Miranda (Sentinel):

Vanilla Miranda - How she plays:

The best squadmate in Mass Effect 2 on Insanity, she can handle all types of armor. Her original powers allowed her to strip any type of protection. Her passive also can buff squad health and squad weapon damage. Miranda really is perfect, or at least damn near it.  She works well with almost anyone. She also had Warp to be able to do Warpexplosions in the game (the only combos available in Mass Effect 2). There was not much needed to make her better but she did have some weaknesses.

Her first major weakness was her AI and dying a lot, compared to a lot of other squadmate's, she would die way easier (and her AI didn't seem the best or brightest). Her second biggest weakness was the lack of crowd control abilities. She really suffered in that regard compared to other squadmates. Her third weakness was that her weapons also weren't very good - a submachine gun and heavy pistol (with Heavy Pistols being entirely useless on squadmates, which meant no reason to ever switch to it). Her final weakness was that Slam wasn't really good on Insanity, yes it was a one point wonder but other than a substitute for Pull - it wasn't really that good of a power.

Modded Miranda - How to fix her:

First of all, to fix Miranda we're going to increase her ability to survive in combat - since she is a lot squisher than other characters and tends to die a lot. The way to fix this is to give her the option of either investing in Tech Armor and Energy Shield as powers for her to invest points into. Now she has two ways to survive since Energy Shield can provide a nice stationary defensive wall and/or Tech Armor allows her to have extra protection on an Insanity playthrough as a more mobile defensive option.

Next we'll keep Warp/Overload since those are two of the best powers in the game, and it makes no sense to get rid of them (since Warp allows her to detonate biotic combos). We will give her Dominate, which allows her to control the battlefield and actually let's you have a squadmate with Dominate since most people will not save Morinth. This gives her a lot of control on the battlefield, almost like she put a control chip in the enemies (Mass Effect 3 reference). Lastly we'll give her a Sniper Rifle, and Assault Rifle so she has a way better weapon set with Sniper Rifles being insanely good in Mass Effect 2.

Miranda is now a more defensive Sentinel compared to Jacob and Thane, and she plays more of a support role. Realistically, these improvements make Miranda much better - although she didn't need much to make her better. Miranda biotics are biotic detonators, whereas Jacob's are biotic primers making them extremely compatible to take on missions together.

New Weapons: Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle

Powers:

Power 1 (Warp): Warp allows her to do massive damage to armor and barriers. She also had warp in ME3 so it is also very lore-friendly for her to have. Considering Warp is the only power that can act as a detontator in Mass Effect 2 (causing Warpexplosions) - I kept it as an option for her (in previous iterations of the mod I got rid of it). It means she can do biotic combo's with anyone who has Pull, Singularity, and Slam.

Power 2 (Overload): An extremely useful power on Insanity for taking out shields, it makes no sense to get rid of this power. This alongside Warp allows her to take out every protection in the game. It also is a power she also keeps in ME3.

Power 3 (Dominate): A fun power that allows Miranda to control organics with her biotics. This power allows you to deal with Collector's extremely easily, while also allowing Miranda and the squad to have an enemy act as a shield (which allows the squad to position themself into better cover). It only works on organics, but it also plays to Miranda's Femme Fatale role where she can sway anyone to fight for her.

Power 4 (Energy Shield): This gives an option for Miranda to either use Tech Armor (as a moving defensive power) or to have Energy Shield which is a stationary defensive power. One could invest in either/or, as both options work well together or can be used separately from each other. This also makes her similar to her Mass Effect 3 LE version of this mod where she has both Omni Armor and Biotic Sphere. Energy Shield has some cool evolutions, and since she can't take any fire on the other side - it makes it an extremely powerful ability for her that allows her to stay alive. With her Sniper Rifle in hand, she can now stay in the back without worry.

Power 5 (Tech Armor): Squad members who rely more on their biotic/tech powers in combat instead of their weapons tend to spend less time shooting. These characters tend to have the lowest health bonuses. Miranda is a character who excels at bringing down defenses but is less adept at crowd control or taking/returning fire than the other squad members. This improves her survival chances (her one weakness on Insanity), so she is a much more versatile squadmate. (Plus, too many squadmates had ammo powers). This gives her a way to survive + a defensive power. Although a lot of people hate defensive powers since squadmate's spam them - you can opt not to put any points into Tech Armor (although I really just recommend a no shared cooldown mod).

This also allows you to make a choice to have her being a mobile defensive unit (assault rifle/tech armor) or stationary defensive unit (sniper rifle/energy shield). You can also choose to use both defensive abilities and stack them.

I'd recommend a no shared cooldown mod such as this, otherwise Miranda (and every other squadmate with a defensive power) will automatically cast Barrier/Tech Armor/etc. which will prevent you from using their other powers. With her new kit, it'd be odd for you to take Slam over one of her other powers, so I moved it to another squadmate (Kaidan). She also loses Slam in ME3 (Javik gained it in vanilla Mass Effect 3).  .

Her new weapons allow her to stay in the back (Sniper rifle) so she isn't on the frontlines dying as much considering how her AI plays. Her backup weapon is an Assault Rifle should you want to use it (which has longer range than a SMG). Considering Kaidan in Mass Effect 3 uses an Assault Rifle, it would make sense she could use it also. Also the Sentinel in Mass Effect 1 can use Sniper Rifles and Assault Rifles - so it's also lore-friendly. This also makes her a counterpart to Jacob who is short-range weapon focused squadmate while she is long range weapon focused squadmate.

She also serves as your Tank option very early on in the game since you got Legion/Samara so late, and most people tend to get Garrus/Mordin prior to Grunt. (Albeit I recommend the Early Recruitment Mod to fix it so you can recruit whomever you like). So this also provides her as an early defensive option should you choose to take it. Which means you can have a defense orientated squadmate really early on to help with the first mission.

Overall, this makes her much more similar to her modded Mass Effect 3 counterpart that I did, while also boosting her potential weaknesses on Insanity to make her a much more versatile pick (not that she was a bad pick to begin with considering she's one of the best squadmates to take on Insanity.) All of these powers are also Sentinel type powers, which make it extremely lore friendly to the game/her class.

I thought about Flashbang Grenade as it is one of the best powers on Insanity - but then she loses her ability to perform biotic combo's and I didn't want every single squadmate having that one power. (Yes it's a good power, but if every squadmate has it - it makes it a very boring power/repetitive power). I also thought about giving her Incinerate and had it on previous iterations of this mod, but I wanted to try something different with Miranda so I instead opted for Dominate/Energy Shield to really make her a more defensive/support squadmate (focusing on really surviving).

Plus I wanted to give it to Jacob so he has some different abilities than her so they aren't both using Warp, Overload, Barrier/Tech Armor, etc. Otherwise they'd play the exact same.

I kept having the issue of Miranda/Jacob being too alike in previous iterations of the mod, and now they are both much different from each other + compliment one another:

Miranda = Long-range, defensive Sentinel
Jacob = Close-range, offensive Sentinel
Thane = A mid-range, balanced Sentinel (mix of both close quarters and long-range abilities)

------------------------------

Jacob (Vanguard -> Sentinel):

Vanilla Jacob - How he Plays:

The issues with Jacob on insanity are numerous:

• Shotguns/Pistols are a crappy loadout on squadmates – they don’t put enough rounds downrange. This is probably the worst weapon set a squadmate can have
• There are better alternatives like Samara (Pull + Assault Rifles/Reave) and Grunt (Has a Defensive Power + Assault Rifle) that make Jacob a bad pick when you can pick those two (who are much better).
• He is unable to strip any protection other than armor with Incendiary Ammo
• His powerset is trash
• He is probably one of the most hated squadmates in the series
  

Jacob is also another Soldier type character (he has some biotics, but they don’t do much on Insanity). His weapon damage is below average and his mismatched powers don't lend themselves well to anybody (except for the Adept or Sentinel, maybe). That said, he can work well in tandem with Miranda or Thane, using Pull to set up deadly Warp explosions, and Squad Incendiary Ammo allows him to lend a valuable hand against organic foes.

He's somewhat forced on you in early missions, but most people dump him the second they get Zaeed/Kasumi (which considering they can be obtained right on Omega/The Citadel - it means Jacob is replaced almost entirely right away).

Hhis problem with biotics is that Pull on insanity can't be used on enemies with any type of protection - making that power of his almost entirely useless. His loyalty power barrier gets spammed constantly by him (and a point is automatically put into it after his loyalty mission) meaning that even if you could use Pull, he's too busy using Barrier. This means his only viable power on Insanity was Incendiary Ammo. In vanilla, his weapons don't add any value which means there's no reason to take him after you get Zaeed/Kasumi who have a much better power set/weapon set. Then once you get Grunt, he's entirely redundant as Grunt did everything he did but better. If you even really wanted another biotic who can do what he can do, you'd opt for Samara in the vanilla game who has better weapons and a better powerset.

He has no way to strip barrier or shields, meaning his only use is stripping armor which why would you take him when Miranda/Grunt has the same ability to strip armor but an even better weapon?

Modded Jacob - How to fix him:

To fix Jacob, we are going to change his class from Vanguard to Sentinel. This also makes sense lore-wise since Jacob is a candidate for the ‘tech expert’ which means he has some tech knowledge (Thane also is an option, but I assume that’s because of him being very good at going through vents when you meet him. Obviously, in both scenarios – they are both bad picks, but at least this change can make sense in the story since he volunteers).

This adjustment to his class also makes sense since he is an option for the Tech Expert role (which means he would have some tech abilities).

The other big reasoning he should have been a Sentinel is in Mass Effect Galaxy he has both biotic and tech abilities. Specifically he has Overload as his tech ability, and Stasis as his biotic ability. He also has Carnage also in Mass Effect Galaxy, but we aren't going to give a squadmate all three types of abilities (combat, tech, and biotic).

He is also seen wielding a heavy weapon in Mass Effect Galaxy (but I didn't give him one as to not make him way too overpowered so we're going to exclude that) and an Assault Rifle in Mass Effect Galaxy. I decided not to give him Stasis as after having it on him/testing it - as it became super, super annoying when he'd use it randomly and I had to wait to kill an enemy. It just prolonged fights longer/became an annoyance. However, we will give him both Overload and an Assault Rifle as an addition to his kit.

From what I can gather that Jacob in his original design was meant to be a Sentinel (both in Galaxy and him being a tech expert). The likely reason they made him a Vanguard was because they made Miranda a Sentinel and didn't want to have two Sentinels right away (too bad they should have just done that so they would have had an equal amount of squadmate in an equal amount of classes in the vanilla game).

His new biotic power play off of Miranda's nbiotic powers. as her biotic powers are all biotic detonators whereas his are biotic primers. He also has way more biotic powers than her, and while Miranda could be considered a more defensive Sentinel, Jacob is a more offensive one. Jacob's weapons/power set makes him capable of close quarter combat with the enemies, having more offensive abilities, and really doing more damage whereas Miranda is more long range (with her sniper rifle) and has more tech abilities/defensive ones to survive longer.

New Weapons: Assault Rifle, Shotguns

Powers:

Power 1 (Overload): An extremely useful power on Insanity for taking out shields, and one of his powers in Mass Effect Galaxy. It makes a ton of sense to give this power to him as it provides him a way to strip that form of protection on insanity playthroughs. This means he can finally, finally strip shields. Something he has so desperately needed for a very long time.

Power 2 (Pull): Pull allows Jacob to pull off early biotic combinations with Miranda. Since they are really the only two biotics you have for the majority of the early game (other than Jack) - it made sense to keep this power. It also is required to get past the prologue, and allows him to perform the only biotic explosions in the game (Warp Explosions).

Since it is a primer, it works with both Warp + Throw + Shockwave. This means he can cause biotic combo's with pretty much any character in the game. It technically isn't the worst power on Insanity to have, but it does lose it's versatility since it can really only work on unprotected enemies. However, if Jacob doesn't have it you can't get past the tutorial so he needs to keep it. It can at least stun enemies even with protections.

Power 3 (Singularity): Another biotic power that could be an alternative to Pull/Throw. I wanted to give Jacob another useful biotic power on Insanity that could help deal damage and be useful. Now he is the only other squadmate than Liara who has Singularity, which gives you a reason to bring him on missions if you want someone with that power.

Singularity will have an effect on protected enemies which makes it extremely worthwhile to bring. Now there is a reason to bring Jacob since he is the only main squadmate with this power (other than Liara who you only have for the LOTSB DLC).

Power 4 (Flashbang Grenade): One of the best powers in the game for it's crowd control and versatility. I thought about giving it to Miranda but then she would become way better than Jacob. This provides Jacob with good abilities to have for an Insanity playthrough and it now provides another strategic element to his skillset.

See Kasumi's section on why it's so good. He also had Lift Grenades in Mass Effect 3, so it made sense for him to have a grenade power in Mass Effect 2.

This really gives him a nice edge to his kit, and it gives you a real reason to bring him over Zaeed on Omega. He also can match Kasumi now since he has Flashbang Grenades/Overload. It's unlikely you'll want to bring Jacob much - but when you are forced to bring him, he at least can hold his own now (or maybe you want to bring him and to try out his new kit).

Power 5 (Armor-Piercing Ammo): Jacob lacks a way to deal with armor with this kit of his, so we needed a power that no other squadmate had (that would be his unique power) and allow him to deal with armored enemies. Armor-Piercing Ammo was the perfect power to give him for this, and it makes him the only Sentinel character with an ammo power (which provides another reason to bring Jacob).

It also allows him to give the squad Armor-Piercing Ammo, so it's a great support ability that allows him to help out the entire squad. It's not as good as Incendiary/Disruptor/Cryo Ammo, but I needed a unique power to give him and he lacked any way to deal with armor. This at least allows him to have a method to deal with armor now.

Jacob now fills an offensive role within the squad, being a prime ally to take alongside Miranda since they build off each other so nicely.. I wanted him to be a more of an offensive-focused sentinel compared to Miranda being a defensive-focused Sentinel and for them to be able to work together in a much better manner. Previously, both Miranda and Jacob has very little compatibility - but now they build off each other quite nicely. Miranda has more defensive/support abilities, whereas Jacob has more offensive abilities/support abilities (meaning they can work very well in tandem with each other).

He still likely might remain on the ship or not be used (due to people's dislike of him) but he does bring some tactical versatility now and he's a much better candidate to go on Insanity run missions than before. Compared to Miranda - he lacks the defensive capabilities that she had in this mod but he now has a way better weapon set/skill set for an Insanity playthrough. His weapon set is also much, much better as an assault rifle actually makes him a mid-range threat, and he can switch to a shotgun if he needs to if the enemies get close.

I kept having the issue of Miranda/Jacob being too alike in previous iterations of the mod, and now they are both much different from each
other + compliment one another:

Miranda = Long-range, defensive Sentinel
Jacob = Close-range, offensive Sentinel
Thane = A mid-range, balanced Sentinel (mix of both close quarters and long-range abilities)

------------------------------

Mordin (Engineer):

Vanilla Mordin - How he plays:

Mordin's powers excels in dealing with fleshy and armoured targets. His Incinerate power will demolish armoured enemies and fleshy targets while his Cryo Blast at rank 4 will have a cool-down of only 3 seconds! This means whatever has only a red health bar left can be heavily exploited by his Cryo Blast and his power usage will be ready again in no time. Unfortunately, there aren't too many missions that have a lot of fleshy and armoured targets like Bloodpack mercs in the mid-game. This makes him a very subpar pick since Neural Shock is practically useless on Insanity, Cryo Blast only works on red health bar enemies - also making it a less than viable power on Insanity. However, he can most definitely be useful for stripping and killing Husks in the Reaper Derelict mission along with Samara's Area Reave.

Sadly Mordin lacks a shield/barrier stripping power and his weapon set isn't the greatest. Neural shock becomes almost pointless to invest in on Insanity since it only affects non-protected enemies. It is a 1-point wonder ability (like Slam) where you only need to invest 1-point in it to get the most out of it. Cryo Blast is fine, but it's also not very useful on Insanity.

The only thing Mordin has going for him is his incinerate allows him to excel against armored targets, being the only squad member in the early game that can do serious damage to multiple armored enemies with the Rank 4 Incineration Blast. His weapon set isn't really that good either. Heavy pistols on squadmates are almost never going to be used - but the SMG is a fine addition to his kit. Overall, Mordin falls off the wayside in Insanity as you have much better squadmates who can do everything he does - but better.

Modded Mordin - How to fix him:

The first thing we're going to do is give him some abilities to strip shields/barriers (in this case Overload). This will fix his biggest weakness on Insanity which is he can't deal with all forms of protection.

We'll keep his weapons for now since he is more of a support squadmate but that may change in the future. This means his skillset will reflect that an remain more support-oriented.

Powers:

Power 1 (Cryo Blast): Although not a very useful power on Insanity, it gives him a cold elemental ability (and if therefore useful to keep on Insanity since it allows a squadmate to have synergy with a ice-oriented Shepard). It can be used in conjunction with Cryo Ammo - so the option is there for a nice freezing combo should you want to utilize him. You likely won't invest in it much, but it is there as a option should you want to try it out. It also has a fast cooldown which is very nice.

Power 2 (Overload): Gives him a viable method to deal with shields/barriers and overall compensates his kit nicely allowing him to be a very versatile pick early on. Overload is one of the best abilities in the game – and it allows for him to deal with armour (Incinerate) and shields (Overload). It also is extremely nice to use against synthetic enemies. This allows him to be much more useful later on in the game by providing nice options to deal with more enemies - and he was sorely needing a way to damage shielded enemies.

Power 3 (Incinerate): Super useful for dealing with armour, and makes him viable early on in Omega missions, it also provides a nice ability to combo with Kasumi/Zaeed/Grunt who all have fire type abilities. This makes him a very nice candidate to take on early blood pack missions.

Power 4 (Neural Shock): Neural Shock is almost entirely useless on insanity and can be considered one of the worst powers. Despite this, it does have some uses.

First of all, most enemies have more health than protections. This means that you would typically spend more bullets trying to kill an enemy on health than removing their protections. Secondly, For any bipedal organic that has protection (shields, armor, or barrier), it will stagger the enemy. So it does have some uses, but we kept it on Mordin as he needed a unique power. Consider it the equivalent of Jack having Shockwave (which isn't very useful but is a staple power for her). It's a 1 point wonder power like Slam where you only put 1 point into it really.

However he needed a unique power and this was really the only one left (that was at least way more useful than Shredder Ammo). Some people do like it, so it's not entirely hated/useless (that award goes to Shredder Ammo).

Power 5 (Flashbang Grenade): Mordin is a super squishy squadmate and lacks the ability to take heavy fire or a lot of damage on an Insanity playthrough. By giving him Flashbang Grenade, he now has a way to survive longer now has a defensive/support power. It's one of the best power in the game, and it won't solve his squishiness - but it will allow him to at least have another versatile option.

This upgraded kit allows Mordin to be more versatile in taking out enemies. Overall, this makes him a much better candidate for putting him on the squad in an insanity playthrough.

• The reason I did not use Tech Armor is because:
• He’s not a Sentinel
• We have never seen him use this power in the game (ME2/ME3).
• His class is an engineer, who does not get this ability.
• There was the potential for Tactical Cloak (as Salarian STGs can use this ability) but I don't think it would be very useful on Insanity compared to Flashbang Grenade (plus Kasumi/Thane/Zaeed all have it and they have a much better weapon/power set for it to be more useful).
  

Mordin (with Full Cryo Blast, a full passive, and Heavy Incinerate) is a great compliment to an Engineer player. Shepard can strip Shields or Armor of a group of enemies, and Mordin can immediately follow-up with an insta-cast, quick-cooling, Full Cryo Blast to freeze them all. When facing Collectors, you can bring Mordin as an option because his rapid Cryo Blasts make quick work of Husks and utilize focused team gunfire for Barriers.

He's now a much more deadly squadmate and sticks to his role as a support squadmate. Since he can now strip every protection, there is a reason to bring him.

------------------------------

Garrus (Infiltrator):

Vanilla Garrus - How he Plays:

Garrus is overall a solid choice for any Shepard. He's got decent weapon damage and power damage from his passive, Overload, and Armor-Piercing Ammo from his loyalty mission. Overload is always a good complementing can-opener and his loyalty power, Armor Piercing Ammo, can greatly help
with heavily armoured targets. All in all, a great rounded squaddie. The only caveat is that his recruitment mission can be a bit hard in the early-game, but the Vindicator assault rifle is a good AR that you can get from it if you're a Soldier. Concussive Shot in ME2 isn't really that good, but it can deal with barriers quite nicely. All in all he's not a bad pick but he's is out-classed by some of the other squadmates (namely Kasumi/Miranda).

Functionally, Garrus is an altered Miranda. Warp has been traded for Concussive Shot (not nearly as useful), but Garrus's Overload outstrips Miranda's by a considerable degree (due to his passive), making him excellent at taking down shielded enemies such as Blue Suns. Against shielded enemies and geth - there are few better choices and Garrus also brings solid weapon damage to the party. However he lacks the versatility of Miranda as a squadmate.

Keeps original weapons: Assault Rife, Sniper Rifle -> These weapons are good and there is no reason to change them or fix them.

Modded Garrus - How to fix him:

First off we're going to get rid of AP Ammo which is the worst ammo in the game other than Shredder Ammo. At least though AP Ammo has it's uses and can actually be useful in the game (Shredder Ammo is not useful at all). Next we're going to replace it with one of the best ammo powers in the game (Cryo Ammo).

Since we just got rid of his only way to 'deal' with armor, we now have to replace it with an armor-stripping power (in this case Incinerate which is an Infiltrator power). His weapon loadout is already good - so that just leaves a fifth power to add.

I wanted Garrus to be a cryo squadmate which we were lacking in Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 - so that means giving him Cryo Blast so he can do freezing combo's against enemies and so you have a dedicated ice squadmate for a Shepard who also wants to focus on Cryo abilities (or you just want a squadmate who is cryo focused only).

Powers:

Power  1 (Concussive Shot): A soldier power that is okay on Insanity, but provides a way to deal with enemies. With the limited amount of soldier powers it is worth keeping. It does provide some damage to barriers/knocks down unprotected enemies - so it is not worthless by any means. It also is a power he has in Mass Effect 3 (and a very, very good power in ME3 so it really made no sense to get rid of it for sense on continuation if you download the ME3LE mod I made).

Power 2 (Overload): An extremely useful power on Insanity for shield stripping, and it would be dumb to get rid of this power on Insanity. This allows him to take out every form of protection in the game. It would only hurt Garrus to take away this ability.

Power 3 (Incinerate): With the removal of AP Ammo (one of the worst ammo's in the game, right above Shredder Ammo) - Garrus lacked a way to strip armors which made him a worst character in previous iterations of him in this mod. After consideration and thinking, it made sense to give him this so he's a very useful character to take on Insanity missions. It also lets him pair nicely with Incendiary Ammo squadmate (not that there are many early on... albeit if you have an early recruitment mod, that opens up possibilities).

It also lets him deal with the early Blood Pack enemies if you decide to go with Garrus as your first recruit.

Power 4 (Cryo Blast): A very quick acting power that lets him have some fun with some Cryo abilities of his. It isn't the best on Mass Effect 2, but it does have it's uses. You may not invest in it, but try it out with Cryo Ammo - it may surprise you with how fun it is.

Power 5 (Cryo Ammo): Gives him a unique ammo power and allows for another character to have AP Ammo (since there are so many limited soldier abilities, I had to pick/choose who got what and cut some of the other abilities). Also, no other ammo power in the game is as powerful when evolved to squad form. Lets look at some numbers:

The Shuriken machine pistol is a good base to work with, because so many squad members can use it
- Shuriken: 20.5 damage per shot, "squad mod" of .55
That means that each shot from a Shuriken fired by a companion will instead do 11.2 damage.

Because all bonuses (but two) are calculated based on the weapons BASE DAMAGE as opposed to the upgraded damage, that "squad mod" has a severe impact on the final damage numbers. For the sake of argument, let's use Disruptor Ammo. With the squad evolution, it add an extra 40% damage to synthetics and shields. Our squadmate with the Shuriken will now do 15.7 damage per shot to synthetics and shielded enemies. not impressive at all.

Now, lets look at that same Shuriken with Squad Cryo.

It has no damage bonus, but as we've seen, the powers that do will offer you minimal improvement in killing power. What does Cryo offer instead?
Five seconds of crowd control. That's five seconds where an enemy, no matter how powerful, IS NOT SHOOTING AT YOU. That's simply amazing, no matter what difficulty level you're on. But wait, there's more!

Cryo also has several interesting effects:

• A Frozen enemy will take +100% damage from ALL sources.
• A frozen enemy is effectively "weightless", so your powers that deal
  blast damage measured in Newtons will send frozen enemies blasting into the stratosphere.
• A frozen enemy has a chance to shatter and be instantly killed by attacks.
  

Garrus now has a unique ammo power that provides a heavy crowd control option on Insanity. It can be argued that the best ammo powers in Mass Effect 2 are Incendiary Ammo, Disruptor Ammo, and Cryo Ammo. AP Ammo isn't that high up there on its usefulness since the other three ammo powers provide much more versatility to a squad. He also becomes a nice power user with both Incinerate + Cryo Blast. Considering the limited tech powers (I didn't want everyone to have Flashbang Grenade despite how useful it it + he never used grenades at all in any of the games), this build made the most sense to him.

You'll probably mostly utilize him as before, but now he's unique as he's the only squadmate with the Cryo Ammo power which can lead to some interesting builds. These powers at least give him some different options when leveling him up or if you want to try different things with him. This should actually make him a very versatile squadmate alongside Miranda where he can actually perform different tasks or server a variety of purposes. There's also a variety of build options/playstyles you can try out with him or attempt due to his new powers that should make for an interesting insanity playthrough.

Now he is no longer Miranda-lite (with a worst power set) and he actually has some interesting abilities that you can use with him.

------------------------------------------------------------

Jack (Vanguard):

Vanilla Jack - How she plays:

One of the worst squadmates on Insanity. Jack is the only one who originally has Shockwave, which is great for hordes of red health bars.
Unfortunately, that is not commonplace on Hardcore or Insanity mode. Shockwave is alright for staggering some protected enemies, but other than that, it's not a very useful power. Jack does get Pull upon ranking Shockwave to rank 2, which does give her some use. However, as we saw in the Jacob section - Pull is really not that useful on Insanity long-term. Jack also gets to use shotguns which is an alright complement to her skillset, namely using Pull to make enemies come closer to her. Her loyalty power, Warp Ammo, is a great asset to have in almost any mission and for any Shepard to inherit. Warp Ammo is an almost universal type of Ammo that deals extra damage to everything other than shields.

However this is her biggest problem on Insanity, she has no way to get rid of armor or shields making her almost entirely useless. There was almost no reason to take her when Miranda/Samara can do what she can but way better.

Her weapons are also so bad - as shotguns/heavy pistols are the worst weapon set in the game (see Jacob's section).

Modded Jack - How to fix her:

First of all, we need to give her a way to strip every type of protection. This is where Warp and Disruptor Ammo comes in - she can now actually be useful on your team in an Insanity playthrough. These fixes/additions were the biggest ways to make her way more useful on an Insanity playthrough.

She kept Shockwave since it has some use on Insanity, and was provided Charge as an ability to either escape danger or get closer to do Close Quarters Combat.Shockwave was requested to keep by people as her staple power, so she kept it in newer iterations of the mod.

Her new weapons also make way more sense for her to deal with close combat situations as she now has a shotgun or an SMG which provides more options than a Shotgun/Pistol (which once again, are the worst weapons combination a squadmate can have).

Now Jack is actually a real threat for close quarter combat.

New weapons: SMG, Shotgun

Powers:

Power 1 (Warp): Warp allows her to do massive damage to armor and barriers. This is very much needed as she’s useless on insanity due to her lack of protection stripping powers. She also had warp in ME3 so it is also very lore-friendly for her to have. This also makes it unnecessary to have Reave (see Miranda section about why both are redundant).

Jack never used Reave in ME3 and can be considered a Vanguard (we’ve only seen sentinels/adept squadmates have Reave). Singularity is also an Adept power, not a Vanguard power so it makes no sense for her to have it. So giving her Warp fits her class heavily, while providing her with a protection stripping armor.

Technically, it doesn't really matter - we could give her any biotic ability since she's a Vanguard (ala Jacob and Miranda), but I felt like this kit below fit her nicely.

Power 2 (Pull): Jack keeps Pull which provides her with some utility on Insanity with it's uses (it factors as a crowd control power).

Power 3 (Charge): By providing Charge, it provides a way for Jack to get closer to enemies and utilize her weapons such as an SMG/Shotgun (that she's been given) to be a bigger threat in close quarter combat. It can also be a way to escape danger if she's surrounded.

It also gives her a fun, new mechanic to play with and to try it. It also is super powerful for an ability and allows her to "close the gap" to an enemy and makes her shotgun even more deadly.  Considering how amazing it is, it really makes her a real threat compared to before.

Power 4 (Shockwave): Why keep Shockwave? Shockwave is an awesome interrupter power. It is the single largest range biotic power (even more useful than pull field in terms of potential number of enemies affected). It will stagger all humanoid size enemies even when they're armored or shielded. This can be a lifesaver when stun locked or to give you a chance to get a shield recovery power off or get into cover. This at least makes it have some uses on Insanity where it can save your life. Plus people wanted Jack to have Shockwave in the comment section.

Power 5 (Disruptor Ammo): A power that should give her some variety in the early missions of ME2 (in case you recruit her early/take her to Omega). It also provides a nice option since Disruptor Ammo can be considered one of the best powers in the game. (Giving her some extremely useful utility throughout the game, and making up for her original lackluster weapon/power kit). It also allows her to finally strip all armor and protections. Jack romancers rejoice! (As in she's now viable to bring during the whole game if you want without suffering).

This addition to her kit atleast makes her a suitable choice for an insanity playthrough and allows her to become an amazing option – she goes from one of the worst squadmates to a solid choice. Her weapon kit is also way better and makes her a much more close quarter combat threat, which she's still squishy but this at least makes her an option so she can do something on Insanity (other than just stagger with Shockwave/Pull) + she's supposed to be a glass cannon, so this fits lore wise.

She is now an amazing squadmate to take since she can provide bonuses to the squad (through Disruptor Ammo) and deal with any type of protection (since Warp can deal with armor/barriers and Disruptor Ammo can damage shields). All these powers are also Vanguard class powers, so they are all lore-friendly/stay within her designated class.

No longer will Jack be relegated to the sidelines, people who romance her actually have a reason to take her on an Insanity playthrough now as she can hold her own weight in combat. Plus, she's extremely powerful now as she should be thanks to Charge.

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Grunt (Soldier):

Vanilla Grunt - How he plays:

The most durable squad mate, so he won't be using up your copious amount of medi-gel anytime soon. His weapon damage output isn't too noticeably stronger than other shotgun users though like Jacob. Grunt also gets access to Incendiary Ammo like Jacob, but only after getting Concussive Shot to rank 2. The main thing about Grunt is that he does get a unique charge attack when enemies get within close-quarters with him. With that in mind, he can noticeably run over enemies, especially Husks.

However, other than that, his Concussive Shot isn't a very good physics-based power like Throw, nor is it good at dealing damage against Barriers like Warp or Reave. His loyalty power, Fortification, just adds onto his defenses even more, so much so, that it's overkill. On Insanity mode, while his tankiness can be more appreciated in the early game, by mid-to-late game you'll either have enough damage protection bonuses so that even your squishy squaddies can tank a bit, or, you'll have a cornucopia of medi-gel ready to use.

Grunt's problems are two-fold:

1. He lacks any powers (due to the limited soldier powers in the game)
2. He can't deal with all protections in the game

Modded Grunt - How to fix him:

So how can we fix Grunt with so limited powers in the game? First off all, we'll give him Inferno Grenade which goes great for the early missions you can use him on and provides him a nice power to go alongside his Incendiary Ammo. It makes him extremely deadly to bring with any squadmates who has Incinerate.

Next to not make him totally unique compared to other squadmates, he is the only squadmate with two ammo powers - adding in Disruptor Ammo. This now provides a way for him to deal with another form of protection that he otherwise couldn't.

These changes allow Grunt to have more versatility and options for an Insanity playthrough.

Powers:

Power 1 (Concussive Shot): A soldier power that is okay on Insanity, but provides a way to deal with enemies. With the limited amount of soldier powers it is worth keeping. Much like noted in Garrus section, it can do damage to armor and/or knock down unprotected enemies which gives him some utility when using it.

Power 2 (Inferno Grenade): Inferno Grenade provides the ability to be used in tandem with Incendiary Ammo, making him a great option for early Blood pack enemies and being able to panic enemies. It also provides another way for him to damage armor.

Power 3 (Fortification): A useful power for boosting Grunt's defenses on Insanity, and one of his unique powers. It also allows him to be a tank, and provides a very useful squadmate on the Derelict Reaper mission.

Power 4 (Disruptor Ammo): A power that allows him to provide squadmates with the abilities to deal with shields + provides himself with the unique position of having the two best ammo powers in the game.

Power 5 (Incendiary Ammo): Gives him an ammo power that compliments his kit nicely. Incendiary Ammo is also extremely good in Mass Effect 2 (and even Mass Effect 3).

All the powers added make Grunt even better, and it stays loyal to his Soldier class. It also makes him different from Zaeed (who has more offensive powers at the cost of defensive ones or more ammo options).

As I said, there weren't many soldier only powers to give him so this was the best I could do with such a limited selection of powers. The two new powers he gets adds heavily to his kit and only makes him better than he was.

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Samara/Morinth:

Samara (Adept):

Vanilla Samara - How she plays:

For all intent purposes, Morinth is a worst Samara. Samara has no Vanguard power other than Pull and matches more closely to an Adept – so this limited her to biotic powers only. Samara is a somewhat well-rounded squaddie. She has two good, but not overly great physics-based biotics when she starts out, Throw and Pull. Throw can be useful for taking out husks and launching targets off a cliff. Pull is good for setting up detonations or leaving an enemy open to fire. Reave can deal great damage against Barriers and Armor like Warp, but it can also deal great damage against fleshy targets and stagger them for a short time. It's a great can-opener power that can also affect health. Area Reave can further amplify its usefulness by expanding it to a small radius of enemies. To top it all off, she gets power cooldown bonuses from her passive and weapon damage bonus. She also gets access to Assault Rifles  like the Mattock, which reinforces her gunplay a bit. Overall, she's pretty well-rounded, but she isn't spectacularly good like Garrus, but she can come close and she should definitely be your go-to for Collector missions.

Modded Samara - How to fix her:

So how can we fix Samara? With the limited biotic powers for an Adept only squadmate, there aren't may powers to give her. First off all we will give her Warp Ammo so she has a support power/good ammo power that makes sense for her class. Secondly, we will add Barrier so she is different from Morinth and be played a bit differently from her.

Now she has three biotic abilities, but she can survive a lot longer/provide an ammo option to other squadmate's or even Shepard. She still doesn't have a great way to deal with shields/barriers - but there aren't really any biotic only powers that let you attack these protections... so this was the best way to give her some new tactical options.

Powers:

Power 1 (Reave): A great power to have, and one that makes Warp redundant in Mass Effect 2. It can strip armor and is worth keeping because of its damage to barriers. Overall, it makes no sense to get rid of this power in ME2. She also has it in Mass Effect 3.

Power 2 (Pull): A power that Samara keeps in ME3, and it has some utility on Insanity. Like Jacob's section, it has its limitations.

Power 3 (Throw): A power that Samara keeps in ME3, and it has some utility on Insanity. It's not overly great, but it is extremely useful for Collector missions to throw them off the edge.

Power 4 (Barrier): A power that gives her some defensive options and allows her to survive longer. She now has a unique role as an Adept compared to Morinth. This allows her to be a better candidate should you need her to be able to survive longer on an insanity playthrough or even a tough mission.

Power 5 (Warp Ammo):  With limited biotic powers, giving Samara Warp Ammo allows her to have an ammo power that not only makes her have a support ability, but also gives her a good power for an Insanity run. Realistically, Samara has a good weapon kit and good powers. Barrier probably doesn't add anything unique to her kit, but there was a limited amount of powers to choose from (and she was never a bad squadmate to begin with) so it made the most sense to give her that ability. She is an all-around good squadmate to pick, and Warp Ammo now provides extra options and/or a new powerset to try out.

Samara can actually survive longer now, and her passive allows her to have a faster recharge speed for her powers (with Barrier active) than Jacob had. So it is a better power for her to have than Jacob.

There are very limited biotic powers in Mass Effect 2 which makes it very difficult to give a pure biotic character more powers (while also not making her too similar to other characters on the team). This was the best outcome I could think of that gives her some uniqueness while also providing versatility on an Insanity playthrough. It also makes her different from Morinth now but they are still similar enough.

Morinth (Adept):

Vanilla Morinth - How she plays:

Morinth, on the other side of the spectrum, is the alternative to Samara in her loyalty mission. They are exactly the same, save for their loyalty powers. Morinth comes with Dominate, which is basically AI Hacking for organic targets. Depending on your preferences, this may be more useful than Samara's Reave. But it is typically better to end organics rather than manipulate them because friendly targets can take cover on your side and then Dominate can wear off and they'll then have their sights on you. On Insanity though, it does provide a nice option to have someone else take fire, allowing you to flank the enemies. Dominate can also be a little glitchy sometimes. Area Dominate can affect two more targets, but since their AI can perceive each other as friends, they may target you anyway instead.

She has a worst weapon set than Samara. So, she is basically a clone of Samara  - so how can we fix this issue to make Morinth more unique?

Modded Morinth - How to fix her:

First of all, we'll give her a much more aggresive power set than Samara. By giving her Reave, and Shockwave- she now has a ton of biotic powers and is seen as a more reckless/aggressive option than Samara. She is more offense oriented now versus Samara being more defensive oriented.  She has the same weakness as Samara that she can't really take on shields/barriers, but at least she has a wide variety of powers that may come in handy on an Insanity playthrough. With the limited amount of biotic only powers, these changes made the most sense to give her.

Powers:

Power 1 (Reave): See Samara section on why it is so good.

Power 2 (Pull): A power that is useful in Mass Effect 2 and provides the same utility as if you had Samara over Morinth. It's not incredibly useful, but it's good to keep it so she has this power just like Samara.

Power 3 (Shockwave): A power that gives her a way to stagger enemies. It really isn't that useful on Insanity, but you can look at the Jack section to see why it has some utility.

Power 4 (Throw): A power that provides the same usefulness of Samara should you take Morinth instead. It gives her some utility on Collector missions like Samara. This would be dumb to get rid of since it's a very useful power to have on an Insanity mission.

Power 5 (Warp Ammo):  With limited biotic powers, giving Morinth Warp Ammo allows her to have an ammo power that not only makes her have a support ability, but offers a good insanity orientated power to her. She shares this power with Samara, and they both can now provide an ammo power to the squad or for themselves.

This helps to change Samara into a more defensive support squadmate with Warp Ammo/Barrier versus Morinth who just becomes a raw power/damage dealer in the form of having Reave/Shockwave. They are similar enough that you aren't 'disadvantaged' if you hate Samara/prefer her over Morinth. You also have enough differences that they will play differently or act differently in combat

Although most players will choose Samara, I wanted to have it so if you pick Morinth you didn't lose out on much - but there was still some differences between them. Although she won't be the best Insanity squadmate, she functions like Samara but they have two different abilities on each of their kits.

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Tali (Engineer):

Vanilla Tali - How she plays:

Tali has a more favorable point distribution to get Combat Drone earlier, which can harass and damage enemy shields. Like Legion, she can also use AI hacking to cause confusion amongst synthetics and it synergizes better with Tali since she has a passive that further boosts power duration unlike Legion. As such, her passive also makes picking Attack Drone more favorable rather than Explosive Drone. However, Tali is a bit weird in that she uses shotguns. She is a rather vulnerable squaddie and can't last long advancing with a shotgun. She would definitely be best with a Geth Pulse Shotgun which is a good mid-range option. Otherwise, her gunplay is rather lacking. Her loyalty power, Energy Drain, is an alternative version of Overload. It absorbs shields and adds it to your own, which is a great power for almost any Shepard to inherit, as it's both a can-opener and a survivability tool. For Tali herself, she can survive more reliably with it and take out shields, so it's a nice addition to her skillset.

Basically, the problem with Tali originally is her powerset and weapon set isn't really that good. Energy Drain is an alternative to Overload, and Combat Drone is good for taking out shields but she has no way to take out armor. Her weapon kit also makes her very vulnerable due to her squishiness and requiring her to get close into combat.

Modded Tali - How to fix her:

First off all, Tali needs a way to strip armor - and that's where Incinerate comes in. Providing Incinerate is a no brainer otherwise Tali has no way to strip armor from enemies.I wanted to keep her support like so I didn't want to change her weapon set too much. The last thing I gave her is Geth Shield Boost so she can actually survive up close should you choose to invest in it. Rather than he just being dead right away once enemies get close to her.

These new changes should make Tali a much better pick.

Powers:

Power 1 (Energy Drain): Her loyalty power that is an alternative to Overload as it provides shield stripping. It makes it redundant for her to have Overload with this ability. It also makes sense to keep it.

Power 2 (Incinerate): A tech power which devastates armor for the most part and incinerate also stops health regenerariob which will get annoying. Incinerate is available to engineer classes so it makes sense for her to have it. Although Mordin has this ability, Tali is very weak in ME2 when it comes to armor and she doesn't have much use for missions that don’t revolve around Geth – this allows her to be a much more suitable pick for a variety of missions for players who want to bring her along.

Power 3 (AI Hacking): AI Hacking is useful for a fair amount of the second game even though  you aren't focused on Geth. Many of the missions against mercs will have mechs supporting them and it is nice to hack them, although obviously it's not completely necessary.

Power 4 (Combat Drone): Gives her another way to deal with shields if you don't want to invest in Energy Drain and/or if you just want more options. The Combat Drone in ME2 is also not a damage dealer, but it is a fantastic crowd-control power, with the ability to lock down a single target very
reliably. Because of how the ME enemy A.I. works, the enemy you spawn it on will focus on the drone almost immediately, taking one enemy out of the fight very quickly. It is a fantastic crowd-control power, with the ability to lock down a single target very reliably.

Power 5 (Geth Shield Boost): This power rectifies Tali's main weakness on an Insanity playthrough, her squishiness/inability to survive (especially with her using a shotgun). It's a great power that should make Tali much more useful on an Insanity playthrough.

These changes provide some usefulness for Tali to be taken on an Insanity playthrough while keeping her usefulness on Geth related missions or missions with mechs on them. These changes keep Tali as a support character, but also make it so it's worthwhile to take her on missions since she now actually has some useful powers or strategic viability.

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Thane (Adept -> Sentinel):

Vanilla Thane - How he Plays:

Thane is a squaddie who can have up to 50% weapon damage with his passive, so you can expect Thane to do some considerable damage to your targets. In addition, he is the only other (permanent) squaddie who has access to Warp, which is always a welcome addition. Throw is a good physics-based biotic which can hurl enemies away from you and toward a cliff. And his loyalty mission is easy EXP and it's hard to mess up. But his loyalty power is rather lacking, Shredder Ammo is only effective against red health bars, and by that point, it's already easy enough to take them down.

He highest weapon damage in the game and the presence of Warp solidify Thane's utility on the spot. Another excellent choice for Collectors, but a force to be reckoned with almost anywhere. In addition, Throw Field grants him surprising prowess at Husk elimination, to the point where he is adept at creating lovely smear paintings on the wall with green pulp that once groaned obnoxiously.

However, his class is a bit confusing as to "what" his class is supposed to be. Not to mention, he lacked a way to deal with shields. Meaning he did have some limitations on a insanity playthrough.

Although Thane is an assassin and could be considered an Infiltrator – most of his powers seem to match up with the Adept class. He has no tech
powers at all, and we’ve never seen him really use Tactical Cloak. In Mass Effect 2, when we meet him he is crawling through vents and when we
see him fight Kai Leng in Mass Effect 3, he doesn't "cloak" in but merely sneaks up on him from what we have seen. Not to mention, the other issue is that Shredder Ammo + Throw is almost useless on Insanity because neither work until all protections are stripped (but at least throw can be used against collectors to throw them off cliffs and can be combo'd with biotic powers).

All in all based on his weapon kit and abilities in the vanilla game this would leave him most likely class as a Vanguard (a mix of soldier skills and biotic skills with his weapon set) or Infiltrator. However, he is also an option for the Tech Specialist role. Plus all his powers in the vanilla games are biotic powers. This means he should (in theory) have some kind of tech abilities or be a Sentinel if he's a candidate? The only reason he seems to make sense logically is he can go through vents? To make things simple, the majority of his powers are Adept powers while his weapon kit screams Infiltrator. This makes it extremely hard to know what his intended class is, for argument sake - let's assume he's a Adept since he has mostly Adept powers (similar to Samara with having a different weapon kit than normal adepts).

Original weapons: Sniper Rifle, Submachine Gun

Modded Thane - How to fix him:

First of all, we're going to make Thane a Sentinel. This fixes the inconsistency with "what is his class" and the fact that he's an option for the Tech Specialist role. This also allows us to give him some tech powers and biotic powers - to fix his weakness on Insanity (stripping shields, etc.) It also provides a reason for him to have Tactical Cloak which has been the most requested squadmate power for him to have.

Next we'll give him Disruptor Ammo so he can deal with shields/barriers which was one of his major weaknesses and give him Shock Pulse which allows him to damage close range enemies (and that damages all types of protections). This provides an option if an enemy gets close. Shock Pulse also makes sense lore-wise since we see him go hand-to-hand with Kai Leng and use a biotic infused punch to knock him down - so this was the closest ability like that.

We'll keep his weapon set as a Sniper Rifle/Sub-machine Gun for long-range and close-range combat.

Powers:

Power 1 (Warp): Warp allows him to do massive damage to armor and barriers. Considering Warp is one of the only power that can act as a detonator in Mass Effect 2 (causing Warpexplosions) it makes sense to keep. Plus it's just a great power on any squadmate.

Power 2 (Shock Pulse): A tech power that should allow him to fight off the endless hordes of Husk should they get close. It was the only unique power left to give him and it didn't make sense for Grunt to have it (since it's a tech power). We've also seen Thane fight in close quarters combat (with a biotic type punch to Kai Leng in ME3). So it makes sense he'd have some kind of punching ability - and since there is no biotic punch ability, this will have to do. I.E. it makes sense lore-wise for him to have this ability based on what we've seen in Mass Effect 3.

Since it damages all protections, it's also super useful for anything that gets close to get karate chopped and take massive damage from this ability.

Power 3 (Throw): Provides an alternative to Samara/Morinth and is useful on collector missions. It would make no sense to get rid of this power. It also acts like a detonator allowing him to make biotic combo's (alongside warp) with anyone who has Pull, Singularity, and Slam.

Power 4 (Tactical Cloak): Tactical Cloak provides a huge damage boost when squadmates come out of the cloaking ability and it also can act as a defensive measure should he be about to die. A number of people kept requesting Tactical Cloak, so it just made sense to add it to his kit. Even though it's an Infiltrator power and not a Sentinel one, I made an exception to give it to him since it was always requested by people in the comments.

Power 5 (Disruptor Ammo): With Jacob being re-done and getting Overload, I didn't want too many squadmates to have Overload. This means Thane needed a way to take out shields. The options were Combat Drone or Disruptor Ammo and I opted for Disruptor Ammo since he could now be used in tandem with other squadmates to give them shield stripping powers. The other reason was to make it lore-friendly. Considering he has an Infiltrator weapon kit -> Disruptor Ammo is a power Infiltator's can have whereas Combat Drone is an Engineer power. So considering the two options, this made the most sense.

These new powers make him a very good pick no matter the situation since he can deal with any type of protection. Basically I wanted to have him have Tactical Cloak (which was highly requested) but still have him be a unique mix of long-range combat and close quarter combat if needed. Tactical Cloak provides a way for him to go hidden if he's in danger or to use it to unleash a huge power boost to his weapon damage or power damage. Shock Pulse lets him fight in close quarters combat if he's surrounded and can strip any type of protection - with Warp/Disruptor Ammo also providing long-range options to strip any protection. Throw can be used mid-range to long-range to hurl enemies away from him.

Basically with his weapon kit (Sniper/SMG) and his new power set - he becomes an option for either long-range combat or short range combat. His power kit may be a bit strange, but it was the best I could do to give him some very interesting unique gameplay from every other Sentinel/Biotic/Tech squadmate. So it should provide him some interesting gameplay options.

Thane is different from the other two Sentinels on the squad because of the way I tried to make each Sentinel unique from one another:

Miranda = Long-range, defensive Sentinel
Jacob = Close-range, offensive Sentinel
Thane = A mid-range, balanced Sentinel (mix of both close quarters and long-range abilities)

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Legion (Infiltrator):

Vanilla Legion - How he plays:

What really makes Legion powerful is his Widow sniper rifle, which can deal massive damage, and it is probably the most damage a squaddie can put out in one shot. In addition, he's a good Tech expert who can summon a Combat Drone to harass enemies out of cover, so he can take more potshots with his Widow. He can also use AI Hacking to cause havoc amongst synthetic ranks. His loyalty power Geth Shield Boosting is a good protection power for his squishy-self. It can also further boost his weapon damage by a small amount.

The problem with Legion is you get him so late in the game, and his powers are basically a clone of Tali's/worst than Tali's at the expense of his weapon kit being better.

Modded Legion - How to fix him:

The first thing we will do for Legion is give him Geth Siege Pulse which is now his unique ability. It can jump from target to target, so it counts as a type of crowd control power. Next we will give him Incinerate so he has a reliable way to damage armor. Lastly, we will provide him with Disruptor Ammo which allows him to tackle one of his biggest weaknesses (lack of shields/barrier stripping other than using Combat Drone).

He is very similar to Tali, as they both share 3/5 of their powers. Legion however has Geth Siege Pulse/Disruptor Ammo whereas Tali has Energy Drain/Combat Drone. I wanted to keep them both as extremely useful squadmates to take on mech/geth missions so it was a bit hard to diffrentiate them. I also didn't want to take away Legion's defensive ability, nor not give Tali the same ability.

Powers:

Power 1 (Geth Siege Pulse): A great power for him with the low cooldown cost and ability to provide crowd control, something he was sorely lacking.

Power 2 (AI Hacking): A way for him to control enemy geth, and a useful power to have. See the above Tali/Garrus section on why it is good.

Power 3 (Incinerate): A power that allows him to strip armor, as noted above it is an extremely viable power.

Power 4 (Geth Shield Boost): An option that allows for Legion to survive longer and to put him on par with soldiers, it's worth keeping since it allows him to survive longer on an Insanity playthrough.

Power 5 (Disruptor Ammo): A power that allows him to provide squadmates with the abilities to deal with shields + provides himself with a unique ammo power. It is also one of the best ammo powers in the game. He can no be paired up with Tali or any other squadmate who lacks an ammo power.

He overlaps a lot with Tali since a lot of their powers are similar. Both Tali and Legion fit into the support role, and their powers showcase this. This was the best I could do for him with the limited powers available while still trying to keep unique powers for everyone.

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Kasumi (Infiltrator):

Vanilla Kasumi - How she plays:

Probably the second best squadmate behind Miranda. Shadow Strike is possibly one of the best skills in the entire game. It deals massive damage to one enemy and she can draw the attention of nearby enemies while she's doing it. She also recovers health and shields while cloaking when using Shadow Strike. Flashbang Grenade is definitely worth mentioning too since it can effectively shut down a group of enemies (and works on basically any enemy in the game). And she can also have Overload for any struggling Adepts (or any Shepard) who can't take down shields easily. To top it all off her passive grants her power cooldown reduction which lets her use her skills more frequently. Kasumi is a very versatile character for any Shepard. As a bonus for any SMG-using Shepard, her loyalty mission grants access to the Locust SMG which is the best mid-range SMG that has plenty of ammo, and it can be obtained in the first stage of the game no less.

She basically is one of the best original squadmates alongside Miranda, so how can we improve her?

Original weapons -> Submachine Guns, Heavy Pistols

Modded Kasumi - How to fix her:

First of all, her powers kit is one of the best in the game which means that there isn't much to add on. She has Armor Piercing Ammo in Mass Effect 3, but that's not a very good power in ME2/3 compared to the three top ammo powers. So instead of AP Ammo, we'll give her one of the best ammo powers in the game that does the same thing: Incendiary Ammo. Now she's insanely useful on the early game missions with Blood Pack enemies. Next we'll give her a power she has in Mass Effect 3 that allows her to output insane weapon damage and can keep her alive if she's in a tough spot - Tactical Cloak.

Powers:

Power 1 (Shadow Strike): One of the best powers in the game, no reason to get rid of it.

Power 2 (Overload): An extremely useful power on Insanity for shield stripping, and it would also make no sense to get rid of it. It's one of the few shield stripping powers in Mass Effect 3.

Power 3 (Flashbang Grenade): Another amazing power to keep that provides an insane amount of crowd control in Mass Effect 2. It can shut down almost any enemy.

Power 4 (Tactical Cloak): A defensive power that also allows her to boost her weapon damage output. One of Kasumi's biggest problems on Insanity is sometimes Shadow Strike would put her in vulnerable positions. If you're using a no shared power cooldown mod (which I recommend) than she now has a way to go invisible and get out of enemy fire for a limited amount of time.

Power 4 (Incendiary Ammo): Provides her with an ability that allows her to take our armor and it's one of the best ammo powers in the game. It also helps a lot since you get her so early on, which gives you a huge reason to take her to recruit Mordin/Grunt/Garrus.

Realistically, Kasumi didn't need much in the way of upgrades to her kit. She (alongside Miranda) is one of the best squadmates in Mass Effect 2. I could have provided her with AP Ammo (she has it in the vanilla Mass Effect 3), but I felt like Incendiary Ammo would be much more useful to her. It does way more damage to enemies and is one of the best ammo powers in the game. Overall, her two new abilities allow her to have an extremely high damage/weapon output compared to before which is something she was lacking.

I didn't feel the need to change her weapons as she is more of a support character and her weapons fit her "light" thief loadout. (She wouldn't be carrying heavy weapons anyways).

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Zaeed (Soldier): 

Vanilla Zaeed - How he plays:

Zaeed can have a passive which grants massive damage boost to his weapons (up to 50%), which can only be rivaled by another squaddie who has a similar passive. Slap this on with his Disruptor Ammo (which is exclusive to him other than being an Infiltrator or Soldier Shepard), and he'll be taking down Geth and synthetics in no time. For non-synthetics and armor, his Inferno Grenades are great for causing panic among fleshy targets and deals decent damage against armor (though it is not as good as Mordin's Incinerate).

He can take out any type of protection thanks to Infenrog Grenades/Disruptor Ammo. His original weapons (Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle) are the best weapons in the game and don't need to be changed or modified at all.

Modded Zaeed - How to fix him:

There aren't a lot of Soldier powers in Mass Effect 2 to give Zaeed. As to not bog him down with another ammo power - I've instead opted to give him Flashbang Grenade which is one of the best powers in the game, and Carnage (a recovered power that can strip all forms of protection). Lastly, since the Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition version of this mod gives him Invisbility, I decided to give him Tactical Cloak (which now provides him with a defensive power).

We've seen the Salarian Counciller in Mass Effect 3 use a cloaking device, so we know they exist for non-tech specialist. Maybe Zaeed stole it off some poor sod he killed, or maybe he bought it on the black market. With Zaeed, you can never be too sure where he got it from.

Powers:

Power  1 (Concussive Shot): A soldier power that is okay on Insanity. With the limited amount of soldier powers it is worth keeping.

Power 2 (Carnage): One of the worst powers in Mass Effect 3 is actually one of the best in Mass Effect 2 - as it allows you to strip every form of protection in the game. It made the most sense to give him this since he has it in the next game (and there were so many limited options to give him since he is a soldier character).

Power 3 (Inferno Grenade): An extremely useful power on Insanity for armor stripping, and it doesn't make sense to get rid of it. Especially considering you get him early on prior to recruiting Mordin/Garrus - who have a ton of Blood Pack enemies who have health regeneration (which fire abilities can stop).

Power 4 (Tactical Cloak): A defensive power that has the added benefit of increasing weapon damage (should you choose that option). It now matches this ME3LE version of this mod where he has Invisibility. It also lets him survive if he is in danger of dying.

Power 5 (Disruptor Ammo): With the limited soldier abilities, keeping this made sense. It also allows him to take out every type of protection due to it being able to take out shields/barriers.

Realistically, Zaeed didn't need much help to become better due to his weapons, powers, and passive. Adding these two powers merely helps to make an already exceptional squadmate even better.

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Temporary Squadmates:

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Wilson (Engineer): 

Vanilla Wilson - How he plays:

You have mission in a total of one mission, and that's the tutorial before he's assissinated by Miranda. Considering he only has one ability, there isn't much to say about him.

Modded Wilson- How to fix him:

First, we will give him actually abilities (including a passive ability). At least it makes sense that he has some abilities/somehow took over the station/reprogrammed the Mechs to turn against everyone.

Powers:

Power  1 (Incinerate): A power that you won't actually see in Wilson's aresenal since there are no points invested in it and you can't click the Squad Selection Screen while he is in your party.

Power 2 (Overload): He needs to keep this power or you can't get past the tutorial. Originally he had Miranda's version of Overload, so I gave him his own version of the power so you don't need to have 1 point in Miranda's Overload to get past the tutorial.

Power 3 (AI Hacking): A power Wilson has in the tutorial with one point invested in it. I wonder why that is? (Hint: If he reprogrammed the Mechs to attack, he must have some Tech ability/knowledge. Consider it a lore-friendly power for him to have).

Power 4 (Combat Drone): He shares this power with Tali but since he is only available for the Prologue, it is still unique to her. You can actually use it in the Prologue as he has one point invested in it. Once again, it would make sense that he has a combat drone considering he reprogrammed the Mechs. Maybe a suspicious Shepard might wonder why he has such a drone with him?

Power 5 (Disruptor Ammo): A power that you won't actually see in Wilson's arsenal as there are no points invested in it.

Power 6 (Wilson's Passive): A clone of Jacob's passive since it says Cerberus Operative, but changed then name so he doesn't share it with Jacob. He actually has a point in it, but once again you can't see it because you can't click the Squad Selection Screen.

Now you can understand how Wilson took over the base and reprogrammed all these mechs. It makes more sense than him just having Overload.

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Ashley (Soldier): 

Vanilla Ashley - How she plays:

She was not available in Mass Effect 2 as a temporary squadmate, however if you install the Virmire Savior Mod you get her temporarily on Horizon.

Modded Ashley - How to fix her:

Since she was not in the original game, there is no way to "fix" her

Powers:

Power  1 (Concussive Shot): A soldier power that is okay on Insanity. With the limited amount of soldier powers it is worth keeping.

Power 2 (Energy Drain): A power I gave Ashley in the Mass Effect 3 version of this mod because she had no way to take out shields since I gave her Incendiary Ammo. Head-cannon it as the Alliance training her while Shepard was gone/giving her new technology so she could investigate a dangerous mission/be on Horizon well equipped for whatever was causing the disappearing colonies.

Unlike Kaidan, it is never elaborated what she did during this time (Kaidan raised a Spec Ops force). So you can come up with a number of reasons why she learned this ability. You could also headcannon that maybe Tali taught her how to do it after their time in Mass Effect 1 together.

Power 3 (Inferno Grenade): An extremely useful power on Insanity for armor stripping, and it doesn't make sense to get rid of it. It's also a power she has in Mass Effect 3.

Power 4 (Incendiary Ammo): An ammo power that gives her a lot of firepower, and allows her to have a really good ammo ability.

Power 5 (Shredder Ammo): With the limited soldier abilities, I wanted to give her a unique power. You can make the argument that the Alliance has been trying new technology and trying it out as a prototype and gave it to Ashley to use. I also gave it to Anderson in Mass Effect 3 in the Prologue so it has some continuity (maybe Anderson gave it to her to use? Or maybe the Alliance has been trying to make it shred through organics faster as a new prototype technology.)

Ashley is only with you for a limited time on Horizon if she the mod chooses her as your squadmate over Kaidan. So I tried to mimic her abilities that I gave her in the ME3LE version of this mod. Shredder Ammo was really the only unique power left, and like I said with the ME3 version of this mod Anderson has the ability. So maybe Anderson was getting Ashley to test out the ammunition for him, or he gave it to her as a gift.

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Kaidan (Sentinel): 

Vanilla Kaidan - How he plays:

He was not available in Mass Effect 2 as a temporary squadmate, however if you install the Virmire Savior Mod you get him temporarily on
Horizon.

Modded Kaidan - How to fix him:

Since he was not in the original game, there is no way to "fix" him.

Powers:

Power  1 (Cryo Freeze): A power Kaidan has in Mass Effect 3, it's not the best power in Mass Effect 2 for an Insanity playthrough but it isn't useless either. It has some uses and can be a useful power to use.

Power 2 (Overload): A great power he has in Mass Effect 3 and that lets him deal with shields/barriers.

Power 3 (AI Hacking): Although AI Hacking is pretty useless for Horizon since there are no mechs, I opted to give him this power as a continuation of the Mass Effect 3 mod (where I gave him Sabotage). I didn't want to give him Reave so Samara/Morinth had a unique power (specifically Morinth since Samara has Barrier at the moment).

Power 4 (Slam): A fun option that you might choose to invest in, it counts as his unique power in both Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 with both mods I made. It's fun to use, and it counts as a 1-point wonder.

Power 5 (Tech Armor): An ability that boosts his defensives so he can survive longer on Horizon and not go down as easily.

Kaidan now mimics the ME3LE version of this mod. He doesn't really need AI Hacking but it was the best option to not divert his powers so heavily from the next game. Since you either have him or Ashley for one mission, it isn't a big deal if he doesn't have the best powerset for an Insanity playthrough/

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Liara (Adept): 

Vanilla Liara - How she plays:

You have Liara for The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC and she has an okay powerset. Really you only need Warp/Asari Scientist in the vanilla game for her. However in the vanilla game you have to invest in Singularity to unlock Warp, forcing you to take that power whether you want it or not.

This mod allows you to level up/invest in whatever power you want. If you're using the Liara squadmate mod then she likely becomes a full companion then, so I still wanted her to be somewhat useful.

Modded Liara - How to fix her:

By giving her Pull and Warp Ammo, she now has two biotic powers that open up more options for her. She had Warp Ammo in ME3LE and Pull in ME1 so they aren't out of the ordinary powers to give her.

Powers:

Power  1 (Warp): An very good power on Insanity, it makes no sense to get rid of this.

Power 2 (Pull): A power that works nicely in her kit if you'd like to use it, it gives you options.

Power 3 (Singularity): Another great power that has a lot of uses on an Insanity run.

Power 4 (Stasis): I'm not a fan of this power, but we'll keep it since it can freeze some powerful enemies and buy your team time. It also counts as her unique power.

Power 5 (Warp Ammo):A nice support power that lets her give the squad an ammo power should the squadmate you bring not have one.

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