Banshee Tips And Tricks

[Rawnrawn]

Hey, I've got Banshee out of the foundry and I'm asking you banshee veterans about any advice you can give me on playing her.

 

First, how would I utilize her powers (especially wondering about the "silence")

 

Secondly, what weapons could provide a good combination along with her powers?

 

Thirdly, how should I mod her for a good utilization with her powers depending on the task?

 

I intend to level her up on Earth, fighting alongside rookies.

[PsychedelicSnake]

I typically use high-crit or hard-hitting weapons like bows or snipers along with Banshee. If you don't want the zoom of snipers or the arcing of bows, Latron or Latron Prime work very well with Banshee.

[X3Evanescence]

I typically use high-crit or hard-hitting weapons like bows or snipers along with Banshee. If you don't want the zoom of snipers or the arcing of bows, Latron or Latron Prime work very well with Banshee.

Powers-wise, Sonic Boom is cheap, effective CC. A great "Oh shi-" button to give you a break from the heat of battle. You can reposition yourself, cast another ability or simply just gun down the enemy.

Sonar is best used in tandem with what Snake mentioned.

Silence... I leave that to the Banshee experts to answer.

Sound Quake is good CC, but you are vulnerable to enemy fire while executing the ability. Best used at places where enemies can't shoot you from afar, an enclosed spacing, preferably.

Edited April 9, 2014 by X3Evanescence

[se05239]

Hit the glowing weak-spot for increased damage, when you use Sonar. This bonus damage scales further with Power Strength. 

[natty762]

I wouldn't consider myself a Banshee veteran, but I could give a few tips based on the questions you asked. For my Banshee I have maxed streamline and flow so I can keep using abilities like sonic boom (spammable) and sonar. Using silence is not useful outside of stealth. Stealth is fun (but currently not rewarding) and using silence enables you to use non-silent weapons while the ability is active, without enemies 'hearing'. A useful tip when using silence is checking how long left you have on the timer (cooldown on the ability icon) so you don't use your weapons after silence ends. I recommend using a shotgun with Banshee so you have a higher chance of hitting the "weak spots" after using sonar. The Drakgoon, for example, has a ton of flak pellets from each shot so you have a really good chance to hit a weak spot on your enemies. You can also use sonar on a boss, it really helps there too.

 

I hope that helps a bit.

[Terrornaut]

Mod for range and power strength, because you should be able to kill (eventually) all the enemies with weakspots before sonar ends.

Silence doesn't really do much of anything yet, so its not worth slotting generally.

Any weapons work well for her - she's the best frame for leveling up weapons fast. You don't have to use sniper weapons with her either, she can hit those weakspots reliably with pretty much any weapon...from an ignis to a vectis.

Sound Quake at a very high range becomes a very reliably CC that pretty much shuts a battle down because its range extends nearly to the range where enemies start shooting you.  Meaning everyone is CC'd for the duration, rather than you sticking out like a sore weakspot during it.  This keeps me and my team safe in plenty of T3 Defenses and more.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Terrornaut

[Darzk]

You utilize Silence by not equipping it, and using the extra slot for something benefiting Sonar or keeping you alive. IMO, the first Forma you use on her should be replacing the " for Silence with a D slot for Redirection :P

 

Weapons with punch through work well. Either high accuracy low RoF weapons for one shotting enemies, or high RoF medium acc weapons which requires less aiming. I leveled the Dex Furis using Banshee, really works well with Sonar and Seeker in the - slot.

 

Always Sonar before a SQ, sometimes the weak point will be on the torso of an enemy and SQ will get the Sonar damage amplify, making it actually able to kill stuff.

 

Balance of Range, Strength, Power, Efficiency and Duration is personal preference, and IMO changes based on enemy level, faction, and weapon loadout :S

 

For Earth, I don't think power strength is as important, nor duration. You dont need 10-11x damage amplification when a shot with ~6.5x will one shot kill any enemy. And because you can kill so fast, you dont need a long duration either. Her default polarity includes 2 V's, so I'd use Continuity and Intensify, and partner with Rank 4 Fleeting Expertise and Streamline to get 75% efficiency and thus a really cheap Sonar. Then Stretch to make it bigger, and maybe even OverExtended, although I think that'd be a bad idea, cause you want to help out teammates with crappy weapons, plus it'll probably wear off before you get around to killing those enemies at or near max range. That leaves you with Redirection, and the last slot is an ability polarity with 8 points remaining, so a midrank Vitality imo.

 

Something like this: http://goo.gl/8grPKt

Edited April 9, 2014 by Darzk

[Rawnrawn]

I've been using her with overextended a bit, I can sonic boom them when they are really far away, it's super effective to make them stop shooting you,

 

With silence I can clear a long room without anyone hearing a thing.

 

Soundquake benefits from this also, even tho it does little damage.

 

With sonar I dont do much more damage shooting the critical spot rather than shooting their heads.

 

Darzk: I will try modding towards your loadout along with getting more and more mod capacity.

 

I think I'll equip sonic boom, silence and sonar modded with overextended when playing alone

 

And swapping out silence for soundquake when playing online, it seems to be heavily dependant on how much damage your teammates can dish out whilst they are being stunned by it.

 

I've noticed that with silence, if one enemy sees you and starts shooting towards you nobody else will notice. :D

 

I've also noticed that using sonic boom on hellions will cause their jetpacks to detach and explode without needing to kill them.

[Rawnrawn]

I've mastered banshee now, Using maximum range and continuity

 

I did a couple of invasion mission with people fighting for the Corpus side. Each time my tactic were as follows:

When we needed to go outside of the ship exposing ourselves to the vacuum of space I laid down a soundquake to stun everyone outside while my team cleaned them up from the deck.

 

Then after the portal there is always a S#&$ton of enemies spawning down the narrow living quarters. I sonic boom them then I went in one of the siderooms using another soundquake.

 

Am I doing this right? :3

[HAYABU5A]

dont bother with silence, soundquake is okay for its stagger but for its energy cost is hardly worth it for higher level content

 

play vs high lvl enemies , where soundquake no longer works and sonar makes a dramatic difference in how fast your team kills them

then you know all u need is sonic boom and sonar, u can choose between:

-maxed range with less damage and good duration

-maxed damage with bad energy efficiency and lower range but good duration

-maxed efficiency with maxed damage, lower range but very short duration

-triple corrupted build with max range, good damage, decent energy efficiency, short duration and lower defence

 

overall maxed range with less damage and good duration seems has been the most versatile (then u can fit other utility and defensive mods) for me but it depends on what mission/level your doing

banshee is best when you have synergy with other teammates, as she is a force multiplier support 

and of course you can use her as an assassin with solo play only problem is she is delicate 

[Noble_Cactus]

Most everyone covered the basics already. but a few tips:

 

- You can activate Team Restores while Sound Quake is active. Use this in tight situations to make your healing safe.

 

- To make your Sound Quakes safe, cast Sonic Boom if enemies are in front of you. Or preferably, go find a corner. If you're out in the open, you're liable to get shot by something out of your range or to get burned by a Napalm fire puddle. SQ is not Rhino Stomp.

 

- Banshee is very fragile (15 armor), so you'll always want to be on the move. Sonic Boom can be specced to be cheap enough to where you can cast it around corners before you round them as a precaution, or to knock down a few enemies and run past them. What's on its back can't hurt you... usually.

 

- Overextended is a pretty good option if you're not going into high-level Defense/Survival. If you are, you'll have to drop it so you can get the max 1145% damage multiplier on Sonar, which is admittedly overkill on lower levels.

 

- She's a highly-versatile frame. Sonar would make you think that she's meant for a sniping role, and she fills that role well. But remember that Penta explosions can also hit sonar points if it spawns on their torso like Darzk said. Soma also benefits, as does, well, anything really.

 

- Headshot bonuses stack with Sonar. If Sonar lights up an enemy's head and you shoot it, you'll see some very big numbers.

 

- Shade is a good Sentinel for her so you can Sonar in peace. Also saves your rear in tricky situations.

 

 

Shameless plug for my build: http://goo.gl/9YOAvZ (Click the title for more notes)

Edited April 14, 2014 by Noble_Cactus

[Tatersail]

Banshee is great with other players

her 4 reduced to 25 energy, and given max range disables targets in a large radius for others to shoot, and does some low level damage to clear trash.

it will always last 9 seconds

 

I tend to mash sonar and keep it up 100% of the time.

alternating sonar for 9 seconds, sound quake for 9 seconds works well on defense

 

vs infested nothing should touch you on this frame, if your ever in doubt push 4.

 

she has the standard 300 shields 300 hp that most frames have, so with a max shield mod your pretty tough.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Tatersail