Mass Effect 3 Priority: Rannoch Mission

In Mass Effect 3, Shepard must head to Rannoch to disable the reaper connection to the geth at the geth base on Rannoch. This is the priority: Rannoch mission. This will guide Shepard in defeating the geth enemies on route to the final fight with the three geth primes and then provide Shepard with tactics to defeat the reaper on Rannoch. At the end of the mission, the choices to help the geth or to help the quarians or to help both the geth and the quarians (and the unmasking of Tali) will be discussed.

Shepard's preparations for the Priority: Rannoch Mission is essential. For the companions, Tali will accompany Shepard, so Shepard must choose another companion. Due to the huge volume of the geth enemies on Rannoch, it would be nice to bring Liara along for her singularity power. In addition, Shepard the infiltrator should have the power Sabotage maxed out. Bring along a bonus power ideal for handling large numbers of high damaging geth, such as Edi's matrix defence. Remember that these powers can be reassigned, and bonus powers rebought at the Normandy's medi-bay, so be liberal about the selection of these powers. One should also maximize on the weapons upgrade on Shepard's favorite weapon such as the black widow V. And finally, do not forget to visit the Huerta Memorial Hospital to upgrade the medi gel capacity to the maximum.

Shepard and team will start the Priority: Rannoch Mission trying to get to the upper levels of the geth base so that Shepard can fire a laser beam weapon at the reaper (at the base of the base). The battle with the geth starts with Shepard using some cover to attack the geth outside the base. Follow this up with climbing some platforms and ladders to ascend upwards in the geth base. Eliminate more geth along the way. Shepard will eventually reach a roughly hexagonal shaped chamber with lots of cover, and lots of geth. Use sabotage on the geth rocket troopers, use Tali's combat drones to distract and attack the enemies, use Liara's singularity power, and then go into stealth mode and take out the geth with the M-300 claymore up close. When all the enemies are eliminated, look for the geth plasma shotgun in this area. Armed with this fun weapon (allows powerful shotgun attack and has a second chargeable component to it), activate the console to retract the shield doors. More geth pour in. Finish them off. Now activate the second console. Sabotage the geth prime that enters the combat arena. Once sabotaged, it will help Shepard with defeating the geth rocket troopers. Now finish off the geth prime itself using stealth, incinerate, Liara's warp, Tali's energy drain and then attack the geth prime three times (in one sniper shot) from afar using the Black Widow V.

Enter the elevator, and enter the final level of the geth base. Spot three geth primes on this level – one geth prime located centrally, one to the left and one to the right. Run forwards and crouch under cover directly ahead from the elevator. Grab the geth spitfire at this cover. Sabotage the geth prime located centrally. Now use Tali's combat drone to attract all three geth prime to the center of platform. Run to the left side of the platform under cover and stealth (tactical cloak). The geth primes should be distracted by the combat drone and the sabotaged geth prime. Now aim at the nearest geth prime that is not sabotaged (likely to be the geth prime on the left). Use the geth spitfire, aim carefully, and eliminate this geth prime with one continuous hit from beginning to the end. Now, sabotage and combat drone should have recharged. Use sabotage on the most powerful geth prime left. Use the remaining of the geth spitfire on the non-sabotaged geth prime, and continue to distract the geth primes with combat drone. There are two other geth spitfires in this level, but Shepard does not need to use them. Just use the geth plasma shotgun or Black Widow V to attack the non-sabotaged geth prime and destroy it. Heal up Shepard and his companions as needed. If Shepard needs his powers to recharge or his health is low, just run to the farthest corner away from the geth prime. With one geth prime left, it will be no match for Shepard and will be defeated.

Shepard's penultimate task on Rannoch is to defeat the reaper at the geth base. The reaper starts off as a passive target primed for destruction at the hands of Shepard's laser weapon. And then it roars into life, or cybernetic action, collapsing the platform where Shepard is standing on.

On recovery, Shepard has to sprint left and reach the shuttle vehicle before the reaper launches its second attack. Next, Shepard must use the vehicle's guns to fire at the reaper. Finally, Shepard must go through a series of well coordinated action maneuvers to eliminate the reaper. The actions are as follows -

• Once the reaper starts firing its first red laser beam, use Shepard's laser weapon to aim for its eye when it is open. This first shot is easy, because the reaper is not aiming at Shepard.
• Next the reaper will be aiming at Shepard. Before its laser eye opens, run to the right side of the ridge, stop and then face the reaper. When the red laser beam is about to hit Shepard, roll left, and then keep rolling left until the laser arc of the reaper moves upwards.
• Now aim Shepard's weapon at the reaper eye and press the trigger so that the two blue lights on the edges begin to converge on the reaper's eye.
• If Shepard cannot converge the two blue lights onto the reaper's eye in one try, then the reaper will begin firing it's red laser beam at Shepard again. Roll left again until the laser arc goes up. Now repeat the action above until the blue lights converge in the center of the reaper's eye, and the reaper will be stunned by the combined firing prowess of the laser and Shepard's armada fleet.
• The reaper will then move closer to Shepard and attack using its laser beam again. Repeat the steps above, and do this for another two times.
• On the fourth time, the reaper will be directly above Shepard. However, the red laser beam should not reach Shepard before the blue lights of Shepard's laser weapon converge in the center and cripple the reaper permanently.

Speak to the reaper for some extra renegade points. Then Shepard must perform his final task on Rannoch – side with the quarians and save Tali or side with the geth and sacrifice Tali.

• If Shepard chooses the quarians, then Tali will unmask her face, and continue on with Shepard as a usable companion. The quarians will add to Shepard's fleet in the war against the reapers, but is worth about 30 military points less than the geth.
• If Shepard chooses the geth, Tali will unmask her face, and fall off the cliff. Shepard can click on the paragon trigger to see if she can be saved.
• The third option is only possible if Shepard had played mass effect 2, and done certain components correctly. Also all geth and quarian related quests in mass effect 3 must be completed correctly. Then Shepard has a chance to ask the quarian fleet to stand down. But this requires a lot of paragon points to accomplish. If Shepard does perform this miracle, then Shepard will likely enjoy the best of both worlds.