Mass Effect 3: Firebase Rio – The New Platinum Farming Level

Now that Firebase White is no longer as easily farmed, I bring you an alternative that is just as easy and quick (30-35 minutes per match):   Firebase Rio/Reaper/Platinum!  

Ideal team composition:  1 x Volus Engineer/Adept, 1 x Paladin Sentinel, 1 x Any Infiltrator, 1 x Any Tank (Destroyer, Krogan, etc.)

You can do this with any mix of characters as long as there is a Volus involved.

Basically, you camp out at the far end of the map (the side with all the storage containers, not the side with the AA guns) – at the very back, there is a storage container with an ammo box inside.  This will be your fallback position.

All four of you need to be at the far end of the map – the enemies will spawn at the other end (AA guns) and walk toward you.  You can snipe them and do long-distance damage to them until they get close.  When you start to get overrun, fall back INSIDE the storage container with the ammo inside.  Banshees can’t get inside so it’s very easy to kill them right in front of you.

Once you’re all in the crate, the Paladin needs to get out its shield and take the brunt of the close range attacks.  Brutes and Phantoms will still get at you in the crate, so you need to kill them quickly.  The Volus is primarily for spamming Shield Boost – I like the Engineer better because you can pop a Recon Mine outside the storage box and give everyone a 25% damage bonus to enemies in range – the Recon Mine also allows everyone to see enemies outside the storage box, which you can shoot at through the thin walls of the container.  Oh, and having a Medi-Gel Transmitter is great in case you all go down inside the box (happens sometimes, but rarely everyone at the same time).

As for objectives, the Infiltrator is really handy for the device activation ones, and the Volus is great when you have a hack or escort.  Lastly, for the extraction, you just need to sprint across the map when there is about 40-45 seconds left.

This method is a really easy, low-risk way to beat Platinum – I’ve done it consistently without using any equipment or consumables.  You can do it against Geth or Cerberus but NOT Collectors.  You should be done in 30-35 minutes!

Here is a video of someone using the same strategy in a different storage container with 3 x Volus and 1 x Paladin – I like my method better because it’s faster with a more diverse team and there is an ammo crate in the storage container I use :)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O6CLZCHlFY?feature=player_detailpage]

Do you have a new way to farm Platinum?  Let me know in comments!