Squad Members

A commander is only as good as those he leads. As Shepard crisscrosses the galaxy in a fevered quest to stop the Collectors and save humanity from its latest threat, the squad must be filled out with more members than the initial two recruits: Miranda and Jacob.

Shepard must enlist the aid of not only a handful of humans, but also cast a net across many alien species, including the brilliant salarian scientist Mordin and the steely asari justicar Samara.

And considering Shepard’s success of teaming with a mighty krogan to stop Saren’s madness in the previous adventure, there should be no surprise that the commander seeks out the assistance of another krogan warrior, Grunt.

You must always select two squad members for the away team. You cannot leave your ship alone or with only one team member.

An outline of a person indicates the recruit has not been convinced to join you yet.

You can take a quick look at each potential squad member’s current weapons and powers from the squad selection screen to help you make a decision.

Each squad member has individual strengths you must consider before finalizing an away team.

Sometimes you will simply go with personal preference because it’s quite difficult not to develop some level of attachment to the team members you recruit.

They may have personalities that will engage you, but try to be cold and calculating when designating an away team. Use these factors to make your decision:

Mission Objectives and Enemies: Some squad members have powers that are useful against specific enemies, such as AI Hacking when going into a battle with geth.
Shepard’s Class: Balancing against your class will create a well-rounded squad. However, consider that a squad biased toward certain strengths—guns, biotics, tech—is actually useful in certain situations.
Squad Member’s Powers: Expert commanders will issue orders to squad members to use their powers and not just rely on the away team’s own choices. Look at the squad member’s available powers and weigh whether or not you would find a personal use for them.
Upgrades: There are many upgrades you can find while on missions; they affect things from shield strength to the damage done by a specific class of weapons. If you have greatly increased the damage of submachine guns, perhaps you should consider taking squad members that specialize in submachine guns to capitalize on that extra damage.

With up to 12 potential squad members (and you must recruit at least eight of them for the main plot), you can create away teams that are guaranteed to tackle any situation and come out on top.

Use the squad dossiers in this chapter to determine the ideal team for your play style, Shepard’s class, or the needs of a specific mission.

For example, in a showdown against a horde of blood-thirsty mercenaries, an engineer Shepard will likely need some serious muscle from a combat-ready squad, like the brutal Grunt or the deadly Garrus.

Squad Suggestions

Balanced Squads

Shepard’s Class	Squad Member 1	Squad Member 2	Squad Description
Soldier	Jack	Tali	Jack’s high-powered biotics and Tali’s tech talents complement a weapons expert.
Adept	Grunt	Mordin	Your adept needs firepower and brute strength for balance. Mordin completes the squad via his tech abilities.
Engineer	Thane	Samara	You have tech expertise. What you need now is a strong biotic like Samara and a crack shot, which you find in Thane.
Vanguard	Garrus	Mordin	The biotic-combat combination of the vanguard can be complemented by the long-range specialties of Garrus and Mordin’s tech.
Infiltrator	Miranda	Grunt	You have no problem taking down an enemy from a distance. You need a brute like Grunt for the close-up work and Miranda for her biotics.
Sentinel	Jacob	Grunt	Sentinels are decent with tech and biotics. Jacob’s combat and biotic strengths are a good match, while Grunt’s force is great for hairy situations.
Engineer	Garrus	Tali	This is a great squad for geth-heavy missions.

Combat Squads

Shepard’s Class	Squad Member 1	Squad Member 2	Squad Description
Soldier	Grunt	Jacob	Your weapons expertise mixed with Grunt’s brutality and Jacob’s combat readiness makes a solid combat-oriented squad.
Soldier	Grunt	Garrus	Grunt’s close-up game and Garrus’s long-distance killing power neatly complement each other.
Vanguard	Thane	Grunt	Vanguards have a nice split of combat and biotic powers. Grunt adds the “tank” factor this squad needs, and Thane snipes.
Infiltrator	Jacob	Grunt	Infiltrators need close-up experts like Grunt to get their hands dirty.
Soldier	Kasumi	Zaeed	Zaeed and soldier Shepard are deadly crowd controllers while Kasumi’s Shadow Strike lets her zip in and out of enemy positions, dealing heavy damage.
Soldier	Zaeed	Grunt	This squad is a death machine thanks to the bravery of Zaeed and Grunt, each also able to deal enormous damage with their weapon proficiency.
Vanguard	Mordin	Miranda	Between these two recruits, shields, armor, and barriers will fall.

Biotic Squads

Shepard’s Class	Squad Member 1	Squad Member 2	Squad Description
Adept	Samara	Jack	Samara and Jack are the purest biotics on the crew. Together with an adept, the trio is the most powerful biotic squad in the galaxy.
Vanguard	Samara	Miranda	The combat skills of a vanguard are complemented by Miranda’s skills. Adding a pure biotic to the squad fills in any holes in the vanguard’s biotic talent library.
Sentinel	Jack	Miranda	Sentinels do not have the strongest combat skills. Miranda’s gunplay addresses that, while Jack’s awesome biotics address any potential shortcomings.
Adept	Samara	Zaeed	Wait, Zaeed has no biotics. True, but having a combat-centric member helps run protection/interference for biotics.

Tech Squads

Shepard’s Class	Squad Member 1	Squad Member 2	Squad Description
Engineer	Tali	Legion	This squad of hackers is brilliant against synthetics.
Sentinel	Mordin	Miranda	Miranda’s biotic abilities add some versatility to this tech-heavy squad.
Infiltrator	Mordin	Legion	Legion and your infiltrator are a pair of deadly distance killers, while Mordin’s tech expertise keeps the squad alive.
Soldier	Kasumi	Miranda	Miranda and Kasumi each can use Overload to zap shields and give Shepard a clear shot.