Post by RedCaesar97 on Oct 24, 2016 0:37:35 GMT
ATTENTION: This guide was originally created by Vazgen 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.
Jane Shepard learned the basics of the melee combat on the streets of Earth and further honed her skills during Alliance military training, including a special course at Interplanetary Combatives Academy where she received her N7 rank. However, her fierce temper and impatience hindered her progress, not allowing her to achieve the true mastery of hand-to-hand combat in the age of modern technologies. Only after working and conversing with Thane had she learned to control her rage and keep her mind cool during even the fiercest battles. Six months of meditation and exercises helped to cement her resolve in carving her way through the Reaper forces in a way of the ancients.
Tactical assessment of the battlefield, speed and agility are the name of the game here. Stay in one place long enough and enemies converge on your position making it difficult to execute melee takedowns. You should be constantly on the move, flanking and distracting enemies, separating them and taking them out one by one. This is what you need to become a Melee Infiltrator
Tactical Cloak: Damage, Melee Damage, Bonus Power
Tactical Cloak allows for a free movement around the battlefield, getting behind enemy lines and execute separate enemies with powerful melee strikes. With bonus power evolution you can combine your heavy melee attack with Sabotage to create a boss-killer move that can almost kill a Brute in one hit!
Sticky Grenade: Damage, Armor-Piercing, Damage
Sticky Grenades are reserved for the toughest enemies like Geth Primes and Banshees. They can detonate tech power combos, make good use of that. You can set them up yourself, by using Sabotage and following it up with a Sticky Grenade. The result is a highly damaging explosion that also damages the shields and health of nearby enemies. Note that grenades don't break your cloak and they do even more damage if used from cloak!
Sabotage: Backfire, Recharge Speed, Tech Vulnerability
Sabotage is the glue that keeps first two skills together. Tech Vulnerability is your focus here. Not only it boosts Infiltrator's heavy melee attack, but it also boosts the Backfire effect of the skill itself. It is boosted to the point that nearly takes down Marauder's Shields, serving as a substitute for Overload.
Operational Mastery: Weapon Damage (gives power damage boost), Squad Bonus, Damage and Duration
Operational Mastery focuses on power damage. The Damage & Duration evolution at rank 6 gives quite a lot of freedom with Tactical Cloak since you can cover more distance without breaking it.
Fitness: Melee Damage, Shield Recharge, Melee Synergy
You may ask, why Shield Recharge and not Melee Spree? The answer is simple, on Insanity, 95% of a time you only manage one strike before becoming a target. Attack an enemy without cloak while there are other enemies around and you can prepare for a reload. Shield Recharge, on the other hand, combined with Intel bonus from Geth Server, Fortification, class powers of Kaidan and Javik, makes your shields to recharge almost instantly, minimizing the time spent behind cover.
Fortification: Melee Damage, Recharge Speed, Power Recharge
Fortification provides quite useful boost that makes the difference between having your shields destroyed or not. Purging the armor allows for a 100% boost for melee attacks for a high-risk, high-reward move. I didn't use it often but when I did, it was helpful. Shield Recharge is the main reason for this bonus power.
Javik and Kaidan are an ideal team for this character. Not only both their class powers improve shield recharge but they also work well together. Kaidan detonates Javik's biotic combos and tech combos you set up with Sabotage. Javik's Lift Grenades can clear entire clusters of enemies and Kaidan's Reave will give him more survivability.
Javik:
Dark Channel: Damage, Recharge Speed, Pierce
Lift Grenade: Damage, Max Grenades, Damage & Radius
Vengeful Ancient: Power Damage, Power Damage, Squad Bonus (Shield Recharge)
Kaidan:
Reave: Radius, Recharge Speed, Barriers & Armor
Overload: Damage, Recharge Speed, Shield Damage
Alliance Officer: Durability, Biotic Damage, Squad Bonus (Shield Recharge)
Despite never shooting enemies with your gun, it is used quite a lot to beat enemies to death. I used M-3 Predator pistol with a Melee Stunner mod which gives +25% melee damage at rank V. It also works well in cutscenes, where Shepard is forced to equip the Predator, regardless of whether it's present in the current loadout or not.
For armor I used full Ariake Technologies set along with Death Mask, resulting in +50% melee damage.
(full playthrough of the vanilla game starting from level 1)
YouTube playist.
Jane Shepard learned the basics of the melee combat on the streets of Earth and further honed her skills during Alliance military training, including a special course at Interplanetary Combatives Academy where she received her N7 rank. However, her fierce temper and impatience hindered her progress, not allowing her to achieve the true mastery of hand-to-hand combat in the age of modern technologies. Only after working and conversing with Thane had she learned to control her rage and keep her mind cool during even the fiercest battles. Six months of meditation and exercises helped to cement her resolve in carving her way through the Reaper forces in a way of the ancients.
The Build
Tactical assessment of the battlefield, speed and agility are the name of the game here. Stay in one place long enough and enemies converge on your position making it difficult to execute melee takedowns. You should be constantly on the move, flanking and distracting enemies, separating them and taking them out one by one. This is what you need to become a Melee Infiltrator
Tactical Cloak: Damage, Melee Damage, Bonus Power
Tactical Cloak allows for a free movement around the battlefield, getting behind enemy lines and execute separate enemies with powerful melee strikes. With bonus power evolution you can combine your heavy melee attack with Sabotage to create a boss-killer move that can almost kill a Brute in one hit!
Sticky Grenade: Damage, Armor-Piercing, Damage
Sticky Grenades are reserved for the toughest enemies like Geth Primes and Banshees. They can detonate tech power combos, make good use of that. You can set them up yourself, by using Sabotage and following it up with a Sticky Grenade. The result is a highly damaging explosion that also damages the shields and health of nearby enemies. Note that grenades don't break your cloak and they do even more damage if used from cloak!
Sabotage: Backfire, Recharge Speed, Tech Vulnerability
Sabotage is the glue that keeps first two skills together. Tech Vulnerability is your focus here. Not only it boosts Infiltrator's heavy melee attack, but it also boosts the Backfire effect of the skill itself. It is boosted to the point that nearly takes down Marauder's Shields, serving as a substitute for Overload.
Operational Mastery: Weapon Damage (gives power damage boost), Squad Bonus, Damage and Duration
Operational Mastery focuses on power damage. The Damage & Duration evolution at rank 6 gives quite a lot of freedom with Tactical Cloak since you can cover more distance without breaking it.
Fitness: Melee Damage, Shield Recharge, Melee Synergy
You may ask, why Shield Recharge and not Melee Spree? The answer is simple, on Insanity, 95% of a time you only manage one strike before becoming a target. Attack an enemy without cloak while there are other enemies around and you can prepare for a reload. Shield Recharge, on the other hand, combined with Intel bonus from Geth Server, Fortification, class powers of Kaidan and Javik, makes your shields to recharge almost instantly, minimizing the time spent behind cover.
Fortification: Melee Damage, Recharge Speed, Power Recharge
Fortification provides quite useful boost that makes the difference between having your shields destroyed or not. Purging the armor allows for a 100% boost for melee attacks for a high-risk, high-reward move. I didn't use it often but when I did, it was helpful. Shield Recharge is the main reason for this bonus power.
Squadmates
Javik and Kaidan are an ideal team for this character. Not only both their class powers improve shield recharge but they also work well together. Kaidan detonates Javik's biotic combos and tech combos you set up with Sabotage. Javik's Lift Grenades can clear entire clusters of enemies and Kaidan's Reave will give him more survivability.
Javik:
Dark Channel: Damage, Recharge Speed, Pierce
Lift Grenade: Damage, Max Grenades, Damage & Radius
Vengeful Ancient: Power Damage, Power Damage, Squad Bonus (Shield Recharge)
Kaidan:
Reave: Radius, Recharge Speed, Barriers & Armor
Overload: Damage, Recharge Speed, Shield Damage
Alliance Officer: Durability, Biotic Damage, Squad Bonus (Shield Recharge)
Equipment
Despite never shooting enemies with your gun, it is used quite a lot to beat enemies to death. I used M-3 Predator pistol with a Melee Stunner mod which gives +25% melee damage at rank V. It also works well in cutscenes, where Shepard is forced to equip the Predator, regardless of whether it's present in the current loadout or not.
For armor I used full Ariake Technologies set along with Death Mask, resulting in +50% melee damage.
Gameplay videos
(full playthrough of the vanilla game starting from level 1)
YouTube playist.