ME2 Suicide Mission Guide

Hold the line

"Hold the Line" is what fellow forum posters have come to call the final defense at the second door, where Shepard leaves all the remaining squadmates while off to confront the final boss. Like the previous specialist roles during the mission, there are certain squadmates who are better suited for the defense than others. However, being a strong defender is only one aspect of the overall determination of squadmate deaths in this section, so you will need to read this section carefully if you're having issues here.

Note: If all you're interested in achieving is a perfect survival rate, leave the strongest defenders to Hold the Line. That's the easiest way to go about it and spares you having to calculate averages.

[Hold the Line] Defense Ranks
Note: Knowing the defense rank is only necessary for a more detailed calculation of the Hold the Line Score discussed later in this section.

The Strongest Defenders - Base score of 3 (4 if loyal):
Garrus, Zaeed, Grunt

The Average Defenders - Base score of 1 (2 if loyal):
Thane, Legion, Miranda, Samara, Jacob

The Weakest Defenders - Base score of 0 (1 if loyal)
Mordin, Tali, Jack, Kasumi

[Hold the Line] Priority Death List
First, non - loyal squadmates will die before loyal squadmates. Second, weak defenders die before stronger ones.
This is the order in which each one will die
Mordin, Tali, Kasumi, Jack, Miranda, Jacob, Garrus,Samara/Morinth, Legion, Thane, Zaeed, Grunt

[Hold the Line] Point Value Averages
Every squadmate brings a value to the defense and they get a +1 bonus if they're loyal. To calculate the Hold the Line Average Score, we add the values for each squadmate who is being left to Hold the Line and then divide that total by the number of squadmates at the battle. Using this average, you can determine how many squadmates are going to die (if any) while they Hold the Line. How many squadmates are at the defense will alter what average is needed to meet different death rate requirements.

Ensuring everyone's survival is all about meeting the proper defense score average. This average is 2.0.

Point Value Ratings - Squad of 5 or more
2.0 or higher = [Survived!]
Less than 2.0, Greater than or equal to 1.5 = [Death] 1 squadmate
Less than 1.5, Greater than or equal to 0.5 = [Death] 2 squadmates
Less than 0.5 = [Death] 3 squadmates


Combinations of 4
2.0 or higher = [Survived!]
Less than 2.0, Greater than 1.0 = [Death] 1 squadmate
Equal to or less than 1.0, Greater than or equal to 0.5 = [Death] 2 squadmates
Less than 0.5 = [Death] 3 squadmates
Exactly 0.0 = [Death] All squadmates (Only in a "Shepard dies" scenario.)


Combinations of 3
2.0 or higher = [Survived!]
Less than 2.0, Greater than or equal to 1.0 = [Death] 1 squadmate
Less than 1.0, Greater than 0.0 = [Death] 2 squadmates
Exactly 0.0 = [Death] All squadmates


Combinations of 2
2.0 or higher = [Survived!]
Less than 2.0, Greater than 0.0 = [Death] 1 squadmate
Exactly 0.0 = [Death] All squadmates


Power of 1
2.0 or higher = [Survived!]
Less than 2.0 = [Death]


Note: At least one person always survives Holding the Line unless the average is 0 or they're the only defender with a value less than 2.0. If the one person who survived Holding the Line is the only surviving squadmate from the whole mission, the game will play it as if everyone had died. This is because you need at least 2 surviving squadmates for Shepard to live.

Note 2 The only squadmates that have survived holding the line by themselves was Garrus, Zaeed and Grunt. I have left Miranda, who was loyal, giving her a score of 2, holding the line by herself and she died. The same with Samara and Jacob when they were left alone to hold the line

Note 3: I've never had more than 3 die holding the line. I've tried  several ways to get more than 3, but wasn't able to.

Here some helpful advice from Dusty Everman, a former Bioware employee

Can this thread be pinned/stickied?

click on the little box that says no image available. It will enlarge to show the flow chart

No problem

I've read a lot of posts on bsn of folks who just started playing the trilogy. This will help. I'm also looking at other threads to bring over here that contain information that would help folks in their playthrough. Not only for new players, but for players who been playing ME for years

Just my 2 cents for those who, like me, don't want to leave anyone behind.

Through more than 1500hrs of ME2 playthrough I've only lost a companion once (Zaeed, not loyal, whom I thought would make a good team leader).
After that I always did all the recruitment and loyalty missions before going for the Reaper IFF.
That leaves you with just one loyalty mission (Legion's A house divided) which you can complete just before the collector's attack on the ship.
This, combined with best choices for the three stages of the suicide mission:
- Garrus, Miranda or Jacob as second team leaders, Legion, Tali or Kasumi as hacking specialist;
- Second team leaders as before, Jack or Samara(Morinth) as biotic specialist;
- Send Mordin back with crew
guarantees full survival after the suicide mission.      

This will really come in handy with the remaster inbound.

Thanks Mike.

I'll post my last scenario in case it helps. Tragedy heavy, not much survives, memorial wall will be full. To maximize the effect i'll point some stuff from ME1 and 3 to make it a real bloodbath.

Only characters who die in ME3 survive ME2 with maximum loyalty missions completed.

Edit: All killed characters are ones who are replaced with killable characters *Minus Legion/Jacob*



Including Chakwas + crew.

Excluding Tali. (Though she can survive this scenario if you upgrade the ships shielding.)

Zaeed and Kasumi survive.

(If im paying for DLC im maximising its usage.)

(Killing Tali helps me to kill the Quarians if Raan is the one killing herself. Destroy ending for extra carnage.)

(Note if you're looking for a grimmer outcome dont complete shadow broker, kill Kaiden/Ashley in ME3 and kill the original Rachni Queen, then side with the clone queen. In ME2 have Reeger survive Haestrom, help Emily Wong in ME1 and spare Aresh on Praggia in Me2, don't kill Ranaa Thanoptis, kill the council, give the asari in the hospital (me3) a gun, send the Grissom academy students into the front line and spare Wrex on Virmire without curing the Genophage.)

Miranda Loyal. Survives alongside Shepard in the final fight. Dies on Sanctuary in ME3.

(Romance optional for killing off Miranda. She can die if you refuse to give her help on the Citadel in Mass Effect 3.)

Grunt loyal. Dies if Miranda is holding the Biotic bubble during the long walk and Shepards other squadmate is either mordin Kasumi or Zaeed. (As a result Drak will die in ME3)

Thane loyal:Survives holding the line.

Zaeed loyal: Survives holding the line.

Samara loyal: Survives holding the line. (Suicides in ME3.)

Legion Loyal: Survives holding the line. (Dies ME3 killing the Quarians.)

Kasumi loyal: Survives holding the line.

Jack loyal. Dies on the ship with no ship armour upgrade. (As a result prangley will die in ME3.)

Tali loyal. Dies on the ship if Legion and Kasumi accompany Shepard to the cargo hold and there is no ship shielding upgrade.

Garrus loyal. Dies doing the vents with Zaeed as the second team leader. (There are literally no consequences for this. In fact it makes more sense.)

Jacob not loyal. Dies leading the second fireteam while Shepard is facing the seeker swarms. (As a result you will fight an extra battle saving Brynn Cole in ME3.)

Mordin not Loyal. Dies during the final fight. (As a result Padok Wiks will die in ME3)


Chakwas, unescorted, dies. Waiting until after youve recruited Legion to complete loyalty missions ensures 100% crew casualties.

Best i can remember it. Point out anything i missed please we dont need misinformation floating around.

Updated my post with some details i'd left out. If i get my conbection running Better i'll look through for some more scenarios lying around.

Then post them.

There are some really good ones.

Can we include this thread's info too? In case anyone is interested in going for a specific scenario for the end of the mission.

Here's the thread for who helps Shepard in the Normandy

It lives again, I approve of this!

Barret Rodych, a Bioware employee, posted this in the suicide mission thread about 2 1/2 years ago.

Maybe he can reveal that spreadsheet if he looks at this thread