Mass Effect 1 Best Weapon Mods

Equipment - Upgrades - Weapons. Frictionless Material. Frictionless materials give the round more power at impact while minimizing weapon overheating.

I'm currently leveling a Sentinel(Bastion/Assault Rifles) in the first Mass Effect, which I plan to import to Mass Effect 2. However, I want to see if I can manage Pinnacle Station on Insanity, and as such I'm looking to maximize damage output and utility with the four squad mates I use on this character: Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, and Wrex.
All four of them will, of course, have Colossus X armor with two Medical Exoskeleton X upgrades, and each will have a full set of level ten Master Spectre weapons. However, herein lies my dilemma. While my assault rifle and pistol are equipped with Rail Extension VII x2 and Snowblind Rounds X, and my shotgun and sniper rifle have Rail Extension VII x2 and High Explosive Rounds X, I'm not sure how I should gear the weapons on my squad mates. Should I use the same assault rifle loadout for Ashley, Garrus, and Wrex? What should Garrus and Ashley's sniper rifles have, or Ashley and Wrex's shotguns? Any help I can get would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to my Steam Guide for Mass Effect. My tag is sinewav and the purpose of this guide is to help any players new to the Mass Effect 1 world have a good foundation of spoiler-free knowledge to have a better first experience with this game or who just wants some helpful pointers. I will also make some spoiler-free suggestions to parts 2 and 3 of the Trilogy where it will be helpful.By now this game has been out a long time now and while there's already plenty of guides online with the new Steam Guides feature I felt it would benefit at least the Steam community have a quick beginner guide to help get you started with this great game.This guide will be organized into four main parts, character creation, character progression, main quest and general gameplay. I made sure to give you as much advice as possible for character creation since this is perhaps the most crucial point where this advice is needed and then some tips to help ensure you continue to enjoy the game to its climactic finish. As I come up with more ideas I will add to the guide and of course any helpful feedback I receive on how to improve the guide I will incorporate as well.Thank you all for taking an interest in my guide and I hope any of the tips here help you enjoy Mass Effect 1 to its fullest potential.I have received a lot of great feedback so far and I have been adjusting my guide with some of the best suggestions as time allows.

Thanks for those who have contributed.Please Note: Now that the guide has been out for several months now I noticed that despite my best efforts some spoilers are making their way into the comments section. As a result all readers especially new players should use caution when reading guide comments if they wish to completely avoid potential spoilers. I will regularly update the guide with the best spoiler-free feedback so if you prefer you can avoid this section until you complete the game. Mass Effect is known for having lots of voice acting, so much that it's surprising how much variation they accounted for when creating your character.One of the ways you experience the unique voice acting is through your first major decision (aside from choosing a first name) when creating your character is deciding what their back story and pysch profile will be prior to the events of Mass Effect 1.

On the surface it appears to be a straightforward choice as there are only 2 questions with 3 options each to choose from so how bad can it be right? Consider the following for each character you create:.

You can change your class in Mass Effect 2 & 3. You can change your appearance in Mass Effect 2 & 3.

You can change your paragon/renegade alignment in Mass Effect 2 & 3. You can't change you back story ever againWhile some may argue that the choices you make here are only superficial and to some extent that is true (aside from access to a unique side quest), you owe it yourself to choose a backstory/profile that most closely matches you or the person you are role playing as as it will have some affect on your experience. Enough dialog is changed to the point that if you don't choose the right one it can take you out of the experience. So if your character's personality is ruthless for example choose the back story that fits. With only 3 options to choose from it may be hard to find the perfect match but it is is easy to find the closest one.Of course it's fun to try out all the options on later playthroughs but that's another topic. After you decide your backstory/profile you will next choose the class you want to play as which will determine what abilities and access to weapons you will have throughout the game.

As is common in RPG's you won't be able to change your class for the remainder of the game so you may be wondering what may be the best or better classes to use or even which ones to avoid. You've come to the right place, below I will list all the available classes in Mass Effect 1 along with my recommendations for each:Soldier - Trained to use all weapons, high weapon damage output in exchange for no biotic or tech abilities.

Ideal for FPS or shooter focused players. Only class that can gain access to heavy armor. A good starter class.

Always bring an engineer or biotic member when venturing out.Vanguard - An excellent biotic/soldier hybrid class. Trained to use shotguns & pistols. Ideal for those who want access to advanced armor & weapons and want to kick some tail with biotic powers as well. Excels at close quarters combat. Medium armor & barrier give you lots of protection making it a good starter class. Always bring an engineer with you.Adept - The pure biotic class.

Trained in pistols. Good if you want to throw enemies around and feel like a powerful badass. Every biotic ability in the game is at your fingertips and all are useful.

Light armor means you should bring squad members with access to heavy weapons & armor & tech abilities.Infiltrator - A great tech/soldier hybrid class. Trained in sniper rifles & pistols. Aside from Soldier the only other class for those who prefer head shots. Access to Medium armor & good shields makes it great for beginners who can handle the sniper rifle.

Personally I wasn't fond of the sniper rifle in ME1 but other players have enjoyed this class. Bring a biotic specialist with you & a soldier that can take the front line.Engineer - The pure tech class. Trained in pistols. A good beginner class for those who want a different approach than biotics or weapons to wipe out enemies. Not as flashy as Adept but tech abilities are handy and in some cases must have. Light armor but access high shield protection. IMO an underrated but excellent class.Sentinel - The only hybrid ability class with access to both tech & biotic powers.

Trained in pistols & light armor. Originally in Xbox 360 version was not trained in any weapons and this resulted in a very unbalanced and difficult class to use especially for beginners. The PC port (steam version) has been improved significantly however remains a challenging class to use. Not an ideal beginner class.One thing that you should note especially if you plan to play the remaining Mass Effect games is that although the class names will remain the same throughout the trilogy Bioware rebalanced and in some cases vastly changed the feel of the class so please take this advice with you - starting with ME2 onward always check out the changes made to your class in the game and be ready to switch classes. For many players sticking to the same class may not be the best option.All that said I have more thoughts on classes in general in the coming tips. Weapon training in Mass Effect 1 has the following affect on each class:.

Determines which weapons you can improve via stats and perks on a skill tree. Determines which weapons you can Zoom or Aim with (With one notable exception - pistols). Bottom line: which weapon types you can use effectively in the gameIn Mass Effect 1 regardless of class every player will carry at least one of each weapon type at all times (pistol, shotgun, assault weapon, sniper rifle).

While this may imply that any class can use any weapon because of weapon training each class will only be effective on the weapon(s) they are trained in.Fortunately due to adjustments in the PC port it now appears that every class is trained in at least one weapon which is the pistol. I'll explore the reasons why that's a good thing later but for now I'm happy to say that you will have access to at least one weapon type regardless of class.As shown in the images below the ability to aim or zoom in a weapon is crucial in ME1 and also since damage is in part decided by a hidden dice roll and zoom increases your chances of scoring a 'hit'.

This rule is exclusive to new players not those who completed the game. From my experience most of the classes are actually good starting choices except for one: the Sentinel Class. The reason why this class is singled out is because it is perhaps the hardest class to use correctly since it's primarily a support class with the weakest weapon skill tree of all the classes.As several have commented and I have since corrected originally in the Xbox version you had no ability to zoom nor skill tree making it extremely unbalanced. Now as reported by the community and verified in testing now Sentinel class now has the ability to zoom the pistol, boost stats and gain weapon perks. These are all welcome changes and I've since dialed back my opposition to this class. When creating your character as with many Bioware Games you have the option to choose your gender and create a custom face for your hero (Shepard).

In Mass Effect Bioware evolved their system with more options to customize facial features which may be intimidating at first (for example scars & facial hair for male sheps and eye shadow / make up for female sheps just to name a few).While it's very possible to enjoy the game using the default Male or Female Commander Shepard creating a custom appearance for your Shepard can really help to draw you into your first experience with the story. It also looks great seeing your character in armor or interacting with characters and to me makes a difference in how you play.Also when making your character you can for example either make it look like you or anyone you want, it's all up to you (these are just some ideas). Personally I first tried the game as someone who looked like me and then for my next playthrough as someone with a different personality as mine which helped me role play which was a fun way to experience the game differently.If like me are not an artist or find the customization intimidating there are a number of preset appearances you can use instead of the default appearance or as a starting point for making your Shepard look how you want.Some preset examples for male ShepardSome female Shepard presetsAgain if you prefer using the default Shepard nothing is lost in doing so.

This is mainly to help those who are thinking about creating a custom appearance or are worried about the time or difficulty in creating one. As I implied in another tip the Pistol weapon type in Mass Effect is actually one of the best weapons in the game. While this may seem odd at first based on how the game plays Pistols tend to have high accuracy, damage per shot, and shots before overheating. They are perhaps the most well rounded weapons over the course of the game. There is no reload mechanic in Mass Effect 1 instead weapons can overheat after too many shots are fired forcing you to wait before you can fire again. Some weapons may have higher accuracy (sniper rifles) or power (shotguns) or shots before overheat (assault rifles) but few will beat all these stats at once.

At the highest levels the top pistols are some of the best weapons in the game.In fact whenever I played as a pure biotic (Adept) or tech (Engineer) I never really missed the ability to use any of the other weapon types. It's that good and while a Soldier may end up focused elsewhere espcially later in the game if any of the non-soldier classes interest you I wouldn't give access to only pistols a second thought. The Pistol is a big reason why most classes make excellent starting classes. While some may disagree (please leave a comment!) I found that of all weapons the sniper rifle was the hardest to use.

I should say right away that this ONLY applies to Mass Effect 1 (not 2 or 3) as the combat engine was revamped later and I found the sniper rifle a much better option starting in Mass Effect 2. As a result for Mass Effect 1 I stayed away from this weapon type as the weapon is hard to use at low levels and I didn't have the patience to level it up to the point where it would be stable enough to get shots off reliably.Also because of the overheat mechanic and sniper rifles having the lowest shot before overheating (1-2 shots for much of the game) I found way too restrictive for me.You may find your experience different espcially if you play as Soldier or are a good shot but for me I skipped the sniper rifle in Mass Effect 1.

Mass Effect like many Bioware games has a morality system where you will make choices that are perceived as 'good/selfless' or 'bad/selfish'. In Mass Effect the 'good' or selfless choices are called Paragon and the 'bad' or selfish choices are called Renegade. During dialog usually the top-right choice is paragon, middle-right is neutral, and bottom-right is renegade.

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Since in this game you are the hero no matter what choice you make the only real difference is how nice or ruthless you were throughout the game. There are also points you may add to your charm/intimidate skills which also affect what options you have at certain points in the game.While some guides may point you in the direction of playing a 'perfect' game or staying consistent with your choices (all paragon/renegade) to get the 'best' outcome available to you and while true from a pure gaming standpoint for the best overall experience I found that the choices I was most satisfied with were the ones I made truthfully as that character. I personally admit to breakling this tip on several occasions on my first playthrough and I regretted not trusting my instincts for all those decisions.While it is worth spending some points in charm or intimidate and staying somewhat consistent to give you access to some of the 'best' choices on certain side quests and such it will affect your overall experience if you play too paragon or renegade.Like in real life we are all a little paragon and renegade and if you play that way you will have the best experience. This one may not be all that surprising but again good to know.

As you gain expereience and level up you will receive points that you can use to build the skills of your character and of your squad. I found that if you used the 'auto-level' option to allocate your points I was never happy wiith the direction it took my character. In general auto level up tends to put points into everything and in my experience I found it better to specialize as you gain access to the best perks with a skill faster.For example take any class that is trained in 2 or more weapons. In general auto level up will allocate points evenly between all weapon types which means you won't have access to the best weapon perks for a while.

Instead what I did is allocate points into one weapon, get that weapon to a high enough point, and then once I'm happy I then start putting points in my other weapons.This is not to say avoid the feature entirely. If curious you can always click the 'Auto Level' button to preview how the points will be used and click 'Undo' to erase any changes. Your allocations are not committed until you change characters or exit the screen or so feel free to see what the game recommends before doing what you feel is best.The only exception I would consider is for your party.

Party members have much fewer skills than you so the number of choices are fewer to begin with and as it turns out the auto-level allocation is actually decent in this regard. I still liked specializing my 'go to' squad members but as a time saving measure I would say go ahead auto level, but not for your own character. Soon after your first mission you will have the option to pick up side quests and objectives not tied to the main mission as with other RPG's. While it is technically feasible to complete the main quest without doing any side missions aside from speed runs or to boost your character beyond level 50 (your first playthrough will cap at level 50 and then up to 60 if you replay) you should aim to complete some if not most of the side quests available to you. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons has to do with how the loot system works.Mass Effect 1 has arguably the best (and most complex) loot system of the Trilogy. While sales of later installments may dispute my belief if like me you are a loot hound then you will likely enjoy and eventually miss the ability to amass and meticulously manage your epic collection.This being part RPG you will find lots of containers, locked doors, etc which will contain precious gear and upgrades you will equip your team with to become a badass force.

With few exceptions most loot containers will give you leveled and randomized equipment based on your experience level.I found in playing that items you find can vary greatly from game to game so if you limit yourself to only the main missions there's a good chance you won't have the best weapons or armor for you and your team. Another possibly obvious tip for RPG fans but still worth noting. Throughout the game you will encounter many 'locked' containers that require the 'Decyrption' skill to unlock. It's very much like the 'lock pick' ability in a lot of other RPG's. You will also find damaged computers that require the 'Electronics' skill to salvage equipment.As the name may impliy the engineer or infiltrator class have these skills so if you choose these classes you are set, if not make sure you bring along a squad mate who has these skills so you don't lose access to the sweet loot in these containers. Even with Omnigel these skills are needed. (Omnigel is used to bypass the mini games when unlocking or salvaging).The electronics skill is also handy to repair your Mako when damanged (a fate all too common in this game).In general you want to have at least one soldier, one biotic user, and one tech user between you and your team on most missions to have a well balanced team able to handle any situation.

Your attitude towards currency in this game should be to save it and not spend it often. You will not have to worry about being in a situation where in order to proceed you need X amount of credits. One of my favorite features of Mass Effect (and Bioware games in general) is interacting with my party members and seeing how my relationship develops over time with each person. Since you can only bring a few party members with you in the field this means the best time to interact with them is between missions.In general this only applies to main quest missions so you don't have to do this after every mission.

As you progress with the main quest and complete a mission go and talk to your team before continuing on. Here is your opportunity to get to know your team, hear some interesting stories, and maybe even pick up another side quest.

This is also your opportunity to develop a romantic relationship with one or more members of your team so if that interests you then I would defintely be talking up a storm.With the exception of the romantic partners there is no 'wrong' answer when talking to your team. The conversation system is at its best here so be sure to invest time with your team to get the most from what the game offers.

Loot collection in Mass Effect 1 can be a very fun and satisfying feature but it also carries some pitfalls to be aware of. Fortunately at least early in the game while you are learning you don't have to worry about this but it's something to be aware and prepared for.In Mass Effect 1 you and your team have slots to equip weapons, armor, mods, etc. After your team is equipped any unequipped items are 'stored' in a main inventory where you and your team can equip, swap items, etc. This main inventory has a hidden limit of 150 items total which may seem like a lot at first but if left unattended can result in opening a container and suddenly finding out you are at your limit and are forced to convert the contents to omnigel with no way to back out.In reality the limit is very manageable as long as you do enough cleanup after a big mission or after a few side quests. Since your inventory is usually highest at this point and you are usually on your ship which has a store this is the best time to clean out your inventory. To do that follow a three step process:.

Equip you and your squad with the best items. Either sell or breakdown your least valuable equipment. Repeat until you are around 1/2 your inventory limit or lessFor most of the game you will be finding a lot of loot so don't get too attached to equipment and always compare stats and ensure your team has the best equipment (you should be updating everything even untrained weapons).

Stores are the best way to find out how close you are to your 150 item limit via the 'sell' screen (Please note you won't see a count of your items, you actually have to count them by hand).For most of the game I would only keep an extra 3-4 weapons of any type after equipping the team and I never had to worry about the item limiit. If you have 10 or more unequpped items in each category you are carrying too much stuff. One exception are weapon mods where you will need to carry different sets for your squad to handle different enemy types.

But even here only carry around enough to outfit your squad's weapons and get rid of the rest.The main idea to remember is to stay consistent and don't go too long before pruning down your inventory and the item limit will not be a concern. Ok, for this tip I will need to slightly bend my spoiler rule but I'm making an exception here because this one won't make a lot of sense now and is really important to know ahead of time. Feel free to skip this step if you prefer but in my opinion this is worth knowing.As you progress in the game you will reach a point where you finally gain control of a ship and be able to explore the galaxy as you wish.

When you get to that point your main quest will break into several quests which you may complete in any order.Without going into too much detail even though you have a choice I strongly recommend starting with the one going to the Artemis Tau cluster first as you will get your final party member after completing that quest.Doing this will ensure you have the maximum time with that character to level up and complete the dialog path with that character. This character also possesses abilities that some classes may be in need of early on.The only exception to this are side quests. At this point in the game you should also have a lot of side quests available to complete and if some look interesting to you feel free to do a few before going here. In general the story only progresses as you complete main quest missions so side quests are fine to do and also grant, loot, experience and money not to mention being fun to explore.Once you complete this quest you are free to tackle the remaining ones in any order you like.

This concludes my Mass Effect Steam Guide for new players. Hi @Midnight Sun hello again. Great point about the Krogan boss fight, I remember that fight well and I agree with your points here.Apologies for any misunderstanding on my part. To be candid I did remove some (not all) of your comments as they deviated significantly from the purpose of this guide IMHO.

You and anyone is welcome to post as long as the focus remains on new players and new information, not for debate.You appear to be someone who's of keen interest in ME1, why not start your own guide? Honestly I do not have the time to verify your new information and your suggestions would be ripe to be fully explored. Who knows I may try them myself!Lastly my sincere thanks for sharing your knowledge. It's amazing to think that there are even more ways to play this classic title. Kudos for that.

@sinewav I haven't said I found success with Sentinel, that was KT Chong. In fact, I haven't played it much, it has trouble with Krogan Battlemaster fight at Therum if you go to get Liara early.The only way I mentioned Sentinels below is a suggestion that they benefit from an extra weapon skill. And did you delete my other comment on how to get bonus skill easy on first time? Because I got those on Eden Prime when first time playing.No matter how many comments about Infiltrators and Sniper Rifles being OP you delete, it won't change that fact. They do everything that Soldier does apart from Carnage spam & heavy armor, but let you use any squadmate without bothering with Electronics and Decryption. And Infiltrators are WAY more powerful and easier to use than Vanguards in ME1.

Literally everyone agrees with that here. And I am saying that even with Vanguard being my fav class, it's just Immunity Barrier because the game is balanced this way. Infiltrators just don't die. Hi @Midnight Sun, thank you for commenting. While I can appreciate your suggestion as a verteran player of ME1 to me your porposals are more beneficial to people who have already played and/or beaten the game.

This guide is intended for those who have never played and want to experience the game in the most straightforward way possible and there are plenty of other classes that do not need any tweaking to enjoy. I am glad you found success with Sentinel, I will continue to advise new players to avoid it when starting out.To all Steam users who read my guide it seems that the section on classes prompts the greatest amount of debate. While I think about how to re-word this section I humbly request that we focus on improving the other areas of the guide. This section is just one of many areas new players need help with and IMO dicussing this topic at the expense of the others is not beneficial.

I will use my ability to moderate as necessary to preserve it's intended goal. For first time players, you can have a bonus weapon skill (allows to zoom in) very early, AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO COMPLETE A GAME for it, all you need to do is to kill 150 enemies with that weapon type then restart (and let's face it, people restart and remake characters in RPGs all the time anyway). Fast & easy to unlock weapons with default Soldier Shepard, though unneeded. You can even reload a save and redo the same area until you unlock that weapon as a bonus talent.

Even if you can't aim with it, just use sniper rifle or shotgun on weak enemies from point blank range enough times and unlock it as a skill for everyone!Assault Rifle Adepts/Sentinels are popular but redundant (Pistol is OP and has the same midrange role), so I advise to take either Shotgun or Sniper Rifle, but shotgun is the only weapon already useable decently without zoom-in for the areas with husks or creepers (melee enemies that are easily knocked down by shotties). Hi @KT Chong, point taken. While I agree that with a bonus ability that Sentinel is much improved that requires completing at least 1 walkthrough which is not the point of this guide. As I've taken great efforts to show this guide is intended for new players doing their first play through. Without access to the bonus ability I found this class not enjoyable on PC and even more unpleasant back when it first released on 360.

I'm glad you commented to show that there are folks who enjoy and even favor this class. I remain of the opinion that Sentinel class in ME1 is not for beginners.