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[Dunnik]

Recently replayed ME3 for the Insanity acheivement using the NewGame+ feature as a Soldier. 

Fully leveled up and with some of the best weapons in the game, I found Garrus and James to be unstoppable killing machines. Used them for the entire run wherever I could. James was equipped with the N7 Falcon grenade launcher, and Garrus was sporting the Javelin sniper rifle. The combination of sniper rifle and grenade launcher is overpowered, and highly amusing: James knocks em off balance, while Garrus headshots them. 

Some other details. Took Geth Shield Boost as my bonus power, knowing that the traditional Warp Ammo wouldn't be as hot without a biotic or two (or three) in the group. Ran Disruptor vs Geth, Cryo vs Husks and Incendiary vs everything else, including Banshees. Used the N7 Valyrie assault rifle with an ammo clip and a stabalizer. Garrus I had use his native Armor Piercing, and I likewise had James use his more powerful Incendiary. Ideal ammo powers for those weapons, I figured. 

Pretty much one-shot everything. Overall, I think ME2's Insanity achievement is much more difficult than ME3's, probably beacuse of the NewGame+ feature. 

[billpickles]

I assume you mean Defense Matrix, not Geth Shield Boost.

I used Garrus and James on my Infiltrator run a little while back. I concur that they were ridiculously overpowered with tech bursts/fire explosions aplenty.

And yes, ME2 is much, MUCH more difficult than ME3.

[cap and gown]

Not sure why you would need the stability mod for the Valkyrie. I found the gun to be fairly stable as is. One of the things I like about it. My favorite assault rifle in the game.

[Dunnik]

Yea, my bad, it was Defensive Matrix. And indeed, great synergy with ammo powers with those two: with Disruptor Ammo and Garrus's maxed-out Overlord, synthetics are no match, and with his native Armor Piercing, I found I didn't need the traditional Warp to deal with the Brutes and other heavily armored opponents. James with nade launcher and incendiary is just hilarious: things exploding all over the place.

As for the stabilization mod, I somehow found the recoil of the Valkyrie to be somewhat annoying, the third round of the three-round burst often went astray. The mod helped stabilize the gun, bringing it more in line with the Avenger.

[cap and gown]

I guess I didn't have a problem with that second round because I aim for center of mass. I am not a good shot, so I don't take a chance with missing head shots. You get some climb on the second shot, but by aiming for center of mass, both shots will still hit. I like to equip it with the extended barrel and piercing mod. But if you are good enough to consistently get head shots, then yeah, the stability mod makes sense.

[Locutus_of_BORG]

If you have Typhoons and Incendiary Ammo spec'd for explosions, Garrus + Ashley is even more insane.

Everything combos in ME3, so just Incendiary Ammo and Concussive Shot w. Amplification will already get you endless fire explosions.

[JosieJ]

I like Defense Matrix as a bonus power, too. I used it on a recent Adept Insanity run, just to try something different, and it worked very well. Of course, as an Adept, I wasn't focused on weapons or weapon powers, and I used a different primary team (Kaidan/Liara for Reapers; Kaidan/Garrus for geth/Cerberus), but I'm about to start up an Infiltrator run, so I'm making notes on weapons/teammates!

[known_hero]

Consussive shot + Incendiary ammo= PWN

Well really: Two hands + controller/keyboard= PWN

[billpickles]

JosieJ wrote...

I like Defense Matrix as a bonus power, too. I used it on a recent Adept Insanity run, just to try something different, and it worked very well. Of course, as an Adept, I wasn't focused on weapons or weapon powers, and I used a different primary team (Kaidan/Liara for Reapers; Kaidan/Garrus for geth/Cerberus), but I'm about to start up an Infiltrator run, so I'm making notes on weapons/teammates!

There's multiple ways you can go, honestly, depending on whether you prefer your explosions to be of the fire, ice, or lightning variety.  I went with Fire Explosions, personally.  I borrowed James' Squad Incendiary to prime all the things.  For detonators, you have Garrus' Concussive Shot (fastest cooldown) or Overload (with double chain evos, you can detonate 3 at once).  James can detonate with either Frags (limited quantity but no cooldown) or Carnage.  You also have your own Incinerate to use each Cloak cycle, plus I took Inferno Grenandes as my bonus power.  They're insanely powerful...very high DOT and suitable both for priming and detonating.

EDI and Ashley are legit FE/TB options too, of course.  I passed on the former because I wanted James for Incendiary and Garrus for the +5 bro points.  Ashley was dead on that run (Renegade...I shot her on the Citadel).

For squad weapons, you can completely wreck face if you give the squad Typhoons, though some will find that a little TOO easy.  I suspect I could have gotten through most fights without pulling the trigger with Garrus and James armed with those.

For your own weapons...well, it's hard to beat the Black Widow.  I went with that and the BPP as a sidearm until I replaced it with the Lancer.  The Infiltrator can make just about any weapon awesome, so it's hard to go wrong, really.

[JosieJ]

billpickles wrote...

JosieJ wrote...

I like Defense Matrix as a bonus power, too. I used it on a recent Adept Insanity run, just to try something different, and it worked very well. Of course, as an Adept, I wasn't focused on weapons or weapon powers, and I used a different primary team (Kaidan/Liara for Reapers; Kaidan/Garrus for geth/Cerberus), but I'm about to start up an Infiltrator run, so I'm making notes on weapons/teammates!

There's multiple ways you can go, honestly, depending on whether you prefer your explosions to be of the fire, ice, or lightning variety.  I went with Fire Explosions, personally.  I borrowed James' Squad Incendiary to prime all the things.  For detonators, you have Garrus' Concussive Shot (fastest cooldown) or Overload (with double chain evos, you can detonate 3 at once).  James can detonate with either Frags (limited quantity but no cooldown) or Carnage.  You also have your own Incinerate to use each Cloak cycle, plus I took Inferno Grenandes as my bonus power.  They're insanely powerful...very high DOT and suitable both for priming and detonating.

EDI and Ashley are legit FE/TB options too, of course.  I passed on the former because I wanted James for Incendiary and Garrus for the +5 bro points.  Ashley was dead on that run (Renegade...I shot her on the Citadel).

For squad weapons, you can completely wreck face if you give the squad Typhoons, though some will find that a little TOO easy.  I suspect I could have gotten through most fights without pulling the trigger with Garrus and James armed with those.

For your own weapons...well, it's hard to beat the Black Widow.  I went with that and the BPP as a sidearm until I replaced it with the Lancer.  The Infiltrator can make just about any weapon awesome, so it's hard to go wrong, really.

Thanks for the input, I'll keep it in mind!  I actually decided to try an Engineer run first instead--I'm coming back to the game after a long hiatus and a friend told me it's better to do the Citadel DLC with a class that's more reliant on powers the first time around, so I've postponed my Infiltrator run until next playthrough.  

Unfortunately, I don't play multi-player so: no Typhoon.  I don't have many DLC weapons, either, as I only have the Citadel DLC.  (I don't even have From Ashes, so no Javik, either.)

[P. Domi]

I only played ME 3 on Insanity and I found Ashley Williams to be the ultimate pawning machine and a staple in my squad configurations. She can be specced out in many different ways, but inferno grenades (in essence, miniature napalm bombs) are underrated. They're incredibly useful against brutes, ravagers, atlases & banshees (after dropping their shields).

[cap and gown]

JosieJ wrote...


Thanks for the input, I'll keep it in mind!  I actually decided to try an Engineer run first instead--I'm coming back to the game after a long hiatus and a friend told me it's better to do the Citadel DLC with a class that's more reliant on powers the first time around, so I've postponed my Infiltrator run until next playthrough.  

A word of warning on Citadel: your cool downs suck for the first part, because weight modifiers don't apply, or armor modifiers. So a power class is somewhat handicapped. I played a Sentinel on Insanity first time and had incredible problems because my cool downs were off the charts slow. In fact, I think the soldier might do very, very well during the first part because the gun you get has an incredible modifier for head shots, and with adrenaline rush you could lay waste to your opposition with just a few shots. Unfortunately, you don't have Leviathan. I went with Dominate as my bonus power the next time I played. That helped my power classes tremendously.

Modifié par cap and gown, 24 novembre 2013 - 12:53 .

[Ribosome]

cap and gown wrote...

JosieJ wrote...


Thanks for the input, I'll keep it in mind!  I actually decided to try an Engineer run first instead--I'm coming back to the game after a long hiatus and a friend told me it's better to do the Citadel DLC with a class that's more reliant on powers the first time around, so I've postponed my Infiltrator run until next playthrough.  

A word of warning on Citadel: your cool downs suck for the first part, because weight modifiers don't apply, or armor modifiers. So a power class is somewhat handicapped. I played a Sentinel on Insanity first time and had incredible problems because my cool downs were off the charts slow. In fact, I think the soldier might do very, very well during the first part because the gun you get has an incredible modifier for head shots, and with adrenaline rush you could lay waste to your opposition with just a few shots. Unfortunately, you don't have Leviathan. I went with Dominate as my bonus power the next time I played. That helped my power classes tremendously.

I might have to take this into consideration on the next trilogy run I plan on starting over the winter. She'll be a psychopathic pro-human sentinel and the power to mind-control enemies sounds exactly like something she'd pick.

[spockjedi]

James is an excellent squadmate if Shepard doesn't have ammo powers, even more if the second squadmate also doesn't have them. My favorite squads in ME3 by class:
Infiltrator: Liara and Garrus/Ashley.
Vanguard: Garrus and Kaidan.
Sentinel: James and Javik.
Adept: Tali and Ashley (default squad).
Engineer: James and Kaidan (default squad).
Soldier: Javik and EDI (default squad).

[billpickles]

JosieJ wrote...

[snip]

Thanks for the input, I'll keep it in mind!  I actually decided to try an Engineer run first instead--I'm coming back to the game after a long hiatus and a friend told me it's better to do the Citadel DLC with a class that's more reliant on powers the first time around, so I've postponed my Infiltrator run until next playthrough.  

Unfortunately, I don't play multi-player so: no Typhoon.  I don't have many DLC weapons, either, as I only have the Citadel DLC.  (I don't even have From Ashes, so no Javik, either.)

Off-topic, but since others have already gone there...
Your friend is probably saying that because ammo is in pretty limited supply on the first couple fights of that DLC.  Cap and Gown is also right that your cooldown are longer than normal as well, though I didn't think they were too bad.  I had some trouble on my first run as an Infiltrator with one fight in some kind of back alley market due to running out of ammo.  On the other hand, the slightly longer cooldowns didn't prevent me from being able to Charge-Nova all the things as a Vanguard.

One thing I would say is that the Infiltrator has 2 of the 3 primary damage-dealing powers of the Engineer.  When I did that DLC the first time, I hadn't yet come around on Sabotage.  So I'm not sure it will be that much better as an Engineer than an Infiltrator.  And I personally wouldn't choose my class based on the easiest way to get through one engagement in one DLC.

[JosieJ]

billpickles wrote...

Off-topic, but since others have already gone there...
Your friend is probably saying that because ammo is in pretty limited supply on the first couple fights of that DLC.  Cap and Gown is also right that your cooldown are longer than normal as well, though I didn't think they were too bad.  I had some trouble on my first run as an Infiltrator with one fight in some kind of back alley market due to running out of ammo.  On the other hand, the slightly longer cooldowns didn't prevent me from being able to Charge-Nova all the things as a Vanguard.

One thing I would say is that the Infiltrator has 2 of the 3 primary damage-dealing powers of the Engineer.  When I did that DLC the first time, I hadn't yet come around on Sabotage.  So I'm not sure it will be that much better as an Engineer than an Infiltrator.  And I personally wouldn't choose my class based on the easiest way to get through one engagement in one DLC.

Oh, no worries, I didn't pick Engineer only because of the Citadel DLC, though it did factor into my decision.  I've always been better at power-spamming than shooting, so I thought I'd have a fun run that I didn't have to think about too much before I tried the Infiltrator (which I've never played on Insanity in ME3).

cap and gown wrote...

A word of warning on Citadel: your cool downs suck for the first part, because weight modifiers don't apply, or armor modifiers. So a power class is somewhat handicapped. I played a Sentinel on Insanity first time and had incredible problems because my cool downs were off the charts slow. In fact, I think the soldier might do very, very well during the first part because the gun you get has an incredible modifier for head shots, and with adrenaline rush you could lay waste to your opposition with just a few shots. Unfortunately, you don't have Leviathan. I went with Dominate as my bonus power the next time I played. That helped my power classes tremendously.

As for the Citadel DLC, it's been difficult, and I've done more reloading because of Critical Mission Failure than I had for the entire Mass Effect trilogy up to this point!  However, I didn't notice my cooldowns being that much longer than normal.  In fact, in the first fight, my drones/turret are what kept me from getting flanked--I took Defense Drone as a bonus power.  Plus, I've definitely become a believer in the awesomeness of Sabotage, and used it repeatedly.  The only problem I'm having is in the final fight--I just cannot get past that fight no matter what I try.  Strangely, this has less to do with my cooldowns, powers, weapons or armor, and more to do with frustration at tripping over or bumping into squadmates, accidentally getting in (or out) of cover when trying to use the A button for someting entirely different, and the Clone's taking a page out of my own book and spamming Incinerate on me at all times.  I'm playing on Insanity, and even one second out of cover in that fight means you're dead.  I may have to bring Wrex along to keep the mooks occupied, even though I'm not as happy with his ME3 build as I was with his ME1 build.

[cap and gown]

I found the fight against the Clone went incredibly fast when I brought James and Ash. It was basically a grenade party. Just concentrate on the Clone and ignore everyone else since they are an infinite spawn.

[Locutus_of_BORG]

^The squadmate AI basically always gets headshots. Pair that with the strongest weapons and the strongest weapon boosting passives, and weapon-based squaddies always kill harder than powers-based ones.

Also, note that the enemy AI greatly prefers shooting at you over your squadmates, so if you draw all the fire, your squaddies can easily clean house most of the time, even with their ~30% damage handicap.

Garrus, Ashley and James absolutely own face, the first two in particular.

[JosieJ]

Ash is not an option: Virmire.  I've brought Wrex (even though he seems to be bugged) and Garrus this time, so we'll see how that goes.  I'll keep tweaking the party if I still have trouble.

Seriously: did anyone notice that Wrex's grenades and stimulant packs slowly--no, actually, quickly--disappear?  He seems to start the mission with 5 each, and every time I brought up the power wheel, he had one less until he had zero.  Good thing I didn't spec points in either, but still: they would have come in handy, at least on the docks (I haven't gotten into the Normandy yet--taking a break).

Modifié par JosieJ, 25 novembre 2013 - 01:11 .

[capn233]

He will spam Stim Packs. Just the way his AI works.

[JosieJ]

 Even if I've got squad power usage set to "Off"?  ( I like controlling my squadmates myself.)  Plus, the grenades disappear at the same rate, and I know he's not throwing them.
At any rate, it's moot: I finally beat it.  And it only took me 7 more tries! 

Modifié par JosieJ, 25 novembre 2013 - 03:18 .

[Locutus_of_BORG]

capn233 wrote...

He will spam Stim Packs. Just the way his AI works.

So sad, cos IMO he is the killiest squaddie in the game - a literal killdozer of endless fury and violence - as long as you keep him stocked with Stims. 

Yeah - Wrex with a Reegar X with HVB + Omniblade and max Stims - he'll consistently killsteal 1/3-1/2 of the enemies you meet.

Modifié par Locutus_of_BORG, 25 novembre 2013 - 03:26 .

[cap and gown]

I think the grenades and stimpacks take up the same slot in his inventory and squad power usage has no effect on his use of stimpacks. Whenever I look at the power wheel his stock of grenades has run dry even though I just filled it a minute or two ago. So I am assuming that whenever he uses a stimpack that uses up a grenade.

Anyway, I don't worry about it. Just max out his barrier for damage reduction, max out his class for maximum health/shields, and let him loose. Be sure to give him a blade attachment for his shotgun, omni-blade if you have it. Whenever he runs up against one of those dudes with shields, overload or energy drain them so he has a clear shot with melee. Let his Krogan hang out. (I just recently started playing MP an unlocked the Krogan Soldier. I ended up doing just what Wrex does: melee all the things!)

[JosieJ]

Yeah, I'd specced him pretty much as you described and, despite the fact that he blew through his stimpacks right away, he totally wrecked in that fight. Too bad about his stimpack and grenade usage, though: it's kind of a waste of 2 skills and the grenades, especially, would have come in handy. Better they should have given him Throw or Warp, just like in ME1.