There may be some spoilers in here. This is meant to be a strategy guide. This is just my way of doing it, I’m certain there are others.
Character Importing
I suggest that you import an Infiltrator from a previously completed ME2 playthrough and select Dominate (you did play a Renegade at some point, right?) as your bonus power. You can change that pick once you get Mordin if you don’t like it, but I found it VERY useful to have in conjunction with the AI Hacking power. Another great bonus is that you keep all of your heavy weapons and many of your better weapons as well as most of your armor upgrades. This will save you money and resources in not having to upgrade to get them, though you still “get” a few weapons as part of the story even if you have them in the Armory.
My Build (everything without a number is level 4)
1 Heavy Disruptor Ammo
2 Cryo Ammo 1
3 Assassination Cloak
4 Incinerate 3
5 AI Hacking 2
6 Agent
7 Enhanced Dominate (bonus skill)
I had one wasted point because I forgot to go back to my save game from the end of the previous play and reallocate my points.
Tutorial and Freedom’s Progress
All the enemies in both areas are synthetic, so having the Heavy Disruptor Ammo upgrade is very effective. If you did not do so during your first playthrough, you probably need to reload your last save from your import and redo your skills. For this, and the entire game, you need to make a judgment call about medi-gel. If you can solo the enemies then let your squad lie, late in the game you will not have all the gel you can carry and it becomes precious.
Before You Go Recruit Mordin
I suggest you visit the Citadel and Omega to get the upgrades you think you need. I would concentrate on Sniper Rifles, Medi Gel, Damage Protection, Tech Damage and Health. Get Kasumi on the Citadel and Zaeed on Omega while you are there. You won’t have enough money to buy all that stuff on your first stop, but if you do some missions on the Normandy and find the few planets you can visit successfully you should be able to buy everything you need. I cannot stress this enough, save before you go to any planet mission. Having to go back to a much earlier save because the auto save gets you stuck on a mission that you just can’t finish is annoying to say the least. I said “successfully” above, because there are two that I have not completed successfully on this difficulty. The Eclipse Smuggling Depot has two heavy mechs that will come after you at the same time; I find that impossible to survive when they don’t die as fast as you do, and the reward is based on saving things alone. The crashed freighter mission has infinite mechs that come way too fast (though if they stuck to the cargo manifest, “infinite” would not be the case). I almost finished that one; the light mechs got me on the way to the shuttle after I killed the heavy mech. Of course, not doing this mission rules out the two that follow it in the sequence but the third one once again is full of infinite mechs, and in the enclosed area it is hard to navigate and survive on a lower difficulty much less Insanity.
Kasumi Loyalty
Most of the bad guys don’t chase you down. The exceptions to this are the light mechs and Vanguards, they will come after you. I found that by cloaking and going into one of the containers in one of the later areas that I was able to get one of the Vanguards in a position to hit her around a corner and she was stuck. Generally, you need to shoot them fast when you see them, using cloak to maximize the damage. You do need to take the ship’s shields down once in order to progress, but at this difficulty by the time that happens Kasumi is ready to go when it comes back. I ran out of ammo for my heavy weapon, but the Viper Sniper Rifle (another good reason to import a previous finish) worked well with the time dilation thing allowing me to get off 4 shots into the gunship before I needed to get back into cover.
Zaeed Loyalty
If you want to end the game faster, go Paragon. You need the Heavy Ammo upgrade to fire the Cain twice. The hardest part here was the area near the end, make sure just after the Weapon Locker that you head directly to the right and have your squad follow you over there. If the bad guys come around the crates and flank you it is deadly. You can shoot, and be shot, through the gaps in the boxes. When the mech comes out, shoot it until it starts to come around toward you and then run across the room to the other side while it is behind the crates, using your cloak for the first few seconds.
Mordin Recruitment
I got through this mission this time quicker than ever before by being stealthier. Shooting the bad guys from above while one squad mate is on the ground works wonders in all situations, though sometimes you have to go down to get the last few. Incinerate is wondrous for killing Pyros, once they have no shields or armor, with one hit. Tactically Cloaking as an enemy comes up the stairs at you in the Eclipse vs. Blue Suns area makes them go back down. I found out the hard way that, in the last area, you need to go as far to the wall away from the ramps as you can when facing the bad guys for the second cure room. This allows you to shoot the heavy enemies without being immediately stormed by the ground level bad guys coming up the ramps right on top of you. In one case, a Krogan totally passed me by to go after my squad mate who had run down the opposite side ramp to the empty hallway I had previously cleared. Surprisingly my squad mate took him out solo with little problem.
Back On The Ship
It goes without saying that once you get Mordin, you should get all the upgrades to the Sniper Rifle, Tech Damage, Damage Protection, Health and Medi Gel that you can afford.
Jack Recruitment
This is pretty straight forward, take cover when you need to and use cloak to run away from enemies closing in on you. The last fight is not too bad if you realize you can take down the shield generators from across the room. Take down the center one, go left, and take down that one and the one across the room. Run back down to the middle, the soldiers don’t come chase you there. You can’t see the Warden’s health and such but even without a health meter you can shoot at anything you can see, and with the Viper Sniper (and maybe some missiles if needed) you are good to go.
Garrus Recruitment
This one is tough, you have to kill the bad guys fast and Jack’s Shockwave helps a lot. At the end, if Garrus health has just turned red before you go after Garm you can still win, but it is better if it is still yellow.
Grunt Recruitment
All I can say is Garrus and Zaeed make short work of everything with those Viper rifles. Until they start making mistakes that is, but thankfully the mistakes don’t start getting really bad until after the Krogan Berserkers. In most cases you can simply finish off the bad guys in the area solo and your squad comes back, there are lots of checkpoints like that throughout the area. At the end, you probably need to split your squad focus from yours in that they should concentrate on the krogan, they keep coming until Jedore is dead. The mech usually won't come up behind the barricade on your side. Move over behind one of the metal shields and watch out for Jedore to peek her head out. Launch a few missiles at her and they should seek her even when she ducks back down.
It is about this point that any attempt to approach the Galaxy Map meets with “The Illusive Man wishes to speak with you.” You are railroaded into going to Horizon as soon as the 4th (non DLC) squad member is recruited. You can still buy upgrades with the resources you have at that moment.
Horizon
Buildings are a lifesaver, for you anyway since your squad continues to be stupid about their cover positions. As long as you stay in the middle window of the buildings in the first two areas, they will not come in after you. The area following the frozen people is a little more challenging; you need to take some risks. Your squad is going to die from their own stupidity at some point during this fight. Don’t even worry about Medi-gel, I’ll tell you how to get through this. As soon as the Collectors show up, head back into the building you likely just passed through. Go to the far end and peek around the balcony. From there you cannot snipe without poking your head out too far, but Incinerate has a much smaller line of sight requirement. You should see Harbinger at the far end, but he will likely be moving left and right without doing much else. If you stick your head out too far, you will know it. Incinerate him and any Collectors on this side of the building, if Harbinger does not take another host go through the building to the door and open it for a moment. This should encourage him to take a host, but you also get shot at. Go back to the balcony, and repeat this for the second wave. The first part of the last battle is very hard if you don’t use some strategy. Do not go down the stairs! Go as far to the right wall as you can and use your sniper rifle to zoom in pretty much straight ahead. You will see an alien backside sticking out there. Snipe it until you are down to a couple of bullets then use your squad mates’ powers on it until it is gone. Now, the door behind you should still be open. Go back to the previous area and get any ammo you may have not needed before. Back in the doorway, go all the way left. Zoom and look right, you should see the other Scion there. This one reacts if you hit him by moving a bit but he will not come after you. Once he is dead, the battle is over, no husks. Now go hack the terminal in the middle and get on with the next fight. This one is easier than you might think, cloak and make a beeline for the truck near the doors you came in. Hunker down over there and let your squad mates do their job. If all works out, you might have one Husk come your way. Now, once again it is time for patience. Harbinger will take over Collectors one by one, he will then either stay by the communication tower or go over to the stairs to the left and go back and forth much like his behavior earlier. You just need to spam Incinerate him every time he does this and he will eventually run out of hosts. His name won’t show, but if you target him in your sniper scope as you fire it will usually curve to hit him. When the dead come back to life the second time (your squad mate should say something like “There must be more”), get out of the truck. A Collector will land in there and you don’t want to be there when he does. If you can make it to the opposite end you can do the same thing again. “More coming” part 2 is the Praetorian. Nasty thing, but it will turn around if you cloak. So the strategy is to make sure that it never gets over your head. You can run to the left but the better option (since it is further from the thing’s start point) is back to the truck, make sure you use your cloak every chance you get to keep it away from you and add to the damage given.
After your number of team members reaches 8, it is only a matter of time before you once again get sent to the Briefing Room without the ability to access the Galaxy Map. I recommend you do the research station and mining missions in Caleston Rift for the resources before starting recruitments. You can usually do 5 missions before you get sent to the Collector Ship if you already have Kasumi, Zaeed, Miranda, Jacob, Garrus, Grunt, Mordin and Jack (that’s 8) at this point.
Tali Recruitment
The first part is pretty straightforward. Take out the bad guys and head to the right into the ramp area. Be aware there are some Geth up top that will come down. If you take cover in the boxes at the bottom you can Incinerate them around the corner. Make your way up the ramp and head left at the top. Take out the Geth that appear in the distance and head that way. Carefully navigate the hallway ahead and definitely save after the walkie talkie conversation. In this next area, take out the Hunter and then proceed down the ramp. The Geth will spawn forever if you don’t. Take cover outside the room ahead and kill the Geth until you see more coming down the ramp. Cloak and run past them into the room, this stops the respawns and the Geth should stay outside the room for the most part. Don’t get the charges until you are ready for a nasty fight, definitely get the 3 medi gels in this room. After the fight, once again you face infinite troopers coming up so head out as fast as you can to avoid getting everyone killed including yourself. Once you get the Destroyer to come out (thankfully the flamethrower it wields does not come over the top of your cover), you are about done with that fight. Scope out the ramp to your right as you come in, this may be useful in a minute. Go get the other charge and ready yourself for another battle. From the balcony, it’s not too hard to finish this. After the weapon station it gets interesting. The drones are infinite, and there are two Primes here. Thankfully not at the same time. Once you get past the second one, make a run for the door. The drones don’t follow you (or your squad kills them before coming into the room after you). This next battle is time consuming but thankfully not infinite. Go right, there are fewer Geth up there. Once the Destroyer shows up you know you’re about done. Advance forward and take out the few Geth below you then unload on the Colossus with your heavy weapon from the balcony, there is a spot where the blue blasts hit the wall and you can fire with impunity.
Miranda Loyalty
The beginning is not too tough, if you brought someone with the Geth Rifle you’ll be glad you did. There’s not much ammo before the elevator, though. Not many problems with the next battle. Battle 3, go back around the corner and take cover there. You can take the mechs down fast as they round the corner. The next few fights are basic enough, and it really gets interesting when the Vanguards show up. Thankfully, you end up back in the bar so you can go after one of the recruits while you are here (they both end with you back on the ship). I recommend Samara if you already have Garrus and Zaeed for snipers.
Samara Recruitment
The introductory fight is simple enough, but it gets much more interesting soon after. Your squad will continue to make bad decisions and die, leaving you to either revive them or not. In most cases, the answer is not. The weapon locker at the bottom of the stairs remains accessible for a while, and since it refills your ammo when you use it you should go back to it when needed. Stay far from the mechs and Vanguards and use Dominate/AI Hacking freely to get additional help against your enemies. In the gunship battle, retreat to the room when the Fenris mechs come out and shoot the gunship from the doorway by aiming up. It will hit you less and your missiles can seek quite well. Final battle ahead, the boss lady is afraid of you so she won’t close in. I told my squad to target her and the battle ended swiftly, even after she ran upstairs.
The Collector Ship
After two optional missions, a loyalty and two recruitments it is time to go see what the Collectors are doing. Too bad you can’t pick a new weapon skill while you are here. Just make sure your squad targets one enemy at a time. The same Harbinger glitch exists here once you are past the platforms, but getting past that point is a bit of a challenge. The Praetorian is a headache, especially if you used all your gel on the platforms and you only have the two from that hallway shortly afterward. Target your sniper rifle and your squad on everything else besides the Praetorian so you have free reign of the entire area. It will Barrier itself many times, just keep chipping away at it. At the end, you can cloak and run to get past the husks if you need to in order to finish the mission with no ammo and no living squad members.
Now that you are done with that part, you can do whatever you want. You need all the upgrades you can get to survive. That said, you should go get all the minerals you can, whenever you can. Scanning the planets as you go from system to system for assignments works well. I won’t list all the N7 assignments, just the ones that need notes.
Crashing Ship
You have to use cloak and cover wisely in order to get through this but you should have more than enough time left at the end to override the engine if you are fast enough. Ignore the Iridium in the last area, it is plentiful on many planets and it will likely just get you killed in the process.
Samara Loyalty
There is no combat involved here, so you might as well go after it. It should pop up once you get back from the Collector ship. You may need to talk to Hortfin, the thieves, the dancer and the bartender to progress depending on your Paragon score.
Thane Recruitment
Standard cover tactics, just keep in mind that there are many spawn points in each room, so don’t go too far in at one time. There are also many doorways that connect to where you might be behind cover allowing enemies to flank you if you don’t retreat back across the room. There are way too many times your squad will come back from the dead but you cannot save. Speaking of which, save right before you leap off the ledge onto the bridge below. The auto save in that area puts you at the bottom of the ledge with enemies closing in. The dark red area right before the bottom is not cover for long, but it gives you a few extra seconds to shoot missiles. You did pick the missile launcher, right? Put your back to the wall and fire at the mechs, the other bad guys won’t pop until you jump off. You should have one or two missiles left, save them (it will give you that many more toward your next mission) and target the Vanguards that pop up one at a time. Dominate may not always get them to attack their friends, but it will keep them out of the fight for a few seconds if nothing else. Snipe the rocket launchers from the two level boxes and save your gel, you can save your game once the rockets are down and your squad comes back. The single Vanguard that comes as “reinforcements” at the end is dealt with easily by Incinerate around the boxes. When she does come out to play, your squad can get her easily. They seem to have a problem attacking her until she moves away from the right wall.
Garrus Loyalty
Heavy Disruptor Ammo is a lifesaver here. The hardest battle, in the beginning, is the three mechs that come at you when you first enter. You might want to wait on bypassing the two circuit boards near the bridge controls until the enemies are all dead. Getting shot while doing that is annoying. Don’t be afraid to retreat a bit if the mechs or other enemies are coming too close. Past the window room, the mechs drop three at a time every time you take down a trio of them, so you only have a few seconds to get past that point before another set drops. Of course, if you go too far you will have two new problems. Don’t go past the Commander until you kill him, there will be an auto save at that point. Go down two tiers and trigger the heavies, then cloak and climb back up to where the Commander was. Thankfully, they can’t climb steps so it is just a matter of patience. The two mechs on the steps after are easily taken down from the side, through the support beams r just let your squad do it for you.
Thane Loyalty
No combat, just make sure to keep a close eye on the guy. If you don’t use the Paragon interrupt near the end, you get some interesting options.
Grunt Loyalty
I recommend a second shotgun toting squad member for this one. The Varren are a headache, the Klixen are not too tough as long as you make sure all 4 of them are in front of you each wave. Just keep Incinerating them and backing up, when the dragon comes back to drop off more get them all arranged so none are behind you. Going in circles for a while hitting them as fast as you can works well. For the Thresher Maw, you have to avoid the spit by making sure you are as far away from in front of it as possible. Missile launcher is useful here, but don’t fire more than 2 shots at once. The sniper rifle still does good damage, though zooming in is hard. The good news is the outer columns are permanent and don’t fall down when they get spit on. More than likely, you will end up surviving rather than killing it. The end is a bit unfair, a bunch of Krogan who like to come after you and a tiny area. I found that sometimes if you stay where you begin they don’t close in so fast.
Mordin Loyalty
Wide open area with plenty of cover. Doing Grunt’s loyalty first gets you Fortification, a wonderful power he likes to use all the time if you let him. It keeps him alive. Popping Pyros is fun, with Mordin’s Incinerate up to level 4 it becomes easy too. Near the door at the end, the enemies will come toward you which is unusual but they will not cross the last cement barricade. Inside, the first battle is not too hard, just make sure you take cover around to the left. Once you get to the multi level room, you need to realize that you can (and really should)use both levels. Fortification still keeps Grunt alive longer, but he is not so invincible in this battle as he seemed before. The Varren seem to suffer from vertical blindness, meaning the ones down below will not climb the ramp all the way unless you are standing at the top of it. This creates an opportunity to take down the Krogan first and then stand on the other side of the railing and Incinerate the Varren as they climb up to be parallel with you. You can also draw the Krogan up the ramp one at a time and use the upper level to keep distance between you.
Abandoned Mine
The Husks funnel themselves quite well here. At the end, use a gun on the bombs. A missile launcher will just curve toward the Husks.
Blood Pack Communications
Just be careful of the Klixen backing you into a corner.
Captured Mining Facility
Big enough area to find lots of cover, and even if you open the bridge before the last battle they won’t use it.
Blood Pack Base
The top area looking down is the best place to shoot from. The cliffs in the next area are great for knocking enemies off to their deaths. In the room, taking down the Krogan is a priority. The ramp at the door seems to be a glitch point of some sort, the enemies won’t come follow you over there.
Archeological Dig Site
Mostly standard, though the second room inside seems to have a weird glitch as far as the squad members. I found that one of them likes to sit in the hallway and not join the battle, I finally got him to join in after most of the bad guys were dead. Somehow, after they were dead there were no bad guys at the other end of the room. Perhaps my squad mate, who somehow came in from a whole other direction than the door behind me, took them down before he died.
Jacob Loyalty
Heavy Disruptor ammo is a must and the Sniper Headshot bonus helps a lot too. Near the end, the heavy mech won’t show until after you pass the big steel block so you can take your time killing the others. It will chase you, so you can have your choice of cover by retreating back the way you came.
Strontium Mule
The room with the ramps is hard to do head on, instead use the area right at the top of the first ramp to shoot up to the top of the second one around the corner with Incinerate. At the bridge door, there is a glitch I accidentally discovered. If you back out of the bypass screen it still unlocks the door. You can take down all the bad guys from the bridge except for the two heavies.
Javelin Launch
I found this one to be impossible to complete in the time allowed, too many enemies. The reward seems to only be XP and money anyway.
Blue Suns Base
Pretty standard, the heavy mechs are a bit of a pain. The blue Suns afterward are worse in some ways.
Jack Loyalty
The room after the Varren presents another opportunity to attack those who cannot see you. The far left wall lets you pick off the bad guys in the window room with Incinerate. In the next hallway, if you send your squad to the end to draw out the Varren you fill find that the poor things cannot climb stairs. You can take them down easily if you stay on the steps. In the last room, if you stay in cover in the center, the Krogan don’t close in right away and when they do it is one at a time.
EDIT: IF YOU DO ALL LOYALTY AND OPTIONAL MISSIONS BEFORE GOING TO THE IFF, LEGION SHOULD OFFER YOU HIS LOYALTY MISSION BEFORE THE POST IFF ENCOUNTER AND YOU SHOULD NOT LOSE ANY CREW.
Reaper IFF
I choose Thane and Garrus, and don’t forget to change to the Cain weapon. Having Geth Pulse Rifle and Locust SMG (you and Thane) is useful. Make sure Armor Piercing Ammo (everything seems to have armor) and Shredder Ammo (great for husks) are activated on squad weapons upon landing along with Cryo Ammo on Shepard’s weapons for the most effective damage. Dominate works a bit like Neural Shock on these guys, Warp is nice and Concussive Shot is great. Don’t use the Cain on the Scions as tempting as it may be, it will be vastly more helpful later. Due to the fact that this ship is very long, you can backpedal until your heart is content pretty much everywhere. The hallway between the two work logs is not too tough, though your squad likes to take cover behind the explosives making it hard shoot the crates without damaging your squad. Thankfully there is more than enough ammo scattered around in here, the entire ship in fact, that you should never run out even if you have to backtrack to get one.. Past the first sniper encounter, save the crate for the Scion. It is also a good idea to save between waves and go back to the area behind you where the power cells were, there is 6-7 ammo there that should last you the whole battle in this area. The Husks chased me all the way to the entry door. The explosive crates that were still there became useful all of the sudden, and then the Scion was not too far away. Retreating back up the stairs in the next couple of areas is useful, especially if you post your guys at the railings but be careful of the Scions. Backpedaling in this area takes a bit more looking where you are going but it still works, the Scions are usually closer to you when then Husks are down but taking them on 3 to one is preferable. Sometimes, they cannot go up the stairs which makes it easier. This is not the case in the third area with two Scions, there are ramps which they have no issue navigating. I (with a dead squad) had to run all the way back to the top of the stairs in the previous area, the Scions got to the top of the other side about the time the Husks were dead and were quickly dispatched with only minor damage to me. After the Husks finally stop spawning, the end is near. The Scions are mostly backpedaling away, if you don’t get too close to them you don’t have to fight Husks at the same time. As you may have found out with Jack, Shockwave detonates explosives so if there are any left stay away from them. In case you need me to say it, save before entering the final room. If you took my advice, your Cain should be at about 145. More than enough for one shot, if you time it right you can end the mission as soon as the cut scene is completed. Switch to it before you open the door. The difficulty makes no difference. Like the crates or destructible objects in the other missions, the core is an object not an enemy that can be made harder. You may think you missed at first, but if you walk forward it should end the mission. Three very useful upgrades now await your research, also I recommend you save Legion from the wishes of the Cerberus crew. You don’t really need 50K in money, though the Renegade points are nice.
Anomalous Weather
Get Legion (who gets the Geth Pulse Rifle, seems fitting) and Tali and let’s go Geth hunting. Sometimes they hack the last enemy in an area, but it goes pretty smooth until the end. The mission does allow a save in the middle. The Destroyer is well named, I suggest a bit of a retreat when it shows up. Its flamethrower does penetrate cover unlike the one in Tali’s mission.
Legion Loyalty
Sometimes this will pop up right after you activate him, sometimes not. It will pop after the Weather mission is complete if not earlier. Once again, Tali is the best choice. She also has the most interesting dialogue during the mission. Don’t forget to get the Missile Launcher back for this one, Cain does not do much for you here. Don’t forget to activate your Heavy Disruptor Ammo. Strategy here is a bit different on Insanity with everything coming with shield already, you can’t just hack them before they notice you. I suggest going after the Hunters first, and not disrupting the streams just gets you in a bad area for cover in most cases. Your squad won’t stand on a stream while it is green, so get them as close as you can to cover before you step on one. You’re going to need both turrets in the hallway, far one then near one works best as long as you are not taking cover where the shells explode. The door closes behind you after that, I found that lesson out the hard way when I tried to retreat from the next server room. You may need to use some heavy weapons here, but save some for the end. In the room with the research terminal, you can open the door and let your squad in and then let them do all the work. In the room with the code on the ramps, trigger it at the top and let the enemies come to you. The door is available for a quick retreat, if need be to recharge yourself. In the next room, watch where you click. It is far too easy to trigger a turret while trying to take cover or something. Almost done, hope you have some heavy ammo you will need it. There’s not good place to take cover from the last enemies in the final room. You can get out once the Prime is down without taking out all the enemies if you are running short on time.
Consequences From The IFF
I tried to run back to Tuchanka to see what I missed and this triggered. Since there are no battles here, the difficulty setting makes no difference. Just be warned that you can die if you move too fast near the Engineering section.
Tali Loyalty
You should have time for one mission before you go to Omega 4. Bringing Legion along is great fun, as you might expect. Unfortunately, aside from the humor value in taking him through the first part Grunt is more useful. He has a Geth Pulse Rifle too and his armor power is wonderful. Don’t leave the ship without group Disruptor Ammo, if you need to redo your skills just think that you’re not going to use the Element Zero for anything else a this point and you may as well pick up Squad Warp Ammo for your bonus while you are at it. I figure an increase in damage from 3 guns is preferable to a bit more increase from just one gun. Put Disruptor Ammo on all your weapons and both your squad mates’ weapons too, you never know when it may be necessary to switch. You may need to refresh the ammo every once in a while, sometimes when they die they lose it and if you die they certainly will lose it on the reload. The lab battles are pretty straightforward, the stairs battle requires a bit more strategy. Put yourself and one of your squad members on the railing around the corner from the stairs. Keep Grunt’s armor up and don’t overlook the usefulness of the Combat Drone, the Geth like it better than you as far as a target. Final area, powerful enemies in a tiny room. Make sure your squad members are using shiny blue weapons and proceed. It is surprisingly easy, just make sure you leave the Prime until the end and you likely won’t lose anyone. It does not seem to move at all from the spot it starts in as long as the other Geth are alive. You may lose the conversation for lack of Renegade points, but if you choose to tell Legion to stop you have enough points to apologize to him and get his loyalty back.
Through The Omega 4 Relay: Endgame
Here you go, the end of the game. I suggest you make sure you get all the upgrades you can and check your powers and armor (If you did Arrival before you got to the IFF you should have enough for two Cain shots if you equip the armor piece that gives a Heavy Weapon ammo bonus.). If you pick your teams well once you get to the station, it won’t be your name added to the dead at the end.
But before you get that far, you have the Oculus to deal with. You can set up your ammo powers and such in the doorway before the thing enters. Tactical Cloak does not work against it. Be careful of firing too many shots of your missile launcher, if it is leaving you won’t hit it as it goes and those shots will be wasted and sometimes your shots might also hit the big metal boxes in the room. There are some power cell crates in here, but they are hard to get to and it will go away if you are just avoiding it. When the thing comes back it seems harder to avoid this time. If you start with heavy weapon ammo, use it before you dash for the nearby box, for some reason grabbing the (infinite box of) power cells near your starting spot removes any ammo you have. Don’t try to go after the other crate,there is no reason to and the thing likes to come back in that side after it leaves. Just make sure you picked snipers for your squad and take it down when it is shooting them.
After the landing, make sure you assign the best choices. Tali is better in the tunnel than either on your team or doing nothing. Garrus, Miranda or Jacob are best for the second team. You’re going to be glad for autosaves very soon. Grunt and Legion (both with nice shield boosts and unique weapons) work well for your personal team.
Don’t hesitate to use medi gel and heavy weapons. You get to pick a new heavy weapon and all your ammo and gel are replenished between most sections.
The path to the first button gives you a great spot to shoot from, and the button is unguarded. It autosaves after every button (but not immediately if there are enemies around) and hitting one resets the cooling meter as well, so that is helpful. The second one is deceivingly easy to get to. The third one is not that bad and the fourth on is unguarded. The fifth one is exceedingly hard to get to in time without a bit of a risk. You can use the Cain to take out the first group of enemies and then you have another group once you get to the heat exchanger. It saps your shields so look out for that, and the next three were not that hard. The last two are right next to each other and the eighth one I pushed in the middle of a battle to end the section before it was too late. Job well done mostly, nobody on my squad died but I somehow lost Chambers (among others listed by Chakwas). She was not romantic to me, maybe that made a difference.
Pick your Asari or Jack for this next part and same choices as before as far as the other teams. Mordin tends to die if he is left on the station, so he is good for an escort out for your crew. No time limit here, just a small area to fight in. The part with the Husks and other stuff is the hardest, too many things shooting at you at the same time. The next area is not that much better, the Husks are bad enough but the Scion constantly firing is hard to survive. After that, the bad guys all come in small groups. One more section completed. Survivors have arrived at the ship. Gotta leave Grunt behind at this point for maximum survival odds, so replace him with Thane (it’s good to have the sniper rifle option and his Warp is invaluable).
The platform battle is a lot more manageable than the one on the Collector Ship. If you don’t move from the platform you arrive on it goes very smoothly. Don’t worry about the Scions, they won’t attack you so far away. You can take down the one on the right with sniper fire and Incinerate and make a good start on the left one before it starts moving. It should be down much health when it does and is easily taken down. On to the end of the game.
Collect the ammo in the area and count your medi gels, you don’t get a break here though your dead squad members do come back to life. Push the button on the platform and away you go.
I was able to snipe two tubes with my rifle, on the same arm, before it closed. I missed the second time around but got the other tube on the third time. Hope you have your Cain ready, it’s time to end this. One shot from the Cain (you have to hit him) takes down his armor 25-50% depending on if his stomach is showing or not when it goes off. Not a lot, it helps at least that much. Now you just have to survive Collectors shooting at you while you shoot the big eye (the stomach may damage it more but the big eye is an easier target). There are cover spots on the sides, you just have to make sure you don’t end up on the one that gets toppled. You might not want to move from the center at all, other than jumping the wall when the thing moves to the left. I suggest loading the auto save created as this battle begins and switching to the Widow if you still have the Viper equipped, it cuts down the risk to you a lot. With the Cain, it took about 14 shots from the Widow and a few from my pistol to take down this bad guy in about 10 minutes.
Enjoy your hard earned achievement.!