Trilogie / Classes
Shepard
Six classes, trois règlements
Les noms restent. Mass Effect 2 interdit des armes. Mass Effect 3 les donne toutes et taxe le poids sur les pouvoirs.
The names never change: Soldier, Adept, Engineer, Infiltrator, Sentinel, Vanguard. What the name allows does change. Mass Effect 1 trains weapon accuracy with talents. Mass Effect 2 simply refuses to let you equip a rifle your class was not taught. Mass Effect 3 hands every class every gun and then slows your powers if the guns are heavy.
There is no single best class. Soldier and Sentinel forgive the most mistakes on Insanity. Vanguard is a shotgun class that dies when it Charges a shielded crowd in Mass Effect 2. Adept and Engineer win fights with combos in Mass Effect 3 and spend the early Collector missions under-armed.
Mass Effect 2 weapon locks
Soldier: assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, heavy pistols. No submachine guns. Adept, Engineer, and Sentinel: submachine guns and heavy pistols. Infiltrator adds sniper rifles. Vanguard adds shotguns. Every Shepard can carry heavy weapons; squadmates cannot. The Collector Ship lets you learn one missing family. It does not unlock the whole rack.
On Insanity, enemies keep shields, armor, or barriers over their health. Overload and disruptor ammo take shields. Warp and incinerate take armor and barriers. A class that cannot strip a layer needs a squadmate who can. That is a better plan than swapping class out of boredom at the end of Horizon.
Mass Effect 3 weight
The cooldown bar runs from +200% when you are very light to −200% when you are far over capacity. Squadmates ignore weight, so the Mattock you will not carry can still go to James. Power classes live on a Predator or another light pistol. Infiltrators justify one heavy sniper and then stop. Soldiers can carry more before the bar goes negative.
Do not trust a seconds calculator on this site. Public write-ups disagree on the exact weight curve, and gear bonuses add outside the weapon bar. The in-game bar is the instrument. If it is negative and you wanted a combo, drop a gun.
After the Collector Ship, Shepard picks one weapon family the class does not already have. Soldier already has assault rifles, snipers, shotguns, and heavy pistols. Heavy weapons are Shepard-only in Mass Effect 2 and do not use that training.
| Class | Signature | ME2 weapons | ME2 locked | ME3 doctrine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier | Adrenaline Rush | Assault rifles, Sniper rifles, Shotguns, Heavy pistols, Heavy weapons | Submachine guns | Every weapon type is legal. This class has the easiest time carrying a heavy rifle and still using powers. Adrenaline Rush is the survivability button on Insanity. |
| Adept | Singularity | Submachine guns, Heavy pistols, Heavy weapons | Assault rifles, Shotguns, Sniper rifles | Stay light. A pistol such as the M-3 Predator keeps the cooldown bar near its +200% cap so Singularity can prime and Warp can detonate. |
| Engineer | Combat Drone | Submachine guns, Heavy pistols, Heavy weapons | Assault rifles, Shotguns, Sniper rifles | Same light-load rule as the Adept. Overload strips shields, Incinerate strips armor, and the Sentry Turret gives you a third gun that does not care about weight. |
| Infiltrator | Tactical Cloak | Sniper rifles, Submachine guns, Heavy pistols, Heavy weapons | Assault rifles, Shotguns | A heavy sniper is the point of the class. Drop the second and third gun if the cooldown bar goes negative and you still want incinerate between shots. |
| Sentinel | Tech Armor | Submachine guns, Heavy pistols, Heavy weapons | Assault rifles, Shotguns, Sniper rifles | Tech Armor lets this class carry a little more gun than an Adept. Still do not stack two heavy weapons if you want Warp and Overload on short cooldowns. |
| Vanguard | Biotic Charge | Shotguns, Submachine guns, Heavy pistols, Heavy weapons | Assault rifles, Sniper rifles | Charge and Nova want a shotgun, and shotguns are heavy. One shotgun, no sniper. Nova is a Mass Effect 3 power; it is not in Mass Effect 2. |
| Class | Passive | Insanity | Mass Effect 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier | Combat Mastery | The most forgiving gun platform in Mass Effect 2. Fit Disruptor Ammo, or bring a squadmate with Overload, so shields actually drop. | Most accurate with every weapon family. Charm and Intimidate are still separate skills. |
| Adept | Biotic Mastery | Mass Effect 2 Insanity layers shields and armor over health. Biotics do little until those layers are gone. The early game is the hard part. | Lifts and warps unprotected targets. Poor accuracy with rifles until those weapon talents are trained. |
| Engineer | Tech Mastery | Best defense-stripper in Mass Effect 2. Overload for shields, Incinerate for armor, drone to pull aggro. | Decryption and electronics specialist. Opens boxes other classes need Tali or Kaidan for. |
| Infiltrator | Operative | Cloak, break shields with Disruptor or a squadmate, then a scoped shot on armor. The M-98 Widow is the usual Collector-ship prize for this class. | Sniper talent plus tech. The long-range answer to ME2's later cloak kit. |
| Sentinel | Defender | The durable hybrid. Overload removes shields, Warp removes barriers and armor, Tech Armor is the extra health bar. | The class Kaidan already is: biotics plus tech, no weapon specialty. |
| Vanguard | Assault Mastery | Charging a group that still has shields is how Vanguards die on Mass Effect 2 Insanity. Strip shields or Charge an isolated target. | Shotgun-and-biotic fantasy shows up for real in Mass Effect 2, when Charge exists. |
Open next: which guns those locks actually name; why Charm, interrupts, and Reputation are not the same bar.
Questions the codex gets
Can I change class in the sequel?
Yes. An import asks for a class again in Mass Effect 2 and again in Mass Effect 3. A Mass Effect 1 Adept can become a Mass Effect 2 Soldier.
Which class should a first Insanity run use?
Soldier if you want guns to solve it. Sentinel if you want Tech Armor plus Overload and Warp. Save Vanguard for a run that already knows which enemies still have shields.
Why can't my Soldier use the Locust?
In Mass Effect 2 the Soldier has no SMG training. The Locust is the accurate SMG for Adept, Engineer, and Sentinel. Mass Effect 3 lifts that lock and replaces it with weight.