Mass Effect 2 Walkthrough - How to Recruit Tali
Introduction
This is a full combat mission and we’re going up against a whole lot of geth. Miranda is probably a good choice, since she has warp and overload. Garrus is good too. I also suggest that you bring someone with AI Hacking. Thane should have it. It comes in really handy for providing a distraction from cover. If you look at my pictures you should notice that I brought Mordin and Grunt because I didn’t actually think about my selection and I was too stubborn to restart. That said, Mordin is really nice to have for blowing through armor and Grunt is a good soldier who can really dish out a lot of damage. So make your choices from this bunch to complement your skills and go.
We’ll Fight in the Shade
Land and move forward. You should see the basic mechanic for this planet now. The sun will hurt us. The solar radiation burns through your shields if you aren’t in the shade. It won’t damage your health, but you can’t heal or recharge your shields while you’re standing there. So try to stick to the shade.
Advance and take out the first three geth. Keep moving and enter the little gatehouse. Loot dead quarians and then open the gate. Move up and watch for more geth in the ruins ahead. I suggest you move along the upper ramp. There should just be a few geth up here. Take them out and use the sniper’s perch to flank the Geth on the ground. Make sure that you scan the heavy pistol by the dead quarian at the end of the ramp.
Go on ahead and get into the tunnel area. There are a few geth gunning down some quarian marines. You can’t save them, so just take out the geth and loot the area. Pick up the Tempest SMG. Do this before you pick up the radio, since the radio moves us ahead. This is a great weapon and it will rip through any shield or barrier that you’ll find. It seems that Tali and a few marines are still alive, so we’re not done yet.
Demolition Charges
Move on up and watch the quarians get take out by the geth dropship. Things just can’t ever be easy. We need to blow that pillar up with some explosive charges. Push forward and turn into the little garage on the left. There are a lot of geth in here, so don’t just charge in. Hang back on the first wall and start shooting. There should be a geth hunter inside, so take him out first. You squadmates won’t shoot at him when he’s cloaked, so you’re the only one who can bring him down.
Once the garage is clear, advance up and play Tali’s journal. You can get some medi-gel in back and also grab the first of the demolition charges. Try to move out, but then stop and take cover. A few more geth will drop in to cover the exit, so we need to bring them down. There’s a Geth Prime too, so put down a lot of heavy fire and abilities on it.
Advance and turn to the left. There will be a few more geth ahead, but the area should be fairly clear. Get into the bunker at the back and grab the charges. We’re not even close to done though. A huge wave of reinforcements will drop in outside the door. As one of your squadmates should point out, you’re not in a good position. Move out to the left quickly and get up the stairs. You can then flank the two rocket geth on the bridge and use this position to mop up any stragglers on the ground. Your squad should do fairly decent damage while you’re handling this though. Just keep an eye on the destroy and stay low.
Run back to the pillar and plant the charges. Get clear and then head into the bunker. The area is full of dead geth. Loot them all, loot the safe, and scan the rifle. When you’re ready to go, play Tali’s journal and the access the comm console. She’ll confirm her location and open the door up to the second half of the ruins. Go through the door and get behind cover again.
Another Push
A bunch of geth recon drones will move in. These are annoying little things, but you should be able to take them down just a few shots if you’re accurate. Overload works well too and AI hacking tends to confuse the whole group as they try to position themselves to shoot the traitor. There’s a geth prime too, but he’s a little far away. The left and middle path are really exposed to the sun, so we’re going to stick to the right. There should be enough shade. The geth prime should move sideways and attack as you reach the second crossover. He should be alone, so take him out. Advance and watch out for more drones. One more geth prime should be at the end, so take him out.
Get to the next area and make it to the shutters. Save and hack the safe. When you’re ready, open up the shutters to see our next big challenge. We’ve got a big geth to kill and a whole platoon to knock out.
The Geth Colossus
Move forward and talk to Kal’Reegar. He’s the last marine left. Go ahead and learn the lay of the land. We need to get really close to the colossus and fire at point blank range. Otherwise it will just keep hiding and using the repair feature to restart it’s shields. Note that you can either let Reegar continue the attack and risk death, or you can still him to stay down because he’s hurt. The paragon interrupt will guarantee that he will survive. I don’t think that occasional missile fire is that helpful, so it’s not a big loss.
We’ve got three options. You can punch right through middle if you have a death wish. You’ll be attacked from both sides and you’ll be hitting the colossus head on. Don’t do this. The left side offers some decent cover and shade, but you’ll be fairly exposed to the geth. Things can go wrong really fast here. I suggest we stick to the sniper’s perch on the right. It’s exposed to the sun for most of the first half, but that just means we have to be careful. Cross over and start advancing. We need to get to the box at the end. That little corner is shielded from the sun and it’s a great cover spot. We’ll need to take out a few geth up here, but they really shouldn’t be that bad. Your squad should probably just stand in the middle to keep everyone busy.
If you can get to the nook, then you’re home free. Move up to the corner and take cover again. Knock out the reserve guards by the colossus and get ready to really deal some damage. Use heavy weapons. There are boxes of power cells on both sides, so let loose on it. At this range, it shouldn’t stop to repair. Incinerate will shred the armor and any heavy weapon or even a heavy pistol should really rip right through it. It will die surprisingly quickly.
Mop up the survivors and use the big door at back. Tali will open it. If you’re on hard or insanity difficulty levels, then there will be a new geth pulse rifle here. Make sure you grab it before you talk to Tali. Check in and tell her that the way is clear. If Reegar is still alive, then he’ll take the information away himself and report back to the fleet. Tali will come back to the Normandy with you and report in.
This post is part of the series: Mass Effect 2 Walkthrough - Recruiting - Part 2
We still have a few more people to pick up. We have dossiers for Thane (The Assassin), Samara (The Justicar), and Tali. I’ll walk you through the recruiting efforts on Illium and Tali’s rescue.
