First Insanity trilogy playthrough advice

Depends on what class you're playing, like if you're playing Soldier with AR's , I'd do Tali's first for the AR Upgrade etcetera. 

I also try and squeeze in N7 Anomalous Weather mission for the Damage Protection Upgrade and Grunts Rite of Passage which opens some good gear in the Tuchanka shops.

I usually do one or two of either  Tali, Samara or Thane's (depending on my Class), N7 Anomalous Weather, LotSB (for the Upgrades and Credits and Respec Terminal) and last I do Grunts mission.

It's up to you, but personally I like to be tooled up for when I hit the Collector Ship.

*edit* Yep Area Evo's are the way to go. imo

I thought I'd be saving LOTSB for after the suicide mission. No? I think Thane get a sniper damage upgrade so I'll be sure to do him. and try to do grunt and mordin's on tchunaka.

ty whitewolf, fraggle and upup. I ended up doing Miranda's loyalty first - brought Garrus. Whew having a tough time with the final fight. They flank me. Died like 7 times so far - I'm gonna try to go to the right side and get that Vanguard first - I think it must be about positioning my squad better. They die fast here for some reason.

P.S. I'm kinda disappointed in Infiltrator so far. The cloak seems more useful as an escape mechanism, and most enemies have shields so I start out with my SMG I end up just finishing them off with the SMG instead.  I use the sniper for some heavy armored enemies but that's it.  I have Cryo Ammo going on most of the time, was eyeing Disruptor.  I've read that comboing Distruptor plus a sniper shot can work with shields and armor then.  Admittedly, I'm not even half way through the game really, so there's more sniper upgrades to come via powers and such.  I don't have time dilation yet so headshots are a bit harder.

Anyway, any tips on also helping make this Infiltrator more fun?  Also, I'm using the Collector Particle Rifle as heavy weapon - I'm guessing that's a mistake? Dont have Avalanche or Cain yet.

P.S.S. Finished Miranda's mission.  Moving to the right helped.  I guess I'm looking for info on trying to make my infiltrator more fun.  I dont use the sniper rifle much

P.S.S.S. Just for the Viper rifle from Thane's mission.  NICE.  Also, I maxed out Operative so now I get some time dialation - then i'll max out cloak to get insane damage.  This dialation plus the slowdown-zoom is much better.  Although, the Viper's damage is much less than the old one.  But it's more automatic at least.

Do I have to wear the 10% headshot damage band? I hate the way it looks in cutscenes - wish I could turn it off.

Consider making a permanent save before or at the beginning of the Disabled Collector Cruiser so that you can try out a few different styles of weapon training, or change if you don't like what you took.

Hard to say what will make Infiltrator the most fun for you. For close range infiltrator, lot of people like shotgun training, some like assault rifle... some think the Tempest or Shuriken is good enough so might as well take the Widow.

For sniping, some like more one-shot kills with the Widow, some like the more DMR-like style of the Viper. The Viper is one of my favorite guns in the game, but sometimes it is hard to argue with the effectiveness of the Widow.

I usually do the aforementioned Anomalous Weather mission after Horizon for the Damage Protection upgrade. The other missions are sort of fluid and depend on what I want to do with the character, but Miranda and Jacob's loyalty missions are probably some of the more common ones I end up doing. A lot of times I just do Archeological Dig Site -> Strontium Mule for Heavy Skin Weave, but that just depends.

ME2 Upgrade Guide is here just in case it hasn't been linked.

Ok guys. Need some advice. On Collector Ship mission now Btw I did Miranda's loyalty, Thane and Samara Recruitment and Mordin and Grunt's Loyalty before I got flagged.

So, the platforms fight...

I took Mordin and Thane (Mordin with Area Incin, Area Cryo - Thane with Heavy Warp, Area Throw) but the fight is hard obviously. I picked up the Widow, but I think I might like the Viper more (I'm not too precise yet, and the Widow doesn't help with Barriers.)

Looking for advice on which crew to bring and how to approach it. I have everyone but Tali and Legion. I picked the Arc Projector, per the wiki page but not sure if good.  ty.

P.S. I have Thane with the Viper, Mordin with the Heavy Pistol.

good advice thanks! ok I'll re-start it and pick stasis as my BP - I remember doing that on my hardcore run and the guys falling off lol.  I'll take thane and Miranda also.

Do you think the Widow is still the best pick?  Also which heavy weapon?  Arc projector?

Sorry, I really nodded off there (not anything you've written... just my age speaking for itself).  I see fraggle stepped in and I can say I simply agree with everything said in that post.  Whether or not the Widow is "best" depends entirely on you.  It's a great weapon for single, one-shot kills... very powerful and very accurate.  The Viper is accurate and very fast... great for the quick-shot, DM-sort of kills.  The Incisor is also good for DM-sort of killsl  It's a little more powerful that the Viper, will drop enemies with the 3-shots it releases if the shooter starts out by aiming a little low and allowing the recoil to work for them rather than against them.  The drawback to that gun is that it's ammo capacity is smaller than the Viper and it chews through the ammo 3X as fast as the Viper.  Me... I like and can use them all effectively... but I play differently depending on what loadout I have on.

If you want another weapon to fall back on... take one of the other two training options (ARs or shotguns).  If you're fine with just carrying a SMG and HP and your SR; then, by all means, take the Widow so you can experiment with it.

Widow has more spare ammo than the Mantis, which is the real tragedy of the Mantis.

Also if you managed to get the 3rd Sniper upgrade and then the unlocked Headshot research, it should nearly render irrelevant the low multiplier to shields and barriers. Headshots are very important for the Widow and Mantis against humanoid targets, the ammo efficiency just isn't good enough if you are getting predominantly body shots IMO.

I prefer Shotgun training if I not taking the Widow. I don't have the Mattock, so that may play into it for me. Also the Viper and Vindicator niches overlap a bit.

For the platform fight, the biggest thing is learning to position the squad so they don't get hit by the Scion shockwave, and / or killing the Scions fast enough (glitch or straight dps). If you are highly efficient, it is possible to clear the mook platforms before Harbie spawns, but that is kind of tricky and sort of more like a hero run deal to get them all if you aren't using heavy weapons, or aren't an Adept or Vanguard.

Miranda and Thane may be the best squad for this mission unless you have loyal Samara with Area Reave, but it is tricky to get her loyalty mission completed before DCC if you don't plan that out before you start running missions post Horizon. Alternatively, if Harbinger is the one giving you the most trouble on the platforms, you could run loyal Kasumi w/ Flashbang to take Harbinger out of the equation for ~50s.

I'm going to venture to suggest you get the Widow then, but change back to the Viper at the nearby weapons locker... that's what it's there for.  For Harby, the Viper has enough speed and knockback that you can face him one on one and he won't get a shot off because he's continually flinching.

The key is...Taking down Harby last IF POSSIBLE.  It's a strategy that works well on Horizon, but on the platforms here, he's already very close and he's aggressive... so you will probably be forced to take him down before you can get every other collector down.  Of course, he may then respawn so be prepared to face another one.

The top priority, I think, are the Assassins.  When they are in close like that, they can take you or your squad out faster than even Harby can.  Barring being able to get a bead on the assassin to put him in stasis and leave him hanging out in mid-air, focus fire on him as the platform approaches to get his health down... that way, the game will select him to become Harby... and he's actually less dangerous as Harby than he is as an assassin.

I find the best strategy for the scions is to put one in stasis before the platform even gets close to docking.  I can usually do it before I even clearly get a target (but your range may be different depending on how many points you have in it).  With the one Scion out of the picture, it's usually a fairly simply matter to get the second down before that platform changes position (swings over to the right)... and it's usually only after it changes position that the scions take out your squad mates (particularly when you place them in cover where I suggested).

Otherwise, just stay on your toes, watch your shields and health bar and duck back into cover when you need to recharge.

Alternatively, you can play it as a bit of "run and gun"... moving around; but I'm more frequently less successful with that approach than I am with just staying put in that first bit of cover.

The thing I hate about saving Harby till last is you have to listen to him troll you for even longer! I keep wanting to plug my ears but then I can't fire. Maybe Shepard can turn off the sound in her helmet?

That first rush he is pretty aggressive, from what I recall. After the first wave is taken out he doesn't come up on you as fast, especially if you stay at that first console. I think this is the toughest fight (from start to escape) in the game on insanity.

Ok about to attempt Collector again w/ Miranda and Thane, and Stasis. Will prolly get the Widow (since it fits my first Infiltrator playthrough well) and equip the Viper for now.

EDIT: I DID IT. Man much easier with Miranda and Thane - the Warp's are op against barriers and armor ty ty ty. Also I went with using the Viper, but picking up the Widow. Seems like the Viper hits harder now, not sure why. Got level 20 - almost have Cryo Ammo at level 4 for Squad Cryo.



Should I just keep Stasis? Forgot about the ragdoll damage increase - also seems good CC. Or could go back to Shield Drain.

P.S. I'm not even close to ME3 but why is Insanity there so much easier? the combo effects are just OP?

Yeah, the combos make quick and easy work of most enemies. And if you choose weapons which grant you 200% cooldown, you have ridiculously fast cooldowns and can practically destroy everything on the battlefield. Liara with her goddess-like Singularity makes her one of the most useful allies and makes fighting almost a breeze.
You also have grenades available that have no cooldown (which was the case in ME2).
You have more medi-gel available which gets refilled after a mission, a better squadmate AI (imo) and you can dodge by rolling.
And of course, as melbella said, the minority of enemies have protection layers.
Another part that makes it easier is that most people have their import and start with a high enough level to already have a decent or even finished build early on, which takes a lot more time to build in ME2. I've seen people reset their level to 1 and it does look more challenging, and the same applies to a non-import.

But saying that, I also think that makes ME3 somewhat more versatile than ME2, even though I do love the combat there as well. But you can challenge yourself in ME3 if you want to do so, so it's an option to play an "easier" Insanity mode or a harder one.