Damn. I was supposed to write this post a long time ago, while still remembering the details. Now it’s all a bit hazy. But I remember some of it, and back then I made some notes and a rough draft, so I’ll create a post out of those. It’ll be less comprehensive than I had intended, but no one will care because no one plays this game anymore.

I’m talking about Mass Effect: Andromeda, and the build I used to play through the game on insanity (the highest difficulty) without much trouble and without having to play like an action hero (which I neither enjoy nor master). It allows for a relatively relaxed and chilled playing style despite the recurring chaos on the battlefield, letting the team (squad + constructs) do much of the heavy lifting. I don’t even engage in active use of combos, though my team made them happen with increasing frequency as they get more upgrades.

The short version is this: it’s a tech-based build using as active powers the two tech constructs (the turret and the remnant) and the cloak, with the engineer profile. For weapon, a sniper rifle with unlimited ammo, which goes well with being relatively stationary and far away from the epicenter of the action.

Initially and for a good long while I concentrate on developing the tech section, but eventually one runs out of useful tech skills/upgrades to develop, at which point I start investing elsewhere, into improving sniping and other passive non-tech skills. All of those skill points go into the combat section actually, but I would definitely get Barrier from the biotics section if it was available without any previous points into that section (might actually be worth it anyway — there are some wiggle room in this build, some things are set in stone and others are not, and you have to use your own judgement to decide which is which).

Skill upgrades and division of labor

As for skill upgrades, whenever there’s a mutually exclusive choice, I (nearly?) always prioritize improving the team over improving myself, and when I do improve myself I prioritize defense and survival over offense. (That’s not to say that I always pick improving the team first if there’s a non-mutually exclusive choice — that would depend on the current needs, as based on experience from the field. E.g. maybe I really need a better cloak right now, and then that would come first).

With good reason — there is a synergy going on between the these particular skills, skill upgrades, the playing style, and choice of squad members.

All the team do is directly attacking, but I have a couple of additional responsibilities.

There’s the attacking of course, using the sniper rifle, but there’s also the constantly managing and coordinating the others, assessing the situation on the battlefield and making decisions about where they should go and who to attack. That often means having them attack the same target (often the weakest), but not always.

They’re allowed to die or get destroyed; I’m not, so I also need to prioritize survival for myself. In part, I do that through the playing style, hanging around in the background and on the edges of the battle, but also through upgrading my defense and ability to survive. That’s not just improving armor, but also things like making the cloak last longer, and being able to recharge the shield while being cloaked. That’s way more important than, say, getting an upgrade to do more melee damage while cloaked, which would be nearly useless.

Lastly, it’s my job to revive fallen comrades and re-employing destroyed constructs. This happens pretty regularly early on, but less so as the team gets better. In doing so, the cloak is very useful, esp since I often prefer squad members that go into close contact with the enemy, such as the Krogan and Cora, which means that when they die, they end up right in the middle of the action — good luck reviving them on insanity without having a cloak. But in addition the cloak is useful for getting into good vantage points, and escaping if the enemy gets too close. Can’t overestimate how useful and necessary the cloak is for this build and this playing style.

A few additional notes about skills

The three active powers are all so good and essential to this build that I never use anything else, so all other skill points go into getting and upgrading passive powers. I don’t think it’s that hard to determine which of those powers to get (in time I think you get pretty much all passive powers, upgraded all the way, in the tech section.). In some cases it might be somewhat tricky deciding what specific upgrades to get when you have to choose among the mutually exclusive ones. Just use your judgement to the best of your ability and upgrade in accordance with the guidelines I’ve given above. Some choices are obvious, but some are not, in which case it might not even matter that much which way you go. Remember that it’s always possible to regret your decision and redistribute all skill points.

Here’s an additional example of synergy, from memory: there is an upgrade where one can make the assault turret slowly repair itself if it’s in proximity to me. That’s a superb one, esp since I’m relatively immobile during combat anyway. But as mentioned, I am usually far away from the action, so the turret needs to be as well. That in turn means that as it’s time to decide whether to equip it with ice or fire, it needs to be ice, since that’s a long distance weapon, and fire (a flame thrower really) is not.

There are synergies like that all over the place, both obvious and less obvious ones, including finding a nice balance between having the team priming and detonating combos. Having them all do one and not the other would obviously be suboptimal, as far as combos go (which is just one consideration — it’s like a puzzle where you want all pieces to fit). Done right, combos will in time go off regularly without you lifting a finger. I don’t do combos myself, but it’s great having a team that does.

Obviously the Team Support skill has many good upgrades, but you can find team-related upgrades scattered across the other skills and upgrades as well.

You don’t need to be too dogmatic about the details. Maybe I wasn’t, I don’t remember, could very well be that I put a few points i to e.g. sniping before getting a certain team-related upgrade. But in general, team comes first, and then defense/survival over offense for myself, then the rest. That applies not only to skills, but also to armor, which to pick and what bonuses to add, and maybe in other areas as well, I don’t remember all the systems.

A different beginning

Please note that none of those three active powers are available at the start. For the cloak and turret, you first you need to add nine points into the tech section. That means levelling up a few times. Don’t worry, that happens early, but if you run into the wrong enemies before that point, it could actually get really difficult. If so, maybe go elsewhere to get those points, and come back later. I have no advice on what initial interim powers to choose.

The remnant will take a tad bit longer to get, as it requires you to find PeeBee and finish one of her early quests, but do prioritize that though, at least after having the other two powers. Shouldn’t take too long or be too hard.

When you do get the specified powers, don’t forget to respec the build (done in the medical bay) so that no skill points are wasted.

Final thoughts

I’ve heard of people getting stuck on insanity level, overwhelmed by enemies. It doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve also seen it claimed that actively using combos is necessary at this difficulty. Not true. With the right skills and right playing style it is pretty smooth sailing. I’m sure there are many viable builds (even for insanity), especially for action heroes who don’t mind intense and explosive action, but I’ve found a convenient and fun build that suits me perfectly. This is the ”let someone else do the hard work” build. I’m sure it’s boring to some people, but I for one prefer it this way. Among other things, it makes it more of an RPG experience where you rely a little more on making thoughtful decisions and a little less on being good at fast-paced combat.

But anyway, that’s that.