Your story choices, romance status, Shepard’s identity, and most of your character’s history carry over between the games in Mass Effect Legendary Edition, as long as you import your end-of-game save. Your gear and credits do not, and the first game’s level turns into a starting bonus rather than coming with you.
Here is exactly what moves from game to game, how the import works, and what happens if you skip it.
How to Import Your Shepard
- Finish the game through the credits. The next game imports from a completed save, not a save from the middle of a run.
- Start the next game with New Game. Do not use Continue.
- Pick the import option. Choose Import ME1 Character in Mass Effect 2, or Import ME2 Character in Mass Effect 3.
- Select the career you want. You can import from any finished Shepard you have.
- Review your class and looks. You can keep them or change them. In Mass Effect 2, these options appear after the opening section. In Mass Effect 3, they are on the character creation screens.
Keep your final saves. If you delete them, the sequels have nothing to read. If Shepard does not survive the end of Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 will not import that save.
What Carries from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2
| Item | What happens |
|---|---|
| Name, gender, background, and service history | Carry over unchanged |
| Main story choices | Carry over, including what you did about the Council, Wrex, Virmire, and the Rachni Queen |
| Romance | Carries over. You can stay faithful or pursue someone new |
| Class | Carries over, or you can change it |
| Appearance | Carries over, or you can rebuild your face |
| Paragon and Renegade | Carry over as a bonus of up to 190 points in each |
| Level | Does not carry over directly. It becomes a bonus, shown below |
| Credits | Do not carry over directly. You get a bonus instead |
| Weapons, armor, and upgrades | Do not carry over |
The Import Bonus
Your final level in the first game sets your head start in Mass Effect 2. These figures use Classic’s 1 to 60 range.
| Final level in Mass Effect 1 | XP | Credits | Each resource |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 49 | 1,000 | 20,000 | 2,500 |
| 50 to 59 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 5,000 |
| 60 | 4,000 | 50,000 | 10,000 |
If you played on Legendary’s 1 to 30 range, the thresholds scale down with it, so level 30 earns the top row. Having earned the Rich achievement, by holding 1,000,000 credits at once in the first game, adds another 100,000 credits on top. Our guide to Classic and Legendary mode explains how those two ranges work.
The original game took more than one playthrough to reach the cap. BioWare says there is no longer a level cap on a first playthrough in Legendary Edition, so this top bonus is within reach on one run.
One choice does not travel in the save: who you picked for the human seat on the Council. Mass Effect 2 asks you directly in a conversation with Miranda, so answer it the way you played it.
What Carries from Mass Effect 2 to Mass Effect 3
| Item | What happens |
|---|---|
| Story choices | Carry over, including who survived the suicide mission and DLC you played |
| Romance | Carries over. Characters you romanced in the second game pick up where you left them |
| Level | Carries over directly |
| Class and powers | Carry over. If you keep your class, your points stay about as you spent them |
| Changing class | Allowed, and it resets your points so you can spend them again |
| Appearance | Carries over, or you can rebuild it |
| Paragon and Renegade | Only a small share |
| Credits | Reset |
| Weapons, armor, and most collectibles | Do not carry over |
All of this pays off in Mass Effect 3, whose War Assets respond to decisions from all three games. BioWare calls carrying your progress across the trilogy “the most reliable way” to get good results in the final act.
What Happens If You Do Not Import
You can start either sequel fresh, with a new Shepard. You get default outcomes for the story you skipped, and characters from earlier games may be missing or changed.
Legendary Edition softens this with the Genesis comics, optional interactive recaps before Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. They let you set the biggest decisions without playing through them. It is not the same as a real import, but it beats accepting whatever the game assumes. To see how the games connect, look at our list of every Mass Effect game in order.
Can You Bring in Saves from the Original Games?
Only partly, and only on PC. Save data from the original PC versions of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 can be copied into the matching folders under Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect Legendary Edition\Save. Saves from the original first game do not work, because of how much the remaster changed it. On console, you cannot bring in old saves at all.
Saves stay within the platform you played on, so moving from PlayStation to PC means starting again.
Does Your Class Have to Stay the Same?
No. The import gives you a chance to choose a different class, and since each class does better in some games than others, that can be worth doing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does your character carry over in Mass Effect Legendary Edition? Yes. Import your end-of-game save, and your Shepard moves to the next game with their choices, history, and romance.
Do choices carry over from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 3? Yes. Your first-game choices go into Mass Effect 2, and your Mass Effect 2 save brings both games’ decisions into Mass Effect 3.
Does your level carry over? From the first game to the second, it turns into a starting bonus. From the second game to the third, it carries over directly.
Do your weapons and credits carry over? No. Each game has its own gear, and credits reset. The Mass Effect 2 import gives you a bonus sum instead.
Can you import if Shepard dies in Mass Effect 2? No. Mass Effect 3 needs a save where Shepard survived the suicide mission.
Can you change your appearance when you import? Yes, in both sequels. Changing your looks means rebuilding the face rather than making a small tweak.
Do you have to play the games back to back? No. Your completed save stays available for as long as you keep it, so you can take a break between games.