Engineer Guide (Mass Effect 3)

Engineers are tech specialists, the most effective class at disabling the defenses of the toughest enemies or incapacitating them to render them harmless. In combination with their weapons training, Engineers have the unique ability to spawn combat drones that can harass enemies or force them out of entrenched cover positions.

Overview
Engineers have been very well fleshed out in Mass Effect 3. While continuing to excel in the trade-mark supporting and de-buffing roles, their damage capacity and range have also been vastly expanded. The addition of Power Combos &mdash; Tech Bursts, Fire Explosions, and Cryo Explosions &mdash; for powers like Incinerate, Cryo Blast, and Overload allow for continuous crowd control and high damage output at the same time.

Their combination of powers means that they are suited to handle any foe effectively; Overload brings down barriers and shields fast, and with the Chain and Neural Shock enhancements it's very useful against unshielded enemies. Incinerate is an excellent power for destroying armour, and Sabotage turns those annoying Cerberus Turrets (and Geth) round.

But where the Engineer truly excels is that Mass Effect is a cover based shooter. With the exception of top tier enemies (Banshees, Atlas Mechs, and Geth Primes), and occasional second tier enemies like Brutes cover is critically important for the enemies. And you can drop both your Combat Drone and Sentry Turret behind enemy cover to force the enemy into the open and make them easy targets for your guns, and this while convincing the enemy to attack things that can be replaced in seconds rather than you or your squadmates.

Incinerate
This power is one of the most useful in the Engineer's arsenal, capable of eliminating an enemy's regeneration due to its damage over time while also making them "panic", delivering a high damage output, damaging armor effectively, and arcing over cover. When combined with Cryo Blast, with or without Incinerate's rank 6 "Freeze Combo" evolution, the Engineer can destroy armored enemies. Incinerate is usually evolved towards single target damage increase rather than radius increase since most enemies with armor are usually big and/or spawn less frequently. Though the chance to panic multiple unarmored targets isn't bad, Overload is arguably more effective because of its low recharge time, large chain radius, and ability to stop both organic and synthetic enemies.

Incinerate can cause a powerful Fire Explosion if an appropriate detonating power kills an ignited enemy. It can also serve as a detonator for Tech Bursts and Cryo Explosions.

Overload
Overload is the Engineer's counter to targets with shields or barriers, and can also be used to stun enemies if the rank 5 "Neural Shock" evolution is chosen. Unlike Incinerate and Cryo Blast, Overload does not use a projectile; the power strikes its target immediately but is unable to arc around cover. Overload can prove an effective weapon even against unshielded enemies, as it has a relatively short cooldown, hits numerous foes with the rank 4 and 6 "Chain Overload" evolutions, and does reasonable damage (though it is halved against health). The rank 5 "Neural Shock" makes Overload one of the best crowd control powers available.

Overload can cause or detonate power combos. Tech Bursts started by Overload are much easier to create than Fire or Cryo Explosions because the enemy does not have to be killed by the detonating power.

Cryo Blast
Often considered a one-point wonder, this power is arguably one of the most underappreciated powers in Mass Effect 3. While one point was often enough in Mass Effect 2, in Mass Effect 3 Cryo Blast can be built to have one of the lowest cooldowns of the Engineer's powers. Since unarmored targets are still common late in the game, spamming Cryo Blast can be very effective. The power can snap-freeze un-shielded, unarmored targets, immobilizing them while also amplifying whatever damage they receive. Partially frozen or "chilled" targets are slowed instead of immobilized, but still receive extra damage from attacks. The ability also weakens armor to subsequent damage.

Cryo Blast can start Cryo Explosions, though the target must be killed by the detonating power.

Combat Drone
The Engineer's signature skill comes back doing what it does best even better: distraction with an added bonus of target elimination. This power spawns a mobile, significantly shielded sphere-like machine that shoots light projectiles at opponents. Its range is decent, its damage effective against most shields, but the most effective feature is how it staggers opponents it attacks. It spawns on your crosshair or behind a target enemy. Use it to stagger an opponent behind cover for a chance to shoot at the now revealed target or to draw opponents' attention to the more immediate threat behind them. If left alone, it will seek out and harass opponents. The evolution of the Combat Drone is dependent on player preference. One route is to focus on enemy group distraction by choosing durability with the rank 4 and 5 "Shield & Damage" evolutions combined with the chance to hit multiple targets using the "Chain Lightning" rank 6 evolution. Evolving it around either close range stun ("Shock" on rank 5) or long range burst damage ("Rockets" on rank 6) is also effective.

Sentry Turret
Possibly the Engineer's best friend if equipped with a sniper rifle. While the Combat Drone is primarily used as a distraction or to dislodge enemies from cover, the Sentry Turret is more oriented to defense. It is perfect for setting up at choke points or to guard your flank while you focus on other enemies, especially when your peripheral vision is limited through a sniper scope. The evolution of the Sentry Turret really depends on player preference since a Sentry Turret can hold out on its own even without a Flamethrower or Rocket Launcher, both of which are actually effective in what they do. And even if they do get eliminated quickly, an Engineer's recharge time is usually low anyway.

Sabotage
This power is a mixture between Mass Effect's Sabotage and Mass Effect 2's AI Hacking. The result is a power that either overheats the targets' weapons, dealing damage and preventing them from shooting for the duration, or hacks synthetics to fight by your side for a time, providing damage and drawing fire. Unlike AI Hacking, Sabotage works on shielded synthetics, including elite Geth such as Geth Primes. Due to there being relatively few Geth missions in single player and the high damage rate of Cerberus turrets even without the rank 6 Berserk upgrade, Engineers might wish to consider taking the Tech Vulnerability upgrade instead, greatly increasing the damage potential of tech powers for the entire team.

Fitness
Fitness isn't that useful a power for the engineer - they should be taking less direct damage than most other classes as they have good crowd control and provide effectively two bonus squadmates. Three points might be worthwhile for a 25% health and shield boost, but more than that is almost certainly a bad idea until Tech Mastery, Overload, Incinerate, Sentry Turret, and Combat Drone, and maybe even your bonus power are all fully evolved.

Tech Mastery
Tech Mastery is your passive power - and adding to your reputation helps. As does adding significantly to the damage output of the powers you use regularly - or allowing yourself a bigger gun and to keep spamming powers. It's not your first priority power, but it is extremely useful.

Defense Matrix
Defense Matrix is the primary defensive option for the Engineer (with Barrier and Fortification also being possibilities). From ranks 1-4, Defense Matrix provides a defensive boost, at the cost of a 60% recharge reduction - a steep price for a powers-using class unless the only major active powers you have are Combat Drone and Sentry Turret, both of which should take long enough to kill that you can mix a defence and a big gun as an unusual strategy. Purging your Defense Matrix will restore 50-100% of your shields depending on your rank and how you developed it which leads to the "double tap" tactic of when in trouble activating and then immediately purging your defence matrix to restore your shields, keeping you alive long enough to find cover.

At ranks 5 and 6 these powers come into their own - rank 5 offers a 25% damage boost, offsetting the damage lost from the recharge penalty, and rank 6 lowers your recharge penalty to 30%. Due to the diminishing returns from very high recharge bonuses, a 30% penalty to recharge times will increase your cooldowns by very little; more than justifying the damage reduction and increased outgoing damage if you keep your weight bonus high and seek out other power recharge bonuses.

Warp Ammo
Both of these are based round the same idea. You have a nearly comprehensive power set, so you want to add something passive to the mix. An ammo power will raise your damage without distracting you from your existing powers. Warp Ammo does more damage and hurts barriers.

Inferno Grenade
While it's true that the Engineer is a well rounded class, with few offensive holes, it is one of only two classes without a grenade power (The other being a Vanguard, which doesn't need one due to its use of Nova). Being the only grenade power available as a bonus power, Inferno Grenade will close that hole, and give you a great clutch power to throw out when you need some breathing room between power cooldowns. If this power is chosen, and you want to invest your talent points into it, it is best to choose the options that benefit its radius, which provide a strong secondary crowd control option. Its burning damage will stun any enemies caught in its blast, and will still do decent damage, which gives you plenty of opportunities to find cover, or create distance, as well as build your shields back up, and get back on the offensive.

Dominate
While Sabotage is good for controlling Geth, Turrets and Shielded Atlas units, it cannot control organic enemies. With Dominate an engineer can control almost every enemy in the game, allowing an extra ally in almost every situation.

Weapons and Equipment
The Engineer's flexibilty in taking down all types of defense and being able to flush enemies out of cover makes it so that most weapons can be viable candidates. The main concern is keeping recharge speed high to keep throwing out powers.

Assault Rifles

 * The Cerberus Harrier (available through the Firefight DLC) can be exceptionally useful for the Engineer. When fully upgraded, its impact on power recharge speeds is negligible.  This allows the Engineer to pack some heavy firepower in addition to their tech attacks.  The only downside to the Harrier is its limited ammunition, but for a power oriented class like the Engineer, this is less of a problem than for a Soldier.

Heavy Pistols
Heavy Pistols are a time-honored friend among Engineers who have played Mass Effect and 2. Even better, there are now more of them. All are fairly light to begin with, especially when upgraded, but add the Ultralight Materials mod from the Leviathan DLC, and they can weigh almost nothing. There are options for both close and long range engagements. For close quarters combat, equipping the M-358 Talon will serve you well, and if you prefer combat from a distance, the Executioner Pistol is a good choice. When upgraded, its damage potential can rival the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle, while weighing considerably less. The M-77 Paladin offers high damage and accuracy, while its small magazine can be overlooked by those only looking to supplement the damage done by power combos.

Shotguns
Since Engineers aren't exactly designed to be effective short range combatants, having a shotgun might not be a bad idea if you're someone with a knack for short range combat. Since Engineers are more power-oriented, heading more towards the lighter shotguns like the Disciple, Katana, or Scimitar should be one of the shotguns to consider if you plan on bringing one with. The Eviscerator will work as well. While it does weigh a ton, the Crusader can also be one to consider if you dont mind the longer recharge times due to its extreme accuracy and/or dont plan on bringing a bunch of other guns with you. Even as an Engineer, if you're going on a Reaper mission, having a shotgun is not a bad idea since Reapers have a lot of close-range cover-buster units like husks, brutes, and swarmers a shotgun will allow you to enhance the Engineer's limited close-range combat capabilities especially since husks are fairly common.

Sniper Rifles

 * The Raptor or Indra are ideal for an Engineer. When upgraded, their impact on power recharge speeds is minimal.  Both weapons have very fast rates of fire, and are perfect as a Assault Rifle/Sniper Rifle hybrid.

Submachine Guns
Due to the fact that submachine guns are lightweight and can be modded to have even less weight, a submachinegun can be a useful sidearm, or even a primary weapon for an engineer. An engineer is a power oriented class, and lightweight weapons are almost always ideal for any form of engagement.

Combat Guide
Most Engineers fight by relying mostly on their tech powers as a main form of attack and defense, with lightweight weapons as backup. Light weapons are preferred not only to reduce cooldown, but also to compensate for the Engineer's lack of close-quarters defenses. Engineers can find themselves in hot water should they be rushed by a swarm of close-combat enemies like husks.

Crowd-control Engineers should focus more on quickly maxing out their Turrets and Cryo Blasts. This allows you to stop or at least slow potential rushes. Offensive Engineers should instead focus on powers such as Overload and Incinerate, which can rapidly wear down protected enemies. Combat Drone is essential in any major firefight, stunning enemies out of cover and drawing enemy fire.

One of the most underrated (or rather, under-described) aspects of an Engineer's play style is the Tech Combo. With the Cryo blast Recharge time and Vulnerability set to the max, and Incinerate geared towards frozen damage, every alternate cast becomes a combo Cryo-Explosion freezing further enemies. A lightweight loadout and a spellcasting build would ensure that you are effectively casting every 2 seconds. Such an application in for example, a narrow passageway, could cause a continuous freeze choke-point similar to an Adept's Singularity. This translates to an average of an enemy every 2 seconds.

Because the Engineer is a largely supportive role, players should be constantly aware of their surroundings to any potential ambush; short-range backup weapons are recommended especially when up against Reaper ground forces; most Reaper enemies will not slowly advance or wait long enough for Engineers to effectively counter at long distances.

Another way to play the engineer is as a weapon/drone specialist. For this, level up combat drone for shields, damage, and rockets, and turret for shields, damage, and flamethrower. Also take drone mastery as rank 6 of tech mastery. Then, give your weapons (one fast and one slow) warp ammo, piercing mods, and extended barrels. Bringing biotic squadmates allows you to get huge damage boosts by lifting targets, and using warp allows you to easily finish armored ones. As for the drones, spawn them right in the middle of enemies so the flamethrower and shock can wreak havoc, while the combat drone then moves away and launches incinerates from across the field.

Squad Members
Engineers synergize well when combining powers to create tech bursts, flame explosions or cryo explosions, and as such, partner well with those who can use them. None of these explosions can be created with two of the same technique, and so must be detonated by a different power. EDI and Kaidan both possess a variety of skills to do this, and as such, make excellent choices.

Because of the Engineer's ability to destroy shields almost immediately, Singularity and Stasis, both possessed by Liara, grants the Engineer more crowd control, and allow the Engineer to forego radius upgrades for more damage to techs, making her an effective squad member to bring along. The Rank 6 Bubble upgrade for Stasis can be used to hold enemies in close proximity for area upgraded powers, such as Cryo Blast or Incinerate, and also helps neutralize Phantoms, which, unlike other organic units, are immune to Overload's stun, cannot be frozen by Cryo Blast, and resist tech bursts.

Cryo Blast, possessed by Kaidan, helps to keep most enemies in check, as any of the Engineer's techs can create a cryo explosion to freeze, slow, and do increased damage to other foes.

Other useful characters include Ashley (for quick tech bursts with Disruptor Ammo) and Tali (for quick tech bursts with Energy Drain coupled with her fast recharge times)