This article is about information and tactics for fighting the Shadow Broker. For the page about the Shadow Broker in general, see Shadow Broker. |
The Shadow Broker is an individual at the head of an expansive organization which trades in information, always selling to the highest bidder.
Mass Effect 2[]
After tracking down and infiltrating the Shadow Broker's ship, Shepard and Liara break into the Broker's intel center and confront him in person. The Shadow Broker is revealed to be a member of a pre-spaceflight race called the yahg. The yahg's brute strength knocks out one of Shepard's squad members, forcing the Commander and Liara to fight him on their own.
Capabilities[]
Offensive:
- He will continuously fire his Revenant while trying to close the distance on you.
- Once he is close enough, or after a while, he will charge at you. This charge attack can break the pylons you can use to take cover, and damage you through it.
- He can melee you with his shield if you stay close for too long.
Defensive:
- In stage one, he will have shields, armor and health. He will replenish shields and armor once these defenses have been stripped.
- In stage two and three, he will have the same, but also carry an impenetrable omni-shield.
- During the time his shielding and armor are stripped, he will be invincible to anything but a melee attack.
Tactics[]
General Tactics
- During stage one, use rapid-fire weapons with Disruptor Ammo and Overload on his shield, followed by slow-firing weapons with Incendiary Ammo and Incinerate or Warp on his armor.
- During the second and third stages, use the same attack method. However, techs and biotics now need to be aimed carefully, since they will have to bypass the shield he is carrying. When you aim at him, aim at his left side leg or arm. If you shoot him enough, he will stagger, which is a good time to unleash powers on him. You could also try to run behind him using the Infiltrator's cloak or the Soldier's Adrenaline Rush ability. This, combined with a charged shot from a Geth Plasma Shotgun will take him down quickly.
- Once his shields and armor are taken down, run up to him quickly, and melee him. Repeat the stripping/melee process three times to finish him off.
- It is useful to note that using either Liara's Singularity or Stasis will stun the Shadow Broker for a brief time, giving you the chance to inflict more damage. The effectiveness is increased if you trained Liara's mastery to "Asari Controller" since it reduces power recharge time.
- In general, using heavy weapons in this fight is of limited usefulness due to the amount of time it takes to switch between them and other guns, and conventional weapons are more than sufficient to take the Broker down.
- The shots of the M-622 Avalanche, M-100 Grenade Launcher, Arc Projector, and ML-77 Missile Launcher can stagger the Broker as well as do decent damage. The M-490 Blackstorm singularity projectile is usually able to stagger the Broker twice before it detonates, though he can still get shots in on you between stuns.
- Use of the M-920 Cain is impractical as a shot will at most do enough damage to completely strip one of the Broker's defense layers (shields or armor), and using this weapon at close quarters can kill you or Liara. The lengthy charge time of the weapon also tends to leave you vulnerable.
- You can continuously climb the two staircases in the back of the room, climbing up one, moving towards the other, climbing down then moving back to the first to keep cover between you and him, allowing you to use powers to wither his defense. The upside of doing this is as you both circle the obstacle, he will more or less ignore Liara. Any attempt to charge at her will generally result in him charging into obstacles and getting caught there, making this battle ridiculously easy.
- The M-98 Widow sniper rifle is also a good choice, provided you are accurate enough to hit him behind his shield. Adrenaline Rush can help with this if you are not that accurate. If done correctly, using this tactic means you won't have to move at all throughout the fight except for the melee sequences.
- Flashbang Grenades will make the Broker stagger and allow you to pepper him with gunfire for a few seconds. However they do not overheat his weapon as they would against most normal enemies.
- If you really want any easy playthrough, then you need only confuse him so that he just stands there doing nothing. To accomplish this, head right until you're behind the pillar. If you stand close enough to the pillar to go into cover, the Broker will charge, and eventually destroy the pillar. If, on the other hand, you stand back from the pillar, enough so that the pillar is directly between you and him, the Broker will instead, just stand there. At this point, move slightly to the right, enough so that you can see him and even shoot at him, but he will not shoot back. At this point, you can just wear him down.
Class Specific Tactics
- The Adept can stun the Broker briefly with Singularity.
- The Engineer has a fairly easy time of it, as spamming Combat Drones at the Broker will distract him almost indefinitely and even gives you easy firing angles as well.
- The Infiltrator can use Tactical Cloak to easily displace to new cover locations without coming under fire from the Broker and also line up powerful shots while invisible.
- The Vanguard is actually able to defeat the Broker at close quarters by using Charge to close to melee range and then circle-strafing the Broker while using melee attacks and point-blank weapon fire to damage him. The Broker is actually kept so off balance by this that he will rarely be able to damage you with his gun and only his melee attack will stun you occasionally; when this occurs, merely use Charge again to interrupt the Broker and restore your shields. It's a good idea to have at least a Rank 3 Charge for this, as well as at least some points invested in Assault Mastery for increased power recharge times to make sure you always have Charge available when you need it.