Squadmates - Mass Effect 2 Guide - IGN (2024)

In Mass Effect 2, Commander Shepard will be accompanied by two of their squadmates, chosen at the start of the mission by the player. Each has their own special skillset and unique dialogue options, giving different gameplay balances and different responses to scenarios.

Most missions in the game revolve around either recruiting your companions or gaining their loyalty.

Here, we'll give you a rundown of every squadmate, while each of them also has their own individual page which goes into depth about their power set and loadout.

• Miranda Lawson
• Jacob Taylor
• Mordin Solus
• Garrus Vakarian
• Jack
• Grunt
• Tali'Zorah
• Samara
• Morinth
• Thane Krios
• Legion
• Kasumi Goto
• Zaeed Massani

Miranda Lawson

Miranda Lawson is a Cerberus Officer and Human squadmate, who combines some Biotic powers with her combat abilities. She is one of two squadmates available automatically at the start of the game. Her loyalty mission is Miranda - The Prodigal. She is a romance option for male Shepard.

Jacob Taylor

Jacob Taylor is another Human who works for Cerberus, and he is the second squadmate automatically available at the start of the game. He is very similar to the playable Soldier class, with pure combat abilities. His loyalty mission is Jacob - The Gift Of Greatness. He is a romance option for FemShep.

Mordin Solus

Mordin Solus is the only Salarian companion available to you, though aside from the Incinerate power, he is not considered a very useful squadmate. He is, however, very important to the story as the Normandy's scientist. He is recruited in the mission Dossier - The Professor, and made loyal upon completion of Mordin - Old Blood.

Garrus Vakarian

Garrus Vakarian, a Turian marksman, is one of two returning companions from Mass Effect 1. He is recruited during Dossier - Archangel, and made loyal in the mission Garrus - Eye for an Eye. He is a romance option for FemShep.

Jack

Jack, AKA Subject Zero, is an incredibly powerful Biotic squadmate. She is recruited during the mission Dossier - The Convict, and made loyal after Jack - Subject Zero. Upon completion of both her and Miranda's loyalty mission, Shepard will find the two fighting, and will need to side with one or the other; this costs Shep the loyalty of whoever is not sided with. However, with high Renegade or Paragon, you can keep them both on side. She is a romance option for male Shepard, although if you are forced to choose between her and Miranda, you cannot romance the squadmate you did not choose to side with.

Grunt

Grunt is one of two companions you don't set out recruit; you're actually looking for his creator Okeer during the mission Dossier - The Warlord. Grunt is a tank bred Krogan, genetically engineered to be a killing machine. Fittingly, his loyalty mission (Grunt - Rite of Passage) is nothing thematically weighty like the rest, but is instead about helping him kill a giant space worm to get his aggression out.

Tali'Zorah

Like Garrus, Tali'Zorah is the other returning squadmate from Mass Effect 1. She's a Quarian engineer, and is recruited during the mission Dossier - Tali, then made loyal during Tali - Treason. She is a romance option for male Shepard.

Samara

Samara is an Asari with incredibly powerful Biotic, and is the only squadmate who can rival Jack's abilities. She's a Justicar, which makes her Asari FBI or something like that, and is recruited during the mission Dossier - The Justicar. She's then made loyal during the mission Samara - The Ardat-Yakshi, where she asks you to kill her daughter. However, you can choose instead to kill Samara and recruit her daughter, Morinth.

Morinth

Morinth can be recruited during the mission Samara - The Ardat-Yakshi, though at the cost of killing Samara. Choosing Morinth is considered an extremely Renegade choice, though little materially changes when you recruit this companion. Morinth has the same skillset and pretends to beSamara so as not to alert the rest of the crew, so very little of her dialogue changes. Conversations with her in private are different, but much more limited. If you attempt to sleep with Morinth, she will murder you.

Thane Krios

Thane Krios is a drell squadmate, and one of very few drell ever on screen across any of the Mass Effect games. He is slowly dying of a terminal disease, but is the only squadmate who can rival Garrus' skills as a sharpshooter. He is recruited during the mission Dossier - The Assassin, and made loyal during Thane - Sins of the Father. He can be romanced by FemShep.

Legion

Legion, like Grunt, is another squadmate you don't actually mean to recruit. He is a a Geth you find on the mission The Reaper IFF, and then activate back on the Normandy. He is a key figure in humanizing the Geth, and can be made loyal during the mission Legion - A House Divided. After completion of this mission and Tali's loyalty mission, you will again need to break up a fight between the pair of them, where siding with one loses the loyalty of the other. Having a high Renegade/Paragon rating will allow you to keep them both loyal. Siding with Legion will end Tali's romance.

Kasumi Goto

Kasumi Goto is a master thief, and one of two DLC companions, and if you have her DLC, she is quickly recruited when you first visit the Citadel. She is then made loyal during the mission Kasumi: Stolen Memory. Both of the DLC squadmates are Humans.

Zaeed Massani

Zaeed Massani, a heavily armed mercenary, is the other DLC squadmate, and he is also quite quickly recruited when you first visit Omega, provided you have his DLC installed of course. He is made loyal during the mission Zaeed: The Price of Revenge.