*****Your last Pug in one word*****

Unplayable

Nothing to do with pugs but I've unplayable matches tonight.  It's me or Origin is acting up. I got the worst lag ever or the server is going bonkers. Playing as an AA, I've mobs walking through the stasis bubble. DC-ed in one match.

Fubared:

Fancied some U/U/G but couldn't find any matches to join, so I started a lobby which after waiting for 10mins was still empty; I switched the Mission Settings to U/U/S and waited another five lonely minutes before kicking the game off solo. I drew Cerberus on White and had just finished W3's Hack when a KroSol joined and helped me mop-up. Nice. The rest of the game went without a hitch (we remained a duo throughout). Next match, we stayed with U/U/S and drew Geth on Goddess. Again all was pretty-much a stroll in the park: it was fun watching my teammate melee the living hell out of everything in sight.

Then the sh*t hit the fan: we were joined by a couple of PUGs on W6, which was fine at first,  but come W7 one of them (couldn't tell which) decided to start blaring music through his open comm channel. I asked him politely a couple of times to please refrain from such ear-busting behaviour as it seriously impaired my enjoyment of the game - I got no reply. So, when W8 started, I treated him to thirty seconds or so of the sort of foul-mouthed abuse that Atilla the Hun might have enjoyed dishing-out, and then quit the game. Wan*er. Such is life in PUG-land, on occasion.

Yep, he never stays for very long. eMicropeen and all that.

u getz nuffin

Dagga/Soonverymuchbrokentoasters/scrubilver

I luv it when pugs run all over the map, forcing enemies to spawn rite near me. What? U wanted to kill dat spawn. Sorry, my Shuriken already did.

#eMicropeencuzsilver

Nice one! For a bronze, box o' shame solo hahaha

J/k, guess I'm not that special after all

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'dropping all of Reave and B'? As for the Bubble, all the bottom options for a fully offensive approach is definitely the way to go and I swear 6a in Reave is the better choice overall, and the only logical one if you're using Acolyte or Talon, with power amps all the way.

Funnily enough I ended up having to walk the walk (or should that be dodge the dodge?) as well as talk the talk, as precisely the thing I predicted happened in a pug game where I had to clutch all of wave 8. I used a courtesy missile on the two Banshees at the end of the wave having whittled down everything else. I also ended up outscoring a Huntress 186 to 180k, so yeah, maybe not equal to the Valkyrie but a match for the Huntress ain't too shabby.

I guess maybe there's a learning curve, but I wouldn't change my 66455 Acolyte build for all the tea in China.  Or all the Ass on Thessia for that matter. 

I was thinking about the differences between the two overnight, and if I had to sum them up in a single phrase it would be 'soft cover' - something the Valkyrie knows little or nothing about, but key to maximizing the Justicar's abilities. If you watch Sonashii's duo video in the build thread you'll get a pretty good idea of how soft cover and RHA come into play. Admittedly the Venom allows for more aggressive play than the Acolyte, but there's still a lot of dodging in and out of soft cover. When I'm playing using an Acolyte, I can bounce those shots through the tiniest of gaps without ever really coming under fire myself, firing off Pull pretty much simultaneously, following up with Reave for a BE. It might sound very cautious, but it's not really, just sensible. The simplest way of working out what to do when learning how to use Pull is to have a hair-trigger reaction to the sight of anything with only health, and the anticipation to know that if you release the Acolyte first you can include Marauders etc in that category, as the travel time for both is comparable. Then Reave almost instantly. Everything without armour dies, and will stagger nearby enemies too. My Bubble is the only thing which inspires aggressive play occasionally, as I run forward and cast it on a boss or sub-boss which has already been Reaved, then dodge, release the Acolyte, dodge, and Reave them again. Then I generally retreat, dodging backwards and sideways, using RHA again to attack whatever unfortunates have found their way into the Bubble. A heavy Raider is not a weapon I would choose for that playstyle (but is probably my favourite on the Valkyrie) because you have to get so close to be effective, when the Justicar doesn't actually need to get close to do damage.

I'm not being falsely modest when I say I'm not a particularly skillful player, partly as I struggle with a little bit of arthritis which puts the Acolyte Justicar at the upper levels of my capabilities, but I am very experienced with over 3k hours logged on both consoles, and at the risk of coming across as a faux sports psychologist I would say that success with her begins with clarity of thought, understanding all her formidable BE capabilities (both her own and with other Biotics) and accepting that while a methodical approach may seem slightly less exciting than spawn-obliterating or whatever, she is capable getting a rhythm going which brings with it tremendous enjoyment levels as well as a fair amount of destruction. It's worth persevering, and I especially recommend her if you find a Jugg in your lobby as it's a match made in heaven - let the Jugg draw the aggro, cast your Bubble over him and retreat to a safe(r) place before blowing the crap out of everything that comes near. 

Sorry to anyone who objects to the derailing!

-

Turian

Had a couple of games with a full squad - 2 TSols, myself as TSent/Striker/Incendiary and someone who just wouldn't get with the Fatness programme and played a Havoc or TGI. Lots of 'textbook' behaviour. 

In the cold light of day with much purer blood running through my brain, I would like to retract that statement, and will in fact equip a Falcon at the very least next time out. 

FOR THESSIA!!!

Pull Justicar Glenn Style -

1. See Spawn
2. Shoot Falcon Phasic into crowd a couple times.
3. All shields are gone now, Pull all the things.
4a. If they are sailing through the air on the other side of the map, Reave them for BE death-boom. OR
4b. Sailing through the air near you, cast Bubble once inside your radius, and watch the hilarity ensue. They will all die.

Armor:

1. Reave the things, and keep shooting.
2. When the enemy nears your radius, and are primed with Reave, run on up like an idiot suicide bomber and cast your Bubble on them, preferably at a decent choke point. BE is the result.
3. Warp Bubble detonates Reave, and also primes with Warp. Cast Reave again for a second immediate BE.
4. Use your sidearm (durricane) for cleanup.

The first five waves of Gold is mostly a Pull/Reave show, and then the second half Pull is for mook control, and your primary killing tool becomes Reave/Bubble/Reave.

She is the Boom Queen. Still, and forever.

Catstrike addendum:

5. Crank up Macross music
6. Slide between two Juggernauts/Atlases and bubble both of them then slide out of LoS behind them
7. Say something cool into microphone that isn't on (あたしの歌を聴け～！）
8. Get shot to death by Geth Hunters / synced by phantoms you weren't paying attention to

10. Assgasm

He didn't say much.



(I should have done the same. A bit laggy)