Build Title: Squishy Reaver

Class: Drell Adept

Map Difficulty Rating: This build has the potential for Gold gameplay, Platinum may be possible as part of a strong team of biotics.

Power Evolutions:

Reave: (4) Radius, (5) Damage Reduction, (6) Damage & Duration

Pull: N/A

Cluster Grenade: (4) Force & Damage, (5) Damage Combo, (6) Shrapnel

Drell Assassin: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Damage

Fitness: (4) Durability, (5) Shield Recharge, (6) Fitness Expert

Weapons:

My recommendation is the Cerberus Harrier or the M-11 Wraith. You want heavy hitters, and these fulfil that definition. Both relatively close range, both excellent against armour and not bad against shields and barriers. Use the Extended Barrel and Extended Magazine on the Cerberus Harrier; and Smart Choke and High Velocity Barrel (For your knowledge: because it is a non-DLC weapon, it isn’t affected by the weight penalty but still receives the damage bonus/piercing bonus, BioWare is yet to fix this ‘bug’) on the M-11 Wraith. You can take the Acolyte with you as well for fear against Phantoms, use the Extended Barrel and Ultralight Materials/Extended Magazine on it. But even though it only adds a little weight at X, that slows your recharge speed, so if taking a low-level Harrier or Wraith, do not take the Acolyte with you. It synergizes much better with the Wraith and a steady Harrier can easily kill a Phantom.

Gear:

For this class, we only want to use Warp Ammo. This is because targets affected by it receive armor weakening which benefits the whole team and it does bonus damage to anything affected by biotics (Reave). It yields, at IV, the highest flat-damage bonus of all the ammo powers at +60%. Use Assault Rifle Rail Amp and either Ardenaline Module or Power Amplifier Module for the armor bonus; it depends on whether you want to exploit the Drell’s bonus to Movement Speed from +20% to +25%/+35%/+45% or a Power Damage bonus to Reave and Cluster Grenade by +10%/+20%/+30%/+50%. I recommend Adrenaline if you are playing with randoms and Power Amplifier Module if playing with a strong team. Always use Warfighter Package or Grenade Capacity for gear.

Strategy:

I love both current (lets not forget we are awaiting a Drell Infiltrator) Drell classes, but of the two, my favourite is the Drell Adept. While both are just as aggressive, the Drell Adept has a clear advantage in staying alive; because he doesn’t have to use Biotic Charge to restore barriers which put him back into danger. Unfortunately, as with his Vanguard counterpart, he gets Pull as a power, which isn’t the greatest so we avoid it and get the things this class has to really shine. Particularly powerful on Gold, a well-played and smart Drell Adept can annihilate factions and top the scoreboard. I’ll go over the power evolutions, then the enemy stratgey and then the issues you may face while playing this class.

Reave is pretty much the standard spec you should use everytime. Always get Radius, 3m of Reave is nothing to scoff at and setting up multiple targets means well-aimed Cluster Grenades will get mutliple Biotic Explosions. On the Drell in particular, you need to go for maximum Damage Reduction to help mitigate and counter the poor defences he has. Avoid Pull, it isn’t need and isn’t worth investing into when you have better options. As for Cluster Grenades, Force and Damage will power up your grenades to deal more damage up-front, Damage Combo increases their damage by 100% against targets primed for Biotic Explosions (which you have Reave to do), the way they worded the power makes it sound useless, and you benefit more from 3 grenades for 3 separate explosions than 2 stronger grenades. Fitness is standard for Drell classes, you want the Movement Speed. As for Drell Assassin, you’re going for the 50% Power Damage Bonus and get, in the process, 22.50% Weapon Damage Bonus. Powerful to say the least.

As far as the class itself goes, it goes the best against Reapers and Collectors, simply because they are almost all Barriers and Armor. It, like most biotics, is less effective against Cerberus and I don’t recommend him for Geth because Reave has a 50% damage penalty against Shields. In saying that, against trooper level enemies he can deplete rooms to nothingness in a few Reaves and a grenade or two. Prime your targets with Reave and then detonate with Cluster Grenade. Fire off the Harrier/Wraith before your explosions and after your explosions to ensure maximum damage. Pyros and Bombers (without shields), Dragoons and Phantoms fall victim to Reave which annihilates Barriers and Armor and the explosion you can create with Cluster Grenade is insane. Cluster Grenades stagger all troopers and most bosses. Scions, Brutes and Ravagers aren’t difficult to kill either, sustained fire with Explosions and Reave will make quick work of them; quicker if you aim for the Tumors, Head and Sacks. Watch out for the Scion and Ravager cannons which easily down the Drell, as well as the Ravager slime and Swarmers. The bigger bosses are tougher, especially Primes whcih are the hardest for the Drell Adept to take out. Praetorians and Banshees are the easiest to dispose of because of the Barrier/Armor combination and Reave’s 100% damage bonus to Barriers and 50% damage bonus to Armor. Atlases are tougher than Banshees or Praetorians but stagger the easiest with explosions and Cluster Grenade. Just remember to fire your weapon, particularly at their weak points (Atlas Groin, Prime Head, Banshee Head, Praetorian Jaw). The Drell Adept is sort of the Jack Of All Trades when it comes to enemies; he is good at taking them all out but it isn’t a perfect road because their isn’t much room for error.

The Drell Adept is frail, even with Reave and max Fitness. There is more room for error than the Drell Vanguard but not much. Gold is still as unforgiving, especially if you make silly decisions. The Drell Adept can take down crowds, but it is easy to get overwhelmed very quickly, you’ll need the Movement Speed to get out of that. This Drell is very much a team player, working much better with other Biotics but is strong enough to be the only biotic on the team. He can assist with objectives but isn’t the best choice because of the lack of defence. The exception is the Object Recovery objective, where he moves faster than other classes. All in all, just watch your health or you’ll be down most of the match.

N00b Rating:

4 - The Drell Adept is still a Drell, but he is more forgiving than a Drell Vanguard because of Reave. It is literally the Drell’s best feature bar his Movement Speed bonuses and Power Damage passives. You still need to be very smart when playing a Drell because they are just so squishy. Your’e Movement Speed bonuses help, but you cannnot expect that to get you out of trouble every time. As said, easier than the Vanguard but almost just as unforgiving when you make a mistake. Try not to run out of Grenades mid-wave or if you can help it, play on Grenade heavy maps. I recommend Goddess, as it has 4 ammo-crates with 2 grenades in each and it is small in size. Unknwon/Unknwon viable (though tougher against Geth), Gold viable and useable as part of a biotic team on Platinum. Great class, but difficult to learn to play if you aren’t used to Drell characters.