Send Tali into the vents, have Garrus lead the second fire team, make Samara the biotic specialist, let Miranda lead the diversion, send Mordin to escort the crew, and take Jack and Kasumi into the final fight. Everyone else holds the line, and with all of them loyal, nobody dies.
That lineup is for Mass Effect Legendary Edition, where Kasumi and Zaeed are included. If you are missing someone, or someone is not loyal, each section below lists who else is safe. This guide is only about who goes where: our full Suicide Mission checklist covers loyalty, ship upgrades, and the crew timer.
Every Role at a Glance
| Stage | Role | Our pick | Also safe if loyal | What a wrong pick costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infiltration | Tech specialist (vents) | Tali | Legion, Kasumi | The specialist dies |
| Infiltration | Second fire team leader | Garrus | Jacob, Miranda | The tech specialist dies |
| The Long Walk | Biotic specialist | Samara | Morinth, Jack | One random member of your squad dies |
| The Long Walk | Diversion team leader | Miranda | Garrus, Jacob | The leader dies |
| The Long Walk | Crew escort | Mordin | Any loyal squadmate | A disloyal escort dies. No escort, and the crew dies |
| Final fight | Your two squadmates | Jack, Kasumi | Tali, Mordin, or any loyal pair | A disloyal squadmate dies |
| Final fight | Holding the line | Everyone else | Up to three die if the score is too low |
Who to Send Into the Vents
Pick Tali, Legion, or Kasumi. The tech specialist crawls through the shaft to open the doors. They must be loyal, and the only safe options are these three. Anyone else dies in the vents, and so does a disloyal Tali, Legion, or Kasumi.
All three do the job equally well, so choose by who else you need. Tali is the simplest choice because she is not needed anywhere else in this lineup.
Who Should Lead the Second Fire Team
Pick Garrus, Jacob, or Miranda. Shepard leads one squad and someone else has to lead the other. Miranda volunteers, but you can pick anyone. A loyal leader from this list keeps the team on schedule to open the door at the end of the vent section.
Get this wrong and the tech specialist dies, even if they did everything right. That is the trap in this stage: two separate picks have to be right to save one person.
Who to Pick as Biotic Specialist
Pick Samara, Morinth, or Jack. The biotic specialist holds a barrier around your squad against the seeker swarms during the Long Walk. Only these three can do it, and they must be loyal.
A wrong pick does not kill the specialist. Instead, the barrier fails and one random member of your current squad dies. Miranda and others may look like options, but anyone outside this list counts as a wrong pick.
Who Should Lead the Diversion Team
Pick Miranda, Garrus, or Jacob. This is the leader who keeps the enemy busy while you walk through the swarms. The leader dies if the pick is wrong.
Miranda is a safe choice with one extra benefit: she survives this job even if she is not loyal. Garrus and Jacob both need to be loyal.
Who Should Escort the Crew
Pick Mordin. Any loyal squadmate can do it, but Mordin is ideal because he has the lowest score for the holdout later and is the first to die there. Sending him removes him from that risk.
| Your choice | Escort | Crew |
|---|---|---|
| Loyal squadmate | Survives | Survives |
| Disloyal squadmate | Dies | Survives |
| Send no one | Dies |
Never send Garrus, Grunt, or Zaeed here, because they are worth the most in the holdout.
Who to Take to the Final Fight
Take Jack and Kasumi, or any two of Jack, Kasumi, Tali, and Mordin. Your two squadmates must be loyal, or they die. Beyond that, any loyal pair survives, so this pick is really about who you are leaving behind.
The people with the lowest holdout scores are the safest ones to take with you. Taking your two strongest fighters is the mistake to avoid, as the numbers below show. If your romance partner is along, put them in the second slot, since a few scenes read better that way.
Who Should Hold the Door
Everyone you do not take stays behind to hold the line, and the game scores that group by averaging their values:
| Points if loyal | Squadmates |
|---|---|
| 4 | Garrus, Grunt, Zaeed |
| 2 | Thane, Legion, Jacob, Miranda, Samara or Morinth |
| 1 | Jack, Kasumi, Mordin, Tali |
A disloyal squadmate is worth one point less. Stay above an average of 2 and nobody dies. Below that, up to three die, in this order: anyone disloyal first, then Mordin, Tali, Kasumi, Jack, Miranda, Jacob, Garrus, Samara or Morinth, Legion, Thane, Zaeed, and Grunt.
Here is the math on our lineup. With Mordin escorting and Jack and Kasumi in the final fight, the holdout team is Garrus, Grunt, Zaeed, Thane, Legion, Jacob, Miranda, Samara, and Tali. That is 23 points across 9 people, an average of about 2.6, and everybody lives.
Now take Garrus and Grunt to the final fight instead of Jack and Kasumi. The holdout team drops to 17 points across 9 people, an average of about 1.9, and someone dies. Same squad, one bad pick.
If someone is not loyal, keep them out of every job above and leave them in this group alongside at least two of Garrus, Grunt, and Zaeed.
What Your Picks Carry Forward
The people who live through this mission can return in Mass Effect 3, and our guide to what carries over between games explains how your save brings them along. A romance ends if that squadmate dies, so check who you can romance in all three games before you assign your partner to a risky slot. If you have not locked in a build yet, our best class guide covers which Shepard works best across the trilogy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best tech specialist in the Suicide Mission? Tali, Legion, and Kasumi all work the same if loyal. Tali is the easy pick, since Legion only joins near the end and may not have had its loyalty mission.
Can Miranda be the biotic specialist? You can pick her, but she is not a safe choice. If you do, one random member of your squad dies. Use Samara, Morinth, or Jack instead.
Who should you send back with the crew? Mordin. He is the most at risk in the holdout, so the escort job gets him out of danger and raises the team’s average.
Are Samara and Morinth the same for these roles? Yes. Whichever one you ended up with fills the same slots and has the same holdout score.
Does it matter who goes to the final fight? Only through loyalty and the holdout score. Two loyal squadmates survive with you no matter who they are, but taking your strongest fighters can get someone killed at the door.
Is anything different in the Legendary Edition? The roles and safe picks are the same. Kasumi and Zaeed are included, so you have all 12 options without any extra purchase.