Mass Effect: Squad Power Usage Explained

Commanding your squad is an important part of fighting in Mass Effect just like you do in Standoff 2. Determining power consumption will affect performance in combat if you don’t give it orders. You probably don’t want to micromanage every single action your allies take during a firefight. So when deciding how much power your squad uses, there are a few rules that apply to what skills and abilities they can use without your input. You can leave everything to your command, let them only use defensive skills, or give them complete and utter freedom with their skills. Here’s what each Squad power setting means in Mass Effect.

What is Squad Power Usage doing in Mass Effect?

There are three options for the team’s power consumption. This setting determines how your squadmates use their skills outside of your direct orders.

Disabled – Squad AI does not use talents unless instructed to do so by the player.
Defense only – Squad AI only uses defense forces to protect itself or others.
active – Squad AI uses all available talents.

If you want complete and complete control over your allies, select Disabled. This will prevent your squadmates from using their skills to the full unless you order them directly to do so. This includes healing and defense skills so they can’t even use the ability to save themselves unless you tell them directly. The default is defense only. This means that the AI will use skills to protect itself but will not use any offensive skills unless you say so. This means they can heal themselves or buff their shields, but your biotic allies won’t use Throw or anything without your command.

If you want more hands-free calling, select Active. This means that your squad will use all of their skills on their own, with no need for your inputs. This is great when you want to focus on shooting and don’t really care about the squad strategy aspects of combat, but it also means your allies can use skills at inopportune times. With more difficult levels of difficulty, you want to be in full command of your team. As such, this setting is only recommended if you are playing on occasional or normal difficulty levels and just want to blow through combat encounters by just shooting your weapon.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is available now for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Check out our review of the game here.

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