Powers

The skills or abilities in Mass Effect 2 are called powers. Each class starts with 6 available powers, Unity and can gain 1 bonus power, while each squadmate starts with 3 and gets a fourth once they become loyal. Below is a list of powers, separated by type, and accompanied by which classes can use each power.

Each power has 4 ranks. To advance the levels of the various powers, the player levels up and they are awarded squad points that can be used to unlock each rank. Each rank costs 1/2/3/4 points respectively, so a level 4 power costs 10 points in total. When unlocking rank 4 of any power the player must choose to evolve the power into one of two improved versions.

At the level cap of 30, Shepard will have 51 squad points to allocate to powers. Each squad member will have 30 points, with the exception of Miranda and Jacob who will have 31; one point is automatically spent on rank 1 of a squad member's loyalty power. If you want to avoid leftover points, plan your power progression accordingly.

Class Powers
Shepard and each squad member has a unique and specific power that passively increases both their health and weapon damage. Some powers also grant additional bonuses like health regeneration or cooldown reduction. Shepard's class power also grants a boost to Paragon and Renegade scores.

Shepard Class Powers

 * Assault Mastery (Vanguard)
 * Biotic Mastery (Adept)
 * Combat Mastery (Soldier)
 * Defender (Sentinel)
 * Operative (Infiltrator)
 * Tech Mastery (Engineer)

Squad Member Class Powers

 * Ardat-Yakshi (Morinth)
 * Asari Justicar (Samara)
 * Asari Scientist (Liara)
 * Cerberus Officer (Miranda)
 * Cerberus Operative (Jacob)
 * Drell Assassin (Thane)
 * Geth Infiltrator (Legion)
 * Krogan Berserker (Grunt)
 * Master Thief (Kasumi)
 * Mercenary Veteran (Zaeed)
 * Quarian Machinist (Tali)
 * Salarian Scientist (Mordin)
 * Subject Zero (Jack)
 * Turian Rebel (Garrus)

Bio-Amp Upgrades

 * Biotic Cooldown (Smart Amplifier)
 * Cost: 5,000 Element ZeroBiotic_Cooldown.png


 * Squad bonus: +20% faster biotic cooldowns


 * Generating a mass effect field requires significant concentration. After generating a field, all biotics require some rest before they have the mental focus and clarity to generate another. By tracking neural activity and recognizing the individual patterns of the user, the amp can better interpret the kind of field the biotic wishes to generate. This requires less focus when generating fields and reduces "cooldown" time.


 * Biotic Damage 1 - 6 (Hyper-Amp)
 * Cost: 500/1,000/1,500/2,000 Element Zero or 75,000/90,000 CreditsBiotic_Damage.png


 * Squad bonus: +10% biotic damage.


 * Standard firmware shipping with bio-amps is designed to work with a variety of alien races and nervous systems. By hacking this firmware to relax built in safety protocols, more powerful mass effect fields can be generated. Each hack must be done carefully, tuned to the individual's nervous system, or there's risk of nervous system damage, sensation loss, or blindness.
 * The sixth biotic damage upgrade is only available with the Firewalker Pack DLC.


 * Biotic Duration (Neural Mask)
 * Cost: 3,000 Element ZeroBiotic_Duration.png


 * Squad bonus: +20% biotic power duration.


 * Maintaining a single mass effect field requires continual concentration. By measuring and replicating neural system activity, this upgrade enables the user to maintain mass effect fields with less effort.

Omni-tool Upgrades

 * Tech Cooldowns (Hydra Module)
 * Cost: 5,000 Element ZeroTech_Cooldowns.png


 * Squad bonus: +20% faster cooldown on tech abilities


 * Most omni-tools are tuned to have an effective life span of 10 years or more for precision work, and up to 50 for more general tasks. Disabling most safety protocols and installing an experimental power core improves efficiency but reduces the expected operating life span by a factor of 20.


 * Tech Damage 1 - 6 (Multicore Amplifier)
 * Cost: 500/1,000/1,500 Element Zero or 75,000/90,000 CreditsTech_damage.png


 * Squad bonus +10% tech power damage.


 * Standard omni-tools are calibrated with a wide neural input tolerance range so they can be used effectively by any race. By tuning the inputs of the omni-tool to match the specific neural patterns of the user, responsiveness and power can be greatly increased. Once tuned in this manner, the omni-tool is almost unusable by anyone but the wearer, and it must be constantly re-calibrated to subtle neural shifts.
 * The sixth tech damage upgrade is only available with the Kasumi - Stolen Memory DLC pack.


 * Tech Duration (Custom Heuristics)
 * Cost: 3,000 Element ZeroTech_Duration.png


 * Squad bonus +20% duration for all tech powers.


 * Traditional omni-tools are tuned for precise and delicate work. Eclipse engineers tune their omni-tools in an opposite manner, focusing on quickly releasing raw energy, but rendering them incapable of performing delicate work without swapping in an alternate tool. Cerberus has prototyped a multiple-operating system approach that should allow one omni-tool to run dozens of configurations, with instantaneous swapping as the user switches tasks. This should result in better performance at each individual task.

Squad Member Upgrades

 * Subject Zero Biotic Boost (Multicore Implants)
 * Cost: 3,000 Element Zero


 * Jack gets +20% biotic damage


 * Jack's vital signs show progressive neural degeneration, which would normally decrease her potential ability to generate mass effect fields. Instead, her ability appears to be increasing. Replacing the power module in her bio-amp with a higher-capacity prototype module would dramatically increase the strength of Jack's biotics.


 * Mordin Omni-tool (Custom Tech Upgrade)
 * Cost: 3,000 Element Zero


 * Mordin gets +20% tech damage


 * Mordin built his own omni-tool and can make significant upgrades given the proper materials.