60 réponses à ce sujet

[Homebound]

Before we get started, I want you to know that there is a risk that some of my techniques maybe antiquated. Some other guides may disagree with what I have. And some of my advice may be bad. Proceed at your own risk.

That being said, this guide is an amalgam of all the things I've learned from other guides and provides ways on how to use your soldier combat skills wisely, effectively, and smartly.
Wait--What?

First and foremost:


The Build:
Hardened Adrenaline Rush
Squad Disruptor Ammo
Squad Incendiary Ammo
Squad Cryo Ammo
Commando
Geth Shield Boost/Barrier/Fortification -Rank 1

Level-up Guide:

On the first few levels, put at least 1 point into everything, putting down the necessary points so you can get Cryo. After thats done, get Commando and Hardened Adrenaline Rush as soon as possible. Once you have Commando and Hardened Adrenaline Rush, feel free to maximize whatever ammo type you want first to Squad. For Normal, Id consider maxing out cryo first. On Veteran I suggest maxing out Incendiary. On Hardcore and higher, Disruptor.


Why this Build?:

Hardened Adrenaline Rush:
Adrenaline Rush slows time down, it doesn't effect fire-rate. You may think Heightened Adrenaline Rush's extra 40% damage is good, but that doesn't mean anything when you can only get off 2 shots from your Revenant Machine Gun. So unless you happen to be a Soldier that primarily uses Snipers, Hardened Adrenaline Rush is the way to go.

Why Squad Ammos?:
As you can see, ALL ammo-types have been listed as Squad-based. As it should. Why opt for doing a little bit more damage by yourself, when you can have 2 extra guns that hurts as much as you do on any given day?

Commando:
Walls are there for a reason. And just about anything you can hide behind in Mass Effect 2 is bullet-proof. Use this to your advantage. There's no reason, at least GOOD reason, as to why someone would pick Shock Trooper.

Loyalty Skill:(Barrier/Geth Shield Boost/Fortification -Rank 1)
This is your panic button. When the shields are down, the medi-gel's run dry and you're about to go down for the count, this skill will save your life. It doesn't matter as to which one you should get. At this point, you don't have any skillpoints left to use. Although Fortification doesn't recieve any upgrade bonuses since it's a combat skill. Something to consider.

Your shield skill can also help you manage your medigel better during long boss-fights in the higher difficulties. Specifically the bosses during the Shadow Broker DLC.

Another thing about shield skill usage is, you can also activate it while out of danger when you are about to have a hard fight.


Synergy:

This portion of the guide will suggest ways to use your Soldier Combat skills wisely, effectively, and smartly.


Hardened Adrenaline Rush:

-Run away:
Yup. Besides the damage bonus, Hardened Adrenaline Rush also reduces damage done to your health by 50%. So if you are running away and some 4-eyed freak of nature is forcing diplomatic talks between your races with a slug to your back, use this skill to dodge some bullets and get behind cover. With guns blazing. Remember to always shoot back as you duck for cover to use that lovely damage bonus. Or you could use the Loyalty skill. Depends on how reckless you want to be.

-Rambo a bi--I mean, Batarian:
Besides the 50% damage reduction to health, you also do 100% more damage with this skill. Now what do you get when you add these 2 things together? Thats right! RAMBO!
Use this skill to duck out of cover while enemies are STILL shooting at you and shoot at them back. This tactic is a bit of a gamble with its pros and cons.  Pro: the guys shooting at you are out of cover, Con: the guys shooting at you are shooting at you.
Try this out with your Loyalty skill.

-FREEZE! I'm a SpecTre.
Slap Cryo-Ammo on your Pistol, hit hardend Adrenaline Rush, then pop a single bullet on each un-shielded enemy. If you did it right, you should now have room full of ice sculptures.


Loyalty Skill: (Barrier/Geth shield boost/Fortification Rank 1)

-Instashield regen:
This is your panic button. When you're shields are down and your taking shots, use it to automatically save yourself.

-Nothing can hurt me!:
With this skill, you can mimic the Vanguard during close-quarters fight with the shotgun. When an enemy is close, hopefully you already had your shield skill on so you can activate Hardened Adrenaline Rush, but if not, activate the shield now. Then, simply run up to the enemy in question, shoot them in the face with the Shotgun, melee attack then, shotgun again, then melee etc until they die. Its surprisingly effective!

-omnomnom on your medi-gel:
Running low on medi-gel and are starting so see veins at the corner of your screen? Try substituting that medi-gel with your shield skill.


Squad Ammo and YOU:

-Pistol
Pistol and Incendiary ammo does WONDERS against armor. It will strip it down really fast. Also by default you should keep Cryo ammo on this weapon. So while you strip away defences from enemies, you can quickly switch to this gun and freeze everybody in the room.
Incendiary and Cryo are the only ammo types you should ever need to use on this weapon.
Cryo+1 shot from a pistol WILL stop a charging Krogan.
Cryo is also good for making popsicles.

-Shotgun
Cryo, incendiary and disruptor works well with this weapon. You can use it for anything. If the enemy is close enough that is. Works well in small, confined areas.
The Shotgun takes over the Assault Rifle's job at close-range.
Cryo and Shotgun does WONDERS against Husk. A frozen husk dies automatically.

-Assault Rifle
The Assault rifle is, as someone else put it, "A glorified SMG".
The Assault rifle is the weapon that you will use the most when it comes to
stripping your enemy's defences. You should constantly be switching
between Incendiary and Disruptor ammo with this weapon.

-Sniper Rifle
I personally use the Sniper rifle to strip targets that are too far away for my Revenant Machine gun. Although depending on the mission, if my assault rifle is using Disruptor, then I use Incendiary with the sniper rifle and vice-versa so I can use Hardened adrenaline Rush instead of waiting for my ammo to cooldown.


Weapon juggling:
First and foremost, you should NEVER juggle weapons in Real Life. Unless if you are a clown. Or possibly a circus performer...Anyways...

There will be missions where you will encounter two or even three different types of enemies in a room. At that point, it gets foggy as to which ammo type you should use. For example, Loki Mechs and Eclipse/Blood Pack in the room. Now you have an enemy that has Armor and an enemy that has Shields that your Assault Rifle needs to strip.

At this point, I just go crazy with my Machine Gun. There's no shame in not knowing what to do. But for whatever ammo type you have on your Assault Rifle, at least point it towards the enemy that it will likely do the most damage to.

If you have any tips you'd like to share for this portion of the guide, feel free to leave a comment.

Ending Comments:
Well, thats my Guide. Hopefully I've taught you something new today. And if I haven't, feel free to teach me a lesson or two with a strongly worded post down below.

~FIN

Modifié par Just_mike, 23 février 2011 - 11:45 .

[Bozorgmehr]

Nice Guide Just_Mike; A clear, to the point guide - I like that. Soldiers are not the most complex class to play with, just spam AR and fire away

A couple of suggestions; I recommend Inferno Ammo for its AoE panic effect - even protected enemies are set on fire and panic, very useful especially for those CQC loving Soldiers. I don't know where you've got the 52nd skill point, there're only 51 points available. I suggest to drop Concussive Shot which is pretty useless anyway though I haven't tried your husk repelling technique - sounds fun!
Regarding Cryo Ammo; level 1 on a the Carnifex (and I assume the new Phalanx) will give a 100% garantied freeze - Predator > 90 %. I use Predator against husks. Sniper rifles also provide a 100% freeze at level 1. Shotties are very effective Cryo Ammo weapons too, very high chance to freeze (>80%). AR and SMG have smaller chance to freeze, but due to the high rate of fire this doesn't matter much. Have to try Cryo on Mattock - should be a freezing charme I guess.

Cheers

[Pacifien]

Nice explanations for why you design the build the way you do.

I'd go with squad disruptor and squad cryo, but take Inferno ammo instead. Give the squad either disruptor or cryo, then switch myself to inferno. It still allows your squadmates to reign chaos on the battlefield, particularly with the cryo, but reserves a much more powerful ammo for yourself. If squad incendiary is in order, there's always Grunt or Jacob.

I tell people to avoid Fortification like the plague. All the defense boosts provide the same level of protection, but Fortification does not benefit from any of the biotic or tech upgrades the way Barrier and Geth Shield Boost do. I even lean more toward Geth Shield Boost because you can gain a 10% weapon damage bonus if it's evolved to level 4.

I'm going to try shooting myself in the foot with that concussive blast. Haven't done that before. I've managed to knock myself for a loop plenty of times with a poorly thrown Flashbang Grenade, though.

[Mecha Tengu]

making a guide for the second easiest character in the game?



couldnt everyone else just use common sense in what to do >.>

[Pacifien]

Now I'm really interested to know what the first easiest character is supposed to be in the game. Always figured it was the Soldier.

[mcsupersport]

I think you have too many skill points, you can max five and have a pt left over. So unless I am misremembering or you use a glitch, then you have to leave out a point or not max one of the skills. Personally if you are going squad cryo I don't see the need to go squad anywhere else, but that is personally.

[Alamar2078]

I like the guide but a couple of things I'd look at:



-- Who are your squadmates that you often take on missions?



-- Have you considered letting some of your squadmates handle some of the "squad" ammo powers?? This way you either don't have to take that power yourself [leaving more points to spend elsewhere] or you could take the more damaging version for yourself.



Example: Zaaed could take Squad Disruptor Ammo. You don't lose too much with non-maxed Inferno Grenade or Concussive Blast. Now Shep has 10 points he can spend on a loyalty power OR [if you prefer] he can spend the 10 points to get the more damaging version of the ammo power and keep the +20% damage for himself. This sort of point savings could come in handy if you'd like to spend 10 points in Geth Shield Boost or Warp Ammo.



You could also let Grunt take Squad Incindiary Ammo and keep the other version for yourself. The explosion effect is quite handy for the panic effect.

[Homebound]

Thx for the replies..Give me a month or so as I test out some of these suggestions.

[Homebound]

Alamar2078 wrote...

I like the guide but a couple of things I'd look at:

1. -- Who are your squadmates that you often take on missions?


2. -- Have you considered letting some of your squadmates handle some of the "squad" ammo powers?? This way you either don't have to take that power yourself [leaving more points to spend elsewhere] or you could take the more damaging version for yourself.

3. Example: Zaaed could take Squad Disruptor Ammo. You don't lose too much with non-maxed Inferno Grenade or Concussive Blast. Now Shep has 10 points he can spend on a loyalty power OR [if you prefer] he can spend the 10 points to get the more damaging version of the ammo power and keep the +20% damage for himself. This sort of point savings could come in handy if you'd like to spend 10 points in Geth Shield Boost or Warp Ammo.

4. You could also let Grunt take Squad Incindiary Ammo and keep the other version for yourself. The explosion effect is quite handy for the panic effect.

1. As a soldier, you should primarily have Miranda and Mordin with you. Miranda for stripping. (No pun intended) and Mordin for crowd-control.
-Note: This doesn't mean that these two should be used all the time. For example, why bring Mordin to Tali's loyalty mission? He's more or less useless. Bring someone with AI control instead like Legion for example.

2. & 3. & 4.  Ammo types can be very situation-specific. Most of the time, you'll use Squad Disruptor ammo in missions full of synthetic targets. At that point, you probably wouldn't want Zaeed with you to begin with. At least as a Soldier.

[Homebound]

Bozorgmehr wrote...

Nice Guide Just_Mike; A clear, to the point guide - I like that. Soldiers are not the most complex class to play with, just spam AR and fire away

A couple of suggestions; I recommend Inferno Ammo for its AoE panic effect - even protected enemies are set on fire and panic, very useful especially for those CQC loving Soldiers. I don't know where you've got the 52nd skill point, there're only 51 points available. I suggest to drop Concussive Shot which is pretty useless anyway though I haven't tried your husk repelling technique - sounds fun!
Regarding Cryo Ammo; level 1 on a the Carnifex (and I assume the new Phalanx) will give a 100% garantied freeze - Predator > 90 %. I use Predator against husks. Sniper rifles also provide a 100% freeze at level 1. Shotties are very effective Cryo Ammo weapons too, very high chance to freeze (>80%). AR and SMG have smaller chance to freeze, but due to the high rate of fire this doesn't matter much. Have to try Cryo on Mattock - should be a freezing charme I guess.

Cheers

In normal-mode. 1-3 bullets from a Carnifex hand cannon can freeze a target. While using Revenant, It took roughly around 15 or so. 

[Bozorgmehr]

Just_mike wrote...

In normal-mode. 1-3 bullets from a Carnifex hand cannon can freeze a target. While using Revenant, It took roughly around 15 or so. 

Carnifex will freeze enemies with lvl 1 Cryo with every shot hitting enemy's health (100%) same with SR though you don't really need it except with Viper (Widow and Mantis should kill normal enemies with a single shot)

Check out Cruc1al's Soldier in Dantius Tower One vid - very effective

Modifié par Bozorgmehr, 16 août 2010 - 09:04 .

[Homebound]

Bozorgmehr wrote...

Just_mike wrote...

In normal-mode. 1-3 bullets from a Carnifex hand cannon can freeze a target. While using Revenant, It took roughly around 15 or so. 

Carnifex will freeze enemies with lvl 1 Cryo with every shot hitting enemy's health (100%) same with SR though you don't really need it except with Viper (Widow and Mantis should kill normal enemies with a single shot)

Check out Cruc1al's Soldier in Dantius Tower One vid - very effective

Thats the thing Im testing out right now actually..Does my guide really need a maxed out Squad cryo ammo? Couldnt I pour some of those points into the Geth Shield Boost? Could my Shotgun with a lvl 1 cryo ammo replace concussive shot in terms of crowd control? (Cryo shotgun lvl 3 froze 3 mercs in front of me during my current playthrough all at once)

Also I tested out the Inferno Ammo option...You get the same effect with a shotgun. Squad incendiary ammo is the way to go imho.

Modifié par Just_mike, 17 août 2010 - 05:16 .

[Bozorgmehr]

Just_mike wrote...

Thats the thing Im testing out right now actually..Does my guide really need a maxed out Squad cryo ammo? Couldnt I pour some of those points into the Geth Shield Boost? Could my Shotgun with a lvl 1 cryo ammo replace concussive shot in terms of crowd control? (Cryo shotgun lvl 3 froze 3 mercs in front of me during my current playthrough all at once)

Also I tested out the Inferno Ammo option...You get the same effect with a shotgun. Squad incendiary ammo is the way to go imho.

Squad Cryo Ammo is best squad ammo power available - I always equip squadies with this ammo. The thing with Cryo is that level 1 is good enough for Shep; level 4 (squad) is great for teammates - everything in between isn't worth spending precious skill points on. Try to get Cryo Ammo lvl 1 asap; work on other skills next and once you've maxed AR and passive you can retrain powers once you've enough points to get to level 4 Squad Cryo.

Cryo is great on shotties You can use this effectively against Krogan - use squadies to remove 2/3 - 3/4 of their armor and then use SG. You'll remove armor still left, but as long as your shot touches Krogan health - they'll freeze (and you've won). You can do the same against Geth Hunters and Destroyers. Evi and Katana (GPS also not tested it yet) can take down their shields with a single (point blank range) shot - they'll freeze, melee and shatter.

I never spent point in CS - minor damage and limited CC abilities and long cd. AR is always best power to use for Soldier.

[TheKillerAngel]

I prefer Heightened AR, Inferno, Squad Cryo. With the Mattock, I think heightened AR works better, plus I like getting up close and the extra time dilation suits my playstyle.



Bonus power and Shock Trooper/Commando are mission specific, if I want more morality points to pass a certain check I will respec to Shock Trooper. Squad disruptor goes on Zaeed. Some people may like Shock Trooper since it adds about an extra second to AR but I think Commando is better for almost every situation.

[Homebound]

TheKillerAngel wrote...

I prefer Heightened AR, Inferno, Squad Cryo. With the Mattock, I think heightened AR works better, plus I like getting up close and the extra time dilation suits my playstyle.

Bonus power and Shock Trooper/Commando are mission specific, if I want more morality points to pass a certain check I will respec to Shock Trooper. Squad disruptor goes on Zaeed. Some people may like Shock Trooper since it adds about an extra second to AR but I think Commando is better for almost every situation.

Heightened Adrenaline Rush with a burst-fire assault rifle is definitely the way to go. But if you have Revenant, Hardened Adrenaline Rush is better.

Heightened Adrenaline Rush doesnt reduce damage like Hardened Adrenaline Rush does. Why do you think Heightened is better for storming?

[Homebound]

Bozorgmehr wrote...

Just_mike wrote...

Thats the thing Im testing out right now actually..Does my guide really need a maxed out Squad cryo ammo? Couldnt I pour some of those points into the Geth Shield Boost? Could my Shotgun with a lvl 1 cryo ammo replace concussive shot in terms of crowd control? (Cryo shotgun lvl 3 froze 3 mercs in front of me during my current playthrough all at once)

Also I tested out the Inferno Ammo option...You get the same effect with a shotgun. Squad incendiary ammo is the way to go imho.

Squad Cryo Ammo is best squad ammo power available - I always equip squadies with this ammo. The thing with Cryo is that level 1 is good enough for Shep; level 4 (squad) is great for teammates - everything in between isn't worth spending precious skill points on. Try to get Cryo Ammo lvl 1 asap; work on other skills next and once you've maxed AR and passive you can retrain powers once you've enough points to get to level 4 Squad Cryo.

Cryo is great on shotties You can use this effectively against Krogan - use squadies to remove 2/3 - 3/4 of their armor and then use SG. You'll remove armor still left, but as long as your shot touches Krogan health - they'll freeze (and you've won). You can do the same against Geth Hunters and Destroyers. Evi and Katana (GPS also not tested it yet) can take down their shields with a single (point blank range) shot - they'll freeze, melee and shatter.

I never spent point in CS - minor damage and limited CC abilities and long cd. AR is always best power to use for Soldier.

Definitely something to consider.

[termokanden]

Just_mike wrote...

Heightened Adrenaline Rush with a burst-fire assault rifle is definitely the way to go. But if you have Revenant, Hardened Adrenaline Rush is better.

Heightened Adrenaline Rush doesnt reduce damage like Hardened Adrenaline Rush does. Why do you think Heightened is better for storming?

What most people don't realize about Heightened is that in the time it is active, you will take less damage because of the increased time dilation. I doubt it's as good as 50%, but it's something a lot of people don't realize.

The difference in damage being done is a little bit unclear, by the way. While it's true that rapid-fire weapons do more damage during one Hardened AR, this only accounts for real time DPS, not game time DPS. Game time dps is the only one that helps you survive. This becomes even more difficult to understand if you are also shooting outside AR and want to take reloads into account as well.

I personally prefer Heightened AR for all weapons. Which one is objectively best is highly debatable, but I'm leaning towards Heightened.

[Homebound]

termokanden wrote...

Just_mike wrote...

Heightened Adrenaline Rush with a burst-fire assault rifle is definitely the way to go. But if you have Revenant, Hardened Adrenaline Rush is better.

Heightened Adrenaline Rush doesnt reduce damage like Hardened Adrenaline Rush does. Why do you think Heightened is better for storming?

What most people don't realize about Heightened is that in the time it is active, you will take less damage because of the increased time dilation. I doubt it's as good as 50%, but it's something a lot of people don't realize.

The difference in damage being done is a little bit unclear, by the way. While it's true that rapid-fire weapons do more damage during one Hardened AR, this only accounts for real time DPS, not game time DPS. Game time dps is the only one that helps you survive. This becomes even more difficult to understand if you are also shooting outside AR and want to take reloads into account as well.

I personally prefer Heightened AR for all weapons. Which one is objectively best is highly debatable, but I'm leaning towards Heightened.

Now Im confused. But Im still leaning to Hardened adrenaline rush. Besides damage, it helps with storming positions.

[Athenau]

Heightened is better for storming positions because you move much faster in heightened (relative to the game).

[Homebound]

Athenau wrote...

Heightened is better for storming positions because you move much faster in heightened (relative to the game).

Hardened is better because regardless of how good you are, now matter what you do, you are going to get shot trying to pull this off.

But we could discuss the pros and cons until the sky blackens with a thousand Reapers. For this guide, Im sticking with Hardened. Thx for the input though.

[Athenau]

Storming in heightened means you move so fast that they'll barely scratch your shields. Hardened doesn't even do anything until your shields break. Hardened is great for laying down tons and tons of fire with the Revenant, but for bum rushes and general battlefield mobility heightened is king.

[Alamar2078]

Aren't Hardened and Heightened just 2 slightly different ways to go about the same thing???



IIRC both skills have the same cooldown and duration ; with Heightened you get a 70% slowdown time and +240% damage ... wth Hardened you get a 50% slowdown, 200% damage, and a 50% damage reducton.



In the end all Hardeneded gves you is 200% damage and you end up taking 25% of the damange you normally would. Hardened gives you 240% damage while in effect you take 30% damage. As far as I can tell there's no difference in the damageoutput to damage taken ratios so what's all the love for Hardened for [with a Revvy soldier]??



In my latest experiments I personally like heightened no matter what because if your targets are moving more slowly hopefully you'll be hitting them more reliably.



If I'm missing something then please let me know.

[Homebound]

Alamar2078 wrote...

Aren't Hardened and Heightened just 2 slightly different ways to go about the same thing???

IIRC both skills have the same cooldown and duration ; with Heightened you get a 70% slowdown time and +240% damage ... wth Hardened you get a 50% slowdown, 200% damage, and a 50% damage reducton.

In the end all Hardeneded gves you is 200% damage and you end up taking 25% of the damange you normally would. Hardened gives you 240% damage while in effect you take 30% damage. As far as I can tell there's no difference in the damageoutput to damage taken ratios so what's all the love for Hardened for [with a Revvy soldier]??

In my latest experiments I personally like heightened no matter what because if your targets are moving more slowly hopefully you'll be hitting them more reliably.

If I'm missing something then please let me know.

Adrenaline Rush doesnt affect fire-rate. In Hardened Adrenaline Rush, you will fire more bullets than you would with Heightened. You actually do LESS damage with an automatic weapon when you are in Heightened.

[ezrafetch]

It depends on your notion of DPS, which gets all screwy with AR and time dilation. If you count real time, yes, you get more from Hardened for automatic weapons since you fire more bullets in the duration of the time dilation, but in a "game time" sense, where AR just makes you move really fast, you're still doing the same amount of damage (and in this "game time" sense Heightened is a better choice because it has a higher damage modifier).  Regardless, everything dies really fast with AR.

Some notes:
1. You have 52 skill points distributed whereas only 51 are available to Shepard. Drop CS or GSB...I'd say GSB because I'm not a fan of it...too long of a cooldown and shield boosts are of minimal use as 1pt skills. Medi-Gels are way too numerous and way too good to not use as a panic button. If you want a 1pt wonder, run Neural Shock or Slam. Short cooldowns, which only minimally interfere with AR.
2. Inferno over Squad Incendiary...I noted this (among other people) in that other thread of yours.
3. Jack is ineffective on Hardcore and Insanity due to protections. If you're looking for Squad Warp, take it as a bonus power and drop Squad Cryo. Jack is also too squishy for her to be of much use too, and while certainly Soldiers can manage with one to zero squadmates, you may as well maximize the usage of your squadmates if you decide to bring them along. Much better off fitting in a tank in that spot if you didn't already, or Miranda/Kasumi if you didn't already.
4. Related to my first pre-# thing, AR evolution really depends on your Collector Ship weapon choice. If you run with the Revenant, it doesn't hurt to evolve AR into Hardened, because you spend enough time firing that the 50% DR actually can kick in and be useful.  However, I'm of the opinion that AR evolution for Revenant Soldiers doesn't drastically affect the experience or kill speed one way or the other.  Widow and Claymore Soldiers obviously should run Heightened because they won't be able to fit as many shots in, making Hardened useless.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Modifié par ezrafetch, 25 août 2010 - 09:32 .

[termokanden]

Just_mike wrote...

Adrenaline Rush doesnt affect fire-rate. In Hardened Adrenaline Rush, you will fire more bullets than you would with Heightened. You actually do LESS damage with an automatic weapon when you are in Heightened.

I'd have to agree with ezrafetch on this one. Although technically you are right, it is game-time DPS that matters. There the picture is somewhat different.

So 5 seconds of Hardened AR does more damage than 5 seconds of Heightened AR. But then 5 seconds of Heightened AR is less game time than those other 5 seconds.

So people's standard calculations for saying Hardened is better don't take this into account at all.

If it hadn't been for reloads, then you would have even better DPS if you didn't use AR at all!

As it is now, I have not done any calculations, but I suspect it depends on the weapon and magazine capacity which skill gives your higher GAME-TIME DPS.

But many things speak in favor of Heightened. It's best for surgically removing enemies then going back into cover for sure. It's also better for conserving ammo, AND it makes it easier to reach the maximum rate of fire with the Mattock.