The story arc of Bioware’s masterful second Mass Effect title will soon be coming to an end, thanks to the release of The Arrival, the game’s final DLC pack. Centered around a kidnapped doctor and her connection to the Reapers (the series’ terrifying antagonists) The Arrival will continue flesh out Shepard’s story and add heft to the universe he lives in. The gameplay is particularly noticeable this time around due to the absence of companions — the sci-fi savior is flying solo this time, and will therefore have to use cover much more carefully, among other things.
To make sure you can breeze through The Arrival as fast as you want, we’ve prepared a full, step-by-step walkthrough for it.
Achievement Guide
Covert Action
Last Stand
Upgrade Guide
The Walkthrough
Start on the bridge of the Normandy and visit Shepherd’s private terminal. After downloading the DLC pack, you’ll receive a message from Admiral Hackett at Alliance Command detailing the situation.
The mission has you infiltrating a Batarian stronghold alone — that means no squad backup. You’re going to want to make sure you’re well-outfitted before heading to the mission.
Head back to the CIC and activate the navigation map. Make for a Mass Relay and head to the Viper Nebula. You’ll arrive in the Bahak system. Fly to Aratoht and land.
Head into the facility. To open the door, cut power using the terminal around the right side of it. Head in and turn right to come to a T-junction; turn right again to find some Irridium on the ground.
Pull a 180 and follow the hallway to the bridge controls. They’re broken, so take the ramp downward to the left. At the bottom, take cover against the wall so you an sight the varren wandering just around the corner. Kill it fast to avoid detection if you can.
Activate the bridge on the control near the varren and head back up to cross. Keep moving along the hallway as you ascend some stairs. When you see a laser grid, kill it by cutting the power nearby and take the hallway branch left.
You’ll hit another varren. Kill it and keep moving around the corner. Another laser grid blocks your path, so head the other way and keep moving past the hole in the ground you saw earlier.
Before much longer, you’ll hit a dead end. Above the cracked wall is a pipe you can target. Shoot it to ignite the gas inside and blow open the wall; look for a gas valve nearby to shut of the flames so you can pass.
You’ll see more flames ahead. Close the valve in front of them, then find another valve away to the left. That’ll clear the way to a door, where you’ll find an audio log and an object you can scan for a Heavy Weapons Ammo upgrade.
Double back through the door and reactivate the two gas valves to shift the flames back to where they were. You’ll have to kill another varren before finding another door you can use. Go through and up the stairs until you come back outside.
You’ll hear two batarians having a discussion ahead to your left. Sneak by them and you’ll find a panel to cut power nearby. Then you can backtrack and get ready to deal with the pair of guards.
Try to take these guys down together to avoid detection. Use a grenade or explosive if you can to kill both simultaneously. After that, check the area to their left and then go through the door they were guarding.
You can search through the building here all the way to the far side, but you’ll want to come back and use the door immediately to the right after you come up the stairs. That will take you back outside: hop off the ledge and take the steps you find there.
Through the door at the top you’ll hear two more guards talking. They’re in the room through the glass on your right. Keep moving and you can pass by their room without engaging them. Use the door on the left and don’t pass in front of the glass they’re looking out through.
You’ll be on the upper level of a room with a truck below you and a crane to the right. While you’re up here, use the crane controls to lift one of the crates: press the middle button, then the left, then the right.
Climb down using the truck parked beneath you to the right of the crane controls to reach the lower level. Check behind the crate you lifted for some Medigel upgrade data and Irridium. Then find the vehicle lift controls and activate them.
Drop down on the truck you just lowered to reach the room below you. Once you’re down, get clear of the lift and hit the control again to find some credits beneath it. Leave by the nearby hallway, which leads to a door.
Keep moving and you’ll see two batarian guards in a small room. You can get past them by using the nearby crates for cover. You can take them down and listen in on Dr. Kenson’s interrogation, or you can go by them without fighting.
ACHIEVEMENT/TROPHY: If you can manage to get all the way through “The Arrival” without being detected by the batarians, you’ll unlock the “Covert Action” Achievement or Trophy.
Keep following the hallway until you hit a door on your left. Open it to trigger a cutscene and release Kenson.
After the cutscene, you’ll engage a batarian in the hallway you just left. Turn around and head in the direction you were just headed, which will take you down a set of stairs and into a room that fans out to the left and right. Medigel and ammo to your left, the path to your right.
Through the next door, you’ll fight a couple more batarians. Take cover and deal with them quickly, then proceed around the edge of the room.
Watch for an ambush as you move up. A panel will open in the wall, revealing three or four enemy soldiers that will attack you through the new window. Get cover and take them out — biotics and tech work well when the guys are behind cover — and then head into the structure they were guarding. You’ll find your Security Console around the corner to the right.
Once you activate the console, you’ll have to protect Kenson while she hacks into it. Leave the console and quickly head back the way you came — you’ll engage a couple of batarians who are coming at you.
Your goal first is to seal the door through which you came in: otherwise, batarians will keep coming through it. Kill these first ones and sprint to the control panel to close it.
Quickly get back to Kenson and check the far side, where more batarians are attacking you from. Get behind cover and take them out.
Now groups will start to come up elevators, first on the right side, then on the left. Repeat the process: use cover and your abilities to quickly knock out the bad guys.
Finally, Kenson will raise a central elevator you can use to escape the area. Kill the last group of enemies that comes up with it and ride it to the hangar at the bottom. Quickly get behind cover when you get there.
In the hangar, you’ll be engaged by a few batarians. Find cover and take out the first few guards, then wait to be attacked again from the left. You’ll fight three groups in total.
Once those guys are cleared, go to the shuttle’s right side and put your back to it to face the hangar doors. On the left and right sides of the doors are explosives you can use to blow them open. Shoot them, then board the shuttle.
Object Rho
You’ll get a few seconds to converse with Kenson. Ask her any questions you want answered. When you finally finish, you’ll land at Kenson’s Project Base.
TIP: Save here. You’ll want a quick and easy save file if you’re hoping to get hold of an Achievement coming up.
Search the hangar quickly for credits and equipment, as well as a Codex entry on Object Rho. Then follow Kenson as she leaves the hangar. Keep with her all the way to the object.
Once you’re in the room, you’ll see another cutscene and come under attack at the Object. Quickly take out the guy on your right with whatever powers you’re packing, and keep your head down.
ACHIEVEMENT: If you can last through five waves of attackers here (which is tough, but doable if you’re careful), you’ll get the “Last Stand” Achievement. Watch the power level bar beneath the Object Rho readout — when it’s full, you’ll know you’ve made it.
When you finally do go down, you’ll wake up in a medical bay some time later. Check the consoles for a research log to get a little back story, then hit the one for Mech Control — you’ll activate a mech in the next room. Kill the scientist, then use it to blow away the other mechs that come to stop you.
Proceed around the corner toward the door on the right. Open the panel nearby and you can shoot a power conduit to open the door and let yourself out of the medical bay.
Head up and get your equipment back from the nearby weapons locker. Check the room on the left for a datapad with a little more story, then head for the hallway that leads out. You can go left or right: down to the right, you’ll find some salvage and another log before leaving.
As you reach the outer hallway, two guards will attack you. Grab cover in one of the archways and use it to take them out. When you’re past them, open the door and move through the glass tube, but hold up at the door at the far end.
When you open the door, you’ll be attacked by a guy straight in front of you. Take cover in the doorway without heading through it and blast that guy from a distance. Watch the doorway on your left, which leads into the living quarters: more soldiers wait there, and they can get an firing angle on you if you’re not careful.
Head through into the living quarters and take cover. Start taking out enemies and finding better positions to deal with them. Watch out for flashbangs as you fight.
With some excessive force in the form of techs and biotics, you should have few problems. Keep pushing forward when they’re dead and you’ll hit another glass tube hallway.
Next is the mess hall. Right in front of you as you enter is an enemy — if you can snag him with biotics or tech, do so quickly and stop him from moving. Then take cover facing left of the door as more enemies stream in.
Your position should be pretty decent, so just pick your shots to clear out the enemies. Check around for salvage as you head up the steps and take cover again, this time facing to the right: another door opens ahead of you to reveal a few more security troopers.
TIP: Watch out for the “Pyro” enemy, who carries a flamethrower and is basically a jerk. Make him your priority and don’t let him get close.
The second group of fighters has little cover, so hit them fast and hard with a grenade or other powerful weapon. Look for a research log if you’re interested before pushing on a hall with big outdoor windows in front. The path leads around to the left, to a lab.
More of the same. Find cover, pick your shots, and catch your enemies as they’re popping their heads up. There’s only three of them, so take out the weaker enemies before concentrating fire on the stronger, shielded one.
Head through the doorway up on the right and listen to the log from Kenson on the desk as you walk past it. The next door takes you down another tube-like hallway. At the end, go through the door and hang a left.
You’re in Project Control. Take cover in this doorway and start taking out enemies from safety. If you have ranged weapons, this will go a lot smoother.
Enemies in the control room consist of two pyros, two engineers with shields and one elite, along with random Project guards. The pyros are a priority when they show up — you’ll notice them working up toward you, and if you can tag them in their fuel tanks, they can explode and damage their comrades.
With the pyros out, just focus on putting headshots into the regular Project guards and keeping your head down. Clear them out to even the odds up, and start knocking out the shields of the engineers. Be careful to avoid their fireballs by staying in cover.
You should work through all the enemies without too much difficulty. After you do, run up and hit the Engineering Console to start the Project up. After a quick cutscene, grab cover as fast as you can to deal with the two guards ambushing you from behind.
Kill those two guys and use the door they entered through. The next room will find you locked in: kill the enemies as quickly as you can and find the locked door. Beside it is a panel you can overload to open the path forward.
You can’t get down to Kenson, but you can go up. Take the elevator and then take cover. Clear the way and get to the green cooling rod. Activate it, then follow the hallway around to the right to another elevator.
At the bottom, run to the medical station for fresh Medigel, then to the left of it to the panel, where you can deactivate plasma venting from the reactor core. Beside that, on the right, is a PDA that will hand over some credits.
Head back toward the elevator and turn right, where you’ll find the door through the plasma vent room. Go through and turn left, where you can take cover against two guards. Watch the one moving toward you — he’s a pyro, so you need to take him out fast.
TIP: Kill these first two guys and you should be able to backtrack through the door just behind you, where you’ll find some Element Zero in a crate.
More guards are set up around the corner from you. Be careful as you approach them — get down behind the pipe and use explosives and powers against them from safety. Watch out for the second pyro, specifically.
Approaching the Reactor
Deal with the last of the guards and take out the engineer with them before you head forward. You should find ammo along the way. As you reach the door, you’ll find it locked; look to the right for crates you can blow apart, revealing a step you can climb up.
Go down and around the corner, where you’ll get the drop on a guard near a console. Kill him quickly and hit the console to release the lock down so you can move forward.
Watch yourself as you turn around and head away from the console, as you should see guards getting ready to take you on in the next hallway. Get a strong gun ready, as one is a pyro. Take him out and you can use the explosion to damage the other guard as well.
You still can’t get to the reactor, but you can now reach an elevator at the end of the hall. Take it up, grab the eezo from the crate, then take the next elevator. Ignore the door and find a PDA for credits on the table in the right corner of the lower portion of the room.
Now hit the door. Approach the next room carefully — you’ve got multiple enemies behind crates and other forms of cover, and they’re dug in pretty well. Take them down one at a time, maximizing head shots, before you push forward.
Head around the corner to the left, but be careful. There may be a straggler guard here who can put the hurt on you if he catches you unawares. Clip him and head up to the corner that goes to the right: take cover there.
You’ve got two engineers and three more guards here. If you’ve got ranged weapons, you can drop the regular enemies quickly with head shots before taking the engineers one at a time.
The next door requires some hacking, but once you’ve gotten through it, you can reinsert the second cooling rod. There’s also an eezo crate located just on the other side of the lower area from the rod.
Look for a wall safe to your left, then take the elevator to the left of that down to the reactor room. A cutscene activates when you reach the bottom.
Watch during the cutscene for a Renegade moment. Afterward, take the elevator up and go left, where you’ll find a locked door and a Palladium crate. Then hit the unlocked door on the other side of the room.
You’ll enter a long hallway. Duck into the room immediately on the left, where you can activate a panel for a skin weave update. There’s also a wall safe to the far left and a palladium crate to the far right. Return to the hallway and head to the end.
Descend the stairs in the next room. Check the center platform, to the right of the exit door, for a pad called Survey Data that’ll give you some credits, then leave the room. There’s another crate you can activate for credits in the next area before you hit the door for the airlock and activate another loading screen.
Escape
Outside, you’ll have to fight a bunch of enemies before you can reach the Comms Tower and signal the Normandy.
Take cover immediately. Most of the guys you’re fighting are straight ahead of you, but not all of them. Watch for guards moving around on your right side, trying to flank you. Drop them, then mop up the rest of the guys ahead, one by one.
You should be pretty practiced by now dealing with standard soldiers, but after they’re gone, you’ll have to fight a big battle mech. This thing has three levels of protection — shields, armor and standard health — so it’s going to take a lot of punishment to bring down.
First off, watch out for its rockets, and get down when it fires them — they’re a great way to get killed really fast. Stay down and avoid them. The mech will slowly move toward you, so plan your escape, and when it gets close, sprint for another safe position.
Switch to your heavy weapon. No need to conserve ammo here, seeing as the timer in the bottom right corner is ticking down to your death. Unload with your heavy to knock out the shields and armor on the mech as fast as you can.
With that done, find new cover (you’ll probably need it) and sit tight. Keep putting as much hurt on the mech as you can, but protect yourself. For the most part, you should be able to take your time here. Stay safe as much as possible.
Keep pounding away at the mech with hit-and-run tactics until you crush it. After that, just head toward the end of the platform and hang a right at the end. Look for a console near the antenna — once you activate it, the cutscene will close up the mission for you.
ACHIEVEMENT: The “Ultimate Sacrifice” Achievement is unlocked when you complete “The Arrival.”
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