Mass Effect 3 single player: A non-standard Infiltrator build (by yars revenge)
Oct 24, 2016 0:30:14 GMT
Element Zero, darcstar, and 1 more like this
Post by RedCaesar97 on Oct 24, 2016 0:30:14 GMT
ATTENTION: This guide was originally posted by yars revenge 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.
Bored of my snipefiltrator, I wanted to shake things up and try something a little different. I read a post by No Snakes Alive recommending a couple of non-standard Infiltrator builds which got me thinking and experimenting. This is what I finally settled on hours later and it is, in my opinion, an absolute monster after testing on Insanity.
I present my spin on the Operative.
Weapon loadout:
M-358 Talon (Armor Pen, Scope):
A scoped Talon gives you the ability to fight from mid-long, mid and short range with very good mobility, accuracy and damage. Able to one-shot most normal enemies. Energy Drain then a shot will kill Cents, Engies and Marauders. The Talon can even bypass shield-gate sometimes because of the multiple pellets (much like a shotgun).
N7 Hurricane (Barrel, Scope):
Not necessary, but why not? Hip shooting this gun at close range does a ton of damage and remains manageable. Scoping gives terrible recoil, however. On the off chance you run out of bullets for the Talon, this gives you a monster CQC alternative until you can reload while keeping cooldowns at +200%. You may want to sub the scope for Ultralight Materials until you've leveled both guns up enough not to need it. Note: when starting a level your character defaults to this over the Talon, so switch up ASAP.
Build:
6/6 Cryo Ammo (Squad Bonus, Headshots, Damage Combo)
6/6 Incinerate (Damage, Burning Damage, Armor Damage)
6/6 Tactical Cloak (Damage, Recharge Speed, Bonus Power)
6/6 Sticky Grenade (Damage, Armor-Piercing, Damage)
6/6 Sabotage (Duration, Recharge Speed, Tech Vulnerability)
6/6 Operational Mastery (Weapon Damage, Weight Capacity, Damage and Duration)
6/6 Fitness (Durability, Shield Recharge, Fitness Expert)
6/6 Energy Drain (Damage, Recharge Speed, Damage)
Power choices/reasoning:
Cryo Ammo: The Talon freezes what it doesn't kill outright. Amazing crowd control with tech bursts everywhere (Shoot->Incinerate).
Incinerate: Your anti-armor power. Sabotage->Incinerate does stupid amounts of damage to armored targets.
Tactical Cloak: Goes without saying. Most people go with Sniper Damage at rank 6 (and an argument could be made here as well for the headshot damage), but I prefer Bonus Power which gives me the ability to Cloak->Energy Drain and reposition if I drop shields or am in trouble/get flanked.
Sticky Grenades: Damage. Stealth and lob at big targets/groups if you want.
Sabotage: One of my favorite powers in-game. Turrets go from horrific avatars of death to friendly little buddies that just want to help you out. Geth become your bros and happily chatter as they shoot each other with rockets. That said, Tech Vulnerability is the goal here. It's an AMAZING debuff that you'll want to apply on boss-type enemies (Primes, Brutes, Banshees, etc) to have them take double damage from your tech powers (Incinerate/Energy Drain) for 10 seconds. Cloak + Sabotage + Incinerate/ED hurts things.
Operational Mastery: Pretty straight-forward. I go with Damage and Duration at rank 6 to boost power damage by 25%.
Fitness: Grab health/shield bonuses.
Energy Drain: We take this as the Infiltrator doesn't have access to big daddy Overload - or any effective way to deal with shields, really. Energy Drain won't do as much damage and doesn't get arc/chain upgrades but it does restore our shields, which gives us a 2-in-1 power. Cloak->Energy Drain->shoot kills shielded mooks instantly. When hurt, Cloak->Energy Drain and reposition. When fighting shielded bosses, Sabotage->Energy Drain.
Armor:
I went with all +weapon damage, but an argument could be made for Inferno, +power cooldown or +power damage gear.
Summary:
Mix things up. You're a caster with invisibility and a handheld shotgun that snap freezes people. Debuff with Sabotage. Drain shields. Incinerate armor. Shoot while recharging or when an enemy is down to health. Try to Cloak before doing anything as it normalizes recharge times, keeps people from shooting your pretty face and applies a very hefty buff to weapon and power damage.
This build may not be quite as powerful as a sniper build (I think it is) but it plays faster and focuses on mobility over the cover hugging sniper. And while not quite as good at very long range, it compensates by being absolutely amazing at mid to short range with very good survivability and the amusement factor of shattering almost every enemy in the game with a cool looking gun that sounds amazing. What you don't kill outright will be frozen and ripe for a burst (Incinerate the frozen target and watch all his friends snap-freeze around him). It is also amazing against boss-level mobs offering very high damage with the ability to move and reposition safely.
Gameplay videos:
N7 - Cerberus Lab.
Sur'Kesh - STG Base.
N7 - Cerberus Attack.
Tuchanka - Downed Vessel.
Bored of my snipefiltrator, I wanted to shake things up and try something a little different. I read a post by No Snakes Alive recommending a couple of non-standard Infiltrator builds which got me thinking and experimenting. This is what I finally settled on hours later and it is, in my opinion, an absolute monster after testing on Insanity.
I present my spin on the Operative.
Weapon loadout:
M-358 Talon (Armor Pen, Scope):
A scoped Talon gives you the ability to fight from mid-long, mid and short range with very good mobility, accuracy and damage. Able to one-shot most normal enemies. Energy Drain then a shot will kill Cents, Engies and Marauders. The Talon can even bypass shield-gate sometimes because of the multiple pellets (much like a shotgun).
N7 Hurricane (Barrel, Scope):
Not necessary, but why not? Hip shooting this gun at close range does a ton of damage and remains manageable. Scoping gives terrible recoil, however. On the off chance you run out of bullets for the Talon, this gives you a monster CQC alternative until you can reload while keeping cooldowns at +200%. You may want to sub the scope for Ultralight Materials until you've leveled both guns up enough not to need it. Note: when starting a level your character defaults to this over the Talon, so switch up ASAP.
Build:
6/6 Cryo Ammo (Squad Bonus, Headshots, Damage Combo)
6/6 Incinerate (Damage, Burning Damage, Armor Damage)
6/6 Tactical Cloak (Damage, Recharge Speed, Bonus Power)
6/6 Sticky Grenade (Damage, Armor-Piercing, Damage)
6/6 Sabotage (Duration, Recharge Speed, Tech Vulnerability)
6/6 Operational Mastery (Weapon Damage, Weight Capacity, Damage and Duration)
6/6 Fitness (Durability, Shield Recharge, Fitness Expert)
6/6 Energy Drain (Damage, Recharge Speed, Damage)
Power choices/reasoning:
Cryo Ammo: The Talon freezes what it doesn't kill outright. Amazing crowd control with tech bursts everywhere (Shoot->Incinerate).
Incinerate: Your anti-armor power. Sabotage->Incinerate does stupid amounts of damage to armored targets.
Tactical Cloak: Goes without saying. Most people go with Sniper Damage at rank 6 (and an argument could be made here as well for the headshot damage), but I prefer Bonus Power which gives me the ability to Cloak->Energy Drain and reposition if I drop shields or am in trouble/get flanked.
Sticky Grenades: Damage. Stealth and lob at big targets/groups if you want.
Sabotage: One of my favorite powers in-game. Turrets go from horrific avatars of death to friendly little buddies that just want to help you out. Geth become your bros and happily chatter as they shoot each other with rockets. That said, Tech Vulnerability is the goal here. It's an AMAZING debuff that you'll want to apply on boss-type enemies (Primes, Brutes, Banshees, etc) to have them take double damage from your tech powers (Incinerate/Energy Drain) for 10 seconds. Cloak + Sabotage + Incinerate/ED hurts things.
Operational Mastery: Pretty straight-forward. I go with Damage and Duration at rank 6 to boost power damage by 25%.
Fitness: Grab health/shield bonuses.
Energy Drain: We take this as the Infiltrator doesn't have access to big daddy Overload - or any effective way to deal with shields, really. Energy Drain won't do as much damage and doesn't get arc/chain upgrades but it does restore our shields, which gives us a 2-in-1 power. Cloak->Energy Drain->shoot kills shielded mooks instantly. When hurt, Cloak->Energy Drain and reposition. When fighting shielded bosses, Sabotage->Energy Drain.
Armor:
I went with all +weapon damage, but an argument could be made for Inferno, +power cooldown or +power damage gear.
Summary:
Mix things up. You're a caster with invisibility and a handheld shotgun that snap freezes people. Debuff with Sabotage. Drain shields. Incinerate armor. Shoot while recharging or when an enemy is down to health. Try to Cloak before doing anything as it normalizes recharge times, keeps people from shooting your pretty face and applies a very hefty buff to weapon and power damage.
This build may not be quite as powerful as a sniper build (I think it is) but it plays faster and focuses on mobility over the cover hugging sniper. And while not quite as good at very long range, it compensates by being absolutely amazing at mid to short range with very good survivability and the amusement factor of shattering almost every enemy in the game with a cool looking gun that sounds amazing. What you don't kill outright will be frozen and ripe for a burst (Incinerate the frozen target and watch all his friends snap-freeze around him). It is also amazing against boss-level mobs offering very high damage with the ability to move and reposition safely.
Gameplay videos:
N7 - Cerberus Lab.
Sur'Kesh - STG Base.
N7 - Cerberus Attack.
Tuchanka - Downed Vessel.
