Gamble charge will allow you to shield boost a good amount of the time directly after charging, which makes him really tanky and you can play him more aggressively. Use Orbs to detonate from a distance but try to keep them up due to the recharge speed bonus. Otherwise, you will be relying on double taps and charges a lot do kill your enemies, but thanks to Shield Boost, you'll be nearly invincible while doing so.
6.3 Phoenix Vanguard
Biotic Charge: 4b, 5b, 6a
Smash: 4a or 4b, 5a, 6a
Training: 4b, 5a, 6b
Fitness: 4b, 5b, 6b
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier or Adrenaline Mod
Gamble charge on this guy allows you to follow up charges with a Smash a good amount of the time. 4a or 4b on Smash depends: if you're running him in a biotic squad mostly, take 4a, if not, 4b. Double tap & Smash. Charge every once in a while but otherwise use Smash in double tapped targets as often as possible. Pretty powerful combo,if a bit slow.
6.4 N7 Slayer
Biotic Charge: 4b, 5b, 6b
Biotic Slash: 4a, 5a, 6a
Phase Disruptor: 4a, 5b, 6a
Slayer: 4b, 5a
Fitness: 3 ranks
Venom: Spare Thermal Clips / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo or Disruptor, Power Amplifier, Shield Power Cells or Adrenaline Mod
This kit is devastating. Double tap & then use Phase Disruptor, double tap again some time, charge, PD and so on. Use BS when you play on biotic squads to detonate, to keep enemies at bay and still detonate when you don't want / can't give up barriers. Very powerful combo, due to 5b, you can get off 5 PD's with full barriers, which, combined with double tapping, will be very devastating against mobs and also bosses.
6.5 Krogan Battlemaster
Video
Biotic Charge: 4b, 5a, 6a
Carnage: 4b, 5a, 6a
Barrier: 4a, 5b, 6a
Krogan Battlemaster: 4b, 5a
Rage: 3 ranks
Venom: ULM / High-Caliber Barrel
Gear: Geth Scanner, Shotgun Amp, Incendiary Ammo, Cyclonic Modulator or Power Amplifier
Carnage on the Kroguard? Oh yes! This build is not focused around melee in particular, although you can enjoy some DR because of 3 ranks. It's also helpful to finish off enemies and Rage will also activate if you kill 3 targets with charges, so it'll happen by itself every once in a while.
Your main attacks will be double taps followed up by Carnage-blasts. Massive FE's everywhere. 6a on Charge allows you to
Edited by Leland Gaunt, 23 February 2014 - 03:07 PM.
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