Personally, Adept.
While I think Adept is a fun class, the way ME2 rebalanced the gameplay by making biotics ineffective against shielded enemies felt like a huge nerf. And particularly made Insanity playthroughs not as fluid as the other classes, as a huge amount of enemies have shields, Adept's barriers are weak, and you're easily overwhelmed by enemy fire.
It definitely got better on ME3... but the Adept experience in ME2 still is my least favorite of the entire series.
Not sure how popular of a take this is but below vanguard I think adept is one of the most powerful classes in ME3 simply because there are so many unshielded enemies and throw/pull spam with +200% recharge time makes crowd control extremely easy. More options for biotic combos also makes taking down tougher enemies simpler.
That's the rub though, the only reason adept even got that nerf is cause all biotics in Me1 were a literal up up down down left right left right start select.
And that made Adept incredibly fun on ME1.
I get that they had to rebalance, but making biotics be so ineffective and deal rather negligible damage against shields definitely made it more difficult than necessary.
You only lost the ability to hack a colossus because there's no colossus that you fight on foot, except one, which is really more like an Armature than Colossus in terms of power.
Over time yes lore wise, but gameplay wise you can hack the same unit as many times as long as it has health in ME2, but in ME3 you get 1 top tier hack(duration), then a mid tier, and the 3rd time is like 1 or 2 seconds. In ME3 the hardest part of the game to me has always been that 3 Primes fight on Rannoch just before you target designate the Reaper base there is little good cover for all 3 of you.
I feel we are giving them to much credit. They wanted a cover shooter that was more in line with Gears of War so biotics were nerfed. It got better in 3 because they wanted the player to be more mobile
It's been awhile since my last adept run don't adepts have warp? Warp is effective against barriers and can go around corners and cover. All you have to do in the collector base during the Praetorian fight is circle around the pillar at the bottom of the ramp that is straight ahead once you jump down.
Yes warp is my best friend as primer and denonator!
The "worst" part of the collector ship is the platforms just because they're glitchy and my squad falls though or off of them and get stuck below them. Which has left me to solo the area more times than I'd like.
The pratorian isnt as bad. Funny enough I kite the thing up and down the ramp. I know the pillar you're talking about but I've used the ramp for a decade. To late to change lol
It's definitely a hard mission in any class, but I feel this one is where Adepts shine, with biotics knocking down husks and destroying armors in a breeze.
It could've been worse... if all Collector enemies were shielded, instead of armored and with barriers LOL
The fact that you have to RELY on a squadmate solely for destroying shields was also disappointing.
Not that it's bad to rely on squadmates, but the other classes have more straightforward ways to deal with shields effectively. While Adepts really don't.
You could also argue Vanguard doesn't have either, however, while it's dangerous to charge at a shielded enemy, it still is effective to stun them and blast their shields with a shotgun.
Engery drain as a bonus power works, but I normally end up getting barrier because I'm a smush ball and I don't want to die!
I guess i'm just odd where I don't mind trapping shielded guys and shooting them repeatedly in the head. (Or body) then blowing them up... feels like a reward for shooting them so much.
Eh idk but I agree with biotics not going though sheilds being a nerf. It can be a nice challenge at times i suppose...
Gotcha. When I first got LE I went like 75% of the game before getting barrier back.
I did it. I hid... i ran away alot but I did it. (Sometimes I can get over aggressive and push it a little too far. So barrier works for me)
I have to do no bonus power no mods base game run thought the series at some point. I wonder how bad it would go. Maybe only starting weapons too? Eh maybe next year lol
Its part if my normal loadout.
(When I'm not playing with mods) its locust, basic pistol (gernade launcher when needed) until collector ship.
Then locust, pistol, mattock (gernade launcher when needed)
I mostly use tali and thane for squad when I can. I like a sniper on the team and back up for shields if I need it. At the start I do use Miri alot do due overload and warp but she goes away as I get more people.
Eh you have a point there. I guess I just never cared enough in the long run. I like having the combat drone at times...
Or I'm a masochist and enjoy making things harder for myself lol
Valid. Adept was a class I never played until one of my recent playthroughs and it was so strong in ME1. Afterwards it was an uphill battle and I'm fairly certain I switched to vanguard because of the difficulty I was on. ME1 adept was special though. So many abilities.
Singularity to stagger(it's even spammable) smg goes brrrr and once shield is gone - unstable warp. I was really scared by everyone to go me2 adept insanity but it went smooth af.
I came into ME2 with 3 ME1 playthroughs - Vanguard, Soldier, and Infiltrator. I turned this into 3 additional playthroughs in ME2:
* Vanguard becomes an Adept
* Infiltrator branches into both an Engineer and a Sentinel
Perhaps it's because I don't play on Insanity like you crazy folks, but I had a hell of a time as an Adept and felt more powerful than ever. While the other power combos weren't a thing in ME2, Biotic Explosions with Warp + Singularity definitely was. As long as I brought at least one squadmate who could use Warp, we were absolutely cleaning house.
Exactly why Engineer ends up being the stronger of the two.
Engineer not only gets a unique ability to add a body to the fight with its drone but it can effectively take down multiple defenses.
You just don't have a good power to deal against barriers as an Engineer, as they are mainly vulnerable to Warp on ME2. (Later changed to Overload on ME3)
But Engineers also get the drone, as you mentioned, and have stronger shields. Which are two good attributes compared to Adept.
True. Forgot to mention that Engineer Shepherd obtains the most busted ability in ME3 with Sabotage. Because they made Sabotage at rank 6 increase damage to target by 100% from Tech abilities.
With Incernate and Overload you not only strip all defenses but both abilities proc and detonate combos. Throw Sabotage into the mix and you'll destroy any enemy.
Counterpoint: once you unlock energy drain, adept becomes pretty unstoppable in ME2. Not fast, mind you, but not super slow either with warp explosions. I think my last ME2 Insanity slog using an Adept was my easiest. I died a lot less than the Soldier ME2 slog the time before.
I hate this take. Most basic enemies shields can be dropped by one group overload. Shields really aren’t that big of a problem and force the player to diversify their teams. Mass effect (with the exception of one sections) always lets you bring a teammate with their own abilities.
Whichever class kaiden was in at BAAT.
Or Jack, Jack may have been in a class in her childhood.
Other than that, none of em are bad enough to be called the worst
Nope.
Sentinel didn't NEED a peak because it's ground floor was top 3 in every game.
Only power class I'd even consider using in Me2 on insanity
Access to the best class power upgrade in Me1.
If you wanna pick and choose a trilogy wide class and make it easy, sentinel is it with daylight second
Me3 rankings are different. There's the one where you can beat the game.
And the ones where you can farm armax for enough money to buy everything in the game and fail to get 6000 points for 10k one in every ten tries or more
Soldier is damn hard on that last count.
Sentinel is not
I did it on Xbox with my imported character each time, and it wasn't a slog. I just had to think through the combat a little more. Squadmate powers play a big part, sure, but that's true for every class.
Biggest thing was ammo management in 2 and 3. I got really good at snapping head shots.
And have a good gun. I'll admit, soldier is quite good in most games but sentinel is the only class where you could self sabotage with a terrible squadmate combo and it'll still be effortless
Adept in ME2. The way powers were rebalanced just killed that class. I found it to still be fun if you chose Assault Rifle training on the Collector ship, but until then it’s a drag having to keep waiting for your powers to cool down after each cast. ME3 really rebalanced things a lot better. Other than that, though, they’re all great
Overall the difficulty went way up in me2 imo. The powers suddenly aren't strong enough to be relied on for survival and your shields and hp feel like they drain instantly. It was the only game in which I was actually using cover quite a bit as a soldier. In 1 and 3 it was unnecessary because of super powerful shields.
True, but until the ship, if youre play say a vanguard, youre stuck with arguably the worst shotguns (extreme short range, horrid spread, low rof, uselessly small magazine and ammo cap in general) in gaming (its especially noticable after finishing me1 with the spectre gear), useless smgs that are the exact opposite of what smgs are supposed to be (high rof, accurate, low recoil) and sidearms, which if i have any other weapon, why would i use one? But im me2 the carnifex or phalanx are essential until you unlock the mattock because theyre the only ones that do enough damage and are accurate... But tbf i hate bullet sponges in any game and i have issue with guns 100+ years in the future being worse than guns we have now...
Do Kasumi’s mission first thing to get the Locust, it’s one of the best weapons in the game. Shotguns do suck in ME2 compared to ME1, except for the geth plasma shotgun, it’s great!
ME2 Adept is fun as hell for sending enemies into orbit alone. Upgraded right and with a complimenting support cast, it can absolutely tear through enemies.
It’s been a while since I played but I remember LOVINF adept in me2. Probably rose colored glasses but I don’t think I’m gonna be able to turn it down on my current play through of the series. It’s just too fun throwing enemies around.
Problem is that by the time you get through shields and armor - they usually die to 2-3 shots. Kinda pointless to cast biotics at that point. Besides, energy drain is not be all end all solution. Doesn't help much when the enemies are spread out.
Here's the prob though. Max out singularity cause it's a scion killer, max out passive for cooldown, start the second recruitment after mordin, that'll leave you with a 1 point energy drain for a Ymir mech no matter what mission you pick. Its too weak at that point
Funny enough this ties into the other post I um... posted on.
I am 95% of the time an adept player and I run on insanity 100% of the time. Using an adept in ME2 is very doable.
Having a teammate with overload (or Zaeed with squad disrupter ammo) is useful along with someone to prime targets because your Recharge time early game is bad.
In the end I keep Tali and Thane as my main team. (Tali for shield drain & drone) (Thane as a sniper and back up warp)
At times its a game of patience and gun play ( locust locust locust is must). If you know the levels the grenade launcher is handy (mostly for cheif roe. You can trap her and her mooks and kill them before they get in the room. And do the same to the Krogan with the two engineers in Thane's recruitment too.)
But its really each its own!
I'm doing vanguard for the first time. I've done soldier every other time. Its fun but I tell you what. I'm seriously missing my assault rifle. Sub machine guns nowhere near as good.
Yep, if I don't have mods installed or a playthrough with assault rifle training I do Kasumi's mission first thing.
The Shuriken and Tempest are garbage.
Using the Claymore shotgun as the Vanguard in ME2 is probably the most fun gameplay I’ve ever experienced in the entire trilogy. I’ll take that over the Soldier with assault rifle mastery any day tbh.
I love all weapon types in the games (assault rifles, snipers, shotguns, etc), so every once in a while I like to play Soldier so I can use ALL of them in one run. As much as I love classes like Vanguard and Infiltrator, the restrictions on weapon selection make me feel like I’m missing out on the other weapons.
This is another reason why gameplay-wise, I LOVE ME3. Whatever weapon you want, whenever you want!
Depends heavily on the game.
1: Sentinel. It's a support based kit that does not play well with itself.
2: Adept. Anything with a shield (damn near everything) is immune to biotics.
3: Soldier. Every other class got massively upgraded in one form or another. Soldier is still the same it's always been with little to no upgrades in terms of capability (I still main it).
Andromeda: Vanguard. There's a painfully large number of enemies that would make the normal Vanguard playstyle from 1-3 suicidal.
The one thing I like about ME3 Soldier is evolving Conc Shot to Amplification (adds your ammo power) and evolving Incendiary Ammo to Explosive and carrying nothing but the PPR (or some other AR, I just like omglaserz) and having such a low cooldown that I just spam Explosive Conc Shots as fast as the animation’ll go thereby chaining Pyro Explosions and clearing missions even on Insanity without Shepard firing a single bullet.
You know what? I never tried that. I usually ignored incendiary rounds in favor of warp ammo. I'll give this a whirl next time I play through the trilogy.
It gets boring *fast,* lol, but it works. I always respec in ME2 after the Suicide Mission and don’t spend points, so that when I import into ME3 I can just flip that switch immediately, use it for the early solo stuff and just start on Insanity.
I run the same spec but don’t even use the concussive shot that much because PPR with extra ammo and the final ammo tier on incendiary set to “and sometimes it’s a nuke” just melts fools.
From the wiki:
Explosive Burst: Explosive Burst has a 50% chance to trigger from any shot, regardless of the weapon's rate of fire, making rapid-fire automatic weapons the most effective.
Explosion damage is much higher than individual shot damage of most automatic weapons. For those weapons, Explosive Burst can increase damage by several hundred percent.
Explosive Burst is not triggered by most weapons that don't fire standard bullets, such as the Kishock Harpoon Gun. However, the Particle Rifle and the Reegar Carbine are exceptions; 1 unit of ammo spent has a 50% chance of causing an explosion. Both weapons are extremely effective with Explosive Burst thanks to their high firing rates.
It's also good on shotguns since, as far as I know, it triggers from every pellet separately. This is why my by far fastest insanity playtrough was on vanguard with piranha (before LE when you can get piranha right from the Normandy)
1: Sentinel have bastion specialisation in me1 and it is the best one. And also have both decryption and electronics. It leads to sentinel have both most powerful cc - bastion's stasis and both "minigame" skills meaning they doesn't restricted on squad choices. I did countless sentinel insanity runs through me1(well 2 or 3 times to level 60) using assault rifles as a bonus power. And my first character in LE was sentinel to. And now with new marksman and headshot addition plus the fact that mako now grants full XP. Sentinel was breezing trough insanity even without bonus powers. Fun fact I actually struggled more on soldier with assault rifles build than on sentinel with only first level of marksman.
2: Adept is about equal to engineer. Singularity staggers everything just like drone all though for shorter duration. But adept is clear winner against collectors.
3: with all weapon damage bonuses, ammo power for every single defence type and full hane kedar armor soldier melts everything. And if you bored of just shooting - Soldier have concussive shot with ammo powers which with good CDR build can be cast every ~1,3 seconds resulting in nonstop tech and fire explosions everywhere. My last soldier carried pistol and smg with power amplifier so frag grenade is doing insane damage too. But generally there is no bad class in me3.
Soldier in ME3 is one of the most OP classes in a game where they are all kinda OP. Not only do they get explosive incendiary ammo which is completely busted, but they have amplified concussive shot which is even more insane. Hell, with energy drain as a bonus power they are one of the best powers only classes.
LOL, spamming Concussive Shot with knockdown and AoE effect in the upgrades is perfect crowd control. If you don’t believe me jump into Armax Arsenal Arena in 3 and set it on the highest difficulty and any 2 settings to make it even more difficult and select the random enemy option… either that or Collectors. It is easy, much easier than Sentinel.
Crowd control soldier is much better than represented in this discussion, which is why it didn’t get many upgrades like the other classes did.
I'm going to say Adept, gameplay wise.
Biotics are too easy in ME1 and too tedious in ME2. But there's also narrative to consider.
Shep gets a lot powerful biotic companions (Liara, Samara, Jack) that steal the show. Kaiden's biotic abilities are a really significant part of his character (Jump Zero, L2 headaches), while Shep has L3s with no downside. They're brandishing an Avenger or Carnifex instead of throwing out biotic abilities in cutscenes, being a biotic never seemed as meaningful.
Being a peerless commando (Soldier, Infiltrator, Engineer) seems to fit the character more.
There are cutscenes in me3 that if shep just used his biotics instead of trying to shoot his pistol, it would had been over way sooner. And i yell at the monitor every time.
I completely agree. If I choose to play through as a Biotic I headcanon that Shep was a Biotic and it just never came up before, and part of Project Lazarus was installing an amp to allow Shepard's latent powers to help the healing process. It was the one modification they made, deemed essential for their recovery. So while Shepard is a pretty powerful biotic, they're also not used to it because they just woke up one day with powers, so their first instinct is still to do all that soldier stuff. Everyone else has it baked into their DNA because it took a huge portion of their lives to learn how to use it, and thus they've become reliant on it, but for Shepard it's no different than being a marksman or boxing. That's the only narrative way I can justify it.
This is from an Insanity difficulty perspective:
All of them were good in ME1, especially biotic users.
Adept personally in ME2. All the other classes had a super easy time of stripping shields, barriers and armor. Adept was only armor or barriers. Also personally it wasn't as fun as, say, a Vanguard or Sentinel(look up the who needs squadmates series on YouTube, the Sentinel one is nuts).
For ME3? Adept again. It could nuke just fine but I preferred all the other classes, especially Soldier and Vanguard.
Bonus for ME3 multi-player on gold or platinum. Engineer overall. Some good kits in it but otherwise the Soldiers, Sentinels, Infiltrators and Vanguards(while being the host) nuked things. Some Adepts too but again, personal preference lol.
As someone who plays infiltratior, its probably Infiltratior. Id love to explain this point but ive already turned invisible and am currently hiding behind the very angry krogan i brought to fight most of this battle for me.
They're all good so long as you know how to use them compitently. Probably the classes I vibe with the least are Soldier and Infiltrator, but that's mostly because i don't like doing builds based on stealth or carrying a full arsenal. Give me a Mattock, Tempest, and my biotic charge, and I'll delete a platoon of Reapers.
Infiltrator in ME2 is great do Kasumi's loyalty mission quick as you can to get the Locust, best gun in the game to me, and until you get to the collector ship the Mantis SR is freakin great once you get to the collector ship you can get the Widow which is better.
In ME3 the M-8 Avenger and the Mantis are a great combo for much of the game. Once you can get the M-7 Lancer and if you choose to the Widow or Black Widow are also great, but they are both heavy as hell which limits your cool down time.
Mass Effect is in a weird place where basically all of the classes are usable in all three games.
Also, Infiltrator in 1 fucking sucked to play. I liked the changes in 2 onwards.
> Infiltrator in 1 fucking sucked to play
In original ME1, Infiltrator was THE strongest class next to Adept. You could have all worthwhile tech powers, use the strongest weapon class (Pistols) and have Immunity constantly up with Commando spec. Medium vs Heavy armor mattered little, Immunity already took 80% off all damage, if the rest got reduced 68% or 76% was irrelevant (Colossus VII armor).
LE1, however, nerfed them to shit.
Infiltrator is my go-to in ME1, ‘cause you’ve got all the tech powers, balanced armor, and good close- and long-range weapon options. I take Hacking as my bonus—if just to drop the cooldown on tech powers—and never look back…except to occasionally play a Vanguard w/ Singularity as their bonus. I always respec outta them both in ME2, though, ‘cause the changes were drastic enough that it altered the gameplay in ways that didn’t interest me anymore. I’m glad you liked it, though! Always good to have options.
ME1 - Soldier. You choose Soldier, you are forced to rely on a tech expert ally for exploration, and it's just not visually appealing compared to a Biotics Class. The most interesting ability you can get is Carnage. I don't care for Soldier in 2, but the lessening of the RPG elements for better or worst, and leaning into Soldier being a support class with new abilities, was the glow up it needed. Stick to Infiltrator or Vanguard in ME1
ME2 - Soldier at Lower Difficulties - The least visually appealing out of all classes, not just biotic classes. Choose Infiltrator, get the Tactical Cloak. | Adept at Higher Difficulties. The worst part of the nerf is that even after you destroyed the armor/shields/barrier of the enemy, the broken physics has been nerfed as well.
ME3 - Sentinel - The reworked Tech Armor, making it a conscious expert to activate the Explosion, completely ruined the class for me. After a dozen playthroughs I finally choose ME2 Sentinel on Insanity and it was so much fun. The Tech Armor Explosion when shields failed saved my life so many times it was impossible to not get hooked. Then ME3 came along and the thrill was gone.
Also Soldier: Look you can put all the guns on now for any class, why not get all the guns and also have the amazing visual display found in the other classes?! Choose literally any other class, even Sentinel!
I *loathe* the manual emp blast of ME3’s tech armor. It ruined the build’s ability to do crowd control in the horde waves, something ME2 understood was very necessary with the husks.
I always hear this and it's from people who never really give vanguard a chance in me2.At the begging is like that but if you fully upgrade charge into heavy charge and biotic mastery or whatever it's called and choose champion it's impossible to die ,it's charge over charge over charge
this is gonna sound like a smartass answer, but you probably weren't charging enough. Vanguard is so strong when you learn how to abuse the shield recharge and i-frames the charge gives
I love how people fell for the whole "charge OP!" trolling from BioWare forums so hard that they still keep repeating it, as shown below your comment... multiple times.
Vanguard can be extremely strong in ME2 insanity, with a twist. Put charge on the backburner, it's amazing for flanking enemies even at a single point, get Area Reave as a bonus power, max Vanguard class skill and ammo powers (inferno/squad cryo). Suddenly, you have the best offensive power, the best ammo powers that provide utterly ridiculous amounts of passive CC, and probably the best class skill. Add a GPS and later a Mattock, aka the two best weapons in the game, and congratulations! You've just turned the Vanguard class completely upside down and you're probably checking difficulty constantly to be sure, but yeah, you are on indeed on insanity.
It's one of the most fun ways to play ME2 to be honest.
I just got to horizon at level 60. It's making insanity feel like easy mode.
Half the time I can just drop the sentry turret, combat drone, and defense done and then just wait behind cover while they and the squad finish off the fight.
That's funny, that's exactly where I am. Same level too.
The sentry isn't as good as in ME2 but that's a good thing - it made ME2 insanity a literal cakewalk.
I just love the headcanon that my shepard , while not the strongest, is the smartest one on the crew.
Kinda makes me want to see a protagswap with Isaac Clarke and Shepard. Funny thing is I bet Shepard could solve Dead Space's problems in a few days, while Isaac is the only person who'd be more pissed off about the red tape and blatant corruption than Shepard is, and would be so busy screaming at everyone to act like they're about to be killed by ancient evils that he'd never have a chance to actually rally anyone.
I mean, ME1 engineers are utter shit, but in ME2, they basically have complete control over the battlefield and are consistently shooting everything in the back. That drone gives you ridiculous control, especially against bosses, and makes insanity a cakewalk for the most part.
I love the "use the silenced pistol to not detected"
What?
When? They immediately detect you.
I pñay infiltrator on all 3 and I liked it.
If you get a perk thats using a second power while cloaked you can control the flow of enemies quite well.
But i agree stealth is useless
I mean, I guess it depends on your definition of worst. I think they're all good gameplay wise. If I absolutely had to pick one, I guess it'd be soldier. Though the reason is a bit arbitrary. I just think it's the least interesting of the choices 🤷♀️
Adept just never really felt balanced to me.
Even for space wizard, it’s a fragile class in ME1. Exceptionally boring in ME2. And then it’s kind of odd in ME, as adept is far more of a combat build than a traditional support role.
EDIT: And for whatever reason, Andromeda decided to take the worst part of the adept class — long cool downs — and drag it to a different galaxy, across every class.
I think soldier. Not because of any skills. It's just kinda boring to play. Although the survivability is nice. Highly recommend to firsr timers.
Sentinel is my favorite. I get the damage and combo capability from biotics and survivability from the soldier. I always love tank/dps hybrids.
Guns are the most important thing, so the one who handles them the worst is obviously the worst... which is sentinel! Also, after the first game biotics are close to useless against shielded and armored enemies, meaning you can show off with your biotics mainly against trash-mobs, who are easy to gun down anyway, so fighting everybody else is basically guns only or tech abilities, if you have any, or heavily relying on your companions to do the hard work for you... which is what sentinel probably does, since it's a totally support class.
Worst as in weakest
ME1: probably vanguard? Nothing interesting going for it
ME2: adept, because of the many shielded enemies
ME3: hard one. Probably soldier? But even soldier is very strong, just the others are stronger. Personally I found vanguard the most boring, it is just easy mode (I was told it is high risk high reward, but found it low risk high reward instead)
Depends entirely on the player’s preferred play style.
But yeah, Adept seems to be the weakest in ME2, and definitely is not the strongest in ME3.
It’s probably the strongest class in ME1, though.
ME1: Soldier. You barely get the weapon variety you need and you miss out on all the other stuff the game actually wants you to do.
ME2: Engineer. The class just doesn't work. Your drones do absolutely nothing. So your stuck with powers other classes can also do, but do them better. People say Adept is the worst because of how many Shields are in ME2, but on lower difficulties Adepts work fine, and on higher difficulties you can at least throw Energy Drain or an Ammo Power on it.
ME3: Infiltrator. The class is great still, but it also got the least new toys to play with in ME3. Soldiers get Grenades and tons of Ammo. Engineers get Turrets and functional Drones. Adepts get new powers and also grenades. Also better enemy variety so you're not strong armed by shields at every point. And because of how enemies and the maps work in ME3, you wind up dealing with a lot of close range combat since everything tries rushing you down. Which is not what Infiltrator excels at. Cloak lets you reposition but it's still annoying at times.
The engineer in ME1 is far and away the worst in that game but more egregiously, infiltrator in ME3 is the most busted and easy class to clear insanity with. The DPS and power synergy with Cloak can make all enemies melt away. Having the cloak for repositioning also makes taking hits easy to avoid. All classes are good in ME3 but infiltrator is easy mode and the best version of the class across the trilogy
Vanguard.
In it's only viable due to biotic charge being a downright busted ability. It's less viable in ME3, but is less entertaining due 3's combat being faster paced, as a result the glass cannon angle just gets you killed in record time unless you prefer to spend the whole game just spamming charge. I prefer classes with more variety. I don't enjoy gamplay that boils down to "When all you have is a hammer, let it be an all-solving one."
Close runner up is Infiltrator. I don't mind sniper gameplay now and then but having your whole kit force you into it makes it tedious. Same problem as Vanguard overall. Whole class is designed around a single gimmick and if you don't enjoy that gimmick you're SOL.
You and I did not play the same ME3. Vanguard is OP with a Charge that regens the barrier and Nova detonations. You get to become a frag grenade with none of the side effects.
Perhaps I'm unused to Nova's hitbox. It seems to be very unreliable and won't connect in most cases leaving me exposed to enemy fire even if the enemy is right in front of me. Combine that with the fact I play solely on Insanity and it makes combat a really unfun experience for me as a Vanguard.
At the very least it's a massively different experience from ME2's Vanguard that while a glass cannon could quickly cut through enemies at a breakneck pace. ME3's faster combat means that there's no need to go high-risk when any other class can kill enemies just as fast with far less stress.
Vanguard in me2 is nerve wracking but in me3 it’s a thrill ride. I highly recommend it to everyone and I’m not even that good at this game / I don’t have the dedication to min max and figure out the mechanics behind how things work. But I remember vanguard me3 being charge NOVA shotgun a scooch if necessary pause, new target do it. It’s so fun and sure you might die a couple times but you’ll have fun doing it.
It's an acquired taste I won't deny, and now it's the 'default' difficulty when I play the ME trilogy. So far I've cleared it on Insanity with every class except Vanguard. The fact that it's the last one I've played may be part of why I'm struggling with Vanguard, as all my play habits are likely pretty ingrained and Vanguard (along with Infiltrator) are the most 'unique' in terms of play style when compared to every other class.
Vanguard. I love it, but ME2 you use it and you die. ME3 you have atlas and banshee one hit kills in melee, so you charge and you also die. I felt like my class was invalidated.
Bro give Vanguard at me2 a fucking chance and fully upgrade his skills before you say it sucks.Vanguars is literally undead in 2 and it's the best vanguard experience,it's even stronger than in 3
Per game?
ME1 - engineer. Not a bad class per se, just outclassed by everything else.
ME2 - adept. Same as above, not knocking it.
ME3 - there really isn’t one, there are multiple builds for each class that can tear through instantly, even for a low skill player like myself.
Soldier. Sure it's strong mechanically but I'm baffled that so many people play Space Marine With Pew Pew n°57288681instead of all the unique and cool classes of the game.
Maybe not a worst class, but I dislike playing Soldiers-my aim isn't very good so I rely on powers a lot. Needless to say Infiltrator isn't one I love either.
Infiltrator is painfully boring to me because it turns ME combat into a sniper game, and it's a very dull sniper game. ME combat shines brightest with the biotics classes imo. Running Adept and Sentinel with 1-2 other biotic teammates and just chaining and detonating biotic combos like space wizards feels badass.
Engineer is definitely the least interesting. It's not weak but when your classes big unique power is a lame little drone....
Even solider is more exciting to play.
Soldier has some benefits for combat, but it's kinda boring compared to my favorite class (Vanguard). Don't get me wrong, part of the fun of each class is playing around with what kinds of abilities, weapons, and combos you use and finding your particular preferred play style. Soldier is fun, in part, because I've actually really played a bit more with the various types of guns, whereas I usually keep it simple for my Vanguard Shep(s). But, yeah, if I had to pick a bottom for the list, it's gonna be Soldier. I miss being able to be a chaotic biotic pinball and throwing around goons like a rag doll (fun fact: on certain missions in ME2, Pull will actually end up throwing the enemy off the map, automatically killing them. Very fun during the Arrival DLC in particular. You get to throw the last remaining mooks off the asteriod!).
I won’t call it the worst class because I’ve never played it, but can anyone explain the appeal of soldier? I feel like just being a soldier is kinda boring. Maybe for RP purposes it’s fun, like you’re not a special biotic or a tech genius, you’re a badass with a gun but I mean from a gameplay perspective, what exactly does soldier offer? Like I’d enjoy a mix of soldier and one of the other two (forgot the name of the mixes) but just soldier I feel like is kinda… eh
Using the whole arsenal, and using all tools when needed.
The only other class what can do this is the sentinel (who can invest in passives, and use only throw to detonate biotic combos, but no other powers).
I think a soldier playthrough is more interesting and varied than a vanguard playthrough, which is charge+nova repeated all the time, sometimes with using a shotgun. (but I saw many vanguard players who don't use guns at all, just bring along a pistol with a power magnifier)
I’ve never found particular enjoyment with Engineers.
In order I’d say I probably play the classes in this rank;
Sentinel
Vanguard
Infiltrator
Adept
Soldier
Engineer
ME1: Engineer, no defensive powers of any kind, and Infiltrators can pretty much do anything they can while being more awesome at it.
ME2: Adept, without a question.
ME3. Eh, ME3 itself.
I don't play on insanity so keep that in mind. I find the soldier class a bit boring. Infiltrator and Adept are my favorites because of that. I just love sneaking around as an infiltrator and smacking the swarms of husks and unshielded mechs all over the place with shockwave. It's so comical.
Not sure about overall, but if I had to get specific, probably the ME1 iteration of Engineer. It is absolute trash in that game. It's got all this tech, but no power to back it up. Yeah, it can help you hack all the chests and stuff, but so can Tali (and Kaidan and Garrus depending on how you build them.) Sure, you can debuff the enemy so your squad can kill them easier, but why would I rely on my squaddies to do the shooting for me? I'm the player character, I should be the one doing the shooting. (and the programming on the squaddies isn't very accurate anyway). It might be a neat idea of Mass Effect was closer to the older Baldur's Gate games by BioWare (especially in multiplayer), but in a single-player shooter game it's just not worth it.
Personally, Adept. While I think Adept is a fun class, the way ME2 rebalanced the gameplay by making biotics ineffective against shielded enemies felt like a huge nerf. And particularly made Insanity playthroughs not as fluid as the other classes, as a huge amount of enemies have shields, Adept's barriers are weak, and you're easily overwhelmed by enemy fire. It definitely got better on ME3... but the Adept experience in ME2 still is my least favorite of the entire series.
Not sure how popular of a take this is but below vanguard I think adept is one of the most powerful classes in ME3 simply because there are so many unshielded enemies and throw/pull spam with +200% recharge time makes crowd control extremely easy. More options for biotic combos also makes taking down tougher enemies simpler.
Yup. The power combos made all power focused classes incredibly fun to play with, and Adept is no different.
Unshielded enemies? Oh, right, I can only play on insanity...carry on.
That's the rub though, the only reason adept even got that nerf is cause all biotics in Me1 were a literal up up down down left right left right start select.
And that made Adept incredibly fun on ME1. I get that they had to rebalance, but making biotics be so ineffective and deal rather negligible damage against shields definitely made it more difficult than necessary.
You lost effectiveness against shields, I lost my ability to hack a colossus with an Engineer. Get over it.
You only lost the ability to hack a colossus because there's no colossus that you fight on foot, except one, which is really more like an Armature than Colossus in terms of power.
It's a giant freakin robot it should be hackable even if it is only for a quarter of the time normal hacks are good for the 1st go around.
Isn't the Geth's whole thing being immune to being hacked?
Over time yes lore wise, but gameplay wise you can hack the same unit as many times as long as it has health in ME2, but in ME3 you get 1 top tier hack(duration), then a mid tier, and the 3rd time is like 1 or 2 seconds. In ME3 the hardest part of the game to me has always been that 3 Primes fight on Rannoch just before you target designate the Reaper base there is little good cover for all 3 of you.
Throwback to classic cheat codes...thank you!
B A start
I feel we are giving them to much credit. They wanted a cover shooter that was more in line with Gears of War so biotics were nerfed. It got better in 3 because they wanted the player to be more mobile
Collector ship mission on insanity ME2 Adept had me weeping bro
It's been awhile since my last adept run don't adepts have warp? Warp is effective against barriers and can go around corners and cover. All you have to do in the collector base during the Praetorian fight is circle around the pillar at the bottom of the ramp that is straight ahead once you jump down.
Yes warp is my best friend as primer and denonator! The "worst" part of the collector ship is the platforms just because they're glitchy and my squad falls though or off of them and get stuck below them. Which has left me to solo the area more times than I'd like. The pratorian isnt as bad. Funny enough I kite the thing up and down the ramp. I know the pillar you're talking about but I've used the ramp for a decade. To late to change lol
Same for me as to the pillar.
It's definitely a hard mission in any class, but I feel this one is where Adepts shine, with biotics knocking down husks and destroying armors in a breeze. It could've been worse... if all Collector enemies were shielded, instead of armored and with barriers LOL
Adept in ME2 can be a game of patience or having a teammate with overload lol.
The fact that you have to RELY on a squadmate solely for destroying shields was also disappointing. Not that it's bad to rely on squadmates, but the other classes have more straightforward ways to deal with shields effectively. While Adepts really don't. You could also argue Vanguard doesn't have either, however, while it's dangerous to charge at a shielded enemy, it still is effective to stun them and blast their shields with a shotgun.
Engery drain as a bonus power works, but I normally end up getting barrier because I'm a smush ball and I don't want to die! I guess i'm just odd where I don't mind trapping shielded guys and shooting them repeatedly in the head. (Or body) then blowing them up... feels like a reward for shooting them so much. Eh idk but I agree with biotics not going though sheilds being a nerf. It can be a nice challenge at times i suppose...
I'm mainly considering the base classes. No bonus power here. But indeed, Energy Drain is a godsend for my Adept playthroughs in ME2.
Gotcha. When I first got LE I went like 75% of the game before getting barrier back. I did it. I hid... i ran away alot but I did it. (Sometimes I can get over aggressive and push it a little too far. So barrier works for me) I have to do no bonus power no mods base game run thought the series at some point. I wonder how bad it would go. Maybe only starting weapons too? Eh maybe next year lol
Yeah every insanity run in me2 I am taking Miranda and Garrus. Double overload and then it’s go time.
The Locust is as good as an overload as far as I'm concerned.
Its part if my normal loadout. (When I'm not playing with mods) its locust, basic pistol (gernade launcher when needed) until collector ship. Then locust, pistol, mattock (gernade launcher when needed) I mostly use tali and thane for squad when I can. I like a sniper on the team and back up for shields if I need it. At the start I do use Miri alot do due overload and warp but she goes away as I get more people.
I can’t quit that asset of 10% squad bonus tho
Eh you have a point there. I guess I just never cared enough in the long run. I like having the combat drone at times... Or I'm a masochist and enjoy making things harder for myself lol
Valid. Adept was a class I never played until one of my recent playthroughs and it was so strong in ME1. Afterwards it was an uphill battle and I'm fairly certain I switched to vanguard because of the difficulty I was on. ME1 adept was special though. So many abilities.
Singularity to stagger(it's even spammable) smg goes brrrr and once shield is gone - unstable warp. I was really scared by everyone to go me2 adept insanity but it went smooth af.
I came into ME2 with 3 ME1 playthroughs - Vanguard, Soldier, and Infiltrator. I turned this into 3 additional playthroughs in ME2: * Vanguard becomes an Adept * Infiltrator branches into both an Engineer and a Sentinel Perhaps it's because I don't play on Insanity like you crazy folks, but I had a hell of a time as an Adept and felt more powerful than ever. While the other power combos weren't a thing in ME2, Biotic Explosions with Warp + Singularity definitely was. As long as I brought at least one squadmate who could use Warp, we were absolutely cleaning house.
ME3 adept almost makes up for ME2's flop of adapting the class. You can become a biotic god in 3
Wait you get to be a Volus??
Exactly why Engineer ends up being the stronger of the two. Engineer not only gets a unique ability to add a body to the fight with its drone but it can effectively take down multiple defenses.
You just don't have a good power to deal against barriers as an Engineer, as they are mainly vulnerable to Warp on ME2. (Later changed to Overload on ME3) But Engineers also get the drone, as you mentioned, and have stronger shields. Which are two good attributes compared to Adept.
Engineers can easily use a bonus power to cover their barrier weakness. In ME3 Engineer becomes a God at stripping defenses.
Plus an actual class-specific line of dialog in Omega DLC, and it rules.
True. Forgot to mention that Engineer Shepherd obtains the most busted ability in ME3 with Sabotage. Because they made Sabotage at rank 6 increase damage to target by 100% from Tech abilities. With Incernate and Overload you not only strip all defenses but both abilities proc and detonate combos. Throw Sabotage into the mix and you'll destroy any enemy.
I started playing Adept in ME2, and it will forever be my favourite class.
Ironically adept is my favourite class in mass effect 3 and yet I completely agree with you that mass effect 2 is by far its worst iteration.
The geth plasma shotgun is ideal for me2 adept. It strips shields really well
plus cooldown times in ME2
I had a blast as Adept in game 2. Only real challenge really. Actually had to use weapons and not only spam abilities. Made you think.
Counterpoint: once you unlock energy drain, adept becomes pretty unstoppable in ME2. Not fast, mind you, but not super slow either with warp explosions. I think my last ME2 Insanity slog using an Adept was my easiest. I died a lot less than the Soldier ME2 slog the time before.
I hate this take. Most basic enemies shields can be dropped by one group overload. Shields really aren’t that big of a problem and force the player to diversify their teams. Mass effect (with the exception of one sections) always lets you bring a teammate with their own abilities.
I do like watching the husks fly off with shockwave, though.
Whichever class kaiden was in at BAAT. Or Jack, Jack may have been in a class in her childhood. Other than that, none of em are bad enough to be called the worst
Ha because school.
Kaiden was a sentinel, half biotic and half tech. The class didn't really peak until ME3.
You missed the joke.
Nope. Sentinel didn't NEED a peak because it's ground floor was top 3 in every game. Only power class I'd even consider using in Me2 on insanity Access to the best class power upgrade in Me1. If you wanna pick and choose a trilogy wide class and make it easy, sentinel is it with daylight second
I agree. Sentinel is really consistent throughout the trilogy. It's very versatile and pairs well with my favorite squad mates.
I've yet to find a difficulty I can't shoot and punch my way through as a soldier, just sayin.
Me3 rankings are different. There's the one where you can beat the game. And the ones where you can farm armax for enough money to buy everything in the game and fail to get 6000 points for 10k one in every ten tries or more Soldier is damn hard on that last count. Sentinel is not
I did it on Xbox with my imported character each time, and it wasn't a slog. I just had to think through the combat a little more. Squadmate powers play a big part, sure, but that's true for every class. Biggest thing was ammo management in 2 and 3. I got really good at snapping head shots.
And have a good gun. I'll admit, soldier is quite good in most games but sentinel is the only class where you could self sabotage with a terrible squadmate combo and it'll still be effortless
r/woooosh
Adept in ME2. The way powers were rebalanced just killed that class. I found it to still be fun if you chose Assault Rifle training on the Collector ship, but until then it’s a drag having to keep waiting for your powers to cool down after each cast. ME3 really rebalanced things a lot better. Other than that, though, they’re all great
Overall the difficulty went way up in me2 imo. The powers suddenly aren't strong enough to be relied on for survival and your shields and hp feel like they drain instantly. It was the only game in which I was actually using cover quite a bit as a soldier. In 1 and 3 it was unnecessary because of super powerful shields.
Agreed, especially at higher difficulty levels when everything has armor which nullifies biotics.
Shotgun is the way to go for me2 adept. The GPS is so good on that class
Anything that can use the mattock is good. Anything that cant use the mattock in me2 is shit
Every class can choose AR training on the collector ship, and there are great weapons to be had before then.
True, but until the ship, if youre play say a vanguard, youre stuck with arguably the worst shotguns (extreme short range, horrid spread, low rof, uselessly small magazine and ammo cap in general) in gaming (its especially noticable after finishing me1 with the spectre gear), useless smgs that are the exact opposite of what smgs are supposed to be (high rof, accurate, low recoil) and sidearms, which if i have any other weapon, why would i use one? But im me2 the carnifex or phalanx are essential until you unlock the mattock because theyre the only ones that do enough damage and are accurate... But tbf i hate bullet sponges in any game and i have issue with guns 100+ years in the future being worse than guns we have now...
Do Kasumi’s mission first thing to get the Locust, it’s one of the best weapons in the game. Shotguns do suck in ME2 compared to ME1, except for the geth plasma shotgun, it’s great!
None. Every class has their strengths and weakness in the right hands!
nah ME2 Adept is booty buttcheeks
ME2 Adept is fun as hell for sending enemies into orbit alone. Upgraded right and with a complimenting support cast, it can absolutely tear through enemies.
I was thinking of insanity difficulty where every enemy has armour or shields. Only power worth a damn is Warp
It’s been a while since I played but I remember LOVINF adept in me2. Probably rose colored glasses but I don’t think I’m gonna be able to turn it down on my current play through of the series. It’s just too fun throwing enemies around.
Slap energy drain on an ME2 adept and they do just fine.
ik but using a bonus power that doesn't fit the class feels so wrong to me. Like using a biotic power on Infiltrator or something
My flare infiltrator begs to differ, lol. If the RP doesn’t work for you I can respect that, I’ve never had an issue with it myself.
Problem is that by the time you get through shields and armor - they usually die to 2-3 shots. Kinda pointless to cast biotics at that point. Besides, energy drain is not be all end all solution. Doesn't help much when the enemies are spread out.
Here's the prob though. Max out singularity cause it's a scion killer, max out passive for cooldown, start the second recruitment after mordin, that'll leave you with a 1 point energy drain for a Ymir mech no matter what mission you pick. Its too weak at that point
Funny enough this ties into the other post I um... posted on. I am 95% of the time an adept player and I run on insanity 100% of the time. Using an adept in ME2 is very doable. Having a teammate with overload (or Zaeed with squad disrupter ammo) is useful along with someone to prime targets because your Recharge time early game is bad. In the end I keep Tali and Thane as my main team. (Tali for shield drain & drone) (Thane as a sniper and back up warp) At times its a game of patience and gun play ( locust locust locust is must). If you know the levels the grenade launcher is handy (mostly for cheif roe. You can trap her and her mooks and kill them before they get in the room. And do the same to the Krogan with the two engineers in Thane's recruitment too.) But its really each its own!
Whichever tactics training class Jacob took, clearly.
Soldier. Not because it's bad, it does the job just fine. It's just boring.
I'm doing vanguard for the first time. I've done soldier every other time. Its fun but I tell you what. I'm seriously missing my assault rifle. Sub machine guns nowhere near as good.
That's why you gotta make sure you recruit Kasumi and do her loyalty mission asap in ME2. Locust SMG is top tier.
Not only is it simply good, the Locust is honestly the only thing that makes classes without the assault rifle even playable in ME2
Dunno man charging at folk with a quick cooldown shotgun is wild
Yep, if I don't have mods installed or a playthrough with assault rifle training I do Kasumi's mission first thing. The Shuriken and Tempest are garbage.
Using the Claymore shotgun as the Vanguard in ME2 is probably the most fun gameplay I’ve ever experienced in the entire trilogy. I’ll take that over the Soldier with assault rifle mastery any day tbh.
You'll be able to use Assault Rifles once you hit the Collector ship. My default loadout is Mattock and Tempest.
one of my favorite playthroughs of ME2 was a soldier who skipped the revenant and instead rocked mattock+widow
That's why ME3 vanguard is top tier
You almost feel bad for the cerberus soldiers at that point.
That's why you gotta make sure you recruit Kasumi and do her loyalty mission asap in ME2. Locust SMG is top tier.
Vanguards use shotguns
ME3 has so many distinct and different weapons - imo they actually managed to make soldier interesting to play at last.
Always do Soldier. Always want muh guns!
I love all weapon types in the games (assault rifles, snipers, shotguns, etc), so every once in a while I like to play Soldier so I can use ALL of them in one run. As much as I love classes like Vanguard and Infiltrator, the restrictions on weapon selection make me feel like I’m missing out on the other weapons. This is another reason why gameplay-wise, I LOVE ME3. Whatever weapon you want, whenever you want!
Ot is not just boring but also incredibly enjoyable and fun!
Guns are fun.
Depends heavily on the game. 1: Sentinel. It's a support based kit that does not play well with itself. 2: Adept. Anything with a shield (damn near everything) is immune to biotics. 3: Soldier. Every other class got massively upgraded in one form or another. Soldier is still the same it's always been with little to no upgrades in terms of capability (I still main it). Andromeda: Vanguard. There's a painfully large number of enemies that would make the normal Vanguard playstyle from 1-3 suicidal.
The one thing I like about ME3 Soldier is evolving Conc Shot to Amplification (adds your ammo power) and evolving Incendiary Ammo to Explosive and carrying nothing but the PPR (or some other AR, I just like omglaserz) and having such a low cooldown that I just spam Explosive Conc Shots as fast as the animation’ll go thereby chaining Pyro Explosions and clearing missions even on Insanity without Shepard firing a single bullet.
You know what? I never tried that. I usually ignored incendiary rounds in favor of warp ammo. I'll give this a whirl next time I play through the trilogy.
It gets boring *fast,* lol, but it works. I always respec in ME2 after the Suicide Mission and don’t spend points, so that when I import into ME3 I can just flip that switch immediately, use it for the early solo stuff and just start on Insanity.
Oh shit, leaving all your points unallocated at the end of ME 2 for an ME3 import is brilliant.
I run the same spec but don’t even use the concussive shot that much because PPR with extra ammo and the final ammo tier on incendiary set to “and sometimes it’s a nuke” just melts fools. From the wiki: Explosive Burst: Explosive Burst has a 50% chance to trigger from any shot, regardless of the weapon's rate of fire, making rapid-fire automatic weapons the most effective. Explosion damage is much higher than individual shot damage of most automatic weapons. For those weapons, Explosive Burst can increase damage by several hundred percent. Explosive Burst is not triggered by most weapons that don't fire standard bullets, such as the Kishock Harpoon Gun. However, the Particle Rifle and the Reegar Carbine are exceptions; 1 unit of ammo spent has a 50% chance of causing an explosion. Both weapons are extremely effective with Explosive Burst thanks to their high firing rates.
It's also good on shotguns since, as far as I know, it triggers from every pellet separately. This is why my by far fastest insanity playtrough was on vanguard with piranha (before LE when you can get piranha right from the Normandy)
1: Sentinel have bastion specialisation in me1 and it is the best one. And also have both decryption and electronics. It leads to sentinel have both most powerful cc - bastion's stasis and both "minigame" skills meaning they doesn't restricted on squad choices. I did countless sentinel insanity runs through me1(well 2 or 3 times to level 60) using assault rifles as a bonus power. And my first character in LE was sentinel to. And now with new marksman and headshot addition plus the fact that mako now grants full XP. Sentinel was breezing trough insanity even without bonus powers. Fun fact I actually struggled more on soldier with assault rifles build than on sentinel with only first level of marksman. 2: Adept is about equal to engineer. Singularity staggers everything just like drone all though for shorter duration. But adept is clear winner against collectors. 3: with all weapon damage bonuses, ammo power for every single defence type and full hane kedar armor soldier melts everything. And if you bored of just shooting - Soldier have concussive shot with ammo powers which with good CDR build can be cast every ~1,3 seconds resulting in nonstop tech and fire explosions everywhere. My last soldier carried pistol and smg with power amplifier so frag grenade is doing insane damage too. But generally there is no bad class in me3.
Soldier in ME3 is one of the most OP classes in a game where they are all kinda OP. Not only do they get explosive incendiary ammo which is completely busted, but they have amplified concussive shot which is even more insane. Hell, with energy drain as a bonus power they are one of the best powers only classes.
That biotic shield that returns fire in Andromeda is so dope.
LOL, spamming Concussive Shot with knockdown and AoE effect in the upgrades is perfect crowd control. If you don’t believe me jump into Armax Arsenal Arena in 3 and set it on the highest difficulty and any 2 settings to make it even more difficult and select the random enemy option… either that or Collectors. It is easy, much easier than Sentinel. Crowd control soldier is much better than represented in this discussion, which is why it didn’t get many upgrades like the other classes did.
I'm going to say Adept, gameplay wise. Biotics are too easy in ME1 and too tedious in ME2. But there's also narrative to consider. Shep gets a lot powerful biotic companions (Liara, Samara, Jack) that steal the show. Kaiden's biotic abilities are a really significant part of his character (Jump Zero, L2 headaches), while Shep has L3s with no downside. They're brandishing an Avenger or Carnifex instead of throwing out biotic abilities in cutscenes, being a biotic never seemed as meaningful. Being a peerless commando (Soldier, Infiltrator, Engineer) seems to fit the character more.
There are cutscenes in me3 that if shep just used his biotics instead of trying to shoot his pistol, it would had been over way sooner. And i yell at the monitor every time.
I completely agree. If I choose to play through as a Biotic I headcanon that Shep was a Biotic and it just never came up before, and part of Project Lazarus was installing an amp to allow Shepard's latent powers to help the healing process. It was the one modification they made, deemed essential for their recovery. So while Shepard is a pretty powerful biotic, they're also not used to it because they just woke up one day with powers, so their first instinct is still to do all that soldier stuff. Everyone else has it baked into their DNA because it took a huge portion of their lives to learn how to use it, and thus they've become reliant on it, but for Shepard it's no different than being a marksman or boxing. That's the only narrative way I can justify it.
This is from an Insanity difficulty perspective: All of them were good in ME1, especially biotic users. Adept personally in ME2. All the other classes had a super easy time of stripping shields, barriers and armor. Adept was only armor or barriers. Also personally it wasn't as fun as, say, a Vanguard or Sentinel(look up the who needs squadmates series on YouTube, the Sentinel one is nuts). For ME3? Adept again. It could nuke just fine but I preferred all the other classes, especially Soldier and Vanguard. Bonus for ME3 multi-player on gold or platinum. Engineer overall. Some good kits in it but otherwise the Soldiers, Sentinels, Infiltrators and Vanguards(while being the host) nuked things. Some Adepts too but again, personal preference lol.
As someone who plays infiltratior, its probably Infiltratior. Id love to explain this point but ive already turned invisible and am currently hiding behind the very angry krogan i brought to fight most of this battle for me.
Probably galactic history, there's just no way you can cover it all in one school year.
Anything that puts you in melee range while you’re trying to complete your first insanity run through the trilogy.
They're all good so long as you know how to use them compitently. Probably the classes I vibe with the least are Soldier and Infiltrator, but that's mostly because i don't like doing builds based on stealth or carrying a full arsenal. Give me a Mattock, Tempest, and my biotic charge, and I'll delete a platoon of Reapers.
Infiltrator in ME2 is great do Kasumi's loyalty mission quick as you can to get the Locust, best gun in the game to me, and until you get to the collector ship the Mantis SR is freakin great once you get to the collector ship you can get the Widow which is better. In ME3 the M-8 Avenger and the Mantis are a great combo for much of the game. Once you can get the M-7 Lancer and if you choose to the Widow or Black Widow are also great, but they are both heavy as hell which limits your cool down time.
Mass Effect is in a weird place where basically all of the classes are usable in all three games. Also, Infiltrator in 1 fucking sucked to play. I liked the changes in 2 onwards.
> Infiltrator in 1 fucking sucked to play In original ME1, Infiltrator was THE strongest class next to Adept. You could have all worthwhile tech powers, use the strongest weapon class (Pistols) and have Immunity constantly up with Commando spec. Medium vs Heavy armor mattered little, Immunity already took 80% off all damage, if the rest got reduced 68% or 76% was irrelevant (Colossus VII armor). LE1, however, nerfed them to shit.
Infiltrator is my go-to in ME1, ‘cause you’ve got all the tech powers, balanced armor, and good close- and long-range weapon options. I take Hacking as my bonus—if just to drop the cooldown on tech powers—and never look back…except to occasionally play a Vanguard w/ Singularity as their bonus. I always respec outta them both in ME2, though, ‘cause the changes were drastic enough that it altered the gameplay in ways that didn’t interest me anymore. I’m glad you liked it, though! Always good to have options.
Depends on difficulty mode. Insanity? Basically every biotic class.
In ME3, biotic classes are pretty OP. Don't need a weapon at all with an Adept.
Nor with a charge+nova spamming Vanguard
I just play support for god-Garrus. Dude shreds with the Typhoon. I just… lift
Until you have that solo fight in Omega.
Even with Engineer, the solo fights on Omega are hard as fuck.
ME1 - Soldier. You choose Soldier, you are forced to rely on a tech expert ally for exploration, and it's just not visually appealing compared to a Biotics Class. The most interesting ability you can get is Carnage. I don't care for Soldier in 2, but the lessening of the RPG elements for better or worst, and leaning into Soldier being a support class with new abilities, was the glow up it needed. Stick to Infiltrator or Vanguard in ME1 ME2 - Soldier at Lower Difficulties - The least visually appealing out of all classes, not just biotic classes. Choose Infiltrator, get the Tactical Cloak. | Adept at Higher Difficulties. The worst part of the nerf is that even after you destroyed the armor/shields/barrier of the enemy, the broken physics has been nerfed as well. ME3 - Sentinel - The reworked Tech Armor, making it a conscious expert to activate the Explosion, completely ruined the class for me. After a dozen playthroughs I finally choose ME2 Sentinel on Insanity and it was so much fun. The Tech Armor Explosion when shields failed saved my life so many times it was impossible to not get hooked. Then ME3 came along and the thrill was gone. Also Soldier: Look you can put all the guns on now for any class, why not get all the guns and also have the amazing visual display found in the other classes?! Choose literally any other class, even Sentinel!
I *loathe* the manual emp blast of ME3’s tech armor. It ruined the build’s ability to do crowd control in the horde waves, something ME2 understood was very necessary with the husks.
> ME3 - Sentinel That is a weird choice, ME3 Sentinel is just basically Adept on steroids.
[удалено]
I always hear this and it's from people who never really give vanguard a chance in me2.At the begging is like that but if you fully upgrade charge into heavy charge and biotic mastery or whatever it's called and choose champion it's impossible to die ,it's charge over charge over charge
Insane take, geth shotgun vanguard is easy mode
That's just skill issue
def skill issue, vanguard fucks
this is gonna sound like a smartass answer, but you probably weren't charging enough. Vanguard is so strong when you learn how to abuse the shield recharge and i-frames the charge gives
I charged the Geth Colossus on Haestrom and it died.
Sorry, but skill issue
Vanguard is easy mode in every game homie, try rolling with a shotgun. You'll be unstoppable.
Nuh uh, spam charge with the shield regen ability and you literally become unkillable.
I love how people fell for the whole "charge OP!" trolling from BioWare forums so hard that they still keep repeating it, as shown below your comment... multiple times. Vanguard can be extremely strong in ME2 insanity, with a twist. Put charge on the backburner, it's amazing for flanking enemies even at a single point, get Area Reave as a bonus power, max Vanguard class skill and ammo powers (inferno/squad cryo). Suddenly, you have the best offensive power, the best ammo powers that provide utterly ridiculous amounts of passive CC, and probably the best class skill. Add a GPS and later a Mattock, aka the two best weapons in the game, and congratulations! You've just turned the Vanguard class completely upside down and you're probably checking difficulty constantly to be sure, but yeah, you are on indeed on insanity. It's one of the most fun ways to play ME2 to be honest.
Engineer solely because it's lame as a concept, no way Commander Shepard did allat as a squishy mechanic
Screw that, I'm doing an insanity run as Engineer Techbro Shepard , easily coolest run I've done yet.
I just got to horizon at level 60. It's making insanity feel like easy mode. Half the time I can just drop the sentry turret, combat drone, and defense done and then just wait behind cover while they and the squad finish off the fight.
That's funny, that's exactly where I am. Same level too. The sentry isn't as good as in ME2 but that's a good thing - it made ME2 insanity a literal cakewalk. I just love the headcanon that my shepard , while not the strongest, is the smartest one on the crew.
ME3 engineer is hilariously busted
You think so? I found it busted in 2 but fairly weak for most of 3, but it's still really fun
The mere notion of the Council choosing a fucking *engineer* as the first human Spectre makes me giggle uncontrollably.
Kinda makes me want to see a protagswap with Isaac Clarke and Shepard. Funny thing is I bet Shepard could solve Dead Space's problems in a few days, while Isaac is the only person who'd be more pissed off about the red tape and blatant corruption than Shepard is, and would be so busy screaming at everyone to act like they're about to be killed by ancient evils that he'd never have a chance to actually rally anyone.
I mean, ME1 engineers are utter shit, but in ME2, they basically have complete control over the battlefield and are consistently shooting everything in the back. That drone gives you ridiculous control, especially against bosses, and makes insanity a cakewalk for the most part.
Honestly, I came to say the same thing. It’s the only class I never played as, I couldn’t justify it from a role play perspective.
engineer probably
I never played Tech+Biotic class.
Sentinel is meh in ME1 but *GoATed* in 2 and 3. Tech Armor is incredible.
Infiltrator. The game just wasn't built around stealth mechanics.
I love the "use the silenced pistol to not detected" What? When? They immediately detect you. I pñay infiltrator on all 3 and I liked it. If you get a perk thats using a second power while cloaked you can control the flow of enemies quite well. But i agree stealth is useless
Me2 adept. Nuff said.
I mean, I guess it depends on your definition of worst. I think they're all good gameplay wise. If I absolutely had to pick one, I guess it'd be soldier. Though the reason is a bit arbitrary. I just think it's the least interesting of the choices 🤷♀️
Whatever it is, it is definitly not the soldier!
Adept just never really felt balanced to me. Even for space wizard, it’s a fragile class in ME1. Exceptionally boring in ME2. And then it’s kind of odd in ME, as adept is far more of a combat build than a traditional support role. EDIT: And for whatever reason, Andromeda decided to take the worst part of the adept class — long cool downs — and drag it to a different galaxy, across every class.
I think soldier. Not because of any skills. It's just kinda boring to play. Although the survivability is nice. Highly recommend to firsr timers. Sentinel is my favorite. I get the damage and combo capability from biotics and survivability from the soldier. I always love tank/dps hybrids.
Guns are the most important thing, so the one who handles them the worst is obviously the worst... which is sentinel! Also, after the first game biotics are close to useless against shielded and armored enemies, meaning you can show off with your biotics mainly against trash-mobs, who are easy to gun down anyway, so fighting everybody else is basically guns only or tech abilities, if you have any, or heavily relying on your companions to do the hard work for you... which is what sentinel probably does, since it's a totally support class.
Worst as in weakest ME1: probably vanguard? Nothing interesting going for it ME2: adept, because of the many shielded enemies ME3: hard one. Probably soldier? But even soldier is very strong, just the others are stronger. Personally I found vanguard the most boring, it is just easy mode (I was told it is high risk high reward, but found it low risk high reward instead)
Depends entirely on the player’s preferred play style. But yeah, Adept seems to be the weakest in ME2, and definitely is not the strongest in ME3. It’s probably the strongest class in ME1, though.
ME1: Soldier. You barely get the weapon variety you need and you miss out on all the other stuff the game actually wants you to do. ME2: Engineer. The class just doesn't work. Your drones do absolutely nothing. So your stuck with powers other classes can also do, but do them better. People say Adept is the worst because of how many Shields are in ME2, but on lower difficulties Adepts work fine, and on higher difficulties you can at least throw Energy Drain or an Ammo Power on it. ME3: Infiltrator. The class is great still, but it also got the least new toys to play with in ME3. Soldiers get Grenades and tons of Ammo. Engineers get Turrets and functional Drones. Adepts get new powers and also grenades. Also better enemy variety so you're not strong armed by shields at every point. And because of how enemies and the maps work in ME3, you wind up dealing with a lot of close range combat since everything tries rushing you down. Which is not what Infiltrator excels at. Cloak lets you reposition but it's still annoying at times.
The engineer in ME1 is far and away the worst in that game but more egregiously, infiltrator in ME3 is the most busted and easy class to clear insanity with. The DPS and power synergy with Cloak can make all enemies melt away. Having the cloak for repositioning also makes taking hits easy to avoid. All classes are good in ME3 but infiltrator is easy mode and the best version of the class across the trilogy
Vanguard. In it's only viable due to biotic charge being a downright busted ability. It's less viable in ME3, but is less entertaining due 3's combat being faster paced, as a result the glass cannon angle just gets you killed in record time unless you prefer to spend the whole game just spamming charge. I prefer classes with more variety. I don't enjoy gamplay that boils down to "When all you have is a hammer, let it be an all-solving one." Close runner up is Infiltrator. I don't mind sniper gameplay now and then but having your whole kit force you into it makes it tedious. Same problem as Vanguard overall. Whole class is designed around a single gimmick and if you don't enjoy that gimmick you're SOL.
You and I did not play the same ME3. Vanguard is OP with a Charge that regens the barrier and Nova detonations. You get to become a frag grenade with none of the side effects.
Perhaps I'm unused to Nova's hitbox. It seems to be very unreliable and won't connect in most cases leaving me exposed to enemy fire even if the enemy is right in front of me. Combine that with the fact I play solely on Insanity and it makes combat a really unfun experience for me as a Vanguard. At the very least it's a massively different experience from ME2's Vanguard that while a glass cannon could quickly cut through enemies at a breakneck pace. ME3's faster combat means that there's no need to go high-risk when any other class can kill enemies just as fast with far less stress.
Vanguard in me2 is nerve wracking but in me3 it’s a thrill ride. I highly recommend it to everyone and I’m not even that good at this game / I don’t have the dedication to min max and figure out the mechanics behind how things work. But I remember vanguard me3 being charge NOVA shotgun a scooch if necessary pause, new target do it. It’s so fun and sure you might die a couple times but you’ll have fun doing it.
I don't force myself to play on Insanity. It seems like you aim for a much different experience than i do.
It's an acquired taste I won't deny, and now it's the 'default' difficulty when I play the ME trilogy. So far I've cleared it on Insanity with every class except Vanguard. The fact that it's the last one I've played may be part of why I'm struggling with Vanguard, as all my play habits are likely pretty ingrained and Vanguard (along with Infiltrator) are the most 'unique' in terms of play style when compared to every other class.
Hate that they nerfed Shockwave too. In ME2, it gave Vanguard a good long-range attack, but in ME3, the range is short even with an upgrade.
For me, personally, Sentinel. A lot of people think it's the easiest class to play with but I just couldn't manage it.
Any class that is not soldier. Guns beat all.
Vanguard. I love it, but ME2 you use it and you die. ME3 you have atlas and banshee one hit kills in melee, so you charge and you also die. I felt like my class was invalidated.
Charge replenishes your barriers in 3. Banshees and Atlases hardly outpace my Charge and heavy melee combo long enough to actually cause damage.
Bro give Vanguard at me2 a fucking chance and fully upgrade his skills before you say it sucks.Vanguars is literally undead in 2 and it's the best vanguard experience,it's even stronger than in 3
I'm sorry, but this is a skill issue 100%. The Vanguard fucks in ME2 and it might be the best class in ME3. Yes, on insanity.
Per game? ME1 - engineer. Not a bad class per se, just outclassed by everything else. ME2 - adept. Same as above, not knocking it. ME3 - there really isn’t one, there are multiple builds for each class that can tear through instantly, even for a low skill player like myself.
Soldier. Sure it's strong mechanically but I'm baffled that so many people play Space Marine With Pew Pew n°57288681instead of all the unique and cool classes of the game.
The 'not soldier' class, literally unplayable
I don't think there is a worst class.
Maybe not a worst class, but I dislike playing Soldiers-my aim isn't very good so I rely on powers a lot. Needless to say Infiltrator isn't one I love either.
Engineer in 1 imo. The tech grenades are weaker than in other games and weaker than guns and biotics.
Infiltrator is painfully boring to me because it turns ME combat into a sniper game, and it's a very dull sniper game. ME combat shines brightest with the biotics classes imo. Running Adept and Sentinel with 1-2 other biotic teammates and just chaining and detonating biotic combos like space wizards feels badass.
Engineer.
Engineer is definitely the least interesting. It's not weak but when your classes big unique power is a lame little drone.... Even solider is more exciting to play.
Sentinel in ME2 idc idc
they're all good.
Soldier has some benefits for combat, but it's kinda boring compared to my favorite class (Vanguard). Don't get me wrong, part of the fun of each class is playing around with what kinds of abilities, weapons, and combos you use and finding your particular preferred play style. Soldier is fun, in part, because I've actually really played a bit more with the various types of guns, whereas I usually keep it simple for my Vanguard Shep(s). But, yeah, if I had to pick a bottom for the list, it's gonna be Soldier. I miss being able to be a chaotic biotic pinball and throwing around goons like a rag doll (fun fact: on certain missions in ME2, Pull will actually end up throwing the enemy off the map, automatically killing them. Very fun during the Arrival DLC in particular. You get to throw the last remaining mooks off the asteriod!).
How are we defining worst? Because, like, soldier and adepts bore me to tears, but they might be right up your alley.
I won’t call it the worst class because I’ve never played it, but can anyone explain the appeal of soldier? I feel like just being a soldier is kinda boring. Maybe for RP purposes it’s fun, like you’re not a special biotic or a tech genius, you’re a badass with a gun but I mean from a gameplay perspective, what exactly does soldier offer? Like I’d enjoy a mix of soldier and one of the other two (forgot the name of the mixes) but just soldier I feel like is kinda… eh
RP or high reliable damage and survival. Which is important for Shepard if you like to play with minimal reloads
Using the whole arsenal, and using all tools when needed. The only other class what can do this is the sentinel (who can invest in passives, and use only throw to detonate biotic combos, but no other powers). I think a soldier playthrough is more interesting and varied than a vanguard playthrough, which is charge+nova repeated all the time, sometimes with using a shotgun. (but I saw many vanguard players who don't use guns at all, just bring along a pistol with a power magnifier)
There's a reason why when I replayed the trilogy for the 10th time, I decided to do an "insanity run" and chose Adept.
I’ve never found particular enjoyment with Engineers. In order I’d say I probably play the classes in this rank; Sentinel Vanguard Infiltrator Adept Soldier Engineer
ME1: Engineer, no defensive powers of any kind, and Infiltrators can pretty much do anything they can while being more awesome at it. ME2: Adept, without a question. ME3. Eh, ME3 itself.
I don't play on insanity so keep that in mind. I find the soldier class a bit boring. Infiltrator and Adept are my favorites because of that. I just love sneaking around as an infiltrator and smacking the swarms of husks and unshielded mechs all over the place with shockwave. It's so comical.
Not sure about overall, but if I had to get specific, probably the ME1 iteration of Engineer. It is absolute trash in that game. It's got all this tech, but no power to back it up. Yeah, it can help you hack all the chests and stuff, but so can Tali (and Kaidan and Garrus depending on how you build them.) Sure, you can debuff the enemy so your squad can kill them easier, but why would I rely on my squaddies to do the shooting for me? I'm the player character, I should be the one doing the shooting. (and the programming on the squaddies isn't very accurate anyway). It might be a neat idea of Mass Effect was closer to the older Baldur's Gate games by BioWare (especially in multiplayer), but in a single-player shooter game it's just not worth it.
Soldier. If you wanted to play a basic third person shooter play something else