550 réponses à ce sujet

[Fortack]

I really like the Mantis X for my Soldier (my experience is based on MP, not SP though, I haven't played the Soldier class yet). On Gold (and Insanity) shield gate prevents OHKs so sheer damage does not make much of a difference against most enemies.
Firing one shot to remove shield/barrier > activate ARush > so you can instantly (like 0.1 sec later) fire the second - kill - shot is pretty cool and effective. The low weight of the Mantis gives it an edge compared to the hard-hitting but heavy weight competitors.

[Rudy Lis]

JaegerBane wrote...

Hard to say. I've never really felt 30 rounds to be all that restrictive on a weapon like the Valiant, partially because it recovers ammo at a very high rate for a sniper rifle (~7 rounds a clip pickup?), but I do have to admit it seems a little odd that weapon upgrades do not offer an increase in ammo. The issues with armour and mod ammo boosts have not really been an issue I've investigated, as the best mods for the Valiant seem to be Concentration and Extended Barrel mods and I wear cooldown-reduction armour.

Well, I investigated. Other weapons have more ammo right at the beginning of the mission, Valiant - only after you pick up first clip. MAybe it it not armor, but weapon grade upgrades from I to X. Valiant always have 30, though.

And regarding armor - I wear either HK armor for maximum weapon damage, or Cerberus armor as all-rounder. Like I said, I rely on guns, not abilities (since my soldier has only one).

JaegerBane wrote...

I haven't actually upgraded Warp Ammo enough to see what the ammo boost actually does, but to be fair, I was more likely going to go for the headshot upgrade.

I upgraded, always, after got myself into funny situation at last mission on Earth with enemies were still present, missile hasn't being armed and with no ammo around. Yes, maybe my tactical mistake, but those 30% helped. A lot. Or maybe my skill increased, though I doubt that.
But I didn't played much with Warp - since I generally brought Garrus and James with me - none of us was biotics. Moreover, I like penetration of AP so much...

Plus, like I said, my gear selection either gave me OSOK or required second or more shots, regardless of headshot upgrade. Simply put - it chipped more bars from enemy lifebar, but amount of shot required to kill it was the same. So why bother?

JaegerBane wrote...Apparently the N7 Defender armour boosts it?

IIRC there are one shoulder pads and two sets of head-gear with headshot boost. Not sure which ones (Kuwashi, that ugly visor from Cerberus base and Armax shoulder?), my tests shows overall damage as more applicable - I didn't noticed how headshot damage helps with Banshee's navel or bosom shots. Overall weapon damage bonus does helps. Of course, maybe I royally screwed during my tests, who knows.

JaegerBane wrote...

Provided the Raptor is used like an ME2 Mattock and you install the right mods, its actually a very effective weapon, thanks to its large ammo supply. The biggest issue in my eyes is the fact that it needs to be used nothing like a sniper rifle to make it work, even a semi-auto one, which defeats the object of taking a sniper rifle IMO.

My biggest complain with Raptor - it occupies sniper rifle slot. Should it be AR - I'd probably stick to it. But choosing between Raptor and Valiant... .

JaegerBane wrote...

That said, I personally think the sniper rifle mods are better than any other weapon class mods.

I'd also add 2X scope for rifles and 4X for sniper rifles (heh, where is adjustible sight, sort of 3X-6X?) - 4X for AR and 6X for SR seems a bit exessive for most of the game. I need to aim at enemy head, not third rivet in fifth row of his helmet.

[idspisp0pd]

Fortack wrote...

I really like the Mantis X for my Soldier (my experience is based on MP, not SP though, I haven't played the Soldier class yet). On Gold (and Insanity) shield gate prevents OHKs so sheer damage does not make much of a difference against most enemies.
Firing one shot to remove shield/barrier > activate ARush > so you can instantly (like 0.1 sec later) fire the second - kill - shot is pretty cool and effective. The low weight of the Mantis gives it an edge compared to the hard-hitting but heavy weight competitors.

Mantis is indeed underrated, probably even moreso with a soldier given the AR reload. I preferred the BW for my infiltrator, but just barely.

[LordSerion]

Viper (Normal) and Black Widow (Insanity). The multi-shot capability along with the concentation mods means a very high damage output, especially with headshot bonus.

[Stormbringer3]

I haven't yet been able to buy the BW on my current Infiltrator playthrough. I have used the Mantis, Viper and Raptor, but haven't warmed up to any of them. I keep thinking about how I love the Paladin. Does anyone use the Paladin with a Infiltrator? I like the damage of the Mantis but the reload is slow. The Viper and Raptor have a lot less damage. Will the BW be the happy medium?
Thanks for any opinions.

[idspisp0pd]

Stormbringer3 wrote...

I haven't yet been able to buy the BW on my current Infiltrator playthrough. I have used the Mantis, Viper and Raptor, but haven't warmed up to any of them. I keep thinking about how I love the Paladin. Does anyone use the Paladin with a Infiltrator? I like the damage of the Mantis but the reload is slow. The Viper and Raptor have a lot less damage. Will the BW be the happy medium?
Thanks for any opinions.

Well, you could just read through the rest of this thread, which is pretty much devoted to questions like that. But, to answer your questions, BW has comparable damage to the Mantis, but it has 3 shots to a clip, so you don't have to reload as often (plus a higher overall ammo capacity). It has a much higher weight penalty, however, and you obviously have to drop a lot of credits to get it.

The upshot is that you can take down more of your normal cannon fodder like Cerberus troopers or Cannibals without having to reload, and you can quickly do more damage versus bigger guys like Atlases, Brutes, etc., but in exchange for that you lose some power recharge speed. Whether you think the tradeoff is worth it is up to you.

Some prefer the N7 Valiant, which has lower damage, but a higher clip size and much less recoil. I can't say anything about it since I didn't buy the collector's edition (I prefer to spend my credits in ME3 rather than real life  ).

[jsharkey]

Black Widow for me since I have it at X I throw on the scope and extended barrel or armor piercing based on whether I'm facing reapers or not, need that extra armor piercing for those Banshees, Brutes and Ravagers. It has bad recoil but with skill it's not a problem and you can pull off all three shots before TC wears off for insane damage, plus as you stated the single shot rifles are too OP for most enemies even on insanity. Otherwise I prefer the Javelin over the Widow for the auto-enhanced scope.

[Rudy Lis]

Stormbringer3 wrote...

Does anyone use the Paladin with a Infiltrator?

 
Yes, and as soldier too. Prefer to buy it instead of BW. But I have Valiant.

Stormbringer3 wrote...

I like the damage of the Mantis but the reload is slow. The Viper and Raptor have a lot less damage. Will the BW be the happy medium?
Thanks for any opinions.

BW hardly be a medium because of:
- Weight (doesn't matter for my soldier -200% of overweight)
- Price.
- Damage.
- Rate of fire.
- Reloading time.

Valiant could be that medium, but that's for CE only. One and only worthy thing in whole CE, dammit!  Yet - totally worth it. Those were only 20 bucks I gladly paid for ME3. Other 60 were wasted.

idspisp0pd wrote...

The upshot is that you can take down more of your normal cannon fodder like Cerberus troopers or Cannibals without having to reload, and you can quickly do more damage versus bigger guys like Atlases, Brutes, etc., but in exchange for that you lose some power recharge speed. Whether you think the tradeoff is worth it is up to you.

For most of cannon fodder BW is overkill, plus reduced RoF makes total body-count rate slower, yet, somewhat a bit more forgiving to aiming mistakes - headshots may not be required to deal OSOK on most of weaker enemies.
Big guys could be dealt with Paladin with approximately same, if not better efficiency, if you have access to AP ammo and/or install AP mod for pistol.
I find Valiant RoF/reload speed/damage combo more fitting my style of gameplay, since there are few places where are big guys are far and, preferably, alone do be dealt with.
Plus I got feeling Valiant is more accurate from the hip.

idspisp0pd wrote...

Some prefer the N7 Valiant, which has lower damage, but a higher clip size and much less recoil. I can't say anything about it since I didn't buy the collector's edition (I prefer to spend my credits in ME3 rather than real life ).

Jab detected, but deflected by armor.
Valiant has same magazine capacity as BW - 3 round, but doubled amount of carried ammo 30 vs 15.

[sigmaphi]

adstweakstip.blogspot.com/2012/04/mass-effect-3-best-epic-strategy-guide.html 

[incinerator950]

Valiant, Mantis, Widow, Black Widow.

[JaegerBane]

idspisp0pd wrote...

Stormbringer3 wrote...

I haven't yet been able to buy the BW on my current Infiltrator playthrough. I have used the Mantis, Viper and Raptor, but haven't warmed up to any of them. I keep thinking about how I love the Paladin. Does anyone use the Paladin with a Infiltrator? I like the damage of the Mantis but the reload is slow. The Viper and Raptor have a lot less damage. Will the BW be the happy medium?
Thanks for any opinions.

Well, you could just read through the rest of this thread, which is pretty much devoted to questions like that. But, to answer your questions, BW has comparable damage to the Mantis, but it has 3 shots to a clip, so you don't have to reload as often (plus a higher overall ammo capacity). It has a much higher weight penalty, however, and you obviously have to drop a lot of credits to get it.

I wouldn't argue the BW represents a medium of anything, unless you're including battleship-scale weapons in the mix

I have to admit, I've done some hardcore testing and I'm a little surprised by the performance of the BW - its damage in the real game seems to be a lot higher than it stats would suggest. I've been doing some direct comparisons between the Valiant and BW on some N7 Insanity missions and I'd say that the major advantage to the Valiant is weight, in that its performance is similar to the BW (making up for its lesser damage with much more headshots courtesy of the minimal recoil and reload time) while having far less effect on cooldown.

The BW, of course, does unholy amounts of damage per shot for what is basically a semi-auto rifle. I'd probably say, if you're playing a dedicated sniper, the BW is a better choice, whereas the Valiant is a better choice for virtually anyone else.

Still, I'm tempted to drop some big bucks on the BW in my next run through. It does look rather awesome on Shep's back. Especially now I modded out the weight mechanic.

Modifié par JaegerBane, 15 avril 2012 - 02:33 .

[Delta_V2]

JaegerBane wrote...

I wouldn't argue the BW represents a medium of anything, unless you're including battleship-scale weapons in the mix

I have to admit, I've done some hardcore testing and I'm a little surprised by the performance of the BW - its damage in the real game seems to be a lot higher than it stats would suggest. I've been doing some direct comparisons between the Valiant and BW on some N7 Insanity missions and I'd say that the major advantage to the Valiant is weight, in that its performance is similar to the BW (making up for its lesser damage with much more headshots courtesy of the minimal recoil and reload time) while having far less effect on cooldown.

The BW, of course, does unholy amounts of damage per shot for what is basically a semi-auto rifle. I'd probably say, if you're playing a dedicated sniper, the BW is a better choice, whereas the Valiant is a better choice for virtually anyone else.

Still, I'm tempted to drop some big bucks on the BW in my next run through. It does look rather awesome on Shep's back. Especially now I modded out the weight mechanic.

The Black Widow absolutely decimates armored opponents.  As long as I'm packing the BW, I have never been killed by a banshee, brute, atlas or prime.  Other snipers might be more efficient for dealing with smaller enemies, but when it comes to killing the big targets, the BW has no equal.  And if you can kill the biggest, most dangerous targets quickly, mopping up the rest shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Dark Penitant]

On insanity? Valient. By far. Seriously, since you can't OHKO anyone with shields, and regular enemies die to a single headshot anyways, the fast reloads, increase in ammo, decrease in weight, and multiple shots in a clip make it plenty strong enough to kill everyone up to and including marauders, phantoms, and hunters incredibly fast. Bigger enemies, such as primes, banshees, and some of the larger reapers are significantly more difficult due to the lack of overwhelming damage, but I personally find that the significantly increased versatility against regular enemies (who are arguably more dangerous, especially on Insanity) more than made up for it.
On difficulties where shield gating isn't present, though, then yeah, BW/Widow/Javelin would be much more useful.

[JaegerBane]

Dark Penitant wrote...

On difficulties where shield gating isn't present, though, then yeah, BW/Widow/Javelin would be much more useful.

Shield gateing doesn't exist on some difficulties? Which ones would those be?

[Rudy Lis]

JaegerBane wrote...

Shield gateing doesn't exist on some difficulties? Which ones would those be?

Maybe Shield gating=Shield recharge?

[Dark Penitant]

It's reduced on Hardcore to 75%, I think 50% on Veteran, and 25% on casual, but really, so long as it's not 100% as it is on Insanity, the more powerful snipers are better. Even on insanity, the powerful ones are better for bosses, but the lighter, faster firing, weaker ones do infinitely better against trash mobs.

[DJ CAVE SLAVE]

I think It heavily depends on your class, powers, and preferred play style. For me Its the Javelin. Some say its overkill, but I don't see how when 50% of the time I'm shooting through cover. I tried the Black Widow, but once I got the Javelin, there was really no reason to use it anymore. The weight is manageable since I mostly rely on squad powers and only keep an SMG with me as my secondary weapon. When I want to use more powers, I like the Mantis. I prefer the one-shot style sniper rifles, and the Mantis is really light for as much damage as it does. My main gripe about it is its extremely limited ammo. The inability to pierce cover and Guardian shields is also annoying. Once you get used to the Javelin's features other sniper rifles just don't seem to add up.

[frozn89]

I prefer the Black Widow. Love the Widow as well, but it's a nice touch that I don't have to reload after every shot. A little more forgiving if I miss, also, it's black, which is my favorite color

[mad_yojik]

Black Widow for Infiltrator, since on Hardcore he can one-shot with it almost anyone (tough guys like brutes/bansees are exeption). For any other class - Raptor w/concentration mod, much more forgiving on misses (though the Soldier is only other class for which sniper rifle will do any good, IMO, others are better with bonus recharge and smaller guns).

P.S. On insanity the sniper rifles lose its definite "WTFPWN" feel, what sense is in sniper rifle which cant one-shot simple centurion or marauder. I think Raptor will do good there, though (since I dont have Valiant).

Modifié par mad_yojik, 18 avril 2012 - 12:40 .

[Leon Zweihander]

mad_yojik wrote...

Black Widow for Infiltrator, since on Hardcore he can one-shot with it almost anyone (tough guys like brutes/bansees are exeption). For any other class - Raptor w/concentration mod, much more forgiving on misses (though the Soldier is only other class for which sniper rifle will do any good, IMO, others are better with bonus recharge and smaller guns).

P.S. On insanity the sniper rifles lose its definite "WTFPWN" feel, what sense is in sniper rifle which cant one-shot simple centurion or marauder. I think Raptor will do good there, though (since I dont have Valiant).

Get Energy Drain as a bonus power.  Welcome back to the 1S1K club.

[Dark Penitant]

Nah, it's not strong enough to completely drain shields on many enemies, and the CD is difficult with snipers that can actually get OHKOs.

[Fortack]

Dark Penitant wrote...

Nah, it's not strong enough to completely drain shields on many enemies, and the CD is difficult with snipers that can actually get OHKOs.

How so? Infiltrator can cast ED while cloaked and take the shot with the damage bonus. Soldier don't need ED coz they can use ARush to fire two shots in the time it takes to press the ARush button (like 0.1 sec). They can OHK 95% of all enemies in the game like this and the remaining 5% are too strong to OHK anyway.

Having said that, I prefer the Black Widow. It's my personal fav sniper rifle

[JaegerBane]

mad_yojik wrote...

Black Widow for Infiltrator, since on Hardcore he can one-shot with it almost anyone (tough guys like brutes/bansees are exeption). For any other class - Raptor w/concentration mod, much more forgiving on misses (though the Soldier is only other class for which sniper rifle will do any good, IMO, others are better with bonus recharge and smaller guns).

P.S. On insanity the sniper rifles lose its definite "WTFPWN" feel, what sense is in sniper rifle which cant one-shot simple centurion or marauder. I think Raptor will do good there, though (since I dont have Valiant).

Still, I would argue that if you don't have access to the Valiant, the BW is the way to go if you're doing sniping. The Raptor is a nice weapon but it just isn't a sniper rifle.

The Mantis is... well, some say it does nice damage for its weight... but personally, the new reload animation makes it even more of a headache than it was in ME2.

The Viper has died a death and is distinctly sub-optimal in virtually any situation.

The Widow and Javelin are hard-core single-shot all-or-nothing cannons which are very well and good but, frankly, are impractical imho. Takes far too long to reload/refire for a shot that is total overkill.

[DJ CAVE SLAVE]

^ Using the Javelin to shoot through cover/walls/other enemies is not really overkill due to the reduced damage.

[Rudy Lis]

DJCS wrote...

^ Using the Javelin to shoot through cover/walls/other enemies is not really overkill due to the reduced damage.

But they add reach. And flexibility.