What's the most recent build/set up that you've discovered?

the trick is to find a way to just laugh at pugs being ridiculous scrubs, if you let it bother you it will literally drive you insane 

yeah I can't really argue with you there; pugs that don't help with/actively fuck up objectives may be the single most annoying thing in the game (*well, besides Geth)... which is one reason I have 100+ Solo Masteries  

Ok have to disagree with you there, Geth are pretty much always annoying (not to be confused with difficult- Geth aren't difficult, they're right there with Reapers for easiest faction, they're just extremely obnoxious with their troll-turrets and triple rocket-cheaters and other annoying nonsense), and I'd almost always rather put up with bad pugs than cheating butthole Geth.. (also, my Geth Mastery has been stuck for years so I have little incentive for putting up with their bulshit in the first place)

Yep, except for on other factions Platinum where they're unavoidable, and maybe the rare occasion where I'm in the mood to rage-roll Geth with a cheesy kit like the QME or Kroguard 

LMAO at this one
Although the N7 Paladin doesn't seem to be too smart either, as he obviously entered the wrong class - he's the best Engineer out there to me, and he's way too squishy for a Sentinel, yet he ended up where he is.

I'm going to agree with nitrous that paladin is better engineer than any other engineer and that him being a sentinel doesn't really make sense. He's the only sentinel without TA or any biotic power and while vanilla human sentinels and Valkyrie have only biotic powers, they at least have TA. He... kinda sticks out. Guess they needed a N7 for each class and since demolisher was already casted as engineer, paladin got slapped with omni shield and they called that a close enough.

That said, DistigiousForest makes a good point. Most sentinels have up to 50% DR. Paladin can have 100% DR with his omni shield deployed. Yeah, it requires you to be a stand still target, but I guess that plays up to whole DnD paladin trope, where the paladin's role was to draw fire to himself, so other party members can better kill the enemy.

He's a mechanically unusual class, for sure. But being squishy? Nah.

Let me try to elaborate what I meant when I said that the Paladin is an Engineer to me, not a Sentinel (of course it goes without saying that this is just my opinion and nothing more).
First, let's take a look at how ME defines each class. A Sentinel is supposed to be a mix of biotic and tech powers, with their signature power being Tech Armor. An Engineer is supposed to use tech powers only and is able to summon pets. However, the Paladin only has tech powers and no biotics. Even if you take a look at other Sentinels, you'll see that apart from Volus (who has Shield Boost, which is considered either a tech power or is not attributed to any power class, and two tech powers, Decoy and Combat Drone) every single one of them has a combination of tech and biotic powers.
Second, let's have a look at DR. I found a thread in the Resource Library not so long ago that had a lot of detailed information on how it works, as well as a formula for figuring out how the thing really works:
On Damage Reduction
The Paladin does not have constant DR as most Sentinels do (apart from Volus and Vorcha, which have different means of defense) - but he can get a decent layer of DR if he uses his Energy Drain. The drawback of ED is it being a very situational power, and while the Paladin should be perfectly fine fighing Geth, the Reapers might give him some hard time, as there are only 2 shielded enemies and no synthetics - and Collectors might make things go FUBAR very quickly because damn them flies. I personally feel much more safe when playing my dodge-less TSent than Paladin (and if I can easily get away with a Cyclonic III or even II on my fat space bird on Platinum depending on my teammates, I'm a scrub and I have to slap a Cyclonic IV on my Paladin if I feel brave enough to play him).


He indeed does have a failsafe button though being his light/heavy melee, but timing the first one and exiting the second might get a bit tricky, especially when played off-host (for instance, I get hit by a Banshee's warp ball 100% of the time because of lag).

And this is where I'm having troubles with this class most. He's not a Juggy, nether he is a Krogan, and he doesn't have any reliable (i.e. that works all the time and under any circumstances) DR. And taking into account that he has Snap Freeze and Incinerate, two offensive powers that can do some heavy damage, he doesn't really qualify for me as a debuffing character only. And he doesn't have a sword.



I think that my considering him being squishy also has to do with my being a scrub and still having to L2P, so there is also that

All great choices on him, I love the Arc Pistol on him too. My new favorite, from CDEM, is slapping a Crusader on him and calling it a day

Acolyte is a projectile weapon and therefore suffers no armor damage penalty. You can put AP rounds on it, but you'll only get the damage boost. No increased armor damage and no piercing. Fire ammo is probably the best for it since that will help against armor. If you haven't used the Acolyte on a Vanguard, you're doing something wrong because it's probably the best class for the Acolyte other than Adepts or super specific builds like the Throwslinger or Iceslinger.

Even if it was in a bad way, I wouldn't mind it at all - I'm here to find people who love this game, are more experienced and who can help me to git gud, and by telling me to L2P you're indeed helping me a lot It's just that the whole process of L2P is quite lengthy and involves lots of failures and swearing, you know :/

Yes, I indeed did treat it mostly as my main DR source, and failed badly, because not every enemy has shields or is synthetic, and even I use ED on those who do, the lag can be so bad I end up being dead by the time I get that layer of protection (or the ED would hit nothing at all, because the game registered it as a miss).

Unfortunately, my aim is bad, so taking a weapon like the Paladin would be a great mistake for me - I prefer spray and pray type of guns for myself like the Hurricane. I have the CSMG at V at the moment, so the clip is still too short for it to be gold-viable, IMHO, and my being a noob doesn't help either as I manage to overheat the thing and get killed during the reload animation. I like the Talon though, as it is a lightweight pocket shotgun that packs quite a punch even at V, so I'll give it a try as well.
However, I'm one of those poor people who can't use the Geth Scanner - I'm photosensitive, and I can get some nasty headaches if something is obstructing my vision (and the Geth Scanner is bad in both aspects), so I have to guesstimate where the enemies are. But this gear seems to be almost an essential piece of equipment on him, so I feel like I'm missing out a lot.
And I'm a scrub, so a Cyclonic is still a must - I tend to stick to cover or exit it - or even do a barrel combat roll when I need it least, so I need some extra shields to make up for my clumsiness.

What about that Raider BANG-BANG?
Or quarian "MY SOUP!!!1"?
And I also love the sound a Crab makes when it gets knocked down - it's so GUD to hear that shit finally getting what it deserves

Thanks a lot for the build link!
I always take that mod because I've learned it's pretty much a must on ammo-recharging weapons.
And as for sounds - that's what I called guesstimating because I usually play in headphones, so I can tell where the enemies are and what they are in most cases (although sometimes the sound seems to be a bit confusing as it is generated in the wrong place, especially when a wave starts), so I also check if there's a GS user on my team and follow them around. Since there's little chance they'll run straight into hell, my survivability also somewhat gets better

Anyone who's a better player than me is a perfect target, and you are, so there's quite a high chance I will
But I usually stick to my Juggy friend unless he decides to kill crap faster than it can spawn, which would force me to break off and go die somewhere on the other end of the map