Infiltrator

The infiltrator class is a mixture of weapon skills and technical skills, designed to let you pick apart enemy forces from a distance while also disabling their shields and weapons if they get close. Our playthrough as an Engineer didn't impress us overmuch as to the utility of the technical skills, but they can still be useful in the right hands, and the ability to prevent your foes from firing their weapons will be handy.

For the most part, an infiltrator will want to rely on his or her sniper rifle and attempt to fire from a distance, but you'll probably want to boost your pistol skills as well; there are a lot of situations where sniping from a distance will be impossible or unwieldy. Apart from that, Electronics and Decryption skills will allow you to eliminate the need for other technicians in your party.

Again, though, after playing through the game as an Engineer, we'd recommend going with a soldier or biotic class instead of a technical one, if only for the fun factor.

• Pistols
• (u)Sniper Rifles
• Tactical Armor
• (u)Fitness
• Electronics
• (u)Damping
• Decryption
• (u)First Aid
• Infiltrator

Vanguard

Vanguards are an amalgam of combat and biotic abilities, allowing you to shoot your foes or use biotics to throw them up into the air.

The mixture of combat and biotic skills is a potent one.

The combat aspect of the Vanguard is definitely gimped when compared to a soldier, unfortunately. You can't train assault rifles; only pistols and shotguns. You will also be required to spend a full 12 points in Assault Training and Tactical Armor to unlock the ability to wear medium armor. As far the biotics go, you lose the ability to cast Stasis from the biotic tree, which isn't a big deal, but you also lose out on Singularity, which is a tougher skill to give up. Still, shotguns, medium armor, Throw, and Lift will all combine to make you a fairly deadly opponent, especially in close combat.

Unfortunately, your Vanguard skill increases your biotic protection, but doesn't do anything for your recharge timers, so you'll be able to use your biotic skills much less often than an Adept would be able to.

• Pistols
• (u)Shotguns
• Assault Training
• (u)Tactical Armor
• Throw
• (u)Lift
• Warp
• (u)Barrier
• Decryption or Electronics
• Vanguard

Sentinel

The Sentinel class is a mixture of technical skills and biotic abilities. If you choose to be a sentinel, you should be warned that you cannot train in any weapons or armor abilities. You can still use weapons, but you won't be able to do so very well, and you'll be able to wield basic armor, but won't be able to use Shield Recharge to increase your shield reserves.

The skills you lose from biotics are the iffy Warp and the very handy Singularity, so you won't get the very best from that discipline. From engineering, you'll lose Damping and Hacking, neither of which are particularly necessary to get through the game. That said, you'll still be able to Throw, Lift, use a Barrier, and perform Decryption and Electronics tasks, so you'll be able to take over a lot of the support roles in your group. If you want to have a billion activated abilities and shut down your opponents for your teammates to kill, then the Sentinel might be the right class for you.

• Throw
• (u)Lift
• Barrier
• (u)Stasis
• Decryption
• (u)Electronics
• First Aid
• (u)Medicine
• Sentinel