Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Discussion

[Sturmhaubitze]

Aim at the Banshee's stomach normally, then scope and take the shot. It's a lot harder to track her erratic charge movement while continuously scoped. But if you're a Salarian Infiltrator you should be Energy Draining instead, and saving the sniper shots for when her barriers are gone.

I've noticed that there are some subtle armoured spots on the Banshee, and a few are on her head. Hitting those points greatly reduce the damage, just like the armour plates on the Brute, but her stomach and buttocks are unprotected so I just aim there.

If you have a Human or Salarian Engineer on your team, and they have Incinerate and Overload/Energy Drain, they can solo the Banshee. If that's what they're doing, you're better off dealing with whatever is trying to interfere with that. Ravagers in particular; kill them on sight.

[Starblade]

There shouldn't be any difference at all where you aim at the Banshee, the damage values are consistent. It doesn't always mean the entire bar of health will go down though, which leads to the next shot seeming to do more damage. Same with Geth Primes, they have no weak spot.

[Codex]

Apparently there is a bug that causes the Geth Prime's head to be a weak spot.

Ah... hmm - I'm not sure why your empirical testing would have come up with some of that - but here's how it's "supposed" to be.

Banshee
- No weak points (aim for the belly, as it's fattest - most likely to hit it)

Brute
- Takes reduced damage in the right arm
- Takes greatly reduced damage in the claw
- Armour Plates absorb damage until breaking (best to aim for exposed flesh, probably base of the neck?)
- No other weak points

Geth Prime
- Currently has a head volume (but it's a bug)

Atlas
- Some types of weapons will do increased damage to the cockpit (this is a bug)
- Destroy any of the following to do a small damage spike (shoulder flanges, groin plate, knee plates)

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to...dex/10048855/2

Something about fixing the bug might cause unintended issues. It might be fixed in the long run.

[Fish Of Doom]

"i used to be an atlas pilot like you, but then i took a javelin in the knee plate"

sorry...

[Thorno]

Apparently there is a bug that causes the Geth Prime's head to be a weak spot.

I assumed it was intentional... I've always gone for the head. It kinda makes sense too.

The gamer part of my head always tries to make me shoot the glowing exhaust on the Atlas.

[Codex]

I assumed it was intentional too. In fact, so much so that I (like a lot of people intuitively do) assumed that the Banshee's weak spot is its head. Nope, Bioware wanted there to be no true weak spots on any of their boss characters. Joy.

[Misiok]

Well, boobs.

[Akranadas]

I always thought it was the head and belly for the Banshee

[Afoxi]

I keep telling people to shoot it in between the tits, really.

[Proripper]

Always shot at the cockpit with my widow; damage is unbelievable and almost endearing really, just watching half of its armour disappear instantly..... It is kinda logical though that the cockpit canopy would be a weak spot though.

As for Brutes, they have a weak spot in the rear! (and the spine I think...)

[Gorb]

I shoot the Banshee in the chest and the Atlas in the canopy. Seems to do consistently more damage; doesn't seem to be a placebo effect

Also, headshotting Geth Primes is hilarious fun.

[Akranadas]

Mass Effect's vehicles all have some of the worst design decisions if you look at them from a military application point of view. The Atlas does take the cake with its mass yellow 'shoot me' space XD

[Proripper]

Well, fluff-wise Cerberus aren't known for making the best descisions (plus shields!), the reapers are more for the scary side (giant-running-crab-monster-things), and the geth are downright stupid when in small numbers (like in the multiplayer!). So from that perspective it all makes sense! So long as you don't really think about it too much.....

[Codex]

The Atlas does take the cake with its mass yellow 'shoot me' space XD

Yes the designers fucked up so much as to create the Atlas with a "bug" that causes the Canopy to be a massive weak spot. Didn't intend that did you? Silly Cerberus Engineers.

Well, fluff-wise Cerberus aren't known for making the best descisions

Funny how bugs can be fluffy

More Gethfiltrator impressions:

Getting a much better handle on how to play them now. Best hidden bonus for me is in Hunter Mode, the Rate of Fire increase is a hidden gem. I'm not sure if you can do it anyway, but now you're definitely able to get two shots from cloak quickly before it breaks, granting you increased damage on both shots, and then the last shot can be put away quickly before ducking back into cover. You can get all 3 shots away before even taking a hit, which is much more difficult to do with a Human Infiltrator.

[Logic_Bomb]

I've been trying out Gethgineer a lot more and using him as a straight dps-er with the drone also outfitted as a solo unit (points in its own shields and damage). I maxed everything by not putting any points in overload. The idea was to go for full durability and damage dealing on myself and the drone (using Geth SMG and plasma shotgun), but I do miss overload at times. You still get a basic shield restore effect on the drone as well. I find going for the medic drone would only work if you're consistently with your teammates in cover and that's all it would be doing really - if your allies have put a point in faster shield restore, that also makes the medic drone less needed - I feel like using it as a distraction and to flush enemies from cover and actually deal some damage is more effective - especially since you can reboot the drone as soon as it dies as you have no other powers to cause a cooldown. It would be a nice combo to have the medic drone with Asari Justicar's Biotic dome though.

I've also been getting the hang of toggling hunter mode more with the engineer - basics being to switch out of it when running from cover to cover and for reviving fallen comrades. With it on, you can anticipate trouble better in order to switch out of it for the added shields to reposition. I still want to try out a geth melee build at some point with either the infiltrator or engineer. Using the medic drone in combination with a melee - shotgun based engineer might work well as you'll be shield restored while in melee crouch.

[Hirmetrium]

Well, the canopy on the Atlas is bugged because any penetrating weapon hits it twice - once on the glass, and and again on the back of the atlas behind the canopy - this means you can effectively double damage it with penetrating shots from the widow and black widow, or anything with a penetration mod.

Geth Engineer is a beast. Running him with a resto turret (with rank 4 in shields/damage to keep it alive longer) full hunter mode (for powers) and overload for barriers. 5/3 in class/fitness respectively. Geth Plasma shotgun is even better on the engineer, which makes him truely a force to be reckoned with. I really like the class.

I haven't got the infiltrator, but I can only summarise with hunter mode boosting ROF/Acc/Damage, cloak and class damage bonuses, he has the highest damage potential in the game. I imagine he can kill a lot of things stripped of shield in one headshot on gold with a Javelin. Of course, this makes him a glass cannon - his job is to sit at the back of the map and RAPE. Codex is likely to tell you black widow/valiant is a better SR.

[Logic_Bomb]

I have widow and valiant for the Geth infiltrator - haven't unlocked this mythical Javelin yet. But yes, he is amazing with Hunter on - he can basically keep it on all game too as he's less likely than the engineer to be near front lines and can just infiltrate if he needs to be for revives, etc. Maxing Hunter for the enhanced x-ray vision range is nice on the infiltrator but it can be tricky at times to figure out which are behind cover at that range.

[Codex]

Maxing Hunter for the enhanced x-ray vision range is nice on the infiltrator but it can be tricky at times to figure out which are behind cover at that range.

This actually causes you to relearn the maps with Hunter mode on. For example I am now more familiar with Firebase White with Hunter mode on than with it off- and it looks weird without it.

Also, if you want to kill things through all sorts of shit, take armor piercing mod with armor piercing ammo with the widow or black widow. You can shoot through almost anything (albeit at reduced damage). Then you can finish off enemies who move to behind cover. All those crates and shit? Not a problem.

Codex is likely to tell you black widow/valiant is a better SR.

For me, the rifles fulfil different roles. For example, you're going to have a tough time playing with a Javelin with friends who use staggering abilities a lot (e.g. Black Widow+ Disruptor Ammo 3 on me, Javelin on Afoxi, or Overload). Afoxi couldn't hit the Geth Prime half the time and I think that was my influence :P

Whereas the Black Widow works very well as a support weapon, able to switch between hardened targets and grunts, the Javelin I imagine is far better suited to longer range support than just creep killing. I haven't tried it yet at all though, either in SP or MP, so I wouldn't know. I hear it works wonders with Stasis though, although that's more of a thing with SP bonus power I guess.

Well, the canopy on the Atlas is bugged because any penetrating weapon hits it twice - once on the glass, and and again on the back of the atlas behind the canopy - this means you can effectively double damage it with penetrating shots from the widow and black widow, or anything with a penetration mod.

Oh wow. That makes sense I guess.

[Recaso]

Just came back from 3 games of silver. Man i love the krogan vanguard! He can do some serious damage with the lift grenade, incinerate and the Graal Spike Thrower. Then i bought me some specterpacks and guess what, a javelin! Gotta test this with my Salarian infil, though i doubt it will outperform the Valiant.

[Sturmhaubitze]

I agree, they all fulfill different roles.


Mantis is what I usually use with any class which relies mostly on powers.
Viper is in the same weight category as the Mantis, but its meant more for quickly eliminating weaker enemies.
Raptor should be used like a scoped Mattock, since you won't be able to down enemies with a single headshot in most cases.
Widow is a waste if shot at anything weak, and is perfect for putting down heavies.
Valiant rewards consistent headshots, as it lacks the stopping power to kill most enemies with bodyshots.
Incisor is a long-ranged shield/barrier remover, and against unprotected enemies it should be used like a scoped Vindicator. It's also relatively light, so it's an option for Engineers and Adepts.
Kishock is a tricky one that I haven't figured out yet.

Saber acts like an unscoped sniper rifle, similar to a weaker Valiant with more ammo. Like all assault rifles it doesn't need to be scoped to do full damage.

I don't own the other ones yet.

[Recaso]

Alright, just came back from silver, man the javelin is awesome! I could insta kill a Phantom from behind a window with a headshot. It is a very good rifle and it took down an atlas in just 4 shots. Though the weight of the weapon makes my tacticts a little slower, since i can't cloak and drain as much as id like.

[Codex]

The Viper excels at Bronze, and pretty much nothing else.

Geth Plasma Shotgun with its tracking ability is basically like a better sniper rifle if used properly. You can pop out of cover and throw pot shots without having to aim carefully and the slight tracking ability will do the rest. Note if your target is moving then you have to account for this. The damage drops off if you hit with more than one pellet so it's no big deal if one or two of them miss. Even better if you manage to spread them between targets as then the first one hitting each enemy does full damage. You can do this from infiltration, or charge, infiltrate, fire, and still be infiltrated (releasing a charged shot does not break infiltration), so in fact you can get a charged shot and a further 2 shots off from infiltration before breaking infiltration, especially if you have Geth hunter mode rate of fire.

N7 Crusader (shotgun) is a good sniper rifle- and best to think counter-intuitively with it. Pin point accuracy without a scope, so you can happily load up on one of the damage mods or armor piercing.

[Logic_Bomb]

N7 Crusader (shotgun) is a good sniper rifle

One of my favourites in the game - how can you go wrong with a shotgun that also is accurate at range?

[Sturmhaubitze]

Most of the shotguns are surprisingly accurate out to medium range, especially with the smart choke mod. None of the ones I've tried have a ridiculous spread like most FPS games attribute to them. Claymore is one of my new favourite weapons for Infiltrators as a result.

[Logic_Bomb]

I wonder if Bioware/EA would consider releasing the MP as a stand-alone the way Relic did for TLS. I know a couple people at least that want to get in on it and would pay $20-25 for stand alone MP but aren't interested in paying $60-70 for SP on top. I'm sure they're not alone either. Options are good so why not?

[Buguba]

I wonder if Bioware/EA would consider releasing the MP as a stand-alone the way Relic did for TLS. I know a couple people at least that want to get in on it and would pay $20-25 for stand alone MP but aren't interested in paying $60-70 for SP on top. I'm sure they're not alone either. Options are good so why not?

I know things like this are subjective, but how can you appreciate ME MP and not appreciate ME SP? O.o

I get that the dialogue thing can be tedious at times if you're the "run and gun" type, but they've got options to bypass it for the most part now.

[Codex]

I get that the dialogue thing can be tedious at times if you're the "run and gun" type, but they've got options to bypass it for the most part now.

Well, the dialogue kinda has to be listened to to give the whole thing context. Especially a situation like Rannoch: understanding the dynamics between the Geth and Quarians requires patience and really there is a TON of dialogue in this game.

That said, I would never buy the multiplayer standalone. I like SP too much.

[Logic_Bomb]

It's more of a cost thing if people aren't invested in the story at all. And a testament to a really good job they did with the MP (separate design teams and all).

[Sturmhaubitze]

Considering that most of their retail sales are over, they could stand to make a decent amount of money by selling the MP for $10 - $20 digitally.


I unlocked the Striker last night, but it suffers from the same bug as the Falcon; if you're not the host, up to half of your shots disappear, depending upon lag. About the only way to guarantee that some of your shots do something is to fire it on full auto, not semi auto, which means lots of wasted shots anyways due to the enormous recoil. I ended up switching to Concussive Shot as my only attack, due to how rage-inducing it was. I once had to unload the entire magazine into a Geth Trooper on Bronze to kill it.

[Codex]

With my Geth, I decided to go with fluff. I named my Geth infiltrator Legion (for want of creativity I named a character "Gethgineer" :P ), and went for a Geth-like colour. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to see how that might be a poor decision, as earlier today I gave Vertigo a right scare on Gold vs Geth on Firebase White. He thought the Geth were flanking him and he started panicking. Nope, it was just the perfectly blended in Codex who looks exactly like an enemy.

if you're not the host, up to half of your shots disappear, depending upon lag.

Ah yes I noticed this, but I thought this was an isolated incident. Or my connection was really just being that shit.

[Fish Of Doom]

I gave Vertigo a right scare on Gold vs Geth on Firebase White.

*slow clap*

i've had that happen to me with people with white color schemes vs cerberus as well.

ah, i need to start playing MP again.

[Proripper]

So, what do people think about the new asari Justicar?

Kinda fun just sitting behind some cover with your bubble shield setting off combos....

I wonder if it's possible to eliminate nearly all damage if you have multiple shields....

[Akranadas]

Shields don't stack

[Hirmetrium]

Apparently, they are multiplicative however, so Reave damage protection + shield will stat and will reduce incoming damage by a huge amount. Of course, you have to then remember that you are definitely NOT invincible on gold.

[Codex]

Would a fully kitted out Krogan be invincible on Gold? I don't think that would be the case, but does anyone know?

[Starblade]

No. Focused fire will still bring one down. Especially from pyros. Fuck pyros.

[Codex]

I suspected as much.

Okay, anybody manage to get Drell Vanguard working above Bronze?

[Gorb]

Tried it on Silver with a modicum of success. To many shields flying around for my Lift to be useful though

If you simply used Lift on the grunts to setup up Biotic Combos, and worked with your team so that they focused the shields/barriers of the bigger gribblies, it could work. Unfortunately my flatmates are too concerned with killing ALL THE THINGS, leaving me sitting in front of an Atlas crying because Vanguards aren't made for these encounters.

[Starblade]

For me the drell vanguard is in the running for worst class. It has virtually no synergy and precious little health or shields.

[Master Chief]

Yeah Drell Vanguard is definitely one of the worst. Drell in general I think are underpowered, cluster grenades aren't good enough to be their unique ability, they all have low health and lower shields, and Reave isn't enough to keep them alive. With the Justicar, there's now even less reason to use a Drell.

[Sturmhaubitze]

Krogan Sentinel with only health/shield boosts for fitness, and Tech Armour specialized in damage reduction, can take a decent amount of punishment in Gold. It takes two Geth Hunters to completely strip away your shield with their plasma shotgun, or several Pyros. As long as you never try to melee more than a couple enemies at once, you'll survive. If you're surrounded, you die, it just takes a couple seconds longer than for other classes.

Drell Vanguard in Silver is tricky. I want to like the class, but the truth is the paper-thin barrier does not give you a margin for error after you charge. Sure, you replenish your barrier when you charge, but it only takes a second for it to be blasted away again. The only way to succeed is to kill whatever you charge with a biotic explosion, set up by Pull, and never charge groups of enemies. So you end up going Pull - shoot shoot - Pull - shoot shoot - Pull - okay, I can safely charge - Charge - Biotic Explosion - omg getting shot at! - take cover - no barrier left - recharge barrier - Pull - shoot shoot - Pull - and so on...

I wonder what the design meeting was like for the Drell race...
Designer 1: "We'll give them cool martial arts moves."
Designer 2: "We need to balance that with a drawback somehow."
Designer 3: "We'll give them weaker health and barriers, so they can't survive being in melee."
Designer 1 + 2: "Brilliant!"

Drell Adept, with Reave, is actually better in close combat. Reave staggers the enemy so you can approach, and gives you damage reduction so you can take a few more hits. In Bronze it's a cakewalk, and in Silver it's still viable if you're careful.

[Thorno]

Would a fully kitted out Krogan be invincible on Gold?

The only one that would come close is the Battlemaster. The cooldown on charge is enough to keep refilling your superbarrier against most things that don't OHK. Only problem is the risk of glitching out the map never to return if you're not playing as host.

[Hirmetrium]

Two things:

Would a fully kitted out Krogan be invincible on Gold? I don't think that would be the case, but does anyone know?

+@ Thorno: No. And, apparently, the Krogan Vanguard's (Battlemaster's) rage is currently bugged and does nothing. Which makes him a damn near useless character. Pretty big QA oversight.

Second

Krogan Sentinel with only health/shield boosts for fitness, and Tech Armour specialized in damage reduction, can take a decent amount of punishment in Gold. It takes two Geth Hunters to completely strip away your shield with their plasma shotgun, or several Pyros. As long as you never try to melee more than a couple enemies at once, you'll survive. If you're surrounded, you die, it just takes a couple seconds longer than for other classes.

Drell Vanguard in Silver is tricky. I want to like the class, but the truth is the paper-thin barrier does not give you a margin for error after you charge. Sure, you replenish your barrier when you charge, but it only takes a second for it to be blasted away again. The only way to succeed is to kill whatever you charge with a biotic explosion, set up by Pull, and never charge groups of enemies. So you end up going Pull - shoot shoot - Pull - shoot shoot - Pull - okay, I can safely charge - Charge - Biotic Explosion - omg getting shot at! - take cover - no barrier left - recharge barrier - Pull - shoot shoot - Pull - and so on...

Wanted to address this directly - The problem with krogan in gold is not a matter of durability. In fact, Krogan durability is overkill. What is the problem is stagger - getting shotgunned by a hunter makes you stagger, making you vunerable to the next shot (because your not killing them or staggering them yourself). This is why you can't krogan all the way to town and back - stagger WILL get you killed, especially vs Gold hunters and the damage they put out.

Drell Vanguard is perfectly playable - as a sniper/caster. His higher encumbrance value means you can take a heavy sniper rifle or pistol, and hang back with grenades and pull picking off enemies. His speed gets him to objectives, and his charge is so situational I don't think its worth putting points in (because restoring very little barrier is a bit redundant). It's very counter productive to the regular vanguard, and he is weaker for it compared to others, which is probably why he's fairly unpopular. Naturally, he's just a weak infiltrator without infiltration.

[Starblade]

That's the problem. Everything the drell vangaurd does something else does far better. Even the asari vanguard is a better "sniper" thanks to stasis.

[Thorno]

But... But I was playing as Battlemaster on gold yesterday, granted it was against geth, still gold though. I didn't know about that bug, thats shit.

[Codex]

I haven't had a soldier playthrough since my first ME2 one oh so long ago, so I had forgotten that adrenaline rush was very strong especially with Sniper rifles. Recently though I have heard there was a lot of complaints about the strength of the soldier, and that adrenaline rush in particular wasn't worth it, so I stopped playing the Human soldier after I got the other races. However, being reminded how viable an option adrenaline rush+ viper was in ME2, I decided to give it a go again.

It's certainly a build that can put out huge amounts of dps, especially good because of how Adrenaline Rush reloads your weapon instantly. This makes the Soldier awesome at taking down hardened targets with something like the Widow or Black Widow. It does make him less good at sniping centurions, marauders and the like, and this is what differentiates the roles of human soldier snipers and infiltrator snipers.

As a soldier sniper, you don't have options for taking down targets at close range. Infiltration means you can take your shots quickly and take many of them out before they can get a fix on you. The point that I found most interesting though is that an soldier sniper is going to be less generalist than your infiltrator. When you get closed down to close range as an infiltrator you can just cloak and put some distance between you. As a soldier this is a far riskier option, so a soldier sniper would do well to stay at a distance. You're going to want to stay further back and in cover. This is because you're going to draw more fire without cloak using cover makes it less likely that you'll flinch when hit and so miss targets. You're also going to have difficulty taking down Phantoms and Nemeses as they rarely stand still, move very quickly, especially on higher difficulties, and need headshots to kill efficiently. Cloak allows you to maneuver and look for an angle and line the perfect shot up. Since a soldier sniper is less generalist, you'll need a secondary weapon in situations where your sniper rifle becomes really difficult to use. I'm taking a Tempest with SMG lightweight materials because I want to be using Adrenaline Rush constantly and it's a fast firing short range weapon (logical). But I use the Tempest very infrequently so it makes sense to put lightweight materials on it too. However, this leaves me with few options for taking down Phantoms and Nemeses.

Those are the times I wish I had stasis. It's such an easy solution to those Cerberus bitches...

[Hirmetrium]

Stasis owns Cerberus. If your facing them without an Asari, you a losing a critical asset. The only armour totting enemies are the turret and Atlas!

Thorno - it isn't confirmed, but folks on the bioware forums are labbing it a lot and it looks like it doesn't improve melee damage - so I doubt it gives damage protection either.

[Proripper]

Had a fun game this weekend with a full adept team: biotic fun!

Setup:
1 Justicar (me)
2 asari adepts [regular]
1 drell

map:
Firebase Glacier

enemy:
reapers

those banshees didn't stand a chance...

[Hirmetrium]

Aye, banshees are indeed owned by mass biotics. They stagger so much they can't do anything.

Also, here's that thread on the broken Krogan Rage for the Battlemaster.

Think I'm gonna take a break from ME3 MP until they patch it. The grind is getting a bit old - there are other grinds to do!

Bioware is now also getting called out for its crappy bugs and fixes. Can't say I'm complaining - a month after release and we're still chasing some pretty big ones (Falcon grenades, vanguard charge lag fall off map problems, etc).

[Thorno]

The thought of the Battlemaster being even more powerful than it is now is... scary. If they remove the shitty Vanguard glitch then all Vanguards can actually play on gold without fear.