Other Guides: Guide to Basic Infiltrating | Shield Gate and YOU | Adept Guide | Sentinel Guide
When playing on higher difficulties like Insanity, understanding how to effectively build Shepard can dramatically improve your experience, and a well-built Shepard can synergize with any of your squadmates.
What's awesome about Mass Effect 3 combat is that there isn't a single best way to build Shepard. All the classes can be incredibly fun, and you can play them all a variety of different ways. But because there are a lot of under-the-hood mechanics that the average player doesn't know (including bugged skill trees), knowing how to spec Shepard to do what you want to do isn't always obvious. And now that ME:LE has added in most of the DLC/multiplayer weapons, there are a lot of guns out there people aren't familiar with that are incredible assets to various playstyles.
SO, Real Life Romance Option and I put together this build guide for the Soldier. Keep in mind that Soldiers are different from most classes in that they focus almost exclusively on guns. While Vanguards are technically a combat class, they mostly play like an aggressive adept. Likewise, infiltrators revolve around sniper rifles vs. pure gunplay. The soldier, however, is not a power kit.
A Soldier Shepard is very good at driving enemies to ruin with quite literal gunfire. The key is building your ammo powers to complement your weapons and using Adrenaline Rush to make Shepard incredible at just about every facet of combat. While you can and should use any type of gun you want, I’d recommend staying away from carrying five guns at a time, and instead focus on a couple of particularly good choices. Loadout suggestions are included below, and if you want suggestions for other weapon that synergize well, just ask!
THE BUILD
Shepard has 8 skill trees + a Bonus Power. At Rank 60, you can max out 8 skills and have enough points leftover to take the 9th to level 4. For this build, I recommend only taking Concussive Shot to rank 4, and maxing everything else.
Prioritize speccing Incendiary Ammo, Adrenaline Rush, and Combat Mastery before everything else. There isn’t a problem that copious amounts of fiery bullets won’t solve, and Combat Mastery makes all of that better. Just make sure you turn on incendiary ammo at the beginning of the mission.
Breakdown under the cut!
Adrenaline Rush: Aka, “hang on, one of these bullets has your name on it and I’m going to keep firing until I find it.”
Oh, Rush. This is the power for soldiers. It’s what’s unique from the other two combat classes, and does so many things to every aspect of combat. Once you go into Rush you immediately get slow motion, which means you’re time hacking to be faster and thus better than everyone else in the room. You get a 50-75% damage bonus on all your guns, extra shields, potentially extra melee damage, and to top if off, a full clip of ammo slapped into your current gun! “A free reload is kinda boring,” you might say to yourself, but in response I say, two-shot Claymore. So, Rush gives you full ammo and shields to start putting those new, more damaging bullets downrange, and the time dilation gives you the accuracy and recoil reduction to stay on target. This turns your favorite gun into a dream to handle. Every aspect you love about it is just better now for you the player. While Marksman makes it faster and more accurate, Rush makes you more accurate by eliminating most of the recoil.
Rank 4: Hardening vs. Dilation and Damage: You want Dilation & Damage, to get that magnificent 25% bonus weapon damage.
Rank 5: Duration vs. Melee Damage. Choose Duration if you’re using a slow-firing weapon. Otherwise you’ll want Melee Damage, and not because we’re hitting things, but because Duration means using Rush less often, and we want free shields and free reload more often.
Rank 6: Shield Boost vs. Power Use. Remember: you are not a power class. The only choice here is shields. This is especially great since it will give you shields even if you’re taking damage. Also, the only offensive powers you have are Concussive Shot and a potential bonus power. And Concussive shot is…well, see below.
Concussive Shot: We get this last, as it’s mostly a throwaway power. Every time you use it, you’re not using RUSH and that’s SAD. If you want to spam a power all day (which is valid), there are five other classes that do that better.
Rank 4: Take Force and Damage.
Frag Grenade: Grenades are handy in an emergency, and as they run off a grenade pool and not a cooldown, they don’t interfere with Rush!
Rank 4: Damage vs. Radius. Both are great here. If you don’t have a rapid fire weapon or aren’t the best throw, take radius. Otherwise, take damage.
Rank 5: Max Grenades vs. Bleed Damage. Both are good. Max grenades is fun, but bleed damage is better. Do keep in mind it doesn’t work on geth, because they don’t have blood.
Rank 6: Armor Piercing vs. Shield Overload. Shields. If you are using a piercing mod (you should be using a piercing mod), most guns are amazing at armor damage already, and you have the bestest, most biggest guns as the Soldier.
Incendiary Ammo: I don’t want to set the world on fire
Incendiary ammo might be one of the most brokenly overpowered skills in the game. The explosive evolution adds a flat damage value vs. a percentage on every other shot, which is insane. On rapid fire weapons that do less damage per shot, like the Tempest or the Typhoon, you're basically doubling the amount of damage you're doing. Add the area of effect you get with the explosion? You're now inflicting this chaos on anyone else who’s nearby. Are you using a piercing mod (the answer should be yes)? You now have a shot at another roll for another explosion, because the damage call can pass through the armored target and torment the cannon fodder behind it. A piercing mod reduces the damage on your bullet, but not the explosion. This is super insane on shotguns, because you get a shot at the extra damage roll per pellet, not per shot. Shotgun blasts have multiple pellets per shot.
Have I mentioned that this is affected by increases in power damage? Any power damage increases you take in Assault Mastery make incendiary ammo better.
Rank 4 – Damage vs. Squad Bonus. Choose damage. To hell with your squad. I mean, your squad is amazing. But trust me, you want to be selfish with incendiary ammo. You can do so much more with it than your squad can.
Rank 5 – Ammo Capacity vs. Headshot Damage. Are you handy with headshots? Take Headshot damage. Would you rather have more ammo capacity? Take Ammo Capacity. Whatever makes you happy.
Rank 6 – Damage vs. Explosive Burst. Always take explosive burst. There is no universe in which you want anything other than explosive burst.
Disruptor Ammo: AKA, “Oh no, I’m fighting Geth.” (If you forget to turn off fire ammo when fighting geth, you’ll still be fine.)
Rank 4 – Damage vs. Squad Bonus: Damage. I don’t like to share. However! Life hack: you can spec for squad ammo here, turn it on at the beginning of the mission for your team-mates without ammo powers of their own, and then turn on fire bullets for just you. Then you get the best of both worlds! Personally, this is how I run the two. It’s not optimal, but it is really convenient.
Rank 5 – Ammo Capacity vs. Headshots. Choose either, but mirroring what you chose on fire ammo is a good idea.
Rank 6 – Damage vs. Stun. Look, we’re already giving up explosions. If you take stun instead, incendiary ammo actually does more damage to shields because it’s that incredible. Stunning is helpful and cool, but a dead enemy doesn’t shoot back either.
Cryo Ammo: Hard skip. You already have two great ammo powers. Don’t need to waste points on a, frankly underpowered, third option. Easily your worst power. But DEBUFFS, you say? The best debuff is killing the other guy.
Combat Mastery: AKA, “I’m going to stab you. With bullets.”
Rank 4 –Damage vs. Influence & Duration. Duration can be nice for Rush, but weapon damage makes your guns better and power damage makes your ammo better which makes your guns better twice.
Rank 5 – Squad Bonus vs. Headshots. I DON’T LIKE TO SHARE. Helping your squad is nice and all, but they shoot the walls sometimes.
Rank 6 – Weight Capacity vs. Weapon Master. I mean, you could lift and carry a platoon’s worth of guns, but then you wouldn’t be a master of battle. Really though, getting weapon damage makes your guns better, and that 40% makes your ammo better, which makes your guns better twice. AGAIN! Essentially, when it comes to ammo powers, the soldier ends up with more power damage than engineers.
Fitness:
Rank 4 – Melee Damage vs. Durability: Durability.
Rank 5 – Martial Artist vs. Shield Recharge: Shield Recharge.
Rank 6 – Melee Synergy vs. Fitness Expert. Fitness Expert. You’re a Soldier. Just shoot them.
Bonus Power: This is the hard choice. If you take anything with a cooldown, it’s just getting between you and the magnificence the is your birthright, Adrenaline Rush, and you already have the best ammo power right here in your class (incendiary). So, what do we take? Behold: Fortification, and damage reduction. Great! Now you can take a bigger, harder punch and get more power damage, which makes even better fire bullets, fantastic. It makes you better at everything you’re trying to do: take and deal damage. Just make sure you turn it on before you activate your ammo powers. The damage bonus from Fortification will not affect an already active ammo power.
Rank 4 – Durability vs. Melee Damage: Durability
Rank 5 – Recharge Speed vs. Power Synergy. Power Synergy. More fire!
Rank 6 – Power Recharge vs. Durability: I prefer recharge, but more protection is also great, especially if you prefer lighter weapons and won’t notice the cooldown bonus as much.
THE LOADOUT
You’re the gun class, the Soldier, with a capital ‘S’! Every gun in the game is better in your hands with one exception: I would leave the big cannon snipers to the infiltrators (but any rapid-fire sniper is fair game). I’ll list a few favorites in every weapon class. I’d highly recommend making a save on the citadel and trying out a few at the firing range, and of course, as the soldier you can and should break out those big heavy guns that slow down the other classes too much. With your extra weight capacity, it’s tempting to load up with a weapon in each category, but I say pick two. Hopefully two that complement each other, i.e. the Indra and a Revenant, but if you take your favorites it’ll be fine. Or just pin all your hopes and dreams on one super weapon, like the Typhoon or a Hurricane.
Assault Rifles: This entire class is packed with fantastic options that are full auto, accurate, have big clips, and big damage. The AR’s only downside is weight. Use a Piercing and Extended Barrel mod on all of them, except for the Lancer & Particle Rifle.
Revenant – A personal favorite, the big loud heavy MG with the recoil to match. While it’s tempting to use a recoil mod on this gun, I highly recommend getting used to it without one. You give up too much if you swap out a piercing or extended barrel mod in favor of managing recoil.
Lancer - the Cadillac of ARs: infinite ammo, low recoil, accurate, & fast. Instead of the extended barrel, use an extended magazine to manage the heat to go along with a piercing mod (this goes for the Particle Rifle as well), and this rifle will be a smooth ride through the entire campaign. Tip: if you overheat it, going into rush will add one round to the mag and let you skip the overheat animation!
N7 Typhoon – the Revenant 2.0! Everything about the Revenant ramped up to 11: more damage, more recoil, and more accuracy. Note: You have to give the gun time to spin up to get max damage (this is also true of the Particle Rifle). If you fire in short bursts, you aren’t getting your money’s worth. If you can handle the spin up and the recoil, this is the best gun in the game. Bonus, the face plate reduces damage you take from your front arc!
Harrier – A non-overheat Lancer. While it’s solid and easy to handle, be prepared to run out of ammo all the time.
Shotguns: Inaccuracy and low ammo counts balance out raw damage output. Few things kick like a Claymore shoved in the enemy’s mouths. Fun fact: each pellet from a shotgun gets a chance to explode with Incendiary Burst. Extended barrel and piercing mods are highly recommended for all shotguns. The ultra-heavy barrel and smart choke are also a good combo if you can rank up the heavy barrel to not absolutely kill your weight.
Claymore – Well, the maxed damage bar speaks for itself here. You can fire, use Rush, and fire again. Hilarious. This gun gets infinitely better if you learn how to ‘reload cancel,’ i.e. tap a power that’s on cooldown or tap sprint while the animation is playing, but after the ammo bar fills.
Raider – the more practical little brother to the Claymore. Less damage, but two rounds, lighter, and more accurate! Again, you can empty the gun quickly, use Rush, and fire twice again. Few things survive four Raider shots at close range.
Wraith – If you can afford this, it’s a solid alternative and gold flex on these poor not-soldiers and their weak, baby guns.
N7 Piranha – Auto Shotgun. Want to clear a room or a hallway? This is your best choice. Absolutely falls off at any further range than point blank due to its accuracy. Paired with another longer-range weapon, this can be a devastating Ace to pull out in close quarters.
Sniper Rifles: Overall I split the Snipers into two categories: Big Cannon and Rapid Fire. Leave the Big Cannons to our friend the infiltrator; she uses them better anyway. But the rapid fire rifles? Those are exactly what we need. Extended barrel and piercing mods are our friends. You can stack the time dilation from Rush with the concentration mod to nearly stop time, but I personally prefer the damage from the barrel.
Indra – It’s an assault rifle with a free scope mod! This is one of the best weapons in the game and for the low price of 10k credits!
N7 Valiant – Tied for the best sniper in the game with the Indra. Rapid fire, three round clip with a damage-per-second that rivals much bigger guns. You pair that with minimal recoil and a lightning fast reload and you have a solid, easy to use rifle for every day and formal wear.
Pistols: These have some winners and make solid back ups, but as a solider you can easily take nothing but a pistol and have a great time. As with everything, go with a barrel and piercing mod.
Talon – One of the best shotguns in the game pretending to be a pistol.
Executioner pistol – Stand out, since you can give it two shots with Rush.
SMG: The Hurricane is one of the best weapons in the game, but it has a ton of recoil and limited range. If you find you need a stability dampener to use the Hurricane, try the Hornet instead. It’s a burst weapon (so easier to control recoil), also has incredibly high DPS, and you can also get it free during the Citadel Coup. Until then, just stick with the Tempest. All of these work well on power classes but, but once you use them on the soldier with the insane buff from incendiary ammo, you may not recognize them anymore.
You can use the extended barrel and ammo heat sink mods; but without a piercing mod, remember to switch to your pistol or AR for armored targets.
HOW TO PLAY:
The tricky part about playing a Solider is trusting your gun. There is no combat situation in the game that cannot be solved by killing it to death with bullets. There is a learning curve to master the timing of when to use Rush for that free reload, and it is slightly different with each weapon. But learning it for your favorite only takes a mission or two. When you aren’t shooting, you’re vulnerable, so throw grenades, reposition, or go into Rush and keep up the barrage. Fire ammo will carry you through the game, even against shields and geth. It’s rarely worth switching weapons when you can use Rush and just shoot harder!
There you have it! Go forth and never stop shooting!
You’re not here to talk. You don’t know about the law. You’re not a leader. You’re not inventing. You’re not even necessarily a hero. You’re a soldier.
