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This article is about information and tactics for fighting Matriarch Benezia. For the page about her in general, see Benezia. |
Matriarch Benezia is a very powerful asari biotic and spiritual leader among her people, but Shepard finds her working alongside Saren Arterius, leading to a deadly confrontation on Noveria.
Mass Effect[]
Benezia is found in a secure lab deep within Noveria's Peak 15. Small talk between her and Shepard's team is exchanged, but ultimately unfruitful as it quickly devolves into a firefight. Benezia places the whole squad in temporary stasis while her commandos move into position.
The tactic fails, with Shepard and team breaking out and defeating the commandos, but the Matriarch sends in a couple more commandos and geth troops in an attempt to bring the Commander down. It still doesn't work, and Matriarch Benezia soon succumbs to the might of the squad.
As Benezia slumps to the floor, the reason for her presence on Noveria becomes apparent: she is standing next to an imprisoned Rachni Queen, having probed the creature for information critical to Saren's plans.
Tactics[]
- Initially, Benezia is stationary on the central upper platform, invulnerable for three waves of geth and asari enemies. She dishes out pistol damage and biotic disabling from her position there until she's weakened enough to lower her biotic defenses. A cutscene ensues where she momentarily regains control of herself, but her indoctrination proves too strong and she eventually resumes fighting you: this time she's mobile, and there's a final squad of commandos that assist her.
- During her immobile phase try to take advantage of the room's geometry so you'll have natural cover against her line of fire. She can't reach you in the catwalk behind the imprisoned giant bug.
- If you do have to confront her hit Benezia with a disabling ability as often as possible or otherwise you'll get a face full of biotics and gunfire. While she can resist Stasis to a degree, it is still a useful talent to keep her out of battle temporarily while you deal with other threats. Hitting her with Sabotage and Damping at the same time ensure that she's a sitting duck for the duration of the effects, as she likes to spam Marksman every chance she gets.
- Benezia is immune to Singularity. She can still be Thrown around, Lifted, or ragdolled by Neural Shock though, given they're at sufficient levels.
- Benezia and her asari minions rely on their abilities to keep you down or ragdoll you out of the level's bounds, which could lead to instant death. Avoid staying on the narrow gangways or near the edges of the platforms as if you are ragdolled by biotics from the Commandos it's possible to be instantly killed by being dropped off the map. Being hit by biotics should be avoided even if this wasn't a possibility, of course.
- Hammerhead, Sledgehammer or High Explosive rounds (especially when used with a shotgun) are particularly effective at keeping her off balance. Quickly dispatching her leaves you with only three Commandos to finish off.
- It is a good idea to have a biotic-heavy party for this fight as constantly disabling every enemy is the best way to ensure victory and minimize the danger. Lift, if high level enough to affect the targeted enemy, is especially useful in this fight as it will cause instant kills by raising the target high enough to be considered "off the map." This even works against Benezia but only in the final phase when she's vulnerable.
- Use Immunity or Barrier as often as possible if available. Having these defenses up when you are disabled by biotics or hit by sniper fire can be the difference between life and death. Barrier tends to be more useful than Immunity as both Benezia and her commandos can use high level Warp which greatly reduces the damage resistance granted by Immunity. Barrier can always be recast to refresh your effective hitpoints even if it gets depleted by damage and shields can recharge either normally or with Shield Boost, but health can only be recovered quickly through the use of Medi-gel which is often on a longer cooldown.
- It's recommended to have squad abilities set to "Active" so that your party will use any and all of their available abilities without needing to be ordered manually. You can be disabled by biotics often in this fight, so give your squad the ability to act even if you're down for the count.
Legendary Edition[]
- Benezia no longer attacks while she's invulnerable. She focuses her energy in projecting her unbreachable biotic barrier across all three waves, allowing your squad to focus on other threats.
- When she finally becomes vulnerable, she fights alone without a final squad of commandos. Thus, the focus is solely on her, allowing for an easier victory.