Powers

This article is about abilities in Mass Effect 2. For abilities in the original Mass Effect, see Talents. For abilities in Mass Effect 3, see Powers (Mass Effect 3). For a list of all Powers, see Category:Powers. For abilities in Mass Effect: Andromeda, see Skills.

The abilities used in combat in Mass Effect 2 are called powers. Powers can be utilized by the player, NPC squad members, and enemies.

Mechanics

Powers in Mass Effect 2 are divided into four categories: biotic, combat, tech, and newly introduced ammo powers that can modify weapon damage. The category a power belongs to will determine which upgrades apply to it.

In Mass Effect 2, many powers now do large amounts of damage and can be used as an ammo-saving alternative to weapons for defeating enemies even on higher difficulties. Most damage powers are capable of doing bonus damage against various types of enemy protection (i.e. shields, barriers, armor, and health). Biotic powers will generally do extra damage when used against biotic barriers, while tech powers will generally do extra damage against shields. There are also many powers useful for other effects on enemies besides pure damage, but in most cases enemy defense layers must be neutralized before these effects can apply. For example, as in Mass Effect, many biotic powers are capable of levitating enemies or flinging them around the battlefield, but in Mass Effect 2 enemy protections such as shields must be destroyed before they are vulnerable to these effects.

Most powers in Mass Effect 2 now automatically lock on to enemies and either hit home instantly or fire seeking projectiles some of which are capable of arcing around cover. Enemies cannot evade powers unless they move into cover, something else blocks the power, or they have a higher than average movement speed. Powers used by squadmates almost never fire actual projectiles and instead impact targets instantly. Shepard casts offensive powers with a right-handed animation, which in practice means that it's easier to minimize exposure to enemy fire when using powers around the right edge of a piece of cover.

Each power, with the exception of Unity, has 4 ranks. When the player levels up, each character is awarded 'squad points' that can be used to unlock each rank. Each rank costs the same number of points as its rank. Unlocking all 4 ranks requires a total of 10 points. Many powers will gain additional effects at higher ranks. Upon unlocking rank 4 of a power, the player will need to choose between two powerful final evolutions of the power.

Commander Shepard

Commander Shepard can earn up to 51 squad points to assign to powers. 2 points are automatically assigned at the beginning of the game and 2 squad points are earned each time the player levels up until level 20 is reached, after which 1 point is earned per level for levels 21 to 30. An additional point is earned when acquiring a bonus power.

These points can be reassigned at any time after completing Horizon by using the Retrain Powers research project at the research terminal.

Base Powers

Each player class starts with Unity, a power that uses medi-gel to revive fallen squadmates, and 5 active powers, including one unique power unavailable to other classes or characters.

The following is a list of powers available to each class. Powers available from the very beginning are marked with a ✓, while powers that need to be unlocked by levelling up are marked with a •.

	Power	Adept	Engineer	Infiltrator	Sentinel	Soldier	Vanguard
Combat
	Adrenaline Rush					✓
	Concussive Shot					•
Ammo
	Cryo Ammo			•		•	•
	Disruptor Ammo			✓		✓
	Incendiary Ammo					•	✓
Tech
	AI Hacking		•	•
	Cryo Blast		•		•
	Combat Drone		✓
	Incinerate		•	•
	Overload		✓		•
	Tactical Cloak			✓
	Tech Armor				✓
Biotic
	Charge						✓
	Pull	•					•
	Singularity	✓
	Shockwave	•					•
	Throw	•			✓
	Warp	✓			•
Other
	Unity	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Class Powers

In addition to their 5 active starting powers, each class has a passive class power that increases health and Paragon/Renegade points as well as granting other unique bonuses, depending on the class.

	Class	Power
	Adept	Biotic Mastery
	Engineer	Tech Mastery
	Infiltrator	Operative
	Sentinel	Defender
	Soldier	Combat Mastery
	Vanguard	Assault Mastery

Bonus Powers

Each player class is able to learn one additional bonus power. After obtaining the achievement for earning a squadmate's loyalty, the player can use the Advanced Training research project at the research terminal to choose that character's unique power as their bonus power. The bonus power can be changed at any time by using Advanced Training again. Training a bonus power sets the new power to rank 1 by default. The only way to allocate this single default point to a non-bonus power is by researching Retrain Powers.

Available bonus powers are unlocked by obtaining achievements. Once a required achievement has been earned by the player, then any of their characters will be able to learn the associated power from that point on. If the player starts a new game after earning any of the achievements, they will be required to choose a bonus power as part of the character creation process; the character will be created with the chosen bonus power at rank 1. This is true even of characters being imported from an existing Mass Effect 2 save file (New Game+); if the Mass Effect 2 character being imported had more than 1 squad point allocated in the bonus power, those squad points will be reset to "unspent" and will be free to reallocate how the player chooses at game start. Any of the unlocked bonus powers can be chosen at the character creation stage with the exception of Stasis.

	Power	Squadmate	Mission	Achievement
Combat
	Flashbang Grenade	Kasumi Goto	Kasumi: Stealing Memory	Broke, Blind, and Bedlam1
	Fortification	Grunt	Grunt: Rite of Passage	Battlemaster
	Inferno Grenade	Zaeed Massani	Zaeed: The Price of Revenge	Revenge!1
Ammo
	Armor-Piercing Ammo	Garrus Vakarian	Garrus: Eye for an Eye	Fade Away
	Shredder Ammo	Thane Krios	Thane: Sins of the Father	Cat's in the Cradle
	Warp Ammo	Jack	Jack: Subject Zero	Catharsis
Tech
	Energy Drain	Tali'Zorah vas Neema	Tali: Treason	Treason
	Geth Shield Boost	Legion	Legion: A House Divided	A House Divided
	Neural Shock	Mordin Solus	Mordin: Old Blood	The Cure
Biotic
	Barrier	Jacob Taylor	Jacob: The Gift of Greatness	Ghost of the Father
	Dominate	Morinth	Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi	Doppelganger2
	Reave	Samara	Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi	Doppelganger2
	Slam	Miranda Lawson	Miranda: The Prodigal	The Prodigal
	Stasis	Liara T'Soni	Lair of the Shadow Broker	Catching Up1

1. Requires Downloadable Content.
2. Either Dominate or Reave will be unlocked depending on the player's choices in the associated mission.

Squadmates

See also: Squad Members Guide (Mass Effect 2)

Squadmates can earn up to 30 squad points each, with the exception of Miranda and Jacob, who can earn up to 31, and Liara, who joins the squad temporarily in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, who can only earn up to 29 points because she lacks a loyalty mission. One of these points is automatically assigned to the character's loyalty power when it is unlocked.

2 points are automatically assigned at the beginning of the game to Miranda and Jacob, while the rest of the squad gets 1 point. Squadmates earn 2 squad points each time the player levels up until level 5 is reached, and starting from level 7, they will earn 2 squad points every two levels, which is reduced to 1 squad point starting from level 21, and making an exception to the rule at level 30, gaining 1 final squad point.

The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC adds the ability to reassign a squadmate's squad points at any time by using the Advanced Training console in the Shadow Broker Base.

Powers

Each squadmate has 3 active powers, comprising a starting power, a second power unlockable and a loyalty power that becomes available if the character becomes loyal.

Unlike Shepard's bonus powers, it is necessary to earn the characters loyalty in each game to unlock the power, as they will not become unlocked by simply having the associated achievement.

Squadmate	Power 1	Power 2	Loyalty Power
Garrus Vakarian	Concussive Shot	Overload	Armor Piercing Ammo
Grunt	Concussive Shot	Incendiary Ammo	Fortification
Jack	Shockwave	Pull	Warp Ammo
Jacob Taylor	Pull	Incendiary Ammo	Barrier
Kasumi Goto	Shadow Strike	Overload	Flashbang Grenade
Legion	AI Hacking	Combat Drone	Geth Shield Boost
Liara T'Soni	Singularity	Warp	Stasis
Miranda Lawson	Overload	Warp	Slam
Mordin Solus	Incinerate	Cryo Blast	Neural Shock
Morinth	Throw	Pull	Dominate
Samara	Throw	Pull	Reave
Tali'Zorah vas Neema	Combat Drone	AI Hacking	Energy Drain
Thane Krios	Throw	Warp	Shredder Ammo
Zaeed Massani	Concussive Shot	Disruptor Ammo	Inferno Grenade

Class Powers

In addition, each squadmate also has their own unique passive class power. All of these powers grant varying bonuses to health and weapon damage, with many offering additional bonuses.

	Name	Power
	Garrus Vakarian	Turian Rebel
	Grunt	Krogan Berserker
	Jack	Subject Zero
	Jacob Taylor	Cerberus Operative
	Kasumi Goto	Master Thief
	Liara T'Soni	Asari Scientist
	Legion	Geth Infiltrator
	Miranda Lawson	Cerberus Officer
	Mordin Solus	Salarian Scientist
	Morinth	Ardat-Yakshi
	Samara	Asari Justicar
	Tali'Zorah vas Neema	Quarian Machinist
	Thane Krios	Drell Assassin
	Zaeed Massani	Mercenary Veteran

Upgrades

See also: Upgrade Guide, Research

Bio-Amp Upgrades

• Biotic Cooldown (Smart Amplifier)

Provides +20% faster biotic cooldowns.

• Biotic Damage 1 - 6 (Hyper-Amp)

Provides +10% biotic damage for all biotic powers.

• Biotic Duration (Neural Mask)

Provides +20% biotic power duration for all biotic powers.

Omni-Tool Upgrades

• Tech Cooldowns (Hydra Module)

Provides +20% faster cooldown on tech abilities.

• Tech Damage 1 - 6 (Multicore Amplifier)

Provides +10% tech power damage for all tech powers.

• Tech Duration (Custom Heuristics)

Provides +20% duration for all tech powers.

Squadmate Specific

• Subject Zero Power Boost (Multicore Implants)

Provides Jack with a +20% biotic damage boost.

• Mordin Tech Damage (Custom Tech Upgrade)

Provides Mordin with a +20% tech damage boost.