Build Title: The Flotilla Marine

Class: Male Quarian Engineer

Map Difficulty Rating: This build has the potential for Gold gameplay

Power Evolutions:

Tactical Scan: (4) Power Damage, (5) Movement Speed, (6) Damage

Incinerate: N/A

Arc Grenade: (4) Damage, (5) Electrical Damage*, (6) Armor-Piercing

Quarian Defender: (4) Weapon Damage, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Damage

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

*If playing on a higher difficulty alongside other players with Tech abilities, then taking the Electrical Damage modification for #5 will be preferable in order to create more tech explosions. If playing either on lower difficulties or with teammates not playing tech classes (or if, like me, the player simply prefers not to have to run to an ammo box as often), then upgrading Max Grenades will be preferable.

Weapons:

The Cerberus Harrier with Extended Barrel and Extended Magazine and the M-92 Mantis with High Velocity Barrel and Piercing Mod.

The Harrier is, in my opinion, the best all-around assault rifle in multiplayer. It does incredible damage and has great accuracy and fire rate. Its two main drawbacks, its weight and ammo capacity, are offset by the facts that this class already relies heavily on ammo boxes and doesn’t rely on powers with cooldowns. The Harrier is also one of the few fully automatic weapons that benefits from the extended barrel, due to its aforementioned damage and rate of fire. I recommend sticking with the Piercing mod to deal with Guardian shields; however, it is a matter of personal preference when deciding between the two. The Magazine Upgrade is entirely non-negotiable.

As far as a secondary weapon is concerned, just about any high-powered, highly accurate weapon will do, such as the Paladin or Widow. If using a pistol, utilize the Scope and Barrel Extension mods. I prefer using the Mantis over the Widow due to the fact that I make extensive, almost excessive use of Tactical Scan, even scanning such targets as Assault Troopers or Cannibals, and the Widow is simply too heavy for my playstyle.

Gear:

Warfighter Package, Increases Assault Rifle damage and Grenade Capacity. One can make an argument for gear that increases Sniper Rifle or Pistol damage, but die to this build’s reliance on grenades and the added Assault Rifle damage bonus of this gear mod, I exclusively use the Warfighter Package. Use Assault Rifle Rail Amps, Cyclonic Modulators and ammo types to compliment your enemies (or Phasic if you focus on using your sniper).

Strategy:

Play this class like you would a grenade-specced soldier; unleash suppressive fire with your assault rifle or pick off key targets with your sniper rifle (preferably from cover), and unload your grenades on heavies (Atlases, Phantoms, Dragoons, Primes, Pyros, Banshees, Brutes, Ravagers, Scions, Praetorians) or large groups. The Arc grenade has a much greater blast radius than most grenades, as well as the fact that its explosion travels through most walls or barricades, meaning that haphazardly chucking grenades all over the map will tend to earn some kills, but is still discouraged as your grenades are your primary source of damage against heavies and you don’t want to run out of grenades only to find yourself face to face with an Atlas guarding the ammo box. Due to the Arc grenade’s already considerable amount of damage against shields, I chose the Armor-Piercing evolution, allowing the Quarian Marine to easily dispatch Atlases, Brutes, Ravagers, or Geth single-handedly.

As a side note, the Arc grenade will not penetrate a Guardian’s shield, it will only stagger them. Therefore, I stick with the piercing mod on my Harrier so that I don’t need to waste grenades.

The main difference between this class and a Soldier is that its damage boosting ability (Tactical Scan, rather than Adrenaline Rush or Marksman) affects a single target but benefits the entire team. As soon as you spot a heavy on approach, scan it immediately. This will slow it down, making such enemies as Brutes and Phantoms significantly less of a threat, as well as cause its defenses to plummet under coordinated team assaults.

N00b Rating:

3 – Once the player learns how to make effective use of their grenades and tactical scan, no enemy is too tough.

Appearance:

I have yet to unlock any appearance upgrades for either of my Male Quarians, so I cannot offer any personal suggestions; however, just about any color scheme will do. As made evident by Kal’Reegar’s and Admiral Zaal’Koris’ pink and white suits in Mass Effect 2, male Quarians have been known to wear rather flamboyant attire