Mass Effect 3 Questions about single player combat (Long post)

[addictinsane9]

APPOLOGY FOR LENGTH AND PERHAPS BEING IN THE WRONG FORUM

 

Incoming wall of text. If you want to skip theory crafting, just skip to the sections in bold that say "Question: blah blah blah".

 

This may not be the best forum for discussing combat strategies, but the EA bioware site is not letting me make an account and I haven't found any other forum site to discuss ME3 single player strategies.

 

If you feel too lazy to read the Trump-sized wall of text incoming, but can point me to a more appropriate site for this discussion, I would still be tremendously grateful.

 

(Also: my goal is a vanguard insanity run without nova nor medi-gel. Please consider those things when providing advice)

 

So... onward...

 

ISSUE 1: THEORIES ON DAMAGE AND BEST AMMO TYPE

 

Incendiary Ammo: After looking at the latest spreadsheets I could find on weapon performance and several wiki articles, I have tentatively concluded that equipping weapons that can output the highest amount of projectiles (or constant damage, as in particle rifle) and combine it with the Explosive Burst Rank 6 of Incendiary Ammo can achieve the highest DPS.

 

Explosive Burst on projectile-copious weapons: Both the wiki and the latest discussions I found agree that some weapons trigger Explosive Burst at a certainly broken rate (each projectile of rapid fire weapons, each pellet shot by a shotgun, and the prothean particle rifle seems to go up to astronomical numbers with this). Each explosion of EB is said to deal 100 damage. Moreover, the wiki states that this damage is affected by passive skills that increase power damage (skills, not equipment, not shadow broker upgrades, just skills). Therefore, if we compare a passive with 15% plus weapon damage on a weapon with less than 100 damage to a passive with 25% plus power damage for a 100 damage explosion, the winner is clearly there. I have even forgone James' Incendiary, boosted him with Squad-wide Incendiary at 50%, and have seen him melting armor. Now, something that I don not know, is this:

 

Question: Granted that Explosive Burst is affected by plus power damage passives, then if you choose Squad Incendiary, will the Burst be affected by the power damage of the Incendiary "caster" or by the teammate's plus power damage passive?

 

Another issue => Incendiary Ammo interacting with Warp and fire powers: Wiki claims that incendiary interacts with warp and fire powers in a non-intended, slightly broken way. It says the multiplier against armor is way bigger than intended, and that, in the case of warp, for some reason it even lets incendiary ammo gain a multiplier against shields. Shields! This means you can go all biotic!! Can anyone confirm/discuss their experiences with this?

 

Question: Explosive Burst on Particle Rifle, Typhoon, and on Geth SMG considering Squad AI behavior

 

Yes, EB Particle Rifle melts things… unless Shields or Barriers protect them, right? This makes Banshees extra dangerous (I believe Banshees can only synch-kill when protected by barriers, correct me if I’m wrong). So I’ve thought about the Typhoon’s 150% to barriers and it’s alleged damage reduction for the user (unconfirmed, just read it somewhere). Will I be losing a lot of damage against armor and health if I swap Particle Rifle with EB for Typhoon with EB?

 

Regarding the Geth SMG, Wiki claims that 1.- it procs Explosive Burst very well, 2.- squad mates stay farther away from combat, therefore safer, than they do with most other SMGs, and 3.- EDI can “hold her own in a prolonged firefight” with it. My experience however, has been watching EDI shoot in three bullet bursts, therefore never reaching the increased fire rate that the SMG would need to make it a profitable EB gun. Thoughts on this?

 

Question: Squad Cryo vs Squad Explosive Burst in a Nova-less Vanguard Shep Squad

 

I’ve seen Cryo Ammo freeze shielded mooks consistently. For a Vanguard, a shielded mook is a mook not killing you. Extremely important if you took a rocket from an Atlas or a scream from a Banshee which took away all your shields and staggered you while said mook can be shooting you right in the health, no longer on the shield. However, of course, Cryo damage is crap compared to an Explosive Burst Squad. It seems to be a matter of damage versus survivability.

 

My first insanity run was a nova-less vanguard on ps3. I hated the controller, I couldn’t aim, yet I had squad cryo and don’t remember dying that much. Last night I did my second insanity run on a PC, loved the controls, but had Squad EB. London pegged me so hard I finished the game at 1am on a work night out of sheer anger.

 

What are your thoughts? Squad Cryo better for a Nova-less Vanguard than Squad EB? Or am I just a terrible player who charges at all the wrong times?

 

Question: Does Cryo Ammo slow armored targets?

 

Every time I’ve charged a Ravager using Cryo Ammo, I’ve been able to survive since apparently the Ravager didn’t have time to shoot me before I either killed it or Charged while the shot was in the air. With Explosive Burst, though damage is greater, I think I’ve died a few times. Is this just coincidence out of charging at the wrong times, or have you guys experienced significant slowing down of armored targets?

 

ISSUE 2: WEAPONS AND SQUAD

 

Question: My Nova-less Vanguard Shep’s weapons of choice.

 

1.- I couldn’t aim straight if my sanity depended on it (killing the last “Marauder Shields” in the game while dizzy and doing crap damage on insanity, anyone?).

 

2.- I believe no gun does damage like a gun with good EB synergy going crazy on an opponent.

 

Therefore, my choices are Piranha X and Indra X.

 

Why Indra? I modded Indra for enemy detection behind smoke and time dilation, because Cerberus are the ones I don’t want to Charge into and because I really can’t aim. Indra barely has recoil, biggest sniper clip and a good fire rate for proccing Explosive Burst. Suggestions welcome. I think I’ll try the Geth SMG sometime today and see how it goes.

 

Why Piranha? After each successful Biotic Charge, the white flash in the middle of the screen means I can’t see crap. I really don’t know how some of you crack-shots shoot guys while blinded. Also, did I mention I really can’t aim? So what I do is Charge, hold left click, and pray I can follow my enemy’s movement. Also, Piranha’s 8 pellet, 8 shot automatic fire means EB all day long, baby. Suggestions welcome in this regard as well.

 

Question: Nova-less Vanguard Shep’s best Squad

 

Please remember that I really, really plan on never using Medi-Gel, so that affects my squad choice.

I have chosen Liara-James for the following reasons:

 

1.- Liara is probably the most insane teammate for a biotic Shep. Maybe the best mate in the game, period. I pair her with James to help offset her fragility with +20% Squadmate durability, and because I choose the Shield damaging version of Frag Grenade to help with Shields against atlases. Marauders and Centurions get a Warp ->Biotic Charge-> Piranha EB in the face.

 

2.-I know I should pair Liara with Javik, but Javik doesn’t have fortification, can’t destroy shields, doesn’t have 1225 health and shields, and I also feel Liara already gives me enough potential for biotic explosions. Can you guys keep Javik and Liara alive consistently without needing your occasional Medi-Gel? I can’t. Advice would be welcome on this.

 

3.- Kaidan is dead in my playthrough. Can anybody help me editing save files?!? I never thought he would be such a beast in ME 3 :sad: :sad: !!!!

 

4.- If Liara dies I won’t Medi-Gel her. So I need a companion whom I KNOW can take a rocket to the face, else I’ll be fighting alone. I miss you, Kaidan :sad:.

 

5.- I tried using Garrus instead of Liara. The following things happened: - I equipped the Krysae on him (with Squad Cryo) and I saw a suspiciously low amount of explosions in my fights. Also, when I did see him shooting, he was insistently shooting at cover he could in no way pierce (Krysae explodes before piercing). – AFAIK Proximity Mines and Concussive Shot can’t prime combos. Am I wrong? And if I were, the cooldowns are hideous anyways. - and finally, yes, Carnage and Proximity Mine are great as a combo. And yes, Proximity Mine increases damage taken by 20%. However, I believe Warp’s buggy multiplier with Incendiary is way bigger than 20%. I have not done enough testing in this regard though, and would appreciate the input.

 

6.- Here’s what happens with Carnage, Warp, and Explosive Burst: If Warp is used as a combo detonator, the enemy will still be glowing in warp color, therefore primed for yet another explosion (says Wiki). So, for example, when facing a barrier-protected Banshee, my sequence is Warp->Carnage for a Bio explosion, unload with the EB Indra, and Warp again. After The Barrier falls, the sequence is Carnage->Warp->Biotic Charge-> Piranha goes boomboomboom! This causes a fire explosion, a bio one, and, since Warp’s damage modifier is still in play, its buggy interaction with Incendiary I think provides a x2 multiplier to Every. Single. Explosive Burst. Against armor!!! Bye, Bye, Banshee.

 

7.- Liara has freckles and blue eyes.

 

Question: How buggy are Biotic Charge and Nova?

 

Sometimes I can’t Charge, which is understandable since, provided how Mass Effect maps work, I always suspected Charge would be bug central since hearing about it in ME 2. But, also, sometimes I can’t Nova. This is actually one of the reasons I decided I would never Nova. I tried to use it only against turrets, but it’s unreliable. Not only broken, but not reliable enough to use it against your worst enemies, turrets and synch kills. Is there a minimum barrier you require to be able to activate Nova? Is my mouse completely broken? (Nova is middle mouse button, and its wheel is already dead, so might be that).

 

Sorry for the long post. I'll be back later with some potatoes.

Edited September 23, 2016 by addictinsane9