First Insanity trilogy playthrough advice

soldier

thanks guys, I was thinking of doing a Sheploo playthrough - I guess that means Soldier if I go purist. I may switch classes in ME2 though. Would you say Soldier or Infiltrator is more fun (I know it's subjective) - and which is a bit easier on Insanity between the two?

I'm thinking I may go Soldier for ME1, Infiltrator for ME2, Engineer for ME3 - for diversity.

Also, which bonus talent would u suggest for an ME1 Soldier or Infiltrator on Insanity?  And, is it "bad form" to choose Lift as your bonus ability, since it doesn't "fit" a soldier?

thanks UpUpAndAway - very in depth help.

Idk about ME1, but for 2 and 3 Infiltrator is almost certainly the easiest for an Insanity run.

Hey guys - still haven't started my new playthrough. It's b/t Soldier and Infiltrator - Insanity.

I'm looking at my bonus talents and I don't have AR or AI Hacking. I have: Lift, Throw, Warp, Singularity, Barrier, Stasis, Electronics, Decryption.

With those bonuses I have available, which should I pick and pair with the Soldier and the Infiltration for ME1? TY TY TY

As mentioned above, if you go with the Soldier, you will most likely unlock the AR as a bonus power.  You need to make 150 kills with an AR to unlock it.  Another way would be to just start a soldier playthrough in normal, shoot the requisite number of enemies and then quit that playthrough as soon as the AR unlockess and start the Infiltirator with and AR bonus... but that will waste some time and it doesn't seem like being an infiltrator is something you're dead set on doing.

So, I would say go with the Soldier.  As I said above, I personally would pick Decryption because 1) it enables you to unlock a lot of crates on your own.  2) At 9 points you gain Master Sabotage which will disable even turrets and colossi from firing at you... allowing you to take them down without risking being shot up yourself.  It also frees up 3 points you can use elsewhere in the build.  3) Being able to open crates, enables you to take Liara and Wrex to Noveria... which is a great combo for that part of the story.  Also, the synergy with those two and the solider is great...  Use Liara's singularity or lift to get the enemies off their feet; and you have two squad mates with warp, which will make the bosses and thresher maws more vulnerable to damage... allowing you to easily take them down on foot for more XP.  4) If you take other squad members with decryption/sabotage with you, you can shut down two or even armatures or turrets at a time, allowing you to take them out in absolute safety, again on foot for more XP... and, of course, more XP faster means getting the better weapons, armor and mod drops faster and also being stronger overall for the end game..  5) it's also not a biotic power and just fits better with the soldier lore-wise.

Alternatively, though, you can go with lift or singularity (both of which take 12 points to get to Master level) and you will be able to prevent enemies from spamming their immunity on you.  This will shorten a lot of the battles.

Also, here again is the link to the compilation thread in the Character Builds section here, which has lots of good advice for ME1 insanity builds and might help you make up your mind more easily.

bsn.boards.net/thread/1625/effect-trilogy-mechanics-character-compilation

Also, the infiltrator is also very doable on insanity without the AR.  ME1 is really fun if you like sniping things from a long distance... there are just so many opportunities to take out turrets and mercs outside on the side-mission planets and on the "driving" sections on any of the main mission planets.  For closer in battles, the infiltrator has his pistol (and master marksman), which will turn it into a very effect AR substitute.

ETA:  Also, something that just occurred to me...  If you're looking at your list of unlocked powers from the creation screen of a soldier, you won't see any of the weapons ones as being unlocked since the soldier already has training available in all weapons.  Try starting up an infiltrator and you may find that you have already unlocked the AR and can select it.

Thanks for all the detailed input - why is Soldier considered easier than Infiltrator? Since you don't die as often? I'm trying to decide if I like sniping. I usually really enjoy biotic powers - so a soldier is kinda the opposite of that.

Ok guys I decided to pick Lift as my bonus power, since I love biotics. I'll work on getting Pistols up - and I'll look at the other Soldier thread. Just wondering if you could tell me which skills at first are best for a soldier (w/ Lift.) ty.

P.S. AR already unlocked w/ 1 point invested.

Basically follow capri233's leveling guide:

bsn.boards.net/thread/2288/me1-basic-soldier-leveling-guide

My first 2 points always go into Intimidate (to get through Eden Prime) with everything and the 3rd point goes into the Soldier class to get my regeneration going.  Then I usually go for getting my main gun (pistol in your case) and second gun up to unlock the associated skill.  If you want to put an early point into lift to get it going, then I would steal it from your secondary gun (the AR in your case), which means you won't have lift on the Citadel (since that 1st AR point is pre-assigned), but should get it shortly after you leave there (around Level 9 or 10) 

I use the morality guide to decide what points I want to put into charm or intimidate and when depending on in what order I'm planning to do things.  If you follow the intimidate path, it's easier because you can get away with assigning only 6 points (and 4 free points) to get up to 10 to pass all checks.

If you look at capri's build at Level 40, you'll probably want to do a bit of juggling to get your lift up to advanced lift.

Pistols 12 (Master Marksman)
Shotguns 0
Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)
Sniper Rifles 9 (Advanced Assassination)
Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)
Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)
Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)
Commando 12 (Immunity and Assassination Specialization)
Intimidate 10 (4 freebies)
Spectre 4 (Unity)
Lift 7 (Advanced Lift)

I would probably steal the 4 points from the shotgun and 3 from the sniper rifle (I like using the SR, but I find I can do just fine with it at just 9 points).  If you like working close in and don't want to throw your shotgun completely under the bus and don't want to use the SR at all, then steal all the points from it, get your Lift up to 12 (Master Lift) and put the difference into your shotgun.

Pistols 12 (Master Marksman)
Shotguns 4
Assault Rifles 8 (Advanced Overkill)
Sniper Rifles 0
Combat Armor 7 (Shield Boost, Heavy Armor)
Assault Training 5 (Adrenaline Burst)
Fitness 12 (Master Immunity)
Shock Trooper 12 (Immunity and Adrenaline Burst Specialization)
Intimidate 10 (4 freebies)
Spectre 4 (Unity)
Lift 12 (Master Lift)

Note:  If you dump the SR completely, then you'll definitely want to take Shock Trooper as your specialization since you won't be using the Assassination skill at all.

Ok thanks guys. I screwed up the Intimidation thing for the farmers and have a few less bonus points that Capn's build suggests I should have, but it's close. I'm going Paragon for this run. If Pistol is so good, is there any reason to put points in other weapons?

Also, I've got everyone but Liara now - I've been running with Kaiden and Tali - is that recommended as a Soldier? And which weapons should my teammates be using?

Lastly, is there a way I can get my teammates to focus fire on the enemy I'm shooting at (i'm on 360 controller.)

Ok which 2nd weapon do you suggest? I'm already noticing the immunity spam - good news is I've only died once and about through with all the Citadel stuff.

And for your comps, is it better to vary weapons - such as spec Garrus as sniper, Wrex Shotguns, etc - or have everyone pistol?

Infiltrator is the easiest class in all three games although I wouldn't rank it too high in actual power in 2. Ease and power aren't necessarily the same thing.

With respect to ME1, Soldier w/ Electronics would be harder to kill than an Infiltrator, but it isn't really by much and you won't have any CC capability outside the elbow of doom and weapon force.

Soldier also really isn't all that great in ME3 relative to the other classes. Infiltrator and Vanguard are god tier compared to it really. Of course I think ME3 is largely the easiest of the three so it isn't a big deal.

**

edit

Since I am late to the party...

With Lift as a bonus I would get basic Lift ASAP, at the very least before going to Chora's Den the first time (gg Assassins and Krogan Bouncer).  Then you can delay leveling it a little more after that, but it would be nice to have at least Advanced Lift on the first plot world, especially if it is Therum since that will lift the Battlemaster (and Geth Armatures).

Master Lift could be considered a luxury on a Soldier, I would pull the points from Snipers if I were so inclined.  Alternatively, you could leave AR's at something like Rank 3 for a long time running Pistol primary w/ AR backup (and no SR's for a while).  It all sort of depends.

If you are trying to unlock weapon talent achievements, then you could also steal some points from Pistols so AR or SR investment isn't hit too heavily.

Just depends.

The one thing I would mention is that shotgun investment is the poorest investment of the four weapon types since they work OK with 0 points invested (for knockdown anyway), and are pretty low on DPS even with high investment.  Also Carnage lowers overall DPS, which is sad.  Of course if you definitely want to use shotgun for whatever reason, perhaps investment would make it a little less painful.  But I would probably just try to farm those kills against melee units with a healthy dose of elbow and not worry about how many shots it took.