Best Class/Squad for Insanity?

[Zavi ☯]

I might actually get 100% achievements for the games but the most difficult one so far seems to be the Insanity achievements. I have seen some guides on Youtube and such for Insanity but the classes and squads are almost always inconsistent. I wanted to see the forum's opinion on what Class would be best for each game, along with your squad?

[DaciValt]

It's inconsistent because there is no one answer, many different squad comps work as do classes alot of it is down to playstyle and what you want your squadmates to do. Do you want them to deal with shields? Do you want them to help set up biotic/tech combos? Do you want more HP/shields? Do you want a specific ammo type? etc.

It's all very relative so you'll get different answers depending on who's answering.

Tho if you do want super easy mode for ME:1 you go biotic, barrier makes you a tank and you can CC an entire room in one cast of lift. Doesn't work with 2 and 3 ofc,

[Rez Elwin]

Many Squad members can fill the same role, and it also depends on your class. Do you need a sniper as a Infiltrator? Probably not, but you might want a meat shield for distraction.

I'll give my General advice on who to take for the first 2 games. Note that I was playing an Infiltrator so I had decryption in ME1, you might wanna sub somebody for Tali If you cannot open the chests yourself.

ME1: Liara and Wrex, Biotics are very strong in ME1, even Saren was helpless against them.
ME2: Miranda can buff the entire team, very handy. Grunt is pretty much Indestructible.

[Cooldog]

Infiltrator all the damned way.

In ME1, I used Liara and Garrus for some godforsaken reason but maybe Wrex is better than Garrus either way. Assassination can make your shot hit with the force of a thermonuclear bomb.

ME2 is the hardest of the two. If ME1 was the loving mother and ME3 the cool uncle, ME2's the cold and stern father who disciplined you for any little wrong thing you do to teach you a lesson. STICK TO COVER AT ALL ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ COSTS. Any piece of cover will be your love-life the entire game. Other than that, Miranda is an incredible squadmade for most of the game. Kasumi, Samara, Grunt, Thane and Zaeed are good second squadmates, depending on the mission you're in (though if it includes Geth just default to Tali). As an Infiltrator, the SMG and Sniper Rifle are your best friends, Pistol is only considered last resort. The invisibility cloak can be used to get out of hairy situations and overpower your next sniper shot to help kill the tougher enemies. Incinerate is for armor, no need to worry. You also have the passive ability of time dilation whenever you aim down a sniper scope, so use that wisely. Whenever you get to the Collector Ship, get the Widow rifle. It can hit with the force of a supernova if used right. Whenver you can do Kasumi's loyalty mission, do it and get the Locust. It WILL be your go-to whenever you run out of sniper ammo. It's very accurate and hits like a truck. BUT you should have every other squadmate use the Tempest as it has a better rate of fire and dps and squadmates have perfect accuracy. Whenever you're up against the Collectors, ESPECIALLY on the suicide mission, instalock Thane and Zaeed. Most Collectors have barriers so either your sniper shots or Thane's Warp can dispense them fairly quickly. the Harbinger has a Barrier and Armor bar, so after the Barrier is gone, both Zaeed and Thane can use Warp and Inferno Grenade to completely ERASE him from the battle no matter what. Other than that, in the Proto-Reaper fight, try to destroy more than one vat between battles to minimize the amount of times you need to fight Harbinger. I got lucky and only had to do one fight because I destroyed two vats before and afterwards. Once the Proto-Reaper fight began, I was able to put in a VERY lucky M920-Cain shot, getting rid of its health and killing it easier.

ME3, honestly I have absolutely no clue but you have access to more things. Sticky Grenade, Cryo/Disruptor Ammo, powers used by squadmates (unlocked by going through dialogue cutscenes with them on the Normandy throughout the game), and the DLC after you complete them. For weapons? To complete blunt I have no clue, do whatever you want but be sure to have a sniper rifle. I used the Indra, which slapped like a truck with Cryo ammo. Other than that, I interchanged between the Shuriken, Tempest, Particle Rifle and settled on the Lancer once I got through the Citadel DLC. Unlimited ammo and slaps like a truck. Javik and Kaiden (yes, KAIDEN if you have an imported character, other than that use Garrus or Edi interchangably depending on who you're fighting) are the best squadmates for the whole game. Javik's Dark Channel weakens enemies, and his Pull/Slam can help with combos along with his Lift Grenades. Kaiden has Overload, Reave, and can use ARs. All the good stuff. Dealing with Cerberus, be sure to utilize your tech abilities to the max, as they're mainly shields. Your sniper rifle can erase Guardians since you can just put the bullet through the mailslot (lmao). The Reaper Forces are another deck of cards. Javik can assist most of the time while Kaiden can help against Marauders. Just be sure to be ready for the Brutes and keep your distance from Banshees. They literally can insta-kill you in an animation if you get too close. Ravagers are complete sonuvabitches that are ruthless. Just hit them with all you have and stick to cover when they shoot. Harvesters are just completely douchebags that deserve to burn in a ditch. If you HAVE to go against one, stick to cover, and figure out its firing pattern so you can place the most amount of damage in before you have to duck back to avoid getting slammed by its explosive shots. Once you get all that down, it's just a matter of the ending.

[Lovecraft]

My pick would be Soldier. Bonus ability energy drain or warp ammo (to set up explosions for team mates).
2nd Pick Infiltrator with armor pierce ammo or energy drain.

[5ean5ean]

I value tankiest and versatility over everything else.

Squadmates:

ME1....doesnt really matter. I always bring Tali to open crates

ME2....Miranda (she is broken, Warp Overload, and Squad damage and health) and Garrus (Sqaud AP ammo)

ME3:

James Vega (Fortification, and Squad Inferno ammo) as tanky as a Krogan.

EDI: she is also broken (Overload, Incinerate, Defense Matrix)

As for classes here's my ranking

1. Sentinel
2. Soldier
3 Tie Infiltrator and Vanguard (Only bc Charge is Unethical)
5. Engineer
6. Adept

[Rambit]

Kaiden is a must

[wilky]

Kasumi is far & away #1 squadmate. Basically use Shadow Strike on cooldown, and add Overload / Flashbang Grenade as needed. If you constantly use SS, the enemies won't really have a chance to kill her because she's in and out of cloak so fast. And it does a lot of damage as a "finisher" if you can knock off the top layer of defense with your weapon or with a Shepard talent while she's cloaking, etc. Go for her Kasumi's cooldown specialty. There are very few missions that she does not excel at. Maybe the Collector Ship mission?

I'm tempted to say Grunt is #2 for Insanity. Maybe Zaeed (or I could see someone going with Thane). Miranda is good but also fragile. I really like Grunt on Insanity on most difficult missions. You can kinda just forget about him, and he's strong enough to tank anything and almost never die. This is actually really nice on Insanity, because it takes some pressure off you and allows you to be able to concentrate on focus-firing mobs more easily.

Basically on Insanity, I take the +dmg specialty for most squadmates (e.g., Grunt, Zaeed, Thane, etc.) and I basically take all maximum Tungsten/Inferno Ammo variants. I don't take squad ammo because Shepard also has his own ammo power (my favorite for Insanity is AP Ammo, but if I'm playing Vanguard I will just stick with Inferno, etc). Using max power ammo + max dmg specialty makes Grunt, Zaeed, Thane (and Shepard) extremely deadly. On Insanity, sometimes it's more practical to kill ♥♥♥♥ fast than to have like 5 or 10% extra HP.

[ADhalism]

vanguard is literally immortal in ME3. As long as you keep your weight low enough the charge cooldown will always refresh faster than your shields get dropped, even if you stand in the open. If anything I would advise against using vanguard cause it can get pretty boring steamrolling everyone.

[St.Absinthe]

Originally posted by WG | ๖Zavi ❤:

I might actually get 100% achievements for the games but the most difficult one so far seems to be the Insanity achievements. I have seen some guides on Youtube and such for Insanity but the classes and squads are almost always inconsistent. I wanted to see the forum's opinion on what Class would be best for each game, along with your squad?

I'll give you my rundown of how I played on Insanity as an Adept.

1) ME1 is not hard to finish on Insanity. It's been a few days since I played it so my memory is a little hazy, but what I do remember with clarity is that Biotics can penetrate through defenses. Meaning Krogan and anything with shields/is physics enabled is vulnerable to Biotics that incapacitate their targets. Sniping is also much easier across the board since they removed the camera sway almost entirely. So playing through the game as an Adept Sniper was very smooth. The hardest parts are when you have to confront Rocket Drones, but most of those are in side missions that don't count towards Insanity 1.

2) ME2 is the hardest game to approach on Insanity, and not entirely for good reasons. In ME2 everything will now have shields/barriers/armour. For example, husks and abominations all have armour, which means that you can't just slap them away with slam or shockwave like you would on Veteran. That means any squadmate that doesn't have defense stripping abilities (Jack) are completely useless and are a no-no unless you really want to hear their dialogue for some reason.
-- Miranda is the best companion for ME2 since she can both Overload and Warp. As an Adept, warp is a particularly good skill for her to have because it means you can set people up by pulling/singularity and she can detonate.
-- I played ME2 by swapping between Miranda/Garrus or Miranda/Thane depending on the enemy type. For example, for mercenary maps I bring Garrus for the extra Overload, but on Collector maps I bring Thane for the double-warp tap. Doubling up on defense-stripping is the best strategy in ME2. If you triple-warp Harbinger, his appearances become trivial.

3) ME3 is very easy compared to 2 and 1. And you have a lot more leeway with squad selections since Shepard can become very OP pretty quickly. All you have to do to make ME3 easy is do biotic/tech explosions. In ME2 only warp can detonate biotics, but in 3, almost every attack is a biotic detonator. Warp + Throw, Pull + Throw, etc. Combine that with cooldown reduction/power damage passives and armour and you don't even have to fire your gun in most firefights. As an adept especially since you can just slap people around with powers to infinity. I didn't even get a chance to empty and clips until Grissom Academy since you get Liara as early as Mars.

I played ME3 a few years ago as a lvl 30 vanguard and it's even more of a breeze than Adept. Charge + Nova is extremely broken, and I'm not surprised that they nerfed it completely when it came to Andromeda.

I almost forgot. During ME2 and 3, I went with Energy Drain as my bonus power. You can swap this out for Reave or Warp Ammo if you want to rely on squadmates to drain shields, but it doesn't hurt to have one tech ability on just in case.

[Gigabyte]

ME2 as vanguard I had Miranda and would swap my second depending on the mission.
ME1 as other have said biotics are overpowered and id recommend an assault rifle if youv unlocked that as a bonus yet with overkill you can fill enemies with lead before they have any chance of getting at you. Party wise Ashley and wrex are regenerating gods in me1 and Liara having electronics and all her biotics can make her surprisingly tanky if you position her right.
ME3 I have no idea i struggle with me3 way more than any of the other games and i couldnt tell you why, maybe its the addition of more hitscan attacks or maybe there not hitscan and just have a really fast bullet speed either way i suck at me3 and cant offer advice.

[Jaxboro]

Sentinel for versatility and tankiness in all 3 games even if it's slightly different in each one.
Wrex and Liara are a great combo in ME1. Miranda plus anyone in ME2. You don't really need anyone in ME3 but Garrus ascends to Godhood plus you with a Walking Armory Build would be fun.

Infiltrator is great as well. You can go with a Kaiden/Wrex or Liara/Garrus team in ME1, Miranda and Thane or Samara in ME2. You can sniper or cloaky shotgun in ME2 and ME3. Maybe Liara and Kaidan in ME3.

Really, all classes are viable.

[Jaxboro]

Originally posted by 5ean5ean:

I value tankiest and versatility over everything else.

Squadmates:

ME1....doesnt really matter. I always bring Tali to open crates

ME2....Miranda (she is broken, Warp Overload, and Squad damage and health) and Garrus (Sqaud AP ammo)

ME3:

James Vega (Fortification, and Squad Inferno ammo) as tanky as a Krogan.

EDI: she is also broken (Overload, Incinerate, Defense Matrix)

As for classes here's my ranking

1. Sentinel
2. Soldier
3 Tie Infiltrator and Vanguard (Only bc Charge is Unethical)
5. Engineer
6. Adept

Unethical how fun it is

[Dante Volingrad]

I started ME1:LE out on Insanity playing as a Sentinel and mostly using Liara and Tali as squadmates. It was a little rough in the beginning, but once I got to level 10 or so it became trivial. You have so much CC with this set up that you just lock everyone up, focus fire on one person at a time, and just keep everyone else off their feet or in stasis. Barrier practically makes you invincible once you go Bastion. Stasis also become way OP, freeze someone in their tracks, pop Marksmen, shoot them in the head for quick and easy kill.

[FreshRevenge]

For me I was an infiltrator and my two main's were really Garrus and Tali, or Garrus and Liara. Depends on the mission really. Since being an infiltrator, I would have the hacking ability. Tali would have her combat drones that were helpful. Garrus well he is pretty tough and has that concussion shot.

Insanity wasn't really that difficult, there were only a few spots in 3 that I had issues with.

On the mission to Retake Rannoch. After fighting some Geth, you need to go up a elevator and you are greeted with 3 Geth Primes with Rocket launchers and drones. Luckily I had the cloaking ability to get into good position to use the Geth spitfire to tear down their shields quickly. You will find yourself reviving your teams a lot since Geth Primes will get right into their faces.

The other spot was during the Citadel dlc when I was fighting my clone in the hanger bay. Your clone will constantly regen themselves so you need to focus on the enemies that seem to keep spawning into the room while your clone tries to flank you disrupting you.

[Deadtil27]

I’ve had good luck as a sentinel in 1 and 2. In 1 I used mainly garrrus/wrex/Ashley and Liara/Tali. Using barrier I could tank most damage, but my guns were fairly weak for a while since as a sentinel you only get bonuses to pistols. In 2 I had a lot of trouble in 2 in the beginning as the shiruken(starter smg) and the predator are very underpowered and have far too limited ammo, the carnifex is better but lacks more ammo. Things got easier with assault tech armor and the locust smg, but it has payed off the most now with a combination of geth pulse rifle, ap rounds (from garrus), light overload for shields, warp for more armor damage, throw for fun and getting enemies down, and finally the locust for backup and the Phalanx for ranged accuracy. The pulse rifle and powers take care of most and I mainly bring Tali and Garrus. May not be the best but it works well for me.