Post by RedCaesar97 on Oct 22, 2016 1:38:44 GMT
ATTENTION: This guide was originally posted by Average Gatsby on the old BioWare Social Network (BSN) forums. I am copying it here so it does not disappear when the old BSN forums shut down.
Even though it is the most popular class (apparently), there is surprisingly little discussion, guides or help. Maybe because it seems so straightforward, but that doesn't mean their isn't plenty to talk about.
I'm making this thread as a collaborative guide resource. I'm currently putting together my own guide, but I will not be posting the videos in the OP. Rather, I'd like to leave this top section as an area for basics, builds, tips, and advice that comes from everyone playing soldier. My only requirement is that the strategies apply to the Hardcore/Insanity difficulties, since the game translates very well from top down rather than bottom up on difficulty.
The following section is from Average Gatsby's Soldier Blog/Guide:
Basics:
Let's start with the basics of the Soldier class, before we even talk about the Commando Aspect. It has no direct damage abilities other than concussive shot, which is more for crowd control than direct damage. Everything about the Soldier is gun based, as it begins the game with Snipers, Assault Rifles, and Shotguns, as well as the ability to access three different ammo types: Disruptor, then Incendiary, then Cryo. Finally it has a passive which boosts speed, health, and weapon damage, and a time-distortion, weapon-damage multiplying ability, Adrenaline Rush (AR).
This means you are going to have to be a good shot, and the better shot you are, the better killer you are. While this is true with all classes, the soldier is unique in that it has nothing to save or supplement the player who doesn't have the best shooting ability. What this also means is that a soldier that takes a bonus power that is an ability, or decides to max concussive shot at the expense of the passive, AR, or Ammo Types that would be effective in that situation, is going to miss out on the strength of the soldier class. Direct Damage powers are a liability for the soldier, not an asset, because guns in combination with AR maximizes the soldiers strength.
A gun for every circumstance:
I'm sure you've seen this before, or perhaps played this: Enemies appear at varying distances. You pop the AR and start to unload with your assault rifle at long range. Some of your shots miss, but thats okay. With the AR gone, you begin to burst fire your assault rifle, trying to maximize the number of shots hit. The enemy moves in closer, one within a quick dash. You pop the AR again and mow the final unit down with a full auto of your assault rifle. You then pop out of cover and look for ammo, since your now running a bit low. Hopefully someone dropped some.
Where you successful? No question. Was it Effective? Yes. Could this have gone better? Absolutely.
Here's how I would play. I see the enemies appear. I use my AR in combination with my sniper rifle and one-shot the first enemy. I fire another shot or two as they continue to advance. The enemy has gotten closer now, so I switch to my ar and full-auto on the enemies at medium range. They are close enough that I don't miss much but they are still a bit too far for a charge, and theres 1 too many left. Another enemy goes down. I switch to my shotgun, hit adrenaline rush, and use my super speed to get in close and one shot another enemy. Finally I turn and shotgun the other to death. I don't really need to look for ammo, but I'll look for it anyway.
Totally hypothetical, but my point is that a soldier should maximize the use of all three of his weapons. The Assault Rifle is only a glorified SMG, nothing more, nothing less. Its powerful, but it is not the best weapon in every circumstance. Since the soldier is a weapon based class, and given more tools than any other class to use weapon effectively, it should use them all to maximize its potential. I will supplement this section with a video to show exactly what I am talking about.
Build Priority:
Passive, Adrenaline rush, Ammo, concussive.
This is not to say that one does not put ANY points into the other powers before maxing the others, it simply means they take a priority. Even though adrenaline rush is the greatest strength of the soldier, the soldier gets the most benefit in terms of extra points added by maxing out the passive first. A single second of less cooldown is less important than a 10% speed boost, 10% health boost, and a 3% Weapon damage boost.
Both of those abilities are more important than taking an ammo early, because right from level 6, your squadmates can provide the same ammo power with no cost to shepard (Zaeed with Squad Disruptor and Jacob with Squad Incendiary). Finally, concussive shot has limited utility, and while a single point can be helpful, sacrificing another power would be wasting the Soldier's potential for maximum damage.
Some math on Adrenaline Rush:
swk3000 wrote...
I said I'd post an example, and here it is. To keep the math easy, I'm going to use a made-up Assault Rifle. This particular weapon fires 10 shots in 5 seconds without Adrenaline Rush, and does 100 damage per hit. Obscenely powerful, yes, but it will allow me to do the math in my head instead of having to pull out a calculator. This means that over 5 seconds, and without Adrenaline Rush, this weapon puts out 1000 damage.
Now, under Hardened Adrenaline Rush (and the lower levels, as well), because time is slowed by 50%, you only get 5 shots off. However, each shot does double damage, so your damage output remains at 1000 damage over 5 seconds.
With Heightened Adrenaline Rush, time is slowed by 70%. This means that in those 5 seconds, you only get 3 shots off instead of 5. However, each shot does 2.4 times it's normal damage. This gives you 3 shots of 240 damage each, for a grand total of 720 damage. In other words, you've actually lost damage output during those 5 seconds because time has been slowed down too much.
Now, most of you may look at this and say, 'Well, then, the math proves that Hardened is better than Heightened' and call it good. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The above scenario remains true for fast-firing weapons, which means most of your Assault Rifles, the Predator Heavy Pistol, and the Viper Sniper rifle. However, for slower-firing weapons like the Hand Cannon, the Vindicator, the Mantis, and the Widow, you get a better damage boost out of Heightened. These weapons tend to fire one or two shots (or bursts, in the case of the Vindicator), then have to pause before they can fire again. This slower rate of fire means they get fewer shots off in the same time, so you're less likely to get more than one or two shots off before Adrenaline Rush is gone. Therefore, you might as well boost the damage of the one shot you're guaranteed to get as much as possible.
Builds:
Kaorunandrak's Build:
Powers:
4 - Heightened Adrenaline Rush (Ive tried both and just seem to like this one better)
1 - Concussive Shot (even with just one slot it comes in handy on several occasions)
4 - Squad Disrupter Rounds (See Reasons below)
4 - Squad Incendiary Rounds (See Reasons below)
0 - Cryo rounds
4 - Commando
4 - Tungsten Rounds (See Reasons below)
Weapons:
Revanant Light Machine Gun (My main gun)
Viper Sniper Rifle
Eviscerator Shotgun
Carniflex Handcannon
Arc Projector
Reasoning for the build:
There will probbally be questions with the ammo choices when some one looks at this build and I'll explain to you why I made the 3 ammo choices. First of all both squad ammo are not for you they are for your squad members usage. At the start of a mission you fire up which ever ammo type will benfit you the most. For example the reqruit Jack mission you should turn on your Squad Disrupter ammo so that way your team will be tearing through shields and the Mechs the blue suns use on this mission. But also they will be Overloading the weapons of the Mercs as soon as those shields do drop adding to your over all survival and allowing you to kill with impunity. The same is true for the Squad Inferno rounds and missions involving Vorcha/Krogan except instead of overloading weapons your destroy their armor/regen and set them on fire keeping them from attacking as well.
Now this is where the Tungsten ammo comes in this allows you to maximize your own personal damage while your team is destroying shields/halting regen with the squad based ammo types. You will be destroying armor and inflicting massive damage to the now helpless enemies.Especially if you happen to be using the Revanant as your main gun, it already does a respectable amount of damage to all forms of deffense the Tungsten rounds just ensure what appears(IMHO) the toughest part of the enemy*ARMOR* bar disappears and so does their health bar.
Average Gatsby's blog: averagegatsby.blogspot.ca/.
Videos:
Average Gatsby's Soldier guide (Video playlist)
Even though it is the most popular class (apparently), there is surprisingly little discussion, guides or help. Maybe because it seems so straightforward, but that doesn't mean their isn't plenty to talk about.
I'm making this thread as a collaborative guide resource. I'm currently putting together my own guide, but I will not be posting the videos in the OP. Rather, I'd like to leave this top section as an area for basics, builds, tips, and advice that comes from everyone playing soldier. My only requirement is that the strategies apply to the Hardcore/Insanity difficulties, since the game translates very well from top down rather than bottom up on difficulty.
The following section is from Average Gatsby's Soldier Blog/Guide:
Basics:
Let's start with the basics of the Soldier class, before we even talk about the Commando Aspect. It has no direct damage abilities other than concussive shot, which is more for crowd control than direct damage. Everything about the Soldier is gun based, as it begins the game with Snipers, Assault Rifles, and Shotguns, as well as the ability to access three different ammo types: Disruptor, then Incendiary, then Cryo. Finally it has a passive which boosts speed, health, and weapon damage, and a time-distortion, weapon-damage multiplying ability, Adrenaline Rush (AR).
This means you are going to have to be a good shot, and the better shot you are, the better killer you are. While this is true with all classes, the soldier is unique in that it has nothing to save or supplement the player who doesn't have the best shooting ability. What this also means is that a soldier that takes a bonus power that is an ability, or decides to max concussive shot at the expense of the passive, AR, or Ammo Types that would be effective in that situation, is going to miss out on the strength of the soldier class. Direct Damage powers are a liability for the soldier, not an asset, because guns in combination with AR maximizes the soldiers strength.
A gun for every circumstance:
I'm sure you've seen this before, or perhaps played this: Enemies appear at varying distances. You pop the AR and start to unload with your assault rifle at long range. Some of your shots miss, but thats okay. With the AR gone, you begin to burst fire your assault rifle, trying to maximize the number of shots hit. The enemy moves in closer, one within a quick dash. You pop the AR again and mow the final unit down with a full auto of your assault rifle. You then pop out of cover and look for ammo, since your now running a bit low. Hopefully someone dropped some.
Where you successful? No question. Was it Effective? Yes. Could this have gone better? Absolutely.
Here's how I would play. I see the enemies appear. I use my AR in combination with my sniper rifle and one-shot the first enemy. I fire another shot or two as they continue to advance. The enemy has gotten closer now, so I switch to my ar and full-auto on the enemies at medium range. They are close enough that I don't miss much but they are still a bit too far for a charge, and theres 1 too many left. Another enemy goes down. I switch to my shotgun, hit adrenaline rush, and use my super speed to get in close and one shot another enemy. Finally I turn and shotgun the other to death. I don't really need to look for ammo, but I'll look for it anyway.
Totally hypothetical, but my point is that a soldier should maximize the use of all three of his weapons. The Assault Rifle is only a glorified SMG, nothing more, nothing less. Its powerful, but it is not the best weapon in every circumstance. Since the soldier is a weapon based class, and given more tools than any other class to use weapon effectively, it should use them all to maximize its potential. I will supplement this section with a video to show exactly what I am talking about.
Build Priority:
Passive, Adrenaline rush, Ammo, concussive.
This is not to say that one does not put ANY points into the other powers before maxing the others, it simply means they take a priority. Even though adrenaline rush is the greatest strength of the soldier, the soldier gets the most benefit in terms of extra points added by maxing out the passive first. A single second of less cooldown is less important than a 10% speed boost, 10% health boost, and a 3% Weapon damage boost.
Both of those abilities are more important than taking an ammo early, because right from level 6, your squadmates can provide the same ammo power with no cost to shepard (Zaeed with Squad Disruptor and Jacob with Squad Incendiary). Finally, concussive shot has limited utility, and while a single point can be helpful, sacrificing another power would be wasting the Soldier's potential for maximum damage.
Some math on Adrenaline Rush:
swk3000 wrote...
I said I'd post an example, and here it is. To keep the math easy, I'm going to use a made-up Assault Rifle. This particular weapon fires 10 shots in 5 seconds without Adrenaline Rush, and does 100 damage per hit. Obscenely powerful, yes, but it will allow me to do the math in my head instead of having to pull out a calculator. This means that over 5 seconds, and without Adrenaline Rush, this weapon puts out 1000 damage.
Now, under Hardened Adrenaline Rush (and the lower levels, as well), because time is slowed by 50%, you only get 5 shots off. However, each shot does double damage, so your damage output remains at 1000 damage over 5 seconds.
With Heightened Adrenaline Rush, time is slowed by 70%. This means that in those 5 seconds, you only get 3 shots off instead of 5. However, each shot does 2.4 times it's normal damage. This gives you 3 shots of 240 damage each, for a grand total of 720 damage. In other words, you've actually lost damage output during those 5 seconds because time has been slowed down too much.
Now, most of you may look at this and say, 'Well, then, the math proves that Hardened is better than Heightened' and call it good. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The above scenario remains true for fast-firing weapons, which means most of your Assault Rifles, the Predator Heavy Pistol, and the Viper Sniper rifle. However, for slower-firing weapons like the Hand Cannon, the Vindicator, the Mantis, and the Widow, you get a better damage boost out of Heightened. These weapons tend to fire one or two shots (or bursts, in the case of the Vindicator), then have to pause before they can fire again. This slower rate of fire means they get fewer shots off in the same time, so you're less likely to get more than one or two shots off before Adrenaline Rush is gone. Therefore, you might as well boost the damage of the one shot you're guaranteed to get as much as possible.
Builds:
Kaorunandrak's Build:
Powers:
4 - Heightened Adrenaline Rush (Ive tried both and just seem to like this one better)
1 - Concussive Shot (even with just one slot it comes in handy on several occasions)
4 - Squad Disrupter Rounds (See Reasons below)
4 - Squad Incendiary Rounds (See Reasons below)
0 - Cryo rounds
4 - Commando
4 - Tungsten Rounds (See Reasons below)
Weapons:
Revanant Light Machine Gun (My main gun)
Viper Sniper Rifle
Eviscerator Shotgun
Carniflex Handcannon
Arc Projector
Reasoning for the build:
There will probbally be questions with the ammo choices when some one looks at this build and I'll explain to you why I made the 3 ammo choices. First of all both squad ammo are not for you they are for your squad members usage. At the start of a mission you fire up which ever ammo type will benfit you the most. For example the reqruit Jack mission you should turn on your Squad Disrupter ammo so that way your team will be tearing through shields and the Mechs the blue suns use on this mission. But also they will be Overloading the weapons of the Mercs as soon as those shields do drop adding to your over all survival and allowing you to kill with impunity. The same is true for the Squad Inferno rounds and missions involving Vorcha/Krogan except instead of overloading weapons your destroy their armor/regen and set them on fire keeping them from attacking as well.
Now this is where the Tungsten ammo comes in this allows you to maximize your own personal damage while your team is destroying shields/halting regen with the squad based ammo types. You will be destroying armor and inflicting massive damage to the now helpless enemies.Especially if you happen to be using the Revanant as your main gun, it already does a respectable amount of damage to all forms of deffense the Tungsten rounds just ensure what appears(IMHO) the toughest part of the enemy*ARMOR* bar disappears and so does their health bar.
Average Gatsby's blog: averagegatsby.blogspot.ca/.
Videos:
Average Gatsby's Soldier guide (Video playlist)