...and I decided to blog about it because why not? I'm going to write about my loadouts and strategies in case anyone needs tips or just wants to discus different strategies. This isn't intended as an all encompassing guide, I'm just listing what worked for me and why.

Also, potential spoilers, though if you're taking on Insanity you probably already finished the game once.

So, I played through the game with a Paragon Soldier that lived through ME1, 2 (twice) and 3. I honestly found the difficulty easier then when I played ME2, but this might be only because ME3 didn't have any big "rough spots", unlike ME2's Horizon or Praetorian's in general.

Powers

Adrenaline Rush was nerfed a decent amount and no longer makes you basically immortal but it still serves the purpose of skyrocketing your damage output nicely. I took increased Damage, Duration and Power Use.

As my Bonus Power I took James' Carnage. (Damage, Incapacitate, Damage) It synergies well with Incendiary Rounds because killing an enemy that's on fire with this causes a big explosion (same goes for Incinerate). I'm using Carnage as my one free power I can use during Adrenaline Rush. Think of it as an upgraded Concision Shot. It also allows me to lob something at enemies hiding in cover or around corners.

Incendiary Ammo is the ammo power I found myself using the most, even on the Geth. I was a big fan of Warp Ammo in ME2 (to the point of getting it as my Bonus Power there) but here that type of ammo lacks punch so we're going with the next best thing. Health and Armor are the two types of enemies you'll encounter the most. Unlike in previous games, here enemies don't magically get shields just because you're playing on Insanity. Setting enemies on fire means that they don't take cover and can explode is shot by Carnage. It also causes corpses to vaporise so you won't get upgraded Cannibals often, though this does mean other Cannibals won't run out of cover as often. For upgrades I picked Damage, Headshots and more Damage. Explosive Burst might be a good choice if you're willing to experiment. Don't take Squad Bonus. You doing 6% more damage is better then 2 teammates getting 50% of your ammo power.

Honestly that's all you need. I never used Cryo Ammo, but it might have it's uses as a Squad Ammo if you want to try it. Other bonus Powers simply don't fit. You can't use Marksman during AR, Fortification, Defense Matrix and Barrier come at the price of skill recharge and we want to keep that as low as possible.

As for Passives, I went with Influence & Duration, Headshots and Weapon Master for offense, and Durability, Shield Recharge and Fitness Expert for defense. You can pick Damage instead of Influence & Duration I guess, but don't even think about upgrading your Melee :P

Weapons

This is probably the section that mostly going to differ between players. In ME2 I used the M-15 Vindicator as soon as I could. It was very accurate and thanks to AR I could fire entire bursts as headshots, taking almost any enemy down with ease. Unfortunately in ME3 they upped the recoil on that gun by a lot and while looking for a replacement I found the M-96 Mattock. I found the recoil to my much more manageable, though I still use a Recoil Dampening upgrade (and an Extended Barrel for more damage). Both can be found early on (the Vindicator is on Mars, and the Mattock is in Grissom Academy).

Wait, find? Well yeah, you carry over all your weapons, but on a first playthrough you can only upgrade them to level V. Finding the weapon on a NG+ will give you 3 upgrades, and the last 2 can be bought. DLC weapons, and the weapons you start with only get 1 bonus upgrade. The weapons from the Specter Office get none as far as I know. This is important, because upgrades increase damage and decrease weight. You want to be running around with X weapons as soon as you can.

You also want to be over +190% recharge speed, preferably at the max +200%. Not only do you need those Adrenaline Rushes, but also if what I heard is true, The cooldowns for your squadmate abilities is influenced by your weight, not theirs. All of this means that we're going in light. Just an assault riffle and a pistol.

Speaking of pistols, you can't find anything better then the M-77 Paladin. This thin is like a pocketsized Widow. Personally I moded it with Increased Damage and Piercing, but a scope isn't a bad idea if you're into that sort of thing. (personally I found the accuracy to be good enough, and I was using it on short ranges too often to make the scope comfortable.) What if you bought the Black Widow on your first playthrough instead? (like me). In that case stick to the M-5 Phalanx or the M-6 Carnifex. Both are good pistols, with the Phalanx having the edge in the fact that it's much, much lighter. Because of this fact this was the pistol I most often had with me. I can have a +200% recharge bonus only when the Paladin and Mattock are upgraded to level X.

Squadmates

Liara and EDI (Tali and EDI during Geth missions). I was providing the firepower, but I needed support.

Liara has Singularity and Stasis. Make sure to upgrade Stasis into a Stasis Bubble. Stasis is incredibly good and it's sad that Liara will use Singularity instead most of the time. We need Singularity though, for brining enemies out of cover and to counter the shield wielding Cerberus troops. Warp is just icing on the cake. The ability that should get the short end of the stick is Warp Ammo.

EDI brings with her both Overload and Incinerate. This means we have ways to combat shields as well as deal additional armor damage to Brutes, Banshees and Atlases. Don't buy Decoy. At all. It's useless and will just cause the AI to use it and waste cooldowns on it instead of having them ready for Overload or Incinerate. As for Defense Matrix... I don't know... My EDI had it, but the extra 30% recharge was noticeable. Try not getting it and see how it goes if you want. It's also worth mentioning that when upgrading Overload I picked incapacitating of organic foes, and 1 extra jump at the end of the tree. I think that this might have caused the AI to prefer this over Incinerate on most foes - another point worth considering. Upgrading both skills for more damage incread of a wider area seems to be the better way to go.

Tali should max Sabotage (too good vs Geth). I don't find much usefulness in most other squadmates. Javik's power does too little damage, Garrus might be an OK replacement for EDI since he has Overload, but I'm not sure if the extra firepower can make up for Incinerate. Same thing with James (Carnage is basically Incinerate, but no Overload.)

Armor and upgrades

My armor was a custom set: Delumcore Overlay headgear, Hehne-Kedar chest, Armax Arsenal shoulders, Armax Arsenal arms, Hehne-Kedar legs.

This set gives me 40% more weapon damage, and 25% more headshot damage. I found this to be better then pure weapon damage, but your mileage may vary. In ME2 I was all over the +health custom armor, but here health doesn't regenerate, and I tried playing with a +shield armor and didn't find it useful. When you're out of cover for too long, you'll die regardless. I found it better to kill the enemies quicker and thus use my ammo more efficiently (since I am limited on the guns I can carry).

As for Glyph upgrades, I prioritize them in this order: Weapon Damage > Power Damage > Power Recharge > Shields > Rest.

Notable enemies

Cerberus Guardian - Have Liara use singularity. Problem solved. You can also use a pistol with armor piercing.

Cerberus Nemesis - These snipers are a real pain. On Insanity they fire almost instantly and take out your shields, forcing you to go back to cover. Best way to deal with them is to use Overload as soon as you see them and gun them down. If they get into cover, pop out, and pop back in as soon as you see movement, making them miss. Then try to flush them out with Overload, Singularity, Stasis and / or piercing rounds.

Cerberus Phantom - Normally a very dangerous enemy, trivialized by Stasis. They don't really cover, so freezing them is easy.

Cerberus Atlas - Find cover, don't peek out without AR. Switch to Disruptor Ammo to take down the shields, then back to Incendiary Ammo for the armor. Spam your squadmate abilities. It's not that hard to take this thing down, but don't let it catch you out of cover.

Geth - Sabotage.

Geth Prime - Sabotage still works, though not as effectively. Each subsequent Sabotage lasts less and less until they become immune. Do the same thing you did with Atlas (cover, AR, skill spam). Primes are more dangerous, but stagger more easily under heavy fire. It's worth noting that there's a room in the last geth mission with 3 Primes. Quickly run to the left, and try taking down 1 Prime at a time. Don't use the heavy weapons in the room - they require you to be out of cover for too long.

Reaper Brute - Not a problem honestly. He's all armor. AR + Incendiary Ammo + Carnage (x2 on Palavin's Moon) take this guy down pretty quick. Try to aim for the head is you can, but avoid the armor plating.

Reaper Ravager - Problematic. remember that they fire a salvo of 3 shots and then pause. Use this window to do some damage and follow up with Incinerate. Liara's Singularity is a very good way to kill the small Swarmers.

Reaper Harvester - Not as tough as they might seem. Forus fire and they go boom.

Reaper Banshee - Problematic as always. Even heavy weapons don't always kill them on Insanity, and they have a ton of both Bariers and Armor. If you have any means of backtracking to previous rooms, do so. They will follow you, while most enemies will not and you can deal with them without interruptions. Same spammy tactics apply, though this time you have to be mobile. Get out of cover is possible and always be on the move. I hope you have the Paladin already.

Final words

Use up your Medigel if you need it. You're sticking 8 of it and don't need the extra exp. I'm also pretty sure it auto replenishes between missions. Don't be stingy. Squadmates tend to use their worthless submachineguns. Check from time to time and switch to their Paladin / Carnifex. don't try to take on the Brutes on Tuchanka by the Maw Hammers. Just run to the hammers.

...guess that covers most of it. I had fun, it was a nice challenge, not too easy, not hear pullingly hard. Overall I think ME3 is a decent game, and definitely a must play for anyone that's invested in the franchise. And for the record, I'm not a fan of the endings, though I think this whole mess is at least a little bit overblown.

I haven't looked into it too deeply yet, but do the enemies tend to have more shielding/barriers on Insanity like in ME2, or are you just way more susceptible to damage. How'd you work around the bigger enemies like Banshees, Atlases, and the like?

Good post, though. I'm thinking about moving on to an Insanity run soon.

EDIT: Nevermind. You list the significant enemies at the end of the post. That's what I get for replying before reading.

@HistoryInRust: Heh :P

I also mention in the post that enemies do not get any extra shields. They are however more resistant to damage.

If any of you have questions about tackling a specific part in the game go ahead and ask.

ME3 on insanity is laughable compared to the original difficulty of ME2 insanity pre-patch.

Pretty good guide you've made though. I found as a soldier you can just glide on through every mission in the game with just adrenaline rush and a Paladin handgun (It's a sniper rifle in the form of a handgun)... just take Garrus and Liara with you for their overload and singularity/warp.

I actually died less on insanity than I did on normal just because I wasn't being stupid and shooting out of cover the entire time.

I personally found insanity a piece of cake, with the only thing giving me pause was the Kai Leng fight at Cerberus HQ.

I played as an adept.

I notice that you don't mention Biotic Explosions - nothing you've experimented with, or didn't work well for Insanity? Setting up some combos should make the bigger enemies a lot easier.

I keep meaning to do an Insanity playthrough, but being unable to do NG+ swapping from Soldier to Adept has put me off. (also playing Multiplayer instead).

@Mnemoidian said:

I notice that you don't mention Biotic Explosions - nothing you've experimented with, or didn't work well for Insanity? Setting up some combos should make the bigger enemies a lot easier.

Biotic Explosions is awesome on Insanity. And with 200% cool down bonus you'll be throwing space magic everywhere - all the time. Most of the time you won't need your guns. I ran through most of the game with only the M-3 Predator V.

@ReyGitano: I was not aware that there was a change to Insanity in one of the patches for ME2. What did it change exactly? Also although I agree that ME2 was probably harder, I still didn't have any real trouble 95% of the time since health regens really fast, enemies can't hit you in cover, and Adrenaline Rush made you pretty much Invincible...

@Mnemoidian: I had Liara Warp some stuff to make it go boom sometimes. The AI actually tries this on the bigger enemies itself sometimes (they prefer keeping the Singularity active on the smaller ones). Honestly, most of the time I was too lazy to micro it myself and just relied on smartcasting via Q and E. My Carnage explosions worked well though, so I imagine if you're a class that's more into Biotic Powers it should also be effective.

@easthill: @Poki3:Yeah, I've been playing a lot of multiplayer (gold) as an Adept - especially against reapers, Biotic Explosions are beasts - pretty much 3 biotic explosions to take down a Brute, something like 5-7 for Banshees - but didn't want to assume it worked the same way in SP :)

I've heard that Tech Explosions could work well on tech enemies (Geth), but not had an opportunity to try that out yet, I might try to work around that when I get around to my Insanity playthrough.

But good tips! I'd offer more suggestions, but as I said, I've yet to start my insanity playthrough (and I kind of hope someone updates the editor for ME3, so I can play a different class in NG+) :)

edit: One note, Stasis bubble also works to kill the Swarmers spawned by Ravagers - but fullfills much the same role as Singularity, so that might not be of much interest.

Hm... Singularity vs Stasis bubble - is it worth sacrificing being able to Stasis through shields and barriers (as I believe Stasis bubble does vs normal stasis?) when you already have Singularity for AoE-CC? Hm...

@Mnemoidian: Stasis Bubble freezes through shields and barriers like any other stasis. (armor gives immunity). The other choice is making the target more vulnerable while frozen, and that's not a worthy tradeoff, since anything that gets frozen is as good as dead anyway. Night as well freeze more enemies.

Oh, and most things in Multiplayer work more or less in Singleplayer, but MP has totally different stats for more weapons and skills, so it's not exactly the same. (they already did 3 balance patches in multiplayer...)

God, what was it like during the final mission when you have those 3 Banshees on you. I wanted to pull my hair out and I was on normal.

@Poki3: Yeah - I know about the MP balance changes - that's why I was reluctant to put off my information as Singleplayer facts :)

Good info on Stasis Bubble - been a while since I bothered to max out Stasis in Multiplayer - people tend to break (with bullets) the stasis before I can combo off of stuff in Stasis anyway, so not as useful (though the CC is still good).

@JeanLuc: Surprisingly easy, I was worried too since that gave me problems on Normal, but I only died 2 or 3 times.

I only remember there being 2 Banshee's. I camped inside the left building with the thermal clips, and tried to focus one down as soon as I saw her. Took the Barriers down just after they got in and stooped dashing. Then just kept my distance and allowed them to do their "explosion" attack on my teammates. It doesn't hurt much at all, and takes her a long time to do it while I was shooting. Took one down not long after.

After that I ran from the building into the one on the opposite side. By that point other enemies should already start swarming you and you have to change position or they'll get you from the flank. The Banshee's probably gonna follow, or start killing off your teammates. Option 2 is preferable while you take care of the other enemies and revive your team via Medigel, but even if it follows you you should have enough warning to hightail it back to the first building around her.

At this point though I got a message that the rockets are ready, so I just turned on Adrenaline and rushed the launcher. I'm pretty sure this last sequence is just a timed survival. Also, there's a rocket launcher in the building with the thermal clips that you can use. On insanity that thing doesn't kill Banshee's, but it does take out their barriers and does 25% to 75% armor damage. I couldn't use it, since I picked it up and dropped it off in a different part of the area, but the weapon disappeared after one of the cutscenes. So it you want to save it for later - don't touch it :P

Finished as an Infiltrator on Insanity yesterday.
 
There really wasn't that much need for indepth strategy.
As long as you (through energy drain) or 1-2 of your teammates had a way to remove shields 90% of the enemies could be one shot to the head.
With Inflitrator slow mo stacking with the sniper rifle attachement slow mo everything becomes extremely manageable.
Not only it is a childs play to get headshots but due to the extreme slowdown you are also not getting shot that much.
 
With the Black Widow sniper rifle you can rezoom between shots to keep the time dilation going and keep taking out enemies with little to no retaliation.
You can take down a Harvester in just those 3 shots. i was constantly one shotting all standard enemies, just have something to take down their shields.
there was even no need to take sabotage because the dreaded turrets posed no problem. Overload from a teammate, then launch the incenerate and take one shot while it's flying there. Dead turret in 1-2 seconds.
 
Put on the disruptor ammo on the Black Widow and even heavy shields of enemies like Atlases and Banshees go down in a snap on insanity, faster then using abilities.
Against armored enemies either go cryo rounds or armor piercing rounds there isn't much difference. The only thing that ever takes time to bring down is Banshees.
Which is where super powered sticky grenades come into play

I played it on insanity on my first way through. No 200% regen or jacked up weapons needed.

I just bookmarked this page for my Insanity Run

@JeanLuc: Very easy. You kill one or two by kiting, then you run and push the win button.

If you play on Insanity through a new game plus, the game is extremely doable. I'd go as far to say it's pretty easy as long as you are moderately tactical and use your squad's powers.

@Tennmuerti: That sounds fun ^^

Insanity with an adept with Liara/Javik and I literally never have to fire my gun. Biotic combininations make this game easy.

Just level up Stasis/Pull/Throw for yourself, have Liara use singularity and Javik use dark energy

Surprised at the lack of people mentioning grenades or turrets in insanity. A few times when engineers spawn behind you its instant game over. Also every enemy is the grenade throwing equivalent of an NFL quarterback. Perfect throws from cross battlefield plus the terrible indicator make them a bit of a pain. Besides that I really enjoyed insanity. Drew my game time out a few hours and made the combat a lot more interesting Played through ME2 second run on insanity and could never go back.