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Oct. 28th, 2016 02:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geebsME blather- Now onto the two Dextro squadmates, Garrus and Tali.
Garrus- Garrus is the man, you won't ever go wrong with having him on your team.
Weapons:
Assault Rifle- PPR, as if there was any doubt! With his weapon/AR damage bonuses and an ammo power activated, the particle rifle is quite deadly in his hands.
Sniper Rifle- The Krysae. I mean, a turian weapon for a turian! Of course, its less a sniper rifle and more a air-burst grenade launcher. Again, with Garrus' sniper rifle damage bonuses, give him cryo ammo and he'll be snap-freeze and blowing up enemies like crazy. If you don't have this (it is a DLC weapon), go with the Black Widow.
Powers:
Turian Rebel- Damage, damage, damage! Like Ash, he's a gunner, so you want to pick the 40% weapon damage bonus at 4, the 50% damage bonus at 5 and 60% damage at 6.
Overload- As usual, chain, neural shock, and shield damage is the most utilitarian setup.
Concussive Shot- radius, shatter, amplification. This is especially useful if he's using cryo ammo, as I often have him do. Shatter to do extra damage to the guys he's frozen with the PPR or Krysae, and radius/amplification to freeze even more people.
Armor Piercing Ammo- Since I play an Infiltrator, I usually do squad cryo ammo, so armor piercing ammo is of limited used to me. As such, I usually leave this at 3 so I can play with proximity mines.
Proximity Mines- Ida know, proximity mines are great in multiplayer on the Geth and Salarian Infiltrators, but they just don't have the same feel here. Or at least coming from Garrus since they don't have the same touch. In MP, it goes where you need it immediately- cloak, toss prox mine at their feet, it immediately blows up in their face. As that happens, fire off a sniper shot from cloak (which is in the middle of breaking from firing the proximity mine) So between the multiplier from cloak and the increase in damage taken from the proximity mine blowing up in their face, those sniper shots are doing a hell of a lot of damage per bullet. EDIT: I forgot the other reason its not the same coming from Garrus- if you're the one shooting out a proximity mine, it gets the cloak damage bonus. If Garrus does it, it does not. You still get the weakening effect, but the explosion doesn't get the damage multiplier.
But yeah, radius at 4 to hit multiple enemies. At 5, damage taken, as weakening the enemy to all forms of damage is way more useful than slowing them. Damage at 6.
Tali- As Kaiden says, she's a good egg. In terms of interactions and romance at least. As a squadmate, she's not great. If you spec her well, she'll be fine, but she easily the weakest squadmate. Again, its not that she's bad, its unless you're fighting geth, there are better choices.
Weapons:
Shotgun- If you have it, the N7 Crusader. One of the bad things about Tali is her main weapon is a shotgun, which means the AI will have her get into close range to utilize it even though she's not meant to be a front line person. That's what her drones are for! The N7 Crusader gets around this because its basically a sniper rifle disguised as a shotgun, firing slugs rather than buckshot. But since that's only available in the N7 Collector's Edition, if you don't have that (unless you were willing to modify the files, but while I'm perfectly willing to modify decisions, I think using it to get DLC or Collector's Edition weapons seems like theft) then the Graal or GPS. Its funny that those two shotguns are also ones you can charge, which the squadmates can never do. So that feature is lost on them.
Pistol- Again, you shouldn't be using this, but if you did, Carnifex with Power Magnifier.
Powers
Quarian Machinist- Although Tali is one of the more fragile squadmates, I say power recharge at 4th so she can use her powers more often. Tech upgrade at 5th, obviously. If you take weapon damage on her you're doing it wrong. For 6, even though drones are her thing, the drone recharge rate isn't all that useful. I mean, she can only spit out one combat and defense drone each (and honestly, she should only pick one or the other) and the cooldowns are already short enough that the benefits are miniscule. Again, I'm not sure if the squad evolution affects herself, but even if it doesn't, recharge speed of everyone else's tech powers has more utility.
Energy Drain- Great as a bonus power for any kind of Shepard, because not only is it something to use against shields/barriers, it restores your shields as well. But yeah, radius at 4 to tag more people, drain at 5 to get more shield restore, and armor boost at 6 for the resiliency.
Sabotage- You know, since I play an infiltrator, I take this for granted. It doesn't occur to me that Tali may be the only way for some folks to have access to his power. Which is crazy, because its incredibly useful against Cerberus and Geth! I mean, because I have sabotage, turrets and atlases are practically meaningless to me. Its like, thanks for giving me something I can use against you!
But yeah, for the evolutions, you may be tempted to go for duration/explosive hack/berserk. Which is one way to go, but that's really specialized towards fighting synthetics. The more utilitarian choice is to go for backfire at 4. Even though the description says causes weapons to overheat, it works on enemies who aren't even carrying guns. So it will cause even husks to pause as their non-existent guns backfire. I do still go with explosive hack at 5, so hacked geth will serve as living bombs if they get destroyed while still sabotaged. As for 6, again, berserk is useful against Geth, but Tech Vulnerability is better overall. I mean, not only will they take more damage on the backfire, since that backfire is considered tech power damage, but making the target take more damage from tech powers is not bad at all.
Combat Drone- I prefer this over Defense Drone because at least it will go out there and seek enemies. Unfortunately, even though I loath drones, you can't skimp on it, you have to max it out to get it to really shine. Shields and Damage at 4 so it will actually last out there. Then shock at 5th to give it some teeth and the chance to stun. Rockets at 6th because those rockets actually do do damage.
Defense Drone- Everything else is more useful, so it gets the short end of the stick. Did she really need two types of drones? The turrets Quarian and Geth characters get in multiplayer would be way more interesting and useful.
Garrus- Garrus is the man, you won't ever go wrong with having him on your team.
Weapons:
Assault Rifle- PPR, as if there was any doubt! With his weapon/AR damage bonuses and an ammo power activated, the particle rifle is quite deadly in his hands.
Sniper Rifle- The Krysae. I mean, a turian weapon for a turian! Of course, its less a sniper rifle and more a air-burst grenade launcher. Again, with Garrus' sniper rifle damage bonuses, give him cryo ammo and he'll be snap-freeze and blowing up enemies like crazy. If you don't have this (it is a DLC weapon), go with the Black Widow.
Powers:
Turian Rebel- Damage, damage, damage! Like Ash, he's a gunner, so you want to pick the 40% weapon damage bonus at 4, the 50% damage bonus at 5 and 60% damage at 6.
Overload- As usual, chain, neural shock, and shield damage is the most utilitarian setup.
Concussive Shot- radius, shatter, amplification. This is especially useful if he's using cryo ammo, as I often have him do. Shatter to do extra damage to the guys he's frozen with the PPR or Krysae, and radius/amplification to freeze even more people.
Armor Piercing Ammo- Since I play an Infiltrator, I usually do squad cryo ammo, so armor piercing ammo is of limited used to me. As such, I usually leave this at 3 so I can play with proximity mines.
Proximity Mines- Ida know, proximity mines are great in multiplayer on the Geth and Salarian Infiltrators, but they just don't have the same feel here. Or at least coming from Garrus since they don't have the same touch. In MP, it goes where you need it immediately- cloak, toss prox mine at their feet, it immediately blows up in their face. As that happens, fire off a sniper shot from cloak (which is in the middle of breaking from firing the proximity mine) So between the multiplier from cloak and the increase in damage taken from the proximity mine blowing up in their face, those sniper shots are doing a hell of a lot of damage per bullet. EDIT: I forgot the other reason its not the same coming from Garrus- if you're the one shooting out a proximity mine, it gets the cloak damage bonus. If Garrus does it, it does not. You still get the weakening effect, but the explosion doesn't get the damage multiplier.
But yeah, radius at 4 to hit multiple enemies. At 5, damage taken, as weakening the enemy to all forms of damage is way more useful than slowing them. Damage at 6.
Tali- As Kaiden says, she's a good egg. In terms of interactions and romance at least. As a squadmate, she's not great. If you spec her well, she'll be fine, but she easily the weakest squadmate. Again, its not that she's bad, its unless you're fighting geth, there are better choices.
Weapons:
Shotgun- If you have it, the N7 Crusader. One of the bad things about Tali is her main weapon is a shotgun, which means the AI will have her get into close range to utilize it even though she's not meant to be a front line person. That's what her drones are for! The N7 Crusader gets around this because its basically a sniper rifle disguised as a shotgun, firing slugs rather than buckshot. But since that's only available in the N7 Collector's Edition, if you don't have that (unless you were willing to modify the files, but while I'm perfectly willing to modify decisions, I think using it to get DLC or Collector's Edition weapons seems like theft) then the Graal or GPS. Its funny that those two shotguns are also ones you can charge, which the squadmates can never do. So that feature is lost on them.
Pistol- Again, you shouldn't be using this, but if you did, Carnifex with Power Magnifier.
Powers
Quarian Machinist- Although Tali is one of the more fragile squadmates, I say power recharge at 4th so she can use her powers more often. Tech upgrade at 5th, obviously. If you take weapon damage on her you're doing it wrong. For 6, even though drones are her thing, the drone recharge rate isn't all that useful. I mean, she can only spit out one combat and defense drone each (and honestly, she should only pick one or the other) and the cooldowns are already short enough that the benefits are miniscule. Again, I'm not sure if the squad evolution affects herself, but even if it doesn't, recharge speed of everyone else's tech powers has more utility.
Energy Drain- Great as a bonus power for any kind of Shepard, because not only is it something to use against shields/barriers, it restores your shields as well. But yeah, radius at 4 to tag more people, drain at 5 to get more shield restore, and armor boost at 6 for the resiliency.
Sabotage- You know, since I play an infiltrator, I take this for granted. It doesn't occur to me that Tali may be the only way for some folks to have access to his power. Which is crazy, because its incredibly useful against Cerberus and Geth! I mean, because I have sabotage, turrets and atlases are practically meaningless to me. Its like, thanks for giving me something I can use against you!
But yeah, for the evolutions, you may be tempted to go for duration/explosive hack/berserk. Which is one way to go, but that's really specialized towards fighting synthetics. The more utilitarian choice is to go for backfire at 4. Even though the description says causes weapons to overheat, it works on enemies who aren't even carrying guns. So it will cause even husks to pause as their non-existent guns backfire. I do still go with explosive hack at 5, so hacked geth will serve as living bombs if they get destroyed while still sabotaged. As for 6, again, berserk is useful against Geth, but Tech Vulnerability is better overall. I mean, not only will they take more damage on the backfire, since that backfire is considered tech power damage, but making the target take more damage from tech powers is not bad at all.
Combat Drone- I prefer this over Defense Drone because at least it will go out there and seek enemies. Unfortunately, even though I loath drones, you can't skimp on it, you have to max it out to get it to really shine. Shields and Damage at 4 so it will actually last out there. Then shock at 5th to give it some teeth and the chance to stun. Rockets at 6th because those rockets actually do do damage.
Defense Drone- Everything else is more useful, so it gets the short end of the stick. Did she really need two types of drones? The turrets Quarian and Geth characters get in multiplayer would be way more interesting and useful.
