Wednesday, January 9, 2013

In depth with the Batarian Sentinel


Batarian Sentinel 

Batarian MP.png
Little is known about the batarian homeworld of Khar'shan or its inhabitants. As a result, the race is judged by those whom the Hegemony allows to travel beyond its borders: organized crime enforcers, pirate boarding parties, slaver gangs, and gladiatorial combatants.
Batarians are large brawlers that use nets and spiked weapons to capture targets...or to bleed them dry on the battlefield. If an opponent gets too close, a batarian enforcer bludgeons them with spiked armor and enforcement gauntlets.

Abilities 


Heavy Melee and Dodge 

  • Enforcement Gauntlets - The Batarian Sentinel winds up a powerful punch with an omni-tool gauntlet.
  • Batarian Sentinels lack a dodge maneuver.

Player Notes

General Notes
  • Shockwave arguably loses some use on higher difficulties compared to Submission Net and Blade Armor. While it can affect multiple enemies and send them flying, stagger them, stun them, or lift them, setting up or activating biotic combos, Submission Net deals high damage over time to any target, while freezing them in place (if unarmoured), exposing them to easy aiming while being unable to fight back, which is much more useful on higher difficulties, though Shockwave can still be used to generate powerful Tech Bursts.
  • Despite using Submission Net a lot, a powerful loadout might be advisable, to give yourself a means of defending yourself when Submission Net fails.
  • Conversely, single, light-weight weapons can be versatile for all situations, which allows for power-spam of Submission Net, especially when it misses or an enemy dodges.
  • If you're new to a weapon and want to get used to it, and see how useful it can be, in multiplayer, where the weapons are subject to updates and balancing, this class is great, as Submission Net reliably holds enemies in place, even after repeated use, and you can take your time to target enemies, and see what they're made of.
  • Submission Net followed by Shockwave can result in a Tech Burst.
  • If you want to be a team player, Shockwave suddenly becomes a significantly useful power, as, since the update, it now has the largest Biotic Combo damage bonus evolution, with Rank 5 Detonate. This however locks you to a 10m radius for use, although 10m is fairly long. It is the rough length between the short cover in the far building of Firebase: White, and the wall of the small room, leading to the stairs, and the ammo crate. With Lifting Shockwave, you can even sometimes set up a Biotic Combo, for allies. Considering the range requirement, this Class, with this power evolved so, becomes highly useful when used in combination with the Asari Justicar Adept's Warp Biotic Bubble with added Radius and Damage Taken, and Reave, due to Reave detonating lifted enemies. Warp Bubble sets Shockwave up for a close-range explosion, which can lift unprotected targets, which sets up Reave.
  • Submission Net has its advantages and disadvantages when compared to its Biotic Counterpart, Stasis, but most notable, it appears to have drastically better effectiveness with repeated use, rather than becoming outright ineffective after the first 1-3 uses on a single enemy. That being said, it also deals damage which is not to be underestimated, and multiple uses only increases that. Lastly, the AoE Rank 6 evolution can stun enemies in a radius giving it, and the Batarian, the only character with the power, crowd control capabilities.
  • Combine Submission Net with a gun like the Graal Spike Thrower or the Kishock Harpoon Gun, and you can have a highly versatile and greatly effective character. Both guns shoot through the shield gate on higher difficulties, both are decently accurate, even at long distances, more so in mid-range combat, and all effectiveness lost in CQC is made up by Submission Net, the Range of CQC making up for the fact that Submission Net is a projectile-based move. Additionally Submission Net deals with the laggy travel time of weapon projectiles at long range.
  • The Kishock charged deals damage comparable with the Widow, can shoot through the Shield Gate with its unique ability, unlike the Widow, has the same clip size as the Widow and tends to have more spare ammo, and reloads faster than the Widow, and is lighter than the Widow, as light as the Geth Plasma Shotgun, and can shoot Guardians through the shields (Though it cannot pierce anything else, unlike the Widow). With good aiming and planning, the Kishock can even one-shot foot-soldier enemies with full shields and health, such as the Centurion, Nemesis, and Combat Engineer. The Kishock remains effective when fired from the hip. As the piercing mod appears to have no significant effects, and if you need more ammo, you can always pick some up from the infinite-supply crates, the Damage and Scope mods are likely the best bet with this set-up.
  • The Graal Spike Thrower has a high DPS, and an even higher and more-impressive Burst DPS (Damage per second during the time it takes to empty the clip, not counting down-time during reloads). The multiple-projectile, shotgun nature of the Graal allows it to shoot through the shield gate, the aiming reticle is reasonably small, and its base damage is incredibly high. The Damage and Choke mods are advisable as you don't want to melee enemies anyway, and if you need more ammo, you can find a crate, and the piercing mod doesn't allow piercing with the unique projectiles, anyway.
  • Submission Net is arguably your most valuable power, and should be used often and smartly.
  • Batarian Heavy Melee has one of the highest damage reduction bonuses of any other Heavy Melee, while in use. In clutch situations, knowing you're about to take lethal damage, starting a Heavy Melee into the air might be able to save you. It won't stop damage from hitting, but it can make it so you survive the damage, like a full 3-shot-barrage from a Prime or a Ravager. If you round the corner too fast to notice either, and without combat rolls, are unable to get back behind the wall, this may be the only way to survive. Dying too close to such enemies can prove difficult for allies to pick you up, as well, potentially saving their lives from having to save yours. Once no longer under duress of fire, and out of the Heavy Melee, you can use the enemy's downtime between fire-bursts to then get out of there.
  • Batarians are unable to evade, making them more vulnerable to instant-kill moves.
    • Note also, that although Batarians are quicker moving than Krogan, they are less defensible: thus, staggering attacks such as Geth Primes' can lock them down to lethal effect.
Cerberus
  • Phantoms are very lethal against batarians due to the inability of batarians to dodge. Whilst Submission Net can stop Phantoms cold, if they activate a barrier from their gauntlet, the net will do nothing, and leave you vulnerable to a counter-attack. Consequently, if you wish to trap a phantom, you can target the ground and get them to run into it, resulting in a perfect trap. Another tactic is to start a heavy melée with Blade Armor engaged. The Phantom will then use its basic melée. While this seems counterintuitive, the Phantom will then stagger due to the armor's Damage Returned bonus, allowing for essentially an instant kill (or very close to it) when the melée finally goes off.
  • Shockwave can be spammed to send Troopers flying around the map, making them unable to ever fire at you whilst damaging them at the same time. Send them over the edges of the map for instant kills.
  • You can fire a Submission Net at the ground and lead a Guardian into it. It will have the same effectiveness as Stasis Bubble'ing Guardians, or Stasis'ing a Guardian from behind. They will be frozen in place, unable to move or dodge, unable to shoot back, and they will drop their shield, opening them to fire from all sides permanently.
Reapers
  • The Net is much less useful here since only the smaller enemies can be incapacitated by it. You may wish to use just use your guns against the Reapers, especially against Brutes, Ravagers, and Banshees.
    • With the Rank 5 Damage & Slow evolution, however, it can find use in stopping 3 of the 6 Reaper enemy types, and slowing the rest, which have base Armor.
    • It can also still allow Tech Bursts to be generated on armored targets.
Geth
  • Submission Net really comes into play here - if you can use it effectively. Consider sticking to cover and using the net on Hunters - this will prevent them from cloaking again if you deal enough damage.
  • Submission Net's electrical nature, and Rank 6 AoE evolution can be highly helpful in crowd control purposes. Target an enemy in the center of a horde, and watch as every other enemy gets consistently electrocuted and stunned, or brought to their knees every 1.5 seconds.
  • Shockwave is also useful here since, if your allies use a shield draining power such as Energy Drain or Overload, you can use it to deal significant damage to enemies and send them flying. This can be used to push enemies away from the player, allowing the player to escape.
Collectors
  • Submission net will be of little direct use, but indirectly it will deal a huge amount of damage to enemies around the trapped foe. The only enemies it can adequately trap, are Abominations, Captains, and Troopers.
  • Shockwave can detonate combos, albeit only on smaller foes, and the only smaller foes are the mentioned ones above. The only other way to detonate combos is with the aid of somebody who has an Area of Effect DoT biotic like Reave, or Annihilation Field. When you do detonate combos though, they will be frighteningly deadly.
  • Blade Armor helps partially to deal with Praetorians, or other melee conscious enemies, but ideally those enemies you will want to stay away from, which reduces the effectiveness of your armor.

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