Build Title: Quarian HOG by JayneCobb88

Class: Quarian Soldier

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

Power Evolutions:

Marksman: Accuracy (4), Headshots (5), Accuracy & Firing Rate (6)

Tactical Scan: Weapon Damage (4), Headshots (5), Damage (6)

Sabotage: N/A

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

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

Weapons:

Primary: Widow – Extended Barrel and Piercing Mod/Spare Thermal Clip depending upon your equipment level

Secondary: Talon – Extended Barrel and Ultralight HP Materials.

Gear:

Drill or Phasic Rounds

Anything to increase sniper rifle damage

Strategy:

The Quarian Soldier has so many flaws it just isn’t funny. Crap Health/Shields for a soldier class, zero crowd control capability, no way to cause spike damage and a horribly underpowered Sabotage with a god awful recharge time that gimps weapon weight if it is to be used even semi frequently. This class’ main damaging power is Marksman which requires players to expose themselves long enough to fire off hundreds of rounds, a terrible mix for such bad shields.

The solution is the Widow.

Keeping your distance, staying in cover and sniping reduce the need for more Health/Shields and crowd control. The Widow’s powerful single shot provides massive spike damage and also means minimal time exposed from cover vs three shots from the Black Widow. What’s more is since Marksman reloads the Widow instantly, two shots can be put down range while staying on scope and in less than ½ a second, effectively doubling the damage of an already overpowered gun. One shot can drop shields, the second kills. Furthermore, Tactical Scan can be used to reload cancel and doing so doesn’t force you out of cover. Tactical scan has a very fast recharge time and so can be used with every shot which is why Sabotage is avoided entirely because its use would just hamper Tactical Scan, that and the extra scan damage is nice. Tactical Scan also synergizes perfectly with the Widow’s natural cover piercing. Scan the target and headshot through a wall. Phantoms can be killed in a single shot; especially if the drill rounds are swapped out for phasic rounds (phasic rounds allow weapons to ignore shield gating). Keeping drill rounds provides for unparalleled kills through cover with a total of 4.35 meters (2.5m drill rounds, 0.5m widow, 1.35m piercing mod). Headshot damage becomes truly obscene when you add up the Widow’s base 250%, Tac Scan’s 25%, Marksman’s 25% and Quarian Defender’s 20% for a total of 320%.

Boss type enemies are also crushed by headshot damage but it does work a little differently from foot soldiers. Every boss has a weak spot that does 40% extra damage per shot which is turned into 110% by all 3 skills. Brutes

can be shot in the head, tough but doable. Banshees take extra damage when shot dead center in the chest. Ravagers don’t take extra damage from the eye but rather have a soft fleshy portion underneath, behind their front sac. Praetorian is under the beak. It will blow the lower armor plate off exposing the husk heads, you can then land a “headshot” to finish the beast. Scions can be hit in the head but the sac is also an option since doing so will debuff the Scion’s arm cannon and inflict immediate damage upon breaking. Geth Primes get shot in the head, Phantoms too. Atlases are kinda funny as their 40% weak point is the turbine in back but shooting dead center of the cockpit will cause the bullet to strike twice, doing double damage but not counting as a headshot and thus not applying the 70% damage bonuses the Quarian has going for him.

However, not every situation is best handled by a slow firing elephant gun and the lack of Tactical Cloak or grenades means a sidearm is essential and the Talon fills the role perfectly. When enemies get close and it becomes time to displace to a new sniper roost, the Talon hits hard, staggers, and does 50% extra damage to shields and barriers. The Talon’s two biggest drawbacks, magazine size and spread pattern, are solved by Marksman’s accuracy increase and instant reload. The Talon is the best for me but honestly, whatever light sidearm you’re good with works well. Aim to keep recharge between -10% and +10% to maintain a good recharge time on Tactical Scan for that reload canceling. A sidearm is also great for Phantoms as shooting them will make them dodge, giving you time to beat a retreat. Also, since the Phantom was shot there is a good chance she will seek cover for a few seconds and stay stationary. Perfect for Tactical Scan since all you need is a red box lock on, not necessarily a line of sight. Switch back to the Widow and headshot her through cover while she is stationary as a moving phantom only takes 25% damage from all sources.

N00b Rating:

4 – Not a particularly easy build to play and knowing when it’s time to pull a hasty retreat is essential. When stationary objectives happen, DO NOT perform them. Let your buddies upload data or whatever while you support them by staying out of the line of fire popping headshots. Being in the mix of things as a sniper without cloak will not only get you killed but all of the screen shaking will keep you from killing anything in return, making you worse than useless. Your buddies will have to waste time picking you up instead of shooting back.