Mass Effect 2: Infiltrator - Insanity guide/tips/concerns (by senojones)
Oct 22, 2016 18:21:46 GMT
Nightlife likes this
Post by RedCaesar97 on Oct 22, 2016 18:21:46 GMT
ATTENTION: This guide was originally created by senojones on the old BioWare Social Network (BSN) forums. I am recreating it here so it does not disappear when the old BSN forums shut down.
The Infiltrator class is built around the concept of any type of sniper/stealth character, you can benefit from your enviroment to avoid damage and use your long range capability to keep a large gap between your targets. An Infiltrator also specalizes in weaponry, where a player with good aim can gain great benefit. If you end up in a situation that feels too close for your own comfort then you have the ability to stealth from view to find cover in a more safe spot and use this for a huge bonus damage. You also have the flexability of choosing any type of teammate, letting you specialize each mission with friends that benefit you most against a specific type of enemy.
Armor:
Required: These will be armor pieces that I personally believe are required if you want to get the most out of your Infiltrator, these will help strengthen the strongest parts of your fighting experience.
Kuwashii Visor - Increases headshot damage by 10%
Off-Hand Ammo Pack - Increase spare ammo capacity by 10%
Non-required: These will be armor pieces that can be determined by your own personal opinion, but I will list my own for anyone interested.
Capacitor Chestplate - Reduces the delay before your shields start regenerating by 10%
N7 Shoulder Guards - Increases weapon damage by 3%
Ordnance Packs - Increase spare heavy weapon ammo by 10%
Special weapon selection:
Required: When you reach the mission to search a Collector ship, you will be givin three options of weapon selection, shotgun/assault rifle training or the Widow sniper. There should be no question in your choice, Widow is without a doubt the most powerful weapon an Infiltrator can use, capable of killing insanity level enemies with one headshot. Most people might be concerned about the ammo capacity, but the Widow is the highest single shot damage of any standard weapon and most heavy weapons (some could even consider the Widow as a heavy weapon). At the insanity level there will be a very high ammount of enemies with armor, this type of defense is the Widows largest strength, capable of taking large chunks away from even the toughest enemies.
Widow Anti-Material Rifle:
- Ammo Capacity = 1/12 (default), 1/13 (Off-hand Ammo Pack)
- 50% stronger against armor.
- Base Damage = 368.3 (552.5 vs. armor)
- Headshot Damage (assuming double damage, subject to change) = 736.6 (1105 vs. armor)
- Base DPS = HP: 156 / armor: 234 / shield: 156 / barrier: 156
- Reload Time - 1.5 seconds
FULLY UPGRADED: 50% stronger vs. armor / 50% increased headshot damage / 50% increased damage
- 75% stronger against armor
- Base Damage = 552.5 (966.9 vs. armor)
- Headshot Damage (subject to change) = 1105 (2417.3 vs. armor)
- Base DPS = HP: 234 / armor: 410 / shield: 234 / barrier: 234
NOTES:
- I haven't found any exact data on headshot damage bonus, so I am assuming 100% base damage increase, if I am incorrect with this value please let me know so I can correct it.
- If you spot some incorrect numbers in my math, please let me know the correct value.
Talents:
Required: There isn't much room for unique talent builds, altho it may be possible to do so it will end up making your fighting capability harder than it should be. AI Hacking/Cryo Ammo are both very weak when compared to your other options, it is recommended to avoid putting points into either of these talents. The talent selection below will make your Infiltrator deadly against every defense type without interupting your power cooldown choices of either Incinerate or Cloak.
Disruptor Ammo - 4/4 (Heavy) - Shield/Synthetic Damage: 60% Weapon Damage, Synthetic Overload Duration: 3 seconds, Weapon Overload Duration: 6 seconds
Tactical Cloak - 4/4 (Assassination) - Bonus Damage: 75%, Cooldown: 6 seconds, Duration: 6 seconds (NOTE: Cooldown wont begin until your cloak duration ends or broken from the use of weapon fire)
Incinerate - 4/4 (Heavy) - Damage: 210 over 3 seconds, Cooldown: 6 seconds, Radius: 1.2 meters (NOTE: Damage will be 2.4 times the normal ammount against armor and will permanently stop health regeneration, also the base cooldown can be lowered from research and passive talents)
Operative - 4/4 (Agent) - Health: 20%, Weapon Damage: 9%, Power Recharge: 15%, Power Duration: 15%, Sniper Slowdown: 50% (2 second duration), Paragon/Renegade: 100% bonus
Bonus Talent: This can be an option that is subject to many personal opinions, but will be restricted to passive ammo types because of the large benefit of using your power cooldown for either Incinerate or Cloak. I personally believe Warp Ammo is the overall best choice, it will strengthen your weapon power against the one type of defense an Infiltrator lacks (barriers) and give you extra benefit to your strongest defense type (armor). The concept is fairly simple, SMG is very effective against shields/barriers and has great synergy with Disruptor/Warp Ammo; Widow is extremely effective against armor and has great synergy with Warp Ammo. There is also the extra benefit from a damage bonus to enemies effected by biotics. Some will argue AP Ammo as their bonus talent due to the 20% increased damage to health/armor, but honestly it is overkill to a defense the infiltrator class doesn't need at the cost of losing the benefit against barriers and bonus damage on targets effected by biotics.
Warp Ammo: 4/4 (Heavy) - Health/Armor/Barrier Damage: 50% Weapon Damage (NOTE: Damage is increased on targets effected by biotics)
Infiltrator Tips:
- Conserve your Widow ammo, you don't want to be caught in a situation where you are out of sniper ammo against a tougher enemy.
- Use sniper zoom to your advantage, slowing down the tempo of combat can let you be more accurate in targetting, headshots are important.
- Use your flexable party selection to your advantage, each mission will usually have a specific type of enemy defense. Pick a party that has a great synergy with yourself and eachother.
- Miranda is a great overall character that has a lot of synergy with the Infiltrator class; 15% party weapon damage, Warp for armor/barriers, Crippling Slam for Warp Ammo bonus damage.
- Grunt is great for dealing with Husks; this type of enemy tends to overwhelm you with their numbers and added armor defense on insanity, Grunt will take advantage of this with his charge ability and massive health regeneration.
- Use your cloak as much as possible when dealing with mid/long range situations, the bonus can make a huge difference in your Widow damage and ammo efficiency. If you feel overwhelmed at some point, save your cloak cooldown for a safe escape.
- Use Incinerate as often as possible against armor targets or enemies with health regeneration, it can make a huge difference in crippling an enemies defense and will conserve ammo. Also use Incinerates unique curving ability to your advantage, it can help significantly against enemies out of your line of sight (which happens often on insanity).
- SMG + Assassination Cloak + Agent = huge DPS against any enemies in range. Also try to use SMG against any target in range with a barrier or shield, it will destroy either type of defense and help conserve your sniper ammo.
- Dont be afraid to melee if stuck in close combat against weaker enemies, it can help in conserving ammo and can do some heavy damage when fully upgraded + used with cloak.
- Whenever you find an enemy with a flamethrower, always try to aim for the containers located on their back. If successful you will see a stream of fire for a few seconds, followed by a large explosion that will kill the target and heavily damage any enemies in range.
Problems + Bugs + Concerns:
These are issues I've personally come across while playing, feel free to comment on your own and I might add them to this list.
- Using Incinerate from a cover position with your sniper rifle equiped will result in using your sniper zoom, altho this really isn't a major issue it can be fairly annoying when you constantly need to deal with the un-needed 50% slowdown time.
- Why no assault rifle option? (without the cost of losing Widow) It always seemed silly to me since an infiltrator can use both a SMG and sniper rifle. The soldier class can still have the unique assault rifle, but it would be nice to have the basic types as an infiltrator.
- AI Hacking + Cryo Ammo are both very weak talents when compared to the rest, they could both use some tweaking to favor more diverse and unique talent choices.
- Is there a way to bind weapons to specific keys? Due to the delay of swapping between weapons it can be fairly annoying when cycling with the next/previous weapon binding option (you can actually tap your 'next weapon' bind to skip a weapon selection, but even that seems unnessessary).
The Infiltrator class is built around the concept of any type of sniper/stealth character, you can benefit from your enviroment to avoid damage and use your long range capability to keep a large gap between your targets. An Infiltrator also specalizes in weaponry, where a player with good aim can gain great benefit. If you end up in a situation that feels too close for your own comfort then you have the ability to stealth from view to find cover in a more safe spot and use this for a huge bonus damage. You also have the flexability of choosing any type of teammate, letting you specialize each mission with friends that benefit you most against a specific type of enemy.
Armor:
Required: These will be armor pieces that I personally believe are required if you want to get the most out of your Infiltrator, these will help strengthen the strongest parts of your fighting experience.
Kuwashii Visor - Increases headshot damage by 10%
Off-Hand Ammo Pack - Increase spare ammo capacity by 10%
Non-required: These will be armor pieces that can be determined by your own personal opinion, but I will list my own for anyone interested.
Capacitor Chestplate - Reduces the delay before your shields start regenerating by 10%
N7 Shoulder Guards - Increases weapon damage by 3%
Ordnance Packs - Increase spare heavy weapon ammo by 10%
Special weapon selection:
Required: When you reach the mission to search a Collector ship, you will be givin three options of weapon selection, shotgun/assault rifle training or the Widow sniper. There should be no question in your choice, Widow is without a doubt the most powerful weapon an Infiltrator can use, capable of killing insanity level enemies with one headshot. Most people might be concerned about the ammo capacity, but the Widow is the highest single shot damage of any standard weapon and most heavy weapons (some could even consider the Widow as a heavy weapon). At the insanity level there will be a very high ammount of enemies with armor, this type of defense is the Widows largest strength, capable of taking large chunks away from even the toughest enemies.
Widow Anti-Material Rifle:
- Ammo Capacity = 1/12 (default), 1/13 (Off-hand Ammo Pack)
- 50% stronger against armor.
- Base Damage = 368.3 (552.5 vs. armor)
- Headshot Damage (assuming double damage, subject to change) = 736.6 (1105 vs. armor)
- Base DPS = HP: 156 / armor: 234 / shield: 156 / barrier: 156
- Reload Time - 1.5 seconds
FULLY UPGRADED: 50% stronger vs. armor / 50% increased headshot damage / 50% increased damage
- 75% stronger against armor
- Base Damage = 552.5 (966.9 vs. armor)
- Headshot Damage (subject to change) = 1105 (2417.3 vs. armor)
- Base DPS = HP: 234 / armor: 410 / shield: 234 / barrier: 234
NOTES:
- I haven't found any exact data on headshot damage bonus, so I am assuming 100% base damage increase, if I am incorrect with this value please let me know so I can correct it.
- If you spot some incorrect numbers in my math, please let me know the correct value.
Talents:
Required: There isn't much room for unique talent builds, altho it may be possible to do so it will end up making your fighting capability harder than it should be. AI Hacking/Cryo Ammo are both very weak when compared to your other options, it is recommended to avoid putting points into either of these talents. The talent selection below will make your Infiltrator deadly against every defense type without interupting your power cooldown choices of either Incinerate or Cloak.
Disruptor Ammo - 4/4 (Heavy) - Shield/Synthetic Damage: 60% Weapon Damage, Synthetic Overload Duration: 3 seconds, Weapon Overload Duration: 6 seconds
Tactical Cloak - 4/4 (Assassination) - Bonus Damage: 75%, Cooldown: 6 seconds, Duration: 6 seconds (NOTE: Cooldown wont begin until your cloak duration ends or broken from the use of weapon fire)
Incinerate - 4/4 (Heavy) - Damage: 210 over 3 seconds, Cooldown: 6 seconds, Radius: 1.2 meters (NOTE: Damage will be 2.4 times the normal ammount against armor and will permanently stop health regeneration, also the base cooldown can be lowered from research and passive talents)
Operative - 4/4 (Agent) - Health: 20%, Weapon Damage: 9%, Power Recharge: 15%, Power Duration: 15%, Sniper Slowdown: 50% (2 second duration), Paragon/Renegade: 100% bonus
Bonus Talent: This can be an option that is subject to many personal opinions, but will be restricted to passive ammo types because of the large benefit of using your power cooldown for either Incinerate or Cloak. I personally believe Warp Ammo is the overall best choice, it will strengthen your weapon power against the one type of defense an Infiltrator lacks (barriers) and give you extra benefit to your strongest defense type (armor). The concept is fairly simple, SMG is very effective against shields/barriers and has great synergy with Disruptor/Warp Ammo; Widow is extremely effective against armor and has great synergy with Warp Ammo. There is also the extra benefit from a damage bonus to enemies effected by biotics. Some will argue AP Ammo as their bonus talent due to the 20% increased damage to health/armor, but honestly it is overkill to a defense the infiltrator class doesn't need at the cost of losing the benefit against barriers and bonus damage on targets effected by biotics.
Warp Ammo: 4/4 (Heavy) - Health/Armor/Barrier Damage: 50% Weapon Damage (NOTE: Damage is increased on targets effected by biotics)
Infiltrator Tips:
- Conserve your Widow ammo, you don't want to be caught in a situation where you are out of sniper ammo against a tougher enemy.
- Use sniper zoom to your advantage, slowing down the tempo of combat can let you be more accurate in targetting, headshots are important.
- Use your flexable party selection to your advantage, each mission will usually have a specific type of enemy defense. Pick a party that has a great synergy with yourself and eachother.
- Miranda is a great overall character that has a lot of synergy with the Infiltrator class; 15% party weapon damage, Warp for armor/barriers, Crippling Slam for Warp Ammo bonus damage.
- Grunt is great for dealing with Husks; this type of enemy tends to overwhelm you with their numbers and added armor defense on insanity, Grunt will take advantage of this with his charge ability and massive health regeneration.
- Use your cloak as much as possible when dealing with mid/long range situations, the bonus can make a huge difference in your Widow damage and ammo efficiency. If you feel overwhelmed at some point, save your cloak cooldown for a safe escape.
- Use Incinerate as often as possible against armor targets or enemies with health regeneration, it can make a huge difference in crippling an enemies defense and will conserve ammo. Also use Incinerates unique curving ability to your advantage, it can help significantly against enemies out of your line of sight (which happens often on insanity).
- SMG + Assassination Cloak + Agent = huge DPS against any enemies in range. Also try to use SMG against any target in range with a barrier or shield, it will destroy either type of defense and help conserve your sniper ammo.
- Dont be afraid to melee if stuck in close combat against weaker enemies, it can help in conserving ammo and can do some heavy damage when fully upgraded + used with cloak.
- Whenever you find an enemy with a flamethrower, always try to aim for the containers located on their back. If successful you will see a stream of fire for a few seconds, followed by a large explosion that will kill the target and heavily damage any enemies in range.
Problems + Bugs + Concerns:
These are issues I've personally come across while playing, feel free to comment on your own and I might add them to this list.
- Using Incinerate from a cover position with your sniper rifle equiped will result in using your sniper zoom, altho this really isn't a major issue it can be fairly annoying when you constantly need to deal with the un-needed 50% slowdown time.
- Why no assault rifle option? (without the cost of losing Widow) It always seemed silly to me since an infiltrator can use both a SMG and sniper rifle. The soldier class can still have the unique assault rifle, but it would be nice to have the basic types as an infiltrator.
- AI Hacking + Cryo Ammo are both very weak talents when compared to the rest, they could both use some tweaking to favor more diverse and unique talent choices.
- Is there a way to bind weapons to specific keys? Due to the delay of swapping between weapons it can be fairly annoying when cycling with the next/previous weapon binding option (you can actually tap your 'next weapon' bind to skip a weapon selection, but even that seems unnessessary).