Mass Effect 2: One Shot One Kill, A Comprehensive Guide to the Widow Soldier (by ezrafetch)
Oct 22, 2016 2:28:45 GMT
Post by RedCaesar97 on Oct 22, 2016 2:28:45 GMT
ATTENTION: This guide was originally posted by ezrafetch 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.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Widow Anti-Material Rifle
3. Keys to Playing the Widow Soldier
4. Discussion of Powers
5. Discussion of Equipment
6. Discussion of Squadmates
7. Credits: Other Media
1. Introduction:
While it's not actually a sniper's maxim, in popular culture, the sniper has the maxim of "one shot, one kill." Essentially it means to "waste not, want not", but in a radically different context. You don't want to waste bullets. Plain and simple.
At least in ME2, the longstanding tradition is this: if you want to snipe, you play the Infiltrator class. With Assassination Cloak, the Infiltrator has the ability to line up kills with due expedience, using the time provided by the Cloak along with the scope dilation to line up a headshot for the kill. However, the Soldier is just as effective of a sniper as an Infiltrator.
Here's some general numbers:
Assassin + Assassination Cloak: +90% Damage
Commando + Adrenaline Rush: +155% Damage
From those numbers, we can easily see that given similar scenarios where only the class is the variable, the
Soldier can actually put out more damage than the Infiltrator. Of course, this is not to put down Infiltrators, but first and foremost this is a Widow Soldier guide and second, the Infiltrator has a drastically different style of play. The fact that the Cloak, well, cloaks, makes for a different style of play for the Infiltrator.
If you follow the One Shot, One Kill maxim, the Widow Soldier can be one of the most powerful classes in the game. Its damage output is almost unparalleled, and its ability to thrive in all ranges makes the class easily adaptable to whatever situation is thrown at it.
And, as a note, the guide is generally geared towards playing on Insanity, where there's protection everywhere. And where the Widow isn't able to one-shot, say, the Reaper in one hit (or something like that, I'm not sure if it's true).
This is an analogue to IMNWME's Claymore Soldier guide and the general guide (which mostly closely examines Revenant Soldiers). I noticed that the initial guide by Average Gatsby sort of focused on the Revenant, and since IMNWME's focused on the Claymore, I figure that the Widow deserves its dues. Each class yields radically different tactics in gameplay, so perhaps each one deserves its own guide.
2. The Widow Anti-Material Rifle:
Just some stats, in case you were wondering:
> Base Damage: 368.3
> Damage Modifiers: Armor - 1.5x, Barrier - 1.0x, Shields - 1.0x
> Range Modifiers: Long - 1.0x, Middle - 1.0x, Short - 1.0x
> Hitbox Multipliers (educated guess): Headshot* - 2.0x, Rest of Body - 1.0x
> One shot per clip, 13 clips in total. Ammo pickup yields one to two shots for the Widow.
With 5/5 Sniper Rifle Upgrades, all special upgrades:
> Base Damage + 5/5 Sniper Rifle Upgrades: 552.45
> Damage Modifiers: Armor - 2.0x, Barrier - 1.0x, Shields - 1.0x
> Range Modifiers: Long - 1.0x, Middle - 1.0x, Short 1.0x
> Hitbox Multipliers (educated guess): Headshot* - 2.5x, Rest of Body - 1.0x
> One shot per clip, 13 clips in total. Ammo pickup yields one to two shots for the Widow.
*This is an educated guess with the hitboxes, but from simple field testing, it seems like you get about 2.0x without the Headshot upgrade. The Widow's insanely high base damage makes it a little hard to generate accurate data, but it's certainly possible that the hitbox for Headshots yields only a 1.5x damage boost. Either way, it's a heck of a lot of damage.
3. Keys to playing the Widow Soldier:
A. Utilize all ranges of combat:
While a Widow Soldier is primarily a sniper, you're still a Soldier. You're in the unique position that you have access to every weapon outside of the SMG. If an enemy moves into the middle range where the Assault Rifle is a better choice, switch to it. If an enemy moves into short range where you're better off unloading a shotgun in the enemy's face, switch to it. This will not only provide longevity for your Widow (after all, the Widow doesn't carry a lot of ammo), but make combat more satisfying and make you as efficient as you can be. You're a sniper, but since you're a Soldier, you have guns for all ranges, so use them. If you can close in and satisfyingly eliminate the rest of the enemy horde via shotgun headshots, do it.
B. Utilize all guns:
It's a corollary to the above point, but every gun has an applicable situation, especially with the Widow Soldier. Use the gun which best suits the range you're in. Even your Heavy Pistol has its uses. The whole guns thing will be explained in the section V, where I discuss equipment.
C. "You are a Soldier and You Have Adrenaline Rush, So Use It":
This holds especially true with the Widow. Soldiers do not inherently have sniper scope dilation, so when you are lining up a shot, use Adrenaline Rush to give you the extra time you need to line up the shot. Add on the insane damage boost from Adrenaline Rush, and it becomes hard to justify sniping outside of Adrenaline Rush. When in combat, I usually consider the use of Adrenaline Rush to be an offensive tool. If you have to strip off non-armor protection, I would suggest holding off Adrenaline Rush until you know you can eliminate an opponent in one Adrenaline Rush cycle (i.e. one activation plus its cooldown) or you know you have the time to set up another Adrenaline Rush cycle by switching from one weapon to another.
You can also use Adrenaline Rush to close distances, which is extremely effective, and should be used as often as you can deem it prudent. When you switch your weapon (which the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush is well suited for), look for a new position where you can flank or post up for effective use of the sniper rifle, and use Adrenaline Rush to get there, root out the forces there with a few shotgun blasts, and get to real work. I highly discourage defensive posturing with Adrenaline Rush unless you know you're going to get owned since you took cover too far up or got flanked, in which case it's useful to get to cover you can actually use without getting eliminated.
As a side note, since you get a sick amount of time dilation from Adrenaline Rush, which doesn't affect movement, your melee's speed isn't affected at all. So where you could only melee twice, under Adrenaline Rush you can melee around 4-5 times. You can challenge Husks to fistfights this way, which yields entertaining results.
4. "If You're Going to Snipe, Snipe Well, My Friend":
While in theory, you have plenty of time to line up a shot with Adrenaline Rush, that's usually in a vacuum where enemies do not have the "eliminate Shepard but leave the squadmates perfectly fine" mindset in a battle. You're going to get shot at, and getting hit throws off your aim like crazy, which leads to wasting bullets, which for the Widow is sacrilegious. The tip here is to learn how to essentially "quickscope," as much as a quasi-shooter like ME2 will allow. The essence of quickscoping is to center your target in your crosshairs as much as possible, and then finally aim down the scope. If you've done it right, you only need to be scoped in for a second or two at the most before you fire off your headshot and earn your kill. This leaves you out in the open less. You take less damage, and it makes you look pro, so...win/win.
Keep in mind that while the Widow is beyond excellent on taking on Armor and Health, it's subpar for removing Barrier and Shields. If you can, eliminate most of an enemy's shield or barrier before taking your Widow shot. You can do this via squadmate abilities/weapons or your own non-Widow weapons. While your Widow will always your weapon of choice, you still have limited ammo, so while you should apply the Widow liberally to get your kills, the Widow is less suited to setting up your kills (it's not called the Half-Widow, so try not to use it to get halfway there, use it to GET THERE!!!!). Note that once you do get your Headshot Damage upgrade for the Sniper Rifle (special upgrade once you get 3/5 Damage Upgrades), you can one-shot most grunt units (i.e. Collector Drones) in one headshot from full Barrier or shield, so if you know you can get the kill without stripping protection at all, then by all means go for it.
4. Discussion of Powers:
The Soldier has six skills available to them:
Adrenaline Rush
Concussive Shot
Disruptor Ammo
Incendiary Ammo
Cryo Ammo
Combat Mastery
and then whatever bonus skill.
As always, max Adrenaline Rush and Combat Mastery as soon as possible. The evolutions of these powers that we're looking for for the Widow Soldier are Heightened Adrenaline Rush and Commando. Since you can only get one Widow shot off regardless of the evolution of Adrenaline Rush, you might as well take the one with greater time dilation (thus helping you set up your shot better) and greater damage modifiers (making your shot more pro).
From there, you pick three Ammo Powers, max those and drop a point into Concussive Blast as an anti-Husk measure. The question is, which ammo powers, and what evolutions do you want?
Disruptor Ammo is the anti-shield, anti-synthetic ammo power. The Heavy evolution provides 20% more damage (i.e. +60%) over the Squad (+40%) evolution of the power.
Incendiary Ammo is the part anti-armor, part crowd-control ammo power. The Inferno evolution provides 60% fire damage and a 3m blast radius, while the Squad simply provides 40% fire damage to the whole squad.
Cryo Ammo is the strictly crowd-control ammo power. The Improved evolution provides 7s of freeze duration while the Squad evolution provides the 5s of freeze duration to the whole squad.
It's also important to mention the bonus Ammo Powers:
> Armor-Piercing Ammo is an anti-armor, anti-health ammo power. The Tungsten evolution provides a +70% damage bonus, while the Squad variety provides +50% for the entire squad.
> Warp Ammo is an anti-armor, anti-barrier ammo power. The Heavy evolution provides +50% damage bonus, while the Squad variety provides +35% for the entire squad.
> Shredder Ammo is simply an anti-health ammo power. The Improved evolution provides +80% damage bonus, while the Squad variety provides +60% to the entire squad. But playing on Insanity, everything has protection, so Shredder Ammo generally sucks unless you are trying to emulate a certain villain.
Generally, you want two Squad Ammos and one "Heavy"/"Improved" evolution to keep for yourself. This allows you to help your squad's damage depending on what you're facing, and a "Heavy"/"Improved" evolution since you want something super good for yourself.
For Squad ammos, the best picks are Disruptor Ammo, Warp Ammo, and Cryo Ammo. Disruptor and Warp Ammo both can help your party more easily deal with protections via gunfire (given longer squadmate power cooldowns, they will fire a lot more), while Cryo Ammo provides crowd control via freezing. If you're going as a "pureblood" Soldier without bonus powers, you're stuck with Cryo. I generally suggest if you can to avoid Cryo with Widow soldiers, because frozen enemies tend to fall over behind cover, which quite obviously means you can't snipe them, which is sad because I love Cryo in all other instances. However, on some missions where you don't snipe a whole lot (Reaper IFF comes to mind), Cryo is especially useful. If you take Infermo Ammo for yourself (see below), it's far less necessary to take Cryo as Inferno has built in crowd control. But if you are looking for extra crowd control (for instance, if your preferred squad lacks in crowd control), then look no further than Squad Cryo Ammo.
For an ammo for yourself, the best picks are Inferno and Tungsten Ammo. I generally prefer Inferno in this instance because of the crowd control (and generally it's hilarious to watch enemies try to put out fires on themselves), but if you're just looking for pure damage, then take Tungsten.
While there are other Ammo combinations, these are the ones I would usually suggest:
Squad Disruptor, Squad Cryo, Inferno *
Squad Disruptor, Squad Warp, Inferno *
Squad Disruptor, Squad Incendiary, Heavy Warp
Squad Disruptor, Squad Incendiary, Tungsten
[*]
I personally utilize the first if I'm taking a "pureblood" approach and the second if I'm going no holds barred (denoted by *).
If you've noticed, I've neglected to mention pretty much all of the other active bonus powers by only mentioning the ammo powers. This is because of the nature of Soldier gameplay, especially on Insanity. You're going to be doing little in terms of powers but spam Adrenaline Rush to enhance your killing power. All other active powers just get in the way. It's pretty key to use Adrenaline Rush liberally since it allows you to take control of the battlefield through either straight-up killing dudes or setting up your "straight-up killing dudes" parts. If you did have to pick an active bonus power, I'd choose something like a 1pt Slam or Neural Shock to disable enemies, but Concussive Shot already does that reasonably well and so becomes less useful.
A general explanation of Ammo Powers by Simbacca can be found here: Ammo Powers!
Your Widow Soldier should probably look something like this, at the end:
4 - Heightened Adrenaline Rush
1 - Concussive Shot
4 - Squad Ammo #1
4 - Squad Ammo #2
4 - "Heavy/Improved" Ammo
4 - Commando
NOTE:
While I suggest against taking an active bonus power in the discussion above, you can simply replace Concussive Shot with that active bonus power (top options are Neural Shock, Slam). If you decide that you wish to run Flashbang Grenade (a fantastic skill but I think for Widow Soldiers it works at less than maximum effectiveness), then you will have to divert skill points away from Ammo Powers because Flashbang isn't entirely worth it until you dump more points into it (at least rank 2 or 3), though for maximum effectiveness one should really go with it maxed out [rank 4 - Improved]. You'd have to give up either a Squad Ammo or your Heavy/Improved Ammo. If you do so I'd suggest dropping Squad Cryo/Warp, switching Inferno to Squad Incendiary and go with Improved Flashbang.
As long as you have Heightened Adrenaline Rush, Commando, and your Widow, you will kill everything easily. The question is how much survivability you want with your build.
BE AWARE!
You are a Soldier. You don't really need Eezo since those upgrades are useless to you. But you do have the option to respec and/or adjust your bonus power! If you are about to go onto the Reaper IFF and know that Squad Warp is not as good as Squad Cryo, respec into Squad Cryo! It makes your life a ton easier, and if you got the Long Service Bonus (enough eezo to take a bath in), then you can respec almost all the time. Cycle to the ammo bonus powers that are the best for a mission because those abilities, while not necessarily being the difference between life and death, can mean the difference between an incredibly hard time and just a hard time (or even an easy time).
5. Discussion of Equipment:
A. Weapons:
Sniper Rifle:
You're a Widow Soldier, so it's at least obvious that you're going to be using the Widow as your Sniper.
Assault Rifle:
You can decide between the Avenger, the Vindicator, the Geth Pulse Rifle, or the Collector Assault Rifle. The Vindicator as the highest DPS, best accuracy and second least recoil, but has the least ammo and overall rate of fire. The Avenger is tied for worst DPS, has probably the worst accuracy and recoil, but has the second-highest ammo count and a very good rate of fire. The Geth Pulse Rifle has better DPS than the Avenger and the Collector Assault Rifle, has probably the most ammo, and variable rate of fire with reasonable recoil. Also note that it sacrifices a bit of the Armor damage modifier to have higher Barrier and Shield damage modifiers. The Collector Assault Rifle is tied for the worst DPS, tied for best accuracy with the least recoil, but with fairly low ammo count and low rate of fire.
From there, it's preference. Compensating for the lower rate of fire and low ammo count that the Widow has would entail taking anything but the Vindicator. Playing off of the general "playstyle" of a Widow Soldier would probably entail taking the Vindicator with the much higher DPS.
The addition of the Mattock (Firepower Pack DLC) largely renders every other Assault Rifle obselete. High rate of fire (seems to be as fast as you can fire), reasonable damage yield pretty high DPS and reasonable ammo capacity (at least more effective shots than the Vindicator) means that the weapon is extremely effective. Just don't take it into close quarters; as a semi-automatic battle rifle, its CQB ability is extremely lacking (though you can do so with the Avenger and Geth Pulse Rifle).
Heavy Pistol:
It's either the Predator or the Carnifex. I'd usually suggest taking the Carnifex, unless you use the Vindicator, in which case you may want to take the Predator to just have more ammo. The Carnifex is pretty pro at stripping armor, and you can even take down Harbinger's armor in one Adrenaline Rush cycle on Insanity, which means there's defnitely a viable non-Widow method of quickly eliminating Harbinger.
The addition of the Phalanx (Firepower Pack DLC) doesn't change the picture much. The Carnifex has the highest DPS of the pistols still. Though if you are looking to faux-snipe with a pistol or enjoy laser sights on weapons, the Phalanx is worth a look. It does have a higher ammo count than the Carnifex so if you appreciate the stopping power of a hand cannon but want more ammo, then look towards the Phalanx.
Shotguns:
Once again, you have a preference here. Compensating for ammo count and rate of fire concerns means you take the Scimitar, while going for pure damage and perfectly fitting the playstyle you choose the Eviscerator. I'd say the Katana falls more towards the Eviscerator than the Scimitar, which makes it just a worse Eviscerator under Adrenaline Rush. You can actually pull off two Scimitar shots under Heightened Adrenaline Rush, which I'm slightly certain no other shotgun can do.
The Geth Plasma Shotgun is a peculiar beast. Capable of highest damage per firing (burns up two shots to achieve this) through charging and capable of engaging foes in medium range, the Geth Plasma Shotgun is certainly a viable option. However, low ammo count and the inability to charge the shotgun in cover diminish the Geth Plasma Shotgun's capabilities. Given the correct playstyle, though, the Geth Plasma Shotgun can be devastating.
Heavy Weapons:
You don't exactly need Heavy Weapons to function effectively as a Widow Soldier, but if you're going to take one I'd suggest the Arc Projector, the Grenade Launcher, or just bringing your best friend, the Cain around.
B. Armor:
You have a couple sets of uncustomizable armor that will do in the early game (i.e. Cerberus Assault Armor, Collector Armor), but you're better off customizing the N7. Since there are a ton of options, I'm only going to list the more relevant choices for Soldiers. Generally, you're looking for +Damage modifiers, with +Shields and +Health modifiers as icing on the cake, but really equipment only marginally alters the entire experience.
Head:
Kuwashii Visor: +10% Headshot Damage
Recon Hood: +5% Weapon Damage
Kestrel Helmet: +5% Headshot Damage, +3% Weapon Damage, +3% Shields
Chest:
N7: +3% Power Damage
Aegis Vest: +5% Health
Shield Harness: +5% Shields
Kestrel Torso Sheath: +10% Melee Damage, +5% Weapon Damage, +3% Shields
Shoulders:
N7: +3% Weapon Damage
Strength Boost Pads: +25% Melee Damage
Kestrel Shoulder Pieces: +8% Shields, +10% Melee Damage
Arms:
Stabilization Gauntlets: +5% Weapon Damage
Kestrel Arm Sheathing: +10% Melee Damage, +3% Shields, +3% Weapon Damage
Legs:
Stimulator Conduits: +10% Storm
Life Support Webbing: +10% Health
Kestrel Power Pack: +8% Shields, +5% Heavy Weapon Ammo
6. Discussion of Squadmates:
I'd naturally assume that a Soldier could get by without Squadmates, go all "ONE MAN ARMYYYY" on the Collectors and be able to do it, but squadmates make it a heck of a lot easier. Two things to look for are additional help in stripping shields and barriers, and providing some sort of crowd control.
In providing the former, you really can't go wrong with Miranda. Overload + Warp, and her passive also increases your damage. Basically as pro as it gets.
In providing the latter, you can go a few ways. If you want to use biotics then run with Jacob, Samara/Morinth (Morinth is probably the better option with Dominate, actually), or Jack. Grunt is his own crowd control by just running around and being krogan, thus becoming a crazy tank. Other options include Tali and Legion, with their combat drones, but Legion is the preferable one as he is less squishy and can also get the Widow, which could probably make the game explode from all the awesome double Widow action going on (however, given Drone lifespan and power cooldown, Drone seems to be a subpar crowd control option compared to other available abilities). You can also use Kasumi, who has Flashbang Grenade available to her which is terrific crowd control (with Overload to boot).
Also, Zaeed works because he is awesome.
In general, however, it actually rarely matters who you put on your squad because each potential squadmate will provide some sort of CC and some sort of defense stripping. If you play smart, you'll be fine.
7. Credits/Other Media:
I've poked around for some of the more basic info and stats from here and the ME wikia, so thanks to them for providing it.
Thanks, everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed sniping with the Soldier and accrued some residual knowledge which I thought would be helpful if all condensed into one place. Comments, critique are all appreciated, as there's no such thing as a completely comprehensive guide, let alone on the first try.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Widow Anti-Material Rifle
3. Keys to Playing the Widow Soldier
4. Discussion of Powers
5. Discussion of Equipment
6. Discussion of Squadmates
7. Credits: Other Media
1. Introduction:
While it's not actually a sniper's maxim, in popular culture, the sniper has the maxim of "one shot, one kill." Essentially it means to "waste not, want not", but in a radically different context. You don't want to waste bullets. Plain and simple.
At least in ME2, the longstanding tradition is this: if you want to snipe, you play the Infiltrator class. With Assassination Cloak, the Infiltrator has the ability to line up kills with due expedience, using the time provided by the Cloak along with the scope dilation to line up a headshot for the kill. However, the Soldier is just as effective of a sniper as an Infiltrator.
Here's some general numbers:
Assassin + Assassination Cloak: +90% Damage
Commando + Adrenaline Rush: +155% Damage
From those numbers, we can easily see that given similar scenarios where only the class is the variable, the
Soldier can actually put out more damage than the Infiltrator. Of course, this is not to put down Infiltrators, but first and foremost this is a Widow Soldier guide and second, the Infiltrator has a drastically different style of play. The fact that the Cloak, well, cloaks, makes for a different style of play for the Infiltrator.
If you follow the One Shot, One Kill maxim, the Widow Soldier can be one of the most powerful classes in the game. Its damage output is almost unparalleled, and its ability to thrive in all ranges makes the class easily adaptable to whatever situation is thrown at it.
And, as a note, the guide is generally geared towards playing on Insanity, where there's protection everywhere. And where the Widow isn't able to one-shot, say, the Reaper in one hit (or something like that, I'm not sure if it's true).
This is an analogue to IMNWME's Claymore Soldier guide and the general guide (which mostly closely examines Revenant Soldiers). I noticed that the initial guide by Average Gatsby sort of focused on the Revenant, and since IMNWME's focused on the Claymore, I figure that the Widow deserves its dues. Each class yields radically different tactics in gameplay, so perhaps each one deserves its own guide.
2. The Widow Anti-Material Rifle:
Just some stats, in case you were wondering:
> Base Damage: 368.3
> Damage Modifiers: Armor - 1.5x, Barrier - 1.0x, Shields - 1.0x
> Range Modifiers: Long - 1.0x, Middle - 1.0x, Short - 1.0x
> Hitbox Multipliers (educated guess): Headshot* - 2.0x, Rest of Body - 1.0x
> One shot per clip, 13 clips in total. Ammo pickup yields one to two shots for the Widow.
With 5/5 Sniper Rifle Upgrades, all special upgrades:
> Base Damage + 5/5 Sniper Rifle Upgrades: 552.45
> Damage Modifiers: Armor - 2.0x, Barrier - 1.0x, Shields - 1.0x
> Range Modifiers: Long - 1.0x, Middle - 1.0x, Short 1.0x
> Hitbox Multipliers (educated guess): Headshot* - 2.5x, Rest of Body - 1.0x
> One shot per clip, 13 clips in total. Ammo pickup yields one to two shots for the Widow.
*This is an educated guess with the hitboxes, but from simple field testing, it seems like you get about 2.0x without the Headshot upgrade. The Widow's insanely high base damage makes it a little hard to generate accurate data, but it's certainly possible that the hitbox for Headshots yields only a 1.5x damage boost. Either way, it's a heck of a lot of damage.
3. Keys to playing the Widow Soldier:
A. Utilize all ranges of combat:
While a Widow Soldier is primarily a sniper, you're still a Soldier. You're in the unique position that you have access to every weapon outside of the SMG. If an enemy moves into the middle range where the Assault Rifle is a better choice, switch to it. If an enemy moves into short range where you're better off unloading a shotgun in the enemy's face, switch to it. This will not only provide longevity for your Widow (after all, the Widow doesn't carry a lot of ammo), but make combat more satisfying and make you as efficient as you can be. You're a sniper, but since you're a Soldier, you have guns for all ranges, so use them. If you can close in and satisfyingly eliminate the rest of the enemy horde via shotgun headshots, do it.
B. Utilize all guns:
It's a corollary to the above point, but every gun has an applicable situation, especially with the Widow Soldier. Use the gun which best suits the range you're in. Even your Heavy Pistol has its uses. The whole guns thing will be explained in the section V, where I discuss equipment.
C. "You are a Soldier and You Have Adrenaline Rush, So Use It":
This holds especially true with the Widow. Soldiers do not inherently have sniper scope dilation, so when you are lining up a shot, use Adrenaline Rush to give you the extra time you need to line up the shot. Add on the insane damage boost from Adrenaline Rush, and it becomes hard to justify sniping outside of Adrenaline Rush. When in combat, I usually consider the use of Adrenaline Rush to be an offensive tool. If you have to strip off non-armor protection, I would suggest holding off Adrenaline Rush until you know you can eliminate an opponent in one Adrenaline Rush cycle (i.e. one activation plus its cooldown) or you know you have the time to set up another Adrenaline Rush cycle by switching from one weapon to another.
You can also use Adrenaline Rush to close distances, which is extremely effective, and should be used as often as you can deem it prudent. When you switch your weapon (which the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush is well suited for), look for a new position where you can flank or post up for effective use of the sniper rifle, and use Adrenaline Rush to get there, root out the forces there with a few shotgun blasts, and get to real work. I highly discourage defensive posturing with Adrenaline Rush unless you know you're going to get owned since you took cover too far up or got flanked, in which case it's useful to get to cover you can actually use without getting eliminated.
As a side note, since you get a sick amount of time dilation from Adrenaline Rush, which doesn't affect movement, your melee's speed isn't affected at all. So where you could only melee twice, under Adrenaline Rush you can melee around 4-5 times. You can challenge Husks to fistfights this way, which yields entertaining results.
4. "If You're Going to Snipe, Snipe Well, My Friend":
While in theory, you have plenty of time to line up a shot with Adrenaline Rush, that's usually in a vacuum where enemies do not have the "eliminate Shepard but leave the squadmates perfectly fine" mindset in a battle. You're going to get shot at, and getting hit throws off your aim like crazy, which leads to wasting bullets, which for the Widow is sacrilegious. The tip here is to learn how to essentially "quickscope," as much as a quasi-shooter like ME2 will allow. The essence of quickscoping is to center your target in your crosshairs as much as possible, and then finally aim down the scope. If you've done it right, you only need to be scoped in for a second or two at the most before you fire off your headshot and earn your kill. This leaves you out in the open less. You take less damage, and it makes you look pro, so...win/win.
Keep in mind that while the Widow is beyond excellent on taking on Armor and Health, it's subpar for removing Barrier and Shields. If you can, eliminate most of an enemy's shield or barrier before taking your Widow shot. You can do this via squadmate abilities/weapons or your own non-Widow weapons. While your Widow will always your weapon of choice, you still have limited ammo, so while you should apply the Widow liberally to get your kills, the Widow is less suited to setting up your kills (it's not called the Half-Widow, so try not to use it to get halfway there, use it to GET THERE!!!!). Note that once you do get your Headshot Damage upgrade for the Sniper Rifle (special upgrade once you get 3/5 Damage Upgrades), you can one-shot most grunt units (i.e. Collector Drones) in one headshot from full Barrier or shield, so if you know you can get the kill without stripping protection at all, then by all means go for it.
4. Discussion of Powers:
The Soldier has six skills available to them:
Adrenaline Rush
Concussive Shot
Disruptor Ammo
Incendiary Ammo
Cryo Ammo
Combat Mastery
and then whatever bonus skill.
As always, max Adrenaline Rush and Combat Mastery as soon as possible. The evolutions of these powers that we're looking for for the Widow Soldier are Heightened Adrenaline Rush and Commando. Since you can only get one Widow shot off regardless of the evolution of Adrenaline Rush, you might as well take the one with greater time dilation (thus helping you set up your shot better) and greater damage modifiers (making your shot more pro).
From there, you pick three Ammo Powers, max those and drop a point into Concussive Blast as an anti-Husk measure. The question is, which ammo powers, and what evolutions do you want?
Disruptor Ammo is the anti-shield, anti-synthetic ammo power. The Heavy evolution provides 20% more damage (i.e. +60%) over the Squad (+40%) evolution of the power.
Incendiary Ammo is the part anti-armor, part crowd-control ammo power. The Inferno evolution provides 60% fire damage and a 3m blast radius, while the Squad simply provides 40% fire damage to the whole squad.
Cryo Ammo is the strictly crowd-control ammo power. The Improved evolution provides 7s of freeze duration while the Squad evolution provides the 5s of freeze duration to the whole squad.
It's also important to mention the bonus Ammo Powers:
> Armor-Piercing Ammo is an anti-armor, anti-health ammo power. The Tungsten evolution provides a +70% damage bonus, while the Squad variety provides +50% for the entire squad.
> Warp Ammo is an anti-armor, anti-barrier ammo power. The Heavy evolution provides +50% damage bonus, while the Squad variety provides +35% for the entire squad.
> Shredder Ammo is simply an anti-health ammo power. The Improved evolution provides +80% damage bonus, while the Squad variety provides +60% to the entire squad. But playing on Insanity, everything has protection, so Shredder Ammo generally sucks unless you are trying to emulate a certain villain.
Generally, you want two Squad Ammos and one "Heavy"/"Improved" evolution to keep for yourself. This allows you to help your squad's damage depending on what you're facing, and a "Heavy"/"Improved" evolution since you want something super good for yourself.
For Squad ammos, the best picks are Disruptor Ammo, Warp Ammo, and Cryo Ammo. Disruptor and Warp Ammo both can help your party more easily deal with protections via gunfire (given longer squadmate power cooldowns, they will fire a lot more), while Cryo Ammo provides crowd control via freezing. If you're going as a "pureblood" Soldier without bonus powers, you're stuck with Cryo. I generally suggest if you can to avoid Cryo with Widow soldiers, because frozen enemies tend to fall over behind cover, which quite obviously means you can't snipe them, which is sad because I love Cryo in all other instances. However, on some missions where you don't snipe a whole lot (Reaper IFF comes to mind), Cryo is especially useful. If you take Infermo Ammo for yourself (see below), it's far less necessary to take Cryo as Inferno has built in crowd control. But if you are looking for extra crowd control (for instance, if your preferred squad lacks in crowd control), then look no further than Squad Cryo Ammo.
For an ammo for yourself, the best picks are Inferno and Tungsten Ammo. I generally prefer Inferno in this instance because of the crowd control (and generally it's hilarious to watch enemies try to put out fires on themselves), but if you're just looking for pure damage, then take Tungsten.
While there are other Ammo combinations, these are the ones I would usually suggest:
Squad Disruptor, Squad Cryo, Inferno *
Squad Disruptor, Squad Warp, Inferno *
Squad Disruptor, Squad Incendiary, Heavy Warp
Squad Disruptor, Squad Incendiary, Tungsten
[*]
I personally utilize the first if I'm taking a "pureblood" approach and the second if I'm going no holds barred (denoted by *).
If you've noticed, I've neglected to mention pretty much all of the other active bonus powers by only mentioning the ammo powers. This is because of the nature of Soldier gameplay, especially on Insanity. You're going to be doing little in terms of powers but spam Adrenaline Rush to enhance your killing power. All other active powers just get in the way. It's pretty key to use Adrenaline Rush liberally since it allows you to take control of the battlefield through either straight-up killing dudes or setting up your "straight-up killing dudes" parts. If you did have to pick an active bonus power, I'd choose something like a 1pt Slam or Neural Shock to disable enemies, but Concussive Shot already does that reasonably well and so becomes less useful.
A general explanation of Ammo Powers by Simbacca can be found here: Ammo Powers!
Your Widow Soldier should probably look something like this, at the end:
4 - Heightened Adrenaline Rush
1 - Concussive Shot
4 - Squad Ammo #1
4 - Squad Ammo #2
4 - "Heavy/Improved" Ammo
4 - Commando
NOTE:
While I suggest against taking an active bonus power in the discussion above, you can simply replace Concussive Shot with that active bonus power (top options are Neural Shock, Slam). If you decide that you wish to run Flashbang Grenade (a fantastic skill but I think for Widow Soldiers it works at less than maximum effectiveness), then you will have to divert skill points away from Ammo Powers because Flashbang isn't entirely worth it until you dump more points into it (at least rank 2 or 3), though for maximum effectiveness one should really go with it maxed out [rank 4 - Improved]. You'd have to give up either a Squad Ammo or your Heavy/Improved Ammo. If you do so I'd suggest dropping Squad Cryo/Warp, switching Inferno to Squad Incendiary and go with Improved Flashbang.
As long as you have Heightened Adrenaline Rush, Commando, and your Widow, you will kill everything easily. The question is how much survivability you want with your build.
BE AWARE!
You are a Soldier. You don't really need Eezo since those upgrades are useless to you. But you do have the option to respec and/or adjust your bonus power! If you are about to go onto the Reaper IFF and know that Squad Warp is not as good as Squad Cryo, respec into Squad Cryo! It makes your life a ton easier, and if you got the Long Service Bonus (enough eezo to take a bath in), then you can respec almost all the time. Cycle to the ammo bonus powers that are the best for a mission because those abilities, while not necessarily being the difference between life and death, can mean the difference between an incredibly hard time and just a hard time (or even an easy time).
5. Discussion of Equipment:
A. Weapons:
Sniper Rifle:
You're a Widow Soldier, so it's at least obvious that you're going to be using the Widow as your Sniper.
Assault Rifle:
You can decide between the Avenger, the Vindicator, the Geth Pulse Rifle, or the Collector Assault Rifle. The Vindicator as the highest DPS, best accuracy and second least recoil, but has the least ammo and overall rate of fire. The Avenger is tied for worst DPS, has probably the worst accuracy and recoil, but has the second-highest ammo count and a very good rate of fire. The Geth Pulse Rifle has better DPS than the Avenger and the Collector Assault Rifle, has probably the most ammo, and variable rate of fire with reasonable recoil. Also note that it sacrifices a bit of the Armor damage modifier to have higher Barrier and Shield damage modifiers. The Collector Assault Rifle is tied for the worst DPS, tied for best accuracy with the least recoil, but with fairly low ammo count and low rate of fire.
From there, it's preference. Compensating for the lower rate of fire and low ammo count that the Widow has would entail taking anything but the Vindicator. Playing off of the general "playstyle" of a Widow Soldier would probably entail taking the Vindicator with the much higher DPS.
The addition of the Mattock (Firepower Pack DLC) largely renders every other Assault Rifle obselete. High rate of fire (seems to be as fast as you can fire), reasonable damage yield pretty high DPS and reasonable ammo capacity (at least more effective shots than the Vindicator) means that the weapon is extremely effective. Just don't take it into close quarters; as a semi-automatic battle rifle, its CQB ability is extremely lacking (though you can do so with the Avenger and Geth Pulse Rifle).
Heavy Pistol:
It's either the Predator or the Carnifex. I'd usually suggest taking the Carnifex, unless you use the Vindicator, in which case you may want to take the Predator to just have more ammo. The Carnifex is pretty pro at stripping armor, and you can even take down Harbinger's armor in one Adrenaline Rush cycle on Insanity, which means there's defnitely a viable non-Widow method of quickly eliminating Harbinger.
The addition of the Phalanx (Firepower Pack DLC) doesn't change the picture much. The Carnifex has the highest DPS of the pistols still. Though if you are looking to faux-snipe with a pistol or enjoy laser sights on weapons, the Phalanx is worth a look. It does have a higher ammo count than the Carnifex so if you appreciate the stopping power of a hand cannon but want more ammo, then look towards the Phalanx.
Shotguns:
Once again, you have a preference here. Compensating for ammo count and rate of fire concerns means you take the Scimitar, while going for pure damage and perfectly fitting the playstyle you choose the Eviscerator. I'd say the Katana falls more towards the Eviscerator than the Scimitar, which makes it just a worse Eviscerator under Adrenaline Rush. You can actually pull off two Scimitar shots under Heightened Adrenaline Rush, which I'm slightly certain no other shotgun can do.
The Geth Plasma Shotgun is a peculiar beast. Capable of highest damage per firing (burns up two shots to achieve this) through charging and capable of engaging foes in medium range, the Geth Plasma Shotgun is certainly a viable option. However, low ammo count and the inability to charge the shotgun in cover diminish the Geth Plasma Shotgun's capabilities. Given the correct playstyle, though, the Geth Plasma Shotgun can be devastating.
Heavy Weapons:
You don't exactly need Heavy Weapons to function effectively as a Widow Soldier, but if you're going to take one I'd suggest the Arc Projector, the Grenade Launcher, or just bringing your best friend, the Cain around.
B. Armor:
You have a couple sets of uncustomizable armor that will do in the early game (i.e. Cerberus Assault Armor, Collector Armor), but you're better off customizing the N7. Since there are a ton of options, I'm only going to list the more relevant choices for Soldiers. Generally, you're looking for +Damage modifiers, with +Shields and +Health modifiers as icing on the cake, but really equipment only marginally alters the entire experience.
Head:
Kuwashii Visor: +10% Headshot Damage
Recon Hood: +5% Weapon Damage
Kestrel Helmet: +5% Headshot Damage, +3% Weapon Damage, +3% Shields
Chest:
N7: +3% Power Damage
Aegis Vest: +5% Health
Shield Harness: +5% Shields
Kestrel Torso Sheath: +10% Melee Damage, +5% Weapon Damage, +3% Shields
Shoulders:
N7: +3% Weapon Damage
Strength Boost Pads: +25% Melee Damage
Kestrel Shoulder Pieces: +8% Shields, +10% Melee Damage
Arms:
Stabilization Gauntlets: +5% Weapon Damage
Kestrel Arm Sheathing: +10% Melee Damage, +3% Shields, +3% Weapon Damage
Legs:
Stimulator Conduits: +10% Storm
Life Support Webbing: +10% Health
Kestrel Power Pack: +8% Shields, +5% Heavy Weapon Ammo
6. Discussion of Squadmates:
I'd naturally assume that a Soldier could get by without Squadmates, go all "ONE MAN ARMYYYY" on the Collectors and be able to do it, but squadmates make it a heck of a lot easier. Two things to look for are additional help in stripping shields and barriers, and providing some sort of crowd control.
In providing the former, you really can't go wrong with Miranda. Overload + Warp, and her passive also increases your damage. Basically as pro as it gets.
In providing the latter, you can go a few ways. If you want to use biotics then run with Jacob, Samara/Morinth (Morinth is probably the better option with Dominate, actually), or Jack. Grunt is his own crowd control by just running around and being krogan, thus becoming a crazy tank. Other options include Tali and Legion, with their combat drones, but Legion is the preferable one as he is less squishy and can also get the Widow, which could probably make the game explode from all the awesome double Widow action going on (however, given Drone lifespan and power cooldown, Drone seems to be a subpar crowd control option compared to other available abilities). You can also use Kasumi, who has Flashbang Grenade available to her which is terrific crowd control (with Overload to boot).
Also, Zaeed works because he is awesome.
In general, however, it actually rarely matters who you put on your squad because each potential squadmate will provide some sort of CC and some sort of defense stripping. If you play smart, you'll be fine.
7. Credits/Other Media:
I've poked around for some of the more basic info and stats from here and the ME wikia, so thanks to them for providing it.
Thanks, everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed sniping with the Soldier and accrued some residual knowledge which I thought would be helpful if all condensed into one place. Comments, critique are all appreciated, as there's no such thing as a completely comprehensive guide, let alone on the first try.