Completionist Achievement Guide

This is a brief guide intended to outline a reasonable order to complete 100% of all missions and assignments. It covers experiencing virtually all of the content of Mass Effect.

There are a number of other excellent achievement specific guides listed below. These should also be consulted for specifics concerning those achievements.

Note that this is not intended to be a walk-through in the usual sense: it is more of a checklist. It is not necessary to complete the game more than once to gain the "Completionist" achievement.

“This mission just got a lot more complicated.” — Spoilers for Mass Effect follow.

Checklist

This checklist will provide one possible order for accomplishing all of the missions and assignments.

In order to ensure that it is possible to gain the various ally achievements it is extremely important not to trigger any assignments until after Liara T'Soni has been rescued.
It also ensures that it is possible to acquire all:
It is assumed that the player will interact with every object and character possible at each step. For the most part, no explicit instructions are given concerning dialog choices. It is assumed that players using characters with a Paragon agenda will favor those choices (and Charm choices in particular); likewise for Renegade and Intimidate. Over the course of several games the player should be able to see the basic, Paragon, and Renegade outcomes of each situation.
On system maps, it is assumed that the player will survey every world and asteroid belt in order to complete all of the collection assignments:
Following each system mission or assignment it is assumed that the player will speak to each crew member, exhausting all available dialog trees, and advancing any romance. (In practice, this is more often than is really necessary.)

Prologue

Advance the missions:
- Prologue: On the Normandy
  - Talk to Nihlus about the Protheans. This is critical for the Scholar achievement.
- Prologue: Find the Beacon
  - Talk to either Ashley Williams or Captain Anderson about the geth. This is critical for the Scholar achievement.
  - If investment in Decryption is high enough, hack the security locks for the shed holding Dr. Warren and Manuel and the one holding Cole.
  - Upon meeting Cole, talk to him about the attack, the Prothean Beacon, and the ship before getting ready to leave, and then use Charm/Intimidate to gain a weapon upgrade and the name of his contact for the smuggling ring in addition to the pistol that Cole found.
  - Confront Powell about the ring, take the grenades that he smuggled, and use Charm/Intimidate to gain a grenade upgrade.
- Head straight to the Citadel, avoiding all assignments.

Exposing Saren

Note: Avoid triggering any assignments!

Advance these missions:
- Citadel: Expose Saren
  - Talk to the Citadel Council in the Citadel Tower.
- Citadel: Garrus
  - Find Harkin at Chora's Den.
  - Find Garrus Vakarian at the Med Clinic.
  - Talk to Emily Wong (near stairs leading to Flux) and pick up Citadel: Reporter's Request (before you kill Fist in order to get the Charm/Intimidate option).
- Citadel: Shadow Broker → Citadel: Wrex
  - Speak to Urdnot Wrex at C-Sec.
- Citadel: Expose Saren
  - Go back to Chora's Den and take care of Fist. Leave Fist's OSD alone until after you've rescued Liara T'Soni.
  - Go to the alleyway and rescue Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.
  - Go back to the Citadel Council and receive your status as a Spectre.
Purchase licenses and upgrades:
- Purchase medi-gel capacity upgrades I and II. (Required before upgrade III becomes available from Opold or Commander Rentola.)
- Purchase all entry level armory licenses.
- Purchase all available armory licenses as level/funds allow.
- Purchase all available grenade capacity upgrades as funds/level allow.

Finding Liara T'Soni

Note: If you are already at least level 20, it will be impossible to avoid triggering the UNC: Rogue VI assignment at this point. This will not adversely affect the ally achievements, as only 75% of the assignments are necessary.

Advance the missions:
- Find Liara T'Soni
  - Go to the Knossos system in the Artemis Tau cluster and rescue Liara from the planet Therum.
Begin the collection assignments:
- Survey the Knossos system.
- Survey the Athens system.

The Citadel Redux

Return to the Citadel and complete all the assignments which can be found there:
- UNC: Asari Diplomacy
  - Use Charm/Intimidate to get access to the 'prototype asari mods'.
- UNC: Missing Marines
- UNC: Privateers
Continue assignments which cannot be completed until later:
- Citadel: The Fan
  - Meet with Conrad Verner for the second time.
- A Person of Interest → UNC: Hostile Takeover
  - Meet with Helena Blake (if you haven't already).
Purchase licenses and upgrades:
- Purchase all available armory licenses as level/funds allow.
- Purchase all available medi-gel and grenade capacity upgrades as level/funds allow.

Uncharted Space Redux

Note: This is the final opportunity to complete assignments outside of the Citadel.

Complete all available assignments:
- UNC: Cerberus
  - Prerequisite: UNC: Missing Marines
- UNC: Hades' Dogs
  - Prerequisite: UNC: Cerberus
- UNC: Hostile Takeover
- UNC: Rogue VI
  - Prerequisite: Level 20
Complete the morality specific mission:
- UNC: Besieged Base
  - Prerequisite: 80% Paragon.
- UNC: The Negotiation
  - Prerequisite: 80% Renegade.

Virmire

Go to Virmire and complete all the assignments there:
- Virmire: Wrex and the Genophage → Virmire: Wrex is Convinced
  - Do not kill Wrex if you are trying to acquire the Krogan Ally achievement.
  - Convincing Wrex is one of two ways to gain the Charismatic achievement.
Purchase licenses and upgrades:
- Purchase the Armali Council license. (Commander Rentola is the sole source.)
- Purchase medi-gel capacity upgrade III. (Opold and Commander Rentola are the sole sources.)
- Purchase all available armory licenses as level/funds allow.
- Purchase all available medi-gel and grenade capacity upgrades as level/funds allow.
Advance the missions and complete mission-specific assignments:
- Virmire → Virmire: Saren's Plan → Virmire: Assault
- Virmire: Assisting Kirrahe's Team → Virmire: Kirrahe's team

Citadel Detainee

Return to the Citadel and complete all the assignments which can be found there:
- Citadel: The Fan
  - Meet with Conrad Verner for the third and final time.
- Citadel: Negotiator's Request
- Citadel: Our Own Worst Enemy
Purchase licenses and upgrades:
- Purchase all available armory licenses as level/funds allow.
- Purchase all available medi-gel and grenade capacity upgrades as level/funds allow.

Ilos

Advance the missions:
- Ilos: Find the Conduit
- Race Against Time → Race Against Time: Sovereign → Race Against Time: Conduit → Race Against Time: Final Battle
  - Convincing Saren to commit suicide is the other way to acquire the Charismatic achievement.

Multiple Characters and Replays

In order to experience every possible assignment and to gather all possible achievements, it is necessary to play through Mass Effect at least four times. If one follows the possible career paths:

the first game will yield all but three of the assignments and the majority of the achievements;
the second will yield a few further achievements;
the third will provide two further assignments and several more achievements;
the fourth will see the final assignment and finish up the last possible romance combination.

Further replays may be required to gain the Extreme Power Gamer achievement and/or the various talent achievements.

Character Creation

When creating a custom Commander Shepard, several immutable characteristics must be chosen which will affect all future play using that character, even if a new game is started.

Gender affects which romances are available.
Pre-Service History affects which background specific assignment is available.
Psychological Profile slightly affects how certain assignments play out.
Class affects which talents are available and therefore which talent achievements can be gained using that character.

The default "quick start" Commander Shepard is a male Soldier, Earthborn, and a Sole Survivor.

Morality

Morality affects certain dialog choices available during each game (and therefore the outcome of certain assignments) as well as a morality-specific mission. A character's morality is represented by running tallies of Paragon and Renegade points (to a maximum of 330 each). Accumulating Paragon points unlocks higher levels of the Charm talent; Renegade points unlock Intimidate levels.

When starting a new game, Paragon and Renegade points are reset, but any Charm or Intimidate levels already earned are not. Thus, with enough play, it is possible to have both maximum Charm and Intimidate at the same time. (It is even possible to do so without spending a single talent point in the process, if you have the patience. See Morality.)

Certain dialog options will only be open to characters possessing high enough Charm or Intimidate talents. As a result it is typically not possible to see all of the possible assignment outcomes until about the fourth game.

Difficulty Achievements

The two difficulty level achievements need at least three games to acquire:

the first at Casual, Normal, or Veteran difficulty to unlock Hardcore;
a second at Hardcore difficulty to gain the Distinguished Combat Medal and unlock Insanity; and
a third at Insanity to gain the Medal of Valor.

Both of these achievements will be gained by following the possible career paths.

Ally Achievements

Main article: Ally Achievement Guide

The six ally achievements are linked to the Completionist achievement in that they require a given squad member to be present for 75% of the assignments. Therefore at least three games are needed to acquire these achievements:

the first game using the same two squad members at all times;
a second using a different two squad members at all times; and
a third using the final two squad members at all times.

Following the possible career paths will result in gaining all six of these achievements.

Possible Career Paths

Although Mass Effect features six primary classes and six specializations, the twelve possible combinations do not themselves materially affect the content of the game. (For example there are no class specific missions.) As such, this guide will forebear from suggesting the fourteen or so replays that would be necessary to cover them all along with all of the achievements.

In fact, the only major distinction that matters from the perspective of this guide are the talents available which fall into three broad categories: combat, biotic, and tech. Therefore the possible career path outlined here is just that: one possible path that can potentially yield all of the various talent achievements. There are plenty of other possible variations with respect to class and team members: let your play style and role-playing be your guide.

Here is one possible set of careers along with a list of the achievements which can be expected at each step.

Male Soldier, Earthborn, Sole Survivor, level 1, Paragon agenda, team Liara/Tali, loves Liara, Normal difficulty.

Male Soldier, Earthborn, Sole Survivor, level 50, Paragon agenda, team Ashley/Wrex, loves Ashley, Hardcore difficulty.

Female Adept, Colonist, Ruthless, level 1, Renegade agenda, team Garrus/Kaidan, loves Kaidan, Insanity difficulty.

Female Engineer, Spacer, War Hero, level 1, any agenda, any team, loves Liara, any difficulty.
- (None but provides the final background specific assignment and romance.)

	Mass Effect Guides
	Completion	Walkthrough • Morality • Experience • Systems • Mako • Codex
	Achievements	Completionist • Rich Achievement • Party Member Achievements Scholar Achievement • Weapon and Ability Achievements
	Classes	Adept • Engineer • Infiltrator • Sentinel • Soldier • Vanguard
	Other	Squad Members • PC Tweaks • Merchants

Completionist Achievement Guide

Contents

Checklist

Prologue

Exposing Saren

Finding Liara T'Soni

The Citadel

Noveria

Feros

Uncharted Space