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[horangi88]

Xbox Builds and Strategies

Peace to all the players and to Bioware for making a great game. This is an invitation for you to share and discuss your strategies and builds for the xbox. PC players are welcome to make build suggestions as well.

As xbox players know, Mass Effect 2 plays differently on the xbox. We lack the PC’s hotkey nirvana and speedy mouse targeting. We have to work a lot harder to pull off those sick, no pause, biotic combos and the smooth gameplay we see on PC gameplay videos.

I try to keep my games flowing as much as possible, only pausing to switch weapons. I’ve found that the gameplay on the xbox points me towards certain builds and strategies in order to keep the flowing, no pause playstyle. I’ve completed insanity and insanity NG+ many times with each class, and below I outline the console issues I’ve encountered. I also list the builds I’ve found most effective for the xbox on insanity. Feel free comment and to post any tips, tricks, builds and strategies you’ve found effective on the xbox.

Lastly, if anyone has found an effective insanity Adept build and strategy for the Xbox that doesn't involve constantly pausing the game to biotic combo, please post it. I haven’t been able to get the adept flow up to par with the other classes and would like to know if anyone has had luck with that class on the xbox.

Xbox problems

For anyone who plays on the xbox these problems are very familiar. I detail them here for any future console players and PC players to who would like to suggest any builds or strategies.

Hotkey issues:  

1. Only 3 keys for Shepard and one D-pad key for each squaddie is a serious handicap. Heavy power users are almost forced to pause to be effective. Further, in order to use the D-pad you have to release the "move" joystick, which breaks the flow of combat. It also means your squad-mates can't use powers or be moved to cover while you storm. Bummer.  

2. The D-pad hotkeys also double as squad position buttons. If the targeting assistance isn't locked on to a target when you press the D-pad, you send your squad-mates, and not their powers, into a mob. You then have to recall them and retarget enemies, breaking the flow of combat. This truly sucks and brings me to the second set of issues.  

Joystick problems:   

1. Aiming is slower and less precise with a stick than with a mouse. Targeting a specific mook in a crowd at a distance can be a pain without pausing. This is more of a problem with single target powers (as opposed to guns) and makes it hard to perform biotic combos consistently.  

2. Lastly, target tracking with the joystick sucks. Shooting or throwing a fast-moving, pulled target is a pain. Tracking while looking down the sights (not scopes, snipers work well on the xbox) is also annoying. If the crosshairs have to move more that a few degrees there is a definite lag before they catch up to the target. Even the hacking game is a lot slower on the Xbox due the way the stick moves the cursor.    

Xbox Solutions  

Here are the builds that give me the smoothest Xbox games (minimal pauses/minimal deaths). I list the builds, bonus weapons/powers, bumper assignments and mission specific respecs. Feel free to comment and to post your own builds/strategies.

Widow Soldier with Slam

A PC classic that runs perfectly on the xbox. Flexible and deadly at all ranges.
Check Average Gatsby’s YouTube vids for an excellent guide.
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/261/index/1649502/

Bumper Power: Slam (or another CC power)

Main weapons: Widow/Mattock

Build:
Heightened AR
Heavy Disruptor Ammo
Squad Cryo Ammo
Inferno Ammo
Commando
Slam 1   

Scimitar Vanguard with Reave  (Sabresandiego)

Another PC classic that pwns on the xbox.  
Check Sabersandiego’s vids for details and inspiration.
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/261/index/1457282/

Bumper Powers: Reave/Shockwave

Main weapons: Scimitar/Locust/Viper

Build:
Inferno Ammo
Squad Cryo
Heavy Charge
Shockwave 1
Champion
Area Reave

Scimitar Sentinel with Tungsten Ammo

This is a Tech-Tank build that I developed and found to work very well on the Xbox.
(Pop Mordin’s incineration blast and Zaeed’s inferno grenade to stagger and break defenses, cryo blast, rush in and unload buckshots and elbows)

Bumper Powers: Overload/Cryo Blast

Main weapons: Scimitar/Locust

Build:
Throw 1
Assault Armor
Area Overload
Cryo Blast
Guardian
Tungsten Ammo

Respec for Collector missions:

Bumper Powers: Heavy Warp/Throw Field

Build:
Throw Field
Heavy Warp
Assault Armor
Overload 1
Guardian
Tungsten Ammo

GPS Engineer with Tungsten Ammo

Another build I found to work with limited hotkeys.
(cast drone, strip defenses with GPS, cryo and close in, finish with a shotgun blast, melee or incinerate)

Bumper Powers: Incineration Blast/Cryo Blast

Main weapons: Geth Pulse Shotgun/Locust

Build:
Area Overload
Incineration Blast
Attack Drone
Cryo Blast 1
Demolisher
Tungsten Ammo

Bumper Powers for Geth Missions
 
Area Overload/Cryo Blast

Scimitar Infiltrator with Flash-Bang

My Mokoto Kusanagi build. Check numotsbane’s excellent flash delirium guide to flashbang grenades.
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/261/index/3293034

For Groups (toss a FB, storm in and unload point blank, melee and cloak to reposition)
For single targets (cloak, storm in and blast away point blank, finish with melee or incinerate) thisisme8 style.

Bumper Powers: Incineration Blast/Improved Flash Bang

Main weapons: Scimitar/Locust

Build:
Disruptor Ammo 2
Squad Cryo Ammo
Enhanced Cloak
Incinerate 3
Agent
Improved Flash Bang

Respec for Geth Missions:

Bumper Powers: Incineration Blast/Area AI Hacking

Build:
Heavy/Squad Disruptor Ammo
Enhanced Cloak
Incineration Blast
Area AI Hacking
Agent

Old School Vanguard/Shotgun Adept (Arhka)

Emulates the Singularity Vanguard from ME1. 
Check Arhka's guide and vids for details.
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/128/index/3348216

Bumper Powers: Warp/Barrier

Main weapons: Eviscerator/Locust/Phalanx

Build:
Heavy Warp
Heavy Singularity
Heavy Barrier
Pull Field
Throw 1
Bastion

Modifié par horangi88, 10 septembre 2010 - 11:26 .

[Kronner]

Assault Sentinel with Shotguns needs only one hotkey - Assault Armor.

Build:

Assault Armor 10

Guardian 10



rest is up to you..most of the cooldowns will go to Assault Armor anyway.

- Area Overload is a waste though, it is better to use sqadmates or just kill the enemies without defese stripping (not needed anyways - you have shotgun).

- It is a good idea to take Heavy Warp Ammo/Tungsten Ammo or bring Grunt/Jacob and their squad Inferno Ammo. Other than that, you do not need anything else. Stasis also works great as a bonus power against enemies like YMIR Mech.

[numotsbane]

Woo for CQC flash infiltrators.

Also, i've found that IMNWEs dominate engineer can run effectively on xbox too. it should; he plays xbox. generally speaking, I have dominate/ AI hacking on LB, and then Cryo/ Incinerate on RB depending on the enemy. I'm still build testing so i can't comment on that.

I've had issues with the widow's motion tracking, and also with vanguard charge bugging - but neither have been a deal breaker.

I have throw/cryo as LB and Flash grenade RB on my Assault sentinels.

[horangi88]

Tech Armor is great, and I roll with Tungsten on my Assault Sentinel. I use squad powers to strip defenses, but Overload has its uses: drones, mechs and geth I can't immediately rush but want to disable.

[horangi88]

Great flashbang guide bro. A Dominate Engineer does work well on the xbox, it was one of my first playthroughs. The battles are a bit longer with them though. I'm more of a CQC guy now, get in and get the battles over with fast.

[Arhka]

Old School Vanguard/Shotgun Adept (Arhka)



Emulates the Singularity Vanguard from ME1.



Bumper Powers: Warp/Barrier



Main weapons: Eviscerator/Locust/Phalanx



Build:

Heavy Warp

Heavy Singularity

Heavy Barrier

Pull Field

Throw 1

Bastion





For demonstration, click Who Needs Charge? in my sig.

[horangi88]

Nice Adept vid. I'll try this and roll with the GPS for some old school Carnage love with the charged shots.

[Mr_Raider]

Why favor the scimitar? Xbox doesn't get Evi or Claymore?

[Simbacca]

I've only ever played ME2 on the 360 and on insanity.

Recently I've played these lvl 30s:

Vanguard w/Viper - Inferno Ammo / Squad Cryo / Heavy Charge / Shockwave / Champion / Crippling Slam

Engineer w/Viper - Area Overload / Incineration Blast / Explosive Drone / Cryo Blast / Neural Shockwave
(Alt for Geth) - Overload / Explosive Drone / Full Cryo Blast / Improved AI Hacking / Demolisher / Area Drain

*the skills without the evolved power name in the 3 above are the 1pt wonders

Other classes I've started but not yet finished.  Of those, been playing the Soldier the most for now.

Mr_Raider wrote...

Why favor the scimitar? Xbox doesn't get Evi or Claymore?

I don't think it could have anything to do with being on the Xbox.  I use the Evi more than any other shotty on my Vanguard.  I like how it tends to freeze normal mooks in one shot.  Once in a while, I take out the Scimitar to unleash rapid fire Inferno damage.  

In reality there isn't much different at all between builds and strategies needed between Xbox and PC ME2 players.  I've played around with all classes, only ever on Insanity, and all the same strategies and builds that work here for the PC players has worked just as effectively for me on the 360.

Modifié par Simbacca, 10 septembre 2010 - 03:00 .

[horangi88]

Just a personal preference. Xbox has the Evi and Claymore, but I like the rapid fire and stagger effect of the Scimitar for most of my CQC builds. The Scimitar's dps is pretty raw as well. The Geth Pulse Shotty is a beast at mid-range (I use it for my engineers and adepts) and I use the Evi on my Widow soldier. However, I've never really gotten the hang of the Claymore (too slow firing for my playstyle).

[horangi88]

Simbacca wrote...

I've only ever played ME2 on the 360 and on insanity.

Recently I've played these lvl 30s:

Vanguard w/Viper - Inferno Ammo / Squad Cryo / Heavy Charge / Shockwave / Champion / Crippling Slam

Engineer w/Viper - Area Overload / Incineration Blast / Explosive Drone / Cryo Blast / Neural Shockwave
(Alt for Geth) - Overload / Explosive Drone / Full Cryo Blast / Improved AI Hacking / Demolisher / Area Drain

*the skills without the evolved power name in the 3 above are the 1pt wonders

Other classes I've started but not yet finished.  Of those, been playing the Soldier the most for now.

Mr_Raider wrote...

Why favor the scimitar? Xbox doesn't get Evi or Claymore?

I don't think it could have anything to do with being on the Xbox.  I use the Evi more than any other shotty on my Vanguard.  I like how it tends to freeze normal mooks in one shot.  Once in a while, I take out the Scimitar to unleash rapid fire Inferno damage.  

In reality there isn't much different at all between builds and strategies needed between Xbox and PC ME2 players.  I've played around with all classes, only ever on Insanity, and all the same strategies and builds that work here for the PC players has worked just as effectively for me on the 360.

I'm talking more about the feel of a build's gameplay as opposed the efficacy of it. I like a more free-flowing playstyle. Like i said before, I've done different builds of all the classes on NG+ insanity, but i've found that builds that rely on a lot of biotic combos don't play as smoothly on the xbox. I've warp bombed with adepts, but had to pause a lot in those play throughs. Either you have warp/pull, warp/ED, pull/throw, or ED/pull on your bumpers. I always found myself wanting to use the un-keyed third power and having to pause.

I agree that Viper Engineers are effective (and pretty smooth) on insanity and I played them a lot when the game first came out. Thanks for adding that build to the thread. I'm on a CQC trip now so I'm shotgun happy with my builds at the moment.

[Simbacca]

horangi88 wrote...

...I agree that Viper Engineers are effective (and pretty smooth) on insanity and I played them a lot when the game first came out. Thanks for adding that build to the thread. I'm on a CQC trip now so I'm shotgun happy with my builds at the moment.

Works great with Neural Shockwave.  Anyway, had the Firepower pack been released before I played my Engineer, I probably would have pick shotguns for the GPS too.  Actually, I imagine its charged shot would work great with Neural Shock as well.  NS is just great.

Modifié par Simbacca, 10 septembre 2010 - 03:26 .

[horangi88]

Yeah, the stand up effect of NS is nice for popping fools out cover and drilling them with viper headshots. You should definitely run a GPS Engineer. The GPS is a monster for one-shotting shields and barriers and setting up cyro blast beatdowns.

Modifié par horangi88, 10 septembre 2010 - 04:01 .

[ryoldschool]

OP: you defined the problems well. I usually play soldier and turn squad powers on for that reason. When I played adept and beat insanity I had loads of problems with sending squadmates to their death by trying to use their powers - so I had to pause a lot. You get used to it because the warp explosions are great.

[PrinceLionheart]

My Infiltrator build (which I got through a modding accident):

Disruptor Ammo: X
Squad Cryo Ammo: XXXX
Incineration Blast: XXXX
Tactical Cloak (Enhanced): XXXX
Operative (Agent): XXXX
Improved Flashbang: XXXX

Without Modding I'd go with this:

Disruptor Ammo: XX
Squad Cryo Ammo: XXXX
Incinerate: XXX
Tactical Cloak (Enhanced): XXXX
Operative (Agent): XXXX
Improved Flashbang: XXXX
AI Hacking: X

[numotsbane]

horangi88 wrote...

Lastly, if anyone has found an effective insanity Adept build and strategy for the Xbox that doesn't involve constantly pausing the game to biotic combo, please post it. I haven’t been able to get the adept flow up to par with the other classes and would like to know if anyone has had luck with that class on the xbox.

The smoothest i've got is with singularity, Heavy throw on LB and Heavy Warp on RB, with Warp ammo as a bonus. then bring along squadmates, both of whom have pull, and assign pull to both D-pads. even then its iffy.

[Adhin]

When I play a Adept (on 360) I ignore pull all together. Well I keep it at 1 point but I don't use it as a primary warp setup. Mostly because Vortex in ME2 works just as good, and its FORCED (WHY BIO WHY?!) to the Y button. So it's always there anyways.
Warp is left bumper, throw is right bumper. That's my bread and butter right there. Throw gives you a throw/stun FAST use skill for stuff like husks or when you need to just instantly stop something from doing... whatever. Everything else is left up to Vortex and Warp. It's a pretty solid setup that lets you be a bit more freeflowing.
The rest of the Adept's basically just Shockwave and Lift. Lift as I stated before I rarely use on adept and with shockwave since it forces at whatever your targetting, not where your pointing I prefer generally to have that as a pause use skill anyways. I often aim at the floor to try to ensure its going in the direction im pointing to lead into groups instead of at a target directly (which you often miss horribly).

-edit-
Son of a... I just accidently hit cancel and screwed up a ton of text so.. adding it all back in here...

Favorit class is Vanguard hands down. Here's my build for that, then after some advice on radial menu skill ordering.

Inferno (4 - for Mattock/other)
Cryo (3 - shotgun only)
Charge (4 - heavy/area depending on char)
Shockwave (2 - mostly for husks)
Pull (1)
Passive (4 - Destroyer/Champ depending on char)
Bonus Power (4)

Bonus power goes on left bumper, lift goes on right bumper, charge of course is Y. As stated up in the Adept part I use shockwave when pause and its the only power (besides ammo) that have to pause for. So this setup lets me be VERY fast and freeflowing, lots of charging goodness. Now something the 360 folks shoudl be doing is paying attention to the order in which they buy skills, specifically respeccing to get it to fit right.

On the Radial menu it always orders them the same way based off when you buy (or get them to lvl 4). There's 8 slots but you can only get 6 class skills +1 for Unity. If you respect Unity is always in the bottum RIGHT slot, thats R1 lets say (right 1). Each side right and left have 4 slots. So it orders them like this: R1, L1, R2, L2 and so on. For the Vanguard build I buy them (always to max if its a max skill) in this order. Inferno (L1), Charge (R2), Cryo (L2), Bonus Power (R3), Shockwave (L3), Lift (L4).

I find it generally easier to select the left side of the lower circle, right side thumbs more prone to slide off a bit so its 'fast' I guess. Ammo Powers and Shockwave are the only powers I actually have to pause for, the right ones are all button bound. Meaning I can play majority of the game rather free-flowing, only pausing to swap weapons other then mattock/shotgun (which I use majority of the time so no pause there).

In either case how you order your powers can be a huge help for speeding up the pause process.

Modifié par Adhin, 11 septembre 2010 - 11:36 .

[Cheese Elemental]

I play Gears of War a lot (a game mechanically similar to ME2) as well as other shooters, so I base my playstyle off that. Gears taught me proper use of cover, precise third-person aiming and safe CQC.

As for powers, well... I usually just use the pause button. Assigning powers to the D-pad is a pain due to the risk of sending squadmates right into mobs, so I've gotten used to the radial menu instead. Combat doesn't flow as well, but I'm OK with that.

As for builds, I don't really do anything special. I'd play the PC version the same way.

[All-a-Mort]

Playing my sentinel, I tend to only use active offensive powers mapped to the controllers LB and RB buttons, leaving assault armour to be accessed via the menu. Mainly just because when my tech armour fails I figure I could kinda use the pause to think for a moment before carrying on. Sometimes I find I swap the mapping over as I forget in the thick of things which one is which (not a good thing).



I hardly ever use the d-pad hot keys for squad powers, it's just too problematic. Really bioware should look at borrowing ideas from either the Brothers In Arms games where you could use the map (I think?) to send squad mates to positions, or adopt the voice command system of say Rainbow Six Vegas for either positioning or have a voice command for powers like 'Overload', 'warp' or whatever. Using Pilfius on the PC in another game (Arma & Arma II) it works really well, so the technology isn't hard to do, especially with such few simple commands as powers where a single word would do (eg. drone, throw, warp, concussive, pull, cryo, incinerate etc).