1. Reapers (NEW)
2. Geth
Both had the build detailed in this guide, used just a Katana X with the Blade Attachment V and Smart Choke V, and a Juggernaut Shield II. No other equipment - Cyclonic Modulators, Incendiary Ammo, etc. - was used. This was to show how Gold can be easily done without top-notch weaponry, which is the purpose of this written guide as well.
Depending on feedback, I may do a Cerberus or Collectors one, but I don't feel it's necessary at the moment.
PREFACE: This guide is primarily written for "novice" and Bronze/Silver regular players to allow them to confidently and easily enter Gold games, but veteran and non-Kroguard players will still find this interesting. This is NOT meant for Platinum - you will need top-notch skill and equipment/weapons to enter Platinum[/color]. As a byproduct of it being comprehensive, it is long.
I will present to you the "Melee" Kroguard build (veterans will immediately see where I'm going with this). I will explain to you WHY it works and tell you HOW to use it. I will not use confusing numbers or statistics; I will just use blunt words. I will include footnotes to elaborate, but the point of this guide is not to obfuscate.
The reason why equipment is irrelevant in this build is twofold: (a) it relies on basic melees for damage output and (
it relies on the inherent durability of the Kroguard for survival.This is split into several sections, but I promise it will be worth your time. Read only Sections III, IV, and V if you are pressed for time.
I. General Terms and Mechanics (for casuals)
II. Kroguard
III. Build
IV. Shield Gate
V. Biotic Charge
VI. Vanguard Glitch
VII. Geth
VIII. Cerberus
IX. Reapers
X. Collectors
XI. Synch Kills
XII. Objective Waves
XIII. Team Tips
XIV. Solo Tips
XV. Comments
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I. General Terms and Mechanics
This is a basic overview of some terms and mechanics it'd be good to be familiar with [1].
COMBO: Combos come in four main forms - Biotic Explosions (BEs), Tech Bursts (TBs), Fire Explosions (FEs), and Cryo Explosions (CEs). When sucessfully executed, combos create an area-of-effect (AOE) thing such as explosions that do enormous damage. Their damage scales with difficulty such that they do the same percent damage to an enemy's health. This makes combos incredibly important in higher difficulties as lone powers and weapons do not correspondingly increase in damage.
Combos have two parts. They are set by a "primer" power (e.g. Warp) and set off by a "detonator" (Biotic Charge). As a Kroguard, FEs and CEs must be primed by shooting a target with incendiary or cryo ammo respectively. You cannot prime targets for BEs or TBs. You can detonate ALL combos, however, with Biotic Charge, regardless of whether or not it kills the enemy [2].
COVER (HARD / SOFT): Hard cover refers to actually staying behind cover (press Spacebar, A, X, etc.) and is the most efficient way to avoid damage at the cost of reduced mobility. Soft cover refers to merely standing around/behind a corner but not actually taking cover; this shields you from most enemy fire and gives you more maneuverability.
(ENEMY) DENSITY: The amount of enemies in a small area. The more dense it is, the more enemies there are. Obviously, if the enemy density is too high (swarmed by 5 Geth Pyros), it becomes an issue and you'll pretty much have instantaneous death regardless of what you do. You should avoid high-density areas.
KITE: This refers to baiting an enemy to follow you so that you can control where they are. All enemies move slower than you, so if they chase you, they will fall behind. The idea behind kiting is to go on a kind of loop where once you get past the halfway mark, the enemies chasing you, by their own different movement speeds (e.g. Brute faster than Ravager) would have staggered apart, both decreasing enemy density and also making it easier for you to go back and do that hacking objective.
OBJECTIVE WAVES: Waves 3, 6, and 10 require you to complete an objective; the wave budget is suspended until the objective is complete (afterwards, the budget is zero). These can be a hacking, drone, pizza, or device objective. You only get credits after the objectives are complete, which is why many players die after Wave 10 to end the mission earlier and retain credits.
SHIELD GATE: This basically refers to how much damage transfers through shields, after they're gone, to an enemy's health. For example, if the shield gate allows for 25% of the damage to pass through [3], and an enemy has 500 shields/health, a 1000 damage attack will leave them with (0 shields and) 375 health. Melees are unaffected by the shiled gate, as are shotguns (which fire multiple pellets per shot). You, the player, have two shield gates (more on this later).
STAGGER: Refers to knocking an enemy backwards such that the enemy cannot attack you; doing sufficient damage in a short time frame will do this (this is how you get a Banshee to drop someone mid-synchkill and save them). Kroguard heavy melees and Biotic Charge will stagger all enemies except for Banshees, and normal Kroguard melees (headbutts) will stagger most lesser troops. Kroguards can be staggered by boss unit melees.
STUNLOCK: Effectively the same as a stagger, this is where you are frozen and cannot attack for a split second or two (e.g. Geth Hunter, Geth Prime weapons). The Kroguard is inherently resistant to these effects.
SYNCHKILL (INSTAKILL): This refers to when an enemy kills you and you are unable to medigel or be revived; you are out for the round. Geth cannot instakill. Cerberus Atlases and Phantoms can, and Reaper Brutes and Banshees can as well. Synch kills cannot be executed on sloped surfaces [4].
VANGUARD GLITCH: A game-changing/ending glitch whereby a non-hosting Vanguard becomes an unplayable character (flying in the air, underground, etc.); it can be prevented by hosting.
WAVE BUDGET: Each wave operates on a wave budget of sorts [7]; what this basically means is that in order to optimize your time and the wave budget, you should target lower-level troops versus higher-level ones.
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II. The Kroguard
The Krogan Battlemaster Vanguard brings together a variety of factors that make it seem like a match made in heaven. There will be three reasons why the Kroguard will be useful for us: (a) melee, (
durability, and © powers. The Kroguard's heavy melee is a contender for the best heavy melee in the game. It deals tremendous damage, but the biggest asset is that it staggers all enemies except Banshees, meaning that they'll stop damaging you as you do damage to them. Even the normal melee (headbutt) can stagger most enemies, and it also has a fun sound/effect. The melee, with build upgrades, can outright replace some weapons as your sole source of damage.
The Kroguard has the highest base health/shields out of any character/class in the game. The Battlemaster also has a built-in stagger/stunlock immunity. As all gear/upgrades are percentage based, this means that, in terms of absolute values, Kroguards benefit hugely from shield upgrades. Combining this with the Barrier power turns the Kroguard into the most tank-like character in the game.
The Kroguard's powers - Barrier and Biotic Charge (Carnage doesn't count) - are perfectly suited to its bloodthirsty playstyle. Barrier increases defensive capability, and Biotic Charge allows the Kroguard an easy way to recharge shields, stagger enemies, aggressively enter the fray, and gain extra maneuverability. Biotic Charge allows the Kroguard to eschew hard cover entirely in favor of soft cover (or no cover at all).
Some may look to other characters, such as the Geth Soldier/Infiltrator, Turian Infiltrator, etc. as better for solos because they are also "overpowered", but the fact remains that the Kroguard is still the most novice-friendly class because of its durability combined with the ease with which you can aim biotic charge and melees.
Unlike many other characters, the Kroguard's assets are not significantly diminished with a difficulty increase. The above combine to make the Kroguard a top-tier character for veterans and novices alike; it can be a forgiving, novice-friendly character and/or a devastating, deciding factor in a game. A decent Kroguard can shrug of the firepower of a squad of footsoldiers on Gold; an exceptional Kroguard can wipe out entire waves of enemies with little effort.
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III. Build
Click here for a visual depiction of the build.
Short Version: 6/0/6/6/6
Medium Version: 4B/5A/6B | 0 | 4B/5B/6A | 4B/5A/6A | 4B/5A/6B
I will explain this build in detail (Long Version) below.
BIOTIC CHARGE: Spec this for area, melee, and shields. Area allows you to stagger groups of enemies as you dive in thier midst, decreasing damage done to you in effect. You will still have enough power in the charge to stagger non-Banshee enemies; a lot of enemies will die without you even looking at them as you jump into swarms. Spec for melee instead of weapon damage for two reasons: (a) to keep weight low for recharge time you're going to be using a relatively wimpy shotgun and (
melees, unlike most shotguns, will stagger enemies. Remember, we are using melees are the source of damage here. You also get a bigger melee damage bonus versus weapons. Restoring shields is self-explanatory. Note that you will also, after Biotic Charge, get a 50% damage reduction for 4 seconds [6].CARNAGE: Carnage has a cooldown time, and all cooldown time is needed for Biotic Charge, so don't put anything into this.
BARRIER: You're never going to detonate Barrier because the detonation has a cooldown time, and you need all your cooldown time for Biotic Charge, so for the first choice pick Barrier Strength. Focus on improving power strength because it will further improve your Biotic Charge, which you will be using a lot. Recharge speed is not an issue because you will recharge your shields via Biotic Charge before they begin to recharge on their own anyways. Get the cooldown versus additional damage protection because the additional damage reduction will not help you much. You will be in the thick of things such that your shield will decrease super fast regardless of whatever upgrades you use; you will be relying on your innate shield gate for survival (more on this later).
BATTLEMASTER: Focus on maxing out melee/power damage and minimizing cooldown times. Weapons for you will be wimpy anyways, so play to your strengths and max out the melees. Lowering weight and maxing out carrying capacity, both of which lower the cooldown time, is critical because you need to use Biotic Charge liberally to recharge your shields.
RAGE: Spec for shield strength because it will help you last longer until you Biotic Charge. Rage mode is no longer bugged, but durability is still your priority with regards to Rage. Shield recharge time is irrelevant because you will Biotic Charge before your shields begin to recharge on their own, so get the 75% damage increase instead. Again, this will only help you as you kill normal enemies with heavy melees and they build up to stronger melees.
WEAPONS (To Equip): Equip light shotguns, such as a Katana X (what I used in my solo video). You want to get a +200% cooldown to appear. If you have AND prefer a heavier/better shotgun (N7 Piranha X, Reegar X, etc.) you'd be better off using the "conventional" Kroguard build the maximizes weapon damage and barrier damage reduction. Your weapon, in this build, will not be for killin - it's basically a useful tool to target your Biotic Charge over long distances or against invisible enemies. You should equip, depending on the enemy faction, two of three ideal mods:
1. BAYONET THINGY: Forgot the official name for this, but it'll appear as a knife to the edge of your shotgun. It increases melee damage. Definitely makes our peashooter shotgun more useful to us.
2. SMART CHOKE (ACCURACY): This will allow you to target enemies over long distances (shoot them to target, then charge) and also allows you to more easily target invisible enemies (who you can then charge).
3. SHREDDER (ARMOR PIERCING): This will allow you to fire/target enemies behind waist-high cover and will allow you to steadily shoot Cerberus Guardians to death. Don't worry about it doing more damage - the damage our shotgun does is probably worthless anyways.
Of the above, I'd recommend equipping the following for the different factions:
GETH: Bayonet thingy + Smart Choke; allows you to easily target Hunters while invisible and increases melee damage.
CERBERUS: Smart Choke + Shredder; allows you to shoot Guardians through their shields (there's still a non-armor-penetrating-strategy, but I'll get to that later, and this is easier) and allows you to target invisible phantoms.
REAPERS: Smart Choke + Bayonet thingy; the additional damage from the shredder is worthless for our peashooter of a gun; play to melee strengths.
COLLECTORS: Smart Choke + Bayonet thingy; you need the better aim to take out the seeker swarms from afar.
EDIT: "Bayonet thingy" is the Blade Attachment.
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IV. Shield Gate
This knowledge is important for your survival but may not practically make a difference. It's important enough to have its own section.
Every player has their own shield gate (0% of the damage gets through). Unless you're under constant fire (e.g. Geth Pyro's flamethrower), even if you have a tiny sliver of shields left, the largest attack like an Atlas Missile will only strip away the rest of your shields and will not chip away at your health. No damage carries over/through.
Having one shield gate is good. But it gets better. You have a second shield gate - the last bar of health. The other bars are basically like a shield - they take continuous damage but only regenerate their individual bar. The last bar (leftmost) is a second shield gate of sorts.
Shield gates greatly boost your survivability under fire because even with your big shields, your shields will be stripped away very quickly. The shield gates gives you brief moments of invincibility that make the difference between life and death in tense situations.
The shield gate - not the shields/health - takes about 4 seconds to recharge. This means that if you lose your shields, use an Ops pack to get full shields immediately, then get attacked again, your shield gate will not work; it has a separate "recharge". The health gate takes about 3 seconds to recharge. Luckily for us, Biotic Charge takes almost 4 seconds to recharge, so it serves as a good "timer" for your shield gate to recharge. Basically, by the time you can charge again, your shield gates would have recharged.
You will survive by using Biotic Charge repeatedly as soon as your shield gate is hit (screen goes red). This is truly a high risk high reward play style, but the split second or so if invulnerability from the shield gate is more than enough to tap the Biotic Charge button for all you're worth to save your life.
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V. Strategy
This is the basic strategy:
1. Biotic Charge
2. Heavy Melee / Headbutt / Shoot
3. (Repeat)
4. PROFIT
Let's look at this in more detail.
(1) BIOTIC CHARGE:
First, pick an area to charge into. Try to be a little smart about it. Your Biotic Charge can only stagger 3 enemies at a time, so if there is a group of 4+ enemies, try to avoid charging there unless they're the only ones left or you're desperate to regenerate your shields. If there is a lone, single enemy, charge that one. Don't charge Banshees.
In order to "target" the enemy, the box has to appear around them (the one that shows health, shields, armor, etc.). This means you have to generally look in their direction to charge. This is both good and bad. The good part is that if you're in a tense situation, you can just spin in a circle while smashing the charge button and it'll "lock on" randomly somewhere and replenish your shields (just hope you didn't charge into a Banshsee). The bad part is that if you have a group of enemies, targeting takes a slight bit of effort - you must move the aiming sight such that it "locks on" to another enemy.
A problem can arise because (a) the target is invisible or (
the target is too far.For (a), there are two solutions: (i) if you are close enough (within melee range), just face the invisible enemy and press Biotic Charge and you'll charge them without the target box; (ii) if you're mid-far range, shoot in their direction, and if you make contact (easier with the Smart Choke mod), the target box will appear around them, then immediately charge. You see me do this several times in my solo video against the Hunters.
For (
, fire at them (assuming looking at them won't lock on), and if a random pellet makes contact (and does zero damage but whatever), then immediately charge. Note that blind-firing the shotgun is usually inaccurate without the right mods (Smart Choke) so it won't do a lot of damage. But remember that shotguns spray bullets, so you're still likely to hit someone from afar even if it does practically no damage. That's fine. Shooting someone for us will not be to kill - it will mainly be to allow you to "target" them for a split second to charge.
(2) HEAVY MELEE: Pick the most dangerous (or hated) enemy and heavy melee them, staggering them (obviously not Banshee enemies). After you heavy melee once, immediately fire your shotgun as your Kroguard visually "recovers" from the melee (the time lag between finishing a melee and being able to execute another melee). Then either heavy melee or normal melee (depending on cooldown time). After this, your cooldown time should be zero; then charge. You'll eventually have to learn to time your melees, but I'd recommend: heavy melee, shotgun shot, headbutt, then charge. If you have to reload, then reload instead of shooting, but do not break/add to the sequence - your survivability is the most important part here, and as soon as that cooldown is done, you must charge to stay alive. As a side note, with this build, you'll get a melee damage bonus and also you'll get a 50% damage reduction for 4 seconds after Biotic Charge (cooldown time is around 4.31 seconds minimum).
(3) CHARGE AGAIN: Repeat the above.
(4) PROFIT: Then, profit.
The entire sequence will pass by quickly, but it will be intuitive and easy to get along.
Biotic Charge forms the basis of your strategy, aggresiveness, and survability as the Kroguard. This means that it is intrinsically tied to both your life, death, and success. I'm going to post a few more things about it here for you.
MOVEMENT: Biotic Charge literally takes you instantaneously across the map, can go above/below your level, and it can go through waist-high cover and windows. It can go around walls at an angle. It gives the Kroguard a ton of mobility - especially on Gold, where there are a ton of enemies, you can always "charge out" of a situation by targeting an enemy from afar and escaping.
DODGING ATTACKS: You are invulnerable while charging. If you see 10 missiles coming at you from a distance (cough Geth Rocket Tooper cough) you can charge through them or just charge to avoid them. If an enemy melees you, you can charge just as it does, and the melee will pass right through you. Used correctly, Biotic Charge can be as much of a defensive/evasive tool as an aggressive factor.
BRUTES: If a Brute charges at you, you can Biotic Charge it to go right through it, remain unaffected, and possibly kill it with the damage radius of your Biotic Charge.
Biotic charge replenishes shields, staggers enemies, and offers quick mobility. It is important. Combined with melees, you don't even need a gun - all enemies will fall to you and your brutal MRRAAWWHs.
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VI. Vanguard Glitch
NOTE: The latest patch/DLC "fixed" the Vanguard glitch. As a result, if you are not hosting, your Biotic Charge will noticeably lag - this makes it difficult to use the high risk playstyle that I advocate here with the shield gate, just FYI. Hosting is still your absolute best bet. Rumors also persist, deep in the murky depths of BSN, that the Vanguard glitch is not truly vanquished, and is merely biding its time, waiting for the right moment to strike fear into gamers' hearts once more...
The Vanguard Glitch is a gamebreaker; there's no way around it once it happens. There is no fix. There is no cure. you just have to accept it will happen if you're not hosting.
This is how it occurs. Let's say you're just about to die (no shields, low health). Desperately, you turn around, trying to charge anything or anyone to get back your shields. You keep mashing the button but nothing happens. Then you die, and you're there, laying on the ground.
All of a sudden, a bluish orb comes up from your dead body and you see yourself Biotic Charge-ing the enemy you had been targeting. The Biotic Charge makes contact, but then it disappears, and you're still on the ground, dead, and the medigel/revive countdown has started.
When you get up/revived, you will eventually notice that you'll be "floaty" and walking above the ground. Then you'll start to climb higher and higher. Enemies will shoot at you, and you'll die, but you'll respawn on your own - several hundred feet above the map. You don't even have a good enough angle to look down to shoot. You're invincible, but you can't do anything. You're stuck, falling repeatedly, undying.
This is the Vanguard Glitch, and you have to experience it to believe it. It occurs when, due to lag (e.g. not hosting the game), the game gets confused about your location relative to the map. The solution is that it basically places you in the middle of nowhere, confusing you both.
If you are not playing as a host, I strongly advise against using this build, as it relies on Biotic Charge so much that you'll pretty much Vanguard Glitch eventually. I suggest hosting the game to avoid this, as does pretty much every vanguard-glitch-knowing player in the universe.
Vanguard Glitches can be game-enders because if the entire team wipes, nobody gets any credits as the game continues indefinitely; the glitched vanguard is invincible. This means either the vanguard must quit and forfeit earned credits, or the rest of the team must eventually quit (so the host changes, respawning the vanguard at the beginning of the map/wave, and making the vanguard host) and forfeit their credits. It is a zero sum game.
Vanguard ettiquite says that if you knowingly join a game (not hosting) with knowledge about the possibility of a Vanguard Glitch, if it occurs, you should quit so the rest of the team can continue if need be. It's horrible that such a decision and dilemma is there, but that's just how it is.
All vanguards, even the Kroguard, must be aware of the Vanguard Glitch. It can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone, as long as you're not hosting. HOST TO AVOID THE GLITCH, or you will pay the price.
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VII. Geth
The Kroguard eats Geth for breakfast. The Geth have no instakills, making them the easiest faction to use this build on. The Geth's attributes that make up for this - high damage output, stunlock/stagger abilities - don't really matter to the Kroguard.
In general, dealing with the Geth is a matter of dealing with heavy crowd control. The Geth swarm very easily in a passive/aggressive playstyle, and it is easy to get overwhelmed even as a Kroguard. 2 Primes or 4 Pyros are pretty much the limits of your durability. Here's a rundown of individual enemies starting with the most threatening:
GETH PYRO: Because of their flamethrowers that do constant damage, pyros easily bypass your shield gate, and this makes them a huge threat. In groups and swarms (4+) they can mean instant death, and you should kite them or go somewhere else. They're also reasonably durable. In a group, pyros should be prioritized first, even before Geth Primes, because of how deadly they can be. You cannot allow yourself to be swarmed by them.
GETH PRIME: These have high durability, but they can't kill you one-on-one if you keep meleeing and charging them. You can comfortably shrug off damage from 2 of them, but 3 becomes a problem. Luckily, they won't spawn as more than 2 until Wave 10. Because it takes so long to kill them, and they're slow, and you can't be stunned by them, leave them for last. If you see Primes, go somewhere else and kill enemies. Killing Primes will only spawn more of them, and they take a long time to kill (they're not worth it). Their geth/combat turrets are a godsend as they make an easy target for Biotic Charge. Keep meleeing and charging them once you do attack them.
GETH BOMBER: These little thingies hover around and drop cluster grenades. As a Kroguard on Gold, with this build and Barrier active, you can survive a full volley of grenades only once - it chips away at your health and you won't survive another volley with the lower health. The best thing to do is wait unti lthe grenade indicators flash (grenades are about to explode) and Biotic Charge your way out of the situation. Even if you charge nearby, you are invulnerable during the Biotic Charge animation, and the time it takes for you to charge allows all the grenades to detonate. In short, Bombers are not a problem so long as you charge a the right time and be a little aware. However, their grenades go through your shield gate, so if they catch you by surprise, it can be an issue.
GETH HUNTER: This is where your shotgun mod/aiming comes into play. If they're cloaked, you can only charge Hunters if you're super close to them. Otherwise, you need the targeting box to appear, and that can only appear once you shoot them (or they break cloak to shoot you). Shooting at them once will make you target them, then charge. Their stunlock is laughable, and their damage won't really hurt you. They can only cloak if they have shields, so if you're going to kill a Hunter, do it entirely and don't leave it for later, as they'll regenerate their shields and go back to being invisible.
GETH ROCKET TROOPER: A Biotic Charge followed by a heavy melee puts these guys down fast, and they're a godsend for that reason. Their rockets can be shrugged off, though you should be wary of being swarmed - their rockets, in multiples, do a lot of damage. You can easily Biotic Charge to avoid the damage their missiles do.
GETH TROOPER: These guys are only dangerous because they'll stomp you once you're down. Besides that, there's not much to it. Just cannon fodder.
All troops except Pyros and Primes will appear in the first wave. Pyros will begin in Wave 2, and Primes in Wave 3. Remember, the biggest thing here is to avoid getting swarmed.
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VIII. Cerberus
Cerberus consist of the middle ground between the Reapers and Geth in terms of aggressiveness and passiveness. Unlike the Geth, Cerberus is not all about pure crowd control. Cerberus contains more varied units, and some of your game will involve some running around and dodging. Cerberus units, though, appear to be amongst the weaker units.
As always, prioritize lesser enemies (based on optimizing the Wave Budget) unless you are forced to deal with tougher enemies. Boss units like the Atlas will take time to kill, but standard units will still go down easily. In order of most threatening to least threatening, here are the units.
ATLAS: Like the Geth Prime, Atlases can take a lot of punishment before they go down, and you can't do it halfway - their shields recharge. Atlases also have a synch kill that gets activated after a melee. However, they are slower than the Primes, so use that to your advantage. The Kroguard can shrug off the damage of one Atlas easily, but two Atlases or more requires cover. Kite the Atlases away and deal with lesser enemies across the map. Save the Atlases for last. Once you get to killing them, take cover and fire with your peashooter shotgun. Yes, it will take time, but I promise you that eventually the Atlas will die. Taking down an Atlas from behind cover is easy; you just have to keep backtracking. Only charge Atlases if you are desperate; while their synch kills are rare, they are still possible. Atlases can also stomp you dead and in some cases can reach over cover to grab you. Atlases can be staggered by your Biotic Charge. Bottom line - keep a bit of a distance, deal with them last, and be patient. It's a small price to pay for the ease with which you dispatch other troops.
PHANTOM: Phantoms dish out synch kills faster than any other unit in the game except for the infamous Banshee. The Phantom must melee once before it synch kills, and that count is reset if it is staggered. Biotic Charge a Phantom, then follow up with a Heavy Melee to stagger it further. Then retreat until you can Biotic Charge again. You will basically be relying on stagger-only attacks to kill it. To be super safe, only attack it with Biotic Charges (staggers), then retreat out of melee range, then charge it again. Phantom hand canons deal tremendous damage, but you can easily Biotic Charge somewhere once you realize they're shooting you. Groups of Phantoms are dangerous - you must kite them as you cannot stagger them all continuously. A Phantom only takes a few Biotic Charges and/or heavy melees to kill. With a bit of practice, Phantoms will be no problem.
CERBERUS TURRET: Alone - with nobody else shooting at you - your shields are high enough and your cooldown is fast enough that you can charge and melee and charge and melee again and again a Cerberus Turret until the turret is dead. With multiple enemies, you need to find a way to charge out - the Turret will eventually cut past your shield gate along with sustained fire from other Cerberus troops. If you charge an engineer as the turret is getting set down, you will explode the turret (destroying it) and damage the engineer.
GUARDIAN: Unless you've got armor piercing ammo or the shredder mod, or you get lucky and aim your shotgun through the front slit, you cannot get through a Guardian's shields. What you do instead though is you charge it, and this staggers it, making it throw back its shield. Use this brief second to shoot at its head. One headshot - any weapon - point blank will eliminate them.
DRAGOON: These guys think they're better at close range fighting than you. Their gold whip thingies (Lash? Smash? something that rhymes with that) give laughable damage, and they don't really stagger you. Groups of them are no problem - charge and melee them and they will go down. They are not very durable overall.
ENGINEER: Prioritize these guys first because of the turrets they can set up. Up close, they are a standard footsoldier that will fall to the Krogan's rage.
CENTURION: An advanced Assault Trooper. Functions the same - charge, melee, kill. If they throw a grenade, don't worry - your shields can shrug off the damage of one grenade on Gold.
ASSAULT TROOPER: Same as Centurion without shields except that they can stomp on you when you're down. A godsend because they offer a convenient charging target.
NEMESIS: Can be annoying because they shoot from random locations and down your shields, but I don't even know if it's possible to be killed by one. They're a rather purposeless unit; you can leave them for last unless they become an annoyance.
Engineers, I believe, appear in the 2nd wave or so along with Guardians. Atlases appear in the 3rd wave, and Phantoms appear in the 4th wave and beyond. Cerberus generally plays conservatively, but some units like Guardians or Phantoms are more aggressive. You will have to use Biotic Charge defensively a few times.
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IX. Reapers
"Ah yes, Reapers."
So you started the game and got stuck with Reapers. Well, there's no way to sugarcoat this. You're in for a hard time. This will be a defensive game; especially with Banshees, Biotic Charge will be used for mobility and evasive/defensive maneuvers just as much as for offensive reasons. Reaper tactics are not varied like Cerberus - they're full on aggressive, sometimes stupidly so. You will have to be okay with leaving/letting enemies go in order to avoid Banshees, Brutes, or Ravager fire. Staying alive is the main goal. A series of hit-and-run tactics will be your main way of dealing with Reapers.
In order of most dangerous to least dangerous, here are the enemies. The biggest key with the Reapers is awareness - you can't afford as much to be surprised by their presence around the corner or behind you.
BANSHEES: The bane of the Kroguard, hate these guys with a vengeance. They can synchkill through walls, shrug off insane amounts of damage, refuse to be staggered by your admittedly overpowered and overused Biotic Charge, and even have a Warp attack that continues to chip away at your health long after it's visually present. They can biotic jump through walls and have an annoying tendency to spawn in multiples, and they are extremely aggressive, faster moving than Primes and Atlases. The strategy is the same as the big enemies of other factions - leave the Banshees for last because they're so hard to kill. Your Biotic Charge recharges super fast. Use it. Get out of tight situations and kill all other enemies. Banshees will keep you on your toes; you must be always moving. In the end, treat them like Atlases and not Primes; don't melee them to death up close like the Geth but instead shotgun them to death. The biggest thing with Banshees is to keep your distance. If you are in melee distance, you are too close. Steadily chipping away at their health with your peashooter will require patience, yes, but it's safe and you'll have dealt with the other enemies supe quickly anyways. You cannot stagger Banshees, so don't even Biotic Charge them (unlike other boss enemies, who can be staggered). They cannot synch kill if their glowy biotic aura is gone; they also cannot synch kill on slopes. More in synch kills in the following section.
HUSK: Yes, these guys are actually that dangerous to be after Banshees. 1-on-1, heavy melee them. In groups, only Biotic Charge them; keep your distance. If they grab you, they'll hold you out in the open, leaving you susceptible to Marauder and Ravager fire, and it takes a few seconds to get them off. Those seconds could be the difference between life or death. Do not allow them to grab you and immobilize you, and do not underestimate them. Prioritize them, seriously, before you regret it.
BRUTES: Brutes are a joke. Don't heavy melee them - they can synch kill by bashing you against the ground as if you were a rag doll - but when they charge you, Biotic Charge them and go through them, unharmed, doing the damage of your Biotic Charge. If you get surprised by one, Biotic Charge out of the situation. Shoot them if you want. They're generally a nuisance and annoyance, but not really a problem. Heavy melee their behinds if their back is to you, but never do it to their face.
RAVAGERS: While these guys can rain artillery fire from a distance, if you Biotic Charge them, they don't even attack you except for releasing swarmers and poisonous greenish goop. Charge and melee at your pleasure. Not a problem. A full Ravager salvo, however, can easily down your shields, so keep an eye out. Prioritize them after husks if you can because otherwise they'll rain down hell on you from afar.
MARAUDERS: Basically a Centurion with a better gun [9]. Standard footsoldier; should be easy to kill. Groups of them are also fine because their guns fire in bursts.
CANNIBAL: Beware that these guys can regenerate health, which can be an annoyance. Otherwise, not a big problem, a standard footsoldier. Charge and melee.
RAVAGER SPORE THINGY: Forgot the name of this, but it's the tiny spiderlike thingy that pops out of the Ravager sacs. These guys are awesome for the Kroguard, offering an easy Biotic Charge target. Cherish their presence.
Again, the key with Reapers is awareness. Be aware of your surroundings. Watch out for husks. Charge the Ravagers so that they can't attack you. Deal with Banshees last with some patience. Brutes appear by Wave 2, Banshees by Wave 3, and Ravagers by Wave 4. All other enemies appear from the beginning.
In my Reapers solo video, you see how in later waves I end up kiting the enemies in order to avoid having to kill Brutes and Banshees repeatedly. I also, to be super safe and conservative, do not melee/attack those two units unless I am on a slope in order to avoid getting synchkilled.
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X. Collectors
Described by a Mass Effect 3 developer as a faction that is "good at everything but best at nothing", the Collectors are a varied faction that have taken the Reapers' place as the Kroguard's most hated enemy. Overall, the Collectors boast some impressive firepower, good unit synergy (enemy works together), strong melee, and synch kills, but their firepower isn't as bad as the Geth, their synch kills aren't as frequent as the Reapers', and their variety and synergy isn't as good as Cerberus's.
Still, they can be the hardest faction because of their punishing Seeker Swarms and Harbinger's direct influence. Some units are enhanced by Harby's ASSUMING of DIRECT CONTROL, whereby their attacks and health/armor/barriers are strengthened. Collectors also have the strongest enemy melees. In order of the most dangerous to easiest units, here are their enemy types:
SEEKER SWARM: These little guys hold the mighty Kroguard's future in their hands. If you get attacked by one of these, your cooldown is increased to its maximum, meaning you can't dish out Biotic Charge like candy on Halloween. While non-power based classes (soldiers, infiltrators) are unaffected, power-based classes like the Kroguard are harshly affected. Kill them first, prioritize them first, and run away from them if you cannot kill them in time. Do not melee these guys for obvious reasons. If they get hold of you, stick to hard cover and blind fire a bit to keep enemies at bay. As a funny side note, they have to use ladders to move around - try and watch it if you can. Hilarious. Perhaps their only redeeming quality. POSSESSED SEEKER SWARMS are even more annoying because they have a small barrier/shield you have to take out.
SCION: The distant cousin of the waddling Flood Carrier from Halo, the Scion is the jack-of-all-trades enemy. Even on Bronze, its main gun stunlocks and can bring the mighty Kroguard to its knees - on Gold, getting hit once by its main gun can lead to instant death as the stunlock can leave you vulnerable to repeated artillery fire from it. It can synch kill, so beware of that, but its melees are anyways extremely powerful and can kill you without it. On top of all of this, it can launch cluster grenades that make the Geth Bomber seem like a peashooter in comparison. Scions will keep you on the defensive. However, if you can shoot at or melee their back pods, they take a lot of damage. One on one, you can still melee it to death on a slope by timing your Biotic Charge properly. POSSESSED SCIONS are extremely irritating because they have a barrier and even stronger attacks. Patience and kiting is key here.
PRAETORIAN: Do not be fooled by the spiderlike Praetorian's appearance - in addition to being able to fly with a shimmery shield, on the ground, Praetorians are capable of astonishing feats of agility, being able to leap forward and melee with such speed that good connection games will seem like they are lagging. The Praetorian's main weapon is a bit of a joke - it is slow to fire and does not do a lot of damage (if you seek cover and dodge) relative to the Scion's. On a slope, you can melee the Praetorian to death as usual. The Praetorian is also capable of synch kills. As with all big synch kill units, kite them and eliminate them with patience. POSSESSED PRAETORIANS are basically buffed in all aspects except for lunge speed, which seems like it would have been impossible to buff in the current game engine anyways.
COLLECTOR CAPTAIN: Basically a Centurion with a stronger melee; they are no problem. POSSESSED CAPTAINS are equally simple; beware, however, of their melees, which, while not strong enough to take out your shields, are stronger than you would expect.
COLLECTOR TROOPER: Standard footsoldier. No big deal for you. POSSESSED TROOPERS are also not a problem.
ABOMINATION: Basically husks that can explode when they die (though if they grab you and you throw them off, then they don't explode). As with husks, stay away, because if they grab you, you'll be vulnerable to enemy fire. Melee one; biotic charge groups. The explosion upon death can be shrugged off like flies on a windshield. POSSESSED ABOMINATIONS, however, are a different deal - their explosions are some truly amazing fireworks. Those explosions won't take down your shields, but they will come close, so beware of them in groups.
The main thing with Collectors is making sure you keep those Seeker Swarms at bay. If they get close, it can mean instant death. Otherwise, the standard Reaper/Cerberus style procedures of kiting apply.
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XI. Synch Kills
So let me paint a picture. You finally tried the melee build and were happy it worked. With a smile of joy on your face, you create random Gold games, mowing through enemies like a knife through hot butter, amazed at how the visceral brutality of your Krogan earned it the title Battlemaster [8]. With blissful ignorance, you smash aside all enemies, laughing in manic glee like your Rage-induced Krogan. Then the next wave starts and you hear a screech of bone-chilling fury. You headbutt ("MRAWH") with your quad-induced testosterone and charge towards the freakish-looking Ardat Yakshi. You smack it aside, but all of a sudden, it grabs you, lifts you, and...you're dead. Done. You frantically tap the medigel button, but nothing happens...you're out for the round. Hell, now everything seems lost, and it feels like our happy, carefree, could-be-a-cuddly-Teletubby-if-he-wanted-to Kroguard should just hang up his pigeon-looking armor and declare his headbutting career over and retire to a beach to drink ryncol till the end of his days.
But you want those credits. So we need to look at what happened.
You were just synch killed by a Banshee. It happens. Synch kills are the bane of the Kroguard. They are the oil to your water, the Master Sword to your Ganon, the fat a** to your whoopee cushion. Feel free to hate on them with a vengeance. Synch kills happen at seemingly random times, and they can put a Battlemaster on edge. So what do we do?
You could kindly create one-of-many threads hating on synchkill units (the Banshee gets the most fanmail) and ask Bioware to do something about them being so cheap that they'd never buy anything in a dollar store. Take a deep breath. Okay. Now I, JShepppp, random BSN user, hereby give you permission to be just as cheap as the Banshees and their synchkill buddies (without using missiles).
First off, know when synch kills are possible. For the Banshee, they can happen anytime the bluish biotic aura is around it. For other units, they must melee first before they can do it, and staggering them (hint hint Biotic Charge) will reset the "melee count" - but ONLY if you see the stagger animation occur (you visually see the enemy get knocked back). But we can be cheap too.
There is a well-known "synchkill difficulty" (or "intentional balancing" as I like to view it) that you may be aware of. Note that every multiplayer map has a slope. Find the slope in your map, even if it's some puny one. Every slope is surrounded by cover (e.g. walls). Take cover.
Kite the Banshee/Atlas/whatever in. As soon as they get close, get onto the slope. They can't synchkill you here as long as you're on a different elevation than them. They may make repeated attempts to whack you, fire at you, etc., but as a Kroguard you can shrug off that damage with Biotic Charge. Do not leave the slope. The big boss enemies become glorified Geth Primes here, and so even if you're swarmed by Phantoms, charge and melee enemies to death on the slope. You're safe on the slope so long as you're at different elevation. Now you don't even have to rely on a wimpy shotgun to take them out.
It's a strategy that takes a little patience, but it's very doable, and it works. Synchkills don't have to be a problem if you be a little smart about it. I do this repeatedly in my Reaper solo video and you can see how it works wonders.
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XII. Objective Waves
Objective waves are generally not a problem for the Kroguard, though the device one can be difficult.
BOSS: This is one of the easier objectives. If you missile the first boss and take out the entire spawn, you can actually force the game's engine to switch to an easier enemy (e.g. Geth Prime to Geth Rocket Trooper). While not necessary, that can help. This is just raw brute force - kiting enemies won't help that much here unless you are desperate.
DEVICE: This is where you must activate 4 devices. When you activate devices, position yourself so that you're taking at least some form of soft cover (e.g. crouching behind a wall, crate, etc.); this will at least offer you some protection. You have to be able to judge if you can withstand sustained fire while activating a device. If enemies come by, always keep your sight trained on them; keep them targeted. If your shield gate breaks, immediately move sideways to cancel the activation and Biotic Charge. You must manually (e.g. move to the side) cancel the activation animation; you cannot Biotic Charge while you are in it. If you are swarmed by enemies, either kite them or missile them. This is the hardest for the Kroguard because you can't use Biotic Charge while doing it.
DRONE: This is like a moving hack except the drone can partially restore shields, which helps us because it restores the shield gate. Again, it scales like the Hacking objective. In a team, you become the damage sponge; solo, move quickly from cover to cover. When soloing, you only have to be in its radius for a second or so, then it will move on its own for a few seconds without any inteference. Take advantage of this break to charge/bash around and come back to the radius. This is not too difficult. A combination of hard cover and Biotic Charge will help you.
HACKING: This is the easiest objective for the Kroguard. Crouch somewhere in the hacking zone, and if enemies swarm you, just charge and melee at your pleasure - while staying within the large circle, which will be easy. As you're fighting and charging, the upload will continue, and you'll be done before you know it. Hack objective times scale with the total (dead+alive) number of players. This means 1 player in a 1 player (solo) game will have a shorter required hack time than 1 player in a game of 4 players where 3 teammates are dead. So if you're solo-ing, this is just better for you.
RETRIEVAL (PIZZA): Here you have to pick up some random crap and get it to the dropoff location. This is doable too, but you must be very quick. This can be a difficult one. What you can do though is charge a nearby enemy (you'll drop the pizza when you use Biotic Charge), use the stagger time and fully regenerated shields to run back a few steps and pick up the pizza, then move a few more feet, charge, and repeat. Survive off of charging nearby enemies and picking it back up. You can pick up the pizza from a few feet away. You see me do this strategy in Wave 3 of my solo video. As a side note, if you are all alone, walking sideways/backwards and shimmying along hard cover are all ways to move faster than walking forwards while holding the pizza.
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XIII. Team Tips
First of all, you must be hosting, again, to avoid the Vanguard Glitch. That alone is the best thing you can do for your team.
When you are part of a team, your primary role is the revivor. When enemies go down, you are better equipped than an infiltrator to revive them (when an infiltrator finishes reviving and the cloak comes off, both the infiltrator and revivee can be in trouble). Charge into the area if you must to stagger/clear the enemies, then revive the teammate. The time it takes to revive a teammate is the same as your cooldown time, so as you revive, keep looking for the enemy you want to charge into next. You will likely take fire as you revive, but it's nothing you can't handle. Then immediately charge once the revive is done to get back your own shield, then continue on your way. The key here is to be aware when you are actually done reviving them - if you leave and charge before the revive is entirely over, you'll have to get back in and revive them again.
Your secondary role is the damage sponge. You can soak up damage better than anyone else (except for other Kroguards, but you're host, so you can charge out of it with zero chance of glitching). This becomes especially important on pizza and drone objectives. Take one for the team if you must - if you get too weak, charge off to recover.
Besides this, just do general crowd control support. See that Asari Adept getting swarmed by Phantoms? You might laugh at them for choosing a squishy character, but that Asari might go down permanently, and that makes your job harder - especially against the stronger units like the Atlas, where the Asari's biotic explosions will be much better at bringing it down than you. Or see that Drell Adept get taken down by an engineer? If you don't get there fast enough, the engineer might place a turret over the downed body, making revival all that more difficult. Get in and help teammates out if they're having difficulties. You can stagger enemies easily and take large amounts of damage. Don't be a jerk. Keep them alive.
Also, don't kick noobs from your game. Here is my basic view on that - but the idea is that everyone was "bad" once, and the quickest way to make everyone better is for good and new players to play together. Think about if you're in their situation. Granted, if they don't try and just leech (AFK, purposely die, be a jerk on the mic, etc.) then feel free to leave them behind. But for good, decent players who try hard, if you won, that means stuff still worked, so stick with them.
As a side note, if there are other Krogans, you are obligated on your honor as a Brogan to headbutt between rounds to build up team morale.
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XIV. Solo Tips
So you decided to solo the game. Good for you. Maybe you just got tired of waiting to find a game, waiting for others to join, or just wanted the challenge. Maybe you got sick of the public matchmaking system seemingly hating you. Anyways, you're now stuck in a solo game.
Solo games are very variable. There are two things you must be comfortable doing: (a) crowd control and (
conservative playstyle.Crowd control is a fancy way of saying that you need to know how to deal with enemies spawning all over the map and what to do about big groups of them. You need to be comfortable with kiting. Only so many enemies can be on the map at once, and use this to your advantage. As you kite enemies, they'll eventually separate and stagger based on their different movement speeds, then you can pick them off one by one. Because of the way the wave budget works, go for smaller, weaker enemies as opposed to bigger ones - it'll be worth more of your time. You will have to be very mobile, regardless of the faction, because if you go down, you'll have to use up one of your precious medigels.
Conservative playstyle means you shouldn't bite off more than you can chew. No one is there to revive you, so you've got to do it yourself, and you only have so many medigels. Don't charge into a Banshee, 4 pyros, etc. Know your strengths and limits, and be patient.
Try to save consumables. You should preferably use ops packs before medigels because medigel situations are surprises (e.g. turn the corner and get 20 missiles to the face) that you can't prepare for. Medigel is more important (even though you get up with no shield, you can just Biotic Charge) because they will save you in desperate emergencies. Use ops packs if you think you're going to go down; save the medigel for the times you're suddenly down and have to scratch your head for a moment to figure out where the shooting came from.
Do the objectives immediately if you can. Hacking, Drone, and Boss objectives are the easiest; Device and Pizza ones will require patience and planning. You'll have to steadily chip away at the enemies in general.
Save the missiles if you can until Wave 10 because you can then use them liberally to make it go easier. Also, don't skimp on the consumables - if you're in a later wave, don't die or bleed out just because you were thrifty. The payoff from Gold is about 70 (+/-5) thousand credits, which is more than enough to by 2 Jumbo Equipment packs, one of which has enough equipment to replace all possible losses from a given match.
Patience is ultimately key. Solos take a longer time than most games for obvious reasons. Be patient and you'll make it through.
EDIT: I forgot to add something very important here regarding Wave 11. Enemies have unlimited spawns in Wave 11, so it's not worth the effort to kill them unless you absolutely have to. A more efficient strategy is to kite and evade the enemies in Wave 11 until the very end and then rush the evacuation/landing zone. I do this in both my solo videos.
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XV. Comments
Some people have asked me a few things via messages, so I thought I'd just answer them here.
1. I have (Insert Rare / Ultra Rare Weapon here) at X and have (Ammo Type) IV, (Weapon Amp) IV, (Cyclonic Mod/etc.) IV, and (Gear) V. I also pull off headshots and no-scopes blindfolded while drinking chocolate milk. Why should I try this build?
I congratulate you on your accrual of high level items. Not everyone has those items, and not everyone is a first-person shooter veteran. This guide was made for them. If you are fine with what you have, then by all means keep using it.
2. I heard the Turian Ghost Infiltrator, Geth Infiltrator, and (insert other overpowered character here) are easier to use than the Kroguard. What do you think?
Those characters will all also make Gold easier, true, but the Kroguard has the advantage of high durability combined with the fact that you don't really have to have good aim (you just have to target powers and smash the biotic charge button). I still think the Kroguard is more novice friendly.
3. Why did you write so much?
I wanted to be comprehensive - a casual or novice player can look here and find everything they would need to know. I wished, when I first played, that I could have found all this information one place, so I basically did what I thought others would want so they can play Gold and reap the benefits both in terms of difficulty satisfaction and credits.
4. Can we play together?
I would, but unfortunately I don't play ME3 that much anymore, but the forums are full of great people who should be willing to help out if you ask. Just start a thread.
5. Have you solo-ed Platinum?
Yes, pre-Retaliation, Kroguard vs Geth. I have not done it since, nor do I think I will, because I personally find Platinum to be a boring boss-grind overkill. If that negates my advice somehow, then so be it. If you want to solo Platinum, I suggest you look for other threads on BSN that discuss that. In particular, check out caineghis500's thread here. Note that Platinum, no matter what, will require a good deal of experience and skill, unlike Gold. Good luck.
NOTES (from above)
[1] If you are looking for an exhaustive explanation of game mechanics, I'd suggest checking out GodlessPaladin's thread that clarifies that kind of stuff.
[2] Kroguards actually CAN create their own biotic explosions. The primer is the detonated Barrier power (if the Barrer actually staggers or lifts an enemy of fthe ground) and the detonator is Biotic Charge. This is, practically, pretty much a waste of (cooldown) time and doesn't always work, so I'd advise against trying it.
[3] According to the latest multiplayer balance changes.
[4] Specifically, they can't be executed when you and the enemy are on different elevations - so theoretically, if you're on the same elevation on the same slope, you can still be synchkilled.
[5] Check out this Google Doc for more info.
[6] Taken from that same GodlessPaladin thread above.
[7] Current speculation is that it is a Phaeston XXVII fired through the Marauder's infinitely-long Adrenaline Rush power.
[8] Before I get slammed for not paying attention to lore, in the Mass Effect Universe, technically, Battlemasters are Krogans that are also super poweful biotics. No new Battlemasters have arisen/been born recently, and thus they're revered for actually both their immense prowess and rarity. Urdnot Wrex was/is a Battlemaster.
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Thanks for reading, and I hope this helped somebody out there in some way. If you have any comments at all - about the solo video, about the build, additional tips to add, etc. - please feel free to post below!
Modifié par JShepppp, 17 décembre 2012 - 03:19 .
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