I usually play Human Vanguard in multiplayer, and Bronze difficulty is a breeze. Silver I can win with some difficulty, but Gold seems especially difficult as a melee-spec character.
I'm specced out for pure Melee damage and I usually carry a shotgun with + Melee damage so I can kill "weak" targets like Cannibals/Cerberus Troopers in one punch, but the top tier enemies like Banshees/Atlases are hard to survive, especially when there's more than one. Cerberus turrets are also a huge problem.
What I'm currently not doing much of is bringing weapons along (usually just a shotgun to keep weight low) or using Shockwave; the limited range doesn't seem to help much.
Is it possible to beat Gold reliably with a Melee spec character? Human Vanguards or Krogans in general are to my liking.
Should I just stay away from the big baddies like Atlases? On Bronze I take them out with a charge/Melee/Charge combo, but on Gold it gets me killed, and my Shotgun is mostly useful for Melee damage and hitting downed targets, it doesn't hurt the big targets worth a darn.
Best Answer
For gold difficulty it is possible, but with some problems. The ideal loadout for vanguard is an assault rifle to help in fire fights from distance, than have a high rate of fire SMG with ultra-light weight to help once you get in close range from your charge. You could possibly switch the assault rifle for a high powered handgun and attach the tazer to it, for a little extra damage in close.
Atlas, Banshee, Geth Prime .. all have the same amount of shield or barrier and armor underneath. On gold difficulties I am not sure of the numbers or restiance they have to skills/bullets. But on bronze it is 0 restinace and they each have 10,000 shield, not sure about armor.
Krogan are also better to play as because they have higher health and shield than humans do and thier physical attacks also deal higher melee damage.
It will always be difficult for a vanguard in Gold, the enemies can shoot through shields and health within seconds, so using Nova will get you killed instantly if you dont knock down everything near you.