I would like to have a discussion about the best tactics, and overall strategy for beating the gold diff in ME3's mp. Personally I've not gotten past wave 4, but I've only tried gold a few times. It's pretty daunting to say the least. According to EA's stats only 1% finish gold maps. So someone is beating them, and where better to check than here at Giant Bomb?

These are the topics and issues I would love to hear opinions on, but please add anything I missed or is pertinent.

1. Team class mix that's most suited to succeed? What combos are most efficient? Which powers are worth completeing versus others? Is a Vanguard essential?

2. What weapons are most essential? And what mods are the most useful?

3. What equipment helps the most? I mean the one mission stuff.

4. What weight limit is the best balance of gun and powers? I'm running 90% with a Katana VII, and I still have a pistol(that doesn't weigh much), should I be down to one weapon w/an Infiltrator? Or any class?

5. The all so important issue of when to use the 2 medi-gels. and the two rockets, and the shield regen too. Save for late I know but when is it acceptable on gold? Situationally based or strictly saved period?

6. Which boxes to farm? Seems to be a wide difference of opinion and experience on that one. The new box for 33,000 seems to always have pretty high lvl weapons.

I'm missing some things no doubt, gotta get off to work, but I've been thinking about this stuff lately and thought it would make a fun and informative thread.

So duders, anyone taking down gold? What are your methods, secrets, advisements etc.???

I agree about SMGs. I'm gonna look to set one up. That lightweight mod really does save a lot of weight. And yeah, I really don't like to have to run for ammo when out and with no secondary weapon. Just the weight issue is all though. Good point on the 5K boxes. I think I've used more weapons/mods found in those boxes. Looks like picking the character on gold is more enemy dependent...hhmmm.

I'm writing a multiplayer guide, I'm about 40% done.

I'm generally of the opinion that if you feel absolutely that you NEED to use a rocket, then do it - but always try to have at least one person on your team have one for clearing the LZ at the end. It's nice to try to save them for as long as possible, but some of those hold the position (hacking) objectives in gold can be a real pain in the butt.

As far as medigels go, only use them if you're separated from your team or your whole team is going down. Try to save one for the extraction part again, as that medigel could make the difference between finishing or not finishing the match.

Yeah basically fight Geth, make sure everyone has chain Overloads or Energy Drain, equip one solid gun to keep your cooldowns low, and bring at least one infiltrator for stealth rezzes.

if you group with random people make sure they know it when you bust out your missile launcher

I've seen countless time where we shot 2 missiles at 1 atlas...

Rather rare for me to see people even bring out the Missile Launcher in randoms - though I tend to do it as soon as I feel the pressure (wave 8, the team is fighting 2 Atlas'... and I see another coming. I'll bring out a Missile to expediate things) - though at this point, I think I've got 4 Missiles per mission, so I'm feeling rather confident that I won't run out early.

But yeah, bringing an Asari Adept (I believe Drell works too? Unsure about human...) to trigger Biotic Explosions in Banshees, Brutes and Ravagers. Multiple Adepts tend to be a bad idea though - as their defense is very weak.

Other than that... bring equipment. And practice.

@Mnemoidian I feel like having two adepts is a great idea as long as they are communicating. Biotic explosions are so fantastic in Gold that having an adept to set them up and another to trigger the explosion is pretty important.

@Mnemoidian: Agreed, it is definitely the quality of the player not the class that makes a good Gold run. I hate fighting Geth with my Asari Adept, but stasis bubbling Hunters and just outright blowing up Pyros with biotic explosions works pretty well. Geth are super "shooty" though and a Geth Prime can terminate AAs really fast if they aren't careful.

I have been enjoying the Salarian Engineer more and more lately just because of Decoy, and that class is pretty good in all situations, so it's become my go to on Gold now when I play random enemy/map.

@TheBostonPops: Yeah, the Salarian Engineer is fun with how the Decoy just breaks Banshee AI completely - just stands there staring at it for a long time - great way of getting free sniping headshots ;)

Get 2 Salarian Engineers and 2 Sentinels/Engineers (classes that can strip Armor and Shield). We've had great success giving Non-Salarian Members the Falcon (aim at the Decoy's feet) but it was recently patched to be much shittier so no longer advisable.

Pick Noveria and whatever enemy type you want though Reapers and Geth are easier as they tend to arrive at the landing pad less (if you pick Geth you may want to replace the Non-Salarians with Quarian Infiltrators just to have an extra distraction).

Divide into two teams - Team 1 takes the upper platform and camps the ladder, Salarian on Team 1 MUST keep Decoy going down below where you climb up the ladder. Team 2 heads downstairs into the building and camps mid level looking down at the ammo cache - this prevents mobs from spawn in between the two groups. As with Team 1 it's essential that Team 2's Salarian keep the Decoy going at all times. Aside from Group Hack don't move - the teams handle whatever objective is closer to them so the other team doesn't lose their hold on their location.

• Human Infiltrator for objectives and Grenades (Quarian if Geth). Widow, must stick with the Vanguard and get headshots.
• Asari Vanguard for spamming Stasis and Lift Grenades. Widow. Paired with Infiltrator, well co-ordinated they can double headshot everything instantly.
• Asari Adept for spamming Biotic Explosions and Stasis. Pistol, need 200% recharge rate.
• Soldier for pure damage on the Adepts survivors. Phaeston for accuracy.

My usual Gold group. We tried an Engineer as the 4th slot but the Overload ruins Biotic Explosions so just having pure damage from a Soldier worked best. It's not a flawless setup by any means as it relies on the two snipers to be very good shots. It's also pretty map specific as we split into pairs and cover a door way each, so only works on maps that support this, two maps don't.

We haven't tried Reapers yet as the Snipers aren't fond of them, but Geth and Cereberus are a lock... well, unless a Phantom bugs and becomes Stasis immune, then we panic.

I think you could probably manage it with any setup as long as people know how to play and work well together, the important thing is to not become rambo and run off.

Vanguards are not essential are usually not recommend on gold runs and it will more than likely get you and your team killed (generally speaking), since this class is suited for aggressive playstyles which is fine (and fun) on silver and bronze. Buy some 5k boxes initially until you get a half decent weapon to X. Then save up for 33k or 60k boxes exclusively. Teamwork ensures the best success, voice is always a bonus, a good team for gold should be at least level 15 or higher and should have a rank of 50+ to ensure they have faced all enemies in all maps. Infiltrators works best with a sniper, bringing another weapon is not advised as you should be relying on headshots while cloaked. Ammo runs are easy with cloaking as well. You can get by with one weapons just fine with the sole exception of the soldier class as they are the most weapon dependent and two weapons is a good idea. In my experience you can tell if people are skilled by looking at their rank (anything in the 100s+ is a good bet) or if they have good equipment e.g an upgraded widow with mods. Save missiles for tough situations they one shot ANYTHING. If you see two banshees together don't think shoot, only use medigel if you are CERTAIN that you will be making a difference and that you are about to die. In terms of equipment use them in gold mode exclusively, weapons equipment are a must for infiltrators and soldiers. Power and efficiency amps are great for adepts, engineers an to a lesser extent sentinels. Use shield regen when your about to die (sounds obvious but i die all the time without using them - i have 40+ atm). If randoming a mix of classes is recommended. You learn a lot from playing the easier challenge modes practice, watch how others play and keep an eye on the combat text, the best tip I can give is stick in teams of two and try to intercept and attack the enemy before they get your entire team stuck in one confined location, all maps accommodate this tactic. Last of all when you get to round 11 treat it like a normal round, fan out to surround the extraction area and play aggressively for the first 30 secs or as long as safely possible THEN retreat. A lot of the time people will bunch up and get taken down which sucks on the last round, do not be afraid to use missiles in the last round. Personally I've beaten gold about a dozen times with complete strangers, use cover extensively and know you enemy and their positions. Good luck!

Complimentary pairs sounds like fantastic advise, as does splitting in teams of 2. Don't necessarily agree about the sniper rifle. I prefer a good shotty for my Infiltrator, but preferences I guess. Tons of great ideas and advice in here. Thanks Duders.