Build information for Garrus, including talent point allocation and ideal gear.

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Suggested talent point allocation for Garrus.

Garrus’s vocation, Turian Agent, is analogous to the Infiltrator class, possessing Assault Rifle in place of Pistol (an improvement if there ever was one) and replacing the Infiltrator’s Fitness talent is replaced by Assault Training. This used to be something of a downgrade, but Immunit isn’t what it used to be, and given that Garrus has access to three of the best technical abilities - Electronics, Damping and Decryption - having a way to instantly reset all these cooldowns isn’t a bad thing.

Talent Point Allocation¶

Weapon Talents¶

Garrus has no dud weapon talents; Assault Rifles are a great general-use midrange weapon and Sniper Rifles are excellent long-range options. You’ll probably just want to stick to the former for most of the game - especially since it takes a whopping six ranks in Assault Rifles to even unlock Sniper Rifles, which are of fairly limited utility early on. Later in the game, however, when you have Spectre weapons and High Explosive Rounds X, you might as well keep sniper rifles equipped on Garrus all the time, as his damage output and ability to inflict knockdown will be welcome boons. While you only need six ranks of Assault Rifles, getting eight ranks for Advanced Overkill isn’t a bad idea. We opt to max out Sniper Rifles.

Tactical Armor¶

While not being one of the few characters with access to heavy armor, Garrus is no slouch, as he’ll unlock medium armor when he has seven ranks invested into this ability. This is the minimum investment you should make, and one that’ll suffice for a long stretch of game, but we ultimately end up maxing it out eventually, due to a lack of better options. Colossus X Medium Armor will give Garrus a respectable 71 Damage Protection, which is sufficient for most enemies on most difficulties.

First Aid, Assault Training, and Tech Talents¶

While not having the full suite of tech talents that an Engineer can boast, Garrus has pretty much everything save for Hacking and Medicine. Gaining access to Assault Rifles and Tactical Armor are worthwhile tradeoffs, especially when you throw Assault Training into the mix. Garrus might not have all the tech abilities at his disposal, but he’s got the best ones, better armor, better weaponry, and can instantly reset all his cooldowns and double the usage rate of the abilities he does have.

Not a bad trade at all.

Garrus’s build isn’t quite as straight-forward as a standard Engineer or Infiltrator, however. You’ll need five ranks in Tactical Armor to unlock Assault Training, which is fair enough, since you’ll ultimately want seven ranks in Tactical Armor for medium armor.

You have the standard relation between Decryption and Damping - four ranks of the former is required to unlock the latter, and you’ll want to invest nine ranks in Decryption and twelve ranks in Damping to unlock both of their Master-tier abilities.

Electronics is trickier, as it requires a hefty seven-point investment in the otherwise dubious First Aid, which is frankly the low-point of Garrus’s build. Take it on the chin, however, as unlocking - then investing nine ranks into - Electronics is definitely worth it. This late unlock and slow build does make Garrus less suitable as an early-game source of Electronics, and it’s possible that you’ll run into some objects you can access/open if you solely rely on Garrus until he’s got his full nine ranks in Electronics.

Oh, and as for Turian Agent… well, we have one point left over when all is said and done, so drop that in Turian Agent for the paltry assault rifle/sniper rifle damage bonus.

Best Gear for Garrus¶

The best weapons in the game are tier X Spectre weapons: HMWA X and HMWSR X for assault rifle and sniper rifle, respectively. For Assault Rifles, we rotate our ammo based on what we’re fighting: Tungsten Rounds VII for geth and drones, Shredder Rounds VII for everything else, or if you’re lazy, just toss in some Inferno Rounds X and use those. Toss on a Scram Rail X and Frictionless Materials X and you’re good to go. For our sniper rifle, we use High Explosive Rounds X to add massive force to each shot, a generous area-of-effect, and a bit of damage. Two Frictionless Materials X join this ammo to mitigate its high heat generation somewhat. It will greatly slow down our fire rate, but between Assassinate and Adrenaline Burst, Garrus has plenty of ways to shed weapon heat.

As for armor, Garrus isn’t breaking any trends - Colossus X Medium Armor is the best thing he can cover himself with, and the 71 Damage Protection and the Shield boosts he gets from Electronics arguably makes him the third most robust character in the game (not counting Shepard, who is a bit of a wild card). A pair of Medical Exoskeletons will give him decent regeneration, which Garrus otherwise lacks, but you can also go with a Medical Exoskeleton and an Energized Plating mod.

Finally, as a tech-focused character, Garrus needs a good Omni-Tool. The best model on the market is the Savant X (not to be confused with a Biotic Amp of the same name), as it grants a whopping 50% reduction in tech ability cooldown time and a +35% Shield bonus.