I've tried with two different characters now, a Sentinel and a Vanguard, for a grand total of about four hours and I cannot get past this part whatsoever. It's a combination of awful design and bad programming. With the Sentinel, I had no trouble with the Scion constantly oscillating around our platform. For whatever reason, the Shockwave just wouldn't hit us. That said, I felt like I was firing pea-shooters at the Collectors themselves. Especially Harbinger, whose attacks are brutal enough to wipe out your whole squad on his lonesome. 
 
Figuring I had hit a wall, and seeing this video, I thought that, maybe, a Vanguard was (surprisingly) the way to go. And, actually, up until this point, it totally was. The Vanguard usually rips through most enemies like a hot knife through melted butter. But there's some sort of bug that prevents me from phasing through objects with my charge. I'll do the animation, the charge animation, and it will look like I've warped over to the enemy I've selected, but when the animation finishes, I'm still standing at my initial position, and the enemy will have taken no damage and will not have been stunned at all, whatsoever.  Moreover, the oscillating Scion is flattening our squad with every Shockwave, regardless of our position, and on the several occasions I've made it past the first platform, the second Scion will glitch up onto cover, giving its own Shockwave a clear line of sight to us. 
 
Fuck, man. I'm so infuriated at this game right now. Needed to vent a bit before I snap a fucking controller. Haha.
 
Anywho--discuss, as usual. Let's hear your sob-stories, or for those prodigies among us, your strategies, teams, et al.

those platforms suck, i had trouble on veteran or hardcore whatever it was called.

Insanity is insane, i wanna get 1015g on ME2 but at the same time don't want to infuriate myself with it and tarnish my love for it. Going through it and it is insane : /

" those platforms suck, i had trouble on veteran or hardcore whatever it was called. "

" Insanity is insane, i wanna get 1015g on ME2 but at the same time don't want to infuriate myself with it and tarnish my love for it. Going through it and it is insane : / "

I didn't start getting pissed until the fucking husks on the IFF mission. Fuck those husks.

It's actually piss easy as an Infiltrator. The anti-tank sniper rifle you can get kills Harbingers in like two shots. 

" It's actually piss easy as a Infiltrator. The anti-tank sniper rifle you can get kills Harbingers in like two shots.  "

" @Hitchenson said:

" It's actually piss easy as a Infiltrator. The anti-tank sniper rifle you can get kills Harbingers in like two shots.  "

I just don't want to have to start a new character when I know this is the game's major hump. I'm positive that once I get past this I can finish the rest of the game. "

" It's actually piss easy as an Infiltrator. The anti-tank sniper rifle you can get kills Harbingers in like two shots.  "

" @Hitchenson said:

" It's actually piss easy as an Infiltrator. The anti-tank sniper rifle you can get kills Harbingers in like two shots.  "

I think piss easy is probably a little innacurate. But you do make a good case. That sniper rifle is kickass. Plus don't you get heavy warp? Which is SUPER powerful against those bastards. "

Yup, I can confirm that the Vanguard thing is a bug. It happened to me, and it pissed me off so bad. On insanity it's not just annoying, it's essential to survival.
 
I'm not going to finish insanity. I'm having trouble getting through some of the most basic battles near the beginning of the game (I can get through them easy enough, but because in perfecting the actual strategy I end up dying multiple times, it's not fun at all).

" Yup, I can confirm that the Vanguard thing is a bug. It happened to me, and it pissed me off so bad. On insanity it's not just annoying, it's essential to survival.  I'm not going to finish insanity. I'm having trouble getting through some of the most basic battles near the beginning of the game (I can get through them easy enough, but because in perfecting the actual strategy I end up dying multiple times, it's not fun at all). "

Yeah, Infiltrator is really easy. So far I've recruited Mordin and only died twice. 

I have to say it: This is why I do not play games on insanity or any stupidly hard difficulty. It ruins the game which is normally a totally awesome experience.

" @Sir_Ragnarok: Dude if you can't do it on your current playthrough, don't bother. You're ruining your experience for the sake of 75G. "

" I have to say it: This is why I do not play games on insanity or any stupidly hard difficulty. It ruins the game which is normally a totally awesome experience. "

" @Sir_Ragnarok: Who do you have in your squad?  "

" @AndrewB said:

" Yup, I can confirm that the Vanguard thing is a bug. It happened to me, and it pissed me off so bad. On insanity it's not just annoying, it's essential to survival.  I'm not going to finish insanity. I'm having trouble getting through some of the most basic battles near the beginning of the game (I can get through them easy enough, but because in perfecting the actual strategy I end up dying multiple times, it's not fun at all). "

Sucks.   The version in the video is the PC build of Mass Effect 2. I've been playing the 360 version, and it doesn't seem like he's having a whole lot of trouble with the cover/charge bug. I dunno.   I'm half-tempted to start an Infiltrator. Also half-tempted to start a Soldier. Blaaaah. "

I had a lot of trouble during this part as well but I beat it after a couple of tries. I had Grunt and Miranda in my squad, both loyal with Grunt tanking and using squad incinerator ammo and Miranda and Shephard using double warps on everything with Grunt using concussive shot occasionally on barriers. The Harbinger's go down pretty quickly with two warps + incinerator ammo from my Sniper rifle and as soon as I realized that you have to dodge those energy balls, not hide in cover, things got much much easier. Anyway, it was those Scions that gave me a lot of trouble mostly because my teammates usually poke out of cover and die after taking two shockwaves in the face. But since shockwaves can't hurt you if you're in cover, the only real danger in that mission is getting whacked out of cover by the Harbinger's energy ball attack as the Scions are sending their shockwaves at you. Otherwise though, this was definitely not the hardest part in the game on Insanity. I had far more issues with the final battle on Horizon with those two Scions and those hoardes of damned Husks (since the Husks will always bum rush you while the Harbingers will advance but never really try to flank you). 
 
Also to the OP, what level are you and what are using as your bonus power? I was double stacking with Tech Armor + Barrier at that part of the game (which gave me about 800 in total shields).

Yeah. Finished the game for the first time last night, with a Vanguard. I was pointing out combat bugs and poorly conceived combat design every step of the way. And that Charge bug did happen to me quite a bit. On one mission, I used it on the last geth in a room for Tali's loyalty quest, and ended up in the middle of the floor. I couldn't move or Charge back out, so I had to re-load. Playing for PC, btw.

Honestly the only way i made it thru there is LoS (line of sight) a lot of the stuff.  Also helped that i was on a new game plus so i was lvl 30, a soldier at that and had geth co op shield as my bonus. its a real war off attrition though so just be careful of what you do and were you go

" @spazmaster666: wait, shockwaves really can't hurt you if you're behind cover? i always thought it would hit you regardless because it goes "over" cover... "

As long as it's not coming at you directly from the side then the Scion's shockwave attack does not affect you if you are taking cover. The only thing that will knock you out of it (and into the shockwave attack or bullets), is Harbinger's slow energy ball attack. That attack seems to hit the front of whatever cover you're behind and then explodes, knocking you out of it and stunning you. I don't know about the other classes, but you can avoid this as an Infiltrator by cloaking when he fires it and then moving to different cover.

 
 Yeah, the charge seems glitched whenever you're on a collector ship, it almost looks like lag in a mulitplayer game.  It's weird.
 
 
Anybody else tried Vangaurd on insanity?  Is it impossible because I was going to play through my 3rd time on insanity with my original character, but he's a Vangaurd, and charge seems suicidal on that difficulty.

" Anybody tried Vangaurd on insanity?  Is it impossible because I was going to play through my 3rd time on insanity with my original character, but he's a Vangaurd, and charge seems suicidal on that difficulty. "

did it as an adept, miranda and mordin in my squad. Heavy warps and incinerates for the victory. Hardest part of the game for sure, gotta find that sweet spot where the scion shockwaves cant hit you, then gang up on the harbingers and hope they don't bullrush you.

" @ArchScabby said:

" Anybody tried Vangaurd on insanity?  Is it impossible because I was going to play through my 3rd time on insanity with my original character, but he's a Vangaurd, and charge seems suicidal on that difficulty. "

In my original post, I talked about how I was using a Vanguard. Actually linked a video showing how ridiculously powerful the Vanguard is on Insanity. For the most part, it is an excellent class. "

" did it as an adept, miranda and mordin in my squad. Heavy warps and incinerates for the victory. Hardest part of the game for sure, gotta find that sweet spot where the scion shockwaves cant hit you, then gang up on the harbingers and hope they don't bullrush you. "

" @Sir_Ragnarok said:

" @ArchScabby said:

" Anybody tried Vangaurd on insanity?  Is it impossible because I was going to play through my 3rd time on insanity with my original character, but he's a Vangaurd, and charge seems suicidal on that difficulty. "

In my original post, I talked about how I was using a Vanguard. Actually linked a video showing how ridiculously powerful the Vanguard is on Insanity. For the most part, it is an excellent class. "

yeah sorry i edited my post, I meant anyone else like someone who finished the game on insanity with it.  I do love the vangaurd class though, I played through on normal as one, just insanity seems kinda bad for a vangaurd. "

" Figuring I had hit a wall, and seeing this video, I thought that, maybe, a Vanguard was (surprisingly) the way to go. And, actually, up until this point, it totally was. The Vanguard usually rips through most enemies like a hot knife through melted butter. But there's some sort of bug that prevents me from phasing through objects with my charge. I'll do the animation, the charge animation, and it will look like I've warped over to the enemy I've selected, but when the animation finishes, I'm still standing at my initial position, and the enemy will have taken no damage and will not have been stunned at all, whatsoever. "

" @ArchScabby said:

" @Sir_Ragnarok said:

" @ArchScabby said:

" Anybody tried Vangaurd on insanity?  Is it impossible because I was going to play through my 3rd time on insanity with my original character, but he's a Vangaurd, and charge seems suicidal on that difficulty. "

In my original post, I talked about how I was using a Vanguard. Actually linked a video showing how ridiculously powerful the Vanguard is on Insanity. For the most part, it is an excellent class. "

yeah sorry i edited my post, I meant anyone else like someone who finished the game on insanity with it.  I do love the vangaurd class though, I played through on normal as one, just insanity seems kinda bad for a vangaurd. "

They don't really have the health to play Cowboys 'n Indians with most enemy groups, but if you're able to single out enemies and Charge them with a Shotgun on the ready, then you can wreak some serious havoc. "

I can't play Insanity. I've tried and I just can't do it.

" I ended up losing my squad members my first 2 attempts with my attempt on insanity.  I found a trick to dealing with the harbingers, which worked very well.  I took cover in the middle of the starting platform and when the harbingers were in front of me I just strafed back and fourth repeatedly and their biotics missed everytime.  I used Heavy Warp as my main attack (after the dark energy attack of the harbingers) with an occasional reave on the enemies with health bars. I avoided using guns except to finish off the scions after everything else died. "