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[capn233]

Aka “Legendary Mass Effect Soldier Synopsis”

 

Objective: Outline a path for leveling a relatively balanced vanilla soldier through Mass Effect, geared towards completing Insanity starting at Level 1.  The secondary objective is to condense some of the information I covered a year ago in a soldier run "let's play" series.  This is part of why I did Soldier second instead of Engineer, which I might do next.

 

Bonus Power: As far as bonus powers, if this is your first character, you won’t have any unlocked (or if you have only played Soldiers before this you won’t have any available ones unlocked).  In my humbly entitled guide I took decryption but didn’t invest in it.  You can if you want.  Otherwise Electronics is ok for extra shields (which you don’t actually need), and both can be good for debuff, some damage, and crate unlocking by yourself.  Medicine is also good for Neural Shock.  Otherwise you could go Lift or Singularity, but those don’t fit with a combat character, IMO.  Most of the time I don’t bother with a bonus on soldier in this game.

 

Persuasion: I invest in Intimidate or Charm just for more dialogue options.  The minimum investment to give you all of one option is 6 in Intimidate, which when added to the 4 freebies will give you 10.  That passes all checks.  For charm you need 8 investment to get to 12, but technically there is only one charm check that is always 12 (a certain exec on Feros).  Otherwise it is just 10 for a couple UNC missions, each of which is actually a lower intimidate check so can be done earlier.  It is all up to you.  If you don’t want to invest in those because you just want to max via NG+, just invest those points in talents I mention in the next level.

 

Assumptions: In the Basic Adept Leveling Guide I wrote a little while ago the assumption was that you were starting an Adept on Insanity at Level 1 and you had unlocked XP bonuses as well as Assault Rifles.  This essentially implied that you had first played the game as a Soldier to unlock the higher difficulties, picked up enough Assault Rifle achievements to unlock that as a bonus power, and beaten the game 3 times (first run, NG+ hardcore, NG+ insanity) to get all the XP bonuses.  Those are namely Long Service Medal (complete twice on any difficulty), Completionist (do 15 missions and 35 assignments), Power Gamer (hit level 50), and Extreme Power Gamer (hit Level 60).

 

It is possible to get to Level 60 in your very first two games if you hit 50 and get Completionist in the first run and have BDtS and Pinnacle Station.  It shouldn’t be too difficult to get it in three.  That said, when I first got the game it took me four.  I didn’t have any DLC, didn’t realize you lost XP from killing in the Mako, and I don’t think I got Completionist in my first whirlwind run either.  So I hit something like 42 and I was sabotaged such that I hit 59 in my third game and had to do a fourth to get a character with 60.  Also I didn’t even know the value of Immunity and had some oddball build where I just used Shield Boost mainly.

 

Miscellaneous: The point of all this introduction is to say that typically I would recommend your first character you carry forward to unlock these achievements be a Soldier, since it is the simplest to grasp and it is hard to mess it up so much that you can’t get through Veteran and a NG+ Hardcore run and then NG+ Insanity.  It also doesn’t really need a bonus power and it unlocks the weapon talents for the other classes.

 

If for whatever reason you didn’t play soldier, or just want to start at level 1 on Insanity for the challenge, then this might be the thread for you.  Or if you are just starting out and want to know about worthwhile power investment for the first three runs this thread can work, although you will be leveling slower (less XP bonus).  This thread technically won’t be new information since I am going to basically crib the leveling I did in the soldier run I recorded.

 

This will have some minor plot spoilers associated with the levels since this is mainly for those who have already beaten the game at least once.

[capn233]

Prologue and Expose Saren

 

Level 1

 

Points: 2 initial +3 (5)

 

Pistols 2

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 1

Soldier 1

 

You get 3 points to spend.  AR and Armor already have 1 pt invested by the game.  1pt in Soldier gives you minor health regeneration.  Pistols will do more reliable damage than ARs at this point and will likely be your primary weapon.

 

Kaidan comes with Throw and Decryption.  Add Barrier and then put the last point where you want.  The idea with him is to get Lift as early as available as well as Neural Shock.

 

Level 2

 

Points: +3 (8)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 1

Soldier 1

Intimidate 2

 

Get Marksman and then you can get some persuasion for later in the mission.  I put them in Charm to be able to pass the check for the Farmers to get the smuggler’s name, although 2 in Intimidate also works and makes the most sense.  In the actual run I did I got the persuasion at Leve1 1 then just dumped Level 2 points into Pistols for Marskman here.  It doesn’t matter a lot, although if you have no XP bonus and just have to have charm or intimidate, it might be worth getting the two points there first.

 

For Kaidan, invest in Throw.  If you pick up Ash at this level, get Overkill, Adrenaline Burst, and 1 pt in passive for regen.

 

Level 3

 

Points: +3 (11)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 3 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 1

Soldier 1

Intimidate 3 (1 freebie)

 

You will probably be Level 3 after talking to the farmers and you might have earned a free persuasion point from morality, which I have included now.  Get Shield Boost and then start working towards Adrenaline Boost and Immunity via Assault Training.

 

Behind the farmers is a shack with a crate requiring Basic Electronics.  It is possible to get that if you work only towards that with Kaidan, but it hampers his build overall for basically no reward.  The only item you need to get from this mission is the pistol from the farmers.  So I keep investing in Throw, and put a point in passive.  For Ash, invest in Pistols or Assault Training.  Goal is Marksman and eventually Fitness for Immunity.

 

Level 4

 

Points: +3 (14)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 3 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 3 (Adrenaline Burst)

Soldier 2

Intimidate 3 (1 freebie)

 

You will probably reach this level by the time you get to the train controls.  For the time being the idea is to increase Shepard’s damage and use Ash as a decoy.  IIRC it isn’t quite possible to have Immunity on Shep before Level 7 because of the cap on Assault Training and Fitness in prior levels preventing some investment.  So we have been somewhat avoiding that for making progress on weapon talents and towards heavy armor.

 

Get Marksman for Ash and keep working towards Immunity.  For Kaidan, Throw and Decryption or First Aid.

 

If you watched the playthrough you will notice an inconsistency in the leveling due to the game crashing.  I had to redo the last part of Eden Prime and forgot level up here the second time.  Movie magic.

 

Level 5

 

Points: +3 (17)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 3 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 2

Soldier 2

Charm or Intimidate 3 (1 freebie)

 

Now you should be on the Expose Saren quest.  This is also likely the level you will confront the Assassins if you chose to go see Harkin instead of picking up Wrex first.

 

This squad is a bit non-ideal for the Assassins, but the basics remain the same.  Try to get one by himself, and then have Kaidan use Throw.  While he is down, blast away under Marksman.  Use grenades, whatever.  If he gets back up have Kaidan use Sabotage.

 

You should also only need 3 in Intimidate here to do Dr Michel’s personal quest, which will allow you to exploit her generosity and get a Spectre pistol before you leave the Citadel.  If going Charm, you need 6 (or you need to kill the Krogan).

 

Level 6

 

Points: +2 (19)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 3 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 3

Soldier 2

Intimidate 3 (1 freebie)

 

Max possible Fitness to 3 here.  Then either bank the point or put it wherever.  If you want Unity ASAP at Level 8, then consider banking.

 

For Ash, max Fitness.  And do whatever with the other point.  Kaidain should get basic Lift (sufficient for Krogan bouncer) then work towards Medicine.  If you picked up Garrus, go Overkill, Armor 6, Advanced Decryption, Damping 1, First Aid 1.  For a Soldier, the squad that makes the most sense now should be Kaidan and Garrus which is why I went Ash and Garrus in my run.

 

Level 7

 

Points: +2 (21)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 3 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 4 (Immunity)

Soldier 2

Intimidate 3 (1 freebie)

 

You hit this sometime in dealing with Fist’s group and saving Tali and you might end up skipping it, like I did.  Getting Immunity is the only thing that makes much of a difference here, so save the rest of the points (should have 2 sitting around if you get Immunity).

 

Level 8

 

Points: +2 (23)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 1 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 3 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 4 (Immunity)

Soldier 2

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

You should be 8 after becoming a Spectre, and you get an extra talent and one freebie persuasion point in Charm and Intimidate.  Invest your banked points in Spectre for Unity.

 

Alternatively, if you plan to hang out on the Citadel, you could have invested in Intimidate to 6 to pass checks for various available Citadel assignments.  But as above you only need 3 Intimidate to do Dr Michel’s quest easily, and quickly gain an HMWP VII or HMWA VII.

 

Note that Level 8 Tali should be able to level to Master Sabotage (Decryption) and Master Overload (Electronics) right away.  Tali is one of the best squadmates for soldier Shepard, and can now unlock every single crate in the game for you.  In general after that you want to work through Hacking (for cooldown bonus), then get some points in Pistols and Damping.

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First Plot World (Therum)

 

The goal for this section is beating the Battlemaster on Therum, as you must do if you want to get the other “best” squad member for soldier Shepard.  In general I would recommend getting the HMWP VII before leaving the Citadel, but it isn’t necessary with some care taken with squad selection and leveling.  At the least it is a good idea to buy 3 health regen armor modules if you haven't picked up any from random loot.  It isn't completely necessary but makes your life a little easier.  Dr Michel sells a wide selection of them, although some may be out of your price range (Med Exo VII is something like 340000cr and some change).

 

Since it is on the way, swing by Edolus for UNC Missing Marines and some XP.

 

Level 9

 

Points: +2 (25)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 3 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 4 (Immunity)

Soldier 2

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

A stepping stone.  Just invest in ARs for a little better accuracy.  Tali should work towards Master Hacking, Garrus should try to wrap up Master Sabotage and then work towards Electronics, and Kaidan should be working towards Neural Shock.

 

Level 10

 

Points: +2 (27)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 5 (Shield Boost)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 4 (Immunity)

Soldier 2

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Before the end of Missing Marines you can achieve this level if you kill the Thresher Maw on foot, and even if you didn’t do anything on the Citadel after becoming a Spectre.  Invest in Armor with the goal of unlocking Heavy in the next level or so.

 

If you are leveling Kaidan, he should be something like Throw 7, Lift 5, Barrier 1, Decryption 1, First Aid 5, Medicine 1, and Sentinel 2.  This should be fine for the first parts of Therum.

 

Level 11

 

Points: +2 (29)

 

Pistols 3 (Marksman)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 4 (Immunity)

Soldier 1

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Get Heavy Armor for Shepard.  This is the last time you need to invest in the armor talent.  Throw another point in Lift for Kaidan and Tali should have Marksman, Master Sabotage, 1 pt Damping, Master Overload, and a few points in Hacking.

 

Your squad is still relatively weak, so it is best to weaken most of the early units on Therum with the Mako, then finish them off on foot for the XP.  Remember that you can also knock down elite units like Armatures with the Mako, then jump out and shoot them while they try to get up.

 

Level 12

 

Points: +2 (31)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 5 (Immunity)

Soldier 1

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

At this point you are mainly leveling core talents, not working towards unlocks.  You can choose between damage or durability, I went for balance here.

 

Kaidan should get Advanced Lift, which will allow you to lift Armatures as well as the Battlemaster.  This means this mission should get a bit less challenging here.  Put the other point in Decryption.

 

Level 13

 

Points: +2 (33)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 7 (Immunity)

Soldier 1

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 14

 

Points: +2 (35)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 8 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 2

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 15

 

Points: +2 (37)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 8 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 4 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

You should hit 15 right after the Battlemaster cutscene if you played along with this guide.  If not you should probably still be ok, but you will need to be a little more cautious.  The main thing that will make this fight go smoothly is Kaidan’s Advanced Lift and 1 point Neural Shock.

 

As far as weapons go, I already said several times that getting the Spectre pistol before leaving the Citadel the first time will make your life easier, but you don’t have to do that.  In fact, I did not do that in TLMESG, and I redid this mission with Kaidan as I wrote this little guide with similar equipment, so I know the mission is doable this way.  Here was the equipment for the Battlemaster fight:

 

Shepard: Avenger II (Heat Sink II, APIII), Stinger II (Heat Sink II, APII), High Explosive I, Onyx I Medium (First Aid II)

Kaidan: Striker II (Scanner, APII), Scorpion I Light (Stim Pack II), starting amp and omni tool

Tali: Striker II (Scanner, APII), Explorer II Light (Stim Pack III), starting omni tool

 

Here is the link to watch it.

 

The point is you don’t necessarily need top drawer equipment, at least as long as you save a couple grenades, and save Kaidan’s Lift and NS cooldown for the Battlemaster.  It took me only one attempt, although it was a mistake not to swap out ammo when I engaged the Battlemaster.  It would have been better to switch to Chemical or Radioactive Rounds in my gun, but he didn’t regen anyway since he was under the effect of NS.  Remember: the Battlemaster will largely leave you alone unless you either kill all the Geth or engage it directly.

 

In any event if you get through this fight you have crossed one of the biggest hurdles for a new soldier Insanity run.  From here on out you can have a near ideal squad and just work on whatever weapon talents you want, although Pistol and AR do the most DPS.

[capn233]

Specialization

 

The next major step is leveling towards 20 to get your specialization.

 

Level 16

 

Points: +2 (39)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Assault Rifles 3 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 8 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 6 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

After Therum is when I tend to go back to the Citadel for some minor side quests.  6 intimidate gets you through all of them.  If you are going Charm, you may need 7 for Presidium Prophet, Rita’s Sister, and Jahleed’s Fears.  The other exception is Snap Inspection, in which case you need 9 of either to pass every check (not worth worrying about, IMO).

 

Liara should come standard with a point in Throw and First Aid, and 32 points free.  Since there is a glitch where you cannot use every power for Liara, I usually plan to skip Stasis.  You can start her off decently by getting Advanced Throw, Master Lift, Warp 7 (Advanced), Singularity 1, Barrier 1, First Aid 4, and Overload 1.

 

Level 17

 

Points: +2 (41)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Assault Rifles 4 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 8 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 7 (2 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 18

 

Points: +2 (43)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 2

Assault Rifles 4 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 8 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 19

 

Points: +2 (45)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 4 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 8 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

After taking care of most mundane Citadel assignments, and leveling up persuasion a little with investment and another freebie, you can head to do some random missions, like Missing Survey Team, Major Kyle, and Distress Call (Unusual Readings).  Missing Survey Team is the first of many melee rush side missions, so work towards Carnage.  It will be worth switching to Shotguns to at least fire off a Carnage in between using Pistol and AR for damage.

 

You should pick up a freebie persuasion point for passing 25% paragon or renegade.  Major Kyle takes a minimum of 7 Charm or 8 Intimidate so that freebie point may be important.

 

Level 20

 

Points: +2 (47)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 6 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 8 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 21

 

Points: +2 (49)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 6 (Overkill)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 10 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

You should have probably reach Level 20 during Major Kyle, and if you go to Distress Call after that you will get the Rogue VI mission from Hackett.  So head to the moon.  Whether you decide to get Master Immunity before or after unlocking Sniper Rifles is up to you.

 

Take Tali and Garrus to Rogue VI.  Tali should have Master Sabotage and Overload, and should have Master Hacking before Luna is over.  Garrus should have Master Sabotage, Advanced Overkill, Damping 1, medium armor, and depending on if you invested in Snipers yet or not he may have Advanced or Master Electronics.  You could also have skp out on some of the weapon points for Adrenaline Burst.

 

Level 22

 

Points: +2 (51)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 7 (Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 1

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 10 (Advanced Immunity)

Soldier 4

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 23

 

Points: +2 (53)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 7 (Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 3 (Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 10 (Advanced Immunity)

Commando 4

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

By the end of Luna you will probably be around Level 23.  You now have all weapons unlocked.  Where you go from here depends mostly on what weapons you like.  Otherwise you just need a couple points to get Master Immunity, and then work on passive.

 

As far as which spec to pick, I prefer Commando generally.  If you want to do a Shotgun soldier (with as much Carnage as possible), you may want Shock Trooper.

[capn233]

Level 24

 

Points: +2 (55)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 7 (Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 3 (Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 4

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Head back to Artemis Tau and take care of Asari Diplomacy.  With Master Immunity and even mediocre heavy armor you can probably tank sniper shots without getting killed.  And since you have Assassinate, you can give them a dose of their own medicine.

 

After that you can tackle a few missions before Noveria, like Lost Freighter, Hostile Takeover (Mavigon and Klensal), and then Hostage.

 

Level 25

 

Points: +2 (57)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 3 (Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 5

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 26

 

Points: +2 (59)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 3 (Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 7

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 27

 

Points: +2 (61)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 5 (Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 7

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

Level 28

 

Points: +2 (63)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 5 (Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 9 (Immunity Specialization)

Intimidate 8 (3 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

The main goal through these side missions is to level up weapons you like, as well as the passive to get Immunity Specialization.  That will reduce the cooldown on Immunity by 25% and is another step towards becoming practically unkillable.

 

You can now go to Noveria and take care of what you like in Port Hanshan.  You should have sufficient Charm or Intimidate for anything there.  Also you can exploit Lorik Qui’in (need 5 Charm or Intimidate) to max paragon or renegade for the last freebie persuasion points.

 

Level 29

 

Points: +2 (65)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 6 (Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 9

Intimidate 10 (4 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

If you exploit Qui’in for the last freebie, then you can throw another Intimidate point in to hit 10, which will let you pass all Intimidate checks.  If you were going Charm, you can pass every check except for one on Feros (need 12).

 

Level 30

 

Points: +2 (67)

 

Pistols 4 (Marksman, unlock Shotguns)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 8 (Advanced Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 9

Intimidate 10 (4 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

You should reach this about the time you leave Port Hanshan, or on the road.  Snipers are helpful in this section, so go for Advanced Assassinate.

 

At this point you are practically set, so in the next post I will mention odds and ends.

[capn233]

From Level 30 to Level 50 you will gain 25 talent points (you continue to gain 2 points per level until 35, after which you will gain only 1 per level).

 

Where you invest those points are entirely up to you and should mainly depend on what weapons you like, predominantly.  Investing further in Commando will also depend on this to an extent since maxing it gives you “Assassination Mastery” which is tied to Assassination and Marksman.

 

Pistols will offer the highest DPS when Master Marksman is active.  You will need 7 more points invested to reach that level.

 

Late game assault rifles will do the most reliable DPS without any skills.  The benefit of going over Advanced Overkill is probably incremental outside of specialized or oddball setups (like HE rounds under Overkill).  But it is only 4 more points of investment.

 

Sniper Rifles are penalized a great deal by misses, so I tend to like to get as much accuracy as possible.  Also Master Assassination adds a good deal of damage over Advanced, so it is worthwhile if you like using Sniper Rifles.

 

Shotguns are the only weapon class that is ok without any significant talent investment.  For a Soldier it is usually worth unlocking Carnage for some bonus damage in between Marksman or Overkill cooldowns.  Shotguns are also good against melee creatures, but as that has to do with base weapon force and not the damage, you don’t gain a lot from investment.  In general the DPS will lag the other weapon classes.

 

Finishing Noveria should get you to around 35 or so, and then you can do some side missions to get to 40.  A relatively balanced approach might end up with something that looks like this in 10 levels:

 

Level 40

 

Points: +1 (82)

 

Pistols 12 (Master Marksman)

Shotguns 4 (Carnage)

Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)

Sniper Rifles 12 (Master Assassination)

Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)

Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)

Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)

Commando 12 (Immunity and Assassination Specialization)

Intimidate 10 (4 freebies)

Spectre 4 (Unity)

 

After that, I would probably pick up Advanced Adrenaline Burst through Assault Training as well as get Master Overkill.  This can be accomplished by Level 47.

 

By Level 51 you could potentially get Master Adrenaline Burst, but you may find by this stage of the game you don’t need Adrenaline Burst all that much.  So an alternative is to start dumping points into Spectre for the mild bonuses it gets (you won’t be using Unity much by this point of the game either).

 

If you had taken a bonus power you wanted to invest in, then you likely would have ended up focusing on probably just 2 weapon trees.

 

So that basically will wrap up this leveling scheme.  As I stated in other places, this is just one way to get through the game and one way to play Soldier, not the only way.

[RedCaesar97]

...when I first got the game... I didn’t even know the value of Immunity and had some oddball build where I just used Shield Boost mainly.

 

Sounds like my first time through the game. Plus, I left the Luna VI mission until near the very end so I did not get my specialization until too late in the game to even max it out.

 

Anyway, fantastic guide. It should really help out new players and morons like myself who do things totally stupidly.

[capn233]

Yeah, I don't even remember why I thought Immunity didn't work well, I think because it didn't seem to keep my shields from dropping.  I don't even remember.

 

Anyway I put a link to the Battlemaster done as listed above with Tali and Kaidan.  Mainly if you know what powers affect him and have them, then it shouldn't be too bad of a fight.  If you don't quite have the right powers (like basic lift instead of advanced), then you might be endlessly frustrated.