User:Lancer1289/Sandbox/Adept Guide

Adept is the biotic-oriented class in Mass Effect. The available talents feature every biotic ability in the game, most of which focus on debuffing and controlling enemies, rather than killing them outright. Powerful biotic talents often make otherwise challenging encounters downright trivial. To make sure a biotic ability is available at all times, multiple abilities need to be developed to high levels so that their effects can be overlapped -- which can make early progression difficult. The primary weakness of the Adept is extremely close- or extremely long-range combat. Their heavy dependence on shields for defense and the low damage protection offered by Light Armor makes them very vulnerable to melee damage, and the limited range of biotic abilities can expose them to sniper fire while closing range. With the proper playstyle, build, and party makeup, though, the Adept can be one of the most entertaining, powerful, and unique classes for Shepard.

Talents
Talent selection is an important choice in character development, and it will define both what Shepard is capable of doing and the style in which it is done. There are a limited number of assignable talent points -- 102 at level 60, compared to the 148 required to max every ability -- so it is important to allocate talents as efficiently as possible.

Combat Talents
Basic Armor: A damage mitigation talent; additional points increase Shepard’s resistance to damage. Basic Armor unlocks the Shield Boost ability, which will recharge a portion of Shepard’s shields when used, with higher ranks recharging larger percentages of shields. Adepts are limited to Light Armor, which features weak shields and low damage reduction, so the percentage gains from Basic Armor and Shield Boost are small. Barrier will provide more shields to the player than their armor with fewer talents points, making Basic Armor a second-rate defensive talent investment. Five points in Basic Armor are required to unlock pistols.

Pistols: The Adept’s only native weapon talent; damage scales very well with Master Marksman and the bonuses from Spectre Training. If Shepard will use pistols as a primary weapon, Master Marksman is a prudent talent investment. The true cost of maxing Pistols includes the five required points in Basic Armor for a total of seventeen points, whereas maxing out a bonus talent for another weapon will only require twelve points.

Biotic Talents
Throw: Pushes movable objects in the targeted area away and onto the floor. The force of the push increases with additional talent points. Heavy objects and enemies with high physical force thresholds, like krogans, will require a stronger push to be knocked down or moved. Throw has a stronger effect on already airborne objects or on objects in zero-G and can be combined with Lift or Singularity to push targets further. Throw has no effect on flying enemies like drones. Unlocking advanced and master Throw reduces the recharge time and accuracy cost, in addition to increasing the force of the effect. Opportunities to quickly kill any target by throwing it off of ledges, balconies, or into space will present themselves frequently and should be taken advantage of. Six points are required to unlock Lift.

Lift: Lifts movable objects in the targeted area until the duration is over. Additional points will increase the duration of the effect, which results in affected objects being further from the surface when the duration ends. When the duration ends the targets are dropped, and they will take damage based on how far they have fallen. Unlocking Advanced and Master Lift reduces the recharge time and accuracy cost, and increases the effect radius and duration. Singularity will also suspend targets in the air, as well as clumping them together (with a larger area of effect), and is generally a superior form of crowd control. However, with Lift Mastery from the Nemesis specialization, the radius of Master Lift overtakes Singularity to become the largest of any biotic ability at ten meters.

Warp: Deals damage over time and reduces the damage protection of all targets in its radius.; additional points will increase the duration of both effects. The damage over time is unmitigated by damage reduction and shields, but it is not particularly fast compared to direct damage from weapons or tech mines. The ability can be paired with Stasis to lock an enemy in place while the damage over time takes effect. The damage protection debuff can make enemies with high armor take significantly more damage from weapons fire. Unlocking Advanced and Master Warp increases the armor reduction, damage per second, and duration, and reduces recharge time of the ability. Warp Mastery, available to the Nemesis specialization, increases the radius and damage per second of Warp’s effect. Six points are required to unlock Singularity.

Singularity: Draws movable objects in the effect’s radius towards the targeted point. Additional points will increase the radius of the effect. In addition to suspending targets in the air, this ability tends to pull groups of enemies closer together making them more vulnerable to area of effect damage and status effects like Warp, Damping, Sabotage, and Overload. Unlocking Advanced and Master Singularity will increase the duration and radius, and reduce the recharge time of the ability. Master Singularity is the Adept’s best crowd control ability unless Master Lift and lift mastery from the Nemesis specialization is unlocked.

Barrier: Creates additional shields for Shepard on top of those provided by armor. Additional points increase the amount of shields added by Barrier and extend the duration of the effect. At four points Barrier will provide more shields than the best light Human Armor making it a more attractive defensive talent than Basic Armor and Shield Boost. However, once Barrier has run out, the player is quite vulnerable. Unlocking advanced and master Barrier will reduce the recharge time in addition to increasing the shields added by and the duration of the effect. The Bastion specialization offers barrier specialization boosting the shields and duration by 25% and adding regeneration of 40 shields per second. Four points are required to unlock Stasis.

Stasis: Places the target in stasis for the duration of the effect, unable to move, use abilities, or fire weapons -- but also immune to direct damage. This is quite useful when confronted with 2-4 difficult enemies, as they can be dealt with in turn. Additional points will increase the duration of Stasis. Unlocking advanced and master Stasis will reduce the recharge time of the ability in addition to extending its duration. While Stasis is active, damage over time effects will continue to damage the target, but the target is immune to direct damage (unless Bastion is taken and stasis mastery is unlocked). Stasis mastery will allow the target to be damaged directly by weapons while completely incapacitated, making Stasis both the best offensive and defensive biotic ability against any single target -- even Saren on Insanity difficulty. Without stasis mastery, the effect will tend to leave the target standing at the end of the fight, with the party waiting for the target to be damageable again.

Miscellaneous
Adept: Provides a reduction in recharge times of every biotic ability, in addition to extra protection from enemy biotics. Useful for any build regardless of the other talents taken; combine with other recharge reduction talents and equipment to keep biotic abilities available as often as possible.

Charm: Opens additional conversation options that are likely to increase Paragon points and reduces the cost of items purchased at vendors. Shepard's talent points are retained between games; when appointed as a Spectre and as Shepard gain Paragon points, Charm points will automatically be granted. After three plays, Charm can be maxed without spending a single real point. Paragon points offer 10% first aid recharge reduction, 10% more health, and a 5% reduction in recharge times of all abilities. Pick between Paragon and Renegade early as events will typically require a choice of one or the other.

Intimidate: Opens additional conversation options that are likely to increase Renegade points and increases the buying price for items sold to vendors. Shepard's talent points are retained between games; when appointed as a Spectre and as Shepard gains Renegade points, Intimidate points will automatically be granted. After three plays, Intimidate can be maxed without spending a single real point. Renegade points offer 10% weapon powers recharge reduction, 1 health regeneration per second, and a 5% increase in the damage/duration of all abilities. Pick between Paragon and Renegade early as events will typically require a choice of one or the other.

Spectre Training: The jack-of-all trades talent line, which adds health, damage, duration, accuracy, accuracy regeneration, and a powerful party skill. Highly useful for any play style, but each point yields very small gains relative to the specialized gains offered by other skills. Scales very well with max abilities, most notably with weapon damage. Points in Spectre Training up to the eleventh point are more effective damage boosts for weapons than the weapon talents themselves, so eleven points are a prudent investment for any build. The last rank offers only the Master Unity power, a slight upgrade from advanced, consider skipping it to unlock a higher rank of a biotic ability instead.

Specialization
After the first completion of the UNC: Rogue VI assignment which becomes available at level twenty, Shepard is allowed to choose a specialization that will extend the class talent.

Bastion
Shortens the recharge time of all biotic abilities and provides mastery bonuses to Barrier and Stasis. Barrier mastery will make Barrier a very powerful defensive ability and virtually guarantees 100% uptime by extending the duration. Stasis mastery transforms Stasis from a mediocre defensive ability to the most powerful offensive and defensive ability available against a single target. Bastion is a very attractive choice for higher difficulty levels where defense is key as both masteries provide impressive defensive bonuses.

Nemesis
Increases the duration/damage of all biotic abilities and provides mastery bonuses to Lift and Warp. Lift mastery will make Lift the most powerful crowd control available by increasing the radius to 10 meters. Warp mastery will offset the use of Lift as crowd control over Singularity by increasing the radius of the effect. Damage per second is increased as well, making the combination with Stasis slightly more effective. Nemesis is an attractive choice for crowd control and damage vs. large groups of weaker opponents, typical in lower difficulty levels. While the specialization is certainly viable in harder difficulty settings, it does not confer any defensive bonuses other than the passive duration boost to Barrier, which makes it less attractive compared to Bastion.

Bonus Talent
When creating a new career, if any weapon or ability achievements are unlocked, an option will be available to select one of the corresponding talents that Adepts do not already possess. This choice will open new strategic options, alter the play style of the adept, and generally enhance Shepard’s abilities in some way.

Combat
Weapon talents are a strong choice as unlike Pistols, the talent is immediately available for investment. Consider skipping Pistols and Basic Armor entirely if using Assault Rifles. If using Shotguns or Sniper Rifles, the pistol will probably still be needed to compensate for their ineffectiveness at mid-ranges.

Assault Rifles: A very effective mid- to short-range weapon, capable of laying down fire in large bursts Assault Rifles. It can be paired with Singularity and Warp to quickly dispatch large groups of enemies. Assault Rifles are "cheaper" than Pistols, which require points in Basic Armor to unlock, but good Assault Rifles are not available at the beginning of the game. A strong choice for a well-rounded Adept character.

Shotguns: A very effective short-range weapon, capable of short bursts of very damaging fire. Shotguns can paired with Stasis and Warp to focus fire a single target without fear of reprisal. The short range of Shotguns and the limited damage reduction of light armor will be a dangerous combination on any level. However, a defensive approach can produce high damage with minimal time outside of cover, and allows for the use of biotics while the shotgun is cooling down. Best used to complement Pistols.

Sniper Rifles: Capable of firing several high damage shots that are accurate even at extreme range, Sniper Rifles can also be paired with Stasis and Warp to focus fire a single target for massive damage. While not quite as effective at exploiting the effects of Lift or Singularity as an assault rifle, snipers can be used at much longer ranges and deliver much more damage over the short bursts between biotic recharges. Adjusting the play style to accommodate the range and burst of Sniper Rifles can make them as strong a choice as Assault Rifles.

Tech
Keep in mind when selecting a tech ability that Adepts do not have an omni-tool slot, so all tech abilities will be without the complete spectrum of bonuses available via equipment. Also, most tech abilities have complementary effects on other tech talents, making them a weaker choice on their own. Some of the benefits of these talents are met by biotic powers.

Electronics: Increases Shepard’s shield capacity and unlocks the Overload ability; Electronics is a minor offensive and defensive supplemental ability. Without the synergies from the other tech abilities, Overload is rather weak on its own, and while the shield bonus is useful, Barrier tends to render it rather negligible offering nearly four times more shields.

Decryption: This talent unlocks the Sabotage ability, which deals damage in addition to overheating weapons, preventing return fire for a short period of time. Additional points will increase the damage of tech mine explosion damage, but with only one tech ability, this bonus is very weak. With all the biotic powers of an adept available, one more ability that locks down enemies is not particularly useful.

Hacking: This talent unlocks the AI Hacking ability, which will temporarily turn a mechanical target against its former allies. AI Hacking offers some unique strategic situations but pales in comparison to the effectiveness of the weapon abilities. Additional points will reduce the recharge time on other tech mines (which an Adept does not have), making Hacking a weak talent investment. Hacking is an entertaining but not particularly useful bonus talent.

Medicine: This talent unlocks the Neural Shock ability, which will stun any organic target and deal toxic damage. Additional talent points will reduce the recharge time on Medi-gel. Neural Shock works on fewer enemies and has a shorter duration than Stasis, but in exchange requires no mastery to leave targets vulnerable to damage and deal additional toxic damage. An Adept’s already impressive arsenal of status effects sees little benefit from the addition of another.

Damping: This ability deals damage, stuns, and removes the target’s ability to use tech or biotic powers for a short time. Additional points increase the radius of the effect, but without other tech abilities to buff are somewhat wasted. As with other tech abilities, these effects are largely superfluous after all the biotic abilities of the Adept are taken into account. Overall, a weak bonus talent option.

Squad Members
While the Adept is a versatile class, his squadmates should be selected to make up for abilities the class lacks. With no native tech abilities, the Adept should have at least one squad member who specializes in technology for access to Electronics and Decryption, so that every container can be opened and every terminal accessed. The squadmates that can fill this role are Kaidan, Garrus, and Tali. While Kaidan will provide the needed tech abilities, his lack of any sort of combat talents and large overlap with the Adept's skills make him the weakest choice, unless the player plans to use his redundant biotic skills to affect larger areas at once. Garrus is a good choice with his mix of combat and tech abilities, his Adrenaline Burst allowing him to use tech talents frequently and weapon and armor skills allowing him to perform well in combat; however, his lack of Fitness reduces his survivability and ultimately prevents him from performing combat tasks adequately at higher difficulties, making him a less ideal choice in that case. Tali is the only squad member with Hacking, making her the tech specialist of choice for the Adept who wants to maximize his crowd control capabilites. Her downside is that she has little combat ability, making her optimal only if the other squad member is a damage dealer.

The two primary choices for combat squadmates are Ashley and Wrex. Ashley is better suited for the Adept's squad, as Wrex's biotics would likely take a backseat due to the Adept already having the necessary skills, and Ashley is somewhat better suited to combat overall with her Assault Training and her health capacity increasing as the Soldier talent increases, making her a more durable frontline fighter. Liara's biotic abilites overlap with the Adept's, making her useful against groups too large for the Adept to be able to lock down every target, but doing little to add to the squad's versatility.