13 réponses à ce sujet

[Christopher Williams]

Just finished the Collector Ship mission and I'm finding insanity mode not exactly easy, but certainly do-able. It's whole lot harder than insanity in both Mass Effect 1 and 3 but nowhere near as hard as it's reputed to be.

I imported a level 60 Mass Effect 1 character (taking advantage of ME1 having just come out on PS3 to do Mass Effect from start to finish). I'm only lacking the insanity trophy for ME2 so I decided to give it a try. My previous ME2 playthroughs taught me that following the rebalancing of biotic powers from the first game, lead (thermal clips?) trumps powers every time. Therefore, I'm playing a soldier.

From my experience the soldier is the most robust class. Many trump the superior defence of the sentinel, but the best defence is offence and having fewer enemies shooting at you more than makes up for the defensive boost provided by tech armour. Importing an ME1 save means that I neither started at level 1 nor level 30 which are the maybe the most difficult ways to start out on insanity.

Through trial and error, I've winkled out a few strategic tips:

• One point in Stasis is an OK bonus skill, at least to start with. Makes those drones on Freedom's Progress a walkover, since it insta-kills them.
• Heavy ammo skills are better than squad ammo skills. This is because Shepard is the overwhelming damage dealer in the squad and 20% extra damage for Shepard is better than 40% extra damage for her teammates. Besides which, the squad members you'll likely be using have their own ammo powers.
• The belief that squad cryo will make for effective crown control is mistaken. I pumped ten points into it and saw barely any effect (maybe one ymir mech in Jack's recruitment got frozen). I suspect that these wasted points made Horizon a lot more difficult than it might otherwise have been.
• Completing LotSB provides goodies after every subsequent mission. Complete it ASAP.
• Heavy warp ammo is an excellent skill for collector missions. If you have the EEZO to spare, redistribute points into Inferno ammo for other missions where enemies won't have barriers. If you have abolutely masses of EEZO, reskilling to Tungsten ammo is even better unless you're facing Blood Pack.
• Squad members that depend on powers are ineffective. I've found three squad members to be partcularly effective, depending on the enemies to be faced: Garrus, Zaeed and Grunt. Thane worked very well on the Collector Ship and will likely become a regular in subsequent missions.
• On normal and veteran, Miranda is your go-to teammate. On insanity she is, I'm sorry to say, a liabilty.
• Turn off squad power auto-usage at the same time as you set the difficulty at the start of the game. In general, when you want to use a squadmate's power, you'll want to use it now not in five seconds' time.
• Stay mobile: use a hardened adrenaline rush to put distance between yourself and enemies trying to flank you.
• Trying too hard to remove the last slither of enemy health will often get you killed. Don't be too eager!
• One of the biggest problems you'll encounter is running out of ammo. This means that the Predator is actually a better back-up weapon than the Carnifex!
• Snipe heavies first so they don't cramp your style.
• Spending £1.50 on the firepower pack may be a good idea. The Mattock is very effective. The GPS by contrast is no more effective than any other shotgun (i.e. not very). Haven't tried the Phalanx - I suspect that trying to get a laser sight on an enemy might be a quick way to achieve a game over screen.
• Grenade launcher / missile launcher are the best heavy weapons. Collector particle beam, in particular, is lethal to you, since it requires you to be out of cover to use it effectively.
• The risk-reward balance of the Viper may be better than that of the Widow. YMMV.

Don't know about other people's experiences, but here are the encounters that have given me the most trouble:

• Second and third shutters on Garrus's recruitment. I'm guessing that I'm not alone here!
• Most of Kasumi's loyalty mission, a combination of taking it on early and having only one, rather fragile, squadmate. The first encounter in Hock's vault was a particularly painful one.
• Jedore, Ymir mech and assorted krogan berserkers at the end of Grunt's recruitment. After a couple of tries, I found that staying at the back out of Jedore's way and taking out the krogans as they spawn is the most effective strategy. The Ymir will walk right below you where it can't harm you. Once that's down, Jedore becomes a lot easier.
• The initial Harbinger encounters on Horizon. Many of the problems I had were down to having bad skills and Miranda along for the ride.
• The car-park battle after chasing down Tala Vasir was horrible: too many waves of too many mercenaries. In contrast, Tala Vasir was easy, particularly with liberal application of Stasis. For the Shadow Broker himself, staying mobile and switching between disruptor and inferno ammo as necessary did the trick.
• The first part of Thane's recruitment mission was a real grind: loads of enemies, including Loki and Fenris mechs and no ability to save between groups. Again, having Miranda (for warp) didn't help. The bridge, by contrast, wasn't too bad.
• The varren in Grunt's loyalty mission: lots of them and easy to get mobbed. The klixen were a relief in comparison.

I've read many accounts of misery regarding the trap encounter on the Collector Ship. Didn't have any significant problems myself: heavy warp ammo and decent squadmates (Thane and Grunt) may have helped.

So, any trophy ****s, like myself, looking to get the platinum trophy for ME2, give insanity a go; it's not as hard as you think.

[Drayce333]

Christopher Williams wrote...

Through trial and error, I've winkled out a few strategic tips:

• One point in Stasis is an OK bonus skill, at least to start with. Makes those drones on Freedom's Progress a walkover, since it insta-kills them.
• The belief that squad cryo will make for effective crown control is mistaken. I pumped ten points into it and saw barely any effect (maybe one ymir mech in Jack's recruitment got frozen). I suspect that these wasted points made Horizon a lot more difficult than it might otherwise have been.
• Completing LotSB provides goodies after every subsequent mission. Complete it ASAP.
• Squad members that depend on powers are ineffective. I've found three squad members to be partcularly effective, depending on the enemies to be faced: Garrus, Zaeed and Grunt. Thane worked very well on the Collector Ship and will likely become a regular in subsequent missions.
• On normal and veteran, Miranda is your go-to teammate. On insanity she is, I'm sorry to say, a liabilty.
• Turn off squad power auto-usage at the same time as you set the difficulty at the start of the game. In general, when you want to use a squadmate's power, you'll want to use it now not in five seconds' time.
• One of the biggest problems you'll encounter is running out of ammo. This means that the Predator is actually a better back-up weapon than the Carnifex!
• Spending £1.50 on the firepower pack may be a good idea. The Mattock is very effective. The GPS by contrast is no more effective than any other shotgun (i.e. not very). Haven't tried the Phalanx - I suspect that trying to get a laser sight on an enemy might be a quick way to achieve a game over screen.
• The risk-reward balance of the Viper may be better than that of the Widow. YMMV.
• Second and third shutters on Garrus's recruitment. I'm guessing that I'm not alone here!
• Jedore, Ymir mech and assorted krogan berserkers at the end of Grunt's recruitment. After a couple of tries, I found that staying at the back out of Jedore's way and taking out the krogans as they spawn is the most effective strategy. The Ymir will walk right below you where it can't harm you. Once that's down, Jedore becomes a lot easier.

I've read many accounts of misery regarding the trap encounter on the Collector Ship. Didn't have any significant problems myself: heavy warp ammo and decent squadmates (Thane and Grunt) may have helped.

• Stasis is easy mode and a very exploitable power for any class because of its glitch
• Cryo is completely useless in ME2, its only there for laughs on normal mode.
• True but its better played after the Suicide mission along with Arrival
• Every Squadmate is very strong in ME2 with the proper weapon and power specs
• Miranda is incredible on all difficulties, read above
• Eh, I think it was better for every Mass Effect to enable squad auto power.
• Ammo is a issue in ME2, just make your shots count and you should be fine.
• Yes, everyone should purchase the firepower pack, it is insanly good especially if playing soldier or if you plan to do multiple trilogy runs.
• I've found in every situation that the Mantis/Widow >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Viper. Same for Squadmates.
• Yes the shuttle in garrus recruitment is absolute crap, Try doing this as a insanity low level adept.
• Taking off the krogan one by one while keeping the YMIR most definitely makes this fight a breeze.

Oh yeah the Collector ship wasn't bad at all with Grunt and Garrus, I only died once at the first fight because of ninja husk swarm stun lock on adept Insanity.

Modifié par Drayce333, 28 janvier 2013 - 12:32 .

[billpickles]

I finished my insanity run for the platinum trophy a few weeks back, and also did a Soldier.  I agree with a lot of what you said above, but not all of it.

First of all, I did a NG+, so I started off at level 30.  And my goal was to complete the game as quickly as possible, not to complete every mission.  I did not recruit Thane or Tali, and I didn't do Loyalty missions for Mordin, Kasumi, Garrus, or Legion.  No LotSB or Project Overlord either, nor any N7 missions.

I chose which non-required missions to invest time in by what upgrades they offered.  I wanted Biotic and Tech cooldown upgrades, and as many Assault Rifle and Sniper Rifle upgrades as were convenient, with Assault Rifle accuracy being absolutely required (Revenant).

Bonus power was Geth Shield Boost.  It definitely came in handy pretty often, though it severely limited my ability to AR spam.  That's part of why the Tech cooldown upgrade was so necessary.  Despite the cooldown issue, though, I found having a way to refill my shields on demand to be near mandatory at times.  By choosing weapon damage on rank 4, you can somewhat mitigate the interference with AR.

I also just ran past enemies quite a bit, especially on the Collector Ship and the first stage of the Suicide Mission.

I didn't think the Collector Particle Beam was as big a liability as you suggest, especially if you ONLY use it in conjuction with AR.  Cain is near mandatory on Horizon and the Collector Ship.  It can also instantaneously end the final fight on the Derelict Reaper.  I didn't have to fight a single husk in that final scene...just shoot the core with the Cain as soon as it lets you take control after the cutscene = mission successful.

Agree on the Viper.  I actually used it more than the Revenant.  Also agree that Cryo Ammo is crap.  And I probably used Concussive Shot like 5 times or less.  Pretty much just GSB if shields got low, AR the rest of the time.

Gotta disagree on Miranda.  Her squad weapon and health bonuses were quite useful I thought.  I used her and Zaeed until I got Grunt.  Then her and Grunt.  Missions with lots of husks, I typically used Jack for Shockwave CC and instakills after Grunt and I took down their armor.

[brad2240]

My experiences have been a bit different:

1) You often don't want to spend points on teammates' ammo powers. Garrus, Thane, and sometimes Grunt are good examples. I think the only teammates I always spec for ammo are Jacob and Jack. The damage bonus from ammo is misleading anyway, you're not getting nearly as much bonus as the power description says. The CC aspects of ammo types are what's most important.

2) Cryo ammo is free and effective CC on any difficulty and a real lifesaver when there are husks around. The team is always shooting so why not make it worth something? Besides, a Soldier has plenty of points to go around.

3) Incendiary/Inferno ammo is easily the best in the game, not only for its damage but, more importantly, for it's crowd control. Its a far better choice for Collectors than the pure damage ammos like Warp or AP. The barriers go down fast to any decent rapid fire weapon anyway. The Revenant or Viper will blow through them like paper. I think only with the Widow is Warp a better choice, with anything else you're weakening yourself and likely taking more damage than you need to from lack of CC.

4) If you found squad members that rely on powers to be ineffective, you were doing something wrong. Miranda, Samara and Mordin are excellent casters for almost any mission. Others like Garrus, Thane and Tali are more situational but very strong against the right opponent. As for Miranda being a liabilty, that makes me think you weren't placing her in cover properly. She is squishy but her powers and buffs means she goes great on any team.

5) I love the grenade launcher but found the missile launcher to be a bit weak. The Avalanche is an amazing weapon also, by far my most commonly used heavy. It wipes out defenses and freezes targets in a large area. Give it a try if you haven't already.

[capn233]

Since everyone else is giving their opinion, I will throw in my two cents...

1. If you didn't know about the bug with Stasis where enemies take huge bonus damage right as the fall when it wears off, then I can see thinking it is just ok. If you exploit the extra damage it is the most powerful bonus power.

2. As far as Soldier's ammo powers are concerned, I only agree with the heavy evolution being superior in the case of Incendiary Ammo. Inferno ammo does good damage and has good CC. It will make protected enemies do the fire dance if they are in range of the burst (if the primary target is not protected). Otherwise I prefer the Squad evolution for Disruptor and Cryo Ammo. The downside with Heavy Disruptor ammo is that if a Synthetic is close when they are killed, you can take damage. Additionally, you want to spread the mild CC from weapon overheat around via squad weapons, or stunning of synthetics. A little more shield damage is a bonus. Cryo Ammo is significantly better in the squad evolution because you end up freezing more enemies that way. That leads to...

3. Squad Cryo Ammo is an excellent power, but it is really best on missions with a lot of melee creatures. The best mission for it is Derelict Reaper because husks are instantly killed when they freeze. The next best are Rite of Passage, Old Blood, Subject Zero, N7 Abandoned Mine, N7 Quarian Crash Site, and N7 Blood Pack Communications Relay. It is ok on the other Collector missions, and it isn't terrible on most missions versus the mercs. It is not all that great versus Geth.

4. LOTSB upgrades don't show up after every mission indefinitely. There are a set number of upgrades that you get from that terminal.

5. Soldiers don't need Heavy Warp Ammo against Collectors. It will work, but Inferno Ammo works better in my experience.

6. On higher difficulties really the value of the squad are their powers. They only do fractional weapon damage as compared to Shepard (it is like 60% for most weapons), but their powers have similar damage and CC to Shep's, just longer cooldowns. While the three squadmates you listed are all good in various missions, there are several other that are also worth using. Case in point:

7. Miranda is one of the most versatile squadmates since she can deal with all protection types. She also has a bonus to squad health and damage. Area Overload is great for stripping the shields off all the mercs you will find on most recruitment and loyalty missions, as well as most side missions. Paired with Garrus, she is also very useful against the Geth.

8. I agree with leaving squad power use on "manual."

9. Mobility is good. If you play the campaign enough, you will learn the best way to position you and your squad for basically every fight.

10. Yes, don't overextend yourself.

11. As far as ammo goes, Soldier does have 4 guns. It is more of a problem early game. Try to make shots count. And also try to take most shots under Adrenaline Rush, since that increases ammo efficiency.

12. Yes, heavies are annoying.

13. The Mattock is very, very powerful under any form of time compression in this game because it actually has an ROF of 750, which is essentially non-achievable in normal time. So under Adrenaline Rush or even after Biotic Charge you get massive DPS. The Geth Shotgun is pretty good, especially for shotgun using squad members.

14. There are all sorts of useful heavy weapons. Really ME2 has the best all around weapon balance, with a couple of DLC exceptions. I prefer running the Grenade Launcher, but that is partly because of how it looks on Shep's back. Otherwise, Arc Projector can be situationally very useful (like during The Long Walk / Biotic Shield fight...), as is the Avalanche. The Cain's usefulness is obvious (judicious use on N7 Eclipse Smuggling Depot). I like the Collector Beam for the last fight actually.

15. The Viper is an excellent weapon in ME2, especially under Adrenaline Rush running Inferno Ammo. My favorite soldier runs the Revenant and the Viper, but Claymore is decent too. I don't really like the Widow Soldier.

***

- Yes, most people do Archangel fairly early (probably after The Professor) and you aren't very tough yet. The shutters in the "garage" for lack of a better term can be tricky.

- I agree, Jedore is a tricky fight to learn. Once you get it down, it isn't too bad. There are a couple ways to make it manageable, like positioning the squad near the door, and sometimes just bum rushing Jedore and killing her before too many Krogan are activated.

- Horizon is difficult because you won't have many upgrades yet. And upgrade are very important in ME2. This is also why NG+ is harder than a New Character or Import in ME2.

- Car Park battle can be tricky. You can make it a whole lot easier in a couple ways... As a Soldier you can take someone with Area Overload and have them cast it on the enemies in the truck as they are landing to strip shields, then have Liara immediately cast Singularity. Or you can take Kasumi and have her cast Improved Flashbang on the group right as they land.

- My default squad is Miranda and Garrus for nearly everything. On most missions you will get more mileage out of her Area Overload, so that should be prioritized over Warp, IMO. Thane's mission isn't all that different, you are fighting Eclipse mercs with some mech support. Stripping the armor off the mechs only takes a couple shots from a weapon, and the Overload will stun them, etc.

- For Grunt's mission, Squad Cryo Ammo is pretty handy. It will slow the Varren down a bit. Mordin is also potentially the best squad member to add on since he can use Incineration Blast to strip their armor.

Anyway, congrats on passing it. If you want a little more challenge, play NG+ Insanity. Enemies in ME2 are scaled based on Shepard's level, so you will start with maxed enemies, but no upgrades...

[Christopher Williams]

@Drayce333. Problem with Mantis / Widow is not hitting, but missing. You get one shot per spam of AR (hardened; I'd already found on veteran that heightened makes for game over) and missing is expensive. If you're good, the one-shot rifles rule. The Viper just gives you a little leeway to be a bit rubbish. I've only just picked up the Widow so will give it a few more goes.

Don't agree about any teammate working. Power dependent teammates lack damage output. Warp every eight-or-so seconds does not compensate for +50% weapon damage bonus. Shotgunners (Jack, Jacob, Tali) need to get dangerously close to the enemy. This makes the best teammates, at this level, ones who can both wield assault / sniper rifles and who have damage bonuses / ammo powers.

@billpickles. Were this just a trophy run, I'd take the same approach: skip most missions, get to the IFF ASAP. I'd also have gone the "good" route through Zaeed's mission to get the heavy weapon ammo, which would've allowed me to get the Cain before Horizon rather than just now. However, this is also the game that I'm planning to import into ME3 so I want everyone alive / loyal.

GSB is a definitely a valid bonus power, the best shield power by far. Issue I found when I tried in my last-but-one playthrough is that keeping it up is a bit of a chore: GSB, wait ten seconds, continue...

@brad2440. Agree about incendiary ammo in general (although the damage over time isn't as good as damage right now). Will give the Avalanche a go. I presumed that enemy defences would gimp it.

[klokked]

I had a lot of trouble playing as a Soldier on Insanity, so I decided to switch to playing an Adept, and I can honestly say it was the best idea I had.

I didn't really have much of the DLC for ME2, but I did have the Mattock, and that was the deciding factor.

I went Adept with Assault Rifle Training, and used the Mattock in combination with all the powers and ran with two other Biotic allies. The result was quite destructive. I blew through Insanity with ease.

[brad2240]

Christopher Williams wrote...

Don't agree about any teammate working. Power dependent teammates lack damage output. Warp every eight-or-so seconds does not compensate for +50% weapon damage bonus. Shotgunners (Jack, Jacob, Tali) need to get dangerously close to the enemy. This makes the best teammates, at this level, ones who can both wield assault / sniper rifles and who have damage bonuses / ammo powers.

You seem to value teammates for their weapons damage output, which is valid and can work, but as Capn said above their true value lies in their powers. Warp is one of the best defense stripping powers in the game and can be combined with a class or squadmate with Singularity or Pull to strip/kill a whole group of enemies. That leads to faster clearing than a 50% weapons bonus.

Consider also that powers like Area Incinerate, Area Overload or Area Reave can strip defenses from entire groups and/or CC unprotected groups. And the more you use powers in combination (Incinerate followed by Overload on a group of armored mechs, for example) the stronger they become and the faster you're killing.

As you said above, Shepard is the real killer. Even with big damage bonuses the team still lags behind with weapons but the powers they bring to te table enable Shep to to his job better. Powers and power characters are a lot better than you're giving them credit for. 

In regards to shotgun teammates, they suffer if you only have the base weapons with no DLC (like me). The AI isn't very good with them but I understand that  the Eviscerator and Geth shotgun helps them tremendously by having a longer range. Those characters are also sort of niche. Jacob and Jack can really shine with a Shepard that has Warp or Throw, and Tali is fantastic vs synthetics but less so vs other enemies.  

@brad2440. Agree about incendiary ammo in general (although the damage over time isn't as good as damage right now). Will give the Avalanche a go. I presumed that enemy defences would gimp it.

Again, the real power of the ammo is in it's CC effects more than it's damage bonus,  which is smaller than you think due to the way bonuses stack in this game.

The Avalanche has a massive multiplier vs all defense types, x8 I think it is. It strips mook defenses in one or two shots and freezes them all with the following shot, in a very large radius. Its a quick way to wipe out a group of enemies. It makes Horizon so much easier and can even do a lot of damage to the Praetorian if you're willing to dump your ammo on him.

[UnknownMercenary]

My first time was on the PS3 as well, starting with a level 1 Infiltrator.

Garrus' recruitment mission was the hardest because he just wouldn't stay alive and I had a hard time killing everything.

I found squad mates more annoying to control with the controller since there's a lot of pausing involved compared to on the PC, where I could just command them on the fly much better with hotkeys, so I too relied on them mainly to soak bullets and the occasional CC power.

That said, Miranda is a very good squad mate. The bonus health and weapon damage to the team is very useful and she has a great set of powers.

Heavy Warp ammo was great for getting the most out of my Widow on Insanity, but for the Soldier I would still prefer Inferno for the CC ability.

[Christopher Williams]

Add Geth Colossus to the list of boss enemies to fall to the humble Predator pistol!

I've heard tell that M-29 Incisor is bugged in that damage reduction isn't applied to squadmates. True?

[RedCaesar97]

Christopher Williams wrote...
I've heard tell that M-29 Incisor is bugged in that damage reduction isn't applied to squadmates. True?

If I recall, the damage reduction is applied to squadmates properly. With squadmates, however, they tend to land all three shots as headshots and headshots adds a damage bonus. Sniper Rifles also benefit from a headshot damage upgrade and the Incisor also deals bonus damage to shields.


And some other notes about (Squad) Cryo Ammo:
(1) The freezing effect can work on all enemies down to health only, whereas not all enemies have weapons that can be overheated by Disruptor Ammo, and not all enemies will panic when set on fire by Incendiary Ammo. Also of note is that the freezing effect (enemies turning white) is much more noticeable than an enemy's weapon overheating.

(2) Frozen enemies take 100% more weapon damage; I believe it is +100% of base weapon damage. Enemy has to be completely frozen before the damage bonus is applied. Force is also increased against frozen enemies; for example, the force of Throw is increased on frozen enemies. 

(3) Frozen enemies can fall over. This can be detrimental if you are trying to kill an enemy who has just fallen behind cover, but it can also mean that they are knocked out for longer periods of time since it takes them time to get back to their feet. Sometimes they even get frozen again.

Modifié par RedCaesar97, 29 janvier 2013 - 05:38 .

[capn233]

RedCaesar97 wrote...

And some other notes about (Squad) Cryo Ammo:
(1) The freezing effect can work on all enemies down to health only, whereas not all enemies have weapons that can be overheated by Disruptor Ammo, and not all enemies will panic when set on fire by Incendiary Ammo. Also of note is that the freezing effect (enemies turning white) is much more noticeable than an enemy's weapon overheating.

(2) Frozen enemies take 100% more weapon damage; I believe it is +100% of base weapon damage. Enemy has to be completely frozen before the damage bonus is applied. Force is also increased against frozen enemies; for example, the force of Throw is increased on frozen enemies. 

(3) Frozen enemies can fall over. This can be detrimental if you are trying to kill an enemy who has just fallen behind cover, but it can also mean that they are knocked out for longer periods of time since it takes them time to get back to their feet. Sometimes they even get frozen again.

Yeah, and frozen enemies sometimes behave oddly when it comes to physics attacks, like brief immunity during the freezing animation (bug).

[Christopher Williams]

Done and dusted. Another platinum trophy to add my meagre collection.

I'm no uber-gamer with the reactions of a coked-up feline, so anyone thinking that insanity might be too hard, take heart: it's doable and most parts are straightforward, albeit with a few unpleasant difficulty spikes.

Early build strategy was to take an early couple of points in disruptor and incendiary ammo, one point in stasis and then concentrate on adrenaline rush.  I didn't start putting points into the class skill for a good long while. Evolved ammo powers to heavy rather than squad. I generally selected the hard hitters as squadmates (Zaeed, Garrus, Grunt, Thane and, eventually, Legion).

Reflections on missions:

Freedom's Progress (Miranda and Jacob)
Nothing too hard. Most dangerous enemies are the Fenris mechs. Used Jacob's pull after taking down their armour. Rocket drones were neutralized by stasis. For the Ymir mech, I retreated into an nearby building for better cover.

Dossier: The Professor (Miranda and Zaeed)
Blood Pack, so incendiary ammo is a must here. Nothing too hard. At the end clear enemies from both sides of the final area before turning on either fan. Makes things a lot more straightforward.

Kasumi: Stolen Memory
Pretty bloody hard, actually. First proper fight in Hock's vault is a nightmare with a bum-rush of mercs, including an engineer. Factor in 2 Ymir mechs, vanguards and heavies as you push forward and it was all rather hectic. Kasumi wasn't a whole lot of use, so I didn't use her again (shame: I've heard that flashbang grenade turns Harbinger into a pushover). Boss battle is kinda nasty. I believe that you only have to take the gunship shields down once and then just hold off the spawning enemies for a while, because I got the cutscene that disables its shields when I wasn't actually fighting the damned thing.

Dossier: Archangel (Miranda and Zaeed)
Possibly the third hardest mission in the game. Before the fighting starts, make sure you reprogram the Ymir mech and sabotage the gunship (renegade interrupt for the latter). Eclipse is straightforward, pretty much a turkey shoot. Blood pack is a nightmare because of having to close those damned shutters while infinitely spawning, tough enemies are trying to get through. I left Garrus to his own devices, figuring I needed the firepower more than he did. First one is OK: storm and punch the button. Second one (long room, loads of enemies) is hard. Important thing is to press forward. Once you punch the button, stasis can help stop more krogan trying to get through. Third one (camping pyro) is a matter of retrying until you kill the pyro before he kills you. After this, Garm falls to a concentrated application of incendiary ammo, warp and, when his armour's down, concussive shot (thanks, Zaeed). Blue suns are easy in comparison, but still bloody hard. Gotta be quick because Garrus is exposed. At least the gunship goes down more quickly than Hock's.

Zaeed: The Price of Revenge (Zaeed and Garrus)
Blue Suns mercs, tailor-made for the Garrus / Zaeed combo. Straightforward until the final fight in the warehouse. Be sure to pause and check your radar often here, since there are a load of pyros who will come and flank you. Oh, there's an Ymir too. I went after Santiago because I wasn't sure whether I'd have sufficient paragon at this point to make Zaeed loyal otherwise.

Dossier: The Warlord (Zaeed and Garrus)
Blue Suns again, so Garrus and Zaeed again. Did this before recruiting Jack to get sniper rifle damage upgrade. Easy until the boss battle - just make sure to snipe heavies as a priority. Oh, and there's a bit with lots of krogan berserkers that is best done through judicious backpedalling. As for the boss battle, some say you can rush Jedore and headshot her. This strategy didn't work for me, so I stood behind a wall, taking out krogan berserkers as they popped out. Meanwhile, an Ymir mech wandered up and stood beneath the platform I was standing on. Since it couldn't harm me, I took my time taking it down. After that, Jedore was relatively easy - just duck quickly when she fires a rocket at you (which she does rather often).

Dossier: The Convict (Zaeed and Garrus)
The Blue Suns are like a bad penny in the early part of the game. Not too hard. There are a couple of Ymir mechs to fight, but they start out at very long range and can successfully be sniped. Take your time, feint to draw out enemies and then retreat to catch them in your team's crossfire. Boss battle is easy: AR to take out the first couple of mercs you can see; storm to the right hand ramp, AR and shoot the shield generator before the mercs up there notice your presence, storm back to where you started and take out the centre generator. Now AR, storm up the left ramp, take cover and shoot the last generator. No longer invulnerable, Warden Kuril is good as dead: three shots from the Mantis should suffice.

Horizon (Grunt and Miranda)
Wasn't looking forward to this one and didn't enjoy it overmuch. Early encounters with Harbinger are hard because you generally lack the firepower to deal with him at this point. The notorious dual scion / husk horde battle can be skipped by sniping the scions from the doorway that leads to it - you can just see bits of them poking out when you move to the extreme right and left of the doorway. Took all my Mantis, Predator and a good part of my Mattock ammo to take them down. Praetorian is handled best by staying mobile and taking shots of opportunity. I found that Miranda spent a good deal of time getting acquainted with the floor in this mission.

Miranda: The Prodigal (Miranda and Zaeed)
Oops didn't mean to do this one at this point. Talked to a woman called Lanteia in Eternity which forces you to do it. Straightforward mission. Final boss seems to squat down near your initial cover which makes it easy to take her down.

Lair of the Shadow Broker (Liara and Zaeed)
This was the one I meant to do. Several very hard fights in this one, notably the merc rush in the car park after chasing Tala Vasir and a grinding wave battle on the SB's ship waiting for a door to open. Engineers are priority enemies in both battles because their drones will drive you out of cover. Tala Vasir is not too hard because stasis will stop her in her tracks, giving you opportunities to unload on her. Stasis also insta-kills any rocket drones that show up which can otherwise murder you in two hits. The Broker himself is reasonably easy as big boss battles go: yes he has that annoying shield, but it doesn't cover his entire body so shoot the bugger's feet! Otherwise keep mobile and switch between disruptor and incendiary as required.

Dossier: The Assassin (Miranda and Zaeed)
Eclipse mercs so a mixture of shielded and barrier enemies. Early stages are a grind of wave after wave of mercs with sufficient Fenris mechs to be annoying. Gets significantly easier once you get past the bounty hunter / two engineer hit squad. Miranda spent most of this level unconscious so I decided not to use her again.

Garrus: Eye for an Eye (Garrus and Zaeed)
Did this ASAP both for sniper rifle upgrade and to respec Garrus with Tungsten ammo. Easy mission. Some people have difficulty with the twin Ymir mech battle at the end, but it's easy: you've got some platforms that lead down to it. Put your squaddies in cover at the top. Hop down to trigger the encounter, hop back up and the mechs can't touch you. Interesting stat for you: the headshot explosion of one Ymir mech took down the shields and exactly half of the armour of the other one.

Grunt: Rite of Passage (Grunt and Garrus)
With his shiny new Tungsten ammo, Garrus is perfect here: all enemies have armour and health. Grunt and Shepard have inferno ammo. Good times! First enemy wave is the hardest: varren are very quick and it's easy to get cornered and mobbed. Took about three goes. Klixen are slow movers so relatively easy pickings. Thresher Maw killed me a few times, but that was me being dumb, running into its phlegm attack while going for ammo. I stopped being so concerned about ammo, switched to The Predator when the Mattock ran out and took it down with a pistol!

Collector Ship (Grunt and Thane)
After Miranda's disappointing performances, Thane became my preferred warpbot: he's got a sniper rifle and Drell Marksman in addition. Having heard tales of unrelenting misery, I thought this would be the mission that decided whether I could complete insanity or not. Respecced Shepard for heavy warp ammo to shred barriers. Mission was straightforward: the notorious "it's a trap" encounter is handled by intelligent use of cover (move!) and squadmates up to the job. I daresay that having Miranda and Kasumi or Jacob and Jack along for the ride might have made life more difficult. Praetorian encounter later in the level is a lot easier than the one on Horizon with plenty of space on two levels to move around in. Final husk horde can be stormed past. Job done.

Thane: Sins of the Father
No combat. I figured I'd give Thane his own ammo power to make him even more deadly. Ended up not using it, though.

Dossier: Tali (Zaeed and Garrus)
Easy mission. People have difficulty with the final bit against the Colossus. Secret is to advance up the right-hand platform (or left, presumably, but I've not tried this) to stop the mook spawns. You'll reach a point where you can hurt the Colossus without it going into its repair mode, so unload.

Dossier: The Justicar (Thane and Zaeed)
Another easy mission, a cakewalk compared to Thane's recruitment. Lots of vanguards but we have heavy warp ammo now. There's another gunship, but it goes down to a few shots from the Widow. I gave the Geth Pulse Rifle a try out in the initial encounters. It's rubbish, good only for inflicting a slow death on your enemies. Fortunately, there's a weapon locker at the start of the level.

Mordin: Old Blood (Mordin and Grunt)
It's all krogan, vorcha and varren so two helpings of inferno ammo with incineration blast on top are just the ticket. Nothing particularly hard: just shoot things until they fall down then shoot more things. Encounter with the clanspeaker is made a lot easier with a renegade interrupt. Anyone intending to take a save into ME3: keep Maelon's data.

Jacob: The Gift of Greatness (Jacob and Zaeed)
Always enjoyed this mission - I like the Heart of Darkness feel to it. Not too hard. First encounter with hunters can be surprisingly tough. Lots of Loki waves, but they fall to heavy dusruptor fire in no time flat. Final Ymir mech walked up behind a fence that was between me and it, so I whittled it down. Job done.

Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi
No fighting, but an assault rifle upgrade, so do it when it becomes available.

Jack: Subject Zero (Jack and Grunt)
Fairly easy mission on any difficulty. Blood Pack enemies so inferno ammo all the way.

Tali: Treason (Tali and Zaeed)
Straightforward. Zaeed had squad disruptor in anticipation of this mission and Legion's. Final bit with the Geth Prime can be challenging (I got a game over screen here) - it's just a matter of using the wall in the middle of the room to put something physical between you and it.

Reaper: IFF (Thane and Grunt)
Respecced Thane for throw field in place of shredder ammo. Surpisingly easy. The secret is to take your time and draw out the husks and abominations a couple at a time. Encounters with scions thrown into the mix are best handled by backpedalling to take advantage of their slow advance - you've generally gots lots of room to do so. Final bit with the reaper core is quite hard, because husks and abominations spawn faster than you actually kill them. When the core is finally exposed, use the Cain to one-shot it. Much easier than surviving several more husk waves.

Legion: A House Divided (Legion and Zaeed)
Zaeed's final moment of glory! Nothing too difficult. Defending the terminal can be a challenge because you have to survive several progressively tougher waves. Secret is to not only be situationally aware as always, but to conserve the hackable turrets for the later waves. Tip for ME3 importers: just destroy the damned geth heretics!

Collector Base (Legion and Thane / Grunt and Thane / Legion and Thane)
Respecced Shepard for squad incendiary. First bit (opening vents) is easy. By this point Harbinger is more an annoyance than a deadly enemy. Sent Tali back with the Normandy crew - she simply doesn't have any useful skills for this mission. Second bit (biotic bubble) is easy until: 10 husks, 5 abominations, 1 scion. OMG, I thought my insanity run would fail at the last hurdle. No tips here: it's just plain difficult. Prioritize abominations, then husks, use throw field / concussion shot for insta-kills when opportunity arises, take potshots at the scion when you can. Final section: just do what you've been doing so far: shoot, throw when defences are down, use explosive drone to distract, prioritize Harbinger if he becomes an immediate threat. When you get to the Human Reaper, use AR to try and destroy two tubes at a time: it means fewer enemy waves to survive. When the Reaper comes back, I found that he was easiest to hit with a heavy pistol. If you're good, the Widow is effective too. When he lines up for his blast, unload but not for too long or you'll get caught in it. Let your squaddies handle the collector enemies that arrive, reviving them as needed. At one point, I punched Harbinger to death to conserve ammo! Eventually (and it may take a couple of retries), the reaper will go down and *pling* out pops your insanity trophy and, in my case, the platinum trophy as well.

There you go. What surpised about this playthrough was how useful Zaeed was. In my previous playthoughs (normal and veteran), I barely used him at all. Legion is also really good when you finally get him: high survivability together with high damage output.

[capn233]

The most important qualification I have for a squadmate on Price of Revenge is "Is squaddie female?"