165 réponses à ce sujet

[CaolIla]

I just started a run as an Engineer, and am not sure how I'm going to skill him yet.

I think I'm going for Overload (Area), AI Hacking (Lvl2 or 3), Dominate (same), Drone (Lvl 1), Incinerate (don't know yet, I hope it's enough for blast) and the freezing stuff (I can't think of the name now ^^) on a high lvl.
Right now I think I'll take the shotgun and do something like Bozorgmehr did in his Krogan Engineering video
www.youtube.com/watch
just without the Claymore (no Weapon editing) and most certainly not as awesome.
Dominate, Ai Hacking and Drone to get close and Freezing for the well beloved shattering effect ; ) Incinerate because it's awesome and dancing lightens up the atmosphere, so it's a winwin.

The first very unimpressive video will be up any minute, the first mission with Miranda and Jacob (I can't think of the planets name... I'm not good with names as you may have noticed by now).
Not much to see there, but well ; )
So stay tuned, got some things to do, but I may even continue today. 

My tribute to Krogan Engineering:
www.youtube.com/watch 


Playlist of all videos:
www.youtube.com/playlist


First mission:
www.youtube.com/watch

Mordin Recruitment:
www.youtube.com/watch

Kasumi Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch

Garrus Recruitment:
www.youtube.com/watch

Jack Recruitment:
www.youtube.com/watch

Grunt Recruitment:
www.youtube.com/watch

Horizon:
www.youtube.com/watch

Grunt Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch

Collector Ship:
www.youtube.com/watch

Jack Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch

Mordin Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch

Samara Recruitment:
youtu.be/NZHFJ7aCTgk

LotSB Part 1 (Baria Frontiers and fight against Vasir):
www.youtube.com/watch

LotSB Part 2 (Ship exterior and Defend the Hatch fight):
www.youtube.com/watch

LotSB Part 3 (Ship interior and Shadow Broker):
www.youtube.com/watch

Jacob Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch

Garrus Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch 

Thane Recruitment:
www.youtube.com/watch 

Miranda Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch

Tali Recruitment:
www.youtube.com/watch

Project Overlord Part 1 (Hermes and Vulcan Station, thx to RedCaesar for pointing that out):
www.youtube.com/watch

Project Overlord Part 2 (Prometheus and Atlas Station):
www.youtube.com/watch 

Zaeed Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch  

Tali Loyalty: 
www.youtube.com/watch 

Derelict Reaper ("No bullets for husks edition", Only watch it if you're bored ; ) ):
www.youtube.com/watch 

Legion Loyalty:
www.youtube.com/watch 

Suicide Mission Part 1:
www.youtube.com/watch 

Suicide Mission Part 2:
www.youtube.com/watch 

Arrival without Project Rho fight:
www.youtube.com/watch 

Project Rho:
www.youtube.com/watch



A few Sidemissions (Bloodpack, Cerberus Operative, Husk Mission):
www.youtube.com/watch 

Sidemissions Part 2 (Blue Suns and Mechs):
www.youtube.com/watch

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

The build:

Overload 3
Incineration Blast
Combat Drone 2
Full Cryo Blast
AI Hacking 3
Mechanic
Dominate 3

Modifié par CaolIla, 19 juin 2012 - 11:07 .

[CoffeeHolic93]

Some criticism. Drone is very ineffective at level 1, so consider putting points in it up to four.
If you're not going for Incineration blast, Incinerate is best left at level one - same goes for cryo.

If there's not enough points for a level 4 drone, consider swapping between Dominate and Hacking depending on the mission (Or use Mordin for Incinerate)

[CaolIla]

I don't want to rely on Drone that much, so it's gonna stay at lvl 1. It's one of the best powers to delay a single enemy but for what I have in mind Lvl 1 will be enough, I hope.
One of the goals will be to try it without spamming the drone as I usually do.
And my intention is not to make the most effective Engineer, my goal is to have much fun, and I think if I can pull it of as I'm imagining it right now, it might be a blast : )
If I play Engi, I usually skill Inci Blast, Explosive Drone and Area Overload. Cryo gets ignored in favor of other powers but I just love the effect of cryo and since you guys already covered Vanguard and Soldier with Cryo action I chose something else.
Like Mi-chan said: the drone is awesome and your biggest helper, so be smart and (ab)use it!

[CoffeeHolic93]

Ah, if it's Fun Factor you're going for then feel free. And yes, shattering frozen enemies is an absolute blast. Much more satisfying than Neural Shockwave.

[RedCaesar97]

CaolIla wrote...

I just started a run as an Engineer, and am not sure how I'm going to skill him yet.
I think I'm going for Overload (Area), AI Hacking (Lvl2 or 3), Dominate (same), Drone (Lvl 1), Incinerate (don't know yet, I hope it's enough for blast) and the freezing stuff (I can't think of the name now ^^) on a high lvl.

Dominate, Ai Hacking and Drone to get close and Freezing for the well beloved shattering effect ; ) Incinerate because it's awesome and dancing lightens up the atmosphere, so it's a winwin.

Cryo Blast requires lvl 2 drone and AI hacking requires lvl 2 Cryo Blast (darn you prerequisites).

So your build will look something like this:

Rank-skill
4 - Area Overload
4 - Incineration Blast
2 - Drone
3 - Cryo Blast
3 - AI Hacking
4 - Demolisher/Mechanic
3 - Dominate

[ryoldschool]

I approve of my fellow salarian's freezing efforts! Look forward to videos...and fun.

[CaolIla]

Hmm... I think I'll have to go Lvl 2 AI Hacking and Dominate to get lvl 4 cryo or maybe just lvl3 Incineration. Hmm, I'm going to test it out as soon as I'm faced with the problem.
And thx for doing the math for me Caesar ; )

Mordin Recruitment mission is up, I don't think I even use the drone there.
www.youtube.com/watch

[CoffeeHolic93]

Go for level 3 dominate/hacking. I've played with it on Haestrom, and hacking the fun stuff doesn't last long enough at level 2. If you're going to lower anything, lower Overload as many squadmates have it

[CaolIla]

My Kasumi LM run www.youtube.com/watch 
I skilled Cryo Lvl 1 prior to this mission to finally get some snow. All in all I used drone one time against a Vanguard, I was slightly confused in that scene and didn't really know what I wanted to do, so I pressed the panic button ; )
I had really annoying crash problems the whole time, it crashed sometimes after two minutes and then again right when I tried do load the last save Oo

To go for 3 points in Overload is also an option, stripping shields with SMG or Shotgun is usually  no big deal if necessary.

[Onpoint17]

I just completed 2 back to back playthroughs with the Engineer. I have to agree aside from the drones, cryo blast is one of my favorite powers. Just something about hearing frozen corpses shattering like glass is a rush. I guess you can call me a cryo-manic.

[senseibboy79]

I've completed back to back playthroughs of Engineers on Veteran and
Hardcore (next will probably be Insanity on a NG+) so here's my 2 cents:

Tech Mastery
- Max this out asap. It's much more useful and effective to be able to spam a lower ranked power, -  than have a Rank 2,3 or 4 level power but not be able to fire it off when you need it.
- Demolisher vs. Mechanic: If your bonus power is a passive ammo power (ex. AP/Shredder/Warp ammo) Demolisher is the way to go as the +15% power damage applies to it. If not, Mechanic can still do comperable damage, as the +15% power duration will apply to the DoT tick of Incinerate.

Drone
- I've found Exploding Drone on Hardcore/Insanity is better than the Attack Drone. First, your drone rarely gets more than a few shots off before it's destroyed, and two, the exploding effect is another effect to stagger the enemy. This is useful if you are using a Shotgun as your bonus weapon training and that extra stumbling about from the explosion can give you a few more seconds to nail them. Also, while it may not be the most practical squad, having Tali and Legion with you to all whip out your explosive drones on an enemy can be pretty hilarious.

Incinerate
- Your bread and butter attack. Effective against everything but especially so vs. armor and health. I honestly couldn't see myself playing an Engineer without maxing this out. I prefer the AoE Incinerate Blast in general. Extra damage can always be made up, and if you have Kasumi/Zaaed in your squad with maxed out AoE Inferno and Flashbang grenades you will absolutely annihalate swarms of clumped up enemies.

Cryo Blast
- Not a huge fan of this. 1 point is all I put into it, (which is still enough to freeze a target if it's defenses are stripped). This can probably best be summed up by a post from page 12 of Average Gatsby's Soldier guide. It describes Cryo Ammo but I think it also applies to Cryo Blast:

My problems with SCA are just like others said:

-- Enemies do not SNAP freeze so they are active for a while [still firing] before they
freeze up.  I'm usually happier with a more immediate ammo power
[Inferno or Disruptor] if the target is succeptable to such.

-- If you are keeping your distance and sniping / casting having the
enemies fall down BEHIND cover just means they are protected for that
period of time and you don't kill them [if you keep your distance]

-- The ammo power doesn't help strip defenses and IMHO an enemy is most
powerful when it has defenses.  I'd rather have their defenses stripped
before they get to me as I have higher impact options of dealing with
them then.

AI Hacking
- Too situational and not worth the point investment for much the same reasons as Cryo Blast. By the time a mech's defense are stripped to the point where you can actually use this, any mech/geth is pretty much dead with a few more shots anyways.

Overload
- Your go-to attack vs. anything synthetic or shielded, which on Hardcore +, is pretty much everything non-Krogan. Again I prefer to max out the AoE version of it, as there will be plenty of times where things are clumped up and hitting them all with one Overload can save you a cooldown or two.

Bonus Power
- I personally prefer a passive ammo power for this. Why? Engineers are cooldown-strapped as it is spamming Drone, Overload, Incinerate, etc whenever they can. The value of an ammo power is that you can turn it on and not have to worry about it for the rest of the level. I usually pick Squad Armor-Piercing ammo. Warp ammo is good but for RP reasons it just doesn't feel right for my character to use it. Shredder, while powerful  is only good on unprotected targets. Between Squad AP ammo, and my AoE Incinerate Blast, armored targets get taken down pretty quick.

Barriers
- Engineers might seem weak vs. targets with Barriers but I've found that as long as you get the SMG upgrade that gives +50% damage to barriers, you'll be fine. Barriers are much less common forms of protection than armor/shields anyways. If you still feel you need more Barrier-stripping power take the Geth Plasma Shotgun or the Geth Pulse Rifle depending on your bonus weapon training (shotgun has a 1.5 while the rifle has a 1.35 bonus damage multiplier vs. Barriers). Or bring along a squadmate like Miranda with Warp or Zaaed with Concussive Shot.

My level 30 build:
Area Overload - 4
Incineration Blast - 4
Explosive Drone - 4
Tech Mastery, Demolisher - 4
Squad Armor Piercing Ammo - 4
Cryo Blast - 1

Weapons - Locust SMG, Geth Plasma Shotgun, Phalanx Heavy Pistol

Modifié par senseibboy79, 16 octobre 2011 - 11:17 .

[CaolIla]

That's pretty much the Engineer I usually play and I didn't find anything that I can argue against ; )

If someone reads this thread in hopes to find an effective Engineer build, that's pretty much it. You can alter one or two powers for personal preferences, but that might be the most versatile build.

Like I wrote, my Engineer won't be very effective (at least until I reach a certain lvl) and not spamming the drone is kind of stupid, but it can be a challenge.

I hope my videos will be more watchable as time progresses, I still have to get used to way of playing the engineer and I'm low level and somehow limited. I wish I already had the Shotgun, but well, I have to make due with the resources at hand : )

[Doriath]

CaolIla wrote...
If someone reads this thread in hopes to find an effective Engineer build, that's pretty much it. You can alter one or two powers for personal preferences, but that might be the most versatile build.

I don't totally disagree with that, but the one or two powers I'd alter is a big difference to me.

For one, there is video proof dating as far back as February 2010 showing that in typical scenarios, it is rare to be facing an enemy that can kill the explosive drone fast enough to provide greater damage output than the attack drone. In my experience, YMIRs, krogan, missile troops shooting at point blank, and maybe one or two other non uniques that I can't recall that take it down quick. The explosive drone has the problem of it's effectiveness being based on who it is targeted to, assuming there even is an enemy on the battlefield capable of killing it faster than an attack drone could get off three shots, which is six seconds IIRC.

The second thing I disagree with is AP ammo. I really don't see a need for AP ammo on any class personally, but not at all on the engineer. The obvious weakness is barriers. Warp ammo is the only way you're going to get weapons fire enhanced against barriers, plus you still get a bonus to armor and health, exactly what AP is providing, althouth at a lower bonus. Versatility wins in my book, especially on weapons like the Locust and Mattock/Viper which already have moderate to good armor multipliers. Not to mention you're playing probably the best equipped class for stripping armor and shields without firing a single bullet, perfect for using squadmates with ragdoll abilities. Added perk of using warp ammo.

I wouldn't use the radius evolutions for defense stripping powers either, mainly because mooks aren't the problem. Minibosses or higher tier enemies are. You want to maximize damage on their protection. Plus, enemies move around a lot in my experience, and usually aren't standing next to the higher priority target.

The only thing I can't argue against is demolisher, but mechanic can be nearly as good. Depends on which powers you use more, the damage powers (incinerate, overload), or control ones (drone, cyro blast).

I guess this just speaks to a greater difference in playstyle though. I am very defensive, prefer max damage to single targets vs lower damage over an area, and use the bonus power to cover a weakness rather than enhance a strength. When I first started visiting this forum, I'd have agreed with that build completely but time and other people's findings have changed some things around. I don't know...maybe I'm in the minority.

Modifié par chrisnabal, 17 octobre 2011 - 06:53 .

[CaolIla]

I never use AP ammo, I prefer Neural Shock or warp Ammo but I can totally agree with sensei's build aside from that.

It depends on personal preferences and the way you play the game, I have more problems with many enemies than bosses and I like area evolutions mainly because of that.
Sometimes it helps a great deal and sometimes it doesn't, I can live with that.

If someone spends a lot of time with the game (s)he'll come to his/her own conclusion, I don't think there's any wrong build out there, just some that you play more and some you play less effective.

Garrus Recruitment mission is up, Ice and Fire... a lot.
www.youtube.com/watch 

[Locutus_of_BORG]

The main trouble with Cryo Blast isn't so much that it's situational, but that it's slow. Slow Projectile, Slow CC... As a squishy class&build, you definitely don't want to rely on that power up close. However, some builds like the Cryo Sentinel use it as a damage buff / combo starter, so it can be main power, but generally only if you deliberately build around it, imo.

AP Ammo buffs damage, but it suffers from significantly diminishing returns since it only buffs damage. Engineers dish out boatloads of damage via Incinerate/Overload, so IMO better choices are those that improve either your control of the battlefield and/or your resilience under fire. In staying with the 'Tech' theme, that usually boils down to Neural Shock(wave) or Area Drain.

Neural Shockwave is AoE CC, doing what your Drone can't. Neural Shockwave is also blisteringly fast - it's insta-hit, instant effect AND has a 3s CD, meaning it can save you in a pinch, which is especially great for CQC builds. It also kills regen and has a LONG duration, which is super efficient. Finally, it instakills stripped Husks wholesale, and is arguably the best power for this purpose. Generally speaking, N.Shockwave is the BP of choice when up against mostly biotic / combat targets (Blood Pack, Collectors/Reapers, many Eclipse), which make up maybe 50% of the enemies in the game.

Area Drain refills your shields strongly, but otherwise takes the place of Overload. I haven't heard about it being used much in CQC builds, but does boost survivability as well as frees up points for AI Hacking, which is amazing at any point where there are synthetic enemies around. The A.Drain route is obviously geared most strongly against the other 50% of enemies (Blue Suns, Geth, Mechs, some Eclipse).

I think it's been discussed before that the best Engineer builds usually use some combination of the above powers, respec'ing as needed. As stated by BW, the Engineer excels at manipulating battles and breaking defenses, so powers that CC or produce other 'status effects' usually give this class the most options, over straight damage powers.


EDIT: If for some reason you suddenly don't feel like going CQC anymore with a shotgun, try going sniper with the Viper. Lotsa fun messing with triggered sequences via Drone shenanigans and provides a pretty good vantage point to see how much raw firepower an unassuming Engineer can lay down. The playstyle's probably a tad weak for Arrival, but otherwise it's a pretty neat way to play the game.

Modifié par Locutus_of_BORG, 18 octobre 2011 - 03:30 .

[senseibboy79]

Locutus_of_BORG wrote...
AP Ammo buffs damage, but it suffers from significantly diminishing returns since it only
buffs damage. Engineers dish out boatloads of damage via
Incinerate/Overload, so IMO better choices are those that improve either
your control of the battlefield and/or your resilience under fire. In
staying with the 'Tech' theme, that usually boils down to Neural
Shock(wave) or Area Drain.

Neural Shockwave is AoE CC, doing what your Drone can't. Neural Shockwave is also blisteringly fast - it's
insta-hit, instant effect AND has a 3s CD, meaning it can save you in a pinch, which is especially great for CQC builds. It also kills regen and has a LONG duration, which is super efficient. Finally, it instakills
stripped Husks wholesale, and is arguably the best power for this purpose. Generally speaking, N.Shockwave is the BP of choice when up against mostly biotic / combat targets (Blood Pack, Collectors/Reapers, many Eclipse), which make up maybe 50% of the enemies in the game.

Area Drain refills your shields strongly, but otherwise takes the place of  Overload. I haven't heard about it being used much in CQC builds, but does boost survivability as well as frees up points for AI Hacking, which is amazing at any point where there are synthetic enemies around. The A.Drain route is obviously geared most strongly against the other 50% of enemies (Blue Suns, Geth, Mechs, some Eclipse).

I think it's been discussed before that the best Engineer builds usually use some combination of the above powers, respec'ing as needed. As stated by BW, the Engineer excels at manipulating battles and breaking defenses, so powers that CC or produce other 'status effects' usually give this class the most options, over straight damage powers.

EDIT: If for some reason you suddenly don't feel like going CQC anymore with a shotgun, try going sniper with the Viper. Lotsa fun messing with triggered sequences via Drone shenanigans and provides a pretty good vantage point to see how much raw firepower an unassuming Engineer can lay down. The playstyle's probably a tad weak for Arrival, but otherwise it's a pretty neat way to play the game.

Interesting!
I'll have to take another look at Drain and Neural Shock then. My main reason for skipping Neural before was that I felt it was too similar to Cryo. But I'll give it another look now, thx for the info .  As a sniper engineer though, did you find it difficult to line up shots? I'm curious as to how it plays out without a time-slowdown effect like the soldier or infiltrator.

chrisnabal wrote...
I don't totally disagree with that, but the one or two powers I'd alter is a big difference to me.

For one, there is video proof dating as far back as February 2010 showing
that in typical scenarios, it is rare to be facing an enemy that can
kill the explosive drone fast enough to provide greater damage output
than the attack drone. In my experience, YMIRs, krogan, missile troops
shooting at point blank, and maybe one or two other non uniques that I
can't recall that take it down quick. The explosive drone has the
problem of it's effectiveness being based on who it is targeted to,
assuming there even is an enemy on the battlefield capable of killing it
faster than an attack drone could get off three shots, which is six
seconds IIRC.

I love the attack drone too! =P heheh, don't get me wrong, I did my first Engineer playthrough with it using Assault Rifle as bonus training and loved it. The combined dps from my attack drone w/ Demolisher and Mattock rifle was really nice. Playing a shotgun engineer now though that extra stagger effect when it goes off has been handy. Will likely be revisiting this choice again on my next playthrough.

But yes I agree in that it seems like we play our engineers very differently. I love being aggressive and using drones distractions to set up kills with my geth shotgun. But that's the greatness with engineers! One class, capable of sustaining and catering to wildly different playstyles.

Modifié par senseibboy79, 18 octobre 2011 - 04:23 .

[capn233]

I just finished Horizon with my first ME2 engineer. I'm not all that leveled up yet, but I suppose I have a few thoughts.

Incinerate is a great power to have on difficulties where everyone has armor. It also works well on missions with organics.

When I first started I didn't realize that the drone's cooldown was ridiculously short (3s) compared to squadmates' cooldowns with them. So I was underutilizing the drone. Haven't leveled it past 2 yet, but I imagine it will get leveled up. I had always used explosive evolution on squadmates' drones but with the endorsements above maybe I should try attack on mine.  Rank 2 was enough to lock down the YMIR in the Jedore fight and in combo with incinerate for the Krogan made that fight probably the easiest I have experienced with any class.

Overload is overload, a bread and butter skill. The only think is that it can be found on several of your squadmates... I imagine if I take my typical Haestrom team of Garrus and Miranda the Geth will be owned faster than ever before.

Haven't unlocked Cryo or Hacking yet. I'm not a huge believer in cryo yet. Used cryo ammo on my Vanguard playthrough (squad evolition) and it is ok. Mordin's cryo blast is pretty nice just because his cooldown is so quick. I don't know how many points I will end up putting into it.

I started off the game with Flashbang as my bonus power since it can be decent, but unfortunately it doesn't benefit from tech upgrades / passive and it is somewhat weak when you only have a few points in it. Maybe I will go back after I have more health and points to put it in.

I switched to Energy drain which is just overload with the overheat weapons replaced by refilling your shields. It is nice to have right now as a shield recharge power just for a little extra survivability. I don't know that I will keep it since I already have overload. There aren't a lot of other bonus powers that I am in love with. Probably won't take a biotic power just because I am an engineer, and although I have used ammo powers very often with other classes, I figured I would try some other things.

As far as weapon training I imagine I will take ARs... it's a hard choice because of the standard weapons the Viper is probably my favorite, but considering flight times for the powers I think it would be better to go with more mid range.

I haven't played the engineer very aggressive since I only have the SMG and Pistol for the time being, but drone and incinerate do make it a little easier to mix it up somewhat close even if the engineer doesn't have all that much shield strength or health.

Modifié par capn233, 18 octobre 2011 - 04:39 .

[CoffeeHolic93]

senseibboy79 wrote...

Huge snip

Interesting!
I'll have to take another look at Drain and Neural Shock then. My main reason for skipping Neural before was that I felt it was too similar to Cryo. But I'll give it another look now, thx for the info .  As a sniper engineer though, did you find it difficult to line up shots? I'm curious as to how it plays out without a time-slowdown effect like the soldier or infiltrator.

It's not a problem with the Viper at all. You have to much ammo that you don't need to score headshot - just aim at the body. And they stand still when CC'd by the drone.

And neural shock is amazing, with upgrades and two squaddies with area overload you can neuter two groups of enemies in two seconds. 

[CaolIla]

Locutus_of_BORG wrote...

The main trouble with Cryo Blast isn't so much that it's situational, but that it's slow. Slow Projectile, Slow CC... As a squishy class&build, you definitely don't want to rely on that power up close. However, some builds like the Cryo Sentinel use it as a damage buff / combo starter, so it can be main power, but generally only if you deliberately build around it, imo.

That can be a real pain, you're right. At the moment I play with Jacob and his Squad Incendiary ammo and that helps a lot with this problem. I just let them dance and freeze them, while dancing they don't attack and their frozen statues always have a nice posture, a win-win situation.

@ Mi-Chan: Neural Shock is an awesome power, but CajNatalie did some amazing videos as an Engineer with Neural Shock just recently. So I decided to go a different route and ****** on Bozorgehr's grave since it's a bit colder  

Not related to pissing on anyone's grave: Jack's Recruitment mission is up

 www.youtube.com/watch 

I was weak and used the drone once against both mechs and prior to this mission I did the Hammerhead missions for the lvl up to get Dominate lvl 2. It just gives you two more seconds but the Barrier itself is a good indicator for dominating enemies again.

[CoffeeHolic93]

CaolIla wrote...


That can be a real pain, you're right. At the moment I play with Jacob and his Squad Incendiary ammo and that helps a lot with this problem. I just let them dance and freeze them, while dancing they don't attack and their frozen statues always have a nice posture, a win-win situation.

@ Mi-Chan: Neural Shock is an awesome power, but CajNatalie did some amazing videos as an Engineer with Neural Shock just recently. So I decided to go a different route and ****** on Bozorgehr's grave since it's a bit colder  

Not related to pissing on anyone's grave: Jack's Recruitment mission is up

 www.youtube.com/watch 

I was weak and used the drone once against both mechs and prior to this mission I did the Hammerhead missions for the lvl up to get Dominate lvl 2. It just gives you two more seconds but the Barrier itself is a good indicator for dominating enemies again.

I would never use neural shock if cryo just had the same cooldown, or the freezing was faster.  As it is it's for all intents and purposes an extremely inferior pull. Which saddens me as I prefer tech powers. 

Good video though 

[RedCaesar97]

Mi-Chan wrote...
I would never use neural shock if cryo just had the same cooldown, or the freezing was faster.  As it is it's for all intents and purposes an extremely inferior pull. Which saddens me as I prefer tech powers. 

I agree with Mi-Chan. I like Cryo Blast, but it really is an inferior pull. Sentinels can make the best use of Cryo Blast since they can follow it up with a Throw.

[CoffeeHolic93]

RedCaesar97 wrote...

I agree with Mi-Chan. I like Cryo Blast, but it really is an inferior pull. Sentinels can make the best use of Cryo Blast since they can follow it up with a Throw.

And Sentinel's have OP insane cooldowns, and even more OP a great power damage bonus, so their Cryo-Throw combo is amazing. The shattering effect is AWESOME though.

[Simbacca]

My favorite balanced insanity Engineer build has always been:

4 Area Overload, 4 Incineration Blast, 4 Attack Drone, 2 Cryo Blast, 3 AI Hacking, 4 Demolisher, 1 Neural Shock

And that was for both my insanity Sniper and my insanity Shotgun Engineers.  Shepard has the best cooldown on defense stripping powers, might as well max them.  Attack Drone does damage to all defense types, including Barriers.  Rank 3 AI Hacking is perfect amount of duration for the cooldown, 9 seconds duration for less than 6 seconds of cooldown (after upgrades), just keep hacking what synthetic has the highest health each time.  Neural Shock is an amazing one point wonder with 5 seconds of duration for less than 3 seconds of cooldown (after upgrades), perfect for stopping/staggering Troopers dead in the tracks for a headshot or up-close buckshot.  Even with those two skills Cryo Blast still sees use, particularly against lone high health targets for the huge damage boost it provides (and the fact that these high health enemies won't break free from the effect if the next shot doesn't kill, as they can with NS). 

There are some missions specific variations of this build I've used due to plentiful eezo.  On Geth missions, one could swap Area Overload, Incineration Blast, and Neural Shock for Area Drain, Improved AI Hacking, and Full Cryo Blast.  On organic-only enemy missions, Cryo Blast could be reduced and Hacking removed for Neural Shockwave.  Of course staying with the original balanced build on any mission works just fine too.

I've never seen the need for ammo powers in the Engineer's bonus slot.  Grunt or Zaeed can provide whatever crowd controlling ammo you need per mission.

If you're going to stick with Dominate a bonus power, you may have to raise it to rank 4 to get effect use out of it.  AI Hacking has a great duration/cooldown ratio at rank 3 because it has an instant effect when cast.  Dominate is not instant, the enemy goes through an animation after casting before they turn and attack their commrades.  During this animation, the duration timer is still ticking away.  Due to this Enhanced Dominate is kind of needed to get a similar amount of effective "additional ally" time out of the intended target as AI Hacking can at just rank 3.

In my experiences anyway.

Modifié par Simbacca, 18 octobre 2011 - 04:52 .

[CaolIla]

www.youtube.com/watch 

Grunt Recruitment Mission with some drones this time, since it's funny and effective against the rocketlauncher crowd.

[CaolIla]

I was really tired yesterday, so after uploading I went pretty much directly to bed.

@simbacca: I hope I don't have to raise it to lvl 4, at the moment the main effect of Dominate at Lvl 2 is a delay of a crowd for a few seconds, which is awesome and it works the way I'm using it now.
For now the problems are "heavy" enemies like krogan who don't get affected as long as low lvl mooks.

Does Dominate get a bonus from the Duration upgrade of the biotic upgrades?
Or even the Lvl 4 passive skill of Engis? That would be sweet ; )

And if someone comes up with a name for that thing I'm doing here, please tell me so. Cryo Engi? The Cryo Dominatrix (and I complained about the "bridging the gap" joke Oo)? Bozorgmehr Wannabe? Like I said before, I'm not good with names. 

Modifié par CaolIla, 19 octobre 2011 - 07:22 .