Table of Contents:
• About
• Why play as Geth Trooper Soldier?
• Hunter Mode
• Flamer
• Fortification
• The Build: Flaming Shocker
• Using the Flaming Shocker
• The Arsenal
• Performance (Enemies)
• Performance (Allies)
• Tips and Tricks
• Final Considerations
____________________________
• About
I've noticed that there are no class guides referring to this class, so I decided to write my own. It's not a generic class guide, it focuses on my personal choice of build: the classic Flamer+Reegar Carbine that is already used by many Vorchas and Trooper Soldiers. However I will discuss all the mechanics and tricks that make the Geth Trooper Soldier so formidable, and how to use him efficiently.
The Geth Trooper Soldier is probably the only Soldier character I enjoy playing with, due the massive amount of damage he can rack in seconds, while maintaining low-moderate Shields (as Hunter Mode cuts them in half) but with some sweet damage protection that prevents him from being too much of a glass cannon.
• Why play as Geth Trooper Soldier?
Let's face it, Geths are awesome. Hunter Mode, despite making you fragile as a fly, can be deactivated at any time the situation demands, so it's not like you're a glass cannon the whole match. It also has a very low cooldown, so won't hurt your power use too much.
The Trooper is an excellent character for flanking attacks involving other squadmates with powers that can detonate the Fire Explosions that Flamer sets up. Being mobile enough the Trooper can quickly run around the battlefield, spraying fire and flames all over the place to reduce enemies to ashes.
With that in mind, let's evaluate the pros and cons:
• Pros
- One of the best Area of Effect and Crowd Control in the game.
- Best Zoning in the game: able to easily control the environment surrounding him.
- Able to deal with any kind of enemy without much troubles.
- Able to make the speed-glitch with Flamer + Reegar Carbine.
- Capable of taking down large enemies and crowds single handed in matter of seconds.
- More durable than other Geth characters.
- One of the only classes with two buffing Powers.
- Hunter Mode + Fortification makes the Trooper a very mobile and relatively resilient character, while able to track down its enemies and predict their movements.
• Cons
- Only one offensive power, which is not long range.
- Even with Fortification he is still quite fragile, with very low base health and the -50% Shields from Hunter Mode.
- Flamer can sometimes be a problem to your squad, covering their line of sight.
- People tend to get mad because of occasional kill-steal due to Flamer's damage over time (it's ridiculous, but true).
- Enemies that cause too much hitstun (such as Geth) can prevent the Trooper from unleashing his true potential, since both Reegar Carbine and Flamer depends on consistent holding to inflict maximum damage.
• Hunter ModeEssential for this class (rather, any Geth character). Hunter Mode is the main source of your mobility and extra damage. For obvious reasons, should be activated all the time. But in times of desperation (like being surrounded and ganked), the player can deactivate it in order to increase his/her survival (since Hunter Mode cuts your Shields in half).
• FortificationIf evolved correctly, Fortication will give both damage protection AND power damage, allowing the Trooper to maximize the bonuses for Flamer. Despite the "slow power cooldown" backside, doesn't make much difference due the unique mechanic of Flamer's cooldown: where the longer you hold, the longer the cooldown.
• FlamerThe bread and butter of the Trooper Soldier, it's your main source of damage. Combining the stacked bonuses from Hunter Mode and Fortification (which is 50%), the Trooper's Flamer is far more powerful than the Vorcha one; and with the constant damage instead of stacks like Bloodlust, the Trooper maintains a very solid DPS (damage per second) that gives him the upper hand. However he doesn't have the insane health regen of the Vorcha, and therefore can't take too much risk.
Additionally, Flamer allow to near infinite combo setups. However, Flamer cannot detonate combos, only set them. Also, unlike it may look, Flamer DOES NOT go through walls like Shockwave and Snap Freeze, but you can abuse of your enemy line of sight by adjusting yourself near a wall while firing Flamer. Works specially good against Geth Primes and Atlases.
Flamer naturally has a starting 50% bonus damage against armor, but it does not have an additional starting bonus against health or shields/barriers. For these reason, the Reegar Carbine fills the role of anti-shield weapon to cover the Trooper's weaknesses.
For instance these are the values of Flamer's Damage Per Second counting all the bonuses:
• 495 VS Health, Shields/Barriers and 1113.75 VS Armor.
Now let's consider Flamer's damage with these bonus plus Omni-Capacitors V and Power Amplifier IV:
• 619 VS Health, Shields/Barriers and 1392.75 VS Armor. Beastly, huh?
• The Build: Flaming Shocker
This build revolves around damage protection and pure power damage for maximum effectiveness, since Flamer is the only offensive power this class has.
The Weapon bonuses (Accuracy and Rate of Fire) from Hunter Mode are hardly a priority, since Reegar Carbine is unaffected by accuracy bonuses and its rate of fire is already high enough to do the job.
<Build in numbers here>
Power Evolutions
• Hunter Mode: Power Recharge (4), Power Damage (5), Damage (6)
• Flamer: Reach (4)*, Damage (5), Armor Damage (6)
• Fortification: Durability (4), Power Synergy (5), Durability (6)
• Networked AI: Damage & Capacity (4)
• Advanced Hardware: Durability (4)
* Reach is favored instead of Damage to increase the Geth Trooper zoning capabilities.
• Using the Flaming Shocker
Being a very mobile fighter, the main strategy is simple, like with Vorchas: run to enemies, spray Reegar Carbine and follow up with Flamer. However, it's not that simple, since a direct engage often comes with bullets to the face. As usual, care should be taken; the Trooper is pretty capable of going "Rambo", but one mistake can cost your live, and you'll be too far for your team to reach you.
The catch here is perform the speed-glitch with Flamer+Reegar (I don't know if there is an official term for this bug, but I like to call it "Rapid-Flamer"). This glitch allows the character to move at walking normal speed while using flamer, increasing greatly the mobility of the Trooper, allowing him to move and attack simultaneously. To perform the glitch, simply hold the shoot button to fire a spray of the Reegar Carbine, then, before the clip ends, press the Flamer button without releasing the shoot button; this should make you walk in normal speed while maintaining the Flamer.
Using this speed-glitch allows the Trooper to easily switch between enemies, dodge incoming attacks and dominate the space surrounding him; for instance, he can move from behind walls and attack to avoid direct contact, or surround enemies in order to draw their attention away from the rest of the squad or to distract them. Also, using this glitch allows him to move at slighter faster speed during "Collect Object" missions (also considering that movement speed bonus already affect the normal walking speed when carrying these objects).
With its high mobility and firepower, the Trooper can easily go "Rambo" and take hordes of enemies by himself. The Trooper is a specialist in flanking tactics, surrounding enemies and attacking their blind spots while your squad gives fire support.
• The Arsenal
Your weapon of choice is the • Reegar Carbine Shotgun for many reasons:
• Highest DPS of all Shotguns (followed by the N7 Piranha)
• Excellent anti-shield weapon, causing 200% damage to Shields and Barriers (however only 50% against armor).
• Most normal small enemies will be staggered after receiving a specific amount of damage.
• It can destroy bodies of enemies, being specially useful against Reapers to prevent Cannibals from eating the corpses.
Given that, there's not even a need for a backup weapon (though an Acolyte is fine), since the Reegar covers all the weaknesses of the class and has great synergy with Flamer (considering the Shield Damage and Rapid-Flamer). As for the weapon mods, Shotgun Shredder Mod to give extra damage to armor, and Shotgun Spare Thermal Clip to compensate the lack of ammo. Shotgun High Caliber Barrel works fine too instead of Shredder Mod.
Aside weapons, gear is always important:
• Engineering Kit: gives a nice boost to Tech Damage, therefore more damage for Flamer.
• Omni-Capacitors: slightly lower Tech Damage boost compared to Engineering Kit, but gives Tech Cooldown Bonus.
• Thermal Clip Capacity: useful to compensate the low ammo of the Reegar Carbine.
• Shotgun Amp: I don't like using this one very much since the main focus is the Flamer usage, but if you feel the weapon damage is not enough, this gear helps a bit.
• Shield Booster: To compensate the reduced Shields from Hunter Mode.
• Survival Loadout: similar to the Shield Booster, but better since it also gives more Ops Survival Packs. Having more of these can be useful, since playing in mid-close range can sometimes make you eat some bullets and/or get flanked.
As for the consumable equipments, Cyclonic Modulator/Power Amplifier and Incendiary/Cryo Ammo are recommended.
• Performance (Enemies)
VS Cerberus
• Reegar Carbine alone can deal with Guardians in few seconds (provided it is equipped with Shredder Mod).
• While it's a dangerous strategy, Dragoons can be easily killed by standing on their melee range, using the Rapid-Flamer to surround them and avoid their kinetic whip attacks.
• As usual, Turrets and Phantoms should be taken care fast before they reach the squad.
• Dealing with Atlas can be extremely easy if the player walk around them fast while spraying Reegar + Flamer. Taunting them by moving close quarters to make them use the stomp melee attack can delay their action, but be careful to not get insta-killed.
VS Geth
• Geth are the most annoying opponents possible for the Trooper Soldier, since they have the tendency to cause stunlocks, which breaks Flamer. Due that, it is advised to keep enemies at bay and attack from covers or from behind while they deal with the squad. Also, since they're synthetic, they don't go on panic animation when inflicted with Flamer's damage over time.
• Fighting Pyros is dangerous unless you have the upper hand, since even with maximum distance using Flamer (15 meters) their flamethrower can still hit you.
• Geth Bombers should be a problem with the long reach of Flamer.
VS Reapers
• This is where the Trooper Soldier excels, since all large enemies are slow and large: easy target for Flamer. You can take whole hordes of armored enemies in seconds before they even reach you.
• Banshees can be killed in less than 30 seconds if done correctly, and their Warp can be easily avoided with a simple sidestep. Also, a single clip of the Reegar Carbine should be enough to down their Barriers.
• Dealing with Ravagers is extremely easy, even when they're aiming the 3-hit shots: simply use the Rapid-Flamer and sway from side to side fast. Since the Ravagers need to "lock" on their targets, they will turn trying to aim, but won't shoot since you'll be in constant movement. Additionally, Flamer can deal with those pesky Swarmers.
VS Collectors
• Very annoying to deal with, since they have stronger Barriers and health than the Reapers, and excel in combat at any range. However, the Trooper can wipe out the Abominations and Swarmers easily.
• Scions should be treated similar to Ravagers, but with way more care. Despite being slow, they can insta-kill you, and their triple shot can seriously hurt.
• Dealing with the Praetorians is not hard, but always stick close to a wall, since a single laser will put you in danger state.
• Don't get too close against Possessed Abominations and Swarmers: maintain safe distance with Rapid-Flamer.
• Performance (Allies)
Adepts
• Any Adept with Throw/Warp/Shockwave can cause a great deal of damage, since Flamer's Fire Explosion setup can be detonated by any power.
• The damage over time from Reave, Dark Channel and Warp are great to stack with Flamer and slowly corrode the enemies.
• Ex-Cerberus Adept with Smash specced for Electrical Damage can detonate your Flamer setups and unleash one of the most powerful Tech Combos in the game.
Soldiers
• Vorcha or other Geth Trooper can cause a great deal of damage by stacking Flamers, as a single force to slaughter any enemy.
• Heavy Combatants, such as N7 Destroyer, Krogan and Batarian, can serve as "meat shield" for the Trooper to unleash Flamer while keeping itself protected behind those tanks.
Engineer
• Almost all Engineers are good to use with the Trooper Soldier since they can detonate the Flamer setups, allowing a quick successions of explosions. Overload upgraded with Chain Overload is specially useful and deadly to detonate. Arc Grenade is also absolutely amazing due the gigantic radius.
Sentinel
• Similar to the Soldier, Vorcha Sentinel with Flamer can stack his powers with the Trooper Soldier.
• N7 Paladins work great to incapacitate hordes of enemies with Snap Freeze, allowing the Trooper to inflict even more damage to frozen and chilled enemies.
Infiltrator
• N7 Shadow specced into Eletric Slash can easily detonate the Flamer setups.
• Some Infiltrators play similar roles of Engineers into detonating/setting combos, as they share few Tech Powers.
Vanguard
• Biotic Charge can and will detonate explosions from the Flamer setup. So does Nova, which makes the Human Vanguard one of the best characters to be paired with the Trooper Soldier.
• Similar to the N7 Shadow, the N7 Slayer can hit a lot of enemies with Biotic Slash and detonate your Flamer.
• Ex-Cerberus Vanguard with Smash specced for Electrical Damage can detonate your Flamer setups and unleash one of the most powerful Tech Combos in the game.
• Tips and Tricks
• Fast turning with the mouse/analog stick increases the range effectiveness of Flamer while you use, so you can hit even more enemies, especially when you use the Rapid-Flamer glitch.
• Always give priority to foot soldiers over big bad guys. Even a small fry like a Husk can sometimes be a distraction while dealing with something dangerous such as a Banshee. However, there are set enemy priorities that I like to follow:
•• Against Cerberus, always look for Dragoons (to avoid them from getting personal and attacking the squad with the whips) and Combat Engineers (to avoid them from laying Turrets).
•• Against Geth, always look for Geth Bombers; those things can easily wipe out the entire squad if care is not taken.
•• Against Reapers, priority over Ravagers and Brutes should be taken. As stated before, the Trooper can use the Rapid-Flamer to "dance" around the Ravager and prevent him from using the triple fire. Brutes can easily be avoided by simply sidestepping or even moving around with Rapid-Flamer when they charge.
•• Against Collectors, priority over Swarms, Abominations and Scions. Praetorians can be easy to take down, but take care of weaker enemies first.
• Banshees can be extremely easy to fight against, by sidestepping when they use Warp, and by standing on stairs so they can't instant kill you. Just walk backwards while fighting them and while using Rapid-Flamer to avoid getting caught in instant kill grabs.
• Always make use of the reload-cancel glitch. It'll increase your DPS by a lot.
• Always be aware of the space surrounding you: the Trooper is very mobile and can easily avoid enemy attacks by simply sidestepping or using Rapid-Flamer to move around while attacking. In other words, never stop moving.
• Turn off Hunter Mode if the situation demands it: sometimes less damage and more protection can save you.
• Final Considerations:
I consider the Trooper Soldier one of the most overpowered classes in the game, specially against Reapers. He can rack up damage and kill hordes of enemies in few seconds, he is mobile, can set infinite combo setups, and most of all, works good with any kind of class.
Yes, ANY class. For instance, I was in a match at Firebase Dagger the other day with 3 Human Vanguards against Cerberus, and we raped everything. Biotic Charges in successions against enemies being sprayed with Flamer triggered a lot of Fire Explosions.
The build is merely a suggestion, feel free to modify it however you see fit. If you feel you're too squishy, you can even drop Hunter Mode in order to spec for maximum Shields and Health.
Any comments/critics are welcome, as long you keep the politeness. =)
Thank you kindly for the attention, and I hope you enjoyed. Have fun with the Trooper!
Modifié par Valhalen, 25 février 2013 - 03:50 .
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