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[billpickles]

After my current Sentinel run (detailed in another thread), I will be left with only one PS3 trophy to complete for the entire trilogy...ME1 Insanity.  I'm not normally a trophy completionist, but with how much time I've poured into thie trilogy over the past few years, I feel like I need the Platinum trophy for all three installments.

After completing Hardcore and reading plenty of threads about ME1 Insanity, my impression is that it's not hard, per se...just really, really tedious.  The Immunity spam was bad enough on Hardcore that I can't imagine intentionally choosing a setting where it's even worse.  I typically play ME1 on Veteran because Immunity is just annoying.  I mostly play the first installement for the story more than the gameplay, and to ensure I don't have any missing content later in the series.

So I'm looking for advice on the FASTEST path to Insanity completion.  This will be mission worlds only.  My class options are Singulairty Vanguard, Hacking Infiltrator, and (soon to be completed) AR Sentinel.  The first two are level 60, the Sentinel will probably be in the mid-50s since I'm cutting more corners on that one.

So...which class, with which squadmates?  What builds on the squadmates?  Being able to unlock crates and such is a non-issue, as weapons and armor are already maxed or close enough to maxed.  This playthrough will not be imported to ME2.  Any suggested shortcuts that will make any of the mission-worlds go faster?  Example...skip the quarantine labs on Noveria and just blaze through the room with the turrets?

Any advice appreciated.

Modifié par billpickles, 06 février 2014 - 04:56 .

[capn233]

Basically if you are using a rank 50 new game + character, Insanity goes significantly faster than with a new character at Level 1. That is to say, compared with a Level 1 start, it nearly doesn't matter which NG+ class you take.

That said, I would be inclined to take the Infiltrator since you should have the best weapon DPS possible (best Marksman), and you get Immunity w/ Medium Armor to stay in fights longer. Hacking for more power spam.

As far as the missions, really there isn't much immunity spam at all on main line missions. Honestly I think mainline missions are way faster combat wise because Geth are simply easier to fight.

"Now for the boilerplate disclaimer..."

I haven't done a pure speed run, but this is what seems sensible to me:

Citadel Expose Saren:
Keep Kaidan in the squad for Lift. Theoretically it should be slightly faster to bypass Garrus altogether, but if you want to use him later I would just go the Garrus route and grab Wrex on your way out. Saren's Assassins can actually be lifted to their death if you time it right, which basically bypasses that little fight. Talk to Harkin, go get Garrus, and return to Chora's den with Kaidan/Garrus. Finish all the thugs, rescue Tali, then grab Wrex on the way out of the Citadel to the Normandy.

As far as build, as long as Kaidan has Master Lift and Neural Shock (basic is fine), you can allocate the rest however. I like Sabotage and Overload. With Garrus, Sabotage and Overload, and then I like Sniper damage as opposed to AR's. Make sure he gets Medium Armor though, unless you are going to try and let him get through with Phantom Light. You should be able to get Master Damping as well, as long as you don't max AR's. Advanced Adrenaline Burst too.

Therum
For NG+ I would probably roll Kaidan/Garrus here. Kaidan mainly to Lift anything that is annoying. I think you can drive past most everything in the mission up until you have to open the doors in the one blocked section. Kill units there, should actually be faster on foot if you drive right up to them since you are high level with presumably high level weapons. You also don't need to bother glitching the Mako through the rock blockade unless you want to, it always seems to waste some time when I try to do it. The fights at the end shouldn't be much of a problem.

You can do this mission with Tali instead of Garrus if you want, for her build, max all her bread and butter tech powers, Master Marksman on Pistols, and 0 in Shotguns (not needed, lower DPS).

Noveria

You have more squad options now. Personally I would switch Kaidan for Liara (Master Singularity, Master Lift, Advanced Warp+, Advanced Throw+, Max passive, Master Overload) and still run with Garrus or Tali. Tali has Hacking but Garrus has Adrenaline Burst... it is up to you. Or you can roll Kaidan / Liara. It doesn't matter a great deal here. Liara / Kaidan is slightly better against organics, Liara/Garrus is a little more balanced.

After the start, go directly to Opold. Agree to smuggle for him. Get his package, then go to Anoleis. Sell out Opold in exchange for the garage pass. Drive to Peak 15. Do all the crap to restore power then get on the tram no shortcut here that I am aware of except the omnigel for the Tower puzzle . As you say, just bust through the secure point, fight Benezia, and you are essentially done. In any event, if you fight Benezia first, you can sidetrack to the neutron purge the rachni on your way out which doesn't take all that long and you don't have to fight the mercs.

Feros

Liara / Garrus again. Liara / Kaidan might be slightly faster at the end if you can throw everything off the ledge. In any event, go throw the town, fight off the first waves of Geth. talk to Fai Dan, fight off the new wave. By this point you would hear about the geth in tunnels, and random problems, but the highway elevator is unlocked and you can skip the sidequests.

Get in the Mako and drive down the highway. Don't bother to stop if you don't have to. You don't have to talk to the executives at all. When you get to ExoGeni, just proceed through as normal, and don't bother getting Hossel's data. When the Mako stops to let out Lizbeth, it might be worthwhile to get out and procure the Anti-Thorian gas for grenades (it makes the last section a bit faster I think).

Drive to the colony, runover whatever is in the way.

Now I think the colony bit goes pretty fast with judicious use of Thorian Grenades. Sometimes it is faster to grenade a clump of Creepers, and try to simply melee the colonists (they should drop in one melee). There are some stocks of grenades near the end to refill for the final battle.

For the Thorian section, try to knock units off the edge, they will be instakilled, including the Clone. Also, if you want more CC switch pistol squaddies to Sledgehammer rounds. Garrus can either use an AR w/ Sledgehammer or simply his SR (snipers should have enough weapon force). If you don't need the CC, then Shredder VII or Inferno X. Use anti-thorian grenades on clumps if you have them. End the mission.

Virmire

Mako section in the first part. All Geth so Garrus/Tali is decent here. Liara/Garrus for Lift and tech if you want to lift armature class units. However, all tech has enough Sabotage to basically render big Geth useless.

Go to the camp, if you have enough persuade (8 charm / intimidate), Wrex can be persuaded. There is one easy way to save him otherwise, but it requires not getting Garrus at all and getting Liara after Virmire, which I think would actually work out overall slightly slower (no Liara for missions).

Next up is infiltration. Garrus / Liara is fine if you don't have Wrex. This is balanced. Use Liara's Lift and Singularity on pesky Krogan. Garrus for all around Tech. Make a b-line for the base (even though I think saving Kirrahe hardly takes any time at all). When you get to the base, you can trigger the alarms on the other side, it doesn't matter a whole lot. Just don't waste time with dialogue on the imprisoned Salarians. Go through the base and meet up with the Normandy.

The little room next has all the Krogan. With maxed characters it should not be an issue. If you can lift-throw them into the sky, they will be instakilled, but it might waste time if they get stuck. Lift, Singularity, Debuffs should be sufficient. Ash and Kaidan are unavailable so I would stick w/ Liara / Garrus (or Tali). Proceed to save Ash, obviously, and fight Saren. Use charm / intimidate on him. End the mission. If you think Liara - Kaidan is a faster combo, then save him. Really it shouldn't matter speed wise, and I don't really think Liara - Kaidan is faster than Liara - Garrus/Tali on main missions. At some point I think enemies floating around oddly is a hindrance to killing them.

Citadel Lockdown

This is mainly just story. Don't do the sidequests.

Illos
I don't think there are alternate paths. Proceed through the checkpoints. There are some areas where you don't really need to go if you aren't mining XP or looking for loot. You basically want to go to the back elevator to get to the area with the big geth and hackable armatures, see the signal, then return to the Mako and go through the bunker section. Drive the Mako and don't stop until you have to. It is worth making sure the Mako has full armor before the final cutscene and push to the conduit...

Liara and Garrus is fine for this mission and Citadel. I personally think Liara has enough CC by herself to make the last fight simple...

Citadel

This mission is more or less linear. There is one area where you can choose between turrets and fighting Krogan in a hallway. With Tech and weapon damage, it might be worth bulldozing through the turrets. Your call. When you get to Saren, use Charm / Intimidate (it costs less if you used it on Virmire, too...). When you get to possessed Saren, just spam powers on him. Lift is good.

The end.

edit: I can't remember if Grenade Capacity is persistent in NG+.  In any event, make sure you have it maxed before Feros.

Modifié par capn233, 06 février 2014 - 06:00 .

[billpickles]

Thanks, Capn, for the thorough reply. For the record...since this run is just about getting the Insanity trophy, I could care less about saving Wrex or the colonists. But it's a good point that the grenades are actually just faster, ethical implications aside. I actually think I might pick them up but then use them primarily when fighting the clone rather than the colonists.

Question:
You seem quite high on Garrus. I have generally found him to be the least useful teammate. Well, maybe second to Ashley. Lacks the crowd control of Liara/Kaiden, the tankiness of Wrex, and the Hacking/Marksman of Tali. What is it about him you like so much?

[capn233]

I think that Tali is better than Garrus "early game," and Garrus is better later game when he has master Tech powers and Adrenaline Burst. By early game I mainly mean when your character is from Level 1 to Level 20 or so. You can sub Tali for him if you want, I don't think it will make a huge difference on mainline missions. It is just that you get to use Damping, Overload, Sabotage hit Adrenaline and use them right again with Garrus. Since it is late game he has good armor and tankiness (his main problem earlier) is not an issue. I also don't think Hacking matters much except for the cooldown bonus, and you have it on your character.

Garrus's CC is all in Sabotage (enemies can't fire), and Damping (stuns target). You are right though, his does not have as much as Liara or Kaidan. I feel that typically late game Liara has nearly enough CC for the entire party though. As far as weapon damage, he is ok with the rifle. Since half the time it seems like squadmates are shooting the wall, I don't obsess over it. Also the fact that you have to manually activate it and that doesn't really guarantee they hit anything. I chiefly expect my squad to contribute in powers and some tanking (class dependent) rather than pure weapon damage.

You could do Liara - Kaidan for the whole game if you really want an extra Lift. "Early game" Neural Shock is really nice for Krogan (the Battlemaster), but by now you should have a bunch of ways to counter them (Liara is a hard counter practically). I also feel like too much Lift eventually becomes counterproductive, at least against a swarm of basics. Against elite tier, Lift isn't all that much better than Sabotage, except that you know exactly when it has "worn off."

The problem with Wrex is he is a better tank than anything else. Throw is somewhat mediocre, IMO. Warp is a good debuff, but you can get debuffs elsewhere. AR's and SG's aren't all that impressive damage wise (although Sledgehammer AR is ok CC).

Ash is basically a pure tank. She doesn't add much "late game" since all the classes can tank pretty damn well by themselves with good armor, Engineer still being the squishiest. She does have some utility on side missions that are conducive to sniping though, since she is only one of two squaddies with SR's. But since you are doing mainline missions only, that isn't a factor.

Anyway, I think you will find that you will probably be able to steamroll the game on Insanity with any of these highlevel characters, regardless of the squad you take.

[billpickles]

Does Warp debuff enemies that have already activated Immunity?

[capn233]

billpickles wrote...

Does Warp debuff enemies that have already activated Immunity?

Yes, it counters damage protection and that is my prime use for it on Krogan and standard organic mooks.  The main missions don't really have many organic enemies except for the random Krogan, at least after Expose Saren.  For side quests it is very nice.

It is nice though if you can hit the target with a Lift or Singularity before they start immunity, but it isn't always practical.

[John Locke N7]

i remember playing on insanity (still rock the gamer picture after all these years). I did it by importing a level 60 soldier. Basicly me Wrex and Ashly just busted up in the middle of everything and shot it tell it died. Enemys really do almost no damage to level 60 soldiers with the best armor.

It is a little tedious. every single fight basicly went 1. Run into the middle of the room agring every enemy. 2. stand still and shoot at enemys till they die. 3. run to next enemy group.

its a really bizarre sight to behold. Its ALOT like getting into big fights in Oblivion at high levels, where your fighting tons of enemys with TONS of health and no one is really doing any damage XD.