Well here I come I'm poppin' Barriers on your ass bitch! - Krogan Shaman Adept build

Preface: So this is a technique I've been using on my singleplayer Vanguards for quite a while now. It's obviously better in SP since Liara's Warp has instant transmission and doesn't run off your own cooldowns. With that said, I've honed it down to a T in MP now and I feel I'm ready to share this awesomely fun Barrier technique with you guys.

Note: Unless stated otherwise, detonate simply means the blast effect from Barrier, not an actual biotic explosion.

One of the best things about the Adept class is its ability to not only dish out fucktons of damage with the biotic good stuff, but also have good crowd control capabilites. For the asari, it's Stasis, for the Drell it's Cluster Grenades and Pull, for the humans it's Singularity. Being able to render enemies completely helpless, harmless and vulnerable to an easy BE finisher has always made the Adept shine when compared to other biotics on the field. So initially I was a little disappointed with the Krogan Shaman's moveset because while he has the uber-powerful Warp-Shockwave combo, he lacks any obvious CC move. But then I remembered that Barrier has a detonation, which I know from playing SP is amazing for CC. Allow me to elaborate:

• Barrier has an extremely short cooldown - at 200% recharge, it's only 1.85 seconds. Not as fast as Throw or Pull but still, anything under 2 seconds is extremely valuable. This means if need be, you can spam it. Double tap Barrier (ie. activate, detonate) for an almost instant detonation. Only the detonation of Barrier initiates a cooldown, which is why double tapping is so useful.

• The detonation specced out right has a radius of 5.4m and literally sends unshielded mooks flying. Pop a barrier in a tight situation to instantly propel your attackers to the other side of the map. And unlike in singleplayer, the detonation does a sizeable chunk of damage, so you can kill stuff outright if you want. Unfortunately it won't hit enemies through walls or behind cover but that's not a massive hindrance.

• Suspending an enemy primes them for a biotic explosion. Self explanatory. Coupled with the detonate evolutions for Warp and Shockwave, it's pretty much a one-two combo that will kill anything short of armoured targets that come into your vicinity.

• If it doesn't suspend an enemy, the detonation is a very reliable stagger. As in, it will always stagger a Phantom if she has barriers up (if she doesn't she'll be blown away) and it will always stagger a Dragoon unless if he's in Smash animation. And if he is, a Krogan Headbutt to the face will stun him out of it. Due to the AoE nature of the blast, you can stagger whole groups, which can keep them pinned down while you send your Warp or Shockwave out to catch the unlucky soul who got suspended. And since it's on a short cooldown, double tapping Barrier is as fast and more efficient than the Falcon. If something still has shields, you can detonate and stagger their protection away no problem. Acolyte's better for stripping that shit though.

So with this in mind, I've crafted this build.

Since you're using Barrier as a primarily offensive tool, you'll want that blast effect evolution. I went for power recharge on the final evolution over more damage protection for the times you'll want it up against bosses and you're forced to sit in cover like a normal Adept and spam BEs. The faster you can get those things off, the better.

If you're on PC, don't spec into Radius on Shockwave as it apparently breaks the power in some way (according to Xcal). I went for lifting Shockwave just for that extra bit of CC. Be warned that while it can prime BEs, it's not very reliable as there's a very short window for you to get a Warp in to detonate. You pretty much have to be right on top of them to hit them with Warp in time, as once they start to fall down, you've missed your chance. Unlike Barrier, which gives you more than enough time to hit them.

Warp evolutions are self explanatory and if you do it any other way, you're doing it wrong.

What I like most about this build is it combines both an offensive and defensive strategy, depending on the enemy type. As the Shaman is essentially the lovechild of Kroguard and Vanilla Adept, you get to blend the two playstyles into one, which makes it a hell of a lot of fun to play. You get to play him like a krogan, so you don't forsake your Tuchankan heritage, but you can also dish out powerful combos from a safe distance. So the basic strategy is: against mooks, strip any shields with the Acolyte, charge in, pop barrier and Warp or Shockwave suspended targets for easy BEs. Works great on Phantoms, both the suspension and stagger aspects. For armoured targets, sit in cover, strip any shields with the Acolyte, and Warp-Shockwave to death. Takes out Dragoons pretty fast, and if they get dangerously close, double tap Barrier or headbutt to stagger and buy yourself a bit of time to get those primers and detonators off. Warp-headbutt-Shockwave is the GGNoRe 3-hit combo for Dragoons.

With regards to When Do I Want To Keep Barrier On?, I would say it's always good to have up for what damage resistance you can get, seeing as this guy isn't quite as tanky as Kroguard. You'll definitely want to minimise the time you're missing out on the DR.

So, that's pretty much it. Tl;dr Barrier is an amazing CC power, don't skip over it!

Offer any critiques, suggestions, etc. in the comments section below. Thanks for hearing me out!