12 réponses à ce sujet

[HadesNexus]

I recently decided to play through ME2 a couple more times to ready up a couple of brand new imports for ME3.  I like to base my Shepards on characters from comics or films, so one of them is an Infiltrator based on the Ghost in the Shell protagonist, Major Kusanagi.

I've played through the game as an Infiltrator a couple of times, so I want to try something a bit different.  So, inspired by RedCaesar's Puppet Master Engineer, and having thoroughly enjoyed a previous playthrough as a Dominate Vanguard, I came up with the following level 30, end-game build that best represents Kusanagi's cloaking, ghost-hacking skill-set:

01 - Disruptor Ammo
00 - Cryo Ammo
10 - Assassination Cloak
10 - Incineration Blast
10 - Improved AI Hacking
10 - Agent
10 - Enhanced Dominate

Weapon Set: Locust, Widow

My logic for the lack of ammo powers is that Disruptor Ammo disables enemy weapons and Cryo Ammo freezes them - these effects are undesirable because I want my dominated/hacked enemies to actually do some damage to their former squaddies. Instead, I'll make do with Jack's Squad Warp Ammo and Jacob's Squad Incendiary Ammo (the panic effect doesn't last long enough to really mess with Dominate's effects).  Agent is preferred over Assassin as it boosts power recharge and duration, but Assassination Cloak will be necessary to make the Widow effective without the boost of a native ammo power.  Dominate and Hacking are maxed out because I need the duration boost in order to have time to take cloaked shots / reposition between recasting.  Incineration Blast over Heavy Incinerate because otherwise, the build will be completely helpless against husks.

Tactics would involve stripping enemy defences at range using Incineration Blast, squad powers and the Locust, dominating or hacking an enemy then sitting back and picking off the rest with the Widow while their team mates are distracted.  Cloak would be used to withdraw should the enemy advance too far, or for its damage boost to eliminate bosses.  I would avoid CQC wherever possible.

I'll be playing on Insanity, because anything less is boring.

My main problems are not knowing where to allocate my points when I'm low-level, prioritising missions and upgrades, and whether the Mantis would adequately substitute for the Widow until I acquire it.  Also, there may be other problems with the build that I haven't considered.  Has anyone done anything similar, or have any feedback?

Also, if I go ahead and complete the playthrough, would a Dominate Inffiltrator work well in ME3?  I haven't used Dominate in that game before, but I think I've read that it's not as effective.

[cap and gown]

Dominate is MUCH more effective in ME3. For one thing, you can Dominate protected enemies such as Marauders, Brutes and Ravagers which are the equivalent of sub-bosses. Also, Dominate can be evolved either to cause damage to the Dominated target, or to enhance the damage a Dominated target does. I didn't like the way ME2 made the target of hacking/domination stronger. In ME3 I have the choice of making the target more vulnerable or deal more damage. (I always chose the vulnerability option.)

The Mantis is a fine weapon, though limited in ammo. You can do Thane's mission right after Horizon to get the Viper which will help with the ammo situation. Also, with the Viper's high RoF you can probably get off 2-3 shots before the cloak breaks, meaning its lesser base damage can be offset by having the cloak boost apply to more than just one shot.

As to points, your class power speeds up your recharge, your cloak enhances your damage, incinerate will be needed for armor stripping and to get to AI hacking. So perhaps 3 cloak, 3 incinerate, 1 AI hack, 3 class, 1 dominate for early on.

Modifié par cap and gown, 07 janvier 2014 - 03:54 .

[RedCaesar97]

HadesNexus wrote...
My main problems are not knowing where to allocate my points when I'm low-level, prioritising missions and upgrades, and whether the Mantis would adequately substitute for the Widow until I acquire it.  Also, there may be other problems with the build that I haven't considered.  Has anyone done anything similar, or have any feedback?

Also, if I go ahead and complete the playthrough, would a Dominate Inffiltrator work well in ME3?  I haven't used Dominate in that game before, but I think I've read that it's not as effective.

Did you import a character from ME1? If so, then 50-59 ME1 characters will start at level 3 in ME2, and level 60 characters start at level 5. After completing Lazarus Station and talking to the Illusive Man, you will gain 1 level, so you will be at either level 4 or 6 before the start of Freedom's Progress.



So for level 6, I would start with something like:
1 - Disruptor Ammo (already specced)
0 - Cryo Ammo
2 - Cloak
2 - Incinerate
1 - AI Hacking
1 - Operative
1 - Dominate

That is assuming you want AI Hacking for Freedom's Progress. You do not actually face that many mechs in Primary Missions pre-Horizon. You tend to face a lot more organics. If you want to save AI Hacking for later, then I would put more points into Dominate and work on your passive:

1 - Disruptor Ammo (already specced)
0 - Cryo Ammo
2 - Cloak (already specced)
1 - Incinerate
0 - AI Hacking
2 - Operative
2 - Dominate
 * 2 points left over, but I would save them for the next rank so you can drop them into Operative. 1-point Incinerate is good early for stopping Krogan and Vorcha health regeneration.


For a level 4 Shepard, I would ignore AI Hacking and put the points into Dominate early:
1 - Disruptor Ammo (already specced)
0 - Cryo Ammo
2 - Cloak (already specced)
1 - Incinerate
0 - AI Hacking
1 - Operative
2 - Dominate

and then focus on building Operative. Note again that you can drop Dominate to 2 and focus on your passive instead, or to get Cloak to 2 and 1 point in Incinerate. Incinerate would be good for stopping Krogan and Vorcha health regeneration.


In terms of evolving powers, I would go:
1) Max Operative to Agent
2) Get Dominate to rank 3
3) Get AI Hacking to rank 3
4) In order, max Dominate, AI Hacking, Incinerate, Cloak.  -OR- Incinerate, Dominate, AI Hacking, Cloak.

Since you want to use the Widow, Cloak is less necessary so I would evolve that last. You can bring defense-stripping squadmates so you can hack/dominate enemies quickly, and/or to remove defenses of the non-hacked enemies so you can take them out with a non-cloaked Widow headshot.




As for Dominate in ME3, it works on just about all organic enemies except Banshees. Note that dominated enemies may still attack you for a brief moment before switching targets.

[HadesNexus]

Thanks a lot to both of you for taking the time to consider my ideas and respond, you've been very helpful. I've started the playthrough today, taking RedCaesar's advice for my initial build, and Mordin's recruitment mission has been a cakewalk. Dominate does make Insanity a hell of a lot easier, but it's extremely fun to use. My only problem at the moment is having to make ammo runs towards the enemy when my Mantis runs out, so I may try equipping the Phalanx as a kind-of secondary sniper.

Sounds like Dominate in ME3 is a riot. I remember reading a thread of complaints about how broken and useless the ability was shortly after Leviathan's release, but I suppose that's usually the case when something new comes out and nobody's sure how to use it yet (see: ME2 Charge). Since then my only dealings with ME have been the odd night of multiplayer when I felt like shooting something, so I'm a bit out of the loop.

[cap and gown]

I would save the Mantis for higher tier enemies or very distant enemies (like those rocket troopers on the balconies). After Mordin's mission you should do Kasumi's loyalty mission Stolen Memory in order to get the Locust. This will give you an accurate, long-range alternative to the Mantis. The Locust can become your primary weapon, while saving the Mantis for the boss type units. Also, I always like the Predator over both the Carnifex and Phalanx. In fact, after using the Phalanx just once I gave up on it.

Modifié par cap and gown, 09 janvier 2014 - 01:32 .

[Frostmourne86]

Yeah, the Predator is my go-to weapon, with all my Shepards; I also give it to my squadmembers who use pistols - they fire it faster than the Phalanx or the Carnifex.

[cap and gown]

Frostmourne86 wrote...

Yeah, the Predator is my go-to weapon, with all my Shepards; I also give it to my squadmembers who use pistols - they fire it faster than the Phalanx or the Carnifex.

The wiki recommends giving the squadies the Carnifex. http://masseffect.wi...ki/M-3_Predator

[cap and gown]

Just for reference, the Carnifex's limited ammo supply means that your initial load out will only deal 1537.2 damage, while the Predator has enough ammo to deal 2232 damage before needing to find more clips. OTOH, the Carnifex can deal 512.4 damage before needing to reload, while the Predator only does 446.4 damage before needing to reload. The reason the Predator wins on more total damage is because it has a 12 shot magazine with 5 spare clips, while the Carnifex has a 6 shot magazine with only 3 spare clips.

[RedCaesar97]

cap and gown wrote...

Just for reference, the Carnifex's limited ammo supply means that your initial load out will only deal 1537.2 damage, while the Predator has enough ammo to deal 2232 damage before needing to find more clips. OTOH, the Carnifex can deal 512.4 damage before needing to reload, while the Predator only does 446.4 damage before needing to reload. The reason the Predator wins on more total damage is because it has a 12 shot magazine with 5 spare clips, while the Carnifex has a 6 shot magazine with only 3 spare clips.

Thataveragegatsby had a video showing that Predator tends to be better ammo-wise than the Carnifex, even though the Carnifex does more damage, for pretty much the same reasons you point out. Namely, one Carnifex clip will deal more damage than one Predator clip, but the Predator has more clips.

I am not sure what the DPS (damage per second) numbers are, but I am pretty sure you can fire the Predator faster as well, which will increase your DPS.

[NekkidNones]

Wow is that ever an awesome idea! Wonder if you can modify femsheps appearance to be like the majors.

I think this tread could use some pics

[capn233]

The Predator has better DPS, but I don't think this matters except on Soldier (w/ Adrenaline Rush) and possibly Infiltrator (where the ammo capacity is also a plus early game when you are stuck with Mantis). The biggest difference to me though is if you are using for pure armor stripping on more basic units, in which case I tend to favor the Carnifex. YMMV, especially depending on how many pistol upgrades you have relative to your current level (and resulting enemy hp).

[a_mouse]

cap and gown wrote...

I would save the Mantis for higher tier enemies or very distant enemies (like those rocket troopers on the balconies). After Mordin's mission you should do Kasumi's loyalty mission Stolen Memory in order to get the Locust. This will give you an accurate, long-range alternative to the Mantis. The Locust can become your primary weapon, while saving the Mantis for the boss type units. Also, I always like the Predator over both the Carnifex and Phalanx. In fact, after using the Phalanx just once I gave up on it.

^This.  If you take Jacob with squad inferno, and put on Locust, you will have a generally useful weapon for rapid-fire defense stripping.  The key issue here is you can't use dominate or AI hacking while on Cloak cooldown.  So you'll need to quickly fire from cover, strip, and then hit dominate or AI hacking the instant the defenses are down before ducking back into cover.  Another thing you can do here is take squaddies with Geth Plasma Shotguns equipped with inferno ammo.  That will help with pulling the defenses down so you can dominate them.

One thing I've noticed is that the dominate animation (which lasts several seconds) counts against duration, so the usefulness of the puppet is limited at low ranks of dominate.  My advice for your build is to ramp this up to level 10 as quick as you can (probably before cloak).  

Have you thought about playing as an engineer?  With drone, you have more distraction options, which can be stacked.  For example, distract enemy with drone, while back is turned pop out and pull defenses down, and then dominate them.  Then the two of them go off together and create havoc.  The short cool down of the drone allows you to do this kind of thing.  Then headsnipe with Carnifex (or Mantis post Collector Ship).

[a_mouse]

I've started the playthrough today, taking RedCaesar's advice for my initial build, and Mordin's recruitment mission has been a cakewalk. Dominate does make Insanity a hell of a lot easier, but it's extremely fun to use. My only problem at the moment is having to make ammo runs towards the enemy when my Mantis runs out, so I may try equipping the Phalanx as a kind-of secondary sniper.

@HadesNexus:  we never heard back how the rest of the playthrough went.  Anything to report?