Powers, Skill Trees and Active Abilities (Official Thread)

But... each time you switch to the favourite with the detonators, the cooldowns for those detonators automatically start and you have to wait to use them. So if you want to detonate anything, you'll need short cooldowns.

The whole idea is about burst damage through combos - you kill stuff before they can do any damage.

Are suggesting that you start with the favourite with the detonators? Because that's the only way you could use them without having to wait for them to come off their long cooldowns. But if you start with the detonators then you wouldn't be detonating anything because nothing would be primed, unless your squadmates have done it.

I was thinking:

1. Start with favourite #1 that has three primer powers with upgraded duration (eg 12+ seconds).

2. Prime two or three enemies in quick succession.

3. Quickly switch to favourite #2 with
(a) one primer; and
( two detonators with short, upgraded recharge times (eg 6 seconds).

4. While the powers on favourite #2 are on cooldown, order your squadmates to attack (and hopefully detonate) two primed enemies.

5. Once your detonators on favourite #2 have cooled down, try to detonate one more primed enemy (if any) within the few remaining seconds that the primer is active.

6. Use the remaining primer and detonator on favourite #2 to combo another enemy.

I don't know how possible that is, given what little we know about recharge speeds, but theoretically that would be four combos in the space of say, 15 seconds.

The way it looked on the video, if you switch to favourite #2 then all the powers on favourite #2 automatically start their cooldowns. So if those powers are detonators with long cooldowns, the primers you used from favourite #1 will expire before you can detonate them.

It's a penalty for switching profiles during combat - you can't use the powers on favourite #2 straight away after you switch to it.

As i see it, this new system really restricts the usage of Turret, Combat Drone Remnant VI, but not Defense Drone Combat Drone since it is an Engineer Profile passive perk now.

We can use other powers to deal instant damage and detonate primers for high damage, then switch to other loadout / favorite powers without any penalty on any previously used powers, while if a Remnant VI and Turret is placed they do damage, but they are destroyed if we switch to an another favorite power loadout.

I liked that approach in ME2 that i put out a Combat Drone, little wait (,in ME3 +Turret, little wait), depending on the situation Overload, Incinerate, Cryo Blast and AI Hacking / Sabotage, now it is not an option anymore.

I hope 1 power beside Remnant VI and Turret will be enough, but i don't think so.

Damnit, due to learning that on profile switching your abilities reset – which basically neuters cross-profile combos unless you have a sick rapid cooldown build – I had to revise my profile layout to make sure every profile can stand on its own, and has a full autonomous battle plan.
We basically should’ve seen this coming, it’s a nice way to balance things out: I’m actually quite pleased with this.

I’ll run with an overheat revenant and a charge sniper rifle, if that exists (if not: a semi-auto milky way sniper rifle). The revenant will be boosted heavily for accuracy and stability, and due to its innate damage potential, serves well as a pseudo-shotgun at close range.
I’m running with Drack, without question, since he’s just… awesome. Blood rage overkill? Check. Incinerate primer and detonator? Check. Overkill frag grenade option? Triple. Fucking. Check.
My second squadmate’s still on the fence but I’d like someone who has overload or energy drain (a skill with detonator and primer), just… not Liam. I’m hoping Vetra or Peebee are good people. We’ll see.

Must-have passive skills are of course assault rifle (and maybe sniper?) passives, as well as all fitness skills which serve reduced cool downs.

I’ll focus first on my 2 basic profiles, which are:

Infiltrator with tactical cloak, turbocharge and cryo beam.
This setup is used to take down armored enemies – like the fiends – with maximum efficiency, but also serves as good long range support and has a primer for squadmate detonation.
Tactical cloak is used in conjunction with the profile and sniper rifle for some good ol’ fashioned headshot overkill, but may also be used for kiting.
Turbocharge is the overheat revenant’s best friend and could help you get out of a pickle, or just plainly allow you to spray many, many bullets.
Cryo beam weakens armor and primes for squadmates if needed. The final evolution can also turn it into a trap, which I’m hoping remains after you switch profiles for some self detonation.
I chose infiltrator, because of the hitzone bonuses and weapon accuracy/stability which helps the revenant as well as the sniper, should I go with semi-auto. The tech recharge bonus affects both tactical cloak and cryo beam for maximum efficiency.

Explorer with nova, charge and overload.
Somewhat of a weird combo, I know, but hear me out. This setup based on high mobility and rapid cooldowns. It will be used for shielded enemies, close combat and combos. I’ll mainly switch to this if there are no large enemies.
Charge will be specced for rapid cooldown and enhanced biotic explosions. Charge is it’s every fantastic self again. Fantastic for close range, getting out of a tight spot through shield regeneration and detonating combos. It has a long starting cooldown, but you can get that down to 10 seconds through enhancements and even lower with passives. I’m hoping there’s a profile which has both blink and biotic power cooldowns, but we don’t know that yet. If not, It’ll be explorer.
Nova will also be specced for radius, anti-shield and priming. This way, I can get as many enemies as possible around me into getting primed. This will make for a good primer for charge, but an especially fantastic primer for (and works great for clearing shields off enemies symbiotic with) …
Overload. Since overload can be charged up to hit multiple enemies, everyone caught in nova's primer gets a taste of a chain-biotic combo. Overload is mainly used for stripping shields, as ever, but also serves as a primer as well! Such skill. Great effect. Much wow. If an enemy isn't caught in the nova-overload detonation combo, overload can still prime them through a charged overload side effect hit for a charge detonation.
Explorer is chosen mainly for biotic blink, which seems to be the ultimate dodge skill. Allowing you to remain relatively safe at close distances. Explorer also has tech cooldown which should help seeing as overload is the central crutch of this combo fest of a profile. Explorer also gets tiny weapon damage and damage resistance bonuses, which are great for CQB shotgunning. However! If there’s a profile with biotic cooldown and also blink, I might just switch to that (hopefully vanguard?).

I’ll first focus on developing the 2 profiles above so that they are fully functional and rock-solid to be relied upon. I will invest a very slight amount of points in a third profile though:

Soldier with flak cannon, barricade and trip mine.
This setup will serve as an impromptu-gotta-kill-this-muthafucka-now!-profile. Since profile switching resets cooldowns, it will be good for clutch moments to have one profile which has great killing potential immediately available. Personally, I’m not a fan of consumable skills which I need to craft, but if I keep ‘m only for clutch moments to unload everything I have (like the guy in the video did at the end to kill the fiend), it might still serve some use. Additionally, I only have to invest a low amount of points in the skills to make ‘m useful.
Flak cannon seems to be made for damage. So this is just for high DPS when required.
Barricade is for defense, and apparently can serve as a primer as well. Nice bonus. Also, I’m thinking that barricade will probably remain if you switch profiles, as it is not a sustained skill. Another nice bonus.
Trip mine. Also for damage. Also for detonating. Also, probably not a sustained skill so never lost.
Soldier is used because of the marksman’s kill bonus (heavily boosted by your high DPS power unloading), and extra damage and accuracy which help the revenant be awesome at all ranges.

In NG+, I might add a 4th profile, which will make use of the Adept profile for biotic echoes (chain biotic combos? Yes please!). I’ll probably slap on singularity, lance and throw. But this is still subject to change. Meh. I’ll see where I end up with my fourth profile once I play. My main ussue is that this profile doesn't serve a tactical purpose other than biotic amusement.

Well, my mind is put at ease now that I have been able to make a sound battle plan I’m ready for march 23! Bring it!

Uh, I'm not sure, but I think removing the cooldown on switch altogether could be pretty bad for balance. I think you may get cooldown to start at 50%, for instance, via bonuses rather than just remove it.

Maybe, maybe not. Either way we slice it, if there's an upgrade that removes cooldown or significantly reduces it, you'll still be able to swap and spam like mad after a certain point, only being limited b having to go through two layers of menus with a controller.

I like the cooldown between profiles. It's a nice way to balance it all out. Maybe there's a profile that reduces the cooldowns if you switch to it? Otherwise, I'm actually kind of hoping that you need to be creative with the skills in order for that to work. Or have it an end-game option or something.

Thanks, bruh. Yeah singularity ihavs a long cooldown but I've done the math: 
- It has a base cooldown of 24s. You can reduce that by 35% through evolving it, leaving it at 16s.
- You can increase the duration as well from 8s to about 11s. This leaves only 5 seconds of non-singularity time.
And that's without the passive bonuses of skill cooldown and duration So yes, I'm calling that spamming singularity

I've thought of detonator instead of turbocharge as well, but in the end, turbocharge will probably serve me better for my weapons than just being able to combo (you dont HAVE to combo all the time ). And besides, cryo beam's status effect remains rather long, plus you can throw it as a trap, or use squadmates; Plenty of opptions!

Argh. I will investigate when I get home Thanks for the heads-up. 16s is still doable though, mainly because you can still combo with overload and charge.

IF it doesn't work however, I might switch up singularity with nova. Nova can also prime, and then you can perform this awesome combo:
Charge in. Nova the fuck out of your surroundings using a nova specced for shield damage and prime your enemies. Charge up an overload for chaining and let it rip. You'll be standing still while shocking biotic combos are exploding everywhere around you.

You know what? That sounds awesome I might do this anyway!

EDIT: ah nards. You're right. I checked the video and singularity doesn't start recharging until after it is gone. Before that, it just fully blinks green and remains that way until singularity is gone. Hmm, I might go with nova in my second profile then, and put singularity in my 4th profile. It actually makes the 4th profile easier to choose

Was it confirmed that this is how cooldown reduction now works?

In ME3 it followed a rather odd formula, where a 50% reduction of 10 seconds would actually be 10/(1+.5) = 6.67 instead of 5 seconds.