r/masseffect • u/TheBlueNecromancer • 22h ago
MASS EFFECT 2 ME 2 Insanity
Just beat 2 last night as a Vanguard. Good freaking lord you guys weren't kidding that Vanguard was going to be difficult. I struggled till about mid game then from then on every fight was just a slog.
I'll also never laugh at Husks again. I got soft locked at one point cause one of my saves was just before I got swarmed. I couldnt kill them fast enough and was bullied so bad.
Loaded up ME3, trying Vanguard again since I want to do something new.
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u/4ShotMan 22h ago
NGL I tried vanguard and just bounced right off the very first combat after escaping the cerberus base. Just couldn't get through that god damn shooters + dogs combo.
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u/dabombdiggity9056 22h ago
Early on I definitely felt the need to hide and shotgun more than charge>shotgun until I got some better gear and skills
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u/TheBlueNecromancer 21h ago
Same I almost bailed. The biggest game changer was realizing I could charge across the map with my shotgun and boucing around. It was important not to stay still. I struggled more on static maps since I often found myself struggling against armor/shield combos.
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u/StatementTechnical 21h ago
I actually had a different experienced, I struggle in ME3 more as a vanguard.
In ME2 I struggled because you sometimes you can't charge up or down terrain for some reason, but after acquire Claymore it was pretty easy to charge in and kill everything. I finished 5 waves in object rho in a single try.
In ME3 I was almost exclusively use charge and nova as defensive tools, and to reposition. Enemies in that game just melted me in second.
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u/samuraipanda85 20h ago
I've got good news for you. Its all sliding downhill from here.
Well except Grissom Academy.
And the Turrian Platoon on Tuchanka can be a bitch.
So can the Banshees. Though I usually have God mode Garrus by then.
And the final battle can be a huge pain.
But other than that you my friend are about to have some fun. Just keep your cooldowns low and do yourself a favor. Get the Bloodpack Punisher SMG. Light as a feather, shreds through armor, especially with Incidneary Ammo tricked out with Explosive rounds, and is effective at further ranges than you might think. Anything at long range you should charge into anyway. You won't need any other gun.
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u/TheBlueNecromancer 20h ago
So I found warp ammo the MVP for me in 2, how effective is it for 3 on Insanity?
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u/samuraipanda85 20h ago
I am not the guy to ask as I am a dedicated Incinerate and Armor Piercing Ammo guy.
However I do always bring Liara with me for her Singularity to lift enemies and prime them for a combo detonation. Which Warp Ammo helps with by doing more damaged to anyone primed for detonation.
As a Vanguard on Insanity you will be using Pull more than you think. So Pull with Warp Ammo can really mess up individual soldier enemies. Same if you end up using Shockwave alot.
But Incinerate Ammo is so good, I would still recommend you use another bonus power like Dark Channel, Energy Drain, or Reave.
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u/melba777 17h ago
I love playing Vanguard for the moments where everything falls to shit and you just have to start melee-ing everything. I absolutely cackled the first time I desperately sprinted up and beat the shit out of one of the bosses with my health bar one hit away from death... really thought I was gonna have to reload but when the cut scene started playing I could only laugh
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u/TheBlueNecromancer 17h ago
You know i enjoyed using fist a lot myself. Then the Husk humbled me so bad. Ive very rarely ben upset at enemies in ME. I can safely say Husk are my number two hated foe.
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u/zavtra13 8h ago
Vanguard in 3 is on a whole different level from where it was in 2. It’s so much stronger, and insanity gameplay is so much more enjoyable. I have an infiltrator and an engineer on the go now, loving both!
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u/Boing26 22h ago
Yeah me2 vanguard is kinda meh. Me3 vanguard friggin rules but 2? Nah.
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u/TheBlueNecromancer 21h ago
The opening to ME3 as Vanguard felt way to easy and had to double check I was still on Insanity. The opening of 2 literally had me frustrated.
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u/Angel_OfSolitude 20h ago
What are you people on about? Vanguard is maybe the easiest class in 2. Just charge, it'll fill your shields and by the time they break, you're off cooldown. Most fights can be fought with 0 brain cells. Charge, fire shotgun, charge, fire shotgun, charge, fire shotgun...
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u/TheBlueNecromancer 20h ago
I cant speak for other people, but this more specifically for the early game. It's the fact you are low level, with starter gear, having to fight up close. By mid game it wasnt really that big of a deal and i got used to chain charging.
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u/UxControl 19h ago
Yeah I've beaten insanity with every class and vanguard is probably the 3rd hardest, you certainly can't just spam in the early game, charge cooldown is 5 seconds with max rank assault mastery (if you know the route to unlock the cooldown upgrade early, you can get it it 4 sec), and given how weak your shields are at the start that's plenty of time to die if you charge into a bad spot
Basically every class is easy after you get through the collector ship, it's always the early-mid game until that point that's the bottleneck
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u/TheBlueNecromancer 18h ago
Ive only played normal so i wouldnt know how hard the other classes are. What would you say is the hardest?
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u/UxControl 18h ago
Adept for sure, followed by engineer
Engineer gets better later and even adept is also fine after you get weapon training from the collector ship, but some of those early missions are rough
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u/TheBlueNecromancer 17h ago
I can definitely see Adept being the hardest. I did that for ME1 and found to be very underwhelming.
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u/Sebster9801 16h ago
Vanguard is my hands down favorite class, def my most played class, but I agree that early game ME2 is the hardest part for vanguard class, for me personally it’s because I’m not the biggest fan of the starting abilities until I get some level ups and I also love to use snipers so sucks I can’t until later in the game
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u/SpursBoy12 20h ago
Except for the fact that charge is horrendously glitched in ME2 and fails to work half the time, even when you have a clear line of site on the enemy. It is just nowhere near as reliable as in ME3.
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u/Stephen_Wilhelm 4h ago
"I can't get a lock!" is what a Vanguard says right before dying. ME3 is much better at this.
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u/Angel_OfSolitude 19h ago
That has not been my experience at all. I'm going through it again as Sentinel and almost every fight I think "Man, I miss being invincible and right in their face."
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u/Actual_Affect1293 16h ago
lol this just isn’t true for insanity in early ME2 your shields get instantly shredded after charging in.
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u/Stephen_Wilhelm 4h ago
Having beaten ME2 on Insanity with each class, Vanguard was by far the hardest. Infiltrator and Sentinel were about tied for the easiest, with Engineer in third.
Outside Charge and incendiary ammo, Vanguard has no good abilities for Insanity. Shockwave is great at lower levels, but is almost useless when most enemies have protection (yes, it staggers a little). And Charge fails far too often. It seems any small bump in the floor breaks the games pathing. When it does work it's pretty awesome, though.
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u/Angel_OfSolitude 4h ago
I'm going through my third run right now. First Engineer, then Vanguard, now Sentinel. I am constantly missing how I was just unstoppable as Vanguard.
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u/Xenozip3371Alpha 22h ago
ME3 Vanguard is really fun.
Nova really completes the Vanguard class.