Infiltrator Guide

Infiltrator is the most rogue-like class of Mass Effect, and combines the versatility of tech skills with the freedom of attacking at long range from sniper rifles. Tech skills will provide greater flexibility in party makeup as electronics and decryption can be PC skills, eliminating the need for a party member to fill those roles. Sniper rifles provide opportunities to eliminate groups of targets at extreme range presenting very little risk to the rest of the party. The primary weakness of the infiltrator is close quarters combat, lacking both the assault rifle and the shotgun talents, choose party members accordingly.

Class abilities
Pistols: Pistols can be useful in close quarters and their higher rate of fire, when compared to a sniper rifle, makes them better suited against quickly moving enemies at mid to short range. Pistols can also be used to augment a sniper rifle with mods that provide debuffs such as Radioactive Rounds, Chemical/Polonium Rounds, Incendiary/Inferno Rounds, or Cryo/Snowblind Rounds. Must be taken to 5 to unlock Sniper Rifles, additional points will add damage and accuracy but they will be largely wasted on increasing the effectiveness of pistols in situations that would be better suited to the sniper rifle.

Sniper Rifles: Sniper rifles overheat very quickly, thus maximizing damage and accuracy is important to help insure that no shot is wasted. Increasing accuracy also increases the effective range of rifles by allowing accurate shots to be taken at greater distances, effectively boosting defense. The Master Assassination ability adds a powerful single shot bonus, quickly dispatching nearly anything. Sniper Rifles should be taken to 12 or not used at all.

Tactical Armor: Damage mitigation skill, additional points reduce damage taken which increases the chances of surviving the short bursts outside of cover that sniping will require. Tactical Armor should be taken to at least 7, for Medium Armor, consider adding an additional point, 8 total, to add Advanced Shield Boost.

Fitness: A survival skill, additional points reduce the need for rapidly reacting to damage with first aid and increases the amount of time that can be spent outside of cover by increasing total health. Sniper rifles, however, require very little time to deal their damage and favor short bursts of exposure. Consider skipping Fitness unless the sniper rifle is not your primary weapon or you are having trouble surviving situations that force you out of cover for long periods. A minimal investment of 4 points will unlock Immunity which can be situationally useful, especially with the bonus from Commando.

Electronics: A very multifaceted skill, Overload at master level enables the electronics skill on hard objects, which increases opportunities for experience gain. Overload can also be used to rapidly remove enemy shields, something a sniper rifle does rather poorly. Each additional point increases the capacity of shields, increasing resistance to return sniper or small arms fire. Should be taken to at least 9 for Master Overload, additional points will increase shields which will multiply the power of higher levels of Shield Boost.

Damping: Serves three purposes, the ability provides defense and counter measures for offensive and defensive teach and biotic abilities, stuns for a short period, and deals damage. Each point also increases the effectiveness of Sabotage and Overload by increasing their area of effect. While not a vital skill it can make certain encounters with biotic or tech heavy foes much easier. Damping should be taken to 6 or 12 for Advanced or Master Damping to help deal with biotic or tech heavy enemies.

Decryption: At master level the decryption skill is enabled on hard objects, which increases opportunities for experience gain. Sabotage is a powerful counter-offensive skill that simultaneously deals damage while removing the enemies ability to return fire, leaving them open for sniper attacks. Should be taken to at least 9 for Master Sabotage, additional points will increase the damage dealt by all tech mines which is useful, because the tech mines will see frequent use, but not vital due to the sniper rifle's superior ability to deal direct damage.

First Aid: A unique skill in that it is the only skill that is additive across the entire party, instead of just using the highest party member's skill. Due to this each NPC party member can max First Aid and PC points in it are only necessary if two party members with 12 points in first aid does not provide enough healing, which is highly unlikely. Skip this talent entirely.

Infiltrator: Provides flat buffs to every useful skill available to an infiltrator, should be maxed out at 6 points after unlocking all of the master level offensive abilities that are desired.

Commando: Provides additional damage bonuses to weapons, very useful if the sniper rifle is the primary mode of attack. Increases the effectiveness of Marksman and Assassination and reduces recharge time on Immunity making Immunity a more attractive talent investment. Commando should be taken from 7 to 12, mutually exclusive with Operative, pick when the sniper rifle is favored over tech.

Operative: Reduces the recharge time on all tech abilities, very useful if tech abilities are the primary mode of attack or if the use of tech abilities several times per firefight is desired. Also adds a very strong buff for Overload and Sabotage increasing damage and area of effect. Operative should be taken from 7 to 12, mutually exclusive with Commando, pick when tech is favored over sniper rifles

Charm: Opens conversational options that are likely to increase Paragon points. Earning Paragon points automatically places up to 3 points into this skill and becoming a Spectre also adds a point, multiple play throughs will add additional points eventually maxing the skill out without any talent points invested after the third play through. Paragon points primarily add bonuses to health and healing which will go largely unused by an Infiltrator.

Intimidate: Opens conversational options that are likely to increase Renegade points. Earning Renegade points automatically places up to 3 points into this skill and becoming a Spectre also adds a point, multiple play throughs will add additional points eventually maxing the skill out without any talent points invested after the third play through. Renegade points primarily add bonuses to damage and damage dealing abilities which will prove very useful to an infiltrator.

Spectre Training: The jack-of-all trades talent line which adds regeneration, health, damage, accuracy, 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. Should be maxed out at 12 but initially only taken to 4 for Unity and finished later after other damage buffs have been taken.

Build Examples
 * Sniper Rifle Heavy:
 * Pistols 5, Sniper Rifles 12, Tactical Armor 8, Fitness 4, Electronics 9, Damping 12, Decryption 9, First Aid 0, Infiltrator/Commando 12, Intimidate 12 (0 real points), Spectre Training 12
 * 9 free points at 50 and 19 free points at 60 which can max a bonus talent or augment existing talents as necessary. Consider pairing with Singularity to pull enemies out from behind cover or Warp to increase sniper rifle damage by reducing enemy damage reduction.


 * Tech Heavy:
 * Pistols 5, Sniper Rifles 12, Tactical Armor 8, Fitness 0, Electronics 12, Damping 12, Decryption 12, First Aid 0, Infiltrator/Operative 12, Intimidate or Charm 12 (0 real points), Spectre Training 12
 * 7 free points at 50 and 17 free points at 60 which can max a bonus talent or augment existing talents as necessary. Consider pairing with Hacking to reduce recharge times on teach abilities or with Medicine for an additional knockdown and damage dealing tech ability.

How to use the Infiltrator Class in combat
The Mako only gives about half of the exp using it to elimnate threats. Combine that with the understanding that there are no random encounters in the game means that the number of experience generating events (combat, conversation, lock picking) are finite within the game. This explains why attaining level 50 or 60 is an achievement.

You can hurt all enemies in the game with any weapon, be it a pistol, or the Mako's 155mm cannon. To maximize your experience, find your enemy with the Mako, then jump out and deal with them with your chosen weapon. Mass Effect is different from some games where "personal" weapons and "vehicle" weapons are ineffective against targets they are not made to deal with. At distances of 200-300m, most mobs aren't moving much anyway, so you can really drop alot of them with a sniper rifle before they come even close to your team.

This Guide recommends that you use the best sniper rifle available (the spectre sniper is good if you have the rich achievement), and any weapon upgrade with increased damage (such as the barrel upgrades), and the Photon Rounds for the ammunition. This combo maximizes the damage and bypasses those nasty shields most enemies use. If you do not mind the higher cooldown time, High Explosive Rounds are another option. Your rifle will overheat after every shot, but the insane amount of damage more than makes up for this. In addition, you will do splash damage, lowering your miss rate and making it possible to hit multiple enemies at once if they are close together.

Outdoors: Always look for a vantage point, like heights or difficult ground or the convenient hill to shoot from. If the enemy fire gets a little too thick, you can fall back behind cover then continue shooting once the enemy shooting slackens.

Corridors: usually provides plenty of cover, and some of them are long enough for use of your sniper rifle.

Rooms: Use the move order to move your team in, then call them back, and shoot the enemies that show themselves.

Remember - Patience in the face of your enemies!

Alternate Combat Guide
For the more reckless players, This editor suggests the following changes and ideas.
 * 1) Make use of upgrades to your sniper rifle which reduce cool-down time (Such as Heat sinks and Frictionless materials. The latter also has a bonus effect of increasing damage output). This will, overall, allow you to put more rounds downrange and into your target. The Sniper Rifle does an impressive amount of damage on its own (Most mooks can be one-shotted).
 * 2) Remember your pistol? Make sure not to neglect its usage in combat, especially in close-quarters where your rifle is ineffective. If you have your rifle selected, and your pistol was your previous weapon, you can tap the left bumper to quickly switch between the two. As a note, this trick works with any combination of two weapons, and is thus effective for any other class.
 * 3) Your big problem will be enemies with a lot of shields when you have no cover. Your tech attacks prove useful here. This editor suggests the following order of usage:
 * 4) Damping. this will disable your opponent's Tech and Biotics, disallowing the use of any counters. This goes double when facing down Assari Commandos and Krogan Battlemasters.
 * 5) Sabotage. This will disable your target's weapon systems, allowing you to fire without being taken out in the process.
 * 6) Overload. Anything against their shields is a good thing, and clears the path for your rounds.
 * It should be noted here that your tech attacks will also damage the target's health. If you're going for the Sniper achievement, use this technique only against larger foes, such as turrets, destroyers, and colossi.
 * 1) Cyro Rounds/Snowblind Rounds are effective in decreasing enemy accuracy and getting shot less.
 * 2) Whenever possible seek out "low cover" (cover you need to crouch behind). This allows you to "pop up" at any point, take your target down and disappear before a retaliation shot can be fired to any degree of effectiveness. "High cover" (all the other reindeer) means you can be hurt by any area-effect weapon that strikes your cover. With low-cover, the shots will either strike a nice, solid piece of something else or fly right above your head.

This Guide invites edits to this "Alternative Guide" in the event that readers dislike some of the "breezier" language contained herein or they find spelling and grammar errors too startling to pass up. Fix them, it's your wiki, too. It also invites the more wiki-savvy of you to provide internal links to some of the specfic items mentioned. That Editor 13:08, 19 January 2008 (UTC)