Soldier Guide (Mass Effect 3)

Alliance soldiers are renowned for their impressive fire support, flexibility, and speed.

Overview
The soldier is the class for people who want to more or less ignore powers and simply play Mass Effect 3 as a shooter - the Soldier can carry the best weapons and (unless using a specific rank 6 evolution) only needs to use one power in combat - Adrenaline Rush. Other than that it's guns all the way for the Soldier - and they can carry the heaviest guns without the trouble other classes have - Combat Mastery giving an incredible amount of extra carrying capacity. Time Dilation is useful in just about all directions, and weight lets them take the best weapons in several categories whether they want to use the time dilation for headshots, for setting up flanks, or both.

Adrenaline Rush
Adrenaline rush is the Soldiers' unique power which, when activated, slows down time, increases damage dealt to enemies, and in some circumstances, reduce damage taken, or even give a small boost to shields. If you find yourself taking a beating from all the enemies, then it would be recommended to take the "Hardened" rank 4 evoulution power, and the Rank 6 "shield boost" evolution power. Otherwise the "Damage and Dilation" Rank 4 evoulution power can bump up damage further and make you highly effective against almost any opponent. As well as this it should also be noted that when you used Adrenaline Rush, any ammunition spent in the current weapons "Thermal Clip" will automatically be replenished provided the spare ammunition is available. This can potentially double your ammunition output before a reload is needed, or it can briefly turn a single shot weapon into a double-action weapon.

Concussive Shot
Concussive Shot functions as the Soldier's crowd control power. While it isn't a particularly damaging attack it can knock unprotected enemies off their feet and briefly stun smaller enemies with protection. It can also be curved around cover to flush out enemies. Concussive shot can also be used to stagger Cerberus Guardians opening them up for follow up shots while their shield is lowered although the blast will not cause the Guardian to drop their shield permanently. Concussive shot is surprisingly effective against Cerberus Phantoms allowing the player to keep them at bay by staggering them if their barriers are up or completely leveling them if their barriers are down. Concussive shot can also be used to interrupt the firing animation of Cerberus Nemesis or Rachni Ravagers temporarily preventing them from firing on the player and presenting an opportunity to get a few shots in. Concussive shot is largely ineffective against larger enemies such as Atlas Mechs, Geth Primes, Brutes and Banshees who can simply shrug off the damage it inflicts.

Concussive Shot: Amplification

Of particular interest is the rank 6 Amplification upgrade for concussive shot which endows the power with the properties of various ammo powers. While these powers do endow the concussive blast with greater effectiveness against protection types the base damage of concussive blast is so low that the power cannot rival the defense stripping prowess of tech or biotic powers such as Overload, Incinerate or Warp. However hitting an enemy with concussive blast has a 100% probability of triggering the ammo power's secondary effect making it best suited for crowd control against smaller enemies rather than direct damage.


 * Incendiary Ammo: Panics organic enemies and halts their health regeneration while doing slightly greater damage against armor and health.


 * Disruptor Ammo: Stuns synthetic and organic enemies while doing slightly greater damage against shields, barriers and health.


 * Cryo Ammo: One of the more powerful combos with concussive blast.  Cryo Ammo will freeze any unprotected enemy it hits and weaken enemy armor.


 * Armor Piercing Ammo: Will pierce through light cover or light armor such as the shields of Cerberus Guardians while doing slightly greater damage against armor and health.


 * Warp Ammo: Warp ammo does slightly greater damage against barriers, armor and health.  It also syncs incredibly well with biotic companions allowing concussive shot to detonate biotic explosions on enemies suspended by biotic powers such as singularity, pull or slam. Although the force and damage of the detonation seem less powerful than a detonation triggered by a biotic using Warp.

Cryo Ammo
Cryo ammo functions as an ammo power which aids in crowd control by freezing unprotected enemies and slowing movement speed. The downside of cryo ammo is that unlike other ammo powers it has no bonus to weapon damage. As in ME2 cryo ammo is an excellent candidate for the Squad Bonus evolution to buff your squad with cryo ammo while evolving the ammo powers which provide damage boosts against health and enemy defenses for yourself. Having your squad lay down cover fire with cryo ammo can help incapacitate large swarms of unprotected enemies making it particularly effective against husks.

Bonus Powers
Fortification and Defense Matrix can provide you with significant damage reduction and staying power in combat. While these powers will dramatically increase power cooldown times, this should not substantially hinder your combat ability, given that you only have two cooldown-based powers.

Since a soldier does not have a way to strip barriers and shields, Energy Drain can handle that niche quite nicely, and its shield restoring properties provide an alternative to the armor-type powers.

Marksman (power) provides an alternative to Adrenaline Rush, and it's rate of fire and accuracy buffs pair quite nicely with assault rifles.

Weapons and Equipment
As the Soldier is equally deadly with all weapons, choices can be made for just about any playstyle. In most cases it is best to equip at least one long-range and one-short range weapon, but if you are not bothered by long cooldowns you can equip more. A decent loadout is an assault rifle for mid-range combat, a sniper rifle for long range, and a shotgun for short range. Depending on your choice of weapons, this loadout will usually set Adrenaline Rush's cooldown between 20 and 30 seconds. For those that wish to use the power liberally this loadout may not be the most attractive, but it makes up for the increased cooldown period in versatility. Soldiers that wish to use powers more often but still wish for multiple weapons should consider substituting an SMG for the assault rifle or shotgun, depending on the SMG choice and personal preference.

Soldiers who wish to use powers frequently should also consider two gun loadouts with weapons whose strengths and weaknesses balance each other out to provide an effective response at any range. For example an accurate Assault Rifle such as the Mattock, Vindicator or N7 Valkyrie pairs very nicely with a shotgun to compensate for the assault rifle's ineffectiveness at close range (NOTE: The Stability Damper Upgrade is HIGHLY recommended for the Vindicator and Valkyrie). Likewise a suppressive Assault Rifle such as the Phaeston, Avenger or Revenant pair very nicely with a Sniper Rifle to compensate for the suppressive assault rifle's ineffectiveness at long range and their inability to drop an enemy quickly. These two weapon combinations make the soldier effective at all ranges while still providing significant boosts to power cooldowns. Depending on you choice of weapons these loadouts will usually set Adrenaline Rush's cooldown between 5 and 10 seconds.

Squad Members
All squad mates fit for soldiers, since it's a versatile class. However, a Soldier lacks any sort of crowd control (other than squad cryo ammo) and tech/biotic abilities, so grab someone like Liara to make enemies fly with her singularity power. A squad member with Overload like Garrus or EDI can also help the soldier in quickly eliminating shielded enemies. Kaidan also makes a great choice due to his abilities that do damage to all types of enemy protections.