Background Training

During the Character Creation, you’ll get to choose Ryder’s training history. This will help determine his/her starting Powers and skills. This doesn’t have a permanent effect in the long run since you have the freedom to Re-Spec or reset your skills to re-allocate them to new skills and powers. The game is also designed for you to utilize various combat styles or Profiles, depending on the situation. That said, Ryder is not necessarily locked to a single class or job. Details about these combat profiles, powers, and skills will be featured in the separate pages and sections of this guide.

However, this doesn’t mean that you can not take setting this part seriously. Powers and skills are acquired normally by investing at least 9 skill points in the skill tree they belong so selecting the background training geared towards how you intend to play will give you access to the power and skills you want at the start of the game. For example, starting off as a Technician gives you the Overload skill immediately whereas if you started with a different training background, you’ll need to invest skill points into the Tech before you can get it.

Security

During your Alliance military service, you focused on learning everything you could about Weapons and tactics.

• Skill Category: Combat
• Starting Power: Concussive Shot
• Starting Skills: Turbocharge, Combat Fitness

Style: This is Ryder’s default background with heavy emphasis on weapon use and active offensive tactics. You’ll have increased HP with the Combat Fitness passive at the start of the game and early access to Turbocharge (buff skill that increases weapon damage, rate of fire and clip size) as well as Concussive Shot.

Biotic

You were effectively “designated biotic” during your Alliance military tenure, assisting your cohorts with your ability to control mass effect fields.

• Skill Category: Biotic
• Starting Power: Throw
• Starting Skills: Singularity, Barrier

Style: This background allows you to start with two good crowd-control biotic skills that are also both combo primers and detonators, Singularity and Throw. The Barrier passive skill gives you shield bonus.

Technician

As a technician in the Systems Alliance military, you learned to operate drones and hack enemy systems.

• Skill Category: Tech
• Starting Power: Overload
• Starting Skills: Invasion, Team Support

Style: This background allows you to start off with Overload, a very useful skill that can destroy shields and deal bonus damage to synthetics. Invasion is a debuff skill that spreads to nearby targets while Team Support is a passive skill that boosts everyone’s shields.

Leader

You were a team player and a natural leader in the Alliance military, working closely with your cohorts for their safety and the safety of others.

• Skill Category: Tech/Biotic
• Starting Power: Energy Drain
• Starting Skills: Annihilation, Team Support

This training is focused mainly on the team’s survival. The Team Support passive boosts everyone’s shields, while Annihilation is an AoE combo primer that slowly damages targets. Energy Drain can damage enemy shields or synthetics while also restoring your own shield energy.

Scrapper

When a fight broke out, you were always the first soldier in the thick of it—mostly according to Alliance military protocol, and occasionally not.

• Skill Category: Combat/Biotic
• Starting Power: Charge
• Starting Skills: Combat Fitness, Charge[/li

If you prefer getting up close and personal, this training gives you access to Charge to close the distance quickly, allow you to make follow up attacks while Combat Fitness passive ensures that you’ll soak damage longer.

Operative

In the Alliance military, you studied covert operations and tech used by special forces—knowledge you rarely found a use for until the Andromeda Initiative.

• Skill Category: Combat/Tech
• Starting Power: Tactical Cloak
• Starting Skills: Combat Fitness, Tactical Cloak

If your playstyle involves sneaking around and attacking enemies from advantageous positions, this training is for you. Tactical Cloak not only makes you temporarily invisible, but it also muffles the sound of your jet pack, allowing you to catch enemies off guard more often.