Dead Space 2

When doing this on Zealot use fully upgraded Line gun!
1) Use AltFire near Nicole and move away - this will destroy her and all Shadows in 1 shot.
2) When Marker heart opens up - use your fast firing favourite gun (but keep moving, Shadows will start to crawl up). I've used fully upgraded Plasma Cutter. Took me about 12-15 shotsX3 (=3 times) to kill the Marker.

If all done right, you will not need get hit even once.

Total ammo count - 3 altfire Line gun shots, 30-40 Plasma cutter shots.

When starting chapter try to have Grenade launcher (whatever it's called in the game) with 30 shots to run through the stage. Stasis/2-3XGrenades in the chest combo for anyone on your way. Ignore Spitters and other far off enemies - only kill those on your way. When surrounded - StasisX2 (back and forward), altfire Line gun, run-run-run. Also have about 4-5 double med packs.

*YES, SPOILERS*

I had a hell of a time on Normal, because I entered the fight with 6 detonator mines and NO OTHER AMMO. It took 3 mines to take out Evil Nicole; the second time I took her out (having as yet done no actual damage to the Marker), it insta-killed the shadow hordes, so I was able to dash around and pick up the ammo they dropped...being careful not to run into E.N. and her insta-kill.

That's clearly NOT the way to do it, so when I went through again on Zealot I had a plan. I stocked up on Plasma Cutter ammo and Contact Beam ammo. (I also had health, but I didn't have to use it -- busted the Marker in 1 playthrough.)

Upgrade your Contact Beam so that it has all the Alts and the Special node covered. (They're all in one path, so it's easy.) Now, when you fire the Contact Beam's alt, it not only wipes out every shadow around you, it also hits everything nearby with stasis. As E.N. comically flails backwards in slow-mo, use your Contact Beam's primary fire on her. It only took me 1 alt-shot and 1 easy primary shot with the Contact Beam to take out E.N.; then I unloaded on the Marker with the Plasma Cutter (which was fully upgraded, as this was a New Game+, but that's not necessary -- nothing even TOUCHED me.)

As of this writing, this is the 4th guide for this achievement, and I don't know why nobody else has mentioned the Contact Beam. It is far and away the best weapon against E.N., because it simultaneously annihilates the horde, damages her, AND hits her with stasis so you can get the easy kill shot. I also found that the Contact Beam's alt was great for getting through the prior chapter; any time you get surrounded, hit the alt and everybody freezes and/or explodes. (I used regular-old stasis and Plasma Cutter on the indestructible creature.) Just make sure you load up on plenty of Contact Beam ammo at your last store stop.

~SPOILER WARNING~
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"The Final Sacrifice" (Destroy the Marker) Achievement

Nicole is the final boss in Dead Space 2. Here are some tips I found to make the last boss easier. Using the Line Gun's secondary fire is great for making Nicole reveal the Marker so you can do damage to it, once the Marker is vulnerable switch to the Pulse rifle and use primary fire to do damage to it. After the first phase of damage to the Marker is done Nicole will start sending shadow "children" at you I found the Force Gun to be the best weapon to clear them. (while you are clearing the shadows be sure to look out for Nicole, she can teleport right in front of you at any time and instant kill Issac) Continue the Line Gun mine and Pulse Rifle rotation to damage the Marker and keep the shadow children off you with the Force Gun and you will get both "The Final Sacrifice" and "Made Us Whole" achievements.

Good what Barber said. Just add some experience with my weapons on normal. This Chapter 15 is dependent on Chapter 14 ammo. So be careful. It helps to have 2 saves. Keep one save at Chapter 14 near the shop and bench.

Note- I have played on normal difficulty. Being low on ammo this was tough boss fight. Conserving ammo before is the key. It can be tricky as there are alot of enemies before the marker. The gauntlet as I call it..do you run or fight? Run. Beware of pukers, they slow to walking speed.There is one tough alien who never dies and reassembles himself. Stasis him. Don't waste ammo on him. Get from A to B as soon as you can.

So thats why I had low ammo here. Do not find yourself in the same situation as me. I was too aggressive with the silver alien he kept getting up.

The tactics for this boss fight.This is a balancing act of hit and run. Use your Stasis.Keep aware of where the boss is at all times. Keep moving around the arena.

IF NO AMMO:
It is possible to use stasis to freeze her and punch her. She will knock back. Don't overdo it. 2 swipes at most. When she explodes in a white light, the shadows appear. If it is too difficult try to go back to a Chapter 14 and try a run tactic as alternative to fighting. I had to come back and sell the flamethrower and pickup the detonator gun.

Shadows give ammo and health packs! Try kill them tighty bunched up. Then run to see what they drop. I suspect its random. But I need to check with your experiences. Here example of some drops. Small health. Medium health. 50 flame fuel, 3 ripper ammo, 3 javelin ammo 4-5 hunter bullets. I got line rack but I don't have a line gun.

- Use stasis on groups of the shadows is useful. Not only slows them down- it lights them up. They can be tricky to spot when on the run.
- Melee the shadows if you have no ammo. The result varies depending on what guns you have.
- Javelin gun is good performance for shadows. Fire one into the ground and use the secondary fire fries a group.
- Ripper industrial saw good defense mows down groups when walking backwards slowly but keep aware of the boss.
- Hunter rifle to scope to shoot the yellow heart or boss if you are quick.
- Flamethrower for shadows is average. leave it.
- I would recommend the Detonator, for creating traps behind you on the run.

Javelin, detonators is good tactic on boss and shadows in my experience, but you have to switch up to Hunting rifle for shooting the heart.

Heres my ammo in Chapter 14

13 Javelin
3 Stasis key for the sprint
10 Hunter Shells
4 Detonator mines
1 small health pack

Look out for cabinets with stuff on your run.

Good luck! Now for hardcore mode. 3 saves only arghh.

I played this on zealot. And i am not gonna lie i had a tough time with this. I tried the plasma cutter and the force gun. To no avail. Finally i pulled out my javelin gun realizing 1 shot alt fire takes nicole down. and 3 shots to the marker ends that sequence. Took me 15 seconds and i never got hit once. Don't even bother with the little ones. they should never even get close. (Just wanted to also say my javelin gun is fully upgraded) Easy as pie. Good luck!

I got this achievement using the Contact Beam and Contact Beam alone. There are several things that you need to do for this to work great.

Firstly the Contact Beam needs to be completely upgraded or very nearly so. Among the things that you should prioritize to upgrade is the altfire because when you fight Nicole it is the best method for dealing with her and the hordes of necromorphs that attack you in the final boss battle as the altfire protects you with 360 degree firing range allowing you to engage all the enemies that are attacking you from all sides.

The second thing you should focus on upgrading is the capacity of the contact beam. You need to do this is because the reload time is very slow and combined with slow rate of fire of the primary fire it makes it more likely that you will be killed in the higher diffculty. You might think that upgrading the rate of fire and the reloading speed will work better than the capacity but upgrading both to the max still leaves the weapon worse off than simply upgrading the weapon capacity.

The third thing you should focus on upgrading is the primary fire because the altfire won't hurt the sphere that appears when you deal enough damage to Nicole. If you you do the above and upgrade the capacity and altfire then you should have the nodes necessary to completely upgrade those three.

If you use this method than you should have very little trouble with the final boss battle even if you're doing the playthrough on hardcore diffculty. I used this method on all my playthroughs and I never died once in the final boss battle.

If you are going give negative vote please tell me the reason so I can make changes to improve the solution.

Cheerio everyone