Powers, Skill Trees and Active Abilities (Official Thread)

So I posted earlier about my Sentinel Incinerate, Energy Drain, Lance combo build and I have been experimenting lately.

I always felt that Lance not priming hurts my damage a bit. Plus the no cooldown of Lance is wasted because a ability can only be detonated once per target (or has a significant delay).

Is it possible to make a triple prime/detonation build (as in 3 abilities 3 detonations constantly)?

Apparently it is.

Been trying out Shockwave as a replacement to Lance. Shockwave is starts as a detonator but can be made into a primer as well. Whats so interesting about that? That 2 second lift seems to prime when armour is up (have not tested shields yet. I was getting Biotic combos on a Fried (pure armour) on the desert world.

While it needed a Fusion mod with -50% recharge I was able to chain non stop Biotic explosions by simply chaining Incinerate->Shockwave->Energy Drain constantly. Throw in the -20% from having biotics on target upgrade and it seems a winner.

Anyway more testing required.

Ironic that you brought this up. I started my NG+ file with Sara this morning (I was Scott on the original file) and this is the exact build I was planning to use. I haven't unlocked the VI yet because of story reasons so it'll be awhile before I can use it. In ME3, my Engineer playthrough used combat drone, defense drone, and the assault turret to wreck the playing field.

Backlash is probably my favourite power right now. I took it as a bit of an afterthought but now I don't want to drop it. Not only is it a great 'oh shit' power, it's also hilarious watching Annointed destroy their own own shields in seconds when they fire up their Soned.

I kinda see it as a replacement for the tactical pause that they ditched. Within reason, you can just stand out in the open and survey the battlefield for a few seconds to get your bearings.

It also synergizes well with any build since one of the rank 6 evolutions increases power, weapon and melee damage by about 30% once backlash is released. Makes me want to try it with flamethrower...

I'd even recommend it as a one point wonder on a backup profile because it has no recharge delay when you switch favourites.

I might just have to try Backlash now. I hate those damn anointed. Also the cloaky guys, don't know what they are called, but they are a bitch to deal with.

On the topic of Incinerate + Energy Drain, its really not all that great. I got stuck on fighting the Cardinal with Singularity + Incinerate + Energy Drain. Ofc on insanity and I think I was lvl 18. I am pretty sure I was in the right range lvl wise, but I couldn't do it with that combo, had to reload an old save. Its not even the Cardinal that is the problem, its when the Cardinals health drops below 33% an a bunch of reinforcements come and completely wreck me. So, yeah, open for advice on that one.

I was playing with it last night to test the cooldown. Apparently you only trigger the cooldown if you use it for the full duration or absorb a certain amount of damage. So in theory you could continually pop it up for a few seconds going from cover to cover.

Backlash is probably my favourite power right now. I took it as a bit of an afterthought but now I don't want to drop it. Not only is it a great 'oh shit' power, it's also hilarious watching Annointed destroy their own own shields in seconds when they fire up their Soned.

I kinda see it as a replacement for the tactical pause that they ditched. Within reason, you can just stand out in the open and survey the battlefield for a few seconds to get your bearings.

It also synergizes well with any build since one of the rank 6 evolutions increases power, weapon and melee damage by about 30% once backlash is released. Makes me want to try it with flamethrower...

I'd even recommend it as a one point wonder on a backup profile because it has no recharge delay when you switch favourites.