Best Engineer Build - Technical Master - Mass Effect 3 (ME3)

This post covers the best Engineer build in Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect 3 Legendary Edition. They rely on Tech powers to create various elemental effects. Moreover, they are able to command mechanical contraptions like drones that help in the battlefield.

Engineer Build - Technical Master

The build concentrates on using Tech abilities - blowing enemy weapons, incapacitating with electricity, and setting on fire. What also makes it special is that if you encounter synthetic enemies like geth, you can easily take control of them and turn enemies into allies.

But there may come a situation where Engineer becomes overwhelmed - allies die or there are just too many enemies... It can easily be overcome with drones at turrets at your disposal. They stun enemies, set them on fire, or are perfect for drawing attention.

Squad Point Allocation

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

Power name	Upgrades Order	Level (Points)
Incinerate	Any Recharge Speed Armor Damage	6 (21)
Overload	Damage Neural Shock Chain Overload	6 (21)
Cryo Blast	-	-
Combat Drone	Detonate Shock Chain Lightning	6 (21)
Sabotage	Backfire Recharge Speed Tech Vulnerability	6 (21)
Sentry Turret	Shield & Damage Armor-Piercing Ammo Flamethrower	6 (21)
Tech Mastery	Power Damage Damage & Capacity Power Mastery	6 (21)
Fitness	Durability Shield Recharge Fitness Expert	6 (21)

For bonus powers, there are some excellent choices for Engineer build. Be sure to read them as they significantly improve overall gameplay and weak points:

Power name	Upgrades order	Description
Defense Matrix	Durability Power Synergy Power Recharge	This would be the primary choice for the Engineer as it gives increased Tech Damage and protection. Of course, the power recharge speed is decreased.
Lash	Detonate Recharge Speed Shield Penetration	I recommend having a biotic ability in case you will have group members that can prime Biotic Explosions as your abilities cannot detonate them
Reave	Radius Recharge Speed Any	Similar to the previous ability, you may want to have an ability that can detonate Biotic Explosions. Also, Reave activates instantly and can affect multiple enemies. Moreover, it enables dealing significant damage against barriers.

Ability Progression

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

Order	Skill	Description
1	Incinerate Lv 3	One of the main abilities that Engineers build uses. It does huge damage against armors and primes enemies for Fire Explosion. It can also detonate Tech Bursts, so mix it with the next skill
2	Overload Lv 3	Use it to tear down enemy shields, prime tech bursts, or detonate Tech and Fire Explosions. It also deals some damage to the enemy's health.
3	Combat Drone Lv 4	A perfect ability early in the game, that can save your life. Use it to draw the enemy's attention in case you are overwhelmed. It will give a few seconds for you to use your tech abilities to slowly tear down enemies. For 4th level get Detonate upgrade.
4	Tech Mastery Lv 3	ENgineer's class passive ability. Improves general stats and provides a power damage bonus.
5	Sabotage Lv 4	Get a Backfire upgrade. It will increase the damage of the backfire effect that happens about 1.5 seconds after the ability affects the enemy. Overall this skill is very powerful. Once the backfire activates the enemy is primed for a tech burst. Use any of the other engineer tech abilities to detonate it. it can also prime multiple enemies.
6	Overload Lv 5	My preferred choice is Damage and Neural Shock upgrades. The latter is extremely strong as it greatly improves damage against organic enemies. (as it hits them two times). I also prefer a general Damage increase as I use the ability after Sabotage to detonate Tech Burst.
7	Incinerate Lv 5	For 4th level upgrade any works. Radius allows to damage and prime multiple enemies. Damage is good against single enemy health and armor. For the 5th level take Recharge Speed
8	Sabotage Lv 6	The last upgrade is the most important for the ability and will allow Engineer to deal crazy amounts of damage. Take Tech Vulnerability upgrade. With it, tech abilities will deal 100% damage. So if you follow up with Overload and have Chain evolution you can hit multiple enemies with Tech Bursts.
9	Tech Mastery Lv 5	Take Damage & Capacity upgrades. It will boost power damage and decrease the penalty from weapons against power cooldowns.
10	Overload Lv 6	Take Chain Overload. It increases general damage and allows Overload to hit the second enemy. Use this together with Sabotage to detonate multiple Tech Bursts.
11	Incinerate Lv 6	Get an Armor Damage upgrade. It will ensure that you deal the maximum amount of damage against the enemy's armor. This will be extremely helpful against many boss-type enemies like Banshees, Atlases, or Brutes.

The core of the build is ready and should be able to use the main rotations and feel good using the build. Here are the next steps that you can take to further improve Engineer.

Order	Skill	Description
12	Bonus Ability	This is the perfect time to take the ability. I previously mentioned some recommendations, so take them based on your choice - more tech damage or unlocked biotic abilities.
13	Tech Mastery Lv 6	My only recommendation is Power Mastery for the last upgrade. With it you can deal the maximum amount of damage with an Engineer. The other upgrade improves drones. Sadly, it is not as helpful as one would think after multiple testing.
14	Combat Drone Lv 6	To further improve the Shock and Chain Lightning. These upgrades ensure that the drone creates as much confusion as it can - by stunning enemies.
15	Sentry Turret Lv 6	By itself the ability is nothing special, however, we can make some use of it. Take Shields & Damage, Armor-Piercing Ammo, and Flamethrower upgrades. Once the turret starts hitting with fire, enemies will get primed for Fire Explosion. Use Overload or Incinerate to detonate it.
16	Fitness Lv 6	The last ability to get. It increases shields and their recharge delay. Nothing fancy, just late-game improvements. Pick Durability, Shield Recharge, and Durability.

Tactics and Squad

This section will cover how to best play Engineer build in Mass Effect 3.

Sabotage as a primer

The Sabotage skill works extremely well with the Engineer build. This comes true with the level 6 upgrade - Tech Vulnerability. After you use the ability on the enemy all tech skills will deal 100% more damage for 10 seconds.

So follow up with Incinerate and Overload after the Backfire effect (the organic enemy gets shocked and they stutter). This will cause a Tech Burst with double damage on top. In the example above enemy engineer, turret, and nearby assault Tropper gets annihilated, while on trooper gets AOE damage from the combo.

Of course, Sabotage can also take over Synthetic enemies. In this case, they are not primed for Tech Burst. But it is perfect in some encounters where you can take over Atlas or Geth Prime. They then help you to fight other enemies for a few seconds.

Using Drones and Turrets

Having drones early in the game will allow them to draw the enemy's attention. This is perfect as you can coordinate your attacks and have some breather from constant bullets.

As you can the summon stuns enemies and then enemies start attacking it. This is especially useful in case your companions die and you are being overrun from multiple sides.

The turret is also very useful once you get the Flamethrower effect. Its attacks then prime enemies for Fire Explosions. Follow up with Incinerate or Overload to cause an explosion. Unfortunately, it is not as good at drawing enemy attention.

Engineer class - is a caster

The first question would be what that means. Similar to adepts, the engineer is best suited for constantly using Tech abilities rather than concentrating on using the gun. The main reason is that they do not get any bonuses for any of the weapon types. You can still use weapons but they are not as effective as with some other classes like Soldier

Companions

Here are the companions that I recommend for Engineer in Mass Effect 3:

• EDI - she has multiple tech abilities and gets a huge boost to power damage. She is the most powerful tech companion. You can use her to set up or detonate combos. She can also easily strip enemies of shields
• Garrus - the most powerful companion with assault rifles. Of course, that is not all and he comes with Overload (for stripping enemy shields) and Concussive Shot that can detonate all tech-related combos.
• James - he synergizes well with Engineer due Incendiary Ammo skill. It primes enemies for Fire Explosion that the engineer can easily detonate for large damage
• Liara - she is the only biotic user that I recommend with Engineer. What makes her special is Warp. It can detonate any type of combo in the game. However, if she uses Biotic ability and primes Biotic explosion Engineer cannot exploit that. Due to this, you should pick Biotic-related bonus power like Lash or Reave if you take her with you.

Equipment

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

Assault Rifles

I do not think assault rifles are necessary for this build but here are some options in case you prefer shooting.

Name	Upgrades	Description
M-96 Mattock	Extend Barrel Magazine Upgrade	A very light Assault rifle that is accurate and packs a decent punch.
M-7 Lancer	Extend Barrel Magazine Upgrade	The lightest assault rifle in the game. It also has unlimited ammo, perfect for some longer encounters.

Submachine Guns

The perfect weapon for heavy tech power usage.

Name	Upgrades	Description
Geth Plasma SMG	Magazine Power Magnifier	By default I recommend this one, it has the highest fire rate and good accuracy. A perfect weapon for priming combos with ammo abilities.
M-9 Tempest	Recoil System Power Magnifier	This SMG has a high fire rate and decent clip capacity. However, it requires some practice due to its large recoil. It is also a very light option

Heavy Pistol

These weapons can come in handy once you use Sabotage on the organic enemy. The backfire effect will stun them, allowing you to have a few seconds to land the precise shot.

Name	Upgrades	Description
Executioner Pistol	Power Magnifier Ultralight Materials	The strongest heavy pistol in the game. Perfect to be used by Engineers once the enemy is staggered.
M-77 Paladin	Power Magnifier Ultralight Materials	A good all-around weapon, that comes with high damage. It does not have any special effects.

Armors

Here are the stats that I recommend prioritizing for the Engineer build in Mass Effect 3:

Name	Effects
Inferno Armor	+30% Power Recharge Speed +30% Power Damage
Cerberus Spirit Armor	+30% Power Recharge Speed +30% Power Damage +10% Shield Regen Speed +10% Shields
Blood Dragon Armor	+10% Power Recharge Speed +30% Power Damage +20% Shields

If you wish to use separate armor parts here are the options:

Type	Armor	Description
Helmet	Archon Visor	Increases power recharge speed by 10%
Helmet	Umbra Visor	Increases power damage by 10%
Helmet	Mnemonic Visor	Increase power recharge speed by 5% Increase power damage by 5%
Chest	Serrice Council	Increase power damage by 10%
Chest	Rosenkov Materials	Increase power recharge speed by 10%
Shoulders	Serrice Council	Increase power damage by 10%
Shoulders	Rosenkov Materials	Increase power recharge speed by 10%
Arms	Serrice Council	Increase power damage by 10%
Arms	Rosenkov Materials	Increase power recharge speed by 10%
Legs	Serrice Council	Increase power damage by 10%
Legs	Rosenkov Materials	Increase power recharge speed by 10%

As you can see we go all in on power usage to decrease power cooldowns and get the largest power bonuses. This will affect all tech skills.

Conclusion

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

Feel free to leave a comment below!