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Mass Effect 2 |OT|
- Thread starter Skilotonn
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Biggest difference I find so far in insanity is really that some enemies take more shots to die and I get even less time to get shot and die.Cep said:Oh, do I not look stupid.
This would explain his comments about pull/shock-wave/Jacob(the parts that I disagreed on).
Edit: Shit, the only thing he got right was Tali.
I don't know, the gameplay tactic isn't that much different between hardcore and insanity, it's just that I have to be more careful about making mistakes.
Every enemy in hardcore has defenses as well, so as an adept you still have to strip down the defenses first.
For the insanity vanguard build I have right now, I'm using shockwave to some extent in long range combat to good use although I lack the assault rifle currently to back it up.
I might ditch the vanguard build for an adept insanity build since vanguard right now doesn't do much for me in terms of enjoyment (might be because I like to pause every second).
Uhhh, every enemy in hardcore also has defenses, so yeah I still need to ditch the defenses first as an adept - and the last thing you want to do is use shockwave against charging enemies or in close range.DY_nasty said:
Shockwave isn't used for charging enemies at all, it's used mainly for long range purposes and for enemies behind cover that you can't target with conventional means.
Arde5643 said:
Well I find that the entire cadence of Insanity is a lot different.
Whereas things like shockwave are good enough on hardcore, they are borderline useless on Insane.
Part of the reason lies in the fact that on Insane, all classes strive to remove defenses as fast as possible, so the majority of finishers are useless, and by the time that defenses are gone, there are so many ways to fuck your opposition that you do not even have to build for that.
On insanity:
Jacob: Outclassed
Jack: Outclassed
Grunt: Outclassed, not really, just a tank is not needed
Thane: Outclassed, but still ridiculously good
Mordin: Outclassed
Legion: Drone/Ai-hacking/Widow (Anti-geth/Multiple Y-Mir)
Tali: Drone/Ai-hacking(Anti-geth/Multiple Y-Mir)
Samara: Reave+AR
Garrus: Overload+Mantis/AR+AP Ammo(best ammo in the game)
Zaeed: +50% damage+Mantis/AR+Disrupter ammo(second best ammo in the game)
Miranda: +40% damage (+15% to the squad), +7.5% health+Overload+Warp
Grunt is pretty useful, imo. He comes with incredible health and armor and his Krogan Shotgun kicks ass, as well. He also has the only NPC melee move in the game. I took him to the IFF mission and he'd survive getting mobbed by ten, fifteen husks at a time. Even on Insanity, 600 health and armor is nothing to laugh at, considering he also regens fifty health a second!
Mordin is actually good because his Cryo Blast has the usual 4.5 second timer. So he'll debuff armor and freeze unprotected enemies... not as good as Samara, obviously, but still, quite capable.
Tali is damn near useless because of her stupidly long cooldowns.
Jacob is the worst NPC in the game because he's basically Grunt with half the health and half the utility.
Mordin is actually good because his Cryo Blast has the usual 4.5 second timer. So he'll debuff armor and freeze unprotected enemies... not as good as Samara, obviously, but still, quite capable.
Tali is damn near useless because of her stupidly long cooldowns.
Jacob is the worst NPC in the game because he's basically Grunt with half the health and half the utility.
Dresden said:
Hey I do not call Mordin useless, I said he is just outclassed by better party members.
Grunt is an interesting case. He is obviously really good, but I can think of maybe 1 or 2 situations where he is head and shoulders better than the others.
Both of them are where you mentioned.
Also, yeppers about Jacob. Whenever I mention buffing squad-mates, He and Tali are at the top of my list.
It's interesting reading the discussion you two are having. I personally have used Mordin with me for the majority of the game. I find him incredibly useful. I'm actually at the Collector base now at the end of the game and I'm using Mordin and Garrus in my team and doing very well. Just like I did in my first playthrough on veteran.
And I only ever used Mordin's cryo skill against Husks. He is my incinerate machine.
And I only ever used Mordin's cryo skill against Husks. He is my incinerate machine.
Arjen
Member
I always used two party set-ups on Insanity
I play a Sentinel
For Geth/ Blue suns missions: Garrus and Miranda, so i have 2 people packing heavy warp and 3 with heavy overload.
Everything else, Grunt and Miranda. Miranda's bonus for health and power rocks, plus she comes with warp. Grunt can be used a a distraction and he has squad incidiary ammo.
Bonus skill is Dominate, which i find extremly usefull in large groups of enemies.
I play a Sentinel
For Geth/ Blue suns missions: Garrus and Miranda, so i have 2 people packing heavy warp and 3 with heavy overload.
Everything else, Grunt and Miranda. Miranda's bonus for health and power rocks, plus she comes with warp. Grunt can be used a a distraction and he has squad incidiary ammo.
Bonus skill is Dominate, which i find extremly usefull in large groups of enemies.
My second run (evil FemShep Soldier with Rev.) is coming to a close and a Jesusy MaleShep Insanity run with 0 ME1 carryover is brewing... Still can't decide if I wanna go for an Adept or an Infiltrator. Stealth sounds so fun, + Widow, but I also love biotics and Singularity + Warp kaboom is just as exciting.
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?
I just finished Tali's loyalty mission on my Insanity run and discovered how incredibly useful turning off automatic squadmate powers in favor of manual control is. In lower difficulties, Geth Hunters were pretty laughable in how they rush straight into your gunfire and don't fire back unless they were point blank range. However in Insanity, you simply don't have the damage output to kill it before it gets in your face and its shotgun will tear you right the hell up. At most I could do was remove its shields by the time it got to me, so having Tali ready to go with an AI Hack right before it blows off my face was an absolute lifesaver. It was imperative to switch off automatic squad powers because Tali has a bad habit of using her drone at times that would leave in the middle of cooldown at a crucial moment. I love drone for the expendable little aggro magnet it is, but damn if it isn't cursed with unreasonable cooldown.
With exclusive control over my squads powers I was able to execute a precise little strategy in order to take out those waves of Geth Hunters, especially that brutal onslaught right before
. Hunter appears, disrupter-round Widow shot + Garrus' Overload to take down shields, Tali's AI Hack to save my face from a shotgun blast while I reload. As soon as the Hunter is done shooting his friends, second Widow round for the kill.
With exclusive control over my squads powers I was able to execute a precise little strategy in order to take out those waves of Geth Hunters, especially that brutal onslaught right before
you find Tali's father 
SnakeXs said:
Well, there is not much stealth to be done as an infiltrator. Sure you can use cloak to run away if you have messed up, but most of the time, you use it to power your Mantis shot.
As for which you should chose, I too suggest Adept. Much more of a challenge and you feel more engaged throughout. Also helps that the Adept skills are more fun to watch in action.
I personally prefer Infiltrators(Or another class+SR) though.
Cep said:
The adept builds I showed aren't optimal builds - they're viable fun builds.
Optimal adept builds use assault rifle and lots of singularity and warp detonation spam - this is the build I tried first as an adept in hardcore.
It was boring and tedious since all combat devolved to stunlocking enemies with singularities, stripping their defenses, and finally using warp-detonation on them.
Hence the use of shotgun adept and AR adept with shockwave - not optimal builds, but damn they're fun to use.
If that's the way you play the game, then yes, pull/throw/shockwave is totally wasted on you.
Heck, I'm gonna try to recreate my hardcore shotgun adept's mano to mano shotgun adventure with the 2 scions on the IFF reaper in insanity.
My most efficient strategy against the 2 scions in the IFF reaper mission was to throw singularity at one of them, and then position myself in such a way that the other scion cannot shoot at me and the husks are behind the scion I'm stunlocking with singularity.
Risky? Hell yes, but oh so much fun.
Always-honest
Banned
been playing the games for a fw hours and i love it.
was surprised too still see little loading icons very often.
graphics improved, but faces still look very weird. not to mention hair. this is something they could really spend some time (is that because of unreal engine?).. moving shadows on faces..
but the world is great. the design of the suits, aliens, buildings, etc is great.
Story so far is good to. and the missions are a nice challenge.
Scanning wasn't a problem so far but i can imagine it getting tedious after a while.
Love the music and sound.
was surprised too still see little loading icons very often.
graphics improved, but faces still look very weird. not to mention hair. this is something they could really spend some time (is that because of unreal engine?).. moving shadows on faces..
but the world is great. the design of the suits, aliens, buildings, etc is great.
Story so far is good to. and the missions are a nice challenge.
Scanning wasn't a problem so far but i can imagine it getting tedious after a while.
Love the music and sound.
Actually, Mordin's cyro when maxxed out recharges the fastest compared to all other squadmates. So he's actually the best crowd control squadmate when all's said and done.Truelize said:
Whereas the fastest recharge time for other squadmates abilities is 9 seconds, Mordin's maxxed out cyro blast is 4.5 seconds and when combined with the 20% tech cooldown becomes 3.6 seconds.
Other than that, Jack and Samara are also the fastest with biotic abilities:
When fully upgraded, Jack can cast pull every 5 seconds and shockwave every 6 seconds.
Fully upgraded Samara can cast pull/throw every 5 seconds and reave every 6 seconds.
Regarding Jacob being more useful for an adept than other team members for blood pack missions:
* biggest problem with vorcha and krogan is their health regeneration - incendiary ammo stops this problem.
* since enemies get knocked away when hit by warp detonation/throw, squadmates' pinpoint accuracy combined with incendiary ammo ensures that any enemy who survived the detonation/fall doesn't regen their health back.
* incendiary ammo does the second most damage to armor (something all blood pack has), and also stuns them for a few seconds
And just to add ire to AP ammo supporters - AP ammo is the most useless ability the vanguard can take.
The only ability more useless than AP ammo for a vanguard is shredder ammo.
Why the hell would you take AP ammo when Garrus is perfectly capable of bringing it?
Reave is pretty much the best squad skill most classes can take, unless you suck at shooting and want to take a defense skill, or you wish to make things more interesting with Dominate.
Cryo is useless until defenses are off. Until then, Reave does more damage in 1 use than cryo does in 2.
If you find that you must use incendiary(I do not see why, as blood pack regen does not make a noticeable difference. And if they did, Reave and warp exist) Grunt is better than Jacob for that.
Reave is pretty much the best squad skill most classes can take, unless you suck at shooting and want to take a defense skill, or you wish to make things more interesting with Dominate.
Cryo is useless until defenses are off. Until then, Reave does more damage in 1 use than cryo does in 2.
If you find that you must use incendiary(I do not see why, as blood pack regen does not make a noticeable difference. And if they did, Reave and warp exist) Grunt is better than Jacob for that.
Reave is just so perfect for Vanguards... it synergizes with Champion, which most Vanguards will take for Charge, and it fills up a big hole in their arsenal, as well. With Reave and Pull, you're a half-decent adept if you can't Charge.
What I think are the best bonus skills for each class:
Soldier--Reave
(Inferno ammo kicks ass and looks awesome.)
Infiltrator--Armor Piercing Ammo
(For teh multipliers)
Vanguard--Reave
(mentioned above)
Engineer--Reave
(You can skip Incinerate; Reave acts as both crowd control and barrier removal, two things that the Engineer lacks until later on in the game)
Adept--Barrier
(Being able to spam Pull/Warp/Throw at will is so good. You have control and you have Warp already. Barrier gives more shielding, and with all the biotic cooldown reductions, the cooldown isn't prohibitive. Also gives you an oh-shit button.)
Sentinel--Reave
(No need to take Warp. No reason to take Warp for Sentinels because you can't do Warp detonations anyways. Also works well with the cooldown reduction talent, which will help your tech armor as well.)
In short, REAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVE
What I think are the best bonus skills for each class:
Soldier--Reave
(Inferno ammo kicks ass and looks awesome.)
Infiltrator--Armor Piercing Ammo
(For teh multipliers)
Vanguard--Reave
(mentioned above)
Engineer--Reave
(You can skip Incinerate; Reave acts as both crowd control and barrier removal, two things that the Engineer lacks until later on in the game)
Adept--Barrier
(Being able to spam Pull/Warp/Throw at will is so good. You have control and you have Warp already. Barrier gives more shielding, and with all the biotic cooldown reductions, the cooldown isn't prohibitive. Also gives you an oh-shit button.)
Sentinel--Reave
(No need to take Warp. No reason to take Warp for Sentinels because you can't do Warp detonations anyways. Also works well with the cooldown reduction talent, which will help your tech armor as well.)
In short, REAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVEREAVE
AP ammo is the best ammo ability in the game when it comes to overall effectiveness. Turns the SMG into a godcannon.
I really want Tali to be good but she's absolutely useless without Shield Drain and the cooldown for the Drone is just flatout retarded.
More people should try Slam. Maxed out, Heavy Slam just removes any defenseless enemy from the fight and has that absurd 3 second cooldown. Nothing is more awesome than snatching someone out of cover so that they can get Widow'd.
I really want Tali to be good but she's absolutely useless without Shield Drain and the cooldown for the Drone is just flatout retarded.
More people should try Slam. Maxed out, Heavy Slam just removes any defenseless enemy from the fight and has that absurd 3 second cooldown. Nothing is more awesome than snatching someone out of cover so that they can get Widow'd.
DY_nasty said:
Disrupter and SMG is also fun to play with as well.
And I agree about Tali. At some point, I am going to make a balance mod and buff the living hell out of her.
Edit: I have never needed that extra defense on my adept, though I admittedly never finished my run due to how boring I found it.
She'd be forgivable if they gave you Shield Drain first, and then the drone. As she is though, she's arguably the most useless in the group. She's probably a notch above Jacob though...Cep said:
Except Reave gives you health back, leaves organics crippled, and does more damage while having an AoE option... Doesn't need to be 'aimed' either.Arjen said:
Dresden said:
The smaller Mechs are ridiculously weak, so they are not worth the effort, not to mention they have armor, and she sucks at handling that.
She and legion really shine when fighting the geth and multiple giant mechs. Otherwise, there are better.
DY_nasty said:
Samara is not niche. She is very versatile.
The strange thing is that there are only two instances where multiple YMIR mechs are a issue, and for those, it's probably easier to just nuke with the Cain. And even then, Legion is better! He has the Widow and I think he gets cooldown reduction, too. :lolCep said:
I'm convinced at this point that Tali's main strength in combat is her waifuability for fanboys.
Reave is so nasty that it pretty much makes her one of the best squad mates around, though. Probably the only one that is legitimately better than Samara is Miranda. When you factor in her ability to use the Vindicator, and also pull and throw for mopping up trash, she's damn good.DY_nasty said:
Arjen
Member
DY_nasty said:
Health is a non-issue for me, as a sentinel i always have my armor up.
Seriously, dominate is absolutly amazing.
If you're fighting a group of collectors, have one squad mate remove their barrier with warp, cast dominate on them. Everyone incl harbringer will focus on him, then it's freakin easy to pick of targets of one by one.
Began playing this yesterday (didnt play the first one) and just picked up the crazy tattoo-d girl. Over-all feeling somewhat disappointed so far. Loving the action, apart from the constant waves of enemies seemingly itching to run straight into my gunfire but the rest of the game feels so shallow compared to KotOR I and II, the previous BioWare games i've played. i'll keep playing and hope my opinion improves. Looks great in 1080p at least albeit not amazingly so, as the many 10/10 reviews led me to believe
I've just done my third playthrough of insanity with different classes and here's my input.
First of, I'm an average gamer at best, and slightly below average in FPS. So the fact that I could beat insanity with these builds should be accounted to the functionalities of the classes rather than my skill.
First insanity playthrough (new game+, starts at lvl 30):
Sentinel with Heavy overload, Area throw, Area Reave, Power armor, Raider, Sniper rifle
Second insanity playthrough (ME1 import, starts at lvl 1):
Soldier with Heigtened AR, Shock Trooper, Incen Ammo, Distrup Ammo, Crippling slam, Widow Sniper rifle
Third insanity playthrough (ME1 import, starts at lvl 1):
Vanguard with Incen ammo, Heavy charge, area pull, Champion, Area reave, Sniper rifle
What I found:
1. Sniper rifle gives an average gamer like me a much easier time "playing cheap"
2. I found solider playthrough to be the easiest. I was draining enemies armor and health with ease. I chose Slam as oppose to Reave or Barrier because it has such a short cooldown, which allow me to spam adrenaline rush more often. Also as soon as I was able to strip tough enemie defense (krogan, bosses, etc), I can use it for 8 sec stun aka easy kill.
3. Sentinel was the hardest, but that may have to do with being first insanity run and starting at lvl 30 with no upgrade
4. Reave also allows playing cheap. YOu dont even need to have a target in red box to use it. Just zoom in with sniper rifle and use it in the scope view. At a certain distant enemies like Scion or Harbinger stops following you and just stands there, allowing you to spam Reave until it dies without needing to dodge/stay in cover
5. If I could remember enemy position and spawn better, I can see Vanguard being the easiest class to play on insanity. In the areas that I knew the spawns, I wiped them out easily with Vanguard with a significant less time than Soldier.
First of, I'm an average gamer at best, and slightly below average in FPS. So the fact that I could beat insanity with these builds should be accounted to the functionalities of the classes rather than my skill.
First insanity playthrough (new game+, starts at lvl 30):
Sentinel with Heavy overload, Area throw, Area Reave, Power armor, Raider, Sniper rifle
Second insanity playthrough (ME1 import, starts at lvl 1):
Soldier with Heigtened AR, Shock Trooper, Incen Ammo, Distrup Ammo, Crippling slam, Widow Sniper rifle
Third insanity playthrough (ME1 import, starts at lvl 1):
Vanguard with Incen ammo, Heavy charge, area pull, Champion, Area reave, Sniper rifle
What I found:
1. Sniper rifle gives an average gamer like me a much easier time "playing cheap"
2. I found solider playthrough to be the easiest. I was draining enemies armor and health with ease. I chose Slam as oppose to Reave or Barrier because it has such a short cooldown, which allow me to spam adrenaline rush more often. Also as soon as I was able to strip tough enemie defense (krogan, bosses, etc), I can use it for 8 sec stun aka easy kill.
3. Sentinel was the hardest, but that may have to do with being first insanity run and starting at lvl 30 with no upgrade
4. Reave also allows playing cheap. YOu dont even need to have a target in red box to use it. Just zoom in with sniper rifle and use it in the scope view. At a certain distant enemies like Scion or Harbinger stops following you and just stands there, allowing you to spam Reave until it dies without needing to dodge/stay in cover
5. If I could remember enemy position and spawn better, I can see Vanguard being the easiest class to play on insanity. In the areas that I knew the spawns, I wiped them out easily with Vanguard with a significant less time than Soldier.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
Question.. I'm just now doing the (endgamish)
Edit: I see they've got some DLC now. Kind of pisses me off because my Cerberus code never worked and now it rejects it. Ugh.
suicide mission. But the only person to come and talk to me is Miranda. I get like three options when she asks me if I'm ready.. I chose one but seh seemed not very interested - they're something like "yeah good team we have" something in the middle and "totally ready" Or something. Did I not show enough interest throughout the game to her? Why else would she appear though?
Edit: I see they've got some DLC now. Kind of pisses me off because my Cerberus code never worked and now it rejects it. Ugh.
Because reave is stupidly overpowered pretty much. My builds are designed in such a way that the game doesn't devolve to spam reave at every single time. Hence why I find a use of the secondary skills (AI hack, cyro, shockwave).Cep said:
I think there was a video of a soldier class in insanity that didn't use any gun and just use reave every single time just to show how stupidly powerful reave is.
It IS that powerful. i dislike using reave since I find reave very cheap at the maxxed levels. That's just me though.
Yeah, neural shock is Mordin's totally wasted ability - everything it does, Cyro does it better and maxxed Cyro for Mordin even recharges much faster than neural shock.Cep said:
Sir Garbageman
Member
DownLikeBCPowder said:
Are referring to romancing Miranda? If so then you'll know for sure after you go through the Omega 4 relay because that's when your potential love interest makes his / her "offer". With regards to Miranda specifically, I think that if you side with Jack during their cat fight it kills the romance, not 100% sure though.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
Sir Garbageman said:
Well, I figured it out. Bioware is still socially regressive and won't allow female on female interactions. Speaking of that
if I get Morinth way early on and romance her, can I get with her even though I'm a female? Akin to how you can get with Liara in the first whether male or female because she is Asari? I also assume you -cannot- get with Tali still, right? In fact, out of all the teammates, what are all of the viable options?
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
But.. but. but I'm different than the rest..!Nemesis556 said:
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