Squad Members Guide (Mass Effect 2)

Garrus
Garrus (referred to as Archangel in his dossier) is one of the earliest-obtainable squadmates (along with Zaeed) capable of using sniper rifles and assault rifles, making him a very capable combatant. Although Garrus is not particularly durable, his proficiency with both weapons allows him to deal out significant damage during combat. His powers include Overload (which is extremely useful against synthetic and shielded enemies), and Concussive Shot (which is effective against barriers and can temporarily put an unprotected enemy out of commission). His class power, Turian Rebel, increases his power damage, weapon damage and health. After his loyalty mission he gains an ammo power, Armor Piercing Ammo, which inflicts significant additional damage against armored and unprotected enemies.
 * Specialty: Combat, Tech

Garrus is best paired with a Biotic teammate if Shephard is not an Adept. This pairing will give you the ability to control crowds while inflicting massive amounts of damage at the same time. Choose Jack, Samara, or Morinth as a teammate to create a balanced team. If you'd rather take shields down with weapons fire than Overload, you can choose Zaeed as a replacement for Garrus since they carry the same weapons and Zaeed boosts more damage output along with Disruptor Ammo.

Grunt
As a krogan, Grunt's endurance in combat is unmatched. Defensively, he benefits from the innate krogan ability to continually regenerate health, which is unlocked when points are spent on his Krogan Berserker class ability. He is also the only squad member besides Shepard whose base health can be ugpraded; two levels of Krogan Vitality can give Grunt a +50% increase over his base health value. Along with his unlockable Fortification ability, this makes him very hard to kill.
 * Specialty: Combat
 * Unique Upgrades: M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun, Krogan Vitality (2 levels, +50% health)

Offensively, he wields shotguns and assault rifles, making him a versatile soldier capable of providing suppressing fire or dealing damage at extremely close range. Grunt is especially powerful at close range: his shotgun can be upgraded to the M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun, and his krogan charge melee attack can easily take apart weaker enemies. While the M-300 can be useful in some situations, you will do much better if you equip Grunt with the M-22 Eviscerator. Not only does it sustain similar damage per second but it also carries more ammo, fires faster and has a longer range.

Simply by virtue of his toughness, Grunt possesses considerable utility on most missions (especially at higher difficulty levels), but he is especially useful for missions featuring numerous Husks (such as the missions on Horizon and aboard the derelict Reaper, and the N7 assignment involving an abandoned mine) due to his short-range and melee prowess. Pair Grunt with a squad mate who boasts biotic and/or tech skills. Miranda is useful, as always. Mordin, Tali, and Legion are good choices as well.

Jack
Jack specializes in crowd control and close quarters combat. She carries a shotgun and a heavy pistol. Her skills are quite useful at lower difficulty levels as crowd control. Shockwave is quite useful against masses of enemies, dealing damage and knocking them off their feet. It is best used against Husks giving chase to your team. Pull can be used as crowd control as well. It can lift enemies above cover and expose them to weapons fire. Jack also has the unlockable Warp Ammo power. This can be useful as a team ammo upgrade in conjunction with a non-combat Shepard. Her biotics are less effective on higher difficulty levels, as most enemies gain additional protection (such as biotic barriers or armor).
 * Specialty: Biotics, Combat
 * Unique Upgrades: Subject Zero Biotic Boost (+20% biotic damage)

Jack is most useful on missions which feature large numbers of melee and organic enemies, especially those who are unshielded or unarmored. This is due to her crowd control abilities and her Warp Ammo. She is not very useful against synthetics since she has no skills to combat them. She is best paired with a tech expert or combat expert. On higher difficulty levels, she works best with a teammate who can strip enemies of shields, armor, or barriers, maknig them vulnerable them to Jack's biotic powers. Be sure to research her optional upgrade Subject Zero Biotic Boost, as this increases her biotic capabilities by 20%.

Jacob
Jacob can be compared to the Vanguard class. He carries a shotgun and heavy pistol, and uses both biotic and combat skills. Pull can be quite useful to expose entrenched enemies to weapons fire. It can also be used as crowd control but must be used carefully as will bring enemies closer and only suspends them for a limited period of time. Pull Field is the best evolution to use for crowd control. Incendiary Ammo is very useful versus organic enemies, especially those who regenerate health such as krogan and vorcha. Jacob's loyalty ability is Barrier. This makes Jacob a substitute for Grunt in situations where you need a tank.
 * Specialty: Biotics, Combat

Jacob is best paired with a tech specialist such as Tali, Miranda or Garrus. This is because he holds no abilities to help you take down shields and his weapons are equally useless against shields. Because of the usefulness of other squad mates, Jacob is not used often.

Legion
Legion is very similar to an Engineer in terms of powers, capable of summoning a Combat Drone or using AI Hacking against enemy synthetics. However, he is also proficient in assault rifles and sniper rifles, making him ideal for providing long-range support for Shepard's squad. Legion's Combat Drone is particularly useful as a distraction and an additional source of damage against enemy shields; the Combat Drone can be upgraded at the fourth skill level to either explode upon destruction, inflicting splash damage, or to inflict damage against armor and health in addition to shields. AI Hacking may be useful at lower difficulty levels, but it is relatively useless at higher difficulty levels (where most synthetic enemies are protected by durable shields and/or armor), and is at best a situationally useful skill.
 * Specialty: Combat, Tech
 * Unique Upgrades: Widow Anti-Material Rifle, Geth Shield Strength (2 levels, each gives a +25% bonus to Legion's shield)

Careful placement of Legion using the squad command options allows him to support the party to great effect with a long-range weapon; he is the only squad member besides Shepard capable of using the Widow Anti-Material Rifle. From a protected position he can pick off enemies, while his Combat Drone and AI Hacking abilities distract and harass the enemy. Legion's unlockable fourth power is Geth Shield Boost, similar to Grunt's Fortification power and Jacob's Barrier power, which allows Legion to absorb additional damage during a firefight.

Miranda
Miranda is a very versatile and useful teammate, available from the very beginning of the game. Not only does she have two of the most useful skills at her disposal, Overload and Warp, but she also has the unique ability to increase the entire squad's health and weapon damage when points are spent within her class skill, Cerberus Operative. Overload is best when used against synthetic or shielded enemies while Warp is even more versatile. It can be used against armor, biotic barriers, as a way to stop health regeneration (similar to Incinerate), and also to detonate other biotic abilities for additional area effect damage. Miranda carries a submachine gun and a heavy pistol.
 * Specialty: Biotics, Tech

Miranda is best utilized on missions where you'll be facing many different kinds of enemies. Not only can she take down synthetics, but she can be equally effective against organic enemies and higher level defenses. She is best paired with a combat-oriented teammate who carries an assault rifle. This pairing can greatly increase your survivability on higher difficulty levels. Miranda's effects are especially effective in conjunction with Zaeed (due to his high damage output) as well as Grunt (whose higher base health enjoys a proportionally greater boost). Another option is to pair Miranda with a biotic-using teammate (whether it be Shepard or someone else), especially one who knows Lift. Miranda's Warp can detonate enemies being affected by biotic powers, resulting in additional damage.

Mordin
Mordin carries a submachine gun and a heavy pistol. This makes him effective at close range for the most part. However, you won't want to rely on him as a combat ally, but for his skills. Incinerate is the most useful at all difficulty levels. Cryo Blast can be useful at lower levels as crowd control but loses its effectiveness at higher difficulties due to all enemies having some sort of higher level defenses. Neural Shock can also be useful as crowd control as it will cause organic enemies to become immobilized for a period of time.
 * Specialty: Tech
 * Unique Upgrades: Mordin Omni-Tool (+20% tech damage)

Mordin is most effective on missions in which you'll fight organic enemies, especially those who can regenerate health. His Incinerate skill can take down armor very easily and will also stop enemies from regenerating health, in the same manner that Incendiary Ammo, and Warp will. At lower difficulty levels you can use Cryo Blast to help with crowd control, but Incinerate and Neural Shock will prove to be more useful. Pairing him with a combat teammate can form an effective team, most notably if he is paired with Grunt. Be sure to research his optional upgrade 'Mordin Omni Tool Upgrade', this will increase his tech damage by 20%.

Samara/Morinth
Samara and Morinth are very similar characters, both extremely powerful biotics. The only functional difference is in their unlockable fourth power. Both characters have access to the Throw and Pull biotic abilities, and use submachine guns and assault rifles.
 * Specialty: Biotics

Like all biotics, Samara and Morinth are extremely powerful against unprotected enemies, but require assistance to deal with enemies protected by shields, biotic barriers, or armor (especially synthetic and heavily-shielded foes). Neither Throw nor Pull can be targeted against a protected enemy, and so either squad member should be paired with a tech specialist (such as Mordin) who can quickly lower enemy defenses and render them vulnerable to biotic crowd control abilities. Both Throw and Pull are also somewhat situational in that they can be used in certain environments (such as the platform levels aboard the derelict Collector ship and during the endgame) to instantly kill foes by flinging them into the distance.

Samara's unique power is Reave, unlocked after successfully completing her loyalty mission. Reave acts similarly to Warp in that it inflicts damage against unprotected enemies as well as barriers and armor, and stops enemies from regenerating health. Reave restores health and can temporarily cripple unprotected organic enemies, allowing Shepard to set up a shot. Unlike Warp, Reave cannot detonate other biotic powers.

Morinth's unique power is Dominate, which is an analogue of AI Hacking capable of mind-controlling organic enemies. Dominated enemies are protected by a biotic barrier instead of a shield. Because organic enemies are much more common throughout the game than mechs or geth (especially during the endgame), Dominate is generally a more useful power. Dominated enemies cannot be detonated by Warp.

Tali
Tali and Legion are very similar in terms of focus and powers- both squadmates have the Combat Drone and AI Hacking abilities. Tali's use of the shotgun differentiates her; she is very effective at close range but cannot stand up to sustained enemy fire. Her Energy Drain unlockable power enables her to replenish her shields even while damaging enemy shields and synthetics, and is very similar in effect to Overload. Unlike Legion, Tali learns the Combat Drone ability before AI Hacking, which makes it possible to avoid the latter altogether.
 * Specialty: Combat, Tech

Tali is most effective as a squadmate during missions which involve synthetics (such as mechs or geth) or shielded enemies (including most Blue Suns mercenary troopers). Her Combat Drone can draw enemy fire even while damaging enemy shields, allowing Shepard or the other squad mate to line up a shot, use a power, or move to a different position.

Thane
Thane is the squad member equivalent to the Infiltrator class mixed in with some Adept powers. His skills are Throw, Warp and Shredder Ammo. Throw can be useful in conjunction with Pull to fling enemies across long distances. It is useful as a crowd control skill, but loses its flair at high difficulty levels because you must remove shields, armor and/or barriers before Throw is effective. Warp is Thane's most versatile and useful skill. It can damage Barriers, Armor and Health and stops enemies from regenerating health. It also can detonate the biotic energy surrounding enemies effected by Pull and/or Singularity. Shredder Ammo is Thane's loyalty skill and can increase his damage against Health. This can be useful at lower difficulty levels since most lower level enemies have no higher level defenses. At higher difficulty levels spending skill points in Warp instead tends to be more useful.
 * Specialty: Combat, Biotics

Thane carries a Sniper Rifle and a Submachine Gun. Therefore he can be useful at all ranges. If available, equip Thane with the Viper and/or Incisor. Thane is best paired with someone who can whittle down enemies shields. Miranda, Garrus, Zaeed and Tali are all good choices depending on Shephard's class.

Zaeed (DLC)
Zaeed, like Grunt, is a pure combat character, with no tech or biotic aptitude. Like Legion and Garrus, he utilizes assault rifles and sniper rifles, making him a competent medium to long-range combatant who is useful in a wide variety of situations, if not particularly specialized for any. He possesses the Concussive Shot and Disruptor Ammo powers, which makes him effective against synthetic enemies and enemies protected by shields or barriers; his unlockable power, Inferno Grenade, burns through armor with ease.
 * Specialty: Combat

Due to the fact that his class skill, Mercenary Veteran, increases his weapon damage up to 50%, Zaeed is very useful for team who needs more damage output. When teamed with Miranda, his assault rifle damage can come close to Shephard's. This is increased even more when fighting synthetics if Disruptor Ammo is used. Zaeed is best paired with a Tech and/or Biotic specialist depending on Shephard's class. Miranda can be a useful choice due to the variety of her skills and bonuses.

Miranda & Mordin
This pairing takes care of a range of protective powers that an enemy can have. Here you cover shield, barrier, armor, and regen. As most of the time your enemy usually has one of the above and sometimes a bit of a hassle to tear down so biotic powers such as pull or throw can be effective. Cryo Blast/Full Cyro Blast from Mordin can be used as a last measure anti-personnel power, freezing tough enemies like krogans, flamethrower vochas or waves of abominations, explosive husk. Neural Shock later can be applied similar as Cyro Blast, but the Neural Shockwave can also obliterate any un-armored husk in one hit.

On the downside, this group must rely on their powers in taking down heavy enemies like Praetorians, Scions and YMIR Mechs.

Tali & Legion
Tali with shotgun covering close combat, Legion with his rifles for long range, and their combined AI Hacking abilities, it sounds like a good combination combat for any geth or mech missions. However, in reality it doesn't work out as well. Considering most of the geth fights are before their loyalty missions, which locks out Tali's Energy Drain to break geth's shield, you are left depending mainly on AI Hacking, and Combat Drones. There are two flaws with AI Hacking. First you need to take down the enemy shielding to use AI Hacking, which this team lacks the abilities to do so quickly. Second, the AI that you have hacked does very little damage to the enemy as they need to reposition themselves. They serve more of a distraction when your hack level is higher, and lower levels you would might be able to draw the enemy fire to kill the hacked enemy. The Combat Drone though serves as a better distraction and stunner as you can deploy it on top of your enemies.

In short, this combination offers good distraction for geth and mech type missions, but lacks damaging powers for quick clean kills.

Synthetics
Synthetic enemies include the geth and mechs. Geth are protected by shields, while mechs are protected by a weak layer of armor. Geth Primes and YMIR Mechs have both armor and shields.

Geth are not very durable, but they will attempt to advance upon and flank the squad. The Geth Hunter possesses the Tactical Cloak ability (although this does not make him invisible to Shepard) and can fire its shotgun over low-lying cover.

Mechs include the bipedal LOKI Mech, the varren-like FENRIS Mech, and the extremely dangerous YMIR Mech. The first two types are rather weak, but will advance relentlessly towards the squad's position. The YMIR will attempt to flank the squad and will quickly kill any squad member not protected by cover.

Garrus, Miranda, Tali, and Legion are very effective against geth and mechs. Garrus and Miranda know the Overload ability, which can quickly take down shields and also do damage to unprotected synthetic enemies. Tali's Energy Drain power has a similar effect, but also replenishes the user's shields. Both Legion and Tali know the AI Hacking and Combat Drone abilities. The Combat Drone serves very well as a distraction, and its lightning attack can quickly take down enemy shields. AI Hacking works only against unprotected enemies and is of limited usefulness. Biotic teammates are not quite as useful against synthetics, as biotic powers are weak against shielded enemies. Mordin is also a poor choice, as his Incinerate and Neural Shock abilities are effective only against organic enemies (although Incinerate could be used to remove enemy armor).

Geth can be found during the following missions and assignments: Mechs can be found during the following missions and assignments:
 * Main: Dossier: Tali
 * Loyalty: Legion: A House Divided, Tali: Treason
 * N7 Assignments: N7: Anomalous Weather Detected


 * Main: ?
 * Loyalty: ?
 * N7 Assignments: ?

Humanoid Enemies
Humanoid organic enemies include Eclipse and Blue Suns mercenary groups, which use a mixture of human, batarian, asari, salarian, and turian troops. Other humanoid enemies include the functionally similar Hunters and brainwashed guards encountered during Jacob's loyalty mission. Humanoid enemies are shielded; higher-level troops may have armor as well. Eclipse employs asari Vanguards who may also be protected by a biotic barrier. Most humanoid enemies use pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles; some use heavy weapons such as flamethrowers or missile launchers.

Humanoid enemies are generally vulnerable to all squad members. Soldiers and tech specialists can take down enemy protection (including shields), at which point biotic teammates can use their crowd-control abilities to great effect.

Humanoid enemies can be found during the following missions and assignments:


 * Main: ?
 * Loyalty: ?
 * N7 Assignments: ?

Krogan/Vorcha
The Blood Pack is comprised of krogan and vorcha soldiers. Both krogan and vorcha are notable for their extremely rapid health regeneration, which makes killing them very difficult. Krogan will also violently advance against the squad and will charge Shepard or another squad member if within close proximity, inflicting severe melee damage. Vorcha regenerate health almost immediately upon taking damage, but they are not particularly durable, making them vulnerable to well-placed sniper shots. Both enemies are protected by armor, although certain krogan enemies may also be able to put up a biotic barrier.

Mordin is an excellent choice against krogan and vorcha enemies primarily due to Incinerate, which burns very quickly through armor and permanently stops health regeneration. His Neural Shock, once unlocked, can also be used to stop charging krogan and otherwise cripple either type of enemy. Miranda and Thane have access to the Warp ability, which has similar effects. Samara can learn Reave, which stops regeneration like Warp and can also drain health from unprotected organic enemies, making it an attractive choice as well. Once krogan and vorcha have been stripped of their armor, biotic crowd-control abilities can be used to great effect- to draw vorcha out of cover, and to interrupt charging krogan.

Krogan and/or vorcha can be found during the following missions:


 * Main: Dossier: The Professor, Dossier: The Warlord, Dossier: Archangel
 * Loyalty: Grunt: Rite of Passage, Jack: Subject Zero, Mordin: Old Blood
 * N7 Assignments: ?

Collectors
Collectors are organic enemies protected by biotic barriers, wielding Collector Assault Rifles and Collector Particle Beams. During most firefights, Harbinger can take control of any Collector, turning it into a powerful unit protected exclusively by armor and biotic barriers, which possesses a biotic attack that can force Shepard from cover.

Biotic teammates tend to do well against the Collectors. The final part of the Suicide Mission and the Collector Ship mission in particular feature many floating platforms, which makes it very easy to send enemies flying into the void using Pull or Throw. Samara's Reave power, Warp (which Thane and Miranda know), and Jack's Warp Ammo powers can help in taking down biotic barriers. Alternatively, soldier-type characters such as Garrus, Grunt, or Zaeed can use Concussive Shot to quickly down biotic barriers and knock unprotected Collectors to the ground. Collectors are organic enemies, meaning that Reave or Mordin's Incinerate and Neural Shock powers are also effective against those Collectors whose biotic barriers have been eliminated.

Collectors can be found during the following missions:
 * Main: Over the Horizon, Investigate Collector Ship, Suicide Mission

Husks
Husks come in four primary varieties. Standard husks and abominations are melee attackers and will run up towards the squad; abominations will explode when in close proximity or if killed. Husks tend to attack in large groups which can quickly surround and overwhelm a squadmate. Scions are larger, slower enemies which shoot a biotic Shockwave-like attack which can penetrate cover and inflicts severe damage. Praetorians are large, floating tanks armed with energy beams which will steadily advance towards Shepard. Praetorians will slam the ground and put up a biotic barrier when they are heavily injured.

Husks and abominations are protected by weak armor on higher difficulty levels. Scions are protected exclusively by armor. Praetorians are protected exclusively by armor, and can also erect a biotic barrier multiple times.

Grunt is an especially good choice for facing husks and abominations due to his inherent vitality. His shotgun and krogan charge attack are optimized for short-range combat and can rip through large numbers of husks, although he can be overwhelmed. A squad member with level four Area Pull or Area Throw, such as Jack, Samara, Morinth, Jacob, or Thane, can instantly kill unprotected husks and abominations by using either ability on them. On harder difficulty levels, using Mordin with Area Incinerate can strip a group of husks of their protective armor, setting them up for a biotic kill with one of the aforementioned team members. Squad members armed with shotguns or assault rifles are generally a good choice, although Tali, Garrus, and Legion are rather fragile and cannot stand up to prolonged assault.

Scions are best faced at long distance, as their biotic attack can quickly kill Shepard at close range. Any squadmate with a long-range weapon is a good choice, as long as they are directed to stay far away from the scion. Praetorians will always attempt to attack Shepard, and squadmates tend to be ineffectual against them.

Husks, abominations, and scions can be found during the following missions and assignments:
 * Main: Over the Horizon, Investigate Collector Ship, Reaper IFF, Suicide Mission
 * N7 Assignments: N7: Abandoned Mine (only husks)

Miscellaneous
Varren and klixen are found during certain missions and assignments.