Beatrix Tair wrote...
Tactical Cloak: 6
Duration - Gives you the ability to use two powers with a good window of freedom. Also lets you escape hairy situations, cap objectives & traverse the map in relative safety.
Melee Damage - Self explanatory, large bonus to Shadow Strike & both L/H Melee.
Bonus Power - Two powers is all but required, whether you're using Double Shadow Strike or Shadow Strike followed by Electric Slash for Tech Bursts or even using one power then escaping, you want this.
Electric Slash: 6
Radius - Electric Slash is first & foremost a CC power & to this end, it does medium damage with a good radius, good range, stagger & knockdown. It's not really designed for damage, better to cut a path through a swath of enemies & CC them in the process.
Detonation - Ideal for following up a Shadow Strike Electrical DoT Primer & causing some horrifying AoE damage.
Range - As above, Electric Slash isn't about getting all the damage, that's what Shadow Strike is for. The range boost, like the radius boost, will maximize your CC potential & allow you to still devastate enemies when you have to stay within a hack objective or extraction. It also helps stagger & devastate Atlas', Banshees, etc.
Shadow Strike: 6
Damage - Self explanatory really, maximize damage on Shadow Strike as it's your main power.
DoT - 40% of your dealt damage as a DoT will finish off most targets that don't die instantly & it can also be used as a primer for Electric Slash to unleash a Tech Burst of epic proportions.
Shield Drain - All but required. The shield restore rate is almost always 100% if you're quick off the mark & the movement speed bonus is extremely handy for repositioning to safety or lining up your next murder victim.
N7 Shadow Passive: 0
Nothing here is useful when compared to any other option. Unfortunate but Weapon Damage, Weight Capacity & Power Damage are all irrelevant.
Sword Mastery: 6
Damage - Another one that's self explanatory. All sword damage being improved is exceedingly good.
Damage - See above. You'll be killing with your sword persistently, so.
Armour Damage - The Shadow can deal with shields/barriers easily enough already with Electric Slash but what it sorely lacks in is Armour denting. With this Evo you have a huge bonus to your damage to all armour based targets, allowing you to one-shot Turrets, Ravagers & finish off Banshees, Atlas', Brutes, once they're weakened.
Weapon: Heavy Pistol with Melee Damage & Scope Mod
Why - Melee damage should be self explanatory & the scope mod is so you can pick your targets easier & from a safer range. Retaining 200% CDR is highly advisable so you have more room to move during Double Cloak.
Tactical Cloak:
Generic Tactical Cloak, nothing fancy. Taking it to 6 for the One Power Evo.
Electric Slash:
This thing is almost literally Tech 'Shockwave'. Taking it to 3 as it's more for those OHSHI- moments where getting out of cover is hardly advisable. HOWEVER it is excellent at cutting a swath through multitutes of less powerful mobs. With a relatively low recharge rate you can almost spam it from cover in relative safety but what you must, MUST REMEMBER is that the power animation moves you forward so don't go using it in close proximity to Sync-Kill mobs.
If you're interesting in the Evo's - It can spec for damage, radius, range (just like Shockwave) but can also apply an electrical field that can be detonated which I forsee to be EXTREMELY useful against Geth Farm & almost required if you want excessively quick runs.
Shadow Strike:
Funnily enough, this thing is almost a Tech 'Biotic Charge'. Taking it to 6 for maximum damage. The teleport mechanic is quite smart, it ports you to the optimal position for your target, that is to say, if you can't get behind it, it won't put you behind it, even when not hosting! Very good thing. TAKE NOTE: The damage is MELEE BASED but it is STILL A POWER. This means it's effected by Power Recharge but not Power Damage.
(I am relatively confident that Power Recharge DOES effect it, though my napkin math may be off - take with a pinch of salt.)
Again, Evo's - Damage, Recharge Speed, all that. Plus some rather interesting options consisting of "Damage taken reduced by 40% after decloaking", "Movement speed increased by 15% after decloaking" & "When hitting Shields/Barriers, your Shield is restored."
Now I don't know if it's just me? But that last one pretty much makes Shadow Strike into Biotic Charge with one drawback - As it counts as you Cloaking, mobs can still fire on you while you're cloaked/teleporting" if they could see you beforehand. Shadow Strike is powerful & extremely fun but you can be killed quite successfully while doing it.
N7 Shadow:
Relatively generic. Taking it to 5, final Evo is, as is typical, pretty crap (Weight reduction & weapon damage). Odds are I'll be going for Power Damage as you will never, EVER, use a weapon as Shadow.
Sword Mastery: (Name might be different, not at machine to check, apologies)
This is where it gets fun. It's Fitness but with a twist. Taking it to 6, maximizing SWORD DAMAGE.
Yes, sword damage. It's half generic Fitness (Shield increase, Shield delay, Shield increase) & half Sword Damage (Sword Damage, Increased Damage After Sword, Sword Damage).
Unfortunately, suddenly not being at my machine for this final track has left me lacking information for you but if you want it, I CAN get it. Just ask.
(Heavy-)Melee:
Benefits from both Sword & Melee Damage increases. I was briefly unsure about Melee Damage (from Cloak) effecting it? But napkin math suggests that it DOES.
Heavy Melee visual is a (not so clean) beheading
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Power Trees
Tactical Cloak
4A: Duration + 150%
4B: Damage Bonus + 40%
5A: Recharge Speed + 30%
5B: Melee Damage + 50%
6A: One Power, Remain Cloaked
6B: Sniper Rifle Damage + 25%
Electric Slash
4A: Damage + 30%
4B: Radius + 30%
5A: Force & Damage of Tech Detonations + 100%
5B: Recharge Speed + 40%
6A: Damage + 50%
6B: Range + 50%
Shadow Strike
4A: Damage + 30%
4B: Reduce Damage Taken by 40% after Decloaking, 5 seconds
5A: Additional 40% Damage as DoT, 5 seconds, Tech Detonation Primer
5B: Recharge Speed + 35%
6A: Damage + 50%
6B: Drains Shields/Barriers to restore your Shield, Movement Speed + 15% after Decloaking, 4 seconds
N7 Shadow (Passive)
4A: Weapon Damage + 7.5%
4B: Power Damage & Force + 10%, Weight Capacity + 20
5A: Power Damage & Force + 15%
5B: Headshot Damage + 20%
6A: Weight of all Weapons - 20%
6B: Weapon Damage + 10%
Sword Mastery
4A: Sword Damage + 30%
4B: Health & Shields + 20%
5A: Sword Damage + 50% after killing blow with sword
5B: Shield Recharge Delay - 10%, movement speed + 10%
6A: Sword Damage to Shields/Barriers + 50%
6B: Sword Damage to Armour + 50%
Same goes for anything you're interested in, I've got access to my machine if you have any questions about Shadow :3.
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VERDICT:
Very potent Infiltrator, purely melee based, using a Sniper Rifle would be blasphemy. As long as you keep 200% CDR you're pretty much laughing. Remember though, YOU ARE NOT A NOVAGUARD. You might have a high-(cloaked high) damage teleport but you're not immortal.
If anything, I'd say BioWare has done quite well in making the Shadow relatively balanced. It can melee like a dream, very quick...but if you want to survive the longest, you'll need to sacrifice the damage which is what makes Shadow so powerful, even at low levels.
VIABILITY ON GOLD+:
Not sure...that's the honest truth. What I would personally suggest is maximize all damage reduction, shield increases, movement speed & take Tactical Cloak One Power Evo. That way you can dance around the map with medium-high damage on Shadow Strike in relative safety & if you push your luck? Well you'll have relatively good shields/health & a 40% damage reduction.
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TL;DR:
Good class, not overpowered, great fun to play. GJ BioWare :3.
Contributions!:
redBadger14 wrote...
I believe Eric Fagnan confirmed that Shadow Strike is in fact melee damage. I too am very impressed with the Shadow, and its thoroughly awesome in many ways. Here is my Level 20 build that I have found extremely effective:
Tactical Cloak: spec this all the way, at rank 4 take duration, rank 5 take melee damage bonus, and rank 6 take the bonus power.
Electric Slash: Only go to rank 5 on this one, I specced it all the way at first but it really doesn't need to be, especially when most of your attacks benefit most from melee damage. Ranks 4 and 5 spec however you want, personally I went with damage at rank 4 and buffed explosions at rank 5, and its working nicely.
Shadow Strike: The Shadow's bread and butter. Obviously go 6 on this, but I went with increased damage, rank 5 go with the 40% DoT damage, and rank 6 go Shield Drain. Reason is as Infiltrators cannot regain shields while cloaked, this can help refill your shields should you run low. Plus it makes up for the Shadow being relatively squishy.
N7 Shadow: Only go 3 on this, the top 3 tiers aren't worth it for damage sake.
Sword Mastery: Go all 6 in this one. Maximize damage, and at rank 6 go with increased damage to armor. Since Shadow Strike with Shield Drain already does tons of damage to shields and barriers, the extra armor damage really helps against the boss types. Plus, the extra armor damage applies a flaming effect to the sword, which is also awesome
Now for bosses, I have only tried this out on Bronze and Silver, but I expect with Gold you just need to deal a bit more damage to the bosses to down them. Here's what I have found effective...
Phantoms - The Shadow is THE anti-Phantom class now. TC and SS her; on Bronze she will die in one hit. On Silver, she will more than likely have a sliver of health left, so you can finish her off with melee strikes or let the DoTs from SS finish her. If she manages to melee you too much get away to avoid the sync-kill.
Atlases - You have to be a bit more careful with Atlases but the Shadows can still be very effective. Electric Slash from safety (TC if you have to) until the shields are down. Then TC and SS the Atlas armor twice, and don't be afraid to heavy melee after while TC is on CD. Doing this on Bronze or Silver they go down pretty fast. As with the Phantom just be careful of the melee to sync-kill.
Brutes - As the OP said wait for them to charge, then just TC and SS twice and heavy melee if you need to. Goes down fast. Beware melee and sync-kill.
Banshees - Same as the Atlas really, except since Banshees have the unpredictable sync-kill you have to be very careful. Wait until her defenses are down so she has to melee before the sync. Have your teammates help you of course.
Geth Prime - Same as the Atlas, just make sure you prepare to evade the Prime's shots and try not to get caught off-guard by his drones. Easy kill.
Modifié par Beatrix Tair, 18 juillet 2012 - 02:35 .
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