Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer and Character Customization; Adepts: Asari. Asari Justicar. Awakened Collector. Batarian Slasher. Drell. Human. Krogan Shaman. N7 Fury. Project Phoenix. Volus: Engineers: Geth. Human. N7 Demolisher. Quarian. Quarian Male. Salarian. Talon Mercenary. Turian Saboteur. Volus. Vorcha Hunter. Mass Effect 3 is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts.The third major entry in the Mass Effect series and the final installment of the original trilogy, it was first released in March 2012 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
© Provided by GamesRadar Mass EffectI never expected to find myself getting stuck back into Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode in 2020, but that's exactly what I've been doing over the last few weeks. The next-generation is here with the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and a barrage of great games have been hitting the virtual shelves this past month. So why am I playing the multiplayer mode of an eight-year-old game? Well, I have the Mass Effect Legendary Edition to thank for that.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't play multiplayer games very often. I've always leaned more towards single-player campaigns, but something about Mass Effect's multiplayer has always seemed so much less intimidating and appealing to me. Maybe it's because of my deep fondness for BioWare's fictional universe and its characters, but for whatever reason, I ended up playing it quite a lot back in the day on my Xbox 360. Was I ever a pro? No. Did I die a lot? Sure. But I had a whole lot of fun playing it.
On November 7, better known in Mass Effect circles as N7 Day, I raced over to the BioWare blog and consumed each word of the Legendary Edition announcement like it was a gift sent from the heavens. While I squealed over the prospect of seeing how Garrus Vakarian will no doubt benefit from the enhanced visuals of the remaster, I couldn't help but notice any mention of the multiplayer mode was decidedly absent.
Could this mean it won't be carried over to the remaster? And if so, what does that mean for Mass Effect 3's Galaxy at War system? Will that even be a feature? I also start to wonder if there's much demand for it to return, if anyone's still playing it today, and if it's even as good as I remember it being. With all this in mind, I came to a decision: I'm going to jump right back into the multiplayer mode in 2020, and see for myself.
The Defender
As you may already know, the multiplayer mode in Mass Effect 3 works in much the same way as any horde mode you may have come across. Fighting off waves of enemies, you're often also tasked with different objectives like taking out a particular set of foes, or hacking into a system, before holding out at an extraction point after defeating so many enemy waves. Filling the space boots of an N7 operative, you can play as your preferred class just as you can in the main campaign; from the biotic specialist Adepts to the gun-toting Soldiers, and everything in between. Organised by tiers of difficulty, you join matches and level up to add more powers to your skillset.
The mode isn't just tacked onto the game for the sake of it, though. It also ties into the main campaign. In Mass Effect 3, a system known as Galaxy at War is introduced, where you can manage your resources to better prepare for the big final showdown against the Reapers, measured by your Galatic Readiness Rating. One of the easiest ways to increase your Readiness Rating is through the multiplayer mode that was only featured in the last game of the trilogy. There were also some now-removed apps I never personally tried out - Mass Effect: Datapad and Mass Effect: Infiltrator - that could also help boost your level. Each location you can jump into in multiplayer matches will raise your Readiness Rating in each of the systems on your galaxy map.
I often think back on the multiplayer mode so fondly because it helped stretch out my time with the final game. When I first fell for Mass Effect, I fell hard. So much so that when I came to play Mass Effect 3, I didn't want to reach the end. I was determined to make it go on for as long as humanly possible. Squeezing out every side quest, collectible, and resource I could find to keep me away from meeting the game's end, I eventually turned to focus on trying to get achievements instead. One achievement I always wanted to accomplish was called 'The Defender'. In order to earn this trophy, you're tasked with attaining the highest Readiness Rating in each theatre of war. This achievement is what initially pushed me to jump into the multiplayer mode, but I've still not managed to attain it to this day.
Galaxy at War
With so many fond memories of the mode, I did wonder if I was seeing the multiplayer side of Mass Effect 3 through rose-tinted glasses. Feeling a little rusty, and starting fresh on PC, I was surprised at just how quickly I joined a match on a weekday evening. Admittedly, joining at random was perhaps not the best choice I've ever made. Thrown into the heat of battle against Cerberus as a level one Engineer (who's packing some basic guns), I'm sure I was more of a hindrance than anything.
But just like all those years ago, I'm buoyed by the camaraderie of this group of strangers playing an eight-year-old multiplayer mode alongside me. Quick to have my back and revive me as needed, my squad are a supportive bunch, and I quickly begin to fall into the flow of battle as we take down each enemy wave. In what was my first match in years, I find myself thoroughly enjoying every second. It really is still as good as I remember.
After doing a little digging online, it didn't take me long to realise Mass Effect 3's multiplayer continues to hold a special place in so many fellow fans' hearts. Not only that, but many continue to play to this day. With Discord servers dedicated to finding other players to jump into matches with in 2020, and many expressing their fondness for the mode on Reddit, there's a lot of love for the multiplayer side of the game. Clearly, I'm far from alone in hoping it finds a place in the Legendary Edition.
Confirmation of Commander Shepard's return with the upcoming release of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition shined a little ray of light into this hell year. Just knowing I'll be able to jump aboard the Normandy ship once again and see all of the characters I hold so close to my heart is as exciting as it is comforting. Complete with enhanced graphics and a faster framerate, I haven't stopped thinking about how good everyone and everything will no doubt look.
Long story short, you better believe I'm more ready to send the Reapers packing all over again. But with no sign of the multiplayer mode in the announcement, we still don't know for sure if it will make a comeback. While it could very well be included, I do wonder what it will mean for the Galaxy at War system if it isn't, and if there'll be another way to increase the overall Readiness Rating if it is excluded. One thing's for sure: BioWare has just restored my hope, not just for Mass Effect's return, but for my chances at finally earning 'The Defender' achievement after all.
Looking for something to play while you wait for the Legendary Edition? These 10 games like Mass Effect will keep you busy.
Mass Effect 3's multiplayer co-op survival mode offers 6 classes, each with identical male/female humans as a default choice, along with 2 unique races unlockable for each class (Note: the free Resurgence DLC pack added 1 new option per class). All class and race combinations have 3 abilities. This post offers basic information on the classes.
Adept
The adept primarily utilizes biotic powers to unleash powerful attacks and devastating explosions when comboed together (called biotic explosions). Adepts typically carry just 1 weapon, usually a pistol, to reduce weight as low as possible to make biotic powers recharge faster. Many biotic powers, including Warp and Throw, home in on the target, and can actually curve, making it easy to hit enemies hiding behind cover or a wall. The Adept class offers some of the best damage and crowd control of any class, due to being capable of setting up 'biotic explosions' to deal huge damage in an area of effect.
For more specific strategies on the Adept Class, please visit the Adept Class Guide.
Human Adept - Warp, Singularity, Shockwave, Alliance Training, Fitness
Asari Adept - Stasis, Warp, Throw, Asari Justicar, Fitness
Drell Adept - Reave, Pull, Cluster Grenade, Drell Assassin, Fitness
Resurgence DLC
Asari Justicar Adept - Reave, Pull, Biotic Sphere, Asari Justicar, Fitness
The Human Adept packs a punch with plenty of biotic abilities capable of comboing into biotic explosions. However, the abilities are situational, since Singularity only works on non-shielded, non-armored enemies, and Shockwave has a short travel distance.
The Asari Adept is widely considered one of the strongest classes in the game. Warp combined with Throw is one of the best biotic explosion combos in the game, as it works on any target, and Stasis works great at crowd control and at stopping Phantoms dead in their tracks.
The Drell Adept zips across the battlefield with incredible speed and obliterates enemies with fast biotic explosions, but is somewhat limited due to relying on ammo crates for restocking grenades. Pull together with Reave offers one of the fastest biotic explosions in the game, and Cluster Grenades combo with Reave to deal huge damage to strong targets, and to eliminate large mobs of enemies.
The Asari Justicar Adept also packs the Pull + Reave combo for very quick biotic explosions, but trades out Cluster Grenades for a unique Biotic Sphere ability. The sphere offers both defensive and offensive options, boosting allies' shields and damage reduction while in the bubble, and increasing damage enemies take and inflicting a 'warp' like effect to set up biotic explosions.
Soldier
The Soldier focuses on weaponry rather than abilities. Some of the soldier abilities actually boost weapons while active, such as the human soldier's Adrenaline Rush ability, which automatically reloads the weapon and increases damage, and the Turian's Marksmen ability, which increases accuracy and rate of fire. Soldiers also focus on grenades, which must be replenished through ammo crates, but since they do not have a cooldown timer, they work well when focusing on heavy weaponry. The soldier class's effectiveness and versatility depends on the player's weapon collection, making the soldier class rather weak at first with potential increasing with each new weapon unlock and weapon upgrade.
For more specific strategies on the Soldier Class, please visit the Soldier Class Guide.
Human Soldier - Adrenaline Rush, Concussive Shot, Frag Grenade, Alliance Training, Fitness
Turian Soldier - Marksmen, Concussive Shot, Proximity Mine, Turian Veteran, Fitness
Krogan Soldier - Fortification, Carnage, Inferno Grenade, Krogan Berserker, Rage
Resurgence DLC
Batarian Soldier - Ballistic Blades, Blade Armor, Inferno Grenades, Batarian Enforcer, Fitness
The Human Soldier can make good use of weapons that other classes may find utterly useless. The Adrenaline Rush ability grants a free, immediate weapon reload upon activation, and boosts weapon damage. The other two abilities can be used to flush enemies from out of cover and put them within range of the Soldier's weapons.
Similar to the Human Soldier, the Turian Soldier can just make weapons work. The rate of fire and accuracy increases from Marksmen can turn inaccurate weapons into laser-focused bullet storms. And just like the human variation, the Turian's other two abilities can flush enemies from out of cover and to soften them up before unleashing bullet hell.
The Krogan Soldier offers the highest health and shield total, and has a huge focus on melee bonuses. The Krogan Soldier can either focus on boosting damage reduction and hp / shields for higher survivability, or boost melee attacks for strong close quarters combat.
The Batarian Soldier also focuses on close quarters combat, but with a slightly different flavor than the Krogan. Batarians cannot charge headlong into battle in quite the same way as Krogans, but they are quicker on their feet, making them more suited towards hit and run tactics - getting in enemies' faces, and getting out of battle before things get too dangerous.
Engineer
The Engineer is a tech specialist, using powerful tech blasts to strip away shields and set foes aflame, while drawing aggro from enemies by laying down combat drones, turrets, and decoys. As opposed to the Adept, which can deal huge damage through biotic explosions, the Engineer works best when taking a support role. Abilities like Overlord and Cryo Blast can stagger or freeze enemies to assist snipers on the team, while distracting foes with Combat Drones and Turrets can draw aggro away from the team while they focus on taking out the greatest perceived threat (usually an Atlus, Prime, or Banshee). Engineers rarely lead the team with kills, but can pick up a huge amount of assists.
Human Engineer - Incinerate, Overload, Combat Drone, Alliance Training, Fitness
Quarian Engineer - Incinerate, Cryo Blast, Sentry Turret, Quarian Defender, Fitness
Salarian Engineer - Incinerate, Energy Drain, Decoy, Salarian Operative, Fitness
Resurgence DLC
Geth Engineer - Geth Turret, Hunter Mode, Overload, Networked AI, Advanced Hardware
The Human Engineer offers one of the most well-rounded ability sets in the game. Overlord works great against shields and barriers, while Incinerate works great against health and armor. The two together can result in a tech burst. And the Combat Drone works great as a distraction to draw aggro away from the team during key points (during objectives, when fighting powerful enemies, etc).
The Quarian variation focuses more on crowd control and eliminating weaker mobs so the team can focus on taking out bigger threats. Cryo Blast can freeze weaker enemies solid, and finishing them off with an Incinerate results in a Cryo Explosion, freezing all weaker enemies nearby. The Quarian turret provides a distraction and deals good damage in the process.
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Similar to the human, the Salarian Engineer offers stellar versatility, with two abilities that work well together (Energy Drain and Incinerate), and Decoy as a distraction. Replenishing shields with Energy Drain and distracting enemies with Decoy makes the Salarian Engineer one of the strongest classes in the game, capable of surviving almost anything, and being able to easily retreat when necessary.
The Geth Engineer's turret offers huge potential both defensively, and offensively. On the defensive side, the turret can replenish allies' shields, and on the offensive side, the turret packs a huge punch long-range, and it can be spec'ed for a flamethrower for effective short range combat. The Geth's Hunter Mode allows for a powerful boost to damage, while Overload works wonders for crowd control and stripping shields.
Sentinel
The Sentinel, theoretically, combines tech and biotic powers to make for a well-balanced fighter in any category. In practice, however, the Sentinel suffers when attempting an all-encompassing build, and instead works much better when either focused on tanking and weapons, or abilities. The Tech Armor ability offers much stronger defense (mostly in the form of high damage reduction), at the expense of forcing abilities to recharge slower. In practice, players will want to decide very early on whether to focus on tanking with Tech Armor, or instead focusing on other abilities.
Human Sentinel - Warp, Throw, Tech Armor, Alliance Training, Fitness
Turian Sentienl - Warp, Overload, Tech Armor, Turian Veteran, Fitness
Krogan Sentinel - Incinerate, Lift Grenade, Tech Armor, Krogan Berserker, Rage
Resurgence DLC
Batarian Sentinel - Blade Armor, Shockwave, Submission Net, Batarian Enforcer, Fitness
The Human Sentinel utilizes the powerful Warp + Throw biotic explosion combo without requiring a unique character to unlock. However, many consider Tech Armor a waste of a slot. This can be remedied with a respec card, or, players can use Tech Armor and take the final skill to reduce power usage penalty, making the slower recharge time negligible.
The Turian Sentinel has high survivability potential with a natural bonus to health and shields, and the option to focus on damage reduction with Tech Armor. Warp and Overload are both great abilities, and can set up targets to be pummeled with gunfire. Similar to the Turan Soldier, the Turian Sentinel focuses mostly on weaponry, with abilities used more as a compliment to gunfire rather than a replacement to it.
The Krogan Sentinel has a substantial health and shield bonus over both the Turian and Human variations, and also offers tremendous melee strength with the Krogan's unique Rage skill tree. However, the Krogan's abilities are not particularly useful for close quarters and melee-centric combat. Incinerate is easily dodged, and Lift Grenade literally lifts weaker enemies out of range of melee attack. The Krogan Sentinel is probably best played with a heavy focus on weaponry - using melee only when enemies get too close.
The Batarian Sentinel focuses on immobilization and disruption. Submission Net incapacitates enemies similar to Stasis, while Shockwave effortlessly bounces weaker enemies all over the place. The net can set up headshots and heavy melee strikes, while Shockwave weakens up mobs.
Infiltrator
The Infiltrator focuses on long-range weaponry such as sniper rifles and heavy pistols, while using cloak for huge damage bonuses and as a way to retreat, revive teammates, or to finish objectives. While most infiltrators focus on long-range combat, builds that focus more on close-range combat with shotguns are also pretty effective, so players that can't snipe worth anything can still create a viable build using an infiltrator. Simply due to their cloaking ability, the Infiltrator class is one of the best classes for survivability, reviving teammates, and capturing objectives.
Human Infiltrator - Tactical Cloak, Sticky Grenade, Cryo Blast, Alliance Training, Fitness
Salarian Infiltrator - Tactical Cloak, Energy Drain, Proximity Mine, Salarian Operative, Fitness
Quarian Infiltrator - Tactical Cloak, Sticky Grenade, Sabotage, Quarian Defender, Fitness
Me3 Classes
Resurgence DLC
Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Class Builder
Geth Infiltrator - Tactical Cloak, Hunter Mode, Proximity Mine, Networked AI, Advanced Hardware
The Human Infiltrator can easily set up headshots on weaker enemies with Cryo Blast, and can take out mobs with sticky grenade. Since Cryo Blast does not work on stronger enemies, the Human Infiltrator is the least versatile of the four.
The Salarian Infiltrator can deal devastating damage, all while remaining relatively safe. Energy Drain can restore shields, but more importantly, it can strip enemies shields and stagger them, making for a perfect setup for a headshot. Proximity Mine can help take out mobs and soften up larger enemies.
The Quarian Infiltrator works almost exactly like the human variation, except that Sabotage is an even more focused ability than Cryo Blast. It's effectiveness is mostly limited to Geth, as it works on only a couple of Cerberus, and no enemies on Reapers.
The Geth Infiltrator makes for the highest damage dealing class in the entire game. Tactical Cloak by itself grants some huge damage bonuses, but together with Hunter Mode and the damage potential is absolutely massive. Due to the damage bonuses alone, the Geth Infiltrator is effective with just about any build, ranging from sniping to close quarters shotgun and melee action.
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Vanguard
The Vanguard class focuses almost exclusively on close quarters combat, since the signature move is 'Biotic Charge' which immediately hurls the Vanguard into enemies and replenishes shields. Each race variation offers a different take on how to mangle enemies up-close, but each one focuses on a high risk / high reward strategy of closing in on enemies and immediately replenishing shields. Some Vanguard builds utilize shotguns, while others focus almost exclusively on abilities, and keep cooldowns as low as possible by using pistols or SMGs.
Human Vanguard - Biotic Charge, Nova, Shockwave, Alliance Training, Fitness
Drell Vanguard - Biotic Charge, Pull, Cluster Grenade, Drell Assassin, Fitness
Asari - Biotic Charge, Stasis, Lift Grenade, Asari Justicar, Fitness
Resurgence DLC
Krogan Battlemaster - Biotic Charge, Carnage, Barrier, Krogan Battlemaster, Rage
The Human Vanguard offers the highest potential risk/reward strategy of all the Vanguard classes, and possibly in the entire game. Biotic Charge dashes into enemies and replenishes shields, while Nova uses all available shields to create an immediate area of effect explosion. The strategy should be fairly obvious. Charge - Nova - Charge, repeat until all enemies are dead.
The Drell Vanguard offers a completely opposite take on the class compared to the human. Instead of charging into huge mobs of enemies, the Drell Vanguard must carefully choose when and where to strike. As the fastest and most mobile character class in the game, the Drellguard can easily replenish Cluster Grenades by zipping across the battlefield. And Pull sets up biotic explosions with Charge. The Drell Vanguard takes a lot of practice to utilize effectively, but packs a great deal of punch once accustomed to his unique strengths.
The Asari Vanguard bares closer resemblance to the Drell when it comes to strategy. Stasis can set up a biotic explosion with Charge, but the cooldown on it is too long to use effectively in the heat of battle. Lift Grenade can pack quite a punch, and while the Asari may not be as mobile as the Drell, players can still refill plenty of grenades by zipping in and out of battle with Charge.
The Krogan Battlemaster works similarly to the Human, but instead of using Nova, the Battlemaster charges in and uses melee strikes. Due to the huge health and shield bonuses of the Krogan, together with damage reduction bonuses with Barrier, and the Krogan Battlemaster makes for a hugely sturdy fighter with incredibly destructive melee damage.