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Oct. 28th, 2016 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geebsME blather- Up next on my squad builds, the Virmire survivors.
Ashley- I saved Ash the first time through because I was banging her. But as an ME3 squadmate, she sucks. Vega and Garrus are objectively better than her in every way. Vega is has more durable, and while Ash should be spec-ed for AR damage, with his incendiary ammo he just literally melts opponents way quicker than she can with the Typhoon. Garrus has the same weapon set up (ARs and Snipers), but gets better bonuses on them from his passive (150% with ARs and 160% with SRs vs her 135% with ARs and 120% with SRs) Plus, he gets overload, and overall his ability set is just better than hers. Do yourself a favor and save Kaidan!
Weapons:
Assault rifle- Again, for the Alliance folks, the N7 Typhoon is the best choice, followed by the Revenant. (See my Vega comments on why if you didn't already)
Sniper rifle- Since her bonuses are with ARs, you shouldn't really be using these, but the Black Widow is the best for her in terms of DPS.
Powers:
Alliance Officer- Ash is a gunner, so weapon damage at 4, sniper rifle damage at 5 and assault rifle damage at 6. Maxing out her damage potential is more important than resiliency, as that should allow her to shred enemies before they have a chance to hit her.
Marksman- On paper this sounds like an amazing power. And it is... for a soldier Shepard. Since squadmates do only 30% of the base weapon damage Shep does, they don't get as big a benefit. That 10 second burst of higher damage isn't that much in the scheme of things. Better to keep her free to pop off a concussive shot or something. The fact that Markman is bugged now and will cause her to just stand there trying to activate it over and over if squadmates are set to auto-use powers is the final nail in the coffin for this power. So if you have to put points in it, definitely leave it at 3.
Inferno Grenades- One of the better grenades. Or rather, more fun grenades since it can set people ablaze and prime fire explosions. Go for radius at 4 and 6 to hit as many targets as once, and 5 for capacity, because if this is something you're going to bother using, you might as well have as many as you can.
Concussive Shot- Its useful for detonating all those folks she just immolated with her inferno grenades. And it does a whole lot of physics damage on enemies suspended in the air from biotics. Plus, its her main weapon vs barriers, as it does 400% damage to barriers. So radius at 4, the damage isn't great on concussive shot to begin with, and the boost doesn't make it all that better. Radius will let you tag more folks for the level 6 evolution. Shatter at 5 (presuming you have a way to freeze folks), and Amplification at 6 to give it the handy little properties of whatever ammo power she's currently using.
Disruptor Ammo- Since you shouldn't be putting any points into marksman, you can jack this up to max. Stun effect notwithstanding, its not as interesting as the other ammo types, and chances are Shep has a better ammo type to make available to the entire squad, so no reason to take the squad evolution at 4. Damage is the obvious choice. Capacity so she'll fire longer, and if you're going to bother with disruptor ammo, get the improved stun chance. Since you should have her with an AR, the improved stun chance works well with the higher fire rate.
Kaidan- He's clearly the superior squadmate choice in 3, with a much more useful and versatile set of abilities.
Weapons:
Assault Rifle- Typhoon or Revenant
Pistol- Again, you should not ever be switching to this, but if you must, the Carnifex will work fine. Just be sure to throw the pistol power magnifier to make it worth it.
Powers:
Alliance Officer- Kaidan is actually a tank because of barrier, so might as well increase that resiliency by going with durability at 4. I normally go with biotic damage at 5. I mean, reave and overload are both great powers, but overload is REALLY great, so it doesn't really need more boosting. For the squad bonus evolution at 6, again I'm not sure if it applies to himself, but a damage increase to both tech and biotic powers has more utlity than the shield charge bonus.
Barrier- Honestly, you should only be detonating barrier if its on Shepard. The micro-managing involved in using barrier detonation offensively is only worth it for yourself. Pick barrier strength at 4 to keep Kaidan tanky. Since he should be slinging around powers, power synergy is the pick for his 5th evolution. Which in turn means you should pick the power charge reduction penalty at 6. Technically, with those two picked, you have a much better DoT.
Reave- Duration at 4. I mean, radius makes it a better detonator, but tagging multiple enemies doesn't increase the amount of damage reduction you get. The DR lasts the entire duration of the power, even if the enemy you used it on died long before the duration ended. Damage reduction at 5 to increase his tankiness. But, barriers and armor at 6 to give him a more effective tool against those defenses.
Overload- Always pick chain overload at 4. Neural shock at 5 to incapacitate weaker enemies. But shield damage at 6- you'll get more utility out of that evolution. Making sure you strip a target's shields is more valuable than hitting a third target.
Cryo-blast- This sucks, there's better ways to freeze people or weaken armor. This is the obvious choice to keep at 3.
Ashley- I saved Ash the first time through because I was banging her. But as an ME3 squadmate, she sucks. Vega and Garrus are objectively better than her in every way. Vega is has more durable, and while Ash should be spec-ed for AR damage, with his incendiary ammo he just literally melts opponents way quicker than she can with the Typhoon. Garrus has the same weapon set up (ARs and Snipers), but gets better bonuses on them from his passive (150% with ARs and 160% with SRs vs her 135% with ARs and 120% with SRs) Plus, he gets overload, and overall his ability set is just better than hers. Do yourself a favor and save Kaidan!
Weapons:
Assault rifle- Again, for the Alliance folks, the N7 Typhoon is the best choice, followed by the Revenant. (See my Vega comments on why if you didn't already)
Sniper rifle- Since her bonuses are with ARs, you shouldn't really be using these, but the Black Widow is the best for her in terms of DPS.
Powers:
Alliance Officer- Ash is a gunner, so weapon damage at 4, sniper rifle damage at 5 and assault rifle damage at 6. Maxing out her damage potential is more important than resiliency, as that should allow her to shred enemies before they have a chance to hit her.
Marksman- On paper this sounds like an amazing power. And it is... for a soldier Shepard. Since squadmates do only 30% of the base weapon damage Shep does, they don't get as big a benefit. That 10 second burst of higher damage isn't that much in the scheme of things. Better to keep her free to pop off a concussive shot or something. The fact that Markman is bugged now and will cause her to just stand there trying to activate it over and over if squadmates are set to auto-use powers is the final nail in the coffin for this power. So if you have to put points in it, definitely leave it at 3.
Inferno Grenades- One of the better grenades. Or rather, more fun grenades since it can set people ablaze and prime fire explosions. Go for radius at 4 and 6 to hit as many targets as once, and 5 for capacity, because if this is something you're going to bother using, you might as well have as many as you can.
Concussive Shot- Its useful for detonating all those folks she just immolated with her inferno grenades. And it does a whole lot of physics damage on enemies suspended in the air from biotics. Plus, its her main weapon vs barriers, as it does 400% damage to barriers. So radius at 4, the damage isn't great on concussive shot to begin with, and the boost doesn't make it all that better. Radius will let you tag more folks for the level 6 evolution. Shatter at 5 (presuming you have a way to freeze folks), and Amplification at 6 to give it the handy little properties of whatever ammo power she's currently using.
Disruptor Ammo- Since you shouldn't be putting any points into marksman, you can jack this up to max. Stun effect notwithstanding, its not as interesting as the other ammo types, and chances are Shep has a better ammo type to make available to the entire squad, so no reason to take the squad evolution at 4. Damage is the obvious choice. Capacity so she'll fire longer, and if you're going to bother with disruptor ammo, get the improved stun chance. Since you should have her with an AR, the improved stun chance works well with the higher fire rate.
Kaidan- He's clearly the superior squadmate choice in 3, with a much more useful and versatile set of abilities.
Weapons:
Assault Rifle- Typhoon or Revenant
Pistol- Again, you should not ever be switching to this, but if you must, the Carnifex will work fine. Just be sure to throw the pistol power magnifier to make it worth it.
Powers:
Alliance Officer- Kaidan is actually a tank because of barrier, so might as well increase that resiliency by going with durability at 4. I normally go with biotic damage at 5. I mean, reave and overload are both great powers, but overload is REALLY great, so it doesn't really need more boosting. For the squad bonus evolution at 6, again I'm not sure if it applies to himself, but a damage increase to both tech and biotic powers has more utlity than the shield charge bonus.
Barrier- Honestly, you should only be detonating barrier if its on Shepard. The micro-managing involved in using barrier detonation offensively is only worth it for yourself. Pick barrier strength at 4 to keep Kaidan tanky. Since he should be slinging around powers, power synergy is the pick for his 5th evolution. Which in turn means you should pick the power charge reduction penalty at 6. Technically, with those two picked, you have a much better DoT.
Reave- Duration at 4. I mean, radius makes it a better detonator, but tagging multiple enemies doesn't increase the amount of damage reduction you get. The DR lasts the entire duration of the power, even if the enemy you used it on died long before the duration ended. Damage reduction at 5 to increase his tankiness. But, barriers and armor at 6 to give him a more effective tool against those defenses.
Overload- Always pick chain overload at 4. Neural shock at 5 to incapacitate weaker enemies. But shield damage at 6- you'll get more utility out of that evolution. Making sure you strip a target's shields is more valuable than hitting a third target.
Cryo-blast- This sucks, there's better ways to freeze people or weaken armor. This is the obvious choice to keep at 3.
