MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA: Annihilation Vanguard Build! (Skills, Weapons, and Armor Guide)

[@blackvial]

I found the perfect melee weapon for Vanguard builds, it's the Kett sword that deals melee damage and deal fire damage over time, each time the fire damage procs it activates the passive for the vanguard profile giving back shields

[@gh0s7ny]

Use shield powered lance instead shockwave and you can spam biotic combo with annihilation like crazy.

[@lorenzofederico4028]

I beat my first playthrough on insanity last night with a Vanguard build. I used charge, seismic nova (with anti sheild), and double incinerate with a rank 6 Vanguard profile, heat seeking dhan shotgun, and N7 armor. I put an emphasis on recharge speed and combo damage. That build slayed especially when I got the tech upgrade that makes all other powers go off cooldown whenever a tech power is used. Charge, nova, shotgun, charge, incinerate, charge, nova, and so on. This build made insanity trivial for me.

[@tennoshenaniganizer9234]

I use standard Vanguard build of charge, nova and shockwave and my weapon of choice is a custom made N7 Valkyrie. And yes, I've mastered the art of using an assault rifle at close range. It does a lot of damage per shot and has a good damage per second

[@nickrffpatellis852]

It sucks you can't stop time like me3 tho

[@kroganbaby6163]

Here's how you become an unstoppable tank. Use the Soldier profile, choose Charge, Turbo, and Tac Cloak for your powers. Pick the shotgun, barrier(final tree is recharge full shield when health is low, and the rest are a bunch of health & shield, recharge speed etc passives. I never got killed nor do ever had to take cover during intense fire fight.

[@ericschmedicke122]

It looks like a solid build. I do have a question though. if annihilation field can prime multiple targets, and overload can be speced to chain, does that mean there are multiple detinations? Or does it only detonate the first target primed? Because if it does do multiple detonations you could Charge in with Annihilation active and Overload for multiple detinations. Plus since the primer determines the combo you could still spec for biotic damage and get more bang for your buck.

[@skylar135100]

great vid, but I don't think that shock wave is that effective when using this build. I prefer lance 100%, with this ability you get massive amounts of damage. I can see where you are coming from with the shock wave being more accurate but I have found because you are in close corner combat 99.99% of the time that you barely miss lance (and if you do just take the perk that uses you shields instead of a cooldown, you can get 100% of your shield back when you use charge so I never lose my shield). Great build overall though and great video, I always enjoy watching your build videos. Keep up the great work.

[@DaWishard]

skylar135100 Well it can hit multiple enemies at a time, knocks them back, and if you check the skills tree can see it becomes a combo detonator which makes his next biotic skill do even more damage. Also since he is a rank 4 in the biotic tree all enemies he kill in the demonstration towards the end exploded, causing even more area damage all around.

[@skylar135100]

Yes, it does have that benefit, but I prefer the extra damage that you get from weak point hits (such as headshots) over the radius. With the almost infinite number of times you can spam lance (with the shield upgrade) I find that the massive damage spike you get from it suits me better than the area of effect you get from shockwave. Also if you go adept you basically have an AOE anyways with all the biotic explosions going on.

[@DaWishard]

skylar135100 Sure, but fighting larger groups you hit with shockwave the wider the aoe explosion effect is. And also as I stated which you seemed to ignore, was it can also be a combo detonator, making his next charge attack, which recharges almost as fast as Lance and recovers more shields, can deal out more damage... possibly even more than Lance since if you include how annihilation also boosts combo damage. It's all preference really, he prefers taking down a bunch of enemies at the same time while creating a large wide effect while having a stronger charge, and you prefer lance, while doing more damage and recharges fast yeah, takes longer to take down a group of weaker enemies. Both work, and very viable, and it just depends on people's liking really.

[@skylar135100]

I agree with that, it really comes down to preference. Lance feels better to me due to the fact that with the shield upgrade it has no cooldown but I can differently see the massive benefits if shockwave as well. I just prefer a spam build I guess. I will for sure try out shockwave more intensely when I get the points to invest.

[@joedirt2656]

I agree on lance because since it has no CD it works well with annihlation. Also, scattergun with the plasma charge mod and shield oscilator has potential because it shoots and reloads in 1 second so shield oscilator gives you effectively 25% shield every second. I think the dmg is too low for insanity but it'd make you invincible on lower difficulty levels.

[@Colbyachi]

Charge, Lance, Annihilation are my go to for my vanguard build. I love the high burst damage these options give me.

[@erronblack2914]

Colbyachi seriously, why get the shitty shockwave in this game when you can have lance?

[@Colbyachi]

Erron Black I wouldn't say shockwave is shitty. I would say it's good if you don't want to use annihilation and need a priming ability, but using lance wth the damage upgrades and the upgrade where it consumes shield instead of cooldown is probably the most "vanguard" play style to me. Using your defense(barrier) as an offensive weapon with a shotgun as followup pretty much screams vanguard to me.

[@JoviaI1]

I every time I see a new person mention this I get surprised at how popular of a build this is so soon after launch. I found it by myself about 10 hours in and ever since almost every single video I see somebody talking about this build. Pretty cool to see so many like-minded people.

[@DaWishard]

Erron Black It's a nice alternative as a backup plan next to backlash as it's good to force back enemies in large groups especially if they all are gunning you down, and if upgraded enough can do so-so damage while also priming enemies for a biotic combo, meaning it can make you next following attack do more damage than Lance..... heck it's complementary to Lance. Overall it is a pretty good move to have.

[@Supadrumma441]

Why use lance when you can use nova?

[@Kanati96]

But the augment that "Changes projectile type to seeking plasma bolts" and the Reegar and it'll do the lighting and shot bolts at the same time. Which will alow you to increase your range, and essentially do double damage up close.

[@ethanlennon7721]

I love your videos, so I've got a suggestion for you. It's a similar build to the one you have but it's a little different. It revolves around Annhilation, Energy drain, and Lance. The main thing that you'll need for the build is the annhilation perk that grants shield in a kill, and the upgrade for lance that removes cool down and makes it so it drains your shield instead. Energy drain I there for extra shield recharge. The main passive is team support in tech which reduces the shield drain from abilities and boosts defenses, and you'll want to use Sentinel for similar reasons. With this build you can enter a fight lance about three times, energy drain, lance a few more times, and this isn't even taking into account of the shield granted from kills. You get insane detonations and you can add on gear that grants more shields on kills or shield when you reload etc. you could also use adept for extra detentions, but sentinel gives you some good passive sand defense. Vanguard does give you shield on melee, so you could replace energy drain with charge for more shield regen, but it's a little more dangerous. Overall it's a high risk high reward build that's very fun to play.

[@TekkitsWorkshop]

You should really try Dhan with bio-converter and charging plasma system (5x damage for shotguns). Also put 25% shield on kill to chest and Fusion mod of Adrenaline to recharge all powers on kill:-)

[@JoviaI1]

Nice thought but the plasma charge lowers your clip size and you want *more* ammo in the clip with the bio-converter augment (*which by the way is amazing*). If you are going bio-converter I recommend the Piranha. With 12+ shots in the clip you can spam the thing without worry. I can literally stand in place in front of a remnant destroyer on hardcore and not lose my shields while I melt it with my "Vampiric Piranha" :P

[@thomasneal9291]

plasma charge now has HUGE negatives for use on shotguns. only viable gun for it now is talon, because it actually is a pistol. Dahn is actually better straight up with no shot modifiers, just damage boosters. and talon with plasma burst is insanely fun to use. try it. I especially like adding the mod that does 35% more damage when hovering, then spraying half the battlefield with plasma bursts from midair. also makes a great room clearer. I play infiltrator sniper, but when I need to clear a room behind a closed door, I hit stealth, charge the talon fully, and then open the door. everyone dies in one blast usually.

[@ngtyr]

For anyone wondering. I am doing an Insanity playthrough and this build is absolutely viable. Though i used Saving Barrier as enemies tend to deal quite a bit of damage when focus firing you. I used Charge/ Annihilation and switched between Lance/Shockwave and Nova for my third. Nova synergistically works well with Melee/ Vanguard build. Otherwise use Adept. On Insanity you'll always want to keep an eye on when you get your charge back as that will be your saving grace if you're near death. Great build all in all though.

[@starballs12]

Any thoughts on using the remnant armor I have similar build to this and I'm using the heleus armor set but I really like the stats and especially the look of the remenant armor do you think it's pointless to stray away from a set that doesn't give my powers boosts in damage. Thoughts please before I make my decision.

[@JoviaI1]

Remnant armor is great for one thing: Survivability. If you find your shields dropping a lot, you might think to use that armor.

[@imcalledbs_2507]

i've been using singularity (to prime) then chrage (to detonate twice if it recharges faster then the duration of singularity) and then nova to finish off anyone around you after the first biotic combo. it works every time. i also use the asari sword or the krogan hammer to hit hard after charge.

[@blackknight4152]

Agree with everything except the armor, you could go also with the N7 set, Biotic focused or the hyperguardian set. Even though the Heleus Armor is very powerfull it does fits more with a Setinel, so you stack up the Resistance to dmg to insane levels. With the vanguard does okey, but could be optimiced if combined with Combat tools and going for the 100 plus resistance while dodging ( to secure durability) Also It might be usefull (and maybe dangerous to take advantage of the Rank 6 combat fitness by reducing your health continiously using a Bio-converter with any of your weapons). Trigering that passive will make you litterally unnstopable thx to the charge reload of shields( and health with abio converter stays around 5% if not healed back) risky but worth if basing your build in pure Resistance.

[@seanrogers3389]

Personally playing on insanity i believe that the final option for annihilation might be better suited to the rank 6 'Vortex' because of the fact enemies take a LONG time to do die and so this option becomes less so effective. The good thing about vortex is it's a disabler which means enemies won't be able to hit you. If you focus on disabling enemies on insanity the damage they do to you becomes irrelevant because of the fact they are constantly frozen, hovering in the air primed for combos and never have the chance to get up. Seriously, try this out, i've broken the game a couple times and got enemies bugged into rocks and walls due to the shear amount of spam present.

[@MrLcarter24]

Well, I play on Insanity so not sure if this would be viable and I'm more of a techy/soldier myself. I'll leave the biotics to Peebee.

[@BarbeChenue]

I'm all about "Power Recharge Speed" and you should too. Having the ability to repeatedly Charge over and over again is much more important than having damage mitigation, because Charge replenishes your Shield anyway. I've played ME3 on "permacharge", and it was amazing. The only thing holding me back was the dreaded terrain locks that somehow glitched my charges. I hope it's fixed in MEA.

[@Oisilky]

I made something like this myself, except I used Lance instead of shockwave and a shield consuming lance. I also added the power damage augment to my weapon because I don't need to use it. shield oscillator on my armor and the fusion mod I chose rapid deployment but Biotic Mastery works too. The idea is to never use your weapon, and just cause explosions, close distance with charge or emergency shield recharge. No points in combat. Just biotics. I also out the vintage heatsink or use a remnant weapon so that I can make sure if I do shoot that I can get that power damage from a full clip without having to search for ammo. also use the N7 armor because it has arms and legs(to add more reaction optimizers) as well as rehcrage speed.

[@FatalFist]

Also, Annihilation field isn't really new. The N7 Fury in ME3 MP had it with the Collector having an offshoot ability. Warp for days when the field is up though

[@FatalFist]

Can you imagine a Reave and Charge combination? Omg that would be glorious. Reave for a damage resistance buff as well as setting them up for a biotic detonation and then charge in with the Bastion trait to stack the damage resistance buff while setting off a biotic explosion. You'd be one hell of an aggressive tank

[@brettrosenow2759]

Idk if you still check the comments but would using an ar still be viable. I’m not big on shotguns and I like the option to shoot from a distance as well

[@dragonhartcg7406]

Thank you very much for this detailed video , it's helped me understand the profiles better and i love the build concept's you showcase.

[@rustyshackleford1059]

my fave combo on regular grunts, vanguard charge > nova > charge them again while they ragdoll in the air for that biotic combo. just so satisfying and turns the battlefield into a clusterfuck

[@D.E.E.M.A.N]

I'll prefer to use nova than shockwave but very nice build. good job

[@bigdog3628]

It's been a while since I played this game, but back then any "proper" build is a cover is for wimps build

[@teacup_ninja]

Gonna try this for my second playthrough, need a change up from my infiltrator. Thanks for the vid ^_^

[@ImJustMikayla]

How do you think this might work for Insanity? I'm wanting to play an insanity run, but I'm curious how it might play out with all the extra damage being taken ;) Great video by the way. Amazing build vid format and I look forward to more.

[@But_WhatIf]

There was nothing more fun than charging into a group of enemies and then Forcewaving them all to the moon

[@Lil_Sca12]

I run Sentinel with energy drain singularity and ignite really crazy combo

[@Lil_Sca12]

Incinerate*

[@queensgambit8496]

yeup i run a similar build but as explorer with Singularity Incinerate Charge, Go Nuclear or go home i say..

[@blvckhudie1419]

Can we just respect the fact this man is using the reegar carbine? Which was a classic in ME3 multiplayer

[@timnorth4068]

I've seen other streamers link points in longer videos to go to certain sections. That may be useful for bridging the gap between those with shorter and longer attention spans. Personally I like getting all the details, especially because the augments (and fusion mods) you put on weapons and armor can really change things. Or it may be helpful to write out some of the details in the description. Have you considered shield cost lance in place of shockwave? I've been loving that combo, and seems like it can get a lot of combo detonations.

[@solomon5279]

I feel like you should really start preparing your builds at higher levels just like when I looked at your biotic tree you should have way more in the biotic tree than what you have like if you watch other builds he will have 300 points I saw that you only have like a hundred twenty

[@trulykustom]

I'm running a soldier build gonna check out multiplayer this weekend see what it's like

[@michaely.4071]

Love your build. I prefer the lifting option for annihilation. It's a great way to be able to basically ignore weaker enemies in the front lines. Also, I find that pull/charge comes in handy to get into a cluster of enemies with a biotic detonation. Partner that with the ability to pull an outlying enemy or two into your circle of death, and you've got a winner. That being said, I do focus more on shotguns and SMGs to deal my large amounts of damage. Does anyone else love the Equalizer SMG?

[@VioletGiraffe]

Thanks, very interesting, re-speccing right now! What difficulty are you playing on?

[@Ramschat]

Normal, I believe

[@michaelmcclelland9876]

Good vid. THANK YOU for showing all the power/passive upgrade choices along with profiles. I had an idea for this build myself and wanted to see how effective it was. Apparently quite!

[@pookibear7]

Great vid JV! It didn't seem long but I can deal with a long video if it provides good and useful information and this one does. Look for forward to your Infiltrator build guide.

[@RubinKlein25]

Tactical Cloak, Nova (prime) and Charge are also a lot of fun on a melee focused Vanguard build. Shield Oscillator on Dhan Shotgun and chest, unlimited shields and very high dmg

[@jankodes197]

IMHO the active barrier skill (+10% barrier on biotic kill) is almost useless - you can craft armor piece with mod (shield oscillator) that gives you +25% on any kill, so you can take the safety net instead.

[@micheldevost3304]

MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA Over Power Armor combos or the O.P.A build

[@justinrolley1490]

my vanguard build is charger overload and tactical cloak as a "oh shit button"

[@adrianjacobs5444]

dose the Andromeda armour give better biotic bonuses that N7 armour?

[@Knjo0101]

If you use Cora and vetra once they unlock their respective cryo and disruptor ammo for their weapons it makes them highly valuable in my estimation. Especially cryo ammo it works well even on insanity. Only down side is that seems she uses a shotgun and she can not change weapons it requires some degree of risk to constantly be priming enemies for cryo combos. It works really well with this style in my estimation

[@nickrffpatellis852]

Wait. What. Barier is a passive Holy shit I ddint know that

[@JoviaI1]

I wish nova was a detonator but I have a feeling that it would be insanely OP if it was

[@jeova0sanctus0unus]

it would be with anihilation. Just imagine that. walk into a group of enemies, Nova. ALL of them explode.

[@theprideling]

Hey, awesome build! But wait... Hold the Line? Biotic Wind? GDI BIOWARE :,D

[@WolfMoon173]

Trying to build an Annihilation Sentinel build for my Ryder. Very Similiar to the Asari Valkyrie cause I loved that build.

[@WolfMoon173]

True, I dont know I just like the concept of Annihilation, its more jus a flavour thing. Like I base my heroes on one ability and build from there.

[@jamesmundell4445]

You should try combo lance (at the cost of shields) and annihilation (shield restoration). I think you'll see why it's considered about the most OP combo right now.

[@FatalFist]

James Mundell Lance is good but it's also precision intensive. Shockwave is the lazy go to since you just stare in a general direction and shit might detonate. The game can be wonky too at times which can throw off Lance

[@erronblack2914]

Blizaga101 asari Valkyrie is poor mans Fury

[@WolfMoon173]

Hah, and I loved every second of it :D

[@vallour2382]

will this build work for insanity difficulty?

[@Notrog21]

I feel like if you have a single biotic primer taking anything else other than Adept seems sub par.

[@TheMustangGT02]

Did this build start out as a scrapper or leader?

[@keithyify]

Great vid m8 thank you

[@awkward.6889]

*Insert elcor vanguard joke* Also, that armor makes Ryder look like an octopus

[@hootie005]

Elcor vanguard 4 da win

[@eugenesoggaming7125]

Hi can make more build?i really enjoy all your video:)

[@michaelcollier3792]

Seriously, if you aren't melee oriented then you shouldn't use the vanguard profile. Pretty much everything but engineer is better. I found shockwave to be pretty meh, same for every other biotic ability for the third slot. Biotic combos really aren't very useful. At least on insanity, and with a good melee build there's really no reason not to be on insanity. So, I went with Turbocharge instead for when I want to just go apeshit with my plasma seeking pirahna for a while and just waste everything. Also, the tech passive Team Support 4 for shield restoration is huge for a vanguard. But that needs to be unlocked, so might as well put points into Flamethrower, Cryo beam, energy drain, or even incinerate as your third ability. Also, Hyperguardian armor with +shield fusion and full damage resistance augments. Godly.

[@RoyMBar]

Think you could put together an Engineer guide for us all? I'm running straight Tech tree with Overload, Assault Turret, Invasion, Team Support, Offensive Tech and Auxiliary Systems. Just curious how you would run it and which branches you would take. Thanks JV2017!

[@AirshipFury]

What difficulty are you playing on? I tried something similar on Insanity, but I end up getting ripped to shreds when I charge into high-density clumps and "boss" mobs that have 1-shot mechanics (I remember charging into a 1-shot mechanic on the big boss kett on Eos when I decided to leroy the encounter)...so I ended up re-speccing and playing a more defensive sentinel/infiltrator PC to better manage situations. The build looks really interesting though.

[@RoadRunner217]

+JV2017gameplay What do you think of Lance instead of Shockwave? Been having fun with almost the same build as this, only difference is that I use the spam-lances, paired with the anni-field and all the biotic passives draining and restoring shields, I'm blasting and detonating everything left and right and never run out of shields, even on insanity and when under crossfire! :o

[@loki76]

Try out the singularity and energy drain and incinerate build. What you do is spec both incinerate and energy drain to both be primer and detonators. This way you can do everything. You get all combos like biotic combo when detonating singularity, tech combo when detonating energy drain which really kills shields and lastly fire combo by detonating incinerate. Since use of singularity it is also crowd control. The biggest crazy part about this build is that you can get 2 biotic combos in a row by tossing singularity and then detonate it with energy drain and the singularity still stays up so you can get another biotic combo with incinerate. Then to really get icing on the cake make singularity at rank 6 and exploding one for additional damage and force. Using auxillery in tech tree you can get 50% power recharge when using a tech power every 15 seconds so your powers can recharge faster. Then install the fusion mod with 50% power recharge, make sure to get the cryopod perk that reduces fusion mod negatives. and go with a profile of any choice of sentinel explorer etc. You can deal with any defense like armor and shields and do all the combo detonations. Try and spec it so singularity has pretty fast recharge. Would be cool if you make a video about it.

[@sindahir3]

you will have Problems against bigger spread out Groups with many snipers and with the constructor Worms. you had around half shields in this Group already. im going to mix build sniper. one sniper with life ammo and one sniper with seeking Plasma for Close quarter explosions.

[@efxnews4776]

Honestly, i prefer Nova instead of Shockwave, your enemies just fly over all directions with this build, also, i usually take radius instead of damage, and just for fun, i use the biotic implant as melee weapon, because is pretty awesome do charge, nova, then just punch them to hell

[@thomasneal9291]

decent enough build, but poor shotgun choice. piranha plus seeking plasma mod for medium range, dahn or hesh for short range. no shot modifiers on either dahn or hesh. dahn is the better choice against shielded enemies, hesh against armor. don't use seeking plasma modifiers for point blank shots though. they tend to oddly miss about 30% of the time. or, swap hesh for piranha and use the now functional beam modifier for medium range AND short range. no need to swap shotguns... ever.

[@null_moniker]

You should make a video for early-game (low point investment) survivable builds for difficulties higher than Normal. I always play Vanguard and planned a build similar to this but I'm having to hold off on it because I simply don't have the points to make it viable on Hard yet. I tried an Adept style build with Singularity, Pull and Lance to get me through, but the inability of Biotics to deal with shields (until heavily upgraded) means I"m probably going to have to respec to mostly Tech skills (Overload, Energy Drain, Incinerate possibly) until I've got the points for my Vanguard build. Super disappointing to me, as I've never had to rely on Tech abilities to get through a ME game in the past despite playing on the highest difficulty.

[@Valiant_Requiem]

Play through the game on normal for your first run and then do insanity on new game +.

[@null_moniker]

Yeah I'm never going to have time for that. I get to play 4-8 hours a week. I think the build is going to be viable at roughly 60 skill points, I just need to figure out a build to survive until then. Doesn't help I'm on console. Always played ME on the PC in the past, but went with Xbox so I could join friends for multiplayer. Then they didn't join me in multiplayer.

[@Ishmael11]

Wait wait hold up stop everything! What......armor.....is.......that?

[@hootie005]

+1

[@AbsolutelyMenti]

Upgraded Heleus Icon/Defender armor

[@Youtubeguy7777]

Collector Drone +2

[@ikaemos]

Heleus Defender chest (includes arms and legs) and helmet. You should be able to research/develop it (Heleus Cluster tech) on the Tempest since the start of the game. However, it only gains the neck-loop and a few chest details at rank V and above. Sooo, yours might not look quite like in the video if you aren't lvl40 yet.

[@Ishmael11]

Oh. I just found it at the bottom of the heleus tech branch. Thanks guys

[@anbublackops1000]

my vanguard uses N7 armor

[@ush4441]

Singularity + Nova + Charge Fusion Mod of Adrenaline Bring 2 Weapons : N7 Piranha + Asari Sword Vanguard Profile = Unlimited Shield + Unlimited Recharge Speed

[@Ebola419]

Your armor and weapon are holding this build back. The loss of about 6 augment slots gimps your armor and your none crafted weapons lack augments that could be boosting biotic damage/CD

[@viytalic9049]

FWhere would you say the first 100 points should go? I get charge, anihalation for your first 50 or so but where woould you put the rest next, ive gone with barrier and shotguns.

[@stevewildeagle965]

explorer all the way for me

[@avmang2222]

Shotguns with the seeking plasma upgrade. Who says you can't snipe with shotguns? Playing the Vanguard at the moment, and it is a very fun way to play I say.

[@queensgambit8496]

Just get Hyperguardian Armor+health+ shields+melee and put power recharge augs in every slot, best armor set in the game for a multi skill build.

[@eduviera4985]

i use some thing like this bu I switched shockwave with lance that uses up shields. So since charge restored shields and anahilation sucks up shields as well. you basically have eternal life

[@Mnistanik]

Full meele build ^^

[@mikeyd2888]

I prefer lance over shockwave because you can spec for no cooldown, but pretty much any charge shield recharge build is OP

[@BrozanJal]

My only comment on the format is that i don't seethe needto go thorugh the skill elvolution picks in great detail otherwise awesome!

[@idrisali3947]

This was my build in me3 when I modded it (ability wise)

[@Glenndroid.]

Why shockwave instead of lance? Since you recharge so much shield, lance is a must have and gives you more damage

[@rasravensclow]

is the power dmg not ment for the combat tree skills where as biotic dmg is ment for biotic if i am not mistaken that is the case?

[@icex51]

please tell me what armor that is I have not seen anything like that myself

[@blahsum7226]

Game is good but not how good I thought it was going to be if I wanted to play a game like this I'd play skyrim

[@bentrieschmann]

combat tools also upgrades melee damage, if you skip the combat power options. Personally, I found that having the reach on shockwave is required (especially multiplayer) and I found Singularity works for me better than Annihilation, give superior crowd control (since you can't tell you teammates when to use their abilities). But, I generally play an actual Vanguard, so melee is my thing along with shotguns.

[@bentrieschmann]

Also, what armor is that?

[@DavidJohnson-mo7fq]

Better, more aggro build: Actives: replace Shockwave with pull, focus recharge rate. For charge focus respawn time and go bastion. Annihilation build is good, though that recharge penalty is harsh. I generally skip it for overload specced as a primer. Passives: His recharge barrier on biotic kill is redundant. Charge with Bastion is a 100 percent shield increase. Just minimize your recharge times and never run out of shield. Weapons Carry a tempest and Asari sword, nothing else. Forget the shotgun, you can output more damage close up, sword gives you invincibility frames. When you get a weapon weight decrease consider a Carnifex for armored opponents.

[@Darkinu2]

Do you still remember the Mod set-up you had for this build so we know what to invest in?

[@NinjaFlipsTV]

"Generally chose damage"....chooses defense, with no primers

[@Koshea69]

Have you done any testing with charge rank 4? To me I see turning charge into a radius attack gives it the ability to benefit from Adept Profile's Biotic Area Damage so by profile rank 4 it equals and will eventually exceed the other evolution, just curious if you have tried or seen anything anywhere that clarifies this.

[@Koshea69]

I started from the idea of wanting to play an adept but thinking charge was cool for an adept to play around with. So went with charge, nova (armor killer), and pull(shield killer) and have had some good success with it but this looks like fun and might switch it up and try with the annihilation field as a primer and all around debuffer and been looking for something that activates quicker than nova so might try shockwave. Nova is so darn good at tearing down armor though! My Adept is the in your face type for sure. I'm definitely taking the full shields when low life barrier ability for insanity but everything else looks great! I agree with more shields is much better than shield restore speed when you have so many other ways to restore shields automatically based on a percentage of total shields (Charge, annihilation field, etc.) I do love the N7 Armor and never thought about putting the heat seaking plasma in the Dhan, that's an awesome idea!

[@AxeGaijin]

The combat is definitely one of the highlights of this game and there are a lot of awesome viable set-ups to create a fun combat experience. Just finished the main quest in the game at level 52 with a vanguard focussed character like this; -Charge -Overload -Shockwave -Katana Shotgun -Valkyrie Assault Rifle -Remnant Gauntlet -Pathfinder Helmet -Pathfinder Chest -Hyperguardian Arms -N7 Legs Lots of prime & Detonation potential :)

[@karlosgarcia7532]

Hey man thanks for the vid. This is unrelated to builds but I just had a random thought after watching your biggest issues vid. One complaint from the community has been the inability to issue specific commands to squadmates ala the original trilogy. Bioware's explanation for cutting this out was because they didn't want gamers pausing the gameplay constantly to issue these specific commands. But I don't find issuing the general "attack that" or "defend here" commands super interesting or useful. What if instead of using the d pad to issue these general commands, you could use it to issue specific power use commands on the fly? You could use the down direction to swap between squadmates. There could be a highlight of some sort on your HUD indicating which mate you're commanding. Then you could use the other directions to tell your mate to use overload or whatever on whatever enemy you're facing. This way, we could combo with our mates (which would add more depth to the gameplay) without having to pause the game at all. The up, left, and right directions would be hot keyed to a particular ability. Thoughts?

[@okazakifragment4936]

I use a similar build but with several differences to make it work in insanity difficulty. I use sentinel profile, lifting into air variant for annihilation, and overload as a detonator instead of shockwave. From the tech talents there is a passive that jumpstarts your shield regen immediately after u use a tech ability so overload works great with that. And because of the lift in air you get from annihilation, u get enough time to charge up your overload for extra dmg and aoe. You can also use it first and then detonate with charge to get a tech combo which is better against shields. For armor i use N7 with a mod that increases your max shields by 50% while decreasing your max health by 50%. For melee i use asari sword cause it gives u a blink that makes u untargetable in the duration of the animation. As for augments, there is one that everytime you empty a clip you recharge your shields. This works great with the Dhan shotgun because it has a very small clip size. As a secondary profile i use soldier with turbocharge (for burst), incinerate (for dmging armor, can also use to detonate fire combos with incendiary ammo) and cloak. I only ever use this one for boss fights such as remnant architects where u cant really do much with charge and annihilation.

[@mellon3891]

charge, Nova, singularity. black widow, vintage heat sink, combat points to increase clip size (all of them.) 3 shots till overheat. Remnant scattergun, shield oscillator, mods to shrink clip size. shotgun that regens 25% shield every shot. pump everything into recharge speed. can't lose

[@-exxtra-]

I use Charge , Nova and Grenades. What do you think about this combo? I charge in and then nova. If its still alive , drop a grenade , and dash out. I use N7 Valkyrie as main weapon for my mid range to up-close combat play style.

[@beardeddevil6269]

couple of other ways to go with this build 1. use nova instead of shockwave cause nova hits in every direction 2. the n7 armor is better cause it's affects are all about biotic 3. vanguard profile is better if you go heavy melee like I do 4. have a separate profile for hacking and certain enemies were charging around is just a bad idea

[@josh032687]

Shockwave? I am curious why you didn't run a shield powered lance for a detonator? Me personally I prefer detonating enemies in rapid succession to restore shields. Also I run the Asari sword to further dodge and kill enemies when in tough situations.

[@devinvia9655]

Charge, Nova, annihlation, and one shotgun, that's all you need. It kills everything and just melee when you don't have abilities up, which should be rare with 100% cooldown reduction.

[@GrandChaseowns]

i hav a similar build for my vanguard but i use lance and make it use shield to fire with the free energy on kill with annilation and the shield recharge build on the scattershot i also use asari which gives a invincibility frame when u melee i gain shields from 3 sources so i never run out of shield and just go ham which is y i take range for annilation rather then reduce the penalty. will work on optimization for 2 profile build as i run a sniper and shotgun loadout but if anyone is interested pm me ill give u the full build on skills and weapons

[@HizzerPeews]

I'm currently playing with pyro engi. Flamethrower, Incinerate, and turret with the flamethrower upgrade. It provides a huge amount of dot damage, and completely obliterates armor and synthetics.

[@MystWolfwood]

what armor is that?

[@RayHorn5128088056]

Why are you not using Remnant shotgun with development augmentation to restore shields on each kill???

[@erronblack2914]

Not only that, there is no augment that does that for shotguns. Only armor.

[@JoviaI1]

Erron Black - the gun he is referring to recharges shields on every shot (about 25% shields per second) but its pretty boring to use and does fuck all for damage so unless you want to walk around spamming the shotgun all fight you might as well use something else like the Dhan or Piranha

[@RayHorn5128088056]

The gun I referred to is not a gun but a Development Augmentation that can be applied to any gun but works best when the gun don't need ammo. Just thought I'd set this straight, if possible.

[@queensgambit8496]

Generic build to be fair, and kinda boring. Try Explorer with Singularity-Incinerate-charge and become a Nuclear Reactor on meltdown.

[@idrisali3947]

Erron Black sweeper shotgun with plasma and shield conduits, 25% shields per shot

[@tyroneb97]

Great build video! Please do more. 20-25min is just fine for build videos. Enough time to explain the options then showcase the action.

[@MakoRuu]

I find that Hyperguardian works better for Vanguard than Heleus Defender.

[@S4R1N]

He's playing on normal I think, so DPS is more important than tank.

[@jordanwilliams8994]

Something I'm still unsure of, can you assign specific profiles to specific favorites load outs, or do you pick one for your character that is maintained across all favorites?