User:Elseweyr/Sandbox/Batarian Brawler Vanguard

Little is known about the batarian homeworld of Khar'shan or its inhabitants. As a result, the race is judged by those whom the Hegemony allows to travel beyond its borders: organized crime enforcers, pirate boarding parties, slaver gangs, and gladiatorial combatants.

Batarians are large brawlers that use nets and spiked weapons to capture targets... or to bleed them dry on the battlefield. If an opponent gets too close, a batarian enforcer bludgeons them with spiked armor and enforcement gauntlets.

General Notes

 * As the name might imply, the Batarian Brawler Vanguard excels in melee combat as a skill build. In particular, his long build-up but unmatched melee synergizes flawlessly with Biotic Charge: by starting the heavy melee right after the charge sequence begins, he can be at the point of impact with a stacked damage reduction right out of a charge, essentially meaning he can 'brawl' enemies with a one-two of the Charge-Heavy.
 * With his powers properly evolved, the Batarian Brawler can easily achieve over 100% damage reduction, combining the stacked bonuses from heavy melee, Blade Armor and Biotic Charge.
 * With the right timing, when following up a heavy melee on a unprotected target (just health) that has been launched far after a Charge, the Brawler will literally slide along the ground till reaching the target and successfully hitting him with the punch.
 * The Batarian Vanguard lacks any direct damage in his abilities except for Biotic Charge, and is therefore not suited to go toe-to-toe with bigger, tougher foes like Praetorians, or Atlas Mechs. Take a powerful, but light weapon, such as the N7 Piranha and equip it with a Shotgun High Caliber Barrel. This will allow you to deal with more powerful foes.
 * Lash will stop most of the smaller foes from being able to fight you, but will prove worthless against armored units.
 * The Blade Armor ideally should be maxed out, and specced for protection and reflect damage. This will make the Brawler much more difficult to kill.
 * A moderately light loadout is highly recommended, to keep Biotic Charge cooldowns fairly low while maintaining weapon dominance are charging. Or if you want to spec yourself for melee damage, take a light shotgun (such as the Piranha) or a close-combat heavy pistol (such as the Talon) with melee mods in order to maximize lethality in hand-to-hand combat.

Cerberus

 * Lash will be most useful here, since all enemies except for Dragoons and Atlases can be affected by Lash. It can stagger Atlases, but that's all it will do and inflicts no significant damage on said mechs.
 * Blade Armor will also be most effective here, since you will be charging into enemies more often than not, and the Phantoms and Dragoons main power comes from close quarters. While it can also be used on Atlases, their massive shield and armor levels will make it nearly impossible for a reflect strategy to come to fruition against Atlases.
 * Be careful against Phantoms, as charging into them will leave you vulnerable due to the nature of physics vs enemy melee attacks. Whether or not you have Blade Armor on, they will be able to follow up your attack with an impalement that you won't recover from.
 * However, Biotic Charge will always stun the Phantoms, allowing to successfully follow up with a heavy melee before the Phantom's counter-attack. Just be extra careful to not charge into a group with more than one Phantom.
 * Also, the heavy melee will hit Phantoms even if they use their cloak, since the attack locks onto enemies.
 * Be careful against turrets. However, if you have a light loadout, you will be able to go toe-to-toe with a turret, as the turret cannot damage you while in the heavy melee animation. Take advantage of this by alternating Biotic Charge and heavy melee.

Reapers

 * Do not charge into Banshees. As with all bulkier classes, they cannot roll, this will spell your doom if you charge said enemies since you won't be able to immediately pull back like other nimbler classes can. Every other foe is game, Banshees, steer clear.
 * However, while ill-advised, one can charge when they're approaching with biotic jumps, since they will not use any attacks during it.
 * Lash will benefit less from the Penetration evolution, and will generally be less useful since only 3 enemies can be affected: Husks, Cannibals, and Marauders. Consider one of the other powers instead of Lash.
 * Blade Armor works really well against Brutes because they will always be charging at you. Be careful though as your health and shields are as always in finite supply and you cannot take on several brutes at once.

Geth

 * Lash will only affect Hunters, Rocket Troopers, and standard Troopers, and Hunters cannot be targeted until you shoot them and land a direct hit.
 * If thrown at in the right direction, Lash can reveal Geth Hunters even if the aiming reticule is not available.
 * If the Rank 5 (Damage over Time) is taken, the constant damage will expose the cloaked Hunter.
 * Blade Armor will help immensely against Hunters, since they will sometimes sneak up on you and melee you in the back. This will stagger them, and give you enough time to either counter-attack, or flee.
 * None of the Geth can instantly kill you, so all you need to worry about, is making sure you don't put yourself in a situation you wont be able to get out of. Remember, Geth Rocket Troopers, Hunters, Primes, and Bombers can stun you with their attacks, therefore you should plan your attack and assess the situation, before you literally go charging in.
 * Heavy melee can hit Geth Bombers even during their high flights to drop bombs. Just make sure to start the attack before they deploy.
 * Every enemy (except troopers) has at least some form of shielding, and therefore an Acolyte is advised to destroy their shields and leave them exposed to Lashes, or other teammates biotics.

Collectors

 * Your Biotics will serve little use here, since only 3 enemies once again are susceptible to Lash: Troopers, Captains, and Abominations. Lash is even less useful when you use it against a Possessed Abomination, as the explosive power and radius of said foe can seriously damage you and your squad, or even kill ALL of you outright on higher difficulties.
 * Blade Armor is useful against Praetorians since their claw attacks come in hard and fast, but their protection leaves an issue. As well, its no good if you end up getting grabbed and subsequently killed as you cannot reflect damage if it instantly kills you.
 * Every enemy has some form of Barrier, except for Scions, Abominations and Troopers when unpossessed. The Acolyte will deal with this problem.