Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Walkthrough Part 11: Location: Ghost

Location: Ghost’s layout is the same as the area in the single player campaign where you had to protect the civilians from the Cerberus Attack. This map features a nice blend of close quarters and medium range fighting. There are numerous apartment buildings in which it will not be feasible to overcome the enemy without using Shotguns or melee attacks, while the more open courtyards outside of the apartments will make for good places for ranged classes to wreak havoc.

The landing pad is where you will begin (and ideally end, if you can make it through the eleventh wave) your time on the Ghost map. This area is very open and features very little in the way of cover. Because of this, it is one of the least defensible positions in the entire map. There are two ramps, one on the front of the pad and the other on the right side, that lead up to a slightly more elevated position. Enemies can take cover at these elevated positions and pin you in the landing pad if you’re not careful. When starting a match, it makes sense to leave the landing pad area as soon as you can. When you are ending a match, though, you might not have much of a choice. You will want to be close to the landing pad so that you can evacuate the area, but you don’t want to get pinned down by enemies while waiting for the shuttle to arrive. There is, at least, an ammo crate up the front ramp in case you run out of ammo during the battle. If you are going to be defending the landing pad, try to do so from the houses at the top of the ramps instead of in the landing pad itself, because that way you will at least not be at a disadvantage in terms of height and positioning, and the ammo crate will be easily accessible.

The front ramp on the landing pad leads through an apartment and into an alleyway. You can also reach this alley by taking a slightly more roundabout way through the house up the ramp to the right, although you will have to traverse the narrow corridors of the home in order to pop out at the back end of the alley. During later waves, this alley can be integral to controlling the level. If you lose control of the alley, you can easily get pushed back to the landing pad, and as mentioned earlier, this is not an ideal position. Luckily, if you lose the alley, you can perform a pincer attack from the landing pad by sending one half of the squad down the left side of the alley and the other half down the right side, crushing the enemies between the two forces until they meet up in the middle. Stone pillars, barricades, and blocks make for decent enough cover, while an apartment to the far right side of the alley makes for a good escape route if you find yourself overwhelmed. If you are hesitant to enter the alley for whatever reason, you can have your squad split up amongst the three apartments that line the alley and fire out into the streets from there. Just keep in mind that the alley is not ideal for every battle. During later waves, Cerberus forces will send in Phantoms and Atlas mechs, whose rockets can make the confined streets and buildings of the alley hell. Banshees can be similarly damaging in these close quarters. When this happens, retreat through the far right-hand building to reach the streets on the upper right side of the map.

This area will give you much more room to work with. A large building will take up the left side of these streets, while various concrete barricades and pillars will provide decent enough cover towards the middle and right sides of this area. This openness comes with a caveat, though. The courtyard below is surround by good sniping positions in the main house, up the ladder. When fighting against Cerberus, watch out for Nemesis snipers, who will try to get a bead on you from the houses above. You can venture into these houses yourself, but be prepared for some close range combat when you do. If you opt to take up a sniping position from one of the apartments while your squad fends off the remaining enemies below, opt to bring one of your squad-mates with you to watch your back, as enemies will often spawn right outside of the apartments. At the very least, plant a Proximity Mine in the entryway to the building so that enemies won’t catch you by surprise. If you opt to stay on the ground with your allies, use Biotics like Singularity to rip enemies out of cover when they try to snipe you, and keep your squad tightly packed behind cover to provide a large amount of concentrated fire on your targets. In addition to the enemies who will attack from the apartments, you will have to watch out for enemies seeping in from the alley if you left this area unattended.

The building up the stairs from the courtyard is a large home consisting of several rooms. You can head into the lower room to loop back around to the alley in a pinch, or you can hole up in the far right-hand room, where you entered the building from, to fire out into the back streets. There is an ammo crate in here, so it makes for a decent spot to flee to in a pinch. You can also head through the doorway at the northern side of the house to reach the kitchen. From here, head through the larger doorway in the left wall to reach the living area. The southern part of the living area leads out into a small vertical street that will lead you back into the alley if you follow it. There is also a small staircase on the right side of this street that will lead you back into the building you just left from, albeit from a different angle. Only use this path in emergencies, as it is kind of unwieldy. You will also find an ammo crate right under the face of the building. If you head out from the left-hand exit to the living area, you will reach a blocked-off street with three cars parked for cover. While navigating through this house, use Shotguns and melee attacks to take out enemies. The high walls of this home will protect you from snipers and Ravagers, but the close quarters can make for a different kind of struggle. If you have multiple Vanguards in your party, this can actually be a good thing. Using Nova and charged up Shotgun blasts inside of this cramped home can be devastating.

The blocked off street to the left of the home is the final noteworthy area in this map. There are two entrances to this area, one from the right, through the building that leads to the back streets, and one from the south that leads through a tiny apartment complex and into the alley. Both entrances are a bit higher up than the street, so holding out here is generally a bad idea. You and your squad will be easy pickings for snipers, while the lack of an ammo crate makes sustaining your defense harder than necessary. Only pass through this area as a means of escaping from the large building to the alley.