Mass Effect 3 Walkthrough Part 40: The Citadel Part 2

Open up the elevator and activate it to go to the upper floor. Head out and examine the terminal on the right-hand wall, then grab the Pistol Piercing Mod from the shelf and the M-25 Hornet from the dead body. Turn right and, when faced with a broken door, head into the room to the right to move around it. When you emerge, you will find two Cerberus guards with their backs turned to you. Stealth kill them if you can. Otherwise, shoot them quickly to silence them. Examine the terminal to the side to unlock some credits and unlock a door in the previous room. Head back to the previous room and enter the previously locked door on the left to find the M-358 Talon, the Securitel Helmet, the Pistol High-Caliber Barrel Mod, and a datapad. Enter the room next to it to collect a med kit and some credits. Go back to the hallway, past the broken door. Head to the left where you took out the two enemies and you will see the Executor’s office in the distance.

You will have to fight through one more wave of enemies before you can examine the Executor’s office in detail, though. Don’t worry too much, as this wave is pretty small and doesn’t require the most nuanced strategy. The wave will consist of Assault Troopers and Centurions, and they will jet down from the ceiling to challenge you. Run around the pillar in the hall. Order your squad to find cover outside of the room, on the opposite side of the arena as you, and shoot into it. From your position by the pillar, you should be able to see the enemies clearly. With your squad-mates distracting the Cerberus troops, swing out of cover and take the enemies out from behind, starting with the Centurions. When you have taken them all out, head over to the far wall to find some med kits and the Sniper Rifle Piercing Mod.

Head down the hall and out of the door. You will be met with a staircase. Go up the stairs and through the doors at the top to enter a lounge area overlooking the Executor’s office. A quick survey of the area will reveal nothing but C-Sec corpses. Shepard will radio Udina with the bad news. However, just as Shepard imparts the lack of any life in the office, a cloak will shimmer below. The salarian Councilor will emerge from behind a desk, where she hid cloaked until she saw Shepard above. A sudden flicker of motion above will indicate that not all of the enemies have left the area just yet, however. A mysterious masked man will jump down from the rafters, wielding Tech and Biotics and threatening the Councilor’s life. Shepard will break through the observation room window and jump down to the rescue. In this section, you will really want to have a saved game from Mass Effect 2, particularly one in which Thane lived to the end. If you don’t have a save in which Thane lived, the salarian Councilor will reveal new information on the Cerberus attack right before the assassin kills her and flees. If, however, Thane has survived, he will intervene. In the ensuing battle, Thane will best the assassin, but at the cost of a nasty stab wound. He will urge you to go on after the assassin. Shepard will call in the medics to help Thane, and then he/she will get into the dropship and give chase.

As the dropship weaves in and out of the Citadel’s architecture, it will look for a second as if the assassin has escaped. Instead, he was merely planning an ambush. He will leap onto your dropship, avoiding the gunfire from Shepard, and plunge his blade into the engines. As your ship catches fire and begins to go down, the mysterious assassin will flee again. Your dropship will crash into the Presidium Commons, now trapped in its death throes as Cerberus troops open fire on civilians.

The layout of this arena is the same as the Commons usually is. You can head through the building to the left or around it to the right to reach a planter in the middle of the area. Although you will not initially see any enemy activity ahead other than the woman being gunned down, take cover behind this first planter and wait for the Cerberus ship to come hovering over the planter ahead and to the right. It will drop off a devious new enemy type, the Phantom. These female troopers are capable of cloaking, and they will close the distance to you fast. This is especially problematic because their swords can be incredibly deadly at close range. Far away, however, these enemies are all but useless, so try to keep them at a distance and seek out the telltale shimmer of their cloaks when they go invisible.

You will have numerous options for dealing with these enemies, depending on your class and which characters you brought into battle with you. Biotics-oriented classes can use moves such as Stasis to slow the Phantom, and follow it up with powered-up Incendiary, Warp, or Cryo Ammo. Hitting it with Singularity and following that up with a Warp can also be effective. Soldiers can use Adrenaline to keep up with the Phantom’s fast movement speed. Alternatively, Vanguards can use Biotic Charge to throw the Phantom off balance, and follow that up with either a charged melee attack (this can be especially effective depending on how you’ve specced your character while leveling up) or a Shotgun blast. This is risky, but can be devastating. Finally, and perhaps most devious of all, you can use Tactical Cloak if you are playing an Infiltrator and give the Phantom a taste of her own medicine. When she becomes visible or stops moving in confusion, sneak up behind her to take her down.

Phantoms won’t be the only tricky enemies in this encounter, though. Nemesis snipers will also prowl the battlefield. If you see one of the telltale red lasers pointing in your direction, duck for cover as soon as you can. Getting hit with one of the Nemesis’ shots can be devastating, but these enemies are physically weak. Flank around them, using your squad as a distraction, to get in close and take them down. Alternately, you can counter-snipe them with the help of Garrus. With the two of you training your rifles on the Nemesis, it won’t be able to survive long.

After the Phantoms and Nemeses are gone, you will only have to worry about the standard Assault Troopers.  They are easily dealt with. Just make sure to use the cover intelligently, and draw them out using Biotics if you can’t get a bead on them.