Walkthrough And Guide - Guide for Mass Effect 2
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Mass Effect 2 Walkthrough/Guide Version: 1.1 Last Updated: 2/9/2010 Author: hylozoist aka Kenneth Chiu *Note that this guide contains spoilers, even the Table of Contents. I did my best to avoid them, but it was necessary for understanding. Spoilers in the leveling section are marked, so watch for the markers and don't scroll too far ahead. Also be aware you may run into spoilers for the first Mass Effect. =============================================================================== ** TABLE OF CONTENTS ** =============================================================================== Ctrl+F and jump to navigate to the section quickly. After you jump to the main section, you can skip through subsections by searching for just the number and letter. If you make fake mass effect engine noises, it feels like it searches faster. Whoooosh! Section .01. : Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.01.JUMP] .1A. Starting a New Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.1A.JUMP] .1B. Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.1B.JUMP] Section .02. : Leveling Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.02.JUMP] .2A. Shepard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.2A.JUMP] .2B. Squad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.2B.JUMP] Section .03. : Walkthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.03.JUMP] .3A. Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3A.JUMP] .3B. Freedom's Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3B.JUMP] .3C. Stop the Collectors Part 1: Assemble a Team . . . . . . . . [.3C.JUMP] .3D. Omega . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3D.JUMP] .3E. Recruit Archangel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3E.JUMP] .3F. Recruit the Professor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3F.JUMP] .3G. The Citadel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3G.JUMP] .3H. Recruit the Warlord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3H.JUMP] .3I. Recruit the Convict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3I.JUMP] .3J. Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3J.JUMP] .3K. Recruit Tali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3K.JUMP] .3L. Illium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3L.JUMP] .3M. Recruit the Justicar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3M.JUMP] .3N. Recruit the Assassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3N.JUMP] .3O. Jack: Subject Zero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3O.JUMP] .3P. Jacob: The Gift of Greatness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3P.JUMP] .3Q. Collector Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3Q.JUMP] .3R. Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3R.JUMP] .3S. Zaeed: The Price of Revenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3S.JUMP] .3T. Tali: Treason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3T.JUMP] .3U. Thane: Sins of the Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3U.JUMP] .3V. Garrus: Eye for an Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3V.JUMP] .3W. Tuchanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3W.JUMP] .3X. Mordin: Old Blood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3X.JUMP] .3Y. Grunt: Rite of Passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3Y.JUMP] .3Z. Miranda: The Prodigal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.3Z.JUMP] .30. DLC Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.30.JUMP] .30.A0. Project Firewalker .31. N7 Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.31.JUMP] .32. Reaper IFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.32.JUMP] *Warning: Reaper IFF mission sets the rest of the plot in motion. .33. A House Divided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.33.JUMP] .34. Omega 4 Relay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.34.JUMP] .35. Post Game Wrap Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.35.JUMP] Section .04. : Appendix .4A. Assignment List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4A.JUMP] .4B. Weapon Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4B.JUMP] .4C. Upgrade Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4C.JUMP] .4D. Planets with EEZO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4D.JUMP] .4E. Shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4E.JUMP] .4F. Armor List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4F.JUMP] .4G. Interrupt List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4G.JUMP] .4H. ME1 Character Cameos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.4H.JUMP] Section .05. : About the Guide .5A. Version History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.5A.JUMP] .5B. Legal Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.5B.JUMP] .5C. Contact Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [.5C.JUMP] >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> .01. BASICS [.01.JUMP] >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> ======================== ========== .1A. Starting a New Game [.1A.JUMP] ======================== ========== "I'm pleased that the imminent destruction of all organic life has improved your career opportunities." -Tali If you're starting a new character, choose your gender, then your name after the prologue. You can then choose to customize your character, or simply run with the Quick-Start Shepard. If you customize, you can pick your appearance, class, background, and extra power if you have any loyalty achievements. If you have difficulty designing faces, you may find this website useful: http://www.masseffect2faces.com If you have completed game saves from ME1, you may import them into ME2. Simply choose the Configuration option on the main menu, choose "Save Games" on the upper left tab, choose "Copy Mass Effect 1 Save Games" and locate the folder where your completed game saves from ME1 are located. Once in the game, choose Import ME1 Character. You can choose to change your appearance, class, and also an extra power if you have any loyalty achievements. If you have lost your saves, or never played Mass Effect 1 on the PC, you may find this website of collected ME1 saves useful: http://www.masseffectsaves.com The ME1 import bonuses are as follows: Import Bonus for 50-59: ----------------------- +2000 xp +5000 of each mineral +25000 Credits Import Bonus for 60: -------------------- +4000 xp +10000 of each mineral +50000 Credits In addition, regardless of level, you obtain these bonuses: +100000 Credits for having over 1 million credits in ME1 Approximately 20% of your previous paragon and renegade meter If you have the Mission Accomplished ME2 achievement (from beating ME2 once on any character), you also get this bonus to all created characters: Long Service Bonus ------------------ +200000 Credits +50000 of each mineral If you decide not to import a ME1 character, then your Shepard was a full "Renegade" in ME1. Although you begin with no Morality, in ME1, all of your choices were based on a human-centric view of the universe. When there was a choice to let someone die or to kill someone, Shepard took the life. If you feel that this isn't in line with your alignment, than you should definitely import a ME1 save, if at least for the right decisions. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> .1B. Tips [.1B.JUMP] >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> "It's never simple, is it?" -Shepard This section serves as a quick-start guide for new players. I won't go into great detail about the game controls or mechanics as the in-game tutorials are fairly good. Instead, this is meant to supplement and help understand basics. ------------------------------- .1B.01. Ability Strength Basics ------------------------------- "Flammable, or inflammable. Can't remember. Doesn't matter." -Mordin One major game mechanic that the game does not stress enough is the strengths and weaknesses of certain types of weapons and armor. Here is a quick look at the enemy defensive strategies: Barrier ------- Biotic-based shield. Weak against Warp, Reave, and Warp Ammo. Cannot use most biotic-based abilities that have a duration against Barriers. Shield ------ Kinetic-based shield usually used by synthetics. Weak against Overload, Disruptor Ammo. Cannot use biotic-based abilities against Shields. Armor ----- Armor primarily used by mercenaries and mechs. Weak against Incinerate, Incendiary Ammo, etc. Cannot use most biotic-based abilities against Armors. Enemies can have up to two defensive types stacked upon each other. Most enemies then have health, which is weak against any attack, although some enemies explode after their armor is pierced. Your allies also use varied defensive strategies, but I have not seen any major difference as to how well they defend against enemies. So once again, just to be redundant, commit it to memory as you play: Warp -> Barrier Overload -> Shield Incinerate -> Armor A more in-depth list appears after the squad guide, covering more abilities and their equivalent strong points. For now, this is good enough. ------------------------------ .1B.02. Weapon Strength Basics ------------------------------ "This one has forgotten whether its heatsink is over capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate." - Blasto Another mechanic that the game does not stress is the strength of certain weapon types against enemy defenses. Each weapon does describe its strengths and weaknesses, and later weapons have fewer or reduced weaknesses. Strong Against Armor, but Weak against Shield & Barrier ------------------------------------------------------- Heavy Pistol (M-3, M-6) Sniper Rifle (M-92, M-97) Geth Pulse Rifle Strong Against Shield and Barrier, but Weak against Armor --------------------------------------------------------- Shotgun (M-23. M-27) Submachine Gun (M-4, M-9) Well-Rounded ------------ Assault Rifles (M-8, M-15, M-79) Heavy Weapons (all) Krogan Shotgun (M-300) M-29 Incisor Sniper Rifle Note that the naming conventions change as you research improvments for your weapons, but the number will always stay the same. Assault Rifles: Well-rounded against Barrier, Shield, Armor Heavy Pistol: Strong against Armor. Weak against Shield, Barrier Shotguns: Strong against Shield, Barrier. Weak against Armor Sniper Rifle: Strong against Armor. Weak against Shield, Barrier Submachine Guns: Strong against Shield, Barrier. Weak against Armor There's much more information about guns, but this is enough to start you off. For example, there are upgrades to increase the damage of weapons against specific types. For now, the basic rule is to rapidly chip away at shield and barrier, while well-placed single shot weapons are better to pierce armor. Don't dwell on gun effectiveness as much as ability effectiveness, though. -------------------------- .1B.03. Fighting and Cover -------------------------- "When you're young, you go looking for every fight you can. You get older, you realize the best fights will find you." -Wrex The game gives a good explanation of cover. To reinforce, for most situations, you want to fight while in cover, with your back to the enemy. Using cover is the central key to all the firefights. If you see cover, there's likely going to be enemies nearby. Certain enemies advance slowly and consistently, some enemies will charge straight out, but most will stick to a strategy of firing from long range while behind cover. The more "mindless" enemies that charge end up being the most dangerous, so focus on them first in every case. For the enemies that fight at long range, you'll want to learn enemy firing patterns (for almost all enemies, 5 second bursts, or a bit longer for heavy weapons due to the projectile delay, followed by them going into cover). When you've got the timing down, you can exit your cover by using the right mouse button to aim as their stream ends, rather than when they have gone completely back into cover, so you can do more damage to them. On easier difficulties, there's less need to be in cover if the enemy cannot hit you due to firing angles. But, staying in cover helps you recover health more quickly. Your squad's AI will differ greatly depending upon what weapon they equip. With a Sniper, the squad member will generally fall back, taking shots when possible. With a shotgun, the AI will often get up very close, usually without regard to the dangers involved. With other weapons, your squad will adopt a middle approach, using cover very often, and not moving unless necessary to hit a target. Of course, you can always override your squad actions to some extent, but there sometimes is a delay before they carry out your order. Your distance will also affect your damage. For all weapons other than sniper rifles, weapons double their damage at short range. Short range is about five paces away from you. Enemies also benefit from the increase damage. The location of your shots in this game also matter, being able to hit legs, arms, heavy weapon packs, and increase damage via headshots. You can combine melee attacks and weapons at very short range, as enemies without defenses get knocked back by fists. This isn't a wise strategy for most classes, though, because other enemies can still fire at you. If red veins pop up on the screen, it means you're dangerously low on health. Immediately find safe cover and rest for 5 seconds, and your armor and health will regenerate back to safe levels. If you can't get cover immediately, sprint away. You've got about 12 seconds of sprint in you, with an 8 second cooldown until the next sprint. There's no other healing in this game other than simply waiting for your health and armor to regenerate. It's also wise to reload while in cover, instead of out in the open. It takes 1.5 seconds to reload a weapon. A related tip with reloading, abilities and cover: if you time it correctly, if you are currently ducking out of a cover position to attack, you can reload, use an ability, and go back into cover nearly all at the same time. Or, you can just reload and use abilities at the same time at any time. ------------------------ .1B.04. Scanning Planets ------------------------ "Really, Commander?" -EDI Before you do any real scanning, I advise obtaining Miranda's ship upgrade, Advanced Mineral Scanner. You can obtain this upgrade after you recruit the Professor, and then simply speak with Miranda about upgrades. You'll have to scan a little bit to afford it, but it's a huge time saver. To scan planets for resources, first, you need to have probes, purchased from the Fuel Depots located in most nebulas. Locate a planet and choose to scan it, then hold the right mouse button and "scrub" the planet as you watch the meter. When the scanner spikes up, move your mouse back around more slowly to try to find the highest spike, then hit the left mouse button the launch the probe and gather the resources. Note that the scanner results only tell you the relative wealth of the planet, but even when a planet is poor or depleted, you can find resources. Still, it's not worth trying to strip mine every planet, because planets are so abundant. Many N7 planets also are Rich in resources, saving time hunting for planets. Scanning planets is necessary to discover N7 missions. When you explore the planet, EDI will immediately tell you if she has detected an anomaly. To find the anomaly, begin scanning the planet, using the reticule. You can also listen to the beacon recording: the signal transmits more clearly the closer you are to the anomaly. A list of N7 Missions is located later in this guide. You do not need to probe very many planets for minerals. There's no reason to stock up, as there are numerous Rich planets. Many players have trouble stocking enough Element Zero (EEZO). A list of planets with significant EEZO appears in the appendix. ---------------- .1B.05. Upgrades ---------------- "Some Krogan believe that testicle transplants can increase their virility. Counteract the effects of the Genophage. It doesn't work, but that doesn't stop them from buying. They'll pay up to 10,000 credits each. That's 40,000 for a full set. Somebody's making a killing out there." - Garrus Upgrades can either by found by scanning them during missions, and then paying minerals to apply them at the Research Terminal in the Tech Lab, or by paying credits to a merchant and immediately recieving them. You don't need to buy every single upgrade if this is your first game, particularly weapon upgrades. Instead, I recommend to focus on the ones you are or will be using first. However, if you find one during a mission, make sure to remember to check the Research Lab and pay for it to obtain the actual benefit. Purchased upgrades automatically apply, but Credits run out more quickly than minerals. A list of where upgrades can be found appears in the appendix, sorted by upgrade type. To obtain all the upgrades as a non-engineer (Engineer passive ability lowers required research material amounts), you will require: EEZO: 42,500 Iridium: 215,000 Platinum: 275,000 (Includes 50,000 for Med Bay upgrade.) Palladium: 195,000 These amounts are repeated below in the appendix immediately following the list of upgrade locations. ------------------------ .1B.06. Gaining Morality ------------------------ "Have you ever read Machiavelli? He believed it's better to be feared than loved." -Shepard You gain Morality through the decisions you make in the game. Generally, choosing the top-right options on the wheel continue dialogue through Paragon conversation lines, resulting in Paragon points. Conversely, the bottom-right options are Renegade conversation lines. Sometimes options on the left side also continue conversations, and are similarly situated to top for Paragon, and bottom for Renegade. Most of the time, left-hand options are questions which you can use to investigate a situation for more information. In most cases, a single normal choice will give you +2 points. A single choice involving Persuasion, or a "Morality Interrupt" will give you +5 points. Major decisions will often give +10 to +20 morality points. A conversation may involve several choices, allowing you to rack up many points. A bar will take 1,000 points to max normally, but only 600 to maximize with a 70% bonus, such as the one present from the passive class power. Note that the bar in your squad/level up screen represents the adjusted values, so the shown percentage is your actual persuasion level. To reach the maximum Morality score, you must be consistent with your choices during the game. Your morality directly affects your Negotiation/Persuasion skill. (I refer to it as Persuasion throughout the guide, but items like the Death Mask and the DLC Armor call it Negotiation in-game). With higher morality points, you can use persasion to avoid additional fighting, obtain discounts at shops, or convince NPCs and your squad to accept your decisions. If your Persasion is not high enough, you will see the option, but be unable to use it as it will be greyed out. If you can choose the option, then you are always successful in furthering your goals. --------------------------- .1B.07. Morality Interrupts --------------------------- "Bah, we're wasting time, we could have beaten him into cooperation." -Wrex Morality Interrupts have several applications: some make fights easier, some act as to persuade others of your position, some are required to direct the towards your desired Paragon or Renegade path, while others simply speed up conversation options, using an action instead of words. If you wish to use them, you must choose them quickly, usually within 5 seconds. Otherwise, they will expire, although often you are presented with dialogue options to make the same point. To use a Paragon interrupt, right click is used. For a Renegade interrupt, left click is used. Interrupts generally give +5 morality. ---------------- .1B.08. Romances ---------------- "If you want me to put on a tin skirt and dance in front of a crowd of men, I want dinner first. Sir." -Ashley Williams I won't go into too much detail here, as it's well document and fairly self- explanatory. Simply show interest in your desired romantic interest. Apparently Shepard is make of pure pheromones because only one person in the entire game will turn you down, and when that happens, you can tell there was deep thought and a good reason behind it. After completing your target's loyalty mission, speak to them further inbetween missions. You'll get one dialogue where you'll flirt and clearly state your intentions, and the other party will ask to think about it. Then, you'll get another dialogue confirming whether you want to go through with it. You will consumate the romance during the trip through the Omega 4 Relay, the last mission of the game. If you had a ME1 love interest, you'll have a small picture frame in your cabin, and if you don't commit yourself to any ME2 romance, you'll get a scene of you looking longingly at the picture. ------------- .1B.09. Armor ------------- "I don't get how a clothed female can be more attractive than a naked one." -Wrex Your Armor can be changed at your cabin (or early in the game at the Cerberus base). When you buy pieces, you have to go back to equip them, as they don't automatically equip themselves. Most DLC armor are full sets, while the basic set of armor you can obtain is mix-and-match, and is fairly inexpensive to purchase. Except for the Blood Dragon Armor for Tech and Bio Power damage classes, you can mix and match in-game armor to suit you to be close or better than the other options once you can start flying around the galaxy to buy it. Note that when you wear a helmet or full suit, it will always show, even during cutscenes. The the Visor-type helmets are inobtrusive, though. Check the appendix Armor List for stats and locations. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> .02. Leveling Up [.02.JUMP] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> "I'm pissed off, and when I'm pissed off I shoot things!" -Shepard Unlike the first Mass Effect, you don't gain experience for every enemy that you kill. Instead, you only gain experience by completing missions and assignments. Each level requires 1,000 experience to reach the next one. Most major missions give 1,000, loyalty missions give 750, N7 missions give 125, and other assignments give 40. Like in the original, your party shares your level. As you level up, you gain skill points. Shepard gains 2 squad points each level until level 20, with 1 squad point each level after that. Your squad gains only 1 skill point per level no matter what their current level. The first level of a skill costs 1 point, then 2 points for the second level, 3 for the third, and 4 for the fourth, resulting in 10 points required to evolve a skill. Thus, to obtain the third or fourth level of a skill, you must save points as you level up. It's better to focus on certain, more valuable skills as you level. I recommend leaving Squad Auto Level "off." I also recommend not touching "Auto Level Up," as the computer usually picks poorly, plus when it evolves a skill, you cannot Undo the choice without resorting to an earlier save. Once you obtain a character's Loyalty achievement, you may pay for Advanced Training to learn that character's special skill for yourself at the cost of 5000 EEZO. Also, any character that you create can start with this skill at no cost, and may change to any character's Advanced Training skill even if the character is not yet loyal on that particular playthrough. If you change, the points in that skill automatically reset to 1 point with the remainder as unspent points, so make sure to use the squad menu to re-level your skills. Also, midway into the game, you can obtain specialized weapon training in any weapon class, OR you can obtain a special weapon upgrade for a weapon that you are already specialized in. If you're trained in Sniper Rifle, you obtain the M-98 Widow, if Assault Rifle, the M-76 Revenant, and if in Shotgun, the M-300 Claymore. If you're not trained, then you get access to the any models of the guns which you already own. The Widow is an extremely useful upgrade, but the Assault Rifle and the Shotgun choices aren't any more effective than the other choices you have available at the time. With numerous customization options, there are more combinations than I can recommend that can work. Still, I have played through a significant portion of the game using each of these recommendations, and you may choose to use them as a basic framework to think about your choices and leveling plan. ============ ========== .2A. Shepard [.2A.JUMP] ============ ========== "So tell me, who'd win in a fight between you and Shepard?" -Wrex "What class should I play first?" is a common question. On lower difficulty levels, really any class is quite fun. I recommend trying out a Soldier or an Adept if this is your first time playing, depending on whether you enjoy shooting things (Soldier) or using abilities (Adept). The manual and in-game descriptions can basically guide you the rest of the way. At level 30, Shepard gets 51 points to spend to level skills. Although on your first playthrough, you're unable to hit level 30 before you complete the main storyline, if you complete most of the optional content, you will reach level 24, which still allows you to evolve 4 different skills if you plan carefully. I advise focusing on evolving skills rather than trying to spend points to feel well-rounded, as some skills are redundant or pointless. However, don't feel restrained or restart if you think you spent a point in the wrong skill if this is your first playthrough. Midway through the game, you can research the ability to Retrain Shepard at the cost of 2500 Element Zero (EEZO) per Retrain, which is handy to test out which skills suit you. --------------- .2A.01. Soldier --------------- Weapons: Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Heavy Pistol Strengths: Huge amounts of health and survivability. Versatile with weapons and ammo, adrenaline rush gives you room to breath. Strong against Synthetics with Disruptor Ammo, and Armor with Incendiary Ammo. Weaknesses: Must rely on teammates for special skills and crowd control. Level 30 Recommended Build: Hardened Adrenaline Rush (4) Concussive Blast (4) Squad Disruptor Ammo (4) Incendiary Ammo (1) Cryo Ammo (0) Shock Trooper (4) Advanced Training Recommendation: Squad Warp Ammo (4) You'll end up seeing many of the advanced training recommendations again on different classes, simply because certain skills are better than others. In this case, Warp Ammo allow the soldier a strong attack against enemies with Barrier. It also is effective against Shields, so you'll only have to switch between it and Disruptor Ammo once you get it, instead of juggling three Ammo abilities. Disruptor Ammo takes care of the Shield/Synthetic enemies, while Incendiary Ammo is for the Armored enemies early on, letting the soldier spam Adrenaline Rush as the active skill while shooting everything up. If you like active abilities instead of firing your gun all the time, you can take Reave as your advanced training. Reave will damage everything but shields, but it shares the same cooldown as Adrenaline Rush. While leveling, focus on evolving Adrenaline Rush and the passive class ability. You can spread out the Ammo skills however you like afterwards. Spending points elsewhere is really up to you, as all you need are the two class skills and the two ammo skills in the end. Until you get your Advanced Training, you can get some mileage out of a point in Concussive Shot and Incendiary Ammo, however. -------------------- .2A.02. Infilitrator -------------------- Weapons: Sniper Rifle, Heavy Pistol, Submachine Gun Strengths: Cloak causes enemies to be totally blind to you, plus increases damage. Sniper Rifle is a very strong weapon against single foes, able to destroy enemies with single shots. Good options against Synthetics and Armor. Weaknesses: No Barrier/Biotic attacks without Advanced Training. Outside of cloak, no other control for rushing groups of enemies. Lower heat sink capacity of Snipers can be troublesome early on unless you're naturally a good shot. Level 30 Recommended Build: Squad Disruptor Ammo (4) Cryo Ammo (0) Assassination Cloak (4) Incineration Blast (4) AI Hacking (1) Assassin (4) Advanced Training Recommendations: Squad Warp Ammo (4) Warp Ammo fills the void of biotic/barrier damage. Armor Piercing Ammo is another option, but Incinerate and Warp Ammo are already strong against Armor. Still, if you're playing on an easier difficulty, AP Ammo does have a better damage increase as long as enemies only have Armor and Health, and Armor is the most common defense in the game, while Barrier is the least common. Primarily, your playstyle will focus on cloaking as often as possible to avoid fire (and increase damage), while also working to get into good cover positions. On harder difficulties, with larger groups of enemies that rush, you must rely on your squad, have a good aim, and/or fall back often until you get enough skill and upgrades to kill enemies in a single shot. While leveling, focus on Cloak and the passive class ability, then evolve your Ammo abilities after your core abilities. An early point in Incinerate can be useful until your weapon damage catches up. ---------------- .2A.03. Vanguard ---------------- Weapons: Shotgun, Heavy Pistol, Submachine Gun Strengths: Really easy to get Brawler Achievement. Decent against Armor defense and non-defensive foes. Weaknesses: No effective powers against shields and low effective attacks against barrier. Have to hold back against multiple enemies, can get in trouble quickly if not patient. Level 30 Recommended Build: Squad Incendiary Ammo (4) Cryo Ammo (1) Area Charge (4) Improved Shockwave (4) Pull (0) Destroyer (4) Advanced Training Recommendations: Heavy Reave (4) or Squad Warp Ammo (4) Reave is an improved Warp, strong against Barriers and Armor, plus it makes many enemies double over in pain while granting you addtional HP. Warp Ammo is a good choice to replace Incendiary Ammo, at which point you can evolve Pull Field instead with the extra point in Incendiary. Warp Ammo is versatile because it is useful against Armor and Barrier, plus has synergy with Pull, causing extra damage on biotic-affected enemies. Vanguard is also a class that might consider energy drain, although it's not as useful in as many situations as Reave or Warp Ammo. Energy Drain is effective against Shields and Synthetics, and also boosts/replenishes Shields by the amount that it drains. The downside is that it only affects Shields and Synthetics. Barrier/Fortification/Shield Boost are options that allow you a bit more leeway to charge, but on harder difficulties, you'll want those extra offensive options because more enemies will have defense, and vanguards have no abilities that are effective against enemies with defenses without Advanced Training. While leveling, focus on Charge, your passive ability, and Shockwave. If you can get your Advanced Training early, it's usually the best ability to evolve. The default Vanguard skills are not that useful, as Charge can get you into trouble until it's evolved and you get practice with it, there are better Ammo options than Incendiary, and while Shockwave can knock enemies out of cover and do damage, it doesn't affect enemies with defense. ---------------- .2A.04. Sentinel ---------------- Weapons: Heavy Pistol, Submachine Gun Strengths: Tough personal defense, eventual access to Warp. Well-rounded, can damage Barrier, Shield, and Armor without Advanced Training. Weaknesses: Lousy starting weapon options, no natural Ammo abilities. Have to spend points to get to Warp. Level 30 Recommended Build:Throw (2) Heavy Warp (4) Power Armor (4) Overload (3) Cryo Blast (0) Raider (4) Advanced Training Recommendations: Squad Armor Piercing Ammo (4) or Squad Warp Ammo (4) Since a sentinel has no Ammo abilities, but generally relies on their weapons more than an adept or engineer, an Ammo ability is preferable to other options. Warp Ammo is a better extra choice on harder difficulties due to the amount of defense on enemies, and if chosen, you might choose a different setup with your other skill points. Armor Piercing Ammo has a higher damage increase, but you'll have to whittle down shields with Warp before you get any bonus damage from AP ammo, compared to just firing away with Warp Ammo. While leveling, focus on evolving Warp, your passive class ability, and Tech Armor. You can survive with minimal points in you Advanced Training and Overload early on, although having some points in the abilities early helps you be versatile. ------------- .2A.05. Adept ------------- Weapons: Heavy Pistol, Submachine Gun Strengths: Tons of crowd control. Warp is primary offense with high damage, and quick cooldown. Great for lower difficulties where enemies lack defenses. Weaknesses: Lousy starting weapons, no effective attacks versus Shields, all basic biotic abilities are blocked against defenses except for Warp. Level 30 Recommended Build: Heavy Warp (4) Throw Field (4) Singularity (4) Pull (1) Shockwave (0) Nemesis (4) Advanced Training Recommendations: Heavy/Area Energy Drain (4) or Squad Warp Ammo (4) The only advanced training that directly deals with the adept's lack of Shield attack is Energy Drain, which only affects shields and synthetic enemies. Energy Drain does the same damage amount and type as Overload, except that it improves your shields instead of stunning enemies. Another viable route is Warp Ammo, which works with all of the biotic abilities to increase weapon damage, just like Warp. I considered recommending Reave, but Reave and Warp are very similar. I prefer to add some versatility. Warp Ammo is a passive ability, even though it covers the same basic damage types, while Energy Drain makes you well-rounded. Still, Reave is an improvment over Warp if you want to choose that route. While leveling, evolve Heavy Warp first, then supplement it with the passive class ability. Focus on Advanced Training if available, otherwise level whichever control aspects suit you, as they are similar. ---------------- .2A.06. Engineer ---------------- Weapons: Heavy Pistol, Submachine Gun Strengths: Heavy damage against Armor, Shield, and Synthetic enemies. Drone is a great decoy. Weaknesses: Lousy starting weapons, no effective power against barriers. Level 30 Recommended Build: Area Overload (4) Incineration Blast (4) Attack Drone (4) Cryo Blast (0) AI Hacking (0) Demolisher (4) Advanced Training Recommendations: Heavy Reave (4) Again, Reave provides the engineer with an effective attack against Barrier and can be considered an improvement over Incinerate, making it redundant once you can get Reave. Against organic enemies, unless you get Reave early on, an engineer's most effective strategy is to dispatch the drone to distract enemies. With Reave, you turn into an offensive powerhouse. You could also try Dominate and AI Hacking as a combination build, controlling your enemies, but I have not personally done a playthrough with this setup. It would be very difficult on any higher difficulties due to the increased enemy defenses, but it would certainly be fun on lower ones. Overload takes care of Shields and Synthetics, while Incinerate or Reave takes out Armor and health. While leveling, evolve your Drone first, and then focus on Overload, your passive ability, and Reave. This build noticeably lacks an Ammo ability, but hopefully your squad will help in that area. ========== ========== .2B. Squad [.2B.JUMP] ========== ========== "Hm, nobody died." -Ashley Williams "I could shoot someone if it'd make you feel better." -Kaiden Alenko "Nah, I'm good." -Ashley Williams *Note that this section has marked spoilers, skip past the marked section if you want to avoid them. Your squadmates get 30 points to spend on abilities, including one point that is automatically put into their loyalty skill when you achieve their loyalty. Miranda and Jacob have 31 points and also don't have to spend any points to unlock their third skill, while all other characters start with their second listed skill locked, requiring at least 2 points in the first skill to unlock. As noted above with the Shepard builds, it's best to specialize and evolve skills rather than spend a few points in all the skills. As powers share one cool-down time, it's better to spam 1 or 2 great skills, using your squadmates to cover weaknesses. Thus, spend and save points towards evolving skills along your set plan. You must be more careful while spending squad points as your squad cannot pay to Retrain and reallocate points. Also be aware that if the computer chooses an evolved power using "Auto Level Up" you CANNOT "Undo Talent Points" to change it and must reload to an earlier save if you wish to undo the choice. At level 30, you can max three of the four skills unlocked to your squadmates. If you wish to maximize their unlocked second-listed skill, then you can only evolve 2 skills, with a third skill at 3 points, and a final skill at 2 points. In these recommendations, at the fourth evolution rank, I generally pick the area effect version, and for passive skills, the damage increase over health increase. Additionally, for Ammo choices, I list the squad version. However, the single-target choices are effective, especially with Incinerate and Warp. HP, Shield, and Weapon/Power bonus stats are listed at level 30 (with max research upgrades) for comparison. --------------- .2B.01. Miranda --------------- HP: 240 Shield: 250 Weapon Damage: +25% Squad Weapon Damage: +15% Weapons: Submachine Gun, Hand Cannon Powers: Area Overload (4) Heavy Warp (4) Cerberus Leader (4) Slam (1) Notes: Slam is not very useful, but Miranda's other skills are excellent and makes her a good offensive squadmate to carry around. Warp affects Barrier and Armor defenses, while Overload takes care of Shields and synthetics, giving her an effective attack against every defensive type. Unfortunately, she isn't given additional Power bonuses, making her ability attacks weaker than most of your other squad, and definitely the weakest among ability-focused members. Still, for the first half of the game, she is a great option when you don't have other specialists. ------------- .2B.02. Jacob ------------- HP: 260 Barrier: 250 Weapon Damage: +25% Potential Ammo Damage: +40 armor/health over time Weapons: Shotgun, Hand Cannon Powers: Pull Field (4) Squad Incendiary Ammo (4) Cerberus Specialist (4) Barrier (1) Notes: The computer doesn't use Barrier very well, and it's a poor skill anyway. It only replenishes Jacob's Barrier when it's taken damage, and does not seem to increase the total Barrier, unlike its description. Incendiary Ammo is also limited, as it only affects Armored enemies and organics. In addition, his weapons are also the worst choices possible. Thus, Jacob is only useful as a default starting character, but in the end, because he lacks any specific strengths, he is the weakest squad mate to bring into a mission. At least he is a good leader. -------------- .2B.03. Garrus -------------- HP: 245 Shield: 250 Weapon Damage: +25% Power Damage: +25% Ammo Damage: +50% armor/health Weapons: Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle Powers: Concussive Shot (2) Area Overload (4) Turian Renegade (4) Armor Piercing Ammo (3) Notes: Overload is devastating to Shields, Synthetics, and most Heavy-weapon carrying enemies, plus Garrus has a nice damage bonus attached to his passive ability. Armor Piercing Ammo has a high damage increase. Concussive shot acts as hit anti-Barrier attack, but it does average damage and adds a knockdown if the enemy has no defense. For Shepards where Ammo abilities aren't available or the best option, consider instead Squad AP Ammo and a lower Overload level. This makes the most sense for Engineers, as Engineers are the most likely not to have a squad ammo option on their squad, and you'll already have enough anti-synthetic attacks already. While Garrus is powerful against synthetic enemies, he's well-rounded enough for any team from beginning to end. -------------- .2B.04. Mordin -------------- HP: 250 Shield: 420 Weapon Damage: +25% Weapons: Submachine Gun, Hand Cannon Power Damage: +20% (when Researched) Powers: Incineration Blast (4) Cryo Blast (0) Salarian Savant (4) Neural Shockwave (4) Notes: Incinerate is amazing against armored foes. You may choose to go with Heavy Incinerate as it is extremely effective against tough armored foes like bosses, but since I rarely use Mordin, I focus him for the specific missions where you need to decimate large numbers of enemies. Unfortunately, his other skills are not valuable, but I suppose that makes his skills easy to focus on and level. Neural Shockwave and Cryo Blast have similar effects, but since Neural Shockwave has better duration and comes with one point when unlocked, it's the recommended power to evolve. You'll end up primarily using Incinerate, anyway. Mordin also has more shields than other squadmates due to Salarian Scientist, but tends to sit on the Normandy later in the game, as he unfortunately has low offensive power due to his weapon options. Mordin can be useful for early missions against single organic enemies with armor, like mercenaries. ----------- 2B.05. Jack ----------- HP: 230 Barrier: 250 Weapon Damage: +18% Power Recharge: -25% Power Damage: +20% (when Researched) Potential Ammo Damage: +35% Barrier/Armor/health Weapons: Shotgun, Hand Cannon Powers: Improved Shockwave (4) Pull (0) Subject Zero (4) Squad Warp Ammo (4) Notes: Warp Ammo is a great ability. On easier levels, Pull is a great crowd control device; however, it's not quite as useful on higher difficulties, plus as a locked skill, Jack would have to sacrifice evolving some skill to get Pull Field. Shockwave has limited effectiveness, but can help in more situations than pull, as it adds damage and still knocks enemies out of cover. If you picked Warp Ammo as your personal ability, you should move points for Jack elsewhere or evolve it as a personal ability instead. Personally, especially when I already had Warp Ammo on my Shepard, I found little use for Jack and instead used Samara, Miranda, or even Thane, who were better when I wanted biotic options. You can still use Jack to specialize in handling large crowds of enemies, as Samara and Thane might be better suited towards a single-target focus. Shockwave is a natural crowd clear ability even before it's evolved. ------------- .2B.06. Grunt ------------- HP: 600 Armor: 300 Weapon Damage: +25% Health Regeneration: 40 points per second Potential Weapon Damage: +40% squad or +60% personal Armor/organic Weapons: Assault Rifle, Shotgun Powers: Concussive Shot (3) Incendiary Ammo (4) Krogan Warlord (4) Fortification (2) Notes: You can evolve Incendiary Ammo either way if you don't have a Squad ability. Incendiary Ammo is probably the least useful Ammo ability, but isn't bad for just Grunt alone if he's got the self-powered version, so it's your call. Grunt has huge amounts of health due to Krogan Vitality research upgrades, plus a substantial health regeneration on top of that, so Fortification isn't a priority, plus it doesn't work as the description states, instead only replenishing armor, not actually improving the total amount. Concussive Shot is quick damage against enemies with barriers or no defenses, and since Grunt is not wasting cooldown time on other active abilities, it's better than nothing. If you leave Grunt equipped with a shotgun, he's useful for drawing fire, but can get himself into trouble. Change him to an assault rifle, and he'll back off. Since you can change on the fly, he's useful both ways. Grunt is best suited for missions against armored enemies, although he manages against barriers. ------------- .2B.07. Thane ------------- HP: 230 Shield: 250 Weapon Damage: +50% Potential Ammo Damage: +60% Organic Weapon: Sniper Rifle, Submachine Gun Powers: Throw (2) Heavy Warp (4) Drell Marksman (4) Shredder Ammo (3) Notes: Thane focuses on doing damage to single enemies, thus the evolution of Warp into Heavy Warp. Shredder Ammo isn't bad, but as it's limited to organics, you may end up relying a more versatile Squad Ammo instead of micro-managing his. Thane is useful to take for missions with Barriers, but can be helpful against Armored enemies as well. ------------ .2B.08. Tali ------------ HP: 240 Shield: 250 Weapon Damage: +18% Power Duration: +25% Weapons: Shotgun, Hand Cannon Powers: Attack Drone (4) AI Hacking (0) Quarian Engineer (4) Energy Drain (4) Notes: Drones are great, and you will find yourself using them every time the power recharges. Explosive drones are better at higher difficulties where enemies tend to destroy them faster, but with her duration bonus, attack drones make the better option otherwise. Energy Drain is exactly like Overload, except it does not stun the enemies. Instead, it gives the user a Shield increase for the amount that was drained. Keep in mind it only works on Synthetic enemies and Shield. Depending on your playstyle, you can try a build with AI Hacking, leaving the Drone, Quarian Engineer, or Energy Drain unevolved. As a reminder, you can only hack enemies with no defenses, but even on the hardest difficulties, Hacking can give you valuable time to regroup. Either way, Tali shines on against synthetics due to her engineering prowess. -------------- .2B.09. Samara -------------- HP: 240 Barrier: 250 Weapon Damage: +18% Power Recharge Time: -25% Weapons: Assault Rifle, Submachine Gun Powers: Throw Field (4) Pull (0) Sapiens Justicar (4) Heavy Reave (4) Throw is excellent against weak organic enemies that swarm such as husks, and it's not that useful to level Pull. Reave is an improved Warp. Despite doing damage over time, it does more total damage with bonuses, additionally stuns an enemy, and provides the user with nearly double health plus regeneration. Against non-health defenses, the damage actually occurs very quickly/instantly. Since opponents with Armor and Barrier are usually boss-type enemies, it's better to choose Heavy Reave to quickly take down these strong, single enemies. As a bonus, her access to assault rifles gives her better personal weapon damage than other biotics, although her loyalty ability is what makes her unique. So, once loyal, Samara is the optimum choice for Barrier and Armored bosses, or for missions against Collectors, since she can both control crowds with throw and bosses with Reave. ------------- .2B.10. Zaeed ------------- HP: 230 Shield: 250 Weapon Damage: +50% Potential Weapon Ammo Bonus: 40% Shield/Synthetic Weapons: Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle Powers: Concussive Shot (2) Disruptor Ammo (3) Mercenary Warlord (4) Inferno Blast Grenade (4) Notes: Inferno Blast Grenade is a super large area Incinerate, but unfortunately, because the damage is lower, and the explosion area is actually hard to aim precisely, it's less useful. Like Thane, Zaeed has a big weapon damage bonus (and great weapon choices) with the downsides of having no defense or control skills. Still, Zaeed is like Garrus in that he is versatile enough to handle shields with Disrupter Ammo, Barrier with Concussive, and Armor with Inferno Blast, although his worth is higher early on, as later, you should have better, specialized options. *************** Spoiler Warning *************** --------------- .2B.11. Morinth --------------- HP: 240 Barrier: 250 Weapon Damage: +18% Power Recharge Time: -25% Weapons: Assault Rifle, Submachine Gun Throw Field (4) Pull (0) Erdua Yakshi (4) Group Dominate (4) Notes: Morinth's stats are the same as Samara's. Be advised that she is a pseudo- romance option, but if you choose this path, you will want to have saved first. Dominate is excellent against Collectors as it acts as an annoyance to Harbinger, although it's limited as it cannot affect enemies with defenses, like AI hacking, it's more limited on harder difficulties. Otherwise, Morinth can act quite similarly to Samara, no pun intended. *Still Spoilers* -------------- .2B.12. Legion -------------- HP: 230 Geth Shield: 350 Weapon Damage: +25% Power Recharge Time: -25% Weapons: Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle Powers: AI Hacking (3) Attack Drone (4) Geth Assassin (4) Geth Shield Boost (2) Notes: As noted with Tali, the drone type's usefulness may depend on your difficulty level. While Legion has stronger weapon choices than Tali, his extra power is a a little less useful. Although Geth Shield Boost can improve his damage, I find myself using his drone, or and AI Hacking in emergencies, with no time to use the shield boost effectively. To get Legion, you must not turn him over to Cerberus, and like Grunt, you must activate him. Also note that if you wish to have No One Left Behind, you only have one or two missions (generally Legion's loyalty mission) before you must go through the Omega 4 Relay to save everyone. Unlike most teammates which require a few dialogue sequences and sometimes taking them on assignments or missions beforehand, Legion will immediately open up his loyalty mission if you are at this point in the game. Logically, Legion is powerful against other synthetics, although he can function more than adequately against any type of enemy with his solid combination of guns n' drones. ***************** End Spoiler Notes ***************** ------------------------------------ .2B.13. Summary of Ability Strengths ------------------------------------ Sorted by Damage strength, or when not applicable, subjective usefulness. Armor is the most common defense and Barrier is the least common, but all ability attacks effective against Barrier also are effective against Shields. (Note: For weapons, shield-barrier share a common weakness instead of the armor-barrier ability weakness). Can Be Used At Any Time: Combat Drone, Barrier, Fortification, Shield Boost Do Not Penetrate Defenses: Throw, Dominate, AI Hacking, Pull, Neural Shock, Cryo Blast, Slam, Shockwave, Shredder Ammo, Cryo Ammo Strong versus Armor: Reave, Incinerate, Warp, Armor Piercing Ammo, Incendinary Ammo, Warp Ammo, Inferno Blast Grenade Strong versus Barrier: Reave, Warp, Warp Ammo, Concussive Shot Strong versus Shield: Energy Drain, Overload, Combat Drone, Disruptor Ammo >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> .03. Mission Walkthrough [.03.JUMP] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> "If mom could see me now, we'd have zombies on top of everything else." -Joker Author's Note: There won't be any more spoiler markings, but just don't scroll too far ahead and there's little risk of running into anything plot-revealing. I intended to do this walkthrough while playing on Insanity, but realized the target audience would likely be playing on an easier mode, so I compromised by writing this while playing on Hardcore difficulty. If your enemies lack defenses, or have stronger defenses than I mention in the guide, that is the reason. Generally, Normal difficulty has very few enemy defenses other than on the Boss-type enemies, while anything higher than Veteran simply increases the number of enemies with defenses. On insanity, all enemies have defenses and some have multiple defenses. The point of this guide is to complete every mission and assignment possible and recieve the No One Left Behind achievement. There are many places where you have several routes to take, such the order of recruitment, or of completing loyalty quests. You can complete the game with a "bad ending" or choose to take any different path that you desire, but the guide was written assuming you would follow the order suggested. I also don't constantly remind you to save, feed your fish, talk to your crew after every mission to advance loyalty or romance, or buy upgrades when you can afford them from the various shops or from the Tech Lab. I trust you guys to remember! ============= ========== .3A. Prologue [.3A.JUMP] ============= ========== ------------------ .3A.01. Save Joker ------------------ Enemies: No enemies Run and moonwalk to the cockpit and save Joker. Completion Rewards: You get blasted out into space. ----------------- .3A.02. Awakening ----------------- Enemy Defenses: 100% Synthetic (no special defenses) Enemy Types: Hacked Mechs Listen to the instructions and take out the Hacked Mechs. They are pretty easy, and you should use them as target practice for your skills and weapons. They do appear in groups of three or so, but they are very slow. There are numerous logs that will explain the purpose of the facility. None of the items are difficult to find, so take your time and grab everything. There are no surprises as you move along, as the mechs are often in a suspended state when you encounter them, allowing you to get in a few shots and skills before they attack. The most challenging part is the final area near the evacuation point, where after taking out two mechs on the lower floor, you'll find two more mechs that activate as you reach the top of the stairs, while a door containing four mechs will also open. Note that you can also take a route closer to the door, but the mechs will gang up on you, so keep your distance by going to the right. Use the box as cover, and you'll have plenty of time to let them come into range to use Overload, Pull, and whatever class skills you have to dispatch them. The room containing the mechs also has two hackable items containing extra credits. Eventually, you'll make it to the evacuation shuttle and learn more about your situation. Items: Wall Safe (975) Med Kit (3) Data Pad (900) Data Pad (975) Wall Safe (900) Completion Rewards: 1,000 exp, 3,750 Credits. ======================= ========== .3B. Freedom's Progress [.3B.JUMP] ======================= ========== Enemy Defenses: Shields, Armor. All synthetic enemies Enemy Types: LOKI Mech (Armor), FENRIS Mech (Armor), Assault Drone (Shield), Rocket Drone (Shield), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor) Items: Salvage Parts (1000) Med Kit Wall Safe (2000) Wall Safe (2000) Med Kit Salvage Parts (1000) Power Cells Wall Safe (3000) Med Kit Damaged YMIR Mech (Heavy Weapon Ammo) Iridium (2000) You now have all the basic types of weapons of your chosen class available for you to select. Take the time to level Jacob and Miranda's powers. I recommend pumping points into Miranda's Overload and Jacob's passive abilities. Use the Tactical HUD to hotkey Miranda's skills and select the weapon you prefer. The LOKI Mechs are similar to what you already encountered. After you take down the first two mechs across the way, another LOKI Mech and some FENRIS Mechs will flank you. Move to better cover, and stay aware of the FENRIS Mechs who try to melee you, doing significant damage. On easier difficulties, you can try using your fist to hit them back, but otherwise, they'll have a few too many hitpoints to be reckless. Focus fire on them first, as the other Mechs will advance slowly (or not at all on easier difficulties). Be aware than when approaching the second Wall Safe, a LOKI Mech in front of it will activate. You should be able to take it out with Overload and a few rapid fire gun shots. In the next area immediately following, you will encounter Drones. Both types of Drones are tough on harder levels, as they are shielded, come in pairs, and move around after they take some damage. After the first pair of drones, more will appear to your south, usually able to hit you from your cover position. Again, quick Overload should take care of them. In the area before the loading docks, a few more pairs of Drones will again try to flank you. After taking them out and following the instructions to move your squadmates to the arrows, and taking cover behind the center, you'll face the "Boss," a YMIR Mech with Shields, Armor, and Health. Against the YMIR Mech, you should direct your squad to move away, as he will generally go straight for Miranda as enemies will generally head for the nearest target. There are several strategies to fighting the mech, but the basic idea is to hit and run - run away as you chip away against the defenses. If you can distract it by getting close to it, try leading it near the stack of boxes where you start at. It will chase you around in a circle, and since it's so wide, you can hit it while it has difficulty hitting you. This way, you have to move constantly, however. An alternative is to let your squad act as the distraction while you take cover in the Southwest unit, where you can find Heavy Weapon ammo. Fire away safely and keep using Unity if they fall in battle. Remember that multiple round weapons like SMG's and Shotguns are better against shields, while slow-firing weapons like Pistols and Snipers are better against armor. If you're confused, just stick with an Assault Rifle. Otherwise, switch out accordingly to get his defenses down faster and use less heatsinks. After you destroy it and pick everything up in the final area, talk to Veetor. If you choose the first paragon option, you'll get the option to use a Paragon interrupt. If you choose the middle one, you'll get the option to use a Renegade interrupt. These interrupts are meant to introduce you to the interrupt system. Decision: Paragon: If you send Veetor with Tali, he'll show up later with the Migrant Fleet, still shaken, but having tried to help Tali. Renegade: If you take Veetor to Cerberus, he'll still show up later, but he's really messed up. Completion Rewards: 1,000 exp, 9,000 Credits ================================================ ========== .3C. Stop the Collectors Part 1: Assemble a Team [.3C.JUMP] ================================================ ========== Take your time to tour the Normandy if it's your first time playing. There's several codex entries around the ship. You can get an achievement by watching the 3 "Advanced Combat Training" videos at your Private Terminal, plus they are informative. You'll also get Messages from Anderson and about any DLC you have correctly installed. Joker has something new to say after a major mission, and if you linger near him a little bit, he has 4 or 5 sets of very random musings. Plus, the ambient conversation of your crew will update nearly every mission. When you get him, Zaeed does the same thing as well, having a comment about the mission you most recently completed. Talking to your squadmates between missions gives you more information about their characters, as well as obtain any loyalty quests once you've spoken to them enough and taken them on missions/assignments at the right time. Doctor Chakwas, Mess Sergeant Gardner, and the Engineers have assignments for you. Choosing to get more familiar with Yeoman Chambers also opens up a potential "Romance" option for both Male and Female Shepards. When you're ready to set out, head to the galaxy map. The game recommends you to recruit the Professor, which is a good idea since you cannot research upgrades from the Tech Lab without him. Plus, you start out in the Omega Nebula, so head to Omega to recruit The Professor, Archangel, and The Veteran if you have the Zaeed DLC installed. Assignments available for pickup: Normandy: Serrice Ice Brandy Normandy: Special Ingredients Normandy: FBA Couplings Any completed "normal" assignment is worth 40 experience points, while any N7 mission (which generally requires you to travel to an unexplored planet) is worth 125 experience points. If there are additional rewards, I have listed them. Details on how the complete the assignments are spread randomly through the mission walkthrough, or you may choose to use a shorter list version that appears in the appendix want to focus on the main missions. ========== ========== .3D. Omega [.3D.JUMP] ========== ========== On the Galaxy Map, fill up on fuel and probes from the Fuel Depot. Although you're not necessarily going exploring instantly, you do start at basically empty. If you go outside the system without fuel, you'll eat up your minerals. On landing on Omega, Aria's thug Moklan comes to welcome you. You must eventually speak with her to continue the recruitment of Archangel and Mordin. You can complete the Serrice Ice Brandy and the FBA Coupling assignments. The Brandy is at the Bar, and costs no Credits, and the FBA Couplings cost 500 Credits from Kenn's. When you're done shopping, head to Afterlife. You can get a few extra Morality points by speaking with the Batarian. ------------------------- .3D.01. Shopping in Omega ------------------------- If you didn't import, then you only have about 40,000 Credits to spend. Make sure to get every discount before deciding on what to purchase. There are three shops on Omega. I recommend buying the Hack Bonus from Harrot's if you have his discount, as well as the Visor. Pick up the T6 Couplings from Kenn's to return to the engineers on the Normandy. Discounts lower the price to 83% of the listed price. I don't have the exact Morality values needed to persuade the shops for their discount, but I gave an approximate amount so you determine if you're close. Kenn's Salvage -------------- Discount: Talk to Kenn. You can get a discount from him directly, or through Harrot. In either case, ask Kenn why he's here, and get him to talk about Harrot. Tell Kenn that you'll have a talk with Harrot to get the Struggling Quarian assignment, which rewards a discount for both Kenn's and Harrot's. If you pay for Kenn to leave, you will miss out on Harrot's discount. Items: Heavy Weapon Ammo. 30,000 Nashan Stellar Dynamics T6-FBA Couplings (Normandy Engineering quest). 500 Heavy Skin Weave. 90,000 Shotgun Damage. 60,000 Harrot's Emporium ----------------- Discount: Only available by talking to Kenn first. Ask Kenn about Harrot and then tell him you'll talk to Harrot. You can persuade Harrot either way with approximately 50 negotiation, giving a discount at Kenn's as well as he buys Kenn's store. Items: Visor (headpiece, 10% headshot dmg). 2,000 Model Ship 13 - Geth Ship. 2,000 Capicitor Chestplate (chest, 10% less shield recharge time), 4,000 Hack Bonus. 30,000 Omega Markets ------------- Discount: Talk to Marsh with a Negotiation skill of approximately 50. Items: Stimulator Conduits (legs, 10% storm speed). 4,000 Model - Turian Cruiser. 500 Sniper Rifle Damage. 60,000 Fornax. 5 --------------------------- .3D.02. Recruit the Veteran --------------------------- You'll see Zaeed immediately at the end of the docking area. Just talk to him. His loyalty mission unlocks immediately, unlike other squad mates. He has excellent weapon choices and weapon-based bonuses, but not no crowd control or defensive abilities. If you wish, you can request to use him immediately in place of Miranda or Jacob by going back to the Docking Area. Remember to spend his points, I recommend raising his passive ability for his weapon damage. ====================== ========== .3E. Recruit Archangel [.3E.JUMP] ====================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Barrier, Shield, Armor, regenerating enemies, Heavy weapons Yes, you get to see everything basically, but it's not very difficult, but it does give you a chance to kind of learn (unless you shoot everything up). Squad Recommendations: Miranda, Zaeed Miranda's strength is her versatility, which you'll want to combat defences. Not to pretend there's a ton of choices at this point in the game, but Zaeed is more deadily than Jacob purely by his weapon choices. ----------------- .3E.01. Afterlife ----------------- After talking to Aria and asking about Archangel, you can talk to the Merc Recruiter in the west. If you have at least 100 Renegade points, you can get the Blue Suns Trooper to respect you more quickly with a Renegade Interrupt. Apply for a freelance spot to attack Archangel. When you exit, you'll see a young guy going in to apply for a spot. ME veterans may recognize that he sounds like a certain Richard L. Jenkins. If you have some Paragon points, you can stop him with a Paragon Interrupt, jamming his pistol. If you save him, he sends a thank you message to the Normandy. If you don't save him, he is the first to die in the freelance attack. If you bring Zaeed for this mission, the Blue Suns react to his presence. Many other small scenes in the game will also change depending on who you bring. ------------------------------------ .3E.02. Merc Base & Archangel's Base ------------------------------------ Head out of the club and to the southwest until you see the Blue Suns Driver when you have bought everything you need. Once in the base, you can speak to Jaroth, leader of Eclipse, for codex information about their merc band. Nab the datapad for an assignment you can turn in to Aria. Hack the Friend of Foe ID of the Heavy Mech to make your life easier. There are some items you can obtain in this room as well. You can talk to Garm, the Blood Pack leader, for more codex info if you wish. There is a datapad you can hack with a good chunk of protection money in it. There are also several good items behind a door you must bypass - don't miss the Submachine Gun upgrade. Special Scene: If you speak to Tarak with Zaeed on the team, you get a quick extra scene and can speak to Jentha for a Blue Suns codex update. Items: Element Zero (500) Eezo Smuggling Accounts (4,000) 'Protection' Money Accounts (6,000) Medical Station Power Cells Blue Suns Weapon Shipment (Submachine Gun upgrade unlock) Blue Suns Gunrunning Accounts (4,000) Medical Station When you've got all the items, talk to Cathka's Assistant to proceed with the mission. At the end of the conversation with Cathka, if you have at least 100 Renegade points, you can kill him with a Renegade Interupt and stop the gunship from being completely repaired. Once you do that, you're immediately thrown into battle. The mercs think you're on their side until you start shooting at them. Items: Med Kits Omni-tool Power Boost X-Mods (Tech Damage upgrade unlock) At the end of Archangel's conversation, you may get a Renegade interrupt while holding the sniper. This kills one of the mechs you'll be facing. Objective: Keep Garrus alive Enemies: LOKI Mech (Armor), Eclipse Troopers (Barrier), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor), Jaroth (Shield, Armor) Items: M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle Med Kits Wall Safe (4000) You can obtain the items during the battle or afterwards. If you have a good team, you can keep any enemies from entering the base. Just keep using powers and shooting from your perch. If you hacked the mech, focus entirely on the troopers, as they will focus on the mech. If you don't manage to keep everyone outside, then don't worry. Just make sure to counter them on the ground floor. Don't forget to grab the Vindicator, which is an assault rifle that you can use until the end of the game. It's not the most accurate weapon at this point in the game, and its heatsink capacity will always be fairly small, but your squad doesn't care about the heatsink amount, anyway. -------------------- .3E.03. The Basement -------------------- Objective: Close the Shutters Enemies: Varren (Armor), Blood Pack Troopers (Armor, Heavy Weapons), Garm (Barrier, Armor) Items: None If you leave someone with Garrus, his health will remain relatively stable as you try to close the shutters. Since the area is somewhat crowded, I find that I'm fine leaving someone with him. Enemies from the shutters come every twenty seconds, and do not stop until you close the shutters. Make sure you don't move past the shutters as they close, and don't let enemies obstruct it. If you stay in cover while the shutters are closing, enemies will shoot blindly at you as the shutter closes. Close the shutter to the south first, then head west to the garage to close that shutter, and finally to the east utility to close that shutter. Once you close the shutters, you pop back up in Archangel's base and your squadmate will return if you left them. You immediately face a more Blood Pack and Garm, their leader. ------------------------ .3E.04. Back at the Base ------------------------ Objective: Take out Jentha and Tarak's Gunship Enemies: Blue Suns Troopers (Shield, Heavy Weapons), Jentha (Shield) Items: None Jentha comes in with a number of Blue Suns troopers on the upper levels, then storms the lower levels. After you take them out, Tarak comes in his gunship and starts bombarding the upper level. If you killed Cathka, the Gunship's defenses are 25% lower. Once you damage the gunship a fair amount, more Blue Suns troopers come by. Dispatch them, then finish off the gunship, and you're done. Completion Reward: 1,000 exp, 17,500 Credits ---------------------------- .3E.05. Back on the Normandy ---------------------------- Assignment N7: Lost Operative should open up for you through your messages, but you can put that off until later. If you bought the couplings, talk to the engineers and play some Skyllian-Five poker. You'll instantly win 500 Credits and finish the assignment, setting you back to even for the cost of the Couplings in the first place. You can also talk with Dr. Chakwas and get a Medi-Gel upgrade and learn more about her situation. ------------------------------ .3E.06. More Omega Assignments ------------------------------ Finish these assignments in quick succession: Omega: Deliver Datapad Omega: The Patriarch Omega: Batarian Bartender You can now complete several assignments on Omega at once. First, talk to Aria's Turian guard, Grizz, who tells you to see Patriarch to help Aria. Head down to lower Afterlife, visiting Forvan the bartender for a drink. When you get back up, return to Forvan. Afterwards, head to the small room to the east in lower Afterlife and talk to Patriarch. Resolve his issue in any manner you see fit, and return to Aria when you are done, turning in the datapad you found during Archangel's mission at the same time. Now, head to the next mission. ========================== ========== .3F. Recruit The Professor [.3F.JUMP] ========================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor, regeneration, Heavy weapons Squad Recommndations: Miranda, Garrus/Zaeed Miranda is the best choice again early in the game, as abilities are stronger than guns at this stage in the game. You have an option between Garrus or Zaeed, depending on who you prefer. After having asked Aria about Mordin, head to the southeast section of Omega. Talk to the District Guard to get into the slums. You can select your squad after talking to the guard. If you choose to bring Garrus from Omega and into the mission, he makes a few sarcastic remarks about the plague. ------------- .3F.01. Slums ------------- Enemies: Blue Suns Trooper (Shield), Blue Suns Legionnaire (Shield), Blood Pack Trooper (Armor), Blood Pack Pyro (Armor) Items: Element Zero (250) Bank Terminal (5,000) Power Cells PDA (2,000) if you let the Batarian Victim die Wall Safe (4,000) Circuit Boards (1,000) Wall Safe (4,000) Modified Assault Rifle (Assault Rifle upgrade unlock) If you talk to the Batarian Victim, you'll get a Paragon interrupt to help him. You can also offer to send help back later. If you help him, he'll give you information and send a thank you message after the mission. If you let him die, you can get 2000 Credits from a PDA that he drops. If you bypass the door in the western room, you can learn more about the plague, but there's no extra items for doing so. Head north past the Batarian Victim and you can loot a Batarian's Wall Safe if you bypass his door. After fighting a group of three Blue Suns in Kokomo Plaza, you can nab 1000 Credits upstairs, then head east to enter a human refugee apartment with a Wall Safe. You can choose to persuade them to save themselves or move on. In the next area, some Blue Suns are fighting a large number of Blood Pack. Head upstairs and snipe as many Blood Pack as you can while the Blue Suns distract them. The Vorcha and Krogan of the Blood Pack have incredible regeneration, so you really need to focus on them to bring them down. Note that Overloading a Pyro makes them explode rather violently. In the western apartment, you meet some Human Looters. You can tell them to stop looting for some Morality points, otherwise all they offer is information. The next door leads to the clinic. -------------- .3F.02. Clinic -------------- Items: Med Kits Platinum (2000) Palladium (2000) Research Station (Medi-Gel Upgrade unlock) Element Zero (500) Iridium (2000) When you speak with Mordin, you can use a Renegade Interrupt to stop his stream of consciousness and get to the point. If you skip that interruption, it is followed by an option to use a Paragon Interrupt which does the same thing. You also obtain the M-6 Carnifax Hand Cannon. This weapon does more than twice the damage of the default pistol per shot, but fires at just about half the speed. If you're bad at aiming, you might want to downgrade back to the other pistol so you have a bigger clip, but otherwise the M-6 is definitely a better weapon. You also receive the assignment to find Mordin's assistant. ------------------------------------ .3F.03. Environmental Control Center ------------------------------------ Enemies: Blood Pack Trooper (Armor, Regen), Warrior (Armor), Pyro (Armor), Boom-Squad (Armor), Vorcha Heavy (Armor) Items: Gambling Terminal (3,000) Bank Terminal (5,000) Spare Parts (1,000) More Blood Pack, luckily with numerous places for cover allowing you to kill them up close. In the hallway, opening the door to the south reveals Mordin's assistant, Daniel. You can save him with about 100 points in Persuasion. If you don't have enough points, the Batarians shoot him. Head into the control center, and take out the Blood Pack in there. Head straight to inject the cure, then follow the instructions to go to the side rooms to turn on the fans. After you inject the cure, watch out for the missile launching Boom-Squad on the upper level as well as the Troopers that come from the sides. When you initialize the West Fan Array, more Blood Pack will come to intercept you. Several Vorcha Heavy will fire missiles at you from the upper level, with Pyros and Krogan on the lower levels. Overload is as powerful against Vorcha Heavy as Pyros, causing them to explode. After you initialize the East Fan Array, you automatically return to Mordin. If you've already taken all the items from the clinic, feel free to leave. Once back on the Normandy, you can now ask any of your squadmates if they can think of any upgrades. Some will offer personal upgrades, while others will offer upgrades for the Normandy. Since minerals are easy to find, I would suggest upgrading them, with Miranda's Normandy upgrade first to make future scanning faster. Completion Reward: 1,000 exp, 18,500 Credits Upgrade List at this point: Mordin recommends Mordin Omni-tool Doctor Chakwas suggests a Med-bay upgrade, a purely cosmetic feature Jacob recommends Heavy Ship Armor Miranda recommends Advanced Mineral Scanning Garrus recommends Thanix Cannon ================ ========== .3G. The Citadel [.3G.JUMP] ================ ========== Before you head to the Citadel, you should be able to obtain an assignment from Ish, a Salarian on Omega. (If you're one of the few people who played Mass Effect: Galaxy, you might recognize Ish as the Salarian who was Miranda's contact. Miranda and Jacob will recognize him). You get 1,125 Credits per package you pick up, and one's in the Citadel near a shop. Also, if you have the Normandy Crash DLC, you can travel to the Amada system and explore the crash site. It's a solo assignment with no enemies. As you run around, you'll trigger memories that show up as you get close to the major areas of the old Normandy. You'll be asked to pick up 20 dog tags and place a memorial. The dog tags are scattered all over the site. Be aware that there are dog tags are in fragile crates as well, so shoot the crates and pick up the tags. There is also an old N7 helmet you can pick up, and sits in your cabin. The final step is to place the monument, so place it wherever you feel is most appropriate. Now that you've exhausted Omega, head for the Citadel for a quick update of some of your assignments and missions. Note that there's no fighting, so pick whoever is your favorite to go shopping. Upon returning to the Citadel, you'll have to go through C-Sec customs scanning. This results in finding out your status as deceased, although its taken care of surprisingly quickly by Captain Bailey. You can choose to stay under the radar or set your status back to alive. ------------------------------- .3G.01. Shopping in the Citadel ------------------------------- There's some nice shopping to be done on the Citadel, although you probably can't afford very much if you're starting a new game from scratch. Just keep in mind that you can come by at any time and pick up the ones you want. Again, you don't need to buy every upgrade, focus on ones that will help you out personally. The souvenirs are fluff pieces which appear in the Captain's Cabin. You've already encountered the Ship Models on Omega. However, be aware that if you buy fish, you'll need to feed them every mission or assignment, even when the default option is not to return to the Normandy, otherwise they will die. They do become available for purchase again from the vendor you originally found them, but if this is your first playthrough, your credits are fairly limited. If you get familiar with Kelly, as long as she is on the Normandy she will automatically feed your fish. I just spent way too long talking about fish. For upgrades, I recommend buying the Off-Hand Ammo Pack, unless you prefer wearing a DLC armor suit. The Life Support Webbing is also a cheap, effective upgrade from the N7 armor. Other upgrades are much more expensive, and probably beyond your means at this point. You can decide priority of other upgrades depending on your class, preferred weapon, and squad. Zakera Cafe ----------- Location: Lv. 27 Discount: Not available, but everything is 500 Credits and less Items: High-Grade Provisions, 500 Purchasing this item and delivering it will complete the Mess Sergeant's assignment at the Zakera Cafe. Revelations, 5 Ascentions, 5 Citadel Souvenirs ----------------- Location: Lv. 27 Discount: Talk to Deleia Sanassi and give her an endorsement or accuse her of classism. Items: Space Hamster, 9,200 Illium Skald Fish, 500 Model - Normandy SR1, 500 Model - Destiny Ascension, 500 Saronis Applications -------------------- Location: Lv. 26 Discount: Talk to Mareb and persuade him. You can obtain the discount at a fairly low Persuasion. Items: Tech Damage, 90,000 Damage Protection, 90,000 Sirta Foundation ---------------- Location: Lv. 26 Discount: Talk to Kian Louros and persuade her Items: Medi-Gel Capacity, 30,000 Life Support Webbing (Legs, 10% Health), 8,000 Rodam Expeditions ----------------- Location: Lv. 28 Discount: Talk to Etarn Tiron and persuade him Items: Sniper Rifle Damage, 60,000 Heavy Pistol Damage, 60,000 Submachine Gun Damage, 60,000 Off-Hand Ammo Pack (Arms, 10% more ammo), 2,000 Aegis Vest (Chest, 5% health), 2,000 --------------------------- .3G.02. Citadel Assignments --------------------------- Citadel: Crime in Progress On level 26, you'll run into a Volus who believes a Quarian has stolen his credit chit. Inform the group that you'll look into the situation. This confusion is solved by heading to Saronis Applications, talking to Marab, and asking about Kor Tun's credit chit. Upon returning to the group, you can defend the Quarian against the Volus and C-Sec with a Paragon Interrupt. Doing so gives you 5 extra Paragon points on top of the 5 you get for completing the assignment, plus it's fun to watch Shepard shout. You earn 1,000 Credits for helping. Citadel: Krogan Sushi You obtain this assignment by listening in on a Krogan conversation on level 27. You can update the assignment by talking to the Presidum Groundskeeper in the Dark Star Lounge on level 28. If you want to trick Kargesh, you'll have to purchase fish from the nearby Citadel Souvenir shop first. Kargesh is happier if you buy the fish and lie to him (you still also have the fish appear in your fish tank), but the rewards are the same either way: 1,000 Credits. If you grabbed the Omega: Packages for Ish assignment on Omega, a datapad will be available for pickup outside of Saronis Applications. Just pick it up and return to Ish whenever you like, although to save a trip, you can wait until after you picked up the package on Illium. The assignment never appears as completed no matter path you choose, but each package will reward you Credits instantly, so there's not much lost. Although it's not an assignment, if you run into the reporter Al-Jilani near the Dark Star lounge, you can get some Paragon or Renegade points from her, plus, depending on your actions, a great deal of personal satisfaction. You can get a Renegade interrupt fairly early in the conversation depending on your decision regarding the Council, but the persuasions aren't bad either. After you're done shopping and finishing the assignments, head up to the Presidium via Rapid Transit and speak with the Councilor. The meeting will go differently depending on whether you imported the game and what choices you made, but all choices share one common ending: you're not getting any help from the Council. You may choose to take back your Spectre status or to reject it, but it has no real bearing to the story in this game. Time to move on. ======================= ========== .3H. Recruit The Krogan [.3H.JUMP] ======================= ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendation: Miranda, Mordin This mission has plenty of options open, and at this point none of your squad really stands out, so take this time to try out squad members you haven't given attention, if you like. My recommendation, though, is Miranda and Mordin, for their abilities. If you haven't yet spent Mordin's points, it's as good a time as any to do so. I recommend leveling Mordin's incinerate, which is strong against armor and health. Enemies: Blue Suns Trooper (Shield), Heavy (Shield), Centurian (Shield) Krogan Berserker (Armor), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor), Jedore (Shield, Armor) Items: Blue Suns Corpse (2000) Sniper Rifle (Sniper Rifle upgrade unlock) Power Cells PDA (4000) Blue Suns Corpse (2000) Power Cells Wall Safe (4000) PDA (4000) Secure Terminal (4000) Lab Terminal (Krogan Vitality unlock) Head to Eagle Nebula and land on Korlus. You'll face a few Blue Suns troops early on, but they're fairly weak. You can get more information on the situation from the wounded merc. When the radio comes on, you can choose to persuade him to get him to cooperate. If you choose to tell him to be quiet, you get a Renegade Interrupt to shoot him as he tries to signal for help. You get Paragon points along with the normal 5 Renegade points for using Persuasion, presumably because if you choose that option it results in letting him go, even if you choose the Renegade option. There's pairs of Blue Suns to fight as you go along, but no items. Eventually, you run into a Tank-Grown Krogan who gives you access to the lab. Inside, you'll start to find some items. Your first task is to face several Krogan Berserkers who have high Armor and Health. Luckily, they are fairly spread out, so take your time against them. After the wave of Krogans, you'll face groups of Blue Suns. This leads to going up, down, and through the Blue Suns base, encountering small waves of Blue Suns as you go along. Luckily, there is tons of good cover, and despite the Shielded enemies and Heavy soldiers, getting through this part of the missions should be fairly simple. Eventually, you reach Warlord Okeer. You'll learn more about the situation, but eventually Jedore will interrupt you and you'll have to take care of her. As you fight her, she releases Krogan Berserkers from the tanks. She also has a heavy YMIR Mech on her side. Take out the first few Krogan Berserkers, but move to a more fortified position to the east to avoid the Mech, which moves slowly. Focus on the Krogan and keep them from charging in melee range as best you can. Once they are down, you can easily dispatch the mech as Jedore rarely moves from her position. When Jedore is alone, she is easy to deal with. Return to Okeer, and use the console to get back to the Normandy. Once on the Normandy, make sure to visit the Port Cargo hold on the Engineering Deck. Check the pod and select whichever options you desire; if you have enough persuasion, you can gain a few extra Morality points. Completion Reward: 1,000 xp, 20,000 Credits ======================== ========== .3I. Recruit The Convict [.3I.JUMP] ======================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendation: Miranda, anyone Again with Miranda, because there are simply so many mixes of shield and armor, and you don't have enough skill points for other characters to have particular strenghts against both of these. You've got plenty of options for your third member. Grunt has a few brief comments about Jack when you see her, if that is enough to make you want to bring him along. If you do bring Grunt, I recommend swapping him to the Assault Rifle. Spend your points however you like with him. Enemies: Blue Suns Trooper (Shield), Legionnaire (Shield), FENRIS Mech (Armor), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor), Warden Kuril (Shield, Armor) Head to Hourglass Nebula and dock on Prison Ship Purgatory. After a friendly introduction, you're led deep into the facility. You can speak with the Prison Guard for a few Morality points, but it takes the first Paragon option to open persuasion choices. You can have a friendly chat with the other prisoners. Head east to the Outprocessing station and get ready to clear your way to Cryo. Once you finish clearing out the Blue Suns and their FENRIS Mechs, take a look at the security controls. Items: Element Zero (500) YMIR Mech Corpse (Damage Protection unlock) Power Cells Dead Prison Guard (1500) Shotgun (Shotgun Damage unlock) Dead Prison Guard PDA (4500) Dead Prison Guard (4500) Dead Prison Guard (1500) Wall Safe (3000) Head down and pick up the items lying around. After killing a few Blue Suns, a YMIR Mech will come after you. You've got a good position against it, so just keep your distance and take it out. Don't miss the shotgun and the hackable PDA off the dead guard. In the next area, there are many more Blue Suns. If you shoot the YMIR Mech at the back bridge, it will come after you. This isn't a bad idea if you've cleared the front portion, as the other Blue Suns come very slowly at you and are easier to dispatch. There's only one guard here with anything to pick off his dead corpse. I guess they don't get much in terms of pay. Head through the next hall and the next door and meet Warden Kuril again. Your objective here is to take out the Shield Generators. Aim at the outlined orange area to take them down. Kill the Blue Suns and the generator in the middle first, then head south, where some small cover areas will conveniently flip up for you. If you don't move your squad, they'll distract your enemies for you as you take them out. Take out the closeby Shield Generator and circle back west for the final Shield Generator. Take out the Blue Suns first, who should again be distracted mostly by your squad. Once you finish the last generator, the shield will open and reveal Warden Kuril. Gang up on him and you'll head back to the Normandy. It doesn't matter whether you give Jack the files or not as she apparently is pretty resourceful, and finds them anyway. You get to speak to the Illusive Man and get more dossiers. Completion Reward: 1,000 xp, 15,000 Credits ============ ========== .3J. Horizon [.3J.JUMP] ============ ========== Enemy Defenses: Barrier, Armor Squad Recommendation: Miranda, Mordin/Grunt Your first mission entirely without any shielded enemies. On higher difficulty, all of the Collectors have barriers, and the rest of the enemies have Armor. Due to the amount of defenses, I wouldn't recommend characters whose only attacks are biotic, if you are playing on a higher difficulty. On the other hand, if you are not playing on a higher difficulty, biotics are amazing to use against Husks. Enemies: Collector Drone (Barrier), Guardian (Barrier), Assasin (Barrier), Harbinger (Barrier, Armor), Husks (Armor), Scion (Armor), Praetorian (Armor) ---------------------------- .3J.01. Horizon: Investigate ---------------------------- Items: Power Cells Med kit Datapad (6000) Datapad (4200) Dead Collector (Heavy Skin Weave unlock) Safe (4800) Computer (3000) Particle Beam (Collector Particle Beam) Computer (3000) Med kit Power Cells Once you have completed all of the given Recruit missions and speak with the Illusive Man, you are sent to Horizon to investigate. You'll encounter your first Collectors here. They are organic, at any given time, one of the Drones will be possessed by the Harbinger, granting the drone Shield and Armor, although it has no health. If you kill the Harbinger, it simply possesses another Drone nearby in a few seconds. Thus, one strategy is to take out as many Drones as possible before dealing with the Harbinger. You can also focus on the Harbinger, as his "possession" animation of a Drone lasts several seconds. In this time, you can blast him full-on with any abilities and guns that you have, although usually this is only enough to get his barrier down. You won't face the Harbinger until you get a little ways in, luckily. But, you do face several Collectors. The assassins will use a particle beam that's pretty harmful to you. The colony offers tons of cover though, so use that to your advantage as you take on the groups of 4-5 Collectors in each area. As with most maps, this one is fairly linear, although items are usually hidden inside the residence units. Horizon is a large colony, so you'll do alot of walking. Keep clearing the areas of the Collectors and keep moving on each time. The Collectors never really surprise you, flying in from above. You'll encounter some frozen colonists and more items before the next fight. Make sure to pick up the Collector Particle Beam, which is a decent laser weapon with much more ammo. I recommend keeping it equipped for a while, until you get many Heavy Weapon upgrades. It has great accuracy, no recoil, and it never needs to be reloaded. Going a bit further past this area will introduce you to the Collector General, Harbinger. The collector pods can be used for cover if you need, as Harbinger's missle-seeking weapon will knock you out of cover if it hits close to you. When you clear the area, check the residences for items, then bypass the door to continue. You'll discover an unfrozen human survivor after the door. Talking to him won't enlighten very much, but you do get a new objective: fix the defense tower targeting systems. ------------------------------------- .3J.02. Horizon: Repair Defense Tower ------------------------------------- Items: Platinum (2000) Wall Safe (6000) Power Cells Dead Collector (Biotic Damage unlock) Computer (3000) Head through another area, but don't rush too far in, as the area is filled with enemies immediately to the southeast. Watch the Husks as they charge, and the Collectors can also be trouble since you don't have much room. You'll also meet your first Scion, a slow, lumbering enemy with a lot of armor (but no health bar) that fires shockwaves at you every few seconds. Focus on the Husks first as their melee attacks can cause significant damage. On harder levels, the Husks have Armor, but not very much. If you need more room, the unit to the north is safe. There's no additional enemies after the first wave, so grab the items, especially the upgrade, and bypass the door to reach the final area. Upon entering, you'll face a swarm of Husks from the north and the east, plus some Scions from the east. Take out the Husks as best as you can; retreat to the south and otherwise away from the Husks if you need to. If they overwhelm your squad, sprint around while trying to hit them, preferably with abilities or with a slowdown effect, as the Scions' shockwave can hit you while you're moving if you're too close to them. When you've got the Husks down, continue the hit and run and whittle down the scions; hopefully you've got some effective anti-Armor offense. Although there is a power cell on the south side, you don't want to waste too much ammo as having extra firepower for the Praetorian really helps. On other hand, though, don't be so cautious if you keep dying. Hacking the computer starts the next step. Collectors fly in from the southeast, comprised of a squad of Drones, Guardians, and an Assassin, plus some Husks. Drones continually fly in as you take them out, turning into Harbingers. You get a little break in the action after killing six or seven Collectors, where you should pick up ammo. Thirty seconds later, the action resumes with Husks once again from the northern units, and Collectors from the northwest. Use the transmitter as cover and be cautious; the Collectors rarely approach you so you can recover health in cover whenever you need. Your position shifts automatically to the west. You'll face the Praetorian, which flies and has a dangerous laser-eye-beam-of-death attack, and a very large amount of Armor. Its laser beams do fire from its middle, so you can carefully shoot around the boxes without staying in cover from certain closes. Unlike most enemies, it focuses on you. It also closes in on you quickly: stay away as it has a melee attack that does heavy damage and stuns as it stomps the ground. Use all your Heavy weapons against it, and if you run out of ammo, resorting to the strategy of hit-and-run in a circle. It will pause for a few seconds between laser beams; you'll want to shoot it, then sprint to the next cover during this time. On harder difficulties, it will put a barrier every 25% of its health. Back on the Normandy, you'll get updated by the Illusive Man and get three more dossiers. You can also start to obtain loyalty missions for your current squad. You should be able to obtain both Miranda and Jacob's loyalty missions. Also, you can now pay to Retrain Powers at the research terminal for 2,500 eezo. Since both Miranda's and Jacob's loyalty skills aren't really worth it for them or even for you as Advanced Training, you might as well continue recruiting for now. Every future mission you complete should open up one more loyalty mission. Completion Reward: 1000 xp, 30,000 Credits ================= ========== .3K. Recruit Tali [.3K.JUMP] ================= ========== Special: If you wish to obtain the Geth Pulse Rifle, an assault rifle, set your game difficulty to Hardcore or Insanity prior to landing. In the last room with Tali, there will be an intact Geth Pulse Rifle that you can pick up. You can choose to set your difficulty back to your original setting. Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendations: Miranda, Garrus, Zaeed Depending on how you raised your squad, Garrus and Zaeed may be able to open their second abilities, or have opened them, making them both effective against shields. Thank goodness, because otherwise Miranda might never retire from the landing party. Unlike the synthetics you've encountered previously, Geth use Shield much more commonly than Armor as a defense type. Enemies: Geth Trooper (Shield), Destroyer (Shield), Hunter (Shield), Rocket Trooper (Shield), Prime (Shield, Armor), Recon Drone (Shield only) ------------------------ .3K.01. Haestrom Landing ------------------------ Items: Damaged Mech (3000) Med Kit Customized Heavy Pistol (Heavy Pistol Damage unlock) Medical Station Iridium (400) Damaged Geth Hunter (6000) Tempest SMG Head to the Far Rim Nebula and land on Haestrom to recruit Tali. As EDI and your teammates remind you, the sunlight is deadly to you, but sprinting through it and going slowly to regenerate your shields is all you need to avoid it. Later, when you go into combat, just make sure not take cover in a place where the sun shines. Then you can hit the enemy where the sun don't shine. Har har. There will be plenty of cover options among the rubble. Hit the gate controls to continue, and take out the geth. Stay on the lower level at first. Midway through on the east side, there's a pistol damage upgrade to scan, as well as a ramp upwards. A geth will usually be on the ramp nearby and attack you, so take it out. The geth will gather up on the top level and can be easily dispatched with Overloads. When you travel back down, there's nothing to grab except some Iridium. Head through the hall, and nab the items. The SMG fires a five-burst shot and has a more rapid rate of fire, but has slightly higher recoil and is less accurate. The M-4 wasn't all that accurate anyway,and the M-9 is a clear upgrade. -------------------------- .3K.02. Demolition Charges -------------------------- Items: Iridium (400) Iridium (400) Medical Station Power Cells Med Kit Medical Station After speaker to Kal, you'll have to get the demolition devices to continue. The Geth Hunters are cloaked, but what makes them dangerous is their attack pattern of coming right for you. The troopers generally stay back, so take out the Hunter first. The Geth that appear from the garage never stop coming. You'll have to just sprint past them after taking out the ones in the way. The Geth Destroyer will hit you with a flamethrower attack from up close, so keep your distance. If you stay under cover on the southeast side, the Geth should huddle up and you can hopefully get them close enough to Overload a few at a time. Pick up the Demolition Charge in the north cubby, then head east. Geth will ambush you on the way out, so move quickly into cover to avoid getting overrun while leaving. You can't pick up the Demolition Charges if you're in combat with any Geth. Sometimes a stray one from the garage will follow you, so just be sure to clear the area. Move on east and upwards quickly after the first demo charge. There will be Geth Rocket Troopers on the bridge, and Geth Troopers and Destroyers streaming from down below. Destroy the first Destroyers and Troopers you see then head into the building. You can try to kill the Geth as they funnel into the room, or go and up the ramp and destroy the Rocket Troopers. Open the shutters, giving you a much better position against the Geth. Watch your back as some Troopers may sneak in, but most of the Geth should be on the bridge and much easier to handle lined up like a shooting gallery. Either way, go back towards the garage and handle the streams of Geth that come through. Most are troopers and will go down easily. After taking the second demo charge, a Geth Prime will appear with two troopers. You have good cover in the garage, so just use it and get its defenses down. After you plant the demo charges, make sure you're not in the impact area. ----------------- .3K.03. Base Camp ----------------- Items: Disassembled Geth Rifle (Assault Rifle Damage unlock) Damaged Geth (3000) Damaged Geth (6000) Ancient Wall Safe (6000) Medical Station Iridium (200) Iridium (200) Iridium (1) Iridium (1) *the 1 iridiums are probably a bug Damaged Geth (9000) Intact Pulse Rifle, Hardcore or Insanity only (Geth Pulse Rifle) Talk to Tali on the Communications Control. After getting the door open, you'll face a large contingent of Geth Recon Drones, along with a Geth Prime. Luckily, the drones have little defense, and explode after an Overload or few shots. The Prime is tough, but you've got plenty of space to lure it around if need be. This is followed by another barrage of drones. As you move up, you'll face another combination of drones and Geth Prime. Stay in cover, and slowly work on Overloading the Drones, then focus on the Prime, just as last time. Even more drones appear after you take down this Prime. There aren't any items in this area to worry about, so just keep moving north along the east side. Unlocking the security will bring you to the final area with a Geth Colossus. Move down to Kal. You can't take out the Colossus from range, as it ducks down and repairs itself after a certain amount of damage. Kal lays out the possible paths of attack. You can also choose to stop him from helping with a Paragon interrupt. He still should survive even if he's helping you out. On harder difficulties, the Colossus has so much health that it doesn't matter whether Kal is pelting it or not, and it will complete its repair protocols quickly, giving it another shield when it takes 50% damage. I recommend the left or right route, as even though the Colossus fires only one shot every few seconds, it can take up to half your health or shields. Either path is fairly safe; after clearing the Geth Troopers in the central area, head up to your chosen path. Take cover and clear the bridge, then move up again when it's clear. Loads of Geth will come pouring from the building behind the Colossus. When you've killed it and any leftover Geth, the door will open. Completion Reward: 1000 xp, 30,000 Credits =========== ========== .3L. Illium [.3L.JUMP] =========== ========== Head to Illium. There are many quick assignments you can complete before you head to the recruitment missions. If you want to skip through, just speak to Liara and then head to Seryna or Officer Dara. -------------------------- .3L.01. Illium Assignments -------------------------- Illium: Gianna Parasini If Gianna wasn't killed due to double-crossing her in ME1, she'll have an easy assignment for you. Just talk to the Merchant by the Serrice Technology kiosk. If you choose to help her, make sure you obtain the Merchant's discount first, otherwise you'll be unable to speak to her. If you choose to help the Merchant, she gives you a discount before she runs away, but you get no completion experience for the assignment. Reward: Hermia's discount for Serrice, or some time to chat with Gianna Illium: System Hacking Speak with Liara upstairs. Head to the south Transportation area, and hack the three terminals, one at a time. After each hack, you have approximately one minute to find the correct server to upload the data. There are three upload sites, one near Baria Frontiers, the second near Memories of Illium, and finally near Officer Dara. Use the distance meter and the targeting system to find the servers if you're having any trouble. Completing the assignment opens up The Observer assignment. Talking to Liara also allows you to continue the two recruitment missions on Illium. Reward: 2000 Credits Illium: A Troublemaker Head to the Eternity bar, where there is a troublemaker inside. You'll see him at the bar. Talk to Conrad, get him to shut up, and then tell the bartender that you'll look into the issue. Head to the southeastern section of Illium and Gateway Personal Defense and speak to the Weapons Merchant. Persuade her and head back to Eternity. Note that by persuading her, you'll obtain a discount for Gateway Personal Defense. If you chose the paragon option, you get another persuasion option at the bar, but both ways, he opens up a charity in your name, so the difference is mainly Morality points. Reward: Gateway Personal Defense discount, getting to shoot Conrad in the foot Illium: Persuade the Asari A very simple, although strange, quest. Head to the Asari near Memories of Illium being serenaded by Charr the Krogan. Persuade her to make a decision. Either way, you'll get a discount at the nearby kiosk. Reward: Memories of Illium discount Illium: The Observer To complete this quest, hack the Datapoints located in the northern part of Illium. When you hack all five terminals, call Liara. Tell her that no one fits the profile. She'll realize who the Observer is and handle it herself. When you return to her, you'll be able to uncover Liara's real story behind her current situation as an information broker if you ask her about her "Anger at the Shadow Broker." Reward: 5000 Credits Illium: Medical Scans Talk to the Zhu's Hope representative near Officer Dara. Then, talk to Erinya, the Baria Frontiers Representative nearby. As you investigate, you'll be given the option to question her past further, and persuade her. Inform the Zhu's Hope representative of the result to complete the assignment. Reward: Happy, less-operated on colonists Illium: Indentured Service Talk to the Slave Broker after you've completed the Troublemaker mission. To resolve the situation, either talk to the Synthetic Insights Representative and persuade her to hire the Quarian, or alternatively, convince the Asari to let the Quarian out of her indentured servitude contract. Note that the persuasion requirements for the S.I. Rep are a bit higher than other previous quests, but talking to the Slave Broker is a bit lower. It's also slightly buggy in that if you don't persuade the S.I. Rep the first time, you can complete the quest, then persuade the S.I. Rep to hire the Quarian after the assignment is technically completed, adding a few free Morality points. Reward: 2000 Credits -------------------------- .3L.02. Shopping on Illium -------------------------- Make sure to buy the star charts from Baria Frontiers. They're pretty cheap, and allow you access to a few more N7 missions. Again, your other upgrades will depend on what class you're playing, but the Bypass Module isn't bad (though I always had more trouble with Hack than Bypass), and Heavy Skin Weave is a good choice for personal survivability. Serrice Technology ------------------ Discount: Talk to the Merchant and persuade her, or if you have Gianna's assignment, you can tell the Merchant that she's being watched, however you get no experience points this way. If you do help Gianna, make sure to persuade her before asking about the special items. Items: Biotic Damage, 90000 Bypass Module, 30000 Medi-Gel Capacity, 30000 Gateway Personal Defense ------------------------ Discount: Ask Conrad Verner, located in Eternity, "What were you doing here." Then, speak to the Weapons Merchant in front of Gateway Personal Defense and persuade her; either way she sets you up with a discount. Note that you don't get an option to do so if tell Conrad to get lost. Items: Heavy Skin Weave, 90000 Submachine Gun Damage, 60000 Assault Rifle Damage, 60000 Amplifier Plates (Shoulder, 5% power damage), 2000 Baria Frontiers --------------- Discount: None Items: Star Chart - Hades Nexus, 500 Star Chart - Minos Wasteland, 500 Star Chart - Shrike Abyssal, 500 Star Chart - Pylos Nebula, 500 Memories of Illium ------------------ Discount: Talk to the Asari near the Kiosk, and persuade her to make a decision regarding Charr. Items: Prejek Paddle Fish, 8000 Model - Alliance Cruiser, 500 Model - Athabasca Class Freighter, 500 ========================= ========== .3M. Recruit The Assassin [.3M.JUMP] ========================= ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Barrier, Armor Squad Recommendation: Miranda, Garrus/Zaeed/Grunt In this mission, you'll get all sorts of enemies thrown at you. I guess Nassana is really quite paranoid. At your level, Grunt, Garrus, and Zaeed have similar abilities against the enemies you'll face, being able to Concussive Shot the Barriers and non-defenses. Note that you also get a new Sniper Rifle on this level, although you'll probably still stick with Assault Rifles for your squad. Enemies: LOKI Mech (Armor), FENRIS Mech (Armor), Eclipse Trooper (Shield), Vanguard (Barrier), Engineer (Shield), Bounty Hunter (Shield, Armor), Eclipse Commando (Barrier, Armor), Rocket Drone (Shield only) ------------------------------- .3M.01. Dantius Towers Entrance ------------------------------- Items: Medical Station Secure Terminal (4800) Med Kit Med Kit Med Kit Viper Sniper Rifle Power Cells Secure Terminal (4200) Med Kit Secure Locker (3000) Speak to Seryna and tell her you're ready. She'll transport you to the Dantius Towers. Shoot the glass and the mechs and continue through, nab the items in the west, then head east to the Salarian Worker objective. You can choose to help the worker with a Paragon interrupt or Paragon response, or leave him to die. You'll face groups of Mechs mixed with Eclipse mercenaries. On harder difficulties, the Troopers will have Shield and the Vanguards will have Barrier (and throw biotics at you), plus the mechs will have armor. There aren't any items until you pass the door into the next area. The next level is fairly narrow, with the enemy funneling towards you. Try not to let your teammates get too far or they'll get swamped by the Mercs and Mechs. After you defeat the enemies, on the west side of the map are items, including the Viper Sniper Rifle. The Viper is a strange weapon - something like a zoomable pistol more than a traditional Sniper. There's also a few more Salarians hiding with some items behind the bypassable door. When you open the elevator, enemies come will right for you. Take your squad's advice and get behind...stuff. More specifically, head back to the cover areas on the eastern part of the level and move your squad away a bit as well. On harder difficulties, the engineers use Incinerate and Drones quite often while the Bounty Hunter comes up close quickly, which is dangerous between his melee and his shotgun. ----------------------------- .3M.02. Dantius Towers Bridge ----------------------------- Items: Datapad (Assignment Illium: The Assassin: Salarian Family Data) Med Kit Eclipse Merc Corpse (6000) Power Cells Med Kit Element Zero (500) Submachine Gun (Submachine Gun Damage unlock) Eclipse Merc Corpse (12000) Med Kit Once you speak with the Eclipse Trooper and deal with him, head through the doors near the elevator. You'll see a few inactive FENRIS Mechs. Attacking them brings out the rest of the crowd, including a small group of Eclipse mercs. There's more Salarians behind the locked door, and they're a little high strung. You can use a Renegade interrupt to control the situation, but the end result is the same either way. Their room has a few items. You can then tease Nassana on the Comm if you like before heading up to the next area. Two LOKI mech and a few Vanguards await you up top. Take Mechs out fast as they'll flank your cover position. You can work down the Vanguards more slowly as they will mostly stay in cover. In the next area, you'll again face a combination of LOKI Mechs, Troopers, and Vanguards. The troopers will try to take you out with their assault rifles, while the others will advance on your position. Try to hold your ground, and when you kill them, proceed towards the bridge. Right before it, there's a few items, including a good upgrade and some cash. You'll also notice how windy the bridge is, as your screen will shake like you're on an old rollercoaster. Once you reach the bridge, a few LOKI Mech will activate, while some Eclipse mercs also go after you. Nothing new here, keep disposing of them before you move along. After you get halfway through the bridge, you'll notice Rocket Drones firing at your position, along with a half dozen Eclipse mercs on higher ground. Just be patient, timing the rockets, and attack the drones in the downtimes. When you clear them out, there will be one final Eclipse Commando at a strange angle. You can't really use cover, but you can strafe in and out and use abilities, or use your team as a distraction, and blow out her defenses. Completion Reward: 1,000 xp, 30,000 Credits ========================= ========== .3N. Recruit The Justicar [.3N.JUMP] ========================= ========== Enemy Defenses: Barrier, Armor Squad Recommendations: Miranda, Thane Take your time to level Thane's abilities to get warp. By now we're so familiar with Miranda we should be calling her Miri. Enemies: LOKI Mech (Armor), Sisterhood Initiate (Barrier), Eclipse Vanguard (Barrier), Eclipse Heavy (Shield), Gunship (Armor), Wasea (Barrier, Armor) Head back to Illium. You can turn in the Salarian Family Data to the worried Salarian. For how grateful he sounds on the phone later, too bad you couldn't have extorted him for some more credits. Also, Seryna leaves a message for you with Tana if you care. To start Samara's mission, speak with Officer Dara to travel to the spaceport. In the spaceport, speak to Pitne For, then Detective Anaya. This opens up the back alley for investigation. ------------------ .3N.01. Back Alley ------------------ Items: Shipping Details (Assignment: Stolen Goods Found) Circuit Boards (3000) Upload the data if you want to complete the assignment Stolen Goods. You'll fight Eclipse in the back alley. It's a very short alley and the next area progresses the mission to the next area. After the conversation, talk to Pitne For. There's a Renegade interrupt if you want to speed things up a bit. Get the pass card and go through the Elevator. -------------------- .3N.02. Eclipse Base -------------------- Items: Scimitar Assault Shotgun Power Cells Sample 634 Analysis (Biotic Damage upgrade unlock) Medical Station Eclipse Terminal (3000) Eclipse Terminal (6000) Medical Station Platinum (2000) Power Cells Medical Station Power Cells Med Kit Eclipse Terminal (6000) Medical Station Eclipse Terminal (3000) There's a inactive LOKI mech when you reach your destination. You'll be thrown into a fight again when you open the door. For the rest of this mission, there will be a toxicity meter that tells you when you've been exposed for too long. These clouds mostly come out of destroyed fragile crates or toxic crates. You can handle about 10 seconds worth of toxin, and it boosts your biotic powers, but it's best to just avoid it. Anyway, take out the sisterhood and the mechs while avoiding the clouds. Make sure not to overlook the mechs to the west as you're fighting the Eclipse to the south. In the next area, there's a new Shotgun available for pickup. It has a better rate of fire, but a much smaller heatsink capacity. Shotguns are a bit underpowered; Grunt's Claymore is the only solid one, and he should have his from the ship upgrades. (Make sure to re-equip it in the Weapons Loadout if you brought him with you, as it will auto-equip the Scimitar). You'll hear an Eclipse member whispering inside the closed room. You can show her mercy, but like Pitne For said, to earn the uniform, each member must commit murder. If you don't take the Renegade interrupt, the only option is Paragon to let her go. Make sure to nab the Biotic Damage upgrade. The next area has a mech and a few more sisters. There are a lot of toxic canisters, but you can use the railing in the center to shoot over instead of being stuck near the toxins. Luckily, the sisters and vanguards don't come in very large groups and are spread out. No defense sounds good to me. Head up the stairs for another round of LOKI Mechs, sisters, and an Eclipse Heavy who fires a few poorly aimed missiles. Overload them and wipe out the other enemies, then head up the next set of stairs. In the next area, you'll see a Gunship in the distance, but it flies away. Kill off the immediate foes, which only come in pairs or trios, and are easy to handle. Pick up the items in the room, listen to the log, and head through the doors. A few LOKI mechs will activate when you exit the hallway. Kill them, and then get ready to face the Gunship. Time to get out the Heavy weapons. Conveniently, there's a Power Cell in the area, make sure to wait to grab it until you need it. Make sure to have your team use weapons effective against Armor to make the fight go more smoothly. The Gunship attacks first from the far side, to the west, then retreats further west. At this point, you'll want to get cover on that side as it will return in about 15 seconds and resume its attack from the east/center area. If you're still on the east side, it's very hard to dodge its turret and missiles, and on harder difficulties you won't be able to get it down before it destroys you. On the west side, you can just use the portion of the stairs that are sticking out as cover. The gunship will then just hover around the center area, so you can take your time. Pick up Shipping Manifest to gain another assignment. You can choose to return it to either Detective Anaya or Pitne For. Talk to Niftu Cal. You can smell his greatness! The next room is the final area of the base. Captain Wasea is one of the few encounters where the enemy actually runs away. She tosses things about the room, but generally doesn't aim at any squad member. Sisters and an Eclipse Heavy will back her up, but don't offer much of an obstacle. Nab Wasea's datapad, and if you stay there's a hackable terminal. Don't forget to chat with the Detective about the log and also resolve the situation with the manifest. Recruiting Samara gives you a Biotic Damage upgrade, and also gives you the option to have dinner with Kelly if you choose to be friendly with her. If you speak to her after dinner, she will offer to feed your fish for you. Completion Reward: 1000 xp, 30,000 credits, Biotic Damage upgrade unlock ======================= ========== .3O. Jack: Subject Zero [.3O.JUMP] ======================= ========== Enemy Defenses: Armor, Barrier Squad Recommendation: Thane/Grunt Thane's a little stronger offensively, or Grunt should be able handle the few times that you have to fight enemies in close quarters. The mission is pretty short, though, so don't sweat the decision too much. Enemies: Varren (Armor), Blood Pack Trooper (Armor), Warrior (Armor), Pyro (Armor), Kureck (Barrier, Armor) Why Jack's loyalty first? First, it's a short mission. Another reason is that gaining her loyalty grants the best Advanced Training skill out of the first bunch of available loyalty quests. (If you recall, in my Shepard leveling recommendations, I recommend Advanced Training skills from Jack's, Tali's, Garrus', or Samara's missions.) You can choose a different path of course, as your class may not benefit much from Jack's power. Also, hopefully you've upgraded the Heavy Weave to withstand melee attacks, because there's a few varren encounters that can crowd you if you don't take them out quickly. Items: Locked Terminal (3000) Locked Storage Crate (3000) Med Kit Element Zero (500) PDA (3000) Circuit board (3000) Med Kit Research Terminal (Biotic Damage upgrade unlock) Power Cells Secure Container (3000) Head down to the facility. The first room doesn't contain any enemies, but there is a terminal to hack, and Jack will recount her memories of the place. Continue on and nab the crate as well. When you pass the bridge, some varren will attack you. They don't have much health and there's no cover, so just kill them as quickly. On harder levels, they have armor. As you go continue through the facility, you'll hear more about the facility and Jack's past. After the hallway and enter the next large room, you'll be ambushed by Blood Pack. There are several vorcha and a Krogan to the north, both on the ground and up above. There will also be some Blood Pack that shoot at you through the west windows, so take cover appropriately. There's a PDA in the east part of the room that you can get. About halfway down the long flight of stairs, two Blood Pack will ambush you. Handily, there's two crates sitting right on the stairs. When you get to the cells, there will be another pack of Varren. There's not much in the cells; the only item is in the fourth cell to the right: a Circuit Board. Heading through the rooms and playing the logs reveal more memories. When you step through the door after the logs, you'll find out why there's Blood Pack here at all. They don't salvage very well, considering the stuff you picked up, apparently. You'll face a small group of Blood Pack Pyro, Warriors, and Kuresh. Kuresh doesn't do anything special - mostly he hangs back and just strafes back and forth like one of those moving targets in a shooting gallery. Give him as much respect as one of those targets and mow him down along with his Blood Pack brethren. There's no way that I know of the fail at gaining her loyalty at the end of this mission, but persuading her outright offers a much larger Morality bonus. You'll need about 50% Morality to persuade Jack with how to deal with her past. If you can't persuade her outright, you are given the option to reach the same outcome, with a Paragon interrupt for leaving, or a Renegade interrupt for killing. She'll do the opposite action that you choose if you ignore the interrupt. When you get back on the Normandy, can pick her Advanced Training up if you like. Note that if you complete Jack's loyalty first, you should wait to complete Miranda's (or vice versa) as a fight between them starts that requires a 100% Morality score to resolve without losing loyalty. More about this will appear at the end of section for Miranda's quest. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 Credits ================================= ========== .3P. Jacob: The Gift of Greatness [.3P.JUMP] ================================= ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendation: Garrus/Zaeed You have to bring Jacob, obviously. If you haven't used him for a while, make sure to spend your squad points as you like. Weak hunters and mechs make up your enemies, so Garrus or Zaeed fit your needs. Enemies: Feral Hunter (Shield), LOKI Mech (Armor), Brainwashed Guard (Shield), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor) Head to the Rosetta Nebula, Alpha Draconis system, and scan planet 2175 Aiea. Follow the white arrow on the radar until you see the white dot, then choose to land. Note that if you've been following this guide as far as mission order, completing this mission will automatically progress you to the next one. After that mission though, you can go back to wandering the galaxy, so there's nothing that you absolutely have to do to prepare. It is a good idea to maximize your upgrades that you can obtain with your resources, though. Items: Spare Parts (1500) PDA (3000) Spare Parts (1500) Med Kit Spare Parts (1500) PDA (2100) Spare Parts (1500) Heavy Pistol (Heavy Pistol Damage upgrade unlock) Medical Station Spare Parts (1500) Power Cells Element Zero (500) PDA (2400) From just the partial log, you can tell something disturbing is going on here. There's more logs on the ship, and a hackable PDA as well. Speak to the VI to update your mission log, then head down the path to find a Survivor. You can take a Paragon option to save the woman. A group of five Feral Hunters will advance, and are aggressive, sometimes moving towards your position. One starts fairly close to you towards the northwest. On higher difficulties, the hunters have shields. Continue onwards. In the camp, there's a few items to grab. At the other side of the camp, three LOKI Mechs will attack, but they're easy to handle. Talking to the doctor will shed even more light on the situation. Rig the mech to explode, and move way after you're done to avoid getting blown up. More LOKI Mechs in the next area to the north: first a group of two, then three more to the north and two to the east as you move further in. The northern path contains a group of eight mechs streaming in, but they as they aren't very smart, they come at you one at a time in a line. You should be able to take them down quickly if you brought a team capable of handling synthetics. Grab the items, then run down the path. By the time you reach the cover spot, you'll see another small group of mechs slowly heading your way. After the area where they were guarding, some Brainwashed Guards will ambush you with assault rifles. There are at least five of them, plus two mechs, and finally a YMIR Mech towards the southwest area. Some of the guards are engineers, and their drones can be annoying. Even more annoying though is the YMIR Mech that activates when you get too close, or usually when you've killed four of the guards and LOKI mechs. If you're having trouble getting the guards down before the YMIR Mech, fall back a little to a wall with a slot from which you can fire at the YMIR Mech; it won't go around the wall, and the guards don't move either so you don't have to deal with them. Head through and speak to Ronald Taylor to finish the mission. Apparently while the random neural decayed surivors can recognize Jacob on sight, his father doesn't. Either way you choose, he gets justice. After you've complete two missions since the second round of recruits, the Illusive Man will have a mission for you. After your normal round of crew updates and tech upgrades, head to the Briefing/Comm room to speak with him, and you'll be taken straight there. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 Credits =================== ========== .3Q. Collector Ship [.3Q.JUMP] =================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Barrier, Armor Squad Recommendations: Miranda, Thane Tons of Collectors, means tons of Barriers. Get out your warp. Enemies: Collector Drone (Barrier), Guardian (Barrier), Assasin (Barrier), Harbinger (Barrier, Armor), Scion (Armor), Abomination, (Armor), Husk (Armor), Praetorian (Armor) ------------------- .3Q.01. Investigate ------------------- Items: Collector Technology (7500) Med Kit Control Terminal (Weapons Training) Power Cells Element Zero (250) Collector Technology (15000) Control Terminal (Damage Protection unlock) Power Cells Run through the ship. You won't encounter any enemies until much further in. After you examine the Control Terminal, you'll be able to select a specialization: training in Assault Rifle, Shotgun, or Sniper Rifle (or, an advanced version of one of these options if you're already trained in them.) I don't recommend the Shotgun or the Shotgun upgrade. If you're choosing between upgrades, I recommend the Sniper which grants you the Widow. As for the choice between the Assault Rifle and the Sniper Rifle specializations, it depends on your playstyle. If you like to run and gun, go with the Assault Rifle. If you like headshots, go with the Sniper. Keep running through the ship, picking up the items and going up the ramp. Try to contact the Normandy with the Command Console. As everyone's figured out, it's a trap! Disabled Collector ships are not safe, fun vacation spots. Platforms will arrive with groups of three Collectors or a Scion on them. The first platforms fly in ahead of you and to the right (south and west) while the next two flies in from the left (south and east). Watch your cover position. The Scions usually stay on their platforms, so don't get close and eat their Shockwaves. The Collectors are a little more aggressive, but not very much. If you find yourself running short on ammo for any reason, the first platform with Collectors has heatsinks. Contact the Normandy for the next step. -------------- .3Q.02. Escape -------------- Items: Collector Technology (7500) Power Cells Med Kit Element Zero (250) Collector Technology (7500) Control Terminal (Tech Damage upgrade unlock) Follow the path. When you get to a room with cover positions, three Collectors will attack. After taking them out, there will be another attack with several Collectors to the east as well as some to the north. After taking out a few Collectors and advancing slightly, more enemies from the east will approach: Abominations and another wave of Collectors. Drop down when you're ready. EDI will open a door, but a Praetorian will attack, along with a pair of Husks folllowed by two Collector Drones and a third Husk. Handle the Husks and Collector First, because you're going to want some room to run around to avoid the Praetorian, which slowly hovers towards you. As with the one on Horizon, the Praetorian will fire at you from long distance, and stomp the ground which will knock you back. Also, at every 25% of damage, it will emit a deadly area effect pulse wave around it and erect a barrier. Just make sure that it doesn't get close, sprinting around the room to new cover when necessary. After exiting the next hallway, more Collectors will fly in from the west. Some Abominations will also come for you, one down the ramp from the north, and the second and third from the east. It's safer to hang back and use the far pods as cover until these are dead. As you advance forward slightly, more Collectors will fly in the room. A Scion also lumbers towards you from the south, but it won't reach you for a while. Take out the Collectors up top then peek around the wall to take out the enemies from the south. Get ready to sprint after you reach the point where Joker contacts you. Dodge the enemies and ignore them as best you can, running for the shuttle down the ramp. When you get close, you'll make your narrow escape. Note that at this point in the game, you only have two required missions left, the Reaper IFF mission, and the final mission. However, once you obtain the Reaper IFF, the story will begin to reach its conclusion. If you want to have everyone survive, you'll want to complete all your current squad's loyalty missions first. If you want a "Completionist" type game, you might consider completing all the sidequests and maxmize your upgrades before completing the Reaper IFF as well, although this is optional. Completing the Reaper IFF early does give you access to certain interesting scenes: a small one if you complete it before seeing the Councilor on the Citadel, and a fairly large one if you complete it before Tali's mission. Regarding sidequests: I haven't gone through any of the N7 missions so far in this guide. However, now that you have your weapon upgrade, Advanced Training options, and most of your team, you might consider jumping down and completing some of the quests if you haven't already. I have individual guides for them in section .30. whenever you want to jump down to them, or an abbreviated version is located in the appendix. Various new items will also appear in the shops all around the galaxy. I may be off on the timing as they might appear slightly earlier, since I didn't check as well as I should have, but they will definitely be available by this point. Nothing too spectacular, and you'll need more money, anyway, so lets rack it up with missions. Completion Rewards: 1000 xp, 37,500 Credits ============================= ========== .3R. Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi [.3R.JUMP] ============================= ========== Enemies: No fighting Items: Assault Rifle (Assault Rifle Damage upgrade unlock) This is a very simple mission, but you may want to make sure you have at least 50% Morality points and any Negotiation gear or passive class ability bonuses. Since there's no fighting, there's nothing to worry about with losing the stat bonus of other equipment. Having a high Morality will allow you to make an interesting choice at the end of the mission. Travel to Omega. As a side note, if you haven't turned in the assignments Packages for Ish, you can do so now. Make sure to bring along Samara. The third squad member has no active role in this mission. Speak to Aria. Aria gives you a lead to the Residential apartments. A previously locked door opens up near the entrance to the slums where you can speak to Diana. Comfort her and investigate her daughter. Then, read the diary. Each entry contains hints about how to trap Morinth, so make sure you read all entries and the note, opening up all the best dialogue with Morinth. Enter the VIP section as located in the northeast section of the map. After you enter, Samara will sneak in and offer some hints and reminders as to the plan. Talk to Vij at the entrance about the band Expel 10. If you want a more Paragon path, dance with Waera with persuasion, and also persuade Edwin the bartender to give everyone a round of drinks. If you want more Renegade points, you can insult the aliens Vertin and Verf. After doing any combination of two things to attract her, Morinth finds you. With Morinth, the quickest way to get her to her apartment is to choose the left side subjects to talk about, and bottom-left side options to answer her, as the hints in the diary told you. After you discuss music, art, and travel, she invites you back to her apartment. In her apartment, make sure to Scan the Assault Rifle for an upgrade. If you can distract Morinth long enough by having high enough Morality and resisting her Ardat-Yakshi powers, you choose to save either Samara or Morinth. If you don't have enough Morality, Samara automatically comes in to save you from Morinth before you get killed. Major Decision: If you choose Morinth, you get both Samara's and Morinth's Advanced Training skills available. If you reload a save prior to this choice, you still can choose both skills in Advanced Training as long as you have your profile file. Either character will be loyal at the end of this mission. Reave is an amazing skill, and hopefully you've saved some skill points to level it up as an Advanced Training if your setup works with it, and to level Samara's if you have her with you. Infinite Morality Glitch: If Morinth is dead, asking Samara if she is okay, and then telling her you're not ready to leave, will give you 2 Paragon points. You can repeat those two choices and get another 2 points an infinite number of times. This is a very poor way to gain Paragon points, because Samara must complete her dialogue before you can talk to her again, making it very tedious. It's only mentioned as an interesting sidenote. If you really want to boost your morality, you should look into other ways, but I never bothered with it so I can't really advise you other than to look around at forums. Completion Bonus: 750 exp, 30,000 Credits ================================ ========== .3S. Zaeed: The Price of Loyalty [.3S.JUMP] ================================ ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendation: Garrus Enemies: FENRIS Mechs (Armor), Blue Suns Troopers (Shield), Pyro (Shield), Heavy (Shield), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor) Players have reported different sorts of morality requirements, particularly for the Paragon route. Some players have had no problem with 25% Paragon while early in the game, while others who installed the DLC later couldn't obtain his loyalty with 60% Paragon. You might want to save before the point where I note that you can take different paths, so that you don't permanently lose the loyalty, as I cannot guarantee a successful Paragon path. I suspect that your character must have higher Paragon then Renegade points to take the Paragon path successfully, as my Renegade characters did have problems (despite having a relatively high Paragon rating). Anyway, let's get on with it. Items: Med Kit PDA (6000) Palladium (400) Palladium (400) Palladium (400) Paragon only path: Generator Pipe (6000) Palladium (400) Research Terminal (Heavy Weapon Ammo upgrade unlock) Renegade only path: Servos (6000) Research Terminal (Assault Rifle upgrade unlock) Shared Path: Palladium (400) M-451 Firestorm Heavy Weapon Servos (6000) Power Cells Med Kit Various Industrial Bits (6000) Various Industrial Bits (6000) Head to Zorya in the Ismar Frontier, only accessible with the DLC. You'll have to run down the path quite a bit before encounter a group Blue Suns. When you reach cover, a group of five enemies will attack. Watch for enemies on the top level as well as a trooper firing seeking missiles from the far west. Due to the high number of enemies, it's not advised to move far in, or you might get flanked. As a reminder, Overload is effective against Heavy Weapon wielding foes like the Pyro. After taking out Blue Suns, hit the Bridge Control to talk with Zaeed, who explains his motives. At the Gatehouse, you meet Zaeed's objective, but Zaeed complicates matters while trying to get revenge. I recommend saving after this scene, as suggested at the top of this section. Head to the next door. A refinery worker will yell for help. You're presented with a choice to rescue the refinery or to go straight for the objective. Other than the obvious being-a-good-guy or being-a-renegade choice and the Morality points to go along with it, you'll also notice that the Paragon path provides Heavy Weapon Ammo unlock, while the Renegade provides Assault Rifle damage unlock. You have to pick one, you can't pick both. Paragon Path: If you go through the refinery, first you have to bypass the door. After that, it's just a matter of redirecting the fuel to pass through the fire. Don't forget to pick up the items. Eventually, you'll reach the room where you can turn on the fire extinguisher system, saving the workers. Continue onto the shared path. Renegade Path: You'll enter room filled with Blue Suns. Two of them appear immediately upon entering, with several more to the east side. After the small room with the servos and research terminal, you'll enter another area with seven Blue Sun mercs. After crossing a bridge, you'll enter the shared path. Honestly, of the two routes, the Paragon route is quicker to play through. I guess Vido just runs slower this way? Shared Path: There's a M-451 Firestorm lying on the floor, plus some other items. Two Blue Suns are in this area, but are easy to take out. In the next room, though, there will be about twelve Blue Suns that head out of right and left rooms, six from each room. There will also be fuel tanks that scorch the ground. You can shoot them to bring them on top of enemies, but I never found them useful. Finally, in the back of the room, there is a YMIR Mech which will activate if you shoot it, get close to it, or if you clear the other Blue Suns. There are a good number of credits to be found in the rooms where the Blue Sun mercs spawned, and you can get them after you clear the enemies. Exit to finish the mission. Your scene will and reward will also depend on the path you took. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15/30,000 Credits (depending on path) ================== ========== .3T. Tali: Treason [.3T.JUMP] ================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendation: Garrus, Zaeed, or Miranda Tons of Geth, so you'll want lots of Overload with you. Enemies: Geth Trooper (Shield), Hunter (Shield), Prime (Shield, Armor) Head to the Migrant Fleet, located on the map with the Valhallan Threshhold. Be advised that you'll need about 50% Morality to plead your case successfully without resorting to using the data you acquire from Tali's father. If you're close, or not sure if you have enough, you can always Retrain for the morality bonus on your passive ability, and/or wear Negotiation gear, although personally I found this mission to be the hardest loyalty mission of all your squad's. (Maybe it's because I never bring the right heavy weapons along). By now though, you shouldn't have too much trouble with your Morality score. Anyway, the squad you take onto the fleet ship will be the one you take into the Alarei, there's no squad selection screen right before unlike most other missions. Talk with Shala'Raan and start the trial. Use persuasion options for the trial for a good outcome. Any path you take, you'll head to the Alarei. You might recognize the voices of the three judges of the Admiralty Board... did the Archdemon take over, then evolve into Quarians? Probably not, but it sure sounds like it. On a different note, I think I rather be Vas Qwib-qwib than Vas Defrahnz or Vas Iktomi. Talk to the Shuttle Guard to board the Alarei. Items: Med Kit Laptop (1500) Laptop (1800) Power Cells Terminal (4200) Medical Station Monitor (Geth Shield Strength unlock) Laptop (1800) Laptop (2100) Wall Safe (4200) Palladium (2000) Med Kit Wall Safe (3000) Laptop (2400) Med Kit Laptop (1800) Power Cells Med Kit Wall Safe (1500) Wall Safe (2700) Model Floatilla Ship Laptop (3000) Two Geth Troopers start out in the first room, and are followed soon by another four Geth, including one Hunter, and when a few more Geth are down, another Hunter and two troopers will come in. Focus on the Hunters, since they'll advance on your position and cause a little more trouble than the troopers. There will be logs all over the ship that shed light on what happened. Exit north and enter the northern room, examining the drone. In the east room, there's a Geth Shield Strength upgrade unlock. In the room down the hall, only a single Geth Hunter will attack. Up the stairs, though, will be a heavy firefight. Three Geth, with one Hunter, will come out of the northwest, and one trooper will come out of the northeast. As with before, take out the Hunter. After taking a few out, some more troopers come northwest, with a Hunter from the northeast. After, more troops stream in, with another Hunter. The final wave is just a few troopers. Basically, try to hang back and secure your position. When it's clear, nab the items, head northwest and check out the Wall Console. Enter the next room. There will be three Geth, with one Hunter, from the door below, as well as one Trooper to the west. Watch the Hunter, then take out the Geth on the ledge to stop getting pincer'ed from both sides. AI Hacking is helpful to slow down the attack, as the waves are fairly quick. After killing a few, three more Geth come from the door, and another will come from the west ledge. Another Hunter comes through the door later and comes straight for you, so be ready with drones and abilities to take it out. One more wave will come, and then you can pick up ammo and items from the room. Head north for another scene with Tali. If you use the Paragon interrupt, you can comfort her. Note that there's a door immediately to your left when you finish the scene with some items inside. Open last room for a fight with a Hunter, Trooper, and a Geth Prime. This room is kind of a letdown in difficulty when compared to the massive waves of shielded enemies in the last room. Drones distract the Prime pretty well. Get the evidence, and return to the floatilla. You can successfully complete this mission by either using the data, or having high enough Morality scores to persuade the board and the crowd. Note that you can make a decision to push for war with the Geth or push for peace, a decision that will likely shape events in the next installment. War seems like it would be the default option if you weren't controlling Shepard, but the choice is up to you. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 credits, Tech Damage upgrade unlock ============================== ========== .3U. Thane: Sins of the Father [.3U.JUMP] ============================== ========== Enemies: No fighting Items: Datapad (Heavy Pistol upgrade) Return to the Citadel and talk to Captain Bailey. Ask him about Thane's son, and Bailey will give him a lead to Mouse. Mouse can be found hanging on level 28, near Rodam Expeditions. There's a Renegade Interrupt if you want to pursue a quick renegade path with him, but either way, he'll give up the information. Note that if you don't first investigate about the Shepard VI and instead ask about Kelham, the VI option disappears. Also, even when you ask for the VI, you never actually get to use it. Asking for a cut doesn't give you any credits that I noticed. Return to Bailey and ask him for his help. Bailey will set up an interrogation for you. Note that you cannot fail in this interrogation, as you will pull the "Spectre" card, but certain combinations will speed the interrogation process and result in more entertaining dialogue. You don't get Renegade points for the Renegade interrupts, though. You'll immediately be set up to follow the target. Make sure to obtain the upgrade, the only item during this mission. Update Thane when you're ready to start following the target. All you need to do is follow him and periodically update Thane by targeting him and examining him. It's pretty difficult to fail at updating Thane, except near the very end, in the bar after he speaks with the Krogan. If you do happen to fail, you'll see a cutscene where the target dies. You can use numerous options to get past the stock boy. Open the door, and you'll interrupt Kolyat. At the final scene with Kolyat, you can avoid hurting Kolyat with a Paragon interrupt, but hurting him slightly doesn't cause any harm to Thane's loyalty. Bailey sure does a lot of favors for you. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 30,000 Credits ============================ ========== .3V. Garrus: Eye for and Eye [.3V.JUMP] ============================ ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendations: Miranda, Zaeed, Tali Another mission with a mix of shield and armor, so someone that can help you with that. Tali can help alot with a difficult part near the end with her Combat Drones. Enemies: Blue Suns Troopers (Shield), LOKI Mech (Armor), Blue Suns Commander (Shield, Armor), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor) Ask Bailey about Fade, and he'll direct you to the Warehouse on level 26. Open the door, and you'll enter a cutscene. Any way you reply, you'll find the information that you need. Take the shuttle to the Factory District. Items: Med Kit Trash (600) Wall Safe (1500) Med Kit Circuit Boards (900) Circuit Boards (900) Circuit Boards (900) Laptop (4500) Med Kit Power Cells Iridium (2000) Med Kit Circuit Boards (1200) Medical Station Forged ID's Power Cells Wall Safe (2100) Terminal (Sniper Rifle Damage unlock) Datapad (1200) When you get off the shuttle, two Blue Suns will attack you. Take them out and move into the factory. A large container to the west will open, revealing two LOKI Mechs. Head along the path, and there will also be two LOKI Mechs north. Slightly further down the path, there will be two Blue Suns Troopers, and another storage container will open with another two LOKI Mechs. An additional four LOKI Mechs will slowly approach from the north. After heading northeast, you'll encounter another set of Blue Suns with 2 LOKI Mechs that activate. Another two will appear from the cargo container to the east. Two LOKI mechs will be dropped off from above. After killing all of them, head north. Pass by the two Circuit Boards, as you may get interrupted and lose the ability to bypass them when more Blue Suns arrive from the north. You'll face at least four Blue Suns and a LOKI Mech. Go ahead and grab the items after they're dead. Lower the bridge when you're ready. Four Blue Suns will attack you after you cross the bridge. Immediately after you finish them, another wave of two should appear. Moving forward, Garrus will warn about a heavy mech above. A trooper will also support it. When you're ready to continue, open the Window Console and talk to Garrus. Make sure to hack the Terminal on your way out for a Sniper Rifle damage upgrade. Three Blue Suns, including a Commander, along with three mechs will be in your way. Another three mechs will drop when you cleared the first wave. There's a datapad to hack to the east. Move north, climbing up the platforms, and Garrus will warn you about two heavy mechs incoming after hitting the edge of the third platform. Get into cover quickly, and I recommend falling back as two LOKI Mechs will also come at you. (One of the platforms rises too high, but there's good cover position behind boxes on the southern platform). If you have AI Hacking, you can focus on one and then use it as a decoy, or constant drones will also serve as a distraction, although they'll still advance pretty far unless you've got high damage. Heavy weapons aren't a bad idea either. When you defeat them, climb the western platforms and crates, and you'll have cutscenes until the end, making choices to influence choices towards Paragon or Renegade. Fade wll set up a meeting with Sidonis. You can use a Paragon interrupt to stop Garrus from shooting Fade's leg. As a total aside, C-Sec really dropped the ball on that no-gun policy, with both the enemy and you. Somoene fire that C-Sec Customs agent! Sidonis is next. Again, you can try to prevent Garrus from shooting with Paragon options and a Paragon interrupt, or you can let Garrus have his revenge. Either way, you'll gain his loyalty. Citadel Assignment: Found Forged ID/False Positives On the way at the stairway to level 26, you'll find two Asari talking if you completed Thane's mission (or, after you complete Garrus' mission). You can complete the assignment either by speaking on Kalara Tomi's behalf with the C-Sec Customs Agent, or by giving her Forged ID's that you found during Garrus' mission. Her mood is greatly affected by whether the Council was saved or not, as she is downright hostile if the original Council died. You get 1000 credits for your trouble. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 Credits ============= ========== .3W. Tuchanka [.3W.JUMP] ============= ========== Tuchanka will vary greatly depending on what happened to Wrex in the first game. If he's alive, it's much easier to get around to what you need, even though everyone else is pretty distrustful of you. If Wrex didn't make it, you'll meet his brother, Urdnot Wreev, who will help you in his stead. Ratch's Wares ------------- Discount: Use the guns to kill the Pyjak waves. Items: Heavy Weapon Ammo, 30000 Stabilization Gauntlets, 4000 Death Mask (heat, 10% negotiation), 8000 Asymmetic Defense Layer (shoulder, 5% health), 8000 Shield Harness (legs, 5% shield), 8000 Pyjak Meat, 0 (if discount assignment completed) Fortack's Database ------------------ Discount: Finish Grunt's loyalty quest, and the discount automatically applies. Items: Assault Rifle Damage, 60000 Biotic Damage, 90000 Heavy Pistol Damage, 60000 Shotgun Damage, 60000 There's only three assignments on Tuchanka, and only one you can complete now, which is Killing Pyjaks to get Ratch's discount. Use the WASD keys to move the target, and use spacebar to fire. The missiles take about 1 second or more to reach their target, the further up the screen, the longer it takes to travel. They have an impact radius of about twice the target circle, though. You have to kill 12, 15, then 18 of them. By getting Ratch's discount, you can buy some Pyjak meat. If you talk to Urz and feed him, he'll follow you around. You can use him to fight other varren at the Pit Fight Gambling Station. He'll win about 4 times when you bet for him, but when he loses, you can't use him anymore. (If you try to bet against him, though, he'll win. But lose and die when you bet for him). Betting at the pits without Urz is not guaranteed, plus has a slower payout rate if you do win. Personally, I lose every time without Urz, so I think my game is rigged, but you may have better luck. ====================== ========== .3X. Mordin: Old Blood [.3X.JUMP] ====================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Armor, Barrier Squad Recommendations: Samara, Thane, Grunt, Garrus Loyal Samara or Thane are the best choices against organics. But both Grunt and Garrus have effective anti-armor ammo skills. Only the final enemy has a barrier, while the rest is armor. Enemies: Klixen (Armor), Varren (Armor), Blood Pack Trooper (Armor), Warrior (Armor), Pyro (Armor), Chief Weyrloc Guld (Barrier, Armor) After talking to the Clan Leader, he'll direct you to the Chief Scout. You can also talk to the mechanic and ask about the Combustion Manifold, which you'll find during this mission. When you're ready and Mordin's with you, talk to the Chief Scout and take a truck out. ------------------------------ .3X.01. A Trip to the Hospital ------------------------------ Items: Med Kit Iridum (600) Combustion Manifold Head towards the objective. Take out the two Klixen in your path. In the next area, there will be another Klixen followed by three Varren. As you move around the junk, you'll see two Vorcha Blood Pack behind a barrier. Continue up the ramp behind them. At the top of the ramp, you'll face a group of four Blood Pack. Moving further along will be a Warrior with two Varren. You should be able to take them out easily as you have tons of time to stop them before they get close to you. Two Blood Pack Pyro will come below you far from the west. Again, you can just shoot them before they get close. Around the corner, there will be two more Pyro, plus three Blood Pack further back. When you've killed them, nab the Combustion Manifold and bypass the door to enter the hospital. --------------------------- .3X.02. Inside the Hospital --------------------------- Items: Iridium (600) Iridium (300) Medical Station Circuit Boards (3000) Iridium (500) Research Terminal (Krogan Vitality upgrade unlock) DataPad (1500) Circuit Boards (4500) Medical Station Power Cells Locked Crate (3000) Research Terminal (Heavy Weapon Ammo) Wall Computer (3000) Examine the body, and continue forward until you reach the door. You'll get a cutscene afterwards, meeting the Weyrloc Clanspeaker. Partway into the conversation, there's a Renegade interrupt you can use to shut the Krogan up. Either way, a fight will start immediately afterward. There are five Blood Pack troopers and warriors, and they will go around and down the ramp, so try to get a few of them along the ledge, as you don't have much good cover if they come down to you. After you take them out, there's not any enemies for a while. Investigate the Computer Terminal and the Krogan Body, and Mordin will explain more about himself and what's going on. Make sure to hack the terminal for the Krogan Vitality upgrade. After the next hall, in the east room, there's a Sick Krogan that you should speak with for an assignment update. Persuade him to get him back out faster. The Paragon choice's teasing is funnier with Tali in the squad. The next room is large. Two Vorcha are standing across the way, with three Krogan that come from further down. When you reach the south side and pass halfway through, a Krogan and three Varren will charge from the southwest door. Head down the ramp, and two more Krogan will come in through the southeast door. Guld and two Krogan will also come from the northeast door. Do your best to stall their charge and take them out. There's no more enemies left, so nab the items and continue to the door. At the end, you'll be faced with several decisions. You can use a Paragon interrupt to stop Mordin from shooting. You'll also have a major choice with what to do with Maelon's research, and to suggest to Mordin your view of how to handle the genophage. Also note that there's one final hack for some credits if you don't leave immediately. Don't forget to turn in the assignments you just completed, either. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 Credits =========================== ========== .3Y. Grunt: Rite of Passage [.3Y.JUMP] =========================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Armor, Barrier Squad Recommendation: Samara, Thane All the enemies have armor, except for Uvenk, so focus on skills that will combat that. Again, loyal Samara or Thane are the best options for this. Enemies: Varren (Armor), Klixen (Armor), Thesher Maw (Armor), Gatagog Warrior (Armor), Uvenk (Barrier, Armor) After talking to the Clan Leader about Grunt, talk to the shaman. When you reach the shaman Uvenk objects to Grunt taking the Rite of Passage, but you can use your head to get him out of the way with a Renegade interrupt, or impress the shaman by insulting his use of words. The Rite is a series of challenges in a ring-type area. Before you begin, take the time to grab all the items (save the Power Cells and Med Kits if you're full). You'll also have some time inbetween rounds of fights - that'll be time to refill ammo if needed, although ammo is pretty much everywhere. When you've got all the credits, hit the keystone and get ready for Varren that will charge from the both stairs. Items: Urdnot Corpse (1200) Turbine Parts (3600) Turbine Parts (3300) Urdnot Corpse (1500) Urdnot Corpse (1500) Urdnot Corpse (1800) Platinum (2000) Power Cells Med Kit Power Cells Med Kit Med Kit The first event will be three waves of six Varren. On higher difficulties, they've got Armor, but even if you don't have an Ammo ability, Wrex should have enough points for Squad Incendiary by now. The Varren charge pretty quickly, so unless you're a good shot, it's best to stick with a rapid fire weapon here. The second event will be Klixen, which are bugs that explode in fiery flame when you kill them. There are about seven waves of pairs of them. Like the Varren, on higher difficulties, they've got Armor. They don't use any projectile attacks, so just keep running around if you get backed up on them. They're easier than the varren in my opinion though, because they are a bit slower and larger, making them easier to hit. The final event is the Thresher Maw. Shoot the tentacles that show up, and it will pop up at the tentacle you shoot first. It only spits venom at you, but that venom will destroy some of the metal pillars in the area. The stone parts of the structure will hold, though. Just use its large size to your advantage and find good angles to shoot it. You should be able to kill it easily as long as you stay alive, as your teammates can almost take it down themselves, but technically you just need to survive. The M-920 Cain will destroy it too if you have it and equipped it. Items: Urdnot Corpse (1200) Urdnot Corpse (900) You'll automatically enter the area after a cutscene. If you don't grab the items during the fight, you'll miss the chance, although there's not a lot lying around. Get ready to face some Krogan, about four warriors and Uvenk. Uvenk's kind of a wuss, though - he seems not to charge like other Krogan, instead laying back. Use this to your advantage and take out the warriors first. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 Credits, Shotgun Upgrade unlock. Plus, breeding requests. Note that some people have reported bugs with this quest and not being able to access Grunt's Fortification skill even when they have successfully completed it. Nobody currently knows the cause, however, as it is quite random. ========================== ========== .3Z. Miranda: The Prodigal [.3Z.JUMP] ========================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor, Barrier Squad Recommendation: Garrus Garrus is probably the best overall choice on harder difficulties. Enemies: Eclipse Engineer (Shield), Trooper (Shield), Heavy (Shield), LOKI Mech (Armor), Eclipse Vanguard (Barrier), Eclipse Operative (Shield, Armor), Enyala (Barrier, Armor) A final stop at Illium to pick up expensive upgrades you passed up earlier, plus to complete Miranda's loyalty mission. As noted in Jack's mission, make sure you have high Morality for this mission. If you've been following this guide and being relatively consistent with your choices, you should be at 80% in your preferred Morality type, which is enough to handle your upcoming crisis of loyalties. Items: PDA (1500) Med Kit Submachine Gun (Submachine Gun damage unlock) Locker (1500) Eclipse Merc (Medi-gel Capacity unlock) Secure Terminal (3000) Dead Merc (3000) Element Zero (500) Secure Terminal (3000) Medical Station Power Cells Secure Terminal (3000) Trinket (assignment: Lost Locket Found) Speak to Lanteia in Eternity and tell her you're ready. You'll enter a cutscene. If you choose the Renegade option, you'll get a Renegade interrupt to deal with some of the mercenaries your way. I don't know why, but I love that Salarian. The fight will start with Eclipse Engineers and Troopers attacking you. There's also an Eclipse Heavy that usually hides far in the back (too far to attack, sometimes). Two Troopers guard the path to the east. There's no items in this first area, so take the elevator up. The next area will have five Eclipse mercs on the far side, across the conveyor belt. There's a PDA near where you start, but nothing else significant near the elevator. After you pick up the Submachine Gun upgrade and round the corner, four LOKI Mechs will attack. Then, across the conveyor belt, four Eclipse mercs will fight you, followed by a four more Eclipse reinforcements, and a few more to the south. Don't forget to go back and check the dead Eclipse Merc with the Medi-gel upgrade near the first set of mercs. Head south and east down an alley to the objective. When you exit the alley, a few Eclipse mercs will be waiting for you in the passage to the south. Again, when you get near the conveyer belt, Eclipse will come across from the other side. I guess Eclipse mercs really like hiding behind conveyor belts? Most of them are engineers, plus a few heavies. There's a PDA to hack in the room behind the mercs. After EDI informs you about the elevators, five Eclipse mercs will appear from the northeast. Take the elevator up. You'll have a decision to make in regards to how Niket is treated. You will face five Eclipse along with an Operative and Enyala at the start of the battle. A few more will reinforce them as they fight, but they're not as strong as the first unit. You can stay in the same position the entire fight, as the enemies will primarily stay ranged, but just watch Enyala on the west side. All of the other enemies should pour towards you down the east path. Pick up trinket as you exit. You can return the item to the Asari near the entrance for 500 Credits. If you've been following this guide, then you'll return to a scene on the Normandy between Miranda and Jack. Reports on exact morality requirements to use persuasion options are conflicting; I've heard that even near max Morality has had problems, but personally have never had a problem with at least 80%. I've done this quest both early and late, at low levels and at level 30, as Paragon, and as Renegade, and that amount of Morality has always worked for me. But, as much as I play, there's always a variable I could easily overlook. If you do have to choose, and you're Male, you'll lose the option to romance the woman you angered. You can still go back to them and try to resolve the situation on the Normandy later, but you'll need max persuasion to get them to see it your way, and there's not many more places to gain enough persuasion other than Retraining Powers to the 100% Paragon/Renegade bonus. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 Credits ================= ========== .30. DLC Missions [.30.JUMP] ================= ========== This section will contain all future DLC missions. The numbering system for these missions is slightly different than others - each pack of missions will be designated alphabetically. Thus, the Project Firewalker missions will be listed under .30.A-. instead of listed only numerically. The Kasumi missions will be designated with .30.B-. -------------------------- .30.A0. Project Firewalker -------------------------- These missions involve the Hammerhead DLC, released on March 23, 2004. ---------------------------------------- .30.A1. Project Firewalker: Rosalie Lost ---------------------------------------- Enemies: None Squad Recommendations: N/A Head for Zeona, in the Ismar Frontier, Elysta system. There are no enemies and thus your choice of squad mates doesn't matter for this mission. You pilot the Hammerhead to complete the mission. Items: Research 1: 900 Credits Research 2: 1200 Credits Research 3: 1650 Credits Research 4: 750 Credits Research 5: 1050 Credits Research 6: 750 Credits Research 7: 1200 Credits ASCII Map (Overhead View - no Z Axis. Not to scale): ---------- -------\ | L J| L 7 | \------ ----|--4|/ / -----J L---|--\ \ / /J \ |J||\ / | \ ---5-|LJ| | START---J-2-J--| 3| | | LJ-L| | -1-|------| | L| \-J--/ / | | \--- J---L---- / \ | 6 | / \ \-------/ / \----------------/ Legend: # = Research Data J = Jump L = Landing Spot Head east to bypass the Cargo Computer Control. You automatically board the Hammerhead, which you'll use to gather research. The Hammerhead can use its thrusters to jump several times (Left Shift on the PC), boost (Space) and has unlimited firepower. Note that holding the Jump button creates a stronger jump, while pressing it quickly several times leads to a kind of hover. There is no map while in the vehicle, unfortunately. The best I can do without cardinal directions it to draw a (very) rough map to help. You may simply want to explore the area on your own as there are several paths to reach the pieces of data, as this first mission is primarily to familiarize yourself with the Hammerhead's controls. Since the game does not number or identify the pieces of data to research, to avoid confusion I have labeled them for this guide, according to how many credits you recieve. These numbers correlate to the map I have drawn above. None of the jumps requires more than one strong jump - the trickiest one is perhaps the jump straight upwards to reach the platform with data #5. The first two pieces of research are easily visible. To gather the data, move your ship directly over the data and hold onto the Mine key. You have to jump multiple times to reach the second piece of data, and again to the next area. After firing through the obstruction, fall down and head left for the third piece of research. This piece is the only piece on the ground level - all the rest of the pieces are on the cliffs above. You will basically follow a Spiral pattern, going around in a circle while jumping when appropriate to reach the next platforms. From the third piece, keep following the left edge of the cliff until you reach a very small ramp overlooking some lava and a cliff across the way. Jump across to reach the fourth piece of data. After gathering it, head for the small rock jutting out of the ground, and jump again to the larger rock platform, aiming for the small ramp/road. From this lower ramp, you can jump nearly straight up to reach the upper level where the fifth piece of data is located, covered by a vehicle's wreckage. Turn around and travel to the other end to jump to the next raised rock platform. Located on this platform is the sixth piece of data. You'll have to once again jump onto another large raised platform. Then, cross the platform and jump to the upper ramp across the cliff, above the ramp you used to get from point 3 to 4. There is a similar jump to get to the last area for the seventh piece. This finishes the assignment, opening up three new ones, which you can take in any order. Completion Rewards: 125 xp, 7500 Credits ------------------------------------------------ .30.A2. Project Firewalker: Survey Sites Located ------------------------------------------------ Appears on map as: Firewalker: Artifact Collection Enemies: Geth Troopers, Destroyers, Prime, Colossus Enemy Defenses, Squad Recommendations: N/A, start in the Hammerhead Head to Hawking ETA, Verr system. Upon landing, you'll have to fight some Geth. Note that the Hammerhead's missiles home in on the enemy, so they'll curve if you don't shoot them into the ground or some other obstacle. Basically, aim so that there's a curved path to a target, not directly at it. This level is much more linear, so you shouldn't need a map. Just fly ahead and mow down the Geth. Make sure not to land or head into the water, as the Hammerhead won't hover above it, and explodes if you go to deep. The first artifact is guarded by a Geth Colossus. You can easily dispatch it by hiding on the lower level and firing missiles slightly upwards. A few more Geth will be on the path. Head down along the ground towards the second artifact. When you get near, another Collosus will be waiting along with some Destroyers, which you can take out at far range again by just shooting and taking a few Jump-Shots to help with the angles. After examining the second artifact, head left and up the ramp, then into the structure. Once again, another Colossus with some Geth will appear. You can easily take out the Collosus from range, but you probably need to manuever a bit to get a clear shot at the smaller Geth. Examine the third artifact. The fourth artifact is up above, so jump up on the left side. To hit the Geth that appear near this artifact, you'll have to get a bit closer than where they originall appear, but they still won't give you any trouble. There is a platinum storage that you can mine up the ramp near the fourth artifact. There will be three rocket drones that attack you on the way. You then have to jump a few times to the final artifact. This artifact has two Colossus, a Prime and a Destroyer, so you'll have to do some manuevering as you fire to avoid some of the shots. A simple left-right strafe should be enough. You can take about two shots from a Colossus before you explode. There's one platinum storage that you can get to the right of the final artifact, if you wish. Completion Reward: 125 xp, 1250 Credits ------------------------------------------- .30.A3. Project Firewalker: Volcano Station ------------------------------------------- Appears on map as: Firewalker: Recover Research Data Enemies, Enemy Defenses, Squad Recommendations: N/A, non-fighting mission Items: Wall Safe (250) Locker (125) Refined Iridium (1500) Head to Caleston Rift, Yakawa system. Your first goal is to head to the Research station. The path is quite linear, except for a small detour if you wish to mine the two bottom iridium deposits, but each deposit only has 250 iridium. There are 8 iridium deposits on the way. If you follow them, you should find the Research Base entrance, where you will exit and actually do a bit of investigation on foot. In the base, there's a wall safe in the northwest, a locker in the room with the sensor, and some iridium behind the bypass door. The scientists weren't paid very well considering what they left behind. Activating the Sensor will trigger an event, and you must escape from the base. There's no time limit, though. After escaping, you have to take the Hammerhead and go through a few tunnels. Again, it's still not timed, and aside from the shaking screen, there are no surprises, so just jump your way to safety. There's an iridium deposit on the way out as well. Finishing this quest should open up Firewalker: Prothean Ruin. Completion Reward: 125 xp, 1250 Credits ------------------------------------------ .30.A4. Project Firewalker: Geth Incursion ------------------------------------------ Enemies, Enemy Defenses, Squad Recommendations: N/A, non-fighting mission Head to The Phoenix Massing, Chomos system. During this mission, the cold will slowly cause engine degredation, but simply mining the nodes will refill the meter. All you need to do is keep boosting to the next node and gather it. The path is fairly straightforward, so this mission is pretty simple. Examining the nodes will get you a total of 5000 palladium as a bonus. Completion Reward: 125 xp, 1250 Credits ----------------------------------------- .30.A5. Project Firewalker: Prothean Site ----------------------------------------- Appears on map as: Firewalker: Prothean Ruin Enemies, Enemy Defenses, Squad Recommendations: N/A, non-fighting mission Items: Element Zero depositsx3 (905) Refined Element Zero (225) Refined Element Zero (255) Dead Body (3750) Research Terminal (Biotic Damage unlock) Head to Hades Nexus, Hoplos system. As you land, there will be a Rocket Drone nearby, so take it out. Your first task is to disable the shield's four power sources. Rocket Drones will pop out as you are traveling between the sources, sometimes very close to you. There are also several Element Zero deposits if you want to mine them. The first source is just to the right. There is one drone on the way. Get close to the power source so you can target it and fire at it. Double back to the left (killing the Rocket Drones on the way) so you can go upwards to the next power sources. Simply follow the path and jump up to this second power source. Continue forward and jump to land on the next cliff. Follow the edge and keep killing the drones until you reach the third power source. Destroy it, and then fall back to the ground level. Cross the area and jump up near the cord to the final power source. Go to the center and exit the Hammerhead. Travel through the final area and listen to the journal entries. Make sure to grab the Biotic Damage upgrade. Hack the Computer Console to gain access to the Relic, then approach it to finish the mission. That's it for this DLC package and the Hammerhead. Completion Reward: 125 xp, 3750 Credits =================== ========== .31. N7 Assignments [.31.JUMP] =================== ========== Each of these missions reward 125 xp and 3750 credits on top of whatever you find during the mission. Except for two or three of the missions, each only takes about 10-15 minutes to complete. There are three N7 missions that provide valuable upgrades: The Anomalous Weather Detected mission rewards a valuable Damage Protection; The MSV Strontium Mule mission has a Heavy Skin Weave upgrade in an item on the ship, but requires that Archaeological Dig Site be completed first; The Blood Pack Base mission has a Heavy Weapon upgrade for completing it. ---------------------- .31.01. Lost Operative ---------------------- Appears on Galaxy Map as: Recover Cerberus Operative Location: Omega Nebula, Fathar system, Lorek (1st planet) Enemy Defenses: Barrier, Shield, Armor Enemies: Eclipse Trooper (Shield), Vanguard (Barrier), Morl (Shield, Armor) N7: Lost Operative is a good place to start if you haven't already done it. You would have got a message about it way back when you first visited Omega, and if you're following this guide, you're already in the Omega Nebula. Head to the Fathar system, Lorek, the first planet. Items: Platinum (1200) Wall Safe (3750) Platinum (800) Enter the building. On harder difficulties, the Troopers will have Shields. Five or so Eclipse will attack you from the north. There's a wall safe in the room where they came from. When you bypass the Holding Cell, three enemies will instantly appear from the west, including Morl, a well-shielded Salarian. Once you take them down, you just need to bypass the door and access the computer. You get 400 credits for uploading to Cerberus, or a thank you message from Admiral Hackett if you upload it to the Alliance. ------------------------------- .31.02. Eclipse Smuggling Depot ------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy Map as: Secure Smuggled Cargo Location: Hourglass Nebula, Faryar system, Daratar (3rd planet) Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Enemies: 3 YMIR Mechs Items: Med Kit Element Zero (500) Power Cells This one can be tough to save a ton of crates, unless you already have the Cain heavy weapon and/or three Drones to fling around to distract one mech each. The mechs start to hit the crates when you get in range of the first one. It's not worth going out of your way to kill yourself over saving them, though, unless you want to boast about how good you are or something. To save as many as you can, just sprint down after you've set your HUD and weapons, and try to get off a drone (or more if you have them). Keep your drones up, and shoot down the mechs as they're distracted. You get about 180 Credits per crate you save. ---------------------- .31.03. MSV Estevanico ---------------------- Appears on Galaxy Map as: Explore Crashed Ship Location: Hourglass Nebula, Ploitari system, Zanethu (2nd planet) Enemies: None Items: Iridium (500) Iridium (500) Iridium (500) Although EDI warns you about disturbing the wreck, the first thing you need to do is shoot the loose tile to create a bridge to walk across. Some additional metal falls as you walk by it, but don't worry. Walk east, then south down the narrow metal plank. Continue walking around the west side, then back south. If you're getting the iridiums, you're on the right track. Vault up the plank in the middle of the ship and head west. Then travel east. More metal will fall, but keep going. You should see the path pretty clearly now, if you keep getting stunned by falling metal, that's the right way. Going across the dangling grate will cause it to fall. Double back across it, then make your way to the mainframe. Hit it, and you're done. -------------------------------- .31.04. Captured Mining Facility -------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy Map as: Investigate Eclipse Presence Location: Cresent Nebula, Zelene system, Helyme (2nd planet) Enemy Defenses: Shield, Barrier, Armor Enemies: Eclipse Trooper (Shield), Vanguard (Barrier), Heavy (Shield), Captain Vorleon (Shield, Armor) Items: Palladium (2000) Power Cells Med Kit Head into the mine. When you head through the east doorway, a trio of Eclipse will attack. Bypass the door to continue. The hall will open into a large area, with two Eclipse mercs heading toward you as you enter. Going further in will add another few mercs, including a Heavy firing missiles at you from above. When you reach their position, another group of three will attack from the north. Hack the mainframe, then defend your position from five enemies that come from the hallway to the west, then the next group of five enemies that includes the boss, Captain Vorleon. Luckily, they don't charge you, but they do wander pretty close, but because be careful because of their large numbers. When you kill them, you can pick up the decrypted data and complete the mission. --------------------------------------- .31.05. Blood Pack Communications Relay --------------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy Map as: Disable Blood Pack Relay Location: Cresent Nebula, Lusarn system, Tarith (4th planet) Enemy Defenses: Armor, Barrier Enemies: Klixen, Blood Pack Troopers, Boom-Squad, Salamul (Barrier, Armor) Items: Raw Material (400 Platinum) Raw Material (400 Platinum) Platinum (400) Activate the beacons as you go through. Don't worry about the alternate paths, there's not any significant items to miss on this level, just a few minerals. There's just way too much walking on this level, plus the fog is bothersome. At the third relay, a Klixen. They kind of resemble Rachni, but they explode into goop when they die. Anyway, on harder difficulties, they have armor, but not very much of it. You'll face a group of two Klixen a few beacons down, then three Klixen about two beacons after that, then a few beacons later, another two Klixen. When you get to a beacon next to a hill, there's a few lost Blood Pack up top with some platinum, but nothing else interesting. Going the other way leads you to the end, where find a group of Blood Pack, and Salamul, the Krogan boss. He starts off very close to you and will charge, so it's best to focus on him first. There's also a Boom-Squad that fires heavy weapons at you, and two troopers with assault rifles. When you take them out, bypass the Commincations Terminal and you'll obtain a new mission: Destroy Blood Pack Base. ----------------------- .31.06. Blood Pack Base ----------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Destroy Blood Pack Base Location: Shrike Abyssal, Xe Cha system, planet Zada Ban (1st planet) Note completing Blood Pack Relay will automatically locate the base for you Enemy Defenses: Armor, Shield Enemies: Blood Pack Troopers, Boom-Squad, Pyro, Kalusk (Shield, Armor) Items: Palladium (600) Palladium (600) Palladium (800) Head down and around the ramp. When you reach the crates, a Vorcha will begin firing at you from above, while four Vorcha will join in from below. You can take out the ones above then head below for a closer shot, or just snipe/power them from behind the first crate you find. After they're dead, go along the narrow ledge west toward the objective. Two Vorcha will appear directly in front of you, with one Vorcha to the south and two above from the north. The ones above and to the north include Boom-squad, so watch out for their missiles. Again, you're safe from your first position, so take them out and head for the door. In this next area, you'll face three Blood Pack, plus the boss, Kalusk. There's another Boom-Squad, but unless you can take out the Blood Pack fast, hang back near the door and focus on Kalusk and the other Blood Pack won't be able to attack you very efficiently. After taking out the enemies, blow up all four Containment Cells surrounding the energy source. You just need to get to the door to end this mission. You get a Heavy Weapons Ammo upgrade unlock for this short mission. ------------------------------ .31.07. Archaelogical Dig Site ------------------------------ Appears on Galaxy map as: Investigate Dig Site Location: Rosetta Nebula, Enoch system, planet Joab (3rd planet) Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Enemies: Blue Suns Legionnaire, Trooper, Commander (Shield, Armor), Lieutenant Locke Items: Element Zero (175) Element Zero (125) Personal Locker (750) Personal Locker (750) Med Kit Personal Locker (2250) Element Zero (200) Five Blue Suns mercs will come out of the door when you go down the ramp. When go through the door, four Blue Suns will be inside the room, with a few more coming from both the east door and north ramp as you kill them. Grab the items, then go north to continue. In the next room there will be give Blue Suns Troopers plus a Commander, and in the back, the boss Liutenant Locke. (Oddly, Locke has less defenses than the Commander at higher difficulties). Three of troopers and Locke are in the back area, so take out the enemies near you and proceed cautiously. Reading the PDA will give you the lead to the MSV Strontium Mule. Scan the video log to see a familiar vision and end the mission. -------------------------- .31.08. MSV Strontium Mule -------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Recapture Freighter Location: Omega Nebula, Arinlarkan system Note that MSV Strontium Mule only appears after you complete Archaelogical Dig Site. Enemy Defenses: Shield Enemies: Blue Suns Trooper, Legionnaire, Heavy, FENRIS Mechs, Command Bodyguard (Shield, Armor), Captain Vorhees (Shield), Sgt Boortis (Shield, Armor) Items: Medical Station Power Cells Iridum (2000) Research Docket (Heavy Skin Weave unlock) As you enter, a group of Blue Suns will attack you from the door. Take them out and then proceed up the ramps. As you enter the middle level of the ramp, three Blue Suns will attack from above you. There's no cover, but you can use the angles to your advantage. Bypass the Hub Security Console to enter the doors. The first objective is upstairs, but you can go multiple paths to reach the location. When you're upstairs, take out the two Blue Suns then head south, then west to the Bridge Security Console and bypass it. There will be several Blue Suns in the bridge, plus four FENRIS Mechs will approach from behind you when you enter. The Blue Suns sometimes bug out if you don't enter the room, and just try to aim at your allies behind the walls, letting you take them out easily before you trigger the mechs. Read the Ship's Main Log to update your objective. Blue Suns will also appear from north from where you entered originally, including Sergeant Boortis. Note that I believe you can take out the enemies in a diffent order, but I find this the easiest. Head to the north end of the ship. In the east room, there may be some Blue Suns and their victims; watch out while taking them out as there's no cover. In the west room, there's a Heavy Skin Weave upgrade to hack from the Research Docket, as well as the payload, which ends the mission. You will get a message about the Blue Suns base and open the Sigurd's Cradle system for exploration. ---------------------- .31.09. Blue Suns Base ---------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Disable False Signal Location: Sigurd's Cradle, Decoris System, planet Sanctum (2nd planet) Note that Sigurd's Cradle only appears on Galaxy map when you complete MSV Strontium Mule. Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Enemies: Blue Suns Troopers, Heavy, Commander (Shield, Armor), YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor), Captain Naron (Shield, Armor) Items: Iridium (400) Wall Safe (1875) Iridium (400) Power Cells Iridium (400) Iridium (400) Med Kit Wall Safe (1875) Upon landing, four Blue Suns mercs will rush out of the door, followed by two waves of reinfocements containing three mercs each. Inside, a welcoming squad of five Blue Suns, including a Commander, come after you, with four reinforcement troopers from the north side. You can grab the wall safe in the south Living Quarters, then head north and knock out the three troopers. When you're ready, open the doors. Enter the room a cutscene that shows what you'll be up against: two YMIR Mechs. Not much different than when you handled them on Garrus' mission, use heavy weapons, drones, AI Hacking, or whatever strategy that works for you. Note that the crate you start near can be exploded pretty quickly, so find better cover. Immediately after you disable both mechs, Blue Suns come in from the far rooms on both sides, including Captain Naron. They approach quickly, so make sure your team is relatively recovered before you finish off the second mech. Two mercs should come from the north, and three from the south, so you're better off with having cover in the northeast portion of the room. Bypass the door and overload the distress beacon, and you're done. --------------------------- .31.10. Imminent Ship Crash --------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Save Crashing Ship Location: Pylos Nebula, Nariph system, MSV Broken Arrow Note that Pylos Nebula only appears after you purchase the map from Baria Frontiers on Illium. The ship will later appear marked on your map. Enemy Defenses: Shield Enemies: Geth Trooper, Geth Rocket Trooper Items: Medical Station Iridium (1200) Iridium (500) This mission has a 6 minute time limit. Bypass the first door, then override the engine room emergency seal. There's two troopers to take out, then continue on. Travel through the hall, then head south down the ramp to Power Coupling 1. Activate the Power Coupling, but be aware that it takes about 6 seconds to do so, and getting hit will interrupt you. The geth will appear from the ramps above, and if you kill them they will reappear in about 20 seconds, so don't focus on killing them unless they keep interrupting you. There's a wedge that partially obstructs enemy targets while you stay in range to activate the coupling, although it is not 100 percent effective. After activating the first Coupling, sprint towards the Iridium and recover your shields at the bottom, out of sight of the ramps. Then sprint across the way and recover shields again. Activate Power Coupling 2, then sprint up back to the beginning of the room. Bypass the engine to restart it and complete the mission. You'll get a thank you from the Fargone Colony. ---------------------------------- .31.11. Anamolous Weather Detected ---------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Disable Geth Device Location: Pylos Nebula, Dirada system, planet Canalus (3rd planet) Note that Pylos Nebula only appears after you purchase the map from Baria Frontiers on Illium. Enemy Defenses: Shield Enemies: Geth Trooper, Hunter, Destroyer Items: Palladium (100) Palladium (100) Palladium (200) Palladium (200) Palladium (100) Palladium (200) Palladium (200) Palladium (200) Palladium (200) Palladium (200) Fight through the fog to the objective point to the north. Watch out as in the fog, sometimes a Geth Trooper will flank you. There's at least ten troopers, plus two hunters, as you travel up the hill. After the initial group, continue up, nabbing the Palladium if you like. When you get close to the device, you'll face another unit of Geth, numbering about seven, including a Destroyer and a Hunter. Just stay back and stay safe, and eventually they'll go down. You get a Damage Protection upgrade as an additional reward for this mission. ---------------------------------- .31.12. Wrecked Merchant Freighter ---------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Investigate Shipwreck Location: Eagle Nebula, Amun System, Neith (4th planet) Enemy Defenses: Armor, Shield Enemies: LOKI Mech, YMIR Mech (Shield, Armor) Items: Platinum (560) Damaged nech parts (1500) Platinum (580) Platinum (440) Med Kit Damaged mech parts (750) Platinum (420) Power Cells Grab the items and investigate the situation if you wish. When you deactivate the Signal Transmitter, a sandstorm will start, partially blocking your vision. Perhaps more important are the mechs that will try to kill you. When you get near the first split in the path, five LOKI Mechs will advance. After killing them and proceeding further, at the end of the split, a YMIR Mech will be waiting along with two LOKI Mechs. After killing them, four more mechs will show up, but you can simply sprint to the shuttle to escape. ---------------------------------- .31.13. Abandoned Research Station ---------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Investigate Abandoned Station Location: Eagle Nebula, Strabo System, Jarrahe Station Note that Wrecked Merchant Freighter must be completed. Enemies: None Items: Iridium (600) Iridium (400) Med Kit Personal Locker (525) Personal Locker (750) Personal Locker (375) Personal Locker (1350) Personal Locker (750) Iridium (400) Iridium (600) Welcome to the station. A non-fighting mission, your task is to shut down the VI on the station. First, restore the Docking Area Power. Continue on, and you can choose whichever door you want first. I'll cover the right/west door first. First, restore the power to Living Quarters Controls. Then, hit the 1st and 3rd switches, ignoring the middle switch. (If you do turn it on, you can just turn it off by hitting it again). This re-enables all of the doors, plus a new one. The opened southern door has some credits in it; I don't think the former owners will need them anymore. Next up is the southern door. Sprint pass the plasma venting when the vents pause momentarily. Restore the Engineering Power at the end, and then head to the central area's east door. Restore the power in the research area, which starts a laser. Hit Computer 1, then Computer 2 twice, then Computer 3, then Computer 4 three times to unlock the center area. Restore the Hub Area power, then shut down the VI Mainframe to end the mission. ---------------------------- .31.14. Hahne-Kedar Facility ---------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Disable Infected Production Line Location: Titan Nebula, Haskins System, planet Capek Note that Abandoned Research Facility must be completed. Enemy Defenses: Armor Enemies: FENRIS Mechs, LOKI Mechs Items: Element Zero (150) Power Cells Element Zero (175) Element Zero (175) As you approach the facility, the door opens, revealing two FENRIS Mechs and three LOKI Mechs. Take them out, then head for the door. When you're inside, go into the next door to reveal the main facility room. When you get to the second barrier, two FENRIS Mechs will charge. Vaulting over it to the next one will cause some LOKI Mechs to activate from below. The mechs will activate in groups of three, and there are two groups that are close enough to be in range. They'll endlessly appear in front of you, so you must advance to get them to start spawning further back. Your goal is the door in the northwest. Once you're inside, you just need to hack the Production Line to shut it down. -------------------------- .31.15. Quarian Crash Site -------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Investigate Quarian Crash Site Location: Hades Nexus, Sheol system, planet Gei Hinnom (1st planet) Note that Hades Nexus only appears after you purchase the map from Baria Frontiers on Illium. Enemies: Varren Item: Med Kit Stabilize Lt. Forzan vas Idenna, then get ready for swarms of Varren that will pour from the caves randomly. Protect the Quarian, as the Varren will almost all gang up on her. After a minute of fighting, the Kodiak shuttle will drop down. Board it as soon as you can, as the Varren keep attacking. You get a thank you message for your efforts. ---------------------- .31.16. Abandoned Mine ---------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Investigate Abandoned Mine Location: Minos Wasteland, Fortis, Aequitas (3rd planet) Note that Minos Wasteland only appears after you purchase the map from Baria Frontiers on Illium. Enemy Defenses: Armor (on harder modes) Enemies: Husks, Abomination Items: Iridium (440) Iridium (600) Iridium (560) Locker (1050) Iridium (400) Medical Station Power Cells Power Cells Locker (450) Four Husks will greet you upon the entrance to the mine. The datapad also leaves such a heartwarming note. What a lovely place. Around the corner are another set of Husks with an Abomination. The next area has another four Husks with one Abomination ambush you, and another two that come from up above. Go up the ramp and down the hall for another party with four Husks and an Abomination. Both the paths lead to the same place: an endless stream of Husks that want to eat your brains, and an explosive placed next to the device that turned them all. When EDI informs you about the situation, and Husks spawn, unless you're playing on normal or easier, sprint straight for the objective and shoot the explosives. Don't wait around for the Husks to stop coming, because even if you can kill them, more will just come after a few seconds. Or, worse, you can't kill them and more will still come, and there's just not enough bullets to make everyone happy. If you were curious, the locker near the bomb contains 450 credits, but you have to have a lot of combat drones, or kill really fast for a long time, to get it. Once you destroy the bomb, you'll automatically make it out. --------------------------------- .31.17. Javelin Missiles Launched --------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Stop Missile Attack Location: Sigurd's Cradle, Skepsis, moon Franklin (orbiting 3rd planet) Note that you must have completed MSV Strontium Mule to open Sigurd's Cradle. Enemy Defenses: Shield Enemies: Batarian , Batarian Commander Items: Power Cells Palladium (2000) Wall Safe (3750) You have five minutes to complete this mission once the timer starts a few seconds after you enter the ship. You can nab any items you miss after the mission is complete, so go for the objective. Batarians are all over the ship. You'll face three in the hallway to the south. Head north and bypass the door. When you bypass the door, you're immediately ambushed, so sprint to cover when you regain control. At least six Batarians attack in the main room, including a commander. You want to continue downwards and bypass the door below you. In the room, there's only one Batarian Commander, so gang up on him. Nab the Wall Safe, then hack the Kill Switch Console. You'll be given a choice, but the eventual outcome is unknown and does not affect anything within this game, but perhaps the next installment - so choose whichever suits your character. ------------------------- .31.18. Mining the Canyon ------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Excavate Resources Location: Caleston Rift, Talava System, planet Taitus (3rd planet) Note that Caleston Rift only opens after Disabled Collector Ship is completed. Enemies: Varren Items: None There's only 2 enemies on this mission: two Varren. You have a chance to ambush them, and the rest of this mission is even more relaxed. The first step is to bypass the mech to activate it. It will slowly travel through the canyon, clearing obstacles, but run out of power at certain points. Each time it stops, you can locate a nearby power cell to insert into it to get it walking again. You don't need to accompany it, so run ahead and pick up the cells. Eventually, it'll explode while clearing the path. Pick up the platinum to end the mission. ---------------------------------- .31.19.Endangered Research Station ---------------------------------- Appears on Galaxy map as: Reactivate Magnetic Shield Location: Caleston Rift, Solveig System, moon Sinmara (orbiting 1st planet) Note that Caleston Rift only opens after Disabled Collector Ship is completed. Enemies: No enemies Item: Broken Generator (2000 Palladium) Another easy mission, and very quick as well. Scan Sinmara and land on the moon alone. Bypass the Station Central Control Terminal, then use the Control Switch to switch the line to access the lighted system. Hit the Control Switch twice to Activate the Cooler, then hit the Switch twice again and activate the Generator, then back to the Switch for two more and bypass the Generator. That's all the N7 missions! If you've skipped down to this section, you can use the table of contents to jump back to where you left off. =============== ========== .32. Reaper IFF [.32.JUMP] =============== ========== **WARNING: Do not undertake this mission until you are satisfied with having done all the assignments and missions in this game up to this point. You will have a maximum of two missions before ending-altering events take place. A second warning is located at the end of this section, but by that time it will be too late to go back and do anything else than buy upgrades. It can be confusing because the map continues to stay open, but you definitely want to continue on with the main plot only once you begin this mission. END WARNING** Enemy Defenses: Armor Squad Recommendations: Samara, Thane, Mordin, Garrus, Grunt, Miranda, Tali Lots of options. If you're on an easier mode, get characters who have a focus towards area clearing, whover you haven't been building up much may have enough points to evolve an area effect skill, like Mordin perhaps. Drones can distract the Scions and Husks if you're lacking for other options or on harder difficulties. Enemies: Husks, Abominations, Scions --------------------- .32.01. Entrance Area --------------------- Items: Wall Safe (2000) Terminal (2000) Wall Safe (4000) Medical Station x2 Power Cells Platinum (2000) Terminal (3500) Cerberus Rifle (Sniper Rifle Damage unlock) Med Kit Research Terminal (Heavy Skin Weave unlock) After landing in the facility, you'll find several logs and videos that will explain what happened to the Cerberus science team. Pick up the items, and then open the door. You'll be given a new objective. When you pass the first explosive crates, Husks, and an Abomination, will pop up. There are three spawn points of two each, and the first point respawns the Husks. Quarters are tight, so mow them down quickly. Keep progressing, and near the work log, another series of Husks will spawn, with three sets of two on the far side of the fuel tank. Move up, and you'll see someone headshot some Husks. Take the items, then keep moving. When you get down the stairs, five Husks will spawn around you in solo spawn points. Moving slightly further forward will spawn an entire army of Husks plus reveal a Scion. Make sure not to get caught in the shockwaves, or have too many Husks constantly interrupt you with their attacks. If you're on easier difficulties, you can just decimate them with Throw Field or other quick area type attacks. You'll probably be wondering what all the fuss I'm making is about because of Husks with no health that die when you tap them. But, if you're facing them with armor, try falling back; there's a lot of room the way you came, and you can use it to funnel your enemies into your line of fire. There should also be plenty of explosives behind you to help clear out bunches a bit more quickly. Your reward for destroying that swarm is a Heavy Skin Wave upgrade from the terminal. Now, take a step back from those weird alien impaling devices and bypass the south door to continue. ---------------------------------- .32.02 Toward the Mass Effect Core ---------------------------------- Items: Med Kit Terminal (3000) Terminal (3500) Med Kit Cerberus Shotgun (Shotgun Damage unlock) Power Cells Terminal (3500) Wall Safe (2500) Laptop (1000) More awesome sniper rifle action, then more Husks, as about eight of them gang up around you. Good thing they leave enough ammo around the station to take down a clan of Krogan. Kill the Husks, then be prepared for another wave when you reach the bottom of the ramp, that again includes an Abomination as well as a Scion in the rear. Remember, you can always fall back and shoot while backpedaling, as the Husks are pretty slow. Make sure to sprint off or distract the Scion until the Husks are down and you can concentrate fire. Go up the ramp, and grab the items. When you near the second terminal, guess what? More Husks. Just what you always wanted. While there's quite a few, no scion this time, and they spawn a bit slower than your previous few waves. The next wave is back to a Scion along with the Abomination and loads of Husks. It starts when you reach the bottom of the ramp past the Med Kit. As you near the Reaper's mass effect core, waves with two Scions will appear. As with before, the best strategy is to try to handle the Husks first, and if necessary, fall back against the scions. When you clear this round, don't miss the Shotgun upgrade down below. Grab the items, then get ready for two Scions and some Husks when you get close to the explosive crate. There's a lot less Husks this time, so you can clear a few of them and have plenty of time before the next ones come to kill one Scion. The other one will likely be alone by the time you deal with the rest of the Husks, and be easy to take down by avoiding it's slowmo attack. It's not over yet, though. When you get near the Power Cells, two more Scions, with about four more Husks spawn points are left to deal with in this room. The Husks seem to spawn more slowly here, or are triggered only when you're much closer to them, so you can probably take out the Scions before Husks start to spawn. Bypass the door. I like to store my valuables near Reaper IFFs, just like whoever left their Wall Safe here. Inside the core, you'll be swamped with Husks on both sides of the room. The Husks will respawn in large waves, with about 18 of them per wave, before the Reaper's Core opens up its shield. You can take as long as you need to recuperate while it's open, nabbing ammo or items, as it only closes after you've done about 33% of its health. After you destroy the core, you're free to escape. Thank goodness for low gravity hops. When you're back at the Normandy, you get a choice with the technology you found. If you give it to Cerberus, you get 50,000, but never see it again. If you talk with it, then you can activate it down in the AI Core, located past the Medical Bay. **WARNING PART 2: If you want all your crew to survive, when EDI finishes installing the IFF, you'll want to go through the Omega 4 Relay immediately. Don't do anymore assignments, as the timer for everyone to survive has already started to countdown by finishing this mission. You won't officially see the difference until one or two missions away, and if you've been following this guide, at the end of this next mission. In any event, you'll want to follow this guide's timeline from now on if you want everyone to survive. You can still head to any shops right now to buy missed upgrades to unless you don't have enough credits still. Also, at this point, you are very close to consumating any potential romance. You should be able to advance any romance conversations if you had been unable to previously. Mordin will also humorously comment on either your potential partner, or about himself. Then get ready for the final missions. ==================== ========== .33. A House Divided [.33.JUMP] ==================== ========== Enemy Defenses: Shield, Armor Squad Recommendations: Garrus, Tali Another full Geth mission. Most Geth use shields, with only the Prime having more to worry about. Again, drones and hacking are useful here, but this mission is easier than other synthetic missions by this point in the game. Enemies: Geth Trooper (Shield), Hunter (Shield), Rocket Trooper (Shield), Prime (Shield, Armor) Items: Med Kit Geth Hub (3000) Geth Hub (3000) Geth Hub (3000) Med Kit Med Kit Power Cells Palladium (2000) Geth Terminal (Geth Shield unlock) Geth Hub (3000) Geth Hub (3000) Head into the station. If you walk on the lighted green circuits on the floor, you'll trigger alarms. Instead, walk around them and you can ambush the Geth at their hubs. Every hub has at three Geth attached to it. All the upcoming areas will only have one or two hubs. Hunters will run straight for you, as you've learned from previous encounters, so always deal with them first. They still can do stupid things, like sit and try to shoot at you through boxes, but it's better to be safe. In the first Hub room, walk carefully, and aim at the Geth or the hub to take the first strike. Note that destroying a hub creates an explosion, which is even more powerful in this station due to the lack of gravity. In the next room with the explanation about the turrets, three Geth will appear from the doorway. You can use the turrets by targeting them and examining them at any distance. Not only do they do damage with projectiles similar to the ML-77, but they also distract the enemies like your combat drones. The next room has two hubs. It's safest to strike and destroy the far hub, then the time it takes for the other hub to react to either get in cover, or line up your shots. Clear out the room, then head down the path. There will be two Troopers down a long hallway that should be easy to clear. Head up the ramp, and another two Troopers will be guarding this hall. Again, easy targets. There are two hunters and a trooper in the next large room, plus some turrets to aid you if you want. You should have plenty of time to kill them before they reach you. Then, another set of long ramps and hallways. Eventually, you'll reach a room where you can see a Geth Terminal off to the side. Three Geth will be waiting to the east, so take them out, then examine the Terminal for a Geth Shield upgrade. Head down another long ramp. You'll end up in a dual-hub room. In this room, the east hub has two hunters attached to it. It's a bit easier to destroy the west hub first, then have a semi-secure spot to guard against the east, but it's doable both ways if you've got a strong anti-Shield/Synthetic squad. For a networked race, they sure have poor overall communication when it comes to station defense. This next room is the final room, where waves of Geth will attack. There are many turrets to aid you, but you can only hack two at a time. Open the terminal and get ready to take out the Geth as they try to come up the ramps. Each wave will have about six Geth, and the second and third waves include Rocket Troopers and Hunters. If you use the turrets, and focus on defending one side at a time, you shouldn't have any trouble with these Geth. There's one final major decision that will likely have a large impact on the next installment for you to make. It might make sense, if you previously pushed for war in regards to the Quarians, to destroy everything, but there's always unforeseen consequences. We'll just have to wait and see. You've got three minutes to make it to the ship. Even if you take your time, it shouldn't take much more than two minutes, so be patient as you work your way through the remaining Geth. Six troopers, mainly from the east around the corner, will attack when you reach the second set of crates. Then around the next bend, two troopers and a Prime will block your path. You don't need to kill them, so you can distract them with drones and run for the door. Back on the ship, you'll have another loyalty issue to deal with. The Morality requirements are much higher for this one (in my experience it requires 100%). If you lack the Morality to solve the situation with persuasion, it's wiser to side with Tali, then speak to him privately and persuade him again, which you can succeed at a persuasion level of around 80%. Don't forget to apply any found upgrades before you check the galaxy map again, including the personal rifle upgrade from your squad mate. If you've been following this guide, once you check the galaxy map, you'll automatically see a cutscene that begins to the next mission. If you haven't been, and don't see the cutscene, you will see it while landing on the mission after this one. Completion Reward: 750 xp, 15,000 Credits ================== ========== .34. Omega 4 Relay [.34.JUMP] ================== ========== While testing the IFF, the Normandy will be attacked while your squad is away in a shuttle (which your team is required to take, there's no way around it). It's strange, but you automatically take the shuttle if there's no more story related missions left, with no explanation as to why you're going. Anyway, immediately after you get back to the ship with your squad, you'll want to head for the Omega 4 Relay, because it's the only way to save the entire crew. If you've done all the main missions (everything but the N7 missions in this guide), you are ready to finish the game with everyone surviving. ------------- .34.01. Joker ------------- Take command of Joker and follow the lighted path that EDI points out, as Joker swears up a storm. You'll succeed in this mission as long as you don't sit around to be kidnapped, and when you reach engineering, you'll want to wait and not say hello to the Collectors until they've walked to the door. Note that there are several "bad end" sequences for Joker here, such waiting too long by the ship's elevator, or going up the stairs to engineering too quickly. If I wanted to die though, I'd rather have gone out making out with Morinth...anyway, when you succeed, Shepard will come back to the ship, and to save your crew, you'll want to enter the Omega 4 Relay. If you like, you can finally get answers from EDI and learn more about Cerberus. ---------------------------- .34.02. Normandy Engineering ---------------------------- Enemy Defense: Armor Enemy: Oculus (Armor) The Oculus is exactly what it sounds like, a big eyeball with eyeball lasers. It's somewhat similar to the Praetorians you've previously fought. The best strategy is to try to distract it, and make sure you have a squad with attacks that are effective against Armor. You can use the geography easily to make sure it doesn't have a clean shot. It's not fast enough to handle your sprint, but you can really stay quite close to it and keep circling around it, while hitting its edges and chipping it down. So, unlike what your squad says, you really don't need heavy weapons to kill it, even though there Power Cells are available inside. -------------------------------- 34.03. Collector Station: Valves -------------------------------- Enemy Defenses: Barrier, Armor Enemies: Husks, Abominations, Drones, Harbinger (Shield, Armor) When you enter, you'll be asked to select a tech specialist to go through the vents to allow you access to the main base. Since there are no synthetic enemies in the base, sending your best engineers won't impact your team. Make sure to pick a decent Fire Team Leader, as that will also ensure the safety of you and your Vent specialist. Vent specialist: Legion, Tali Fire Team Leader: Jacob, Miranda, Garrus Fight through the enemies, killing them as quickly to activate the valves. In the first area, there will be about six drones along the northeast side, which you can destroy quickly as you proceed. Release the valve and move on. Note that you don't have to kill all the enemies before releasing the valves. As you head down the path, groups of three drones (with one morphing into Harbinger) will block your way. Release the second and third valves, using cover when necessary. There's no enemies on the way to the fourth valve, and you can sprint often to try to keep your specialist's health high. For the fifth valve, there will be a large number of drones blocking your path. If your specialist reaches half health, I recommend going for the valve and taking care of the remaining Collectors afterwards. There are no enemies on the way to the sixth valve. However, as you turn the corner, you'll face three drones, so be patient and don't rush ahead here. After the three drones, there will be an Assassin to the east, and the seventh valve to the north. Kill the Assassin, then get into cover and regenerate some health. You don't have to kill the remaining enemies, and can instead go straight for the final valve. If you've done everything right, everyone will be alright. --------------------------------- .34.04. Collector Station: Bubble --------------------------------- For the next area, you'll be fighting within a biotic bubble. Unlike Miranda's advice, not any biotic can handle the stress of the bubble, and you should rely on Jack or Samara/Morinth only. The second team leader position options are the same as the first. Make sure to send an escort, unless you prefer your crew dead. Almost anyone works as an escort, at least as far as I've tested. Whoever you select, though, cannot be used for the final battle. Barrier specialist: Jack, Samara/Morinth Fire Team Leader 2: Jacob, Miranda, Garrus Escort: Loyal Teammate After selecting everyone, in the next area, tell the Barrier specialist that you are ready. The specialist will stop and stay in cover when enemies are incoming, and won't move until you notify them that you're ready after each wave. The specialist will stop when four Drones/Harbinger attack. These should be simple enough to defeat, just stay in the bubble and fight them at range. Inform the specialist when you are ready to proceed. During the walk, four Husks and Abominations try to attack from the north ledge directly ahead of you. Shortly after, the specialist will stop and you will encounter three more Drones/Harbinger from the northeast. Again, notify the specialist when you're ready. Don't forget to pick up the heatsinks from the previous drones during this leg. You'll move a short amount further, until Husks/Abominations and a Scion attack. It's best to stay mobile and do your best to clear the Husks before the Scion gets into melee range. Use heavy weapons if necessary, as there's not much room to move, and the Scion's melee attack is pretty deadly. After you've dispatched them, before moving out, if you wish to save, this is the final manual save point. After this stops, the specialist will admit that they are tiring, but luckily you're near the end. Two Husks will climb the ledge to the northwest. After the specialist starts running towards the final destination, one Abomination and one Husk will climb from the east/northeast into the bubble. At this point you can even melee them. Make sure to stay in the bubble as the pace increases. After you pass this area, you'll be asked to select a final team. --------------------------------------- .34.05. Collector Station: Final Battle --------------------------------------- If you have M-920 Cain heavy weapon, it does a number on the final boss. You shouldn't have trouble, though. It can be a long fight, but not a hard one. You'll get extra heavy weapon ammo automatically at the start. During the first stage of the final battle, you'll be facing two Drones and a Guardian on the first two platforms. The third and fourth plaforms are also Collectors, but Harbinger will arrive starting with the third platform. You'll also face Assassins and increased numbers. The fifth and final platform will contain two Abominations and two Scions, so keep mobile for that one to avoid shockwaves. Note that all the platforms arrive from the north. After defeating them, activate the platform, and you'll discover why the Collectors have been collecting humans. In this next phase, destroy the weak points inbetween waves of Collectors. The shields get removed after you totally defeat a platform. If you shoot quickly, you can destroy multiple weak points while the shields are down, and can complete this stage in as fast as two waves. (You should probably waste the heatsinks of a weaker weapon you're carrying). Once you succeed, you'll be given a major decision to make. It's up to you what you think is best, but after the game, your entire crew basically will disagree if you side with Cerberus' opinion. When you've made your choice, you will face the humongous final boss. It has several weak points in its eyes, and one in its chest that appears as it climbs up and around the platform. Its only defense is Armor, so make sure to use powers and weapons that are effective against it. The right eye has a slightly larger hitbox than the left. A single drone may fly in and turn into Harbinger as the boss dives away from the platform, but it's not consistent, so just focus on the boss until you have to. ====================== ========== .35. Post Game Wrap Up [.35.JUMP] ====================== ========== Make sure to give your game one last save when you've finished all the cutscenes. I recommend also backing up your save files and profile files - you can just make a zip of your entire Mass Effect 2 file in your Documents folder if you're lazy. If you followed this guide, there won't be much left for you to do other than future DLC's. You can invite your romance interest to your cabin for a little R&R. Or, as a final little easter egg, not purusing a ME2 romance and saving Kelly will result in her sending you a thank you message. You can read it and follow the instructions if you choose. Your crew will also have opinions relating to what choice you made in the final mission, but the rest of the galaxy is ignorant of your accomplishments. So the moral of the story is that saving the galaxy never gets you any gratitude, but it can get you the girl. New Game+ --------- You now have the option to start a New Game+ by choosing Import ME2 Character. You'll retain your level and be able to access all your items after the prologue, but your Morality score, upgrades, and all ME2 story and squad decisions are wiped clean. You won't get the Import Bonus acquired for importing high level ME1 character either. You can also change your appearance, and be able to change your Advanced Training skill at no cost, but you are not able to change your class and will not be able to change your Advanced Weapons training choice. Thus, re-importing or importing a different ME1 character has more advantages than Importing your completed ME2 Character. The 25% increased experience bonus makes leveling very quick, anyway, plus more resources saves time in the long run. In addition to any class or morality routes you might take, I recommend trying a higher difficulty level, as enemies gain more health, defenses, speed, and deployment strategies. Hacks and bypasses change slightly too, but eventually you'll recognize patterns again and they won't be any trouble. >>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> .04. APPENDIX [.04.JUMP] >>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> "Trying to determine how scale-itch got onto Normandy. Sexually transmitted disease. Only carried by varren. Implications unpleasant." -Mordin ==================== ========== .4A. Assignment List [.4A.JUMP] ==================== ========== "Sometimes I poke through crates, too. You know, for extra credits." -Conrad Verner All normal assignments provide 40 experience, while N7 missions provide 125 experience. -------------------------- .4A.01. Normal Assignments -------------------------- Normandy: Serrice Ice Brandy Obtain: Speak to Doctor Chakwas Complete: Pick up Brandy at Afterlife on Omega and see Doctor Chakwas. Reward: Medi-gel capacity upgrade, happily drunk Doctor Chakwas. Normandy: Special Ingredients Obtain: Speak to Mess Sergeant Gardner Complete: Purchase Provisions at Zakera's on Citadel and see Gardner. Reward: Happier crew members, less food that tastes like ass. Normandy: FBA Couplings Obtain: Speak to Engineer Donnelly Complete: Purchase Couplings at Kenn's on Omega and see the Engineers. Reward: 500 Credits if you play poker with persuasion, +84 Credits total. Normandy Crash Site Obtain: Install DLC, land at marked location Complete: Pick up 20 dog tags, old N7 helmet, and place the monument. Dog tags are scattered around the entire site and in the crates Reward: 200 xp total, 3750 credits. Plus, memories. Omega: Struggling Quarian Obtain: Speak to Kenn, ask about Harrot Complete: Persuade Harrot. Reward: Discount at Harrot and Kenn's Omega: Batarian Bartender Obtain: Order a drink from Forvan Complete: Return to Forvan Reward: A nicer bartender Omega: Deliver Datapad Obtain: Pick up Datapad near Jaroth during Recruit Archangel Complete: Return to Aria Reward: Don't F. with Aria Omega: The Patriarch Obtain: Talk to Grizz after either Recruit mission on Omega Complete: Talk to Patriarch to resolve the situation as you see fit Reward: 3000 Credits, Opens N7: Eclipse Smuggling Depot assignment Omega: Packages for Ish Obtain: Talk to Ish after Omega missions completed Complete: Pick up datapads from Illium and Citadel Reward: 2500 Credits, currently bugged for xp Citadel: Crime in Progress Obtain: Talk to the Quarian being harassed and choose to look into it. Complete: Talk to Marab about Kor Tun's credit chit. Reward: 1000 Credits Citadel: Krogan Sushi Obtain: Pass by Kargesh the Krogan. Complete: Talk to the Presidium Groundskeeper in Dark Star. Reward: 1000 Credits Illium: Gianna Parasini Obtain: *ME1 Requirement* Let Gianna live on Noveria. Talk to Gianna. Complete: Talk to the Serrice Technology attendant, make sure to get the discount first. Reward: Beer Illium: A Troublemaker/Conrad Verner Obtain: *ME1 Requirement* Currently bugged, so all characters receive this quest as if Conrad was treated with Renegade Intimidation. Complete: Persuade the Weapons Merchant at Gateway Personal Defense Illium: Persuade the Asari Obtain: Talk to the Asari near the poetry-spouting Krogan Complete: Persuade the Asari either way Reward: Discount at Memories of Illium. Also, if they stay together, you meet them on Tuchanka. Illium: System Hacking Obtain: Speak with Liara Complete: Hack the three terminals in the Transportation area, uploading data to terminals as signaled by the distance meter. Reward: 2000 Credits, opens up The Observer Illium: The Observer Obtain: Finish System Hacking assignment Complete: Hack the 5 terminals, telling her that no one fits Reward: 5000 Credits, uncover Liara's reason for her current situation Illium: Medical Scans Obtain: Talk to Shiala, or the colonist, near Officer Dara. Complete: Talk to the Erinya, the Baria Frontiers Rep. Reward: Grateful colonist/green Asari, sad grumpy blue Asari Illium: Indentured Service Obtain: Talk to the Synthetic Insights Representative in the Eternity bar after completing other assignments relating to Eternity on Illium. Complete: Persuade the S.I. Rep. to hire, or the Asari to let the Quarian go Reward: 2000 Credits Illium: The Assassin: Salarian Family Data Obtain: Pick up datapad while recruiting the Assassin. Complete: Return the data to the Salarian on Illium. Reward: 1500 Credits Illium: Smuggling Evidence Obtain: Pick up Shipping Manifest while recruiting the Justicar Complete: Return to Detective Anaya or Pitne For Reward: 4200 Credits Illium: Stolen Good Found Obtain: Pick up Data Pad while recruiting the Justicar Complete: Return to Illium Reward: 2000 Credits Illium: The Prodigal: Lost Locket Found Obtain: Pick up Locket while finishing Miranda's loyalty mission. Complete: Return the locket to the Asari on Illium near the entrance. Reward: 500 Credits Tuchanka: Killing Pyjaks Obtain: Talk to Ratch and ask him about pyjaks Complete: Kill the three waves of pyjaks with the mouse controls, note the missile delays and missile impact radius Reward: Discount at Ratch's shop, plus Pyjak meat, which gives you access to Urz in the varren pits if you feed him. Urz can rack up a random number of wins, usually 4, although sometimes completing another mission will reset his win count. Tuchanka: Combustion Manifold Obtain: Speak with the Krogan Mechanic or just pick up the Manifold during Mordin's loyalty mission Complete: Pick up the manifold and return to the Mechanic Reward: Mechanics' reasons for why Mechanics are badasses Tuchanka: Old Blood: Missing Scout Obtain: Speak with the Scout Leader and talk to the Missing Scout during Mordin's loyalty mission Complete: Persuade the Scout. You get a tiny bit of extra dialogue with Tali along. Return to the Scout Leader. Reward: 1000 Credits, Non-vorcha Krogan with no tummy-aches ------------------------------ .4A.02. N7 Mission Assignments ------------------------------ N7 Missions require travel to a planet's surface and usually involve fighting. Sorted somewhat haphazardly - I tried to set planets which you could access first, because the alphabetical version was somewhat troublesome to follow when starting a new game. 1. Lost Operative AKA: Recover Cerberus Operative Obtain: Message after visiting Omega Location: Omega Nebula, Fathar system, planet Lorek Enemies: 100% organic; Blue Suns, Mori (Barrier, Armor) Reward: Message from Cerberus if you return the data to Cerberus, message from Admiral Hacket if you upload the data to the Alliance 2. Eclipse Smuggling Depot AKA: Secure Smuggled Cargo Obtain: Complete The Patriarch assignment Location: Hourglass Nebula, Faryar system, Darathar Enemies: 3 YMIR Mech Reward: 180 Credits per saved crate 3. MSV Estevanico AKA: Explore Crashed Ship Obtain: Scan location Location: Hourglass Nebula, Ploitari system, planet Zanethu Enemies: No Enemies Reward: Thank you message 4. Captured Mining Facility AKA: Investigate Eclipse Presence Obtain: Scan Location Location: Cresent Nebula, Zelene system, planet Helyme Enemies: 100% organic (Eclipse mercenaries) 5. Blood Pack Communications Relay AKA: Disable Blood Pack Relay Obtain: Scan Tarith Location: Crescent Nebula, Lucarn system, planet Tarith Enemies: 100% organic (insects, mercenaries, boss) Rewards: leads to Destroy Blood Pack Base 6. Destroy Blood Pack Base Obtain: Complete Blood Pack Communications Relay Location: Shrike Abyssal, Xe Cha system, planet Zada Ban Enemies: 100% organic (vorcha, boss) Reward: Heavy Weapon Ammo unlock 7. Archaeological Dig Site AKA: Investigate Dig Site Obtain: Scan Location Location: Rosetta Nebula, Enoch system, planet Joab Enemies: 100% organic (mercs) Reward: Opens Strontium Mule 8. MSV Strontium Mule AKA: Recapture Freighter Obtain: Complete N7: Archaelogical Dig Site, receive message Location: Omega Nebula, Arinlarkan system Enemies: 100% organic (mercs) Reward: Heavy Skin Weave, opens up Sigurd's Cradle System/Blue Suns Base 9. Blue Suns Base AKA: Disable False Signal Obtain: Complete MSV Strontium Mule Location: Sigurd's Cradle, Decoris System, planet Sanctum 10. Imminent Ship Crash AKA: Save Crashing Ship Obtain: Enter system after purchasing map from Baria Frontiers Location: Pylos Nebula, Nariph system, MSV Broken Arrow Note: 6 minute time limit mission Enemies: 100% synthetic (geth) 11. Anomalous Weather Detected AKA: Disable Geth Device Obtain: Scan Canalus Location: Pylos Nebula, Dirada system, planet Canalus Enemies: 100% synthetic (geth) Reward: Damage Protection upgrade unlock 12. Wrecked Merchant Freighter AKA: Investigate Shipwreck Obtain: Scan Neith Location: Eagle Nebula, Amun System, Neith Enemies: 100% synthetic (LOKI mechs) Rewards: leads to Abandoned Research Station 13. Abandoned Research Station AKA: Investigate Abandoned Station Obtain: Complete Wrecked Merchant Freighter Location: Eagle Nebula, Strabo System, Jarrahe Station Enemies: no fighting Rewards: leads to Hahn-Kedar Facility 14. Hahne-Kedar Facility AKA: Disable Infected Production Line Obtain: Complete Abandoned Research Station Location: Titan Nebula, Haskins System, planet Capek Enemies: 100% synthetic (mechs) 15. Quarian Crash Site AKA: Investigate Quarian Crash Site Obtain: Scan Gei Hinnom Location: Hades Nexus, Sheol system, planet Gei Hinnom Enemies: 100% organic (varren) Reward: Thank you message from Quarians 16. Abandoned Mine AKA: Investigate Abandoned Mine Obtain: Scan Aequitas Location: Minos Wasteland, Fortis, Aequitas Enemies: 100% organic (husks) Complete: Blow up the bombs near the artifact, ignore husks 17. Javelin Missiles Launched AKA: Stop Missile Attack Obtain: Scan Franklin or finish Blue Suns Base Location: Sigurd's Cradle, Skepsis, Franklin Enemies: 100% organic; Mercenaries Note: 5 limit time limit mission 18. Mining the Canyon AKA: Excavate Resources Obtain: Scan Location Location: Caleston Rift, Talava System, planet Taitus Enemies: 100% organic (2 varren) 19. Endangered Research Station AKA: Reactivate Magnetic Shield Obtain: Scan Sinmara Location: Caleston Rift, Solveig System, moon Sinmara Enemies: no fighting ===================== ========== .4B. Weapon Locations [.4B.JUMP] ===================== ========== "I'll relinquish one bullet. Where do you want it?" -Shepard Not that the alphabetical designations change as you level up your weapons. I.e., the M-98 Widow becomes the X-98d Widow, etc. For specific weapon stats, check out Arthinellus' Weapon Data Chart on GameFAQs as his chart is infinitely more attractive than anything I could fit here. --------------------- .4B.01. Assault Rifle --------------------- M-8 Avenger Description: Fully automatic, effective against shields, armor, and biotic barriers Obtain: Default, Freedom's Progress M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle Description: 5 round burst, effective against shields, armor, and biotic barriers Obtain: During Archangel recruitment mission in Archangel's base M-76 Revenant LMG Description: Less accurate than an assault rifle, but has larger heatsink Obtain: Available only to Soldiers when choosing Assault Rifle as Advanced Weapons Training Geth Pulse Rifle Description: Very effective against shields and biotic barriers, but not as effective against armor and health. Very rapid rate of fire Obtain: End of Tali's recruitment mission if on Hardcore or Insanity difficulty for the entire mission Collector Assault Rifle Description: Accurate, but relatively weak, Collector rapid fire weapon Obtain: Collector's Edition DLC -------------------- .4B.02. Heavy Pistol -------------------- M-3 Predator Heavy Pistol Description: Effective against armor, weak against shields and biotic barriers Obtain: Prologue M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon Description: Effective against armor, weak against shields and biotic barriers Obtain: Omega, Recruit the Professor --------------- .4B.03. Shotgun --------------- M-23 Katana Shotgun Description: Very effective against shields and biotic barriers, but weak against armor Obtain: Default, Freedom's Progress M-27 Scimitar Assault Heavy Shotgun Description: Very effective against shields and biotic barriers, but weak against armor Obtain: Illium, Recruit the Justicar M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun Description: Rare Krogan shotgun. Effective against shields, armor, and biotic barriers Obtain: Researchable prototype upgrade usable by Grunt, and/or usable by Soldier or Vanguard if chosen as Advanced Weapons Training. -------------------- .4B.04. Sniper Rifle -------------------- M-92 Mantis Sniper Rifle Description: Very effective against armor, but weaker against shields and biotic barriers Obtain: Default, Freedom's Progress M-97 Viper Sniper Rifle Description: Semi-automatic with higher ammo capacity. Highly effective against armor, somewhat effective against shields and biotic barriers Obtain: Illium, Recruit the Assassin M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle Description: Especially effective against armor, but also against shields and biotic barriers Obtain: Researchable upgrade only useable by the team member who suggested it, and/or usable by Soldier or Infiltrator if chosen as Advanced Weapon Training. M-29 Incisor Sniper Rifle Description: Fires 3-shot burst, designed to overload active defenses. Not particularly accurate, like a zoomable M-4 Submachine Gun Obtain: Digital Deluxe DLC only ---------------------- .4B.05. Submachine Gun ---------------------- M-4 Shuriken Machine Pistol Description: 3 round burst, Effective against shields and biotic barriers, weak against armor Obtain: Default, Freedom's Progress M-9 Tempest SMG Description: Fully automatic, Effective against shields and biotic barriers, weak against armor Obtain: Tali's recruitment mission -------------------- .4B.06. Heavy Weapon -------------------- M-100 Grenade Launcher Description: Rapid fire grenade launcher Obtain: Prologue ML-77 Missile Launcher Description: Rapid fire homing missile launcher Obtain: Research after one Heavy Ammo upgrade M-622 Avalanche Description: Fires a Cryo blast. Obtain: Research after two Heavy Ammo upgrade M-920 Cain Details: "Nuke Launcher" Obtain: Reserach after three Heavy Ammo upgrade Collector Particle Beam Desription: Laser Beam Obtain: Horizon M-490 Blackstorm Singularity Projector Details: Black Hole Gun Obtain: Gamestop Pre-Order DLC M-451 Details: Flamethrower Obtain: Zaeed's Loyalty mission Arc Projector Details: Arc/Chain Lightning Gun Obtain: Cerberus Network Activation ====================== ========== .4C. Upgrade Locations [.4C.JUMP] ====================== ========== "Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-b**** in space!" -Gunnery Chief Note that prices are for which upgrade it counts for, not where you find it. I.e., the second unlocked upgrade always costs the same mineral resources no matter where you find it. Store-purchased upgrades don't rise in price, and the mineral cost is independent of them. I suppose I could have sorted it differently, but this way is in the order you would usually find them in my guide. Assault Rifle cost: ------------- ----- 1. Omega, Recruit Professor, Slums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 irid 2. Illium, Gateway Personal Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90,000 Cred Unlocks Assault Rifle Penetration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15,000 irid 3. Haestrom, Recruit Tali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 irid Unlocks Assault Rifle Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25,000 irid 4. Omega, Samara: Loyalty, Morinth's Apartment . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 irid 5. Tuchanka, Fortack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90,000 Cred 6. Zorya, Zaeed: Loyalty* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10,000 irid *On Renegade-only route. Your damage will increase to 60% with all upgrades. Biotic Upgrades cost: --------------- ----- 1. Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 eezo 2. Illium, Recruit the Justicar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 eezo Unlocks Biotic Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 eezo 3. Illium, Serrice Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred Unlocks Biotic Cooldown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 eezo 4. Pragia, Jack: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500 eezo 5. Tuchanka, Fortack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred 6. Project Firewalker: Prothean Site DLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 eezo Bypass Module cost: ------------- ----- 1. Illium, Serrice Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000 Cred Damage Protection cost: ----------------- ----- 1. Citadel, Saronis Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred 2. Prison Ship Purgatory, Recruit Convict . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 pall Unlocks Redundant Field Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 pall 3. Illium, Gateway Personal Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred Unlocks Hard Shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 pall 4. Collector Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 pall 5. N7: Anamlous Weather Detected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 pall Geth Shield Strength cost: -------------------- ----- 1. Alarai/Tali: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 plat 2. Legion: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 plat Hack Module cost: ----------- ----- 1. Omega, Harrot's Emporium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000 Cred Heavy Skin Weave cost: ---------------- ----- 1. Omega, Kenn's Salvage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred 2. Horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 pall Unlocks Heavy Bone Weave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 pall 3. Illium, Gateway Personal Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred Unlocks Heavy Muscle Weave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 pall 4. N7: MSV Strontium Mule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 pall 5. Reaper IFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 pall Heavy Pistol cost: ------------ ----- 1. Citadel, Rodam Expeditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred 2. Haestrom, Recruit Tali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 pall Unlocks AP Heavy Pistol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 Cred 3. Aeia 2175, Jacob: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 pall Unlocks Heavy Pistol Critical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 pall 4. Tuchanka, Fortack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred 5. Citadel, Thane: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 pall Heavy Weapon Ammo cost: ----------------- ----- 1. Freedom's Progress, YMIR Mech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 irid Unlocks ML-77 Missile Launcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 irid 2. Omega, Kenn's Salvage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000 Cred Unlocks M-622 Avalanche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 irid 3. Tuchanka, Ratch's Wares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000 Cred Unlocks M-920 Cain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 irid 4. Tuchanka, Mordin: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 irid 5. N7: Blood Pack Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 irid 6. Zorya, Zaeed: Loyalty**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000 irid **Paragon-only route Krogan Vitality cost: --------------- ----- 1. Korlus, Recruit Krogan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 plat 2. Tuchanka, Mordin: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 plat Medi-Gel Capacity cost: ----------------- ----- 1. Normandy, Serrice Ice Brandy Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 plat 2. Omega, Recruit Professor, Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 plat Unlocks Trauma Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 plat 3. Citadel, Sirta Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000 Cred Unlocks Emergency Shielding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 plat 4. Illium, Serrice Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,000 Cred 5. Illium, Miranda: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 plat Shotgun cost: ------- ----- 1. Omega, Kenn's Salvage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred 2. Prison Ship Purgatory, Recruit Convict . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 plat Unlocks Shotgun Shield Piercing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 plat 3. Tuchanka, Fortack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred Unlocks Shotgun Extra Rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 plat 4. Tuchanka, Grunt: Loyalty if successful . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 plat 5. Reaper IFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 plat Sniper Rifle cost: ------------ ----- 1. Omega, Omega Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred 2. Korlus, Recruit the Krogan, Sniper Rifle . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 plat Unlocks AP Sniper Rifle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 plat 3. Citadel, Rodam Expeditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred Unlocks Sniper Headshot Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 plat 4. Citadel, Garrus: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 plat 5. Reaper IFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 plat Submachine Gun cost: -------------- ----- 1. Omega, Recruit Archangel, Blue Suns Weapon Shipment . . . . . . 2,500 Irid 2. Citadel, Rodam Expeditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred Unlocks SMG Shield Piercing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 Irid 3. Illium, Gateway Personal Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 Cred Unlocks SMG Extra Rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,000 Irid 4. Illium, Recruit Assassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 Irid 5. Illium, Miranda: Loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,500 Irid Tech Damage cost: ----------- ----- 1. Omega, Recruit Archangel, Omni-tool Power X Mods . . . . . . . . 500 eezo 2. Citadel, Saronis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred Unlocks Tech Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 eezo 3. Collector Ship, Control Terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 eezo Unlocks Tech Cooldowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 eezo 4. Illium, Serrice Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90,000 Cred 5. Migrant Fleet, Tali: Loyalty if Tali loyalty gained . . . . . . 1,500 eezo Squad cost: ----- ----- Krogan Shotgun, Grunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 plat Geth Sniper, Legion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 plat Mordin Omni-Tool, Mordin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 eezo Subject Zero Biotic Boost, Jack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 eezo Retrain Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 eezo Advanced Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 eezo Normandy cost: -------- ----- Advanced Mineral Scanner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 irid Heavy Ship Armor, Jacob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 pall Thanix Cannon, Garrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 plat Multicore Shielding, Tali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 pall Extended Fuel Cells, Samara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 eezo Modular Probe Bay, Thane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 irid Med-Bay Upgrade, Doctor Chakwas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000 plat Total Upgrade Requirements ========================== Requirements are base, and do not include Engineer Research bonuses. EEZO: 42,500 (one 5,000 for one Advanced Training) Iridium: 215,000 Platinum: 275,000 (Includes 50,000 for Med Bay upgrade.) Palladium: 195,000 Credits: 1,560,000 Credits w/all discounts: 1,300,000 100% Earned Credits through all missions: between 950,000 and 1,000,000 ====================== ========== .4D. Planets with EEZO [.4D.JUMP] ====================== ========== "Why's it always claws and guns? Can't we piss off a fuzzy planet? Still dangerous, but hey, bunnies." - Joker Approximate amounts are in parenthesis. (Your amounts may vary) Almost all of these planets are Good or better. Most of them are Rich. Sorted by which Nebulas are open to you first. Omega Nebula, Batalla system, planet Nearog (3rd planet - 2600) Omega Nebula, Batalla system, planet Thunawanuro (2nd planet - 7500) Eagle Nebula, Relic system, planet Preying Mouth (6th planet - 6300) Eagle Nebula, Amun system, planet Anhur (3rd planet - 7000) Eagle Nebula, Amun system, planet Sekhmet (1st planet - 4600) Hourglass Nebula, Faryar system, planet Daratar (1st planet - 7700) Hourglass Nebula, Osun system, planet Erinle (2nd planet - 8000) Hourglass Nebula, Ploitari system, planet Thegan (4th planet - 4500) Normandy Crash DLC Req ---------------------- Omega Nebula, Amada system, planet Eingana (3rd planet - 4600) Opens after completing Horizon ------------------------------ Crescent Nebula, Lusarn system, planet Tarith (4th planet - 6000) Crescent Nebula, Zelene system, planet Helyme (2nd planet - 4500) Far Rim, Dholen system, planet Gotha (1st planet - 4000) Rosetta Nebula, Alpha Draconis system, planet 2175 Aeia (1st planet - 5200) Rosetta Nebula, Enoch system, planet Joab (3rd planet - 3200) Rosetta Nebula, Enoch system, planet Laban (1st planet - 5300) Rosetta Nebula, Enoch system, planet Mizraim (2nd planet - 2500) Purchase from Baria Frontiers ----------------------------- Hades Nexus, Sheol system, planet Gei Hinnom (1st planet - 7600) Hades Nexus, Hekate system, planet Bothros (3rd planet - 1800) Hades Nexus, Pamyat system, planet Dobrovolski (2nd planet - 4000) Minos Wasteland, Caestus system, Planet Invictus (1st planet 5000) Pylos Nebula, Dirada system, planet Siano (1st planet - 5000) Pylos Nebula, Satent system, planet Raisaris (1st planet - 7000) Pylos Nebula, Satent system, planet Boro (3rd planet 6500) The Shrike Abyssal, Urla Rast system, planet Talis Fia (2nd planet - 4400) The Shrike Abyssal, Xe Cha system, planet Tosal Nym (3rd planet - 5800) The Shrike Abyssal, Xe Cha system, planet Zada Ban (1st planet - 6200) Opens with Jack loyalty mission ------------------------------- Nubian Expanse, Kalabsha system, planet Yamm (1st planet - 3000) Opens with Mordin or Grunt loyalty missions ------------------------------------------- Krogan DMZ, Nith system, planet Mantun (1st planet - 4800) Opens with Tali loyalty mission ------------------------------- Valhallan Threshhold, Micah system, asteroid Farlas (1st belt, right - 5200) Valhallan Threshhold, Micah system, asteroid Israfil (2nd belt - 3600) Valhallan Threshhold, Micah system, asteroid Kakabel (1st belt, bottom - 2500) Opens with Collector Ship ------------------------- Caleston Rift, Balor system, moon Caleston (circling 1st planet - 4700) Hawking Eta, Schwarzschild system, Planet Etamis (2nd planet - 5800) Opens after N7: MSV Strontium ----------------------------- Sigurd's Cradle, Decoris system, planet Sanctum (2nd planet - 4600) Sigurd's Cradle, Skepsis system, planet Watson (3rd planet - 9000) Opens after N7: Abandoned Research Station ------------------------------------------ Titan Nebula, Haskins system, planet Capek (only planet - 5000) Opens with A House Divided mission ---------------------------------- The Phoenix Massing, Salahiel system, planet Ekuna (only planet - 3000) ============== ========== .4E. Shop List [.4E.JUMP] ============== ========== "Insincere endorsement: you have not experienced Shakespeare until you have heard it in the voice of Elcor." -Advertisement ------------- .4E.01. Omega ------------- "Where did you get that fantastic new visor?" -Girl 1 "You'll never believe me if I told you - Harrot's!" -Girl 2 "I love that place! But I thought Harrot's sold stuff just for men!" -Girl 1 "Oh no, Harrot has something for everyone. He even sold me this spice rack shaped like a mining scanner." -Girl 2 "Restrained exasperation: come to my store. It's just not boring junk anymore." -Harrot Kenn's Salvage -------------- Discount: Talk to Kenn or Harrot Items: Heavy Weapon Ammo, 30000 Nashan Stellar Dynamics T6-FBA Couplings, 500 Heavy Skin Weave, 90000 Shotgun Damage, 60000 Harrot's Emporium ----------------- Discount: Only available by talking to Kenn first. Persuade Harrot. Items: Visor (headpiece, 10% headshot dmg), 2000 Model Ship 13 - Geth Ship, 2000 Capicitor Chestplate (chest, 10% less shield recharge time), 4000 Hack Bonus, 30000 *Ordnance Packs (legs, 10% spare heavy weapon ammo), 2000 Omega Markets ------------- Discount: Talk to Marsh with a Negotiation skill of approximately 50. Items: Strength Boost Pads (shoulder, 25% melee damage), 4000* Stabilization Gauntlets (arms, 5% weapon damage), 8000* Stimulator Conduits (legs, 10% storm speed), 4000 Model - Turian Cruiser, 500 Sniper Rifle Damage, 60000 Fornax, 5 *Available after Collector Ship --------------- .4E.02. Citadel --------------- "I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel." -Shepard Zakera Cafe ----------- Location: Lv. 27 Discount: Not available, but everything is 500 Credits and less Items: High-Grade Provisions, 500 Revelations, 5 Ascentions, 5 Citadel Souvenirs ----------------- Location: Lv. 27 Discount: Talk to Deleia Sanassi and give her an endorsement or accuse her of classism. Items: Space Hamster, 9200 Illium Skald Fish, 500 Model - Normandy SR1, 500 Model - Destiny Ascension, 500 *Model - Sovereign, 500 *Thessian Sunfish, 500 Saronis Applications -------------------- Location: Lv. 26 Discount: Talk to Mareb and persuade him. You can obtain the discount at a fairly low Persuasion. Items: Tech Damage, 90000 Damage Protection, 90000 Sirta Foundation ---------------- Location: Lv. 26 Discount: Talk to Kian Louros and persuade her Items: Medi-Gel Capacity, 30000 Life Support Webbing (Legs, 10% Health), 8000 Rodam Expeditions ----------------- Location: Lv. 28 Discount: Talk to Etarn Tiron and persuade him Items: Sniper Rifle Damage, 60000 Heavy Pistol Damage, 60000 Submachine Gun Damage, 60000 Off-Hand Ammo Pack (Arms, 10% more ammo), 2000 Aegis Vest (Chest, 5% health), 2000 *Available after Collector Ship -------------- .4E.03. Illium -------------- "Lots of money here. Soft people who'd make good victims." -Jack "Jack. No." -Jacob "What, I'm just thinking aloud." -Jack Serrice Technology ------------------ Discount: Talk to the Merchant and persuade her, or if you have Gianna's assignment, you can tell the Merchant that she's being watched, however you get no experience points this way. If you do help Gianna, make sure to persuade her before asking about the special items. Items: Biotic Damage, 90000 Bypass Module, 30000 Medi-Gel Capacity, 30000 Gateway Personal Defense ------------------------ Discount: Ask Conrad Verner, located in Eternity, "What were you doing here." Then, speak to the Weapons Merchant in front of Gateway Personal Defense and persuade her; either way she sets you up with a discount. Items: Heavy Skin Weave, 90000 Submachine Gun Damage, 60000 Assault Rifle Damage, 60000 Amplifier Plates (Shoulder, 5% power damage), 2000 *Damage Reduction, 90000 Baria Frontiers --------------- Discount: None Items:Star Chart - Hades Nexus, 500 Star Chart - Minos Wasteland, 500 Star Chart - Shrike Abyssal, 500 Star Chart - Pylos Nebula, 500 Memories of Illium ------------------ Discount: Complete the Persuade the Asari assignment Items: Prejek Paddle Fish, 8000 Model - Alliance Cruiser, 500 Model - Athabasca Class Freighter, 500 *Model - UT-47 Kodiak Shuttle, 500 *Available after Collector Ship --------------- 4E.04. Tuchanka --------------- "What, you think we kidnap quarians and make them do the 'hard work?' Not anymore, we don't." -Krogan Mechanic Ratch's Wares ------------- Discount: Use the guns to kill the Pyjak waves. Items: Heavy Weapon Ammo, 30000 Stabilization Gauntlets (arms, 5% weapon damage), 4000 Death Mask (heat, 10% negotiation), 8000 Shield Harness (legs, 5% shield), 8000 Pyjak Meat, 0 (if discount assignment completed) *Asymmetic Defense Layer (shoulder, 5% health), 8000 *Heavy Damping Gauntlet (arms, 5% shield), Fortak's Database ----------------- Discount: Finish Grunt's loyalty quest, and the discount automatically applies. Items: Assault Rifle Damage, 60000 Biotic Damage, 90000 Heavy Pistol Damage, 60000 Shotgun Damage, 60000 *Available after Collector Ship =============== ========== .4F. Armor List [.4F.JUMP] =============== ========== "I was just letting you finish getting dressed..or does Cerberus really let you whore around in that outfit." -Enyala, to Miranda ----------------------- .4F.01. Full Armor Sets ----------------------- Cannot mix and match, must be worn in full to obtain bonus stats Terminus Assault Armor Bonus: +10% Storm Speed, +10% Ammo, +15% Shield Obtain: Gamestop Preorder-code Inferno Armor Bonus: +10% Storm Speed, +10% Negotiation, +10% Power Damage Obtain: Preorder code Collector's Armor Bonus: +10% Storm Speed, +20% Health, +10% Regeneration Speed Obtain: Collector's Edition / Digital Deluxe Blood Dragon Armor Bonus: +15% Power Damage, +10% Shield Strength Obtain: Linked Dragon Age Origins on EA Account Cerberus Assault Armor Bonus: +10% Heavy Weapon Ammo, +10% Shield Strength, +10% Health Obtain: Cerberus Network Activation ------------------------ .4F.02. N7 Armor Options ------------------------ Helmet Bonus: Obtain: ------ ------ ------- N7 Helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . +5% Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . Start N7 Breather Helmet . . . . . . . . +5% Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . Start Visor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .+10% Headshot Damage . . . Harrot's Emporium Death Mask . . . . . . . . . . . .+10% Negotiation . . . . . . . Ratch's Wares Sentry Interface . . . . . . . . . +5% Shield Strength . . . Dr. Pepper Promo Umbra Visor . . . . . . . . . . . . +5% Power Damage . . . . Dr. Pepper Promo Recon Hood . . . . . . . . . . . . +5% Weapon Damage . . . . Dr. Pepper Promo Chest Bonus: Obtain: ----- ------ ------- N7 Chestplate . . . . . . . . . . . +3% Power Damage . . . . . . . . . . Start Capacitor Chestplate . . . . . . .-10% Shield Regen Delay . Harrot's Emporium Aegis Vest . . . . . . . . . . . . +5% Health . . . . . . . Rodham Expeditions Shield Harness . . . . . . . . . . +5% Shield . . . . Gateway Personal Defense Shoulders Bonus: Obtain: --------- ------ ------- N7 Shoulder Guards. . . . . . . . . +3% Weapon Damage . . . . . . . . . . Start Strength Boost Pads . . . . . . . .+25% Melee Damage . . . . . . . Omega Market Amplifier Plates . . . . . . . . . +5% Power Damage . Gateway Personal Defense Asymmetic Defense Layer . . . . . . +5% Health . . . . . . . . . Ratch's Wares Arms Bonus: Obtain: ---- ------ ------- N7 Gauntlets . . . . . . . . . . . +3% Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . Start Off-Hand Ammo Pack . . . . . . . .+10% Ammo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Start Stabilization Gauntlets . . . . . . +5% Weapon Damage . . . . . . Omega Market Heavy Damping Gauntlet . . . . . . +5% Shield . . . . . . . . . Ratch's Wares Legs Bonus: Obtain: ---- ------ ------- N7 Greaves . . . . . . . . . . . . +3% Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . Start Stimulator Conduits . . . . . . . .+10% Storm Speed . . . . . . . Omega Market Ordnance Packs . . . . . . . . . .+10% Heavy Weapon Ammo . . Harrot's Emporium Life Support Webbing . . . . . . .+10% Health . . . . . . . . Sirta Foundation Note that some armor will not be available when you first can access the merchant. All of it should appear by the time you reach the Collector Ship. =================== ========== .4G. Interrupt List [.4G.JUMP] =================== ========== "I am a biotic god! I think things - and they happen! Fear me, lesser creatures, for I am biotics made flesh! ... I'll nap. Destroy the universe later." -Niftu Cal If you want to try to catch all the possible interrupts, and see which ones you want to catch on other playthroughs. ---------------- .4G.01. Renegade ---------------- Freedom's Progress/Veetor, shoot screen Omega/recruit Archangel, stop Cathka Omega/recruit Archangel, snipe mech Omega/recruit Professor, interrupt Mordin Citadel/Al-Jilani, punch reporter Illium/recruit Assassin, throw Eclipse Trooper Illium/recruit Assassin, punch Telon Illium/recruit Justicar, pull gun on Pitne For Illium/recruit Justicar, shoot Elcora Pragia/Jack's mission, pull gun on Aresh Citadel/Thane's mission, rough up Mouse Citadel/Thane's mission, interrogate Kelham Citadel/Thane's mission, knock out Stock Boy Citadel/Garrus' mission, Shoot Krogan Tuchanka/Grunt's mission, headbutt Uvenk Tuchanka/Mordin's mission, blow up fuel tank Illium/Miranda's mission, surprise the mercenaries --------------- .4G.02. Paragon --------------- Freedom's Progress/Veetor, interrupt computer Omega/recruit Professor, interrupt Mordin Normandy/recruit Professor, interrupt Mordin Citadel/Crime in Progress, yell at C-Sec & Kor Tun Haestrom/recruit Tali, interrupt Kal'Reegar Illium/recruit Assasin, help Salarian Worker Illium/recruit Justicar, knock over Niftu Cal 2175 Aeia/Jacob's mission, save Survivor Pragia/Jack's mission, save Aresh Alarai/Tali's mission, hug Tali Omega/Samara's mission, comfort Diana Zorya/Zaeed's mission, smack Zaeed Tuchanka/Mordin's mission, interrupt Mordin Citadel/Thane's mission, distract Kolyat Citadel/Garrus' mission, Harkin, interrupt Garrus Citadel/Garrus' mission, Sidonis, stop Sidonis Illium/Miranda's mission, Niket, interrupt Miranda ============================== ========== .4H. ME1 Side Character Cameos [.4H.JUMP] ============================== ========== "Do you ever miss those long conversations we used to have in the elevator?" -Garrus "No." -Tali "Come on, remember we'd all ask you about life on the Floatilla. It was an opportunity to share!" -Garrus "This conversation is over." -Tali "Tell me again about your immune system." -Garrus "I have a shotgun." -Tali "Maybe we'll talk later." -Garrus Curious what happened due to your decisions in ME1? Or maybe playing through ME1 again and wanting to make sure your choices matter? To see most of these characters again, you simply have to spare their lives in the first game. There's some obvious, more important characters that I haven't included. Sorted by Planet Appearance: Omega ----- Fist Helena Blake -If you told her to quit, she becomes a social worker on Omega. -If you helped her criminal operation, she works for Aria. Korlus ------ Rana Thanoptis Illium ------ Conrad Verner -Currently bugged by not correctly representing ME1 choice Gianna Parasini Shiala Citadel ------- Refund guy News Stories ------------ Admiral Hackett -If Ruthless, the Shepard Memorial Flame on Torfan is attacked by protestors -If Sole Survivor, he plans a monument on Akuze for you -If War Hero, he obtains money from couples married at Elysium memorial plaza for war veteransEmily Wong Hannah Shepard, Shepard's mom, if spacer Kate Bowman Balak Corporal Toombs E-mail Messages --------------- Samesh Bhatia Dr. Chloe Michel Consort Sha'ira Han Olar Talitha, if colonist Lizbeth Baynham Lorik Qui'in Chairman Martin Burns Morlan Chorban >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> .05. About the Guide [.05.JUMP] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> "I'd never stab you in the back, Shepard. Warriors like you and me. Straight to the face." -Grunt ==================== ========== .5A. Version History [.5A.JUMP] ==================== ========== "I delete data like you on the way to the real errors." -Shepard VI Version 1.3, 3/24/2010: Added the recent Cerberus DLC: Firewalker/Hammerhead missions, the Cerberus Assault Armor info, and the Arc Projector Info. Version 1.2, 3/5/2010: Many more fixes (thanks to more e-mails). Added a clear warning before moving off towards the end of the game. Sorry for the slow update, as I was initially waiting for Hammerhead before I updated the FAQ, but there were enough fixes that I decided to update now to clear confusion. Next update thus will include Hammerhead missions, and one final sweep of the main text for clarity and correctness, so I can only focus on the future DLC. Version 1.1, 2/6/2010: Added Squad Recommendations. Fixed some errors and added to clarifications (thanks to e-mails). Version 1.0, 2/5/2010: First submitted to GameFAQs. ======================= ========== .5B. Legal Notification [.5B.JUMP] ======================= ========== (C) Copyright 2010 Kenneth Chiu This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It cannot be used in any form of printed or electronic media involved in a commercial business. This guide may not be placed on any website or otherwise distributed publicly without my express written permission. These websites and its associates are authorized to host this guide: www.gamefaqs.com Use of this guide on any other website or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited and a violation of copyright. ======================== ========== .5C. Contact Information [.5C.JUMP] ======================== ========== "I'm offering to be your friend. You don't want to be my enemy." -Shepard "They have a way of dying." -Garrus You can e-mail me at [ tonhylozoist @ yahoo.com ] about questions, comments, or concerns with my guide. Please include "ME2 Guide" in the title followed by the subject. I am horrible at replying to e-mails, and only understand English, so please be patient if you decide to contact me. I don't use instant messangers, so it's probably not useful to try to friend me. If you require technical assistance, I apologize but I will probably not have a reply for you. Instead, you should try finding an answer at the GameFAQ boards, or the official Bioware technial support self-help forum, located at: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/106/index Thanks for reading.