masseffect
Disambiguous This article is about abilities in Mass Effect. For abilities in Mass Effect 2, see Powers. For abilities in Mass Effect 3, see Powers (Mass Effect 3). For abilities in Mass Effect: Andromeda, see Skills.

The skills or abilities used in combat in Mass Effect are called talents.

Overview

There are 12 talents available to each class: four starting talents and eight unlockable talents. Talents can be biotic, tech, or combat-oriented. Talents that provide primarily passive bonuses to characters can also unlock further active abilities that can be used in battle; for example, Fitness can unlock Immunity. Players are also able to unlock a Specialization Class for Shepard that augments their base class talent. Below is a list of talents, separated by type and accompanied by which classes can use each talent.

When Shepard commands a squad member to use one of their offensive abilities, it is aimed through the Commander; i.e., the party member need not have the usual line of sight to the intended target or target location. In this way, Shepard can take point while leaving the rest of the party safely behind.

Most active combat talents and abilities have a maximum range; a good rule of thumb is that enemies too far away for their name and status bars to show up in the HUD can't be hit.

Accuracy Cost

Many active talents (as opposed to those with only a passive effect) have an "accuracy cost" for using them in battle. This is a very brief but fairly severe loss of accuracy when shooting most weapons. It isn't usually a major hindrance in combat due to how quickly accuracy recovers, and it is only really noticeable almost immediately after using an ability; crosshairs will bloom the same way they would after firing or moving.

Legendary Edition: The accuracy cost mechanic appears to have been largely or totally removed from Mass Effect Legendary Edition, despite in-game tooltip text still referencing it.

Talent Points Leveling Progression

See also: Experience Guide

To advance the levels of the various talents, players are awarded 100 points between the character levels of 1-60 to place where they see fit, in addition to the 2 points that are automatically assigned to two starting abilities (one point each).

The player is automatically awarded additional training for becoming a Spectre, and gains points in Charm and Intimidate for advancing the Paragon and Renegade meters respectively. Advancing said meters can also provide unique enhancements to Shepard's combat prowess (see Morality for more details).

Each NPC squad member, on the other hand, receives 80 points between the levels of 1-60 to place where players see fit, in addition to the 2 points that are automatically assigned to two starting abilities. Points for both the player and squadmates are assigned from the Squad menu screen.

Note: In a player's very first playthrough of the original version of Mass Effect, Shepard and NPC squadmates can only reach a maximum of level 50. It is also basically impossible to reach level 60 starting from level 1 in one playthrough of the story even once the level 50 cap no longer applies.

Legendary Edition: In Legendary Edition there is no level cap on a first playthrough and experience scaling is improved in various ways to make reaching level 60 considerably easier, though it is still not possible to reach 60 in one playthrough without exploits.[1] There is also an option to scale character levels to the 1-30 scale used in the subsequent games in the trilogy. This does not affect total talent points awarded.

Shepard:

Total: 100 points

NPC squad members:

Total: 80 points

Warning: Point assignments for both the player and squadmates can only be undone or adjusted for a character while their screen in the Squad menu is open; once it is closed or switched to a different character, chosen point allocations become completely irreversible for the rest of the current playthrough of the game's storyline. The chosen point allocations for Shepard will even carry over to any future Mass Effect playthroughs with the same character. Point assignments for squadmates are reset on starting a new playthrough and can be reassigned as desired. For this reason, it is a very good idea to create permanent save points before choosing point assignments.

Talents Chart: Player Character

Key: ✓= Starting, ● = Unlockable, x = Starting Ability w/ Extra Point
Class Talent Soldier Vanguard Infiltrator Engineer Adept Sentinel3
Combat
AdrenalinBurst Assault Training5 ✓ ✓
Immunity Fitness6 ● ●
Weapons
Overkill Assault Rifles4 x
Marksman Pistols3 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ●
Carnage Shotguns2 ● ●
Assassination Sniper Rifles1 ● ●
Armor
ShieldBoost Basic Armor7 ● ✓
ShieldBoost Combat Armor7 x
ShieldBoost Tactical Armor7 ● ✓
Tech
Sabotage Decryption12 x x x
Overload Electronics11 x x ●
AI-Hacking Hacking9 ●
Damping Damping ● ●
Biotic
Barrier Barrier ● ✓ ✓
Lift Lift ● ● ●
Singularity Singularity ●
Stasis Stasis ● ●
Throw Throw x x x
Warp Warp x x
Health
FirstAidIcon First Aid ● ● ✓ ✓
Neural shock Medicine10 ● ●
Miscellaneous
Class Power ME2 Icon Charm ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Class Power ME2 Icon Intimidate ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Class Power ME2 Icon Spectre Training8 ● ● ● ● ● ●

Unlockable Abilities

The following abilities are unlocked from their respective talents and can be actively used in combat. Click the talent links above or below for detailed information and power ranks. Note that many enemy types can also utilize several of these abilities, such as Immunity, Sabotage, Shield Boost, and Assassination.

Weapons

Combat

Tech

Talents Chart: NPC Squadmates

Key: ✓= Starting, ● = Unlockable, x = Starting Ability w/ Extra Point
Squad Member Ashley Wrex Garrus Tali Liara Kaidan
Class Talent Soldier Krogan Battlemaster Turian Agent Quarian Machinist Asari Scientist Sentinel
Combat
AdrenalinBurst Assault Training5 x ●
Immunity Fitness6 ● ●
Weapons
Overkill Assault Rifles4 ✓ ✓ ✓
Marksman Pistols ✓ ✓
Carnage Shotguns2 ● ● ●
Assassination Sniper Rifles1 ● ●
Armor
ShieldBoost Basic Armor7 ✓
ShieldBoost Combat Armor7 x ✓
ShieldBoost Tactical Armor7 ✓
Tech
Sabotage Decryption12 x x x
Overload Electronics11 ● x ● ●
AI-Hacking Hacking9 ●
Damping Damping ● ●
Biotic
Barrier Barrier x ✓ ✓
Lift Lift ● ●
Singularity Singularity ●
Stasis Stasis ● ● ●
Throw Throw ● x x
Warp Warp x ✓
Health
FirstAidIcon First Aid ● x ● x ✓
Neural shock Medicine10 ●

Class Specific

See also: Classes, Squad Members Guide

Class Talents

The following talents have the same name as each of the six playable classes. They provide bonuses that help define the unique strengths of each class, and the talents are therefore also called the "class talents". NPC squad members Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko share the Soldier and Sentinel class talents, respectively, but with some differences; see the pages or the above two tables for details.

Squad Member Class Talents

The following class talents are found only on NPC squad members. See the links or the table above for details.

Specialization Classes

Class specializations are unlocked once assignment UNC: Rogue VI on Luna is completed. There are six specializations in total, two possible for each class of which one must be chosen. Selecting a specialization offers access to a new trait that add ranks 7-12 to your base class-specific talent; ranks 1-6 are unchanged, and grant the same bonus when you take ranks 7-12. Specializations are only unlocked once per player character and will carry over to subsequent playthroughs with that character, so choose carefully and create a save point beforehand in case you get buyer's remorse. Specializations are not available for NPC squad members.

Soldiers can train as a Commando or a Shock Trooper
Infiltrators can train as a Commando or an Operative
Engineers can train as a Medic or an Operative
Sentinels can train as a Medic or a Bastion
Adepts can train as a Nemesis or a Bastion
Vanguards can train as a Nemesis or a Shock Trooper

Player Exclusive

The following miscellaneous talents are available to Commander Shepard only:

Spectre Training

Main article: Spectre Training

Unlocked after becoming a Spectre. The talent provides a small but across the board increase to health, and to the accuracy/effectiveness of all attacks, talents, and abilities. Advancing ranks of Spectre Training also unlock and improve the unique Unity ability, one of the only ways to revive squadmates that fall in battle.

Charm

Talent Ranks
Level 1: Sets Charm score at 1; opens up new dialog options
Level 2: Sets Charm score at 2; opens up new dialog options
Level 3: Sets Charm score at 3; opens up new dialog options
Level 4: Sets Charm score at 4; opens up new dialog options | Store Discount: Gives a 2% discount at stores
Level 5: Sets Charm score at 5; opens up new dialog options
Level 6: Sets Charm score at 6; opens up new dialog options
Level 7: Sets Charm score at 7; opens up new dialog options
Level 8: Sets Charm score at 8; opens up new dialog options | Store Discount: Gives a 5% discount at stores
Level 9: Sets Charm score at 9; opens up new dialog options
Level 10: Sets Charm score at 10; opens up new dialog options
Level 11: Sets Charm score at 11; opens up new dialog options
Level 12: Sets Charm score at 12; opens up new dialog options | Store Discount: Gives a 8% discount at stores

Intimidate

Talent Ranks
Level 1: Sets Intimidate score at 1; opens up new dialog options
Level 2: Sets Intimidate score at 2; opens up new dialog options
Level 3: Sets Intimidate score at 3; opens up new dialog options
Level 4: Sets Intimidate score at 4; opens up new dialog options | Motivated Buyer: Sell items to stores for 2% more credits
Level 5: Sets Intimidate score at 5; opens up new dialog options
Level 6: Sets Intimidate score at 6; opens up new dialog options
Level 7: Sets Intimidate score at 7; opens up new dialog options
Level 8: Sets Intimidate score at 8; opens up new dialog options | Motivated Buyer: Sell items to stores for 5% more credits
Level 9: Sets Intimidate score at 9; opens up new dialog options
Level 10: Sets Intimidate score at 10; opens up new dialog options
Level 11: Sets Intimidate score at 11; opens up new dialog options
Level 12: Sets Intimidate score at 12; opens up new dialog options | Motivated Buyer: Sell items to stores for 8% more credits

*These "free" points can be earned again in any subsequent games with the same character.

Bonus Talents

See also: Weapon and Ability Achievements Guide

If the player is creating a second character, any unlocked bonus talents may be selected. These talents are unlocked by gaining the achievement for each talent. The player can choose one additional talent to add to their skill base. This talent is not reliant upon the existing class or even usual prerequisite talents. For example, a Soldier can choose Medicine as a bonus talent and put points into it immediately, even though it must usually be unlocked by first putting points into First Aid on the classes that have Medicine by default. A weapon talent such as Assault Rifles can also be chosen if the chosen class doesn't already possess it.

Bonus talent abilities do not benefit from normal class bonuses. For example, Singularity on a Bastion Sentinel receives no bonus to recharge times at all; neither will its duration be increased on a Nemesis Vanguard.

The following 15 bonus talents can be unlocked:

Cutcontenticon The following information is drawn from cut content and is not to be considered canon in any way.

Cut Content

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Talk:Experience Guide#Level 60 in a single playthrough (Legendary)
  2. ↑ Startup_INT.pcc/GlobalTLK_Tlk.tlk: 94031, 94079
Mass Effect Talents
Biotic Barrier • Lift • Singularity • Stasis • Throw • Warp
Combat Assault Rifles • Pistols • Shotguns • Sniper Rifles • Assault Training • Fitness • Basic Armor • Combat Armor • Tactical Armor
Tech Damping • Decryption • Electronics • First Aid • Hacking • Medicine
Class Adept • Asari Scientist • Engineer • Infiltrator • Krogan Battlemaster • Quarian Machinist • Sentinel • Soldier • Turian Agent • Vanguard
Player only Charm • Intimidate • Spectre Training