Mass Effect 3-Priority: Cerberus Headquarters, Tips for Insanity

We continue our series of tips for Mass Effect 3 missions on the Insanity difficulty setting. Again, we over the hardest parts. And if you haven't read my general tips, I recommend you do. Today's article covers Priority: Cerberus Headquarters.

1. Your class and weapons. I make my Shepard a engineer. Advantage is the ability to use combat drones and sabotage gun turrets. My main weapon is a M-99 Saber assault rifle. My second weapon is the M-97 Viper sniper rifle. That's because I want to keep my power recharge level in the blue.

2. Your squad. EDI is mandatory. I give her M-12 Locust and the Scorpion pistol. My second squad member is Tali. She gets the Graal Spike Thrower shotgun and Scorpion pistol.

3. Tips for the mission.

a. Shuttle Bay. You are under attack immediately by infantry. And joining the fray is an Atlas. Okay, get into cover immediately. Get in cover behind your shuttle. Watch out for fighter launches. Launch combat drones. If you have to, sabotage the Atlas. You eventually kill everything except for a Nemesis on the upper platform. Snipe her.

Go upstairs and shut down Cerberus' plan to vent the shuttle bay. Fight your way and reposition the fighter. Then launch the fighter towards the back wall.

Get in cover because an Atlas barges through the opening. Now this is important. The platform above the hole you made, has two soldiers. One for each ladder that they are going to climb down. If you don't kill these guys ASAP, they will each climb into an Atlas stored in the walls. You will face three Atlases. Yikes. But if you nail these guys, you only face the original one.

b. The sublevels. The important thing you have to remember for the sublevels is to destroy shield generators. You don't have to wipe every one. But there will be a shield generatory that will make a gun turret invulnerable.

Keep your distance. Sabotage gun turrets. Launch probes. Eventually you complete thses levels.


c. The Human Reaper catwalks. The big thing here to remember is this. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE. Take out the Phantoms, Nemesises and soldiers from a distance. Use your combat drones.

A couple of interesting things here. If you fail to complete the Grissom Academy mission, Jack shows up as a Phantom. You end up killing her. Or if you sold Legion to Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, Legion shows up as a sniper. Video below.

d. Kei Leng Battle. Keep your distance from Kei Leng and keep firing at him with your Saber. Use Tali's drones to keep other enemies who join the fray. Deploy your gun turret. Stay in cover. And if a Phantom come close, blast her. Eventually you defeat him. Combat portion over.

If you give Legion to Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, you face him on the catwalks.