Best starting Class?

[PocketYoda]

I've gone Vanguard myself but what do others feel is the best?

And why?

[Synavix]

Soldier was the first class I played as in the originals, soldier-hybrid was the first class I played in Andromeda, and now it's the first class I'm using all the way through Legendary.

I think it's the best balance of being very simple but still fairly strong. And it's the most likely to be the canon Shepard class, in my opinion. But it's a bit boring, too.

Infiltrator is my second choice, and was the first class I used for Insanity. It's cloaking opens up a lot of easy defensive play. Adept was my most fun class, but it's squishy and one of the most technical classes to play, so it's not as easy for a first-time player. Engineer was one of the highest burst damage classes in the originals imo, which made it really strong, but the playstyle changes a lot from one game to the next so it's just a bit weird.

Vanguard was one of my favorite classes in multiplayer, but I never liked it as much in singleplayer.

And Sentinel becomes one of the strongest classes in the lategame where you're basically unkillable, but I always felt it was way too weak early on and just not as fun as either full adept or engineer.

[barzai]

Any time I play a new RPG I try to be as tanky as possible so as to be able to focus on the play rather than not dying if someone looks at me too hard in combat.

Also tanky types are generally fairly easy to learn if it's a new game.

So--yeah--Soldier as your first time. But after that you should branch out. The @synavix response is a good rundown. I kinda like Vanguard but you need to appreciate both its strengths and weaknesses if you don't want to be constantly reloading! :-)

[Shia Luck]

I think @Synavix has a good overview there.
I would word t differently mybe, but not in the intention of it being antagonstic to anyone's choice.

Having said that, Soldier is easy mode, Concussive shot and an ammo power in SP is just silly fun! And so it should be. I have enjoyed playing that way before and I may do again because it is easy. But, most rewarding? Most relevant to the theme of a Mass effect game tho? Not at all.

Infiltrator is so OP with cloak (as is every character with cloak/invisibility in every game). And a sniper is how unique? Tho you can make it work with shotgun, or you could in MP. Never tried in SP. But again. what has it to do with the how the mass is changed?

See? it really depends on YOUR definition of Best, no? You can play CoD with a soldier or a sniper or something.

Playing an engineer needs a particular context, which might not mean sci Fi but in this case it is unique so that is good.

Playing an adept, or vanguard needs a ME context tho, no?

So, best = adept or vanguard, cos those are unique to the concept of the game IMHO.

Have fun :)

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

I always do Soldier.

[wendigo211]

In ME1 I'd rate the classes, without a bonus power as:

1. Adept
   
2. Vanguard
   
3. Infiltrator
   
4. Soldier
   
5. Engineer
   
6. Sentinel

With a bonus power it changes to:

1. Adept
   
2. Sentinel
   
3. Vanguard
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Infiltrator
   
6. Soldier

For ME you want a defensive power (Barrier or Immunity), a weapon skill (In the original ME for DPS it was Pistols>Assault Rifles>Shotguns>Sniper Rifles, but I'm not sure if the LE changes it), followed by as many powers as possible. Every class other than the Sentinel has a weapon skill, and only Engineers don't have a defensive skill. With bonus powers a Sentinel can take a weapon skill and an Engineer can take Barrier (they can't use a biotic amp, but IIRC their shield boosts do improve Barrier), it shores up those weaknesses for those classes.

In ME2, I'd rate the classes as:

1. Infiltrator
   
2. Soldier
   
3. Sentinel
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Adept
   
6. Vanguard

ME2 is much more of a shooter. Enemies now have defences you have to remove before you can affect them with your powers, so class power becomes a lot more about the class unique abilities. Tac-Cloak (Infiltrator), Adrenaline Rush (Soldier) and Tech Armor (Sentinel) are the strongest unique powers. The Vanguard's Biotic Charge is fun (honestly you should play an Insanity Vanguard, it's really different to any other class), but it's really buggy and it tends to put you in a bad position.

In ME3, I'd rate the classes as:

1. Vanguard
   
2. Infiltrator
   
3. Soldier
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Adept
   
6. Sentinel

Biotic Charge works a lot better in ME3 and they added Nova, the combo of the two is seriously powerful. Infiltrator and Soldier are about the same. Tech Armor got nerfed to hell.

I'd say Infiltrator is probably the all-round best class, if you don't feel like changing specs between games.

[Rectal Rampage]

You can stick with vanguard, it's really fun in ME2 and ME3

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by wendigo211:

In ME1 I'd rate the classes, without a bonus power as:

1. Adept
   
2. Vanguard
   
3. Infiltrator
   
4. Soldier
   
5. Engineer
   
6. Sentinel

With a bonus power it changes to:

1. Adept
   
2. Sentinel
   
3. Vanguard
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Infiltrator
   
6. Soldier

For ME you want a defensive power (Barrier or Immunity), a weapon skill (In the original ME for DPS it was Pistols>Assault Rifles>Shotguns>Sniper Rifles, but I'm not sure if the LE changes it), followed by as many powers as possible. Every class other than the Sentinel has a weapon skill, and only Engineers don't have a defensive skill. With bonus powers a Sentinel can take a weapon skill and an Engineer can take Barrier (they can't use a biotic amp, but IIRC their shield boosts do improve Barrier), it shores up those weaknesses for those classes.

In ME2, I'd rate the classes as:

1. Infiltrator
   
2. Soldier
   
3. Sentinel
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Adept
   
6. Vanguard

ME2 is much more of a shooter. Enemies now have defences you have to remove before you can affect them with your powers, so class power becomes a lot more about the class unique abilities. Tac-Cloak (Infiltrator), Adrenaline Rush (Soldier) and Tech Armor (Sentinel) are the strongest unique powers. The Vanguard's Biotic Charge is fun (honestly you should play an Insanity Vanguard, it's really different to any other class), but it's really buggy and it tends to put you in a bad position.

In ME3, I'd rate the classes as:

1. Vanguard
   
2. Infiltrator
   
3. Soldier
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Adept
   
6. Sentinel

Biotic Charge works a lot better in ME3 and they added Nova, the combo of the two is seriously powerful. Infiltrator and Soldier are about the same. Tech Armor got nerfed to hell.

I'd say Infiltrator is probably the all-round best class, if you don't feel like changing specs between games.

^This is close to my views..... I generally find the class for ME1 is irrelevant, unless you want to open all the crates/doors (then you need a class with a technical bent like Engineer or Infiltrator).

[PocketYoda]

Really good info i've played ME1 and Me2 years ago and this info was still good to me.

[Emmental]

They're all good, but soldier is the most beginner friendly. Although in my opinion nothing can destroy enemies faster than a soldier as well as being hard to kill. It becomes even more trollish by ME3 where every encounter is basically in slow motion because of hugely reduced recharge speeds on the adrenaline rush. Every fight is the enemies heads being pounded by explosive bursts with a huge damage bonus.

[Karrar]

Originally posted by Dave:

They're all good, but soldier is the most beginner friendly. Although in my opinion nothing can destroy enemies faster than a soldier as well as being hard to kill. It becomes even more trollish by ME3 where every encounter is basically in slow motion because of hugely reduced recharge speeds on the adrenaline rush. Every fight is the enemies heads being pounded by explosive bursts with a huge damage bonus.

In me 3 idk how i missed the N7 typhoon LMG till now, it is so good at mowing down hordes , and with AP ammo kills heavy armoured units fast. Also it is fun to use, though my favorite gun is normally the Mattock, but the typoon made me think why doesn`t mass effect have more LMGs in it? we need more LMGs!! lol :p

[Elazul]

Vanguard is pretty good for all three games on Insanity. You can certainly stick with Vanguard.

[Elazul]

Here are some resources for builds and so forth you may find useful.

MASS EFFECT TRILOGY: GAME MECHANICS AND CHARACTER BUILD COMPILATION THREAD:
https://bsn.boards.net/thread/1625/effect-trilogy-mechanics-character-compilation

[PocketYoda]

Originally posted by Elazul:

Here are some resources for builds and so forth you may find useful.

MASS EFFECT TRILOGY: GAME MECHANICS AND CHARACTER BUILD COMPILATION THREAD:
https://bsn.boards.net/thread/1625/effect-trilogy-mechanics-character-compilation

Thank you using them now.

[Trouser_Dune_Worm]

Originally posted by wendigo211:

In ME1 I'd rate the classes, without a bonus power as:

1. Adept
   
2. Vanguard
   
3. Infiltrator
   
4. Soldier
   
5. Engineer
   
6. Sentinel

With a bonus power it changes to:

1. Adept
   
2. Sentinel
   
3. Vanguard
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Infiltrator
   
6. Soldier

For ME you want a defensive power (Barrier or Immunity), a weapon skill (In the original ME for DPS it was Pistols>Assault Rifles>Shotguns>Sniper Rifles, but I'm not sure if the LE changes it), followed by as many powers as possible. Every class other than the Sentinel has a weapon skill, and only Engineers don't have a defensive skill. With bonus powers a Sentinel can take a weapon skill and an Engineer can take Barrier (they can't use a biotic amp, but IIRC their shield boosts do improve Barrier), it shores up those weaknesses for those classes.

In ME2, I'd rate the classes as:

1. Infiltrator
   
2. Soldier
   
3. Sentinel
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Adept
   
6. Vanguard

ME2 is much more of a shooter. Enemies now have defences you have to remove before you can affect them with your powers, so class power becomes a lot more about the class unique abilities. Tac-Cloak (Infiltrator), Adrenaline Rush (Soldier) and Tech Armor (Sentinel) are the strongest unique powers. The Vanguard's Biotic Charge is fun (honestly you should play an Insanity Vanguard, it's really different to any other class), but it's really buggy and it tends to put you in a bad position.

In ME3, I'd rate the classes as:

1. Vanguard
   
2. Infiltrator
   
3. Soldier
   
4. Engineer
   
5. Adept
   
6. Sentinel

Biotic Charge works a lot better in ME3 and they added Nova, the combo of the two is seriously powerful. Infiltrator and Soldier are about the same. Tech Armor got nerfed to hell.

I'd say Infiltrator is probably the all-round best class, if you don't feel like changing specs between games.

Worth noting that if you enjoy the Adept playstyle you can simply mod the game and remove the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ "mobs cant be affected by powers until their shields are down" mechanic. Now you can play mage and have fun.

[tosin26]

Vanguard is the best