Soldier Guide

The Soldier is most proficient at dealing heavy amounts of damage and also receiving it. Adept with most weapons, and the only class that can wear heavy armor, as well as the only class that can wear medium armor at the start, they are the only class that has the Assault Rifle talent.

Talents
Assault Rifle - This is the bread and butter, if you will, of the class. This stays your aim and confers damage bonuses for each point invested.

Shotgun - Nothing ruins a charging enemy's day like a blast of shotgun. Accuracy and damage bonuses conferred for each point invested.

Pistol - Small, accurate, fast firing and has a higher shots-before-overheat ratio then assault rifles and shotguns, it is a staple in other classes, but second to the assault rifle for Soldiers

Sniper Rifle - accurate and powerful, the sniper rifle talent allows you to remove threats from a distance. points devoted here give you better accuracy and damage.

Combat Armor Unlocks heavy armor, and gives the Shield Boost ability. Each point here upgrades the Shield Boost talent. Very useful talent for this class.

First Aid - Improves squad healing. Imperative for some combat actions and boss fights.

Assault Training- Increases melee and weapon damage and grants the awesome Adrenaline Burst that instantly gives you all your powers back.

Fitness- Increases health and gains the damage reduction powers of immunity.

Soldier - Increases health and health regeneration for every point invested.

Charm & Intimidate - Invest depending on you wanting to go Paragon or Renegade.

Spectre Training - Grants the essential for later stages ability Unity. Also increases accuracy and damage for all weapons.

Guide for using the Soldier Class
Fighting as a Soldier When you get in a firefight, there is a golden rule you would do well to heed; an exposed target is a dead target! Even if you have very high physical damage reduction, upgraded shields and the like, any fight can quickly go downhill if you're exposed to the enemy. The best thing to do is to immediately seek shelter behind crates and the like if you are facing multiple opponents. Watch your radar and check up on how your team is faring; observe the tracking reticules carefully and take your shots.

Melee combat

Some enemies like to rush you. If you pull the trigger while an enemy is up in your grill, your character will automatically smash them to the ground with the back of your weapon(providing they aren't massive like a Krogan or Geth Juggernaut). While they are down, you can take this opportunity to back up and shoot them, or you can move up to them and continue to smash them.

Melee attacks can be used as a counter in certain circumstances. Thorian creepers enjoy regurgitating slime on you and your team; a well timed melee attack during the "charge up" will knock them over before they get a chance to cover you in bile.

Target Priority

When the bullets start to fly things tend to spiral out of control fairly quickly, but in order to be successful you must be able to keep your cool and take out key targets in a fight. Always take down weak targets first (Regular Geth Soldiers, regular Mercs). Most of the battles you fight you will be outnumbered but not overpowered. With this in mind, by significantly reducing the numbers of the enemy you quickly diminish their ability to attack you. Leaving tougher opponents for last (Such as Krogan mercs, Geth Armatures/Colossi)ensures that your team will be able to focus their attentions on said baddies, bringing them down cleanly and efficiently. Biotics should also be high on your kill list, as their abilities like Throw will prevent you from attacking and allowing their allies to get free shots in on you and your team.

Weapons
Assault Rifles are your best friends. They are your only friends. Unlock the ability "Overkill" by putting Talent Points into Assault Rifles. Fire in short controlled bursts to ensure maximum accuracy and to avoid overheating.

Shotguns are usually considered secondary weapons, but it's really a matter of personal preference.

Pistols tend to be a weapon of last resort as a soldier. If your Rifle overheats and you're in a jam, switching to your pistol to quickly get in a few more shots is a good strategy. They are quicker to fire and do not overheat nearly as fast as a shotgun as well, making them superior to their pump action brethren in a tight situation.

Sniper Rifles If you seriously have your eyes on these weapons you probably picked the wrong class. Sniping is not the strong point of a soldier, as most of your talents and gear will be catered towards medium to close combat.

Armor
Soldiers have exclusive access to Heavy Armor. Heavy Armor provides excellent damage mitigation, however you must still heed the Golden Rule: An exposed target is a dead target, even if it's a walking tin can. Use cover! Your armor should be the last thing you rely on to keep you alive.

Upgrades
What upgrades you use on your weapons and armor is determined entirely by your own personal preference. The sheer number of upgrades available means you will probably be experimenting constantly. Do note, however, that accuracy and stability mods can be made obsolete for the most part if you fire your weapon in small bursts. This goes for the weapon cooling mods as well.

Team Composition
As a soldier you will easily do most of the fighting for your team. This power comes at a price, however; you don't have the utility of a Biotic and you don't have decrypting, which means you will need to drag a character with the decryption skill around with you wherever you go so that you don't have to revisit an area later on to get the succulent loot hidden in that Space Pirates' locker. Team members should consist of people to give you access to the special abilities you lack. You'll nearly always have one person who has electronics and decryption for opening doors, repairing the mako, ect. This is either Garrius, Kaiden, or Tali. This gives you access to Overload, which removes shields and makes people more vulnerable to being strafed up by assault rifle fire, and sabotage, which lays in more damage and prevents things from shooting you for a while. I usually make my other team member someone with more of the same abilities - Liara with biotics (singularity to pull out snipers), Garrius/Tali for a lot of tech abilities, or Kaiden for a mixture of both (on Kaiden I would recommend Medicine, Lift, and Electronics/Decryption). Wrex can be configured as an amazingly difficult to kill goon bodyguard, with barrier and fitness maxxed, along with Krogan battlemaster, and a bit in assault weapons. He never fails to toughen himself up at the right moment, with barrier/fitness, or hit things when needed. For a fight opener, or in situations where you can't fire at people at the current moment (weapon overheat, dodging 5 geth rockets..) hitting spacebar and tossing two abilities at whatever is bothering you most works well. Team members are only semi good at shooting things and encouraging them to use their abilities increases the damage they lay in - always make sure that before you unleash that power, the targetting circle has turned yellow, so you're over a target you want to hit.. otherwise sometimes they just toss their powers at thin air. Tech abilities have a longer range than biotics and can be used with better effect if you are frantically dodging seige pulse blasts while straffing up a geth armature or juggernaut.