Mass Effect Andromeda Builds and Weapons
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Mass Effect Andromeda Builds and Weapons
Because some people here are dumbasses and can't figure out builds I'm listing a few. Minimal explanation to avoid writing a novel given how many classes there are. Alternate builds listed for human classes only since you get two of them and weapons are not listed with the builds as it's largely a personal preference and weapon viability will be listed separately then you can pick for yourself which weapon to pair with which kit out of those you like. You get 85 points in total to spend. Level 6 = 21 points. Level 5 = 15 points. Level 4 = 10 points. Level 3 = 6 points. Level 2 = 3 points. Level 1 = 1 point. Optimal spreads are 6/6/6/6/1, 6/6/6/5/3, 6/6/5/5/4, 6/5/5/5/5. Weapon viabilities are based on the highest difficulties that you don't have to actively fight the weapon since technically any weapon can be used on any difficulty. *The numbers may be off due to updates, but the builds should remain consistent as abilities tend to be done in a blanket fashion where if one ability is improved the character's other abilities tend to also be improved creating an overall buff thus creating a lateral improvement.)
Common Characters
Common Weapons
Common Characters
- Human Soldier - DPS:
- Turbocharge Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recharge Rate (Duration is fine too depending on your weapon choice. Recharge Rate is more meaningful time in Turbocharge since emptying magazines forces you to reload which eats your duration and when Turbocharging an empty weapon you can easily run out of ammo on a lot of weapons so a shorter duration not only lets the skill start recharging soon the Recharge Rate makes it come back even quicker.)
Rank 5 - Damage and Force
Rank 6 - Supercharge (Dump Heat is good for certain low clips weapons like the Ushior or Isharay which can give them an edge over multishot weapons that perform a similar role like the Black Widow or Carnifex)
Frag Grenade Rank 5 (Contrary to popular use Frags are best used for AoE mob clearing not killing hardened enemies so Rank 6 isn't great)
Rank 4 - Radius (Synergy with Shrapnel and the increased explosion Radius means an easier time hitting enemies which Frags stun even if you're adept with them the chance of hitting more targets to buy precious seconds is worth more than higher damage when +20% isn't enough to turn 2hko into a 1hko unless then enemy is already weakened and a weakened enemy hit by a non-boosted Frag will die with a few additional shots most of the time.)
Rank 5 - Shrapnel (DoTs keep shields from regenerating and carrying more Grenades isn't all that important since you can usually get to an ammo crate easy enough for drive by refills.)
Concussive Shot Rank 3 (Force at Rank 2 is worth giving up the added damage on targets from Frags IMO)
Munitions Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapons Training
Rank 5 - Weapon Efficiency
Rank 6 - Precision (Sustained Fire is decent if you're working together but is much worse for the individual, but a quick firing less accurate by default weapon still benefits individual from Sustained Fire, but it works much better with a Cover Pen mod on your weapon so you can keep the debuff when they duck behind cover.)
Combat Fitness Rank 6
Rank 4 - Health and Shields
Rank 5 - Aerial Evasion (Mobility is life and the passive cover system is clunky at best limiting Defensive Positioning, but the Regen Delay Reduction In Cover is nice the Damage Resistance is fairly negligible, you need Damage Resistance when you're running for your life not when you're safe behind cover so most of the time Aerial Evasion will be more useful as you jump dash over obstacles and dodge behind soft cover when you reach it. I tend to personally take Defensive Position though I concede it is the inferior option.)
Rank 6 - Hold the Line
- Human Soldier - Utility and Sustainability:
- Turbocharge Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recharge Rate
Rank 5 - Either (When you take Dump Heat instead of Supercharge then the Accuracy & Stability becomes more of a factor for increasing damage through sustained fire which favors a weapon like the Cyclone or Avenger both of which are vastly improved with a larger magazine and have enough accuracy to crit when sustained fire is used making crits easy over that sustained fire is arguably better than increasing base damage at that point so it's heavily dependent on your weapon choice and your preferred range.)
Rank 6 - Dump Heat (Dump Heat here is more about having a higher clip for free bullets which on some weapons can eliminate the need to visit ammo boxes, just make sure you use the bullets that you get that are over capacity as they don't get put into your reserve ammo. *some guns glitch and don't give full capacity if you can increase it through passives or mods like the Halberd.*
Frag Grenade Rank 1 (Concussive Shot is on a Recharge which means sustainable knockdown ability and one Frag for an emergency is generally enough for what it needs to do and that base Frag is fairly comparable to the Rank 5 from the previous build.)
Concussive Shot Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recharge Speed (Repeat Concussion is honestly much stronger in bursts however it kind of eliminates the point of Concussive Shot since it switches it to Power Cells like Frags.)
Rank 5 - Damage & Force (Radius works too, but with Anti-Armor or Anti-Shield does stacking Damage causes it to actually deal decent damage which gives the edge to Damage & Force over Radius.)
Rank 6 - Either (Anti-Armor is better in general as the most disruptive enemies tend to be Armored such as Fiends and Beserkers plus Shields outside Destroyers aren't generally that strong and are more susceptible to the sustained fire weapons which Turbocharge favors ergo hitting Shields harder becomes less important on the other hand breaking the shields with the Concussive Shot will cause knockdown on human sized enemies so you can fire Concussive Shot earlier and still knock down the enemy to stop them from damaging you which is particularly useful against Anointed as they have high DPS once their gun gets going.)
Munitions Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Weapon Efficiency
Rank 6 - Precision (With a much larger clip from Turbocharge you need Accuracy more than ever.)
Combat Fitness Rank 6
Rank 4 - Health and Shields
Rank 5 - Defensive Positioning (Without the increased fire rate and having a larger clip you need to be able to stay exposed a bit longer to your DPS to keep from getting closed in on.)
Rank 6 - Hold the Line
- Human Sentinel - Tank:
- Energy Drain Rank 6
Rank 4 - Effectiveness (Effectiveness is better for staying mobile since you get an extra 20% shields per trigger while you're running)
Rank 5 - Extended Drain (More for the ability to create Tech Combo than the Drain effect, Tech Combos create an AoE that stuns enemies when they enter bringing them to their knees.)
Rank 6 - Team Drain (Extra 30% shields the ability to extend to allies is just a side effect.)
Throw Rank 1
Barricade Rank 6
Rank 4 - Duration
Rank 5 - Weapon Feedback
Rank 6 - Regeneration (With Regeneration you only have to watch out for melee enemies, but a very few enemies can break your barricade ending your Regeneration, Electric Defense is helpful for weak Melee characters only it doesn't do much against any hardened enemy save setting up a Tech Combo which isn't that useful for objectives.)
Tech Armor Rank 6
Rank 4 - Protection
Rank 5 - Either (Diminishing returns on Damage Reduction makes Protection not an auto-include. Stabilization for mobile accuracy is useful when you want to hipfire an inaccurate weapon like the Soned or Rozerad.)
Rank 6 - Shield Feedback (The added Regen Delay Reduction helps when taking cover, but the Shield Regeneration combos with Regeneration on Barricade to speed up your Shield Regeneration rate while being permanently active.)
Weapon Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training (The Sentinel's powers are more about utility than damage and Ammo and Targeting is the obvious choice for Rank 5 gearing the Sentinel towards weapons.)
Rank 5 - Ammo and Targeting
Rank 6 - Weapon Specialist (Again the Sentinel is more geared towards weapon since the powers are more about utility.)
- Human Sentinel - Utility:
- Energy Drain - Rank 6
Rank 4 - Effectiveness
Rank 5 - Extended Drain
Rank 6 - Team Drain
Throw Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius (With radius and the abysmal soft cover you can Throw into the cover you're hiding behind to hit an enemy that flanks you additionally the Radius serves to make the power more accurate if nothing else since the tracking on powers is off a lot of times, certainly more off than it was in Mass Effect 3. Throw doesn't deal a whole lot of damage and Throw has enough Force as is, if you had a Biotic Primer Throw is more useful as a Detonator than it is, but Tech Combos don't factor in Force as a Damage component nor do Tech Combos really deal a lot of Damage it's more about the stun so Swift Detonation becomes less useful at Rank 6 and that combos with Damage & Force)
Rank 5 - Duration (Recharge when using Throw as a Detonator is nice, but with Duration you can have the option between a Biotic Explosion and a Tech Combo which gives you some versatility between combos for stun or damage plus you can't always Tech Combo such as Ascendants, but you can perform a Biotic Combo on them if you're fast enough to hit them before they recover. The added Duration means removing enemies longer as well which is useful on the harder difficulties when you're pressured by multiple enemies additionally it applies to any target hit which with radius you can hit multiple targets and remove them both.)
Rank 6 - Double Throw (Tech Combos deal weak damage, boosting Detonation Damage won't change that on a personal basis and that's what you should focus on as seldom does coordinating work since they tend to just spam their powers without any consideration usually knocking down enemies that could be killed and thus instead saving their life so enemies have a chance to gather in greater numbers making it harder to kill anything later.*It's important to be aware that taking Double Throw changes the aiming of throw making it miss fairly often when trying to use it indoors, overall it is better, but if you're playing on a random stage you might find yourself loathing it.* With the reduction in cooldown to Throw you can re-use it much more often so Swift Detonation is an option especially with the buffed combos on top of everything, but since Energy Drain is still slow I still prefer the utility of potentially hitting 2 targets reducing their DPS making the Sentinel tankier without investing in Barricade for a more mobile Sentinel that isn't reliant on Power Cells.)
Barricade Rank 1
Tech Armor Rank 6
Rank 4 - Protection
Rank 5 - Stabilization
Rank 6 - Shield Feedback
Weapon Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Ammo and Targeting
Rank 6 - Weapon Specialist
- Human Vanguard - Disrupter:
- Charge Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius (The idea is to off-balance as many enemies as possible to not expose yourself for an extended time when using Nova aferwards and Charge doesn't do a terribly large amount of damage anyway)
Rank 5 - Power Synergy (The Disrupter build is to off-balance as many as possible through Powers, the buffs to shotguns make this a harder choice as they pack a punch now)
Rank 6 - Shock Trooper (Shock Trooper lets you pretty much spam Charge after your powers which Seismic Nova priming any unshielded enemies to be detonated with your basic Shockwave or even following your own Nova with a quick recharged Charge should keep you pretty safe there's the Expert Package equipment for more Cooldown Reduction so you really shouldn't miss Bastion with the Human Vanguard. Power Specialist no longer provides Cooldown Reduction so it's not longer useful for this build which lets you get Shocwave to Rank 6)
Nova Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius (To lift as many enemies as possible)
Rank 5 - Anti-Shield (Breaking Shields let's you lift a few extra enemies with your Shockwave)
Rank 6 - Seismic Nova
Shockwave Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius
Rank 5 - Reach
Rank 6 - Lifting Shockwave
Apex Training Rank 1
Barrier Rank 6
Rank 4 - Unyielding Barrier (Higher max shields means higher amount of shields restored through Saving Barrier and your Charges.)
Rank 5 - Barrier Drain (Gives the ability to easily finish off weakened enemies while giving you another option to recover your Shields since you're not taking Bastion on Charge.)
Rank 6 - Saving Barrier (10% Shield restored on a Biotic Kill isn't that much and you can just use Barrier Drain instead to finish off weakened enemies which is 10% more effective in terms of restoration additionally Saving Barrier is helpful for objectives where you have to stay in an area.)
- Human Vanguard - Shotgunner:
- Charge Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage & Force
Rank 5 - Weapon Synergy
Rank 6 - Bastion
Nova Rank 1
Shockwave Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius
Rank 5 - Reach
Rank 6 - Lifting Shockwave (The idea is to open with your Shockwave detonating the lifted enemies with Charge all while the enemy being lifted makes it easier to avoid the issues with obstructions that seem to pop up quite a bit when they shouldn't.)
Apex Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Ammo & Targeting
Rank 6 - Weapon Specialist
Barrier Rank 6
Rank 4 - Unyielding Barrier
Rank 5 - Barrier Alacrity (Biotic Drain will boost your Melee Damage add Charge's Weapon Synergy and a Melee Attachment and you can hit substantial Melee Damage boost, but Bastion fully recharging your Shield and giving Damage Resistance lets you Charge forward and then escape easier. The basic movement helps you avoid getting surrounded as even though Charge can be defensive it has ending lag which can get you killed when mindlessly spammed the added 15% Movement Speed helps you avoid that.)
Rank 6 - Saving Barrier
- Human Engineer - Elemental Debuff:
- Cryo Beam Rank 5
Rank 4 - Damage
Rank 5 - Radius (Brittle Freeze helps focus on Armor, but doesn't do anything on non-armored enemies nor on armored enemies with a shield so it's pretty situational considering holding Cryo Beam impairs your movement and the non-shielded armored enemies can interrupt your attack anyway and Radius helps spread Tech Sabotage.)
Assault Turret Rank 5
Rank 4 - Durability
Rank 5 - Omni-Link (The Tech Recharge Speed bonus is a no brainer when you can debuff enemies to elemental damage and a damage debuff.)
Overload Rank 4
Rank 4 - Recharge Speed (Without maxing Overload for Damage against Shields even against Shields it's not particularly overwhelming, but a higher Recharge Rate lets you re-apply your debuff.)
Offensive Tech Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Enhancement
Rank 5 - Anti-Shield (You need to disable Shields to chill or freeze so it's a no brainer to help get the most out of Cryo Beam.)
Rank 6 - Elemental Tech (Situational and not all that useful seeing as Overload is pretty weak now unless it hits a shield and then it's just okay, but the debuff applies to all Elemental Damage the enemy receives so even a little coordination can help snowball some damage especially with Cryo and Fire Explosions.)
Support Systems Rank 6
Rank 4 - Tech Duration
Rank 5 - Advanced Construction
Rank 6 - Tech Sabotage (Thankless job reducing an enemy's Damage, but one that is quite helpful.)
- Human Engineer - Camper:
- Cryo Beam Rank 1
Assault Turret Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recharge Speed (You want to be able to camp, but when you have to run you want to be able to re-deploy your turret in your new position)
Rank 5 - Omni-Link
Rank 6 - Flamethrower
Overload Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage
Rank 5 - Anti-Shield (2 additional targets is usually enough, but 3 is more than enough and you want that added Chain Damage which also gives you an additional target.)
Rank 6 - Maximum Charge (EMP over Anti-Shield really just applies a small boost to the Remnant faction, but the bonus damage to surrounding targets from EMP is 15% less than the bonus damage provided by Maximum Charge.)
Offensive Tech Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Enhancement
Rank 5 - Anti-Shield (Helps ensure Overload strips the Shields allowing your Rank 1 Cryo Beam access to some unprotected enemies to freeze or the ability to chill armor for the debuff so you're still able to effectively use all your powers without dumping skill points into them all.)
Rank 6 - Elemental Tech (Overload allows your Assault Turret's Flamethrower to deal 35% more damage as well as any subsequent Fire Explosion should your Assault Turret inflict a burn before you throw your Overload.)
Support Systems Rank 6
Rank 4 - Either (Tech Duration applies to your Burn Duration from your Assault Turret mostly since your Cryo Beam was left at Rank 1, but it still applies to the chill effect there too. Tech Radius extends the Range of your Assault Turret's Flamethrower which gives a little extra damage from a distance.)
Rank 5 - Advanced Construction
Rank 6 - Tech Sabotage
- Human Adept - Singularity Debuffer:
- Singularity Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius (There are two options Exploding Singularity or not since you have pull which effectively does the same thing you shouldn't need extra duration and instead you can Pull non-shielded enemies to remove them between recharges.)
Rank 5 - Recharge Rate (Anti-Shield couples well with Exploding Singularity to deal 700 damage at the epicenter to Shields, but you're going to want to be able to re-use it when you have to relocate and Singularity has a lengthy cooldown not to mention ending Singularity to destroy Shields tends to be a waste.)
Rank 6 - Exploding Singularity (Expanding Singularity is probably better, but even at Rank 1 Pull functions as a removal which is the primary function of Singularity in the first place so not much need to focus on doubling up the same role and Exploding Singularity gives you the ability to detonate your power early for an advantage when relocating which you'd likely want to end it early to re-setup at your new location.)
Pull Rank 1
Shockwave Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius
Rank 5 - Reach
Rank 6 - Lifting Shockwave
Offensive Biotics Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Efficiency (Better recharge means better removal and a better ability to get the Exposure debuff which with your only Detonator being relatively short range your Detonation ability on your own powers is somewhat limited)
Rank 5 - Exposure
Rank 6 - Biotic Warrior (With Exposure and a full array of Powers to lift enemies having spec'd for Lifting Shockwave maximizing your Weapon Damage even if it's only 15%. The added Melee Damage and the ability to knockdown unprotected enemies is just a minor plus when running away.)
Barrier Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recuperative Barrier (With so much removal you can generally wait for your Shields to recover, it does hurt Saving Barrier's effectiveness, but means you'll be popping out to give support more often and you can abuse the Shield Gate a tad better, not to mention the Human Adept with so much removal is a rare place that Recuperative Barrier can work better than Unyielding Shield.)
Rank 5 - Barrier Drain
Rank 6 - Saving Barrier
- Human Adept - Biotic Tank:
- Singularity Rank 1
Pull Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius (With Expose and the tendency for people to spam powers and break yours the default duration is enough to either kill the pulled enemy or for somebody to mindlessly Detonate them.)
Rank 5 - Expose (At the very least Expose will provide a substantial bonus to the power used to Detonate Pull which if Detonated right away it will easily be higher than the Damage provided by Crushing Grip and should Pull be allowed to remain active the added Damage from Expose can easily trump the DoT from Crushing Grip.)
Rank 6 - Anti-Shield (Biotic Drain in theory would make you more tanky, but with Anti-Shield you turn Pull into a substantially strong Anti-Shield power and Biotic Drain can be clunky since it requires you to hold the enemy to get the benefit.)
Shockwave Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius
Rank 5 - Reach
Rank 6 - Lifting Shockwave
Offensive Biotics Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Enhancement (Power Enhancement helps your Anti-Shield Evolution of Pull bringing it to a very substantial 660 Damage additionally the added Force helps Shockwave's ability to knock enemies off the stage making it similar to a linear version of Throw that deals instantaneous Damage instead of requiring contact with the environment.
Rank 5 - Exposure (Your only Detonator is again short range so Exposure makes more sense, the Debuff is fairly significant and combos with Expose from Pull making for a very substantial Debuff.)
Rank 6 - Biotic Expert (Throwing Shockwave or Singularity before hitting a Non-Armored Shielded enemy will bump up your Anti-Shield Damage significantly and if hit with Shockwave first it'll weaken that Shield to help ensure the Shield breaks when hit with Pull lifting that enemy which can be extremely useful with highly damaging enemies like the Annoited.)
Barrier Rank 6
Rank 4 - Unyielding Barrier
Rank 5 - Barrier Drain
Rank 6 - Saving Barrier (Unyielding Barrier combined with Biotic Link that's easy to maintain is a substantial boost to your Barrier coupled with the 25% you get at Rank 1, you're getting a lot per activation off Saving Barrier which gives you quite a bit of durability for running point to point.)
- Human Infiltrator - Sniper:
- Sticky Grenade Rank 1
Tactical Cloak Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage Bonus
Rank 5 - Speed (Duration is usually considered objectively better, but unless you can recover your Shield during your cloak you're not getting a lot of general benefit from staying Cloaked outside of Reviving and Objectives meanwhile Speed allows you to reach your new location more quickly effectively reducing the downtime between shots which helps the team dynamic as more people are firing more often.)
Rank 6 - Combat Cloak (Whether you're using a Sniper Rifle or some other weapon the extra time after Attacking applies the Damage bonus to subsequent Attacks in that window as well as the added protection from being cloaked any offensive Infiltrator build can benefit from the extra seconds.)
Incinerate Rank 6
Rank 4 - Burning
Rank 5 - Impact (Incinerate already deals increased Damage against Armor so the actual difference between Anti-Armor and Impact on Armored enemies is very slight while Impact increases Damage all around.)
Rank 6 - Double Incinerate (You have no Primers so Double Incinerate is the obvious choice, like Double Throw it does affect aiming of the Power however.)
Munitions Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Weapon Efficiency
Rank 6 - Precision
Combat Fitness Rank 6
Rank 4 - Health and Shields
Rank 5 - Defensive Positioning
Rank 6 - Hold the Line
- Human Infiltrator - Objectives and Revives:
- Sticky Grenade Rank 1
Tactical Cloak Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage Bonus
Rank 5 - Duration (Coupled with Escape Artist you can use Tactical Cloak to recover your Shields, you can also use the extra Duration to focus on objectives or Reviving.)
Rank 6 - Escape Artist (Not as helpful as Combat Cloak in general, but the added ability to restore Shields while hidden can mean a lot for durability particularly when you're able to get Shields back while disabling a device.)
Incinerate Rank 6
Rank 4 - Burning (Lacking damage without Combat Cloak the extra Duration on your burn to keep Shields from regenerating can help your ability to kill single targets when so they don't regenerate their Shield when they duck behind cover and the added Duration on Tactical Cloak gives you more leeway to avoid situations where enemies are building up and Radius becomes more useful.)
Rank 5 - Impact
Rank 6 - Double Incinerate
Munitions Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Weapon Efficiency
Rank 6 - Precision
Combat Fitness Rank 6
Rank 4 - Health and Shields
Rank 5 - Defensive Positioning
Rank 6 - Hold the Line
Common Weapons
- M-8 Avenger:
- Still Gold viable since the update, but it's advantages over something like the Cyclone are now pretty negligible as the Accuracy was buffed on the Cyclone and the Cyclone is simply a stronger weapon even with the start-up time. You still have a great ammo pool for the Avenger, but several weapons will easily last you the entire wave without a recharge including the Gold Revenant. The Charger got a buff in Accuracy as well which the Charger is a better weapon in almost every stat, the Avenger still has some Accuracy, but it's not as pronounced not to mention there is now a just plain better Gold version of the Avenger that is much better since it fixes the Damage issue while keeping the same vital stats..
- Viper:
- The Viper is an all around sub-par Sniper Rifle. It's not strong enough to be comparable to other multi-shot Sniper Rifles nor does it have a large enough clip or fast enough rate of fire to be used like a Semi-Auto Assault Rifle. The Viper should stick to Bronze.
The Viper S is pretty a decent weapon however.
- M-23 Katana:
- The Katana is a basic multi-shot Shotgun. Low accuracy and low damage keep it from being too terribly useful getting outclassed in one aspect or another significantly enough that the Katana ends up simply being sub-par when compared to even Uncommon Shotguns which are fairly easy to obtain. As long as you're spec'd for shotguns the Katana is Silver viable, you're better off using the Charger for the same role for Gold when talking concerning yourself only with Common weapons.
- Charger:
- The Charger is basically the Tempest from Me3 with a few reductions here and there making it overall weaker, but still it's a pretty solid weapon in terms of DPS it's just lacking range so you have to view it as a sort of Shotgun style weapon. The Charger is Gold viable when using it with a class that is spec'd for close range such as a Vanguard.
- M-3 Predator:
- The Predator requires both accuracy and a good trigger finger, but it's DPS is actually pretty high. The low ammo reserves compared to how many bullets are required to kill on the higher difficulties is what keeps it in check. The weapon itself is Gold viable, but with the ammo reserves and the increased amount of damage enemies on Gold can take it's best taken as a sub-weapon as you'll run out of weapon trying to use it as a primary weapon. It has extremely low weight and can be taken with any kit as it's just 3% weight which even if it puts you overweight it's worth having a sidearm if there is any chance at all that you will run out of ammo in your main weapon.
Last edited by Dwlr on Sun Jul 02, 2017 2:42 pm; edited 3 times in total
Re: Mass Effect Andromeda Builds and Weapons
Uncommon Characters
Uncommon Weapons
- Turian Soldier:
- Fortifiy Rank 6
Rank 4 - Mobility (The added protection of Fortify doesn't mean much if you lose your Sprint Speed, Mobility gives it all back to you. Basic Movement Speed isn't really important so still having a negative there doesn't mean much basically with Mobility Fortification has no drawback.)
Rank 5 - Shield Feedback (Coupled with Defensive Position your Shield will recover rather quickly and the stacked Damage Resistance adds up.)
Rank 6 - Unmoving Defense (Explosive Purge is pretty useless and if you accidentally remove your Fortification which happens quite a bit being a single shoulder button while Turbocharge is both combined it takes longer to reactivate. The Turian Soldier can also couple Unmoving Defense with Defensive Positioning for a significant boost for cover-based survivability.
Turbocharge Rank 6
Rank 4 - Duration
Rank 5 - Damage & Force
Rank 6 - Supercharge (DPS > Sustainability IMO as short bursts are more likely and there should be enough opportunities to regain ammo)
Frag Grenade Rank 1
(One Grenade is enough and you really only have 6 fluid points to work with which you can take from Fortification, but Rank 3 in Frags doesn't offer significant advantages either.)
Munitions Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Weapon Efficiency
Rank 6 - Precision
Combat Fitness Rank 6
Rank 4 - Health and Shields
Rank 5 - Defensive Positioning (couples well with bonuses from Fortification so it's too good to pass up.)
Rank 6 - Hold the Line (Couples well with Fortification making you that much harder to kill when low on Health.)
- Krogan Vanguard:
- Charge Rank 6
Rank 4 - Radius (The Krogan Vanguard is a heavily Melee based fighter the extra Radius to stagger enemies around you sets you up for meleeing multiple enemies particularly non-protected ones.
Rank 5 - Weapons and Melee
Rank 6 - Bastion (The Krogan Vanguard has small Shield so any added Damage Resistance and the ability to fully recharge the Shield are neccesary to stay alive until you get Rage working.
Fortification Rank 6
Rank 4 - Mobility (You need to be able to chase enemies with your Melee)
Rank 5 - Power Armor (Added Melee Damage and slightly extra range from the Accuracy boost)
Rank 6 - Unmoving Defense (Slightly boosted Damage Resistance for the instances where you have to complete objectives.)
Nova Rank 1
Apex Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Ammo and Targeting
Rank 6 - Either (Weapon Specialist boost your Shotgun, if you're using a Pistol you probably don't need it the added Accuracy so Power Specialist lets you use Charge more often and to better effect making for a slightly better opener.)
Rage Rank 6
Rank 4 - Melee (Resilience is a bit of a trap, survivability is pretty big on most characters, but you want to rely mainly on your Regeneration from Rank 5 to survive.)
Rank 5 - Regeneration (Martial Arts is useful, but the ability to fully regenerate your Health is essential to survival using Charge to recover your Shields while your Health is regenerating.)
Rank 6 - Beserker (Considering you're going to be by yourself the majority time the buff is wasted and the added durability doesn't compare to the benefits of being in Rage Mode. Beserker lets you auto-activate Rage should you be having a hard time getting the final hit on enemies due to your team or if your Melee locks up you at least have some fallback though the latter is pretty much a death sentence since if you can't Melee the Krogan Vanguard is a completely wasted class, either way the extra 50% Rage Duration if the class is working as intended is worth it never mind the added bonus of the extra Melee Damage.)
- Asari Adept:
- Throw Rank 1
(You miss out on Duration to use as a ranged Primer and Radius, but you have no great way to reach Rank 4 at let alone Rank 5 since you're really going to want Knockdown on Lance as you want to level Lance regardless for ranged Power that deals Damage since hitting a Thrown enemy with Lance can be difficult as Lance doesn't have tracking and Lance itself doesn't Prime.)
Annihilation Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recharge Penalty (Lance and Throw are both quick to Recharge Powers, but Annihilation really limits their re-use so you're forced to take Recharge Penalty and Radius isn't a big deal for a primarily ranged Annihilation user since Annihilation is more of a buffer against things that get close in this case.)
Rank 5 - Biotic Wind (Damage Attractor is good no doubt, but it's better left to those who want to play at close range and Lance is an excellent power and thus is fairly sparsely given and it's geared towards long range as it has a precision component plus using Throw to detonate enemies primed by Annihilation Field will force them out of it with it's considerable Force component limiting the benefit of increased damage taken while in the Annihilation effect not to mention Biotic Wind is very strong as well anyway.)
Rank 6 - Vortex (The lifting effect will give protection against the unprotected melee enemies like Breechers, Wraiths, and Adhi giving you one less thing to worry about when you're in cover as you can easily detonate them with your Throw which still has considerable Force at Rank 1 for gaining some breathing room.)
Lance Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage & Force (Lance is a quick firing Power that does solid Damage by default for it's low cooldown and even more against weak points so increasing that damage makes it that much stronger plus the Radius isn't very large even with the Radius upgrade which just extends it 1m which without any sort of auto-tracking isn't that much as it won't barely miss and still be effective, if you miss with Lance you miss with Lance there is no way to get a safety net.)
Rank 5 - Either (Focused Blast is in theory better as the damage bonus is equal to the bonus gained from Anti-Shield, but it can be difficult to hit the Weak Point which is why Anti-Shield is there as an easier option and Lance is still a strong power for it's cooldown even if you can only hit mass which is better than aiming for a Weak Point and missing trying to get that added damage)
Rank 6 - Knockdown (Knockdown takes the place of Radius more or less since it comes close to the Radius increase of 2m at 1.5m, but it doesn't have any damage for the last .5m if you didn't take Radius, but it also boosts the already decent Damage & Force.)
Offensive Biotics Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Efficiency (Faster Recharge to offset the reduction from Annihilation and it's a more meaningful boost to Throw which can still be useful as a Detonator for Annihilation or simply used as a trigger for Biotic Expert to boost Lance.)
Rank 5 - Combo Detonations (Exposure is better, but without Duration on Throw your ability to use it is mostly limited to Annihilation which is short range and not particularly useful with your other powers meanwhile Combo Detonations greatly boosts the power of your Detonations triggered by Throw.)
Rank 6 - Biotic Expert (Biotic Warrior is too short to gain benefit from a more long range Biotic as Melee favors close range and the short Duration of the boost doesn't really benefit long range weapons terribly much.
Barrier Rank 6
Rank 4 - Unyielding Barrier (With the added mobility from Annihilation you can take Recuperative Barrier, but in general it's better to get that 30% extra Shield should you be in a situation where you need Saving Barrier to trigger and it boosts the amount of Shield recovered from Barrier Drain.)
Rank 5 - Barrier Drain (Without the ability to put lasting effects on enemies at range Biotic Link has limited chances to remain active and Annihilation only works for close range and isn't sustainable as Biotic Link stops when no enemies are affected by Biotics id est when they leave your Annihilation Field you lose your buff.)
Rank 6 - Saving Barrier (Lance is strong, but Active Barrier is pretty much just plain inferior to Saving Barrier as the recharge between uses of Saving Barrier isn't that long at all and you simply can't kill enough enemies fast enough for Active Barrier to match the Shield Regen of Saving Barrier.)
- Asari Sentinel:
- Backlash Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recharge Rate (Durability is better for protecting allies doing Objectives, but Recharge Rate is consistently stronger allowing you to have Backlash ready more often when you might need it and additionally combos with either Rank 6 upgrade which requires releasing Backlash to activate.)
Rank 5 - Durability (The Damage element of Backlash is far lower than what you can actively deal making Reflection fairly poor especially if you don't have the Durability to hold it up, but you also have to factor in while you're blocking you can't deal with Melee threats or other enemies that can otherwise stagger you out of Backlash while Durability boosts the purpose of Backlash in active as a defensive shield to extend survivability.)
Rank 6 - Shield Resurgence (The Asari Sentinel is defensive anything that boosts survivabilty is a plus, but mainly Damage Aftermath is too short of a Duration like many temporary buffs to be particularly useful and Shield Resurgence's short Duration as Shields over time doesn't matter as you get whatever Shields you should get based on the Damage Backlash absorbed.)
Throw Rank 1
Energy Drain Rank 6
Rank 4 - Effectiveness
Rank 5 - Extended Drain
Rank 6 - Team Drain
Offensive Biotics Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Efficiency (Faster Recharge means more Energy Drains to restore Shields as well as Backlashes to defend yourself and restore Shields.)
Rank 5 - Weapons and Melee (Tech Combos are the only ones you can reliably perform yourself and they're not really for Damage plus Throw is on the awkward LB+RB which makes targeting a little clunky and the added Radius isn't that important for Tech Combos and your main method of Damage is Weapons so that added 10% is fairly important as Offensive Biotics primarily boosts Power Damage which unfortunately you can't utilize very well.)
Rank 6 - Biotic Warrior (Biotic Warrior isn't great for weapons, but the ability to knockdown unprotected enemies after using Throw is better than increasing Biotic Powers which you definitely can't use. If you put the 6 points in Throw instead you're not getting any significant upgrade to Throw and 3 seconds of minor Damage boost isn't great, but it's better than a very slightly better Throw.
Tech Armor Rank 6
Rank 4 - Protection
Rank 5 - Stabilization (Protection is more useful for a Human Sentinel than the Asari Sentinel either still works, but between Energy Drain's faster cooldown compared to the Human Sentinel and Backlash Shield Restoration effect the added Damage Reduction simply isn't as useful.)
Rank 6 - Shield Feedback
- Krogan Engineer:
- Overload Rank 1
Assault Turret Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recharge Speed
Rank 5 - Omni-Link
Rank 6 - Cryo Ammo (The Krogan Engineer has a high melee ability which removes the need for Flamethrower to assist at close range.)
Incinerate Rank 6
Rank 4 - Burning (Incinerate is largely meant for Armor or keeping Shields from regenerating while you take cover to regenerate your own Shields or Health and adding Duration helps the latter significantly while Burning itself increases damage a fair bit should it be allowed to run it's full Duration, which is admittedly unlikely with a team around, but Radius doesn't provide much benefit either as slow moving as Incinerate is.)
Rank 5 - Anti-Armor (The actual Impact of Incinerate isn't the lion's share of the Damage and increasing it won't see any significant returns while Anti-Armor applies to both the DoT and the Impact when affecting Armor which gives you a fairly decent boost in Damage should you be fleeing or dealing with weak(er) Armored enemies such as many of the mid-level enemies in the Outlaw faction.)
Rank 6 - Either (Double Incinerate can screw up aiming, but also lets you hit multiple enemies with tracking than trying to rely on them clumping together and using a small Radius, but Detonator gives you the ability to Detonate Overload or any enemies affected by your Assault Turret's Cryo Ammo which can be fairly niche for yourself, but can combo with your team's Powers. Rank 3 Overload doesn't provide much benefit, but should you choose you don't want Rank 6 Incinerate you can also take away Cryo Ammo if you want to get 12 points to in Overload to reach Rank 4 for Recharge Speed for an easier of time of getting more Damage from your Incinerate through your Elemental Tech debuff.)
Offensive Tech Rank 6
Rank 4 - Either (Power Enhancement's Damage and Effect Duration both help increase the effectiveness of Incinerate which is your main Power meanwhile Incinerate sets up easy Fire Explosions which can benefit from Combo Detonation.)
Rank 5 - Anti-Armor (Without boosts Overload is pretty sub-par in terms of Damage and Incinerate and Assault Turret both have advantages against Armor.)
Rank 6 - Elemental Tech (Cryo Ammo is a way to apply a Status from long range which couples with the Armor Debuff of the Chill on Armor to significantly increase the power of Incinerate if all else fails you can use Overload to prime the bonus Damage.)
Rage Rank 6
Rank 4 - Resilience
Rank 5 - Regeneration
Rank 6 - Berserker (The Engineer is fairly stationary, but the free Rage activation gives enough Damage Reduction that it protects you as you retreat and the added Health Regen more than makes up for the flat bonuses Inspirational affords you personally since the Ally bonuses are only effective if you can easily enter Rage yourself and even then losing 50% Rage Duration is a fairly significant loss.)
- Salarian Infiltrator:
- Stick Grenade Rank 1
Tactical Cloak Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage Bonus
Rank 5 - Speed
Rank 6 -Combat Cloak (Escape Artist combos with Shield Reset setting up a loop that lets you use Tactical Cloak to recharge your Shields quickly as Tactical Cloak is a Tech Power so that's an option, but Energy Drain being a Tech Power and already restoring your Shields limits the effectiveness of Shield Reset on the Salarian Infiltrator as the effect can only occur once every 10s and thus can be wasted on an Energy Drain use instead of Tactical Cloak.)
Energy Drain Rank 6
Rank 4 - Effectiveness
Rank 5 - Auxiliary Drain (Without anything to Detonate your Energy Drain effect you lose the ability to use the stun from Tech Combos by yourself which is the primary utility of Extended Drain. The Radius is fairly large on Auxiliary Drain so it pairs well with Tech Sabotage.)
Rank 6 - Team Drain
Offensive Tech Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Enhancement (You have no way to Detonate your own abilities so Combo Detonation is entirely reliant on your team setting you up.)
Rank 5 - Anti-Shield (Energy Drain is simply more effective against Shields than Armor and Sticky Grenade can't be spammed so your focus should be Energy Drain even if it's a defensive ability)
Rank 6 - Technical Synergy (30% higher Damage is fairly significant especially if stacked with the Tactical Cloak bonuses. The 5 second Duration favors weapons that can fire multiple shots.)
Support Systems Rank 6
Rank 4 - Tech Duration (Assuming Tech Duration applies to the length of time you can stay in Tactical Cloak it can be quite useful otherwise it provides no benefit and you should take Melee)
Rank 5 - Tactical Evasion (Added Health, Shields and Movement Speed is the triumvirate of survivability as mobility is life and you have enough time to Revive allies whilst you're in Tactical Cloak which the added Movement Speed lets you get to fallen enemies faster as well.)
Rank 6 - Tech Sabotage (The Damage Debuff effect coupled with the 8m Radius of Energy Drain with Auxiliary Drain is another tool in your kit for kiting enemies which is especially helpful should you be left alone on Gold.)
Uncommon Weapons
- Cyclone:
- This is a weapon on paper is pretty much just plain worse than the Charger like the Avenger, but unlike the Avenger it doesn't have Accuracy as a redeeming quality to push the DPS up and really extend it into an all purpose weapon. The Charger has a brief period before it starts firing as well further pushing it back in terms of usefulness. The Cyclone despite it's flaws does manage to have a higher Accuracy when used (the value does appear to be lower than the Charger, but it's not) so it does help increase the DPS a bit while behaving pretty much exactly like the Charger in every other respect. Without the charge-up it could be use at longer range, but that charge-up keeps it from being useful at any range you can't afford to use it at full auto. The standard DPS is higher than the Charger and it's easier to get crits as mentioned, but any time you stop firing you have to deal with the charge up again which even if it isn't the full requirement it still is a hefty negative not to mention the Cyclone is much heavier and lacks the ammo pool so in the end the Cyclone just falls short all around. The Cyclone makes the most sense to be used on Silver where that improved accuracy becomes more significant than sheer DPS where the Charger is simply a better choice for Gold, that said fans of the Charger can use the Cyclone on Gold should they choose, but it should be used on a more weapon based class than a power one to avoid needing to constantly charge to shoot, particularly classes that increase Accuracy as the Cyclone is one of the rare weapon that GREATLY favors Accuracy boosts over Damage ones given it's low per bullet damage and charge-up efficiency of those bullets becomes more important than sheer DPS and with it's solid minimum Accuracy that can be improved you can certainly notice that improved Accuracy more than a few points of Damage.
- Mattock:
- The Mattock is a pretty standard semi-auto Rifle where it has issues is that it isn't particularly strong. The Damage of the weapon is fairly forgettable for the Clip size and the Firerate is lower than the Predator. Just looking at the Weapon Cards the Mattock looks like a weapon that's better than the Predator, but the Weapon Card doesn't show Reload Speed, the Predator's Reload Speed is barely existent the Mattock's Reload Speed is more significant so whilst it is better the actual effort to kill something on Gold is less with the Predator plus the Predator is nearly weightless and intended as a sub-weapon not a main weapon like the Mattock is trying to be. To put it simply the Mattock isn't worth the effort of using a semi-auto as there's minimal reward for the effort and it requires substantial effort to get it to feel useful. The Mattock shouldn't be used when there are much better semi-auto options out there and the common Avenger is just easier to use and honestly stronger in pretty much every way. The Mattock has woeful inefficiency and abysmal Capacity to go with it. The Mattock is Silver viable at best and even then it's a little iffy.
- Zalkin:
- On Paper the Zalkin actually looks pretty good, it's decent enough Damage per bullet and the higher Clip which translates well with the Magazine mod. The Zalkin's major issues come from the fact that it's awkward, if you fire to fast you could end up stutter charging it's burst fire drastically reducing it's Firerate which cuts out it's otherwise advantages over the Mattock and the bullets have noticeably reduced travel speed compared to other weapons, this means that the Zalkin tends to miss or you have to adjust for leading the target which any number of things can happen to prevent the target from getting hit including a lot of times your own team. The Zalkin ends up being a terrible weapon that has stats that could have worked if built into a different weapon or even if it was a 3-round burst weapon by default and didn't have the awkward charging mechanism. The burst is very accurate and with a well aimed shot all the bullets should connect with a weak point for decent Damage, but charging each time dramatically reduces your DPS as it fires much slower than what you can do if you hit that max Firerate using semi-auto. The Zalkin's quirks makes it one of the most awkward guns to use and tends to fall short compared to other weapons that actually should be weaker like the Mattock. There's no real reason to use the Zalkin at all with the existence of the Mattock performing pretty much exactly the same without obnoxious quirks.
- Incisor:
- The Incisor is a burst-sniper, it's stats are solid for what it does actually if you don't mind the scope and the recoil. The Incisor is Gold viable if you can control the recoil and hit weak points if not it's going to be fairly sub-pair and due to being a Sniper Rifle hip-fire isn't a viable option as it becomes weaker. The only issue is that the Incisor is heavier than it should be for what it does.
- Raptor:
- The Raptor is a weaker full-auto Incisor more or less. It carries about the same stats except for sporting significantly weaker Damage. The Recoil is weaker, but the full-auto nature means that bullets will miss from random spread. The scope is pretty awkward on a full auto weapon like the Raptor IMO making it not only a sub-par weapon, but an awkward one. The Raptor is a Silver viable weapon and also recoils the ability to hit weak points as the Capacity and Clip are both limited.
- Widow:
- The Widow is a fairly standard single shot Sniper. It's strong enough for the job, but it's also heavy and it's not quite strong enough to be particularly great. It's still Gold viable, but it's slow firing and lacks the kick of the Isharay it's primary competitor, like all traditional Snipers Accuracy can be completely ignored. The Widow is easier to max out than the Isharay, but the Isharay will pretty much be just plain better than the Widow should they both be maxed and particularly if you can increase the Clip high enough to get 2 shots instead of 1.
- Disciple:
- The Disciple is a strong relatively light and forgiving Shotgun. The Accuracy is fair which extends the usable distance and the relatively large Clip makes it one of the more forgiving Shotguns when used on a close quarters class that is using the Shotgun as a finisher combined with other types of Damage, but it's not really a Shotgun for standalone killing. It is one of thee better Shotguns and pretty easy to max out. The Disciple is Gold viable on a CQC class, but only Silver viable as close range sub-weapon.
- Ruzad:
- The Ruzad has high Damage, but is completely unforgiving if you miss. It has a good Capacity for the Damage it can deal which is rare for a Shotgun making it one of the more efficient Shotguns. The Ruzad is great for CQC classes, but useless outside of those classes so it's Gold viable on CQC classes, but should be left to Bronze when used without any supplemental close range viability.
- Carnifex:
- Is a long range precision Pistol which combos well with a long range powers like Lance, but as a weapon it's actually quite sub-par. If you can boost weak-point Damage or simply Damage high enough then it's an acceptable sub-weapon, but overall the Phalanx is pretty much the same type of weapon, but is more forgiving and thanks to the Firerate has higher DPS despite having less Damage per Clip. I'd choose the Phalanx over the Carnifex in any scenario that I'd take the Carnifex. The Carnifex is fairly inefficient and abysmally slow to fire so a missed shot or even a missed weak-point shot is a fairly big deal. The Carnifex is Gold viable, but I'd add the caveat that it's Gold viable in the hands of an Infiltrator and is more for an Infiltrator that isn't spec'd into Combat Cloak as the DPS of the Carnifex is quite low otherwise I'd call it Silver viable.
- Phalanx:
- The Phalanx is a long range precision Pistol that favors a little DPS over sheer per bullet Damage, this makes it a more forgiving weapon and higher DPS tends to equate to a better weapon. The Phalanx has higher DPS than the Carnifex which gives a number of advantages over the Carnifex as a standard weapon, but if you can boost the Damage high enough per bullet Damage tends to trump DPS, it's a trade off, but the Carnifex's advantage over the Phalanx is fairly niche. The Phalanx is Gold viable more easily than the Carnifex, but still clearly a sub-weapon.
Last edited by Dwlr on Sun May 28, 2017 4:13 pm; edited 2 times in total
Re: Mass Effect Andromeda Builds and Weapons
Rare Characters
Rare Weapons
- Krogan Mercenary:
- Flamethrower Rank 1 (A good skill, but the Krogan has Melee for close range so pretty redundant for him.)
Fortify Rank 6
Rank 4 - Mobility (Even a Krogan needs to be able to sprint.)
Rank 5 - Power Armor (Power Armor boosts Melee Damage among Accuracy and Stability with the Krogan's abysmal Shield and already solid Health Regeneration that can bring you back to maximum Health during Rage the Shield Regen bonus an the Delay Bonuses are fairly moot for the Krogan while Melee is a major source of Damage for picking off individual enemies that get to close.)
Rank 6 - Unmoving Defense (The Krogan is actually a pretty mobile class in general, but there are times you'll want to take cover like for objectives.)
Flak Cannon Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage & Force (Flak Cannon received a large buff to Power Cell Capacity compared to when it first came out so now you ave a decent pool without any upgrades and since Power Cells are limited in Ammo Boxes carrying a massive capacity of anything isn't too valuable if you have a choice of a better option. Damage & Force makes Flak Cannon fairly damaging to go with the utility you'll get from Stunning.)
Rank 5 - Stunning (Flak Cannon does reduced Damage to Armor for good reason, Armored enemies tend to be large thus take large amounts of Damage from Flak Cannon despite that Damage Reduction, but if you take Anti-Armor you lose out on the best part of Flak Cannon which is a 2 second stun on any human size enemy including Armored enemies, though it does seem to stun Fiends and Hydras, but not Destroyers though with the large enemies it also doesn't seem like a 100% chance and some smaller enemies can resist the Stun effect if they're performing certain actions, but this happens with all Stun effects not just Flak Cannon so it's not a unique issue.)
Rank 6 - Either (Flak increases the Area of Effect which means an easier time to Stun, but Shredder adds substantial Damage to Flak Cannon and the Bleed effect keeps Shields from regenerating.)
Munitions Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapons Training
Rank 5 - Either (Melee Synergy is pretty uniquely decent for the Krogan Mercenary who can play like a Melee Class, but, he has no spectacular approach like a Vanguard so a permanent buff to just weapons might be better than that shifting 3 second buff after performing an action. Boosting Melee on a Gun hit pairs well with the close range weapons which the Krogan Mercenary can certainly favor especially Shotguns or close range Pistols as they have Melee Amps, but it generally Weapon Efficiency is going to be more useful as even though you're a Krogan Melee will tend to be used if they get close rather than seeking enemies out to Melee them like some of the other classes.)
Rank 6 - Either (Sustained Fire pairs with Melee as enemies it increases the Damage enemies take from all sources and if pairs well with the Hurricane or Equalizer which work well with Melee characters, but a flat 20% increase to weak points tends to be the better bonus on the majority of enemies and the times where Sustained Fire works better they're usually enemies left for the end anyway like Fiends, Destroyers, or Hydras, but you lose that passive bonus to Accuracy and Stability which also contribute to Damage loss especially with weapons that trade Accuracy for close range DPS which again the Krogan Mercenary can favor.)
Rage Rank 6
Rank 4 - Resilience (You're primarily going to be passively triggering Rage through Berserker than through Melee kills like the Engineer so more survivability is preferred unless you are dead set on turning the Mercenary into a Melee build which I don't recommend you have the Krogan Vanguard or Krogan Gladiator for that.)
Rank 5 - Regeneration (This is the reason you can ignore the Health Regeneration Delay from Fortification, this lets you Regenerate your Health quickly and starts the Regeneration of both Health and Shields more quickly which coupled with the Damage Reduction from Fortification especially when it gets stacked with Unmoving Defense you become nigh invulnerable to most fodder type enemies.)
Rank 6 - Beserker (You're not going to be triggering Rage through Melee kills very often if you play it smart, the Krogans that Headbutt tend to have issues using Melee anyway from the game being buggy anyway and Rage is one of the best effects in the game for the massive Regeneration, Damage Reduction, and the emergency Melee boost which still boosts the jumping Melee which doesn't seem to have the same issues of not being able to be used that the standard Melee does.)
- Turian Havoc Trooper:
- Incinerate Rank 1 (Rank 1 Incinerate still causes a panic on unprotected enemies and that's all you need it to do when you can't Detonate it.)
Turbocharge Rank 6
Rank 4 - Duration
Rank 5 - Damage & Force
Rank 6 - Supercharge (DPS trumping sustainability)
Flak Cannon Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage & Force
Rank 5 - Stunning
Rank 6 - Flak (If you use the aerial upgrades of the Havoc Trooper Flak becomes more useful as aiming Flak Cannon downwards on an enemy can be awkward more so than the Krogan Mercenary who has a choice between final upgrades though a larger Area of Effect for more Stun is my leaning there as well.)
Munitions Training Rank 6
Rank 4 - Weapon Training
Rank 5 - Weapon Efficiency (The Havoc Trooper can be built for Melee to a degree, but it's more centered around Jump Melee than straight melee and trying to use Melee Synergy with Jump Melee would be pretty awkward.)
Rank 6 - Precision
Aerial Assault Rank 6
Rank 4 - Health & Shields (25% on top of some of the highest Shields is rather significant and Hovering while shooting is clunky at best even with high Damage Resistance while doing so. The Turians can have lateral movement while hovering which can make hovering with a Turian a bit clunky the Havoc Trooper has this mechanic as well which can be seen as a positive as you can move a bit without the Accuracy loss, but it can cause issues with aiming and issues with the environment since the movement is just carrying momentum rather than bringing you to a near stop like the Human's Hover when activated. The added Accuracy does help, but in an of itself isn't a great benefit and the Hover Duration doesn't matter if you can't stay airborne for the entire Duration from being exposed like you are whenever you try to Hover so Health & Shields is hands down the winner, but see Rank 6 debate before building with Health & Shields as you may opt to take get your Health & Shields later and take Hover now for the more consistent Hover Duration and slightly higher Accuracy while Hovering giving up the extra 50 Damage Resistance later which has the diminishing return effect.)
Rank 5 - Either (Aerial Evasion helps you stay airborne if you want to use the Havoc Trooper's gimmick to its fullest you need Aerial Evasion or you'll just melt whenever you take to the air, it also gives the 100 Damage Resistance to Evading which is usually across from Defensive Positioning like on the Human Soldier which gives a smaller Damage Resistance, but also boosts Shield Regeneration Delay and of course is more permanent since you can stay in cover whereas a dash ends when it ends and has that stop at the end where you aren't able to move and don't have the Damage Resistance. With Aerial Combat you have 100 Damage Resistance while Hovering which means you take 50% Damage from enemies which is fairly significant and you have one of the largest Shields in the game though it's still low so it's up to you to decide if that is enough to embrace the gimmick wholeheartedly or just take it as the occasional bonus. Dive Bomb being the other upgrade works with the gimmick of the Havoc Trooper as well increasing the potency of your Jump Melee in the form of a significant Damage boost and is the only way to increase the Radius of the Jump Melee thus far. The Jump Melee is more reliable as it doesn't seem prone to being locked out of use like the regular Melee, but that may or not be enough to merit taking that evolution. It's really a toss up on personal preference and how you want to try to use the Havoc Trooper if you're like me and want to embrace each classes unique traits you'll make an effort to Hover regularly and make use of the gimmick so I'd lean towards Aerial Evasion to stack as much Damage Resistance while Hovering so it's not a death sentence if you stay near the environment so when the Hover is ending that you can Evade behind cover you can maintain at least 50% Damage Resistance while you're exposed though that just applies to the direction you were firing and anything from your sides or rear might still hit you when you don't have active Damage Resistance or are immobile from your landing and with the soft cover system you'll probably take a few bullets moving to cover even if you're right next to a piece of cover. If you take Dive Bomb here taking Aerial Engagement at Rank 6 still gives you 100 Damage Resistance while Hovering.)
Rank 6 - Either (Aerial Engagement is the capstone to your gimmick extending Hover on a kill adding more Damage Resistance bringing it up to a maximum of 150 which Damage Resistance has diminishing returns so it'll be just north of the 50% Damage Taken that 100 Damage Resistance affords you if I had to hazard a guess I'd call it 60% Damage Taken and the added Accuracy is just an added bonus and it does help, but it's not a game-changer, if it were Weapon Damage then perhaps, but it's not. The competitor is the fairly common Close-Quarters Momentum giving you a ramping Melee Damage bonus with each Melee hit or Melee kill which like the other versions caps at 65% and expires after 10 seconds if you don't get another Melee kill in that time. Now that'd not compete with Aerial Engagement itself since Jump Melee doesn't really lend itself to a ramping Melee Damage skill that requires a kill to maintain and the Havoc Trooper doesn't get that much basic Melee Damage so they tacked on 25% Health and Shields to it and now it's worthy of being a capstone. Unlike Damage Resistance the increasing the Maximum Health and Shields isn't a diminishing return so 25% is 25% and you don't have to use any gimmick to make use of it so it just gives you a large Shield with no effort on your part and that large Shield can effectively be 50% stronger while using the gimmick depending on how you spec'd up to this point so either way you're getting an arguably larger benefit than Aerial Engagement even for your gimmick. You have to weigh how much the added Hover Duration on a kill is worth to you keeping in mind that 50 more Damage Resistance is still something which going by my assumption it's roughly 10% so while Hovering you're weighing that 4 second additional Hover Duration against effectively 15% more Health and Shields. I'd lean towards Close-Quarters Momentum in terms of optimizing your class, but since Havoc Trooper is unique in this passive option I'd be very tempted to take Aerial Engagement here or look ahead and take Hover at Rank 4 to take Close-Quarters Momentum here at Rank 6 trading off the 4 second per kill for 100% increase to the standard Hover Duration without having the kill requiring gaining 5% Weapon Accuracy while Hovering and simply giving up that 50 Damage Resistance which your Shields and Health would come out to be a perfectly even trade off and you'd get the ramping Melee effect which would play to Hand-to-Hand Apex missions well.
- Asari Huntress:
- Throw Rank 1
Stealth Grid Rank 6
Rank 4 - Either (Unlike the Ultra-Rare Angaran Avenger who warps in and out with Avenger Strike the Asari Huntress is more at home at a distance like a Infiltrator on steroids. Stealth Grid brings the same over-powered Power Cell based Stealth antics, but you have no ability to restore Power Cells outside Ammo Boxes. Stealth Grid makes it pretty easy to get there, but quantities are limited and you can burn through Power Cells fairly quickly depending on how you use them. Radius makes it much more practical to Stealth teammates since 4 meters centered around your characters is quite cramped. Basically on the Huntress it's whether you're feeling nice or not, but Power Cell here isn't that large of a personal benefit so you're not being that altruistic.)
Rank 5 - Either (It's hard to argue against Duration especially on Stealth Grid where you can literally wait out entire waves if Duration is maxed, but I'm going to try. Shield Grid lets you take the Shield-Powered evolution of Lance with more impunity which sure the Duration should be long enough to get your Shields back anyway, but sometimes you do get shot in Stealth Grid and Stealth Grid can be temperamental as sometimes enemies completely ignore the fact that you're stealth even at a distance or it doesn't activate right away making you take more Health Damage than intended. Now with Saving Barrier and the Rank 3 Duration lasting almost long enough to recover the time by itself on Saving Barrier you pretty much perpetually have your safety net perpetually letting you set up a loop between using back to back Shield-Powered Lances draining your Shields and then procing Saving Barrier giving you more Lance uses or the opportunity to use Stealth Grid to restore your ability to re-use Saving Barrier while having that Shield safety net to do so. In the end you can opt to take the extra Duration for relocation reasons and if you don't get shot during will manually restore Shields, but there is an argument here for Shield Grid.
Rank 6 - Ambush Grid (Evasive Grid is alright for long range Stealth Grid user however if you're left by yourself in the middle of a wave Ambush Grid just affords the power to clear out mobs far more easily and if your team is around then you should be safer and don't really need Evasive Grid then either.)
Lance Rank 6
Rank 4 - Damage & Force
Rank 5 - Focused Blast
Rank 6 - Shield-Powered (Normally I'm avidly against using Shield-Powered on anything and Lance's Cooldown is pretty small too so Shield-Powered seems counter-productive, but with Stealth Grid being able to wait out the refractory period of Saving Barrier to create a loop of free full-restores to Shields it's hard not to argue for quick Shield-Powered Lances back to back which the first Lance will proc Biotic Expert for the second Lance and you can even use a Throw before that first Lance and have two boosted Lances back to back.)
Offensive Biotics Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Enhancement (Using Shield-Powered means there is no cooldown on Lance at all so Power Efficiency only applies to Throw which is just there to knock away the occasional Unprotected enemy since you can't even Biotic Combo off it without Duration which clearly a level 1 Throw doesn't have so Power Enhancement giving a buff to Lance which can actually deal substantial Damage is the only logical choice unless you chose Knockdown for Lance.)
Rank 5 - Either (You can't create your own Combos, but Lance is a Detonator and so is Throw so if you're paired with a Primer focused character you can Detonate their Primers for them and instantly thanks to Shield-Powered. The safe bet is Weapons and Melee which gives you a buff to Weapon Damage which pairs well with the boosting effects of Stealth Grid for use on a high powered weapon which there are several lightweight options should you want 2 weapons or even good for a single heavier option.)
Rank 6 - Biotic Expert (With the ability to use multiple Lances back to back boosting their Damage makes sense whereas if you're not using Shield-Powered on Lance you have good reason to take Biotic Warrior for the Melee knockdown alone, but firing a second Lance even just aiming at a body shot to ensure you hit within that small 3 second window is a substantial buff and more so if you can throw 3 or 4 of them back to back using Saving Barrier's restoration to fuel more uses than you should have per full Shield.)
Barrier Rank 6
Rank 4 - Recuperative Barrier (Since you're using your Shield to power Lance you really don't need a large Barrier since it takes a flat percent of whatever your Maximum is even if that Maximum Shield isn't very large, but being able to Restore that Shield faster means you can use it for another Lance faster or simply it makes it easier to restore Shields while you're in Stealth Grid, the added benefit of restoring your Health restoring faster is pretty important when abusing the Saving Barrier and Stealth Grid combination.)
Rank 5 - Barrier Drain (Since you're using your Shield you will tend to be lacking a Shield and likewise restoring your Shield instantly gives you Shields to burn into more Lances. Biotic Alacrity does combo well while you're in Stealth, but overall Barrier Drain should offer a higher benefit letting you throw a close range Lance while they're still staggered from you Melee attack.)
Rank 6 - Saving Barrier (Stealth Grid's full Duration let's you abuse Saving Barrier pretty easily and it was already one of the best defensive Passives in the game.)
- Angaran Insurgent:
- Shield Boost Rank 6
Rank 4 - Restoration (Simply put the base Radius is fairly large to catch anybody that you're fighting with and you want to be within 6 meters for Bioelectric Ward to extend to your nearest Ally anyway which is smaller than the default Radius of Shield Boost.)
Rank 5 - Recharge Speed (The Shield Gate is still a thing so a faster Recharge means that you can exploit the Shield Gate more often and about 40 Shield isn't better than being able to re-use the skill quicker to get especially with Extended Duration extending the Duration the Shields are restored which is the lion's share of the benefit to begin with.)
Rank 6 - Extended Duration (Overcharge doesn't last long enough to get any real benefit from it so it's pretty useless.)
Assault Turret Rank 6
Rank 4 - Durability (The Angaran Insurgent really hates to move at all and he has the tools to hunker down better than other offensive minded Engineers who like to re-position more often to avoid concentrated fire, but the Angaran can afford to be more stubborn. Rather than relocating at the first hint of trouble the Angaran Insurgent can try to stick it out and wait for back up and a lot of times can succeed a lot of times so keeping your Turret alive is more important than being able to relocate it, though if a strong enemy barrels through and destroys your Turret then the default Recharge Speed is quite long, but the added Durability does keep it from getting destroyed as often so it's a good trade off when you're not trying to move around the map often.
Rank 5 - Omni-Link (The added Recharge Speed to Shield Boost is substantial and as an added benefit the Turret's Repair Rate is based off the Turret's Maximum Health so it couples with Durability well.
Rank 6 - Flamethrower (Flamethrower can cause enemies to panic and the Turret tends to do better when it's behind a wall to watch your flank against charging enemies as the Turret's Gun doesn't do terribly much damage anyway and if left where it can fire at long range it can also be hit at long range which cuts off Omni-Link which is the primary benefit of the Assault Turret.)
Trip Mine Rank 1
Offensive Tech Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Enhancement (Power Effect Duration counts for Shield Boost's Shield Restored per Second and Power Damage boosting Trip Mine even if it's level 1 Trip Mine's base Damage is considerable and boosted as well. Without a Rank 6 Trip Mine you can't Detonate anything so there is no benefit whatsoever from Combo Detonation.
Rank 5 - Anti-Armor (Your Turret's Flamethrower already gets a boost against Armor and is pretty useless against Shields. The Outlaw faction has several Armored enemies that like close range combat which plays to the strength of Flamethrower's limited range as well so Anti-Shield doesn't make much sense at all. *Though since Power Damage doesn't increase Construct Damage Anti-Armor May not actually apply to you Assault Turret, it's still better to double down on you're strengths than to flounder to cover your weakness when that weakness is easily alleviated through weapon's fire anyway.)
Rank 6 - Weapon Boost (Weapon Master is a boost for yourself, but it's a rather paltry one increasing Accuracy and Stability slightly. Weapon Weight is a tricky benefit to measure, there are almost always going to be lightweight options that work well, but some people absolutely have to have certain weapons. The Angaran Insurgent does work well with Sniper Rifles given his non-moving nature, but Sniper Rifles are heavy and lack Ammo Capacity and that non-moving nature works against you in terms of getting to an Ammo Box since out in the open you really don't have much to help you so something with Ammo Capacity and a lot of the high Ammo Capacity weapons really aren't that heavy or they're Energy weapons so you only need to take 1 weapon. The other option is Weapon Boost which doesn't help you, but provides a substantial boost to allies that you're already helping with Bioelectric Ward or Shield Boost which is going to be the better option for the team even if it is a bit thankless then again it does help you earn some Support Points so even with a lower contribution in terms of personal Damage dealt you shouldn't get left behind on the scoreboard.
Bioelectric Defense Rank 6
Rank 4 - Regeneration (Contrary to the Angaran Insurgent's lazy philosophy mobility is still life as it keeps you from getting overwhelmed and with well placed Shield Boost you can certainly rabbit with the best of them even if you can't actually capitalize and deal any Damage while you run away since you have nothing to really stun anybody with and Trip Mines are too limited to use for extended offense. The other side of the coin is Regeneration, which improves stationary survivability and burst survivability through increasing the Health Regeneration Cap substantially. With Bioelectric Ward only lasting 5 seconds Evasion getting you farther in that time is certainly a competitor, but the burst survivability from the 40% Health Regeneration Cap simply tends to be a stronger option overall.)
Rank 5 - Support (Support helps improve Shield Boost, Shield Boost is your bread and butter, the side-effect of boosting your Assault Turret is just a bonus. Capacity offers bonuses that are kind of nice, but not really significant. Even at Rank 1 an extra Trip Mine is helpful, but not game changing and it's quickly expended whereas the benefits to Shield Boost are always there each and every time you use Shield Boost which will be often. Weapon Weight and Weapon Spare Ammo can both be circumvented with proper weapon choices and thus can be rendered pretty moot altogether.)
Rank 6 - Bioelectric Ward (Not only does Bioelectric Ward offer an extremely large boost for a single Rank of a skill it extends to Allys which gives another chance to pass Weapon Boost to allies for higher group Damage. Close-Quarters Momentum is ramps quickly, but 80 Damage Resistance even for 5 seconds every 15 seconds for you alone would be better when it can spread to Allys for no effort as well it's just all that much better.
- Salarian Architect:
- Remnant VI Rank 6
Rank 4 - Expedited Repairs (The Remnant VI stealths when critically damaged this helps get it fighting again when it cloaks to repair. The Recharge Rate is much less than the Assault Turret and likewise the benefit of Recharge Speed is a lower percentage, the Remant VI dies far less than the Assault Turret and is mobile so there is no real reason to cancel it and thus it's on Cooldown far less.)
Rank 5 - Either (Focus Module for Damage and Close Combat Module to draw fire, but due to moving close, but it also means it is more aggressive in dealing Damage though this Damage is obviously significantly less than with Focus Module.)
Rank 6 - Electric Beam (Detonating Missiles are surprisingly strong for an autonomous method of deployment not to mention they occur frequently, but something randomly detonating enemies frozen from your Cryo Gauntlet can cause issues and between the increased Beam Damage, the boost against Shields, and the ability to Stun Electric Beam just tends to be more useful and is never actively harmful. The added benefit of increased Damage to Synthetics is pretty inconsequential, but helps against the Remnant which Incinerate isn't particularly useful against.
Barricade Rank 1
Incinerate Rank 6
Rank 4 - Burning (Radius is small, but makes it easier to hit, but Incinerate has decent tracking despite being slow moving so it shouldn't be needed and with it you're not going to hit multiple enemies very often if at all. The added Duration means when fleeing they're going to have a hard time Regenerating Shields which gives you the opportunity to pick off enemies as you run around the map for safety it also actually adds substantial Damage that might be enough to kill an enemy and if you're the only one left chances are while you're running to a new spot the whole Duration will actually be used whereas with a team and if you're not pressed to run that full Duration is seldom used.)
Rank 5 - Impact (Ironically Impact does more Damage to all targets and Anti-Armor only increases Damage to Armored ones though with the base increased Damage to Armored enemies Incinerate has running of it's increased Damage Impact does more Damage to Armored enemies than Anti-Armor does. If you take Burning though the added Duration and Damage to the Damage over Time is enough to make Anti-Armor the stronger choice against Armor, but only slightly even then and it requires the full 9 second Burn to run through.)
Rank 6 - Detonator (Detonator lets you Detonate Electric Beam from your Remnant VI and Detonate any enemies you hit with your Cryo Gauntlet which lets your Cryo Gauntlet not only easily remove any Unprotected human sized enemy (minus the Ascendant), but deal fast Cryo Explosion Damage since the Cryo Gauntlet is fairly slow and low Damage itself freezing multiple enemies tends to not be very prudent.)
Offensive Tech Rank 6
Rank 4 - Power Enhancement (Both the Damage and Burning Duration of Incinerate is buffed by Power Enhancement. Combo Detonation applies to Detonation from Cryo Gauntlet and your Remnant VI, but your Cryo Gauntlet is more for emergency removal when enemies get close than something you want to shoot for so Cryo Explosions are something you want to have in your back pocket not something you actively seek out and Tech Combos from your Remnant VI can be hard to come by given the VI has a mind of it's one unless you take the time to command it.)
Rank 5 - Anti-Armor (Incinerate is useless against Shields and you have the Remnant VI and your weapons to deal with them so Anti-Armor helps with things you're weaker against.)
Rank 6 - Elemental Tech (Incinerate automatically triggers the Elemental Defense Debuff which your Remnant VI being Electric benefits from it.)
Support Systems Rank 6
Rank 4 - Tech Duration (Long Burning equates to more Damage and without Radius on Incinerate and Detonating Missiles on your Remnant VI nothing benefits from Tech Radius.)
Rank 5 - Advanced Construction
Rank 6 - Shield Reset (Tech Sabotage without anything that can affect multiple enemies is wasted and is even further wasted when you can kill enemies before they're done panicking after being ignited by Incinerate.)
Rare Weapons
- L-89 Halberd:
- The Halberd is the pinnacle of Semi-Auto Rifles sporting the highest Damage of the Semi-Auto Rifles and a decent Firerate making for solid DPS in a precision weapon. The Clip size is high enough for the Damage output, but the Capacity is a little lacking, but there are ways to get around that such as carrying a sub-weapon or camping near an Ammo Box. All around for the burst performance you can't beat it. The only Semi-Auto I'd call Gold viable.
- M-37 Falcon:
- Solid Damage and high chance to stun on a direct hit. When compared to a Semi-Auto Rifle it holds up, but the Capacity is severely lacking and you can't get bonus Damage from hitting the Weak Points additionally aiming can be clunky as well. Definitely Gold viable if you don't have issues with the aiming.
- Revenant:
- The Revenant lacks the ability to be used at long range, but it's high Firerate, respectable Damage and large Clip more than make up for it as a short to mid-range weapon. Unlike the Cyclone there is no charge up and you have a larger Capacity which makes the Revenant a more stable weapon for close range, but the Cyclone's accuracy gives it the edge at longer range. Gold viable on CQC classes, but for regular weapon classes you'd be better off with something else.
- Sandstorm:
- The Sandstorm is a weaker Halberd with a scope pre-attached more or less. The Recoil is fairly high so to use it at it's fullest you might need the Stability Mod. Outside of the pre-attached scope it's basically worse in every way compared to the Halberd. Unless you absolutely have to have the scope without using a Mod slot for it it's really not that great a of a weapon and the Mattock can outperform it.
- Sweeper:
- The Sweeper is a 3-round burst weapon that when compared to the most powerful burst option the Ultra-Rare Valkyrie takes sacrifices in Damage and Firerate in exchange for a higher Clip and infinite Capacity. The Sweeper has some issues with maximum range being a Beam weapon, but it's far enough that it's only a minor inconvenience. All around the Sweeper has some significant advantages over the Valkryie, but is also a weaker weapon in terms of DPS. The Recoil is easier to manage than the Valkyrie's so it's really an easier to use weapon as well. A competitor for the best Assault Rifle in the game and thus firmly Gold viable.
- Thokin:
- The Thokin has solid DPS, but it extremely clunky to use with seeking bullets that actually will make you miss when you at range as the bullets go for center mass more often than not. With the slow moving bullets and the seeking issues you kind of need the Penetration Mod to make it viable. Gold viable at close range one of the most annoying weapons to use at long range and the Capacity is abysmal for the Damage it deals.
- X5 Ghost:
- Inverse Recoil, extremely large Clip, high Capacity, and decent Damage it's an easy to use forgiving weapon that is highly effective, but the inverse Recoil favors being able to stay exposed to make the most of the time when the weapon is at it's most Accurate state so frailer classes may have issues using the weapon effectively outside of that it's one of the 3 competitors for the top general purpose Assault Rifle alongside the Sweeper and Valkyrie.
- Equalizer:
- The Equalizer has one draw back it has a short range due to the bullets disappearing after a short distance outside of that it has high DPS, good Accuracy, a respectable Clip and infinite Capacity. It's Gold viable easily, but only works for close range classes or as a close range sub-weapon the latter it is a bit heavy for most classes.
- M-25 Hornet:
- The Hornet's Weapon Card is woefully deceptive the 950 Firerate simply isn't true and it's more akin to that of the Valkyrie. The Hornet fires a 3 round burst, but is weaker than the Sweeper and obviously doesn't have the infinite Capacity the Sweeper does. Unlike a lot of pistols the Hornet does have a decent Capacity and the actual Damage is higher than that of the Zalkin and comparable to the Mattock making it an effective albeit less accurate substitute for the the Uncommon Semi-Auto Rifles, but the Accuracy will tend to have it fall short of the Rare Semi-Auto Rifles due to the lower Accuracy. Whereas the Zalkin pretty much stays stable during a burst losing no Accuracy the Hornet doesn't, but the Hornet requires no charging for the 3-round burst. If you think of the Hornet as a medium range weapon whose burst function is meant to avoid wasted bullets from poor trigger control it's a fairly effective weapon however there are numerous more effective ones for the same range and so I'd keep the Hornet as Silver.
- Scorpion:
- The Scorpion is more or less a lighter version of the Falcon, but with that it takes other sacrifices as well. While the Scorpion is stronger than the Falcon it has less Capacity, less Clip size, and a lower Firerate which overall make it a less effective weapon despite the higher Damage, but it's a good lighter alternative and very much still Gold viable.
- Sidewinder:
- The Sidewinder has good DPS with each shot packing a solid punch and a solid Firerate to go with it's level of Damage, but the Capacity is far too small to be useful even as a side weapon you have more sustainable options that simply make small sacrifices in burst DPS. It's hard to judge the Sidewinder as if used by itself it is incredibly poor as it simply runs out of Ammo too easily for any class to make use of it. While you do have Ammo it's one of the more effective weapons, but it's killing potential for it's Capacity is woefully lacking so you shouldn't use it above Silver as the higher the difficulty the less you get out of it per your Capacity and using it's Capacity drains Ammo Boxes to re-fill it and thus can even be an active burden taking Ammo away from filling your main weapon. If using an Energy weapon since Ammo Boxes are instanced you could use it on Gold.
- Talon:
- The Talon is basically a Shotgun that thinks it's Pistol. It's stats including it's weight are all but analogous to a Shotgun so basically treat it as if it's a Shotgun it just doesn't get the benefit of Shotgun Spread buffs such as those from the Precision and it can't equip a Smart Choke instead it can equip a scope to raise it's Accuracy which also boost Accuracy while moving so that's not a bad Mod to consider. The Talon has a deceptively long effective range, it's not like it's Mass Effect 3 counterpart where it was a long range weapon, but it works at medium range just fine and packs quite a kick at close range. Easily Gold viable and a good "Shotgun" for those who don't like Shotguns complete with the ability to attach a Melee Mod though if you have high Melee ability then I always viewed an exclusively short range weapon with a Melee Mod to be a waste when you could take something longer range like the Hornet or Eagle and have a solid multipurpose weapon that still buffs your Melee. The Talon is undeniably Gold viable and is one of the honestly op'd weapons in the game that you'll see a lot of people toting and it's strength is more widely apparent when buffed with consumables where it gets particularly high benefits compared to some of the other weapons.
Last edited by Dwlr on Mon May 29, 2017 5:15 pm; edited 4 times in total
Re: Mass Effect Andromeda Builds and Weapons
Angara Avenger
Asari Duelist
Human Kineticist
Krogan Gladiator
Salarian Operator
Asari Duelist
Human Kineticist
Krogan Gladiator
Salarian Operator
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