5 Most Useful Powers In Mass Effect 2 (& 5 You Can Just Ignore)

Mass Effect balances the flow of combat between third-person shooting and the usage of powers, which each member of Shepard's squad can learn to use. There are three categories of powers: tech, biotic, and combat, each associated with the six different classes players can choose from. Some powers are available to multiple characters, while others are unique to certain squadmates, but all of them have their uses.

However, some tend to be more useful than others. Unlike in the first Mass Effect game, where certain powers had out-of-combat abilities, every power in Mass Effect 2 is used exclusively during fights and has a much simpler upgrade tree. There are also fewer distinct powers than in that first game, which makes it easier to compare their usefulness. The best squad powers in Mass Effect 2 should all be priorities for any squad, while it's safe to leave the worst by the wayside.

10 Dominate Is Fun To Use But Lacks Effectiveness

Making A Weaker Enemy Your Friend

The first of the worst is Dominate, which is probably one of the least-used powers based on how it is acquired alone. It's unique to Morinth, on top of being an unlockable power for Shepard after securing her loyalty. Most players never even recruit Morinth to the squad since doing so requires killing her mother, Samara.

Morinth chats with Shepard in a booth at Afterlife on Omega in Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2: How to Attract Morinth's Attention

During Samara's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2, Shepard needs to get and keep Morinth's attention. Players can easily fail if they aren't careful.

Posts

For being so hard to acquire, Dominate is not that great. It allows players to temporarily turn an enemy to their side, though it must be one with no defenses like shields or armor left. Turning an enemy creates another target for the bad guys to shoot at and another source of damage, but it's niche in its use cases and can only turn creatures that are weak or weakened. It's typically better to stick with something that deals with enemies directly.

9 Cloak Is Great For Tactical Retreats

The Power Of Stealth On Higher Difficulties

Tactical Cloak is a Mass Effect Infiltrator power that turns a character invisible for a short time, during which enemies won't target them. Going invisible does temporarily halt shield recharge, but it provides ample time to get into a new position or get other powers back. When getting overwhelmed by waves of enemies, it's great to be able to sneak away.

Kasumi Goto gets a unique skill called Shadow Strike, which turns her invisible and also allows her to quickly make a melee attack against an enemy. Shadow Strike is likewise quite good, but it's limited to players who have her DLC.

The Cloak is also great for setting up ambushes, since attacks while cloaked deal extra damage. Higher levels of the power enhance that damage boost, which pairs wonderfully with the high-damage sniper rifles infiltrators often use. While it may not do damage directly, the Tactical Cloak is one of the more versatile and defensive powers in Mass Effect 2.

8 Energy Drain Is Lackluster In Comparison To Its Peers

A Dual-Function Power With Better Alternatives

Energy Drain is a Tali-exclusive power, available to the player after completing her loyalty mission. It's a rather simple tech power that drains enemy shields while simultaneously repairing the user's. It sounds pretty useful, but it is outperformed by other powers that cover its individual purposes more effectively.

Powers like Overload are better and more damaging if players want to reduce enemy shields, and Tech Armor and Barrier are better for regaining defense. There's not often much cause to use Energy Drain since characters with access to it have better options. It's not awful, but there are more powerful abilities to focus on.

7 Charge Quickly Closes Distances & Improves Combat Mobility

A Great Feature For Any Tank

Almost the opposite of Tactical Cloak, Charge is a loud and fast way of getting straight into an enemy's face. This makes sense, as it is exclusive to Mass Effect's Vanguard class, which specializes in front-line damage. Much like the Cloak, Charge provides a nice mix of utility and combat performance.

Characters from Mass Effect 1 using biotics

5 Most Useful Powers In Mass Effect 1 (& 5 You Can Just Ignore)

Five powers you need to take advantage of in the first Mass Effect game, and five that border on useless.

Posts

Charge is great for quickly closing distances with enemies that use ranged attacks or are behind cover, and it can effectively allow Shepard to reposition across the map with no trouble. It can also damage and knock down the targeted creature, meaning it does what some other biotic powers do in addition to its main functionality. It's a fun and powerful ability to stick with for players who don't mind being close to their foes.

6 Neural Shock Is Easily Outperformed By Other Shutdown Powers

An Ability With Little Versatility

Neural Shock was far better in the first Mass Effect game than the second. Part of that is due to the fact that it only targets organic foes, which were more common in the first game. But Mass Effect 2 also just offers more in the way of powers to shut down opponents, meaning the use of Neural Shock feels less important.

In general, Mass Effect enemies are categorized as "organic" or "synthetic." Robots and AI like the Geth are the latter, while anything human or alien is the former. Some foes in the last game, ME3, skirt the line between the two, as both the Reaper and Cerberus troops are half organic, half synthetic.

Many abilities can knock down enemies in this game, which is largely the same as incapacitating them in terms of how the effect plays out in combat. On top of that, Neural Shock only affects organics without defenses, meaning they will already be close to death, anyway. It may have niche purposes, like restraining a charging Krogan, but overall, this power is not very good.

5 Incendiary Ammo Is The Best Of The Ammo Upgrades

Improving Your Squad's Weapon Damage

Among the combat powers are several ammo enhancers, which add effects to the firearms of the given character. These range from increasing damage against shields and barriers to biting more effectively through armor to temporarily freezing weakened opponents. Out of all of them, the Incendiary Ammo is the best.

This ammo has the most additional damage on top of what the gun would normally deal, as it lights foes on fire and can even temporarily stun them in that way. It also deals extra damage to armor, one of the more annoying defense types to deal with in the game. Finally, many enemies in the game have explosive responses to incendiary rounds, simplifying the process of defeating them if the player can land a lucky shot.

4 Shockwave Has An Accuracy Issue

This Power Is Too Slow To Be Effective

Of all the biotic powers in this game, Shockwave is definitely the worst. This power sends a rippling wave of force out in one direction, damaging and knocking over enemies in its wake. It's good for getting foes out of cover or for dealing with hordes of enemies moving in a straight line.

Mass Effect: 10 Most Important Facts About Biotics

Biotics allow characters in Mass Effect to control gravity. These are the essential facts about biotics in the franchise.

Posts

While the knockback feature is useful, the damage caused by Shockwave is abysmal, and it is infamously difficult to aim. Because it travels in a straight line slowly out from where it was used, it will often miss enemies entirely or end up going in the wrong direction. Plus, Vanguards with access to it have better ways of reaching enemies in cover, rendering it somewhat obsolete.

3 Overload Is The Best Choice For Weakening Enemy Defenses

Good Against Synthetic And Organic Foes Alike

Much like in the first Mass Effect, Overload is a heavy-hitter in the Engineer's toolkit in ME2. On top of being available to a ton of squadmates, Overload is great for disabling shields, the most common form of enemy defense. It also deals great damage against synthetics, which are common in ME2, and can activate environmental hazards like explosive barrels.

There are three defense types in ME2 that enemies may have in addition to their health bar: armor, barriers, and shields. Combat powers and fire are best at destroying armor, electricity is best for draining shields, and biotics are the best way to deal with barriers.

Overload also gets some impressive upgrades down the line, with the ability to cause a chain reaction between foes and affect massive areas of the battlefield. It is essential for almost any party to deal with robotic enemies and take advantage of the environment, and it outperforms every other power that focuses on shield disruption.

2 Shredder Ammo Has Almost No Purpose

Don't Equip This Awful Ammo Upgrade

Shredder Ammo is not only the worst ammo enhancer in the game, but probably the most useless power in general. It is an upgrade that makes guns more effective against unarmored organic foes, an incredibly specific subsection of enemies that is typically already pretty weak. Husks are the main creatures that come to mind, and they can already be killed with one or two shots, no special ammo required.

It's just unnecessary to have the ability to deal more damage against the weakest creatures in the game, especially when it means the squad can't take advantage of better ammo enhancers while it's being used. Every other option is better to equip on your guns, and it's hardly ever worth investing levels in.

1 Reave Is Devastating Against The Game's Toughest Enemies

The New Biotic Powerhouse

Singularity dominated the first Mass Effect game's powers, and while it's still technically available in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, a new biotic power is needed to fill the vacuum it left behind. Reave is just the power to do so, a biotic ability with a complex set of functionalities. First, it functions as a high-damage power to use against organic or synthetic foes, able to rip through both armor and barriers with ease.

Mass Effect 2: How to Start the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC

In Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker, Shepard and Liara fight the Shadow Broker. They should do a few favors for Liara to unlock the mission.

Posts

Second, it provides a small degree of healing to the user when used on organic foes, a great substitute when first aid supplies are low. Finally, it shuts down enemy abilities that regenerate health, making Vorcha and Krogan healing factors a thing of the past. This is one of the most versatile powers in the game, and it excels in nearly every mission. It's unique to Samara and available to Shepard after helping her on her loyalty mission, yet another reason to choose her over Morinth in Mass Effect 2.

trendglee