Mass Effect 3 Demo

[Khuutra]

Kantor said:

Khuutra said:

HhhhhrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

NO NO NO NO NO NO

No.

Pistols are not worthless, never. The maount of damage you can do in terms of full clip size when factoring in their damage bonuses against armor is enormous, and they're still maybe the most clip-efficient damage dealing weapons in the entire game. The Phalanx, the Carnifex, any of them is better than none of them. You need them for the sake of being able to whittle down armored enemies while you use Warp on Turrets, you need them for their close-quarters damage multipliers, you need them for those emergencies where a Phantom is in your face and doesn't give a shit that you have time to pull off one Warp before she gives you a free bladed colonoscopy.

SMGs are more efficient at taking down shields and Barriers than ARs are, and HPs are much more effective at taking down armor; combine the pistol's damage modifiers with Warp's armor-weakening ability and you have the ability to rip through an Atlas like tissue paper on Bronze.

Take a Predator and a Tempest (or whatever other SMG you prefer); the two combined will be about as heavy a an M-8 Avenger by itself, and you'll be much more efficient in terms of damage per second and in terms of damage per thermal clip, which can be the difference between life and death on any difficulty above Crying Babies.

I have awful memories of the Carnifex that involve running out of ammo after taking down three enemies.

I would go for your SMG and Heavy Pistol idea, but the thought of losing a weapon that can easily hit enemies outside of targeting range, and takes down fucking everything is rather an unpleasant one. From the Collector Ship onwards in Mass Effect 2, I pretty much used nothing other than the assault rifle except for heavy weapons.

Granted, the co-op is considerably harder than Mass Effect 2. What would you think of going with the M8 Avenger and just one of the other two? Which one should it be?

You are playing an Adept. The Avenger and one of the other two would weigh you down too much. Well, not too much, but you'd have less than 100% recharge bonuses for sure unless you have like an Avenger X or something.

If you find yourself utterly unable to use SMGs or Pistols, take the Pistol anyway. If you can unlock the Carnifex, shut up and take that by itself. In ME2 it was weaker than the Phalanx; in this one it's more like a handcannon, with damage more comparable to a shotgun at any range. It is a nightmare weapon, and everyone should be in awe of it.

But again: you're an Adept. Your guns are there to strip defenses that you can't get rid of with your powers, or to support your powers during recharge. Pistols will be most effective for that. If you're using your AR more than you're using Singularity or Warp then you need to be playing another class, like Soldier or Infiltrator.