ME2 Suicide Mission Guide

You can do that if you want. I believe she will die with the others

The chart does have its flaws. There are side notes that I've posted in the original post. It says someone with a score of 2 or high will survive if by themselves. The only ones that can do that are Grunt/Garrus/Zaeed. Miranda/Samara/Jacob/Thane have a score of 2, if loyal, but die if left alone to hold the line. I haven't tried doing that with Legion. It also says that if 4 squadmates with the average score of zero will all die. That has never happened to me. The most that have died have been 3. I've tried many times to get 4 squadmates to die. Leaving jack/Tali/Kasumi/Kasumi, the weakest squadmates, would be the easiest way to have 4 die. Never happened.  Only 3 were killed.

Hmm... it's harder to set up a 2-3 member surviving group of the ones you want than I thought.

There needs to be more death spots lol. Like, for example, I wish I could say... make Jack loyal and then she survives not having armor, but someone else dies there instead.

Garrus and Legion are who I want to survive. But I'm not sure that's possible without others also surviving.


So I'm thinking:

Approach: Jack & Thane Die. Legion lives.
Vent: Tali dies
Bubble: Jacob Dies
2nd FT Leader: Zaeed Dies
Escort: Mordin Dies
Boss Battle: Miranda Dies (Garrus is loyal and is the other member)

Hold the Line: Problem is... that still leaves: Grunt, Legion, & Samara. I think that's too many defense points? Then I'd have 4 survivors.

Only Garrus is loyal. Everyone is recruited minus Kasumi (as I don't have that DLC on PC). 

I have no upgrades, but it's saved right before I need them so I can just buy whatever I want or don't want. 

You, sir, are the master. lol

I didn't really get how the hold the line works. So I was just winging it. haha

Thanks! I don't have Kasumi, though, since I don't have that DLC. Can I substitute anyone loyal for those roles?

I have:

Loyal: Samara, Thane, Mordin, Garrus, Grunt, Jacob, Jack, Legion (doing Legion's mission first thing tonight. It's the last one I have.)

Not loyal: Miranda, Zaeed, Tali

It worked! Everyone survived Thank you for your help. You saved me tons of time and frustration 

However, I must have missed something, because you said, "When fighting the oculus in the hangar, don't take Miranda. Take anyone else, but not her. You will know why after dealing with the oculus." What was I supposed to see? Other than Miranda being on the bridge during the cutscenes, I mean?

Is it possible to recruit Legion, do his loyalty mission, bring him along to Tali's recruitment and loyalty missions, and still not lose any crew/squad members in the suicide mission? Or could I skip their loyalty missions and have everyone survive so long as I don't assign them to any tasks on the SM? I've read the guide I just want to make sure.

I think I did this before (or I might have reloaded an old save after to do it right), but I can't remember how and I can't seem to find a thorough guide to doing it. Every one I've found says you can't do it without letting your crew die but I was sure I did.

Yes I can bring him to Tali's recruitment and lose no one who got kidnapped? Or yes I can bring unloyal Legion and Tali without anyone dying on the suicide mission?

1) You can sometimes do two missions after recruiting Legion before the crew is abducted.  It depends on how many recruitment and/or loyalty missions you have not done to that point in the game.  If you've done them all, you will only be able to do one mission before the crew is abducted.  Once the crew is abducted, you cannot do any more missions before going thorugh the Omega 4 relay without losing crew.  If Tali's is the only loyalty mission you haven't done (i.e. you've recruited everyone else and you've done their loyalty missions) when you go for the Reaper IFF, you will only be given one mission before the crew is abducted.  I recently did a playthrough where, when I went for the Reaper IFF, I had 3 loyalty missions outstanding (not including Legion's) and the abduction did not trigger until I had done 2 missions.  So, you could leave Tali's LM, along with 2 others, and be able to do Tali's and Legion's before the crew is abducted.  That would leave the 2 other squad mates not loyal that you would have to nurse through the endgame.  I'm not sure if it triggers after one mission if all you have left to do is Tali's and one other LM when you go for the Reaper IFF.  I also don't really know if it matters whether or not you need to have some of the N7 missions also not done.  I had left about 1/2 of them undone in the above-mentioned playthrough.

2) As long as you have 7 of the "right" squad mates loyal, you can get everyone through the endgame alive.  If enough of the certain key ones are not loyal, you will lose some.

Well, you said you had kept everyone alive with only 7 loyal squad mates... but:

1) If your 7 loyal ones are:  Kasumi, Mordin, Tali, Thane, Jacob, Legion and Zaeed... Who do you get to hold up the barrier without losing someone on that leg?

2) If your 7 loyal ones are Garrus, Thane, Samara, Jack, Mordin, Zaeed, and Grunt... How do you avoid losing someone in the vents?

You need at least one loyal vent specialist and one loyal biotic specialist to get everyone out alive.

So... like I said... You can't just have any 7 squad mates loyal... you need 7 of the "right" squad mates loyal to have everyone (i.e. all 12) survive.   I don't think it matters how many times you've played the game... those requirements don't change.

You can't just have any 7 because it's possble to have 7 that don't cover all the bases.