Pyro-maniac – by Donald

Build Title: Pyro-maniac

Class: Human Engineer

Map Difficulty Rating: This build has the potential for Silver gameplay. Gold will require practice beforehand.

Power Evolutions:
Combat Drone: (4) Shields & Damage, (5) Shields & Damage, (6) Rockets
Incinerate: (4) Radius, (5) Burning Damage, (6) Armor Damage
Overload: (4) Damage, (5) Neural Shock
Alliance Training: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage
Fitness: (4) Durability

 

Weapons: 
I prefer the N7 Eagle but anything that keeps your recharge over 120% will work. On silver, having one gun will be fine, but on gold you might want to have a secondary SMG (Tempest or Hurricane) with “ultralight materials”. This build is better with a mod that allows you to shoot through cover (piercing mod is ideal).

 

Gear:
On silver, you will only need a Gear bonus, like Omni-capacitors, Expert package, or Engineering kit. But on gold bring pistol or smg weapon amp, with incendiary (best) or drills rounds. Cyclonic modulators will help on gold.

 

Strategy:
On bronze and silver this build willl be able to run around the map taking out foes left and right. First use incinerate on a target, and it will also effect nearby enemies.  Next afire off an overload on the same target, which will then set off a fire explosion.  Fire explosions do major damage to both shields and armor. This combo takes out low level troops in one blast, the blast is also an AoE and can stagger. Shoot the remaining troops or keep firing off explosions. On gold you may need to use your gun alot more though, because some low level troops tend to survive the blasts with a bar or so of health.  Use fire explosions and your gun to take out boss-types (atlases, dragoons, scions, etc.)  Be sure to keep a combat drone out, it can deaal out a good amount of damge, and it can distract the enemies. Be careful with this guy, even though he can dish out the damage, he can’t take it, so USE cover!

 

N00b Rating:
3.5 – Takes some getting used to the lack of shields and health.  Otherwise very easy to use and master.  Praetorians and phantoms are to be feared for their barriers, but with the right ammo, you can do it.  Banshees have barriers as well but if you can stay a good distance away, and fire off incinerate and overload when you can, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
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THAT Time of the Month – by CoreyImperia

Build Title: THAT Time of the Month

Class: Human Female Adept

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

Power Evolutions:
Singularity: (1), (2), (3)
Warp: (4) Detonate, (5) Expose, (6) Pierce
Shockwave: (4) Radius, (5) Detonate, (6) Recharge Speed
Alliance Training: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage
Fitness: (4) Melee Damage, (5) Martial Artist, (6) Weapon Synergy

 

Weapons:
You’ll want to take the N7 Hurricane with SMG Recoil Systems and High-Velocity Barrel and the Acolyte with Melee Stunner and High Caliber Barrel (Heavy Barrel if you have a high-leved Hurricane). You’ll be using the Acolyte constantly and falling back on the Hurricane for armored targets.

 

Gear:
In terms of gear: Incendiary, Warp or Armor-Piercing would be the way to go with this build. Incendiary primes Fire Explosions, Warp weakens armor and synergizes with biotics and Armor-Piercing deals extra damage to armor. Use Strength Enhancer for weapon bonus and Cyclonic Modulator for armor bonus. You could choose either Martial Biotic Amp for extra biotic damage and melee damage or Juggernaut Shield for extra melee damage and shields for your gear bonus.

 

Strategy:
All hail the mighty Human Female Melee Adept! This is one of the most unique and fun spins on the base human adept you could ever create, but by no means is it easy to use. Useable on Gold, this humble character uses the Human Adept Melee (which is really good) and biotics to draw things in, weaken them, knock them back and explode ‘em.
Leave Singularity at rank 3, while it is really good since the patch you are only using it to catch weaker enemies so you can keep your Melee Synergy going. Warp is a standard evolution; Detonate for stronger explosions, Expose for target weakening, and Pierce for boss damage. Shockwave is also pretty standard; Radius for a better chance to hit (because that extra 60cm is actually worth it), Detonate for incredible explosions and Recharge Speed for stagger spamming. You need full melee for the build’s Fitness. For the passive, take Damage & Capacity at Rank 4, this is to give faster recharge times since you’re carrying two weapons. Then more Power Damage.
You need to play this character in a certain way, as the difficulty rises her effectiveness lowers because melee is harder to pull off on Gold and very difficult on Platinum. You’ll find yourself using you melee up to wave six or seven and only against infantry (the except will be of course, Banshee’s or Primes on low armor). The thing that makes the Human Adept heavy melee awesome is that it does more damage against Shields, Barriers and Armour then Health, not many other characters can do that. Singularity is how you catch Abominations, Husks, Cannibals, Geth Troopers, Assault Troopers and Collector Troopers to begin your melee synergy. Your synergy enhances weapon damage, which we capitalize by using the Hurricane against bosses. Your Acolyte strips the shields of Maruaders, Collector Captains, Geth Hunters, Geth Rocket Troopers, Nemeses, Phantoms, Centurions and Combat Engineers so you can heavy melee them, or catch them with Singualrity and follow with Shockwave. Use Shockwave often to stagger enemies, its a lifeline and a comodity to the class.
Bosses require more… finesse. Heavy Melee attacks aren’t the best approach, even though yours does bonus damage, try to only use it as a finisher. Your explosions will get you through them (Warp and Shockwave). You can afford to finish Geth Pyros with heavy melee but avoid Ravagers in particular as their goo will shred you low shields and health. Brutes and Scions (and Ravagers) will succumb to explosions, but it is sometimes risky to use the heavy melee as a finisher. If you have a Weapon Synergy running, therefore the Hurricane should dispose of them quickly. The same goes for Altases, Primes, Banshees and Praetorians. You should be able to finish Banshees and Primes (as long as the Banshee is in its second stage (when it is throwing the warp-balls)) with heavy melee. Otherwise, stick with Hurricane and Explosions. Use the Acolyte to strip the Shields/Barriers first, then they should fall quickly.
This class is risky to say the least. Adepts often find themselves in close combat but this builds requires it at all times. She has Singularity to guard herself during objectives and can hold her own as long as you play carefully. She works well in teams of biotic users. The team can use explosions to stagger bigger enemies for her to finish off. You are very vulnerable, even with Cyclonics which at III bolster your shields to 1125 which is very low for Gold. You’re powerful, but fragile. So play it aggressive, but don’t throw yourself into the deep end without a exit strategy.

 

N00b Rating:
4.5 – Highly risky, and complicated. You need to know when to fight and when to flee, just because of your durability. You have weapons, biotics and melee to throw out at your enemies, it’s learning the right combination and when to use each. The risk factor increases when you play with randoms, and she works a lot better if worked into a team. Aside from that, she is an incredibly fun class to play, you can send Cannibals flying further than a Krogan Vanguard can!
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Jon Grissom Graduate – by Dax928

Build Title: Jon Frissom Graduate

Class: Human Sentinel

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

Power Evolutions:
Tech Armor: (4) Damage & Radius, (5) Power Damage
Warp: (4) Damage, (5) Expose, (6) Recharge Speed
Throw: (4) Force, (5) Detonate, (6) Force & Damage
Alliance Training: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Damage
Fitness: (1), (2), (3)

 

Weapons:
The Acolyte pistol; with Magazine Upgrade and Pistol Heavy Barrel (or High Caliber Barrel if you don’t have it). This’ll take out those pesky shields.

 

Gear:
Incendiary Rounds for Ammo, Pistol Rail Amp for Weapon, Cyclonic Modulator for Armor, and Thermal Clip Storage for Gear.

 

Strategy:
I like to label this class as defensive-aggressive. It has wonderful DPS, but at the same time makes no advances and relies on the enemy to make the first move due to its squishiness. To be as blunt as I can be, this class is a Phantom killer, and primarily used against Cerberus. The Acolyte rips off her shields with a direct hit and before she can even run for cover, a well-placed Throw can take her out in one hit. Now, someone can make the observation that you can do this with any class that has Throw, but with the Human Sentinel you can also take out armor faster than normal with Biotic Explosions from Warp-Throw combinations which gives you good damage against Armor (along with Shields/Barriers from the Acolyte). For example, after taking out its Shields in 4 or 5 shots from the Acolyte, combined with the decent bonus of Power Damage from Tech Armor, you can kill Atlases within a minute or two, let alone the spare seconds you get from making it stumble with Throws. Now I realize the overall appeal of Tech Armor is somewhat lacking and with this strategy you generally stay in cover. So now the question is why even have Tech Armor then? Now my opinion may differ from most on this, but the recharge penalty isn’t that bad, and the Power Damage buff helps a lot, especially with taking out that sliver of health the Phantom have after most Throws. And the 30% Damage Resist DOES help on the off chance you are hit by infantry or Atlas missiles, saving you a modest amount of Health/Shields. While I generally have no use for the Tech Burst from the armor, I have had the occasional situation where it saved my butt from proper timing. On the topic of weapon choice, I realize the Acolyte is a bit of an awkward gun to get used to, but once you do it’s ridiculously effective at taking shield and giving your powers a chance to cause plenty of chaos. Works fairly well against most infantry as well should you find yourself in a tight spot. Although, should those tight situations involve Dragoons, do as many Biotic Explosions as you can. Or to simply get some breathing room, use Throw to stumble them. As a final comment, this class (while powerful in its own right) is in NO WAY meant for soloing Gold. It can be taken down VERY quickly should you be under fire. You rely on either others drawing aggro (excuse my terminology) or constant evasion. Soloing Silver IS attainable, but rather hard from my experience.

 

N00b Rating:
3 - It is very well-rounded against all enemies and cover is not ENTIRELY a necessity if you are a fair dodger, but one you get hit you definitely will feel it due to this classes squishiness. That’s why you hit first and hit hard, whether you rip Shields/Barriers or tear off Armor with ease. And the Acolyte is a bit of a pain to get used to, but well worth it.
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Hit and Run Shadow – by ARMAVQUE

Build Title:
Hit and Run Shadow – by ARMAVQUE

Class:
N7 Shadow Infiltrator

Power Evolutions:

Tactical Cloak: Duration (4), Melee (5), Bonus Power (6)
Electrical Slash: Damage (4), Detonate (This is quite optional though, both work in given situations. (This will be explained later)) (5), Damage (6)
Shadow Strike: Damage (4), Electrical Damage (5), Shield Drain (6)
N7 Shadow: Damage and Capacity (4), Power Damage (5), N/A (6)
Fitness: Take the first three ranks only

Weapons:
For this build, really anything moderately lightweight will work. I prefer the Carnifex, but It really comes down to personal preference. You will not use your weapon very often so it really should be that much of a worry.

Gear:
For gear something along the lines of an omni-capacitor or really anything that can provide power, tech or recharge speed. But this really come down to personal preference as you can tweak it to fit the way you want to use the build.

Strategy:

This is mainly a two step build, and those two steps are quite interchangeable. The first step is using your shadow strike. Find and enemy, and also find an escape route near the enemy so you can retreat to a safe distance. Use tactical cloak so you will remain hidden and so you can get a damage boost, and then use shadow strike on your unsuspecting target. Because you have bonus power, you will remained cloaked after you strike. This will create a dichotomy that leads into step two. From here, you need to make the judgement as to: A) If it is safe to uncloak, make another shadow strike on a same of different target to do some extra damage (this would uncloak and leave you vulnerable however). OR B) use what’s left of your cloak to retreat to a safe and reasonable distance away from your target or other enemies and then use electrical slash to detonate and get extra damage on you prey. This will result in high amounts of damage for single targets, if you apply good judgement and can make the right call as to when it is time to retreat and get yourself out of danger. This above strategy will really only be effective however when you can judge and predict a proper escape route to return to a safe distance, if this is not, however, an option, this class still has some utility. This is where the Spec 5 power of Electrical Slash comes into play. If things are getting hectic and you don’t think a Shadow strike would be viable at the time, then having shadow strike spec’d for recharge speed would be quite advantageous as you would be able to spam it in a pinch and keep enemies at bay in things such as doorways or choke points. However, should you choose detonate, then this will make electrical slash far more effective at detonating enemies set up by shadow strike, or at detonating enemies set up by team mates (if you friends are good teams players). This leaves of spec #5 of electrical slash wholly up to you as it can fit in well with different styles and points of play. Just remember that because this build lacks high ranks of fitness, extra caution should be utilized as playing stupid and getting yourself killed in the midst of a clump of enemies is doing more harm than good. But keep principles of good judgement in mind and this class can deal thousands of points of damage in one fell sweep

N00b Rating: (scale 1-5, 1 is easy for everybody!)
3. While having tactical cloak spec’d for bonus power definitely gives you a better chance of escaping a sticky situation, you are still quite flimsy and are potentially going to be putting yourself in some risky scenarios. While this build definitely gets the job done on nearly any gold game, it is not for the faint of heart or those new to the Mass effect multiplayer scene. Bad judgement and not knowing when to fall back will land you and easy loss and will make you a burden for your team. However, if you make the right calls and strike when you calculate the odds, you will be a damage dealing machine that one a single enemy, has the potential to rack up thousands upon thousands of point of damage in a matter of seconds.

Appearance: Everything Black, all the time.

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Human Freight Train – by Shapowza

Build Title: Human Freight Train

Class: Human Soldier

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

Power Evolutions:
Adrenaline Rush: (4) Hardening, (5) Duration, (6) Shield Boost
Concussive Shot: N/A
Frag Grenades: Damage (4), Max Grenades (5), Armour Damage (6)
Alliance Training: (4) Weapon Damage, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Damage
Fitness: (4) Durability, (5) Shield Recharge, (6) Fitness Expert

 

Weapons:
N7 Typhoon (or a similar high-capacity weapon like the revenant). Secondaries are not necessary, but can be useful if you find yourself away for ammo crates all too often.

Gear:
The War Fighter package works well here, but Thermal Clip capacity is useful because of the typhoons high rate of fire.

 

Strategy:
This soldier-build dishes out a surprising amount of damage and although not being a Destroyer, it is very capable weapons build for Gold runs. The main strategy here is relatively simple, but there are some finer points to understand regarding the choice of powers and the human soldier in general.
Firstly, this is a machine gun class, meaning that its main source of damage will be its weapon. It is based on the underestimated Human Soldier, and can also be built with the Battlefield 3 Soldier. I’ve chosen the N7 Typhoon as the primary because of its high damage, rate of fire and slight penetration capability, which helps to deal with enemies hiding from your sightline, taking down armoured units and dealing with Guardians. You will find a secondary redundant here, as frequent trips to ammo crates are necessary for your frag grenades too.
Adrenaline rush is speced out to make the soldier very durable, and to give a very strong damage bonus to weapon and power damage. An often underused part of the ability is that as it is activated, your entire magazine will be replenished. The N7 Typhoon benefits greatly from this, and enables you to send a continuous hail of bullets down range. The typhoons major drawback it’s wind up time, which resets when you go in and out of cover. Having the added toughness of adrenaline rush active reduces the need for cover and lets you continue to deal damage to the current wave. This toughness can also help in the revival of squadmates.
Frag grenades will soon become your best friend, sometimes eclipsing the capabilities of the Typhoon. When armour is around, these grenades can easily do more than 1500 points of damage to hard targets, helping your squad bring down Primes, Brutes, Ravagers, Scions, Praetorians, Banshees and Atlases much more quickly. Since you have 5 of these, frequent trips to ammo boxes and thermal clip packs become necessary for their sustained use. They can also be used for room clearing.
The rest of the build is pretty standard, with weapon damage, power damage for your grenade damage and shields to keep that Typhoon shooting. I’ve used this class many times before, and it has never let me down. I was surprised at the power a human soldier could exert, and how hard to kill he/she is. The combat roll that humans have isn’t bad either ;)
I highly recommend using this build, and hope you enjoy mowing down everything in your paths.

 

N00b Rating:
3.5 – With only a few skills to master, this build is relatively easy to use effectively

 

Edits by CoreyImperia

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