Mass Effect Achievement Guide & "Direction-ary"

 

Time To 1200 - 60 Hours approx.

Ease Of Game - 6/10 (Manageable, patience required)

Number Of Playthroughs Required - 3 (difficulty achievements do not stack since they're locked from the beginning) + 1 very short partial playthrough

Total Number Of People Needed To Boost Online Achievements - no online achievements

 

Notes:

In order to get the full 1200 on this game you will need to purchase and download these two DLC packs, Pinnacle Station and Bring Down The Sky (these links are for the U.S. versions of the DLC, check your country's marketplace for region specific DLCs)

 

If you buy the Platinum Hits edition of Mass Effect, it comes with the Bring Down The Sky DLC for free

 

There are hundreds of Mass Effect guides online, all of which seem to contradict each other in the best/fastest way to go through the game. I spent a lot of time researching these and compiling strategies from all to make this guide

 

Any questions you have on Side Quests please check out the Mass Effect Wiki. It was invaluable in the creation of this guide

 

I'll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but be warned some are unavoidable

 

All your stats such as kills, power usage, and Medi-Gel usage are tracked across all playthroughs. This is most important to keep in mind for the Medi-Gel achievement as you likely won't get that in one playthrough

 

Don't be worried about Hardcore and Insanity difficulty being overly hard. Using this guide, you will be at a very high level, have very powerful Spectre class weapons, and high Biotic power levels when you play them to make them much more of an even playing field for you and your higher level enemies on these difficulties

 

Beginning The Game

01. Mass Effect requires three playthroughs on escalating levels of difficulty. Your first playthrough you will begin on CASUAL difficulty. You can select difficulty from the Options menu before beginning the game, but the second you first get to walk around with your character double check to make sure it's on Casual

 

02. Create a Male or Female COLONIST / SOLE SURVIVOR / ADEPT. Every background has a different sidequest related to it, Colonist Sole Survivor has the quickest one. Adept is the most powerful character class, and you will need that to defeat Insanity Difficulty

 

03. Before you start, decide if you want to play the game as a Paragon or a Renegade. Your dialogue and actions will assign you points, kind choices get you Paragon points while mean choices get you Renegade. ONLY act in this manner for the rest of the playthrough to work towards the related 75% points achievement

 

04. Begin the game. The first achievement you are working towards is the Scholar one, which requires you to learn about numerous alien races in the game. Several of these you can only obtain once, so they can easily be missed. When you talk to Captain Anderson, make sure to ask him about the Protheans for a Scholar entry. After talking, you will land on Eden Prime

 

Eden Prime

01. The most important thing to keep in mind as you start this playthrough is STAY IN COVER and KEEP YOUR SHIELDS UP as much as possible. The Tactician achievement requires you to go through an entire playthrough taking more Shield damage than actual Health damage. On Casual this is quite manageable, but on harder difficulties can become a nightmare

 

02. As you gain experience, work on levelling up your defensive Biotic powers first. It doesn't really matter what you level up right now, as you're going to be doing a Level Up trick pretty shortly that will level up ALL your stats to very high levels

 

03. As you proceed through Eden Prime, you will meet Ashley Williams who will join your party. Make sure to talk to her extensively so you can ask her about the Geth, your next Scholar entry.

 

04. Upon completing Eden Prime, you will get the Distinguished Service Medal achievement

 

 

 

The Citadel

01. As soon as you can walk around, go to the alien embassy next door to your own. Talk to the giant four legged alien for the Elcor entry towards your scholar achievement

 

02. Talk to Avina the VI outside the embassies for the Volus entry towards your Scholar achievement. An important thing to keep in mind is ONLY talk to the people listed below, ignore everyone else for now. Also make sure you don't read/hack any terminals just yet.

 

03. Keep walking outside until you find the next Avina, standing next to a giant bug. Talk to her for the Keeper entry towards your Scholar achievement

 

04. Keep walking outside until you find the next Avina, standing next to a giant statue. Talk to her for the Rachni entry towards your Scholar achievement

 

05. Walk to the emporium and talk to the tall stalk looking alien for the Hanar entry towards your Scholar achievement

 

06. Now go to the Citadel to continue the story and you will receive two quests, find Wrex and Garrus. When you find Garrus, be sure to talk to him and the doctor about Quarians for that entry towards your Scholar achievement.

 

07. Now after Garrus joins your party, you will have a choice of who to put in your party. If you picked a male Shepard, always keep Kaiden in your party. If you picked a female Shepard, always keep Ashley in your party. This is for the Ally achievements, which will be covered later on. Whichever person isn't it your party, after every story related planet mission go talk to them on your ship and flirt with them as much as you can to work towards the Paramour achievement

 

08. Do the Wrex quest and have him join your party. Go to Fist's bar and defeat him to get the next quest, which is a timed mission to get your next party member. As you leave Fist's office BE SURE to pick up the OSD he dropped behind him, you will need this for a sidequest later and getting it now will save you a bit of time

 

09. Save Tali to continue the story. You will now get the Spectre Inductee achievement. As you head towards your ship to leave the Citadel, talk to Captain Anderson outside the ship for the Batarians entry in your journal and the Scholar achievement

 

Find Liara T'Soni

01. Go to the Artemis Tau system and land on the planet Therum. Make your way to the ruins to rescue her, you will eventually find her trapped in a stasis field.

 

02. Right after you find her you will get a cut scene. After the cut scene you will be standing right in front of her stasis field. Now for the boring part. SAVE here and reload this save. When it boots up, you will get some experience points. Save again and reload, you will get more experience points. Keep repeating this many many times until you are around Level 30-31. You will never have to do this again as they time you finish your third playthrough you will reach Level 60 for the Extreme Power Gamer achievement. You will now have a ton of stat points, make sure you level up Charm, Intimidate, Barrier, Pistols, Shields, and offensive Biotic Powers as high as you can

 

03. After you're a Level 30 or so, rescue Liara for the Search and Rescue achievement. ALWAYS keep Liara in your party, along with either Kaiden if you're a male Shepard or Ashley if you're a female Shepard.

 

Note: Now that you have Liara you want to begin working on the Ally achievements, which require you to complete a certain number of missions with one of your teammates. Liara's achievement seems to be the most finicky, but as long as you follow this guide you should have no problem getting it. We will begin working on the Ally achievements by doing many sidequests before we continue on with the main story

 

04. Make sure on your ship go flirt with either Ashley or Kaiden. You have a third option of flirting with Asari no matter if you're a male or female Shepard, but really who wants to romance a girl with tentacles on her head?

 

 

Bring Down The Sky

 

When you land on the asteroid you should get the Medal of Exploration achievement. Upon completing the DLC pack you will get the Colonial Savior achievement.

 

 

 

Pinnacle Station

01. Next do the Pinnacle Station DLC. It also has three missions, which involve you getting first place on every available combat simulation. Upon getting first place in your first simulation you will get the New Sheriff in Town achievement.

 

02. I once again cannot stress enough staying in cover, keeping your shields up, and always use Barrier towards the Tacitian achievement. During the course of beating all the simulations, you will use a lot of Biotic powers and should unlock the Barrier Mastery, Throw Mastery, Lift Mastery, Singularity Mastery, and Warp Mastery achievements. By using your pistol you should also get the Pistol Expert achievement, as well as the Dog Of War and Geth Hunter kill achievements. If you don't unlock all of these by the time you finish the DLC, do not worry as you will absolutely get these by the time you finish your first playthrough.

 

03. By finishing the Pinnacle Station DLC you will also unlock the Best Of The Best and Undisputed achievements.

 

Return To The Citadel

 

 

Most of these quests will require you to return to the Citadel after doing them to tell the quest giver they are finished

 

03. After you complete the Doctor Michel sidequest, she will reward you with a huge discount in her store as well as giving you twice the value of anything you sell her. You can use this to exploit an unlimited money trick that will make your playthroughs so much easier. Now for another boring part. Create a save file here (just in case) and sell all of your items to her. Then go to the Markets, find a seller named Expat. You can now buy back all your sold items at a lower price, making a decent profit in the process. Return to Dr. Michel and repeat this process until you have enough money to buy all the best weapons and armour from the Spectre Store in C-Sec, some of which aren't available until you have 1,000,000 credits. When you get this many credits, you will unlock the Rich achievement. After every story planet you complete, make sure you return to the C-Sec store as he often has better items available to make you more powerful.

 

Space Quests

 

Noveria

 

02. Now continue on with the story. At one point, you will have to retrieve some evidence for an alien named Lorik Qui'in from his office and bring it back to him. Create a Save point before talking to him when you have the evidence. This is another exploit in the game, you can get unlimited Paragon and Renegade points out of him for the respective achievements.

 

 

This will end the conversation and you'll get a hefty point bonus towards whichever response you chose. Now talk to him again and this time ask him about the Matriarch. He will talk about her, then choose the dialogue option for "Another Question". This will take you back to the "Testify against Anoleis" option and the behaviour options again. Repeat this a dozen times or so until whichever achievement pops. Now simply reload your save file and do the same thing again for the behaviour path you started the game going for. You will now have both the Paragon and Renegade achievements

 

04. Continue on with the story. When you get inside Peak 15, you will eventually meet some soldiers and they mention a Dr. Cohen. Go see him in the medical labs to receive another sidequest that will help towards your Completionist and Ally achievements.

 

05. Finish Noveria for the Honorarium of Corporate Service achievement. When you're back on the ship, be sure to flirt with whoever you're trying to earn the Paramour achievement with

 

Feros

 

Upon completing all of these you should earn the achievements Completionist, Asari Ally, and either Soldier Ally or Sentinel Ally (depending if you've been using Ashley or Kaiden). If not all three of these haven't unlocked by now, don't worry. Just keep playing the game's main story and they will unlock very shortly

 

02. Continue the Feros storyline. On your way to ExoGeni, you will find a small outpost of refugees. A man named Gavin Hossle will give you a subquest to find his terminal in ExoGeni HQ, if you haven't unlocked the Completionist and Ally achievements by now, accept it. Find his terminal inside ExoGeni HQ and return the data to him when you're heading back to the Feros colony to complete the sidequest

 

03. Finish the Feros storyline for the Medal of Heroism achievement. When you're back on the ship, be sure to flirt with whoever you're trying to earn the Paramour achievement with

 

Make Another Save Point

01. Before heading to Virmire, create another Save Point. Make a note of what save it is, we will be coming back to this after beating the game on Casual

 

Virmire

01. On Virime after you meet up with the commandos, you will have a confrontation with Wrex. Use Charm to calm him down and you will earn the Charismatic achievement

 

02. The leader of the commandos will then ask you to leave one of your team with him, either Ashley or Kaiden. Choose the one you are NOT trying to romance for the Paramour achievement, as they will leave your party after this

 

03. As you continue on with Virmire, towards the end of the mission you will again have to make a choice between Ashley or Kaiden. This time, choose the one that you ARE trying to romance for the Paramour achievement. If you're trying to romance Liara it doesn't matter who you choose

 

04. Complete Virmire for the Council Legion of Merit achievement. Also by the time you complete this planet you should have gained enough experience to hit level 50 for the Power Gamer achievement

 

Back To The Citadel

01. Continue the storyline until you regain your ship and can leave the Citadel. Upon leaving, you will get a cutscene with the person you've been trying to romance for the Paramour achievement

 

 

Ilos

01. Continue the story

 

The Citadel: Final Visit

01. Continue the story and defeat the final boss. Upon doing so you will unlock the Medal of Honor achievement and as long as you took more Shield than Health damage the Tactician achievement

 

Load The Save Point Before Virmire

01. As mentioned earlier, we created a save point before we went to Virmire. From the main menu, load this up. Go to the C-Sec Store in the Citadel and buy the best Assault Rifle, Shotgun, and Sniper Rifle that money can buy and equip all three of them with High Explosive Ammo. Since Shepard is an Adept, he/she isn't trained in these weapons but can still fire them. Putting High Explosive Ammo in them will them into one hit kill weapons with a huge splash damage, so one shot will kill several enemies at once

 

02. Return to Pinnacle Station, and keep doing Survival Simulation missions. Use the three weapons until you get 150 kills with each for the Assault Rifle Expert, Shotgun Expert, and Sniper Rifle Expert achievements. I found the Volcanic Survival Simulation the best and fastest one to get kills on

 

 

Second Playthrough

01. From the Main Menu, go into Options and change the difficulty to Hardcore. Now start a new game but be sure to import your Level 50 Shepard into this playthrough. Just like your first playthrough, the second you first get to walk around with your character double check to make sure the difficulty is on Hardcore

 

02. Follow the same directions for the first playthrough, only keeping in mind you no longer have to worry about the Scholar, Paramour, Paragon, and Renegade achievements, so that's less dialogue you have to do

 

03. Upon having Garrus join your party, ALWAYS use him and the other person you didn't use from your first playthrough. So if you used Ashley, use Kaiden now or vice versa. You want to save Wrex and Tali for your Insanity playthrough since they are the best combination in the game, and you'll need their killing powers for that difficulty

 

04. Don't worry about doing the Experience trick anymore, you will easily hit Level 60 for the Extreme Power Gamer achievement by the time you complete the game on Insanity difficulty

 

05. The thing to keep in mind for Hardcore (and Insanity) is avoid missile turrets at all costs as they will one hit kill you. Just race past them to the door, don't bother trying to fight them. Also make sure you kill any Rocket Troopers first, they will also kill you in one hit. Stasis becomes your best friend on these harder difficulties

 

06. DO NOT do the Pinnacle Station DLC pack on this playthrough. On Hardcore difficulty it's much harder and you will waste valuable time trying to complete the simulations. Despite skipping these three subquests, you should still receive the Turian Ally and the Soldier Ally or Sentinel Ally achievements by the time you complete Feros

 

07. Upon completing the Hardcore playthrough you will receive the Distinguished Combat Medal achievement as well as the Long Service Medal for doing two full playthroughs

 

Third Playthrough

01. From the Main Menu, go into Options and change the difficulty to Insanity. Now start a new game but be sure to import your Level 50ish Shepard into this playthrough. Your Shepard should be around Level 57-58 by now. Just like your previous playthroughs, the second you first get to walk around with your character double check to make sure the difficulty is on Insanity

 

02. Follow the same directions as you did for the Hardcore playthrough, again skipping the Pinnacle Station DLC as on Insanity difficulty it's even harder. This time you will always want to use the team of Wrex and Tali for your final two ally achievements. They are a fantastic combination to use on Insanity, as their talents of Overkill and Carnage will let you send them into battle head on while you sit safely at a distance and pick of enemies with your pistol and Biotics

 

03. When you land on the Prothean ruins to rescue Liara, just in case if you aren't a Level 58 by now do the experience trick to get to that level. You will easily hit Level 60 by the time you finish this playthrough for the Extreme Power Gamer achievement, as long as you're a Level 58 when you rescue Liara you should hit Level 60 at some point on Feros. Once you hit Level 60 I recommend trying to run past all possible enemies you can to save time

 

04. At some point during this playthrough you should earn the First Aid Specialist achievement, which you get for healing yourself 150 times. Between Hardcore and Insanity difficulty this will not be a problem to go out of your way trying to get

 

05. Again, after completing Feros you should unlock Ally achievements, this time the Krogan Ally and Quarian Ally achievements.

 

06. Completing this third playthrough on Insanity will earn you the Medal of Valor achievement

 

Fourth partial playthrough

01. This is solely to complete the other power and weapon kill achievements you can't do as an Adept. Put your difficulty back to Casual and this time create an ENGINEER character. It doesn't matter their background.

 

02. Go through the story as quickly as you can until you become a Spectre and get control of the ship. You will have to do a few quick sidequests on the Citadel until you're a level 12, which will unlock all available Biotic powers to you and let you level your Hacking talent up to Advanced Hacking, which you'll need to get credit for using the power

 

03. Go to Pinnacle Station and keep doing Survival Simulation missions, using your Biotic powers constantly until you unlock the Overload Specialist, Sabotage Specialist, and Damping Specialist achievements. Something very important to note is the two final Biotic power related achievements, AI Hacking Specialist and Neural Shock Specialist, can ONLY be done on Geth and organics respectively. The Tropical Survival Simulation is all Geth, while the Volcanic Survival Simulation is all organic beings. Once you get the related Biotic achievement for one, switch the simulation map to the other to get the last achievement in Mass Effect for your 1200 gamer score. Congratulations!

 

Mass Effect 2

01. Make sure you save your Mass Effect save file that has your Level 60 character, as you will be able to partially import him/her into Mass Effect 2 to give you a nice advantage when you begin that game

 

 

Distinguished Service Medal - 25 points

Complete Eden Prime

 

Spectre Inductee - 15 points

Become a Spectre

 

Scholar - 25 points

Find all primary Alien: Council Races, Extinct Races and Non-Council Races codex entries

 

Search and Rescue - 10 points

Locate Dr. T'soni in the Artemis Tau cluster

 

Medal of Exploration - 50 points

Land on an uncharted world

 

Colonial Savior - 50 points

Complete the Bring Down the Sky mission.

 

New Sheriff in Town - 50 points

Take first place in any combat scenario on Pinnacle Station

 

Barrier Mastery - 15 points

Use biotic Barrier 75 times

 

Throw Mastery - 15 points

Use biotic Throw 75 times

 

Singularity Mastery - 15 points

Use biotic Singularity 75 times

 

Warp Mastery - 15 points

Use biotic Warp 75 times

 

Pistol Expert - 10 points

Register 150 Pistol Kills

 

Dog of War - 25 points

Register 150 organic enemy kills

 

Geth Hunter - 25 points

Register 250 synthetic enemy kills

 

Best of the Best - 50 points

Take first place in 12 combat scenarios on Pinnacle Station

 

Undisputed - 50 points

Complete Ahern's survival mission

 

Rich - 25 points

Exceed 1,000,000 Credits

 

Paragon - 15 points

Accumulate 75% of total Paragon points

 

Renegade - 15 points

Accumulate 75% of total Renegade points

 

Honorarium of Corporate Service - 25 points

Complete Noveria

 

Completionist - 25 points

Complete the majority of the game

 

Asari Ally - 20 points

Complete the majority of the game with the asari squad member

 

Soldier Ally - 20 points

Complete the majority of the game with the Alliance soldier squad member

 

Sentinel Ally - 20 points

Complete the majority of the game with the Alliance sentinel squad member

 

Medal of Heroism - 25 points

Complete Feros

 

Charismatic - 10 points

Use Charm or Intimidate to resolve an impossible situation

 

Council Legion of Merit - 25 points

Complete Virmire

 

Power Gamer - 20 points

Reach 50th level with one character

 

Paramour - 10 points

Complete any romance subplot

 

Medal of Honor - 100 points

Complete 1 Mass Effect Playthrough on any setting

 

Tactician - 25 points

Complete playthrough with shield damage greater than health damage

 

Assault Rifle Expert - 15 points

Register 150 Assault Rifle Kills

 

Shotgun Expert - 15 points

Register 150 Shotgun Kills

 

Sniper Expert - 15 points

Register 150 Sniper Rifle Kills

 

Turian Ally - 20 points

Complete the majority of the game with the turian squad member

 

Distinguished Combat Medal - 25 points

Complete 1 Mass Effect playthrough on the Hardcore difficulty setting. Do not change the setting.

 

Long Service Medal - 25 points

Complete 2 Mass Effect Playthroughs on any setting

 

Extreme Power Gamer - 50 points

Reach 60th level with one character

 

First Aid Specialist - 15 points

Use medi-gel 150 times

 

Krogan Ally - 20 points

Complete the majority of the game with the krogan squad member

 

Quarian Ally - 20 points

Complete the majority of the game with the quarian squad member

 

Medal of Valor - 50 points

Complete 1 Mass Effect playthrough on the Insanity difficulty setting. Do not change the setting.

 

Overload Specialist - 15 points

Use Shield Overload 75 times

 

Sabotage Specialist - 15 points

Use Sabotage 75 times

 

Damping Specialist - 15 points

Use Damping Field 75 times

 

AI Hacking Specialist - 15 points

Use AI Hacking 75 times

 

Neural Shock Specialist - 15 points

Use Neural Shock 75 times

 

Lift Mastery - 15 points

Use biotic Lift 75 times

 

Stasis Mastery - 15 points

Use biotic Stasis 75 times

 

 

This game has glitches that can assist in gaining achievements.

 

This game may have also been updated. You may need to remove the update for the glitch to occur. CLICK HERE for more information and how to do this.

 

Please note these glitches are submitted by Slam Da Brakes. Please follow YouStayClassy excellent detailed guide above as it covers these tricks as well and is the fastest way to get to 1200 points.

 

Mako Mine Glitch

 

This glitch will help you defeat that mini boss Geth Armature outside the Therum Mine real easy, even on Insanity!

 

When you embark on the Main Quest to find Liara T'Soni, you will drive the Mako until the road ends with a rock-rubble wall. Normally you would exit the Mako and continue on foot through the narrow opening. However it is possible to drive the Mako through the narrow gap and then use the Mako's powerful cannon to defeat the Geth quickly.

 

When you reach the narrow opening, drive the Mako towards the left rock of the gap. You have to drive at a certain angle, but if done correctly, you should find the Mako completely on it's side, wedge between the rocks. Slowly inch forward and use it's boosters (A) to slide through the gap. Don't worry, it took me about half an hour at first but now I can do it in around five minutes. Credit goes to bomboy02 for the video.

 

 

 

Once through the gap , clear the area ahead with Geth and drive up the mountain towards the mine, until you reach a cutscene (notice the Mako in the cutscene - here's to realtime rendering! ).

 

After the cutscene, the Geth and the Geth Armature will NOT atttack the Mako. Bonus! Just use the Mako's cannon on them and your done.

 

Free Instant Mako Repairs

 

To instantly repair a damaged Mako fully, without using Omni-gel, drive the Mako to an area where you can save i.e. not in battle. Save your game , then reload the save.

 

Sometimes you may need to save / reload twice. Once to restore shields, then again to to repair the hull.

 

 

Infinite Paragon Renegade Points Glitch

 

This glitch allows you to get all your Paragon or Renegade points all at once and thereby unlocking Renegade and Paragon Achievements. Make sure your Charm AND Intimidate are at least six points each. They will both need to be high if you want both achievements at once.

 

Head off to Noveria. You will eventually need to speak to Lorik Qu'iin. He will give you an assignment to get evidence from his guarded office in exchange for a garage key. Accept the assignment and go get the evidence. Upon returning back to the hotel bar, you will bump into Gianna (the receptionist) and she will reveal that she is undercover and she needs Lorik Qu'iin to testify against the administrator Anoleis. Agree to help her.

 

Go over and talk to Lorik Qu'iin and then choose the following options:

 

STEP 1

Testify against Anoleis > You'd be a hero (Paragon choice) OR Damn right I will (Renegade choice) then move away once you have finished and received your points.

 

STEP 2

Approach Lorik Qu'iin again and choose:

Matriarch Benezia > Another Question > Testify against Anoleis >  You'd be a hero (Paragon choice) OR Damn right I will (Renegade choice)

 

Repeat Step 2 and you will receive 25 points each time. Keep doing it until the achievement unlocks.

 

Easy Level Up Glitch

 

This glitch rewards you with experience points just by saving a game. At level 10 you will receive about 300 xp each time whereas at level 50, you will get about 900 xp.

 

Travel to Artemis Tau To find Liara T'Soni. When you find her, she will be trapped inside a blue force field. Kill the enemies, then SAVE your game. Do not approach Liara. Reload the save game and you will be awarded some experience points when you load. Save and repeat.

 

Infinite Credit Glitch

 

Here is a way to earn infinite credits. I recommend doing this at the beginning of a career. That way you can earn quickly 1,000,000 credits and unlock Spectre Weapons and Armour.

 

First, do the side quest for Dr. Michel from the Med Clinic on Citadel. It will invlove getting rid of her blackmailer. Once you have completed this quest, she will award you with discount from the items she sells.

 

Next, start selling her your most expensive equipment.

 

After that, head down to the Wards Markets and find a merchant called Expat. Talk to him and select Buy Back. You can now buy back the items you sold to Dr. Michel for a cheaper price.

 

Return back to Dr. Michel at the Med Clinic, and sell your stuff again. Repeat these selling and buying steps for however greedy you want to be!

 

Remember, the more expensive the item, the larger the profit.