Suggestions for next class for an Insanity run...

I can understand waiting to do Arrival until after the Suicide Mission, but why wait until after the Suicide Mission to do Lair of the Shadow Broker? The squadmate respec terminal alone is worth doing it as soon as you can.


If you want armor stripping, then Mordin is a must. Samara with Area Reave is also good, but it will not fully strip armor on Insanity even with all six biotic damage upgrades (the -20% base duration penalty on Insanity hits it too hard).

I usually use the Predator for the Reaper IFF mission. There are a lot of ammo clips around, but you can run out very quickly with the Carnifex. I would give squadmates the Phalanx if you have it, otherwise the Carnifex since they do not run out of ammo.

Jacob can be okay with Area Pull, but as an Adept you should have Area Pull so he is kind of not needed nearly as much. He does have some dialogue on the Reaper IFF; If Garrus, Tali, or Jacob are with you, then you can get a dialogue prompt with some Dragon's Teeth (the husk spikes) near the first Scion spawn (first part of the mission, before going through the door and seeing Legion). Jack has a quicker Pull than Jacob, since she has a cooldown bonus in her passive. Same with Samara/Morinth.

I do not particularly like Grunt since I do not find him all that tanky on Insanity. No one is all that tanky on Insanity except Sentinel/Vanguard Shepard. Squadmates with Pull or Throw are better than Concussive Shot since they have quicker cooldowns for the same benefit.

Incendiary Ammo does not do as much damage as you think against armor. Ammo damage is based on the base weapon damage (not total weapon damage). Most of your armor damage with Pistols will come from the armor multiplier, which is calculated after weapon damage bonuses (from upgrades, passives, and distance modifiers).

If the values I have are correct, here is the base pistol damage:
- Predator: 37.2
- Carnifex: 85.4
- Phalanx: 109.8

So like 50% armor damage from Incendiary Ammo would be 18.6, 42.7, or 54.9 damage respectively, but you are already dealing minimum 89.28, 204.96, or 263.52 damage versus armor if you have two pistol damage upgrades and the pistol armor damage upgrade. ((Base Damage + 20%) x 2)



You can get up to two shots (over 200% ammo) with the Cain if you have enough Heavy Weapons Ammo upgrades. I think there are seven in total? (One requires the Paragon path on Zaeed's loyalty mission.) The armor legs that gives you extra heavy weapon ammo capacity can also help. This is more useful on the Suicide Mission against the Reaper Larvae. If you plan to use it against the Drive Core on the Derelict Reaper, then you only need one shot.



I do not know for sure if there is a bug. Thane and Zaeed can both get +50% weapon damage from their passive (but they have like a -50% base weapon damage, so it is closer to 75% base weapon damage). They also manage to score headshots on all three shots, so it can seem like the Incisor is bugged. Same is kind of true for Garrus and Legion. It is unclear if the damage they do with the Incisor is actually due to a bug that allows them to deal 100% of the weapon damage instead of the -50% they should be dealing, or if it is just because they score headshots with it.


Here is an example of it on Zaeed and Garrus:



As for the SMG, I recommend using the Locust since it does get an armor multiplier. It is actually good as a backup weapon to your pistol on the Reaper mission. I do not know what your bonus weapon is. You will probably be using pistols mostly.

Do not be afraid of backing up. the husk rush will just do that to you.

Singularity will not hold Scions for long on Insanity. As soon as your cooldown ends, the Scion will have nearly destroyed it and you will have to cast it again.

There should be several video examples of Adepts on the Reaper IFF mission if you want to see how other people have done it.

Good luck!

Arrival has a Heavy Weapons Ammo upgrade. There is also this weird bug where sometimes the game will not properly calculate the heavy weapon ammo count correctly (if you have the armor pieces that grant extra heavy weapon ammo), but a save reload will fix it.

I like to use the Cain on the Suicide Mission:
- At the end of the Long Walk (biotic bubble) to help take out the Scion at the end. It will not outright kill it, but it will take off about 95+% of its health.
- To shoot at the Reaper Larvae to reduce its armor. Harbinger will drop ammo crates (which will add heavy weapon ammo), so even if you do not have over 200% ammo for the Cain, you may be able to still get off two shots with it.

I usually made a beeline for the Collector Ship (with some exceptions) to get my bonus weapon as soon as possible so I can use it for as many missions as possible. I then do Lair of the Shadow Broker soon after that. I usually do it before starting any loyalty missions so I can respec some squadmates.

On the Shadow Broker ship (after beating the Shadow Broker), you can get four weapon damage upgrades from the resource terminal next to Liara: sniper rifle, assault rifle, shotgun, and SMG. The Pistol upgrade is found earlier in the trade center. These upgrades will appear at random, so save before using the terminal, that way you can reload the save until you get it. The terminal will reset on the next calender day on your system (PC or console), or after you complete a mission. So I usually do the following:
1. Save before using the terminal. Access the terminal. If no weapon upgrade, reload the save and try again. Keep reloading until I get it.
2. Go play a secondary mission to get a Mission Complete screen, go back to the Shadow Broker ship.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until I get all four weapon damage upgrades.

It should be noted that they system has two nearby clusters with secondary missions: save 20 crates, and the Estevanico (crashed ship on the mountain). Then you just need a third mission to help get all four upgrades before doing any more longer missions. Minos Wasteland has (abandoned mine) has one that you can get to fairly easy without travel. It is a husk rush so it may be annoying rather than quick.

Jack should have a comment about the suicide mission (whether you kept or destroyed the base). If she did not, then several things could have happened:
- it glitched/bugged out
- she had remaining dialogue not used yet, so that took precedence
- you dumped her so that dialogue took precedence

Without knowing what she said, I cannot say for certain what happened.

Alright, done with ME2. Just finished Arrival. Realized it was a lot less hard with the Arc Projector for a few rooms. And that last fight outside. Also, Stasis is a god-send for so many reasons. I can lock so many mobs with that haha.

On to ME3!

Weapons do not mean much to the Adept in ME3. You will be using power combos almost all the time. You can spend 99+% of the game without ever firing your gun since power combos are so good.

You do not need 200% cooldown bonus; You can get away with 150-100% as the Adept and still have excellent cooldowns. As long as a primer biotic is still active (Pull, Singularity, Warp, Reave, and so on) and is still affecting the enemy, you can detonate it. Cooldowns matter a little more to Tech powers where most have a short duration for detonating.

That being said, the Acolyte pistol provides a huge shield damage bonus, so that can be good. If you do use it, be sure to take an SMG for the occassions where you do need to shoot panels and stuff.

Also note that the Locust is not available until Sanctuary (very late in the game) so you may have meant another weapon. The Locust is not that good in ME3.


Most of the sidequests are just fetch missions. You can find most just wandering around the galaxy although some must be picked up in missions.

For XP/reputation, it is more important to note which quest givers or missions disappear at certain points.
- Grissom Academy (and Biotic Amp interfaces) will disappear after completing Priority: Tuchanka (The Shroud).
- The Power Source for Purgatory quest giver will disappear after completing Priority: Tuchanka (The Shroud).
- Ambassador Olsoba will disappear after completing Priority: Tuchanka (The Shroud).
- Barla Von will disappear after completing Priority: Tuchanka (The Shroud).
- Turian Platoon will not be available after talking to the Asari Councillor post-Rannoch (opens Thessia mission).
- Cerberus Bomb will become available after completing the Turian Platoon, but disappear if you do not complete it within 3 (other) missions.
- After completing the Geth Dreadnaught, you must rescue Admiral Korris or shut down Geth Server mission to unlock Priority: Rannoch (Geth Base). The other mission will disappear if you complete Priority: Rannoch (Geth Base) first and solve the Geth-Quarian conflict.
- On Eden Prime, there is a sidequest to collect evidence about Cerberus for the resistance. There are three terminals you must access. You cannot complete this sidequest if you finish Eden Prime. You must collect all evidence before crossing the point of no return (when you drop down into the ditch to cross back over after watching both videos).

These missions may remain in your quest log if you do not complete them and the mission/quest giver disappears.




Liara and Javik are the best for Adepts, and Kaidan is good too. Liara with Singularity and Javik with Pull can prime most enemies since most enemies do not have health. That way, you will be using mostly your Throw to detonate, and your Warp to prime on non-health.

Power evolutions that increase combo damage and radius are good. Cooldown evolutions are not that important to Shepard (because of the weapon weight bonus), but are somewhat more important to squadmates. For your passive, I would recommend power damage and weight capacity in case you do want a heavier weapon.

Best bonus powers for Adept: Energy Drain (for shields), Fortification for damage protection and damage at rank 5, Warp Ammo if you want more damage out of your weapon(s)

Barrier looks cooler than Fortification and may fit better thematically, but Fortification just provides better bonuses.

Super late to the party, but my suggestion would be to give ME2 Vanguard on Insanity another go. The Vanguard can be difficult early game, but becomes immensely satisfying the more you play - high risk, high reward.

I feel the Vanguard has to be more strategic in play. Where and when to position squad-mates. When, where and who to biotic charge. An understanding of the cover on the map. When and where to flank. Firefights can tend to last longer with a Vanguard because you're picking off enemies one by one and constantly resetting behind cover to re-evaluate. Once you 'learn the language' the play-style becomes super satisfying.

If you ever get around to it, I highly suggest another go with the Vanguard