67 réponses à ce sujet

[UsagiVindaloo]

After completing the game on Normal with a Soldier and Engineer, I felt it was time to get my Insanity achievement, and since next on the block was an Adept playthrough, I thought I'd give that a go.

I'm currently feeling like the biggest noob on the block, because holy crap I am struggling. I did look at some of the guides to Adepts, but a lot of it has been a bit too general in terms of advice (i.e. "Well, you could take this power, of this power, or this power, and maybe this teammate" vs. "Take Barrier, always have Mordin in your party, etc") Plus they're rather contradictory ("Reave is awesome! No, it's redundant! Take Dominate! Dominate's useless! Take a tech skill! No, biotics for life!") I feel like I'm doing something terribly wrong because I'm dying multiple times on each fight, and the fights themselves seem to take a million years. So far I've done Mordin's recruitment and Kasumi's loyalty mission, and both felt like they were pulling teeth, especially since both of them had long multi-wave encounters (fan room for Mordin, gunship for Kasumi) where after fifteen minutes of struggles I'd get taken out in one or two shots and end up having to do the whole thing over again.

Build info is as follows:
Build: I believe I have 2-3 in Singularity, 1 or 2 in Warp, 1 or 2 in Throw, 1 in Pull, none in Shockwave, 3 in Adept (for better cooldowns + Para/Rene bonus) and 1 in bonus power. Unfortunately I don't have access to the full respec yet (if I did, I'd be tempted to boost my Pull and Warp a bit more for the detonation combo; I thought Singuarlity would work but I don't seem to be able to get many enemies caught up in it)
Bonus Power: I started with Warp Ammo, but after the painful grind of Mordin's level I tried switching to Barrier... which really doesn't seem to protect all that well. May also consider trying out the Geth Shield or Energy Drain talents (since A. my shields are always running out and B. the latter would give me something against shielded enemies besides my squadmates). 
Squadmates: I don't really have a lot to choose from at the moment. ;-) Miranda has been a mainstay so far for her Overload/Warp abilities, though I may now replace her with Kasumi depending on the mission. I tried Miranda/Zaeed for Mordin's recruitment but that didn't seem to go too well (too much armor and not enough ways to reduce it). Will probably have Mordin as a permanent party fixture now that he's along for the ride. May also consider later forming a squad with Thane and Samara as the Adept Insanity video guides looked absolutely insane with all the Pull/Warp combos that were going on.


I'm just worried as so far I'm struggling so much that I'm not really having that much fun, and I know it's going to get worse from here (Horizon, Collector Ship and Suicide Mission have got me breaking out in hives at the thought of them). I'm half tempted to shelve the Adept and just get my Insanity credit with a Sentinel or Vanguard, then come back and set it to Casual to breeze through, but part of me doesn't want to give up. Any advice or words of encouragement?

[Ahglock]

1. http://social.biowar...1/index/2841785

2. I level up this way.
1st max out adept power for cooldowns. I go with bastion.
2nd max out singularity to heavy, at a point where I have a spare I throw one in pull. For example while maxing out singularity I might have 2 points sitting there I need 3 for the next level, I can both save for the next level and put 1 point in pull.
3rd I get warp up to 3 points and out 1 in throw.
4th i max pull to area pull, then i max warp, then I usually max throw. I use stasis as my go to bonus power since it can handle ymir mechs.

For squadies it is all about defense striping to me, but some others focus more on warp bombs. So for me if going agianst blue suns I make sure IU have 2 shield destoryers, if going against blood pack mordin with incinerate and samara either for warp bombs of maybe reave if i did her loyalty quest.

Adepts might be the hardest class to get used to on insanity but once you get the hang of it I think they are pretty damn powerful.

[Influ]

Yeah, the Adept can be a bit hard early on and the fights do take ages. It gets better as you level up and again when you get to choose the bonus weapon.

I'd suggest maxing out the passive talent for lower cooldowns first and then either Singularity or Warp. Singularity is very useful in keeping one strong enemy out of combat while it slowly strips away it's defenses. You could also slap it down to some choke point to stop enemies from advancing through there. Warp bombs are your best damage dealer so investing in Warp is very useful early on. It also helps to have a squad member that has Pull atleast in the earlier parts in the game. And stay away from Shockwave.

Also make sure to get three biotic damage upgrades immediately after Horizon. The only one you can get before Horizon is from one of the missions in the Firewalker DLC. Stasis as a bonus power helps on some of the tougher enemies too, if you don't mind it's massive damage boost being quite cheap. If you have the Firepower pack, then Shotgun training from the Collector Ship is a good choice. Geth Plasma Shotgun strips shields and barriers like crazy and then you can setup your biotic combos. Otherwise I'd suggest going with Assault Rifles.

[Bozorgmehr]

Adepts need some time to develop. Early on you don't have upgrades, your powers are weak and don't last long, limited firepower make it harder than the other classes. But around level 15, bonus weapon and 3 biotic upgrades, Adepts come in a league of their own.

Squadmates are important. Try to think of powerful combos before missions. A defense stripper, plus someone with Pull/Singularity and one with Warp can setup instant warp explosions - very powerful to open hostilities. Shepard doesn't have to everything on his/her own - always look at your squad. When you bring someone with Warp, Shepard can focus on other powers/abilities instead for example.

Biotics are a lot of fun, just keep going and try to get to Horizon asap > get the biotic upgrades and pick up your bonus weapon (GPS is awesome for Adepts) and you'll be almost invincible.

Goodluck and have fun.

[XCPTNL]

I feel you. After hundreds of hours of gameplay on Insanity with every other class I was really shocked as to how vulnerable the Adept was and how much time I needed for the fights and how often I died. In my opinion it's the worst choice for an insanity run if you only have played on Normal before. Still... it gets easier after Horizon and the Collector Ship when you have the upgrades for Biotic Duration and Cooldown and can pick weapons training. I highly recommend the Geth Shotgun, it's absolutely perfect for the Adept and you can easily strip shields from further away and then cause biotic mayhem afterwards.

To be honest, I found Singularity to be the most useless skill early on aside from Shockwave. I primarily used it to lock down Harbinger or other annoying enemies and even at Level 30 I am more of a Pull/Warp Explode or Pull/Throw user. It's still has its uses though but it's not a skill that you constantly spam like Adrenaline Rush or Charge. It's more of a tactical skill that is handy at times. So after maxing out the passive I usually stay with a Level 2 Singularity for a very long time and spend the points primarily on Warp, Pull and Throw (in that order).

As for bonus skills there are many options like Reave, Stasis, Energy Drain (if you dare to rape your Adept with tech implants) or Barrier. I opted for 1 point in barrier in the end but it's just my panic skill if all else fails. It saves lifes! If you use it otherwise (like putting up a Barrier and thinking you are invincible now) you will be disappointed because a) the cooldown is huge and it doesn't last very long (especially anything below a fully evolved Heavy Barrier). But to have 1 point in it and use it when things are about to get ugly for you and you only have a small amount of health left can be really good. I usually do the same on my engineers with a Level 1 Geth Shield. To me those defensive skills are more like passive skills that don't interfere with the cooldown of my main skills because I only use them very rarely to save my ass (at which point their cooldown obviously does interfere - but usually that's also the time when I grab my legs and change positions as fast as I can while the lifesaver Barrier is still good).

Modifié par Korjyan, 18 mars 2011 - 07:50 .

[9thLich]

Why use Barrier or Geth Shield, if fully upgraded Unity aka Medi Gel has a three second cooldown, replenishes your shield and heals you on top of that?

[SidJr]

Something like this happened to me, but it was when I chose to play with Vanguard!
I just do not know what I was doing wrong, I just die, die, die ... Charge + Shotgun + Punch did not work! I did not kill anyone! What was wrong?
Today I love playing with the Vanguard! I even did a video with him playing solo on Insanity, I came to the conclusion that I just died because I was using the wrong Skills in the wrong moments.

Insanity difficulty, I think the biggest problem is protection: Shields, Armor and Barrier ... if you can remove them in some way, everything becomes easier!

Your biggest problem with an Adept has been and always will be the Shield!You can remove the Barriers and Armors "easily(Warp)" don't worry with it!

Bring someone with you who can remove Shields (Zaeed, Tali, Garrus, Miranda or Kasumi) or choose the Energy Drain power as bonus!You could kill very quickly after removing the protections ... with Singularity + Warp, Pull + Warp, Pull + Throw, Singularity + Throw ... just to mension some of the combos possible.

Believe in me, Adept can kill with just one power or die using 3 and shooting! Just know the right moment to use them! And... Enjoy!

Modifié par SidJr, 18 mars 2011 - 08:13 .

[RedCaesar97]

I think jumping immediately from Normal to Insanity was probably not the best move (for myself, I progressed from Normal to Veteran to Hardcore and then to Insanity). Unlike the combat-oriented classes (Soldier, Infiltrator, and Vanguard) which can usually shoot themselves out of any situation, Adepts have to play more tactically and tend to rely more on squadmates.

For the Adept on Insanity, you typically want to first cast Singularity on the most dangerous enemy: either someone with the most protection or Pyro, or on a charging enemy such a Krogan. On Insanity, Singularity is mainly for holding a single enemy in place and preventing him from attacking, similar to the Engineer's drone.

From there, you can use your weapons or squadmate's powers to strip defenses, setting them up for a pull-warp or pull-throw combo.

As for levelling your Adept, I preferred putting at least one point in all powers (except Shockwave) then maxing my class for the maximum cooldown. I found Stasis to be a good bonus power but almost all bonus powers would work.

I think everyone else who has already replied has given great advice and any other advice I have is redundant. Good luck!

[kstarler]

9thLich wrote...

Why use Barrier or Geth Shield, if fully upgraded Unity aka Medi Gel has a three second cooldown, replenishes your shield and heals you on top of that?

Barrier and GSB have no casting animation, which means they are instant, and can be used even when Shepard is stunned/staggered. Medi-gel has an animation, which means that you generally need to be in cover or out of enemy fire in order to use it successfully. Also, GSB and Barrier add their percentage in addition to full shields, so at 1 point, you get back 125% shields. Granted, this doesn't make a real difference on Insanity difficulty, but it's still better shields than can be gotten with Medi-gel. Finally, Medi-gel can only be used AFTER recruiting Mordin, as the upgrade has to be unlocked, where as Barrier/GSB are useful from the moment Shepard wakes up.

With all that said, I generally take Barrier/GSB until I get Mordin, at which time I change to Stasis (playing on PC, and Stasis isn't availble at character creation).

EDIT: Oh, you also have to actually have Medi-gel in order to use Unity, while you only need a cool down to use Barrier/GSB.

Modifié par kstarler, 18 mars 2011 - 08:40 .

[UsagiVindaloo]

Wow, thanks so much everyone for the good advice. I'm glad to hear that I am at least partially onto something with levelling my Adept class first (though I confess it was party to ensure I had enough Paragon/Renegade to make sure I could sweet talk people ;D). Unfortunately my wisdom did not extend to my squadmates. Kasumi's loyalty mission was brutal ("Yay! She exploded another shield! ... aaaaand now I have to wait for her Overload to come off cooldown.")

Actually, speaking of squadmates (and kstarter's edit), that's another problem I'm having; my squadmates die, like, all the time. I try to position them behind cover and everything, but it seems like I burn through my entire stock of medi-gel every single mission thanks to them taking a rocket to the face every encounter. I feel like getting out a Powerpoint slide presentation or diagrams or something. "Miranda, this is a bullet. Please try to keep it away from your genetically engineered face." It's frustrating, because I can't exactly charge in very well (my time is spent hiding behind walls and occasionally flinging out a Warp or Singularity or Pull) so I somewhat need them to do the OH HAI BLUE SUN for me, and they seem to do a terrible job. Or perhaps I'm just terrible at directing them?

BTW, a question about singuarity; does it only "work" on unshielded enemies? Because I was under the impression that if an enemy had a shield, armor, or barrier, they were immune to pretty much all biotic effects. I've certainly seen no sign of armored enemies being gleefully ragdolled through the air.

Also, is Shockwave is bad as everyone seems to think it is?

But thank you for all the other advice. It's good to hear that it gets better as it levels. I don't have the Firepower pack (may consider getting it now though) so I might just stick with assault rifles when the time comes. For now, think I'll go collect Jack next so I have someone with Pull (either that, or actually willingly drag poor Jacob along for once! ;-))

[Saaziel]

Yeah, babysitting squadmates can feel like stacking marbles in a corner sometimes. A few stands out as more resilient than others though: Grunt , Jacob & Katsumi. You still need to use powers to keep them out of trouble sometimes, Shadow strike to disengage incoming enemies from Katsumi for example.

Perhaps you could go with Grunt as a meat shield , even though he's not much use at setting up biotic combos. The simple fact that he's reliable might give you more time to focus on said combos.

Shockwave is nice and all, but there's a lot better out there. However i was running Jack on a couple missions where her shockwave insta-gibbed non-armored & shieldless YMIR mechs. Not sure if this is normal, or if i remember it correctly, moreover this was on Hardcore. You could try it out on insanity and see for yourself i guess.

And speaking of Hardcore, i think Adepts are probably better suited for Hardcore. Insanity is ... well , retarded. Props to anyone who completed it, but its really not my cup of tea. Hardcore gives you a challenge without being completely ... well, insane.

And being somewhat close to ME3, why not wait a little and see what kind of impact events in ME1 & ME2 will have on the third instalment? You could build up your class through all 3 games , while having practice the more difficult settings on hardcore.

Just a thought.

Modifié par Saaziel, 18 mars 2011 - 10:51 .

[Bozorgmehr]

The best you can do to reduce squadmate deaths is being point(wo)man. Enemies will always shoot the closest one. The downside is you'll be taking most damage. Don't be afraid to advance aggressively, enemies will usually pull back and regroup. It's also easier and more satisfying to use biotic powers at short-medium range.

You also want to specialize squadmates. Miranda is an excellent warp spammer (always go for Unstable Warp - 3 s less cooldown is win) and ignore her Overload until she's got Unstable Warp. Garrus is an awesome shield stripper and combined with Miranda you can toss a Singularity on an enemy, strip shield of target (and with Area Overload) his pals nearby, Miranda Warp detonates. You can execute combos like this in less than a second, and a warp explosion will stagger/knockdown all enemies within the (7 m) detonation radius. Starting a fight with this combo will make it easy to get into a good shooting position, it kills one or two enemies and removes defenses of everything nearby which allows the use of the entire biotic arsenal almost straight away.

Singularity works against pretty much everything though you do need to max it, passive duration bonus and research upgrade will also help a lot. Fully evolved it can hold Harbinger or a Scion up to 7 seconds, or stop a small squad for 3 seconds. Try using Singularity to lockdown powerful enemies or use it as a trap by placing it somewhere strategic (choke points, doorways etc).

The firepower dlc has some nice weapons, the Mattock is a beast and the GPS the Adept's best friend. But the GPR and Vindicator are great and accurate assault rifles, but since you already have the Locust a shotgun can be great. Eviscerator is great against armored enemies and the Scimitar is very effective against shields and barriers (and its high RoF guarantees lots of staggers). Sniper rifles are trick due the zooming when you're using powers, but the Viper is an excellent long-range weapon if that's your thing.

You might want to check my sig, you'll find plenty of Adept info and lots of gameplay videos.

[Sailears]

UsagiVindaloo wrote...

Wow, thanks so much everyone for the good advice. I'm glad to hear that I am at least partially onto something with levelling my Adept class first (though I confess it was party to ensure I had enough Paragon/Renegade to make sure I could sweet talk people ;D). Unfortunately my wisdom did not extend to my squadmates. Kasumi's loyalty mission was brutal ("Yay! She exploded another shield! ... aaaaand now I have to wait for her Overload to come off cooldown.")

Actually, speaking of squadmates (and kstarter's edit), that's another problem I'm having; my squadmates die, like, all the time. I try to position them behind cover and everything, but it seems like I burn through my entire stock of medi-gel every single mission thanks to them taking a rocket to the face every encounter. I feel like getting out a Powerpoint slide presentation or diagrams or something. "Miranda, this is a bullet. Please try to keep it away from your genetically engineered face." It's frustrating, because I can't exactly charge in very well (my time is spent hiding behind walls and occasionally flinging out a Warp or Singularity or Pull) so I somewhat need them to do the OH HAI BLUE SUN for me, and they seem to do a terrible job. Or perhaps I'm just terrible at directing them?

BTW, a question about singuarity; does it only "work" on unshielded enemies? Because I was under the impression that if an enemy had a shield, armor, or barrier, they were immune to pretty much all biotic effects. I've certainly seen no sign of armored enemies being gleefully ragdolled through the air.

Also, is Shockwave is bad as everyone seems to think it is?

But thank you for all the other advice. It's good to hear that it gets better as it levels. I don't have the Firepower pack (may consider getting it now though) so I might just stick with assault rifles when the time comes. For now, think I'll go collect Jack next so I have someone with Pull (either that, or actually willingly drag poor Jacob along for once! ;-))

Squad shouldn't need too much direction, depending on how you play. Yes they will do stupid things occasionally. Best to leave them alone, unless you need them to be somewhere.

Singularity will drain defences as the rank increases, and quite fast at heavy. But no, you are right, need to remove armour/barrier/shield for biotic ragdoll to come into play.

Shockwave... well, thisisme8 showed a great video using it on the vanguard, and Bozorgmehr has super run using it on Korlus. Essentially it comes down to the fact you can play this game any way you like, providing you have a sound strategy.

You don't have the firepower pack?! STOP, go and get it now!
If you're considering dragging Jacob and Jack along, give them both a GPS, and start levelling yours and their pull - I can guarantee a fun time.

[kstarler]

Shockwave isn't bad on it's own, but there are other powers that are more effective to use 90% of the time, due to the long cool down (6.0 seconds) and low damage of Shockwave. Pull Field is generally a better ability to use, because it's a shorter cool down and you can use it to set up bombs.

As far as managing squad mates goes, it is very difficult to keep them alive at times. One thing to try is to tell them to stand behind a cover as soon as you get into an area, and try to keep them behind you, or at least out of your line of sight. The advantage of this is that their abilities become instant cast (because there are no casting animations) and they are likely to stay behind cover more. Also, try giving SMG wielding squad mates (Miranda, Kasumi, etc) the Shiruken. They will be accurate with the burst fire, and they will generally fire short bursts and return to cover, whereas they will stay out of cover longer firing the Locust or Tempest (squad mates generally fire half a magazine before ducking back into cover). Finally, this may be a bug for PC only, but if you wait to use Unity to revive your squad mates until Shepard is on health, the game will only use a single medi-gel to heal Shepard and revive the dead squad mates, instead of using one for each squad member. This can be handy for reviving both squad mates without burning through your medi-gel too quickly.

Finally, if you happen to notice that one of your squad mates is getting killed, try looking at them. It may just be my perception, but it seems that sometimes, when things are happening off the screen, the game calculates more damage against your squad than when it has to actually show all the animations of enemies attacking your party members. Again, this may all be in my own head, but it seems to work sometimes at keeping squad members from dying.

EDIT: The Geth Plasma Shotgun is probably the best Insanity Adept weapon in the game, for the following reasons:
1. Unlike other shotguns, it can be used at longer ranges, so it is possible to "snipe" using it.
2. With all shotgun upgrades, it can strip most defenses in a single shot, meaning that you shoot once with the shotgun, and you're ready to ragdoll the enemy.
3. When backed into a corner, it can be used very effectively in close quarters.

The Firepower Pack is worth the couple of dollars it costs to purchase, especially if you have points left over from other DLC.

Modifié par kstarler, 18 mars 2011 - 11:13 .

[Project Requiem]

Adept on Insanity was amazingly fun. I jumped from Casual to Insanity and it was easy once you learned how things worked.

Personally, I wouldn't suggest putting more than one point in throw and pull, at least not in the beginning of the gaming. I would max out everything else first.

To me, ammo isn't really necessary, I barely shot my gun on most missions. Energy Drain is a MUST. it's already an AoE effect so it works very well against mobs. If you would like ammo types, you may switch around with Zaeed, Garrus, and Jacob. Be sure to max out skills to gain squad ammos on each of them.

For my team, I always used Zaeed and Miranda. Zaeeds Heavy inferno grenade works well against armor. As for guns, stick with locust, I found that the best gun in the entire game so far.

Now onto tactics, be sure to watch how close your enemy gets!
Most of the time, I threw my teammates in a corner where they couldn't attack or get attacked, they constantly pop their heads in and out of cover so I just move them away to access their abilities.

If there are enemies together, my suggestion would be to strip one from their shields/armor/barrier, and use a skill that will slow them down at the time (pull/throw combo to get them away, sometimes just throw works, or concussive shot) When that happens, start targeting another enemy instantly and do the same. I suggest to learn to curve your powers strategically. Standing behind large cover works well, and throwing your enemies at certain curves can easily remove them from the area.

[Influ]

UsagiVindaloo wrote...

BTW, a question about singuarity; does it only "work" on unshielded enemies? Because I was under the impression that if an enemy had a shield, armor, or barrier, they were immune to pretty much all biotic effects. I've certainly seen no sign of armored enemies being gleefully ragdolled through the air.

Also, is Shockwave is bad as everyone seems to think it is?

Singularity won't ragdoll enemies until they're out of defenses, but it will keep most enemies stunned and slowly strip away their defenses. Some tougher enemies like YMIRs, Geth Primes along with klixen, varren and FENRIS are not affected by the Singularity at all until they're defenses are down.

And about the Shockwave, it is and isn't that useless. On it's own it is a decent power, but there are so few situations where some other power(s) isn't infinitely more useful. This being on hardcore/insanity when all enemies have defenses.

[Hunter-Wolf]

First problem i see is jumping from Normal to Insanity .. that's quite the big jump .. i just finished my Adapt "Hardcore" playthrough after playing on Veteran for some time with other characters .. and boy .. Hardcore does feel clearly much much harder than Veteran .. if you still wanna go at it .. then you should accept numerous deaths as the learning curve can be steep.

Here are few tips from my Hardcore Adapt playthrough.

1-Evolve Singularity as soon as you can ... it is very useful (both Heavy and Wide) .. perosnally i used (squad-mate Heavy Warp  + squad-mate Concussive Blast + your own Wide Singularity) combo  .. Wide Singularity encompasses many enemies and chips away at their shields/armor/barriers as long as they are inside it  .. and with teammate Heavy Warp ready .. fire an AoE "Concussive Blast" at the enemies inside Wide Singularity to remove whatever is left from their shields/armor/barriers (or fire at them using weapons to remove whatever remains of their defense) ... and as soon as they float inside Singularity ..  Heavy Warp one of them .. BAM .. biotic explosion .. this worked like magic with the "Shadow Broker" mercs that come in flying transports .. before they move out of the car one combo like this is ought to kill almost all of them if you catch them early on.

2-Also .. max your Adapt passive skill early on .. it helps greatly with cool-downs (since adapts depend too much on powers and powers combos).

3-Get the Locust SMG from Kasumi mission (critical) .. then either get warp ammo from "Advanced Training" or have Jack get "Squad Warp Ammo" .. now any biotic power you use (specially Singularity) is going to pack a lot more punch .. as any enemy affected by long term biotics (singularity, pull) will receive extra damage from all your team weapon attacks enhanced with warp ammo.

4-If you chose to give Jack "squad Warp Ammo" then get Grunt's Fortification ability for yourself as "Advanced Training".. works great for defense when in a pinch (IMO Geth Shield is only good for Soldiers and Infiltrators .. and Barrier is killed by any automatic weapon used by enemies).

5-Upgrade Medi-gel as soon as you can to make it heal your full HP and Shields .. this is very critical when you are low on HP, hiding behind cover and your fortification (if you got it) is on cool-down and an enemy is upon you.

6-I don't know if you figured that out or not .. but i only noticed it during my second playthrough of ME2 .. you can aim powers slightly off enemies so that they home and arc around hitting enemies behind cover and over obstacles.. it is mentioned in the game tutorials i know .. but i only made full use of this awesome trick when i got to play with an Adapt .. preferably done while paused for max accuracy.

7-Split your team mates so that enemies can't focus fire them .. if you let them be they just follow you around like puppies and get killed brutally .. i tend to give squaddies with snipers and heavy pistols a position far away .. and others with shotguns, SMGs and Assault Rifles forward positions .. and i move away from both of them to flank enemies or split their attention.

8-Upgrade SMGs and Heavy Pistols and Biotic Damage as often as possible.


Hope these tips help ... and good luck

Modifié par Hunter-Wolf, 19 mars 2011 - 12:22 .

[mcsupersport]

One other thing to remember is Throw while redded out for use still will stagger and damage shields, true not as much as energy drain but it still does effect them some, which at a 3 second cooldown still is handy, especially at the heavy edition.

If you are trying to pull off a warp explosion then Pull will be your goto power for it. Singularity can be used, if you are trying to hold then explode a guy, but it has a longer cooldown so if the protections are already gone, use pull.

Early in the game, my goto companions are always Grunt and Miranda. The reasons are Grunt is a beast that is extremely hard to kill and provides ammo power if you want it. Miranda is great for both the passive bonuses she gives and she has both overload and warp, making her excellent to handle most any situation. Later you can mix people up more, but early this is what seems to work the best for me.

My favorite 2 bonus powers on an adept are Energy drain and Stasis, with Stasis being one of the better. If you want to max your bonus and have lower throw, and play more aggressive then use Barrier.

You will find the Adept gets progressively stronger the longer the game goes, because of maxing powers and of course the upgrades that both increase damage and decrease cooldowns.

Main thing is to have fun.

[mcsupersport]

Hunter-Wolf wrote...

First problem i see is jumping from Normal to Insanity .. that's quite the big jump .. i just finished my Adapt "Hardcore" playthrough after playing on Veteran for some time with other characters .. and boy .. Hardcore does feel clearly much much harder than Veteran .. if you still wanna go at it .. then you should accept numerous deaths as the learning curve can be steep.

Here are few tips from my Hardcore Adapt playthrough.

1-Evolve Singularity as soon as you can ... it is very useful (both Heavy and Wide) .. perosnally i used (squad-mate Heavy Warp  + squad-mate Concussive Blast + your own Wide Singularity) combo  .. Wide Singularity encompasses many enemies and chips away at their shields/armor/barriers as long as they are inside it  .. and with teammate Heavy Warp ready .. fire an AoE "Concussive Blast" at the enemies inside Wide Singularity to remove whatever is left from their shields/armor/barriers (or fire at them using weapons to remove whatever remains of their defense) ... and as soon as they float inside Singularity ..  Heavy Warp one of them .. BAM .. biotic explosion .. this worked like magic with the "Shadow Broker" mercs that come in flying transports .. before they move out of the car one combo like this is ought to kill almost all of them if you catch them early on.



4-If you chose to give Jack "squad Warp Ammo" then get Grunt's Fortification ability for yourself as "Advanced Training".. works great for defense when in a pinch (IMO Geth Shield is only good for Soldiers and Infiltrators .. and Barrier is killed by any automatic weapon used by enemies).

5-Upgrade Medi-gel as soon as you can to make it heal your full HP and Shields .. this is very critical when you are low on HP, hiding behind cover and your fortification (if you got it) is on cool-down and an enemy is upon you.


8-Upgrade SMGs and Heavy Pistols as often as possible.


Hope these tips help ... and good luck

Wide singularity on insanity will last an incredibly short time.  Insanity has time modifiers that actually shorten all abilities and when you pack a bunch of people in wide it also shortens it even more.  Heavy is really the only way to get reliable use out of singularity on insanity level.  IT allows you to drop it on the floor and strip the armor off Husks to kill them and actually have it stay there a bit.  Wide Singularity will probably just get you killed 9 times out of 10.

Grunt's Fortification is the WORST SKILL SHEPARD CAN HAVE OF JUST ABOUT ANY!!!!  Fortification receives NO UPGRADE REDUCTIONS LIKE GETH SHIELD BOOST OR BARRIER,  and it still only boosts shields/barriers just like they do.  It is a gameplay glitch/mechanic that only on Grunt does it increase armor, not on Shepard.  So if you want a bonus shield power DON'T USE FORTIFICATION!!!

Once a power is used universal cooldowns are in effect, you shouldn't be able to use any skill including medigel until after it has expired, so if you pop a barrier, you can't turn around and hit medigel.

As far as taking a ammo power goes, it is really diminsihing returns because the more powerful an adept gets the less he shoots.  I personally perfer something that gets me to my other powers like energy drain, or something that allows me to lock down a big baddy that Singularity doesn't effect(Geth primes Ymirs, Klixen, Fenris mechs, and Varren)  like Stasis.

[mcsupersport]

Stupid double posting glitching forum......grumble grumble grumble

Modifié par mcsupersport, 19 mars 2011 - 12:33 .

[Alistair_Dunscon]

Hunter-Wolf wrote...
4-If you chose to give Jack "squad Warp Ammo" then get Grunt's Fortification ability for yourself as "Advanced Training".. works great for defense when in a pinch (IMO Geth Shield is only good for Soldiers and Infiltrators .. and Barrier is killed by any automatic weapon used by enemies).

There is exactly one difference between fortification and barrier and that is what type of power they are classified as. Barrier is a biotic power and fortification is a combat power; barrier will benefit from biotic upgrades and fortification won't. Barrier's monstrously large cooldown will become slightly shorter, and fortification's won't. I really don't like any of the three shield powers for any character, but fortification is the worst of them by far.

8-Upgrade SMGs and Heavy Pistols and Biotic Damage as often as possible.

Alternatively, you can get to Horizon as quickly as possible and then do 5 of the smaller side missions to get to the collector ship as quick as possible and pick up a bonus weapon for use as a main weapon. I see several proponents of the GPS in this thread, but the mattock is, as always, also a ridiculously strong choice.

[XCPTNL]

9thLich wrote...

Why use Barrier or Geth Shield, if fully upgraded Unity aka Medi Gel has a three second cooldown, replenishes your shield and heals you on top of that?

Like someone already said: it has not animation and is casted immediately. Also I don't use Unity at all. Can't remeber to have ever used it once in the many many hours I already spent playing. I don't want to use one of the precious 8 hotkeys for it and I never pause the game and use the Menu. I edited my game to not have Heavy Weapons so I can switch fast between 3 weapons so there's no need to ever pause the game.

UsagiVindaloo wrote...

But thank you for all the other advice. It's good to hear that it gets better as it levels. I don't have the Firepower pack (may consider getting it now though)

I recommend you get it. It's awesome, especially the Geth Shotgun. I also love the Phalanx and the Mattock is nice as well, although I don't use it anymore on any character. It's nice for squadmates though, especially if you have builds with Squad Cryo Ammo.

Saaziel wrote...

And speaking of Hardcore, i think Adepts are probably better suited for Hardcore. Insanity is ... well , retarded. Props to anyone who completed it, but its really not my cup of tea. Hardcore gives you a challenge without being completely ... well, insane.

It's a matter how well you know the game. I play Insanity only and it's not really challenging because I know the game inside out, having played hundreds of hours. So besides not using Heavy Weapons (mainly to switch weapons faster) I often play solo without squadmates make it a bit more challenging. Insanity isn't much different than Hardcore - you still have to deal with the defenses. On Insanity the enemies are just a bit more aggressive. The Adept can master it fine, the beginning is hard but later on it becomes a killing machine like the other classes.

Bozorgmehr wrote...

You also want to specialize squadmates. Miranda is an excellent warp spammer (always go for Unstable Warp - 3 s less cooldown is win) and ignore her Overload until she's got Unstable Warp. Garrus is an awesome shield stripper and combined with Miranda you can toss a Singularity on an enemy, strip shield of target (and with Area Overload) his pals nearby, Miranda Warp detonates. You can execute combos like this in less than a second, and a warp explosion will stagger/knockdown all enemies within the (7 m) detonation radius.

@UsagiVindaloo: This is a pretty good advice. You have to deal with a lot of shields, so having Garrus with Area Overload and Miranda's Unstable Warp is so useful throughout the game, especially early in the game (if you imported a character and started at Level 5 you can evolve the powers of those 2 squadmates to their full potential pretty quickly and they will be very useful on Jack's and Grunt's recruitment mission.

Alistair_Dunscon wrote...

Alternatively, you can get to Horizon as quickly as possible and then do 5 of the smaller side missions to get to the collector ship as quick as possible and pick up a bonus weapon for use as a main weapon. I see several proponents of the GPS in this thread, but the mattock is, as always, also a ridiculously strong choice.

That's what I always do with every class when I start a new character - get to the Collector Ship as soon as possible. After Horizon I do some Illium sidequests, buy all the stuff I need and then do 5 side missions (usually: Anomalous Weather Detected, MSV Broken Arrow, Endangered Research Station, Mining the Canyon, MSV Estevanico). The Anomalous Weather mission also gives you another Damage Proctection upgrade so you can do the Hard Shields upgrade back on the Normandy before going onto the Collector Ship. You could also do the Firewalker mission but I usually do them before recruiting Mordin. And after you have beaten the Collector Ship you have your bonus weapon for the rest of the game (and some more upgrades available at the shops).

[Hunter-Wolf]

mcsupersport wrote...
Wide singularity on insanity will last an incredibly short time.  Insanity has time modifiers that actually shorten all abilities and when you pack a bunch of people in wide it also shortens it even more.  Heavy is really the only way to get reliable use out of singularity on insanity level.  IT allows you to drop it on the floor and strip the armor off Husks to kill them and actually have it stay there a bit.  Wide Singularity will probably just get you killed 9 times out of 10.

For me on Hardcore Wide Insianty lasts for what seems like an eternity ... i could cast it ... wipe out a couple of guys .. battle is over .. and it keeps hanging around swirling for a couple of seconds after the battle .. i don't think the Insainty handicap would really affect it that much (the difference between Wide and Heavy is only 2 sec duration) .. it worked like a charm for me and works great in combo with other skills like Concussive Blast or Heavy Warp .. more so becasue it snatches enemies at a very wide radius (even if they are knocked around with Concussive Blast and creates a much wider biotic explosion when triggred by Warp .. i had a lot of fun sniping enemy defenses and seeing them get sucked by the huge radius of Wide Singulaity .. never had any problems with it .. it was my main offensive option during my Hardcore playthrough .. heck .. i even used a crazy double Singulairty attack when Liara came over during the Shadow Broker mission .. devastating and creates a cool resonating/pulsing noise 

mcsupersport wrote...
Grunt's Fortification is the WORST SKILL SHEPARD CAN HAVE OF JUST ABOUT ANY!!!!  Fortification receives NO UPGRADE REDUCTIONS LIKE GETH SHIELD BOOST OR BARRIER,  and it still only boosts shields/barriers just like they do.  It is a gameplay glitch/mechanic that only on Grunt does it increase armor, not on Shepard.  So if you want a bonus shield power DON'T USE FORTIFICATION!!!

Barrier like i said can be removed in seconds if any enemy attacks you with a rapid fire weapon (most enemies do) .. so it doesn't last even a couple of seconds ... as for Geth Shield .. it also is affeccted by rapid fire weapons (as all shields and biotic barriers are) .. and is mostly meant to enhance weapon damage when evolved (the only unique feature it has) which benefits classes like Vanguard and Soldiers .... that's my opnion .. what worked great for might not work gerat for you or other people for various reasons (play-style, upgrades, .. etc etc) .. for each his own XD

mcsupersport wrote...
As far as taking a ammo power goes, it is really diminsihing returns because the more powerful an adept gets the less he shoots.  I personally perfer something that gets me to my other powers like energy drain, or something that allows me to lock down a big baddy that Singularity doesn't effect(Geth primes Ymirs, Klixen, Fenris mechs, and Varren)  like Stasis.

You won't be the only one shooting .. the whole team will be shooting .. besides .. like it or not you still have a cooldown time ... so all three memebers of the team will be shooting warp bullets that do extra damage aganist anyone affected by biotics .. which you (anmd probably your squadmates) will be casting left and right .. IMO it worked great with me.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Alistair_Dunscon wrote...
There is exactly one difference between fortification and barrier and that is what type of power they are classified as. Barrier is a biotic power and fortification is a combat power; barrier will benefit from biotic upgrades and fortification won't. Barrier's monstrously large cooldown will become slightly shorter, and fortification's won't. I really don't like any of the three shield powers for any character, but fortification is the worst of them by far.

Like i told mcsupersport .. it worked great with me and was pretty reliable .. Shields and Barriers are chewed away by any rapid fire .. and most enemies use rapid fire weapons.

Alistair_Dunscon wrote...
Alternatively,you can get to Horizon as quickly as possible and then do 5 of the smaller side missions to get to the collector ship as quick as possible and pick up a bonus weapon for use as a main weapon. I see several proponents of the GPS in this thread, but the mattock is, as always, also a ridiculously strong choice.

True that it is possible too .. but personally i never bothered with the extra weapon training (not to mention i don't have the weapon pack that has the mattock) ... the Locust SMG was all i needed .. great range/accuracy ratio and rapid fire that eats out any shield/barrier .. never looked behind after i upgraded Semi-Automatics to full potential and added warp ammo to the mix.

Modifié par Hunter-Wolf, 19 mars 2011 - 06:38 .

[kstarler]

Hunter-Wolf, while your subjective experience with Fortification suggests to you that it is better than Barrier, the fact is that Barrier and Fortification are identical abilities, except that one is Biotic (Barrier) and one is a combat ability (Fortification). Because of this, Barrier is better, because it gets a greater cool down reduction from abilities and research upgrades. A developer has even admitted so in these forums, though I cannot find the post. While Fortification works, it is a less effective power than Barrier overall. For proof, please refer to:

masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Barrier

masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Fortification

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to call you out on this, and normally I wouldn't post something to counter someone's opinion on the best Adept build or play style. But, for the sake of the OP, I want to clarify this issue, and that is that, numerically and practically, Barrier is superior to Fortification in the long run.

EDIT: Also, the problem with Wide Singularity on Insanity is that it is self defeating. The additional area of effect usually causes it to have a shorter duration, because it's hitting two or three targets instead of just one. So, whereas a Heavy Singularity will lock down a single shielded target for 9 seconds (minus 20%), a Wide Singularity will lock down two targets for only 3.5 seconds (minus 20%) because a second target is within the area of effect. That is why you will see so many Insanity players using Heavy Singulirity instead of Wide Singularity.

Modifié par kstarler, 19 mars 2011 - 07:40 .

[Influ]

Hunter-Wolf wrote...

Barrier like i said can be removed in seconds if any enemy attacks you with a rapid fire weapon (most enemies do) .. so it doesn't last even a couple of seconds ... as for Geth Shield .. it also is affeccted by rapid fire weapons (as all shields and biotic barriers are) .. and is mostly meant to enhance weapon damage when evolved (the only unique feature it has) which benefits classes like Vanguard and Soldiers .... that's my opnion .. what worked great for might not work gerat for you or other people for various reasons (play-style, upgrades, .. etc etc) .. for each his own XD

You are experiencing some sort of placebo effect here. Fortification and Barrier differ only in appearance and as others pointed out, Barrier is a biotic power while Fortification is a combat power. They both do the exact same thing: boost your shields. Fortification does not add an armor layer for the player and it works exactly the same as any other shield boosting power. The game doesn't feature armor layers for the player. Heck, even Grunts "armor" works exactly like shields and barriers in the game.

Long story short; if you're going to use a shield boosting bonus power, don't use Fortification.