Wrex: Family Armor

After to [sic] talking to Wrex you learned that he's looking for his family's ceremonial armor. It was taken by the turians after the Krogan Rebellion [sic] and now a profiteer named Tonn Actus has it.

Acquisition

 * By repeatedly approaching Wrex on the Normandy and talking with him about his past. Eventually, he will tell Shepard about the armor.
 * Alternatively, this assignment can be acquired by visiting the hidden structure on Tuntau, in the Phoenix system of Argos Rho.

If Wrex is present on Tuntau, the assignment will be completed there. If Wrex is not part of the squad, he can be found on the Normandy after Actus has been dealt with and given the armor. The assignment will then be completed, irrespective of Wrex having not told the Commander about the armor beforehand.

Preparation
The typical frustration factor in this mission doesn't involve the danger of being killed by the Pirates and Tonn Actus so much as the difficulty in getting them to take enough damage to eliminate them. Everyone but Pirate Snipers has Immunity and will use it frequently; they also come rather well armored. Finally there is the difficulty of getting them to stand still while you're shooting at them, as they like to run around all over the place, and even using the normally all-purpose biotic Lift on them tends to send them sailing off across the room behind the many obstructions; likewise using the normally ever-useful Sabotage tends to just cause them to hide where you can't get to them and heal their wounds--these pirates seem much smarter than the typical enemy!

In light of these challenges, some abilities which do work very well include Neural Shock, which will drop a Pirate straight to the floor without time to engage Immunity (and without flying away from your gunfire), and Warp which will remove some of the enemies' damage protection. Throw, when carefully directed against a nearby object or wall, can also disable Pirates without hurling them out of range. You'll also want to bring big guns that do a lot of damage, and a squad to make use of them.

Wrex requests to be brought along assuming you get the mission from him: it is up to you whether to bring him, but there can be some plot consequences of this decision later on.

Walkthrough
Upon landing on Tuntau, the hidden structure in question is directly south of the landing site, and set into a crater with few entrances. The exterior entrance is defended by two Pirate Snipers and a Pirate. Taking them out won't be a big problem, but the Snipers, even at close range, will try to use their Assassination ability, so watch out for that. Once the exterior infantry have been dealt with, enter the structure.

When you enter, save your game, and depending on how you acquired this assignment, and if Wrex is present, he will comment about the armor being there. If you didn't acquire this before by talking to him, then you will get the story. If you already acquire the assignment, then he will just mention that this is the place. Now to find it.

When you enter the main room, there are two Pirate Snipers, six Pirates, and Tonn Actus in the room. Assuming you venture beyond the doorway, a good cover area is at the other end of the main floor, near the opposite wall. You can get there without alerting the mercs to your presence until you are almost there. Once there take cover and take out the mercs. The Mercs will move around the area, and rarely enter it, but there are several overlapping fields of fire that they and your squad can take advantage of. Focus on the Pirates and Actus first, as they are the larger threats, and because the Snipers will usually switch to pistols for this fight due to their sight lines being obscured by the obstacles all around. Try to pick one enemy at a time and hammer him down as hard and quickly as possible, minimizing the chance for him to get away and heal.

If Shepard or a squadmate has access to Overload, there is an explosive power conduit on the balcony - it's possible to kill three or four of the Pirates outright and damage some of the others, making the ensuing fight much easier.

All the non-sniper mercs in the room have Immunity and use it frequently. Actus is especially fond of using the power whenever he can. Just keep an eye out for flankers and rushers, flanking enemies are far more hazardous to your health than rushers, because they are usually infrequent. They will usually circle the cover area, firing when they get the chance. Actus however, likes to rush you no matter where you take cover, so use powers and gunfire to keep him in cover and prevent that from happening. Keep on the move when you're in the main chamber, because no matter where you take cover there are always flanking opportunities for your enemies. Alternatively you can position your squad in the doorway of the entrance room to prevent flanking, but this can make for a bit of a slow war of attrition.

Once all the pirates are down, explore the facility to find some crates. On the main floor, the only crates are in the room off the back wall. Inside is a Medical Kit, a Malfunctioning Object, a Hardened Crate, and a Crate. The second floor also only has loot in the room. The room holds another Medical Kit, a Technician Kit, an Upgrade Kit, a Wetware Kit, and the Wall Safe containing Wrex's armor. While you may find other armor in the safe, Wrex's armor is a plot item that is never actually awarded, you may safely convert any armor found into omni-gel without affecting the outcome of the assignment.

If this assignment is completed before travelling to Virmire, Commander Shepard will gain Wrex's trust and can use this in lieu of Charm or Intimidate to calm him down once it is revealed that Saren Arterius has found a cure for the genophage. This will still unlock the Charismatic achievement, despite no Charm/Intimidate being needed.

Troubleshooting
If your Decryption skill is too low to open the safe, return to the Normandy and then the base, and attempt to open it again; the skill difficulty level will change. To ensure success, bring your best tech squad (i.e. Kaidan and Tali), though this deprives you of a conversation with Wrex about just how valuable the armor is to him. Note that bringing a single tech specialist along with Wrex can and will work, but it requires for that squadmate to have enough tech skill points assigned.

Enemies

 * Pirate
 * Pirate Sniper
 * Tonn Actus