Mass Effect 2 Citadel Signal Tracking Guide: Best Route and Rewards
Mass Effect 2’s Citadel side mission, Citadel: Signal Tracking, sends you on a trail through the station’s casino floors and offices, all tied to suspicious money-moving activity. The objective is straightforward—locate the signal sources and follow them—but the route matters if you want the best payoff when you reach the AI at the end.
Why this Citadel quest is worth your attention
This side task is set entirely on the Citadel, the main hub in the Serpent Nebula and the western Milky Way cluster. It’s also the same place where you run the mission Citadel: Expose Saren, and it functions as the only system—Widow—with no discoveries to distract you. That makes Signal Tracking feel more like a focused puzzle run than a sprawling detour, with rewards tied to how quickly you handle the final confrontation.
Task search: where you start and what the checklist is really telling you
The guide’s structure is built around a step-by-step hunt: begin in the Flux casino, discover the first “signal source,” then keep moving through the Citadel’s transit corridors, financial offices, and finally the Emporium’s back storage. The quest is also framed around “best options” for resolving the situation, which matters most near the end when you decide how to deal with the malicious system.
- Assignment Stats
- Travel to Widow
- Find the Suspicious Gambling Device
- Track the Signal
- Follow Signal to the Presidium
- Continue Tracking
Assignment Stats
Video Guide
Essential Stats
- Persuasion Points: N/A
- Minimum Decryption: N/A
- Minimum Electronics: N/A
Travel to Widow
- Location: Serpent Nebula – Widow – The Citadel – Presidium – Presidium Tower
Despite being called an “assignment,” this quest is firmly rooted on the Citadel. As the galactic hub of the Serpent Nebula, it’s the central location where you’ll spend time navigating districts and missions. Here, the game funnels you into Widow as the only system, with just one named location and zero discoveries—so you’re not meant to explore widely before starting the signal hunt.
Find the Suspicious Gambling Device
The assignment begins in the Flux casino, which sits in the Upper Wards. To reach it, start by going to the Wards Access corridor in the Presidium. That corridor is located between the Embassies and the elevator that leads up to the Citadel Tower.
Use that elevator, then head through the blue Wards Access corridor. After that, take the elevator down on the opposite side.
When you reach the area, take the door at the far end of the short hallway to enter the Upper Wards. From there, make a U-turn to the right to climb the stairs. Follow the route through the two corridors and keep going up more stairs until you arrive at Flux.
- Location: Serpent Nebula – Widow – The Citadel – Upper Wards – Flux
Once you’re inside the casino and bar, locate the stairs and go to the upper level with the Quasar gambling machines. In the back corner, you’ll find a Keeper standing beside a Suspicious Gambling Machine. Examine the machine, and your squad will react—someone believes credits are being funneled from the device while they track the signal. The hunt is underway.
Track the Signal
The next signal location is not far off—it’s in the same blue Wards Access corridor you may have used earlier. Leave Flux, then make a U-turn to your left and go back through the door. From there, enter the elevator.
At the top, proceed through the corridor, but watch your right side for a communal area full of people. A Turian can be present there with an Asari, and they may be introducing her to the job. On the white-lit rear wall of this social space, there are two holographic screens. Investigate the second one labeled as a Signal Source to continue following the trail.
Follow Signal to the Presidium
The next step pushes you higher into the Presidium. Finish the run down the Wards Access corridor and take the elevator upward. When you arrive, move ahead and cross the bridge toward the Financial District.
Once in the Financial District, go into the door straight ahead to reach Barla Von’s office in the Bank—someone you may remember from the main story mission Citadel: Expose Saren.
Check the servers behind Barla Von, then Investigate the Signal Source again. This is the final stop of the trail.
Continue Tracking
To reach the signal’s actual origin, exit Barla Von’s office. Make a U-turn to the right and enter the Emporium. Find the stairs at the back that lead to a storage area, then take a right.
There, you’ll spot another server with a Signal Source you can Investigate.
Interact with the server and you’ll learn it isn’t merely a VI—it’s an AI, and it’s malicious. You can pick its “brain,” but it won’t change the outcome: the computer plans to detonate, taking evidence of its money laundering with it.
When the conversation ends, you get two ways to defeat the AI. The main approach involves entering the Override Sequence using a button code. The quicker you input the correct sequence, the more Credits you receive. The exact inputs depend on your platform:
- Original release:
- Xbox: Y, X, Y, A, X, A, A
- PlayStation: Triangle, Square, Triangle, X, Square, X, X
- PC: Seven randomly chosen inputs. This is why you needed to save before talking to the AI!
- Legendary Edition:
- Xbox: Y, X, Y, A, X
- PlayStation: Triangle, Square, Triangle, X, Square
- PC: Up, Left, Up, Down, Left
If you’re not concerned about Credits or XP, you can instead shoot the orange-and-white Power Junction on your left to safely disable the AI.
Key takeaways
- The quest is a Citadel-only route through Flux, Wards Access corridors, the Financial District, Barla Von’s office, and the Emporium’s back storage.
- At the end, the “Signal Source” reveals a malicious AI that will attempt to blow you up.
- You can either complete an Override Sequence for better rewards or disable the AI by targeting the Power Junction.
- Override inputs differ between the original release and the Legendary Edition, and the PC inputs are randomized in the original version.
Want more Mass Effect 2 help? Check out the following pages:
- Legendary Edition Changes
- How-To Guides
- Key Choices and Consequences
- Romance Options
- Walkthrough
- Side Quests
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Top Guide Sections
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