Alliance Infiltration Unit (AIU) - Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Character Discussion and Review

AIU

This weeks character review will be on the Alliance Infiltration Unit or more commonly referred to as the AIU, hailing from the Infiltrator class (obviously lol), this kit takes the bodily form of a female robot (which you might recognise if you played the SP). First impressions of the AIU is that she's a pretty mobile character by having access to a slick forward and backward flip that can quickly take you away from danger, on top of this she's also got a couple fast and vicious melee moves to keep the enemies at arms length. Now in stark contrast to last weeks character, the Cabal Vanguard and in fact every other new Reckoning DLC kit, she only has one new power.  As with all Infiltrators she gets the standard Tactical Cloak and to go with that she has Snap Freeze, then of course the new addition to multiplayer, Repair Matrix. If you've browsed the ME3 MP section of the BioWare Social Network at all in the last couple weeks, you'll know how much of a crap storm this new power has stirred up amongst the "OMG soo OP, Nerf, Nerf, Nerf, Now!!!" crew *smh*. I'll discuss more about this when I go through the powers in detail, a little further down this article.

Readers of previous character reviews will know that I do like my Infiltrators and that I think they are the most versatile class in ME3. There's already a great variety of character kits within the class but everytime BioWare announce they're releasing a new one, I pay that bit more attention to what they're saying. I first saw the AIU in action during the live stream that BioWare hosted before the new DLC went live and at the time I didn't really understand what Repair Matrix was (despite playing SP) and so the only thing I really took from the demonstration was that she had Snap Freeze. There's only soo much you can glean about a character kit until you actually play with it but the impression I got was; damage bonus from TC and Snap Freeze de-buff implies a CQC playstyle, almost certainly with a Shotgun. Well, I've since spent a lot of time playing with the AIU but the question is, does she follow in the footsteps of her peers or will she be left out in the cold? [Cus you know, Snap Freeze... oh forget it XD]

Like every other character review I've done, we'll begin by discussing the powers. As you probably know by now that until the Turian Ghost Infiltrator was released, every single Infiltrator kit had a standard sniper rifle damage bonus, in the final evolution of Tactical Cloak. But the TGI bucked the trend and was introduced with an assault rifle damage bonus, which made for a very nice change of pace. Shortly after the TGI, came the Asari Huntress Infiltrator and she too had a slightly different TC to the other kits in her class but instead of bonus damage for a weapon, it was for her Biotic powers, which again opened up new playstyle opportunities. The Alliance Infiltration Unit takes a cue from these two characters and also has a unique final TC evolution, in the form of bonus damage for shotguns. Currently with the existing damage bonuses under TC, not all shotguns can comfortably get one hit kills on Gold+ difficulty, so this extra boost should make more shotties a viable option, especially when used with the next power.

Until the AIUs release, Snap Freeze was only available on the Paladin Sentinel and if you've never seen in action before, you must be new to ME3 multiplayer [ :P ] Basically when activated, your character sprays the area immediately in front of you with freezing cold air, this can instantly flash freeze any non-protected units, while chilling the rest. You might be thinking this sounds a lot like another existing power in the game, Cryo-Blast, well you'd be half right. Yes both can offer a de-buff on the enemies that are hit but CB can be specced for the target to take a chunky 25% extra damage compared to SF, which is only 10% but remember that CB does no actual damage of it's own, while SF does a couple hundred by default (and can be specced to do more). Cryo-Blast has an unlimited range but it can be dodged by enemies and as with any power that has a flight path, can be affected by lag. There is however no escaping a puff of Snap Freeze, as long the targets are within the spray's limits, up to three separate enemies can be affected in a single use but only one unprotected enemy will be flash frozen. The freeze duration of both powers is more or less the same after the first three ranks (roughly 5 secs) but if you choose to max it out, SF will keep enemies frozen solid for longer (9 secs to CBs 8 secs), though to be fair any player worth their salt (no pun intented), would've permanently iced the enemy before they had a chance to thaw (during the default time frame). Both powers will cause affected enemies movement to slow down but not their actions (i.e. shooting), if specced fully CB will decrease a targets movement by 45% compared to SFs 35% but again, the majority of players would go with the de-buff evolutions at those stages (and if not, they certainly should).

So we move to the final power, the new and apparently ever so controversial one, Repair Matrix. Considered as a grenade power, it's use is restricted by how many you can carry (2 at the second level) and of course how many grenades are available on the map. Once activated, your character will temporarily be able to restore her own shields at a rate of 75 per second, even if you're currently using Tactical Cloak. At the same time you also gain a movement speed bonus of +10% and a small damage reduction of -15%, by default all these benefits will cease after 8 seconds. But this is only one half of what makes RM a really good power, the other half is the fact that if your character gets downed while it's active, you will automatically revive yourself! (this will only happen once per RM use) The numbers I've listed are the current base values (i.e. rank 1), previously the shield restore rate, damage reduction and duration were double what they are now. I should add that during some really laggy games, I've experienced the auto-revive feature of RM not always working like it should, I'm not sure if it's glitched or there's some other reason (it's only happened a couple times so far). Like other grenade powers in super laggy games, the power sometimes won't work at all when you want it to, that is to say using/activating it does nothing.

OK, I admit that the list of pros for using Repair Matrix is a bit longer than that of the average power however you'll realise for yourself when you play with the AIU, that RM now runs out a bit too fast and as a result you're more likely to get caught short before a major fire fight is over (that's usually when I activate it). From what I saw on the forums, the main concern about RM by the nerfers was the auto-revive feature, well that didn't get changed at all. So bravo guys and gals *claps sarcastically*, instead of having something you didn't want removed, the power was instead over gimped. I don't use the AIU because I like the auto-revive but because I love the speed boost and shield restore, neither of those abilities directly helps you kill enemies faster, so how on earth does that mean it's overpowered? If you look at the damage that enemies can do to you on Gold and Platinum, even with a restore rate of 150 per second, there's no way you could just stand out in the open and not get downed. I used the AIU to do a solo platinum run and I can tell you now, it wasn't an automatic "I win" setup, you still need to play smart in order to succeed, the same with any other character kit. I think the AIU was fine the way she was before and I really believe that this nerf was totally uncalled for but unfortunately the trains left the station now and there's no point chasing it. 

I apologies if that sounded whiny but the nerfers really p*ss me off sometimes, I mean ME3 is an all Co-Op game, the only people who can really say if something is extensively overpowered/overused are the developers because they have the hard data via in game figures. But no, they decide instead to listen to the minority of loud mouth players who seemingly enjoy kicking up a fuss, more than playing the game for what it is and just having fun. *Smh* I'm ranting again, sorry, no more.

*Deep breath*, OK, where were we? Right, Weapon selection. For the AIU it's pretty straightforward, if you're specced for the shotgun damage boost in Tactical Cloak, obviously you should use an SMG (that was a joke by the way). Like I said earlier with the additional damage boost, the AIU opens to the door for some of the weaker shotguns to become capable of one hit kills, though conversely you could stick with some of the heavy hitters and go to town on bosses :D I personally use the Reegar but it does run out of ammo like no-ones business and has pathetic range, though seeing as I'm hitting the ammo boxes for 'nades anyway and have speed boost on demand, it's not too much of an issue. The Piranha was also pretty good and offers some versatility when it comes to range but even if you use the smart choke mod, any shots fired outside of point blank range aren't likely to land all the pellets, which means you won't be getting the most out of your TC damage bonus. If you don't have either of those or don't fancy using a shotgun, you're gonna want to pick something that has decent damage and a highish rate of fire, to really capitalise on all the targets you've sprayed with Snap Freeze. You could do what I do and carry an SG for CQC and a light back up AR for range, this way you have the best of both worlds, cooldown times might be a small concern if your weapons are low level but as long as you never use SF before cloaking first, it should be fine. 

Just in case you didn't know, using Snap Freeze on armoured units, weakens their armour which can really help when it comes to putting them down quickly. However, shields/barriers can be an issue for the AIU, if you're not using the Reegar as your primary weapon (which does additional damage towards them), I think you should definitely pack the Acolyte as a back up. As for equipment, well if you're using a shotgun, the Shock Trooper gear is very complimentary because it provides extra damage to your weapon and the ability to carry extra 'nades. The Warfighter gear works similarly but for assault rifles, so that would be good if you're not keen on using a shottie. I think using grenade capacity is way over kill, you really shouldn't need a stock pile that large and if you do, you might want to rethink how often you use them (especially after the nerf) - not many maps are grenade user friendly. If you've decided to forgo building a weapons based class and instead concentrate on utilising the AIU's uber cool melee skills, the Juggernaut gear is a great choice, additional shields and melee damage, exactly what you want when going toe-to-toe. 

Righto, so that's weapons and equipment outlined, it's time talk tactics. To be honest, I think it's pretty straightforward what the game plan will be when using the AIU. Quickly close in on a group of enemies by activating Repair Matrix, you'll have to time this smartly or else it'll wear off while you're still engaged, which can be a costly error. Once you're within range, activate Tactical Cloak and quickly uses Snap Freeze, as soon as the SF animation has ended, you shoot the enemies that were affected. Remember to deal with the toughest enemy that you chilled first because it's a waste to use the damage boost when breaking from TC, on a standard troop. Speaking of basic troops, if you hit a group of them, ignore the one that was flash frozen until you've dealt with his buddies, this way you eliminate the immediate threats and can take your time killing the de-frosting enemy afterwards. Some people don't know that you can actually use SF through walls, so if you know there are enemies around the corner you can actually spray them without ever exposing yourself to danger ^_^ I haven't tried a melee build yet and to be honest I don't think I will because my current setup absolutely owns but if you're planning on doing it, be sure to use an SG with the Omni-Blade, your approach should be the same, even if your initial strike is an uppercut instead of a shot to the face. 

I should mention at this point that according to some testing done by BSN member peddroelmz in this thread, apparently playing the AIU off-host, might not always apply the fully damage bonus from TC to every shotgun pellet. In light off this, if you don't like hosting your own lobbies, it's therefore best to break from cloak with a shot then hit the enemy with your Snap Freeze, else you run the risk of losing out on some damage output (something you definitely don't want when playing on Gold+).

I think the AIU can be played by anyone and will probably appeal in particular to those players, that like to play aggressively by being all up in the enemies face. I decided to choose duration in Tactical Cloak instead of the damage boost because I went for the SG damage in the final evolution. This means that I still get similar damage boosts using any other TC (just a tad less) but at the same time I have the added benefits of being able to stay under cloak for longer periods. Just remember if you're planning on rocking some seriously heavy weapons, the cooldown time after staying cloaked for it's max duration, will be a very long. I imagine a few below average players will get a kick out the shield restore but if I'm being honest there are much better kits to pick from if survival is your main concern. Yes, the auto-revive side of RM can be useful but your primary goal should be to not get downed in the first place. For me, the shield restore is the main highlight (especially under TC) but it works over a period of time and so compared to Stim Packs and Biotic Charge, which are more or less instantaneous, it's nothing amazing on it's own. The nerf to Repair Matrix's duration is problematic to everyone and not just the individual player because it means that more grenades will be used but which aren't actually killing enemies and so that's a major loss of damage output from the team. Thus if you're going to use the AIU with other grenade users in the lobby, it's important to be considerate and ration their use wise. 

In summary then, I really like the AIU, her potential damage boost with shotguns, agility and movement speed under Repair Matrix really suit my play style. Hit the enemies hard and put 'em down fast. You might have to play a bit more conservatively after the nerf because RM isn't as effective as it once was for keeping your shields at a reasonable level, not to mention it runs out really quickly if you don't upgrade it's duration, which btw I highly recommend doing. I like to max out the movement speed bonus too, this let's me hunt down enemies and offers me an even quicker escape should I require it. The AIU isn't particularly tanky but she's squishy either, I can play her with only four ranks in fitness and mostly stay off the floor via RM's shield restoring but if you make a mistake while attacking or get caught by surprise, you will suffer for it. The fast and pretty damaging melee makes her a possible melee kit but in my book, I'll leave that to the N7 Shadow or one of the Krogans/Batarians. If I want to do Cryo-Explosions all game long, I'll probably still stick with the N7 Paladin because he can reliably set off his own but if I'm playing with someone who can detonate on my behalf, he's certainly surplus to requirements. Put simply, if you're not taking advantage of the Shotgun bonus used in conjunction with Snap Freeze, there's no real reason to use her over any other of the Infiltrators. There's no denying she lost some edge after the nerf but the AIU is still a good kit and I'll definitely be using her again :)