Hawkeye – by JayneCobb88

Posted on May 5, 2013 by CoreyImperia

Build Title: Hawkeye

Class: Talon Mercenary

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

Power Evolutions:

Cain Trip Mine: (4) Damage, (5) Armor Damage, (6) Damage

Concussive Arrow: N/A

Armor-Piercing Arrows: (4) Damage, (5) Armor Damage, (6) Arrow Count

Elite Mercenary: (4) Power Damage, (5) Power Damage, (6) Power Regeneration

Fitness: (4) Omni-Bow Damage, (5) Shield Recharge, (6) Omni-Bow Damage

Weapons:

Primary: Acolyte with Melee Stunner and Power Magnifier

Secondary: A shotgun with Omni-Blade and High Caliber Barrel

Gear:

There’s a huge game play choice to be made here. Take Grenade Capacity or Shocktrooper for the ability to spam Cain Trip Mine on bosses. Use Geth Scanner to place Trip Mines more tactically on the fly. Hydraulic Joints or Juggernaut Shield allow you to one shot Dragoons using Armor-Piercing Arrows. Stronghold Package in conjunction with Shield Power cells can greatly increase survivability.

If a weapon enhancement is used, equip Strength Enhancers.

Strategy:

The Talon Merc has been greatly improved since being rebalanced. His heavy melee is now just as fast as his light melee, Killing Spree (5) is no longer a necessity for a melee build, AP Arrows now get 3 arrows per quiver, his grenade regeneration time has been cut by more than half and shooting his bow from left handed cover no longer has such serious hit detection issues. With all that being said, we simply must play him as a melee character since he’s just so unique.

Cain Trip Mine – It’s your crowd control and defensive ability. Instead of using it to destroy enemies coming straight at you I recommend using your limit of 3 mines to fortify a piece of terrain. Place the mines so their beams cross hallways, doorways, ramps, ladders and any other choke points that provide access to where you are. A single mine will kill ANY foot soldier, warn you of approaching enemies and give you the opportunity to replace the mine. Eventually you’ll be overrun. Simply fall back through the unexploded mines and head for another location you can fortify. Enemies will hit the rest of your mines as they pursue you, providing you with enough time to set up the next deathtrap. Another effective way to employ Trip Mines is to shoot them in the path of or at the feet of bosses. Wait for the 3 second arm time and BOOM or keep on shooting more than 3 mines. Deploying more than 3 mines at a time will cause your mines to start exploding one at a time, starting with the oldest.

Concussive Arrow – While it is great fun to launch enemies out of the map with a single shot, ultimately this ability is a gimmick. Armor-Piercing Arrows will kill infantry just the same while weakening armor and doing WAY more damage to bosses.

Armor-Piercing Arrows – Your bread and butter. Always refresh your stock of arrows at the beginning of a wave. Don’t forget that shooting an armored target lowers its damage reduction by 50%. With an Omni-Blade equipped, both melee damage and AP arrow damage is increased by 50%, allowing Hawkeye to one shot nearly any mook. But the heavy melee still takes a second to employ and at close range we need a way to buy that time. The Disciple will stagger anything but the biggest boss, fires quickly, has respectable damage, is the lightest shotgun and is decently accurate. Attaching the High Caliber Barrel increases the likelihood of the Disciple staggering its target. The Acolyte adds 25% melee damage, buffs power damage, is super light, trashes boss shielding and stuns infantry while stripping their protection, which sets them up for a one shot follow up from the AP arrow enhanced Omni-Bow. AP arrows’ one shortfall is they don’t penetrate cover making Guardians a bit of a pain. Counter this with either level 1 AP Rounds, level 1 Drill Rounds, cryo ammo and aim for the feet or lure the slow moving enemy into a trip mine.

Elite Mercenary – Hawkeye dishes out his damage mostly with his powers so focus on Power Damage. Maintaining a light weapons load and taking Power Regeneration (6) permits a very fast 17 second grenade recharge. That’s 1 AP arrow every 6 seconds. This makes his grenade supply nearly endless, without taking trips to ammo boxes. The biggest tactical edge this gives Hawkeye is his ability to strongpoint anywhere on any map. Freed of the need to tether himself to an ammo box or run wildly about the map bouncing from box to box, Hawkeye can focus on setting up and maintaining his defensive perimeter. This increases his survivability immensely.

Fitness – Omni-Bow Damage is a no brainer but be sure to skip Killing Spree. You’ll still one shot mooks with the Omni-bow and anything bigger is going to take 2 or 3 shots anyhow. Shield Recharge reduces the recharge time to almost 3 seconds which is the time it takes for the shield gate to reactivate. Other than trip mines, the shield gate mechanic is your biggest defense but it requires at least 1 point of shields to work so getting that gate back up sooner is far better than 25% additive damage that amounts to nothing.

N00b Rating:

3 – He’s very easy to use because there is no need to think about power combos. But he’s hard to use because he is pretty squishy. But then he stands up pretty well when he remains in cover and Trip Mines are used as a defense instead of an offense. Just know where some good strongpoint locations are on every map.

GD Star Rating
loading...

Master of Misdirection by WadeVox

Posted on April 5, 2013 by CoreyImperia

Build Title: Master of Misdirection by WadeVox

Class: Volus Mercenary Sentinel

Map Difficulty Rating: This build has the potential for Gold gameplay (Collectors can be tough because Decoy doesn’t confuse melee-based targets)

Power Evolutions:

Decoy: (4) Durability, (5) Shock, (6) Exploding Decoy

Combat Drone: (4) Detonate, (5) Shock, (6) Chain Lightning

Shield Boost: (4) Shields, (5) Recharge Speed, (6) Protection

Volus Training*: (4) Damage and Capacity, (5) Power Damage

Fitness*: (1), (2), (3)

*Alternatively, spec out of Volus Training and maximize shields on Fitness, if you feel you need the extra amount at the expense of power damage.

Weapons:

Anything that keeps power recharge close to200%. I like the N7 Eagle with piercing and barrel mods; use whatever you want but keep the power recharge as close to 200% as possible.

Gear:

For the gear bonus I use Omni-Capacitors V, I say anything that helps tech damage or power recharge. For Ammo, weapon and armor use whatever you are most comfortable with and whatever you have to use.

Strategy:

First a little about me, then my thoughts about the character, then the powers, then how to play him; I don’t have any friends that play this game any more so most of my builds are constructed around playing as the lone wolf on a team of randoms and surviving without relying on others to detonate my combos or deal damage after I prime something; If you want to play with me sometime my gamertag on XBOX Live is Pecos McCleod.

When I look at the character and his powers I see a guy who can’t take cover, who has a small tactical cloak to get out of trouble (with a brief cooldown, which is separate from the cooldowns of your other powers), with very little direct damage capacity, but great toys in combat drone and decoy and even greater potential for causing mayhem and distraction. Both Decoy and Combat Drone should be built to take advantage of the shock rank and the exploding rank with the combat drone taking chain lightning at rank 6 to cause even more mayhem. These aren’t built for direct damage dealing but to slow, stun and confuse enemies while you lay down fire. When they are destroyed the explosions deal nice damage across a broad area, hopefully on stunned enemies; which then you launch another drone and place another decoy and repeat. Shield Boost is built to restore shields and provide a little damage protection. Since I find the recharge speed a little slow for my taste, and I think regeneration is not that great, I take recharge speed at rank 5 and protection at rank 6. When you pop the shield boost to help a teammate you want max recharge; and indeed since you are so frail you will be using this on yourself A LOT. As for Volus Training and Fitness I take the damage and capacity trees and only the first 3 ranks of fitness. The power damage tree gives your decoy and drone explosions a greater effect and increases their damage output and I find I can play on gold easily with this character using only the first 3 ranks of fitness. However if you like the extra security that shields give, spec out of training and max out fitness. Power damage is not super important for a character with no direct damage powers and extra health never hurts.

The strategy for him is to find enemies, whether it is one enemy or 5, launch the drone (cool down time is shorter than the decoy; it also doesn’t have to be targeted on an enemy so you can aim it at people out of range) place the decoy, then watch enemies try to target two things at once while you drop them with fire from your favorite weapon (It is hilarious to watch a Geth Prime spin in circles trying to target you, your decoy, your drone and all the people firing at him); if you trap enemies in a corridor or stairs or doorway, all the better. The shock functions won’t disable or stun the armored enemies or boss enemies, but they will spend time firing and trying to melee both drone and decoy while you pick away at shields and armor. Certain enemies will ignore both drone and decoy which means liberal use of shield recharge and evacuate the area quickly. You can be a great team player and heal and boost your squad, while launching drones and decoys; or you can be a sneaky commando on your own dropping decoys and drones to stun and surprise enemies while you mop up whatever remains. Obviously a liberal amount of shield boost is always appropriate. Remember though: YOU AREN’T A FRONT LINE FIGHTER. You are incredibly frail and will die very easily. You are best behind someone a lot stronger or sneaking around the enemy and causing mayhem. Shield boost will get you out of tight situations and always remember your light melee is a mini tactical cloak that lets you escape the area.

N00b Rating:

5 – This is a VERY frail class and if you aren’t careful of enemies and your surroundings you will die, a LOT. You also won’t lead your squad in score. In fact most times you will be in one of the last two spots. But if you are careful, don’t go charging into situations you can’t handle, stay with stronger characters to benefit from them drawing aggro and liberally use your decoy, drone and shield boost then you should be able to have a lot of fun.

Appearance:

A16 A16 B16 3:C16 B1; A nice black and white and gray camo with red lights. ANGRY VOLUS!

Alternate design: C8 C9 B4 1:C9 A1; The theory behind this is that there are 3 styles of clothing, those that offend the viewer, those that offend the wearer and those that offend everybody. Go for the third style, it’s only fair.

GD Star Rating
loading...

Flash of Greatness – by CoreyImperia

Posted on March 3, 2013 by CoreyImperia

Build Title: Flash of Greatness

Class: Alliance Infiltration Unit Infiltrator

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

Power Evolutions:

Tactical Cloak: (4) Damage, (5) Recharge Speed, (6) Shotgun Damage

Snap Freeze: (4) Reach, (5) Cryo Explosion, (6) Damage & Weakness

Repair Matrix: (4) Survivability, (5) Duration, (6) Enhanced Repair

Unshackled A.I: (4) Weapon Damage, (5) Headshots, (6) Weapon Damage

Fitness: N/A

Weapons:

You’ll want to utilize the M-300 Claymore, M-11 Wraith or the AT-12 Raider. For each of them, you’ll want High Velocity Barrel and Smart Choke. Recharge Speeds aren’t a pressing concern on this character. My personal favourite is the M-300 Claymore, but any are acceptable. The M-22 Eviscerator is a suitable substitute provided you don’t have any of these weapons.

Gear:

Armor-Piercing or Warp Rounds for your ammo bonus. Both apply high damage and either ignore or weaken armor. Shotgun Rail Amp for weapon bonus, Adrenaline Module or Cyclonic Modulator for armor bonus. Use Grenade Capacity or Shock Trooper Upgrade for gear. The choice comes down to how many Repair Matrices you think you’ll need.

Strategy:

I wasn’t impressed with EDI in the single player mode… but this Alliance Infiltration Unit is incredible. Finally! An infiltrator tailored to shotguns! This makes her so unbelievably powerful but we have to skip out on Fitness because of her talents. Fortunately, with Repair Matrix, she has so high survivability that a lack of fitness is normally not an issue, but you still shouldn’t be careless. She isn’t a Geth Juggernaut after all. I’ll go over the powers, then the enemies and then some issues you may experience.

I adore her Tactical Cloak; we final have Shotgun Damage which skyrockets her damage output. With Shotgun Rail Amp III, M-300 Claymore X with High Velocity Barrel V and a cloaked point-blank shot, you’ll cause a massive 6,081.12 damage! Rank 4 for Damage, recharge at 5 to mitigate the lack of weight and Shotgun Damage at rank 6. If you PuG a lot, perhaps Duration is better but without Damage you’ll deal 40.00% less damage. This is how I normally use Snap Freeze, it’s basically just for weakening targets. So many people argue about whether or not Tech Combo is bugged so I play it safe and choose Damage & Weakness at Rank 6 which, I swear is better. Especially since you’re focusing on weakening and not explosons. Reach allows you to maintain some distance (and your shotgun will still deal high damage due to Smart Choke), and Cryo Explosion weakens enemies you have used Snap Freeze on. Win and win. Repair Matrix is like Stimulant Pack, but in my personal opinion, much better. In addition to massive and constant shield regeneration, if you’re down while it’s active, it’ll revive you too! Survivability at rank 4 is handier than the shield option, as it gives you a chance to flee with the movement speed bonus and that damage reduction is great as long as you can keep those shields up during it. Duration is superior at rank 5 as security in case you get downed and Enhanced Repair Matrix gives you better bonuses in this case because you’re not focusing on it being a second medi-gel, you’re focusing on not going down when it’s attack. Standard weapon’s platform spec for the class passive and no points for fitness.

The class itself has little trouble against any faction because the strategy doesn’t change regardless. Snap Freeze is your tool for disabling annoy minions like abominations, husks, cannibals, collector troopers and so on. It’s other utilization is armor weakening which is specifically for any boss-tier enemy. Tactical Cloak is your key to getting around undetected and skyrockets the damage of your weapon. If you’re quick, you can pull of a Snap Freeze and a shotgun shot during the second it takes Tactical Cloak to fade. Repair Matrix is your backup, use it generously but remember to keep stock. If possible, play grenade maps. On Hazard Ghost, Repair Matrix will completely mitigate the damage from the acid rain. She has the most difficulty with minions and flanking, so don’t bite of more than you can chew. In saying this, her cloaked shotgun strike should kill most minions, usually including Phantoms or armored minions (Pyros or Dragoons) and bosses will take only a few shots. Be cautious of sync-kills also, that’s why we’ve got Smart Choke so you can maintain some distance and still be effective.

The Alliance Infiltration Unit is tailored to killing, not objectives. Her functionality with Escorts and Uploads improves as long as you can keep Defence Matrix up just purely because she is frail. Her better objectives are Devices because of Tactical Cloak and Delivery because of the movement speed bonus Repair Matrix supplies. The only issues you may face are been surrounded by umpteen Mauraders so the damage output is strong enough to overcome Repair Matrix, and having Repair Matrix revive you, only to be sync-killed a second later (trust me, Phantoms are evil). Take care to ensure her health stays high, as Repair Matrix won’t save you from much if you’re surrounded on low shields and low health. Overall she is a powerful and versatile class but if she’s caught in the wrong place at the wrong time or you bite of more than you can chew, she will go down and its then you’ll hope you’ve got Repair Matrix. After all, this is no Geth Juggernaut.

N00b Rating:

2.5 – This character has an intense amount of survivability especially with the way Repair Matrix is evolved. Her shields restore at an insane pace and the bonuses to movement speed coupled with Adrenaline Module means she can fire her Claymore right in someones face and run off before any of the other enemies realise she’s been there. In saying all this, she is vulnerable to stagger and is weak defensively which is why you can’t be stingy with your Repair Matrices. If you learn the tricks, you can get through gold games easily without using any medi-gel or ops packs.

GD Star Rating
loading...

Squishy Reaver – by CoreyImperia

Posted on December 4, 2012 by CoreyImperia

Build Title: Squishy Reaver

Class: Drell Adept

Map Difficulty Rating: This build has the potential for Gold gameplay, Platinum may be possible as part of a strong team of biotics.

Power Evolutions:

Reave: (4) Radius, (5) Damage Reduction, (6) Damage & Duration

Pull: N/A

Cluster Grenade: (4) Force & Damage, (5) Damage Combo, (6) Shrapnel

Drell Assassin: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Power Damage, (6) Weapon Damage

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

Weapons:

My recommendation is the Cerberus Harrier or the M-11 Wraith. You want heavy hitters, and these fulfil that definition. Both relatively close range, both excellent against armour and not bad against shields and barriers. Use the Extended Barrel and Extended Magazine on the Cerberus Harrier; and Smart Choke and High Velocity Barrel (For your knowledge: because it is a non-DLC weapon, it isn’t affected by the weight penalty but still receives the damage bonus/piercing bonus, BioWare is yet to fix this ‘bug’) on the M-11 Wraith. You can take the Acolyte with you as well for fear against Phantoms, use the Extended Barrel and Ultralight Materials/Extended Magazine on it. But even though it only adds a little weight at X, that slows your recharge speed, so if taking a low-level Harrier or Wraith, do not take the Acolyte with you. It synergizes much better with the Wraith and a steady Harrier can easily kill a Phantom.

Gear:

For this class, we only want to use Warp Ammo. This is because targets affected by it receive armor weakening which benefits the whole team and it does bonus damage to anything affected by biotics (Reave). It yields, at IV, the highest flat-damage bonus of all the ammo powers at +60%. Use Assault Rifle Rail Amp and either Ardenaline Module or Power Amplifier Module for the armor bonus; it depends on whether you want to exploit the Drell’s bonus to Movement Speed from +20% to +25%/+35%/+45% or a Power Damage bonus to Reave and Cluster Grenade by +10%/+20%/+30%/+50%. I recommend Adrenaline if you are playing with randoms and Power Amplifier Module if playing with a strong team. Always use Warfighter Package or Grenade Capacity for gear.

Strategy:

I love both current (lets not forget we are awaiting a Drell Infiltrator) Drell classes, but of the two, my favourite is the Drell Adept. While both are just as aggressive, the Drell Adept has a clear advantage in staying alive; because he doesn’t have to use Biotic Charge to restore barriers which put him back into danger. Unfortunately, as with his Vanguard counterpart, he gets Pull as a power, which isn’t the greatest so we avoid it and get the things this class has to really shine. Particularly powerful on Gold, a well-played and smart Drell Adept can annihilate factions and top the scoreboard. I’ll go over the power evolutions, then the enemy stratgey and then the issues you may face while playing this class.

Reave is pretty much the standard spec you should use everytime. Always get Radius, 3m of Reave is nothing to scoff at and setting up multiple targets means well-aimed Cluster Grenades will get mutliple Biotic Explosions. On the Drell in particular, you need to go for maximum Damage Reduction to help mitigate and counter the poor defences he has. Avoid Pull, it isn’t need and isn’t worth investing into when you have better options. As for Cluster Grenades, Force and Damage will power up your grenades to deal more damage up-front, Damage Combo increases their damage by 100% against targets primed for Biotic Explosions (which you have Reave to do), the way they worded the power makes it sound useless, and you benefit more from 3 grenades for 3 separate explosions than 2 stronger grenades. Fitness is standard for Drell classes, you want the Movement Speed. As for Drell Assassin, you’re going for the 50% Power Damage Bonus and get, in the process, 22.50% Weapon Damage Bonus. Powerful to say the least.

As far as the class itself goes, it goes the best against Reapers and Collectors, simply because they are almost all Barriers and Armor. It, like most biotics, is less effective against Cerberus and I don’t recommend him for Geth because Reave has a 50% damage penalty against Shields. In saying that, against trooper level enemies he can deplete rooms to nothingness in a few Reaves and a grenade or two. Prime your targets with Reave and then detonate with Cluster Grenade. Fire off the Harrier/Wraith before your explosions and after your explosions to ensure maximum damage. Pyros and Bombers (without shields), Dragoons and Phantoms fall victim to Reave which annihilates Barriers and Armor and the explosion you can create with Cluster Grenade is insane. Cluster Grenades stagger all troopers and most bosses. Scions, Brutes and Ravagers aren’t difficult to kill either, sustained fire with Explosions and Reave will make quick work of them; quicker if you aim for the Tumors, Head and Sacks. Watch out for the Scion and Ravager cannons which easily down the Drell, as well as the Ravager slime and Swarmers. The bigger bosses are tougher, especially Primes whcih are the hardest for the Drell Adept to take out. Praetorians and Banshees are the easiest to dispose of because of the Barrier/Armor combination and Reave’s 100% damage bonus to Barriers and 50% damage bonus to Armor. Atlases are tougher than Banshees or Praetorians but stagger the easiest with explosions and Cluster Grenade. Just remember to fire your weapon, particularly at their weak points (Atlas Groin, Prime Head, Banshee Head, Praetorian Jaw). The Drell Adept is sort of the Jack Of All Trades when it comes to enemies; he is good at taking them all out but it isn’t a perfect road because their isn’t much room for error.

The Drell Adept is frail, even with Reave and max Fitness. There is more room for error than the Drell Vanguard but not much. Gold is still as unforgiving, especially if you make silly decisions. The Drell Adept can take down crowds, but it is easy to get overwhelmed very quickly, you’ll need the Movement Speed to get out of that. This Drell is very much a team player, working much better with other Biotics but is strong enough to be the only biotic on the team. He can assist with objectives but isn’t the best choice because of the lack of defence. The exception is the Object Recovery objective, where he moves faster than other classes. All in all, just watch your health or you’ll be down most of the match.

N00b Rating:

4 - The Drell Adept is still a Drell, but he is more forgiving than a Drell Vanguard because of Reave. It is literally the Drell’s best feature bar his Movement Speed bonuses and Power Damage passives. You still need to be very smart when playing a Drell because they are just so squishy. Your’e Movement Speed bonuses help, but you cannnot expect that to get you out of trouble every time. As said, easier than the Vanguard but almost just as unforgiving when you make a mistake. Try not to run out of Grenades mid-wave or if you can help it, play on Grenade heavy maps. I recommend Goddess, as it has 4 ammo-crates with 2 grenades in each and it is small in size. Unknwon/Unknwon viable (though tougher against Geth), Gold viable and useable as part of a biotic team on Platinum. Great class, but difficult to learn to play if you aren’t used to Drell characters.

GD Star Rating
loading...

Weakening Whirlwind – by CoreyImperia

Posted on November 7, 2012 by CoreyImperia

Build Title: Weakening Whirlwind

Class: Volus Engineer

Map Difficulty Rating: This build has the potential for Gold gameplay, if you choose to play Platinum, make sure your team covers the bases.

Power Evolutions:

Recon Mine: (4) Radius, (5) Recharge Speed*, (6) Invasive Scan

Proximity Mine: (4) Radius, (5) Damage Taken, (6) Recharge Speed

Shield Boost: (4) Shields, (5) Regeneration, (6) Protection

Volus Training: (4) Damage & Capacity, (5) Shield Boost*

Fitness: (1), (2), (3)

*You may choose to switch Rank 5 of Recon Mine out for Damage. This build uses it more as a debuff power, but it has it’s uses. You can create killstreaks with this power. If you choose to do this, I also recommend switching Rank 5 of Volus Training for Power Damage, just to increase it that little bit more.

Weapons:

My recommendations are the N7 Hurricane and the Acolyte or Scorpion, or the M-358 Talon. You can use the N7 Hurricane by itself, or with Acolyte or Scoprion or you can use the M-358 Talon. If using the Hurricane, you need SMG Recoil Systems and High Velocity Barrel. If using the Scorpion or Acolyte, make sure it has Pistol Heavy Barrel and Extended Magazine on it. For the M-358 Talon, use Extended Barrel and Piercing Mod. You are using light weapons to maximize the Recharge Speed of the Volus’s powers, which come with long cooldown times.

Gear:

You have many choices for Ammo bonuses. Armor-Piercing shreds bosses, Incendiary allows Fire Explosions with Proximity Mine, Disruptor allows Tech Bursts with Proximity Mine and Shield Damage, Cryo Ammo gives an armor debuff and allows Cryo Explosions with Proximity Mine. Phasic is viable for Geth and Explosive Rounds III can cause staggers on targets and pairs excellently if using the Scorpion. My personal preference is Armor-Piercing/Incendiary. Use the respective Rail Amp for your primary weapon (Hurricane or Talon) and use Power Efficiency Module for armor bonus. For gear bonus, I go for the Expert Package when using the Hurricane for +12% Recharge Speed and +12% SMG damage or Pistol Amp when using the Talon for +15% or Structual Ergonomics for +15% Recharge Speed. Remember, Recharge Speed is important.

Strategy:

The Volus got a mixed reception coming into the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer scene, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed their appearance and welcomed them warmly. From laughing at them tumbling to dying on a stairwell and rolling down it to watching a Banshee try to stick its arm through me, the Volus is a hilarious but powerful class. Most people choose to play the Volus characters as Shield Boost Spammers but this is bad. If your teammate spams Shield Boost and gets 10000 points at the end of the match, is that helpful? This Volus is played more aggressively and an intelligent player will be difficult to kill. As with my other builds, I’ll brief the powers, then the how he fairs against the enemies and then the difficulties my Explosive Volus faces.

Recon Mine is an interesting power, and on the Volus Engineer it is evolved for maximum debuffing not damage. It should kill trooper-level enemies within its massive radius but the beauty is its weakening powers. Radius increase the Explosion Radius to 9 metres and the Scan Radius to 12 metres. I would often go for Damage on Recon Mine to make it more multifunctional but it has a long Recharge Speed, so we substitute the loss of damage for the cooldown, remembering that this build plays best with low cooldowns. Invasive Scan is where the money’s at. Targets that enter the Scan radius receive 25% more damage from all sources and move 30% slower. The Armor Damage would be nice, it would mean you could take a bigger chunk of Armor from bosses, but we’re focusing on debuffing. Proximity Mine is a no-brainer. You always should evolve it to at least Rank 5 with Radius and Damage Taken. Taking on Recharge Speed is just to assist with the power synergy. Shield Boost should never be evolved differently. This is the best way to do it. Just remember that the invulnerability frame is just for you and not the others. You don’t need to max out Fitness because you have Shield Boost, which is augmented further with Rank 5 of Volus Training.

As a Volus, you’re actually one of the few classes that are versatile enough to be prepared for all factions. You also have the added benefit of having a poor-man’s Tactical Cloak light melee. You need to toss your Recon Mine at a choke-point, or a spawn, or someplace you know will have a concentration of enemies. If heaps of trooper-tier enemies are in it, detonate it to get the killstreak. You’ll be visiting that place often to use Proximity Mine. Since Proximity Mine and Recon Mine stack, enemies affect by both will receive 45% more damage from all sources for 8 seconds and then 25% more damage from all sources as long as they are in the Scan Radius. For when you’re fighting away from the Recon Mine, you’ll be using the light melee Tactical Cloak a lot. This is interesting because it won’t break no matter what you do but it only lasts for about 4 seconds. Light melee to cloak, then fire your Hurricane/Talon to prime a target and then Proximity Mine to detonate the ammo effect. If you are using Warp or Armor-Piercing or an ammo power that doesn’t detonate, Proximity Mine first and then fire. If you’re taking too much fire, get out of there and use Shield Boost.

For trooper-tier enemies, you can use this strategy. If you stick with another player, you’ll chew through these enemies but just be careful of Phantoms, the others (Cannibals, Marauders, Geth Hunters, Geth Troopers, Geth Pyros, Geth Rocket Troopers, Assault Troopers, Centurions, Nemeses, Dragoons, Combat Engineers, Collector Troopers and Collector Captains), the Volus can handle pretty easily. The timing of your powers can be tricky, as if you need to Shield Boost while its recharging, you’ll need to hide quickly. Geth Boombers will cause you trouble, best leave these to your teammates.

For Brutes, Ravagers and Scions, Proximity Mine them at fire at them with your teammates. If you can, lure them into the Recon Mine Radius to allow more incoming damage to them to kill them quickly. And for big bosses, keep them in Recon Mine and keep up the Proximity Mines. They’ll be taking masses of damage from you and your team.

The Volus has its perks (light melee to help with objectives etc) but it has its downfalls. It is incredibly weak: 625 Shields and a miserable 188 Health. You need to be careful that you don’t Proximity Mine when you need to Shield Boost or you’ll die instantly. Your shields need to be up as if you take one shot from anything on Gold when your Shields are down, you’ll go down with them. His other issue is his recharge speed. Recon Mine has a large cooldown as does Shield Boost and Proximity Mine is one of the powers in the game that has a slightly longer cooldown as well. This is why it is imperative to maximize Recharge Speed wherever possible. This class cannot “dominate” scoreboards, but you can top them if you play it right. This Volus does support and survival as well as it deals damage. Volus can make or break teams depending on how the Volus is being played.

N00b Rating:

5 - It’s a Volus. An aggressive Volus. It isn’t easy to play with character that has 625/188 defences with Fitness at Rank 3. Shield Boost is your friend and your allies best comodity when they are near you. You are the Aggressive-Supportive Grand Debuffer. You debuff with Recon Mine and Proximity Mine; Support with Shield Boost and show Aggression with your merciless weapon firing. But play smartly or be a lump of fleshy squish on the pavement.

GD Star Rating
loading...