The Lost Art of Vanguarding - Claymore Novaguard

Just realized I haven’t played this guy or seen him for a long time. He reminds me alot about the old days, and I don’t see this set up has been mentioned here (sorry if I haven’t done my search thorough enough), so I’d like to share it.

here’s a cool video that might give you some idea/inspiration about this class/style.

If you like this style of badass novaguarding, read on for some tips from my personal experience.

You might treat this as a build guide but there isn’t really a fixed build since either increasing power damage or weapon damage in passive works, I’ll leave the build I used in the video anyways.

Cool Down Is Overrated

Especially one of the powers doesn’t cost cool down. 120% cd bonus can make you nova twice and charge again, while staying invincible. Claymore X leaves you with 60% it seems bad, but

CANCEL ALL THE THINGS!

How am I gonna survive with such a heavy weapon on a vanguard? one might ask, in fact he’s almost as tanky as a Kroguard if not better, but you have to master a few tricks first.

• Reload cancel - basically you press an action button as soon as your hear the click sound to cancel the long ass reload animation. On PC simply press medigel will do, but it’s better to rebind it to some keys convenient, mine’s spacebar. I can’t speak for console players but I heard you can do it by holding down the d-pad. I’m sure you can search up some youtube videos if you’re still confused. This makes single shot weapons with long reload animation hundred times better. If you can’t do it well, you can make it up by another form of cancel I’ll mention below.

• Nova cancel - so much more important in this build. Since Claymore slow down your power alot you can’t charge as often, you need to rely on invincibility frame to stay alive, that’s where nova cancel comes in. 2 ways to do it, one is soon as you nova, when you’re up in the air before you hit the ground, you press the dodge button. The other way is to press light melee soon as you nova, that also helps with delivering pizza. So during nova, you’re invincible (note: can be grabbed/synced kill), by canceling it you don’t have to drain your shield. If done right, you’re more tankier than a Kroguard. Of course, you don’t have to cancel all the time, I’m sure you can get a better feel from my video.

But why not Talon or other lighter weapon?

Aside from claymore’s badassery, it has good synergy with powers that auto reload your weapon, shoot-> charge/nova immediately will automatically reload your weapon afterwards, besides, it does tons of damage, especially with ammo power etc. which makes up for your weaker power damage against bosses. Also longer range with smart choke on as you can see some shots from my video. But mostly, I can’t stand the look of a vanguard holding a pistol, that belongs to engis or adepts. In the end, all about Claymore’s badassery ;)

• One last thing about synergy, you can still synergize well with biotic teammates like Justicars or tech teammates to set up all sorts of tech-splosion, but with a bigger gun in your hand!

• Weapon mods I used in the vid are smart choke and normal barrel, along with AP ammo. You can easily switch out barrel with shredder mod, use disruptor/incendiary to set up tech burst/firesplosion, and still do a ton of damage. High velocity is too heavy you need to abuse nova cancel alot more which I wouldn’t recommmend. As brought up by Ellacey, the weight increase is bugged so you can enjoy more explosion for now.

It’s essentially a Claymore Kroguard in human form but in order to achieve Kroguard’s tankiness, you need to do a bit extra work, with good timing or skill if you’d like, which is a lot of fun to me, instead of Kroguard’s simple, dull gameplay. Have fun vanguarding!

edit: oops, the build.