Mass Effect - XB360/Classes
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Mass Effect • Walkthrough • Side Missions • Classes • Characters • Equipment • Gameplay • Planet Guide • Achievements • Downloadable Content
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Skill Types
Mass Effect has six main classes spread across three skill types. Each class specializes in Combat, Tech, or Biotic. Some classes combine two of these skill types. Which class you should choose depends on the style of play you prefer.
A party is made up of Shepard and two other characters. It's important to select characters that complement Shepard's class. This also means that you can choose the class you want to play, but still have someone in the party perform needed functions from a different class--each of your six selectable party members fits the role for one of the six main classes.
- Combat allows characters to wear better armor, use more weapons and have increased health. Combat skills work well against both bosses and groups. Combat specialists do most of their fighting with guns.
- Tech lets characters work with any of the technology they encounter. In addition to hacking security systems and repairing equipment, tech is also used for healing. In combat, techs disable their enemies' equipment and heal their team. Tech skills work especially well against groups of enemies. They usually let other team members do the shooting.
- Biotic implants that allow the user to manipulate mass effect fields in surprising and unusual ways. Biotic specialists can launch enemies into the air or hold them immobile. Biotic skills are very effective against single targets, making them great for use against bosses. They can also use shields to protect themselves from taking damage.
Main Classes
Soldier
Soldiers are a pure combat class. They can use any firearm in the game, and get most of those skills early on.
If you're new to the game and wondering what class to pick, Soldier is a good choice. You'll spend much of the game in combat, so it helps to have access to heavy armor and it's fun to use the variety of weapons Soldiers get. Abilities like healing and decryption can be handled by your teammates, and if you have enough straight up firepower, you don't really need biotic powers.
Soldiers get a health and health regeneration bonus.
Starting talents:
- Pistols
- Assault Rifles
- Combat Armor
- Assault Training: lowers talent reset times
Learned talents:
- Shotguns
- Sniper rifles
- First aid: increases effectiveness of medi-gel
- Fitness: increases health and lowers damage taken
Engineer
Engineers are tech specialists. They have the ability to disrupt enemy tech and heal their party members. When it comes to firearms, they are limited to pistols.
Engineers get a tech recharge bonus and a tech protection bonus.
Starting talents
- Pistols
- Decryption: opens locks, allows you to overheat enemy weapons
- Electronics: repairs equipment, lowers enemy shields, increases your shields
- First aid: increases effectiveness of medi-gel
Learned talents
- Basic armor
- Hacking: causes a synthetic enemy to attack its allies
- Damping: disables enemy biotics
- Medicine: first aid bonus
- Neural Shock: stuns enemies and does damage over time
Adept
Adepts focus on biotic powers. Adepts can only get training in Pistols, which they unlock in their armor tree.
Adepts are extremely deadly to a small amount of people, but long recharge time on biotic powers can be an issue in larger groups. If you are an adept, be judicious with your powers and use them on the powerful people in a group, letting your NPC buddies take care of the riffraff.
Your main biotics as an Adept will be Throw and Lift. Throw can be used as an AOE attack if your enemies are close together. This doesn't happen as much as you'd like, so sometimes its best to retreat behind doorways or other natural choke points to force your opponents together for the push. Lift is extremely useful for taking out the most powerful enemy in an encounter. After a couple levels of Lift, that enemy will be immobilized in the air for about 7 seconds, which in combat game time, is usually plenty to either shoot them in the air, or take care of the other enemies around you. Increasing your Lift skill simply increases its duration, so you don't bother putting too many points into Lift early on.
Adepts get a biotic recharge bonus and a biotic protection bonus.
Starting talents:
- Basic armor
- Throw: pushes objects or enemies away from the character
- Barrier: Increases your shields' effectiveness
- Warp: damages an enemy's armor and does damage over time
Learned talents:
- Pistols
- Lift: raises an enemy in the air, holding them immobile and doing damage when they fall
- Singularity: Lifts a group of enemies in to the air
- Stasis: freezes one enemy
Infiltrator
Infiltrators combine combat and tech. They gain the ability to use sniper rifles, so often act as a long range attacker.
Infiltrators get bonuses that reduce weapon overheating and increase tech mine damage.
Starting talents:
- Pistols
- Tactical armor
- Electronics: repairs equipment, lowers enemy shields, increases your shields
- Decryption: opens locks, allows you to overheat enemy weapons
Learned talents:
- Sniper rifles
- Fitness: increases health and lowers damage taken
- Damping: disables enemy biotics
- First aid: increases effectiveness of medi-gel
Vanguard
Vanguards combine biotic and combat skills. They lack access to long range weapon skills, so they do most of their fighting up close with pistols and shotguns.
If you're new to the game and wondering what class to pick, Vanguards are another good choice (along with Soldiers). Although they don't get assault rifles or sniper rifles, they do eventually get shotguns and medium armor. They also give you a chance to use biotic powers.
Vanguards get a biotic protection bonus and extra damage with pistols and shotguns.
Staring talents:
- Pistols: By spending points in the pistol talent, you'll gain the marksmanship ability.
- Assault Training: lowers talent reset times
- Throw: pushes objects or enemies away from the character
- Warp: damages an enemy's armor and does damage over time
Learned talents:
- Shotguns: By spending points in the shotguns talent, you'll gain the carnage ability.
- Tactical armor: By spending points in the armor talent, you'll gain the ability to wear medium armor.
- Lift: raises an enemy in the air, holding them immobile and doing damage when they fall
- Barrier: Increases your shields' effectiveness
Sentinel
Sentinels use both tech and biotic skills. The only weapon skill they get is a limited pistol skill.
Sentinels get a pistol accuracy and damage bonus, along with recharge bonuses for both tech and biotics.
Starting talents:
- Throw: pushes objects or enemies away from the character
- Barrier: Increases your shields' effectiveness
- Decryption: opens locks, allows you to overheat enemy weapons
- First aid: increases effectiveness of medi-gel
Learned talents:
- Lift: raises an enemy in the air, holding them immobile and doing damage when they fall
- Stasis: freezes one enemy
- Electronics: repairs equipment, lowers enemy shields, increases your shields
- Medicine: first aid bonus
- Neural Shock: stuns enemies and does damage over time
Specialization Classes
Once a character reaches level 20 you're able to start a sidequest on Luna to unlock a specialization class. Once completed, you can choose one of two classes based on your main class.
- Soldier - Shock Trooper or Commando
- Infiltrator - Commando or Operative
- Engineer - Operative or Medic
- Sentinel - Medic or Bastion
- Adept - Bastion or Nemesis
- Vanguard - Nemesis or Shock Trooper
Bastion
A Bastion uses biotics to immobilize enemies or for defense. They get a shield bonus and have the unique ability to attack an enemy held in stasis.
Commando
Commandos get bonuses to weapon damage.
Medic
Medics get bonuses to healing and to their neural shock attack.
Nemesis
A Nemesis uses biotics to do damage. Warp and lift both do extra damage for a Nemesis.
Operative
Operatives use tech to disrupt enemy equipment. They get bonuses to both overload and sabotage abilities.
Shock Trooper
A Shock Trooper has skills that allow him/her to absorb or deflect damage. The exact skills a Shock Trooper gets depend on the character's old class. Soldiers get a shorter cooldown for their immunity ability, while Vanguards get a shield bonus. Both get a health bonus, damage protection bonus, and a shorter cooldown time for the adrenaline burst ability.
