Adept Guide (Mass Effect 2)

The Adept specializes in pure biotic abilities, primarily focusing on control but with damage to back it up. Though not the combat powerhouse that other classes can be, the Adept abilities can be devastating to unprotected enemies or those protected with barriers. To counterbalance this, shielded enemies are a major weakness.

Overview
The ME2 version of the Adept is more streamlined than the ME1 version of the adept. It still has the same crowd control ability, but that ability is now condensed into 2 powers; singularity and pull. Warp was also changed from a debuff/DOT into a straight damage ability to compliment throw and provide options for damage abilities. Shockwave works as a bit of both, doing moderate damage and knocking people off their feet for a brief period. When combined, these abilities can wade through unprotected targets with very little return fire. The adept is indeed the best at killing enemies without even firing their weapons, but you have the weapons, so why not use them? Although you won't be able to do any significant damage, it's better than nothing.

However, this control comes with a significant drawback in the form of shields (and to a lesser extent, armor). The mechanics in ME2 were changed so that an enemy with any form of protection up cannot be controlled, and biotic abilities are very bad at burning through shields. This forces you to use your teammates or your unimpressive weapon damage to start on protected enemies, only using biotics to finish them off. Since most protected enemies come with unprotected friends an adept isn't negated in these situations, just not as impressive.

There is also a small issue with long range attacks, since it is difficult to hit people with powers when you can't get your powers to home in on them. For the most part you'll be encountering enemies at mid range, but without a sniper rifle or assault rifle you'll likely be relying on your teammates for extreme range kills since you have no easy way to close the distance.

Crowd Control - Singularity and Pull
Singularity and Pull are both very similar talents, they lift enemies into the air and hold them to allow for damage combos or easier shots at them. The differences lie in their area of effect, duration, and recharge time. Singularity is the best area of effect and can be placed like a mine to capture multiple charging enemies, but does not hold enemies as long and has a longer recharge time. Pull is a single enemy (or a small area if you choose at max level), but holds them longer and recharges in 3 seconds instead of 4.5. Since the power cooldown is shared between all abilities, only choosing 1 of these powers is recommended. In most cases enemies tend to die quickly when held by either of these powers, so Singularity is probably the better choice for most play styles and a wide area of effect is preferred for either max rank talents.

It is worth noting that husks are insta-killed when lifted, so singularity and pull can trivialize the two main story missions with lots of husks. Singularity especially can be planted just in front of you, and kill several husks as they run towards you while you concentrate on non-husk enemies.

Damage - Warp and Throw
Warp and Throw are the damage abilities available for the Adept, and at least one of them should be taken. Warp is a more traditional direct damage bolt similar in feel to incinerate and concussive shot. It does decent damage to most enemies, reduced damage vs. shields, and really shines when used against barriers or in combination with singularity or pull. When it touches a barrier or any enemy affected by singularity or pull it detonates in a secondary explosion with a wide area of effect. Using a wide singularity/pull followed by a warp to one of the lifted enemies can clear a pack of unprotected enemies very quickly. Warp is also effective against armor, which is important since most other biotic abilities are not. It isn't as good at burning through it as fire based abilities, but it will get through it fast enough in most cases.

Throw is more of a physics based attack, and depends a lot on the environment. It also shines when combined with singularity or pull, but is not as effective against armor or heavier enemies (unless they're floating). It also requires a bit more finesse for max damage, because the throw direction is dependent on the bolt arc as it hits the enemy. With practice you can throw enemies off cliffs or towards the roof with a properly directed throw, but inexperienced players might have trouble maximizing throw damage. Throw also has half the recharge time of warp, so it can be used much more often.

It isn't completely clear which damage talent is the "best" one. Warp does a lot more damage, and the combination with singularity and pull can do a lot of damage to groups. However, it has twice the cooldown of throw, which means you can Throw two enemies or Warp one. In situations with a cliff or environmental kill option (i.e. the final mission) throw can be much more devastating than Warp, but it tends to suffer in general use due to the low impact damage. It's a good idea to map at least one of these, so you can dish them out quickly without having to pause the game.

Shockwave
It is hard to classify shockwave into damage or control, since it works as a bit of both. It sends out a series of explosions in a straight line in the direction you're facing that knocks people around and does damage. These explosions can climb cliffs and hit people behind cover, but the direction they're thrown by the explosion is hard to control and you're much more likely to throw someone behind cover than you are to throw them out into the open. Enemies lying down behind cover are hard to hit, but they aren't going to be shooting back for a few seconds and this can give you a window to switch positions and flank them. The strength of the explosions is a bit more than half a throw of the same rank, but the number of explosions means that you can often catch multiple enemies, even if they are hiding behind different pieces of cover at different distances.

Shockwave is thus more of a utility talent than a damage or control talent, but can be devastating in the right situation. It is also worth noting that you have to put points into both singularity and pull to get to shockwave, making it cost 3 extra points if you were only planning on using singularity.

Biotic Mastery
While not terribly useful at low levels, the top tier of this power is a significant bonus for the end game. 20% faster recharge time combined with the cooldown reduction research removes some of the disadvantages of the slower abilities and can significantly improve your damage output. Nemesis specialization is recommended for most playstyles, since the duration bonus only really affects singularity and pull and both of those tend to last longer than the life of anyone hit by them.

Notable Bonus Powers
Most of the bonus powers work just fine with an Adept, but a couple are worth mentioning specifically. Also, ammo powers in general are good, because there is no conflict with any class based ammo. You can set up the ammo power on all your weapons at the start of the mission, and forget about it from then on (unless you use a mid-mission weapon stash).

Dominate
Only available after a renegade option late in the game (or on a second playthrough after a renegade game), this power has interesting synergy with warp. After rank 2, the controlled enemies get a barrier put on them, which can then be detonated with warp after the mind control wears off (or even during the mind control if desired). If unharmed the barrier absorbs most of the extra damage so it isn't often worth using on a single enemy, but in a group it can do a lot of damage and you get the attack from the mind controlled target and the distraction it provides as a bonus.

Warp Ammo
Since there is no way to get an ammo type that works on shields, this ammo is a good option. It does bonus damage to the same thing warp affects, making it easier to finish off floating enemies and take down barriers/armor. Since there isn't any way to cover your weak side with bonus talents, you can at least emphasize your strengths.

Armor Piercing Ammo
While armor isn't a huge problem for an adept, it can be annoying enough that this ammo type is useful. Compared to warp ammo, it does no bonus damage vs. barriers and lifted targets, but does 70% instead of 50% bonus damage at max rank.

Energy Drain

This power can act as an Overload, sapping shields and damaging synthetics while boosting your own shields. This power can help clear defenses so your biotic powers can start affecting targets.

Recommended Build
While several different builds are equally viable, one of the better end game builds are as follows: This build provides the best damage vs. difficult enemies with warp and good pack clearing with singularity combined with the warp explosion. Warp and singularity are your primary attacks, with shockwave and the bonus power used situationally.

To build this while leveling, start out with equal amounts of warp and singularity till they are maxed out, then work on the other three major talents in whichever order you prefer. Since you can retrain your powers in the mid game, you should consider experimenting with pull instead of singularity and throw instead of shockwave. If you don't get shockwave and pull, you can max out your other 5 powers at level 30.

Weapons and Equipment
Since you'll probably use SMGs for most combat, it is important that you get the upgrade for this as soon as possible. This means recruiting Tali as soon as she becomes available.

When you get the option to add a weapon type, Assault Rifles or sniper rifles can help fill in the long range gap.

For heavy weapons, anything that works well on shields is a good option. The collector particle beam is good at this, but the rocket launcher and grenade launcher aren't bad. The Cain is also very useful for destroying the last heavily protected boss in a mission.

Squad Members
There are two major roles you want for your team members; the ability to take down shields for you, and the ability to get kills at long range. When entering an unknown mission, you'll want at least one person who can chew through shields for you. The long range requirement isn't as strict because it doesn't crop up terribly often. Once those roles are filled, you can look at biotic abilities that compliment your own and can be stacked for additional damage.

Anti-Shield
Garrus, Miranda, and Zaeed all have powers that work against shields, overload for the first two and disruptor ammo for Zaeed. If you are unfamiliar with the mission or know that there will be a number of shielded enemies, one of these three should be in your squad at all times. Tali becomes a viable option after you complete her loyalty mission and unlock Energy Drain and can also provide further distraction from your team via Combat Drone.

Long Range
This is a bit more flexible requirement, since you won't often meet long range enemies. In fact, you could save your heavy weapon for extreme ranges and go without any long range support entirely. However, having one member with either a sniper rifle or assault rifle is probably preferred. Garrus, Legion and Thane have sniper rifles for full long ranged support, while Grunt and Zaeed have assault rifles that are probably good enough.

Complimentary Abilities
Having more than one other biotic on the team isn't recommended due to the weakness against shields, but two biotics can pull off faster float/warp or float/throw combos and do significant damage to enemies quickly. Jacob, Samara, Morinth and Jack can all pull enemies for you to warp or throw, and Samara, Morinth, Miranda and Thane can all warp or throw targets you've lifted. Additionally, Jack's shockwave can toss enemies high enough for an arced warp to hit them from the top down after they land (for bonus fun, try timing a throw to hit while an enemy is at the top of their arc from Jack's shockwave).