N7 Shadow Infiltrator build
A Build (4 ranks in ES): http://narida.pytalh...9@0QERFL4M4@0@0
B Build (3 ranks in ES): http://narida.pytalh...9@0QERFL4M4@0@0
C Build (0 ranks in ES): http://narida.pytalh...9@0QERFL4M4@0@0
Tactical Cloak (6): Duration, Melee Damage, Bonus Power
- You will need Duration and Bonus Power for the most surviveability and best strategy. 5 seconds isn't enough to pull off two shadow strikes as safely, nor enough time to always evade to safety in a pinch. You also can't cap 4 point objectives nor revive squadies as easily.
- 4 ranks in ES with 5 ranks in ST give you nearly the same damage output as a 6/6/6/0/6 build. No real need for more ranks here as SS is your bread and butter for taking out baddies. Tip: The first animated slash of ES will set off a Tech Burst if you're close to a primed target, and you can then cancel the animation with a dodge and remain cloaked with no cooldown to wait for either.
- *Drop rank 4 for 6th rank Weight Reduction if you want to take a heavier weapon for Gold/Platinum bosses, or drop ES completely in favor of an electric or flame sword on SM. I personally like the flame sword and use it against Atlases, Brutes, Primes, Ravagers and Banshees, and it also looks/sounds cool.
- You will have more surviveability with TC rank 6 bonus power than with either of the damage reduction or shield drain evolutions so no need to take them. With both damage bonuses and DoT you will OHK nearly all non-armor/barrier enemies on Gold when all TC and melee bonus are stacked.
- Despite what BW has said about power damage passives not affecting SS, they do actually increase damage both in the evolution screens and in game. Many BSN-ers have tested and confirmed this.
- *If you limit ES to 3 ranks, you can take Weight Reduction bonus for heavier weapons but still quick cooldowns.
- The health evolution only increases health/shields 100 points and so isn't worth taking regardless of play style or faction level. Melee Damage and Melee Bonus after first OHK allow you to take out Phantoms if you have all the gear mods and consumables to boost maximum output. Note: The 6th evolution of SM does affect Shadow Strike against Shield/Barriers or Armor and also does affects melee and heavy melee (post patch).
- If you take evo 6, the Flame/Armor sword comes in handy for meleeing bosses more than the electric/shield sword does, due to there being more armored targets that don't die from a TC > SS combo than there are shielded targets. Works great in a TC > SS > Melee/H-Melee combo.
My personal favorite is the Piranha X with melee and extended barrel mods to boost SS/melee damage and provide quick death to anyone who manages to survive SS and also works wonders against Banshees, Atlases, Primes, Brutes and Ravagers. At X it leaves me with 170% cooldown which is great. Other weapons if you don't have the Piranha would be light shotguns, heavy pistols or light AR that maintain a cooldown above 150%. Apply melee damage mods with other favored mods. Note about Sniper Rifles: Though the Shadow is in the Infiltrator sniper class, using her to snipe is not suggested as taking a sniper would require you to equip other CQC weapons to take advantage of SS, increasing cooldown and decreasing overall damage effectiveness. If you want to snipe, I suggest taking any other Infiltrator where cooldowns don't matter or matter less.
Gear, Mods and Consumables
If you have Beserker or Hydraulic Joint gear items, equip which ever provides higher melee damage at available gear levels. Beserker will also boost your shotgun damage so is prefered if you take a shotgun. Mental Focuser will also boost SS and ES damage. Gear in order of greatest boost to SS (assuming all are level V): Hydraulic Joints > Berserker/Juggernaut > Martial Biotic > Mental Focuser. For Armor consumable, Power Amplifier Modules will boost SS and ES. If you want more surviveability, take cyclonic modulators or power cells. Other suggestion I highly recommend is Adrenaline modules for quicker escapes and revives etc. For Weapon consumable, Strength Enhancers provide the extra damage needed to OHK most shielded mobs. For Ammo consumable, AP or Disruptor helps most with heavies and will also stun mobs that survived SS. You can also skip ammo as except for heavies and phantoms, you won't be firing all that much.
Playing Medic
When reviving a downed squad mate, if you can time the completion of the revive animation just right, you can use SS right when your cloak breaks and before it starts a cooldown. Have a tarket in your sites so that just before the revive circle completes, start mashing or press SS and you'll then get the cloak damage bonus and get to another tactical position to continue your assassin compaign.
Acrobatics
Like the Cerberus Phantom, your Shadow is extremely agile and will do cartwheels left, right and backwards for dodge moves. Just as we have a hard time hitting Phantoms while they are cartwheeling all over, your surviveability also goes up while waiting for cloak/SS/ES cooldowns when carthwheeling circles around your target or from cover to cover when not cloaked. If cover isn't near, try cartwheeling circles around the boss/enemy you are focusing on between TC cooldowns. You can evade much faster by cartwheeling backwards 1-3 times and/or sideways than if you were to do a 180 and sprint. If you SS a Guardian and end up with his shield blocking your blow, immediatly dodge sideways to avoid a shotgun burst. That also works for any target that somehow anticipates your SS and melees you before you can strike them. The forward roll isn't as quick and seems a tad delayed so I don't use that as much unless going for cover.
Strategy
Basic strategy is to TC > SS a target, and then while still cloaked, find another target to SS that leaves you cover nearby, or run back to group/cover and after TC cooldown, rinse and repeat. As mobs are widdled down, you can do TC > SS > SS or TC > SS > ES for tech burst and crowd elimination. Leave heavies for last and always be aware of what other enemies will be around you after your initial SS so you can quickly decide whether to SS again, retreat to cover or fire weapon breaking cloak. With this build and combined melee bonuses you can OHK all non-armor/barrier targets except Hunters. The DoT effect of SS finishes off most as well. Cover and cloak are your best defense against dying. If you're being targetted when you cloak, quickly dodge or move away as they will continue to spray that area for a few seconds. Some enemies have a more specific strategy which I have detailed below.
Phantoms: Activate Martial Artist (MA) bonus by killing a lower level enemy first. The extra 50% melee boost should allow you to hit two full health/barrier Phantoms in a single TC > SS >SS cycle and both should die from DoT. Without Martial Artist active, SS will usually leave Phantoms with 3-5 bars of health which causes them to immediately cloak and usually cartwheel once. If the area is free of other phantoms/mobs, either finish them off with your weapon, heavy melee or SS again. If the phantom manages to evade your SS unharmed or still has barriers up, SS again if safe, or head for cover and try again with new TC cycle. For groups of phantoms, spam TC > ES > ES or do a cycle of TC > SS > evade/cover. To quicken TC cooldown, fire your gun when reaching cover. Your nimble shadow is a strength. Use her acrobatic dodges during cooldowns to lessen damage taken and to retreat to cover. Also, if a Phantom has her power blocking bubble shield up, don't SS until she drops it as you'll either end up doing half damage and getting meleed, or no damage at all.
Guardians: SS won't always get you behind the guardian and SS is ineffective from the front. Depending on the mobs around the guardian, it may be more effective to cloak, run up behind and then either SS or unload your gun on them. For groups of guardians, target the back guardian. Hopefully you'll end up behind and then after killing him, unload your weapon on the backs of the remaining guardians before they can turn around. ES is also effective at staggering them enough to get some shots off.
Engineer Turrets: A cloaked SS will not OHK a full armor/shield turret without Martial Artist active. However with MA bonus active, the turret may explode from DoT with a TC > SS combo. Otherwise, if you have the Piranha X with EB, you an TC > SS > Shoot and usually take out the turret before it can target you. If you take the shields out before hand, or shields are less than half, a cloaked SS will usually OHK. Try timing your SS after the turret finishes a burst to give you time to finish it off. You can also use TC > SS > SS. Always have an evade path in mind before hand.
Hunters: If a Hunter is cloaked, you can still do a SS on them if you can center them in your sites. Otherwise wait for them to break cloak when they fire at you or preferably a squad mate. For groups of hunters, TC > SS > ES can lay waste, just be quick to acrobat yourself to safety if troopers are firing at you.
Pyros: A cloaked SS will leave them with 3-5 bars of armor left without MA bonus active. As they often travel in packs, try and SS the furthest back Pyro, and then while still cloaked ES the whole group from behind. The cloak bonus will boost ES damage and set off a tech burst primed by SS. Have an evade path in mind before hand. For lone Pyros, a single TC > SS > Shoot tactic works pretty well and if MA is active, will usually kill them from one strike.
Banshees: If their barrier is up, don't even think about using SS as more often then not you will be synk-killed. This is where AP ammo and a high DPS weapon is key. Or just leave them to your squadies. Only SS if they are down to 2-3 bars of armor. ES can help bring down their barriers but doesn't do as much damage to armor. You can spam ES faster without cloaking, but two cloaked ES do more damage.
Brutes, Ravagers, Primes and Atases: I use SS more as a reposition tactic on these enemies than as a primary attack. Usually SS will slash them from behind leaving you in a perfect position to unload your AP ammo firing gun at them. Evade to cover if you want a safer spot to fire from, or if cover is nearby, unload your gun from cloak while waking backwards and then dodge back/left/right to get in cover and then repeat the TC > Shoot cycle. Brutes and Ravagers go down quick with a Piranha but should be SS with extreme caution. Brutes have a form of Blade Armor that deals damage to you when you melee/SS them, removing your shields, and can insta-kill you. Ravagers will drop swarmers or acid that kill you pretty quick if you don't pop them first with your gun or ES. Atlases take 2+ clips if you're taking them down solo. A prime or Atlases with 2-3 bars left can often be taken out with a cloaked SS.
I will update further if more tactics come to mind or if I realize I left something out. Enjoy!
RedJohn soloed Platinum with a near identical build, except he had 6 ranks of Sword Mastery instead of 6 ranks in Tactical Cloak. As noted above, rank 6 of SM is bugged for SS, only works with melee/heavy melee so bonus power volution of TC is more useful.
Modifié par Micah3sixty, 07 octobre 2012 - 01:10 .
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