Mass Effect 2: Dossier: Tali Tips for Insanity Difficulty

Here are some tips for completing Mass Effect 2: Dossier Tali recruitment mission while playing on the Insanity difficulty level. Again check my general tips and remember this is just for the hardest parts of the mission. If you want a walkthrough, check this one out from Mass Effect wikipedia.

Lately, I wait till after I recruit Legion before I attempt this mission. The reason is twofold. First, the enemies are Geth. Legion can hack them or you can use the combat drone on them. Now on Insanity, it's harder since all the Geth have shields but you can still use the combat drone on them. And once you take down the shields of a Geth, you can hack them. Second, the Colossus at the end of the mission is really difficult on Normal. On Insanity it's insane. And remember once you recruit Legion, you've got two missions before the Normandy gets attacked and the crew is kidnapped. That means you've got to go through the Omega 4 relay right after that event if you want to save the crew.

The Squad- Again, I choose Miranda. She can overload shields and warp any armor. Legion is number two. He can use combat drones on shielded Geth and can hack unshielded ones. If you maxed out his AI hacking, choose the option to extend the length of the hack, i.e. improved AI hacking.

As stated above, we're just going to go over the toughest parts of the mission. For heavy weapons, I use the rocket launcher. Though the Mass Effect Wiki suggests the M-920 Cain. It's powerful but slow and uses a ton of ammo. Anyway, there are basically two tough spots. They are when you go to get the charges and when you face the Colossus.

1. Get the charges. When you approach the garage, you will get jumped by Geth. Take cover and eliminate them. Remember to take out the Geth Hunters who are cloaked and Geth Destroyers first. The Destroyer has a flamethrower who wreck your day. Both charge your position. Once you get into the garage, you will see the charge. Before you take it, salvage supplies in the room. Then set your squad into defensive position behind cover. Once you get the charge, get ready for some bad guys.

Okay, you get attacked by the Geth Prime. He has shields and armor. He will advance on your position. Use your squadmates powers and use your assault rifle to unleash hell on him. After you get past the Prime and his buddies, make your way out of the garage. Yeah, there will be Geth streaming across the field. So take cover and keep the pressure on them. Eventually they stop and you can move towards the next buidling where the second charge is. As you move forward, do not back track since this causes the program to spawn more Geth. Once you get to the room with the last charge, get the power cells. Before you get the last charge, look out the door. There's a building to your left with an open door. That's our destination after you get the charge.

Get the charge. You get jumped by Geth attacking you from where you came. Run to the left and enter the building. Go upstairs. Open the shutters on the second floor to allow you to shoot out the windows. First guys you should kill are the rocket launchers on the bridge. Then nail the guys on the ground in front of the building. You may have to go to the first floor and get them to move but keep to the second floor. Why? The Geth don't chase you to the second floor. Eventually you wipe them out. Go ahead and plant the charges.

Now let's skip ahead to the hardest part of the mission. Get ready for ...

2. Colossus. You know the drill. You get to the room with the shutters right before you face the Colossus. Save your game. Open the shutter, start this last part of combat. When you talk to Kai' Reegar, I usually tell him to stand down. Yeah, I'm a good guy.

a. Save your squad. Okay, you're under fire from the left, center and right. Yikes. So take your squad back to the shutter room and station them there. Yeah, they can't shoot but get this, you can still use their powers. Get back to the platform with Reegar, take cover and start picking off the Geth. Use your squad's powers to help you. Of course it doesn't help when the Colossus fires that homing rocket at you while getting fired upon by the Geth.

Okay, you've taken out the bad guys to the left, center and right. Move down and take cover behind some crates. Get ready for three Geth to come from the center. First, command your squad to follow you. Now, one of the Geth is a Destroyer. Take him down first. Then take down the other two. Now get ready to move.

b. Become a leftist. You've got three choices to get at the Colossus. They are the left, center and the right. First, I never go up the center. Too much open ground. If I play on the normal difficulty, I like going to the right even though I will get confronted by a Destroyer. It's elevated and you eventually get to a ledge overlooking the Colossus. One big problem when you get there. On Insanity, the Geth are shielded and harder to kill. They will overwhelm you. They do this by moving on your position because there's a ramp that leads right to you. But going to your left, the Geth will not flank you from behind. So the killing zone is in front of you when you face the Colossus.

So go left, young man. Okay, you've just killed the Destroyer and his two escorts who came from the center. Move up the ramp to your left. Take cover behind some machinery before you cross the bridge. Another Destroyer and two escorts attack you. Again, focus on the Destroyer since he has that flamethrower that will mess up your day. Once you've taken down his shield, and if you have Slam, you can use that power against him. Once these guys are dead, run across the bridge and get to the crate across from the Colossus. Take cover behind the crate. Remember you can pause the action when you access the squad's power wheel. Check out who's on the battlefield.

Now Geth troops come and attack you while the Colossus will also fire on you. Stay under cover and don't panic. If you see any Destroyers, focus on them. This may sound cruel but let your squad run around to take the focus away from you. The Colossus has a repair protocol which allows it to regenerate its shields but not its armor. Once the Colossus shields' are down, unleash your heavy weapons on it. Use your squad's powers on both Destroyers and the Colossus. Now if the Geth are about to overwhelm your position, retreat across the bridge. Heal any dead squad members and bring them with you. Okay, go back when you're refreshed and continue to chip away at the Colossus. Just remember to be careful. If you die, you'll have to go over that long cutscene again. So when your health is down to dangerous levels, hunker down and wait for it to regenerate or use Medi-gel. You did save all the Medi-gel for this battle, didn't you. :-)

Okay, eventually you destroy the Colossus. Kill any stragglers and do it carefully, i.e. stay under cover to do so. Now get the iridium which is all over the battlefield. Open the door to the room where Tali is.

3. Don't forget. Once you enter Tali's room, scan the ground. Yeah, there's a reward for beating this mission on Insanity. It's the Geth pulse rifle. It's better than the other assault rifles but not as good as the Revenant machine gun. And once you get aboard the Normandy, talk to Tali in engineering. You pick up the Cyclone Shield Tech, which will be needed when you enter the Omega 4 Relay. The shield tech will save a member of your squad.