MURDERTRAIN-ing 301: or "HOW DO YOU DRIVE THIS @#$%ING THING?!"
Guide 1, Guide 2, for your recapping pleasure.
Well, hey there little welps. Didja miss me? Grab a seat by the fire. I won't bite. We'll just have a chat, with some nice Ryncol on the rocks. Can I offer you a snack? No? You sure? Splendid. Let's get started. We have A LOT to cover since the last time. Let's go over what I plan to cover:
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We have some new weapons to go over. I plan to cover what I feel is needed to be covered. I could make a whole guide on every weapon available. @_@ I'd rather not. I hope you understand. Leave a comment for any I won't be covering.
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A new Faction. And holy crap, they're... Well, a doozy. Even Krogan Veterans should be making dookie in their pantaloons. Actually...
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New enemies for each original Faction. Some more annoying/harder than others.
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New teammates and synergy. Well, classes. And since I'll be going over a few Gold strategies, this will require teammates to work well (And communicate!) with. But more on that later.
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Gold gameplay and you. Added a section covering Gold (and applicable to beyond), and something I refer to as "Decoy-Tank".
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USER SUBMISSIONS WELCOME! I'd really like to emphasize the idea of this fireside chat. I'll be giving full credit to anyone's submission in this thread to anything that contributes to the Murdertrain here in the appropriate section. So please, let's keep the content coming.
Before we continue, here's an updated "build" on what I've personally been using:
I swapped out the barrier buff in rank 4 for the extra 5% rather than the 30% Blast Buff since it got buffed in a patch/update. I'd rather have even some more sturdiness. Doesn't mean we won't pop barriers, but since we're now at where we were WITH taking rank 4 barrier pop buff PRE buff, I feel it's better to take the 5%. :shrug: YMMV. It's really up to you for rank 4.
Feur Frei!
So with the recent updates, DLCs, etc, we've gotten some noteworthy weapons. Here are the ones I prefer:
The Reegar: I mention this first, because I know I'll get a thrashing if I don't. It's powerful, fast, and relatively light. But I don't like it for one reason; The range is terrible. It stops dead in it's tracks after only a few feet (if that). But, it's fantastic against barriers/shields, does great damage. Chews through ammo though. Only a 20 round capacity that gets eaten up quickly.
The Piranha: If I'm not mistaken, the weight was increased not too long ago. ((Just checked, I can't find anything suggesting it was)) But this is my new favorite, probably over the Graal. It's got more ammo (6) per clip, shoots fast, and is DEVASTATING up close. Great for use with "the Combo" (Remember? Biotic Charge into Heavy Melee into Fire Shotgun+Shotgun+Shotgun until you can Charge again). Even with the weight "nerf", it's still light enough to where I'd say it's worth it.
Graal Spike Thrower: We all know this is one of my personal favorites, and u/Zelcron has brought some interesting things to light about it with some new EQ from the recent DLC.
It is a launch weapon, and therefore you can equip the shotgun omni blade for +50% melee damage with no effect on your cooldown, because as far as I know, the weapon mods that increase weight are still bugged.
It is a non-hitscan weapon. It therefore ignores armor penalties. One no longer needs to equip the shredder mod to be effective against armor.
It is both accurate and powerful, even though it is a shotgun. You don't need the shredder mod or the smart choke mod to make it useful at range or against armor.
Therefore, you can equip the omni-blade and either the mod for more damage, or more spare ammo, and you lose very little. In my games, I tend to favor more ammo except on Firebase Rio, because there is ammo everywhere.
Special thanks to Zelcron for the info.
AT-Raider/Claymore 2.0: I say Claymore 2.0 because that's what it is. A Claymore with 2 shots. It's about as heavy as one, if not heavier, and hits for a little less per shot. Worth mentioning, but I think you're better off with the other two or older shotguns.
Acolyte: Mentioning for it's uses. Recently buffed and then nerfed. It's now a "charge me" gun again. I would say "Yes" to this gun, because it's so great at taking out Barriers/Shields (300% extra damage to the aforementioned). BUT that charge time leaves you out in the open. Even on Gold/Platinum, you're still gonna feel those hits waiting for a charge shot. It's not a long charge time. But if you feel it's worth it, take it. You can slap "Ultra Lightweight Materials" on it, and not mess with your cooldown. If you ask me, I feel Warp ammo is a little better with the Piranha. But that's my personal preference.
While I'm at it, let me quickly mention something else that was added; GEAR.
I won't sit here and say what's "THE BEST". Take what is best for you. What I can recommend is the following:
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Berserker Package : Weapon Damage Bonus (Shotguns)/Melee Damage Bonus
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Stronghold Package : Shield Bonus
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Mental Focuser : Power Damage Bonus
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Structural Ergonomics : Power Recharge
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Multicapacitor : Shield Recharge Delay
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Shield Booster : Shield Bonus
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Shotgun Amp : Weapon Damage Bonus (Shotguns)
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Hydraulic Joints : Melee Damage Bonus
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Adaptive War Amp : Biotic Power Damage Bonus
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Juggernaut Shield : Melee Damage Bonus/Shield Bonus
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Martial Biotic Amp : Melee Damage Bonus/Biotic Power Damage Bonus
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Omni-Capacitors : Power Recharge / Power Damage Bonus
Also, take what you have. I haven't even unlocked all of the gear available yet.
I wanna Jitterbug...
So, it's been a long time coming, and we've all been asking for them.
Now that they're HERE... We don't know what we've gotten ourselves into.
Let me do my best by trying to go over what I've found to be successful so far.
Abominations/Husks: So these little bastards have a neat little trick up their sleeve. They go boom. One, or even two at a time, shouldn't be a big deal. But if you're under fire, and then one or two (or more) slip past you and then go boom? Now it's a problem. Low on the threat level, but I'd still try to take them out sooner than later. Especially if they start glowing.
Collector Trooper: Standard troop for Collectors. SMGs. Melee attacks, throws grenades. Annoying. Step above a husk. Not bad when it's just one or two. Bad in groups. But you should be able to tank a couple.
Collector Captain: Your next step up from Trooper, and is comparable to a Marauder/Centurion. These guys can melee you, but the thing you want to be worried about is they Swarms they throw at you. What's a Swarm? Glad you asked.
Seeker Swarm: This is going to FUCK UP your day. Why? Because it's going to KILL your cooldown. That's what the swarm does. You're unable to use any power for a set period of time while the frakkin' thing is around you. Which brings me to my next point...
Possesion: Harbinger will ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL of something, and make your day a lot worse. The following is changed with the aformention:
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Abominations now have Barriers.
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Troopers now deploy Webs. Webs just slow you down and get in your way. Just shoot them.
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Captains have twice as much health and deploy Seeker Plagues.
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A Seeker Plague has a Barrier.
Basically, they're more annoying.
Next up, our Big Daddies:
Scion: Remember this jack hole from ME2? Back. Shoots a Geth Prime cannon now. Packs a mean punch. Will wreck your face with it. He can insta-kill you, so I suggest not going into melee range unless you're using the ol' attacking from the rear strategy. Has Armor. So no grabby-grabby.
- Possessed Scion have more armor (50%) and Barriers. They also shoot grenades at you. Oh, not just one. CLUSTER GRENADES.
Praetorian: To put it lightly, these guys SUCK. They attack from a distance, and can insta kill you. They also float around in the air, making it difficult to get a good bead on them. Oh, they attack at melee range too. And fast. So... Basically you're dealing with a flying Banshee who shoot freaking laser beams out of their freaking heads. Team effort on this one.
- Possessed version shoots missiles. Stronger Barriers and Armor (50%)
... So that's fun, right? ಠ_ಠ
No More Mr. Nice Guy
So with the DLC that we got, we also received two more units for the Geth and Cerberus (one for each).
Dragoon: They're joking, right? I mean, it's like bring a knife to a joust. Yeah, it's another Vanguard... But you do it SO much better! Just charge, melee, shoot. In that order. They just have armor, and have a LONG build up time. They cover a lot of ground, but aren't much to worry about. Remember the combo.
Geth Bomber: These sneaky little bastards are stupid annoying (no sounds, since there's no sound files for them), and they drop bombs. Oh, and they fly. Charge, and shoot. Trying to melee/heavy melee is gonna be tricky. You'll miss a lot.
Posted Dec 20, 2012, 12:13 AM UTC · edited