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Disambiguous This article is about the mission in Mass Effect 2. For the mission in Mass Effect 3, see Priority: Horizon.
Another typical Terminus colony without colonists

The Illusive Man has received information about a potential Collector attack against the small colony world of Horizon.

Acquisition[]

After recruiting Archangel, Jack, and Mordin Solus, as well as recovering the tank from Korlus (note that waking up the krogan inside is not necessary), Shepard will be unable to select a new destination for the Normandy. If you attempt to access the Galaxy Map, both Kelly Chambers and Joker will inform you that the Illusive Man wants a chat. Go to the FTL comm room to talk to him and begin this mission.

Preparation[]

This is a major plot-driving mission. As this happens immediately after the last of the first four recruitment missions, you can plan beforehand and do all resource mining and shopping before doing that recruitment mission. You will be restricted to the Normandy until you talk to the Illusive Man, the only other things you can do then are upgrade your equipment and initiate chats with your squadmates.

If you have the requisite Downloadable Content (or you are playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition which includes almost all such DLC by default), it is possible to acquire both Zaeed and Kasumi before completing the set of four teammates mentioned above; this allows Shepard to have as many as eight team members (including Jacob and Miranda) before the mission on Horizon begins.

Note: By delaying recruitment of one of the four original squad members, you can take time to reach a higher level by completing all available N7 assignments, along with assignments on the Normandy, Omega, and Citadel. Also, if the corresponding DLCs are present, Normandy Crash Site, Zaeed's and Kasumi's loyalty missions, Overlord and Firewalker Pack can be completed as well. Delaying Horizon in this way is also one of the two ways Shepard can be maximized in level before encountering a certain particularly challenging mission.

The Illusive Man claims to have determined the Collectors' next target

Most enemies will have biotic barriers, and some will have armor as well. An ammo power such as Warp Ammo, which provides bonuses against both barriers and armor, helps quite a bit as well, but if Shepard is only trained for pistols and SMGs, you may want to bring at least one squadmate who can use a bigger weapon. Abilities with a force component such as Flashbang Grenade, Concussive Shot or Pull are useful instant-kill powers against some enemies with stripped defenses.

The mission's fights are usually long-range and/or urban warfare, more often than not featuring heavy usage of buildings as cover. While it's possible to conduct close-range warfare Vanguard-style throughout the mission, the chances of dying are too great due to a severe lack of fallback positions and frequent reinforcement waves. Long-range specialist squadmates whatever your class are recommended, as well as beefing up your defenses should you tough it out up close.

One of most useful squadmates is Kasumi, if you have completed her loyalty mission. Her loyalty power, Flashbang Grenade, aside from having great crowd control utility against even enemies with full barriers, can disable the biotic attacks of certain dangerous foes (which will come in handy later in this mission). Additionally, her Shadow Strike does huge damage and can be used to methodically pick off enemy troops.

Grunt is also excellent for this mission due to his sheer durability, his Incendiary Ammo, and his effectiveness against husks. Consider bringing Miranda for her Warp power, especially if Shepard doesn't have it; the extra health and damage she provides to the squad also certainly won't hurt.

For heavy weapons, you can choose between the Cain for use in the final battle, or a weapon with a large area of effect good against multiple enemies such as the M-622 Avalanche or the Arc Projector; don't worry too much now though, as you'll have an opportunity to change weapons about halfway through the mission. Note: You can also be as liberal with heavy weapon usage as you want, at least at first, because there will be opportunities to completely refill your heavy weapon ammo also halfway through the mission.

Walkthrough[]

Mission Briefing[]

Nothing says idyllic more than giant guns amid pastoral fields

The Illusive Man gives Shepard information about the mission. Horizon has recently gone silent, a telltale indicator of Collector attack. He also informs you one of your former teammates is on the planet: Ashley Williams or Kaidan Alenko, depending on the decision in Mass Effect (or whoever you specified to be rescued in a non-import game). The former teammate is there on behalf of an Alliance outreach program, though the Illusive Man suspects it's about something else. Respond whichever way you like, there are no morality points here.

After talking with the Illusive Man, Shepard walks to Mordin's Tech Lab to ask him if he has developed a countermeasure to the seeker swarms. He says yes and shows Shepard the schematics.

Horizon Before Normandy's Arrival[]

Unwanted houseguests

Horizon had been recently fitted with GARDIAN laser turrets which were provided by the Alliance to defend the colony. The turrets, however, could not be calibrated correctly. While Shepard's former squadmate is talking with one of the colonists, Lilith, about the issue, the Collector Cruiser drops into the atmosphere. The colony's communications blackout has been caused by the Collectors, and the seeker swarms are released.

The Virmire survivor will try to provide cover but ends up getting stung and incapacitated. The colonists run for cover as the swarms sting more and more people, including Lilith.

Arrival On Horizon[]

Landing on Horizon, your journal updates two missions: this one and Stop the Collectors. The former is the actual mission, the latter is the overarching plot of the game. You also gain a codex entry on the planet.

You begin on the outskirts of the colony, in the middle of the Collector invasion. Move a few steps forward and your team will talk about the efficacy of Mordin's seeker swarms countermeasures. It seems to work, since none of you are stung. Further ahead is some sort of truck loading dock, prepare for a fight as the first few Collectors fly in: 2 Collector Guardians, 1 Collector Assassin, and 2 Collector Drones (1 initial, 1 reinforcement).

Conveniently placed breakables and explosives, truly unexpected game design

Move carefully between cover locations for good angles and take out the attacking Collectors one by one. Even though all Collector soldiers look very similar you will be engaging several distinct types: the basic Drones, and the much tougher and more damaging Guardians and Assassins. Assassins unleash deadly particle beams, while the Guardians fire powerful rifles at you from behind their pop-up circular shields that may remind you of the hexagonal barriers used by the geth in the first Mass Effect game. Employ situational awareness as the area has a bunch of explosive materials and fragile yellow crates: shoot the former when Collectors are nearby, shoot the latter when the bugs take cover behind them.

The loading dock has a box of power cells. Further ahead, there's a hackable datapad on the picnic table (6,000 credits). Loot them now or during the fight (for the power cells at most) since the next area has a dropoff point of no return.

As you move to the next location, Joker tries to radio but there's too much interference. You and your team are on your own now. The next area that you come across will have several buildings around, and Collectors who just happened to be harvesting.

PROTIP: instead of a suicidal frontal fight use the buildings provided for divide and conquer

The fight consists of an Assassin, a Drone, and a Guardian. The Collector escorting the floating pod as you arrive is a Guardian; if it moves out of sight before you trigger hostilities, another one flies in to replace it. You'll also encounter something else that you may recognize from the first Mass Effect: Husks, three of them. This time they only have melee attacks, so take them out from a distance; biotics are effective as is shooting their lower halves. An additional two Drones arrive at the scene to replace two Collectors you shoot down.

A good way to end this fight quickly is to take refuge in the building to the right of where you come in. It has two windows to shoot out of, you and your squad are much more protected from long-range fire than anywhere else nearby, and you can funnel the husks into following inside for easier disposal (the Collectors are coded to keep distance and thus always engage from outside).

Once all enemies fall, your team talks about the husks. Their presence confirms the Collectors are working for the Reapers. Lootables in the area are a datapad in the building (4,200 credits) and a Heavy Skin Weave upgrade, scannable from a dead Collector underneath a giant tree.

"More advanced" but lost the first game's electrical attack? Doesn't compute

Be sure to take everything you need from the area before departing. When you move forward between this region and the next you'll see a dead husk on the ground: interacting with it or attempting to move past it will trigger a cutscene, and seal the previous area behind. Shepard will describe how they are different from the ones encountered before (specifically Eden Prime if you imported your Mass Effect game). Shepard and the squad realize that the Collectors must have come with these husks and not created them on-site. As time is of the essence, Shepard orders the squad to press on in hopes of preventing any more abductions. Either of your responses to get going will yield the first morality points for the mission. An autosave is also generated afterward.

As you enter the next area your squad talks about the lack of people or empty buildings (there are people around, but you'll have to take a closer look at the numerous pods here...). It's a housing complex with multiple enterable prefabs. Unfortunately, your radar picks up hostiles even if you don't see any at first, so prepare for a fight.

See how effective Collector weapons are against good ol' human colonist walls?

The initial hostiles consist of three Drones (1 on the balcony of a house, 1 on the ground next to it, 1 inside the house adjacent to it), an Assassin, and a Guardian (standing together at first). As before, the empty buildings exist for a reason, and for now it's to provide cover for your team. There are three of them, and two are near or occupied by Collectors, so run to the truly empty one in front of your entrance and set up positions by the windows. It's the one with a wall safe you can bypass (4,800 credits), loot that later when it's more peaceful. If you're careful your squad won't immediately shoot while running to this house, preserving the element of surprise in your favor and rewarding you with high ground.

Sometimes they're dumb enough to shoot the canisters themselves

The direction you'll go to is generally northward, towards the giant tree between the houses. West of the tree is an elevated platform with numerous explosive canisters. 3-5 Drones emerge from this area (1-3 already there, 1 from an upstairs building, 1 from the staircase below the upstairs building) and may spillover to the previous battlefield if they detect you or the fighting. Again, numerous explosive canisters: make them go boom.

Once all these hostiles are eliminated you can resume looting without fear of ambush, for now. Aside from the aforementioned wall safe, there's a Med Kit in the house with an initial Drone on the balcony.

When you enter the area with a staircase next to the explosive platform and behind one of the three houses, you can examine a pair of colonists in stasis. You and a squadmate have some comments on this. The house above them has a free thermal clip and a hackable computer (3,000 credits).

Going down and proceeding west, you'll see a somewhat open field in the distance strewn with Collector pods, beyond which looms an offline GARDIAN turret. There's a Collector Particle Beam heavy weapon near one of the many Collector pods. Picking up the Particle Beam will also totally refill your heavy weapon ammo if you are not at full capacity so you may want to use that strategically. If you miss or ignore it here, it may also be found in two other instances on this mission (see its page) or it will be awarded automatically at its conclusion. Once you are ready, save your game and move into the next area.

"Assuming Control Of This Form"

You have two ways forward: by the building next to you, or straight ahead. When you reach the vague boundary denoted by the two occupied pods straight ahead, or upon descending the steps in the adjacent building, a brief cutscene plays showing more Collector troopers arriving as airborne infantry, and the Collector General assuming control of one. Here, Shepard will encounter Harbinger for the first time. An autosave is generated here that loads back to the beginning of the cutscene.

The fight initially consists of Harbinger, 2 Drones (1 in the main battlefield, 1 in the side corner to the left from where you begin), and a Guardian. An Assassin emerges from the accessible door at the back of the open area, or if you venture to around halfway the length of the lefthand raised platform in the open area (facing the GARDIAN tower), though there are explosive containers there which can significantly reduce the Assassin's health if the timing is perfect. Another 2 Drones fly in as reinforcements when you eliminate the first wave. A final 2 Drones and a Guardian fly in afterward under most scenarios, though in some battlefield states (like when you never entered the open field and killed all hostiles from long-range) they may fail to materialize.

In light of the massive firepower you'll face, you can try your luck with crouching cover behind the two occupied Collector pods, though Harbinger's attacks can quickly stagger you or your squadmates out of any cover you huddle in (Note: Open pods cannot be used as cover). While Harbinger is a priority threat, killing it early may just cause it to return in another Collector. Make a spot judgement call whether to take down all enemies beside it first, on a targeted basis (kill weaker Drones, then Harbinger, then it will be forced to return in the remaining Guardian or Assassin and eliminating the threats these two possess), or "come what may". Taking cover by the building to your left is sub-optimal because of poor vantage points, but could work situationally, especially if you're willing to spend time opening the door, peeking out, shooting, closing the door, ad nauseam.

For a technologically superior species that can fly, somehow they never learned to ascend stairs

If you have good aiming skills and/or accurate long-range weaponry, you can try taking positions along the covered guardrails of the building labeled 6, to your right when facing the GARDIAN tower. Lower floor or upper floor will do fine. The hostiles never cross the boundary threshold between the two aforementioned occupied pods and another one in front of them, so with some dodging you can also whittle them off whenever they appear on your sights. Harbinger can still throw staggering attacks your way, though the likelihood of dying to massed gunfire is reduced due to the well-protected positions. About 30 cm or 1 ft from the rails is a good enough distance that's out of reach from the staggering attack while still allowing you to shoot at the targets below, although that comes at cost of a more obstructed sightline. Still, stay off the railings whenever Harbinger unleashes one.

Another position that favors long-range weapons is all the way to the back. Around the area with the frozen colonists you can interact with earlier, the Collectors simply stop shooting even if you're right in front of them. You also lose their targeting boxes, but they can still be shot at and killed at that range. This goes both ways, as your squadmates cannot target the enemies at that range, although if you park them there you can still use their powers while you stay in front to do the dodging and killings.

Once no more enemies are flying in, you can now safely loot the area. The lower level of the building labeled 6 has a computer with free 3,000 credits. The building where the Assassin emerged (labeled 9) has power cells. Bypass the large door to the north, and loot everything you need before going in because the area behind you will seal up afterward.

Garage[]

Cowards live longer, ungrateful cowards even more so unfortunately

Once you move inside far enough you encounter an unharmed colonist, the local mechanic, Delan. You can get some information about the attack, where your former squadmate is, what towers were installed and his anger at the Alliance, and you can earn some morality points as well. You determine from the conversation that the GARDIAN laser towers are the key to destroying the Collector ship. Once you are done talking he will tell you to move to the spaceport to get the towers operational. He unlocks the door to your destination, but warns he locks it again after you pass through.

You gain a Codex entry for the Collector General at the end of the conversation.

Delan's hideout has a lot of handy stuff: a Weapons Locker if you want to reconfigure your loadouts, a wall safe with 6,000 credits, a Med Kit, a free thermal clip, and 2,000 platinum. An autosave is generated as you leave, though for extra safety of mind you can manually save your game as well. Note that switching heavy weapons in the locker will give you a fresh one with full ammo.

Get to the Spaceport[]

Good cover places: the obstacles southeast and the stairs (just watch for flankers from the back)

The next area is another housing complex, denser than the previous one, and beyond it is the spaceport. But first, you have to get past a gauntlet of bad guys: a Guardian and a Drone in the plaza, with Harbinger possessing a Drone entering from the walkway leading to the back portion of the area. Three Husks plus an Assassin proceed to the elevated mini-plaza adjacent to them, dropping from the roof of the structure behind the place and flying in respectively (there's an explosive canister near them), and a Scion follows up from where Harbinger came in when most of the first wave has been eliminated.

One way to approach this conundrum would be divide and conquer. The husks and Harbinger will chase you, so lead them into areas Collector gunfire can't reach: inside the nearest building from your starting position, the walkway around and behind this building, or even by the giant heavy-duty-looking boxes right outside the garage. Following this, it's a matter of patience wearing down the rest of the Collectors.

A Scion has a powerful ranged attack similar to Shockwave, but it moves really slowly. If you remain behind the low thick wall that first separates you from the area with the Collectors, Harbinger's slow singularity-type attack will not be as effective at knocking you out of cover, and you will have a good vantage point to take it out along with its lesser minions. If Harbinger or the Scion is about to come around the wall, run back to the farm equipment props outside the garage and circle around them as necessary. It is usually best to save the Scion for last because of its toughness and slow movement rate. It can be tough to keep your squadmates alive against it but they will revive after you've cleared the area and the Scion is the last major hurdle so consider saving your medi-gel if they do go down.

This alley on the building to the left of your starting position is one of the places good for baiting husks

Tip: If you have Kasumi in your party, her Flashbang Grenade can be used to temporarily prevent Harbinger from using biotic abilities, giving you plenty of space to kill it; this works even if Harbinger's barriers are full, and lasts considerably longer than the power's duration and even cooldown time, meaning that through repeated uses you can completely suppress Harbinger's warp and singularity attacks, leaving it only with its gun (which is never fired). Against the Scion, Flashbang has no effect; however, Kasumi's Shadow Strike power can momentarily distract it.

Once the enemies have fallen, you get a Codex entry for the Scion. This area is the proverbial quiet before the storm, so stock up on thermal clips if need be. There are power cells on a walkway to the left of the entrance. After the walkway connecting the front and back of the area, a dead Collector that yields a Hyper-Amp research upgrade. On the upper level building labeled 7, there's a computer with 3,000 credits.

As you reach the spaceport door one of your squadmates find it odd there are no more frozen colonists: the other responds the Collectors already loaded them up their ship, so you need to hurry.

Facing the spaceport door, it is highly recommended you do a manual save. Afterward, bypass the door to behold the spaceport.

Spaceport[]

Many ways to deal with these guys (HINT: melee isn't one of them)

Be warned that the next area is very challenging regardless of difficulty and there is no turning back once you get in because the door will seal up behind you. There is nowhere else to go, you will face numerous waves of enemies, and there are very limited supplies should you run out of heavy weapon ammo or have squadmates fainting. Want to make things a bit easier? Do not move into the spaceport yet. There are two Scions in the distance, well-hidden but can still be damaged and killed from your position outside the spaceport.

To do so, move to the far right or far left side of the doorway, where you should just be able to see part of one Scion. You can now take it out without it being alerted to you. A sniper rifle is highly recommended for this as it will allow squadmate powers—as well as your own—to be aimed more effectively. A heavy pistol, Warp or Incinerate will also be effective. You can even position your squadmates on certain areas into the spaceport, where you have to manually command them to attack (Q & E on default PC bindings, and corresponding controls on consoles). After one Scion is dead, stand to the other side of the staircase to defeat the second Scion. If both Scions are defeated without detection, no Husks will spawn.

Mark this territory for your weapon cooling needs in between dodging zombies and bugs

Note: To ensure you never run out of cooling for your guns, there are several spots in the spaceport that repeatedly spawn thermal clips. One is by the two blue trucks close to the entrance. Another is by the center of the area near the hacking terminal. Another is on the grass between the truck spot and the center spot. They take a few moments to reappear after being taken. If they don't restock during a wave, they will by the next wave, and most assuredly they will continuously respawn in the final fight.

If you want to approach the first fight without exploiting the dormant Scions: after entering the spaceport move to cover and be prepared for a husk mass attack while the Scions immediately start moving in your direction as well. You enter at the west end of the spaceport, where the back of a truck offers a possible cover location. On the south side there is less cover, though power cells are to be found up some stairs. On the north side is a balcony that provides some cover and long lines of fire, along with the spaceport's single Med Kit. Finally, at the far east end there are some L-shaped cover locations that you may soon find useful for evading Husks. If you have trouble with this fight, several proven battle plans are available:

Camping in one place is only going to get you so far

Plan A - Hiding in the Truck: One way to deal the husks is to climb on the vehicle to the left of entrance. While the husks can follow you, with a powerful enough melee punch, you can knock them back to the ground. On top of that, the platform's location could confuse the Scions that appear until you can deal with Husks. Choosing this vehicle also means there is only one direction the Husks can attack you from—so there will be a lot of enemies in one tight space, ready to be taken out with area-of-effect powers. The principal risk of this strategy involves getting trapped in the truck with too many Husks blocking any possible escape route.

Plan B - Confuse the Husks: On Insanity it may be best to avoid getting cornered in the truck, and instead mount a "mobile defense" running away from husks while keeping obstacles between you and the Scions. Note that vaulting over obstacles, especially the large L-shaped covers at the far east end of the field, will force Husks to take a long circuitous route to get to you. If you end up with them coming at you from several directions at once that's usually the best solution. The very first Husk will appear, alone, on your left: if you kill it quickly and proceed clockwise around that north side, you will have more cover from the Scions than the south side offers. Once you reach the far east end, you can use the L-shaped covers to confuse the Husks for long enough to pick them off with powers and weapons before the Scions get too close.

Plan C - Nuke the Scions: If you brought the M-920 Cain along, use it to take the Scions out of the picture quickly. Simply move into the area to trigger the fight as normal and begin charging the Cain while aiming for any solid terrain near the transmitter. The resulting explosion should kill or nearly kill both Scions; finish them off and then deal with the husks which shouldn't be too hard with the threat of the Scions lifted.

If you are lucky enough with hacking that all three code segments become available without much scrolling and waiting, you will be able to skip the whole first fight with Scions and husks. Do not attempt this unless you're reasonably certain the husks and Scions won't reach you in time to interrupt.

This is most of the good cover positions in the spaceport - position yourself and your squadmates wisely

Once the enemies have fallen and before you go to the transmitter, there is a crate of heavy weapon ammo to the far right of where you came in through the doors; opposite this on the raised deck to the far left of the doors where some of the husks attacked from is a med kit. You can save either of these for later but be warned it may be more difficult to get to them as you will be in near constant combat for the rest of the mission.

Once you are ready, hack the transmitter. Shepard will ask EDI to realign the lasers and bring them online. However, there is a hitch: the lasers will take time to charge, so you have to defend the tower. Prepare for a hard fight.

Defend the Tower[]

This fight is challenging because enemies will attack in multiple waves from multiple locations. There are a total of three waves that you will have to fight off:

  1. The first wave consists of two Husks, a Collector Assassin, a Guardian, several Drones, and Harbinger. They will initially spawn toward the southeast end, between the power cells and the L-shaped covers.
  2. The second wave will contain a Guardian, two more Drones, and tends to spawn at the northeast end, between the balcony with the medical kit and the L-shaped covers. Harbinger will quickly take control of one of the drones; he will be mobile and move around to try and flank you, while the Drone and Guardian take cover.
  3. The third wave initially starts with four Husks, an Assassin, a Drone, and Harbinger. The Collectors spawn to the northwest of the area, between where you initially entered and the balcony with the medical kit. The husks will spawn from the raised balcony with the medical kit on the north, so don't be there. As you kill the Collectors they are replaced close to their original position. Between two to four replacements are made after any of the Collectors are killed.
When the going gets tough use your heavy stuff - ammo crate pictured

Combat Tips:

  • The most important tip about where to fight in this section is: as far as possible from where the Collectors arrive, because that gives you time to pick off any Husks before the attacks of the Collectors become too overpowering. For the first two waves, you can hold a position near the north or west side--for instance the balcony on the north with the medical kit, which gives you good lines of fire.
  • After the second wave one of your squadmates will make a comment. That means it's time to move. A great place to get ready for the last wave is at the far east end among the L-shaped covers. The Husks will reach you long before the Collectors.
  • Deal with Husks quickly in each wave, because if they reach point blank range they can knock you out of cover exposing you to deadly fire from the Collectors.
  • If you are crouching behind low cover, remember that Harbinger's slow singularity attack can dislodge you, so slide back and forth to keep it from finding you.
  • Avoid wasting time and ammo shooting out the umbrella shields of the Collector Guardians and instead try to flank them or wait for an opening.
  • Between each wave you'll have at least a little time to move around, grabbing ammo and changing position if desired.
  • Stay in cover, put your squadmates in cover and focus on keeping the enemy off your flanks.
  • On Insanity difficulty your squadmates, even the mighty Grunt, have a very tough time surviving while trading shots against the Collectors especially once Harbinger joins in. If you don't want to be constantly reviving them with medi-gel, keep them near you and therefore hopefully far away from the Collectors. If they're especially frail, you can put them completely out of the line of fire and only use them for their powers while you do the heavy lifting.
  • If you brought the Cain, it's your call to use it if you're getting swamped or if you still want to reserve it for the very last confrontation of the mission—somewhat like a mini-boss—following these waves, in which case you should probably save the power cells in the spaceport for grabbing after use. Remember that certain enemies like Harbinger, Husks, and the Scions can stun you and interrupt attempts to fire the Cain.

EDI will keep you up to date on the status of the lasers, and once they reach 100 percent, you know the fight is almost over. However, there is one more problem.

The Praetorian[]

A deadly foe

Once the Collectors get whittled down and the lasers are near full charge, Harbinger sends in a Praetorian. A Praetorian is a powerful enemy with strong barriers and armor, but it is the only opponent you have to deal with for this fight. It has two lethal attacks: Death Choir that also gives it full barriers, and the constant stream of particle beams it shoots from its eyes.

The basic strategy for this fight (and any fight against a Praetorian) is to play "Ring Around the Rosie" with it: find a piece of the environment with decent cover that you can lead it around in circles while your squadmates and you chip away at it carefully bit by bit. In this particular scenario, the three blue trucks at the spaceport center (one by itself, two side by side) have ample cover, running space, and Death Choir clearance, though if you can also make do with the stacks of tires or other platforms and crates you're more than welcome to seek them out.

Never engage this monstrosity at punching range. Always keep some distance between it and yourself, at least enough to avoid its Death Choir range (give or take 1.5x its width, in a radius). This is about patience and care, not brute force; interpose cover between yourself and the particle beams when they are firing. The Praetorian only chases and targets Shepard, so as long as your squadmates are in cover far enough away not to get hit by a Death Choir they won't go down. Just keep circling and your squad will eventually kill it in a war of attrition, though of course you should contribute damage as long as you can do so without taking too much damage or getting too close.

If the Praetorian activates its Death Choir (which happens after you inflict a lot of damage to its armor or you get too close), back up quickly to make sure you're outside the blast radius, then resume hitting it with guns and powers once it resumes its attack. Powers such as Warp or Incinerate that can arc around cover definitely come in handy here as you can hit the Praetorian without exposing yourself to return fire, but even without this it will eventually go down from your squad's fire. If ammo is a concern save it for damaging the Praetorian's armor and not its barrier which regenerates after every Death Choir attack.

If you want to use the Cain on the Praetorian, do so once its barrier is down and before it recharges. Remember that you don't need direct line of sight for the shot to be effective. Also remember to grab the power cells after firing but before the cutscene begins.

After the Fight[]

Under fire, the bugs bug out

The activated GARDIAN towers hammer away at the Collector cruiser, forcing it to retreat with the harvesting unfinished.

Now that the sky is clear, Delan emerges from his garage and complains you failed to rescue his friends. All of your responses to him are loaded with morality points. When one of your squadmates mention your name, only does Delan get a glimmer of recognition of who you are. In goes the Virmire survivor, who has avoided being taken by the Collectors, listing your accomplishments. Dismayed the Alliance rep is still around while his friends aren't, Delan walks out into irrelevance.

If Ashley/Kaidan had been a romantic partner in Mass Effect, there is a brief scene of a more affectionate reunion. The mood quickly sours when the former squadmate discovers that Shepard is working with Cerberus. The Virmire survivor reveals that they had been dispatched to Horizon after the Alliance received a tip that Horizon was the next colony to get hit. They also came to the colony in part to learn whether Cerberus was behind the attacks on the colonies. They are highly upset about Shepard's alliance with Cerberus, questioning Shepard's loyalty. From the conversation, you learn about what has transpired over the last two years and what you missed while being on an operating table. You can ask them to join your mission, but the answer is invariably no regardless of prior camaraderie. As this is a pretty important reunion, you can gain a slew of morality points depending on your interactions with the Virmire survivor.

At the conclusion of the conversation, you have had enough of the colony. You automatically return to the Normandy.

Normandy[]

A debriefing under the Illusive Man's piercing gaze

You are immediately taken to a holo-conference with the Illusive Man. He is impressed that Shepard's squad managed to stop the Collectors from destroying the colony. However, Shepard is not pleased to discover that the Illusive Man had leaked information on Shepard's relationship with Cerberus; the Illusive Man admits he lured the Collectors to the colony because he was not willing to wait for them to strike. He also questions whether you have put your past relationship with Ashley or Kaidan behind you; answer honestly, bluff him, or rebuff him as you choose.

Through their attacks on the SSV Normandy and human colonies—notably a colony where one of Shepard's former squadmates was located—the Collectors have made clear that they are after humans in general and Shepard in particular. The Illusive Man says he will devote all of his efforts to finding a way through the Omega 4 Relay and adds that Shepard should keep building the team. To this end, he hands over three more dossiers of new potential recruits.

After your conversation concludes, Jacob greets you on your way out of the comm room, and the two of you briefly discuss the difficulty of the recent battle with the Collectors. Jacob wants to make sure he is free of any distractions going forward. This, along with the Illusive Man's warnings about the resolve of your team, are both hints as to the importance of obtaining the loyalty of your squad members. Both Jacob and Miranda's loyalty missions are now available upon speaking with them, and you can also now visit the planet Illium.

If you established a romantic relationship with the Virmire survivor in the first game, you'll receive an email from them once they've calmed down from seeing you with Cerberus (see their character pages for transcripts). Even if you weren't romantically involved, Kelly Chambers will question you about your relationship with them whenever you speak to her, with more pointed questions about any romantic interest if they are the opposite sex of Shepard. You can also have a brief conversation with Joker about your mutual former crewmate in the cockpit.

All three interactions with the Illusive Man, Jacob, and Kelly are loaded with morality points, though in Kelly's case only if your Virmire survivor is the opposite sex of your Shepard.

E-Mail Message (Can you help?)[]

Upon completion of the mission, you'll also receive this letter from a colonist. The Alliance soldier mentioned in the letter can either be Kaidan or Ashley.

From: Robyn Reeve


Commander:

The Alliance soldier here gave me this contact information -- I hope this reaches you.

You said you were trying to stop those Collectors. They took my son and my brother. Have you found them? Do you know where they are? I know you're looking, but so many people are just gone. Every family lost someone. The children are the worst. Empty desks at the schools, winter clothes that never got worn.

Please. The Alliance isn't doing anything. The Council isn't doing anything. If you can find our people, I'm begging you to do something. Tell me something I can do.

Tell me anything.

Robyn Reeve

Enemies[]

Mission Summary[]

Collectors escaped with approximately one third of Horizon's population. Front corporation will funnel supplies, monetary aid to colonial survivors. Collector leader, Harbinger, demonstrates a personal interest in Shepard. Unclear whether his ability to possess his minions is cybernetic override, indication of hive mind among Collectors, or even Reaper technology at work. Salvage teams captured Collector bodies for study.

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