Post by RedCaesar97 on Oct 23, 2016 20:57:04 GMT
ATTENTION: This guide was originally written by capn233 on the old BioWare Social Network (BSN) forums. I am recreating it here (without permission) so it does not disappear when the old BSN shuts down. Capn233 is a member of these forums, so he can yell at me in this thread for posting it without his permission.
This is the character I am playing for my next SP run.
Basically the only rule I came up with was "No biotic charge." Which means that Nova has lost the synergy that makes it ridiculously powerful. At least now I might have a use for the Capacitor Chest Plate.
For a bonus power, it is probably smartest to take a biotic that would prime armor, and it would be good if it gave you damage protection. That would mean Reave. I did not go that route and instead took Inferno Grenades. In fact I think I will content myself with only Pull, Nova and Inferno Grenades as active powers on Shepard, with Incendiary Ammo, Assault Mastery and Fitness rounding out the build.
I started at Level 1, and as you may already know you do not unlock Nova until Level 6, so essentially the Prologue was boring with just a couple grenades getting tosses. When you arrive on Mars, you rank to Level 3, so I had some points (which I neglected to spend) and made due with grenades and weapon fire until rank 6 showed up, right after you get to the Security checkpoint on the other side of the cafeteria.
For weapons I started with Avenger, Katana, and Predator. I am not completely sure where I want to go with the weapons. I might do SMG and Shotgun. Any suggestions would be welcome. Vindicator is about my favorite all around gun, but I have used it so many times I think I will try to avoid it this time. After suggestions I went with the Claymore when available. For better or worse... it is really only excellent if you reload cancel it, and to do that with ease I need to burn my Inferno Grenades first.
Addressing some issues from below... As was pointed out, this is supposed to be something of a handicapped character. However, it is still a fun character. I don't care that it isn't the best way to get through the game, it is a fun way, IMO.
As for Energy Drain, if you don't mind having a tech power on a Combat/Biotic Hybrid, that would be a very good choice for a No Charge Novaguard. You can swap your Biotic shield restore for a Tech shield restore that can also prime and detonate Tech Bursts. That was not the goal of my character, but I bet you could have fun that way if you wanted to.
Alternatively you could go with Defensive Matrix... which was something I did think about for a bit. You get damage protection, and then can purge to shields.
By the time you get leveled enough to get Half Blast on Nova this character is fairly safe. Additionally, if you take Liara you are probably going to be able to get more than enough quick Biotic Detonations to kill relatively quickly. No you probably won't be as fast as a Vanguard played "correctly", but it is more than a match for the game so far, IMO. I am compressing Sur'Kesh right now and it was fairly straightforward. Grissom wasn't as bad as I expected, but I also did not try to run around on the bottom in the first part of the Atrium (I never do that), although I did run around a bit in the second part.
YouTube playlist.
This is the character I am playing for my next SP run.
Basically the only rule I came up with was "No biotic charge." Which means that Nova has lost the synergy that makes it ridiculously powerful. At least now I might have a use for the Capacitor Chest Plate.
For a bonus power, it is probably smartest to take a biotic that would prime armor, and it would be good if it gave you damage protection. That would mean Reave. I did not go that route and instead took Inferno Grenades. In fact I think I will content myself with only Pull, Nova and Inferno Grenades as active powers on Shepard, with Incendiary Ammo, Assault Mastery and Fitness rounding out the build.
I started at Level 1, and as you may already know you do not unlock Nova until Level 6, so essentially the Prologue was boring with just a couple grenades getting tosses. When you arrive on Mars, you rank to Level 3, so I had some points (which I neglected to spend) and made due with grenades and weapon fire until rank 6 showed up, right after you get to the Security checkpoint on the other side of the cafeteria.
For weapons I started with Avenger, Katana, and Predator. I am not completely sure where I want to go with the weapons. I might do SMG and Shotgun. Any suggestions would be welcome. Vindicator is about my favorite all around gun, but I have used it so many times I think I will try to avoid it this time. After suggestions I went with the Claymore when available. For better or worse... it is really only excellent if you reload cancel it, and to do that with ease I need to burn my Inferno Grenades first.
Addressing some issues from below... As was pointed out, this is supposed to be something of a handicapped character. However, it is still a fun character. I don't care that it isn't the best way to get through the game, it is a fun way, IMO.
As for Energy Drain, if you don't mind having a tech power on a Combat/Biotic Hybrid, that would be a very good choice for a No Charge Novaguard. You can swap your Biotic shield restore for a Tech shield restore that can also prime and detonate Tech Bursts. That was not the goal of my character, but I bet you could have fun that way if you wanted to.
Alternatively you could go with Defensive Matrix... which was something I did think about for a bit. You get damage protection, and then can purge to shields.
By the time you get leveled enough to get Half Blast on Nova this character is fairly safe. Additionally, if you take Liara you are probably going to be able to get more than enough quick Biotic Detonations to kill relatively quickly. No you probably won't be as fast as a Vanguard played "correctly", but it is more than a match for the game so far, IMO. I am compressing Sur'Kesh right now and it was fairly straightforward. Grissom wasn't as bad as I expected, but I also did not try to run around on the bottom in the first part of the Atrium (I never do that), although I did run around a bit in the second part.
YouTube playlist.