Squad Members Guide (Mass Effect 3)

This Squad Members Guide details information and strategies corresponding to each of the squad members Shepard can acquire during the course of Mass Effect 3, including recommendations for use against particular enemy types and a quick reference table. Especially on harder difficulty levels, the proper selection and use of squad members can significantly affect the difficulty of a given mission or assignment.

EDI
EDI's powers make her a strong contender for the title of "best tank". Her class power, Unshackled AI, provides substantial benefits to her shields, health, and power damage. By focusing on defenses, she can potentially have +120% shields and health by rank 4. Defensive Matrix boosts here defenses even further, and can be purged to restore her shield. Decoy keeps attacks from even hitting her. Add all that together, and you have a character who can handle tremendous punishment on the frontlines.

The weapon options for EDI are SMG and heavy pistol, so EDI's offensive punch is largely based on judicious use of her powers. Thanks to Unshackled AI's massive accumulation of bonuses to power damage--which can culminate in a whopping +240% by rank 6--EDI's Overload will devastates shields and barriers, while Incinerate will ravage health and armor. Note, however, that the Unshackled AI class power does not provide any power recharge reduction, and utilizing Defensive Matrix will slow power cooldowns even further, so her offensive strikes must be well-timed.

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy
Thanks to the addition of a few new and improved abilities, Tali is far more flexible than in the second game. Overall, Tali functions similarly to the Engineer class. Her Energy Drain ability enables her to strip away enemy shields and barriers while recharging her own shields, and Sabotage is useful for disabling enemy weapons as well as turning enemy synthetics against each other! Tali's Combat Drone is useful for distracting enemies such as Atlas Mechs and Guardians. Her Defense Drone complements her close combat capabilities even further.

Tali is most effective when used against the Geth or Cerberus. Sabotage is particularly useful for turning Turrets, Geth Primes, and Atlas Mechs against their own. That being said, Tali is more than capable of dealing with Reaper enemies; her Energy Drain can be invaluable against Marauders and Banshees. Tali is best paired with a squadmate who can counter armor such as EDI, Kaidan, or Liara.

Moreso than other squadmates, Tali can be difficult to manage. There is no way to know if her drones have been destroyed or whether you simply can't spot them at the moment. Although it is generally far more effective to manually control squadmate powers, in Tali's case it may be more prudent to turn automatic power usage back on when she's on the team.

Javik
While biotic characters in general excel at disrupting enemy tactics, Javik's powers also inflict heavy damage if his Vengeful Ancient class power is properly tapped. At level 6, it's possible to have a +150% bonus to power damage.

Javik can be equipped with an assault rifle and heavy pistol, making him moderately effective at all ranges even when not using his biotic powers. He is not well-endowed in terms of personal defenses, lacking any protective biotic powers or significant bonuses to shields and health.

Liara T'Soni
Liara is the most fragile member of the squad, and her weapon options are unimpressive. However, her duration-based biotic powers, Stasis and Singularity, can turn battles with rank-and-file enemies into a one-sided turkey shoot. Liara's Pure Biotic class power primarily serves to reduce the recharge time of her powers even further, so that at maximum rank the cooldown period for Stasis and Singularity is only few seconds.

Garrus Vakarian
Garrus specializes in tech and combat, and is an effective, well-rounded option for any class Shepard happens to be. Garrus offers superior ability to inflict damage with weapons. Maximum ranks in Turian Rebel can provide a total of up to +150% damage with his weapons of choice: Assault and Sniper Rifles. Combined with a weapon damage bonus from one of his armor options, the net effect would amount to almost triple damage on every shot he fires. Armor-Piercing Ammo contributes even more damage to health and armor, and with Overload peeling away shields and barriers, Garrus is primed to attack all categories of defense.

Despite his sturdy, well-armored appearance, Garrus does not have strong defensive capabilities. Turian Rebel's damage bonuses comes at the price of relatively low shield and health bonuses (+40% maximum). Given this, it is often best to bring along another teammate suitable for tanking, such as James Vega or EDI.

James Vega
Vega is the quintessential meat shield, built expressly for close-quarters combat. His unique Fortification power grants the capability to alternate between damage reduction and high buff to melee damage output. Equipping him with a strong point-blank-range shotgun with a blade attachment can make him brutally effective at holding the line. James' class power, Arms Master, potentially provides the highest bonus to shields and health of all squadmates, topping out at +140% at rank 6. Incendiary Ammor and Carnage provide a strong counter to armored enemies, particularly when they are combined to create a tech explosion, by hitting a burning opponent with Carnage. James does not possess shield or barrier-mitigating abilities.

Ashley Williams
Ashley packs unparalleled raw firepower. Her class ability, Alliance Officer, can increase her weapon damage dramatically, and while the net total bonuses fall a little short of those Garrus receives, her unique buff, Marksman, can more than make up for it through the highly increased accuracy and rate of fire bonuses it affords. Equipping her with the M-76 Revenant is an ideal choice; Marksman easily offsets the Revenant's wide spread. She carries Disruptor Ammo, allowing her to quickly take down shielded enemies. Though Ashley has Inferno Grenade for dealing with armored opponents, there are more ieal squadmates for countering armor, particularly since Inferno Grenade has limited uses.

Ashley receives fair bonuses to health and shields through Alliance Officer, to a maximum of +75% at rank four. This allows her to withstand some punishment, but does not put her in the same league with EDI or James Vega.

James/Ashley

 * Weapons: sniper rifle, assault rifle x2, shotgun
 * Grenades: Inferno & Frag
 * Ammo: Disruptor & Incendiary

This pairing confers the benefit of having ammo powers for all occasions, perfect for enemies like reapers that cover the spread. Both use assault rifles, so they can have some degree of effectiveness at any range. Ashley can also hang back and make selective strkes with a sniper rifle while James digs in on the front line with a shotgun. When fighting heavy-duty opponents or swarms, there's an ample supply of grenades that provide significant AoE damage.

Liara/Garrus

 * Weapons: sniper rifle, assault rifle, SMG, heavy pistol
 * Grenades: Proiximity
 * Ammo: Armor-Piercing

This combination is a well-rounded option suited for most combat situations. Garrus provides firepower and overload for shields, while Liara provides crowd control with warp for armor/barriers. Liara's singularity can be used to rout unprotected enemies while her stasis can paralyze more powerful enemies (such as phantoms). If Shepard is a biotic, some interesting biotic combos can be made with singularity and stasis.

The main drawback of this combination is the lack of close range capability and survivability. This is easily offset if Shepard is a Vanguard, Soldier, or Sentinel however.

Liara/Javik

 * Weapons: assault rifle, SMG, heavy pistol x2
 * Grenades: Lift
 * Ammo: Warp

An interesting contrast exists between Javik and Liara's implementation of biotics. Liara's Stasis and Singularity powers immobilize, while Javik's Pull and SLam fling them about. Together, they provide a great deal of battlefield contorl, and of course, biotic explosions should abound.

Garrus/EDI

 * Weapons: sniper rifle, assault rifle, SMG, heavy pistol
 * Grenades: Proiximity
 * Ammo: Armor-Piercing

This tech-heavy team is very effective at tackling Cerberus missions. Both can overload shields, and a combination of Armor-Piercing Ammo and Incinerate will make short work of armor. Place EDI front and center, while the much more fragile Garrus back behind cover.

Tali/EDI

 * Weapons: shotgun, SMG, heavy pistol x2
 * Grenades: none
 * Ammo: none

This pairing is one of the most ideal for geth missions. EDI can Overload shields, while Tali drains them. EDI is tough enough to take the brunt of geth hunters, who will find themselves uncloaked by Tali's defense drones. Between Tali's drones and EDI's Decoy power, the enemy will rarely be spending much time attacking the squad itself. The weakness of this team is long range, because neither have access to rifles.

Default
These are the default outfits available for squad members.

Alternate
These are alternate outfits for squad members that are included in the game.

N7 Collector's Edition Pack Alternate
These are alternate outfits for squad members that are added by downloading the N7 Collector's Edition Pack.

From Ashes Alternate
These are alternate outfits for squad members that are added by downloading From Ashes.