Mass Effect 2 Guide

This page contains a walkthrough for the main missions of Mass Effect 2. Major changes in the gameplay from Mass Effect are listed at Changes between games.

Save Joker
The SSV Normandy SR-1 is under attack from an unknown enemy (later revealed to have been the Collectors). The ship is taking catastrophic damage and the crew have begun evacuating. A member of the crew, either Kaidan Alenko, Ashley Williams or Liara T'Soni (based upon your romance choices from an imported character, or the gender of a new character), informs you, Commander Shepard, that the ship's pilot, Joker, is reluctant to leave. After you convince Kaidan/Ashley/Liara they must abandon ship and save the crew, you are tasked with convincing Joker to leave.

As you gain control of Shepard, walk through the blazing hallways keeping to either the left or right and up a set of stairs where you will reach the doors to the damaged Command Deck, now exposed to open space as the roof has completely disintegrated. Walk forwards towards the cockpit, eventually reaching a kinetic airlock where you will find Joker reluctantly giving up against extremely unlikely odds.

A cutscene begins as you carry Joker into an escape pod. Before you can enter the pod, an energy beam and the resulting blast separates you, forcing you to eject Joker by himself. Another explosion sends you flying into open space where you soon realize your suit is quickly losing air. You struggle for a brief moment before losing consciousness, your body falling into the nearby planet's atmosphere.

Awakening
After the opening credits, which show you being literally "rebuilt" by the Lazarus Project, and awaking to station alarms, walk to the locker to obtain a pistol and armor. Miranda Lawson will introduce herself over the radio and give Shepard instructions.

Use the cover command to avoid damage from the explosive, then continue on through the open door and over the next obstacle.

Take cover in the next room and quickly pick off the lone LOKI Mech on the stairway.

Proceed through the next few rooms where you will encounter a few LOKI Mechs; they will be the some of the easiest targets you will find in this game, (it might be a good idea to knock them down and kill them for the Brawler achievement), and needless to say, Overload and AI Hacking would make this part a lot easier for you, if you are on a harder difficulty.

There will be recordings by Miranda and Dr. Wilson about their experience reviving Shepard, and an intro to the hacking and routing mini-games, but nothing else of much note.

Eventually you will meet Jacob. After clearing the room with Jacob and a little bit more dialog, Shepard and Jacob will meet up with Miranda's assistant, Wilson, who you will have to heal using medigel and your unity power. After some dialog you will head forth toward the shuttle bay and face a few more enemies. In the bay where the second wave of mechs attack, you will find a datapad which you can then attempt to hack (if you fail, you can retry as many times as you want until you get the hang of it). The mission ends when you arrive at the shuttle bay and meet with Miranda.

Freedom's Progress
Upon arriving at the colony, proceed through the door and make your way through the colony, killing any LOKI mechs and FENRIS mechs that you encounter. Watch out for the one LOKI mech that is folded up inside one of the colony buildings, next to a locked wall safe.

Eventually, your squad will meet and confront Tali and a group of quarians. After talking to Tali, continue through the door - note the combat drones which fly past your squad. Enter the next area through the gates. Here, the combat drones (a mixed group of Assault Drones and Rocket Drones) will attack your team. Use Miranda's Overload ability to cause the drones severe damage, and stay behind cover in order to avoid the enemy rockets.

Continue to move forward. Eventually, Tali will contact you saying that the other quarians moved on in an attempt to steal the objective. Proceed to the large gate and order your squad mates to take cover on either side of it, then hide yourself behind the obstruction in front of the entrance. Once in position, Tali will open the door remotely.

A YMIR Mech takes out the entire quarian team, then turns its attention to you. The mech is protected by shields and armor, and is equipped with a rocket launcher and machine gun. Do not expose yourself - its weapons can incapacitate you within seconds. Also, move from one piece of cover to the next. The YMIR advances on your position and may flank you if caught off guard. Once destroyed, scan the mech debris in front of the objective building for a heavy weapons upgrade, and check the buildings on either side for items and credits.

Finish the mission by entering the building your objective marker points to, where a delusional quarian watches a bank of screens. Paragon/Renegade interrupts are presented to you in your communication efforts with this quarian. Tali walks in shortly afterward. Miranda will insist that the quarian be taken into custody for interrogation, but Tali insists he be taken back to the Flotilla for medical attention. The mission will end with your final decision.

Normandy Crash Site (DLC)
If you downloaded the Normandy Crash site mission you will receive a request from Alliance Command to erect a monument at the Normandy crash site and collect the dog tags of fallen crew members to return to their families. There is no combat on this mission, however, there are various Mass Effect 1 "flashbacks" that Shepard will encounter as well as random resources. If you find your N7 helmet, it will later be displayed on your desk in your quarters onboard the Normandy SR2.

The Professor
It is advisable that the player recruit Mordin first because it allows the player to upgrade their equipment, which can then be used on all subsequent missions. Head to Omega, and then talk to the turian guard who is responsible for enforcing the quarantine just before the markets. He will allow you to enter the slums.

Upon reaching the slums, fight your way through the Blue Suns mercenaries. You can talk to a dying batarian civilian; a paragon interrupt will keep him alive long enough for Mordin's assistants to help him later. Letting him die nets you 2000 credits from a datapad. (This is needed if you want 'full credits' for the mission). Bypassing locked doors will allow you into apartments, some of which contain refined resources, and one of which houses a pair of human refugees. Talk to the refugee couple and select either the paragon or renegade speech options to convince them to head for Mordin's lab. Otherwise, the path to Mordin's lab is rather straightforward.

After you have reached the clinic, talk to Mordin. He will ask you to insert the plague cure into the ventilation systems, and then re-activate life support. Head out the unlocked door and make sure to enter all doors. You will find Mordin's assistant being threatened by a group of batarians; resolve the situation as you will and continue to the environmental controls.

Upon arrival, a vorcha reveals that the Collectors are behind the plague. Once there, follow EDI's instructions to place the cure in the console in the center platform. Then go to the east and west fan controls, fighting more Blood Pack vorcha and krogan on the way. After you activate both fans the mission is over and you are back in Mordin's office, ready to return to the Normandy. Make sure to gather all the items available in the clinic, including large amounts of refined resources.

Archangel
Archangel is found on Omega. After you acquire information from Aria T'Loak in Afterlife (she is expecting you) about joining a mercenary group, you may sign up to "takedown" Archangel. To do this, go into the the private room in Afterlife (this will be directly to your left when you enter the club). You have to apply for a freelance spot to attack Archangel. Once you're done applying, you'll start to walk out, passing a young-looking, gun-wielding man. You will overhear him ask about applying to fight. At that point, an opportunity for a Paragon interrupt appears. If you take it, you'll disable the cheap pistol and walk out of the room (If you do this, you'll later get a private message from the teen at your private terminal on the Normandy, thanking you from stopping him). Exiting the club, there is a small alcove with vehicles that look very much like Citadel Rapid Transport vehicles in it. A Batarian wearing Blue Suns armor is standing guard. When you're ready, you may speak with him, and he'll take you to Archangel's base (It is highly suggested that you prepare yourself well for the Archangel mission, as once you get to Archangel's base, there is no returning until the mission ends). You will then be transported into a mercenary encampment, where you can talk to several of the mercenary leaders and gain valuable insight into their operations. As you make your way throught the hallways, check for footlockers containing cash and raw materials. In addition, you will be given the opportunity to disable/sabotage the mech and/or A-61 Mantis Gunship. When talking to the dropship's mechanic, a renegade interrupt will flash. Doing so will cause you to "remove" the mechanic and halt the dropship's repair. Do both to make the upcoming battle much easier. However, shortly after you do this, you will be ordered to begin your assault. Your assault requires you to run across an open bridge as Archangel picks off your freelancer companions one by one. After making it across the bridge, you confront Archangel. He removes his helmet and reveals himself to be Garrus.

After a small discussion over events to occur, the mercenaries begin their assault. Shepard and his team have to defend Garrus and his position from waves of mercs, including a YMIR Mech (the mech you did or did not sabotage). After a few waves are cut down, the mercenaries begin drilling their way through the sealed passageways below. Shepard takes his team below ground to reach three sets of blast doors in order to lock them off for good. After a long firefight, Shepard makes his way back up stairs where the mercenaries are preparing for their final assault. Next you have to fight a Krogan Battlemaster known as Garm.

He is quite difficult to handle at close range but there is a glitch when fighting him. As soon as the clip ends and you're able to move, run straight over to Garm and up the stairs to Garrus. If you are in front of Garm, he will not have his weapon out until he reaches Garrus' room. you can easily kill him before he even gets to shoot at you or Garrus, making this part a piece of cake.

After defeating Garm, the fighting stops, and Garrus recommends making a break for it across the bridge. Just as you are about to leave, the A-61 Mantis Gunship appears, guns down Garrus and drops off more mercenaries. Winning the fight is tough, but with enough tech and biotic abilities, Shepard will prevail. Use all the tools at your disposal; incendiary and armor-piercing ammo will help. As you run towards Garrus' lifeless body, he begins to wake up. You return to the Normandy. The conversation with Garrus afterwards reveals that his face had been badly damaged; scars run along the right side of his face, along with a large bandage/dressing which will stay with him throughout the rest of the game. Despite his wounds, he is no worse for wear and is ready to help Shepard fight the Collectors.

For special additional dialogue, acquire Grunt first and bring him along, and then talk to Garm, the leader of the Blood Pack mercenary gang, before engaging in the mission proper. Picking the right dialogue options results in Garm taking out a gun and blasting the head off the vorcha standing next to him.

The Convict
The Convict Aka Jack Subject Zero is found on the prison ship Purgatory. Once the player arrives at Purgatory, they meet the Warden, who claims that his job is to keep the galaxy clean from criminals. However, you quickly learn that he is only interested in selling the criminals to line his pocket book and attempts to capture and sell Shepard to a client. After fighting your way out, Shepard releases Jack, who proceeds to start destroying the Purgatory. Following her, you eventually find the Warden, who has shielded himself with a number of shield generators. After destroying the generators and killing the Warden, Shepard tracks down Jack and convinces her to join him.

The Warlord
The Warlord (Dr. Okeer) is found at Korlus in the Imir system. Right after a flight in the Kodiak Drop Shuttle there will be a short cut scene. Head down around the corner and be ready to shoot some Blue Suns troopers, enemies count at three. After that, go on and you will have to talk to the wounded mercenary, after getting information on The Warlord continue down the road. Enemies will be waiting for your on top of the ship deck. Two on the front port, two on the bridge and two on the far bridge. There is also a med-kit. Again continuing down and up the stairs there will be more enemies coming. But now there will be Blue sun Heavy (using the ML-77 Missile Launcher) - total heavy count at three.

Continue down, there will be a Tank-Grown krogan to talk to, before being able to talk to him, there will be five easy enemies to kill. Now there will be a cut scene talking to him, getting more information about The Warlord, after that the tank-grown krogan will move the metal plate blocking the way down. There will also be a Blue Sun corpse to access (+2000 credits). Continue downhill there will two enemies running away from Krogan Berserkers, they will pop out very suddenly so be careful. Now, there will be a long fight, more krogan berserkers will come after you. There should be a med-kit around, after the fight go on towards the stairs. There will be a loot on Refined Platinum (+2000 Platinum). You will have to bypass the door upstairs. Continue upstairs, now there will be power cells, medical station and a sniper rifle upgrade.

Opening the door will make you go into another fight, enemies count at 4 and 1 heavy. Continue down the hallway, there will be enemies waiting for you. After the fight go towards the door, before continuing, to the right side of the door there will be a PDA (+4000 Credits) if you hack it successfully. Going upstairs again there will be another fight. There will be a med-kit to the left side of the door on the table. After the fight, a Blue Sun corpse will be accessible (+2000 Credits). Again there will be another fight, after the fight inside the room there will be power cells and a wall safe (+4000 Credits). Continue down the hallway, do not enter the door yet. There will be a PDA (+4000 Credits) if you go on the hallway. After this fight, there will be a cut scene where you meet with Rana Thanoptis from Virmire, provided that you imported a ME1 save where she survived. Inside the room, there will be a medical station and a secure terminal (+4000 Credits), and after the cut scene there will be another cut scene after talking to Dr. Okeer. Before continuing there will be a lab terminal (upgrades Krogan Vitality by 25%).

Now the fun kicks in, there will be a miniboss fight, Jedore, and her “army” of krogans and an few YMIR Mechs. Three sniper headshots should kill Jedore if you are a Soldier or an Infiltrator in normal difficult. In hardcore difficulty, four headshots are required with the upgraded bolt action rifle. Killing Jedore will stop any remaining krogans from being released to fight you.

The Veteran (DLC)
Zaeed Massani is found on Omega. After completing your first mission on Freedom's Progress, the Illusive Man will tell you to go to Omega to find Mordin Solus, Zaeed Massani will be found right outside the docking area along the passage way. Zaeed Massani will join your squad after you talk to him. He will also inform you of a his mission he hadn't completed. Completing the mission he informs you of will gain you his loyalty.

Over the Horizon
A short cutscene shows Kaidan Alenko or Ashley Williams (depending on who survived Mass Effect,) and other Alliance soldiers speaking and working with colonists. A strange ship (later revealed to be the Collectors) attacks the entire colony to abduct them. This is Shepard's first encounter in the game with the Collectors. Ignore the "frozen" humans (you can't interact with them) and fight your way to the end of the map. Take constant cover in the large cargo area that's infested with waves of Husks, Harbinger, Drones, Scions, and a Praetorian, in order to buy time for EDI to activate the large cannons and drive the Collectors ship away. Later, there is a dialogue scene with Kaidan/Ashley. If Kaidan/Ashley was Shepard's romantic partner in Mass Effect, there will be additional dialogue.

The Assassin
On Illium, go see old shipmate Liara T'Soni, now a full time information broker. Liara will direct you to another asari woman, who will then transport you to a construction site where Thane has an assassination target. It is a good idea to search the tower as there are trapped Salarians who offer Paragon/Renegade interrupts. Throughout the tower, you will encounter Eclipse troops and mechs; Eclipse troops are fond of techs and rocket launchers, preparing for long/mid ranged fights is a good idea. Fight your way to the top of the towers and across the skybridge to find Thane's target. When you get there, a short conversation ensues before Thane drops in and kills everyone. Mission accomplished.

The Justicar
While on Illium, talk to Liara. She'll give you directions to speak with an Asari in the transportation section, who will direct you to catch a cab. You will end up outside of a murder scene, talk to the Asari cop in the station to get permission to enter the crime scene. After taking down a few lightweight mercs you will go to a cutscene showing the Justicar (Samara) making easy work of some Eclipse mercs. Unfortunately she's tied up with the pressing issue of finding a ship, on top of that she is a wanted "woman" by the cops, who take her into custody. However, she will join you, and the cops will release her into your custody, if you find the aforementioned ship name, which sounds easy enough. Talk to the Volus, Pitne For, either by stroking his ego (paragon), or convincing him with your pistol (renegade) as to what he knows about the present situation in regards to the ship. Open the previously locked door, and prepare for multiple firefights.

In a hackable door on the right, there will be an Eclipse merc who just so happens to be "innocent" in all this hoopla going on. A quick renegade interuption will get her to screw up her current story and put into early retirement (you will find out who she was later in the mission). Make your way through more firefights followed by a shootout with a gunship. The gunship will flank your cover positions so it is best to draw its fire then go back and take cover near the entrance to this section where the gunship can only attack from your front. Towards the end you will participate in a rather comical scene with a "high" Volus, who wants to kill Elnora (the Eclipse boss), you can let him try (renegade) or get him to sleep off his buzz (paragon). After killing Elnora be sure to loot the area for credits and resources, and get the name of the ship so you can add Samara to your squad.

The Quarian
Go to Haestrom, which will be available after completing the Horizon mission. Tali has been sent to the planet with other Quarians to gather data on the planet's prematurely-decaying sun. However, Geth are present on the planet and she becomes trapped inside of a building.

Basically it is a rather simple walkthrough, clear your path towards Tali by going through swarms of geth. Sounds easy, but there is one caveat about this quest; the sun's radiation is too high and it actually deteriorates your shields within seconds, so do not stay too long in direct sunlight, traveling or fighting. Go down to the small bunker where there is a console to open the gates. Onc inside, a Geth dropship will drop several Geth that need to be defeated. Avoiding temptation to cross the bridge in broad sunlight, make your way diagonally across the area to a shadowed stairway where there is a weapon upgrade on a dead Quarian. Go through a few doors and corridors, paying attention to scannable upgrades on dead Geth and find a comlink to speak with Captain Kal'Reegar (member of Tali’s Quarian team) who provides info about the status of Tali. After a geth dropship kills some Quarians, and the rubble unfortunately blocks where you need to go, EDI will inform you that you need to find some explosive charges (2) to blow the rubble away. Acquire the charges from two bunkered areas, while taking out 4 waves of Geth, and set them on the rubble and take cover. You will arrive in a room where you will find several credits, a weapon upgrade and you a comlink to ask Tali to open the doors.

Make your way through another area where there are multiple Geth probes which can cloak, not so annoying as the Geth Prime in the area so stay take cover (and out of the sunlight). Make your way into the next bunker and open the shutters where a Geth Colossus welcomes you to the party. Going down a starwell, you will meet Kal'Reegar who informs you that Tali is on the other side, locked in and you have to defeat the Colossus and the other Geth to get to her.

Kal offers his help (decline = paragon, with possible paragon interruption and he survives. Accept = he helps you to fight but dies in the process). If he survives he can later speak on Tali's behalf in her (loyalty mission) trial. You are advised to use any tech skills against the Colossus plus heavy weapons, and watch your flanks as Geth will flank you at any position (sticking to the far left or right instead of down the middle of the area can help avoid this).

After you defeat the Geth, Tali opens the door for you. She summarizes that she was on a mission for the Migrant Fleet examining the system's fast collapsing red sun. Unlike your first encounter you are now able to recruit her to your squad.

Addendum: If you are doing this on "Hardcore" or "Insane", in the room where Tali is, you will find a "Geth Pulse Rifle".

Collector Ship
After recruiting two of those crew members, you must board a disabled Collector ship. This will happen after the Illusive Man contacts you with information regarding a Turian cruiser engaging the Collectors. The turian ship was destroyed, but managed to disable it, supposedly due to the additional damage the ship received from the Alliance turrets back on Horizon.

After boarding the seemingly empty Collector ship, you will come to pile of dead humans, which sparks a conversation as to why the Collectors are taking humans as captives. You then find a deceased Collector with evidence of it being operated and experimented on. Another conversation between squad mates and EDI reveal that the Collectors are in fact the long-lost Protheans, twisted and forcefully adapted to serve the Reapers as mere tools. After the conversation ends, you will find a pile of weapons next to the console; the game gives the player the option of either training in a weapon that they are unable to use normally, such as shotguns for infiltrators. Alternatively, the player may choose to select an upgraded weapon for a weapon proficiency that they already have. There are 3 of them you can choose from, but can only receive the advanced training to operate one. The three choices are: the shotgun M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun, the light machine gun M-76 Revenant, or the sniper rifle Widow Anti-Material Rifle. The weapon chosen must have the basic training associated with its class, ie. the M-76 Revenant requires the ability to use assault rifles, thus only usable by soldiers (note: if you are a vanguard you can also get this rifle even though the description said that vanguards can't use assault rifles). It is not possible to have all three for Shepard, despite multiple playthroughs. In case of playing with a class with no access to either shotguns, assault rifles or sniper rifles, such as an Adept or Sentinel, picking any of those gives you access to the basic training for that weapon but not the special gun, don't forget to make a stop at the weapon locker and the heavy weapon ammo crate a short ways after the weapon pile.

After proceeding further, Joker and EDI will attempt to scan the Collector ship only to find out you've been lured into a trap (which the Illusive Man was quite aware of). Make your way to the console on the platform so that EDI can buy time for you to get off the ship before the Collectors activate their weapons systems. Defeat the Collector waves incoming on multiple platforms then reactivate the console. Avoid the temptation to use your heavy weapon and save it for the Praetorian. You will have to fight your way back to the shuttle through waves of Drones, Harbingers, Husks, a Scion and (you guessed it) a Praetorian, be sure to look for various upgrades on your way out.

'''Note: This mission has been known to trigger after recruiting only one of the crew members made available in this chapter. This most likely is caused by having the Zaeed DLC. It can be surmised that it triggers upon having 6 crew members in total. It also only triggers once per character, and will not appear on playthroughs beyond the first.'''

Reaper IFF
NOTE: It is strongly recommended to forgo this mission until you have completed all character specific conversations, loyalty side-missions, and weapon/armor/ship upgrades if you are going for the "No One Left Behind" achievement, and max survivability (your team and the Normandy crew), since you will only be able to squeeze out 1 more mission (which should be Legions loyalty mission) prior to making a choice to enter the Omega 4 Relay.

This mission will pit you against husks, abominations and a few Scions. It is advisable to bring at least one teammate with a shotgun for this mission. If you find yourself walking toward a group of explosives, it is probably an ambush site where mobs of husks and abominations will rush you from the edge of the platform. There are several weapon upgrades sidelined throughout this level so remember to search. Halfway through the mission, Joker will call and inform you that the Reaper threw up shields. You will then be tasked with destroying the mass effect core of the Reaper. As you are advancing toward the core, a cutscene will trigger showing a single geth soldier with N7 armor kill a few husks around you. The player will then fight until the actual core, where the geth will be knocked out by husks, but not before bringing down the barriers to left Shepard and his squad in. The player's job from here on is to destroy the glowing blue mass effect core while fighting off infinite waves of husks. The glowing blue mass appears after it's shields are retracted (roughly every 30 seconds). Missiles are strangely misdirected by the core and firing one will result in the missile flying to the left or right. After destroying the core, the player will be given the choice of bringing the geth back to the Normandy. If you choose to do so, the geth may be recruited and become known as Legion.

Activating the IFF
In order to have the best possible outcome for the game, it's important to complete all loyalty missions and upgrades before this point.

The IFF will be integrated into the Normandy in order to use the Omega 4 relay. In order to do this, they will have to perform a test on the system. Joker will inform you that the crew should use the shuttle for the next mission. You may be able to squeeze one or two missions out in this period so wrap up any loyalty missions you haven't accomplished for max survivors. If you agree, you and your operatives board the shuttle, leaving Joker and the Normandy crew alone.

While Shepard and his team are gone, Joker and EDI will have a conversation regarding the integration of the IFF. EDI informs Joker that she has detected a hidden signal being given off by the IFF, and that it may give away the Normandy's location. Before Joker has a chance to tell EDI to stop the integration, a Collector Ship jumps in right on top of the Normandy, and Collectors begin boarding the ship. Joker is unable to control the Normandy due to the Collectors' virus preventing ship access.

The only way to escape is for Joker to release EDI's control lock and give her command of the ship by connecting her systems directly to the control systems. The player then takes control of Joker. Have Joker hobble to the Tech Lab (follow the lights on the floor), and then to the AI Core via a maintenance shaft. As you move, Collectors will appear and engage in combat with members of the crew or drag them away. You should be able to make it just by moving quickly and not stopping.

Next, EDI will need you to go to Engineering and restart the core. This is a little trickier, since there are Collectors in your way. If you rush in, one will spot you, and the mission will end. Instead, move to the stairs and wait until EDI tells you that the corridor is clear.

When the core is restarted, EDI will have full control of the Normandy. After clearing the ship of Collectors by opening all of the airlocks (save the sealed engine room), the Normandy will jump away; leaving Joker the only crew member remaining on board. After Shepard returns, he/she has a decision to make: either head straight to the Omega 4 relay, or complete more loyalty (or side) missions. If you don't go immediately through the relay (you can still do research first) and continue to do side quests, Kelly Chambers and other members of the crew will die on the Collector ship. If you go through the relay immediately, Lilith (a colonist from Horizon) will die instead. Either way, you get a gory cutscene.

Interlude
This material is optional but will affect the final outcome of the game.

Upgrading the Normandy
Before reaching the end of this section of the game, you may want to upgrade your ship. Upgrading your ship will save some of your crew members. The important upgrades are the shields, the armor , and the cannon. Jacob, Tali, and Garrus provide these upgrades. For each of these you do not upgrade, you will later lose one team member. The upgrades also determine who dies and when. In order to protect your crew, purchase these upgrades early.


 * Shields: Thane/Tali/Legion/other(Garrus - confirmed: if you have Thane and Tali in your party, and you failed to recruit Legion, Garrus dies); If they are both in your current squad to take down the oculus, Thane will be in the engine room. They are/she is/ vaporized when the drive core explodes due to stress.
 * Cannon: Thane/Legion/Garrus/Other; You lose a party member when the Collector ship attacks you. If Tali and Legion are in your squad fighting the occulus - Garrus will die.
 * Armor: Jack/Jacob; You lose a party member when you crash.

Note on Loyalty Missions
Each character you can acquire for your party has a corresponding 'loyalty mission'. Completing this mission successfully is required to gain the party member's loyalty, and unlocks the party member's fourth power and an alternative costume.

Loyalty missions become available as the game is played. Yeoman Chambers will remark to the player that a character wishes to speak with Shepard, and the loyalty quest will be added to Shepard's quest list. Talk to the character in question and agree to solve his, her, or its problem. Loyalty quests require that the character in question be part of Shepard's squad for the duration of the quest.

There are two situations in which loyalty can be lost. If this happens, the loyalty level of the character will be reset to 'normal', but the alternate costume and fourth power remain. Both situations can be resolved (in an identical manner) in a way that does not cause any loss of loyalty, but this requires a substantial Paragon or Renegade score. However, while loyalty can be restored, any potential romance for the afflicted character is permanently compromised.

Loyalty also increases the characters survival chances during the attack on the Collector base. However, with that being said, loyalty is not the prerequisite to survival since other variables will also play into whether all or some of your crew members stand with you in victory (such as the previously mentioned ship upgrades and team selection in the suicide missions described later in this article). Therefore, characters who are not loyal can also survive the game  if  they are not placed into compromised situations after proceeding through the Omega 4 Relay.

Jack and Miranda
After completing both Jack and Miranda's loyalty missions (in either order), you will be summoned to Miranda's office in order to stop the two from fighting. Jack is angry that Miranda refuses to acknowledge Cerberus' mistreatment, while Miranda insists that the abuses which Jack suffered were committed by a rogue branch. A sufficiently high Paragon or Renegade score is required to keep both squad members' loyalty; taking one character's side will result in the other character losing her loyality. If this does happen, a nearly maxed-out Paragon or Renegade score will allow the player to regain the squad member's loyalty through a conversation option later on.

Tali and Legion
After completing both Tali and Legion's loyalty missions, you will be summoned to the AI Core in order to defuse a tense situation. Tali is angry that Legion is trying to send data about the quarian fleet back to the geth collective, and is threatening it with a pistol. Again, a sufficiently high Paragon or Renegade score is required to keep both squad members' loyalty.

Miranda: The Prodigal
When Miranda escaped from her father, she also kidnapped from him her baby sister, a "twin" as she called her. Miranda then hid her from him on Illium. Her mission entails going to Illium and helping Miranda to move her sister and family to a new location. When you get there, you find that mercenaries have discovered her and you fight your way through them to meet up with Miranda's old friend, who you find has betrayed Miranda after learning that she had kidnapped her sister. He will tell Miranda that only he knows about her sister, her father has yet to be informed. Miranda will then shoot him although you have a Paragon option to stop her. After a final fight, you will find her sister unharmed and waiting with her family for a transport. Miranda will want to leave, although you have the option of convincing her to talk to her sister and letting her know she exists and loves her.

Jacob: The Gift of Greatness
Jacob receives a message that he believes was sent by the Illusive Man. It informs him that a distress beacon from Jacob's father's ship has been discovered after 8 years. You quickly leave for the planet and discover the wreckage of the ship and the V.I. After talking with the V.I. and exploring the ship, you come to discover some rather disturbing facts. After the ship had crashed, Jacob's father was promoted to captain as the previous captain had died during the crash. Shortly after landing on the planet, they discovered that the plant life affected their brains, making them stupid and in the case of the men, violent. You also find out that Jacob's father had forced the crew to eat the plants on the planet, while the officers used the supplies of the ship. Jacobs father also divided up the women among the officers. After fighting your way through the crazed crew and the robots, you find Jacobs father, who is at first relieved to be rescued until he realizes that his rescuer is his son. After berating his father, you have the option of either subduing him and leaving him for the Alliance to pick up and prosecute, leaving him stranded on the planet in to deal with the mess he has created as his punishment, or giving him a pistol, which he will use to kill himself after you leave.

Garrus: Eye for an Eye
While on Omega, Garrus was betrayed by a member of his squad named Sidonis and sent on a wild goose chase while mercenaries killed his unit. Later on, Garrus receives intel that someone on the Citadel named Fade hid Sidonis. Once you arrive that the citadel, you meet with a volus pretending to be Fade. After a conversation with him, you learn that Fade is actually, C-Sec officer Harkin, from Mass Effect. You then take the rapid-transit to the previously closed off Factory District, where you battle through mechs and Blue Sun forces to reach Harkin. After a confrontation with Harkin, he sets up a meeting between Shepard and Sidonis, at this point you have a chance to save Harkin from a angry Garrus or be renegade and let Garrus shoot him. During the meeting, you can either help Garrus and facilitate Sidonis's assassination, or inform Sidonis and spare his life. Allowing Garrus to take the shot and kill Sidonis gives a substantial number of Renegade points. Conversely, talking to Sidonis and preventing Garrus from taking the shot results in a substantial number of Paragon points as well as an explanation as to why Sidonis betrayed Garrus. However, as this action ends the mission immediately, there are no prompts to inform the player of exactly how many Paragon/Renegade points are earned by either choice.

Mordin: Old Blood
On Tuchanka, one of Mordin's former STG associates has been "kidnapped" and Mordin asked you to save him. Talk to the "Scout Chief" in the Urdnot Camp. He'll lend you a truck to transport you to where Mordin's student is being held. Fight your way past the krogan and mercs until you find Mordin's old associate, who has not been kidnapped, but is instead riddled with guilt and working on a genophage cure. During the later half of the conversation, there will be a Paragon interrupt, which determines the fate of the student. Despite what happens to the student, Mordin defers the decision of what to do with the genophage research to Shepard. You may choose to destroy it or save it. After the confrontation, return to the Normandy, with Mordin's loyalty secured.

The choice presented regarding the destruction or preservation of the genophage research may or may not have an effect on Mass Effect 3.

Jack: Subject Zero
Jack, being Jack, wants to blow stuff up! Specifically she wants to blow up the old Cerberus base on Pragia (Dakka System/Nubian Expanse) where she grew up. Of course, some mercs have other ideas and they'll try to get in your way. As you fight your way through them, hit all the conversation points and old computers to find out that the truth about Jack's childhood is a little different than she remembers it. Eventually you get to Jack's old cell, where you find Aresh, one of Jack's "classmates". He explains that, as bad as Jack had it, the other kids had it worse. Jack will either kill him or not. Afterwards, walk around Jack's cell and learn more about her experiences. Talk to her about the bed, window, desk, and old blood stain to learn more about Jack and end the mission.

Thane: Sins of the Father
For Thane's loyalty mission, he will ask that you help him find and stop his son on the Citadel, who has followed in his father's footsteps and become an assassin, and make amends. Travel to the Citadel and choose Thane for your party. Go and talk to Captain Bailey in the C-Sec office and select Thane's son option. He will say that his son was spotted talking to Mouse, a street urchin. You can find Mouse outside the Darkstar club. Talk to him and he will say that the son's target is a local anti-human politician. Go back to Bailey and have him bring in a local crime boss, in order for you to ask him a few questions. After a rather amusing episode of you and Thane interrogating the crime boss by playing "good cop/bad cop", you will be placed on catwalks running the length of the route.

Before doing anything else, pick up the datapad for a Heavy Pistol damage upgrade. Follow the politician (easily visible due to his bright red krogan bodyguard) and, each time there is a box to update Thane, activate it. Near the end of the route you will bump into a stock boy- use the Renegade interrupt to knock him out or talk him down using a dialogue option. After this, you will arrive at the politician's apartment, as the son attempts the assassination. Choose the Paragon option to have Thane and his son have a nice long talk. That is the end of Thane's Loyalty mission. Thane's loyalty mission is one of two which requires no combat (the other is Samara's mission).

Note: While you are on the catwalks, failure to update Thane each time before the timer bar runs out will result in Thane's son successfully murdering the politician, mission failure and not receiving Thane's loyalty.

Grunt: Rite of Passage
Prior to mission start, load up on your most powerful heavy weapon you have available, you will see why close to the end. Bring Grunt before the krogan clan leader in Tuchanka, if you kept Wrex alive in Mass Effect, he will be the clan leader. Grunt will be instructed to take a series of tests before a structure called the Keystone. The Keystone will send out 3 shockwaves, one at a time in varying strength. The first shockwave brings waves of varren, standard melee units. Second shockwave brings Klixen, which explode when killed. Third wave brings a thresher maw that shoots acid and burrows to one of three places roughly every 10 seconds. Any cover aside from concrete will break in one hit from the acid blast. To beat the final level, the player has two options. The first option is to wait out the 5 minute timer with the sole objective of surviving. The second option is to to kill the thresher maw within the 5 minutes. Not a particularly daunting task, but you will unlock an achievement if you do (having the M920 Cain will make this quick work). Killing the worm will trigger a scene involving another clan of krogan attempting to recruit Grunt. A fight will ensue against a group of 6 or so krogan. Killing them will result in the end of the mission.

Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi
When you get the quest,you have to go to Omega and and check on one of Mornith's latest victims, a female Human named Nef. Head to the apartments to find Nef's grieving mother. After a short conversation with her, you are allowed to search her apartment for evidence. Read her holograph journal's last entry to discover that she went to the Afterlife's VIP room to meet an asari there (reading and paying attention to all of the entries will give you hints as to Morinth interests when you talk to her later). The final words were that she was supposed to meet her the next day. Following this, you will travel with Samara to the back entrance of afterlife. She then tells you the only way to draw her out is for you to lure her into taking you back to her apartment. Proceed into Afterlife. (Very important... it is highly recommended that you save at this point. It is extremely easy to fail the first time around, and you will have forfeited the quest, along with the chance for Samara's loyalty.)

You must now gain Morinth's attention. This area isn't too big; it is just a small semicircle with a few lounges, a bar, and a dance floor. It is recommended to have a high paragon or renegade skill, however it is not required. Talk to the NPC on the immediate left about concert tickets (conversation hint), go to the bartender and tell him to order a round of drinks, then go and dance with someone on the dance floor. It really doesn't matter what you do but you must do some useless tasks in order to draw her attention. After two or three things are done, you will instantly go into a cutscene where Morinth approaches you and invites you to her private booth. This is the trickiest part of the quest, if you read all of Nef's journal entries this is relatively easy. You must choose the conversation options that "interest her" or she will simply lose interest and just buy you a drink. Samara mentions what topics she is interested in if you decide to talk to her before you enter the cutscene. There are five subject choices you can choose from. Don't choose the ones about family or the Justicar, as they will end the conversation quickly. The other three will bring you into conversations about those topics. It is best to be as dark and mysterious as possible, instead of heroic and mighty, as it coincides with her nature. It may take you a few tries, but if you are successful on all three subjects, she will invite you back to her apartment.

Spend some time examining all her stuff before you talk to her. If you do not have a full paragon or renegade score, or did not choose those options in the conversation, Samara will eventually burst through the door and a fight will ensue. After she defeats Morinth she will become loyal to you and gain access to the Reave skill.

If you have a completely filled paragon or renegade score, and choose those options throughout the conversation, the fight will become locked in a stalemate and you will be able to choose whether to kill Morinth or Samara. Morinth will be loyal to you should you decide to obtain her, and her fourth skill is Dominate, an extremely useful skill for the last mission. Choosing Morinth will net you a sizable amount of Renegade points. Samara, however, is more powerful overall with better biotic damage and skills, and carries the powerful Reave skill. Vice-versa to Morinth, deciding on Samara will net you Paragon points. Regardless of the outcome, you will have the loyalty of your chosen asari and are one step closer to challenging the Collectors.

Note that you can still gain the Reave yourself with advanced training even if you choose Morinth.

Tali: Treason
When Tali is accused of treason by the Migrant Fleet's Admiralty Board, Shepard and team has to travel there to attempt to clear her name. She is put under treason for allegedly sending "live" geth parts back to the Migrant Fleet and compromising the security of one of its science ships. Shepard has to attempt to take back that ship to clear her name. In the mean time, they find evidence that clears Tali's name, but points to the recklessness of Tali's father and his team, which may have caused the incident. Shepard has the option of turning in the evidence, or withholding it during the trial. Certain choices have different consequences. These are:
 * Should Shepard decide to present the evidence, Tali is exonerated, but she considers this a betrayal as she pleaded with you beforehand to not tell the Admiralty Board about it. This does not secure her loyalty.
 * Withholding the evidence will result in Tali being exiled, but as she is thankful that her father's legacy and honor are protected, you gain her loyalty.
 * Through certain Paragon choices (if available), Shepard can reference Tali's valor and heroism from events in Mass Effect 1 (e.g., the battle of the Citadel, stopping Saren/Geth/Reapers, etc.), thus swaying the Admiralty boards opinion and leading to her exoneration. This results in keeping Tali's father's honor intact and exonerating Tali from the accusations, successfully securing her loyalty and causing her to fully accept her new name of Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Choice rewards plenty of paragon points.
 * Another choice is possible should Kal'Reegar and Veetor be alive and present in the trial. Shepard can appeal to the crowd, resulting in Kal'Reegar and Veetor vouching for Tali, saying that if she is exiled, they are as well. The Admiralty Board capitulates and exonerates Tali. This choice also secures Tali's loyalty.

At the end of the trial, you are allowed some final words regarding the Migrant Fleet's stance against the geth. You can choose to ask them to not attack the geth and save their ships for the Reapers, encourage them to find another planet to establish a colony on, or you can wish them luck in their war against the geth. This may or may not have an effect in Mass Effect 3.

For additional dialogue, first acquire Legion, and then bring him on board the Migrant Fleet ship along with Tali. You may have to convince the quarian guards to let him onto the ship, otherwise he will be forced to return to the Normandy. (Note that this option grants the oppurtunity to gian several Paragon/Renegade points, which can be handy for maxing out those scores to unlock the most options in the Jack and Samara loyalty missions).

Legion: A House Divided
Legion will eventually inform you that geth actually are apathetic towards organics and those fighting organics are "heretics" following the Reapers or, as they call them, "The Old Machines". Legion will tell you that the heretics are developing a virus that will turn all geth into followers of the Reapers and asks you to head to an old, heretic-held quarian space station in order to destroy the virus threatening the peaceful geth.

The layout of the station is relatively linear. Several rooms will contain 'geth hubs' and inactive geth. Crossing the green circuit traces on the floor, shooting at the geth, or destroying the hub will result in the geth activating and attacking your squad. Destroy all hubs and geth in a room to stop the alarm and proceed. Note that destroyed hubs can be salvaged for 3000 credits each.

After the squad has reached the central computer core, Shepard can decide whether to reprogram the virus and use it to free the heretics from Reaper-control (Paragon) or to destroy it and the space station with all heretics on it (Renegade). If reprogramming is chosen, Legion will inform Shepard that the heretics will return to the geth and their memories incorporated.

Once Legion activates the console, waves of geth will activate and attack your position. The geth will try to make their way up the two staircases on either side of the room. There is a three-sided barrier between the console and the entrance to the room which makes an excellent position for your squad, allowing them to attack both waves of geth without exposing themselves to enemy fire. Geth waves consist of six units a wave, including geth troopers and get hunters. Activate the rocket turrets at your discretion to make things easier; note that the turrets will self-destruct after a short period.

After you have fought off the geth, you will need to rush back to the Normandy. Exit through the now-unlocked door to the right of the terminal and fight through the geth. The final room contains a Geth Prime. Exit through the door to end the mission.

Zaeed: The Price of Revenge (DLC)
You will receive a Mission on Traveling to Zorya. After walking/running thought the forested areas, you will encounter your first enemies, Blue Suns Troopers, pyro, heavy (using the ML-77 Missile launcher) and a FENRIS Mech. Using overload on the Pyro will immediately kill him. There will be a Medi-kit around behind cover. After the fight a cut scene comes when reaching the bridge. Continuing down to the Gatehouse there will be a crate of Refined Palladium. Again another cut scene will pop up when opening the door. There will be 2 enemies after the cut scene when reaching the cross section, and to the right there will be another crate of Refined Palladium. After, opening the door another cut scene will pop out. The cut scene added 11 Renegade for me.

At this cut scene, the player has a choice to either save the factory workers, who will die in the fire, or to assist Zaeed on his mission of Vengeance. Its worth adding that the Paragon path gives different rewards in this mission; it adds 21000 credits in potential rewards over the Renegade path. On the paragon path, you can also find a Heavy Weapons Ammo upgrade, whereas on the Renegade path, you find an arguably more valuable Assault Rifles damage bonus.

Either way, no more cutscenes from now until the end. On the Renegade path, there will be a Salvage(+6000 Credits) to the right side of the room after killing your first 5 enemies, going down the passage way there will be a Research Terminal (gives a updated on your Squad assault rifles’ damage). Going on there will be 9 enemies to kill. Continue on and again there will be a loot on Refined Palladium. The Paragon Path will give you two +6000 Credits Salvages and the Heavy Ammo Upgrade as you go around extinguishing the fires. At that point, both paths will lead to an the hallway where there will be a M-451 firestorm(only given by downloading the DLC), which is basically a flamethrower. There will be 2 enemies and a Weapon Locker with power cells right beside.

Now this is where the fun kicks in. Enemies including the YMIR Mech will come after you. After waves of enemies the YMIR Mech will come last. Do not forget the Medi-kit; it is useful! The place where the Blue Sun troopers spawn, the left and the right have some good stuff for you. (Top Left side doors, Salvage (+6000 Credits). Top right side doors, Salvage (+6000 Credits)). Continuing on there will be a last cut scene.(Note: You can skip the fighting by Charging on the YMIR Mech if you are a Vanguard. However, that will have no impact on the ending of this mission; if you saved the workers, he will die, regardless how fast you finished the battle.)

The last cut scene will depend on the choice the player made earlier. If the player chose to assist Zaeed, he will kill Santiago and the mission will be over, with Zaeed promoted to "Loyal". If the player chose to save the workers, if he has sufficient paragon points, he will be able to use a charm dialogue option and ensure Zaeed's loyalty. Otherwise, the loyalty mission fails and Zaeed remains "normal". Those trying for the Paragon path should thus wait until their Paragon bar is filled before attempting the Loyalty quest for Zaeed.

Suicide Mission
Aiming for a "bad" ending Before starting the Suicide Mission do not purchase upgrades for the Normandy, as for each one of these not purchased a squad member will die on the run to the Collector's ship.

There are three stages to this mission, during which you will have to choose members of your team to perform certain duties. Picking an inappropriate character for those tasks will result in someone's permanent death. Appropriate choice are listed after Ideal, while non appropriate choices are listed after Non-ideal. If an ideal squad member is not loyal for your playthrough consider them to be a Non-ideal choice.

If at the end of the final battle all squad members have died, no one will be there to help Shepard get onto the ship resulting in the Commander's death.

Collector Base: Infiltration

 * A Specialist Technician is required to infiltrate via the station's vents in order to circumnavigate the defenses and doors, in order to open the central gate for the rest of the squad.
 * Ideal: Tali or Legion
 * Non-ideal: Anyone else, as they will be shot in the head while forcing the door shut.
 * A Fire-team Leader is required for the second team. The briefing conversation mentions that this member must be experienced in leading a team.
 * Ideal: Garrus, Jacob, or Miranda
 * Non-ideal: Anyone else, as they will get your specialist technician killed, even if Tali or Legion was chosen.
 * Your Team - will be fighting against Collector Drones, Harbingers, and several Collector Assassins, so it is wise to bring along members that wield biotics. Characters with the Concussive Shot or Incinerate powers are also a good choice, as Concussive Shot is effective at taking down biotic barriers, and Incinerate deals decent damage against organic enemies.

You will have to fight several Collector squads, while pressing forward to activate 8 different consoles alongside a path beside the vent your Specialist is in. The last few consoles are time-sensitive, so you should clear out the enemies as quickly as possible. It is advisable to save your game before you press the last button in case you pick the wrong character for the next session. The mission immediately ends after pressing the final button, so if time is running out it may be worth it to run to the button and press it even if there are enemies remaining.

Collector Base: The Long Walk

 * A Biotic Specialist to generate a shield, protecting the squad against Collector swarms.
 * Ideal: Samara/Morinth or Jack.
 * Non-ideal: Anyone else. Doing so will result in one of your squad mates being carried off by a Collector swarm.
 * A Fire-team Leader for the second team.
 * Ideal: Garrus, Jacob, or Miranda
 * Non-ideal: Anyone else. There is a possibility of this leader dying as the doors close at the end of the long walk (shot in the stomach as the door closes).
 * An Escort to guide the Normandy crew back to the ship. However, you can't use this person for the final battle. Choosing no one results in the death of the Normandy crew.
 * Ideal: Any loyal teammate that was not assigned as a specialist or fire-team leader.
 * Non-ideal: A team member that you have not secured loyalty from. This squad member will perish while escorting the Normandy crew, sometimes the crew as well. Note: Sending Mordin may be ideal, because he has a chance of randomly dying if he doesn't escort the crew back, even if he is loyal and all other choices have been done correctly.


 * Your Team - You will be fighting against Drones, Harbinger, Assassins, waves of Husks and Abominations, and one Scion.

The Biotic Specialist you have chosen will erect a dome-shaped biotic shield encapsulating the squad from Collector swarms. Note: moving outside of the biotic barrier will cause damage to Shepard and eventually result in death. The Biotic Specialist will move slowly through the level and stop three times for you to fight off a wave of enemies before proceeding. The waves encountered are:
 * 1) Drones and Harbinger
 * 2) Husks and Abominations climb up from a ledge then Drones, a Harbinger and Assassins will appear.
 * 3) Husk, Abominations and a Scion.

Part 1

 * The team you pick here will stay with you for the rest of the suicide mission - you will be fighting against Drones, Harbinger, Assassins, Abominations, Scions, and one giant Human-Reaper. Ideal: Squad members that are loyal to you. Non Ideal: Squad members that are not loyal to you. They will die when the Collector ship starts to fall apart.


 * The rest of the team stays back to hold the line until you're done.

Ammo is very scarce, so powers must be used efficiently, and ammo must be scavenged when possible. Similar to a previous encounter on the Collector ship. Platforms will fly in, carrying several Collector enemies on them. The last platform will contain 3 Abominations and 2 Scions. After defeating them there will be a console to trigger the next section.

(Note: On both the PC/Xbox360 version there is a glitch where the two Scions will not attack until you run up to the platform to engage them. If you have a sniper rifle/warp you can kill them from 2 platforms away before they are aware you exist.)

Part 2
More fly-in platforms. After clearing each platform, the armor covering the four tubes of the inactive Human-Reaper will open temporarily and you should destroy them immediately (if you're lucky, you can destroy two each round, but this is difficult as their armor covers them very quickly after destroying one. Also, if you have heightened adrenaline rush it is possible to take out all 4 in one round). If you have the M920 Cain or the Collector Particle Beam, it is possible to take out two tubes simultaneously, although you may want to save your ammo for the final battle.

Destroying the four tubes will trigger an interlude with Illusive Man, who asks if you will destroy the facility (Paragon), while preferring that you keep the facility for Cerberus to use on the Reapers (Renegade).

Part 3
You start behind a good barricade spot and you can start shooting at the Reaper's eyes (they are small, but there are 3 of them), or the large weak point on its chest. It has a nasty charge up attack and it would be wise to not expose yourself until it is done. (If you're feeling brave, you can also take advantage of the fact that it stays still while it's charging to get in some reliable damage; listening to the charge-up sound will tell you when it's time to get back behind cover.) Once you have damaged the Reaper enough, Collector drones will attack. When the boss' life is below 25%, it will begin dodging around and send more attacks at you. Continue shooting at its eyes or use the M920 Cain, directed at its chest and the fight should be over shortly, leading to the end of game cutscenes.

Epilogue
The Normandy rushes to escape the immense fireball emanating from the Collector base. If Shepard chose to destroy the base, it explodes in a massive blast that the Normandy barely manages to outrun. If the base was spared, the blast is blue as the radiation destroys all organic matter, leaving the base intact.

After the mission ends, Shepard goes to speak with the Illusive Man. If the base was destroyed, the star behind the Illusive Man now appears to be blue. The Illusive Man is furious with Shepard; he tells the Commander that they still have to face the Reapers and that base's technology could have saved them.

If the base was spared, the Illusive Man compliments Shepard's decision. When their discussion is finished, the Illusive Man sits in front of the star, contemplating a hologram of the spared base.

If your actions caused Shepard's death in the final cutscene, Joker is the one to speak with the Illusive Man, though this does not affect dialogue.

In dark space, a reaper is shown awakening from statis as lights appear within its superstructure. As it awakens, the dark void surround the reaper is illuminated by thousands of pinpoints of light, revealing hundreds of other reapers. The final shot shows the reaper fleet beginning to move towards the Milky Way galaxy in the distance.

After completion of the last mission, cutscenes and closing credits you will have the option to either: a) Go back and complete any missed side or loyalty missions, planet scans, freeroam, etc, or b) start a new career using the same "Shepard" with your stats carried over.