Chill Zone (The Tavetaan)

Andromeda's action is built around fluid, fast-paced third person combat. Our combat offers amazing freedom of movement with the use of a jump jet that allows you to jump, evade, and even hover while you're fighting. You'll also notice a new, dynamic cover system that allows you to seamlessly use almost anything, including your own vehicle, for cover. All this freedom allows you to approach the battle in a way that suits your gameplay style.


Weapons
Let's take a closer look at our weapons. In Mass Effect: Andromeda, there are four categories of guns: pistols, shotguns, and sniper- and assault rifles, plus a range of melee weapons for up-close combat. All guns are available to every player. There are no class restrictions. So if you decide you want to try something new, it's as easy as switching your loadout.

Guns and gear in Andromeda fall into three technology types based on where the tech comes from. Milky Way weapons typically use physical projectile ammunition that's similar to the types of weapons you might be familiar with from our original games, with some advancements, of course. These are high-impact projectile based guns. They're great against non-shielded targets, but require to keep an eye on your ammo.

[...] weapons typically use beams, have a high rate of fire, and are extremely accurate. They use the overheat system and don't rely on ammo, so you'll never run out of ammo, but you'll have to wait for your gun to cool down from time to time.

[...] weapons are technology from civilizations that live in the Helios Cluster of Andromeda. They're generally plasma based, which means they're lower speed, the benefit from heat-seeking technology, while some are charged-based; the longer you charge before releasing, the harder they hit.

Melee weapons vary in both damage and speed. Our hitting hammers do maximum damage. Our lightning fast shivs or swords allow you to get in and out of harm's way with maximum speed and precision.


Skills and Abilities
In addition to weapons you can also develop skills and abilities. Like the weapons, there are no restrictions on what skills you can choose. And each of the three main categories is designed to facilitate a certain style of play.

Combat skills are great if you want to focus on weapons, gear, and making your character the ultimate soldier. These skills focus on improving weapon damage and accuracy, as well as giving you the ability to use flak cannons, grenades, mines, and more.

Tech skills allow you to equip your Pathfinder with more experimental weaponry, or focus on strategic improvements for you and your squad. Cryo Beam and Flamethrower give you more offensive punch, while skills like Invasion or Energy Drain weaken your opponents and make them easier to take down. Want a little extra help? Deploy your own assault turret.

Last but not least: biotics. By controlling dark energy, your Pathfinder can harness the power of mass and gravity. Biotic skills like Pull and Throw allow you to literally control the battlefield, using your enemies as a shield or even a weapon. Abilities like Annihilation Shield or Singularity can disrupt and damage anything or anyone caught up in their powerful grip. Each skill can be upgraded to become increasingly more devastating and effective.

Each also has choices to make when upgrading, offer you more ways to customize your playstyle.


An Example
Now that we have the basics down, let's put this into action. In this case our Pathfinder is equipped with a sniper rifle and a shotgun, with three powers selected. You'll notice that different enemies each behave different in unique ways. Some will keep their distance and try to snipe us. Others will charge right in and try to flash us out of cover. Sticky Grenades is an advanced version of the Omni Grenade combat skill. They're effective against just about anything, but they have a limited supply.

Enemies each have different strengths and weaknesses. For most, headshots inflict maximum damage, but you'll need to pay attention to the health bars. Yellow means it's got armor, and won't be as susceptible to certain powers. Blue means they're shielded, and in addition to being more resistant to biotics, you'll generally need to deal with those shields before their health goes down. And just like you, their shields will recharge if you don't finish them off quickly.

Tactical Cloak is a tech skill that allows you to evade enemy detection, and inflict increased damage when attacking from Cloak. And finally, Overload. Another tech skill that's great for taking out enemy shields, and synthetic enemies. By holding it before releasing, you can even chain it to multiple enemies. And this is just one of the hundreds of combinations and weapons skills you can try in Andromeda.

Stay tuned for future installments where we'll show you our profiles, to give you an added boost in combat. Favorites which allow you immediate access to your sets of power so you can change on the fly, and squad skills and commands.