Every Mass Effect Squadmate and Companion, Game by Game

Mass Effect's squadmates are the companions who fight beside Commander Shepard in the trilogy and beside Ryder in Andromeda: six in the first game, twelve in Mass Effect 2, seven in Mass Effect 3 and six in Andromeda. Several carry across all three Shepard games, and what happens to them depends heavily on choices carried forward in a save. This page lists them game by game, with links to each character's full article. Which of them Shepard can fall for is covered in the Mass Effect romance options. It spoils every game. (Mass Effect; Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3; Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Mass Effect#

The first squad is put together while Shepard hunts the rogue Spectre Saren. The full story is on the Mass Effect story page, and each squadmate's people are covered on the species page. (Mass Effect)

Kaidan Alenko#

A human Alliance officer and biotic, troubled by migraines from his L2 implant, who serves aboard the Normandy from the start. On Virmire, Shepard can save only Kaidan or Ashley, and whoever is left behind dies in the nuclear blast. See Kaidan Alenko. (Mass Effect)

Ashley Williams#

A human Gunnery Chief, the last of her unit on Eden Prime, who joins after the geth attack there. Her grandfather was the only human general ever to surrender to aliens, a stain she wants to outrun. She faces the same Virmire choice as Kaidan. See Ashley Williams. (Mass Effect)

Garrus Vakarian#

A turian C-Sec officer investigating Saren, who joins on the Citadel when the rules stop him getting results. He becomes Shepard's closest friend across the trilogy. See Garrus Vakarian. (Mass Effect)

Urdnot Wrex#

A krogan mercenary hired on the Citadel. On Virmire he learns Saren is breeding krogan cured of the genophage and turns his gun on Shepard. Depending on what Shepard says and has done, he backs down or is shot, and if he lives he later leads Clan Urdnot. See Urdnot Wrex. (Mass Effect)

Tali'Zorah#

A young quarian on her Pilgrimage, whose geth recording proves Saren's treason. She joins as the ship's tech expert. See Tali'Zorah. (Mass Effect)

Liara T'Soni#

An asari archaeologist and biotic, daughter of Matriarch Benezia, rescued from Prothean ruins on Therum. She has spent fifty years studying the Protheans and doesn't side with her mother. See Liara T'Soni. (Mass Effect)

Mass Effect 2#

Two years after Shepard's death, Cerberus rebuilds Shepard and the Illusive Man hands over a list of recruits for the fight against the Collectors. Every one of them has a loyalty mission, and loyalty decides who lives through the suicide mission, where anyone can die. The Mass Effect 2 story page covers the plot. (Mass Effect 2)

Miranda Lawson#

A genetically engineered human Cerberus operative who ran the Lazarus Project that brought Shepard back, and Shepard's second in command. Her loyalty mission protects her twin sister from their father. In Mass Effect 3 she hunts him, and whether she survives depends on Shepard's earlier choices. See Miranda Lawson. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Jacob Taylor#

A human former Alliance soldier working for Cerberus, with Shepard from the Lazarus station escape. If he survives, he leaves Cerberus and in Mass Effect 3 protects a group of defecting Cerberus scientists. See Jacob Taylor. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Garrus Vakarian#

Found on Omega as the vigilante Archangel, cornered by mercenary gangs. His squad there was betrayed and wiped out. See Garrus Vakarian. (Mass Effect 2)

Mordin Solus#

A salarian scientist running a clinic in Omega's plague-hit slums. He helped modify the genophage, and his loyalty mission makes him face that work through his former student Maelon. In Mass Effect 3 he can give his life releasing a genophage cure. See Mordin Solus. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Jack#

A human biotic convict freed from the prison ship Purgatory. Cerberus experimented on her as a child, and her loyalty mission destroys the facility. If she lives, she teaches young biotics at Grissom Academy by Mass Effect 3. See Jack. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Grunt#

A tank-bred krogan left behind by the warlord Okeer on Korlus. He completes the krogan Rite of Passage on Tuchanka and joins Clan Urdnot, and in Mass Effect 3 he leads Aralakh Company against Reaper-controlled rachni. See Grunt. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Tali'Zorah#

Met again at Freedom's Progress and recruited later. Her loyalty mission is a treason trial before the Migrant Fleet after her father dies running geth experiments. See Tali'Zorah. (Mass Effect 2)

Thane Krios#

A drell assassin recruited on Illium, dying of Kepral's Syndrome and looking for redemption. His loyalty mission reaches his estranged son Kolyat. If he survives the suicide mission, he's run through by the Cerberus assassin Kai Leng in Mass Effect 3 while defending the salarian Council member during the coup on the Citadel, and dies in hospital soon after. See Thane Krios. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Samara or Morinth#

Samara is an asari justicar recruited on Illium, hunting her daughter Morinth, a serial killer. In the loyalty mission Shepard can help Samara kill her, or side with Morinth, who then kills Samara and takes her place. See Samara. (Mass Effect 2)

Legion#

A geth platform found on a derelict Reaper, patched with a piece of Shepard's old armour. If Shepard reactivates it, it explains that most geth reject the Reapers. In Mass Effect 3 it can give its life on Rannoch to share its upgrades with every geth. See Legion. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Kasumi Goto#

A human master thief added in an add-on, who joins to recover her dead partner's graybox from the smuggler Donovan Hock. See Kasumi Goto. (Kasumi: Stolen Memory)

Zaeed Massani#

A human mercenary, also from an add-on, who co-founded the Blue Suns and wants revenge on the partner who shot him in the face. See Zaeed Massani. (Zaeed: The Price of Revenge)

Liara isn't a recruit, but she fights beside Shepard as a temporary squadmate in Lair of the Shadow Broker, where she and Shepard kill the Shadow Broker and she takes over his network. The Virmire survivor turns up on Horizon and refuses to trust a Shepard working for Cerberus. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker)

Mass Effect 3#

The Reapers invade Earth and Shepard has to unite the galaxy around the Crucible. Survivors from Mass Effect 2 who aren't in the squad turn up across the war. The Mass Effect 3 ending page covers the plot and endings. (Mass Effect 3)

James Vega#

A human Alliance marine assigned to guard Shepard on Earth, who escapes with Shepard on the Normandy. His story is about coming to terms with a choice he made fighting the Collectors, and he's offered N7 training. See James Vega. (Mass Effect 3)

Kaidan or Ashley#

Whoever survived Virmire is badly hurt on Mars by a Cerberus android and later rejoins. Both have been offered Spectre status, and the Cerberus coup on the Citadel can end with the survivor dead. See Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams. (Mass Effect 3)

Liara T'Soni#

Now the Shadow Broker, she joins on Mars, where she found the Crucible plans. In the Refuse ending, her recorded messages are found by the next cycle. See Liara T'Soni. (Mass Effect 3)

Garrus Vakarian#

Found on Menae, Palaven's moon, advising the turian military against the Reapers, and rejoins after helping find the new turian Primarch. See Garrus Vakarian. (Mass Effect 3)

EDI#

The Normandy's AI, unshackled by Joker in Mass Effect 2, takes over a Cerberus android body and joins the squad. The Destroy ending kills her with all synthetic life, while Control and Synthesis leave her alive. See EDI. (Mass Effect 2; Mass Effect 3)

Tali'Zorah#

Rejoins during the quarian war with the geth over Rannoch. Shepard can broker peace with the right history. If Shepard backs the geth and the quarians are wiped out, Tali can die with them. See Tali'Zorah. (Mass Effect 3)

Javik#

A Prothean soldier woken from a stasis pod on Eden Prime, added in the From Ashes add-on. He's the last of his people and has no patience for this cycle's species. See Javik. (Mass Effect 3: From Ashes)

Mass Effect: Andromeda#

Andromeda leaves Shepard behind. In 2819 the human ark reaches the Heleus Cluster, Alec Ryder dies, and one of his twins becomes Pathfinder and gathers a crew on the scout ship Tempest. The Andromeda story page has the plot. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Cora Harper#

A human biotic trained with asari commandos and Alec Ryder's second in command, who expected to be the next Pathfinder. She goes down to Habitat 7 with the team, and her own cause is rescuing the asari ark. See Cora Harper. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Liam Kosta#

A human crisis-response specialist hand-picked by Alec, also on Habitat 7. He's an idealist who wants to earn the angara's trust. See Liam Kosta. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Vetra Nyx#

A turian smuggler and fixer who joins on the Nexus, helping get the Tempest cleared to leave, and becomes the team's supplier. She raised her younger sister Sid alone, and keeping Sid safe drives her. See Vetra Nyx. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Peebee#

Pelessaria B'Sayle, an asari obsessed with the Remnant, met at a Remnant site on Eos. She moves into the Tempest's escape pod and rebuilds a Remnant machine she calls Poc. See Peebee. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Nakmor Drack#

An old krogan veteran of the Krogan Rebellions, held together by cybernetics, who left the Nexus with the rest of the krogan. He meets Ryder at a kett base on Eos, turns down the first offer, and joins later after another fight there. His granddaughter Kesh is what keeps him going. See Nakmor Drack. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)

Jaal Ama Darav#

An angaran resistance fighter sent to watch the newcomers. On Voeld he learns the kett turn captured angara into kett. See Jaal Ama Darav. (Mass Effect: Andromeda)