Biotic Charge bonus power

Yeah, it's definitely worth it on the Smashguard. Not that I ever play that XD I still prefer barrier on pretty much all the other vanguards, but on some of them it's pretty much just a preference choice. Not on the Slayer or (Amonkira forbid) on the Drell, though!

And you are overestimating how many fucks do I give at having more invincibility frames as a vanguard, when pretty much the only ways I have to die are sync kills and lag

And also underestimating how fast I want to pave the enemy.

The less time I spend having I-frames, and the more I spend using power/guns that actually kill things, the better, for me.

The more movement thing is nice though. I rarely feel like I need more movement options as a vanguard, though.


Still, I'm sure it's a fun evolution

I take Bonus Charge on every vanguard. The ability to spam a power that detonates while restoring barriers is invaluable, in my opinion.

Yes, Bonus Charge only restores 50% of the barrier, but if you charge twice, you do double the damage without a cooldown and - look at that! - there's the other half of your barriers! Furthermore, if you're using a vanguard with other powers (Smashguard, for example) you can Charge and then use whatever power immediately after.

And for everyone arguing for the amount of restored barriers: Biotic Charge with the 100% barrier evo doesn't restore shieldgate, but Charging multiple times in a row via Bonus Charge allows shieldgate to be restored through the time elapsed during I-Frames while wrecking bad guys.

It's the better evo.

The fact that they don't trigger a cooldown is exactly why the barrier evolution is better on those kits. Cause they can be spammed as much as you like, and if you wanna kill things quick, you better be spending time clustering the fuck out of the enemies than charging them.

So let's break it down logically.

You charge into something, as you said. If you are dealt less than half your shields as a damage, and don't need to charge again, you keep using the other, more damaging powers, and all's good. Effectively, the two options are the same in this case. Except on the novaguard where the Nova damage depends on the shields you've got, so barrier is better.

Other option: you charge into something and are dealt between half of your shields and 100% of them. Then if you have the lottery evolution you have a 50% chance, which I don't seen anyone talking about, by the way, of being forced to use an ops pack/take cover/die. The other 50% of the times you're gonna charge again, spending time charging and lowering your damage output significantly. With the barrier evolution, you don't give a fuck and keep hammering the enemies with the right powers/guns.

Final option, you charge and are dealt more than 100% of your shields' worth of damage before you can annihilate the enemy. Then, if you have the lottery option, you're going to have X time before you need to charge again 50% of the times, and ops pack/cover/die the other 50% (seriously, why do I never see you or anyone else talk about the 50% of the times when you can't charge back to back? Cause it doesn't happen rarely, you know, ir happens half the bloody times, and yet you all talk and act like it had a 100% chance of not triggering a cooldown. THEN it'd be the better evolution. But it's 50%, not 100%...). If you picked barrier, on the other hand, you simply have 2X time to deal damage with the real damage dealing powers, and then you'll be forced to ops pack/cover/die.

In my experience, the vast majority of the encounters on gold result in either of the first two situations, with the second being the most common. The third happens sometimes, but rarely enough to be dealt easily with ops packs and gels. And barrier also means you have twice the time before you need to use an ops pack, by the way.

All in all, I don't see how you can argue that the lottery evolution is better. It might be fun I don't doubt that. But it's not better, sorry And no I'm not gonna trust you on your last statement

Well this thread didn't go the way I expected it to. I'll have to give this another go, I'd always considered it to be one of the no brainer ignore choices.

Everyone knows if you take the full barrier restored evo youre just scrubs who need the extra to survive. What I bet you also spent point in fitness too.

You people are really underestimating the power of movement and invincibility frames. And it's also hilarious to charge the same Phantom 4-5 times in a row to death and she can't do anything about it.