Build Title: Fire Santa

Class: Batarian Soldier

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

Power Evolutions:

Ballistic Blades: (4) Damage, (5) Range, (6) Explosive Blades

Blade Armor: N/A

Inferno Grenades: (4) Radius, (5) Damage, (6) Radius & Shrapnel

Batarian Enforcer: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage, (6) Damage & Ammo

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

Weapons:
The Cerberus Harrier or N7 Typhoon both complete the strategy of this build, making Fire Santa dangerous at any range. In that spirit, however, any good Assault Rifle will fill that same void. I would recommend a light backup if you choose the capacity-challenged Harrier, of course, but no matter what you do, try to keep your Power Recharge Speed as close to 200% as possible so Ballistic Blades has a short cooldown (not only ensuring that it’s almost always available, but also that the occasional combo of Ballistic Blades & Heavy Melee can be repeated eternally if necessary).

Gear:
Gear Bonus: Grenade Capacity or Warfighter Package

Strategy:
Unlike his Christian counterpart, Fire Santa comes many times a year, and instead of bringing gifts to all of the children, he brings fire to all who oppose him. If ever there was a build that makes Killstreaks easy, it’s this one; the idea is to throw Inferno Grenades into piles of enemies, spawns, etc. (saving a few for skirmishes) and watch your opponents drop, helping them along with Assault Rifle fire if they somehow survive. The Radius upgrades will ensure your grenades get maximum exposure, making it highly unlikely your tosses will miss
(making successful, trans-stage grenade chucks a very real and awesome possibility). Otherwise, the right Assault Rifle will take down any mid-range targets while Ballistic Blades will act as your infinite ammo, zero weight, personal, explosive shotgun at close-range. Although bosses don’t drop as easily, the combination of fire damage from your grenades, Ballistic Blades bleed and explosive damage, and your Assault Rifle damage should do the trick with little fuss. The weakness of this build is his need to constantly collect grenades (particularly rough when playing with other grenade users) and the Batarians’ naturally low combat agility. Also, the explosion from Ballistic Blades will not trigger a Fire Explosion, so you’ll be woefully without Tech Bursts with Fire Santa. Finally, you will need to play tactfully with strangers, unless you want your team to absolutely hate you for killing everything with the Inferno Grenades you’re lobbing everywhere (even, potentially, when you’re on the other side of the map). Although I think Fire Santa would do well on Gold with a good team, I’ve never tried for lack of a combat roll. A final point: Fire Santa is especially deadly against Cerberus; a reminder that probably goes without saying.

N00b Rating:

1 - The goal of Fire Santa was to make an incredibly simple character with a very, very high success rate on Silver. Ultimately, there’s no complex approach to power cooldowns, no technique with weaponry, no Tech Bursts to coordinate, and barely any thought involved overall; the radius upgrades alone will make your grenade throws obnoxiously, unfairly accurate, so this build even fosters experimentation with your tosses. The only bit of finesse comes in the completely optional, eternal chain of Hard Melee and Ballistic Blades, which is more to spice up play than anything else. Overall, just remember that you have no combat rolls and that you have to keep a careful eye on your grenade count.

Appearance:

C16, C16, B9, 2:B9, B1