It Takes Two to Tango: Earth's Finest (Part 1 of 3) - Force Multiplier

Preface

So the Earth DLC introduced 6 new amazing kits, and three trios tend to work well together. The Demolisher and Destroyer use heavy firepower to flood the enemy with enough lead and explosives to create a new munitions plant. The Shadow and Paladin use on-the-fly tactics and situational awareness to dismantle enemies one by one. The Slayer and Fury both use impressive speed to take down enemies by constantly outmaneuvering enemies, making enemies always vulnerable to either the Fury or Slayer at any time. All of them take a playstyle of their own and are surprisingly efficient in clearing waves when paired together. Personal opinion is that the non-biotic N7 kits make for the best themed team, period.

Introduction

Like with Reave Them and Reap, this pairing of the N7 Destroyer and Demolisher should be familiar with veterans around here. The N7 Destroyer is a tanky weapons expert, but depends heavily on ammunition and does not crowd control very well with boss killing weapons. On the other hand, the N7 Demolisher has excellent crowd control ability with her grenades and can supply extra ammo with her Supply Pylon for all of her teammates. She is less capable of nuking bosses outside of unsustainable grenade spamming, while the N7 Destroyer can sustain it much longer with a heavy weapon.

The N7 Destroyer

What does he do?- The Destroyer acts as both a tank with his high shielding and as a boss slayer with his weapon of choice. He should basically cover the Demolisher as she sends grenades for crowd control.

How should I spec him?- As long as you put points into Devastator Mode, you should be fine. Tankiness is preferred to damage bonuses as the best boss slaying weapons rely on being out of cover for extended periods of time. Here's how I spec mine out.

A good high-powered, high-DPS weapon (PPR, Typhoon, Striker, Crusader, etc.) is practically mandatory as that lets him fulfill his job as a boss slayer. In my opinion, the Typhoon is the best option if you are running for maximum burst damage (AP ammo IV + Barrel + Magazine) while the PPR is better suited for sustained firefights (Incendiary ammo IV + HVB + Magazine).

The N7 Demolisher

What does she do?- She is the designated ammo supplier for herself and the Destroyer in addition to providing crowd control with her grenades. Grenades may also be used to soften up bosses if need be.

How should I spec her?- Definitely go for the best grenades and ignore Fitness to the best of your ability. Considering she will be behind cover (grenades don't need direct LoS like most weapons) and have the Destroyer do the tanking, Fitness is overkill. If you have to have Fitness, drop Homing Grenades as Arc Grenades are used more often relative to Homing Grenades. But this should only happen if you desperately need the Fitness points. I spec her so that everything explodes to its fullest potential..

Maxing out the Supply Pylon for ammo regen, bringing Grenade Capacity Gear, and having only the most damaging grenades are top priorities here. Anything less and the efficiency goes down exponentially. Explosive weapons are also nice to keep the pressure without relying on grenade ammo. Knowing how grenades and weapons arc are also important to land the grenades at the right places. The right grenade in the right place can make even the toughest enemies fall in quick order.

Tactics

As usual, it's quite simple. The Destroyer is the boss slaying tank, absorbing and dishing out damage to heavier enemies. He should draw attention to himself to keep the heat off the Demolisher so she can hurl the perfect grenades. In turn, the Demolisher should launch grenades that either will crowd control weaker enemies (Arc Grenades for groups, weapons for lone enemies) or soften bosses (weapons if they have Cryo or Warp ammo, Homing Grenades on bosses with Armor only). Arc Grenades are also acceptable to strip shields efficiently on a group of enemies that has them. Recall that grenades can shake the screen of allies and it's detrimental to land a grenade next to the Destroyer as he's trying to nail a moving target. Don't foget that it may be better to kill weaker enemies to deplete the wave budget faster.

Both players should keep ammo in mind. It's not nice for the Destroyer to run in and steal all of the Demolisher's grenades and thermal clips as they don't belong to him personally. Likewise, the Demolisher shouldn't keep everything to herself as this is stingy and hurts her in the long run. Communicate to ensue that neither player runs dry and don't waste ammo needlessly. This last part is critical to making this work on Platinum as ammo boxes don't give out that much ammo and thus even thermal clips become a hot commodity.

As far as camping goes, I advise that the Demolisher sets up a Pylon in some sort of central location in a camping zone. If it's close to an ammo box, that's even better. Never feel that you are tethered to the Pylon as another one can quickly be made if need be. Don't forget that the Demolisher can redeploy her Pylon to instantly get more grenades and thermal clips if need be. Good examples of redeployment use are drone escorts, hack circles, and movement to a new location if the current location gets overrun.

Conclusion

A classic combo ever since the Earth DLC, the Demolisher and Destroyer both benefit from each other like sharks (Destroyer) and remoras (Demolisher). While the relationship can be strained from one side to the other depending on the player, both work better as a team than as separate entities. A solid pair for Plat, the Demolisher and Destroyer will send their enemies so far into dark space that even a floodlight won't be able to illuminate a way out.