You've spent forty hours building a team of the most dangerous misfits in the galaxy. You've scanned a thousand planets for iridium. You've listened to Mordin sing Gilbert and Sullivan. And now, the Omega-4 Relay is staring you in the face.
One wrong move and your favorite character is a smear on the floor of a Collector base.
The "Suicide Mission" in Mass Effect 2 is legendary because the stakes are actually real. It’s not just flavor text. If you mess up the ME2 suicide squad choices, people you like will die. Permanently. No Phoenix Downs here.
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Honestly, the math behind who lives and dies is kind of a mess if you try to calculate it on the fly. But keeping everyone alive isn't actually that hard once you understand how the game "checks" your work.
The Preparation: Don't Touch That Relay Yet
Most people think the suicide mission starts when you jump through the relay. It doesn't. It starts way earlier. Specifically, it starts with your ship.
If you don't have the right upgrades, people die before you even land. It’s a brutal way to lose a squadmate. You're just sitting in a cutscene and suddenly someone's getting impaled.
The Three Non-Negotiables:
- Heavy Ship Armor: You get this from talking to Jacob. Without it, Jack dies.
- Multicore Shielding: Talk to Tali. If you skip this, a squadmate (usually Kasumi, Legion, or Tali) gets fried in the engine room.
- Thanix Cannon: Talk to Garrus. If you don't have this big gun, someone (often Thane or Garrus) dies during the final approach.
Then there’s the crew. Once the Collectors kidnap Kelly Chambers and the rest of the Normandy staff, a hidden timer starts. If you do more than three missions after the kidnapping, the crew is basically goo. If you want to save everyone, you need to hit that relay immediately.
Picking the Right Specialist for the Right Job
Once you're inside the base, the game starts asking you to assign roles. This is where most players panic. The game gives you hints, but they can be vague.
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The Vents (Technical Specialist)
You need someone small and tech-savvy. Basically, a hacker.
The Winners: Tali, Legion, or Kasumi.
The Loser: Anyone else. If you send Jacob because he "volunteers," he’s going to take a rocket to the face.
But there’s a catch. Even a loyal Tali will die if you pick a bad Fireteam Leader.
The Fireteam Leader
This person needs to be a tactician. Someone people actually want to follow.
The Winners: Garrus, Miranda, or Jacob.
The Loser: Zaeed. He might be a veteran, but he’s a terrible leader. Every story he tells ends with "and then I was the only one who made it out alive." Don't let him lead.
The Long Walk: Biotics and Escorts
The seeker swarms are the most stressful part of the mission. You’re walking through a literal cloud of death while someone holds up a glowing blue bubble.
The Biotic Specialist
This requires raw power and focus.
The Winners: Jack or Samara (or Morinth, if you went that route).
The Loser: Miranda. She thinks she can do it because she’s "genetically perfect," but she can't. If you pick her, one of your squadmates will get carried off by the swarms.
The Crew Escort
After you find the surviving crew, you need to send someone back with them. This is actually a strategic move to "hide" a weak character.
The Best Choice: Mordin.
Mordin is statistically the most likely to die during the final "Hold the Line" segment. By sending him back as an escort, you guarantee his survival (as long as he’s loyal) and remove a "weak" link from the final defense team. Tali or Kasumi are also good choices here.
The Math of Holding the Line
This is the part that confuses everyone. At the very end, you take two people with you to fight the Human Reaper. Everyone else stays behind to hold a door.
The game assigns a "defensive score" to everyone left at the door.
- Heavy Hitters (4 points): Grunt, Garrus, Zaeed.
- Average (2 points): Thane, Legion, Samara, Jacob, Miranda.
- Squishies (1 point): Mordin, Tali, Kasumi, Jack.
(Note: These scores are for loyal characters. If they aren't loyal, subtract 1 point.)
To keep everyone alive, the average score of the group at the door must be 2.0 or higher.
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Basically, you want to leave the "Heavy Hitters" at the door. If you take Grunt and Garrus with you to the final boss, you've just lowered the average defense of the group staying behind. That’s how people like Mordin or Tali end up dying in the final seconds of the game.
Summary of the Best ME2 Suicide Squad Choices
If you want a "Perfect Run" where everyone lives and the crew survives, do this:
- Get all loyalty missions done before the IFF mission.
- Buy the Armor, Shields, and Cannon upgrades for the Normandy.
- Go through the Relay immediately after the crew is taken.
- Vents: Tali or Legion (Loyal).
- Fireteam Leader: Garrus or Miranda (Loyal).
- Biotic Shield: Jack or Samara (Loyal).
- Escort: Mordin (Loyal).
- Final Battle Squad: Take Tali, Jack, or Kasumi with you (they are "weak" at holding the door, so keeping them in your party protects them).
- Hold the Line: Leave Grunt, Garrus, and Zaeed at the door.
What Happens if You Mess Up?
Failure in Mass Effect 2 has massive ripples in Mass Effect 3. If Mordin dies, the genophage plotline loses its emotional heart. If Tali or Legion die, you can almost guarantee you won't be able to broker peace between the Geth and the Quarians later.
The game doesn't just punish you with a "Game Over" screen; it punishes you by making the galaxy a lonelier, darker place in the sequel.
One thing people often overlook: Loyalty isn't everything. You can have a loyal character die if you put them in a role they aren't suited for. Similarly, you can occasionally save a non-loyal character if the "Hold the Line" math is strong enough, but it’s a massive gamble.
Actionable Steps for Your Playthrough
If you're currently staring at the squad selection screen, follow these steps to ensure survival:
- Check the ship's research terminal one last time. If you see "Heavy Ship Armor" or "Multicore Shielding" still available to buy, go find some minerals and buy them now.
- Examine your squad's loyalty. If the circle under them on the selection screen isn't glowing, they aren't loyal. Do not give them a specialist role.
- Send Mordin back with the crew. It’s the safest place for him and ensures he makes it to the sequel to help with the Krogan.
- Keep the tanks at the door. Resist the urge to bring Grunt to the final boss fight. His "points" are needed to protect the weaker squadmates staying behind.
The suicide mission is a test of how well you know your team. If you treat them like the specialists they are—rather than just "the guy with the big gun"—you'll make it out with the whole crew intact.