Jack-of-all-trades Build

(Shadowcat) #21

[QUOTE=Jimmy James;339561]Thanks for the feedback everyone!

New question: What is everyone’s “Preferred Class” for the Jack-of-all-trades build?

I set it to Operative because many maps have an early hacking objective (primary or otherwise) but if the buffs I give to my team persist after I change class it may be better to start with a class that buffs teammates at the start of the match then changes to Operative at the spawn Command Post if that class is needed.

-JJ[/QUOTE]

For a rounded character, my order of priority is this:

Engi
Medic
Soldier
Operative

Since you are mostly going to be focusing on objectives, soldier and operative abilities are less important.

An operative is generally going to be pushing in and trying to hack right away. Disguise helps, but thats free. Caltrops, Homing Beacon, and Comms hack are arguably useful, but with a team behind you, you will just be in the corner rather than fighting. You could probably put no skills into operative and still do fine on the hack objectives.

Soldier objectives involve rushing in as well, to plant the bomb. Superfrags and flashbangs could help you breech some, but you have to draw a line somewhere, and skills in Medic and Engineer will directly affect objectives more. Grenades may give you an edge, but the most important part of a push is teamwork, not class skills.

Engineers are a defense class. You are going to be spending a lot of time as this class, staying near objectives in case the enemy plants. The more points you put into this class, the better a defense you will be able to provide. Extra mine, a strong turret, buffing your team. For escort objectives, being able to set up a forward defense line is also useful, but less important. Engineer buffs increase team effectiveness, and mines/turrets can be as good as an extra teammate.

Medics also have escort objectives, along with being the backbone of a good team on any objective. You are going to be in the line of fire a lot, especially when escorting. Increasing your survivability, and your ability to keep teammates alive is very important. Medic abilities directly increase the teams survivability.

(wolfnemesis75) #22

[QUOTE=Shadowcat;339570]For a rounded character, my order of priority is this:

Engi
Medic
Soldier
Operative

Since you are mostly going to be focusing on objectives, soldier and operative abilities are less important.

An operative is generally going to be pushing in and trying to hack right away. Disguise helps, but thats free. Caltrops, Homing Beacon, and Comms hack are arguably useful, but with a team behind you, you will just be in the corner rather than fighting. You could probably put no skills into operative and still do fine on the hack objectives.

Soldier objectives involve rushing in as well, to plant the bomb. Superfrags and flashbangs could help you breech some, but you have to draw a line somewhere, and skills in Medic and Engineer will directly affect objectives more. Grenades may give you an edge, but the most important part of a push is teamwork, not class skills.

Engineers are a defense class. You are going to be spending a lot of time as this class, staying near objectives in case the enemy plants. The more points you put into this class, the better a defense you will be able to provide. Extra mine, a strong turret, buffing your team. For escort objectives, being able to set up a forward defense line is also useful, but less important. Engineer buffs increase team effectiveness, and mines/turrets can be as good as an extra teammate.

Medics also have escort objectives, along with being the backbone of a good team on any objective. You are going to be in the line of fire a lot, especially when escorting. Increasing your survivability, and your ability to keep teammates alive is very important. Medic abilities directly increase the teams survivability.[/QUOTE]

Good advice. And depending on preference, you can create some unorthodox and style-oriented builds by investing in nonconventional ways.

(Jimmy James) #23

I agree. I prefer the Engineer class anyway and it seems like the best default for a Jack-of-all-trades build to start out a mission with.

-JJ

(Glyph) #24

Usually starting as an Engineer is ideal since you can apply up to two buffs to your teammates and switch classes afterwards. The only reason to start as a different class is when you need to quickly finish an objective at the start of the match and normally that is a Soldier planting an HE charge.

(Cep) #25

I wouldn’t bother with fire walling (at least not till it gets a boost or lvl 24 comes out) since it doesn’t really seem to slow your opponents down.

HB is another I would drop too, since the patch I have noticed its a lot harder to acquire and if I am aiming at someone for that long, why the hell wouldn’t I just kill them?

So here’s mine :
Covert: caltrop, emp, comms hack, sticky bomb, hack turrets
Medic: increased supplies, lazarus, improved buff, self revive, improved supplies
Engi: extra mine, light turret, weapon buff, comm post upgrade
Sol: kevlar, extra mag, ap ammo
Uni: battle hardened, supply increase, supply recharge inscrease

(Shadowcat) #26

[QUOTE=Cep;339768]I wouldn’t bother with fire walling (at least not till it gets a boost or lvl 24 comes out) since it doesn’t really seem to slow your opponents down.

HB is another I would drop too, since the patch I have noticed its a lot harder to acquire and if I am aiming at someone for that long, why the hell wouldn’t I just kill them?

So here’s mine :
Covert: caltrop, emp, comms hack, sticky bomb, hack turrets
Medic: increased supplies, lazarus, improved buff, self revive, improved supplies
Engi: extra mine, light turret, weapon buff, comm post upgrade
Sol: kevlar, extra mag, ap ammo
Uni: battle hardened, supply increase, supply recharge inscrease[/QUOTE]

HB is still useful while disguised or doing a hack objective, not to mention while sniping, you can mark several people at a time while lining up shots as normal.

(Cep) #27

Yeah I mean don’t get me wrong its handy but if I was to choose only 5 abilities for covert ops, HB wouldn’t be one of them.

Mainly because its one of those situational abilities (you only use it at certain times, like you say disguised or when marking for snipers) whereas the other abilities with the exception of hack turret are ones you can employ pretty much at any time.

(Shadowcat) #28

[QUOTE=Cep;339772]Yeah I mean don’t get me wrong its handy but if I was to choose only 5 abilities for covert ops, HB wouldn’t be one of them.

Mainly because its one of those situational abilities (you only use it at certain times, like you say disguised or when marking for snipers) whereas the other abilities with the exception of hack turret are ones you can employ pretty much at any time.[/QUOTE]

The interesting thing with making an all-class build is that each class has a well defined role. Rather than making a class good in all situations as you would with a normal build, you only need it to be good in the situations you will use that class in.

Since you can be any class, logic says that most of the time you will be the class needed for the current objective. So most of the time when you are an operative, you will be focusing on hacking, which means getting a disguise, sneaking in, waiting for your team, then sitting in a corner with your PDA out.

So with this build, you are often not going to want to fire, and HB is a good way of pointing out “there’s a guy trying to kill me” while you are hacking.

Edit: i would even call it more important than Comms Hack, since no one seems to look at radar much. Also, you can probably drop command post upgrade. It’s a useful buff to be sure, but many single class players grab it because they can just switch classes, upgrade, then switch back. Hack turret is another questionable ability when you’re short on skillpoints. It’s so easy to knock out a turret anyway. With those two out of the way you could get better turrets or more universals.

(Jimmy James) #29

I agree, which is why I’m a little confused about Cep’s choice of AP Ammo for the Soldier. I find the Ability sort of limited anyway since it can’t be used on teammates and if you are a Jack-of-all-trades class, you will only be a soldier when there is an objective to blow up.

I can understand how a full-time Soldier would benefit from AP Ammo but not for someone who’s constantly switching classes (especially since self-buffs don’t carry over).

-JJ

(Cep) #30

I thinks its because my load out is more of a supporting role than a primary role. I am basically catering for the team when there are no soldiers for example but there is also no blow up objective.

For example if your defending on Reactor, one of the worst things for most of the team is running out of ammo, in this situation if there were no soldiers I would switch and I would prefer a good all round soldier over an objective soldier.

(Jimmy James) #31

[QUOTE=Cep;340019]I thinks its because my load out is more of a supporting role than a primary role. I am basically catering for the team when there are no soldiers for example but there is also no blow up objective.

For example if your defending on Reactor, one of the worst things for most of the team is running out of ammo, in this situation if there were no soldiers I would switch and I would prefer a good all round soldier over an objective soldier.[/QUOTE]
Ah, good point. I was being a little too objective-focused and forgot that one of the main roles of the Jack-of-all-trades build is team support (duh). I’ve been holding back a few points to spend in Abilities. I’ll have to reevaluate my choices now.

Thanks,
JJ

(Cep) #32

One key question with JOA is, is it worth the 3 tokens to get a Gatling turret? And if its not is there any point in obtaining the light? I only suggest it since turrets can be handy at scarring people (rather then anything else) but would the token be better spent elsewhere, since turrets are pretty naff?

(St NickelStew) #33

For me Homing Beacon in one of my top 3 choices for jack-of-all-trades Operative, along with Caltrops and Sticky Grenade. The last two abilities help the Operative to set up a defensive perimeter of sorts before hacking.

I have used HB in this way before: Sneak into hack objective area in disguise. While I am waiting for teammates to arrive I can spot of few enemies, making it easier for teammates to take them additionally. Additionally, Homing Beacon spotting can be done while hacking. So, for my jack-of-all trades, I take these three Operative abilities.

(Jimmy James) #34

I don’t plan on investing in the turrets because I would feel compelled to sink 3 points to max it out. I was surprised to see how many people invested only 1 or 2 points into the turret for the Jack-of-all-trades (JoAT?) build.

On a somewhat related topic: I was just playing my JoAT build as an Operative in a game trying to hack the surface to surface missile and I found that I kept getting a disguise, getting to the missile, spotting the mines around it for the team, and then… d’oh! I don’t have Hack Turret because I didn’t think it would be worth it and now I’m waiting behind this turret hoping my team shows up before an enemy spots my disguise.

JoAT WTF,
JJ

(St NickelStew) #35

For my JOA I was thinking I just might sink three points into a gatling turret.

With the new level cap you can have 4 abilities for each class and 8 universal abilities. I will “save” an ability by only choosing 3 for my operative, and give that to my engineer who can then have gatling turret, improved weapon buff, and extra mines. He can then do most things an engineer should be able to do, just not as fast. While you are repairing, a gatling turret can do more than any other engineer ability to keep you behind safe while you are vulnerable.

(Cep) #36

[QUOTE=Jimmy James;340088]d’oh! I don’t have Hack Turret because I didn’t think it would be worth it and now I’m waiting behind this turret hoping my team shows up before an enemy spots my disguise.

JoAT WTF,
JJ[/QUOTE]

Hehehe this is exactly the reason I use it ;D

(xdc) #37

mine is a hybrid/solo/operative build. I always change classes in a full game on defense, when attacking im usually the objective class. right now im trying out sprinting reload, and hack turrent. last build i used adrenaline, and silent running instead

[Universal]
Battle Hardened
Supply Max Increase
Combat Intuition
Resupply Rate Increase
Sprinting reload (light body type)

[Soldier]
AP ammo
Flashbang
Kevlar Vest

[Medic]
Self-rez
Improved life-buff
Lazarus grenade

[Engineer] (better than gatling turret IMO)
Command Post Upgrade
Extra Landmine
Improved Weapon Buff

[Operative]
Homing Beacon
Sticky Bomb
Caltrop Grenades
Cortex Bomb
Hack Turret
Emp Grenades

Soldier, medic, and engineer are solo builds and only need 3 abilities to be useful. Since operative is least played class in game, least useful, and my favorite i put 6 in. Hack turret is really useful when you are on the attacking team, grenades/bombs to disrupt the enemy, and can’t be a operative without homing beacon- its too useful when you are in disguise. Control turret would be better if you knew what level the turret was, not useful being on attacking team.

Next update ill drop sticky bomb for UAV, and get the other new abilities

(St NickelStew) #38

^^^
Sprinting Reload is a must have for all builds. Light, heavy, doesn’t matter. Heavy guns take a long time to reload, so it is nice to be able to run while reloading.

For Medic I would say the most important abilities are more supplies and even more supplies, and then self-revive. The more pips you have, the more healing/reviving you can do.

(xdc) #39

I go for the supply command post, and upgrade.
As medic since resupply rate for pips is too slow, i just go on a suicide mission to respawn with all pips

the rate should be increased, as this tactic has been proved valuable to me plenty of times.
try it for yourself

(Jimmy James) #40

[QUOTE=Jimmy James;340088]
JoAT WTF,
JJ[/QUOTE]
D’oh! My dyslexia kicked in, that should have been: “JoAT FTW”

I have a level 20 Medic but I have yet to use the Lazarus Grenade with any effectiveness. How exactly does it work? Is it like throwing revive syringes to multiple downed teammates clustered together?

-JJ

EDIT:

[QUOTE=xdc;340187]I go for the supply command post, and upgrade.
As medic since resupply rate for pips is too slow, i just go on a suicide mission to respawn with all pips[/QUOTE]
Hee hee, this is the tactic I always used in W:ET and ET:QW. Go out, expend all your resources, get killed, then respawn. Rinse and repeat.