Talents in Mass Effect is an area of expertise that can improve as you progress in the game. As you gain experience, you acquire Talent Points that you can spend to improve aspects of your character. The talents available to you and your squad are determined by the Class selected in Character Creation.
At the beginning of the game, you can choose between six different Classes: Soldier, Engineer, Adep, Infiltrator, Sentinel and Vanguard. Each has one or two of the talents category and there are Combat, Tech, or Biotic. As you progress through the game, you will also unlock specializations that give you added bonuses.
By spending Talent Points on these, certain aspects of the character become stronger and eventually open up new attacks, buffs, proficiencies, as well as activate special abilities under each talent. Talents are the more general skill areas in which a character excels, while abilities are the special tactics granted by becoming increasingly more skilled in any given talent. You and your squad can upgrade talents in the same way.
Level Cap
Commander Shepard can level up to level 60. To level up you need to amass a determined amount of Experience Points, and once you do level up, you earn Talent Points.
Talent Points Leveling Progression:
Command Shepard (Total: 100 points)
- Levels 1-5: 3 points per level
- Levels 6-35: 2 points per level
- Levels 36-60: 1 point per level
Squad Members (Total: 80 points)
- Levels 1-20: 2 points per level
- Levels 21-60: 1 point per level
Talent Points
Talent Points are earned once you level up. Commander Shepard earns 3 Talent Points any time he/she levels up. Talent Points are used to acquire or enhance the different Talents available in the talents pool.
Mass Effect Talents
Assigning points to talents lets you improve combat, tech, and biotics, as well as activate special abilities under each talent. You and your squad can upgrade talents in the same way
As you gain experience, your current level reflects your advancement. Whenever you gain enough experience to advance to a new level, you are granted Talent Points that you can spend to purchase higher ranks or additional talents.
You and your squad can advance levels by accumulating XP, which you gain by overcoming enemies, using certain skills, and completing missions. There is a single pool of XP for your entire squad. All squad actions feed into it, and all squad members level up at the same time, including those back on the Normandy and not part of the active squad. Level-Up Benefits
Every time your character levels up he will gain the following benefits:
- Gain health. You can increase this amount through talents.
- Gain Talent Points. You can spend these points at any time to increase your rank.
Also you can auto Level and Undo Talent Points. Select the Auto Level Up option to automatically distribute your Talent Points. After spending Talent Points, you can select Undo Talent Points to undo your choices.
Shepard Talents
Charm
Opens Charm persuasion in the conversation. Decreases the cost of items in stores. Charm options are grayed out if you do not have skill rank. New skill ranks open up when you become a Spectre and as you earn Paragon points.
Special Ability:
Intimidate
Opens Intimidate persuasions in conversations. Increases credits gained when selling items in stores. Intimidate options in conversations will be grayed out if you don't have a high-enough skill rank to use them. New skill ranks will unlock when you become a Spectre and as you earn Renegade points.
Special Ability:
Spectre Training
Elite agents of the Council, the Spectres have access to special training unavailable elsewhere in the galaxy. Increases health, accuracy, and the effectiveness of all attacks and powers. Grants the Unity ability that lets you revive your squad members if they are injured in combat.
Special Ability:
Note: Unlockable after becoming a Spectre
Combat Talents
Pistols
Improves accuracy and damage when wielding Pistols. Activates the Marksman ability that lets you fire more quickly and accurately for a short time.
Special Ability:
Shotguns
Improves accuracy and damage when wielding Shotguns. Activates the Carnage ability that lets you fire a huge blast from your shotgun that damages enemies.
Special Ability:
Assault Rifles
Improves accuracy and damage when wielding Assault Rifles. Activates the Overkill ability that lets you fire your weapon in longer, more accurate bursts.
Special Ability:
Sniper Rifles
Improves accuracy and damage when wielding Sniper Rifles. Activates the Assassination ability that increases the damage of your next sniper shot.
Special Ability:
Armor
Improves the amount of damage your armor can absorb and may allow you to equip Medium or Heavier armor, depending on your class. Activates the Shield Boost ability that restores your shields in combat.
Depending on the class selection this talent can vary between three types of Armor talent: Basic Armor, Combat Armor and Tactical Armor.
Special Ability:
Assault Training
Increases melee and weapons damage. Activates the Adrenaline Burst ability that resets the cooldown times on all your talents so that they can be used immediately.
Special Ability:
Tech Talents
Damping
Increases the explosion radius of your tech mines. It activates the Damping Field, which suppresses enemies’ tech and biotic abilities in combat.
Special Ability:
Decryption
Lets you spend omni-gel to override security systems to open doors or containers. Ultimately, it activates Sabotage, which quickly disables enemy weapons in combat.
Special Ability:
Hacking
Increases the recharge speed of your tech proximity mines. Ultimately, it activates AI Hacking abilities, which let you control the AI (artificial intelligence) of robotic enemies, so they attack everyone around them, including each other.
Special Ability:
Electronics
Increases shield strength and lets you bypass the security systems of some locked objects. It also activates use of Overload, which damages or disables enemy shields in combat.
Special Ability:
First Aid
Increases squad healing by improving the effectiveness of all Medi-Gel use.
Special Ability:
Medicine
Improves the recharge time on squad healing and grants the Neural Shock ability that devastates organic enemies.
Special Ability:
Biotic Talents
Throw
Projects a mass effect field powerful enough to hurl objects and enemies out of the way. Each point spent increases the strength of the throw, knocking targets father and inflicting greater damage.
Special Ability:
Lift
Projects a sphere of powerful contra-gravity. Any object or creature struck is lifted into the air. Enemies are temporarily immobilized until they fall back to the ground. Each point spent increases the duration of the lift.
Special Ability:
Warp
Projects a powerful mass effect filed hat weaks havoc on a subatomic level. It weakens armor and inflicts damage over time on enemies. Each point spent increases the duration of the warp.
Special Ability:
Singularity
Projects a sphere of dark energy that creates an intense mass effect field. Nearby enemies and objects are drawn into the singularity., unable to escape its gravitational pull. Each point spent in this ability increases the radius of the singularity.
Special Ability:
Barrier
Bolsters your kinetic shields with a mass effect field that can absorb a massive amount of damage. Attacks that penetrate shields also penetrate his barrier. Each point spent increases the strength and duration of the barrier.
Special Ability:
Stasis
Creates a powerful mass effect field that immobilizes a single target. Each point spent increases the duration of Stasis.
Special Ability:
All Mass Effect Talents
Name |
Type |
Effect |
Ability |
Class |
| Charm | Shepard Talents | Opens Charm persuasion in the conversation. Decreases the cost of items in stores. | Store Discount |
|
| Intimidate | Shepard Talents | Opens Intimidate persuasions in conversations. Increases credits gained when selling items in stores. | Motivated Buyer |
|
| Spectre Training | Shepard Talents | Increases health, accuracy, and the effectiveness of all attacks and powers. | Unity |
|
| Pistols | Combat Talents | Depending on the talent level improves accuracy from 10% to 30% and damage from 5% to 20% when wielding Pistols. |  Marksman |
|
| Shotguns | Combat Talents | Depending on the talent level improves accuracy from 10% to 30% and damage from 5% to 20% when wielding Shotguns. |  Carnage |
|
| Assault Rifles | Combat Talents | Depending on the talent level improves accuracy from 10% to 30% and damage from 5% to 20% when wielding Assault Rifles. |  Overkill |
|
| Sniper Rifles | Combat Talents | Depending on the talent level improves accuracy from 10% to 30% and damage from 5% to 20% when wielding Sniper Rifles. |  Assassination |
|
| Basic Armor | Combat Talents | Improves the amount of damage your armor can absorb and increases effectiveness of Light Armor. Depending on the talent level increases damage reduction and hardening from 5% to 20%. |  Shield Boost |
|
| Combat Armor | Combat Talents | Improves the amount of damage your armor can absorb and at level 7 allows you the use of Heavy Armor. Depending on the talent level increases damage reduction and hardening from 5% to 20%. | Shield Boost |
|
| Tactical Armor | Combat Talents | Improves the amount of damage your Armor can absorb, allows the use of Light Armor, and unlocks Medium Armor at higher levels. Depending on the talent level increases damage reduction and hardening from 5% to 20%. | Shield Boost |
|
| Assault Training | Combat Talents | Depending on the talent level increases melee damage from 30% to 64% and weapons damage from 1% to 9%. |  Adrenaline Burst |
|
| Fitness | Combat Talents | Boosts your health, upping the maximum damage you can take before dying. Depending on the talent level increases health from 10% to 30%. |  Immunity |
|
| Damping | Tech Talents | Increases the explosion radius of your tech mines. Depending on the talent level increases the radius of Sabotage, Overload and Damping from 10% to 30% |  Damping Ability |
|
| Decryption | Tech Talents | Lets you spend omni-gel to override security systems to open doors or containers. Depending on the talent level increases the tech explosion damage from 14% to 30% |  Sabotage |
|
| Hacking | Tech Talents | Increases the recharge speed of your tech proximity mines. Depending on the talent level lowers the recharge time of Sabotage, Overload and Damping from 6% to 30%. |  AI Hacking |
|
| Electronics | Tech Talents | Increases shield strength and lets you bypass the security systems of some locked objects. Depending on the talent level increases shield capacity by from 30 to 270. Restores from 400 to 2400 extra hull during vehicle repair. |  Overload |
|
| First Aid | Tech Talents | Increases squad healing by improving the effectiveness of all Medi-Gel use. Dependin on the level talent increases health restored upon activating First Aid from 40 to 180. |  Fist Aid Ability |
|
| Medicine | Tech Talents | Improves the recharge time on squad healing. Depending on the talent level Reduces cooldown time on First Aid from 10% to 30%. |  Neural Shock |
|
| Throw | Biotic Talents | Projects a mass effect field powerful enough to hurl objects and enemies out of the way. Depending on the talent level increases the force of Throw from 650 to 1150 Newtons. |  Throw Ability |
|
| Lift | Biotic Talents | Projects a sphere of powerful contra-gravity. Depending on the talent level increases the duration of Lift from 6.4 s. to 10.6 s. |  Lift Ability |
|
| Warp | Biotic Talents | Projects a prowerful mass effect filed hat weaks havoc on a subatomic level. Depending on the talent level increases Warp's duration from 8 seconds to 18 seconds.. |  Warp Ability |
|
| Singularity | Biotic Talents | Projects a sphere of dark energy that creates an intense mass effect field. Nearby enemies and objects are drawn into the singularity., unable to escape its gravitational pull. Depending on the talent level increases Singularity's radius from 4.25 m to 7.25 m. |  Singularity Ability |
|
| Barrier | Biotic Talents | Bolsters your kinetic shields with a mass effect field that can absorb a massive amount of damage. Attacks that penetrate shields also penetrate his barrier. Depending on the talent level increases Barrier duration from 10.5 sec to 18.5 sec and shielding from 420 to 780. |  Barrier Ability |
|
| Stasis | Biotic Talents | Creates a powerful mass effect field that immobilizes a single target. Depending on the talent level increases stasis duration from 13 sec to 19.5 sec. |  Stasis Ability |
