18 réponses à ce sujet

[Locutus_of_BORG]

So I just did the IFF mission for the first time on Insanity and I brought Samara along for Pull Field & Area Reave. I have 6 biotic upgrades, but the Area Reave doesn't fully strip Husk armor (down to a pixel)... what gives?

Luckily as an Adept with Singularity this wasn't a serious issue. But IIRC, It easily does the trick on the other dfficulties just fine.

[Senior Cinco]

Locutus_of_BORG wrote...
Luckily as an Adept with Singularity this wasn't a serious issue. But IIRC, It easily does the trick on the other dfficulties just fine.

There you go...

Insanity = more def layers, larger / longer layers. Enemies are more aggressive, use powers more often, and flank more

[Kronner]

This is because Reave does damage over time (even though when used against armor, it does the damage immedietaly), and there is 20% penalty on all durations on Insanity. Unstable/Heavy Warp and Heavy Reave are good enough for removing the armor completly on Insanity.

[Bozorgmehr]

Yeah, Area Reave with 6 biotic upgrades isn't enough to strip barrier/armor at level 30 (it is enough at level 29 though). When you're playing NG+ you need Samara's Heavy version to insta-strip. When you're going to use Reave on Shep, you'll need something that boosts either duration or power-damage (5% is enough) - through passives or armor - to remove those barriers and armor instantly.

[ahgchyhn]

if you don't mind modding on the pc, you can change the entry "squad power duration multiplier" in the coalesced.ini to 0.81 . that will be enough to penetrate the layer with max. upgrades.

i find that reasonable, because the amount of barrier/armor left is so small, that it was likely an oversight of the developers (all other area protection strippers don't have that problem with all upgrades).

[Locutus_of_BORG]

Aight, thanks.

Man, here I was hoping for the kind of total cc lockdowns I did back in my Hardcore runs... C'est tres tres dommage, mes amies.

I take it techies will still be able to do it, since Incineration Blast does an extra 15 dmg, which I guess will take down that last 1 pt or so armor?



If I miss the biotic mayhem too much, I might just try the coalesced mod.

Modifié par Locutus_of_BORG, 09 juin 2011 - 07:24 .

[kstarler]

Yes, Mordin can insta-strip husks. Through testing, iOnlySignIn and I were able to determine that Incinerate doesn't receive the duration reduction (I think that's why it's worded as 170 damage over 3 seconds rather than 56 damage per second). It also still appears to receive the bonus to duration, so that Incineration Blast out-damages Area Reave.

Modifié par kstarler, 09 juin 2011 - 11:16 .

[kstarler]

Sorry about that. The first time I did the math out for my first test, it appeared that the only way Incineration Blast beat Area Reave in overall damage was if the +20% duration modifier to tech abilities applied to it. However, re-doing the math just now, and double checking the results, it does appear that I was mistaken, so it appears that Incinerate is completely unaffected by any duration modifiers. Thank you for the correction!

[Whereto]

As a general rule, I never use a area upgraded ability, mainly due to the fact they never do enough damage on insanity to be effective enough. The more powerful version of the ability is far better IMO

[goofyomnivore]

Whereto wrote...

As a general rule, I never use a area upgraded ability, mainly due to the fact they never do enough damage on insanity to be effective enough. The more powerful version of the ability is far better IMO

I disagree greatly. Early game yes. After Horizon? No way. Samara's Reave is the only thing I ever make "heavy".

[Bozorgmehr]

@ iOnlySignIn; thanks for the info, I didn't know Incinerate's duration was fixed.

@ Whereto; when playing a normal new game you can easily equip Shep and your squadies with the Area versions. Upgrading biotic / tech damage along the way will enable insta-defense stripping throughout the game. Obviously you cannot have Miranda's Unstable Warp and Area Overload at level 7, you have to chose one for the early parts of the game.

Playing on NG+ is different, only Garrus' Area Overload can insta-strip shields pre-Horizon due to his power damage passive bonus. You need fully upgraded biotic / tech powers to allow the other squadmates to use Area versions to insta-strip (except Area Reave).

[Whereto]

@ strive, can't see ur logic there. No ability in it's area form does a sufficient amount of damage to the point where u see a notable difference in the speed of your kills. You can try it if u wish,but due to the lack of damage it will cause and the degree of damage you take, it's very hard to justify area to strength.

[kstarler]

Whereto wrote...

@ strive, can't see ur logic there. No ability in it's area form does a sufficient amount of damage to the point where u see a notable difference in the speed of your kills. You can try it if u wish,but due to the lack of damage it will cause and the degree of damage you take, it's very hard to justify area to strength.

Incineration Blast is an example of an area ability being better than the heavy ability in regards to the majority of enemies in the game. With Heavy Incinerate, you may strip the armor from a mini-boss/boss more quickly (though it will most likely be a very small difference), but both abilities will instantly strip all armor from normal enemies. In this situation, the power that can hit more enemies is the winner. In a recent video (found here: www.youtube.com/watch) I use Mordin's Area Incinerate to strip armor from groups of husks, which allows for my squad cryo ammo power to freeze them, killing them instantly.

[Locutus_of_BORG]

strive wrote...

Whereto wrote...

As a general rule, I never use a area upgraded ability, mainly due to the fact they never do enough damage on insanity to be effective enough. The more powerful version of the ability is far better IMO

I disagree greatly. Early game yes. After Horizon? No way. Samara's Reave is the only thing I ever make "heavy".

I also disagree. Like Boz said, Area powers insta-strip defenses, even on Insanity, so as far as cc purposes go, their utility is indispensible. While it's true that things change in NG+, careful mission selection will net you enough upgrades to give Area Powers more or less full functionality after Horizon.

Both of these facts are well attested to by many high profile players on this forum. Being on my first Insanity run, I was surprised by Area Reave, which was the only Area power I had that failed to function as I'd expected. Apart from that one hiccup, everything else was pretty much as it was in my earlier playthroughs on lower difficulties, due mostly from the utility of my Area powers.

[Alamar2078]

I mostly like the area version of powers and I was also disappointed with Samara & Area Reave. Honestly though [unless I'm an adept] I pretty much never take Samara along on missions as I find that Miranda works pretty well vs. anything && either Grunt or Zaaeed works well enough as the other squadmate.

As far as Husks go the theory of Samara + Mordin to strip armor on a group then kill a group sounds good but I pretty much find that they are too fragile to take a beating without a LOT of help.

Grunt does a good job of being a really big distraction and living through Husks without issues. Jacob does better than expected here too.

Then again with this pair it's up to Shep to do most of the real killing. Those guys are there to soak up tons of damage and get the Husks gathered together so Shep can do his thing. YMMV.

[Locutus_of_BORG]

^I've had toughness issues with Mordin, but not Samara yet. It always strikes me as strange that my Mordin, who has stronger shields, usually doesn't seem to last as long as other softies like Jack or Kasumi.

Area Reave on Samara also has the benefit of better wall penetration, due to its AoE. Helps keep her health up in stalemates.

I did the coalesced mod and seems to work well. The default duration setting is 0.8 (20% handicap, I think), so modding it to 0.81 (19%) is hardly gamebreaking.

[Asari Commando]

from what i understand reave is innefective against armor/barriers? the only time it seems to drain the bar is when they are down to regular hp.

[Alamar2078]

IIRC you only get HPs back when you Reave an organic whose defenses are down.

Damage is done vs. armor & barriers instantly but you don't get any health back with it.

Modifié par Alamar2078, 14 juin 2011 - 05:17 .