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| Cabal Vanguard |
Righto, so now you're up to speed with my timetable, let's get started. The Cabal Vanguard is the first (and last) Female Turian in ME3 multiplayer and not only is she the first of her kind in MP but she's also the first Vanguard in her class to not have the traditional Biotic Charge as part of her power set [*gasp* lol]. In it's place she has instead Poison Strike, which is then accompanied by Nightshade Blades and Biotic Focus. When I first saw the Cabal Vanguard in action, during the live streaming that Bioware hosted before the Reckoning DLC was launched, my interest was peaked because she's very mobile and has one of my favourite in game abilities, teleportation. Readers of previous character reviews will know that I prefer to play aggressively, hitting enemies fast and hard, which usually means using characters that can get around the map quickly and who are lethal in CQC. The N7 Fury and N7 Slayer can both use teleportation to pass through walls and attack unsuspecting foes before making a speedy exit via the same path, to avoid any potential retaliation. The first thing I noticed when using the CV is that while she can traverse the map, I believe slightly faster than the Fury and Slayer, she's lacking when it comes to killing enemies quickly.
Like previous character reviews I'll start off by assessing the powers of the kit. As I mentioned above, the CV doesn't have the Vanguard staple but instead has Poison Strike, which unlike the familiar Biotic Charge does not lock onto a specific target when used or restore any of your shield. When you activate the power, you'll do a sort of quick rush in the direction you're facing, with the ability to travel through multiple surfaces and targets. It's a bit like using Shockwave (without the staggering effects), except your character is the thing that is causing the damage and you'll be transported to the point where your PS ends. The range of the attack is comparable to that of Shockwave and it's reach can also be extended, from the default 12 meters to a little over 16 meters. Unfortunately this attack is rather weak but to make up for it's feeble lethality, the power has a pretty fast recharge time, so you can do several strikes in a small period of time. Despite the fact you can effectively keep cutting through enemy lines every couple seconds, in my experience the power seems very hit and miss, as quite often the enemies you pass through are left completely unscathed. Perhaps there's an underlying reason for this but I'm not really sure why, it could just be that PS has a tiny hit window i.e. you need to hit enemies dead on to cause any damage (though I'm pretty sure of my aim). The damage for PS comes in two parts, the first is the strike itself, considered a Biotic ability and should do a fixed amount to any enemies you hit. The second part of PS is the poisoning effect and any enemies caught in the strike path should take a steady amount of damage over the course of a few seconds both the damage per second and duration of the poisoning can be increased.
The next power is Nightshade Blades, these are basically an altered version of the Batarian Soldier's Ballistic Blades, except the damage over time Bleed effect is called Poisoning and it lasts for a slightly shorter duration (though is a bit more potent). Unlike Ballistic Blades, Nightshade Blades are considered as grenades and as such you can only carry a limited number of them at any given time. To make up for this fact, they are much more deadly than Ballistic Blades, at base values they do 33% more damage and have the added bonus of being able to paralyse non-protected units for a short period of time. The initial damage that Nightshade Blades inflict is dependant on the range they were fired from (again like Ballistic Blades), so the closer you are to a target the more damage they take but to be fair they're meant for CQC engagements anyway. I believe that the blades can hit up to three targets if they're bunched together, this coupled with the Explosive Blades evolution makes the power a great crowd killer. But like I said you can only carry a few at a time, which means you won't be able to decimate more than one spawn during any given wave. In my opinion the blades are wasted on single non-boss targets, while you'll probably be able to kill them in one hit, it's much better to wait for a group of enemies or a boss unit, to get the most out of their damage potential and your limited stock.
The last power is Biotic Focus and it isn't offensive, at least not directly, basically it's purpose is to help keep you alive while playing. Once activated, you enter a state where you'll take a small damage reduction from all incoming enemy fire, your movement speed increases and your melee damage is boosted. All the effects of Biotic Focus will disappear after 12 seconds by default but a relatively fast recharge time, means you could just spam it in between your other powers and thus retain all of it's benefits for more or less the majority of the match. The best thing about this power is one of the final evolutions, more specifically 'Biotic Shield', when activating the power you will restore a small percentage of your shields and gain a momentary 0.5 seconds of invulnerability to enemy fire. Think a water downed version of the male Turians Stim Packs but without being capped by grenade capacity or providing any weapon damage bonus. The only attacking benefit you could get when activating this power is movement speed and melee damage bonus, though you'd need to physically select these when speccing the power. These evolutions suggest that the character could be used as a CQC hand-to-hand combat kit but while that might be a bit of fun in difficulties Silver and below, let me tell you now that this is a risky strategy for Gold and above (though still possible if played wisely).
Outfitting the Cabal Vanguard with complimentary weapons is something that I really struggled with and even now I don't think there are any clear cut winners, which is a first so far in my character reviews. At first I thought maybe a Shotgun or Assault rifle because both have Bonus Equipment that grants a damage bonus to to the weapon, while also being able to carry a couple more grenades. Both categories have some very good options for decent killing potential, while maintaining a moderate to low cool down times. For shotties I used the Piranha, Raider and Wraith, the first two allowed for quick kills but for targets out of point blank range you'll lack some serious accuracy. The Wraith killed hardened bosses too slowly for my liking but you'll be able to pick off weaker units from a somewhat safer distance, though this doesn't take full advantage of the CVs teleportation ability. For ARs I tried a lot of them and while most worked well enough, I felt that I wasn't using any of the CVs powers and often ended up just laying waste to any enemies within my line of sight, without needing to venture too close. That being the case, I thought to myself what's the point in using the CV for her unique power set? That's when I decided to test out the SMGs and Heavy Pistols (snipers on a Vanguard is a no-no for me), as always the Hurricane was very good and with the weapon stability passives that come with all Turians, this just made it shine even better (Hornet or Tempest if you don't have it). The only pistol that made a real impact was the Acolyte, I used it to strip shields then tried to capitalise on the CVs powers but to be honest I still felt something wasn't right.
As I said my thoughts are still in the air about the "ideal" weapon choice but the more I played around with the Cabal, the more I began to think the weapon will depend on how you choose to play her. If your aim to is try and use Poison Strike often, despite it being somewhat weak and unreliable, the Acolyte Heavy Pistol should be your first choice, the CV struggles against shielded units and this will dramatically help your cause. If you're just going to use her abilities to get in close and escape after dropping a few targets, then a shottie or SMG will serve you well. I carried both when I was testing them out but unless you have them at high enough level you'll just be restricting your power usage and to be honest I mostly spent my time using one or the other anyway (apart from when dealing with hardened bosses). If you're planning on maxing out Fitness, Biotic Focus and the CVs passives, you can build yourself a pretty sturdy gun toting character, most AR's will serve you well enough and seeing as you won't be spamming Poison Strike, their weight shouldn't be too much of an issue. You should spec similarly for any melee builds and I highly recommend using a shotgun with the Omni-Blade mod to go with it, this will create slower cooldown times but again shouldn't be too much of a concern. There's some really good pieces of equipment that you can use when playing the CV as a melee character kit, the new Geth Scanner is crazy good on small maps (I easily soloed a Silver on Glacier) and Juggernaut Shields/Martial Artist both offer a damage boost while also helping out in other ways, extra shields/biotic damage respectively. I should add that because Nightshade Blades are considered grenades, they don't benefit from any Biotic aids.
OK, so powers have been discussed and weapon choices outlined, it's time to talk about game plans. Initially I specced fully into all her powers at the expense of full fitness, unfortunately I then realised that her powers alone weren't killing enemies fast enough or reliably enough for me to bring along a weapon merely for back up and bosses. So I picked out some heavy hitting weapons that created manageable cool down times, enemies started dying faster and I was a less annoyed with the powers but then I noticed why. Putting good weapons on her, deters you from actually using her offensive powers, so it's not exactly a game plan tailored to her, more a tactic for any character with iffy killing powers. I then tried using her as a melee kit and I had some success, her light melee is pretty fast (though weak), so you can simply keep tapping the button until that enemy is dead (they seldom have the opportunity to fight back). Her heavy melee is a bit like the Vorcha's but instead of lunging towards the enemy, your character does a mini teleport and sinks her claws(?) into their back for a substantial amount of damage. I like this style of play the most because it's unique to her but bosses, especially those with a sync kill, are problematic so make sure you've got at least one decent weapon on hand to help you out there. A quick firing shotgun with the Omni-Blade works nicely, just make sure you spec into melee damage in Biotic Focus, this means the power keeps you alive and allows your killing potential to increase. I actually reduced the points I invested in Poison Strike to the basic three levels, then maxed out Fitness instead, this meant I didn't have to worry about being super squishy.
I'm in two minds about the Cabal Vanguard at the moment, I love the speed at which she can traverse maps and escape through walls with her teleporting but I'm not soo enthusiastic about her offensive powers. Yes you can potentially hit multiple enemies with Poison Strike but that's assuming your strike is considered a hit in the first place, not to mention even when maxed out for damage, the power just seems to kill way too slowly (in fact most units in Gold+ can actually survive the full poisoning duration). I really like the damage of the Nightshade Blades but the fact they are limited by being counted as grenades seriously reduces their appeal, especially when playing on grenade dry maps. The damage reduction you acquire when using Biotic Focus might sound like a great selling point but unless you max out your Fitness, it doesn't actually provide you with that much additional defence, though the small shield restore can be very useful. In terms of health and shield values, she's not as squishy as some Adepts but not quite as sturdy as other Vanguards either, simply because her shield restoring power is less useful than that of even a basic Biotic Charge.
In summary I think the Cabal Vanguard is a somewhat average character kit, her powers while unique and can keep her alive for the most part, are nothing particularly amazing. I struggle to do well relying solely on her rechargeable powers and so the alternatives are a melee or gun heavy build. Both of these are better suited to several other kits but I will admit that on smaller maps, she has an edge when it comes to quick escapes and on open maps, well let's just say that the self healing practically pays for itself. Having said this, if I want to use Blades I'll stick with the unlimited Ballistic variant and if I want to spam grenades, I'll probably use one of the other kits. The CV's pretty good as a mainly shooting kit but again there are several other characters that can do the job just as well, if not better, so I'm not really sure how much of a look in she'll get. Perhaps if Bioware increase the default number of grenades you can carry and increase the lethality of Poison Strike, she may yet find a place in regularly played character kits. But until that happens or I discover a game plan that is much more effective, the Cabal Vanguard is placed in the "if you fancy a change of pace and don't mind not destroying enemies too fast" pile of characters :/
Like previous character reviews I'll start off by assessing the powers of the kit. As I mentioned above, the CV doesn't have the Vanguard staple but instead has Poison Strike, which unlike the familiar Biotic Charge does not lock onto a specific target when used or restore any of your shield. When you activate the power, you'll do a sort of quick rush in the direction you're facing, with the ability to travel through multiple surfaces and targets. It's a bit like using Shockwave (without the staggering effects), except your character is the thing that is causing the damage and you'll be transported to the point where your PS ends. The range of the attack is comparable to that of Shockwave and it's reach can also be extended, from the default 12 meters to a little over 16 meters. Unfortunately this attack is rather weak but to make up for it's feeble lethality, the power has a pretty fast recharge time, so you can do several strikes in a small period of time. Despite the fact you can effectively keep cutting through enemy lines every couple seconds, in my experience the power seems very hit and miss, as quite often the enemies you pass through are left completely unscathed. Perhaps there's an underlying reason for this but I'm not really sure why, it could just be that PS has a tiny hit window i.e. you need to hit enemies dead on to cause any damage (though I'm pretty sure of my aim). The damage for PS comes in two parts, the first is the strike itself, considered a Biotic ability and should do a fixed amount to any enemies you hit. The second part of PS is the poisoning effect and any enemies caught in the strike path should take a steady amount of damage over the course of a few seconds both the damage per second and duration of the poisoning can be increased.
The next power is Nightshade Blades, these are basically an altered version of the Batarian Soldier's Ballistic Blades, except the damage over time Bleed effect is called Poisoning and it lasts for a slightly shorter duration (though is a bit more potent). Unlike Ballistic Blades, Nightshade Blades are considered as grenades and as such you can only carry a limited number of them at any given time. To make up for this fact, they are much more deadly than Ballistic Blades, at base values they do 33% more damage and have the added bonus of being able to paralyse non-protected units for a short period of time. The initial damage that Nightshade Blades inflict is dependant on the range they were fired from (again like Ballistic Blades), so the closer you are to a target the more damage they take but to be fair they're meant for CQC engagements anyway. I believe that the blades can hit up to three targets if they're bunched together, this coupled with the Explosive Blades evolution makes the power a great crowd killer. But like I said you can only carry a few at a time, which means you won't be able to decimate more than one spawn during any given wave. In my opinion the blades are wasted on single non-boss targets, while you'll probably be able to kill them in one hit, it's much better to wait for a group of enemies or a boss unit, to get the most out of their damage potential and your limited stock.
The last power is Biotic Focus and it isn't offensive, at least not directly, basically it's purpose is to help keep you alive while playing. Once activated, you enter a state where you'll take a small damage reduction from all incoming enemy fire, your movement speed increases and your melee damage is boosted. All the effects of Biotic Focus will disappear after 12 seconds by default but a relatively fast recharge time, means you could just spam it in between your other powers and thus retain all of it's benefits for more or less the majority of the match. The best thing about this power is one of the final evolutions, more specifically 'Biotic Shield', when activating the power you will restore a small percentage of your shields and gain a momentary 0.5 seconds of invulnerability to enemy fire. Think a water downed version of the male Turians Stim Packs but without being capped by grenade capacity or providing any weapon damage bonus. The only attacking benefit you could get when activating this power is movement speed and melee damage bonus, though you'd need to physically select these when speccing the power. These evolutions suggest that the character could be used as a CQC hand-to-hand combat kit but while that might be a bit of fun in difficulties Silver and below, let me tell you now that this is a risky strategy for Gold and above (though still possible if played wisely).
Outfitting the Cabal Vanguard with complimentary weapons is something that I really struggled with and even now I don't think there are any clear cut winners, which is a first so far in my character reviews. At first I thought maybe a Shotgun or Assault rifle because both have Bonus Equipment that grants a damage bonus to to the weapon, while also being able to carry a couple more grenades. Both categories have some very good options for decent killing potential, while maintaining a moderate to low cool down times. For shotties I used the Piranha, Raider and Wraith, the first two allowed for quick kills but for targets out of point blank range you'll lack some serious accuracy. The Wraith killed hardened bosses too slowly for my liking but you'll be able to pick off weaker units from a somewhat safer distance, though this doesn't take full advantage of the CVs teleportation ability. For ARs I tried a lot of them and while most worked well enough, I felt that I wasn't using any of the CVs powers and often ended up just laying waste to any enemies within my line of sight, without needing to venture too close. That being the case, I thought to myself what's the point in using the CV for her unique power set? That's when I decided to test out the SMGs and Heavy Pistols (snipers on a Vanguard is a no-no for me), as always the Hurricane was very good and with the weapon stability passives that come with all Turians, this just made it shine even better (Hornet or Tempest if you don't have it). The only pistol that made a real impact was the Acolyte, I used it to strip shields then tried to capitalise on the CVs powers but to be honest I still felt something wasn't right.
As I said my thoughts are still in the air about the "ideal" weapon choice but the more I played around with the Cabal, the more I began to think the weapon will depend on how you choose to play her. If your aim to is try and use Poison Strike often, despite it being somewhat weak and unreliable, the Acolyte Heavy Pistol should be your first choice, the CV struggles against shielded units and this will dramatically help your cause. If you're just going to use her abilities to get in close and escape after dropping a few targets, then a shottie or SMG will serve you well. I carried both when I was testing them out but unless you have them at high enough level you'll just be restricting your power usage and to be honest I mostly spent my time using one or the other anyway (apart from when dealing with hardened bosses). If you're planning on maxing out Fitness, Biotic Focus and the CVs passives, you can build yourself a pretty sturdy gun toting character, most AR's will serve you well enough and seeing as you won't be spamming Poison Strike, their weight shouldn't be too much of an issue. You should spec similarly for any melee builds and I highly recommend using a shotgun with the Omni-Blade mod to go with it, this will create slower cooldown times but again shouldn't be too much of a concern. There's some really good pieces of equipment that you can use when playing the CV as a melee character kit, the new Geth Scanner is crazy good on small maps (I easily soloed a Silver on Glacier) and Juggernaut Shields/Martial Artist both offer a damage boost while also helping out in other ways, extra shields/biotic damage respectively. I should add that because Nightshade Blades are considered grenades, they don't benefit from any Biotic aids.
OK, so powers have been discussed and weapon choices outlined, it's time to talk about game plans. Initially I specced fully into all her powers at the expense of full fitness, unfortunately I then realised that her powers alone weren't killing enemies fast enough or reliably enough for me to bring along a weapon merely for back up and bosses. So I picked out some heavy hitting weapons that created manageable cool down times, enemies started dying faster and I was a less annoyed with the powers but then I noticed why. Putting good weapons on her, deters you from actually using her offensive powers, so it's not exactly a game plan tailored to her, more a tactic for any character with iffy killing powers. I then tried using her as a melee kit and I had some success, her light melee is pretty fast (though weak), so you can simply keep tapping the button until that enemy is dead (they seldom have the opportunity to fight back). Her heavy melee is a bit like the Vorcha's but instead of lunging towards the enemy, your character does a mini teleport and sinks her claws(?) into their back for a substantial amount of damage. I like this style of play the most because it's unique to her but bosses, especially those with a sync kill, are problematic so make sure you've got at least one decent weapon on hand to help you out there. A quick firing shotgun with the Omni-Blade works nicely, just make sure you spec into melee damage in Biotic Focus, this means the power keeps you alive and allows your killing potential to increase. I actually reduced the points I invested in Poison Strike to the basic three levels, then maxed out Fitness instead, this meant I didn't have to worry about being super squishy.
I'm in two minds about the Cabal Vanguard at the moment, I love the speed at which she can traverse maps and escape through walls with her teleporting but I'm not soo enthusiastic about her offensive powers. Yes you can potentially hit multiple enemies with Poison Strike but that's assuming your strike is considered a hit in the first place, not to mention even when maxed out for damage, the power just seems to kill way too slowly (in fact most units in Gold+ can actually survive the full poisoning duration). I really like the damage of the Nightshade Blades but the fact they are limited by being counted as grenades seriously reduces their appeal, especially when playing on grenade dry maps. The damage reduction you acquire when using Biotic Focus might sound like a great selling point but unless you max out your Fitness, it doesn't actually provide you with that much additional defence, though the small shield restore can be very useful. In terms of health and shield values, she's not as squishy as some Adepts but not quite as sturdy as other Vanguards either, simply because her shield restoring power is less useful than that of even a basic Biotic Charge.
In summary I think the Cabal Vanguard is a somewhat average character kit, her powers while unique and can keep her alive for the most part, are nothing particularly amazing. I struggle to do well relying solely on her rechargeable powers and so the alternatives are a melee or gun heavy build. Both of these are better suited to several other kits but I will admit that on smaller maps, she has an edge when it comes to quick escapes and on open maps, well let's just say that the self healing practically pays for itself. Having said this, if I want to use Blades I'll stick with the unlimited Ballistic variant and if I want to spam grenades, I'll probably use one of the other kits. The CV's pretty good as a mainly shooting kit but again there are several other characters that can do the job just as well, if not better, so I'm not really sure how much of a look in she'll get. Perhaps if Bioware increase the default number of grenades you can carry and increase the lethality of Poison Strike, she may yet find a place in regularly played character kits. But until that happens or I discover a game plan that is much more effective, the Cabal Vanguard is placed in the "if you fancy a change of pace and don't mind not destroying enemies too fast" pile of characters :/
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