Post by poultrymancer on Aug 2, 2017 19:49:56 GMT
Lately I've been trying out some alternate builds on characters I'd left settled for a long time, and have had quite a bit of fun doing it. I figured I'd share one here and ask if anyone else has enjoyed a build they haven't seen others use.
Among the first I tried was the Escape Artist melee human Infiltrator, which I've posted about several times lately and won't revisit here except to say that I was very pleasantly surprised by her Platinum utility.
Due to the common offensive and defensive passives, that build inspired me to try a melee turian Soldier, since I'd never seen it done. I've run him several times now on Gold to very good effect, but haven't used him yet on Plat.
Here's how I've built him:
Fortification
4B Mobility / 5B Power Armor / 6B Explosive Purge
4B --- Mobility helps to close distance reliably. I dash a lot in CQC, whether running melee or not, but the reduced movement penalty is still noticeable, IMO.
5B --- Power Armor is the obvious choice over Shield Feedback for the melee bonus. I ran him once with Stronghold gear to offset the loss of regen and found that effective (i.e. Stronghold's 20% shields and 70% regen speed + Power Armor's 30% melee rather than Hydraulic Joints' 25% melee + Feedback's 25% shield regen and 40% regen delay reduction).
6B --- I don't use Explosive Purge often, but it's a great situational "get out of shitstorm free" card. Surrounded by Annointed? Eat lightning, motherfuckers.
Frags
4A Damage / 5A Capacity / 6A Armor Damage
4A --- I mostly use Frags on armored targets, so damage wins out over radius. The stuff next to a Hydra is good collateral damage, but the priority here is hammering down things I can't glowypoke effectively, or at least can't attack in melee range at full health. I use melee to finish whenever practical.
5A --- Shrapnel is a sneaky-good evo I don't see discussed much (its 600-DoT isn't all that far behind Flak's, and doesn't have the latter's innate armor penalty); I like it on the human Soldier. In this case, however, Capacity wins out. Frags' utility for this build is in their burst damage against armor, and the gear slot's already in use, so without Capacity I'd only have 4 grenades.
6A --- Anti-armor is the obvious choice for the reasons outlined above.
Turbocharge
First rank only
--- For this build, TC functions principally as an as-needed instant reload when you need to fire your weapon to trigger Sustained Fire.
Munitions Training
4B Powers and Melee / 5A Melee Synergy / 6A Sustained Fire
4B --- The obvious choice here over 8% weapon damage.
5A 6A --- Melee Synergy and Munitions Training synergize very well. Both are must-haves. Using a high-RoF pistol or shotgun - I favor the Piranha for this build - hose down the target as you approach. This will trigger both Melee Synergy's 30% melee damage bonus and Sustained Fire's 24% damage-taken debuff. Also mix in weapons fire with Frags against armor to allow your grenades to benefit from the damage-taken debuff.
Fitness
4B Melee / 5A Defensive Positioning / 6A Hold the Line
4B --- The obvious choice due to the magnitude (50%) of the melee bonus.
5A --- You will occasionally have to duck out of the thick of things for a moment to survive. Defensive Positioning allows you do shorten the amount of time you're out of action considerably.
6A --- Hold the Line is just too useful for a usually-out-of-cover build to sacrifice. Consequently, Close-Quarters Momentum is the one melee bonus I don't take for this build ( same with the melee human Infiltrator).
I welcome any comments on the build, positive or negative. Constructive would be preferable, but I know the audience, so.. yeah. Please note that I do not claim this build is optimal, but I can say confidently that it's highly effective on Gold. I expect it to be passable on Platinum, albeit with a more cautious approach.
I'd also love to see your weird builds. None of them can be as bad as my experiment with the shield-powered Nova Gladiator, so don't be shy.
Among the first I tried was the Escape Artist melee human Infiltrator, which I've posted about several times lately and won't revisit here except to say that I was very pleasantly surprised by her Platinum utility.
Due to the common offensive and defensive passives, that build inspired me to try a melee turian Soldier, since I'd never seen it done. I've run him several times now on Gold to very good effect, but haven't used him yet on Plat.
Here's how I've built him:
Fortification
4B Mobility / 5B Power Armor / 6B Explosive Purge
4B --- Mobility helps to close distance reliably. I dash a lot in CQC, whether running melee or not, but the reduced movement penalty is still noticeable, IMO.
5B --- Power Armor is the obvious choice over Shield Feedback for the melee bonus. I ran him once with Stronghold gear to offset the loss of regen and found that effective (i.e. Stronghold's 20% shields and 70% regen speed + Power Armor's 30% melee rather than Hydraulic Joints' 25% melee + Feedback's 25% shield regen and 40% regen delay reduction).
6B --- I don't use Explosive Purge often, but it's a great situational "get out of shitstorm free" card. Surrounded by Annointed? Eat lightning, motherfuckers.
Frags
4A Damage / 5A Capacity / 6A Armor Damage
4A --- I mostly use Frags on armored targets, so damage wins out over radius. The stuff next to a Hydra is good collateral damage, but the priority here is hammering down things I can't glowypoke effectively, or at least can't attack in melee range at full health. I use melee to finish whenever practical.
5A --- Shrapnel is a sneaky-good evo I don't see discussed much (its 600-DoT isn't all that far behind Flak's, and doesn't have the latter's innate armor penalty); I like it on the human Soldier. In this case, however, Capacity wins out. Frags' utility for this build is in their burst damage against armor, and the gear slot's already in use, so without Capacity I'd only have 4 grenades.
6A --- Anti-armor is the obvious choice for the reasons outlined above.
Turbocharge
First rank only
--- For this build, TC functions principally as an as-needed instant reload when you need to fire your weapon to trigger Sustained Fire.
Munitions Training
4B Powers and Melee / 5A Melee Synergy / 6A Sustained Fire
4B --- The obvious choice here over 8% weapon damage.
5A 6A --- Melee Synergy and Munitions Training synergize very well. Both are must-haves. Using a high-RoF pistol or shotgun - I favor the Piranha for this build - hose down the target as you approach. This will trigger both Melee Synergy's 30% melee damage bonus and Sustained Fire's 24% damage-taken debuff. Also mix in weapons fire with Frags against armor to allow your grenades to benefit from the damage-taken debuff.
Fitness
4B Melee / 5A Defensive Positioning / 6A Hold the Line
4B --- The obvious choice due to the magnitude (50%) of the melee bonus.
5A --- You will occasionally have to duck out of the thick of things for a moment to survive. Defensive Positioning allows you do shorten the amount of time you're out of action considerably.
6A --- Hold the Line is just too useful for a usually-out-of-cover build to sacrifice. Consequently, Close-Quarters Momentum is the one melee bonus I don't take for this build ( same with the melee human Infiltrator).
I welcome any comments on the build, positive or negative. Constructive would be preferable, but I know the audience, so.. yeah. Please note that I do not claim this build is optimal, but I can say confidently that it's highly effective on Gold. I expect it to be passable on Platinum, albeit with a more cautious approach.
I'd also love to see your weird builds. None of them can be as bad as my experiment with the shield-powered Nova Gladiator, so don't be shy.
