Mass Effect 2: Overlord Tips for Insanity Difficulty Setting

We continue our series of tips for Mass Effect 2 missions when playing on the Insanity Difficulty setting. Today, I'm going to discuss the DLC mission, Overlord on Insanity. As with other articles in this series, I'm only going over the hardest parts. If you want a walkthrough, check this one out from Mass Effect Wiki. And don't forget my general tips.

1. Preparations. I usually play this mission close to the last one I play on the game. By this time, I've leveled up and Tali and Legion are available.

a. Know your enemy. All synthetics, all the time. The Geth are troopers, rocket troopers, Hunters, Destroyer (flamethrower), and Prime. All now have shields. Primes have also have armor and health.

Other synthetics are mechs. The include LOKI Mechs and YMIR Mechs. All mechs have armor. Whereas YMIR Mechs have shields, armor and health.

b. Choose your squad. On the Normal difficulty, I take Legion and Tali. On Insanity I take them again. Both have the power to AI hack and use combat drones on synthetics. Remember that combat drones will work on shielded enemies. Once their shields are gone, you can use AI hacking to turn a bad guy against his own.

c. Weapons, armor and powers. Since I play as a soldier, my main weapon is the Revanant machine gun. My heavy weapon is the missile launcher. My armor is Kestrel. And my bonus power is Slam.

There are five areas in this mission, so let's go over them.

2. Aite. Here are some general tips in dealing with this section.

a. Fools rush in. When confronted with enemies, take cover right away. Don't engage enemies point blank.

b. Kill the bad guys from a distance.

c. Use your squad's powers. Yeah, don't forgot about using Tali and Legion's powers. It's a blast to AI hack a rocket trooper and see him unleash his rockets on a former ally.

d. Target Hunters, Destroyers and Prime first. Remember to always take out the bad guys who will breach your position by charging you.

e. Save your game often.

f. The Radar Dish. Okay, you've reached the lower level of the radar dish. And right away, you are confronted by Geth. Take cover. I say take cover. Remember to kill the Hunters first. Then take out any troopers with your sniper rifle. Don't forget to use your squad's powers. Carefully work your way around until you see a Prime in the distance. He gets top priority. Hopefully, you've taken down enough of his defenses so should he be on top of you, he's down to his health. You can now Slam him. Once all the Geth are dead, scavenge for ammo. Then save your game and head up the stairs.

On this top level, you have to destroy three struts to bring down the radar. You have to access the terminals to take down the struts defenses. Once you do that to one, the Geth attack. Don't panic. You can use your Slam power to bring down a strut immediately. Once the first is down, get to cover. Take care of the nearest Geth.

Now up here you're confronted with Hunters and Destroyers. Take these guys down first before any regular troopers. But here's a tip. You don't have to kill everyone. Once you destroy all three struts, this portion of the mission ends.

Once you've brought down the radar, you meet up with Dr. Archer. Once you've talked to him, save your game.

3. Collecting Data Packets Okay, you now have to travel to the other three stations to gain access to the overrides. That means using the Hammerhead. And the biggest problem with this game is that fact you can't save while in the Hammerhead. It's a factor since there's a side mission here where you collect data packets from five areas between the stations. Four of the packets are guarded. Three by gun turrets and one by two YMIR Mechs. Your advantage is that the ship has homing rockets. Anyway here are some tips.

a. Do this mission after completing Vulcan Station. First, when you're about to ascend the stairs to get to the override in Vulcan, save your game. Why? If you go out and try to complete the collecting the data packages mission and get killed, you will have a save fairly close to the beginning of the data packets mission.

b. Destroy turrets and the YMIR Mechs from a distance. Point blank is suicide.

c. Fly in and out of cover.

d. Patience.

e. When you hear the warning klaxons, retreat.

f. Don't take chances. The armor that you strip from a bad guy stays stripped. If you get killed here, you have to start all over again.

4. Prometheus Station.

a. Destroying the main cannon. Unfortunately, you can't enter Prometheus station until you destroy the main cannon. It's protected by a shield generated by by shield generators surrounding the gun. Those are protected by their own shield. And before I forget the VI is using the main cannon to destroy you.

First, you must destroy the generators. When you start to attack a generator by trying to bring down its shields, the cannon will target you. Your onboard computer will warn you and you will see a grid. Well, don't just sit there. Move. Get out of the grid area and fly low. Now the cool thing is that when you return, the blast may have taken out the generator's shield. Destroy the generator. Remember to move when you're targeted. Don't take chances.

Eventually you bring down the cannon's shield. Okay, I go point blank and fire on it from the side where the gun is not pointing at. Once the gun moves to me, I go to the other side. Just to remember to stay out of the targeting grid. And don't be shy about blasting away. Once the cannon is down, you can enter the station.

b. Prometheus Station. It's an old Geth ship. So your enemies are going to be Geth. Here are some tips after you've accessed the override.

i. Save your game often.

ii. When you confront the Geth, kill them from a distance.

iii. Hunters and Destroyers should be taken out first.

iv. Use your squad's powers. Remember that combat drones can be used on shielded targets. Once a Geth's shields are down, you can AI hack them.

v. When you get to the chamber with the Prime, stay on the high ground. Keep in cover and wipe out the Geth on the upper level. Then rain down fire on the Prime and his allies below. When the enemies are dead, you can leave.

5. Vulcan Station. Vulcan station requires you to travel across lava flows. After you've activated the steam release that will allow you to leap up the cliff, save your game. Remember you can't save a game while traveling in the Hammerhead.

Okay, you come to the second lava flow that you must cross. On Insanity, the rocks that you use to ride on will disintegrate much faster. Once you make it safely across, you find yourself in a valley. The mountains to the right have a steam vent which will allow you to leap on top of them. To your left is a mountain with group of cliffs. The second cliffs have turrets which activate once you get close. They are deadly and will destroy you in a seconds.

The five hundred thousand dollar tip. Go to the right. First fly on top of the right mountains and explore the area. There's some iridium up here. Get it. Now move close to the steam vent but stay on the mountain. You can get the turrets on the left mountain to activate. But they're out of range. But not out of range for your homing missiles. Blast away. Once the guns are down, you'll find more iridium where the guns were as your reward. Now hover on top and cross the lava flow to reach the station.

YMIR Mech Room. You shouldn't have too much trouble reaching the room with the sleeping LOKI mechs. Before you even come close to entering, save your game. Okay approach the door. Position a squad member at the door and behind cover. Now you take the other side of the door. Go ahead and shoot one of the LOKI mechs with your sniper rifle. They all wake up and all hell breaks loose. Hey, you gotta die sometime.

Remember to kill as many mechs from a distance as you can. And use your squad's powers. Once a mech has lost his armor, AI hack him. When you thin out the LOKI mechs, a YMIR Mech comes into the battle.

Don't panic. Try to stay away from YMIR Mech as much as possible and in cover. Use your squad's combat drones on it. Once YMIR Mech loses his shields and armor, you can slam it No it won't fly but it freezes and is damaged. You'll find a couple of slams will destroy it. After the YMIR Mech is dead, there will be some assault drones on ridge in front of you. Stay in cover. Shoot at the explosive container to the left of you. That will injure them. But they're no match for your guns. Once everybody is dead, scavenge for ammo. Head up the stairs. Before you enter the override access room, save your game. This save is the closest you can save before you do the Data Packet or Data Hound mission.

6. Atlas Station. Once you've completed Prometheus and Vulcan stations, you can access Atlas Station. There are three areas that are fairly difficult, so here tips to each.

a. Summon the elevator. When you get to this room, you find you have to summon and elevator. Okay before you summon the elevator, position your squad members to each side of the door. Okay, summon the elevator. Run to the back of the room and get into cover. Why? When the doors open, you get a surprise of a Geth Prime and two troopers. Use you squad's powers on these guys. Of course, the Prime is the prime target. But combat drones cause the enemies to be confused, leaving you open shots at the bad guys. The Geth cannot withstand the crossfire and the combat drones. Once they're dead, head to the elevator.

b. Virtual reality Elevator room. David has trapped you in a virtual reality shaded world. You eventually come into a room with rising platform elevator. It's the last room before David. If you haven't saved your game, do so now. All right, summon the elevator.

Run to the rear of the room as far away from the elevator as possible. Seek cover behind a low wall. Why? Because the elevator has a Hunter and two rocket troopers. Take out the Hunter first. Give him a generous helping of lead. Once he's down, take out your sniper rifle. Take out the two rocket troopers. Once everyone is dead, scavenge the room for power cells and ammo but don't get to close to the elevator. The game will not allow you to save if you get to close. Okay, save your game at the back of the room.

c. Confront David. Take the elevator down. David is in the center of the room. He's shielded and there's a core surrounding him. You have to shoot out the VI control nodes moving up the tubes that are around David. Those are the green orbs. Once they are down, the shields are down. Okay once the shield is down, use your heavy weapons on David's core. That's why I brought the rocket launcher. Unfortunately, David summons Geth to attack you. If Geth arrive, I take some quick shots at them but I move. VI nodes are first priority, then the core. Use the support beams for cover. But hammer away at David when his shields are down. By the way, dead Geth will leave ammo clips for you. If you get a Geth down to health, you can also Slam him. But focus on the core and keep moving if under fire. Once you rip down the core, you can save David and take him with you. Hey, I'm a Paragon.

7. Conclusion. I found Overlord to be the best of the DLC. The missions are varied. The graphics are gorgeous. And the story is intelligent and emotional.