I have found the three step process listed in the thread title to be extremely effective against most enemies.

I like Combat Drone+Sentry Turret+Tali's Combat Drone and then hang out in cover while they kill everything. Lazy Shepard is lazy.

@Tesla: Charge, Nova, Heavy Melee is also really effective, if you're specced for it.

Are you asking in terms of multiplayer, on higher difficulties, you will get shot up and die a bunch, same on single player. It can be used effectively but can be very risky compared to the other classes. The engineer is also very good. They have both incinerate and overload which make him a very good at taking down enemies. The Infiltrator is good at surviving because of the Cloaking. His grenades and also super useful against atlases.

Black Widow sniper rifle.

In terms of MP?
It's a good but dangerous combo beyond bronze.

Infiltrator with sniper is also great. If you're good at sniping it's easy to get one hit kills with headshots, and get lots of points. Also very usefull against enemies with shields. Cloak helps save your ass from time to time as swell as give extra help with reviving team mates and activating objectives. It can also enable 1 hit kill body shots. Sticky grenade is likewise a ton of dmg.
 
Engineers with turret is also a good way to go, with the turret racking up kills and points, in addition to your own efforts at killing dudes.

Salarian Infiltrator is a beast. It's good for solo runs in Multiplayer.

Makes sense. The Vanguard was far and away the most devastating class in Mass Effect 2z

I haven't been using the Nova enough. I put points in it right away and I love the animation, but I forget to use it because I am so entrenched in ME2 combat styles.

I will def try this when I get home. The claymore is just as powerful as ever.

I've started to move away from shotguns to SMGs, and have been liking that quite a bit more. Especially with the Hornet, it works great up close, and can be used at range should the situation require it.

One thing I found really helps with Nova is take the upgrade that makes it only use 50% of your barrier. Sure, it neuters it a little, but it lets you use it MUCH more safely.

Biotic Charge and Nova make me feel almost over powered, especially when they are levelled up to max. It's crazy how easily I can clear rooms. I keep my inventory weight down and my biopics recharge almost instantly, I've got it so my charge replenishes my barrier, and I just go nuts going from crowd to crowd. I don't even need the shotgun. Admittedly I'm playing on the default difficulty and when I go up to insanity I don't expect that strategy to work, but it is very fun.

I've been playing as an Engineer with a drone and turret out all the time. The drone shoots rockets, and the turret has a flamethrower. They both do huge amounts of damage. I've also got Cryoblast and Incinerate specced to work together, so I can freeze someone and then make them just explode by hitting them with Incinerate, freezing any other enemies that happen to be nearby. Even on protected enemies, the slow and armor debuff on Cryoblast is really effective, and it recharges in less than 2 seconds.

Now if I could just stop getting flanked by assholes with giant shields immune to everything except Biotics, and stealth ninjas that ignore my powers even when they don't have any protection somehow.

@Turambar said:

Black Widow sniper rifle.

This + headshots seems to do the trick.

@HistoryInRust said:

Makes sense. The Vanguard was far and away the most devastating class in Mass Effect 2z

Do you mean least? I thought Vanguard was by far the most difficult class for an insanity run. Surprisingly, Sentinel was the best.

@BRich said:

@HistoryInRust said:

Makes sense. The Vanguard was far and away the most devastating class in Mass Effect 2z

Do you mean least? I thought Vanguard was by far the most difficult class for an insanity run. Surprisingly, Sentinel was the best.

I mean, it depends on how you played and how savvy you were with the controls. The Sentinel sure absorbed damage like a champ, but the Vanguard could be more or less invulnerable after being specialized a certain way, plus the Vanguard could wipe the floor with literally any opponent in seconds.

I don't remember the exact set up, but I remember that the Vanguard could gain a momentary biotic overshield with one of the later perks of the charge, and that with a fast enough recharge rate on the charge itself, you could build a Vanguard that zoomed around any battlefield on Insanity with relative impunity, continually replenishing your own shields while unloading more damage per second than any other class (even the vaunted Infiltrator with the revered Widow Rifle).

I know it sounds hard to believe. The Sentinel and the Infiltrator both had easier learning curves. But the Vanguard had the highest upside.

Watch:

Punching babies is much more effective.

Throughout the game i used the Scorpion V (Fully upgraded heavy pistol) with a maxed out cryo ammo skill set. Basically everything except brutes or banshees froze instantly upon impact. With Cryo ammo skill tree set in the path of doing more dmg to frozen monsters, everything that wasn't shielded would be killed in one shot, and everything that had shields would take 2-3 shots to kill. At the end of the game I held onto a M-99 Saber Assault rifles for Brutes and Banshees.

Video is of the Scorpion Heavy Pistol with Cryo Ammo. The place I'm at could be spoilers, its at the Sanctuary but no story stuff shown. http://youtu.be/iEXcE2KAT3U

Throughout the game i used the Scorpion V (Fully upgraded heavy pistol) with a maxed out cryo ammo skill set. Basically everything except brutes or banshees froze instantly upon impact. With Cryo ammo skill tree set in the path of doing more dmg to frozen monsters, everything that wasn't shielded would be killed in one shot, and everything that had shields would take 2-3 shots to kill. At the end of the game I held onto a M-99 Saber Assault rifles for Brutes and Banshees.

Video is of the Scorpion Heavy Pistol with Cryo Ammo. The place I'm at could be spoilers, its at the Sanctuary but no story stuff shown. http://youtu.be/iEXcE2KAT3U

@Tennmuerti said:

@roninenix said:

Throughout the game i used the Scorpion V (Fully upgraded heavy pistol) with a maxed out cryo ammo skill set. Basically everything except brutes or banshees froze instantly upon impact. With Cryo ammo skill tree set in the path of doing more dmg to frozen monsters, everything that wasn't shielded would be killed in one shot, and everything that had shields would take 2-3 shots to kill. At the end of the game I held onto a M-99 Saber Assault rifles for Brutes and Banshees.

Video is of the Scorpion Heavy Pistol with Cryo Ammo. The place I'm at could be spoilers, its at the Sanctuary but no story stuff shown. http://youtu.be/iEXcE2KAT3U

Oh wow that's actually pretty ingenious. Targets get frozen on impact and then the explosive does the shater? (i assume)

Yep. Ammo is basically sticky grenades and with multiple enemies nearby, the explosion will take out the weaker mobs surrounding them.

If we are talking Multiplayer then yes I just discovered something better then the Biotic Charge + Nova + Shotgun combo!!!
 

What I dub the "Krogan Baerzerker" build.

• Tech Armor - all lower tier buff choices for extra dmg protection and extra melee dmg
• Rage - all upper tier buff choices for more and more and more melee dmg (the extra protection is tempting but you need the melee dmg)
• all other powers are your choice, tho i recommend getting some Krogan Berserker :P
  

How this shit works:

How does it compare to the Biotic Charge + Nova:

Vanguards are the most fun class at least, though I wouldnt say they are the best. If a combatengineer has a turret aimed at you when you do your nova you are instant-dead.

Cryo-Ammo + Sniper rifle has been destroying everything in my run. I've been one shotting any enemy that doesn't have shields or armor, and usually freeze those that do. Though Cryo Ammo on any weapon seems to work wonders. There's a korgan shotgun you get that's a big ass nail gun-like weapon. It's a bit tricky to use since it's kind of slow, but up close it just turns people into frozen gibs with Cryo rounds equipped.

I'm so fucking sick of seeing people charge into the enemies in multiplayer that when they get their over-zealous asses laid out I don't even bother to try to help them.

The Quarian Infiltrator in multiplayer is pretty great, especially against the Geth. There's nothing more satisfying than casting Sabotage on a Geth Prime and watching the chaos that ensues as it turns on its former allies. And the cloak ability means it more than capable against the other two factions too.

@Turambar said:

Black Widow sniper rifle.

Seriously it's all you need lol.