JLoco11's Soldier loadouts

[jloco11]

The following guide is how I personally rank up my classes in Mass Effect 3. There is no "perfect" way to setup your classes, and in numerous examples I will be showing some alterations I make with each promotion.

This is also not a guide on how to use the characters, just merely a suggestion on a loadout you may want to try.

Please note, in each guide unless otherwise stated, I put EVERY power to minimum of Evolution 3. These guides will only discuss the BRANCHING POWERS starting in Evolution 4 for the powers I elect to customize.

If a power/ability is not mentioned, that means I upgrade it to Evo 3 only.

[jloco11]

Human Soldiers - With each human class, I like to spec them out differently because it makes no sense to have 2 identical characters that play the same way. Both loadouts I use are shown.

Human #1: http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#10PHKRDA9@0
Weapons: Avenger & Shuriken... this can also work with a Mattock or sniper rifle.

Adrenaline 4: Weapon damage bonus 20%
Adrenaline 5: Duration by 40%
Adrenaline 6: Use 1 power while Adrenaline rush is activated

Concussion 4: Increase Force & Damage by 40%
Concussion 5: Increase recharge speed by 35%

Frag Nade 4: Increase Damage by 30%
Frag Nade 5: Increase max capacity by 2
Frag Nade 6: Increase damage to armor by 75%

Alliance 4: Power damage 10%, weight capacity 20%
Alliance 5: Headshot damage bonus 20%
Alliance 6: Weapon damage bonus 10%

Summary - The standard build I use with the Avenger is meant for Concussion shot spam, followed by Adrenaline Rush to finsh off enemies or take out heavy hitters. HOWEVER, ranking up concussion shot is not a major priority due to it's relatively low damage output from upgrades.

The upgrades to other powers are FAR more signifcant than the 3 powers you would get with Concussion Shot, so they should take priority. Since CS can't knock down protected enemies and does not remove shields, it has significant limitations that doesn't warrant major investment into the power.

This class can also support a sniper rifle or the Mattock assault rifle, in which case the main power use should be Adrenaline Rush. With headshot upgrades, a more powerful rifle than the Avenger could do significant damage to enemies, higher than spamming concussion shot.

This build can support both styles of gameplay, although I usually rock the Avenger class setup over the other 2.

Grenade spam is also going to be a top priority, but on higher levels the grenade damage is significantly reduced. You'll be throwing more of them to do heavy damage, and a big reason why this is not a class built for Gold runs.

[jloco11]

Human #2: http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#10MDRGRT0@0
Weapons: N7 Crusader

Adrenaline 4: Decrease health and shield damage taken by 40%
Adrenaline 5: Increase melee damage by 50%
Adrenaline 6: Increase shield strength by 100%

Frag Nade 4: Increase radius by 30%
Frag Nade 5: Max grenade capacity increased by 2
Frag Nade 6: Increase damage to shields by 75%

Alliance 4: Increase weapon damage by 7.5%
Alliance 5: Damage bonus 15%

Fitness 4: Increase health and shield bonus by 15%
Fitness 5: Decrease shield recharge by 15%
Fitness 6: Increase health and shield bonus by 25%

Summary - I don't use this class that often, but this is how to run a shotgun tank class. The idea is to give the soldier as much health as possible with close quarters combat abilities. Concussion shot is not spammed with this loadout, but can certainly be used.

With Adrenaline Rush, you now have the ability to survive more damage, while being able to land closer shots with the Crusader for maximum damage. Plus the frage grenades provide excellent crowd control.

Adding more points in Fitness than Alliance gives you the ability to survive CQC battles. With a Crusader, you need to be accurate with the slug shots, so if you miss, having the health to survive will help.

[jloco11]

Krogan Soldier - The main 3 powers I use are always upgraded to Evolution 6 (and Evo 5 for Berserker) the same way each time. The only change I make to this class is Fortification or Carnage/Berserker depending on how I feel.

http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#11DDLJKS9@0
NOTE: This loadout has purposely left off the final 15 points based on how I feel like playing.
Weapons: Claymore

Inferno 4: Increase damage per second by 30%
Inferno 5: Max capacity increase by 2
Inferno 6: Increase shrapnel by 1, increase radius by 40%

Berserker 4: Increase power damage by 10%, increase weight capacity by 20%
Berserker 5: Headshot bonus 20%

Rage 4: Increase melee damage 30%
Rage 5: Increase melee damage 75% after succesful heavy melee for 30 seconds
Rage 6: Increase melee damage by 30%, reduce number of melee kills to 2 to trigger Krogan Rage

The following setups are based on how I feel like playing

*Fortification 4: Melee Damage bonus 30%
*Fortification 5: Increase shield recharge rate by 15%
*Fortification 6: Increase power recharge rate by 30%

*Carnage 4: Increase damage 30%
*Carnage 5: Increase recharge speed 35%
*Berserker 6: Increase shotgun weight by 30%

Summary - I play this class 2 different ways, but the majority of the class is melee heavy damage. Krogans are the best up close and personal fighters in the game, and using their melee charge is the easiest way to eliminate enemies.

And since they're the strongest characters in the game, they have the most weight capacity to handle the claymore.

As far as my 2 different setups, the first setup with Fortfication Evo 6 means I run around with Fortification on all game long, melee as much shit as possible.

The second setup uses carnage as the setup for melee damage, where I burn my victim and then close in for a melee kill. With the additonal weight reduction, I can use Carnage more frequently than with Fortification running. This is all preference and there is no wrong way to set the class up this way.

Burning enemies with the Inferno Grenade is a great way to get some extra kills without having to use the Claymore.

[jloco11]

Turian Soldier - Turians in the game just suck. Between not having the ability to roll, absorb damage and shitty powers, they're just awful. I use this class for fucking around, but you need to rank up Marksman and Turian Veteran quite a bit before it does any damage.

http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#12QNDRJb0@0
Weapons: Black Widow & any light secondary SMG or pistol

Marksman 4 - Increase Fire Rate by 15%
Marksman 5 - Increase headshot damage by 25%
Marksman 6 - Increase Accuracy & Fire Rate by 15%

Concussion 4 - Increase Force & Damage by 30%
Concussion 5 - Increase recharge speed by 35%
Concussion 6 - Increase shot force by 50%, increase damage to organics by 100% over 10 seconds

Veteran 4 - Power damage 10%, weapon capacity 20%
Veteran 5 - Increase headshot damage by 20%
Veteran 6 - Increase weapon damage & stability by 10%

Fitness 4 - Increase health & shield by 15%
Fitness 5 - Decrease shield recharge time by 15%

Summary - There's no reason to use a Turian over other soldier classes... ever! But I try to take advantage of Marksman with a Black Widow for a number of reasons. Since the BW is a 3 shot clip, if you were to put it on an infiltrator, you would lose invisibility after the first shot (maybe the second if quick enough).

With Marksman, the power lasts longer, and allows all 3 shots to get the benefit of a long term power. Adding the headshot damage is crucial since the gun doesn't have the stopping power of other rifles. Also, the increase fire rate allows more shots to be fired than a normal class.

In addition to stability, people have used the Hurricane since the Turian's powers are able to neutralize it's kick fom the high fire rate. That could also help the loadout of the class.

Concussion shot and Proxy mines are really useless powers and more deterants than anything. You have to invest points in 1 of them, and might as well do concussion shots since you can spam them.

Adding points into Fitness allows you to take more damage from enemies while exposing yourself to enemy fire while you shoot the Black Widow.

Either way, this is not a class to be used until Marksman and Veteran are maxed out and virtually pointless to use once the other classes are ranked up.

[jloco11]

Batarian Soldier - Only way to really play this class is up close and personal. I use this loadout 99% of the time, with the 1 change being Fitness 5 every now and then..

http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#14NDLOJW0@0
Weapon: Geth Shotgun

Ballistic 4 - Increase Damage by 30%
Ballistic 5 - Increase recharge speed by 35%
Ballistic 6 - Blades explode after 3 seconds, causing 400 points of damage but end bleed effect

Inferno 4 - Increase damage by 30% per second
Inferno 5 - Increase max capacity by 2
Inferno 6 - Increase shrapnel by 1 fragment, increase radius by 40%

Enforcer 4 - Increase power damage by 10%, increase weapon capacity by 20%
Enforcer 5 - Increase power damage by 15%
Enforcer 6 - Reduce weight of sniper rifles and shotguns by 25%

Fitness 4 - Increase health and shield by 15%
Fitness 5 - Decrease shield recharge by 15%

Summary - Running around with shotgun is the only way to go with the class. Although the sniper rifle indicators make him sound like a decent sniper, there is not buffing power to a sniper rifle to make it worthwhile. Stick with a shotgun, because this class has slow killing powers just asking for a powerful gun to finish off the kills.

Blade Armor is like every other Tech Armor, slows down power spam too much to be effective and does little buffing to current powers. Since the Batarian heavy melee takes a week to wind up and hit someone, it's really useless compared to the speed of other character melee animations. He's not a great melee character, so no point in investing in melee abilities no matter how strong they can get.

Ballistic Blades is his most useful power, and upgrading to explosives is the best option. Although it ends the bleeding effect, the damage it does, combined with a faster recharge speed means you can spam the power and do the most damage possible with an exploding blade. And since you're fighting up close, your shotgun will do all kinds of damage while waiting for the explosion.

Inferno Grenades are also a long lasting power. Although the initial damage isn't as much as a regular grenade, the lasting burn damage will take down some enemies without having to worry about shooting them. Similar to Ballistic Blades, this "bleed" damage will net a few kills without you actually shooting someone.

[jloco11]

Vorcha Soldier - There are a number of ways to play the Vorcha because of his unique powers. I've messed around with his powers a few ways and this is one that I like for the Soldier.

http://narida.pytalhost.com/me3/classes/#15RODIK[9@0DA@@
Weapons: Reegar Carbine & Phalynx

SoldierBloodlust 4: Increase health regen with each stack by 50%
Bloodlust 5: Increase weapon damage by 5% with each stack
Bloodlust 6: Increase health regen with each stack by 100%

Flamer 4: Increase range 50%
Flamer 5: Increase damage 40% per second
Flamer 6: Increase damage to armor 50%

Resilience 4: Increase damage bonus 10%, increase weight capacity 20%
Resilience 5: Increase power damage 15%

Fitness 4: Increase melee damage 30%
Fitness 5: Increase melee damage 75% for 30 seconds after a heavy melee kill
Fitness 6: Increase melee damage 30%

Summary - Trying to make the Soldier and Sentinel classes different are almost impossible. Fact is you could use this exact setup with the Sentinel if you wanted since it's perfectly ideal for both.

But to distinguish, I made this more of a no-brainer class and the Sentinel more of a normal class. Bloodlust health regen is maxed out. It's almost impossible to die with the health regen and you have to do something extraordiniarily stupid to die. With max regen, a Vorcha can survive a banshee fireball.

His Melee is better than a Krogan's. He has a much further commando lunge, in which he locks on to his victim. A Krogan has to have someone directly in front of him. With near invincibility and a high damage lunge, this is the best melee class in the game.

In additon to health regen, bloodlust continues to "stack" with every kill. In other words, the more you kill quickly, the more powerful you become. Think of this dude like a psychotic serial killer or some shit from a strange movie. Sitting back with an assault rifle is probably the worst way to use him.

For Flamer, go with distance and avoid duration. Most boss level enemies approach you so distance will get them before they get you. Most low level enemies avoid you so this will get them before running away. Burn & Melee is a great combo. I choose to do more damage to armor, because the Reegar takes care of shields and barrier.

The Reegar makes this class unstoppable. You basically have 2 flamethrowers, 1 which damages shields & barriers, the other goes after armor. The Phalynx and Carnage are your long range powers in case you get bogged down inside an area download.