The Mass Effect 3 final mission update is Take Earth Back 2.0, a fan-made overhaul of Priority: Earth for Mass Effect Legendary Edition on PC, released on its Nexus Mods page for N7 Day 2026. It is not an official patch from EA or BioWare. Version 2.0 adds a war asset selection system to Anderson’s briefing, more cutscenes and a round of fixes, on top of a mod that already fills London with the allies you gathered across the trilogy.
Below is what the mod changes, what is new in 2.0, what you need before installing it, which mods it clashes with, and the install steps.
What Take Earth Back Changes in Priority: Earth
The mod’s page sums up its goal plainly: BioWare’s final mission “didn’t account for the war assets you collected across the trilogy.” Take Earth Back rebuilds the Forward Operating Base, the hub where you say your goodbyes, so that more than 28 of your war assets are visibly there: Asari Commandos, Elcor Warriors, Rachni Warriors, Geth Primes, the Volus Bombing Flotilla, Kirrahe and his STG, Zhu’s Hope Colonists with Shiala, and many more.
| Area | What changes |
|---|---|
| Forward Operating Base | Your war assets appear in the hub, plus assets from Expanded Galaxy Mod and Spectre Expansion Mod if you use them |
| Conversations | Ambient lines from Primarch Victus, Wrex, a Geth Prime and Kirrahe become interactive conversations, Admiral Raan’s scene becomes cinematic, and General Tirassa gets a full conversation |
| Restored dialogue | James’s cut lines about his father, Joker’s Paragon handshake, and an extra Paragon line in the Anderson and Hackett briefing |
| Cutscenes | Hackett’s speech runs longer, the Hammer landing is split in two and extended, and a new in-engine scene shows the Hammer assault with soldiers drawn from your assets |
| Turret sequence | The cutscene shows an aerial dogfight, the enemies change, and an Asari Commando fights beside you with biotics |
| Events | A second Hades Cannon explodes, Harvesters swarm overhead, and the underground car park becomes a Ravager breeding ground |
| Beam run | Other races charge the beam with you, Anderson runs at your side near the end, and the dying soldier changes with the race of the character you romanced |
| Models | Harbinger gets his Mass Effect 2 design back, the Hades Cannon is rebuilt in higher detail, and Elcor soldiers are added |
If you made peace on Rannoch, both the geth and quarian fleets take part in the Sword fleet’s opening scene, which is a nice payoff for saving both sides. The mod also adds a console you can hack partway through the mission that plays a broadcast hinting at what is happening on the Citadel. New lines for Matriarch-General Tirassa are voiced by Larissa Thompson, credited on the page.
What the N7 Day Update Adds
Version 2.0 is the first big update since the 1.5 line, and its changelog lists these changes:
- War asset selection. Anderson’s briefing now lets you choose which of your assets support you in the rest of the level. The page says they appear throughout the mission, help you in the missile battery fight (the Thanix area), and show up in the cutscene where the Reaper Destroyer goes down. A good pick makes that fight easier and a bad one makes it harder, and the assets speak with lines taken from Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer mode.
- More cutscenes. The changelog says “many cutscenes” were added and points to the description, which lists the extended Hackett speech and the two-part Hammer landing among them.
- AA gun tweaks. The delay between the two Reaper AA guns firing is longer, and the farther gun is quieter, with less camera shake.
- Fixes. The battle sounds keep playing while Shepard jumps into the shuttle after the AA gun, objects that reappeared after a reload stay gone, and some rare crashes around characters such as Wrex are fixed.
- Thanix area cleanup. The system that removed the last enemies of a wave once fewer than two were left is gone, or now waits until one is left, depending on the wave.
Two practical notes. The page says 2.0 supports only English at launch, and the main download is about 3 GB.
Which Version of the Game It Needs
Take Earth Back 2.0 is for Mass Effect Legendary Edition on PC only. Mods do not run on PlayStation or Xbox, so console players cannot use it. An older Take Earth Back exists for the original 2012 release of Mass Effect 3, but that version stopped at 1.0.1 in 2021, so nothing from the N7 Day update reaches it.
The Nexus page lists two required mods, and you install everything with ME3Tweaks Mod Manager:
| What you need | Required? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ME3Tweaks Mod Manager | Yes | It installs the mod and keeps a backup of your game |
| LE3 Community Patch | Yes | Take Earth Back needs the Patch and the Framework, which come in one download |
| Expanded Universe – Mod Menu | Yes | Listed as a requirement on the mod’s page |
| Expanded Galaxy Mod or Spectre Expansion Mod | No | Their war assets appear in the hub too, but the mod is built to work without them |
The mod also reacts to other mods by its lead author. With Reaper Retrofits installed, for example, a Scion joins the fight at Oxford Circus.
Does It Work With Other Big Mods?
Priority: Earth Overhaul Mod: no. The two mods rework the same mission, so pick one. The Priority: Earth Overhaul Mod (LE3) page lists Take Earth Back as not compatible and says patching them together is impossible because their creative direction clashes. Take Earth Back’s own FAQ answers “Is this Priority Earth Overhaul Mod?” with no: it is a separate project, though some of its team worked on the other one early on. PEOM got its own N7 Day 2026 update, and it also lets you assign war assets, to the advance teams that take out the Hades Cannons. In short, Take Earth Back is the one that puts your allies on show, including modded ones, while PEOM’s page describes its focus as gameplay, restored BioWare content and a visual overhaul of London.
Ending mods: should be fine. The FAQ says Take Earth Back does not touch anything after the beam run, so all content on the Citadel and beyond is left alone. That also means it leaves your final choices exactly as they were, so our best ending guide and our rundown of how many endings there are still apply with it installed.
A Lot Of Textures: yes. The team says it kept memory use well below the limits and tested with it.
How to Install Take Earth Back
Our guide to installing Mass Effect Legendary Edition mods covers the tool in detail. For this mod, the order is:
- Set up ME3Tweaks Mod Manager and back up Mass Effect 3 from its Backup and Restore menu. Do not skip the backup.
- Install the LE3 Community Patch. Download its main file, “LE3 CommunityPatch and Framework,” drag it onto the Mod Manager window, click Import, then select it and click Apply.
- Install Expanded Universe – Mod Menu the same way.
- Add Expanded Galaxy Mod or Spectre Expansion Mod now if you want their assets in the hub. This step is optional.
- Install Take Earth Back. Download the main file from its Nexus page, drag the archive onto Mod Manager to import it, then apply it.
- Install texture mods last. Mod Manager and the Community Patch both say texture mods go after every content mod.
- Launch the game as usual. You do not need to start it through Mod Manager.
The mod changes a mission at the very end of the trilogy, so install it before you start Priority: Earth. A manual save from before the point of no return is the safest place to pick up from.
Version 1.1.0 added a mod settings menu, including an Accessibility Mode (its notes say the final Marauder before the beam, known as Marauder Shields, and the husks with him no longer spawn when it is on) and a Shorter Turret option that cuts the hub turret sequence to 15 seconds. The 2.0 notes do not mention removing either.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an official Mass Effect 3 final mission update? No. The recent final mission update is Take Earth Back 2.0, a fan mod, not a patch from EA or BioWare.
Does Take Earth Back work on PS5 or Xbox? No. It is a PC mod for the Legendary Edition, and Legendary Edition mods do not run on consoles.
Does Take Earth Back change the ending? No. Its FAQ says nothing after the beam run is edited. The new war asset selection changes who helps you in the missile battery fight, and the page does not say it changes your Total Military Strength.
Can you use Take Earth Back with Priority: Earth Overhaul Mod? No. PEOM’s page lists it as not compatible, and both mods edit the same mission.
Do you need Expanded Galaxy Mod or Spectre Expansion Mod? No. The page says the mod is built from the ground up for players without them. If you do use them, their war assets appear too.
What languages does Take Earth Back support? English only for version 2.0 at launch, per the mod’s page. Separate French and Russian translation uploads already list version 2.0.
Where do I find the other Mass Effect guides? All of them are on our Mass Effect hub.