Mass Effect 3 Walkthrough

Multiplayer

Multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 is all about making sure Shepard doesn't take all the credit for saving the galaxy. As a part of an elite N7 special forces squad, it will be up to you to drive back hordes of cerberus and reaper forces, here's what you need to know to survive.

You'll begin as a human with access to all six standard classes. After collecting credits and purchasing crates you might even get lucky and find a new race with different attributes. For now, toughen it out and you'll have credits and wins in no time. Remember these skill tips are just a guideline, and experimenting with different builds and loadouts can create a class that gels closer to your playstyle.

Each class has three active skills, and two passive abilities to boost their damage and protection. As a rule of thumb you should first unlock all three of the activated attacks, concentrate on mastering one, and then move on to passive traits. Get your main three attacks to rank 6, and your passives to rank 4. With humans you can try different builds for your male and female characters. But that's just general info, so let's move on to class specifics.

Soldier (Human)

Soldiers are the brute force, cream of the crop combatant. All of their abilities revolve around pure assault, with very little utility. As far as weapons go, Soldiers have a great weight advantage. Also take with you a strong assault rifle for mid range engagements. For your second weapon a strong shotgun or sniper rifle will do quite nicely.

Adrenaline Rush will amp up the damage you deal, though it doesn't slow down time like in single player. We recommend going the kamikaze route and gain the boost for more damage, longer duration, and extra power use.

Concussive shot deals a fair amount of damage, but more importantly knocks back enemies, even those protected with biotic barriers. We favor the upgrades to improve damage, force, and a quick recharge.

Frag Grenades deal a large amount of damage and have a fairly large blast radius making them capable of destroying several targets. Unlike other grenade types, frags will also detonate upon a direct hit. Go for the improvements that bolster raw damage, grenade capacity, and damage to armor.

Engineer (Human)

Engineers are tech experts that can quickly destroy enemy defenses. They aren't as focused on gunplay, but can still be formidable even without using their powers. For weapons, try to stick to the lighter SMG and pistol. With a good scope the pistol can almost become a mini sniper rifle. However, if you can stand the lower ability cooldown, trade in that pistol for a full on head popper.

The Combat Drone is a great means of distracting enemies--namely those annoying Cerberus Guardians and their big stupid shields. The drone is best used defensively, but that doesn't mean it's weak or flimsy. Stick to the upgrades for 40% defense boost, stun attacks, and deadly rockets.

Incinerate is great for panicking enemies and obliterating tough armor. It even fires at a slight arc, allowing you to hit enemies around corners. The best advanced upgrades include 30% extra base damage, 40% damage over time, and 50% bonus damage to armored targets.

Overload is by far the Engineers strongest ability, and is among the best skills in all of multiplayer. It deals heavy damage to both shields and barriers, allowing destruction of major defenses. There are many strategies to this skill but we prefer using it as a single target attack. If you're like us, use the upgrades for increased base damage, organic enemy stun, and double damage to barriers and shields.

Adept (Human)

Adepts are biotic experts that can manipulate the flow of battle. Adepts might have problems against shields and armor, but are masters of dealing with large waves of weak enemies. As with the Engineer, Adepts are better suited to wield light weight guns: the SMG and pistol combo. Still, there are some advantages to taking in an assault rifle, especially against harden Geth that don't use barriers.

Singularity is still the most potent of the Adept's arsenal as it will keep clusters of foes helplessly trapped in mid-air. Go for the upgrades that increase duration, damage, and expansion over time.

Warp acts as a sort of Mass Effect field poison, dealing small amounts of damage over time. It's a bit too slow and you'll typically kill the enemy before they take the full damage from Warp. Still it's great for its utility to further weaken enemies. Give it the upgrades for detonation, boosted weapon and power damage, and defense piercing against barriers and armor.

Shockwave fires in a cascading line and is good for smashing multiple foes at once. We prefer to use this as more of a utility skill and go for the upgrades to force, reach, and the ability to suspend targets.

Infiltrator (Human)

The Infiltrator is decent with both guns and techs. They have a good amount of weight capacity and have special grenades. The infiltrator's signature weapon is the sniper rifle, and is still recommended when paired with cloaking. Still, consider the Geth Hunter strategy and sneak in with a deadly shotgun blast. You have enough weight capacity to also consider taking both a shoty and sniper into battle.

Tactical Cloak is great for not only boosting damage, but will allow you to revive allies and capture objectives unnoticed. We like to use this as a defensive utility skill and pick the upgrades for duration, recharge speed, and use of a bonus power.

Cryo Blast shares Incinerate's arcing tracked shot, but this skill is all about freezing and slowing down targets. While slowing down enemies is nice, what we really like about cryo blast is that it can lower enemy defenses. For this effective strategy, pick the upgrades for more duration, 25% more damage to frozen targets, and extra damage to armor.

The Infiltrator's third skill is the use of Stick Grenades. As implied by the name, the sticky grenades will latch on to an enemy or wall before detonating. Go for the upgrades that improve damage by 30%, maximum grenades by 2, and turn placed grenades into proximity mines.

Vanguard (Human)

The Vanguard uses both combat abilities and deadly biotics. They are glass cannons that have very little regard for their own safety. All that matters is getting in close and crushing the enemy. Since you'll already be in close range stick to your strongest shotgun just in case your biotics fail you. While it might also be appealing to bring an assault rifle for sturdy damage, it's better to lighten your load and switch out for a tiny SMG.

Biotic Charge will quickly smack you face to face with your target, leaving them slightly stunned and open for a follow up attack. We typically don't use this skill on its own, but find its better used to strengthen other biotic skills. Stick with the upgrades for more force, power synergy, and a bonus barriers.

Just like an Adept, Vanguards also have the deadly Shockwave. We still recommend the same upgrade path for the close quarters Vanguard: more force, reach, and the ability to lift enemies.

Nova is another special Vanguard skill. This one will drain your barrier to dish out a large amount of area damage. Because Nova doesn't use the global cooldown it can be used right after another power. Remember when we said we liked using Charge to enhance powers? You can quickly chain together a Charge into a Nova for devastating effects. Go for the upgrades that increase damage, power recharge, and piercing damage.

Sentinel (Human)

The last class is the Sentinel. In multiplayer, Sentinels make use of defensive techs and offensive bitoitcs. Their bonuses to defense allows them to take more risks than other classes. Since you're already being weighed down from your tech armor you can go one of two routes: light weapons to get as much recharge speed as possible, or go big. Double rifles for maximum pain and destruction.

Tech Armor adds a large boost of shields but lowers the recharge speed of other abilities. It can also be detonated to deal area damage. We prefer the defensive properties and choose the upgrades for 15% more shields and bonus to power damage.

Sentinels also have Warp, just like an Adept. This poisonous ability is still too slow for good damage, but is great for lowering protection. Stick to the upgrades for biotic detonation, increased damage from weapon and power, and piercing to armor and barriers.

Sentinels are the only human class that has access to Throw. This is mostly used to push back enemies, but can deal a decent amount of damage. For rank upgrades, invest in more force, combo recharge, and double throw.