Adepts play a more prominent part in Mass Effect 3. In contrast to the supporting role that they got in the previous game, biotically-gifted individuals are not limited to taking targets out of cover and placing them in the line of fire. Reduced cooldowns allow them to use their powers more frequently and biotic detonations are easier to set up. Given the right upgrades and squad members, you’ll find yourself winning fights without firing a single shot.
The table below lists all of the available Adept powers for Commander Shepard. The asterisks after the name of the power indicate my rating for it.
*** indicates 3 stars. Max these powers out ASAP.
Power | Suggested upgrade path starting from rank 4 |
| Warp *** | Damage > Lasting Damage > Recharge Speed |
Throw *** | Force > Detonate > Double Throw |
Shockwave * | No suggestions. |
Singularity ** | Pull VS Singularity. You choose. |
Pull *** | Radius > Expose > Recharge Speed |
Cluster Grenade * | No suggestions. |
Biotic Mastery *** | Damage & Force > Squad Bonus / Damage & Capacity > Power Mastery |
Fitness ** | Durability > Barrier Recharge > Fitness Expert |
- Warp is primarily used to cause biotic detonations. You can use it to let Singularity go boom or use its DoT as a fuse before lighting things up with Throw. On its own it deals decent damage, but I don’t recommend doing that unless you absolutely have to.
- Throw is simply fun to use. It’s great for sending targets flying all over the place, disrupting movement and providing excellent crowd control. It can also be used to detonate Warp.
- Singularity is still good but there are three things working against it: its slow travel time, its slow recharge time and how your enemies can dodge it by rolling. It’s still great when it works as your personal black hole though.
- Shockwave moves faster now. That’s about the only difference I noticed. It sucked in ME2. It sucks a bit less now.
- I used to think of Pull as the poor man’s substitute for Singularity, a thought carried over from ME2. In ME3 I actually prefer Pull over Singularity because of the faster recharge and travel times.
- Cluster Grenade’s effectiveness is situational. Your enemies will rarely bunch up, limiting the instances wherein you can maximize damage. Besides, you don’t need grenades to create explosions. You’re a biotic, remember?
- Biotic Mastery will give you better everything overall. There’s no reason not to get it.
- Fitness will give you better survivability. You’ll need this on Hardcore and Insanity.
Tips:
- Detonate everything.
- Warp + Throw: The upgrades suggested in the chart will cause Warp to remain active for a few seconds after it hits. The target will glow blue to indicate this. Hitting him/her with Throw will cause a biotic detonation, even with shields up.
- Targets keep rolling out of the way? Cast Throw followed by Warp / Singularity / whatever you wanted to cast in the first place. They’ll waste their roll on avoiding Throw, making it easier for the second power to hit.
- When in doubt, detonate.
- You can use Pull to yank shields out of the hands of mooks that carry them. Using Throw will push their shields out of the way for a few seconds, leaving them wide open for your bullets.
- Pack light. The fewer weapons you bring, the shorter your cooldowns will be.
- Did I forget to mention that you can detonate?