What rank 4, 5 and 6 evolutions would ye recommend for Sentry turret and combat drone??
Also what's a defence drone?
All info. appreciated!
Engineer build question(s)
Débuté par
Atheist Knight
, oct. 11 2013 01:50
#1
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 01:50
Atheist Knight
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Any adivce on which rank is better at rank 6 in Tech Mastery in relation to powers? It's hard for me to guess at the best option on that one.
What rank 4, 5 and 6 evolutions would ye recommend for Sentry turret and combat drone??
Also what's a defence drone?
All info. appreciated!
What rank 4, 5 and 6 evolutions would ye recommend for Sentry turret and combat drone??
Also what's a defence drone?
All info. appreciated!
Retour en haut
#2
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 02:30
RedCaesar97
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My advice: 1) For rank 6 Tech Mastery, I highly recommend Power Mastery. Drone Mastery is only good if you focus on Sentry Turret and Combat Drone, but the Turret and Drone are not very good powers compared to your other abilities.
2) For Sentry Turret, I find ranks 4 and 5 almost meaningless. For rank 6, I prefer Flamethrower as it is the most consistently good evolution. The problem with Flamethrower however, means that rank 4 and 5 become almost totally meaningless since it fires the flamethrower more often than bullets, making ranks 4 and 5 practically moot.
For Combat Drone, you want one of: - Shields and Damage, Shields and Damage, Rocket Drone - Explosive Drone, Stun, Chain Lightning
3) Defense Drone summons a drone that hangs around your shoulder. It will attack enemies within range. Note that Defense Drone will not benefit from the Drone Mastery (rank 6 of Tech Mastery). If you spec Defense Drone, I recommend Damage and Radius, Damage and Radius*, Chain Lightning. * The Attack Rate evolution at rank 5 is bugged.
If this is your first time playing the Engineer, then I recommend staying away from the drone and turret builds. You will be much more effective and powerful using your other powers, specifically:
Sabotage: Damage, Explosive Hack, Tech Vulnerability
Overload: Damage, Neural Shock, Shield Damage*
Incinerate: Damage, Burning Damage, Armor Damage
Tech Mastery: Power Damage, Damage and Capacity, Power Mastery
* I prefer this spec for Overload so I do more damage to super elite enemies. Some prefer chain overload evolutions. Either should work.
For bonus powers, the best options are:
- Defense Drone for a pet-focused build
- Fortification or Defense Matrix for extra tech damage and survivability
- AP Ammo for a little extra gun damage.
If you want to see why I prefer this build, here is a quick video versus Reapers. It works just as well on Cerberus.
And here is one making the three Primes on Rannoch look like chumps.
And here is some more Engineer on Geth violence.
If you want to see a drone-focused build in action there is a thread about it here.
2) For Sentry Turret, I find ranks 4 and 5 almost meaningless. For rank 6, I prefer Flamethrower as it is the most consistently good evolution. The problem with Flamethrower however, means that rank 4 and 5 become almost totally meaningless since it fires the flamethrower more often than bullets, making ranks 4 and 5 practically moot.
For Combat Drone, you want one of: - Shields and Damage, Shields and Damage, Rocket Drone - Explosive Drone, Stun, Chain Lightning
3) Defense Drone summons a drone that hangs around your shoulder. It will attack enemies within range. Note that Defense Drone will not benefit from the Drone Mastery (rank 6 of Tech Mastery). If you spec Defense Drone, I recommend Damage and Radius, Damage and Radius*, Chain Lightning. * The Attack Rate evolution at rank 5 is bugged.
If this is your first time playing the Engineer, then I recommend staying away from the drone and turret builds. You will be much more effective and powerful using your other powers, specifically:
Sabotage: Damage, Explosive Hack, Tech Vulnerability
Overload: Damage, Neural Shock, Shield Damage*
Incinerate: Damage, Burning Damage, Armor Damage
Tech Mastery: Power Damage, Damage and Capacity, Power Mastery
* I prefer this spec for Overload so I do more damage to super elite enemies. Some prefer chain overload evolutions. Either should work.
For bonus powers, the best options are:
- Defense Drone for a pet-focused build
- Fortification or Defense Matrix for extra tech damage and survivability
- AP Ammo for a little extra gun damage.
If you want to see why I prefer this build, here is a quick video versus Reapers. It works just as well on Cerberus.
And here is one making the three Primes on Rannoch look like chumps.
And here is some more Engineer on Geth violence.
If you want to see a drone-focused build in action there is a thread about it here.
#3
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 02:32
Ribosome
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I found ME3's combat drone to be incredibly lackluster in comparison to the previous game, so I always always always go for the Tech Mastery at rank 6 since I prefer to play my Engie as a heavy combo user bouncing between Sabotage, Overload, and Incinerate, so I want as much power damage as possible. Not sure if that's the kind of build you're going for, however, judging from your post. If you're building your Engineer in such a way that you want to heavily use your turret and combat drone, then you will get some good use out of the Drone Mastery evolution and can go ahead and pick it!
I do have combat drone and sentry turret maxed out for pointsink/fun purposes though, even though I don't use them all that often. Therefore this might not be the "ideal" way to level them, but here's what I have on mine:
Shields & Damage -> Shock -> Chain Lightning for the drone. I probably should've picked detonate at 4 but I don't use this power much at all so I sort of just clicked on whatever. However I will say that you should never pick rockets at rank 6 because it alters the drone's behavior in which it tries to keep its distance from enemies rather than approach them.
And for turret I have Shields & Damage-> Armor-Piercing Ammo -> Flamethrower. Since the turret randomly alternates between attacking methods, I'd avoid having both shock and the flamethrower at the same time (plus the damage upgrade counts towards the flamethrower)
I do have combat drone and sentry turret maxed out for pointsink/fun purposes though, even though I don't use them all that often. Therefore this might not be the "ideal" way to level them, but here's what I have on mine:
Shields & Damage -> Shock -> Chain Lightning for the drone. I probably should've picked detonate at 4 but I don't use this power much at all so I sort of just clicked on whatever. However I will say that you should never pick rockets at rank 6 because it alters the drone's behavior in which it tries to keep its distance from enemies rather than approach them.
And for turret I have Shields & Damage-> Armor-Piercing Ammo -> Flamethrower. Since the turret randomly alternates between attacking methods, I'd avoid having both shock and the flamethrower at the same time (plus the damage upgrade counts towards the flamethrower)
#4
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 02:45
RedCaesar97
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I feel like I should clarify some information about the Engineer and how I play it.
I find tech powers are more reliant on power damage than biotic powers, which is why I prefer to focus on increasing the Engineer's power damage output as much as possible.
Sabotage with Tech Vulnerability is your best power. Tech Vulnerability will increase the power damage of all tech powers by +100% for 10 seconds. This includes the backfire damage of Sabotage itself, as well as Tech Burst (electrical explosion) damage. Unknown if it also increases fire explosion or cryo explosion damage.
Sabotage > Overload/Incinerate should be your primary power combo. Note that you can only combo off the backfire, which takes about 1.5s to occur after you cast Sabotage. You can kill a Brute with one Sabotage > Incinerate > Overload combo chain.
If you can import a level 30 character from ME2, be sure to re-assign all your talent points in ME2 first before importing. After importing, I recommend speccing Sabotage, Overload, and incinerate first, then focus on building up Tech Mastery. You can hold off on Fitness and your bonus power for a while. 1-point Combat Drone is good for the occasional Cerberus Guardian as it will get them to turn around, exposing their back.
Tech powers have about a 3 to 3.5s window to combo off of, so you want to keep your cooldowns down around 3 seconds. (Compare this to biotics where you can combo as long as the priming power is still active.)
If you focus on using drones, then you can afford to have some higher cooldowns since you will not be comboing and the cooldowns on the drones and turrets are pretty low.
For power-focused Engineers, Pistols and/or SMGs or a good choice since you can outfit them with a Power Amplifier mod which will increase your power damage.
I find tech powers are more reliant on power damage than biotic powers, which is why I prefer to focus on increasing the Engineer's power damage output as much as possible.
Sabotage with Tech Vulnerability is your best power. Tech Vulnerability will increase the power damage of all tech powers by +100% for 10 seconds. This includes the backfire damage of Sabotage itself, as well as Tech Burst (electrical explosion) damage. Unknown if it also increases fire explosion or cryo explosion damage.
Sabotage > Overload/Incinerate should be your primary power combo. Note that you can only combo off the backfire, which takes about 1.5s to occur after you cast Sabotage. You can kill a Brute with one Sabotage > Incinerate > Overload combo chain.
If you can import a level 30 character from ME2, be sure to re-assign all your talent points in ME2 first before importing. After importing, I recommend speccing Sabotage, Overload, and incinerate first, then focus on building up Tech Mastery. You can hold off on Fitness and your bonus power for a while. 1-point Combat Drone is good for the occasional Cerberus Guardian as it will get them to turn around, exposing their back.
Tech powers have about a 3 to 3.5s window to combo off of, so you want to keep your cooldowns down around 3 seconds. (Compare this to biotics where you can combo as long as the priming power is still active.)
If you focus on using drones, then you can afford to have some higher cooldowns since you will not be comboing and the cooldowns on the drones and turrets are pretty low.
For power-focused Engineers, Pistols and/or SMGs or a good choice since you can outfit them with a Power Amplifier mod which will increase your power damage.
#5
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 03:03
Pressedcat
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1. It really depends as to which style of Engineer you intend to play:
2. I like to throw the Sentry Turret at enemies feet to cause maximum havoc, so tend to opt for Shields & Dam at 4, Armour piercing ammo at 5 and Flamethrower at 6.
The Combat Drone I find can get in the way of shots if it stays too close to the enemies, so I go for Shields & Dam at 4 and 5 and Rockets at 6. With these evolutions, after spawning the drone will create a bit of space between itself and its targets before hitting fairly hard and staggering opponents, all whilst not interfering with my own firing lines. Occasionally it will shoot at enemies behind walls, but that's when you re-deploy it.
Of course, this is very much personal preference, so I advise you to experiment for yourself.
3. The Defence Drone is a bonus power you learn off of Tali, so isn't available until later in the game. Casting the power summons a small drone that follows you round, every now and then zapping nearby enemies and causing them to stagger. Unlike the other two engineer pets, it cannot be damaged by enemy fire, but rather disappears once its duration runs out. RedCaesar97 makes use of it in all the levels in the playthrough I linked above, so you'll get an idea as to how it functions watching a few of those. One thing to note is that recently RedCaesar was made aware of the fact that the lvl 5 evolution Attack Rate is bugged, and actually increases the interlude between zaps rather than decreasing them. He's actually made a video proving this. Obviously it is therefore better to opt for Dam & Range instead. My preferred build is Range at 4, Dam & Range at 5 and Chain Lightning at 6 (so it can stagger up to 3 targets at a time).
There are lots of build discussions buried in this sub-forum if you care to search them out. Alternatively, someone else will no doubt link them for you.
Good luck.
Edit: Seems I've been beaten to the draw yet again...
Edit 2: @ RedCaesar - I actually found that Drone Mastery does effect the damage Defence Drone deals. Obviously that damage is fairly minimal in the first place, but when I rebuilt my engineer to opt out of the Attack Rate evo I double checked the damage with and without Drone Mastery, and the damage definately did increase. Of course there's no guarantee that the bonus damage is actually implemented in-game...
- If you are planning to go for a direct power damage build, dealing damage via overload and incinerate, I would opt for Power Mastery (buffing power damage/duration). The best payouts can be achieved by investing early into Sabotage, taking the Tech Vulnerability evolution at lvl 6. This increases all tech damage dealt by 100% for 10s. By hitting with first with sabotage then following up with overload or incinerate, you can deal massive amounts of damage. Power Mastery helps boost this even more (as do tech explosions caused by following up these attacks with a squad mate's damaging attack).
- An alternative Engineer build, one thoroughly documented by RedCaesar97 in his youtube series, is the Drone Master Engineer. This focuses on using the engineer's pets to disrupt enemies, closing with them to deal damage with a heavier weapon. This build also makes use of the defence drone as the bonus power. If you are going to try this build, it makes sense to opt for Drone Mastery as your lvl 6 tech mastery evolution, as it buffs the shields and damage of all three types of drones by 100% and 50% respectively. For more on this build, I'll direct you to RedCaesar97's YT videos:
2. I like to throw the Sentry Turret at enemies feet to cause maximum havoc, so tend to opt for Shields & Dam at 4, Armour piercing ammo at 5 and Flamethrower at 6.
The Combat Drone I find can get in the way of shots if it stays too close to the enemies, so I go for Shields & Dam at 4 and 5 and Rockets at 6. With these evolutions, after spawning the drone will create a bit of space between itself and its targets before hitting fairly hard and staggering opponents, all whilst not interfering with my own firing lines. Occasionally it will shoot at enemies behind walls, but that's when you re-deploy it.
Of course, this is very much personal preference, so I advise you to experiment for yourself.
3. The Defence Drone is a bonus power you learn off of Tali, so isn't available until later in the game. Casting the power summons a small drone that follows you round, every now and then zapping nearby enemies and causing them to stagger. Unlike the other two engineer pets, it cannot be damaged by enemy fire, but rather disappears once its duration runs out. RedCaesar97 makes use of it in all the levels in the playthrough I linked above, so you'll get an idea as to how it functions watching a few of those. One thing to note is that recently RedCaesar was made aware of the fact that the lvl 5 evolution Attack Rate is bugged, and actually increases the interlude between zaps rather than decreasing them. He's actually made a video proving this. Obviously it is therefore better to opt for Dam & Range instead. My preferred build is Range at 4, Dam & Range at 5 and Chain Lightning at 6 (so it can stagger up to 3 targets at a time).
There are lots of build discussions buried in this sub-forum if you care to search them out. Alternatively, someone else will no doubt link them for you.
Good luck.
Edit: Seems I've been beaten to the draw yet again...
Edit 2: @ RedCaesar - I actually found that Drone Mastery does effect the damage Defence Drone deals. Obviously that damage is fairly minimal in the first place, but when I rebuilt my engineer to opt out of the Attack Rate evo I double checked the damage with and without Drone Mastery, and the damage definately did increase. Of course there's no guarantee that the bonus damage is actually implemented in-game...
Modifié par Pressedcat, 11 octobre 2013 - 03:16 .
#6
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 09:52
cap and gown
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I very much prefer the chain overload evolution at rank 6 overload. You deal with many more mooks than you do bosses, so putting 2 mooks on the ground rather than just one is very nice. With power magnifiers and power increasing evolutions you can still take down the shields of anything but an Atlas, Banshee, or turret with one hit. (For squad mates I go with the shield bonus at rank 6.) Another good point in favor of chain overload is the massive combos you can make when combined with area incinerate. I spec EDI for area incinerate, have her hit a group of mooks and follow up with chain overload. The entire group is destroyed.
I doubt anyone takes the drone mastery evolution. Drones cool down so fast that it hardly matters.
I do like the flamethrower on sentry turrets since it sets up a nice combo with overload.
I don't find drones terribly useful except to get a guardian to turn around. Even then, it hardly matters since if you have a piercing mod you can just shoot through their shield.
For a bonus power I would seriously consider a biotic power so that you can combo with your biotic team mates, particularly Liara. Reeve has a fast cool down. Go with area reeve if you pick this one. Flare has a rather long cool down but can take out a room full of enemies in a hurry.
I doubt anyone takes the drone mastery evolution. Drones cool down so fast that it hardly matters.
I do like the flamethrower on sentry turrets since it sets up a nice combo with overload.
I don't find drones terribly useful except to get a guardian to turn around. Even then, it hardly matters since if you have a piercing mod you can just shoot through their shield.
For a bonus power I would seriously consider a biotic power so that you can combo with your biotic team mates, particularly Liara. Reeve has a fast cool down. Go with area reeve if you pick this one. Flare has a rather long cool down but can take out a room full of enemies in a hurry.
#7
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 11:26
RedCaesar97
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Well the evolution opposite of Attack Rate is Damage and Radius, so it will deal more damage with that evolution. The best way to check is to leave Tech Mastery at rank 5, spec Defense Drone, then spec Tech Mastery into Drone Mastery and the re-check the damage of Defense Drone.Pressedcat wrote...
Edit 2: @ RedCaesar - I actually found that Drone Mastery does effect the damage Defence Drone deals. Obviously that damage is fairly minimal in the first place, but when I rebuilt my engineer to opt out of the Attack Rate evo I double checked the damage with and without Drone Mastery, and the damage definately did increase. Of course there's no guarantee that the bonus damage is actually implemented in-game...
Note that Power Mastery will increase the damage of all tech powers, including your Combat Drone and Turret, just not as much as Drone Mastery.
#8
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 01:13
Pressedcat
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I can't get to the XBox at the moment to state it conclusively, but I'm fairly certain Drone Mastery did bump up the damage of the Defence Drone. It was something I was curious about so I actively checked whether Drone Mastery had an effect.
Still, as I said, the damage increase is only something like 20 ish points with both powers fully evolved, so it's fairly small-fry.
Still, as I said, the damage increase is only something like 20 ish points with both powers fully evolved, so it's fairly small-fry.
#9
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 02:09
brad2240
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RedCaesar97 wrote...
If this is your first time playing the Engineer, then I recommend staying away from the drone and turret builds. You will be much more effective and powerful using your other powers, specifically:
Sabotage: Damage, Explosive Hack, Tech Vulnerability
Overload: Damage, Neural Shock, Shield Damage*
Incinerate: Damage, Burning Damage, Armor Damage
Tech Mastery: Power Damage, Damage and Capacity, Power Mastery
Emphasized for full agreement.
I play my Engineer the same way Red suggests here, maximizing power damage wherever possible (including armor) and using him like a direct damage wizard. Incredibly fun, incredibly effective, handles everything the game can throw at you with ease. Day in and day out my favorite class.
The drone master build didn't do it for me. I got bored pretty quickly, but not so much from lack of effectiveness. I just ended up killing most things with my guns, and there are other classes I'd rather play as weapons platforms than the Engineer. Though if I did want to try it again, I'd go all the way and take Marksman as my bonus power to maximize my weapons while the Drone and Turret are out doing their thing.
cap and gown wrote...
For a bonus power I would seriously consider a biotic power so that you can combo with your biotic team mates, particularly Liara. Reeve has a fast cool down. Go with area reeve if you pick this one. Flare has a rather long cool down but can take out a room full of enemies in a hurry.
I have to disagree, cap. Trying to force in biotic combos just dilutes the Engineer class, IMO. Worst case, Liara's super-fast cooldowns can make you actually start to focus on biotic explosions over tech.
Biotics are barely an afterthought when I play an Engineer Shep. I would much rather have some combination of Garrus, Ashley, Tali or James with me. When I'm forced to take Liara, she can combo with herself or just act as a debuffer.
I second Red's suggestions on bonus powers: Fortification/Defense Matrix specced for extra power damage, or an ammo power for a little more weapon damage. Because those are effectively passive, they don't use up CDs that are better spent on tech madness.
#10
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 02:09
brad2240
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*double post*
Modifié par brad2240, 11 octobre 2013 - 02:10 .
#11
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 02:13
Atheist Knight
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Thanks for all the replies.
For this reason I think I might go with Power Mastery, it's probably more beneficial even if I use the drone/turret a lot. Is there a limited duration on Drones and turrets in SP btw?
Also incase anyone's interested i'm using Defence Matrix (4 damage protection, 5 Power damage and 6 Power Recharge speed), I've been using an Eagle/Hurricane combo (+200% recharge) but have recently added the Prothean Particle Rifle as a 3rd weapon.
It's heavy (under 100% recharge atm) but I figured the extra gun and a weapon that didn't need clips might make it beneficial.
I'm interested in seeing what people think/recommend.
RedCaesar97 wrote...
Note that Power Mastery will increase the damage of all tech powers, including your Combat Drone and Turret, just not as much as Drone Mastery.
For this reason I think I might go with Power Mastery, it's probably more beneficial even if I use the drone/turret a lot. Is there a limited duration on Drones and turrets in SP btw?
Also incase anyone's interested i'm using Defence Matrix (4 damage protection, 5 Power damage and 6 Power Recharge speed), I've been using an Eagle/Hurricane combo (+200% recharge) but have recently added the Prothean Particle Rifle as a 3rd weapon.
It's heavy (under 100% recharge atm) but I figured the extra gun and a weapon that didn't need clips might make it beneficial.
I'm interested in seeing what people think/recommend.
#12
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 02:39
capn233
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Power Mastery is significantly better than Drone evolution in the base game. The "pet" powers are pretty substandard, IMO, but you can get good damage (especially vs protections) with direct damage powers, especially if you max power damage in passive (ie Power Mastery).
As a note on Overload, if you are going to add in a chain evolution, take it at Rank 4 before considering the one at Rank 6. The Rank 6 Shield evolution changes the shield multiplier which is more effective than adding some base damage at Rank 4, especially when combined with Rank 5 Neural Shock (which has a "hidden" increase to organic shield / barrier multiplier). In SP I think it makes more sense to trend towards fewer chains since there is less capability of priming 3 targets at once as there aren't great area tech primers, at least nothing in the realm of ammo consumables except perhaps Incendiary Ammo power (but requires Vega). When I tested Incinerate w/ 3m radius it was pretty awesome with chain overload (albeit a bit overpowered for what I was going for w/ easy FE's)...
Defense Matrix is a good power for an Engineer. Fortification is probably slightly better just because of the buffs it got in the last patch. Otherwise, AP ammo worked decently on my engineer.
As a note on Overload, if you are going to add in a chain evolution, take it at Rank 4 before considering the one at Rank 6. The Rank 6 Shield evolution changes the shield multiplier which is more effective than adding some base damage at Rank 4, especially when combined with Rank 5 Neural Shock (which has a "hidden" increase to organic shield / barrier multiplier). In SP I think it makes more sense to trend towards fewer chains since there is less capability of priming 3 targets at once as there aren't great area tech primers, at least nothing in the realm of ammo consumables except perhaps Incendiary Ammo power (but requires Vega). When I tested Incinerate w/ 3m radius it was pretty awesome with chain overload (albeit a bit overpowered for what I was going for w/ easy FE's)...
Defense Matrix is a good power for an Engineer. Fortification is probably slightly better just because of the buffs it got in the last patch. Otherwise, AP ammo worked decently on my engineer.
#13
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 03:08
cap and gown
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Thanks for the info on chain overload. Guess I will switch out how I spec overload now.
#14
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 04:59
Ribosome
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Atheist Knight wrote...
For this reason I think I might go with Power Mastery, it's probably more beneficial even if I use the drone/turret a lot. Is there a limited duration on Drones and turrets in SP btw?
CD and Sentry Turret don't have limited durations, they will last until their shields run out or when combat concludes.
Defense Matrix is a pretty good choice. I'm always more inclined to picking those "set it and forget it powers" because I feel like Shepard gets way more powers than I know what to do with and I don't really have the fingers to make use of them all (even in spite of playing on PC).
Rank 6 Damage Reduction might be the more favorable option if you're keeping your recharge speed weight bonus at 180+%, since I hardly noticed a significant difference in cooldown times. But if you want to make use of a larger loadout and/or heavier weapons, the reduced recharge is very nice to have. My weapon of choice was just the Mattock in its lonesome, but I never counted on my gun very much
Modifié par ViaNegativia, 11 octobre 2013 - 05:05 .
#15
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 05:46
brad2240
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Atheist Knight wrote...
I've been using an Eagle/Hurricane combo (+200% recharge) but have recently added the Prothean Particle Rifle as a 3rd weapon.
It's heavy (under 100% recharge atm) but I figured the extra gun and a weapon that didn't need clips might make it beneficial.
If you're having fun with it, it's fine. If you just want to go for the "best" you don't need 3 guns and it's hurting you more than helping you. I never use more than 2 on any character, really, and often only 1 on casters.
There's no shortage of ammo in the game, you practically trip over thermal clips everywhere.
I'd say stick with your Eagle/Hurricane combo OR take the Particle Rifle, but all three at once is unnecessary.
#16
Posté 11 octobre 2013 - 11:30
RA RA XD
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I would not recommend the rocket drone evolution of combat drone. It gives the drone this weird AI that tries to take cover at won't move up ahead of you, turning it into a poor mans squadmate rather than distracting the enemy, the latter I find to be far more beneficial for a "drone master" style of play.
I notice cryo blast has sadly been left out of the discussion thus far. It is actually quite a good power, roughly the tech equivalent of warp when spec'd as a debuffer. You will certainly have the points left over after spec'ing sabotage, overload, incinerate and your passive etc.
I generally run: Duration, Speed reduction, Frozen vulnerability.
This optimises your effectiveness against bosses and hardened targets by slowing them down and debuffing their armour increasing the weapon damage you, and more importantly your squad, will do. Squadmates will generally do very little when it comes to armour, especially if you don't take the time to specify targets for them every ten seconds.
The actual benefit of this is pretty arguable when you can kill a brute with a singe sabotage, incinerate, overload combo, but I would still consider it even if just to keep gameplay varied and fun!
I notice cryo blast has sadly been left out of the discussion thus far. It is actually quite a good power, roughly the tech equivalent of warp when spec'd as a debuffer. You will certainly have the points left over after spec'ing sabotage, overload, incinerate and your passive etc.
I generally run: Duration, Speed reduction, Frozen vulnerability.
This optimises your effectiveness against bosses and hardened targets by slowing them down and debuffing their armour increasing the weapon damage you, and more importantly your squad, will do. Squadmates will generally do very little when it comes to armour, especially if you don't take the time to specify targets for them every ten seconds.
The actual benefit of this is pretty arguable when you can kill a brute with a singe sabotage, incinerate, overload combo, but I would still consider it even if just to keep gameplay varied and fun!
#17
Posté 12 octobre 2013 - 02:14
billpickles
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If one were to go with a power-heavy Engineer but invest in only ONE pet power as a point sink for sporadic use, which one would you guys recommend? I found Sentry Turret to be moderately/occasionally useful in MP, but Combat Drone seemed pretty lackluster. I have not played a SP Engineer, so I can't comment on those. Thoughts?
#18
Posté 12 octobre 2013 - 03:04
RedCaesar97
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Probably Turret since you can combo off the Flamethrower for fire explosions. plus the Flamethrower can deal some decent damage. Explosive Drone can detonate combos, but it is near impossible to use it as a detonator consistently.billpickles wrote...
If one were to go with a power-heavy Engineer but invest in only ONE pet power as a point sink for sporadic use, which one would you guys recommend? I found Sentry Turret to be moderately/occasionally useful in MP, but Combat Drone seemed pretty lackluster. I have not played a SP Engineer, so I can't comment on those. Thoughts?
Drone with Chain Overload can stagger enemies, but I find it does not use the chain lightning often enough to be useful. And I am not entirely sure if the stun evolution even works properly. I cannot recall having seen it ever stun an enemy. Rocket Drone is good for damage, but as pointed out earlier, it has a tendency to move away from the target; this can actually result in the drone firing rockets at cover instead of enemies.
So probably Turret if you are going to sink points into it. Otherwise, drop 1 point into drone.
#19
Posté 12 octobre 2013 - 04:19
brad2240
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billpickles wrote...
If one were to go with a power-heavy Engineer but invest in only ONE pet power as a point sink for sporadic use, which one would you guys recommend? I found Sentry Turret to be moderately/occasionally useful in MP, but Combat Drone seemed pretty lackluster. I have not played a SP Engineer, so I can't comment on those. Thoughts?
I'm the opposite, I thought Drone was somewhat ok but Turret wasn't worth it at all. All my MP characters with a turret, except the GE, have been specced out of it and they do better for me.
So I would go with the Drone in SP, built for Stun and Chain Lightning. If nothing else it can occasionally get a Guardian to turn around or stagger a mook out of cover.
#20
Posté 12 octobre 2013 - 06:47
RA RA XD
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billpickles wrote...
If one were to go with a power-heavy Engineer but invest in only ONE pet power as a point sink for sporadic use, which one would you guys recommend? I found Sentry Turret to be moderately/occasionally useful in MP, but Combat Drone seemed pretty lackluster. I have not played a SP Engineer, so I can't comment on those. Thoughts?
My vote goes with drone as well. Unlike the turret it moves about the battlefield on its own so it requires less micromanagement to be used effectively, leaving you to concentrate on casting your other powers. Plus it doesn't need to be upgraded all the way to rank 6 to be somewhat deacent, like the turret with its flamethrower evolution.
Modifié par RA RA XD, 12 octobre 2013 - 06:47 .
#21
Posté 15 octobre 2013 - 02:09
Atheist Knight
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I'm currently on shield/attack damage for rank 4 and 5 of Drone, I specced the the turet to 6 already, (4 shield/attack, 5 Cryo rounds and 6 Flamethrower).
I might leave the drone at 5 unless I find one of the rank 6's very good in mp. Thought's on rank 6 of Drone?? Btw what does armor being "purged" mean?
Also as it stands I haven't touched Cryo Blast or Sabotage, preferring to max incinerate, overload, passive abilities and the drone/turret.
Can ye let me know if certain abilities are bugged/not working? I think I remember hearing that incinerate's extra damage against frozen targets didn't actually work for example.
I might leave the drone at 5 unless I find one of the rank 6's very good in mp. Thought's on rank 6 of Drone?? Btw what does armor being "purged" mean?
Also as it stands I haven't touched Cryo Blast or Sabotage, preferring to max incinerate, overload, passive abilities and the drone/turret.
Can ye let me know if certain abilities are bugged/not working? I think I remember hearing that incinerate's extra damage against frozen targets didn't actually work for example.
#22
Posté 15 octobre 2013 - 02:38
brad2240
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Rank 6 of Drone decides whether you want to use it as crowd control (Chain Lightning) or as flat extra damage output (Rockets). Since you went shields and damage for both 4 & 5, I'd go with the Rocket at 6. However, I do think it's more useful as a CC device, so if you ever respec I would suggest Explosive/Stun/Chain Lightning.
"Purge" armor means to deactivate it. So when you "purge" Fortification, it means you're turning it off to get the benefit of increased melee damage.
Incinerate's Frozen Combo evo used to not work, but I thought it was fixed. Don't quote me on that, I haven't used Cryo on an Engineer for a long time so I always spec Incinerate for extra armor damage. As far as I know, everything else works on Engineers.
"Purge" armor means to deactivate it. So when you "purge" Fortification, it means you're turning it off to get the benefit of increased melee damage.
Incinerate's Frozen Combo evo used to not work, but I thought it was fixed. Don't quote me on that, I haven't used Cryo on an Engineer for a long time so I always spec Incinerate for extra armor damage. As far as I know, everything else works on Engineers.
#23
Posté 15 octobre 2013 - 05:21
Atheist Knight
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Thanks for the advice Brad, I got Defence Matrix btw maybe it's worth purging when my shields go down...
I think the only power i'll definitely put no points into is sabotage.
I think the only power i'll definitely put no points into is sabotage.
#24
Posté 15 octobre 2013 - 05:34
brad2240
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You're quite welcome. Defense Matrix is definitely worth purging for the instant shield restore. All in all, it's a great bonus power for an Engineer.
Don't write Sabotage off completely without trying it first. It's provides a massive damage boost if specced for Tech Vulnerability at rank 6. It's also great for briefly taking over Cerberus turrets and causing Geth to stand still or turn on their friends. It's a very handy power to have. Respecs are cheap so I recommend trying every power at least once to get a clear idea of the class and what you like.
Don't write Sabotage off completely without trying it first. It's provides a massive damage boost if specced for Tech Vulnerability at rank 6. It's also great for briefly taking over Cerberus turrets and causing Geth to stand still or turn on their friends. It's a very handy power to have. Respecs are cheap so I recommend trying every power at least once to get a clear idea of the class and what you like.
#25
Posté 15 octobre 2013 - 06:07
Pressedcat
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Out of curiosity, are you playing an imported character or a fresh one, and on pc/console?
Starting out at level 30 means you can have all but one power fully specced by the end game and likely a few points in the final one as well. I find this less useful playing on a console since it is only possible to map 3 powers, but if you are on pc you should have a free run.
Also, I'm fairly sure that the incinerate evolution that deals extra damage versus frozen/chilled targets now works as intended. I remember the fix coming out quite a while ago in mp, and pretty sure it also made it into the one of the sp patches.
How do you find the cryo ammo evolution on the turret? I usually opt for armour-piercing ammo as I didn't notice cryo ammo often having much of an effect.
Starting out at level 30 means you can have all but one power fully specced by the end game and likely a few points in the final one as well. I find this less useful playing on a console since it is only possible to map 3 powers, but if you are on pc you should have a free run.
Also, I'm fairly sure that the incinerate evolution that deals extra damage versus frozen/chilled targets now works as intended. I remember the fix coming out quite a while ago in mp, and pretty sure it also made it into the one of the sp patches.
How do you find the cryo ammo evolution on the turret? I usually opt for armour-piercing ammo as I didn't notice cryo ammo often having much of an effect.
