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Saren sent the geth to Feros to destroy an alien life form known as the Thorian. Why Saren wants this parasitic plant creature destroyed is still unclear, but it has evidently taken control of most of the colonists back at Zhu's Hope.

Acquisition[]

Prerequisite: Feros: Geth Attack

Feros: Geth Attack is renamed to its present form after the talk with the ExoGeni VI. This is the second leg of the main Feros story arc.

Walkthrough[]

Escaping ExoGeni HQ[]

You can chat with the ExoGeni VI as many times as you wish to review the information it possesses. When you are done talking to it, head out into the only other corridor available (there's no point backtracking to confront Lizbeth Baynham about the Thorian as she has no new dialogue available). Keep your highest-level Detection Upgrade installed on one of your active weapons as you'll have extensive use for it.

Even AIs have their own cultists

Eventually you arrive at a room where you'll see two Geth Shock Troopers bent over in what appears to be prayer to a glowing orb. Dropping down from the platform is a one-way trip as Shepard cannot climb over those stone steps, so don't do it if you still have any reason to backtrack. The second you start shooting the geth rise and return fire, although it may be a useless gesture because if you are fast enough you can take them out before they do.

Once the geth are down a small cutscene commences where your squadmates comment about the claws that are holding the Geth Dropship to the building. Investigate the orb: your squadmates give their opinions, but nothing tangible is gained, so loot the locked crate nearby (easy decryption) and move on.

Clear them out now so you'll have a clean exit later

The next area you enter will be the main entrance to the facility. It's the area beyond the shield you first saw upon arriving from the skyway, and it is protected by a group of geth: a Geth Trooper, a Geth Shock Trooper, a Geth Sniper, and a Geth Stalker. It's a small but moderately tall room, though there is some cover here to lean on aside from retreating into the corridor. Be wary of possible Sabotage + Assassination combos, you will not want to get caught flatfooted with disabled weapons and a potential one-hit kill aimed at you.

When the geth are down, you have two directions to take your squad next: across from where you came in, or a U-turn left from where you came in (looking at your map, east or northwest). Northwest is the actual route forward while east is a dead end with some exp and loot. Consult Feros: Data Recovery if you obtained the assignment from Gavin Hossle and/or you want to explore the eastern route.

Hoppers rarely stand still for the group picture

The northwest route is a straightforward stroll up some stairs and a corridor. When you start seeing red dots in your radar (or if it's jammed due to inadequate Detection Upgrades) note the secure crate (average decryption) nearby. You'll emerge in a long spacious chamber partitioned by a dropship claw, though you can get to the other side via stairs later. The first section has a motley gang of defenders: a Geth Sapper, a Shock Trooper, and two Troopers usually, with a Geth Sniper lurking in the rear. There's a fusion containment cell you can shoot when they start moving.

The geth have set up some sort of containment lab with a lot of computers in this long room, hence you can acquire several assignments from the consoles provided you haven't gotten or finished them yet. In the first section there's an ExoGeni terminal (average decryption) that gives the assignment Investigate Facility, the rest are on the other side. Head up the stairs and about halfway through your squadmates will comment on the claw in the middle of the room. Then the camera pans to the other end of the room where a Geth Destroyer is patrolling and keeping watch over 2 Shock Troopers, 1 Trooper, 1 Sniper, 1 Geth Rocket Trooper, and a Geth Ghost. An autosave is generated after the camera pan, though if you want a manual save you may have to walk all the way down to the main entrance to get rid of enemy sightings on radar (or alternatively, load the autosave and initiate a manual save afterward).

They have the numbers, you have the skill

When you regain control, descend the stairs or just shoot to get the geth's attention and then the Ghost will jump out. Move around and backpedal if you need to, and take out the rest of the geth. Keep an eye on the Destroyer especially because it just loves to charge and melee the squad to death.

When the geth are down, move to the other side and loot the secure crate near the large claw (average decryption), then bypass a geth terminal (hard decryption) to get the assignment Geth Activities. If you have already been to the Armstrong Nebula then this console will not be available. Bypass a server node (average decryption) for the Investigate Samples assignment. Off to the side of the shuttle bay door control is a small chamber with a secure crate (average decryption). To continue the mission interact with the aforementioned shuttle bay door control.

The console note there says that the door to the shuttle bay is currently glitchy: it works fine at under 30 PSI, at 31-34 it can shear through a metal I-beam, and at over 35 PSI it automatically shuts down. Use the buttons to the left of this console to get to 31-34 PSI; anything under 30 is fine, but at 35 or over the system will reset. The 17, 11 and 5 buttons, or 13, 11 and 7 will be sufficient. When you get the proper combination, close the door and watch as the claw is sheared through and the dropship falls into the rubble that covers the planet's surface.

It's dropships all the way down

The cutscene jumps again to where the forcefield was. The blue field drops while one of your squadmates points out the obvious. Depending on which squadmates you brought, they will also make various tongue-in-cheek comments about the mission.

The second the dropship falls, Joker comes over the comm and apparently is desperate to contact the Commander. Reply and Joker will tell you that the colonists have gone crazy and are clawing at the Normandy's hull. You can respond but no matter the action the crew will stay in the ship to prevent the crazed colonists from getting in. He also says that there are a lot of geth heading Shepard’s way, so be prepared.

Head back up the stairs, check the area again if you missed any crates, and go back to the main room where the forcefield was. Meeting you there is Lizbeth Baynham and now you can confront her with the information you retrieved from the ExoGeni VI.

She confesses to knowing and she says the reason she stayed behind was to send a distress call but got cut off before the transmission was sent, so she hid. You can interrogate her further and she gives up all the details of the Thorian project and why she was suspended. She was apparently very vocal in expressing her displeasure with the project and what it was doing. When you are done, she wants to come back with you to try and help.

When you regain control Lizbeth has gone on ahead to board the Mako. True to Joker's warnings, more geth have positioned themselves along the skyway and are just looking to stop your squad from getting back.

Back on the Skyway, Part 1[]

They start bringing out the big guns on your way back

When you exit the ExoGeni garage, on the other side are two Geth Armatures and three Geth Juggernauts outside that are just waiting for you to come out. Deal with them, and there's plenty of room in the skyway for any variety of playstyle whether it's ignoring them, cautious evasion of every hit, or taking risks and being mobile, ramming/immobilizing them. They're the only enemies around for a while.

As you reach the Skyway Weigh Station again you hear another radio transmission from Juliana Baynham asking for help. Ethan Jeong is then heard warning her to get away from the radio. Lizbeth asks about it, then you hear Juliana again using a general distress call and then is cut off. When you get near the refugee camp a cutscene plays where Lizbeth asks for the Mako to be stopped. She exits and heads down the eastbound ramp immediately to your south, so exit the Mako and follow her. If you were on foot, you are put back in the Mako and the Mako is relocated here for the cutscene. The door to Zhu's Hope is locked, so you can't progress any further until you deal with this latest interruption.

ExoGeni Bunker[]

The bean counter has gone nuts

When you get far enough down the ramp a cutscene will play where Lizbeth and the squad are hiding and watching the action unfold. Jeong, clearly stressed, has begun asserting his authority as an ExoGeni representative. He has some of the ExoGeni Security restrain Juliana while she is telling him that he won't get away with this. Lizbeth jumps up, Shepard reaches to grab her, but misses. Juliana breaks off, runs to her daughter, and they hug.

Jeong orders Shepard and the squad out and they leave cover. If this is your first time meeting him, Jeong warns that you're intruding on an ExoGeni project and that he's taking control. Otherwise, Jeong claims he found some interesting things about Shepard in the ExoGeni database, which depend on your psychological profile. Because the comms have been restored, ExoGeni wants the colony purged and the colonists have a problem with that.

You have a few options from here. If you don't have the necessary morality points (10 Intimidate or 12 Charm), then you can't reason with Jeong and Shepard shoots him when he draws his pistol. If you have the necessary options then you can convince Jeong that saving the colony is worth ExoGeni's time and money, either by appealing to the "against all odds" approach (Paragon), or by threatening him with Shepard's Spectre status (Renegade).

ExoGeni guards refusing to take action if you killed Jeong

If you choose to use the options then Jeong will agree to support and expand the colony with ExoGeni resources. You bank a lot of morality points and can significantly impact the fate of the Feros colony. Juliana will ask to speak with you before you leave for Zhu's Hope. Otherwise, if Jeong died, the discussion immediately proceeds to the next issue.

If you managed to talk Jeong down then Juliana thanks you; if you shot him then she sees it as a bad sign because ExoGeni may pull out. She then asks you to spare as many colonists as possible, and after some talking she speculates that using a modified, sub-weapons-grade nerve gas might be the best thing to help take down the colonists because of their weakened immune systems. The gas will harmlessly incapacitate the colonists, as will melee attacks. Or you can just shoot them all.

In any case, you will obtain Anti-Thorian Gas grenades for the upcoming fights, and your responses to Juliana will only gain you additional Paragon or Renegade points. Getting the grenades is a prerequisite before the weigh station door back to Zhu's Hope is unlocked. Warning: Unless you're certain you can live without it, do NOT sell or convert the Anti-Thorian gas to omni-gel. It is your only sample and cannot be obtained anywhere else.

If you have the data from Feros: Data Recovery, you can give it to Gavin Hossle now but you can still wait until after the mission for that. Alternatively, if you haven't spoken to Hossle before, you can still acquire the assignment from him.

Back on the Skyway, Part 2[]

When you are ready, board the Mako, head out of the Weigh Station and back on the last part of the skyway to Zhu's Hope.

They only look big and menacing up close

If it wasn't already obvious the geth are mounting a final defense to prevent Shepard from getting back. Out on the road are 2 Juggernauts and Armatures each. They're the last group of enemies on the skyway, deal with them either on foot or from the Mako same as you did with the earlier group. Note: If you have inventory room to spare, this is your last opportune chance to stock up on items and exp with the infinitely unlockable crate beneath the skyway. The only limits are your patience and inventory space.

When you reach the skyway door, Shepard and the squad will observe a creature on the ground folded up like the geth in storage mode. It wakes up, stands up, and attacks. You automatically exit the Mako if you were in the vehicle so shoot the Thorian Creeper dead once you regain control. Do NOT let it get close, as its vomit can pierce through shields and kill you swiftly.

When it falls your squadmates ask what it was and you have two options that do affect your squad's next actions. If you choose the “Don’t shoot the colonists” dialogue option, then your squadmates will only fire on the creepers and not the colonists. (Note that squadmates with shotguns may accidentally catch colonists in their blasts.) The other option will cause your squadmates will shoot at everything including the colonists. If you're set on killing the colonists your squadmates ask you to confirm, giving you one more time to change your mind. A display in the lower right hand corner will let you know how many colonists are still alive, starting at 16. Note: Allowing squadmates to shoot everyone may result in a bug that will make the colony fail later on no matter what. See Bugs for more details.

The number of colonists you kill will have an impact on the colony's ultimate fate. An autosave is generated right afterwards, and it is recommended you also manually save before you open the door. Equip the Anti-Thorian Gas grenades if you're planning to use them.

Surprise Opponents[]

Nobody said it's illegal to run zombies down

When you regain control open the garage door. You'll encounter 10 Thorian Creepers, plus Ian Newstead, May O'Connell, and 2 unnamed Colonists, all hostile and under the Thorian's control. The creepers awaken from standby mode in waves, so you'll have to buckle down for a bit. The elevator to Zhu's Hope is disabled until you've dealt with all enemies in the garage. For safest results quickly jump back in the Mako: its guns, especially the cannon, will make quick work of everyone with no danger to you.

Be careful not to target the colonists behind the barricades on the upper level inside the garage if you're trying to save them. For preserving exp gain on pre-Legendary Edition playthroughs, you can always use the time-honored tactic of periodically using the Mako's guns to shorten the creepers' lives before hopping off the vehicle to finish them on foot. The Anti-Thorian Gas grenades have an effect range of a few meters: they are one-hit kills for the creepers and will render the colonists unconscious. Note: If you're conserving the grenades, you can relax a little as there's one +5 refill back at the colony; otherwise, you can melee the civilians as that also knocks them unconscious instead of killing them.

Tip: If you're trying to keep colonists alive, using Sabotage on them can halt their attacks and usually won't do enough damage to kill them, but biotics can be fatal to them especially if they get removed from the map. Also avoid equipping explosive ammo upgrades especially on your squadmates as the splash damage and explosive force can easily kill the colonists.

Gassing people to keep them alive isn't usually in the same chain of cause and effect

If you're playing Paragon, fling a grenade at the colonists. They're usually clumped in groups; aim for the middle guy to increase your chance of taking down all of them in one shot. If you're playing Renegade you can just shoot the colonists and save the grenades for when you're under pressure from multiple Thorian Creepers. Lots of morality points are to be had, and what you'll have depends on the number of colonists saved or killed. You will get the final tally once all 16 colonists are accounted for; for now you'll only get experience points upon successful kill or knockdown.

Note: If you're trying to save the colonists, there is a glitch where melee attacks and gas grenades sometimes fail to permanently knock them out of the fight; however, if you then kill them with guns they are still counted as "saved" and the Colonists Alive counter won't go down.

When the creepers are biodegrading and the colonists are either dead or safely incapacitated, head to the elevator. Note: Once you use it, the elevator will be disabled afterwards, so this is your last chance to return towards ExoGeni Headquarters to deal with anything you left undone (e.g. item crates or assignment acquisitions and/or completions).

Another autosave is generated on loading the next level. When you exit the elevator go around to the left (south going by map directions). Waiting are 3 creepers, Davin Reynolds, and Calantha Blake. Use a grenade to take them all out quickly or just shoot them. The creepers will not rise until a certain amount are down and they will rise in order but if you gas the two colonists that are behind the barrier then they will all get up. On higher difficulty levels retreat slowly from the creepers while shooting them to avoid facing too many at once.

The Colonists Fight Back

Down the stairs are 2 more creepers. Beyond the corridor and into Zhu's Hope proper you'll find the defensive barriers manned by four colonists—two of them being Arcelia Silva Martinez and Hollis Blake—and 3 more creepers.

When you have dealt with the enemies at the gate, move up and around. The Borealis will be locked so you can't go through it, so head right and up to the elevated catwalk. Near the catwalk steps there is an upgrade kit on the ground that will give you five grenades to use wisely; if you still have a full or near-full arsenal expend some grenades before returning here and opening the box so that you get the maximum benefit.

Greta Reynolds and Ledra guard the catwalk along with 3 creepers: if you have some trades with Ledra later you'll want to leave him alive. When you get to the other side, the open area next to Borealis, there are 9 creepers and the last 4 colonists: Macha Doyle and Hana Murakami among them. Your squadmates will notice the freighter crane controls are also here, which will open up a path to the Thorian. Activating it while in combat is not allowed so deal with the hostiles first.

Once the creepers wake up, retreat from the area. The colonists never try to pursue you but the creepers do, and this will leave you free to separate the killables from the optionally killables. Once all the creepers are down return and you will be able to precisely grenade or melee the colonists. Warning: Because creepers and colonists ragdoll easily be judicious in gunning them down close to the freighter especially if using mods with knockback. You might end up with them being stuck inside the freighter, which will prevent you from accessing the crane controls.

When they are all down one way or the other, walk over to the crane controls and activate them. A cutscene then ensues where a section of the freighter rises exposing a stairwell leading into the underworks of the colony. Shortly afterward Fai Dan comes around and says that the Thorian wants him to kill Shepard. While the pain is apparently immense, he still manages to resist and shoot himself in the head. Head down the stairs and you are treated to a cutscene where Shepard and the squad descend into the Thorian's lair amid an ominous and foreboding bass drone.

The Thorian's Lair[]

The Thorian, a plant at least 50,000 years old

An autosave is generated right after the cutscene. When you regain control you get your reward from either killing or subduing the colonists: +2 morality points for each colonist either killed or saved. Head down the stairs and just keep going because there will be no enemies yet. Before you reach the bottom, however, save the game, because a few steps forward later, a cutscene plays.

One of the squadmates starts talking about finding a central core, and the team is soon confronted with the enormity of the Thorian. You're given a chance to respond to the grotesque sight, but the outcomes are all the same. Shepard moves a bit closer, and subsequently the creature notices the team and expels a green-skinned asari clone.

An Asari Clone

The Asari Clone starts speaking to you, representing the fleshy mass of tentacles behind her, and demands you pay your respects to the Thorian. You can threaten the plant immediately, or suss out the Thorian's motivations. If the latter, the asari explains that the Thorian was attacked by Saren to prevent Shepard from gaining access to the knowledge to understand the Prothean Beacon's vision. The Thorian absorbed the essence of the Protheans and gave the knowledge to Saren in exchange for her and an understanding that the Thorian would be left alone. Saren broke the agreement and attacked, however, so the Thorian does not want to talk to any 'meat bags' such as the team.

Whatever the outcome, the conversation ends abruptly. You can gain +2 Paragon or Renegade depending on how you responded to the clone.

An autosave is generated right before you regain control. The first thing you should do in this fight is to Throw the asari off and into the abyss below the Thorian - safe disposal for a tough foe. In the absence of biotic shenanigans you can always use Damping and/or Sabotage to cripple her offensive threat. Then turn to the Thorian Creepers that are scattered around and use powers, gunfire, grenades, and well anything else to take them down - just don't let them get close. Two creepers start right in the room with you, but the instant you destroy them another door opens and more pour in.

The lair has a very open layout. Don't worry about overstepping and falling off the ledge yourself, the game has safeguards against it for player characters.

Level 1[]

Shoot the tentacle nodes to unseat the Thorian

When they are all down, one of your squadmates notices something in the next room, so go and investigate. In the room is a large ball of organic material that is attached to the wall, shoot it and the Thorian Neural Node will eventually be destroyed. The second that happens, the Thorian groans, or screams. Your squadmates think that hurt the creature and now you have to hunt down the rest of the nodes.

This sets the rhythm for the final leg of this mission: destroy the nodes, watch out for enemies. The "boss" for the entire lair is indeed the Thorian, though shooting at the main mass does nothing. If you notice the mass of the Thorian it's connected to multiple levels via thick tentacles, and you just injured one. The game won't let you sequence break by running past a node; there's always a door preventing access to the next section until the node has been dealt with.

There are 6 nodes in total, and there are certain restrictions on dealing with them:

  • Most biotic attacks cannot damage them, except Throw and Warp.
  • Tech talents like Overload are thrown via grenade discs, and they aren't triggered by proximity to a node (if they are triggered by creepers or clones the explosion doesn't damage the node).
  • Weapons deal more damage to nodes the closer you are to them, and they deal much less damage at long range.
  • You can see faraway nodes from certain vantage points, though you can't damage a node one level up if you haven't killed the one nearer to you yet. Guns and damage-dealing grenades work fine, though subject to the aforementioned proximity rules and the node doesn't suffer from ancillary effects like poison or fire damage.
  • Despite the name, Anti-Thorian Gas I does not work against a node, only on nearby creepers.

Multiple Thorian Creepers lie in wait and are scripted to either wake up on approach, on sensing damage to a node, or upon death of an already awake creeper. When you kill a node most active creepers are destroyed as well, though some that are in hibernation at the time may never awaken. Tip: If you are seeking maximum experience points from the lair, then before destroying a node make sure to wake all creepers in a given area first. Injure the node just enough to wake all creepers triggered by it, deal with the creepers, then sweep the area to trigger the on-approach creepers, deal with them too, then kill the node.

Now that the first node's destroyed, when you head upstairs to the next level a short cutscene plays where the Thorian produces another clone.

Combat Tips: Whatever the difficulty level, if you have a low level character, you will probably find this an extremely difficult scenario. However, there are always means to beat the odds with any variety of classes and squadmates. Here are some more tips for survival in the coming fights:

  • Consider equipping shotguns, even for squadmates who aren't trained in them. This will help knock creepers off their feet and slow their pursuit.
  • Use Hammerhead Rounds in your weapons if you have them (Sledgehammer Rounds even better, or High Explosive Rounds if you can manage the extra heat). Increases the chance of knocking creepers down, even if not used in a shotgun, and particularly creative shooting can push enemies off to the abyss.
  • Always take down the Asari Clone first whenever you see her. She's the only ranged opponent, her weapons are powerful, and her biotic knockdown can leave you helpless while creepers catch you and barf on you.
  • The Thorian splorts out another clone
    A new Asari Clone spawns whenever you knock out a node, so be ready -- return to the safety of your squad and get your abilities ready to go. There are seven Asari Clones, counting the first one you talked to, for the six Thorian Neural Nodes.
    • Legendary Edition: The Asari Clone no longer targets Shepard with her biotic knockdown ability; however, you can still get hit by it and incapacitated when she targets a squadmate.
  • Take this level very slowly. Rushing forward will spawn too many enemies too quickly. Whenever it's quiet, stop and wait for your party's abilities and health to recover. If there are no enemies on the radar, save.
  • Consider parking your squadmates in one of the relatively open spaces and carefully scouting ahead alone. This will keep your squadmates from getting killed which deprives you of the use of their all important abilities. When Shepard triggers new enemies, quickly return to where your squad is. This will cause the enemies to "train" out into a line and you won't have to fight as many as once. The dangerous Asari Clone in particular will tend to arrive well ahead of the creepers.
  • There are several vantage points from which you can gain line-of-sight on one of the Thorian nodes from across the center space. This gives you the chance to shoot it and take it out from safety - or at least provoke creepers to run at you one by one.
  • The mission terrain freely lends itself to interesting biotic attacks. Feel free to push enemies over to the open chasm on the sides. Chokepoints are also abundant for any holding action you may take, and since enemies tend to attack en masse Singularity users can have a field day here.
  • Your armor upgrade configurations should have a focus on toxin resistance, hardening, and/or physics threshold. Combinations of Medical Exoskeleton and Combat Exoskeleton and related upgrades should be a priority for your team's defense.
  • Did you manage to save any grenades? There are no grenade refills in the lair. The Anti-Thorian Gas I can take out a whole roomful of active creepers and therefore should be saved for the ultimate last resort.

Level 2[]

Beware of sleeping zombies

In the next level there's a long-range vantage point right after the stairs from below where you can see a weapons locker, a bunch of creepers, and maybe the clone. Look to your right (or south, consulting the map). If they're up and running you can take potshots from this far before they reach you via the nearby corridor.

The corridor next to the weapons locker is a rubble-filled stairs to the next level, which has the second node as well as another bunch of creepers on standby or wandering about. There's a fire hazard here, and it only damages you so don't go near it. If the asari is in the right position, then she can be thrown off into the chasm again. Once you have dealt with the creepers and the clone, go shoot the node. The door to the next level opens once the node's destroyed.

Level 3[]

There are certain vantage points amenable for long-distance node shooting in some levels

The next room contains even more creepers and another clone. If you are sneaky enough, then you can throw the clone off and then you only have to deal with the creepers. Move into the room and take out the creepers, then look to your left as you can see the node from here. The best way to deal with it is to shoot it from this room and deal with the creepers as they come, otherwise you can get overwhelmed very quickly.

Put your squadmates in cover near the door and start shooting the node and then deal with the creepers as they come down the tunnel. Eventually you will run out of creepers and the node will run out of health and blow up. Move into the room where the node was and then put your squadmates in cover near the door as the next room has more of the same. Just shooting down the tunnel should be enough to attract their attention, so deal with the creepers and the clone as they come. When you are done head into the large room, which has a medical station (easy decryption). Adjacent to it is another ruined stairway passage where the fourth node is located.

It's like the other uphill room, only with the orientation mirrored

The room with the node also contains 10-12 creepers and they will follow the usual "waking up when you shoot the node so kill me now" routine. Note: If trying to maximize creeper kills, there always appears to be at least one left hibernating once the node is destroyed. Force the rest to wake by continuous shooting at the node while dealing less damage (meaning use your crappiest pistol) so as not to prematurely destroy it while there's more than one creeper still sleeping.

When all the creepers or the node is destroyed, head up the rubble and onto the next level. Remember that each time you destroy a node a new clone will spawn, so it's often wise to wait for her before advancing. If you can see on the radar that the enemies aren't advancing on you, a few shots fired in the air will often get them going.

Level 4[]

When you get up you can throw the clone or a creeper off the ledge. This room is spacious to the right (south going by map directions) while the fifth node is to the left (north), and the immediate area has a lot less enemies than the three previous ones. Take down the clone and creepers as they come, throw a few off for a few laughs, and then turn around and shoot the node, which is dangling rather defenselessly (the creepers it awakens are above you); you can even do that first, but you'll lose out on some exp rewards.

Five down, one to go once you take care of this

Once the node is destroyed head down you arrive at the first staircase (it's the same set of stairs for levels 1-2, only the direct path to level 4 is inconveniently blocked by two grills). Note: Assuming you shoot this node before proceeding forward, the batch of sleeping creepers on the stairs ahead will awaken in your midst. However, if you proceed forward to the sealed doorway and then return to shoot the node, these creepers will never awaken. So, depending on whether you are going for maximum experience points or minimum risk, choose the scenario you prefer.

Head up the stairs and then you will be forced to deal with those creepers that you had to bypass earlier. They will wake up in droves and attack along with the clone while you are trying to climb the staircase to the last node. Take them down with abilities, gunfire, and any grenades you have left. When all the enemies are dead, resume climbing the stairs to the final level - though again, you have a vantage point of the last node from the stairs and you can take potshots at the node there if you prefer.

Level 5[]

Another long-range shooting vantage point if you don't want to slog through the last creepers in the level

Once on the top there are two rooms with creepers, and a final clone. Take down the ones in the middle and then get into cover and use the same tactics as before, or whichever tactics that work best for you. Note: You can avoid the spawning of the seventh Asari Clone by shooting the final neural node at a distance from the next room and never approaching close to the room the node is in. This makes the final section a bit easier but lowers your experience reward.

When you have dealt with the final creepers, finish off the node. You're then treated to a cutscene of the nodes you destroyed collapsing and the Thorian falling into the abyss.

Shiala[]

Then the scene jumps to a pod-like structure at the far end of the last node and another asari - this time violet-skinned instead of green - falls out. She introduces herself as Shiala and she formerly served Matriarch Benezia. You'll learn that Saren came to get the Cipher and understand the disjointed images from the Beacon on Eden Prime. She tells you that Saren gave her to the Thorian in exchange for the Cipher and then tried to kill the Thorian to keep Shepard from getting to it. Apparently Saren knows that Shepard is searching for the Conduit and is doing everything possible to prevent that.

Shiala emerges from a pod

Shiala gives you the Cipher, which induces another Prothean Beacon-style montage of ominous imagery, and then her fate is in your hands. You can choose to kill her, or allow her to help the colony to recover, which will affect the colony's survival chances. If you want to get to know her, you can do so here, though if you let her live you can also do it after the mission. Either way you head back up to the colony automatically when the dialog ends.

The Fate of the Colony[]

The ExoGeni personnel are here from their bunker, and will greet you with either respect or distrust as you learn the consequences of your actions for the colony's future. Your results here can be predicted by a simple formula, as follows:

  • Colony health
    • For each sidequest completed (varren meat, geth in the tunnels, etc.), add 1
    • For each surviving colonist, add 1

Colony health is cumulative, so 11 surviving colonists and three sidequests nets a health of 14, for example.

  • Colony leadership
    • If Shiala survives, leadership is 5
    • If Ethan Jeong agrees to help the colony, leadership is 12

Colony leadership is not cumulative; if Jeong agrees to help, it doesn't matter what you do with Shiala, you still only get 12 points.

Some people might be too wasted to mingle, though they'll be grateful for the opportunity to make Zhu's Hope great again

For Feros to survive, the total value of colony health + colony leadership must be thirteen or higher. So, for example, if you kill Shiala and Jeong, you need to spare at least 13 colonists, or spare at least 9 colonists and complete all four sidequests. If you convince Jeong to help, you only need to do one sidequest or save one single colonist. Meet this bar and the remaining colonists will thank you for your help and cheer about the colony's newly bright future. Fall short, and they'll dejectedly explain that the colony is being shut down.

With this conversation done, you can talk to the various people left, trade with Ledra (if he survived), give Gavin his data (if you recovered it but delayed turning it in), or simply head straight back to where the Normandy is docked and leave this planet behind. At least one of the unnamed colonists (lying in bed in the Borealis) may refer to your given psych profile while talking to you.

Normandy[]

If you have Liara in your party she will offer to join your minds again to try and make sense of the vision, but the meaning will remain elusive. You can also choose to report to the council or not. If you do they make comments about the Thorian and how it was a problem and they should have been informed. Also they comment about if the colony was saved or not. If the colony was being shut down then the asari councilor is disappointed that the colony couldn’t be saved and the turian councilor approves saying the mission came first. If the colony was saved the salarian councilor will approve and the turian councilor will disapprove.

Enemies[]

Mass Effect 2 Consequences[]

A colonist from Zhu's Hope appears on Illium for an assignment related to the colony. If Shiala was spared, she is that colonist. If not, an unidentified woman takes her place.

Mass Effect 3 Consequences[]

If Shiala lived and you and managed to save the colony, they will join the war effort against the Reapers.

Bugs[]

  • The conversation that directly follows first encountering a Thorian Creeper can result in a bug that makes it impossible to save the Feros colony, regardless of the amount of colonists killed or colony assignments completed. This bug is triggered by choosing the "We can't take that risk" dialogue option, if one of the following conditions is also true:
(1) Kaidan is present, or
(2) Kaidan, Liara, and Ashley are all not present.
  • When fighting against the colonists, there is a glitch where melee attacks or the Anti-Thorian Gas grenades can sometimes fail to permanently knock them out, even when used repeatedly. However, if a glitched colonist is then shot or put down with another lethal method, they stay down and the Colonists Alive counter will also not go down.

Cut Content[]

  • The Thorian acid mine
    There are a number of unused squadmate and colonist voicelines associated with this mission.[1]
  • An inaccessible, alternative "Intimidate" option exists to persuade Jeong to let the colonists live. Unlike the one which is accessible, whose effects are the same as the "Charm" option (leading to Zhu's Hope's survival), this one resulted in convincing Jeong to let the colonists abandon the colony and paying them off to ensure their silence.[2] If restored into the game, this option triggers unused comments from the colonists in Feros' epilogue, from squadmates on the Normandy, and even correctly transfers to Mass Effect 2 during Illium: Medical Scans.
  • When first approaching the Thorian, some unused voicelines refer to acquiring a sample for an ExoGeni assayer. They are linked to a conditional associated with colonists abandoning Zhu's Hope in the mission's aftermath.[3]
  • An "acid landmine" was found in the files, which would have been an additional obstacle encountered around the Thorian's lair.[4]

References[]

Feros Mission Navigation
← Previous Mission Mission Index
Feros: Geth Attack Missions
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