27 replies to this topic

[Andrew Waples]

 i mean if i were to do a insansity run (i already got the trophy i used edi and liara) have you used her for a insansity runthrough? curious 

[Loki_344]

Sabotage is a pretty useful power if you take the tech bonus damage upgrade and have tech powers in your Shepard's arsenal or your other squadmates. Energy drain also got a pretty significant buff with the last patch and when properly specced can give Tali full shields and 40% damage resistance for 13 seconds. Really any of the squadmates can be useful throughout the game if you want them to be.

[Forst1999]

And sabotage still is great on turrets. Drone isn't what it used to be, but at least her cooldown is reasonable now. Energy drain is great for damage and allows her to be quite survivable. If I play a biotic, people who get rid of shields (and barriers to a lesser degree) are useful. Against Reapers, she wouldn't be my first choice, but she still one of the best choices against Cerberus.

[brad2240]

Yeah, she's useful. Much more so than in ME2.

Drone brings a bit of CC to the table. Sabotage is a great utility power that sets-up tech burts and boosts the power of your other tech powers (fantastic playing as an Engineer) and Energy Drain helps keep her alive and removes shields that might otherwise slow you down. I skip Defense Drone on her.

She's never my go-to teammate, but she's a solid pick for non-Geth missions this time around.

[Drayce333]

All on the characters are good on insanity with any class with the right specs.

[Abraham_uk]

Getting the most out of Tali Zorah:


Combos:
My advice would be to spec sabotage for tech vulnerabilty.
Then bring a second tech user (Garrus, EDI or Kaidan).

Use sabotage on an enemy then follow up with overload for tech burst.
Use EDI's incinerate then follow up with energy drain for incendiary explosion.
Use Kaidan's cryo blast, then when enemy health is low follow up with energy drain.


Distraction:
Sabotage is still useful for AI hacking after Quarian conflict. Atlas Mechs and Engineer Turrets are all vulnerable to this ability.

Combat Drone does a respectable job. But remember either go all the way with a long distance drone (shield and damage, shield and damage, rockets) or all the way with a close quarters drone (detonate, shock and chain lightning). Do not mix and match the evolutions since they determine the AI of the Drone.

Defence Drone. I've seen it occasionaly staggering enemies, but not good for this role.


Stripping Shields and Barriers:
Both Cerberus and the Reapers have shields and barriers. Energy drain is very useful against both. Also if you setup for tech burst with sabotage, then follow up with overload you get a powerful tech burst.


Shotguns:
Not all shotguns require Tali to be fighting at close range. Tali fights best at mid to long range since she is very squishy.

Graal Spike Thrower, Geth Plasma Shotgun and Crusader are all good choices for Tali.


Pistols:
Unless you're equipping Tali with the Predator, heavy pistols are very useful. Carnifex, Phalanx, Scorpion and Paladin are all good choices. I'd recommend using pistols over shotguns, since you do not want Tali to close in on enemies.

[RedCaesar97]

Tali is a good squadmate, particularly for an Engineer. If you plan to use anything of hers outside of Energy Drain, you need to babysit her as she is not very smart when it comes to using squadmate commands (Q+E or D-Pad commands).

Her Combat Drone can be useful and is on a very rapid cooldown. Her Energy Drain is great, particularly if you are an Engineer; single player Energy Drain got buffed in the last patch for some inexplicable reason to match the multiplayer version so it is even better now. Her Sabotage is good, but has a very long cooldown. Her Defense Drone is not worth using in my opinion, so feel free to ignore it completely.

Edited by RedCaesar97, 07 February 2013 - 09:08 PM.

[Abraham_uk]

eaglefan129 wrote...

 i mean if i were to do a insansity run (i already got the trophy i used edi and liara) have you used her for a insansity runthrough? curious 

She's pretty good against Cerberus.

Also on Priority Earth, you face quite a few banshees. Her energy drain was very valuable.


Think about it this way. The main advantage of having an engineer, is their ability to strip shields and barriers.
This logic applies to single player campaign and it applies to multiplayer too.

[capn233]

No she isn't all that great, and it is compounded by the fact that you get her late in the game as well.

You can use her with a tech team to cast Sabotage (not spam since cooldown is too long), and potentially use Energy Drain to strip shields, but I find her drone powers underwhelming. If Energy Drain actually reliably detonated combos on things other than shields, it might be better.

[UEG Donkey]

I didnt really find that any of the characters were that useful other than liara for singularity and garrus for proxy. I didn't have much use for her

[sentinel_87]

Being the creature of habit I am I tend to use Tali and Garrus the most; and I also play on insanity the most.

While Tali is not the best character in the game for combat, but she is far from terrible. The way combat is in ME3 there are no "bad" characters.

I find her most useful powers are energy drain and combat drone for my Shepard who is a soldier.

With energy drain and overload from Tali and Garrus shields and barriers disappear fairly quick. While the combat drone is not the same as it was in ME2 it is still useful to have something else on the battlefield to distract the enemy. Sabotage is still helpful against Cerberus turrets and atlases. I think its cooldown though is too long to be very effective at getting combos to detonate.

Defense drone is borderline worthless though. The concept is interesting; the execution is lacking.

For weapons the only shotgun I give her is the crusader, because it's really not a shotgun to begin with. I do have her switch to pistols frequently though. She's not good for dealing with armor, but I like to take the squad versions of all ammo upgrades so that does help.

Most firefights involve deploying the combat drone, removing enemy shields/barriers and then letting my Shepard finishing the target off with adrenaline rush.

[Ice Cold J]

 After that, the only time she REALLY seems to shine is at Cronus station, hacking turrets and Atlases.

[Abraham_uk]

capn233 wrote...

No she isn't all that great, and it is compounded by the fact that you get her late in the game as well.

You can use her with a tech team to cast Sabotage (not spam since cooldown is too long), and potentially use Energy Drain to strip shields, but I find her drone powers underwhelming. If Energy Drain actually reliably detonated combos on things other than shields, it might be better.

I don't think there are many people who consider Tali to be "worthless".
She is useful, because all three factions have enemies with shields and barriers (which are vulnerable to energy drain).
Some of the shotguns in Mass Effect 3 are amazing. Pistols are a underrated weapon class.
Combat Drone is pretty useful though slightly underwhelming.
Sabotage is a useful power.
Defence drone not so much.


Trouble is, that whilst you can create a pretty good build with Tali, she will not be as useful as EDI or Garrus. EDI and Garrus can take care of armour and health quite easily, whereas Tali has no powers that can deal with armour and health effectively (I guess the combat drone with rockets can, but reliability is variable at best).


In short. Tali is a useful squadmate ot have, but there are just better choices.

[brad2240]

Abraham_uk wrote...

Trouble is, that whilst you can create a pretty good build with Tali, she will not be as useful as EDI or Garrus. EDI and Garrus can take care of armour and health quite easily, whereas Tali has no powers that can deal with armour and health effectively (I guess the combat drone with rockets can, but reliability is variable at best).

IMO, Tali is easily better than EDI. EDI's only saving grace is Incinerate. Both Garrus and Kaiden are better if you need Overload in the group, and EDI has two powers (Defense Matrix and Decoy) that aren't even worth putting points in. At least Tali's only dead weight is Defense Drone. Tali also has a better weapon set, at least in the base game. DLC might change that up.

Having said that, I'm biased. I never cared at all for the whole "EDI gets a body" concept. If I wasn't forced to take her to Cronos station she would never leave the ship.

[Abraham_uk]

brad2240 wrote...

Abraham_uk wrote...

Trouble is, that whilst you can create a pretty good build with Tali, she will not be as useful as EDI or Garrus. EDI and Garrus can take care of armour and health quite easily, whereas Tali has no powers that can deal with armour and health effectively (I guess the combat drone with rockets can, but reliability is variable at best).

IMO, Tali is easily better than EDI. EDI's only saving grace is Incinerate. Both Garrus and Kaiden are better if you need Overload in the group, and EDI has two powers (Defense Matrix and Decoy) that aren't even worth putting points in. At least Tali's only dead weight is Defense Drone. Tali also has a better weapon set, at least in the base game. DLC might change that up.

Having said that, I'm biased. I never cared at all for the whole "EDI gets a body" concept. If I wasn't forced to take her to Cronos station she would never leave the ship.

That's a fair point.

I love it that people actually support their opinions with valid points.

[RGFrog]

I dont' use her for anything but the laugh she and garrus give me when i catch them in garus's main weapon calibration room....

[HTTP 404]

I would say " not as useful" she isn't useless

[MrStoob]

I never had a play through with Kaiden. But from the comments here, since when is he a tech user?

[HTTP 404]

MrStoob wrote...

I never had a play through with Kaiden. But from the comments here, since when is he a tech user?

since me1. haha he is a sentinel.  He had decryption, electronics, and medicine skills.

Edited by HTTP 404, 11 February 2013 - 01:29 AM.

[Asch Lavigne]

I know people are saying she is useful afterwards when fighting Cerberus, but you fight them what, 2 times afterwards (N7: Communications Hub and Cronos Station, can't remember if there's more) and aside from the one part of Cronos Station there are hardly and turrets. Not worth it very much in my opinion.

[brad2240]

She's useful against Reapers too. There's usually a better pick but taking her on non-Geth missions isn't gimping your team like it was in ME2.

[capn233]

brad2240 wrote...

She's useful against Reapers too. There's usually a better pick but taking her on non-Geth missions isn't gimping your team like it was in ME2.

She was alright against Eclipse though because they are mech heavy.

I took her on The Assassin fairly frequently.  Not the greatest against Collectors, but you can briefly distract Harbinger with drones.

[brad2240]

capn233 wrote...

brad2240 wrote...

She's useful against Reapers too. There's usually a better pick but taking her on non-Geth missions isn't gimping your team like it was in ME2.

She was alright against Eclipse though because they are mech heavy.

I took her on The Assassin fairly frequently.  Not the greatest against Collectors, but you can briefly distract Harbinger with drones.

"Alright" is being fairly generous. I despise Tali's (and Legion's) drones in ME2. I think I usually had most or all of the merc missions done before I got ED for her, so bringing her just for the AI Hacking seemed less than productive.

If she had ED from the start she would've probably been the single best squadmate to take on merc missions.

Edited by brad2240, 11 February 2013 - 09:47 PM.