Priority: The Citadel II | Mass Effect 3 Wiki


Priority: The Citadel II is a Mission in Mass Effect 3. Missions serve as the main quests of the game. Completing Missions progresses the story and is the key to beating the campaign.

 

 

General Information

Previous: Priority: Tuchanka

Next: Priority: Perseus Veil

Locations: The Citadel

 

Video Walkthrough

[video goes here]

 

Map

[map goes here]

 

NPCs in the area

 

Bosses

  • N/A

 

Enemies

 

Items

Consumables

Materials

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Equipment & Upgrades

Key Items

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Priority: The Citadel II Full Walkthrough

Getting Started

This mission is acquired after the conclusion of Priority: Tuchanka. The mission begins immediately upon your next visit to The Citadel. If you still haven't completed the Side Mission Grissom Academy: Emergency Evacuation, it is recommended you complete it now as it will automatically fail after this mission. The Side Mission N7: Cerberus Fighter Base also becomes available upon acquiring this mission.

You will be faced primarily with Cerberus enemies, with some making their first appearance if you've not encountered them during Side Missions. Warp Ammo, Disruptor Ammo and Overload will prove highly valuable Powers to have during this mission and it is advised to bring Liara and Garrus along. Several sections of the mission are also highly conducive to a sniper playstyle. Therefore, it is also advised to bring along a Sniper Rifle, preferably upgraded with a scope that can see through smoke as enemies will make liberal use of smoke grenades throughout the mission.

When ready, head for The Citadel.

Walkthrough

The mission opens to a cutscene with Joker trying to get clearance for the Normandy to dock but to no avail. He manages to reach someone inside the Citadel from the emergency channels. If Thane Krios is alive and you had spoken to him prior to completing Priority: Tuchanka, he will be the Citadel contact, otherwise you will be in touch with Commander Bailey. Thane informs you that Cerberus had launched an attack on the Citadel, taking over several sections of the station, most notably C-Sec Headquarters which Thane aims to protect. Shepard asks Joker to bring them to the headquarters as he prepares to deploy via shuttle.

You drop in amidst a heavy battle involving Cerberus soldiers and C-Sec enforcers. This first area faces you off against Assault Troopers, Centurions and Combat Engineers. They are also bolstered by the Shield Pylons from the back of the room providing them a layer of shields. You can take these out if you're having trouble with the shields. If you've brought along a Sniper Rifle, this is a prime opportunity to pick off enemies from afar. Try to pick off the Engineers first as they can set turrets and repair them, adding more targets to the battle and prolonging it. You should see Commander Bailey, injured and sitting up against the wall to the left of the main door. Go to him once the enemies have been cleared out. He leads you into C-Sec and begins looking for clues. He finds a message from the Salarian Councilor citing a likelihood of betrayal from within the Council. You now have a lead to track down as Bailey suggests the Councilor could be holed up in the Executor's office, awaiting rescue. Note that the Salarian Councilor is different depending on whether you saved the Council during the Sovereign's attack in the first game (Councilor Valern) or not (Councilor Esheel).

When you regain control, head around the corner from Bailey as you speak to Thane over comms. Past the two doors at the back is the lobby area with a couple of troopers at the back. Take them out while they are unaware of your presence and then look to the left for some steps leading up to larger space with a couple of Guardians and an Engineer at the back. After dealing with them, a few Troopers will come crashing through the windows on the upper level at the back as you approach. To the right side of this area, you can find a Med Kit and an Assault Rifle Piercing Mod atop the desks. You can check the terminal for a message from Bailey and the corpse on the ground to find out Cerberus had sleeper agents in C-Sec. Bypass the door at the back and head through a second one. There is a Guardian with his back turned away. If you move further in, you'll have line of sight with an Engineer and one of two Centurions in the raised room in the back. Take them out while you have the jump on them. Enter the raised room if you need to refill on ammo. In the main room, there is a bathroom to the left from the entrance. Here, you can find an M-76 Revenant Assault Rifle next to the first sink, as well as a locker on the adjacent wall containing 6,250 Credits. You can examine the corpse on the floor for some squad dialogue. Turn left as you exit the bathroom and pick up the Recon Hood Helmet on the table to the left. Continue on to the back and pick up the Med Kit next to the exit.

You end up in a small corridor with some broken windows on the left through which you can see into a room with an Engineer looking at something on the wall. Take him out and hop over into the room. Pick up the Sniper Rifle Extended Barrel on the shelves to the left. This room also has a Weapons Bench if you wish to modify your loadout or apply upgrades. Head for the wall the Engineer was looking at, shoot the latch and activate the elevator switch. Head back into the corridor and into the now open elevator. You arrive into a hallway littered with C-Sec corpses. Enter the room on the right and turn left to find a desk with a Pistol Piercing Mod as well as a terminal with Bailey's personal log. Head out the other door back into the hallway and pick up the M-25 Hornet SMG on the corpse in the center. Go to the next room on the right and activate the door controls on the terminal. This opens up a locked door in the left side of the main hallway. Head through that door and pick up the M-358 Talon Heavy Pistol under the shelves. There is a datapad here about a weapons smuggler that you can examine. Enter the next small room left of the hallway and grab the Pistol High Caliber Barrel and Securitel Helmet on the desk on the left side. Head back to the room on the right where you found the door controls, go to the next terminal and salvage the Account Details worth 6,250 Credits and then finally head out the door at the end of this room.

You end up in another hallway with a couple of troopers executing a C-Sec agent. Take them out while they are unaware and then take the door on the far side of the hallway. This leads into a corridor with broken windows on the right leading to a kitchen. Hop over and pick up the 6,250 Credits on the counter on the right. There is a Medical Station on the right wall as you move down the kitchen. As you approach the windows at the back, several Cerberus troopers drop down into the cafeteria area. Take them out and move towards the back area of the cafeteria where you can pick up another Medical Station and a Sniper Rifle Piercing Mod in the right corner. Take the path left of the Medical Station and head up the stairs to the Executor's Office. Opening the door triggers a cutscene where it seems the Executor had been killed, along with some guards. Your squad notices movement in the cafeteria below through the office windows. It's the Councilor, decloaking and appearing unharmed. However, an assassin by the name of Kai Leng swoops in attempting to assassinate him as Shepard rushes down. The Councilor reveals that Udina is planning a coup. From this point, one of several outcomes can occur:

  • If Thane is available, he will intervene and engage Kai Leng in combat, ultimately saving the Councilor but getting stabbed in the process.
  • If Thane is not present but Major Kirrahe survived the events of the first game, he will be present during the scene, decloaking and taking the blow for the Councilor as Kai Leng goes in for the kill.
  • If neither character survived to Mass Effect 3, or if a save had not been imported, Kai Leng will be successful in his assassination attempt.

Shepard attempts to give chase but Kai Leng escapes atop a car. Shepard calls Bailey who deploys a C-Sec car for the squad to reach the Councilors whom Udina is presumably leading to their deaths. While in transit, Kai Leng jumps onto the hood of the squad's car, destroying the engine and forcing the squad to continue on foot down in the Presidium Commons.

You regain control on a balcony. This next stretch is purely combat-oriented along a linear path. Move forward and you will see a Cerberus shuttle dropping off troopers and a new enemy type: The Phantom. Phantoms are ninja-like agents similar to Kai Leng. Extremely agile and equipped with a sword and a palm blaster projectile weapon. They come equipped with barriers protecting them from many projectile-based powers and they can project a personal shield bubble for greater protection. Lastly, they are able to cloak briefly to recover from injuries. It is best to keep your distance from Phantoms as they can perform a melee instant-kill move if within range. A good tactic is to strip their barriers and lock them down with Singularity while you focus fire. It is also possible to break a Phantom's sword by shooting it, disabling their deadly instant-kill move and melee staggers, but this is rather difficult to do. Another new enemy type you will encounter here is the Nemesis which are sniper specialists who can deal an immense amount of damage in single shots. They tend to move from cover to cover as they lack any short range offensive capabilities and their laser sight can give away their position. Approaching a Nemesis is a viable approach as they cannot fire from a certain range. Overload can be useful as it triggers instantly, bypassing the Nemesis' tendency to shoot quickly after aiming.

Continue along the balcony after fighting off the enemies. There is a gap you need to jump over to get to the next balcony area where more Phantoms and Nemeses will try to halt your progress. Take care not to get flanked by the Phantoms. It's best you deal with them first before the Nemeses. Press onward as you clear sections and you will eventually arrive at a door that Cerberus seals shut. Hop over the window to your right and use what looks like a maintenance accessway on the side of the building to get around the locked door. Look out for a broken pathway you have to jump over. Turn left from here and look for a datapad you can salvage for 6,250 Credits. Continue along and you eventually reach another set of balconies which an Atlas Mech will drop down into.  Focus the mech down as you take cover from the other troopers in the area. The mech will conceal itself and its allies with smoke but this shouldn't be a cause for concern. Once the way is clear, make your way to the elevator at the end up the staircase leading to the Council. 

As you get to the elevator, you see Kai Leng and a squad of Cerberus troopers as they head for one of the lifts. Your squadmates force the doors of the other lift open and you jump on top of the lift as Bailey commandeers it remotely. He also forces Kai Leng's lift to stop on every floor in order for your squad to catch up. As your lift reaches theirs, Bailey tells you to shoot the power conduit beneath the lift to stop it in its tracks. Soon after, Phantoms will attempt to ride other lifts up to the Council. Take them out or kill their elevators by shooting the power conduits. Bailey will then inform you that Kai Leng had jumped onto another lift and has overridden his controls. Keep destroying lifts or defeating Phantoms as you ascend. Eventually, you will catch up to the elevator containing Udina, the Councilors, and either Ashley or Kaidan who will henceforth be referred to as Virmire Survivor (the squadmate that survived the events of Virmire from the first game). Jump on top of the elevator and the final scene of the mission begins as the Virmire Survivor shoots at the ceiling in defense of the Councilors. They exit the lift to a landing pad only to find their escape vehicle destroyed as Shepard and squad close the door behind them.

The survivor raises their gun at Shepard and demands an explanation. There is a Paragon Interrupt chance you can take here to lower your weapons and de-escalate the situation. Udina then walks over to a console, attempting to override the elevator locks while the Virmire Survivor stands between him and you. This final scene is significant and is the culmination of your actions and interactions with the Virmire Survivor throughout the entire trilogy. You will need to convince them to stand down while you take Udina into custody and the requirements for this to succeed is based on a points calculation that takes into account actions you've taken to gain the trust of the survivor. The factors that come into play and their point calculations are as follows:

Romance

  • Romancing Ashley/Kaidan in Mass Effect and choosing to save them in Virmire gives +2 Points.
  • Cheating on the survivor in Mass Effect 2 by romancing another squadmate deducts -1 Point.
    • If you cheated on the survivor in Mass Effect 2, you will get a chance to apologize for this once they wake up at the Huerta Memorial Hospital in Mass Effect 3. Choosing not to apologize will deduct -1 Point.

Council

  • During the final battle against Sovereign in Mass Effect, you will have the option to save the Council or sacrifice them to focus on Sovereign. The former gives +1 Point while the latter deducts -1 Point.

Kirrahe and Thane

  • Keeping Kirrahe or Thane alive through to Mass Effect 3 will have them intervene during Kai Leng's assassination attempt on the Salarian councilor. Otherwise, Udina will fabricate a video of Shepard killing the Councilor and show it to the survivor deducting -2 Points.

Priority: Mars

  • During the Priority: Mars mission early in the campaign, choosing kind Paragon dialogue options while speaking to Ashley/Kaidan will award +1 Point.
  • After the mission, visiting the Survivor after they wake up while they are hospitalized at the Huerta Memorial Hospital will award +2 Points.
    • Note that this is also the time to apologize for cheating on them, if Shepard did cheat on them.
  • Visiting them a second time awards another +1 Point.

Paragon Interrupt

  • The final opportunity to earn points is during the beginning of this scene when you get the chance to lower your weapons with a Paragon Interrupt. Taking this Interrupt awards +1 Point.

The points are then tallied up and the Virmire Survivor will react as follows:

  • 4 Points or higher results in immediate trust from the Survivor
  • 0-3 Points will prompt a dialogue selection where if you have enough Reputation, you will be able to charm or intimidate the survivor into trusting you. Not having enough Reputation forces you to pick the white option on the dialogue wheel and the Survivor will refuse to trust you.
  • Any score below 0 causes the Survivor to automatically mistrust you.

The final outcome will then play out as follows:

  • If the Survivor trusts you, they will turn and point their gun at Udina who promptly points a gun at the Asari Councilor. A Renegate Interrupt chance can be taken here to shoot Udina. Ignoring it will cause the survivor to shoot Udina instead.
  • If the Survivor doesn't trust you, they will refuse to step aside, prompting a Renegade Interrupt for Shepard to shoot them. Ignoring the Interrupt will cause one of your squadmates to shoot the Survivor instead. Another Renegade Interrupt chance appears to shoot Udina, which will again be left to the hands of a squadmate should you choose to ignore it.

Regardless of the outcome with the survivor, the confrontation comes to a close with Baily forcing the doors open, relieved to see the Councilors alive. The Councilors thank Shepard and he promises to find out why the Illusive Man sent Cerberus to attack the Citadel.

 

Conclusion

The next scene shows Kai Leng reporting his failure to the Illusive Man and vows that it will not happen again. The following events take place as a result of completing the mission:

 

 

Next Mission: Priority: Perseus Veil

  


Trivia & Notes

  • Trivia and notes go here

 

All Mass Effect 3 Missions

 




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