Category Archives: Human Vanguard

Shockguard – by murphlittle

Posted on by
Reply

Build Title: Shockguard

Class: Human Vanguard

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

Power Evolutions:
Biotic Charge: (4) Radius, (5) Power Synergy, (6) Barrier
Shockwave: (4) Radius, (5) Reach, (6) Recharge Time
Nova: N/A
Alliance Training: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Weight*
Fitness: (4) Melee Damage, (5) Shield Recharge, (6) Fitness Expert

 

*Weapon Weight can be substituted for Weapon Damage if one has a high level weapons that this build can use (see below). This is only if your weapon offers the 200% Recharge Speed.

 

Weapons:
This class only needs one down-range weapon light enough to maintain a 200% recharge rate. The Avenger X, Carnifex X, a weight reduced Paladin X, and any higher quality SMG X’s with ultra-light materials make excellent choices. You will barely need to fire rounds in this class build anyway. If applicable, it is smart to give your weapon a melee modification (Assault Rifle Omni-Blade, Pistol Melee Stunner). It will help the attack after charging an enemy.

 

Gear:
The suggested permanent gear for this build is the Commando Pack or the Martial Biotic Amp. The Commando Pack is for the pistol enthusiast, and the Martial Biotic Amp is helpful in tight situations requiring a hand to hand approach. All other gear: do as you see fit.

 

Strategy:
First, make friends with a biotic that can set up biotic explosions, an Asari Double Bubble or Ardat-Yakshi builds are preferred (this are both Asari Justicar Adept builds listed on the site! Check ‘em out). Second, stay in cover. This is a mostly stationary build created for spamming one move continuously in Gold and Platinum matches. Work in tandem with a biotic partner, both of you going quickly into cover after your move is finished. Only shoot when it is safe or when you have an absolute need to fire your weapon. Third, spam shockwave. Shockwave goes through walls and barriers, allowing you to perform long range crowd control. Fire shockwave into funnel points where enemies must travel to get to you. It does not matter if you see an enemy or not, spam shockwave at the funnel points. You will have multiple kills each match from enemies that you did not even see. Make sure your partner is diligent setting up biotic explosions— it will make your life a lot easier, and in this case a lot longer.
During the objective missions that require movement you are most vulnerable, but that does not mean you should stop shockwaving. Use shockwave to check around every corner before you turn it. If you hear the familiar punching sound, find cover and use caution before attacking the enemy or enemies in the corridor. Be a smart player, not a dead player. If the path is open, then use shockwave on the enemies behind you to stagger their pursuit.
The biotic charge is what separates this build from the other shockwave classes. You are still able to survive if caught out in the open. There are three scenarios of surviving being caught in the open. Against solo enemies use this combo: Charge-Melee-Headshot. The charge and melee will take out most opponents’ shields while also staggering them, leaving you the chance to reel off a sweet shot that leaves your enemy headless. Your heightened melee will help with this combo, but it will leave you less durable. Against multiple enemies: Charge- Roll (to your closest escape route to take cover)- Shockwave until they all die or you are forced to flee. Against an overwhelming cacophonous mass of blood-letting, evil- loving enemies: Run. Yes, run. Charge any straggling enemies along the way, not to kill them, but to keep your barriers up. Find the first safe cover, preferably by a teammate, and start using shockwave again.

 

N00b Rating:
1.5 - The only reason why I add the .5 is that your finger might get tired from pressing the same button over and over again.

 

Edits by CoreyImperia

GD Star Rating
loading...
Share

Duraguard – by murphlittle

Posted on by
Reply

Build Title: Duraguard

Class: Human Vanguard

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

Power Evolutions:
Biotic Charge: (4) Force & Damage*, (5) Power Synergy, (6) Barrier
Shockwave: N/A
Nova: (4) Force & Damage, (5) Half-Blast, (6) Pierce
Alliance Training: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Weight
Fitness: (4) Durability, (5) Shield Recharge, (6) Fitness Expert

 

*Take Force & Damage rather than Radius, because the forceful charge generally stuns a phantom in gold, giving you time to work into combos safely after hitting one. You will also hit Brutes, Atlases, and Ravagers with a little more strength, which might seem incremental, but increments keep you alive in gold matches. Also, a nova’s original radius is more than enough crowd control in close corridors where you should be playing Gold.

 

Weapons:
This build relies on using two weapons (heavy and light) to allow this vanguard to keep distance before he/she charges. The cool down time required is +180%, but +190% is preferred. The light weapon will generally be an SMG. The M-25 Hornet, N7 Hurricane, or Geth Plamsa SMG’s offer different types of long range fire dependent on playing style, but each are effective options. The M-25 Hornet and N7 Hurricane lack accuracy, so put SMG Recoil Systems on them as well as High Velocity Barrel or Ultralight Materials. The Geth Plasma SMG allows for continuous fire, so put a Heat Sink on it—a level V heat sink sometimes allows you to get off 200 rounds before depleting the clip.
The second weapon choice is a heavy pistol. The M-6 Carnifex, M-77 Paladin, and M-358 Talon give you different options of play. The M-77 Paladin seems like the all out better choice than the M-6 Carnifex, especially if the gods have decided to bestow you the raw awesome that is the Paladin X, but a Carnifex X will carry more rounds than the Paladin and will not require Ultralight Materials, so beware of these considerations. The M-358 Talon will allow a light shotgun style of play, but if you imbue it with Ultralight Materials, you will have an ultra-light shotgun. On each of these pistols place a High Caliber Barrel. Put Ultralight Materials on the Paladin and Talon, and Extended Barrel on the Carnifex.

 

Gear:
The suggested permanent gear for this build is the Shield Booster V to continue the theme of durability, giving 150 additional shields. Other equipment bonuses for Gold: weapon bonus, your preferred primary weapon; ammo bonus, enemy specific; armor bonus, Shield Power Cells.

 

Strategy:
This build provides a half-blast Nova-guard that is a team player in gold matches when mobility is key. It relies on versatility, not raw power, to support team mates and is best used for situational, hard-hitting crowd control. If you charge all the time, you will eventually die. And you are no good to your team dead. This is not an attack against your vanguard pride; it’s the truth.
Start each round in cover close to other teammates, using your weapons to kill or weaken enemies. As enemies approach closer, use nova or charge to suppress the advance. Nova goes through walls and barriers, so you can easily use it to press back advancing troops while still maintaining a safe position. A good combo to use with this style is Nova (from behind the wall)- Charge- Roll- Nova- Roll toward your original protected position, to start picking enemies with your guns again. If you have good team synergy, you will only have to expose yourself a few times in the early rounds with this strategy. Progressively, this combo will be used all the more often in later rounds—until the time you have to abandon it all together and wreak havoc! Yes, in gold matches it is easy to be overrun, and it is a good thing that hard-hitting crowd control is your specialty. Use the initial nova from behind your wall or barrier to start this continuous combo: Charge- Roll- Nova- Roll- Nova cancel- Roll- back to Charge. It is important to not become separated from your teammates during your raw display of godlike power. Once you have overwhelmed the overwhelming forces with your biotic wrath, go seek shelter by your teammates and start shooting crap again.
Mobile objectives will be your time to shine. You have the ability to reach some objectives faster than other teammates due to your light-speed biotic charge, but when you charge make sure you don’t ineptly find your way in a trap, surrounded by enemies. Use your biotic abilities slightly in front of the group, allowing the team to pick off weakened enemies. (This does put you in some hazard however. Every Vanguard has been prepared to restore their barrier at the expense of some poor Geth trooper, only to have that trooper blown to bits by their teammate, leaving the vanguard (with no barrier) to be slapped around by the Geth Prime. My advice is to charge enemies unlikely to be attacked by your teammates, or sometimes just going after the Prime itself—at least there will be something solid to hit on the other side.) Use this strategy to march to the objective, and you should be fine. One of the great aspects of this build is its effectiveness as a mobile unit, when your team has to be mobile. Many of your other teammates will be stationary builds, and will love your ability to punish enemies on the go.

 

N00b Rating:
3.14159 – Easy as Pi. Not the delicious pastry, but yes, the mathematical formula. It’s not that hard, but it takes hard work and the right formula of play to make this build work most effectively.

 

Edits by CoreyImperia

GD Star Rating
loading...
Share

Full Nova – by Achire

Posted on by
Reply

Build Title: 
Full Nova – by Achire

Class:
Human Vanguard

Power Evolutions:
Biotic Charge: Radius (4), Power Synergy (5), Barrier (6)                                    Shockwave: N/A
Nova: Force & Damage (4), Power Recharge (5), Pierce (6)                                      Alliance Training: Damage & Capacity (4), Power Damage (5), Weapon Weight (6)
Fitness: Durability (4), Shield Recharge (5), Fitness Expert (6)

Weapons:
The Full Nova build is more sensitive to weapon weight than the Half-Blast build. You need to be able to Charge again immediately after you Nova lands to stay alive. This requires a high base cool down rate, preferably close to +200%. Heavy Pistols such as Phalanx or Carnifex X or light shotguns such as Eviscerator X (Wraith or Talon if high level) are recommended. Shield Power Cell equipment significantly speed up shield recharge, which will allow you to spam Nova even more.

Gear: N/A

Strategy:                                                                                                                               The cornerstone of the Full Nova build is the Power Recharge evolution of Nova. It gives you +25% recharge rate for all powers for 15 seconds. The beauty of this spec is that the power recharge bonus stacks with itself: if you use Nova multiple times within 15 seconds, you gain +50% or more recharge on your Biotic Charge. The other essential feature of the Power Recharge evolution is that it actually allows you to recharge faster than the soft limit of +200% power recharge. The gist of the build is to keep spamming Nova at all times to keep your Biotic Charge cooldown short. Because your Nova does the full damage, it hits quite hard and you do significantly more damage than when using a Half-Blast build.

N00b Rating: 
4. Human Vanguard is not an easy class to play on Gold. The Full Nova build is even more difficult. It is, however, devastating when played right.

GD Star Rating
loading...
Share

Knuckles McCoy – by The Marshall

Posted on by
3

Build Title:
Knuckles McCoy – by The Marshall

Class:
Human Vanguard

Power Evolutions:
Biotic Charge: Radius (4), Power Synergy (5), Barrier (6)
Shockwave: N/A
Nova: Radius (4), Power Recharge (5), Sustain (6)
Alliance Training: Damage & Capacity (4), Power Damage (5), Weapon Weight (6)
Fitness: Melee Damage (4), Martial Artist (5), Fitness Expert (6)

Weapons:
Classic Sidearms
Predator [High-Caliber Barrel & Extended Mag]
Tempest [Heat Sink & Extended Mag]
Rapid Burn
Predator [High-Caliber Barrel & Piercing]
Tempest [High-Caliber Barrel & Extended Mag]
Pistol Whip
Predator [Melee Stunner & Extended Mag]
Tempest [High-Caliber Barrel & Extended Mag]

*Note: The above are preferrable, assuming both the Tempest and Predator levels X are owned, which would allow for precisely +200% cooldown while still packing significant backup firepower. If you possess lower levels of these weapons, I recommend choosing only the Tempest, as every fraction of a second shaved off your cooldowns counts.

Strategy:

The short and ugly version:
Charge->Roll->Nova->Roll->Repeat with heavy melee sprinkled in where tactically sound. Your Charge and Nova are built for minimal safety but maximum power and crowd control, so keep moving and try to end on a charge to keep your Barrier full.

The full version:
To start, what follows is the heart of this build, but by no means should it be endlessly repeated as-is. Charge an enemy, (unless it is a Banshee or the front of an Atlas mech.) Roll to the side the instant you connect. (Important! Always roll to the side and never backward, as the back-roll has a severe delay at the end of its animation which leaves you vulnerable to harm.) Use the roll to position/turn yourself as to acquire a target for the next charge. As you roll to your feet, Nova immediately, again using the Nova’s jump animation to position/turn yourself for your next charge. The instant your fist connects with the ground and the Nova blast goes off, roll to either side again, and as you roll to your feet this second time, your charge will have already cooled down; make use of this by immediately charging your next target and continuing the cycle.

Oftentimes, you will be charging an enemy that you know will survive both the Charge and the Nova. This is where the knuckles come in. Once you’ve launched your Charge, while flying toward your target, hold the Melee button. This eliminates all delay and causes you to immediately perform a heavy Melee attack following the Charge impact. This works best on enemies which are large/heavy/shielded, as you are guaranteed that the Charge will not launch them away from your punch, but merely stagger them. It is also often wise to break up your acrobatic Charge/Nova onslaught with a Charge->HeavyMelee like this to finish off a straggler, as it will trigger/maintain your Martial Artist ability, much like a Human equivalent of the Krogan’s Blood Rage. Just remember not to Nova->HeavyMelee, as you are NOT invulnerable during your lengthy Heavy Melee animation, and this will almost guarantee that your sliver of a barrier will be shattered while you’re busy punching, along with a good chunk of health.

There are a few enemy-specific tactics worth mentioning. In the case of Cerberus Guardians; Charge the Guardian until he does not just stagger backward, but completely loses his balance, dropping his shield to his side for a moment, at which point you open fire, point-blank, into him with which ever weapon you have. (I find it very easy to quickly walk full-auto Tempest fire into an exposed Guardian’s face and maintain it in order to kill him in a single usage of this method.) In the case of Cerberus Phantoms, I find Charge->Nova->HeavyMelee instantly kills a Phantom on Bronze and sometimes Silver, but also ensures she is safely staggered if she survives, at which point you are likely able to Charge again immediately. Reaper Ravagers can not only be easily torn down by a few vollies of the Charge/Nova onslaught, but also provide the bonus of those Nova usages killing most everything nearby, and leaving behind Swarmers, which are viable targets for charge and can be a life-saving source of an instant Barrier recharge, particularly considering you will likely be standing in the ooze of the recently slain Ravager. In the case of Geth Pyros, especially those accompanying a Prime unit, make sure to Charge->HeavyMelee, as rarely will a Charge alone stun a Pyro, and sometimes, particularly on Silver/Gold, not even a Nova will make them flinch, and when this happens, the fire they pour onto your weakened barrier, combined likely with the staggering effect of a Prime’s cannon, will almost guarantee your doom.

Tip for console players:
Hold the controller differently to maximize your mobility. Instead of resting your right index finger over the R1/RB button, hook it toward you so that the inner side of your finger presses the Triangle/Y button and, when need be, the Circle/A button. Use your right middle finger to press the R2/RT button. This way, the motion normally used for pulling the trigger of your gun is now used for charging and melee attacking, and if possible, dodging/navigating cover, all whilst still being able to look around. Also, turning your camera sensitivity up to high will allow you to turn more quickly to face threats behind you, even while dodge rolling/nova jumping.

N00b Rating: (scale 1-5, 1 is easy for everybody!)
3. Vastly more dangerous than most Human Vanguard builds, sacrificing durability for significant melee potency and consistently devastating, wide-area Novas. One can use this build competently without a great deal of practice, but it requires constant effort and extremely quick thinking to survive reliably while focusing your firepower where it is needed.

Appearance:
Primer Coat [B16 B16 C16 3:B16 B4]
Steel and Leather [A16 C6 A18 2:B16 B4]

-edits by Lucien Midnight

GD Star Rating
loading...
Share

A.B.C. Vanguard – by Achire

Posted on by
9

Build Title:
A.B.C. Vanguard – by Achire

Class:
Human Vanguard

Power Evolutions:
Biotic Charge: Radius (4), Power Synergy (5), Barrier (6)
Shockwave: N/A
Nova: Force & Damage (4), Half-blast (5), Pierce (6)
Alliance Training: Damage & Capacity (4), Power Damage (5), Weapon Weight (6)
Fitness: Durability (4), Shield Recharge (5), Fitness Expert (6)

Skill Breakdown:
Biotic Charge
Radius (4). Radius allows you to stagger multiple enemies, which gives you some breathing room. Damage allows you to stagger Phantoms with charge on Gold, but it’s unreliable and does get you grabbed every so often.
Power Synergy (5). As a Human Vanguard, most of your damage will come from powers.
Barrier (6). Absolute must for every build. Full shield recharge keeps you alive and allows you to do more damage with Nova.

Nova
Damage (4). The radius of Nova is large enough to begin with.
Half-blast (5). Half-blast allows you to Nova twice for increased invulnerability frames, and is easier to play. The power recharge bonus of full Nova stacks with itself, and that build is perfectly viable on Gold as well. In this playstyle you need to spam Nova at all times to keep your power recharge up. The Full Nova playstyle is more difficult than the typical Half-Blast style, and if you can utilize it on Gold you certainly don’t need this build/guide for anything.
Pierce (6). This allows you to do good damage to shields, barrier and armor with Nova. On Gold the damage is relatively lower and it takes time to solo Geth Primes, but it’s still ok.

Alliance Training
Weapon Weight (6) or Weapon Damage (6). As a Vanguard, your main weapon is either a Shotgun or a Heavy Pistol. If you use a Shotgun, you need the weight reduction to get a higher power recharge rate. If you use a Heavy Pistol such as Carnifex X, you will have +200% recharge anyway. Thus you might as well put your points into more damage.

Weapons:
Weapons are not the main source of damage for a Human Vanguard. They are useful for things such as killing Guardians (charge to stagger the shield, then headshot or use AP ammo/mod to headshot from afar), softening up Turrets before charging (Gold only, on Silver you can just charge), finishing off enemies when you don’t feel safe to use Nova, and damaging Banshees when there is nothing else to kill.

Thus the most important thing about weapons is having a high recharge rate. +200% recharge is by no means required, but will make your life easier. Heavy Pistols such as Phalanx (on Silver) or Carnifex X (Gold) are a good choice. Light shotguns such as Eviscerator X or simply the starting shotgun Katana X are also good. Disciple X and Scimitar X are not suggested for Gold. For lighter shotguns it is a good idea to use an armor piercing mod or armor piercing ammo to avoid the armor damage penalty (50 damage lost per pellet on Gold!). Heavy Shotguns such as the Claymore X more or less require the use of Power Efficiency III equipment or the Full Nova build, and are best left to advanced players.

Basic Gameplay:
HOST THE GAME! There is a nasty bug in the ME3 multiplayer that gets you stuck in the level geometry for the whole duration of the match. It mostly only affects Vanguards. The bug can be completely avoided by hosting the game yourself. Hosting the game also allows you to perfect the timing of Charge and Nova.

Vanguards stay alive by utilizing invulnerability frames. During the animation of Charge and Nova, you are invulnerable. You will not take any damage from enemies (unless grabbed or staggered). The core tactic of playing a Human Vanguard is to maximize your invulnerability frames while dealing damage. This can be achieved by using two buttons: 1 (Charge) and 3 (Nova).

Start off by charging an enemy, then use Nova. After the first Nova hits, Half-Blast allows you to use Nova again for more invulnerability frames. After the second Nova hits, your Charge cooldown is over and you can Charge again to restore full shields and repeat. Charge, Nova, Nova, repeat. It’s easy! Try it out on Bronze or Silver, and you can solo everything just with the careful use of these two abilities.

Notes on Nova. You can move and turn while casting Nova. Always move during Nova, and make sure you have a new target lined up to charge when your second Nova hits and you are out of shields. Never just stand there in the face of grab attack enemies such as Phantoms, Atlases or Brutes while casting Nova; move away from them (backwards) during the Nova animation.

Nova canceling. You can cancel the Nova animation by rolling to the side (or forward). This allows you to gain the invulnerability frames of Nova without using up shields. This is useful when you are being shot at from afar and you need to reach cover, or if you don’t have enough shields to do two Novas before the Charge cooldown is over. It’s always a good idea to cancel out of the second Nova if there is nothing near to hit.

Quick run-down on enemies:
Grab attack enemies: Atlas, Phantom, Brute. It has been confirmed by developers that all these enemies will do a normal melee attack before using the instant kill grab attack. Therefore it is essential to pay attention to what was the last attack animation of these enemies if you charge them head on. In the case of Atlases, they can be soloed even on Gold by simply by waiting for them to shoot at you after they do a melee attack, and then charging. Phantoms are much more difficult, and can instantly grab you straight from a charge that staggers them if their last animation was a melee attack. According to Zenning, the cart-wheel dodge counts as a melee attack for this purpose. All grab attack enemies but the Banshee are completely safe to charge as long as they are concentrating on someone else.

Banshees: Do not charge banshees. Kill the ravagers, let Adepts take care of Banshees. If there is nothing else nearby to kill, use Nova to set off explosions/tech bursts on the Banshee and shoot with your gun. The banshee grab attack can be interrupted with biotic explosions. If you are in a good team with multiple biotics, you can safely charge banshees since the explosions will save you from the grab.

Turrets: Bronze/Silver. Charge, Nova twice while moving around it. Repeat. If you get low on shields, use Nova cancel instead of Nova. On Gold, Turrets can kill you much faster, and it’s usually a good idea to soften them up from afar before charging in.

Strategy:
On Bronze (and Silver to a lesser degree), many Vanguards learn bad habits such as charging Banshees or charging half across the map and dying alone. This is not a winning strategy on Gold. Charge and Nova damage drop off considerably on Gold, and simply soloing a Geth Prime will take a while. Vanguards are Team Players on Gold. Your main job is protecting the team by tanking the enemies, and setting off biotic explosions and tech bursts. You are not John Rambo; protect the damn team.

Vanguards excel at killing trash mobs. They are not that good at killing big enemies such as Atlases, Primes or especially Banshees (unless you are setting off biotic explosions). Usually you should concentrate on killing nearby trash shooting at your team instead of the big enemies. Infiltrators and Adepts can easily take care of those. Ravagers in range of your team are your top priority. It’s easy to take out multiple Ravagers even on Gold, and when they’re shooting at you they’re not killing your friends.

Ideally you tank all the enemies in a position slightly ahead of your team. Vanguards are great for Hacking objectives or FB: White farming. In reality enemies will almost always come from multiple directions, so you absolutely need to watch the flanks and what the rest of your team is doing and who’s shooting at them. In well-coordinated teams with biotics you can charge slightly ahead of the team and keep moving forward while biotic explosions kill everything. Really fun with friends, but does not often happen with random people.

Team synergy:
Human Vanguards can solo Bronze and Silver fairly easily. On Gold, your damage output drops off significantly (compared to enemy HP). You need help from the team to kill stuff. You are there to help THEM kill stuff. Vanguards excel at setting off combos. Charge and Nova can set off every type of combo in the game. Vanguards play really well together with biotics and engineers.

The idea is simple: your team mates set up the combo by using a biotic ability such as warp or reave, or with a tech ability such as overload. As a vanguard, you charge or Nova the enemy affected by the biotic/tech ability. This sets off the combo, and does good AOE damage to nearby enemies. Drell Adepts or Asari Justicar Adepts are the best possible team mates for a Vanguard. They can use (Area) Reave to affect every enemy within a 3 meter radius. As a vanguard, you can use Nova to make every one of the affected enemies explode. This allows you to clear a whole room in seconds.

Closing words:
As a Vanguard, you’re expected to be able to tank most enemies in the game without dying. The simplest way to practice this is by making a private game and soloing on your main difficulty (Bronze, Silver or Gold). It might seem like a sink or swim type of thing, but you will learn how to use Charge and Nova to survive very quickly.

In the words of the great Alec Baldwin: “A B C. Always. Be. Charging. You know what it takes to play a Vanguard on Gold? It takes brass balls to play a Vanguard on Gold.”

Noob rating: (scale 1-5, 1 is easy for everybody!)
3. Human Vanguard is a power class that does not require good weapons on Silver. However the real test of skill is Gold, and it requires a completely different, more defensive playstyle. Many Human Vanguards are unable to make the jump to Gold.

-edits by Lucien Midnight

GD Star Rating
loading...
Share