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A Thessian Temple

The asari, growing desperate as the Reapers attack their systems, have revealed an artifact that may hold the key to finding the Catalyst. Meet a scientific team at a temple on Thessia and investigate the artifact for clues.

Acquisition[]

This mission is acquired automatically after speaking to the asari Councilor in the late Donnel Udina's office.

Preparation[]

Thessia under Reaper attack

In this mission, the Reapers will be throwing their entire playbook at you. This means lots of armor, some shields, and barriers (including the use of barrier engines). With the large number of heavy hitters here, having people with the right abilities to pull off Fire Explosions is highly advised.

Liara is a mandatory squad member on this mission. She is useful for crowd control, against armor and barriers, and can both prime and detonate Biotic Explosions. However, she is ineffective against shields, so it's a good idea to have someone else (Shepard and/or the other squadmate) with anti-shield powers against Marauder shields as well as an upcoming boss fight. Some of these powers are also effective against barriers.

With Liara's abilities in mind, gearing a squad towards spamming Biotic Explosions can also be considered. Another way to go about this is to build the rest of your squad around raw damage, which Liara simply doesn't provide a whole lot of.

Note: Be sure to bring Javik on this mission at least once. Besides having a few scenes all to himself, he adds enlightening detail about the history of the asari, though Liara may find this very controversial.

Additional Liara comments: It's possible to hear some spontaneous minor remarks from Liara by lingering in certain parts of the map when the areas are clear of hostiles for about a minute. You probably will not hear these by playing through the mission at a normal pace. Most of these comments are expressions of her despair at the state of her home and people.

Walkthrough[]

Husks at the Barricade[]

Free equipment and credits courtesy of some guys who are about to be overrun by biomechanical zombies

Your shuttle lands in a precarious safe zone barricaded by asari soldiers. There's an Umbra Visor and supplies worth 4,500 credits next to a nearby floodlight, away from Lieutenant Kurin. Take the items first before you do anything else, because speaking to Kurin will begin a lengthy semi-inescapable scene.

Your conversation with Kurin is interrupted by the Reapers demolishing the barricade. The lieutenant directs you to use a turret gun to the right of the hole while a soldier volunteer plugs the hole with her biotic barrier. Multiple Brutes appear, as well as Husks that will run towards the biotic barrier in an attempt to destroy it.

A Barrier Engine is located where the Brutes are spawning, and it will essentially double the enemies' ability to take damage until it is destroyed. There will be three groups of Brutes spawning at a distance, intermixed with waves of Husks jumping over the wall nearer at hand.

PROTIP: Barrier engine first, then whoever's hammering away at the barrier

Though deceptively similar to the earlier Husks-at-the-barricade incident on Menae, this encounter adds an urgency element in the form of the barricade's health bar. The simplest solution to this is to destroy the Barrier Engine first (you can actually see and destroy it before talking to Kurin), then prioritize anything standing next to the barricade, and then if you have time to pound down spawning Brutes before they get across the bridge then that's great. But don't leave a group of husks pounding on the barricade to engage Brutes that aren't: though you'll intuitively fear the Brutes more, objectively the Husks will do more damage during the time you're hitting the Brutes than a Brute getting a couple of slow hits in.

Keeping your gun mostly pointed at the barricade will make the most efficient use of your limited time and firepower. Don't worry about friendly fire; your shots won't damage the barrier. Despite the presence of squadmates and other soldiers, none of them actually help you out here (Note: You can't even use squadmate powers) and it's solely up to you to clear the bridge. Finally, remember that the turret will turn much more quickly if you refrain from using the zoom-in-aim function.

Note: It is possible but inefficient to not use the turret at all and simply kill all incoming enemies on foot on your own. Kurin nags you to use the turret, but eventually the spawns will cease all the same. If you haven't looted the outpost's items before speaking to Kurin, this is the last chance to do so while there's still some barrier remaining.

Route to Asari Temple[]

When the onslaught stops, Kurin directs her soldiers to repair the breach and announces she's pulling her forces out despite orders to hold the location, reluctant to waste any more lives. She has been told to expect Shepard and nothing else, and you can be as forthcoming or cagey with the details. In response, Kurin also reports that they lost contact with the scientists at the temple. Whichever the case Kurin eventually becomes convinced of your mission's importance and pledges her unit's support. At the conclusion of your talk you resume control just outside the barricade and you will receive morality points depending on your conduct with Kurin.

Expendable cannon fodder doing their best to gain a few more seconds of survival in the battlefield

Proceed across the bridge and listen to Liara being introspective. Shortly you will see a View prompt focusing on a gunship-harvester dogfight. See it or not, that's the cue for a group of Marauders and Cannibals to spawn at the far end of the bridge. Fortunately there's a lot of cover by the bridge's support studs so you don't have to soak up their firepower needlessly. The far side of the area looks like a dead end, but the path is visually blocked by a wall and the way forward is to turn right to a short corridor.

Go nuts with the coming skirmish: guns blazing, power spamming, or some combination of both

The rubble-strewn corridor opens up to a large rubble-strewn courtyard. You get another View prompt of Kurin's subordinates attempting to provide you fire support, but they are all slaughtered by a harvester that flies off. Meanwhile a more immediate danger is another Marauders-and-Cannibals sortie: 2 initial Cannibals eating a dead asari, and 2 separate initial Marauders. There's also a bunch of Spore Pods for that nasty swarmerless acid damage so watch your step.

Your next destination is beyond the active green door due northwest. As you traverse the courtyard more Cannibals emerge from the sky or the building to the north-northwest, and as you approach the door Marauders drop in, contingent on how many Cannibals have already been killed. The area has a lot of cover but still lends itself well to a running gunfight; feel free to let loose with mid- to long-range weapons and powers. When you're within striking distance of the door 2 Marauders arrive as prelude to a familiar bloodcurdling scream: a Banshee promptly destroys the door and joins the battle.

A sight for sore eyes

Fortunately, this mission grants you heavy weapons at strategic moments. Facing the door, to your left (or south by absolute positioning), below the giant curving support structure that also serves as a roof there's an M-560 Hydra missile launcher on the floor. Banshees go from full armor/barrier to melted or severely injured, depending on difficulty, your accuracy, and number of other enemies close by. It's only one shot, so make it count.

Tip: This one of two missions in the entire game with multiple Hydra pickups. If you wish to save the Hydra for later, simply carry it while out of combat, toss it to the ground to use your regular weapons, and pick it up again until such time you decide to deploy it.

When Shepard tells the squad to get moving before more Reapers come back, that's your cue to start looting before leaving the courtyard. There isn't much here: a bunch of thermal clips aside from enemy drops, and 2 Med Kits, one by the building door where Cannibals spawned and another one on the same side as the Hydra. Liara takes position in front of the doorway to the next area while your other squadmate urges haste as long as you haven't moved on yet.

The future of Thessia looks grim. And dark.

The area beyond the doorway is a short one-way drop so ensure you have no further business in the courtyard before proceeding. Just after that one-way drop is a Terminal on the floor (7,500 credits). Liara shares her reticence at facing Banshees and the other squadmate will have something to say about it as you move forward. After a couple of thermal clips on the ground, bypass the next door afterward. The bypass won't complete until the earlier dialogue has played out. When you emerge into the next area a View prompt will appear for a Reaper in the not-too-far distance as it slowly (and loudly) walks away from the scene. All of your squadmates (bar Liara, who points the Reaper out) express horror at the sight.

In the courtyard below you'll also see three Cannibals munching on some victims. They're busy so you have the element of surprise: with the right abilities, you can kill them without firing a shot. The ground shakes while the Reaper is still around, which can mess up your aim, though soon enough it stops as your squadmates will point out the Reaper is moving on. As you engage the Cannibals your squadmates also alert you to the presence of fire support in the form of asari snipers in the balcony at the far end, and if you approached the Cannibals without attacking the snipers will be the ones to trigger their fight response.

PROTIP: that big slab of debris is your way to the second floor, and the area is so dark you won't see the med-kit except for its GUI indicator.

Just to the right of the Cannibals (or east in absolute positioning) is a broken shotgun that can be salvaged for 3,000 credits. Easy to Miss: Directly above the broken shotgun on a small ledge (reached by climbing the debris outside the alcove with the shotgun) is a Med-kit, spare thermal clip, and Shotgun High Caliber Barrel.

As you approach the asari snipers a stray hit kills one of the two. Specialist Cayla, the surviving one, radios to report Specialist Jineva's demise. Kurin asks if Shepard's around, and Cayla's responses change depending if you reached her in time or not.

What immediately follows is an inbound wave of Marauders and Cannibals, supported by a Barrier Engine sticking out of the eastern wall; take that one out first. You're on a covered balcony, they're on lower ground, put two and two together and realize you're at a very advantageous spot. There are even Spore Pods you can pop to douse nearby husks in acid. When you've killed a few, a couple more hurtle from above. This is a good time to deploy the Hydra, if you saved it earlier. There's also a med-kit, Sniper Rifle Concentration Mod, spare thermal clips, and the M-98 Widow in the balcony, can't miss them.

Little incentive to go down there even if you're melee-oriented. Take the W and start shooting fish in a barrel.

Specialist Cayla provides a constant stream of commentary, e.g. "You hit one!", but not much in the way of useful fire support. She's invulnerable so you only have yourself and squadmates to worry about. Once the coast is clear, she signifies to stay behind and cover your rear while urging you to get going. Proceed to the lower area and collect thermal clips if necessary; there should be plenty. Liara advises escaping toward the Reaper and the other squadmate balks at calling it such. There's a hole in the eastern wall, proceed through and follow the path.

The first ledge after the hole is also a one-way drop, so make sure you sweeped the previous area first. While you're moving toward Outpost Tykis you get a clearer view of the Reaper that walked past you in the distance. Liara despairs at the never-ending nightmare. Shepard quips about waking up after finding the artifact, and the other squadmate also has some comments on that.

Outpost Tykis[]

For once you have gunships on your side, not in front of your guns

A cutscene starts when you reach Outpost Tykis. They're being overrun, and there's only one asari soldier left. With no options, you tell the soldier to call for air support, and two gunships answer. Talons One and Five initially mow down the invaders, but Talon One goes down to enemy fire and crashes nearby. A Banshee and another fresh horde of Reapers appear, then control shifts back to you.

After the cutscene, you gain 450 experience and morality points depending on how you phrased the suggestion for air support. Initial enemy headcount is a Banshee, a Barrier Engine, and 3 Marauders. You have fire support from the surviving soldier and Talon Five, who are invulnerable at this point, and the second (and final) M-560 Hydra is also here.

The gunship can spew missiles but they're almost useless unless you prioritize the barrier engine

Be careful of the Banshee as it can get ridiculously close within just a few seconds. For optimum Hydra use against the Banshee, retreat back the way you came and even further if necessary. If you haven't destroyed the Barrier Engine first, you might want to lure the Banshee away from it before loosing your one missile. If you still have the first Hydra, this is also a good place to deploy it, as you may need the second one shortly later.

When the Banshee dies a Ravager spawns up the slope from Outpost Tykis. This time you have the low ground disadvantage, but you have lots of cover. Note: The Ravager fails to appear if you killed the Banshee while you're in the area where the Ravager is supposed to appear. Whichever the case, Talon Five's missiles are spent and she switches to guns only from hereon out. The surviving soldier stays behind to guard the rear.

Talon Five[]

Husks are consummate professionals; mass accelerator rounds in the ass are minor inconveniences routinely ignored

Continue on past Outpost Tykis, forward up the rubble and then to the right (or northeast). You're actually at the side of the asari temple already, you just need to go to the entrance at the far end. Next to the burning wreck of Talon One is an Assault Rifle Extended Barrel. Past it, Husks attack you; past them, you tangle with two Harvesters accompanied by Marauders, Ravagers, and a Barrier Engine (on Insanity difficulty a third Harvester shows up during the battle especially if you killed one of the initial two quickly). Another Harvester forces Talon Five to divert from air support for a while.

Stick to cover, take shots at them whenever you can and watch out for any Swarmers. Tip: After dealing with the Husks, don't rush forward: scope and shoot the Barrier Engine from a distance before the next group of enemies appears. If you're still lugging a Hydra Missile Launcher, note that it won't reach the Harvesters but can be used to clear out the ground forces. This is the final opportunity to use the Hydra responsibly since it is essentially useless later.

Two wormnecks! That's..

Consider falling back, which makes it easy to take out the Harvesters first, then get rid of the Marauders since they'll keep throwing up barriers and then get rid of the remaining enemies. Talon Five returns momentarily, but eventually a Harvester grabs her gunship and she goes down. Note: You don't actually have to kill the Harvesters: once Talon Five is down, they will flee the battle. Harvesters' armor bar are only visible up close (which is essentially suicide for you), but they can be damaged or killed all the same and the armor bar returns when they start fleeing the scene. Lastly, there's also no conventional way to save Talon Five even if you quickly wiped out all enemy forces before you.

Push forward and you'll arrive at the shielded temple entrance. There's an SMG Heat Sink next to a thermal clip/grenade box, and on the opposite side the barrier controls for the shield. Liara handles the bypassing when you interact with it.

Temple of Athame[]

The statue of Athame

Make your way into the temple and pick up a med kit close to the entrance. No one's answering in the temple because they're dead: the scientists' bodies are lying on the ground near the large central statue, which is the artifact you're looking for. However, before investigating the statue, search the temple for other artifacts to learn about the asari's history. If Javik is with you, he elaborates upon their history, in more detail than Liara. Long story short, the Protheans meddled in asari prehistory, and Liara will have a hard time wrapping her head around it even in the face of mounting evidence. Note: You only get the squadmates' comments on the artifacts prior to examining the central statue. Later you can interact with them again, but it's only in terms of whether they're relevant to the task at hand or not.

When you investigate the statue, your non-Liara squadmate examines the scientists and find their throats were slit, indicating non-Reaper hostiles. After concentrating on the statue, Shepard realizes there is a Prothean Beacon in the temple. This helps explain how the asari are so advanced since they had the chance to study the temple for thousands of years and kept it a secret from the other species.

The entrance barrier goes back up after you examine the statue, cutting you off from the previous areas. You have to examine (or re-examine) other artifacts to activate the beacon; they are marked by glowing blue flames surrounding their display cases. One is provided for you, the mural of Athame to the right of the statue (either you activate it yourself due to the Cipher or Javik does if he's around). The others you have to activate yourself, and they are:

  • The Athame Codex manuscript discussing biotics, to the far left of the statue
  • Janiri's bust, to the right of the statue
  • The shield of Athame, at the entrance of the temple

There's no time pressure. If you dither enough during the activation process the squad also have some comments on the revelations.

There's probably a less destructive way of accessing the beacon, only the guys who know about it are busy being dead

When all four are activated the statue disintegrates to reveal the beacon. Out of it comes a Prothean VI, Vendetta. It tells you the galactic extinction appears to be a recurring cycle, and the Crucible is a result of it merely passed down to the Protheans. It agrees to help your cause, but it detects someone who is indoctrinated and promptly hides back to the beacon. Kai Leng shows up, Shepard pegs him as the scientists' killer, and he delivers a hologram of the Illusive Man, who explains more about his goal to control the Reapers instead of destroying them.

Regardless of how the conversation goes, you'll have to fight Leng. Morality points are awarded depending on your responses to Vendetta and the Illusive Man.

Fight Kai Leng[]

Stay behind cover as Kai Leng sends shockwaves that disable your shields. Although Leng's health bar shows shields and armor, for this battle you're only concerned with depleting his shields. Once you take out about half of his shields a gunship will cover him while he recharges them, during which process you'll need to stay in cover lest you be machine-gunned down. This will repeat a couple times. When you finally get Leng's shields all the way down, a cutscene will resolve the rest of the battle.

Leng is unfortunately immune to singularities; best they can do is add swirling energy thingies to his drip

Combat Notes: You'll want to avoid letting him get close to you, moving if necessary, but if you hit him with everything your squad has got immediately, especially anti-shield abilities, this won't become an issue. If your squad can create a Tech Burst, it will finish most of his shields off right away, even on Insanity. Likewise, Lash with the shield-piercing evolution will allow you to throw Kai Leng around like a toy, essentially rendering the "fight" a joke (mind the unexpected physics bugs though, as you may get stuck). Just keep as much distance as possible and make sure to stay behind cover when the gunship starts shooting. If you still have the Hydra, it's only good for forcing Leng to recharge his shields once and not the one-hit KO you may be expecting it to be.

Once you deplete Leng's shields thrice he somehow overpowers your two squadmates and orders the gunship to destroy the temple, almost sending Shepard to the abyss. Leng saunters to the beacon, steals the VI, and walks out. Shepard climbs out of the hole too late as Leng is already airborne, and you're left to hear over comms Kurin and the other asari being overwhelmed by the Reapers.

Aftermath[]

Back on the Normandy Shepard sulks over the defeat before reporting it to the asari councilor. After the debrief, the entire team converge on the War Room to determine their next moves. EDI and Specialist Samantha Traynor tell you that they tracked Kai Leng to the planet Horizon in the Iera system, making the mission Priority: Horizon available.

By the end of this mission, you will gain 15 Reputation, 15,000 credits and the last batch of morality points depending on how you responded to your crew in the War Room.

Other events in the aftermath of the mission are:

  • The side mission N7: Communication Hub also becomes available.
  • Shepard receives an email from Kai Leng disguised as a message from asari military command in which Leng gloats about his triumph.
  • If Tali is a crewmember she will be found at the memorial wall following the mission. Kaidan, if present, will be found in Engineering talking to Adams. If Priority: Eden Prime has been completed, Liara will pay a visit to Javik which you can barge in on (there is a brief Paragon interrupt during their confrontation). After speaking with Javik, Liara will return to her quarters, and Tali can be overheard discussing with Garrus which of the two of them should go speak with her. You may speak with Tali and tell her that you will speak with Liara yourself. You may then visit Liara and speak with her in her quarters (there is another brief Paragon interrupt here), after which you may return and speak again with Tali, who will thank you for speaking with Liara.

Enemies[]

Trivia[]

  • Marauders can be seen wielding M-76 Revenants in cutscenes, though in actual combat they still use their default Phaeston guns.
Mass Effect 3 Navigation
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Priority: The Citadel III Missions Priority: Horizon
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