Vanguard Guide (Mass Effect 2)

The vanguard specializes in close combat, using biotics to close in as well as disable foes and powerful shotguns and ammo powers to deal large amounts of damage, swiftly ending most encounters.

Overview
The main difference between ME1 and ME2 is that the vanguard is now more focused on close combat. Vanguards are able to use the following weapons: heavy pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, and heavy weapons. Shotguns mix well with the vanguard's signature ability Charge and are the bread & butter of close range, but submachine guns and pistols are much better at mid and long range.

While other classes tend to hide behind cover and shoot at foes from afar, a vanguard's main strategy is to charge in (preferably picking off the isolated enemies first), headshot with the strongest shotgun available and finish off with melee hits. Given charge's 6 second cooldown, this can be done rather often. In lower difficulties where enemies are largely unprotected or with the right strategy (using powers to strip the defenses of enemies first), powers like shockwave or cryo ammo can obliterate large groups of enemies with ease.

When it comes to armors and buying/researching upgrades, defensively, the Vanguard benefits the most from shield-enhancing armor parts and upgrades than from health ones, since charge's bonus to shields depends on how much shield you have. Offensively, weapon damage is far more important than power damage when it comes to armors. It is also useful to take the first 3 biotic damage upgrades early to unlock the duration and cooldown upgrades for biotics, as they benefit charge.

Incendiary Ammo
Adds extra damage over time, stops enemies from regenerating, works wonders against armor and causes unprotected organic enemies to instantly panic for a couple of seconds. Vanguards like extra damage, vanguards also like panicking enemies; Incendiary ammo is a solid power choice when dealing with armored and/or organic enemies. Incendiary ammo remains useful on hardcore and insane, since armor is the most common protection found. Out of the two evolutions, Inferno ammo deals 60.00% of weapon damage over 3.00 seconds, while Squad Incendiary Ammo adds 40.00% of weapon damage over 3.00 seconds to your whole team. Remember that ammo powers do not stack (they override each other).

Cryo Ammo
Cryo ammo freezes targets after a few seconds of hitting them, keeping them immobile, harmless, and more vulnerable to damage, freezing also insta-kills husks. Cryo ammo seems to have a 100% chance of freezing when using the Carnifex Hand Cannon or the non-automatic shotguns as long as the hit damages the foe's health. A very solid power on veteran or lower difficulties. Cryo ammo looses a large part of it's edge on hardcore and insane difficulties since all foes come with protection (armor/shield/barrier), it's still useful though and it remains a good 1 point investment when dealing with synthetic enemies (since they don't burn well) and husks.

Out of the two power evolutions, Improved Cryo Ammo lasts 2 seconds longer and it alegedly freezes more frequently (unnoticeable if one uses the hand cannon or a shotgun since those freeze all the time anyways), the squad version offers unparalelled crowd control, even on higher difficulty settings as long as you focus on stripping down defenses.

Charge
This is the vanguard-exclusive ability, it moves you through cover across the battlefield into the targeted enemy's face, sending it flying if it had no special defenses or knocking it back for a couple seconds if it haves them (even krogans and geth primes are knocked back by this). This combines well with the shotgun: not only does it let you hit with all the pellets, you get a 2x bonus to damage for being at point blank, extremely deadly with the heavy hitters such as the M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun or the M-22 Eviscerator Shotgun, with the heavy charge and/or quick reflexes, it is even possible to land headshots with them. Charge gives a 4-second bonus to your shields as well as recharging them (the recharge doesn't go away when the 4 seconds pass), increasing the vanguard's survivability and making charge a viable tactical option even when wounded and shield-less; it is also good to note that one might want to charge before retreating from large groups or bosses in order to take advantage of the shield bonus/recharge and potential slowmo. Charge can also be used defensively to protect your positions from incoming enemies, dealing damage and buying you some time, or to retreat to a safer place, by targeting an isolated enemy. Vanguards lack middle range and long range firing power, but fortunately they are among the stronguest classes when it comes to survive when everything goes wild.

While ammo powers and shotguns are what the vanguard use to dish out large amounts of damage, charge is the ability that lets it use them to the fullest while remaining alive, as such, it is a vital talent and one that is very useful to max out early.

It does have a few disadvantages: the enemy must be on a 'reachable' part of the map (no charging to snipers on the catwalk, unless you can normally walk to that catwalk), the shield bonus is short-lived (only 4 seconds) meaning you may need to run for cover right after charging (and shooting). You have to know when to charge, and more importantly when no to : charge can lead to a short victory, but also to an instant death. Especially think of what you will do after charging (and after a possible kill) : will you be able to reach a safe position ? Will you flank enemies or will they flank you ? Lastly, while you do get to deal extra damage for being at point blank, enemies get to do it too, using ally abilities to disable foes and knowing when to retreat is crucial when charging at the middle of an enemy formation; the vanguard may be powerful and able to take a good deal of damage, but it's not invincible.

Charge can be evolved into an area or a heavy version. The area one gives more breathing room as long as the enemies are unprotected (if you're playing on Veteran or lower, this is likely to be the case); the heavy version offers a bigger boost to shields and a very useful but short-lived slowmo, allowing precise shotgun headshots right after charge as well as swift retreats for cover.

Shockwave
Shockwave creates a line of explosions in front of the vanguard that ignores cover and often height. The explosions deal damage and knock away unprotected enemies. As other biotic powers, it insta-kills husks if it catches them unprotected. It is an extremely powerful ability on veteran or lower difficulties where enemies are largely unprotected, wreacking havoc through the enemy formation. Unfortunately, like other area biotic powers and most crowd control, shockwave looses its usefulness on hardcore or insane where all foes bring some sort of protection. It can still be used if one takes the time to destroy such protections from several foes first, but that activity is unpractical with a class that haves no direct protection-killing powers.

Pull
Pull makes the enemy float helplessly towards the direction it was hit from, correctly arced it is easy to drag foes towards pitfalls, or at least out of cover. Floating foes receive extra damage from Warp Ammo, Warp and other biotic powers, they also fly farther when hit by a throw or charge. Pull's extremely short cooldown make it retain it's usefulness even on higher difficulty settings, use on pesky unreachable enemies or to insta-kill husks. Sadly, pull requires you to spend a total of 3 points on mastery and 3 points on shockwave to unlock.

Assault Mastery
Passive ability which increases your health, weapon damage, and decreases your power recharge time. Also provides a bonus to Paragon/Renegade scores. Definitely worthwhile to max.

Champion- Champion grants additional paragon/renegade, health, and even further reduces power recharge times. Also maximizes power duration.

Destroyer- Destroyer yields further increase to weapon and power damage.

Both are very good and go well with the vanguard's tactics.

Bonus Powers
Reave - A great skill that has good synergy with the Champion specialization. It offers the vanguard the ability to strip 2 of the 3 protections at range as well as dealing damage. The downside being that it's an active power and all active powers share the same cooldown: if you use reave, you can't charge for the next 6 seconds.

Barrier / Geth Shield Boost - Vanguards have a very aggressive fighting style and tend to stay very close to their foes. Having one of these 2 at the start of the fight adds a safety net that should last during the first two charges into the fray. The shield bonus also stacks with charge's. In addition, they also immediately recharge the user's shield when used, so they can be used to stay alive when under heavy fire (however, charge is more effective for this last task since it has a shorter cooldown).

Barrier benefits from biotic-related upgrades and abilities, while one of the specializations of geth shield boost trades shield for 10% extra weapon damage.

Warp Ammo / Armor Piercing Ammo - While incendiary ammo is great against armored foes and organics, it falls short when dealing with synthetics; an ammo power can solve this, particularly when using the destroyer specialization.

Heavy Pistols
You have two options: the M-3 Predator, and the Carnifex Hand Cannon. The M-3 predator has the more ammo of the two, but the Carnifex is arguably the better choice. Although it has low ammo capacity, the damage, range and fact that you obtain the weapon early on more than compensate. On another note, a fully upgraded M-3 Predator does well enough to be considered worth the while.

Heavy pistols can be described as a poor-man's option for mid range combat. The Carnifex can cut down infantry in 1-2 shots on normal. You have limited ammo, so make sure each shot counts. Shot placement is a must, so try and aim for the head whenever you can. You'll find very quickly that you can't rely on your heavy pistol alone, so make sure to have teammates who can cover you.

Submachine Guns
Submachine guns have a very high ammo capacity and can strip down shields and barriers swiftly, however they fall short when dealing with armored foes. the Tempest SMG is the better of the two.

Shotguns
Shotguns dominate the close range playing field, but they spread too much to be anything more than a waste of ammo at mid or long range.

There are a total of 4 shotguns on the Vanguard's arsenal, with one being DLC and another being obtainable only through advanced weapon training.

- The M-23 Katana Shotgun is the starter shotgun, it packs a good punch, it's weak against armor and it's a little short on the ammo department, at least until the shotgun ammo upgrade.

- The M-27 Scimitar Assault Shotgun is an automatic shotgun obtainable during the Dossier: The Justicar quest and it's slightly better than the katana.

- The DLC M-22 Eviscerator Shotgun is a slow-firing heavy-hitting shotgun available from the start of the game, it doesn't have the armor weakness of the first two and it's much higher damage (both over time and per shot). It combines very well with the vanguard's charge and headshot strategy. The higher damage also means that while it carries less ammo, it's much more efficient. The Eviscerator has a rather low fire rate however, so it's wise to either mix in melee hits or to seek cover as soon as the first shot is out.

- The M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun is only obtainable by selecting it as advanced weapon training on the collector ship, it is the most damaging weapon (per shot) of the game as long as all pellets hit, which fits like a glove to the vanguard's charge and headshot strategy, as only the toughest foes would be able to survive it; like the Eviscerator, the Claymore does not have the armor weakness the first two shotguns have. It's main disadvantage is that it spends a heatsink per shot, forcing you to either mix melee hits mid-recharge, or to seek cover after the charge and headshot.

While it has a low ammo capacity, the vanguard is likely to pick up ammo right after killing foes, and the Claymore's high damage make it very ammo-efficient. Combine this with the shotgun ammo upgrade and it is very unlikely to run out of ammo unless you waste it in mid-range fighting.

Advanced Weapons Training
Later in the game, you'll be faced with the option to have advanced weapons training. You will be presented with the option to obtain the M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun, assault rifle training, or sniper rifle training.

The Claymore is the quintessential vanguard shotgun: extremely deadly, able to take down all but the strongest foes when used at point blank, allowing the vanguard to put out the highest damage in the smallest amount of time before heading for cover, reload, charge, and repeat again. You may want to forego it, however, keep using the Eviscerator (which is still a very good shotgun) and take either assault or sniper rifle training to balance the vanguard's mid and long range combat capabilities. If you decide to choose Assault Rifles, you'll find it in your best interest to use the Vindicator Battle Rifle since it's better at dealing with medium-long range combat, and you have your submachine gun for close-medium range combat anyhow. In the end it is a choice between making the vanguard strategy deadlier or patching up it's biggest weakness.

ML-100 Grenade Launcher
The grenade launcher has its uses in taking out a lot of enemies really quickly. The best thing about it is you have it from the start. Good for use in the early game, but once your crowd controlling capabilities start to get better in the later game, you might find yourself wanting to change to another weapon.

ML-77 Missile Launcher
The missile launcher is essentially a dumbed down version of the grenade launcher. All you have to do is point and shoot, and the missile will blow up the nearest enemy (provided there is an enemy that is close enough). Though it may seem like a no-brainer, it comes at the cost of seemingly decreased damage and impact radius. Good for quickly taking down single targets at medium range. All in all, most useful for taking down smaller targets. Decent ammo capacity as well. Because of its ability to hit targets at long range it can be used as an alternative to a sniper rifle, though it comes at the cost of realtively low ammo. On the other hand, it can be fired very quickly, making for a 'pop-up and shoot' sniper ability. It is situationally effective in missions against gunships or other highly mobile tough enemies.

M-622 Avalanche
Takes chunks out of enemy health, although it does not do much damage compared to the other weapons. It does freeze any enemies within the vicinity of the projectile's impact however, making them vulnerable to attack. Carries a decent amount of ammo as well. Use it to increase your crowd control capabilities.

M-920 Cain
The mother of all heavy weapons, the Cain fires what appears to be a mini nuclear bomb, complete with ginormous explosion upon impact. The explosion WILL destroy anything in the blast radius (including you, and make sure to keep your squadmates out of the way too!), but it won't kill the largest enemies (i.e. Thresher Maw) instantly. Highest damage and best crowd control capability in the game. Seems like a no-brainer at first, but it has extremely limited ammo reserves (a maximum of 1-2 shots), so be sure to use said ammo very wisely. The time delay between pulling the trigger and actually firing is a problem, since it leave you exposed to enemy fire. Raising a biotic barrier in advance can help out here. If you use it for nothing else, it is very effective for certain parts of the suicide mission.

Collector Particle Beam
Found during the first mission where you fight the collectors, the Particle Beam unleashes a sustained laser which deals continuous damage at a high rate to a single target. It works well at any range (especially medium and long ranges) against shields, barriers, and armor, easily making up for what you lack in the weapons department. Not very difficult to aim at all, and very useful for taking down larger enemies quickly. One of the better heavy weapon choices for a Vanguard.

M-490 Blackstorm Projector
PRE ORDER BONUS ONLY!

If you do happen to have it, it finds its main use as a crowd control weapon, particularly against weaker unshielded enemies. Shoots out an orb like projectile that has its own gravitational pull, as it flies through the air it sucks enemies into its gravitational field. If enemies happen to reach zero health while trapped inside it, they will be sucked in. If enemies survive it, they will simply fall to the ground and get back up (although they still have taken damage). Again, it's mainly useful against large groups of smaller enemies.

M-451 Firestorm
DLC ONLY!

Obtained by playing Zaeed's loyalty missions. The firestorm is essentially a flamethrower, and fills a similar role to a shotgun, but with a much higher damage output and no need to reload. Burns through armor and health very fast, great for crowd controlling smaller enemies and even taking out larger enemies (i.e. Scions). It also blocks the regenerative abilities of krogans and vorcha. The ammo capacity is quite decent, the main drawback being its range, but this can be compensated by Charge.

Squad Members
Picking the right squad members for each mission and correctly using their abilities is a big step towards making fights easier.

Vanguards lack active powers to deal with protections, which is bad because unprotected enemies fly beautifully when you charge them. When dealing with high-tech shield-using enemies it is good to bring allies with shield-destroying abilities such as shield drain or overload; when dealing with barrier-using biotics, warp, concussive shot and reave are key; when dealing with low-tech tough armored opponents, incinerate and warp are very good to have. This is particularly important on hardcore & insane where ALL enemies bring protection.

Vanguards also lack long-range capabilities, biotic powers such as throw or pull and high damaging powers such as incinerate can be used to eliminate unprotected pesky foes on vantage un-chargeable positions, combine with protection-killing powers when playing at higher difficulty settings.

Concussive shot, neural shock and biotics such as throw, pull & reave can be used on unprotected oponents to prevent them from damaging your vanguard, and they can still be used on protected oponents to stun them for a couple of seconds. This allows the vanguard to charge larger groups of enemies and result victorious.

When all else fails, allies with sniper or assault rifles can dish out decent damage from safe distances, switching your team's weapons between rapid firing and slow but powerful guns depending on the most common protection you're dealing with is also a good idea.