Best Kaidan Build - Mass Effect 3 (ME3)

This post covers the best Best Kaidan build in Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect 3 Legendary Edition. He comes back to the third entry based on your decisions in the previous games.

Kaidan Build

Kaidan is a mix of biotics, tech, offense, and offense abilities. Due to this, he can be very versatile. In my opinion. he shines when using biotic and tech abilities. This can be achieved by using them to create or detonate Biotic and Tech explosions.

Here is an example, where I use Kaidan's Reave to damage a whole group of enemies. Once the enemies are affected by the ability I use Double Throw and Liara's Warp to create Three Biotic explosions from a single Reave.

Not only that, but Kaidan can use Assault Rifles. Equip him with N7 Typhoon and he will tear apart any enemies that he encounters alone.

Squad Point Allocation

This section covers how Squad points should be allocated for the end game on the Kaidan Build.

Power name	Upgrades Order	Level (Points)
Barrier	-	3 (6)
Reave	Radius Recharge Speed Any	6 (21)
Overload	Damage Neural Shock Shield Damage	6 (21)
Cryo Blast	Radius Speed Reduction Recharge Speed	6 (21)
Alliance Officer	Weapon Damage Biotic Damage Squad Bonus (Powers)	6 (21)

Unfortunately, Barrier does not fit this build. It improves survivability and can knock back enemies, however, it greatly increases the cooldown time of abilities. However, Kaidan already has long cooldowns and this would expose this weakness even more.

Ability Progression

This section covers detailed ability progression for Kainda Build. This is just a suggested progression, feel free to adjust it based on your needs.

Order	Skill	Description
1	Overload Lv 3	One of the main abilities that will allow Kaidan to detonate Tech Explosions and tear down enemy shields
2	Reave Lv 4	This is his signature ability. It allows him to take care of enemy barriers and armor. Moreover, this will prime Biotic explosion even on protected enemies. Don't forget to take the Radius upgrade for the area of effect.

With just the two of these abilities, Kaidan can now take care of all protections in the game

Order	Skill	Description
3	Alliance Officer Lv 3	We take this ability to get some bonus health and shields for Kaidan. Although he is a biotic user, Assault Rifle allows him to participate actively in ranged combat.
4	Cryo Blast Lv 3	I recommend getting this ability, as it can be a very good choice against a group of unprotected enemies. Freeze one of them, and the use Throw or other detonator ability for Cryo Explosion.
6	Reave Lv 5	Take Recharge Speed upgrade. Now the skill will have 8 seconds of cooldown and can be used more often.
7	Overload Lv 5	Take Damage and Neural Shock upgrades. With these, the Overload ability will be very powerful against organic enemies that have shields.
8	Alliance officer Lv 6	Take Durability, Biotic Damage, and Squad Bonus (Biotic Power). Now Kaidan will have higher damage with biotic power and can sustain more damage
9	Reave Lv 6	The last upgrade for this skill. I personally prefer Damage & Duration. It gives bonus protection for Kaidan and also gives bonus damage. However, Barriers & Armor is also a good upgrade.
10	Overload Lv 6	Take Shield Damage. I think Kaidan should concentrate on single-target damage, to ensure that the enemy is fully stripped of shields after a single use.
11	Cryo Blast Lv 6	Take Radius, Speed Reduction, and Recharge Speed upgrades. This will not be a game-changer skill at this point in the game. However, it will be effective at multiple enemies without protection or further slowing protected enemies.
12	Barrier Lv 3	The last ability that you should take. I do not recommend using it for this particular build. This is why it is last

Tactics and Squad

As this Kaidan build revolves around the use of Biotic and Tech powers here are my suggestions for how to use the build:

• Learn how to maximize Reave's effectiveness. Try to use it on a group of enemies. Then follow up with Biotic detonator abilities like Warp or Throw. Use both Shepard and companions for multiple explosions.
• What makes Reave special is that is also able to detonate Biotic Explosions. I do not think this should be done with Kaidan build, but it can come in handy in case Shepard has abilities on cooldown.
• Kaidan also has decent health and can equip Assault Rifle. Due to this, do not ignore equipping a good Assault Rifle for bonus firepower in the group.
• Although Heavy Pistols can provide a bonus to power damage (Power Magnifier upgrade). If you only use Kaidan to set up combos, then it is better to use Assault Rifles.

Companions

• You should have someone in the party who can easily detonate Biotic explosions. They will be set up by Kaidan's Reave power. I recommend having Liara, Sentinel, Adept, or Vanguard
• Also due to Overload power, Kaidan is also able both set up and detonate Tech, Fire, and Cryo Bursts. So a good synergy is to have someone like Infiltrator, Garrus, or EDI.

Although Kaidan can work with any group, the mentioned combos will work best when playing on Insanity difficulty.

Equipment

This section will cover what equipment you should be using with Kaidan Build.

Assault Rifles

Name	Upgrades	Description
N7 Typhoon	Magazine Extend Barrel	This is a crazy weapon, that can pierce through covers. Good addition for Kaidan for high group damage.
M-7 Lancer	Piercing Mod Extend Barrel	A decent option that has balanced damage.
M-76 Revenant	Piercing Mod Extend Barrel	Revenant has a very high fire rate and a large magazine.

Heavy Pistols

The main idea why you would use Heavy Pistol is for Power Magnifier upgrade. It increases the damage of Biotic powers.

Name	Upgrades	Description
M-77 Paladin	Power Magnifier Piercing Mod	A good all-around weapon, that comes with high damage. It does not have any special effects.
Acolyte	Power Magnifier Piercing Mod	This pistol can be charged by companions and deals much more damage to shields and barriers.
Executioner Pistol	Power Magnifier Piercing Mod	The strongest heavy pistol in the game. Perfect to be used by Kaidan as AI has good accuracy

Armors

In Mass Effect 3, companion armors provide stat boosts. So it is a good idea to see what you pick. Here is what I recommend for the Kaidan build:

Name	Effects
	Power Recharge Speed +25%

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this post on the best Kaidan build in Mass Effect 3. I covered recommended abilities and their progression, best equipment, and tactics.

Feel free to leave a comment below!