Archangel is a mercenary commander whose operations are noted for their technical expertise and strategic brilliance. He is responsible for high-profile attacks on gang leaders on Omega and can likely be found there.
Acquisition[]
This mission becomes available after the mission on Freedom's Progress. It is part of the first group of dossiers provided by the Illusive Man.
Preparation[]
Be warned: Out of all of the missions in the first third of the game this is arguably the most challenging, especially at higher difficulties. Delaying this mission can greatly reduce its difficulty by gaining you more levels, higher level squadmates, more available squadmates, better weapons, more upgrades and research, and greater capacities of heavy weapon ammo/medi-gel.
If you want to do this mission early for story or other reasons, it's advisable to at least obtain the Emergency Shielding research from the Normandy Tech Lab first. This requires three Medi-gel Capacity Upgrades to unlock but these can be obtained fairly easily. This upgrade enables medi-gel to restore Shepard and the squad to full health and shields, a tremendous asset to have on this and all future missions.
If you are playing a class that doesn't have access to assault rifles or sniper rifles, be advised there will be at least one fight where having an accurate weapon effective at long range will be important. The M-4 Shuriken has very poor accuracy, but the M-12 Locust on the other hand has excellent accuracy at all ranges and is a superior SMG overall so you may want to consider obtaining it prior to this mission. The M-5 Phalanx heavy pistol with its laser guide is also an excellent tool to have, though if you are on a first playthrough of Legendary Edition you won't have access to it yet, so try to at least have the M-6 Carnifex in your arsenal.
This is the only mission in the game in which you will have to fight all three major mercenary groups (Eclipse, Blue Suns and Blood Pack). You'll be facing all three types of defenses (shields, armor, and a few barriers), enemies that regenerate health, and mechs, so pick your squad members and powers accordingly.
Grunt deserves special mention as a standout squadmate as his Krogan Berserker passive makes him by far and away the most durable team member at this stage in the game, and that durability as well as his close combat prowess come in handy particularly during the notorious "close the shutters" portion of this mission. Grunt, Jacob, and Zaeed all have useful ammo powers that once maxed out can be upgraded to be shared with the entire squad. This can be especially valuable if you are playing a class that lacks ammo powers of its own. Incendiary Ammo is recommended due to the prevalance of armored and regenerating foes throughout the mission.
Note: Both Grunt and Zaeed unlock opportunities for unique dialogue during this mission.
In terms of bonus powers for Shepard, Stasis, if available, is a great option as there are several enemies in this mission that are tougher than the average foot soldier. Many of these "boss" type opponents have armor protection on top of shields or barriers, but as Stasis will freeze and disable most enemies regardless of protection, it's excellent for handling these hard targets. Also worth mentioning is Energy Drain – you'll be facing a lot of shielded enemies, and since this mission takes place early in the game, your own shield is quite fragile. Energy Drain helps tackle both of these challenges, enabling you to continuously wear down enemy shields while shoring up your own.
Taking the right heavy weapon and having a good amount of ammo available can be important for this mission on higher difficulties. The best option overall is the M-622 Avalanche, with the Arc Projector being a passable alternative. Both weapons are good at damaging and disabling enemies in a large area but the Avalanche has properties that make it uniquely useful for this mission.
Walkthrough[]
Prelude[]
On your very first arrival on Omega, Shepard will be instructed to speak to Aria T'Loak, the station's ruler. She tells Shepard about Archangel, a dangerous individual who has been killing large numbers of Omega's plentiful criminals. Three entire mercenary groups are preparing to kill him.
Aria directs Shepard to a small side room on the upper level of Afterlife Club to sign up for the merc mission. Speak to the Blue Suns guard, who then directs you inside. Upon entering the small room, if Shepard is female, the merc recruiter speaks in a rather condescending and presumptuous manner to her, allowing for a Renegade interrupt to set things straight. In any case, Shepard signs up as a freelancer and can thus travel deeper into the station by talking to a merc at the transportation station. Just as you leave the room, you have a chance to earn a few morality points through dialogue options and a Paragon interrupt involving a young man who plans to sign up.
Upon exiting Afterlife, a small parking lot with vehicles can be found down the promenade off to the right. A Blue Suns batarian driver is standing guard. When asked, he will take the team to Archangel's base, beginning the official mission. Warning: This is the "no turning back" point, so if you had any other preparation to do on Omega, get it done first.
The new arrivals at the merc base of operations on Kima District are greeted by Salkie, who gives a preliminary overview of the situation. Speak to him for further intel or not, either way once your conversation is over you won't be able to talk to him again. He wants you to speak with Sergeant Cathka for further directions.
The merc encampment is divided roughly into three areas controlled by Eclipse, Blood Pack, and Blue Suns respectively. The direct route to Archangel is blocked by three barricades, which will force you to detour to the Eclipse area first. Note: While you're exposed to Archangel's line of fire in the barricaded areas you can be hit by a single sniper round that will knock out your shields but do no other damage. Either of your squadmates will react with alarm when this happens, and it will continue to happen as long as you loiter within Archangel's sight. This is not a lethal threat and is only meant to remind you of your prospective recruit's skills (and to get moving).
As you make your way through the merc base, you will find several items of interest and gain some options that will help you in the coming battle should you choose to avail yourself of them. EDI tells the Commander that she can find no other way to Archangel than the one the mercs plan to take on their assault, and that the mercs are using YMIR Mechs, LOKI Mechs and a gunship to pin him down. EDI recommends sabotaging them before leaving.
You will also have the opportunity to speak to the three gang leaders for their takes on the situation. As stated earlier, you'll arrive first into the Eclipse meeting room, where you find the mercs and their leader Jaroth as well as a datapad that triggers Omega: Archangel: Datapad Recovered. Speaking with Jaroth is not mandatory, and neither is visiting or speaking to the other two mercenary leaders, but doing so will provide insight into their actions as well as some more information about Archangel himself.
Outside Jaroth's room is a hallway. The adjacent door on the left is a mech room, the other leads outside of the Eclipse areas. Note: Make sure you did everything you need to in Jaroth's room before exiting the Eclipse area, as the room locks once you access the door leading out of the area.
You can't do anything about the packed LOKIs in the mech room, but the YMIR is another matter. You'll have to bypass it to turn off its friend-or-foe targeting when Eclipse drops it into the fight later. Sabotaging the heavy mech will cause it to turn on its masters after it is unleashed on Archangel. Not sabotaging it simply makes the fight more challenging later, if that's your jam. The room also contains a crate with 500 units of eezo and a hackable datapad worth 4000 credits.
The next door brings you to another junction. The Blood Pack's waiting area is ahead of you, and though it's an optional detour, if Grunt is in the squad, there are a few interesting options with the Blood Pack Leader Garm, a Krogan Battlemaster. Garm will also reveal that Archangel is a turian.
The other door leads to the Blue Suns section of the encampment: a heavily barricaded boulevard, where Archangel's lair is more visible at the distance. The vigilante himself shoots down a nearby shielded vorcha the moment you open the door, a testament to his skill and accuracy with a gun.
In front of you from the door is another vorcha corpse that has been dead longer than the freshly shot one. It's near another hackable datapad (6,000 credits). The boulevard consists of two doors, one of which is locked, and an A-61 Mantis Gunship hangar. Bypass the locked door to enter a small supply closet containing a Blue Suns weapon shipment (Submachine Gun Damage upgrade), as well as Blue Suns gunrunning accounts (4000 credits), power cells, and some medi-gel. You can speak to a freelancer near the last barricade for directions to Cathka (who is literally across him working on the gunship).
The other door leads to the Blue Suns planning room. The waiting hall has a medi-gel dispenser and a batarian Blue Suns trooper who seems irritated you're there and not with Cathka (but won't do anything about it). The meeting room proper is full of blue-clad stressed-out mercenaries. The conversation here with the Blue Suns leader Tarak is the only one of the boss interactions that has any moral decisions—all of the others are purely for story color. If Zaeed is in the group, there is some alternate dialogue with Tarak. Either way, the batarian's second in command, Jentha, takes over for any further inquiries you may have.
The gunship hangar is where all the freelancers hang out before being called to attack Archangel. If you didn't destroy the boy's gun before on Afterlife you can see him again here. Cathka's busy on the gunship, so you'll have to talk to his assistant first to get to him. Once you do that you're locked into going beyond the barriers, so make sure you did everything you wanted to in the previous areas before talking to Cathka.
Switching Sides[]
The conversation with Cathka can be long or short, but eventually, he will receive a signal to send in the next freelancer wave. The rest of the freelancers run out and Cathka resumes work on the gunship. A Renegade interrupt will involve Shepard taking a welder and sticking it in Cathka, rendering him unable to fully repair the gunship.
Shepard vaults over the barricade and can finally turn on the other mercs, though note that you must fire first before they turn on the squad. It's probably best to wait till the Freelancers are crowded around any of the explosive canisters in the entrance to Archangel's living room before blowing them up. Do not shoot at Archangel up on the balcony, as you will actually damage the "Archangel Vital Signs" bar, making the mission harder to accomplish.
Clear out the enemies on the ground floor, and then make your way up to Archangel's location on the upper floor where you can find the last few freelancers attempting to break through the door to his sniper nest. Clear them out, and you have a moment to breathe and save your game if you like, before you actually go through the door to meet your potential new recruit. If you didn't find it already, an Omni-tool on the ground floor provides a Tech Damage (Multicore Amplifier) upgrade.
When you're ready, go through the door and a cutscene shows your team approaching Archangel from behind. Apparently unconcerned by your approach, Archangel silently motions for you to wait as he expertly snipes one remaining merc outside. He then turns and removes his helmet, revealing himself to be none other than Garrus Vakarian.
If you never recruited him to your team in the mission to stop Saren, you won't have the option of more familiar greetings that can reward some morality points, but otherwise the conversation that follows from the dialogue option on the left is the same. Garrus summarizes his history over the last few years: he resigned from C-Sec in frustration and came to Omega, where he formed and led a twelve-man vigilante band that interfered with the activities of the various merc gangs, earning him the title "Archangel" from the locals. Now, however, the bodies covered by orange shrouds lying in groups throughout Garrus' hideout are seemingly all that remains of his former team. Garrus promises to explain more about what happened if you all get out alive.
Eventually talk turns to what to do next. Garrus gets up and uses the scope of his sniper rifle to see what is going on. A Renegade interrupt is briefly available when Garrus hands the rifle over to you, eliminating one of the LOKI Mechs with a headshot (the actual position of the crosshair is irrelevant). You and Garrus must now fight your way past the three mercenary groups. The Eclipse appears to be tired of waiting and attacks first.
Protect Garrus: For the upcoming battle and for most of the rest of the mission, you will need to defend Garrus against the three merc bands as they each attack his hideout in turn. A meter labeled "Garrus Vital Signs" will appear on your screen that shows Garrus' current level of health, and the meter level drops as he takes damage from enemies. If the meter runs out, Garrus will die and you receive a Critical Mission Failure screen. At certain discrete points during the mission, Garrus will recover an amount of his missing health. The amount of health he recovers can vary, but the bottom line is, as long as you reach one of these "checkpoints" with Garrus still alive, his life bar should recover enough going into the next fight that keeping him alive will remain feasible, even at the highest difficulty settings. The checkpoints are: meeting Garrus, defeating the Eclipse attack, and defeating the Blood Pack attack.
An M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle can be picked up either before or after talking to Garrus. It is a sizable improvement over the M-8 Avenger in terms of damage and accuracy. If you want to acquire the weapon but you don't want it equipped, fear not; there will be a weapons locker in the basement where weapons can be switched after the Eclipse attack. If you're on a repeat playthrough and have already unlocked a better weapon, you can safely ignore the Vindicator, though its position on the couch can make it difficult to avoid accidentally picking it up while running back and forth for clips during the battle.
The Eclipse Attack[]
Jaroth is getting more frustrated by the second and sends in his own troopers and LOKI mechs against your fortified position. It is advantageous to stay on the second floor, but even with SMGs this fight is not very hard, as most of the enemies stream across the bridge without taking cover. Eclipse Heavies will take cover occasionally on the sides of the bridge to cover their comrades with rockets, so you should try to take them out before they reach cover. If any mercs get into the base, you can switch from the outer edge of the balcony window to the inner edge overlooking the atrium and take them out before they reach the second floor. Garrus will warn you if Eclipse mercs manage to reach the base and the rear stairs.
Combat Tips:
- You'll want to take this fight from the second floor windows as aggressively as possible to keep too many enemies from getting past you to where you can be flanked, and also because if you don't do enough to suppress the advancing mercs, Garrus can easily take too much damage. Use your most accurate weapons, and remember that shooting an enemy even a little bit tends to slow its advance. Powers that deal damage in an area like Shockwave or Singularity can also stun several targets at once.
- Time your ammo runs carefully so that you aren't absent from the windows long enough for enemies to reach the other side of the bridge. There are two nearby pairs of respawning ammo cartridges—one on an end-table by the couch where you came in, and another on the floor by the couch opposite it; grabbing a single pair of cartridges (on alternating runs) will keep you topped up.
- Order your squadmates to switch to their most effective long range weapons such as sniper and assault rifles, and also activate any ammo powers (if you picked up the Vindicator rifle they will have been deactivated for your party). Incendiary Ammo is good at slowing down unprotected organic targets as it can induce panic by igniting them.
- If you happen to have Dominate as your bonus power, be advised that it can be downright counterproductive to use on enemies here, as they usually won't stop trying to cross the bridge to get to your position. This applies to both the Dominated target(s), or nearby enemies engaged by the Dominated target(s). Applying a strong barrier to enemies can make it impossible for you to take them down and basically gives them a free ride into the base.
Eventually, Jaroth will have had enough and sends in the YMIR mech. Any downed squadmates will automatically revive after the cutscene where the YMIR shows up. If it was sabotaged earlier, the mech will fight against its own side. On higher difficulties, the mercs will finish off the mech fairly quickly unless you and your team provide very effective supporting fire. While it's alive, enemies will focus all their attention on it, so you don't have to worry about taking damage yourself. Focus on Eclipse Heavies and Vanguards which can do the most damage to the rogue YMIR. If you're able to keep the YMIR alive, it can live long enough to face down Jaroth with a small amount of health left, though note that if the YMIR stays alive for too long, the hack will wear off and it starts attacking you. This usually isn't a problem on higher difficulties as it will die first. A useful tactic is to blow off the YMIR's head once the mercs wear it down; the resulting critical overload will likely be fatal to any enemies in the vicinity.
If the YMIR is hostile, it will advance into the building, and if you're upstairs this means there will be a period during which it is obstructed from view and you can safely deal with other enemies. However, the YMIR can and will come all the way upstairs to Garrus' room, so don't get taken unaware!
Combat Tips:
- If you hacked the YMIR earlier, then its arrival creates a good opportunity to grab a complete refill of ammunition as there will be no pressure on Garrus' health bar for a while.
- The YMIR's large size makes it a "power magnet;" it tends to be harder to target smaller enemies around it with powers until they get closer than the YMIR. A zoomed sniper rifle makes targeting powers easier.
- If the YMIR was hacked, more enemies spawn than if it was not hacked, but the fight overall remains much easier, particularly as it is usually possible to contain enemies on the bridge.
Jaroth, having lost a large number of mercs, enters the battle himself. If the salarian is kept on the bridge, he will be no trouble at all. He is armed with an M-6 Carnifex and also has armor protection in addition to shields, but Stasis can still freeze and then ragdoll him regardless. After he and the rest of the Eclipse mercs have been taken care of, Garrus will tell you to come and find him. Before talking to him, grab some thermal clips and perhaps a med pack or two from around the base. You can loot a foot locker in the room where Garrus is for 2000 credits, and also check the upstairs bedroom opposite the atrium for a wall safe (4,000 credits). You should also save your game.
Tip: If you're relying on an ammo power from one of your squadmates be sure it's activated for all of your weapons before talking to Garrus, as you may not get another chance until after completing the next section of the mission. Incendiary Ammo is strongly recommended.
The Blood Pack Attack[]
While you are talking with Garrus, a distant explosion rocks the entire base. It appears that the bombs the merc leaders mentioned earlier (if you talked with them) went off and breached the tunnels in the lower levels that Garrus had closed off. Now you must make a decision: take the whole team down to the basement to deal with the breaches, or split up two and two.
An important thing to know about the upcoming fight in the basement is that while Garrus' life bar will take damage while you're down there, it will not fully deplete—Garrus can't die. His life will only be reduced down to a minimum level that is about 20-25% of maximum. So there is time pressure only in terms of how much of his life bar is remaining when you finish in the basement and return to the main hideout for the final showdown with the remaining Blood Pack forces, including their leader, Garm. If you are able to seal the tunnels in the basement quickly, Garrus will have more life when you return, which may make it easier to keep him alive in that final battle. Leaving a squadmate with Garrus will slow down the rate at which his life bar depletes, giving you about 30% more time before it bottoms out.
Squad Strategy: Consider how effective your squadmates are at helping you deal with armored foes with their active abilities. If you have a squadmate who is mainly benefiting you passively, e.g. with an ammo power or Miranda's Cerberus Officer bonus, have them stay with Garrus, as you'll continue to receive that benefit anyway. Squadmates with a heavy focus on anti-shield powers like Overload won't be that useful in the basement. Ultimately though, the decision on whether to leave someone with Garrus comes down to which fight you think is the hardest: the basement, or the fight with Garm when you return. If you've never played this mission before or you're unsure of your combat prowess, it is recommended that you take both squadmates with you to help you beat the basement, as it can be very challenging depending on how well-equipped and leveled up Shepard is.
The Blood Pack attackers consist primarily of vorcha with a few krogan and varren appearing as well. Neither krogan or vorcha have shields, but both can regenerate health; on higher difficulties, they both possess armor as well. Weapons and ammo powers should be chosen appropriately, with heavy pistols, sniper rifles, and powers such as Incinerate or Warp being effective.
Garrus tells you to go to the basement through the door under the stairs. On your way there, pick up the tech damage upgrade on the ground floor if you didn't previously.
Once in the basement, Garrus will tell you that three shutters need to be closed in order to secure the lower level. When you first enter the basement, straight ahead is a Weapons Locker as well as a Medical Station. If you left a squadmate with Garrus and you received an ammo power from that squadmate, you'll start this sequence with that power active (provided it was active before talking to Garrus); however, you'll no longer be able to have that squadmate reapply the power for the duration of the fight in the basement. Changing guns at the Weapons Locker will reset your party's active ammo powers and so will loading a save, so bear that in mind.
The three shutters you will have to seal in this section require you to get right up to them and hit a green button on the right side to close them. Each shutter will only close after ten seconds (a visible countdown will appear). If there are any enemies too close to the shutter or Shepard is past the shutter, the countdown is immediately interrupted and the shutter will not close until you clear any obstructions and hit the button again for a fresh ten second countdown. Once a shutter closes and all enemies in the immediate area are dead, any downed squadmates will automatically revive. The basement sequence ends immediately after closing the third shutter; after a brief cutscene you will be back on the ground floor of Garrus' hideout to face Garm and his remaining forces.
Garrus does not start losing health until you close the first shutter. As stated earlier, Garrus cannot die while you're in the basement, his life bar stops taking damage at about 20% remaining. If Garrus starts with max or near max health, with two squadmates, you will have about 5 minutes to close the remaining two shutters before Garrus' life bar is reduced to its minimum value; leaving one squadmate behind, you will have about 6 minutes and 40 seconds. It is entirely possible to successfully protect Garrus with only his minimum life remaining after you return from the basement, so if you are confident you can do so, feel free to take your time here and forget about Garrus' life bar entirely for now.
The first shutter is directly ahead of you down a short ramp after the Weapons Locker and can be closed without much effort if you run to it. Enemies consisting of a krogan and some vorcha will appear beyond the shutter as you get close to the shutter control; hit the button and take cover on either side of the door. Hitting the advancing enemies with a power or some weapon fire should slow them down enough to prevent them from interfering with the shutter and it closes. If for some reason you end up in a prolonged fight here, additional vorcha will continue to spawn and approach the shutter, but no additional krogan appear. However, Blood Pack Pyros will start to show up in subsequent waves.
There is a medkit in this area; either collect it now, or save it for right before you deal with the final shutter.
The final two shutters are located in areas beyond the doors to the left and right of the shutter you just closed. One is in the "utility" area and the other is in the garage; both areas are helpfully labeled with signs on the walls. Doing the garage first is recommended as it takes less time to get from there back to the utility area to close the final shutter, and there is a medi-gel pickup available in the garage that you may not be able to get if you close the garage shutter last.
Note: Opening the door to either the garage or the utility area causes the door leading to the other area to lock, meaning once you choose an area you must close the shutter in that area before you can proceed to the next.
Garrus' garage contains a lot of crates, vehicles, and other cover as well as a lot of open space. It also contains several vorcha and also a varren slinking around that can be difficult to spot, but it usually tries to get to you as soon as you enter. There is also a krogan waiting for you near the shutter. The shutter controls are across the room from the entrance; use the cover in the room to advance carefully towards it. Be on the lookout for explosive crates and canisters you can detonate to help soften up enemies. Advance to the shutter and close it off while keeping the Blood Pack at bay. A steady stream of vorcha, varren, and krogan will pour through the shutter, so crowd control tactics are necessary to keep them from interfering with the shutter closing. Once this one is closed, pick up any ammo and the med-kit from the corner (to the right of the shutter when you are facing the shutter closing button) and head back towards the "utility area" where the third and final shutter is located.
Combat Strategy: The garage is arguably the hardest fight in an already difficult mission because of the unending stream of enemies combined with the time pressure created by Garrus' steadily depleting health bar (if you're concerned about that). An effective and time-saving technique is to equip the M-622 Avalanche beforehand and freeze all of the enemies waiting for you in the garage while you get to the door and close it (do not kill them). The reason the Avalanche is the best choice here is because it can disable enemies for a very long time (about 30 seconds) without killing them; killing enemies causes them to be "replaced" by new enemies spawning from beyond the shutter where they can advance and interfere with closing it. Freezing all the enemies with the Avalanche makes it much easier to close the shutter without being interrupted by additional enemies.
Note that your squadmate(s) will continue to attack frozen enemies; to prevent this, you can manually order them to attack something else, or keep them in cover to deny them line of sight. The frozen enemies will eventually thaw, but by that time you should have closed the shutter and you can turn around and deal with them any way you like. Even if one or two die and get replaced by new enemies approaching from ahead, just freeze them as well, or disable or kill them some other way. If enemies behind you thaw before you're ready to deal with them, there is a piece of cover on the right side of the shutter you can use to shelter from them.
Combat Tips:
- Grunt is a powerful squadmate here for his sheer durability alone; he can take point for you admirably, and he's capable of dealing with varren at close quarters.
- Stasis is very handy to have for the garage as it can be used to instantly disable any enemy you meet even if it's protected by armor; this is especially useful against krogan.
- If you're hurt don't hesitate to use Unity to heal yourself up to full health (and shields if you've researched the necessary upgrades). It's faster and safer to use medi-gel than waiting to recharge health and shields normally (especially if you are not playing Legendary Edition), and it's very easy to take damage from unexpected quarters in the garage.
- Dominate can be a much more effective power here than it is on the bridge, especially to use on enemies on the other side of the shutter you are trying to close, as it will stall them from trying to cross past the shutter as well as distract other nearby enemies from doing the same.
- Even if you are trying to finish this fight quickly to preserve as much of Garrus' life bar as possible, don't rush to your death. You have several minutes to work with.
As you exit the garage, straight ahead of you will be the door leading to the "utility" area and the final shutter. Pick up the med-kit to the left of the door before you proceed inside.
Warning: Kasumi's Shadow Strike power is extremely unreliable in the "utility" area likely due to the numerous obstacles impeding movement and its cramped nature. She will often report being unable to use the power if ordered to. Also note that Kasumi cannot Shadow Strike an enemy past an open shutter.
The way to the final shutter requires Shepard's group to climb over a series of obstacles with enemy vorcha using many of these obstacles as cover. Take them out as they pop up and advance. Around a corner when you reach a right turn in the passage there is a Blood Pack Pyro; don't turn the corner or you may be instantly fried. You'll need to use some clever tactics to get past. Teammates can be sent around the corner as decoys (Grunt is likely the only squadmate who might survive this), and Adrenaline Rush, Combat Drone, or Tactical Cloak can be useful if Shepard has them.
The M-622 Avalanche makes this corner a breeze as its shots have a large enough area of effect that simply firing a few at the walls will take out the Pyro and any other vorcha around the corner without exposing yourself. Once you turn the corner take out any remaining vorcha and move over more obstacles to reach the final shutter straight ahead. As before, enemies will start appearing beyond the shutter and start moving towards you but it shouldn't be too hard to stall them before it closes.
Garrus will contact you immediately after the third shutter is closed and tell you that Garm and his Blood Pack have breached the base on the main floor. A cutscene will play after which you find yourself back on the ground floor of the hideout engaging the final Blood Pack assault. In addition to vorcha, there will be varren as well, which you should prioritize or they can flush you out of cover. You should then get upstairs as fast as possible to defeat Garm, who rushes straight for Garrus at the start of the fight, largely ignoring your party with the possible exception of hurling taunts at certain squad members.
Speaking of your squad, you will again have full access to both of your teammates again if you had left one behind with Garrus; however, any squadmate you left with Garrus will still be on the second floor area with him (usually taking cover behind one of the couches up there), so be careful about using any squad movement commands that could send them running to their doom. The squadmate with Garrus will be able to soften Garm up a bit, but Garm often ignores them and remains single-mindedly focused on blasting Garrus with his shotgun until you get up to the second floor to deal with him yourself, at which point he and any other surviving enemy krogan will turn to face you, taking the heat off the turian.
Tip: Right at the start of this fight after the cutscene, Garm and most of the Blood Pack are in a group straight ahead near the base of the stairs. A volley of heavy weapon fire while they are still tightly clustered can devastate the entire group. Having your heavy weapon out after you hit the final basement shutter before the cutscene can save some time switching weapons.
Once Garm and the rest of the Blood Pack are dead, refill on ammo and medi-gel as needed, and make a final save before talking to Garrus if you want. This is the last opportunity to pick up the M-15 Vindicator from the couch, or any of the medkits or other items on the ground floor.
Only the Blue Suns remain.
The Blue Suns Attack[]
Talking to Garrus this time fills Shepard in on his history with Garm and both agree to fight past the Blue Suns to make it out. However, before they can make a break for it, they get ambushed by Tarak and his gunship. The gunship isn't yet a valid target and will fly around occasionally firing rockets at you all while dropping waves of Blue Suns infantry into the compound. The gunship will first drop Jentha, who has both shields and armor and is armed with a deadly M-76 Revenant; a Blue Suns Legionnaire; and several Troopers on the second floor through the far window. Tarak's gunship doesn't participate in the initial assault other than to drop troops in, EXCEPT it always fires a volley of two rockets in through the far window at you. Be sure to duck.
Combat Strategy: The best way to prevent Garrus from taking damage is to position yourself or a squadmate closer to the attackers than Garrus is, as this will usually cause them to shift their attention away from Garrus. If Garrus is their closest target, he'll get mauled, particularly by Jentha. If you notice she is focusing all her fire on him, you'll need to do something about that, whether it's to stun her, overheat her weapon (Flashbang Grenade works well), or simply take her out ASAP. Once again, Grunt is an excellent squadmate here as his ability to absorb damage makes him ideal for drawing fire away from Garrus; position him behind one of the white planters connected to the couches close to the far window where the first wave of Blue Suns will enter. If enemies decide to ignore the krogan, you can order him to charge their positions and teach them why that's a bad idea.
Even if Grunt is not with you, you yourself can take a forward position to be the bullet magnet, but this is risky for obvious reasons. Note that the white planters are better cover than the couches, which you should avoid. Any fragile squadmates should be put in cover as far back out of the way as possible.
Once the first wave of Blue Suns are all down, a second wave enters on the main level that must also be dealt with. Garrus repositions to the inner balcony to fire down on them; the best way to draw fire away from him is to move one squadmate next to him there, then take the second squadmate with you to a position at the top of the stairs to hold it against all comers. This can be dangerous, but use the corner and the high ground to your advantage and it's doable even on higher difficulties. The main danger to you will be the shotgun-wielding turians coming up the stairs at you, but if you can remove their shields, force abilities such as Concussive Shot can knock them back down the stairs.
Tip: Sometimes no matter what you do to try and distract them, enemies remain focused on Garrus. If you're ever in danger of losing him, don't hesitate to take out a heavy weapon and blast away. A few shots from the M-622 Avalanche will stun and eventually freeze an entire attack group.
After clearing out the main floor, a cutscene shows Tarak's gunship getting the drop on Garrus, wounding him. Garrus tries to fight back but gets hit with a blast from a rocket that leaves him unconscious. Now your objective is to take out the gunship while also fighting some additional waves of Blue Suns dropping into the second floor from the far window. Note: you will be locked into the balcony area for the remainder of the mission as the door leading out of the room closes and can't be opened.
The ideal cover position for Shepard during this fight is back behind a white crate connected to a planter closest to the near wall by the (now closed) door. Like many of the ideal cover spots in Mass Effect 2, this position is helpfully marked by respawning thermal clips, two in this case. This position is completely safe from the gunship as long as you're behind the crate or the planter though of course you still need to be careful when you pop out to shoot. It's still possible to shoot the gunship from this position even when it approaches the near window as the very tip of its left "wing" will still be visible. There is enough space behind this cover position to fit both squadmates, but to avoid crowding one should be kept in cover inside the balconette of the rearmost window to your left. Since you're on top of two respawning thermal clips there's no need to conserve ammo. Lay into the gunship whenever you can (i.e. between merc waves and rocket volleys) and eventually it will go down.
Combat Tips:
- Despite the tenseness of the situation, the major pressure of having to keep Garrus' health bar from dropping is now gone so there is no rush. As long as you take the right cover positions and don't get nailed by the gunship this fight is actually fairly easy compared to the rest of the mission.
- You start this fight with you and your squadmates out of cover, which—annoyingly—often results in one of your squadmates getting drilled to death by the gunship immediately. If this happens use a medi-gel and order them to safety as soon as they revive.
- If you took the time to zap Cathka earlier, the gunship will be at half its normal hitpoints. The gunship only has an armor bar so anti-armor weapons and powers are most effective against it.
- The gunship has two main weapons, a rapid fire mass accelerator cannon and rockets, both of which deal extreme damage if they catch you or your squadmates exposed. The rockets also have a fairly large area of effect so if the gunship starts spraying rockets all over the room it's best to hunker down until it's over.
Once the gunship and all other remaining hostiles are down a cutscene plays. It shows Shepard rushing over and kneeling beside Garrus, who is laying in a pool of his own blood. After a moment of silence his eyes open, he gasps for air, and he tightens his grip on his sniper rifle pulling it closer to him. A distraught Shepard orders a squadmate to radio Joker and tell him to be ready for them.
Normandy[]
Having eliminated the third mercenary gang, Shepard, Garrus, and squad will return to the Normandy. Here, Garrus receives medical attention that includes reconstruction with cybernetics, but he will carry a wound on his face and damage to his armor for the rest of the game. Garrus will take up residence in the Normandy's main battery past the sleep pods on the crew deck.
If Garrus was part of your team in the previous game, Joker will mention it's nice to have him back.
Email[]
Nalah Butler, an Omega resident, sends Shepard an e-mail.
Enemies[]
Mission Summary[]
Extracted Archangel from mercenary siege and recruited him for the team. Unclear whether injury to Archangel will impair his ability to assist in the mission. Regardless, revelation of identity as Garrus Vakarian useful in keeping Shepard comfortable.
- Experience: 1,000 (1,250)
- Credits: 40,000
- Cerberus Funding: 20,000
- Credits Found: 20,000
- Weapons:
- Resources:
- Element Zero: 500
- Upgrades:
Bugs[]
- An exploitable glitch has been reported with Garm: he will not have his weapon out until he reaches Garrus' room. If Shepard intercepts him, Garm can be killed before he has a chance to shoot at anyone. This bug has been fixed in Legendary Edition.
Trivia[]
- If you take the Paragon Interrupt to break Jonn Whitson's M-4 Shuriken and you have any submachine gun other than the Shuriken equipped, the interrupt shows Shepard breaking this submachine gun and handing it back to the lad.
- If Zaeed is in the squad, during the meeting with Tarak part of Tarak's face disappears when he smiles after Zaeed says, "Anything's possible." This issue has been fixed in Mass Effect Legendary Edition by placing the camera farther from Tarak's face.
- In the original version of Mass Effect 2, the freelancer interrupting Cathka signifying the launch of the next wave (and Cathka restarting on gunship repairs shortly afterward) has no voiceline but subtitles indicate he should be saying something ("Target is in sight. We're a go."). In Legendary Edition the freelancer's voiceline is restored.
- After the revelation that Archangel is Garrus, Garrus hands Shepard his sniper rifle, an M-92 Mantis. If Shepard has sniper-rifle training, and has any sniper rifle other than the Mantis equipped, the gun will switch to whatever rifle Shepard has equipped, and then switch back to a Mantis when Shepard hands it back to Garrus.
- After Eclipse's attack is repelled, when Shepard goes to speak with Garrus, he is no longer holding a Mantis, but a Viper instead.
- After closing the second shutter, a writing error happens where Zaeed (if present and with Garrus) says that you need to open the shutters.
|
The following information is drawn from cut content and is not to be considered canon in any way. |
Cut Content[]
- An early pitch for this mission included in a design document contains a few differences with the final version, notably that Garrus would have been badly wounded before Shepard ever got to him.[1]
- Though it's not normally possible to experience them in-game, the mission's numerous squadmate reactions account for the presence of Thane, Samara, Tali and Legion. In the released game, none of them can be recruited by the time this mission can be undertaken. Tali can notably say "Just like old times" if the player assigns her to defend Garrus while going down to the basement.[2]
- Unused plot data implies it was possible at one point to further sabotage the gang assault. Finding some engineering logs would allow Shepard to sabotage the rocket guidance system, and a malfunctioning rocket could have its release clamps rigged.[3]
- Another unused conditional shows it was possible for Mordin, if present, to be recognized by one of the gangs the same way Zaeed is with Tarak, possibly related to Mordin dispatching several mercenaries while defending his clinic.[4]
See Also[]
References[]
- ↑ Mass Effect 2 Character Concepts#The Rebel General (Garrus)
- ↑ Mass Effect 2 Cut Content/Dossier: Archangel Voicelines
- ↑ Plot Database: LE2.Acquisition_Missions.Garrus_Acquisition.Sabotages_Rocket_guidance; LE2.Acquisition_Missions.Garrus_Acquisition.Sabotaged_Rocket_Release_Clamps; LE2.Acquisition_Missions.Garrus_Acquisition.Leadup.Allowed_to_sabotage_Guidance; LE2.Acquisition_Missions.Garrus_Acquisition.Leadup.Allowed_to_sabotage_Rockets; LE2.Acquisition_Missions.Garrus_Acquisition.Leadup.Read_Rocket_Logs
- ↑ Plot Database: LE2.Acquisition_Missions.Garrus_Acquisition.Mordin_Recognized