So I took a bit of a break, not only from my Vanguard but from Mass Effect in general. Every now and then you need to do something like that. And it paid off. I felt a lot more relaxed when I started up again, and a bit more confident in my abilities. So I did some more flying around, got the Firewalker side quests done and out of the way, bought some upgrades from the stores, and went to recruit the Krogan.
Mission - Dossier: The Warlord
- Equipment
- Pistol - M-5 Phalanx
- SMG - M-12 Locust
- Shotgun - M-22 Eviscerator
- Heavy - M-622 Avalanche
Party - Garrus, Jack
So we started out as per normal, though I finally started using Charge a bit more freely. I even started showing off a little, Charging one enemy to death, turning and firing at another, then punching a third before retreating. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for those freaks hanging out in "sniper nests." Shockwave does, I discovered, and sometimes it knocks them OFF their little perch and into oblivion. Kinda funny watching a merc fly through the air, limbs waving like crazy, only to meet the nice hard ground below. For those that didn't, a Phalanx shot or Reave worked wonders. When we were in the broken down ship, I started following advice and "Charge-Danced" around the battlefield, bashing or shooting (or just plain flattening with Charge,) quickly hiding, and repeating. Deadly, got close to dying a couple of times, but it was fun. Worked my way past Okeer. Jedore was actually easy, I knew how this fight went, and like I said before, I LOVE that Avalanche. I simply pulled it out ahead of time, shot a barrage of shots her way, enough to strip whatever defenses she may've had. I waited 'till the YMIR Mech had moved on a little before Charging over, shattering her nicely, then focusing on the mech. Good fight, since me and my team were on opposite sides of the map. Finished up, grabbed Grunt (latter "birthed" him,) and moved on.
Mission - Horizon
- Equipment
- Pistol - M-5 Phalanx
- SMG - M-12 Locust
- Shotgun - M-22 Eviscerator
- Heavy - M-622 Avalanche
- (Not a whole lot of changing, no?)
Party - Garrus, Mordin
I was ready for this mission, having got enough upgrades I could buy or find and research. I took Mordin along this time for some extra Armor burning potential. Can't say I REALLY needed it at first, as I only encountered freaks with Barriers, which Reave disposed of nicely. A couple of times I Charged in, fired of a shot, and walked backwards to my old position, blasting away. By the time I worked my way to Harbinger, I had already picked up the Collector Beam Weapon, though useful, wasn't exactly high on my list of weapons at the moment, too much time out of cover. So I swapped it when I could. My first meeting (on this file) with Harbinger went surprisingly well. Reave did quite nicely on his Barrier, and between Mordin's Incinerate and my Incendiary Rounds, his Armor went down too. The "Protect the Transmitter" segment was fun, and boy do I love Shockwave. I tossed so many around I might as well blown the place up. It was very useful against Husks though. When finally that stupid beetle thing, the Praetorian showed up, I was ready, though doubtful. I had plenty of trouble against this thing before, on Casual. I emptied my Avalanche on it, between rounds of Reave and Incinerate, plus Garrus shooting at it with the Incisor. Finished it off with a shotty blast, and with no deaths. Never even got near me, though it did ping my shields a couple of times. Talked with Kaiden a bit. I think he sounds a little different than he did in the first Mass Effect, but maybe that's just me.
Anyhoo, once off Horizon, I respecced myself. Originally, I was going to go for some good Cryo Ammo points, but through playing, I found out that going with Incendiary was far superior (at least, for me,) and keeping the Avalanche around for freezing when I need it was a better plan. Now time to start up some loyalty missions. I'll be infiltrating the Collector ship soon, and I'm thinking of grabbing Assault Rifle training rather than the Claymore. This'll give me a good, all-around weapon to use if I need to conserve shotgun ammo, or I'm having issues with an enemy's defenses.
End of Day Report
- Level - 14
- Incendiary Ammo - 2
- Cryo Ammo - 0
- Heavy Charge
- Shockwave - 2
- Pull - 0
- Champion
- Reave - 2
Total Playtime: 15h, 44m || Save # 53