Post by RedCaesar97 on Oct 16, 2016 23:00:23 GMT
ATTENTION: This thread was originally posted by IMNWME on the old BioWare Social Network (BSN) forums. I'm copying it here so it does not disappear when the old BSN forums are shut down.
Okay, I used one of my old Engineer saves to try out the Firepower Pack. As I've never used the Dominate bonus power on an Engineer before (I've only used it on the Infiltrator, with less than stellar results), I wanted to give it a try... and holy crap, the Engineer becomes a freaking monster once you've gotten the playstyle down.
Ultimate Crowd Control
Here's how the build looks at Level 30:
3 - Overload
4 - Incineration Blast
4 - Attack Drone
2 - Cryo Blast
3 - AI Hacking
4 - Demolisher
3 - Dominate
Dominate and AI Hacking are best left at rank 3, which is the point where possessed bosses/elites actually remain under your control long enough to do some decent damage. Rank 4 often prolongs battles unnecessarily by giving your minions too many barriers/shields. If you go for the AoE version, you defeat the purpose of distracting enemies, as the possessed enemies will just fight each other, which is stupid as they'll have refreshed protections.
Purpose of Build
Total control. The effect of multiple distractions is cumulative. One Drone is good. One Drone plus a possessed slave is great. Drone + two possessed slaves = nobody shooting at you, setting up golden CQC situations, or the opportunity to play around with your powers. You have all of them at your disposal: a beefy Overload, Incineration Blast, and Cryo Blast 2, which you can use to freeze enemies that aren't Dominated/Hacked once your miniature army has reduced most of the mob to health.
As a plus, this build can handle any encounter in the game, whether organic or synthetic. Your allies should always be someone with the appropriate squad ammo power (Jacob/Grunt/Zaeed/Jack/Garrus) and another ally who can defense strip (Miranda, Garrus, Samara, Mordin, etc.). Don't worry about CC, you ARE CC.
Collector Ship Weapon Training
This will depend on whether or not you have the Firepower Pack DLC. Without it, you should definitely pick up AR training. With it, you can pick either the Mattock or the Geth Pulse Shotgun.
This depends on your personal playstyle preference. I like the Geth Pulse Shotgun, because it takes down enemies fast once I decide to close in. Also, it rips off protections in one shot from middle or even long range. If you have access to it, I'd definitely recommend it, as it allows you to drop your defense stripping squadmate and run with somebody like Kasumi (whose Shadow Strike is also another great distraction). Again, it's up to you, though. I've used the Viper, but the scope gets annoying, especially when you're casting from behind cover.
General Strategy
When you first enter a battle:
1) Send out a Drone.
2) Have an ally strip a grunt's protection, then Dominate/Hack him.
3) Shoot off another enemy's protection (elite, if present), and Dominate/Hack him too.
4) Clean up.
Cleaning up can consist of multiple strategies, depending on what you like to do. Personally, once I have two slaves under my control and Drone in play, I just rush down enemies with the SMG/AR/Shotgun.
You can also start cleaning up after step 2, if there's only a cluster of three enemies or less, which happens a lot. I personally do not use my direct damage powers to defense strip, just like AverageGatsby recommends. They'll only come into play when I'm working on bosses, or when I've decided to rush in. Then I'll use Overload on Geth, and Incineration Blast to panic organics while I shoot them to death with the help of my slaves.
Again, the purpose of the build is to primarily rack up the number of distractions the enemy has to deal with. The AI will always focus on the nearest enemy, which is why if you have Drone and two slaves in play, nobody will shoot at you. You can clear rooms FAST once this happens, because you can just run in and gun everyone down without worrying about getting shot at.
Early game priorities
Taking Dominate as your bonus power will automatically place one point in it. From that point on, early priorities are Drone, your passive (for the cool-down/duration bonus), Cryo Blast 2 to unlock AI Hacking, and Hacking. Direct damage powers I leave for last. So, early game builds should aim for something like this:
1 - Overload
0 - Incinerate
2 - Drone
2 - Cryo Blast
2 - AI Hacking
3 - Tech Mastery
2 - Dominate
This requires 19 points and is definitely achievable before Horizon. Afterwards, you should get Tech Mastery to Level 4, then level up Dominate to 3 (more organics than synthetics in the early-game). Then build however you want, although I'd put early priority on getting Hacking to rank 3 and maxing Drone.
Okay, I used one of my old Engineer saves to try out the Firepower Pack. As I've never used the Dominate bonus power on an Engineer before (I've only used it on the Infiltrator, with less than stellar results), I wanted to give it a try... and holy crap, the Engineer becomes a freaking monster once you've gotten the playstyle down.
Ultimate Crowd Control
Here's how the build looks at Level 30:
3 - Overload
4 - Incineration Blast
4 - Attack Drone
2 - Cryo Blast
3 - AI Hacking
4 - Demolisher
3 - Dominate
Dominate and AI Hacking are best left at rank 3, which is the point where possessed bosses/elites actually remain under your control long enough to do some decent damage. Rank 4 often prolongs battles unnecessarily by giving your minions too many barriers/shields. If you go for the AoE version, you defeat the purpose of distracting enemies, as the possessed enemies will just fight each other, which is stupid as they'll have refreshed protections.
Purpose of Build
Total control. The effect of multiple distractions is cumulative. One Drone is good. One Drone plus a possessed slave is great. Drone + two possessed slaves = nobody shooting at you, setting up golden CQC situations, or the opportunity to play around with your powers. You have all of them at your disposal: a beefy Overload, Incineration Blast, and Cryo Blast 2, which you can use to freeze enemies that aren't Dominated/Hacked once your miniature army has reduced most of the mob to health.
As a plus, this build can handle any encounter in the game, whether organic or synthetic. Your allies should always be someone with the appropriate squad ammo power (Jacob/Grunt/Zaeed/Jack/Garrus) and another ally who can defense strip (Miranda, Garrus, Samara, Mordin, etc.). Don't worry about CC, you ARE CC.
Collector Ship Weapon Training
This will depend on whether or not you have the Firepower Pack DLC. Without it, you should definitely pick up AR training. With it, you can pick either the Mattock or the Geth Pulse Shotgun.
This depends on your personal playstyle preference. I like the Geth Pulse Shotgun, because it takes down enemies fast once I decide to close in. Also, it rips off protections in one shot from middle or even long range. If you have access to it, I'd definitely recommend it, as it allows you to drop your defense stripping squadmate and run with somebody like Kasumi (whose Shadow Strike is also another great distraction). Again, it's up to you, though. I've used the Viper, but the scope gets annoying, especially when you're casting from behind cover.
General Strategy
When you first enter a battle:
1) Send out a Drone.
2) Have an ally strip a grunt's protection, then Dominate/Hack him.
3) Shoot off another enemy's protection (elite, if present), and Dominate/Hack him too.
4) Clean up.
Cleaning up can consist of multiple strategies, depending on what you like to do. Personally, once I have two slaves under my control and Drone in play, I just rush down enemies with the SMG/AR/Shotgun.
You can also start cleaning up after step 2, if there's only a cluster of three enemies or less, which happens a lot. I personally do not use my direct damage powers to defense strip, just like AverageGatsby recommends. They'll only come into play when I'm working on bosses, or when I've decided to rush in. Then I'll use Overload on Geth, and Incineration Blast to panic organics while I shoot them to death with the help of my slaves.
Again, the purpose of the build is to primarily rack up the number of distractions the enemy has to deal with. The AI will always focus on the nearest enemy, which is why if you have Drone and two slaves in play, nobody will shoot at you. You can clear rooms FAST once this happens, because you can just run in and gun everyone down without worrying about getting shot at.
Early game priorities
Taking Dominate as your bonus power will automatically place one point in it. From that point on, early priorities are Drone, your passive (for the cool-down/duration bonus), Cryo Blast 2 to unlock AI Hacking, and Hacking. Direct damage powers I leave for last. So, early game builds should aim for something like this:
1 - Overload
0 - Incinerate
2 - Drone
2 - Cryo Blast
2 - AI Hacking
3 - Tech Mastery
2 - Dominate
This requires 19 points and is definitely achievable before Horizon. Afterwards, you should get Tech Mastery to Level 4, then level up Dominate to 3 (more organics than synthetics in the early-game). Then build however you want, although I'd put early priority on getting Hacking to rank 3 and maxing Drone.