Batarian Soldier Blade's of Exploding Death Build

Alright listen up. This is for all those Batarians who think they are all high and mighty and only melee cause they are so much better than everyone else. Yes Batarians have ridiculously strong melee, yes they can make heads explode with a single punch, and yes Krogans are no match for us. But that doesn't mean we can neglect the utter majesty of destruction known as balistic blades.

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Build

Balistic Blades: Damage/Range/Explosion

I just heard about a strange problem with our omni-tools that causes the cone spread upgrade to throw blades in a complete circle! I will be trying this as soon as I can but it seems to be a solid choice in place of the damage if you choose. I like range over the cooldown reduction because I like to hit things from a safe distance when necessary. Obviously take exploding blades. No one wants to sit around and wait for an enemy to bleed out, WE WANT TO SEE THEM EXPLODE!

Blade Armor: Damage reduction/Shields/Damage reduction

This one is fully up to the soldier. I like the damage reduction for this build and I prefer the shield recharge over the melee damage returned. I like putting big blades on my armor just as much as any other Batarian, but it's much more satisfying and safe to lauch them at a foe and watching them explode!

Inferno Grenade: 3 points

I put 3 points in these grenades as it makes Batarian soldiers a walking death machine of area damage and helps with pesky armored weaklings like brutes and banshees.

Batarian Enforcer: Weapon Damage/Power Damage

This is the skill I choose not to max so I can take grenades with me. I like the weapon damage first than the power damage because headshots are for wimps anyway and this way I get a good spread of damage on everything. It is perfectly acceptable to increase power and power as they increase the initial blade damage and the explosion damage.

Fitness: Shield/Recharge/Shield

While some other Batarians think its cool to run around punching heads off this build is all about being a ranged aoe-death bringing tank of a beast. You could pick up the middle melee buff or the melee synergy but I like being unkillable in the face of overwhelming numbers.

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Loadout

Weapon:

Falcon: The falcon staggers an area around where it hits. This ends up grouping all of your enemies into one big nice pile ripe for the exploding-blades of inferno-grenade-death that you want them in. This is still my preffered gun in most situations.

Striker: I just unlocked the striker and while many people say it is a much better choice I do not like it as much as the falcon still. The striker shoots grenades like the falcon, however they do not bounce and have a much smaller explode radius. The upside to this is that the gun fires much much faster and therefore does significantly more damage over time. It's also much easier to use when not hosting over the falcon. There are a few reasons I do not like the striker as much as the falcon.

1. The striker's radius of explosions is about half the size of the falcon and it makes it much harder to stagger a large group of enemies with it.

2. The striker will not stagger enemies with shields up. This is a huge problem for me. The main use of the falcon was not for the damage, it was for the stagger and crowd control. Between the smaller explosion and lack of stagger on shielded units I much prefer the falcon for sheer crowd control.

3. No wall bouncing. This is not huge but I like it.

Overall the striker is a very effective weapon and with a disruptor ammo mod could very well tear shields down so fast it doesn't matter that it lacks the stagger on shielded units. It seems like on gold this may be much better than the falcon because it gives you a way to still do really good damage from a distance and it makes it plausible for you to help on boss kills. If you are not trying to focus on CC and want a gun that does very good damage while still giving you the ability to somewhat control groups for blades of death, or if you are simply not good with a falcon, then the striker is a very good choice. I can recommend the striker just as much as the falcon. Which you chose depends on your individual play style and I suggest you try both and see what works for you.

Gear: I typically don't even bother with equipment on anything but gold games as every other mode is puny and weak compared to our blades. When I do bring gear there are quite a few choices.

Ammo: With the Falcon I can not express the awesomeness that is cryo ammo. You walk into a group freezing everything in sight then drop blades and a grenade on them and walk away as everything explodes and dies. You can bring just about any ammo you want and still be effective. Cryo ammo will very much help you against all groups of small enemies and big armored enemies as well. Incindiary can be useful but I find it lacking when compared to others and you have grenades to light things on fire. Warp is helpful against armor but still is far behinde cryo. Disruptor ammo is nice because it can drop shields quickly to allow your blades to destroy anything they touch as well as having a chance to stun enemies. Armor piercing ammo sees limited uses as it increases damage against armor and will increase damage to all enemies. I highly recommend cryo ammo but warp/disruptor/AP ammo can be useful as well.

Weapon Mod: Bring an amp for whatever gun you use. Nuff said.

Armor Mod: For this one the power damage increase or the shield increase will help you destroy everything in your path. Basically if you are having trouble staying up bring a shield buff. If you have no problem staying up bring a damage increase. We love stronger blades! The CD reduction can be useful, but I find that the blade CD is typically in a good place as is. The adrenaline module could be used, but running is typically not a big deal with this build and I would generally pass on it.