Adept Guide

Adepts are biotic specialists. Starting out equipped with pistols and light armor, the true strength of the adept is through the upgradeable implants that give them their biotic powers. These powers can be used to lift or throw objects, shield the party and disable or destroy enemies.

Overview
The adept is the biotic-oriented class in Mass Effect. The available talents feature every biotic ability in the game, most of which focus on debuffing and controlling enemies, rather than killing them outright. Powerful biotic talents often make otherwise challenging encounters downright trivial.

The primary weakness of the Adept is extremely close- or extremely long-range combat. Their heavy dependence on shields for defense and the low damage protection offered by Light Armor makes them very vulnerable to melee damage, and the limited range of biotic abilities can expose them to sniper fire while closing range.

In combat adepts use their biotic talents to make up for the fact that adepts can only use pistols. The adepts main role in combat is to provide support to other squad members and provide crowd control.

Basic Armor
A damage mitigation talent; additional points increase Shepard’s resistance to damage. Basic Armor unlocks the Shield Boost ability, which will recharge a portion of Shepard’s shields when used, with higher ranks recharging larger percentages of shields. Adepts are limited to Light Armor, which features weak shields and low damage reduction, so the percentage gains from Basic Armor and Shield Boost are small. Five points in Basic Armor are required to unlock pistols.

Pistols
Unlocked with 5 points in Basic Armor.

The Adept’s only native weapon talent; damage scales very well with Marksman and the bonuses from Spectre Training. If Shepard will use pistols as a primary weapon, Marksman is a prudent talent investment. The true cost of maxing Pistols includes the five required points in Basic Armor for a total of seventeen points.

Throw
Pushes movable objects in the targeted area away and onto the floor. The force of the push increases with additional talent points. Heavy objects and enemies with high physical force thresholds, like krogans, will require a stronger push to be knocked down or moved. Throw has a stronger effect on already airborne objects or on objects in zero-G and can be combined with Lift or singularity to push targets further. Throw has no effect on flying enemies like drones. Unlocking advanced and master throw reduces the recharge time and accuracy cost, in addition to increasing the force of the effect. Opportunities to quickly kill any target by throwing it off of ledges, balconies, or into space will present themselves frequently and should be taken advantage of.

Lift
Unlocked with six points in Throw.

Lifts movable objects in the targeted area until the duration is over. Additional points will increase the duration of the effect, which results in affected objects being further from the surface when the duration ends. When the duration ends the targets are dropped, and they will take damage based on how far they have fallen. Unlocking Advanced and Master Lift reduces the recharge time and accuracy cost, and increases the effect radius and duration. However, with Lift Mastery from the Nemesis specialization, the radius of lift overtakes singularity to become the largest of any biotic ability at ten meters.

Warp
Deals damage over time and reduces the damage protection of all targets in its radius.; additional points will increase the duration of both effects. The damage over time is unmitigated by damage reduction and shields, but it is not particularly fast compared to direct damage from weapons or tech mines. The ability can be paired with Stasis to lock an enemy in place while the damage over time takes effect. The damage protection debuff can make enemies with high armor take significantly more damage from weapons fire. Unlocking Advanced and Master Warp increases the armor reduction, damage per second, and duration, and reduces recharge time of the ability. Warp Mastery, available to the Nemesis specialization, increases the radius and damage per second of Warp’s effect.

Singularity
Unlocked with six points in Warp.

Draws movable objects in the effect’s radius towards the targeted point. Additional points will increase the radius of the effect. In addition to suspending targets in the air, this ability tends to pull groups of enemies closer together making them more vulnerable to area of effect damage and status effects like Warp, Damping, Sabotage, and Overload. Unlocking Advanced and Master Singularity will increase the duration and radius, and reduce the recharge time of the ability. Master Singularity is the Adept’s best crowd control ability unless Master Lift and lift mastery from the Nemesis specialization is unlocked.

Barrier
Creates additional shield on top of those provided by armor. Additional points increase the amount of shields added by Barrier and extend the duration of the effect. At four points Barrier will provide more shields than the best light Human Armor making it a more attractive defensive talent than Basic Armor and Shield Boost. However, once Barrier has run out, the character is quite vulnerable. The Bastion specialization offers barrier specialization boosting the shields and duration by 25% and adding regeneration of 40 shields per second.

Stasis
Unlocked with four points in Barrier.

Places the target in stasis for the duration of the effect, unable to move, use abilities, or fire weapons, but also immune to direct damage. This is quite useful when confronted with multiple difficult enemies, as they can be dealt with in turn. While stasis is active, damage over time effects will continue to damage the target, but the target is immune to direct damage. Stasis mastery will allow the target to be damaged directly by weapons while completely incapacitated, making stasis one of the best offensive and defensive biotic ability against any single target. Without stasis mastery, the effect will tend to leave the target standing at the end of the fight, with the party waiting for the target to be damageable again.

Adept
Provides a reduction in recharge times of every biotic ability, in addition to extra protection from enemy biotics. Useful for any build regardless of the other talents taken. Combine it with other recharge reduction talents and equipment to keep biotic abilities available as often as possible.

Charm
Opens additional conversation options that are likely to increase Paragon points and reduces the cost of items purchased at vendors. When appointed as a Spectre and as Shepard gain Paragon points, charm points will automatically be granted. Paragon points offer 10% first aid recharge reduction, 10% more health, and a 5% reduction in recharge times of all abilities.

Intimidate
Opens additional conversation options that are likely to increase Renegade points and increases the buying price for items sold to vendors. When appointed as a Spectre and as Shepard gains Renegade points, intimidate points will automatically be granted. Renegade points offer 10% weapon powers recharge reduction, 1 health regeneration per second, and a 5% increase in the damage/duration of all abilities.

Spectre Training
The jack-of-all trades talent line, which adds health, damage, duration, accuracy, accuracy regeneration, and a powerful party skill. Highly useful for any play style, but each point yields very small gains relative to the specialized gains offered by other skills. Scales very well with max abilities, most notably with weapon damage. Points in Spectre Training up to the eleventh point are more effective damage boosts for weapons than the weapon talents themselves.

Assault Rifles
A very effective mid- to short-range weapon, capable of laying down fire in large bursts. It can be paired with singularity and warp to quickly dispatch large groups of enemies. Assault rifles are "cheaper" than pistols, which require points in basic armor to unlock, but good assault rifles are not available at the beginning of the game. A strong choice for a well-rounded adept character.

Shotguns
A very effective short-range weapon, capable of short bursts of very damaging fire. Shotguns can paired with stasis and warp to focus fire a single target without fear of reprisal. The short range of shotguns and the limited damage reduction of light armor will be a dangerous combination on any level. However, a defensive approach can produce high damage with minimal time outside of cover, and allows for the use of biotics while the shotgun is cooling down. Best used to complement pistols.

Sniper Rifles
Capable of firing several high damage shots that are accurate even at extreme range, sniper rifles can also be paired with stasis and warp to focus fire a single target for massive damage. While not quite as effective at exploiting the effects of lift or singularity as an assault rifle, sniper rifles can be used at much longer ranges and deliver much more damage over the short bursts between biotic recharges. Adjusting the play style to accommodate the range and burst of sniper rifles can make them as strong a choice as assault rifles.

Electronics
Increases Shepard’s shield capacity and unlocks the overload ability. Electronics overall is a minor offensive and defensive supplemental ability. Without the synergies from the other tech abilities, overload is rather weak on its own.

Decryption
This talent unlocks the sabotage ability, which deals damage in addition to overheating weapons, preventing return fire for a short period of time. Additional points will increase the damage of tech mine explosion damage, but with only one tech ability, this bonus is very weak. With all the biotic powers of an adept available, one more ability that locks down enemies is not particularly useful.

Hacking
This talent unlocks the AI hacking ability, which will temporarily turn a mechanical target against its former allies. AI hacking offers some unique strategic situations but pales in comparison to the effectiveness of the weapon abilities. Additional points will reduce the recharge time on other tech mines, which an Adept does not have, making hacking a weak talent investment.

Medicine
This talent unlocks the Neural Shock ability, which will stun any organic target and deal toxic damage. Additional talent points will reduce the recharge time on medi-gel. Neural Shock works on fewer enemies and has a shorter duration than stasis, but in exchange requires no mastery to leave targets vulnerable to damage and deal additional toxic damage. An adept's already impressive arsenal of status effects sees little benefit from the addition of another.

Damping
This ability deals damage, stuns, and removes the target’s ability to use tech or biotic powers for a short time. Additional points increase the radius of the effect, but without other tech abilities to buff are somewhat wasted. As with other tech abilities, these effects are largely superfluous after all the biotic abilities of the adept are taken into account.

Assault Rifles
A very effective mid- to short-range weapon, capable of laying down fire in large bursts. It can be paired with singularity and warp to quickly dispatch large groups of enemies. Assault rifles are "cheaper" than pistols, which require points in basic armor to unlock, but good assault rifles are not available at the beginning of the game. A strong choice for a well-rounded adept character.

Shotguns
A very effective short-range weapon, capable of short bursts of very damaging fire. Shotguns can paired with stasis]] and warp to focus fire a single target without fear of reprisal. The short range of shotguns and the limited damage reduction of light armor will be a dangerous combination on any level. However, a defensive approach can produce high damage with minimal time outside of cover, and allows for the use of biotics while the shotgun is cooling down. Best used to complement pistols.

Sniper Rifles
Capable of firing several high damage shots that are accurate even at extreme range, sniper rifles can also be paired with stasis and warp to focus fire a single target for massive damage. While not quite as effective at exploiting the effects of lift or singularity as an assault rifle, sniper rifles can be used at much longer ranges and deliver much more damage over the short bursts between biotic recharges. Adjusting the play style to accommodate the range and burst of sniper rifles can make them as strong a choice as assault rifles.

Pistols
Pistols are the only weapon system avaliable to adepts from the start. However pistols are a great weapon because, while they do have a slow rate of fire, they are quite accurate over range. Investing in the pistols talent is worth iit to unlock the marksman ability and make the pistol a good long range weapon as well. With all the biotic talents an adept has, a pistol is good as an adepts only weapon.

Combat Guide
Combat with the adept in Mass Effect is mainly about using your biotic powers to weaken enemies and for crowd control. Because the adept has the most biotic abilities of any class in Mass Effect, use them to cover your allies and throw enemies around. Use the adept's talents and abilities to bolster your allies and keep your enemy's heads down. The adept has many biotic powers so using them is the best way to use the adept in combat.

Because the adept can only use the pistol, the combat effectiveness of the adept when it comes to weapons is very low. However the pistol is a good weapon at close and mid-range, while average at long range. Investing points into the marksman ability compensates for that, but still weapons should be used as a back up to the adepts massive arsenal of talents.

Squad Members
While the Adept is a versatile class, squadmates should be selected to make up for abilities the class lacks. With no native tech abilities, the Adept should have at least one squad member who specializes in technology for access to electronics and decryption, so that every container can be opened and every terminal accessed. The squadmates that can fill this role are Kaidan, Garrus, and Tali.

While Kaidan will provide the needed tech abilities, his lack of any sort of combat talents and large overlap with the Adept's skills make him the weakest choice, unless the player plans to use his redundant biotic skills to affect larger areas at once. Garrus is a good choice with his mix of combat and tech abilities, and his Adrenaline Burst allows him to use tech talents frequently, weapon, and armor skills allowing him to perform well in combat. Tali is the only squad member with hacking, making her the tech specialist of choice for the Adept who wants to maximize their crowd control capabilites. Her downside is that she has little combat ability, making her optimal only if the other squad member is a damage dealer.

The two primary choices for combat squadmates are Ashley and Wrex. Ashley is better suited for the adept's squad, as Wrex's biotics would likely take a backseat due to the adept already having the necessary skills. Ashley is somewhat better suited to combat overall with her Assault Training and her health capacity increasing as the soldier talent increases, making her a more durable frontline fighter.

Liara's biotic abilites overlap with the Adept's, making her useful against groups too large for the Adept to be able to lock down every target, but doing little to add to the squad's versatility. Because like the adept, she can only use pistols and has most of the same biotic abilities with just one tech power, electronics.

Bastion
Shortens the recharge time of all biotic abilities and provides mastery bonuses to barrier and stasis. Barrier mastery will make barrier a very powerful defensive ability and virtually guarantees 100% uptime by extending the duration. Stasis mastery transforms stasis from a mediocre defensive ability into one of the most powerful offensive and defensive ability available against a single target. Bastion is a very attractive choice for higher difficulty levels where defense is key as both masteries provide impressive defensive bonuses.

Nemesis
Increases the duration/damage of all biotic abilities and provides mastery bonuses to lift and warp. Lift mastery will make lift the most powerful crowd control available by increasing the radius to 10 meters. Warp mastery will offset the use of lift as crowd control over singularity by increasing the radius of the effect. Nemesis is an attractive choice for crowd control and damage vs. large groups of weaker opponents, typical in lower difficulty levels. While the specialization is certainly viable in harder difficulty settings, it does not confer any defensive bonuses other than the passive duration boost to barrier.