The way I feel about Jacob is that he could be replaced by just about any other Cerberus operative. Every other squad mate seems like they were chosen because they’re the best of the best and important, but it just seems like Jacob is there because you stumbled across him and let him tag along.
@@adamphillip5305 No and here is why which one would you use more the Vent God or Boring Guy. I use the Boring Guy more (4 or 5 missions)than the Vent God (just the missions I don't have any choice but to use him).
Jacob is not all that bad. I like his military work ethic and he always has your back. But I love the youtube video that shows how every advice he gives you is the wrong advice LOL. The writers did that character wrong.
You know even if we spent little time with Legion, he's an easy S tier. The sheer amount of lore that machine utters can charm anyone with that robotic yet very innocent voice.
The moment we see him for the first time is engraved in my memory forever probably. We spend 2 entire games fighting those robots that seem to be the classic enemy unit/cannon fodder that you encounter everywhere just to have something to shoot at. And all of a sudden one of them is helping you, plus it has a piece of N7 armor and it is talking and referring to you as "Shepard-Commander"? I mean whaaat? A mind blowing experience in my life as a gamer. And as you said, everything that follows in terms of lore, about the Geth, the Reapers, etc, everything you talk about with him is so fascinating. And what a role he plays in ME3. What an end. No really, SSS tier imo.
I like to keep Jacob alive just to have the satisfaction of not inviting him to the party during the Citadel DLC. The thought of him finding out he was the only one not invited amuses me.
I got the same with Tali. But I don't invite her because she dies on Rannoch all the time. It's funny how they make a noisy party right after epic slaughter with millions of dead people.🤣
Jacob is probably the only squadmate that has no development whatsoever. It wouldn't be a problem if at least he was cool from the start. But still though, he's not worse than Morinth. Morinth is a serial killer. At the same time I think Jack has the most character development out of them all honestly. She goes from a lowlife and psychotic criminal into a useful and well functioning member of the society.
Samara belongs in D tier as well. Also we’re cool with assassins but serial killers are where we draw the line, by mass effect 2 it’s likely you’ve committed murder at least twice anyway. She’s boring af and belongs in D tier alongside samara proper.
I didn't really like Samara much either and while she's still not one of my favorites, one of my friends during his first playthrough said something that just made me die laughing so hard due to how excited he was that I give her a few points just for that. "PALADIN. FINALLY A GAME THAT HAS AN HONEST TO GOD /PALADIN/ THAT IS CHAOTIC STUPID AND CARES ONLY ABOUT THEIR CODE. GOD I LOVE HER ALREADY" it was more amusing if you were there for it but yea she got a few points just for that
@@0MidnighttheDragon0 That's fair, I sort of got caught up on the Chaotic Stupid phrasing, which made me actually wonder where the character would fall on an alignment chart. Been playing the Pathfinder games recently so the mechanic is a bit stuck in my head.
While overall, I agree, I'd put Kaidan a bit higher. He's a good man and a good friend. A very human character with flaws that he's aware of and tries to change. Well written and likeable, just not as "extra" as most others.
@@HH-hd7nd and see, i do NOT understand how anyone who's played as a biotic could ever argue this unless they were blinded by Ashley's character design
@@arianshepard812 Ashley's back story and personality easily top Kaiden. Besides - I've played all classes multiple times since I completed almost 40 playthroughs of the Trilogy so yes, I know a lot about the game.
Generally the same as Big Dan's tier list, except I'd put Edi on A tier since I love her banters in Mass Effect 2 and 3 as well as seeing her develop more as an Individual rather than AI.
Your list is exactly where I would put everyone, although I have to disagree about Samara. To me she is this beautiful, kind hearted killer. She has such a fascinating life and her relationship with her daughters grows over the course of the 2 games. I find to connect with her, she’s wise and makes me feel safe, kind of like a mom.
Agree 100% Plus the mutual respect that grows between her and Shepard I found really beautiful. By the end she could follow us anywhere. And her being a Justicar and being so righteous, I think I'd follow her anywhere too.
Agreed. Furthermore, from a completely gameplay perspective she also enables Shepard to use the powerful Reave ability once you complete her loyalty mission. This was amazingly useful as an infiltrator that doesn't already have biotics.
did you ever get her to throw the Singularities without using the HUD to make her participate in the battle? (ie: pausing and selecting it). i definitely would have used her more if her AI would have fought better
@@arianshepard812 You can assign squadmate powers to hotkeys, so yes, you don't have to pause to bring up the power wheel. It's the most efficient way to chain combos quickly.
@@CelestialDraconis i've never bothered to learn how to do that because all my hotkeys are already one of my Shepard's powers (almost all? i MAY have one open number), so it seemed WAY simpler to just let them do their own thing
@@arianshepard812 Letting squadmates do their own thing might be fine on lower difficulties, but on insanity it's basically impossible to get through without some level of micromanagement. Once you get the hotkeys down though, it becomes easier as it comes down to muscle memory.
Miranda is practically required on ME2 insanity. Can attack shields,, barriers and armor, plus her passive buff to squad health and damage. as far as utility she is top tier
Agreed, I use her and Mordin as my squadmates for the suicide mission and any time harbinger pops up, 2 heavy warps (her and me) and then Mordin's incinerate usually either instantly or just about kill him bc barrier and armor. So nice.
@@Miso.coop.projects Kasumi actually makes Harbinger completely irrelevant. If you use her flashbang on him it completely disables all of his attacks. So if you just keep plastering him with it you can ignore him and focus on everyone else.
Garrus is hands down the best squad mate, romance or otherwise. I mean adding the romance puts the icing on the cake for me, but even without he’s an amazing squadmate!
In my cycle I was the number one character. Everyone wanted me on their squad, a pity I could not divide myself to give them all what they wanted. But I am glad this cycle still feels that way too... especially once I rule over the Hanar.
Thane, the sad goth lizard assassin is S tier for me anytime. All the very serious prays, the dramatic intro and all. (and even in his dying he can be 110% dramatic).
I didn't like Zaeed much, probably due to the minimal amount you can interact with him etc. Kasumi is the opposite, I loved her, I wish she was around more and had a romance arc; sort of a help her overcome loss with new love kind of thing.
Agreed, some are much better in combat while others are much better in conversations and in terms of the friendships you develop with them. Those are two very different lists indeed.
Miranda would be #1 in the gameplay tier. She has abilities that targets shields, barriers, and armour with a passive ability that boosts squad health AND weapon damage. That woman is a bad B 💅
Morinth could have been such an interesting character. If they had taken her down the route of wishing to save her sisters from being imprisoned and, through that, give her a more understandable emotional side, I think she could have been one of the greats. Samara even says that she was the bravest of all her daughters, they could've used that side of her in a story where she broke out from imprisonment because of how the Ardat Yakshi were treated for a genetic condition that they couldnt control, or had a loyalty mission where you had to kill some evangelical style Asari that tortured her and her sisters in the compound, anything like that. Sadly she just ended up being bland and had virtually no dialogue after you recruit her.
Morinth's just evil. People can be like that. Making her in any way sympathetic would ruin that. Now, giving her an arc where she tries to make up some stupid reasons to sympathise with her on the other hand...
@KopperNeoman Being 'evil' is a point of view though. That's what could have made her interesting. You could argue that locking up citizens that have committed no crimes in a penal colony for being born with a genetic condition that they have no control over is evil. It's all down to perspective.
Tali is the best romance & companion for male Shepard in my opinion, she’s so supportive and definitely invested in Shepard beyond the reaper war. In my headcanon my Shepard survived and is living on Ranoch with tali
Would like to see a list with main and relevant side characters. Traynor, Joker, Anderson, Udina. Also - though the game is nowhere comparable to the trilogy - a list with the Andromeda Squad mates and crew members. Could be interesting
Udina could easilly have been S tier if they'd fleshed him out more The begining of ME3 had me turn around on him. Went from just a stinking bureaucrat to. Actually a dude trying his best to get the aliens to recognise humanity, and ended up going to Cerberus to get Earth cared for But sadly we dont see much about him in the games beyond just being an asshole
Tali, Legion, and Jack are in a league of their own. Sure Legion didn't get much due to being put late in the game but the time we do spend with him, his interactions with Shepard and Tali during missions are gold and his personality is just outright lovable. You just can't hate this guy and I'll always advocate for the TLJ trio being the best the game tril has to offer.
the on thing I think I'd change about this is moving Ashley up to B because I really like her dynamic with femshep in mass effect 3 with them both being LT commanders its cool
I may have been more critical in a few instances, but I'm glad this takes their character arcs into account, rather than their usefulness in combat. Great list!
Yo, this was great! Will you please do a an Andromeda list? I would settle for a mass effect crew list talking about people like Kelly cambers, and joker.
Samara is a little bit better if you romance her(yes I know her romance never counts towards the paramour achievement in either game) however that does bring out a much more emotional side to her. But I'm also certain Dan has never gone this route(neither have I I've just seen it on another channel) so I can definitely understand his feelings towards her character
The class and squad system is set up so good that basically any squad member could be lethal depending on your playstyle. Ashley and her DPS was a cornerstone for my biotic and engineer lol
While I still prefer Kaidan overall, Ashley is still highly effective in ME:3 for combat. Give her the Adas Anti-Synthetic Rifle with the Marksman power to have as high a rate of fire as possible, she's borderline on par with the God Garrus build. Then again, every possible squadmate in ME:3 is great in combat
This was great and I agree with pretty much the whole list beyond maybe Ashley being one row higher, would love to see you do the same thing with Dragon Age companions, or Mass effect romances listed next. hell maybe even KOTOR companions down the line
S tier: miranda, liara, thane,javik A tier: mordin, garrus,tali,legion,kasumi,jack,samara B tier: edi,zaeed,vega C tier: wrex,grunt,jacob D tier: ashley, kaiden (barely evailable past mass effect 1)
This is one of the many reasons these games are so awesome is that everyone has their own unique experience with all these amazing characters and will have their own tier list unique to them! If interested here's my tier list. S: Garrus Tali Mordin Javik Legion A: Thane Zaeed Edi Wrex Grunt B: Jacob Jack Kasumi Kaiden James C: Liara Miranda Samara Ashley D: The Andromaderps
I would love to see you do tier lists for Mass Effect and Dragon Age based solely off the characters actual game play usefulness rather than their personalities.
My 1st playthrough (MY 'canon' playthrough) involved me playing as a Male Paragon Survivor Soldier. Between the first contact war with the Turians, and the dust-up with the Batarians, I understood why the twice (after New Eden, THRICE) alien-bitten humans were a bit wary, and maybe a bit suspicious of the other aliens (who were ALSO very wary of humans) we were just meeting. Ashley was a fellow soldier who had lost quite a bit to alien attacks, and I felt her to be a Comrade in arms from the start. Being a Paragon, our outlook changed as our experiences expanded our understanding of the other races, our friendship grew into a romance, and by the end, we were both all-in on both saving the universe and representing the absolute best of humanity to the rest of the Galaxy that we both wanted to be a positive part of. That's why, for me, Ashley will always be a S-Tier companion.
I pretty much agree with your tier list - I have a few that I would bump one tier up or down (Legion up, James up, Tali down, Ashley down), but I can follow your reasoning for placing them where you do.
when I saw on the cover of the video that my beloved Tali is at the bottom of the tier list, I was ready to bombard with anger in comets, fortunately this was not the case and the cover deceived me
Hmm. Oddly enough I agree with literally everything in this list aside from Javik. I see him as more one-dimensional than the other squadmates you mentioned, all things considered. It's probably just me. Great video!
Funny you mention fallout 4 when talking about Ashley and Kaiden... Ashley's voice actress plays some of the nameless soldiers in the Brotherhood of Steel
As a huge Mass Effect (over 3000h) and the previous Bioware fan and old school gamer i mostly agree with this list. However Liara should be second after Garrus. She is by far the most important character in the game. She helped find the conduit, she saved Shepard from the collectors and helped to resurrect his life(none of the other squadmates cared about), she saved the whole universe. Her deep connection to Shepard is very special. Even the title main theme is about Liara, which she also play's on piano. Also i could not understand how you could put EDI even before Ashley(great in ME1) or Samara. EDI is a terrible lore defying squadmate, totally bland, full of plot holes.
When a mission didn't require a tech-heavy character, Vega was my go-to character, along with a biotics-specialist. It was a regular thing for me to have Liara levitate opponents out from behind barriers and for Vega or Shepherd to pick them off with the carnage ability. It worked very well.
Vega is a good character, the best human companion even. I think he got a lot of hate because it was the end of the series and people wanted more time with the characters they already cared about. He was good though, good banter and a decent arc of his own.
Controversial opinion but I’ve never gravitated towards Liara, romance or not. I just find her very bland in the first game and then her story arc afterwards of becoming the shadow broker just felt really forced and unexpected (not in a good way). I’d be more inclined to put her at B tier. Garrus, Wrex and Tali though…the dream team. I wish we could have three companions like in Dragon Age. The banter would be too much to handle.
I'm in a similar boat. I like her as a character based on her story development parallel to yours. However, I finder her cadence awkward in social situations and for my first run through I got the cutscene where I had to decide between Ashely and Liara for romance in the first game. I chose Ashley specifically because I know I was going to go for Tali in the whole trilogy. The entire time I was romanced to Tali half the conversations with Liara were chock-full of sexual tension and a constant feeling like Liara kept trying to project onto you about "what could have been". It was irritating to the point that It seemed like the devs were trying to gaslight you into a romance with Liara because she was their favorite romance. Idk though It just how I felt.
Yeah she is tonally deaf. I like the role she has in the story but her as a character herself is as bland as Jacob. Also never been a fan of Miranda for the same reason. I don't feel like im talking with a being with emotions, flaws or desires.
S - Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Mordin, EDI A - Thane, Legion, Grunt, Samara, Kaidan B - Kasumi, Jack, Miranda, Liara C - Zaeed, James, Ashley D - Jacob, Javik
liara is meant to be your romance option by the game devs and if you do so she easily makes the S tier alongside garrus,wrex,tali. She is shown to be most caring squadmate besides garrus, that is what makes her tick, as a person its nice to have two squadmates who are close to you throughout the journey one has a friend and one as a lover, liara and garrus fulfill each of those slot in them for both genders of shepard.
James Vega is great, totally underrated. Obviously not like the real core teammates but a really good supporting character. He's flippant and macho but not obnoxious about it. Agree with Dan's placement, B+.
Miranda is an interesting character for me. Her evolution from Mass Effect 2 through three shows tremendous amount of growth as a character. Also, I can't get over how in ME 3, she's always looking at Male Shep with "f@#$ me" eyes, even if she wasn't romanced. Jack, IMO is one of the most interesting characters in the series. She goes from pariah outcast to caring for a group of students more than herself. She was just needing was an environment where she belonged and was needed. Zaeed... him and Garrus plotting to defend the apartment from another clone Shep alone puts him in the A tier. At first I found Ashley's romance to be disappointing. Though, the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. It's turbulent, yes, but then becomes fiery and passionate. She's also incredibly protective of Shep. I'd put her in the A tier personally. So much of her character in Mass Effect 3 is revealed in the subtle details. Liara... not only is she incredibly capable, but one of the sweetest and kindest characters I have ever seen. Everyone needs a Liara in their life.
A squadmate tierlist could be done a few ways. Usually, people will just go by "favourites" but you could also do "usefulness as squadmate" For me, this would bring some pretty wild changes to both lists. For example, Tali is one of my absolute favourite characters; total S-tier. However, I think she is one of the most useless squadmates to bring along in any of the games XD Jacob, despite being a poor character and everyone's favourite punchline, is actually a decent enough squadmate thanks mostly to his Squad Inferno Ammo. Some characters would be top in both. Mordin, Garrus, and Wrex for example. Great characters all around, and also top-tier picks in combat.
For me, Jacob is mid-tier at best in combat (also, slight correction: you pick between Squad _Incendiary_ Ammo or Inferno Ammo (which adds a small AoE to the rounds)). Pull (specifically the Pull Field variant I always use to cheese Husks) needs a Warp combo to do notable damage to non-husk enemies. However the squadmates with Warp don't have high health/shields, so your squad durability goes down (which can get annoying on Insanity difficulty).
Great tier list. I would say this is definitely leaning on the lore, comfort zone angle of tier lists because in terms of raw stats (like g output/recovery/team benefits/etc) the list would for sure be weighted differently. This is a great list I can get behind.
I played a FemShep and romanced Kaidan in EM1. In ME2 I romanced, yes, Jacob. During the suicide mission I sent his but right into the vent. He will never cheat on me.
Absolutely love your rating choices and i pretty much agree on a fundamental level with most of them. I had the same impressions that at first some characters were cool, but as i played the trilogy multiple times, they became obnoxious while others shined more and more. I do need to give you a bit of sass about argumenting that we dont have a lot of time to know Vega, being introduced in ME3, but then straight up put Javik S tier 😂 If its not already done, you could do a romance tier list for male and female sheppard (with Traynor in S tier of course). That could be fun to see
Another day, another tier list with the homies
Omega DLC has two other squad mates 👀
Dan Andrew is right where was The Queen/CEO of After Life Aria T'Lack and Nyreen in your list. Even the Dr. Kenson is missing from the list. 😉😂
Fun vid, had a slightly rough day, so thanks for lighting up my mood a bit, your awesome Dan :)
Wait, which Male Shepard here is the clone?
@@michaelandreipalon359 Better safe than sorry throw them both Shepard's at the Reapers.
No jenkins!? Trash tier list
Leroy.............
He said squad mate. Jenkins is obviously the main character.
Poor Jenkins
Ikr
😂👍🏻😂
The way I feel about Jacob is that he could be replaced by just about any other Cerberus operative. Every other squad mate seems like they were chosen because they’re the best of the best and important, but it just seems like Jacob is there because you stumbled across him and let him tag along.
Agreed.
Exactly.
We should have gotten our Batarian squadmate. That would have been a badass replacement for Jacob.
Brooks betrayed you and I'd still take her over him.
@@ZeeNastee And/Or Volus, Elcor, Vorcha. I'm kinda hoping I'm right about that Vorcha squadmate in ME4 because that would be awesome.
Wrex body slamming a shuttle to save you in the Citadel DLC is all he needs to be S tier.
Dan I think we can all agree The Vent God is in his own tier.
But that tier should be above Kaiden
@@adamphillip5305 No.
@@adamphillip5305 No and here is why which one would you use more the Vent God or Boring Guy. I use the Boring Guy more (4 or 5 missions)than the Vent God (just the missions I don't have any choice but to use him).
Jacob is not all that bad. I like his military work ethic and he always has your back. But I love the youtube video that shows how every advice he gives you is the wrong advice LOL. The writers did that character wrong.
Vent God!
I love how when you got to Morinth, the game over sceen music started playing lol.
Death... by snu snu!!!
You know even if we spent little time with Legion, he's an easy S tier. The sheer amount of lore that machine utters can charm anyone with that robotic yet very innocent voice.
The moment we see him for the first time is engraved in my memory forever probably.
We spend 2 entire games fighting those robots that seem to be the classic enemy unit/cannon fodder that you encounter everywhere just to have something to shoot at.
And all of a sudden one of them is helping you, plus it has a piece of N7 armor and it is talking and referring to you as "Shepard-Commander"? I mean whaaat?
A mind blowing experience in my life as a gamer.
And as you said, everything that follows in terms of lore, about the Geth, the Reapers, etc, everything you talk about with him is so fascinating.
And what a role he plays in ME3. What an end.
No really, SSS tier imo.
@@Unherist and he'll dance "The Robot" for you, with his own beatboxing.
Legion is Geth, refer to Legion as it and/or Them. But i agree Legion is definitely S tier.
Plus they are basically indestructible and have a huge sniper rifle.
For real, he did Legion wrong
I like to keep Jacob alive just to have the satisfaction of not inviting him to the party during the Citadel DLC. The thought of him finding out he was the only one not invited amuses me.
I got the same with Tali. But I don't invite her because she dies on Rannoch all the time.
It's funny how they make a noisy party right after epic slaughter with millions of dead people.🤣
@@grunt7917 whats your issue with Tali?
@@ScottishScrub her fan(atic)s have issues, not me 🤪😄
I don't worship lying, hypocrite, manipulative, racist genocide supporter 😶
😂😂😂😂
@@grunt7917 Tali lives every time through my play through 😟
Mordin needs his own Tier. He broke Omega's only rule a couple of times and survived.
Wait, he fucked Aria?
Jacob is probably the only squadmate that has no development whatsoever. It wouldn't be a problem if at least he was cool from the start. But still though, he's not worse than Morinth. Morinth is a serial killer.
At the same time I think Jack has the most character development out of them all honestly. She goes from a lowlife and psychotic criminal into a useful and well functioning member of the society.
I always thought Jacob was a fine character. Just like Ashley/Kaiden is your typical "average human" and Id put him in C tier
Samara belongs in D tier as well. Also we’re cool with assassins but serial killers are where we draw the line, by mass effect 2 it’s likely you’ve committed murder at least twice anyway. She’s boring af and belongs in D tier alongside samara proper.
I didn't really like Samara much either and while she's still not one of my favorites, one of my friends during his first playthrough said something that just made me die laughing so hard due to how excited he was that I give her a few points just for that.
"PALADIN. FINALLY A GAME THAT HAS AN HONEST TO GOD /PALADIN/ THAT IS CHAOTIC STUPID AND CARES ONLY ABOUT THEIR CODE. GOD I LOVE HER ALREADY"
it was more amusing if you were there for it but yea she got a few points just for that
LMAO. It never occured to me that she is indeed a sci-fi paladin lol
@@gerwalt668
Same! That's why my friend's reaction hit me so hard
Isn't Samara Lawful Neutral though? They follow a strict code but they do things that can seem both good and evil from an outside perspective.
@@kix4635 I never said her alignment
Paladins dont have to be awful good
@@0MidnighttheDragon0 That's fair, I sort of got caught up on the Chaotic Stupid phrasing, which made me actually wonder where the character would fall on an alignment chart. Been playing the Pathfinder games recently so the mechanic is a bit stuck in my head.
While overall, I agree, I'd put Kaidan a bit higher. He's a good man and a good friend. A very human character with flaws that he's aware of and tries to change. Well written and likeable, just not as "extra" as most others.
as i argue in Hulthen's reply video, i also found him WAY more useful in combat, too. i mean, you're choosing between a soldier and a sentinel.
And the least interesting character by far which puts him at the end of the list. However Ash is easily an A tier character.
@@HH-hd7nd and see, i do NOT understand how anyone who's played as a biotic could ever argue this unless they were blinded by Ashley's character design
@@arianshepard812 Ashley's back story and personality easily top Kaiden.
Besides - I've played all classes multiple times since I completed almost 40 playthroughs of the Trilogy so yes, I know a lot about the game.
@@HH-hd7nd wow. you must be an expert. i bow to your clear superiority. XD
Jacob is definitely one of the squad members of all time.
"It's jacobin time!"
I would genuinely have legion in my top 5 favourite Mass Effect
characters. His last words in ME3 being Keelah Se'lai breaks my heart
every time!
And saying "I must go to them" instead of "we".
@@GingerZombie29 Damn when EDI mentioned this on the Normandy she sounded almost heartbroken..
Generally the same as Big Dan's tier list, except I'd put Edi on A tier since I love her banters in Mass Effect 2 and 3 as well as seeing her develop more as an Individual rather than AI.
EDI gives more to the game then Legion. That's for sure
Her interactions with Traynor and Tali at the party had me giggling for hours later.
Your list is exactly where I would put everyone, although I have to disagree about Samara. To me she is this beautiful, kind hearted killer. She has such a fascinating life and her relationship with her daughters grows over the course of the 2 games. I find to connect with her, she’s wise and makes me feel safe, kind of like a mom.
Agree 100%
Plus the mutual respect that grows between her and Shepard I found really beautiful. By the end she could follow us anywhere. And her being a Justicar and being so righteous, I think I'd follow her anywhere too.
I just romanced her
And got rejected 😢
@@user-dh4sb8pl4z oh yeah she does that. She won’t fully commit to you unfortunately
Agreed. Furthermore, from a completely gameplay perspective she also enables Shepard to use the powerful Reave ability once you complete her loyalty mission. This was amazingly useful as an infiltrator that doesn't already have biotics.
She's the most unique Asari you encounter none of that hoiler than thou/naive behaviour
If you romance Jacob, he cheats on you. You see him with someone else in 3 and just throws you away pretty much.
Liara S tier 100%. Carried my ass with her singularities on insanity playthroughs and probably my favourite romance in any RPG.
Once you go blue, nothing else will do 😏
did you ever get her to throw the Singularities without using the HUD to make her participate in the battle? (ie: pausing and selecting it). i definitely would have used her more if her AI would have fought better
@@arianshepard812 You can assign squadmate powers to hotkeys, so yes, you don't have to pause to bring up the power wheel. It's the most efficient way to chain combos quickly.
@@CelestialDraconis i've never bothered to learn how to do that because all my hotkeys are already one of my Shepard's powers (almost all? i MAY have one open number), so it seemed WAY simpler to just let them do their own thing
@@arianshepard812 Letting squadmates do their own thing might be fine on lower difficulties, but on insanity it's basically impossible to get through without some level of micromanagement. Once you get the hotkeys down though, it becomes easier as it comes down to muscle memory.
Miranda is practically required on ME2 insanity. Can attack shields,, barriers and armor, plus her passive buff to squad health and damage. as far as utility she is top tier
Huh, never needed her more than the loyalty mission.
Agreed, I use her and Mordin as my squadmates for the suicide mission and any time harbinger pops up, 2 heavy warps (her and me) and then Mordin's incinerate usually either instantly or just about kill him bc barrier and armor. So nice.
@@Miso.coop.projects Kasumi actually makes Harbinger completely irrelevant. If you use her flashbang on him it completely disables all of his attacks. So if you just keep plastering him with it you can ignore him and focus on everyone else.
You could even say she's perfect 😉
Especially when paired with Garrus. They are arguably the best squadmate duo for ME2.
Garrus is hands down the best squad mate, romance or otherwise. I mean adding the romance puts the icing on the cake for me, but even without he’s an amazing squadmate!
In my cycle I was the number one character. Everyone wanted me on their squad, a pity I could not divide myself to give them all what they wanted. But I am glad this cycle still feels that way too... especially once I rule over the Hanar.
Thane, the sad goth lizard assassin is S tier for me anytime. All the very serious prays, the dramatic intro and all. (and even in his dying he can be 110% dramatic).
I have to add, Zaeed is such a awesome character, wish he got more love
My biggest gripe with Zaeed is we don’t get to pal around with him much. His voice actor is simply amazing though and the guy is hilarious
@@davidbrewer1926 I have a soft spot for Zaeed, pretty much any character that Robin voiced, especially since he passed away. He was great.
I didn't like Zaeed much, probably due to the minimal amount you can interact with him etc. Kasumi is the opposite, I loved her, I wish she was around more and had a romance arc; sort of a help her overcome loss with new love kind of thing.
you can always make two tier lists in these cases, one from a gameplay perspective and one from a story perspective UWU
Agreed, some are much better in combat while others are much better in conversations and in terms of the friendships you develop with them.
Those are two very different lists indeed.
This ^
This! Some may be bland storywise but essential on the battlefield
Miranda would be #1 in the gameplay tier. She has abilities that targets shields, barriers, and armour with a passive ability that boosts squad health AND weapon damage. That woman is a bad B 💅
@@sassysilk6268 agreed and put bad in this
Morinth could have been such an interesting character. If they had taken her down the route of wishing to save her sisters from being imprisoned and, through that, give her a more understandable emotional side, I think she could have been one of the greats. Samara even says that she was the bravest of all her daughters, they could've used that side of her in a story where she broke out from imprisonment because of how the Ardat Yakshi were treated for a genetic condition that they couldnt control, or had a loyalty mission where you had to kill some evangelical style Asari that tortured her and her sisters in the compound, anything like that. Sadly she just ended up being bland and had virtually no dialogue after you recruit her.
She's a literaly serial killer who gets high on killing. Bruh...
Morinth's just evil. People can be like that. Making her in any way sympathetic would ruin that.
Now, giving her an arc where she tries to make up some stupid reasons to sympathise with her on the other hand...
@KopperNeoman Being 'evil' is a point of view though. That's what could have made her interesting. You could argue that locking up citizens that have committed no crimes in a penal colony for being born with a genetic condition that they have no control over is evil. It's all down to perspective.
There is no Jacob without Vents
Jacob had the reach, but the Vents had flexibility. More than one way to blow of steam.
This is an amazing tier list I like the placings for most of them, especially the S tier and A tier.
Love the videos, would love to see a Dragon Age squadmates tier list!
"I'm not gonna put 15 in s tier"
Tali is the best romance & companion for male Shepard in my opinion, she’s so supportive and definitely invested in Shepard beyond the reaper war. In my headcanon my Shepard survived and is living on Ranoch with tali
Jenkins ascended above S tier
Always excited to see a new upload. You know I gotta like and comment.
You should do more tier lists like this🙂
Would like to see a list with main and relevant side characters. Traynor, Joker, Anderson, Udina.
Also - though the game is nowhere comparable to the trilogy - a list with the Andromeda Squad mates and crew members.
Could be interesting
Udina could easilly have been S tier if they'd fleshed him out more
The begining of ME3 had me turn around on him.
Went from just a stinking bureaucrat to. Actually a dude trying his best to get the aliens to recognise humanity, and ended up going to Cerberus to get Earth cared for
But sadly we dont see much about him in the games beyond just being an asshole
Joker - s
Anderson - s
Traynor - very low b
Udina - jacob tier
@@212mochaman TIM S tier and kai leng jacob tier.
@@vik24oct1991 TIM is b tier unfortunately. Me2 he's s tier. Me3 he's jacob tier. No two ways about it
Hackett Out = SSS Tier
Love your videos brother. Garus and Liara are absolutely top tier!! Completely agree.
Bahaha Vent God is killing me
How flattering, Thanks Dan.
I saw my main squeeze Tali in the b tier on the thumbnail and came here to tear shit up. Well played, sir.
You know, I think it would be interesting to see Morinth charging for the rescue of her sisters in teh Monastery, in ME3.
Tali, Legion, and Jack are in a league of their own. Sure Legion didn't get much due to being put late in the game but the time we do spend with him, his interactions with Shepard and Tali during missions are gold and his personality is just outright lovable. You just can't hate this guy and I'll always advocate for the TLJ trio being the best the game tril has to offer.
the on thing I think I'd change about this is moving Ashley up to B because I really like her dynamic with femshep in mass effect 3 with them both being LT commanders its cool
I may have been more critical in a few instances, but I'm glad this takes their character arcs into account, rather than their usefulness in combat.
Great list!
Thanks, Big Dan😊
Kaidan underrated once again
Yo, this was great! Will you please do a an Andromeda list? I would settle for a mass effect crew list talking about people like Kelly cambers, and joker.
Samara is a little bit better if you romance her(yes I know her romance never counts towards the paramour achievement in either game) however that does bring out a much more emotional side to her. But I'm also certain Dan has never gone this route(neither have I I've just seen it on another channel) so I can definitely understand his feelings towards her character
Jacob should be proud that people made a 'special' tier for himself.
As much as I disagree with alot of this, I love Jacobs little tier there
The class and squad system is set up so good that basically any squad member could be lethal depending on your playstyle. Ashley and her DPS was a cornerstone for my biotic and engineer lol
While I still prefer Kaidan overall, Ashley is still highly effective in ME:3 for combat.
Give her the Adas Anti-Synthetic Rifle with the Marksman power to have as high a rate of fire as possible, she's borderline on par with the God Garrus build.
Then again, every possible squadmate in ME:3 is great in combat
I would like to see a Dragon Age trilogy party member tier list. Would be really interesting.
I think you nailed it.
This was great and I agree with pretty much the whole list beyond maybe Ashley being one row higher, would love to see you do the same thing with Dragon Age companions, or Mass effect romances listed next. hell maybe even KOTOR companions down the line
This guy is always happy.
His reaction to Kaiden's reaction of Cortez dying is so wholesome.
Suggestion for next Tier list: Mass Effect franchise Romance options(yes, including Andromeda)..
Nice list, only recommendation I would make is add "Shepard Trilogy" to the video so people won't ask where the Andromeda squad-mates are.
@Robert Abel the only ones that avoid that fate are Vetra and Jaal
Damn you really got me with putting tali in b tier on the thumbnail, clicked instantly for that lmao.
Now we need a tier list based on usefulness. (Skills, weapons, etc.)
S tier: miranda, liara, thane,javik
A tier: mordin, garrus,tali,legion,kasumi,jack,samara
B tier: edi,zaeed,vega
C tier: wrex,grunt,jacob
D tier: ashley, kaiden (barely evailable past mass effect 1)
Miranda S tier
I totally agree with you on these characters.
I feel like the krogan deserve their own tier
LOL - i did this. or, at least, i did a Wrex Tier.
We're mostly on the same page, but when you put Legion & EDI below S I audibly went REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 😂
This is one of the many reasons these games are so awesome is that everyone has their own unique experience with all these amazing characters and will have their own tier list unique to them!
If interested here's my tier list.
S: Garrus Tali Mordin Javik Legion
A: Thane Zaeed Edi Wrex Grunt
B: Jacob Jack Kasumi Kaiden James
C: Liara Miranda Samara Ashley
D: The Andromaderps
Jacob, our favorite vent god
Gaddis came up and I was like wow. You going to do our boy Jenkins like that? Wow
I would love to see you do tier lists for Mass Effect and Dragon Age based solely off the characters actual game play usefulness rather than their personalities.
Jacob has a good loyalty mission? Did we play the same mission with that cheating bastard.
I don't 100% agree, but these lists are always so fun.
I saw that S tier streak with Garus to Liara coming as soon as I seen the lineup
hello there, i have a idea for you for next tier list, can you make tier list for mass effect ship Crew members?
The best thing about Morinth is she has the same voice actor as Sigrun from Dragon Age: Awakening. Natalia Cigliuti.
My 1st playthrough (MY 'canon' playthrough) involved me playing as a Male Paragon Survivor Soldier.
Between the first contact war with the Turians, and the dust-up with the Batarians, I understood why the twice (after New Eden, THRICE) alien-bitten humans were a bit wary, and maybe a bit suspicious of the other aliens (who were ALSO very wary of humans) we were just meeting.
Ashley was a fellow soldier who had lost quite a bit to alien attacks, and I felt her to be a Comrade in arms from the start. Being a Paragon, our outlook changed as our experiences expanded our understanding of the other races, our friendship grew into a romance, and by the end, we were both all-in on both saving the universe and representing the absolute best of humanity to the rest of the Galaxy that we both wanted to be a positive part of.
That's why, for me, Ashley will always be a S-Tier companion.
Big Dan when you was talking about edi you forgot to mention that edi was a vi in mass effect 1.
I pretty much agree with your tier list - I have a few that I would bump one tier up or down (Legion up, James up, Tali down, Ashley down), but I can follow your reasoning for placing them where you do.
Ash is so underrated.
when I saw on the cover of the video that my beloved Tali is at the bottom of the tier list, I was ready to bombard with anger in comets, fortunately this was not the case and the cover deceived me
The Garrus glaze is unreal
Hmm. Oddly enough I agree with literally everything in this list aside from Javik. I see him as more one-dimensional than the other squadmates you mentioned, all things considered. It's probably just me. Great video!
Really great video and list! You should do a tier list for non-Squadmate allies (Anderson, Chakwas, Joker, ect.) if you plan on doing more tier lists!
Funny you mention fallout 4 when talking about Ashley and Kaiden... Ashley's voice actress plays some of the nameless soldiers in the Brotherhood of Steel
As a huge Mass Effect (over 3000h) and the previous Bioware fan and old school gamer i mostly agree with this list. However Liara should be second after Garrus. She is by far the most important character in the game. She helped find the conduit, she saved Shepard from the collectors and helped to resurrect his life(none of the other squadmates cared about), she saved the whole universe. Her deep connection to Shepard is very special. Even the title main theme is about Liara, which she also play's on piano. Also i could not understand how you could put EDI even before Ashley(great in ME1) or Samara. EDI is a terrible lore defying squadmate, totally bland, full of plot holes.
2:54 very minor but Garrus' group were vigilantees, not mercenaries, right?
Correct, they didn't charge money, they worked for themselves and their main mission was to take out the bad guys
Bold of you to do this with such a devoted fan base...
Edit; ah I see you played it safe by not Bell curving it haha
Would enjoy you doing the same thing for the Dragon Age series especially now the next game is now official
When a mission didn't require a tech-heavy character, Vega was my go-to character, along with a biotics-specialist. It was a regular thing for me to have Liara levitate opponents out from behind barriers and for Vega or Shepherd to pick them off with the carnage ability. It worked very well.
Are you going to do other mass effect characters?
Vega is a good character, the best human companion even. I think he got a lot of hate because it was the end of the series and people wanted more time with the characters they already cared about. He was good though, good banter and a decent arc of his own.
This list hurt my soul 🥲
Controversial opinion but I’ve never gravitated towards Liara, romance or not. I just find her very bland in the first game and then her story arc afterwards of becoming the shadow broker just felt really forced and unexpected (not in a good way). I’d be more inclined to put her at B tier. Garrus, Wrex and Tali though…the dream team. I wish we could have three companions like in Dragon Age. The banter would be too much to handle.
Never been a huge fan of Liara either. She honestly kind of annoys me.
I'm in a similar boat. I like her as a character based on her story development parallel to yours. However, I finder her cadence awkward in social situations and for my first run through I got the cutscene where I had to decide between Ashely and Liara for romance in the first game. I chose Ashley specifically because I know I was going to go for Tali in the whole trilogy. The entire time I was romanced to Tali half the conversations with Liara were chock-full of sexual tension and a constant feeling like Liara kept trying to project onto you about "what could have been". It was irritating to the point that It seemed like the devs were trying to gaslight you into a romance with Liara because she was their favorite romance. Idk though It just how I felt.
Yeah she is tonally deaf. I like the role she has in the story but her as a character herself is as bland as Jacob. Also never been a fan of Miranda for the same reason. I don't feel like im talking with a being with emotions, flaws or desires.
S - Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Mordin, EDI
A - Thane, Legion, Grunt, Samara, Kaidan
B - Kasumi, Jack, Miranda, Liara
C - Zaeed, James, Ashley
D - Jacob, Javik
liara is meant to be your romance option by the game devs and if you do so she easily makes the S tier alongside garrus,wrex,tali. She is shown to be most caring squadmate besides garrus, that is what makes her tick, as a person its nice to have two squadmates who are close to you throughout the journey one has a friend and one as a lover, liara and garrus fulfill each of those slot in them for both genders of shepard.
What about a tier list of most useful squad mates? I usually have garrus and james with mass effect version of the LMG, nice and simple
James Vega is great, totally underrated. Obviously not like the real core teammates but a really good supporting character. He's flippant and macho but not obnoxious about it. Agree with Dan's placement, B+.
absolutely agree. i think he's S combat and B- story (because you have to get it all out of the movie!) so i think i made him A tier
James Vega has his own movie which takes place after the Prologue of Mass Effect 2 and alongside the game itself.
The fact that the S tier is diverse from a mass effect perspectives shows how complete the universe feels.
Miranda is an interesting character for me. Her evolution from Mass Effect 2 through three shows tremendous amount of growth as a character. Also, I can't get over how in ME 3, she's always looking at Male Shep with "f@#$ me" eyes, even if she wasn't romanced.
Jack, IMO is one of the most interesting characters in the series. She goes from pariah outcast to caring for a group of students more than herself. She was just needing was an environment where she belonged and was needed.
Zaeed... him and Garrus plotting to defend the apartment from another clone Shep alone puts him in the A tier.
At first I found Ashley's romance to be disappointing. Though, the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. It's turbulent, yes, but then becomes fiery and passionate. She's also incredibly protective of Shep. I'd put her in the A tier personally. So much of her character in Mass Effect 3 is revealed in the subtle details.
Liara... not only is she incredibly capable, but one of the sweetest and kindest characters I have ever seen. Everyone needs a Liara in their life.
The Biotic God, really helps getting the Ship name for Samara. Can't forget his sacrifice!
I think one my favorite little tid bits of Kaiden is the voice actor was one the main characters in Kotor
Take a drink everytime Dan says "phenomenal!" 🙃
A squadmate tierlist could be done a few ways. Usually, people will just go by "favourites" but you could also do "usefulness as squadmate"
For me, this would bring some pretty wild changes to both lists. For example, Tali is one of my absolute favourite characters; total S-tier. However, I think she is one of the most useless squadmates to bring along in any of the games XD
Jacob, despite being a poor character and everyone's favourite punchline, is actually a decent enough squadmate thanks mostly to his Squad Inferno Ammo.
Some characters would be top in both. Mordin, Garrus, and Wrex for example. Great characters all around, and also top-tier picks in combat.
For me, Jacob is mid-tier at best in combat (also, slight correction: you pick between Squad _Incendiary_ Ammo or Inferno Ammo (which adds a small AoE to the rounds)).
Pull (specifically the Pull Field variant I always use to cheese Husks) needs a Warp combo to do notable damage to non-husk enemies. However the squadmates with Warp don't have high health/shields, so your squad durability goes down (which can get annoying on Insanity difficulty).
I can’t believe you forgot Wilson you monster!
Jenkins to. C'mon man
Great tier list. I would say this is definitely leaning on the lore, comfort zone angle of tier lists because in terms of raw stats (like g output/recovery/team benefits/etc) the list would for sure be weighted differently.
This is a great list I can get behind.
I played a FemShep and romanced Kaidan in EM1. In ME2 I romanced, yes, Jacob. During the suicide mission I sent his but right into the vent. He will never cheat on me.
LOL!
Pre-emptive strike by femshep. Nice
Absolutely love your rating choices and i pretty much agree on a fundamental level with most of them. I had the same impressions that at first some characters were cool, but as i played the trilogy multiple times, they became obnoxious while others shined more and more.
I do need to give you a bit of sass about argumenting that we dont have a lot of time to know Vega, being introduced in ME3, but then straight up put Javik S tier 😂
If its not already done, you could do a romance tier list for male and female sheppard (with Traynor in S tier of course). That could be fun to see