Anthem drops in about a week for Origin Access Premier players and in roughly two weeks for everyone else. While we expect there will be a ton of changes between the demo and the full game, these are some ability build ideas to roll with when you jump into the full version of Anthem.
Ranger
I plan on playing Ranger as my main javelin at launch, so I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out some promising builds over the two demos.
Venom Darts & Sticky/Frag Grenades: This was the highest pure damage combo I found. Venom Darts don’t do a whole lot of damage on their own, but the acid effect they apply not only ups your own damage vs. the target, but the damage of your allies as well. Pairing this with Sticky Grenade will deal the most upfront damage, but it can be tricky to land on a particular target. Frag Grenade works as a solid alternative if you prefer.
Frost Grenade & Pulse Blast: Generally speaking, Seeking Missile appears to be a better option than Pulse Blast, but Pulse Blast’s lack of auto targeting also means you can use it to manually target weak points and pull off huge crits. Frost Grenade works as a solid primer ability here to ensure the target can’t move around while you line up the shot.
Inferno Grenade & Seeking Missile: This is my burn and blow everything up build. It's not the most optimal, but I enjoy it the most out of all the above options. What can I say? I like fire and explosions.
Colossus
I didn’t spend too much time with the Colossus in the demo, despite wanting to pick it up as my second javelin. However, once I realized Lightning Coil was the only ability I could run with my shield up, I knew what I had to do. Paired with Flamethrower, you can easily get in there with a ton of enemies and start blowing everyone up with combo detonations. This is both a fun and solid build, provided you have the gear to survive being close up.
Storm
For me, the Storm is all about crowd control. Dealing tons of damage is great, but I can do that with any other javelin, so I plan on going with either an Ice Storm and Burning Orb build or an Ice Storm and Glacial Spear build. Ice Storm is great for freezing huge packs of enemies and then toss out Burning Orb to blow them up and spread the effect or Glacial Spear for what seemed to be a bit more damage on a longer cooldown.
Interceptor
My dream build for the Interceptor is some way to pull off the Mass Effect Vanguard and I have a couple of ideas on how this could work. Spark Dash will basically serve as your Biotic Charge, though it doesn’t refill your shields, so you’ll need to work something out in your gear choices to ensure you’ll be able to survive once you dive in. It’s hard to speak to the possibilities of this just yet since I was only able to play the demo, but things are looking promising, at least based on the datamined Masterwork bonuses I’ve seen.
For abilities, it all depends on how things shake out at launch. Right now, Spark Dash is a detonator ability. Personally, my hope is that BioWare switches Spark Dash to a primer and leaves Tempest Strike as a detonator so that I can chain them together as a one-two burst combo as I bounce from pack to pack (BioWare pls!). If that doesn’t work out, you can initiate combat using Cryo Glaive or Venom Bomb and then Spark Dash in as your combo. I’ll obviously be rolling with a shotgun in this build for the full Vanguard fantasy.
What are some ability combos you’re looking forward to using at launch? Share ‘em with us in the comments below!
