The Final Battle

The Final Battle

This is it, the final battle! There's no turning back now!

Race Against Time: Final Battle

Objective: Save the Citadel
Make your way to the elevator at the other end of the walkway. Kill the husks nearby and then ride the elevator to trigger a cutscene. Move down into the Maintenance Shaft once you regain control of Shepard. The tunnel quickly fills with geth as a tram car rams into its side. Fight your way to the opposite end of the corridor and head up the ramp to reach the upper area. Proceed with caution as this section is occupied by a powerful krogan warlord. Keep your distance from the krogan because he is prone to charge. Use your squad's strongest abilities and pound the warlord with gunfire to bring him down quickly.

Geth	Krogan Warlord

Move up to the Exhaust Plain, which is fronted by a mass of kinetic barriers. Take out the geth troopers and snipers in the first section and then make your way to the next. A geth dropship enters the area and drops a number of geth troops. Sprint towards the first Citadel Defense Turret up ahead and open it using the control at its base. The turret across from the first requires an average Electronics skill to open, or it can be bypassed at the cost of 20 Omni-gel. There is a third turret a bit further from the second. Sprint to the next turret, open it, then take cover and let the turrets do their job.

Turret

Geth Dropship

Once the geth dropship has been destroyed, move to the end of the area to reach the Exterior Defense Grid. A pair of krogan warriors occupy the initial corridor, so stand back and take them out before they get too close. The two krogan are then followed by a geth destroyer and a juggernaut (i.e, more chargers). Destroy the two geth and move to the opposite end of the corridor. The proceeding area is guarded by four heavy turrets.

If Shepard is trained with a Sniper Rifle, stand by the entrance to the area and destroy the turrets with rifle fire and Assassination. If Shepard lacks the necessary training, slowly move towards the turrets and take cover in the trenches. Seek cover close enough to a turret and damage it from there. Be sure to get back behind cover before the turret's projectile reaches you, as it can deal critical damage.

Geth Heavy Turret

Fight your way to the other end of the area, head down the ramp there and open the latch at the end of the corridor to reach the ruined Citadel Tower. Destroy the geth as you move up to the Council Chamber to confront Saren.

BOSS BATTLE: Saren
Saren is completely indoctrinated now, and claims to have been upgraded significantly by Sovereign. While this can be a two part battle, the first part can actually be skipped completely if Shepard has enough points invested in the Charm or Intimidate talents. If you were able to use all of the blue or red options that were available during your encounter with Saren on Virmire, you can convince Saren to off himself by choosing all of the blue Charm options or the red Intimidate options here. Doing so earns you a large amount of Paragon or Renegade points and will also net you the 'Charismatic' achievement if you missed it back on Virmire.

Saren

Saren's Suicide

If you are unable to convince Saren that what he is doing is wrong, however, you will have to face airborne Saren in a fashion similar to that of the Virmire encounter. Having Saren kill himself would definitely be preferable though, as his abilities have greatly improved. Make sure that Shepard and allies have weapon upgrades that up damage dealt to organics and to shields. Keep a close eye on Saren at all times because he can easily line up a shot while on his glider, even while you're behind cover; for this reason, moving from cover to cover is better than remaining stationary.

Even a high level Overload ability won't put much of a dent in Saren's shield, and the turian's constant use of the Shield Boost ability doesn't help matters. Move from cover to cover to avoid taking damage, pound Saren with gunfire until his shields are down and then don't let up. Continue this routine to completely deplete Saren's health bar and send him crashing down to the courtyard below.

Organic Saren

Access the control panel that Saren was using to trigger an event. Joker radios in to inform Shepard that the Council is in danger. You can order the fleets to save the Ascension, or you can order them to hold back, thus sacrificing the Council to focus fire on Sovereign. The Paragon choice is saving the council, while the Renegade choice is sacrificing them. The decision you make here yields a large amount of Paragon or Renegade points and affects the ending.

BOSS BATTLE: Synthetic Saren
It's not over yet; Saren's corpse sheds its flesh to reveal a horrifying synthetic version of the turian. Synthetic Saren's movement is akin to that of the geth stalkers, sappers and ghosts you've encountered thus far, but is leagues ahead in terms of firepower, shields and vitality. Take the time to outfit Shepard and allies with weapon upgrades that increase damage dealt to synthetics and to shields before facing Saren

Synthetic Saren

You'll have to use every ability available to you if you want to bring Saren down once and for all. As far as tech abilities go, Overload can be used to lower the synthetic's shields a bit but won't be particularly useful unless you have more than one squad member using it due to the frequency at which your enemy's shields recharge. A high level biotic Lift ability is invaluable during this fight, as you can incapacitate Saren and keep him suspended in mid-air, making him extremely vulnerable. Lift is best used as soon as you've managed to bring Saren's shields down, as you will then have ample time to chip away at his exposed health bar. Having more than one squad member with the Lift ability is even better.

Synthetic Saren

Synthetic Saren is extremely agile and very quick, allowing him to leap over your cover, so you won't be able to remain behind one piece of cover for the fight's duration. Track Saren's movements at all times so you'll know when you need to sprint to a different piece of cover. Save weapon abilities (i.e., Marksman, Overkill, Carnage, Assassination) for moments when Saren is perched on the wall or incapacitated by an ability such as Lift. Keep an eye on Shepard's health and don't hesitate to use a Medi-gel or Unity to heal your allies.

This can be a lengthy battle, but if you work to avoid his fire, use Medi-gel when needed, and use the squad's abilities wisely, the synthetic turian will eventually fall to your might.

The End

That's it, you've completed Mass Effect! Sit back and enjoy the ending, you've earned it!

Note -- A New Game feature is now available. To begin a new game with your previous character, first select 'Start New Career' from the game start menu and then 'Select Existing ID.' Your character's level, talent point distribution, credits, upgrades and equipment are all retained with this feature, and the level cap is upped from level 50 to level 60.

The End