Poll: Mass Effect Series: Adept or Vanguard

[Knight Captain Kerr]

I am planning to play through the Mass Effect series again. I'm starting with one and working my way on. So far I've only played as a solider but I want to change things up in my next playthough and play as a character with biotic powers. But I'm not sure if I should play as an Adept or a Vanguard. Which one do you think is better to play as?

 

[votemarvel]

I'd play as a Vanguard first. It has a mix of Biotics and Ammo powers and has a higher weight capacity in Mass Effect 3 than the Adept.

The Adept is a great class in Mass Effect 1 but the changes in ME2 and ME3 mean that more often than not you are restricted to spamming biotic explosions.

 

[Silly Hats]

I play either Infiltrator or Adept. They are both different but fun in their own way, I do like support or sneakier play styles. Adept does need Warp Ammo, there is a lack of Ammo Powers.

Singularity + Throw is awesome fun on higher areas.

 

[Tom_green_day]

In 3 Vanguard became pretty omnipotent, with low weight you can continually charge and nova. Nova drains your shields and does good damage, charge then replenishes them. Use this in big groups of enemies. Use squad powers for bigger enemies.

 

[Longstreet]

Between those two i'd have to say you gotta go with adept.

Found it the more fun class to play and never really liked that storm skill vaguards got.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I actually prefer sentinel but that's mainly cause i hate the vanguard playstyle.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I like Vanguard. It's my second favorite class.

But my favorite will always be Infiltrator.

 

[sanquin]

Vanguard, imo. As an adept you're mostly reduced to taking cover (in ME 2 and 3) and spamming your skills as much as possible. Especially in ME3 you're incredibly reliant on spamming singularity + another biotic skill for the explosions.

As a vanguard however you can mix it up. You have incen/cryo ammo for more weapon damage and pull + shockwave for biotic explosions in ME2. In ME3 you mostly have the same with the addition of Nova. Charge, then Nova does a lot of damage to enemies.

And let's not forget about the charge itself. It's a lot of fun, imo, to charge towards an enemy and use a shotgun to 1~2 hit kill most normal enemies. Plus it regenerates your shields, which in ME2 allows you to stay up close for longer and in ME3 allows you the same + Nova more often.

 

[Wyes]

You should play manguard. It turns a cover-based shooter-RPG into a headbutt simulator, and it is glorious.

 

[Battleaxx90]

What a coincidence, I just started playing ME1 again, too...

Anyways, if you've only played as Soldier, then I recommend Vanguard. You still get decent biotic powers, and your shotgun still has an underslung rocket launcher.

Personally, I just tend to stick with Soldier. Call me boring, but I prefer the practicality of the guns over the flashiness of tech or biotic abilities. Also, you can do some pretty crazy stuff with the guns in ME1; my personal favourite is explosive rounds and scram rails on the sniper rifle, which results in burning Krogan corpses hurtling over the horizon. Good times...

 

[kommando367]

ME1 and ME2: Vanguard because they have the Adept's best skills

ME3: Adept because of biotic combos.

 

[N7Caboose]

Two Words:

SPACE BOOST!

 

[Smiley Face]

I've played through each of the games multiple times, and I've played a vanguard in each one, and it was fun each time, and interestingly, functioned differently in each game. In ME1, Shotguns have excellent range as well as damage, and can be enjoyable to use as an alternative to the other excellent weapons in the game - Assault Rifles, Biotics, and Pistols, all of which you also get.

In ME2, you find yourself with more constrained options, which rewards a more aggressive, upfront, style of play. It can get tricky, and can get you killed, but anything to get away from cover-based shooting.

And finally, in ME3, you get an improved combo of Charge and Nova. You've got your choice of guns in this, access to any powers you need through your squadmates, and a good variety yourself. You can play more or less like any other class, but you also have the alternative of, again, abandoning cover-based shooting in favour of blasting in there, shooting things, and having your shields regenerate like crazy. If you get tired, then go back to playing the way you've always played, or try to find new ways. But it can be a lot of fun.

 

[Souplex]

What game did you have the most trouble in?
Mix classes are generally not so good in 1, but combat and biotic classes have are better than tech classes, so Vanguard sits neatly in the middle in 1. Adepts and soldiers are the most overpowered things in 1.

In 2 Vangaurds are absolutely worthless, and Adepts are not so good.

In 3 Vanguards are godlike, and Adepts are really damn good.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Mass Effect 1: Adepts, while underpowered at the beginning absolutely break the game in the middle and end. Even on Insane nothing poses a challenge to them once they get a couple of their powers upgraded - they literally snap their fingers and the whole room just dies. Vanguards are nearly useless in comparison.

Mass Effect 2: Adepts are still good, but Vanguards are made more useful compared to ME1. However Adepts still have the upper hand with Biotic power silliness (Slam anyone?)

Mass Effect 3: Except for a couple of fights, Vanguards are pretty much god mode in ME3. Their powers are just insane, and the improved melee means the "Shotgun Fist" fighting style completely works. With a Vanguard in ME3 you'll forget you have squad mates most of the time because you're murdering everything. In MP matches, Vanguards are the most frustrating thing on Bronze and Silver because they just take everyone's kills and murder everything.

 

[RJ 17]

So far I've only played as a solider but I want to change things up in my next playthough and play as a character with biotic powers.

Hey now, don't forget about the techies! The Engineer and Sentinel get really fun in ME2 and 3, the Sentinel in particular in ME2 is great because it has Warp and Overload which means that you can easily tear down any enemy defenses...and since that's what ME2 was all about - breaking through layers of defenses - Sentinel is obscenely overpowered. It's also pretty sweet in ME3 because you can pull off biotic and tech combos with your teammates. The Engineer was good in 1 because you could open any doors and your Mako has a crap-ton of shields, in ME2 it's not particularly special, but in ME3 an Engineer can absolutely dominate the battlefield with it's powers, drone, and turret.

OT: But to answer your question, though, I'd go Adept. They're pretty overpowered in ME1 thanks to Singularity, pretty useful in ME2 (just make sure someone on your squad has Overload), and doing Biotic Combos in ME3 is just plain-old fun.

 

[teh_Canape]

well, from ME2 on it depends
the Vanguard is really fun to play for fast paced battles thanks to the charge
but then there's the Adept who's kinda the finesse class being all fancy and throwing biotics around corners and shit

 

[lycanthrope008]

Mass Effect 1: Adepts, while underpowered at the beginning absolutely break the game in the middle and end. Even on Insane nothing poses a challenge to them once they get a couple of their powers upgraded - they literally snap their fingers and the whole room just dies. Vanguards are nearly useless in comparison.

Mass Effect 2: Adepts are still good, but Vanguards are made more useful compared to ME1. However Adepts still have the upper hand with Biotic power silliness (Slam anyone?)

Mass Effect 3: Except for a couple of fights, Vanguards are pretty much god mode in ME3. Their powers are just insane, and the improved melee means the "Shotgun Fist" fighting style completely works. With a Vanguard in ME3 you'll forget you have squad mates most of the time because you're murdering everything. In MP matches, Vanguards are the most frustrating thing on Bronze and Silver because they just take everyone's kills and murder everything.

I can agree with the last statement. In multiplayer I typical spam lift grenades to no end until the match is over.

But back to the question Adept be cause the biotic combos with singularity can destroy whole groups in seconds.

 

[Olas]

I played through the whole series as a Vanguard and while it's certainly fun to smash into enemies and obliterate them, it also gets repetitive. There's not much strategy with the Vanguard, especially in ME3, because you can just continually charge into enemies, nova the ground, shoot them with your shotgun, then charge again, rinse and repeat until everyone's dead.

I've never played with the adept much but all those biotic powers could be fun.