Nightsolo's Mass Effect 2 Shepard Guide



Importing A Shepard From Mass Effect 1

I HIGHLY recommend importing a save game, because a new character in Mass Effect 2 supposedly starts with all the Renegade choices from Mass Effect 1. Also, the Genesis DLC only covers the major decisions, where many of the minor decisions will have effects as well.

From the Main Menu, choose Configuration, then Save Games, then Copy Mass Effect 1 Save Games. Then browse to where on your computer those are (normally C:\Users\Username\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Save\). Then once you're in the game, choose Import ME1 Character. You can then change Shepard's appearance and class, and add a bonus power.

If you don't have a save game to import yourself, you can use someone else's save files from www.masseffectsaves.com, or you can use the Genesis DLC from BioWare to make the relevant importable choices.

There are some bonuses for importing a high-level character:
+100,000 Credits for having over 1 million Credits in ME1
20% of your previous Paragon and Renegade meters (up to 190 points)
For levels 50-59, you get +2000 EXP, +5,000 of each mineral, and +25,000 Credits
For level 60, you get +4,000 EXP, +60,000 of each mineral, and +350,000 Credits

Starting A New Shepard

The Manual and In-Game Character Creation Steps do a good job explaining the basics of creating a character, so I won't go over those here. I will, however, go into some more subtle details.
  1. Choosing a character appearance. This has only aesthetic value. Male or Female only changes your character's body and voice. All dialog is the same, save for a few gender-specific words.
  2. Choosing a Class. This will affect the Abilities available to you. This does not affect which Assignments you can complete. Unlike in ME1, the minigames do not require you or your squadmates to have any specific skill.
  3. Choosing a Background. This will have an effect on your alignment, Paragon vs. Renegade. (see below)
  4. Choosing a Personal Historical Event. This will have an effect on your alignment, Paragon vs. Renegade (see below).
Your choices of Background and History will give you several possibilities for starting Paragon or Renegade scores:
  1. Spacer & War Hero +20 Paragon
  2. Spacer & Sole Survivor +15 Paragon & +5 Renegade
  3. Spacer & Ruthless +10 Renegade
  4. Colonist & War Hero +15 Paragon
  5. Colonist & Sole Survivor +10 Paragon & +5 Renegade
  6. Colonist & Ruthless +15 Renegade
  7. Earthborn & War Hero +10 Paragon
  8. Earthborn & Sole Survivor +5 Paragon & +15 Renegade
  9. Earthborn & Ruthless +20 Renegade
Each class has a different set of starting Abilities and Talents:
Type Power Training Weapon Training Ammo Training
Soldier Adrenaline Rush, Concussive Shot Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, Heavy Pistol Incendiary, Cryo, Disruptor
Engineer Overload, Combat Drone, Incinerate, AI Hacking, Cryo Blast Sub-Machine Gun, Heavy Pistol n/a
Adept Singularity, Warp, Throw, Pull, Shockwave Sub-Machine Gun, Heavy Pistol n/a
Infiltrator Tactical Cloak, Incinerate, AI Hacking Sniper Rifle, Sub-Machine Gun, Heavy Pistol Cryo, Disruptor
Vanguard Biotic Charge, Pull, Shockwave Shotgun, Sub-Machine Gun, Heavy Pistol Incendiary, Cryo
Sentinel Tech Armor, Throw, Warp, Overload, Cryo-Blast Sub-Machine Gun, Heavy Pistol n/a


Description of Powers

Squad-Member Initial Powers

They have these by default, when they join your squad:

Turian Rebel (Garrus)Improves Health, Weapon Damage, and Power Damage
Krogan Berserker (Grunt)Increases Health, Weapon Damage, and Health Regeneration
Subject Zero (Jack)Increases Health and Weapon Damage, Reduces Power Recharge Time
Cerberus Operative (Jacob)Increases Health and Weapon Damage
Master Thief (Kasumi)Increases Health and Weapon Damage, Reduces Power Recharge Time
Geth Infiltrator (Legion)Increases Health and Weapon Damage, Reduces Power Recharge Time
Asari Scientist (Liara)Increases Health and Weapon Damage, Reduces Power Recharge Time
Cerberus Officer (Miranda)Increases Health, Weapon Damage, Squad Health, and Squad Weapon Damage
Ardat Yakshi (Morinth)Increases Health and Weapon Damage, Reduces Power Recharge Time
Salarian Scientist (Mordin)Increases Health, Weapon Damage, and Shields
Asari Justicar (Samara)Increases Health and Weapon Damage, Reduces Power Recharge Time
Quarian Machinist (Tali)Increases Health, Weapon Damage, and Power Duration
Drell Assassin (Thane)Increases Health and Weapon Damage
Mercenary Veteran (Zaeed)Increases Health and Weapon Damage


Squad-Member Loyalty Powers

They get these after you complete their Loyalty Missions:

Armor-Piercing Ammo (Garrus)Increases Damage to armor and health
Fortification (Grunt)Fortification A brief but massive boost to your armor
Warp Ammo (Jack)Increases damage against health, armor, and barriers. Does extra health damage to targets affected by biotics
Barrier (Jacob)A biotic shield, on top of a suit shield
Flashbang Grenade (Kasumi)Causes area damage and stuns enemies for a short time
Geth Shield Boost (Legion)Briefly reinforces shield with a high-energy geth shield that absorbs a large amount of damage
Slam (Miranda)Lifts a target and slams it to the ground
Reave (Samara)Disables a synthetic's health regeneration, siphon's an organic's health, does double damage to shields and barriers
Energy Drain (Tali)Drains an enemies' shield and boosts your shield
Shredder Ammo (Thane)Increases damage to health of organic targets
Inferno Grenade (Zaeed)Causes area fire damage


Combat Powers

Ammo Powers last until you activate a different ammo power. The final upgrade gives you a choice to make the ammo power extend to your whole squad. Note that powers won't stack, and if your squadmates have skill points in their own ammo power, they'll reselect it after you select yours.
Adrenaline RushSlows down time
Assault MasteryIncreases Health and Weapon Damage, Reduces Power Recharge Time, Increases Paragon/Renegade points acquired
Combat MasteryIncreases Health, Weapon Damage, Storm speed, and Paragon/Renegade points acquired
Concussive ShotA single, powerful shot
Cryo AmmoFreezes enemies, increases damage done against a frozen enemy
Disruptor AmmoIncreases Damage against Shields and Synthetics
Incendiary AmmoBurns through armor, sets enemies on fire, and damages health
OperativeIncreases Health, Weapon Damage, Sniper time slowdown and duration Reduces Power Recharge Time
Shadow StrikeCloak and sneak behind a target to deliver a devastating blow

Biotic Powers

Biotic MasteryIncreases Health, Reduces Power Recharge Time, Increases Paragon/Renegade points acquired
ChargeRam into an enemy, causing damage
DominateTurns organics over to your side for a short time
PullTarget floats towards you
ShockwaveArea knockback and damage
SingularityEnemies near the sphere float around it
ThrowThrows targets away from you
WarpDamages enemy targets and stops health regeneration, detonates any biotic powers already affecting the target causing further damage, effective against armor and biotic barriers

Tech Powers

AI HackingTurns synthetics over to your side for a short time
Combat DroneSpawns a drone to attack enemies
Cryo BlastCauses cold damage to enemies
DefenderIncreases Health and Paragon/Renegade points acquired, Reduces Power Recharge Time,
IncinerateCauses area fire damage
Neural ShockIncapacitates an organic for a short time
OverloadCauses area damage to shields and synthetics
Tactical CloakYou're invisible for a short time
Tech ArmorBoosts your shields for a short time. When the armor is destroyed, it sends out a pulse of energy, knocking back and damaging all nearby enemies
Tech MasteryIncreases Health and Paragon/Renegade points acquired, Reduces Power Recharge Time and Research Project Cost

last modified 7 July 2021