----------------------------- - Each power added/change and the reasoning as to why: - -----------------------------

Jimmy (Soldier/Sentinel):

Vanilla Jimmy - How he plays:

Jimmy plays as your defensive tank character with Fortification and a very limited powers/abilities. He's okay in combat but there isn't anything really spectacular combat wise compared to your other squadmates.

Carnage is an absolutely bad power and is never worth investing in as it's probably one of the worst powers in the game. Frag grenade is alright for damaging armor, but it's not as good as Inferno Grenades or Lift Grenades for power explosions. Incendiary is the best ammo power in the game bar none due to it's final evolution - which means he basically is just here to shoot at things since he has no actual good powers to help out Shepard.

The other big problem with Jimmy is the fact that if Ashley is alive, you have two soldiers characters and lose out on Kaidan (who is probably one of the best Mass Effect 3 squadmate's with his abilities).

He has one decent power which is Incendiary Ammo. If you are a Soldier or a Vanguard that means he is redundant since you have that power and don't need him for it. Frag grenades are the weakest grenade type in that they can only detonate one type of combo, and they do not set up any combos themselves. Carnage does middling damage and is mediocre for CC, compounded by the fact that it has a relatively long cooldown. Fortification is not really useful for the helping out the squad to achieve any type of power combo - but it does allow him to survive longer. The only other things worth mentioning are that his squad bonuses in Arms Master, can pair nicely as a tank build for if you choose to make a tank build for him. Shotguns usually aren't particularly great on squad members but assault rifles are good for squadmates with the Particle, Harrier, Typhoon, or Falcon being great options.  Overall he is an unbalanced squad member that is best against organics.

Modded Jimmy - How to fix him:

First of all, it should have been that if you saved Ashley then Jimmy would have been a Sentinel, and if you saved Kaidan he would have been a soldier. That would have made the most sense to cover 'the missing' class depending on which Virmire Survivor you saved. Bioware obviously made him a solider no matter what making Ashley even less of a good option to save.

So how can we fix Jimmy? We give him two class options to choose from:

1. Soldier = His original class, and a class you can pick if Ashley if dead or you want to keep him as his designated class in the story or you want two solider classes.

2. Sentinel = To replace Kaidan if Kaidan is dead or to use alongside Kaidan if you want.

So he has the powers below, and the reasoning for each power.

Jimmy - The Explosive Expert (Soldier):

I wanted to design Jimmy as an explosive expert type class with a focus on grenades and explosive ammos. So I wanted to design Jimmy in such a way that he carried a lot of grenades and that he could make a lot of explosions (which is very nice with both of his ammo powers).

Power 1 (Concussive Shot): Concussive Shot is an insanely good power on Insanity. Give a squadmate the Amplified evolution and it becomes insanely overpowered as it does x4 damage with whatever ammo power is being used. It makes no sense to get rid of this ability for Soldier James.

Power 2 (Inferno Grenade): A power that allows him to have an extra storage in the grenade pool and allows him to be a bigger threat to more enemies.

Power 3 (Arc Grenade): A great grenade powers to damage shields/barriers which was on the Jimmy's major weaknesses on an Insanity playthrough. Jimmy has no way to damage barriers/shields with his original powerset, this provides him some way to mitigate that weakness.

Power 4 (Homing Grenade): A power with provides Jimmy with another support option power that can be used at anytime. It also increases his grenade stash and it allows him to damage armor.

Power 5 (Fortification): An ability that allows Jimmy to survive in the game and be a tankier squadmate. Since his original role in the game was a very tanky squadmate, it made sense to keep this power.

Power 6 (Incendiary Ammo): The best ammo power in the game. The rank 6 Explosive Burst evolution is good for most (or even all) weapons.

It basically has a 50% chance of bursting for 100+ damage on burst. Power combos can also eat through armor very quickly. If Shepard is getting the Incendiary Ammo from Garrus then the explosive Burst damage is 50+ damage (Garrus gets the full 100+ damage). Amplified Concussive Shot is akin to wielding a flamethrower when using Incendiary Ammo. This makes it the best (followed by Disruptor/Cryo Ammo - just like in Mass Effect 3).

Power 7 (Disruptor Ammo): The second best ammo power in the game, that allows him to damage shields and barriers (which was an issue vanilla Jimmy suffered from). Since he's replacing Ashley as a soldier, it made sense to give him this ability since Javik/Garrus both now have Incendiary Ammo

If there were more Soldier only powers, I could spec him to be way different than Ashley but as of now this was the best outcome/solution with what powers made sense (lore-wise) for him.

Jimmy - The Necromancer (Sentinel):

I wanted Jimmy to be focused on a kind of control/dark magic character and tried to align his powers to represent that. He also has two defensive abilities to allow him to survive longer.

Power 1 (Reave): Reave is a great ability that boosts a squadmate's defense, and it made more sense than Warp to make him a Necromancer type class.

Power 2 (Energy Drain): A power that allows him to steal shields/barriers from another (which is similar to a life-draining power) which makes sense for a Necromancer type caster.

Power 3 (Lift Grenades): A power that allows Jimmy to lift targets and have a type of "bomb" type item.

Power 4 (Dominate): An extremely good control power that lets him control enemies on the battlefield. It is much better than its Mass Effect 2 variant as it can go through protections.

Power 5 (Annihilation Field): A power that damages enemies who get close by and can be seen as a dark, vortex like power.

Power 6 (Barrier): An ability that allows Jimmy to survive in the game and be a tankier squadmate. Since his original role in the game was a very tanky squadmate, it made sense to keep this power. It's worst than Fortification for damage reduction, but a Sentinel would not have a combat power like Fortification. (And I tried my best where I could to keep powers lore-friendly).

Power 7 (Tech Armor): Another defensive power that could be seen as battle armor and allows for Jimmy to survive longer.

Jimmy now has a nice blend of biotic and tech powers that make him worth taking while also allow him to handle a variety of power combos. His powers now make him fit a Necromancer class role.

Ashley - The Special Operative (Soldier):

Vanilla Ashley - How she plays:

Ashley has some problems that make her a somewhat bad pick for saving over Kaidan. First of all her story scenes and how she plays out compared to Kaidan are much worst (it seems like Kaidan had more thought put into him). Not only that but power combo's in Mass Effect 3 are your bread and butter for determining who to bring. With a multitude of tech squadmates (Garrus, EDI, Tali, Kaidan) on the main roster for ME3, it becomes incredibly difficult to save her over Kaidan (who allows for biotic combos/tech combos) when you only have two biotic squadmates (Liara/Javik) on the main squad. Since Vanilla Garrus can do everything she can better - it makes it an extreme difficult choice to bring her along or save her.

Where some squadmates can prime and detonate one type of combo without assistance, Ashley can prime and detonate two, and chain them together, all without any help from Shepard or the third squadmate. By using Disruptor Ammo in conjunction with an assault rifle, Ashley can easily prime enemies for a Tech Burst, and immediately detonate it by throwing an Inferno Grenade. since Inferno Grenades do not trigger a cooldown, they can immediately be followed up with Concussive Shot to detonate a Fire Explosion. Concussive Shot and Inferno Grenades are both evolved to be able to hit a large number of enemies while still causing decent damage. Assault Rifles work much better with Disruptor Ammo for priming combos, so Ashley's ability to use sniper rifles is ignored. Alliance Officer is thus evolved to give Ashley the game's second highest weapon damage. Ashley does best with the armors that improve her weapon damage.

Ashley evolves towards functioning as the squad's heavy gunner / pyromaniac (Typhoon/Revenant + Marksman ability in order to serve as the perfect heavy-gunner. Concussive shot + expanded Inferno Grenade for instant fire explosions) - she is relatively versatile, though she really shines when paired with EDI and Garrus. However, why would you not just bring Garrus who can do the same thing that Ashley can do or just be fine with Jimmy (who you automatically get whereas you have no Sentinel character if Kaidan is dead).

However, squadmate's don't use guns as effectively as the player controlled Shepard. Not to mention if you're not using a power cooldown mod (which I recommend anyways) - Marksman becomes a liability. As Marksman is a terrible power on Ashley if you don't use a power cooldown mod. Squadmates do not use guns effectively, and as a result Ashley will not use Marksman effectively. It also has a long cooldown, locking her out of Concussive Shot (which is a much more useful power).

Basically. Jimmy = Soldier and you automatically have him in ME3. Whereas if Kaidan is dead, you have no Sentinel squadmate (and Sentinels are considered the best squadmates in both ME2/ME3 - as we see with Miranda and Kaidan respectively). The lack of biotic squadmates in ME3 also makes it very, very hard to justify saving Ashley unless you're using the Expanded Galaxy Mod and have the biotic squadmates from the Citadel DLC. As in why save Ashley when Jimmy does what she does but better? (Survives better, has the best ammo power in the game, etc.)

Despite this, I always saved Ashley in the original as I much prefer her to Kaidan.

Modded Ashley - How to fix her:

I wanted Ashley to be a more special operative type squadmate where a lot of her powers focused on survivability, technology (like ammo powers) to keep her alive.

Powers:

Power 1 (Concussive Shot): Concussive Shot is an insanely good power on Insanity. Give a squadmate the Amplified evolution and it becomes insanely overpowered as it does x4 damage with whatever ammo power is being used. It makes no sense to get rid of this ability.

Power 2 (Cryo Blast): A nice power that acts as a tech power (with the limited soldier powers this was the best option). Consider it some kind of Alliance technology that allowed her to use this power.

Power 3 (Tactical Scan): Her unique power now that allows her to mark and make enemies take more damage. It's much more useful than Marksman, and also allows her to have an ability that maybe she learned as a Spectre while Shepard was off in Mass Effect 3 doing stuff or as part of her operations in Mass Effect 2 (perhaps she got training?) In the multiplayer, one of the Soldier classes also has this ability making it lore-friendly.

Power 4 (Stim Packs): A survival pack that generates durability for Ashley and fits the whole Special Operative class.

Power 5 (Fortification): A power that allows Ashley to survive longer should you choose to invest in it. With the limited soldier powers, this was the best one to give her (and it allows some versatility in how you level her up now).

Power 6 (Armor-Piercing Ammo): A power that allows Ashley to go through armor (you could see it as her needing to be equipped to take out heavy armored targets as a special operative).

Power 7 (Cryo Ammo): If you're starved for points, Cryo Ammo is the cheapest ammo power in the game (possible exception: Armor-Piercing Ammo if you just want to do some wallhacking). It's totally fine at rank 1 or 2. It's the best squad ammo at rank 4. Incendiary Ammo really wants Rank 6 for Explosive Burst, Disruptor Ammo needs at least Rank 3 to maximize its crowd control potential, Warp Ammo doesn't do anything except make numbers bigger so it wants as many points as you can feed it for maximum number embiggening. If you're using Armor-Piercing Ammo as a "NUMBERS GET BIGGER" power then it's like Warp Ammo where you want as many points as possible, but like I said,
sometimes it's fun to take a single point just so you can shoot through guardian shields and such.

This isn't to say you shouldn't take Cryo Ammo to Rank 6. Rank 6 makes any Cryo Combos more powerful and the  Damage Combo evolution is quite useful for number-embiggening. It's just to say you don't have to. You can coast on low totals for quite a long time without feeling especially handicapped.

The other nice thing about it is it's super easy to evolve. Most of the choices are no choice at all.
Rank 4 (Squad) > Rank 5 (Headshot Damage) > Rank 6 (Damage Combo)

The chance to freeze per shot is a function of a weapon's rate of fire. Specifically, the formula is

Freeze Chance = 60 / (Effective Rate of Fire)
Freeze Chance = 78 / (Effective Rate of Fire) (with the Rank 2 Freeze Chance bonus)
Freeze Chance = 108 / (Effective Rate of Fire) (with the Rank 6 Freeze Chance bonus)

This means the faster your gun shoots, the less likely it is to freeze per shot. This might sound unfair, but actually it's a pretty clever setup. It essentially means that, all else being equal, all guns are equally likely to freeze an enemy over any given length of time. (All subsequentcalculations will assume the player has the Rank 2 Freeze Chance bonus,
but not the Rank 6 Freeze Chance bonus.)

Despite a lot of sources saying it's best to use Cryo Ammo with fast-firing weapons, this is the worst thing you could possibly do.You want to use slow-firing weapons. Ideally, you'd want to use a weapon whose Rate of Fire exactly  matches your cutoff to get a 100% freeze chance per shot, which means 78 RPM assuming you have the Rank 2 Freeze Chance evolution. At that point, every shot is a guaranteed freeze so the second you see the hit indicator you can move on to a new target.

Kaidan:

Vanilla Kaidan - How he plays:

Kadian in the base game is one of the best squadmates due to his potential as a Sentinel to prime and detonate numerous types of power combos. He is far better than Ashley due to his effectiveness (and the fact that Disruptor Ammo is glitched and doesn't prime Tech Combo's).

Kaidan's powers let him counter shields, barriers and armor and he provides decent firepower if he uses his assault rifle. With help of Barrier and getting his cooldown reduction costume to counter Barrier's penalty not only he deals highest damage among biotic squad members, he provides substantial bonus power damage to other squadmates as well, making him the best to take with squads focused on powerusage. Thanks to Reave's protection buff and Barrier he is the 2nd tankiest squad mate after James.

In the case of both Reave and Overload, the Recharge Speed bonus is chosen because Kaidan has very few ways to reduce that. Cryo Blast is fast enough on its own that it does not need that same consideration. Reave is evolved both to improve Kaidan's defense and to damage and prime as many enemies as possible. Overload is evolved to soften up nearby enemies for the impending Tech Burst. Biotic Explosions and Tech Bursts are the two most valuable power combos, so neither Reave nor Overload are worth giving up in favor of his other powers. The choice then comes down to Barrier versus Cryo Blast. Barrier in conjunction with Reave gives Kaidan the best defense in the squad, but many players feel that the recharge penalty isn't worth it. Players who decide that it is should evolve it to minimize the penalty and give an extra boost to Reave and Overload. If the player doesn't think Barrier is worth it, Cryo Blast is useful for weakening the game's strongest enemies, and should evolve to maximize that. It also gives Kaidan a third type of power Combo to prime. Reave already gives Kaidan a strong  defense boost, so Alliance Officer was evolved to maximize Kaidan's damage output. The fact that Reave keeps going after its been used as part of a power combo makes it especially useful, and the Biotic Damage Upgrade makes the most of that. Regardless of whether or not Barrier is used, Kaidan does best with the armor that lowers his recharge times.

Modded Kaidan - How to fix him:

There's not much needed to improve Kaidan honestly since he is one of the best squadmates in Mass Effect 3 but there are some things we can do to make him even more effective.

He still has most of his original powers meaning he can still be played/specced how people want him. However he now has the option to be played a bit differently or to avoid Barrier altogether (if you hate defensive powers on squadmates).

Kaidan - The Cryomancer (Sentinel):

I wanted Kaidan to be a cryomancer type squadmate where he focused on frozen powers/tech powers so you had one squadmate who did so. Like Ashley he has both Cryo Blast and Cryo Ammo, so no matter which one is alive you have a squadmate with access to both abilities.

Power 1 (Reave): A very good biotic power that can both prime/detonate and also let's him bulk up his defenses. Considrr it a magic type power.

Power 2 (Overload): An extremely good power that makes no sense to get rid of. It allows him to take out barriers/shields. It also can count as an electric type magic power for him.

Power 3 (Cryo Blast): Cyro Blast is extremely fast and allows him to prime Cryo Explosions, and it has relatively fast cooldown speed.

Power 4 (Dark Channel): An oddity for his class ability, but a Cryomancer would have access to other magical abilities and this would count as dark magic.

Power 5 (Sentry Turret): A power that counts as a good distraction power. You can count is as Kaidan's familiar (an animal or companion that follows him around). Even though it's tech based, you can see it as a futuristic familiar.

Power 6 (Tech Armor): A very good defensive power, and option to make Kaidan a very tanky squadmate. Consider it battle armor

Power 7 (Cryo Ammo): An ability that is good (see Ashley's section) and that lends to the class idea of him being a Cryomancer.

Liara:

Vanilla Liara - How she plays:

Liara is probably one of the best squadmates for any Shepard in Mass Effect 3. She lacks firepower and durability, and some of her powers are devalued by shields. But Singularity and Stasis all but guarantee a deadenemy, especially to a player with good aim. Warp with the Expose evolution will help against the many armored opponents. Re-spec her Stasis with bubble to be able to grab even shielded enemies from behind cover. A biotic Shepard can combo with her Warp and other powers to create instant and frequent biotic explosions even against shielded and armored enemies. Liara's damage is low but due to low cooldowns and good crowd controls she is an OK squadmate especially with adept shepard.

Warp Ammo is left at level 3 because Liara's role is not to shoot things. Her role is to control the battlefield with powers and her passive is evolved to make sure her powers can be used as often as possible and last as long as possible. Because Liara's recharge bonus from her passive power is so high, it is likely unnecessary to take the Recharge Speed evolutions on her other powers. Singularity can be evolved to capture as many enemies as possible. Stasis Bubble is an excellent trap. Both allow Liara to detonate her own Biotic Explosions on unarmored enemies. Warp is evolved to maximize the damage enemies take from Biotic Explosions, while also weakening enemies for other squadmates to kill. Because Liara's passive  recharge speed bonus is so high, she does better with armor that increases her power damage. Because she is so fragile, Liara should not be allowed to use her submachine gun unless she is using a Locust or a Geth Plasma SMG.

Her passives and abilities allows her to have an insanely low cooldown time/recharge speed meaning she can constantly keep priming and  detonating biotic explosions. Warp also can allow her to detonate the rest of the power combos in the game. Warp Ammo is okay on her, but it's just an extra damage booster for her shooting and her goal shouldn't beshooting things anyways.

Probably the biggest weakness of Liara on Insanity is she is very squishy and dies very easily. So you would not want her taking fire/being on the front lines a lot. Other than that, she's insanely versatile for any Shepard and is one of the few biotic squadmate's on your main squad.

Liara - The Hybrid Adept (Adept):

For Liara, I wanted to keep her simple and just call her class The Hybrid Adept as her powers are mainly Adept powers but she does have some powers that are outside of The Adept class (Lift Grenades specifically). So I tried to keep her within this role.

Power 1 (Warp): One of the best biotic powers in the game, it's ability to detonate any type of combo and do an insane amount of damage means it would be stupid to get rid of it (especially since she lacks Reave to compensate for its loss).

Power 2 (Pull): Pull is an amazing ability in Mass Effect 3, and it brings Liara back to her Mass Effect 1 roots.

Power 3 (Lift Grenades): A power that lets her have a grenade pool/lets you not only focus on active powers for her.

Power 4 (Singularity): You probably only really need to invest in either Singularity or Pull - not both. However, this provides the option for her to do so depending on how you want to spec her or which power you prefer more.

Power 5 (Reave): A power that allows Liara to survive better as it is a more defensive focused ability.

Power 6 (Throw): Throw like Pull is extremely versatile and an amazing power to have in Mass Effect 3. It's also a power she had in Mass Effect 1, so it's paying homage to her.

Power 7 (Stasis): Her unique power that has some usefulness on Insanity. Personally, I'm not a fan of Stasis, but it can be used to buy time or hold an enemy in place. Some people also love using Stasis, so one squadmate should have it (and she needed a unique power).

Garrus (Infiltrator):

Vanilla Garrus - How he plays:

Fan favourite Garrus is back in action, and he sports Concussive Shot, Overload, Proximity Mine, and AP-Ammo. These powers are okay, it's well  known that Garrus can abuse the typhoon, his passive, and AP-Ammo to become god-like (however Squadmates do not use guns effectively and it  becomes misleading that he becomes an extremely better option versus investing in his powers).

Squadmates deal only 30% of base weapon damage. So even if you max their weapon damage -- or in this case, Garrus's sniper rifle or assault rifle damage -- they are still dealing less than 100% of base weapon damage.

* Squadmate base weapon damage is reduced to 30% of base, and all weapon damage bonuses are additive to the 30% base damage value.

So if a weapon has a base damage of 100, and the squadmate has a +100% weapon damage bonuses, then (0.30 x 100) + 100% = 30 + 30 = 60.
*NOTE: Squadmates will deal something like +200% weapon damage for a short duration when ordered to attack a specific target.

All this to say that squadmates will not use weapons very effectively unless you micromanage them. Certain weapons -- such as the Typhoon --
seem to work better on squadmates than others (not sure why). Incendiary Ammo's explosive burst can also give reliable damage from weapons.
However, you (Shepard) will be killing most enemies yourself using either powers or weapons, meaning squadmates are better left as additional power functions rather than gun turrets. This is especially true on higher difficulties.

Since enemy values scale with your level, Garrus needs max power damage to ensure his Overload can completely strip enemy shields at level 60. Hence why I recommend a power-based approach on Garrus rather than weapon-based approach. Powers can prime and/or detonate power combos. Depending on the power, powers can also provide some crowd control as well through knockdowns or staggers, or can outright disable enemies.

The best three ammo powers in order in Mass Effect 3 are: Incendiary Ammo, Disruptor Ammo, and then Cryo Ammo. This is due the fact of them being able to cause Fire Explosions/Tech Bursts/Cryo Explosions which due a ton of damage.

Garrus becoming 'god-like' with the Typhoon is more-so because the Typhoon being completely broken then his abilities (AP Ammo) being extremely
good. If you give the Typhoon to any squadmate, they'll wreck havoc on the enemies (but James/Garrus/Ashley have the most noticeable damage
with it due to their passives). So realistically, it's less his powerset being good and more so the Typhoon being busted. Personally I don't
give squadmates the Typhoon, but feel free to play however you like (albeit by that point, they're killing mostly everything for you so...)

In regards to the above, his powerset is lackluster. AP Ammo is not good compared to other powers, Proximity Mine is trash except for the
allowing extra incoming damage from other sources when you use it, and Concussive Shot would be much better to use if Garrus has  Cryo/Incendiary/Disruptor ammo to prime/detonate combos.

Garrus - The Aviator (Infiltrator):

I wanted Garrus to be based on a fighter pilot type idea, so I made most of his powers revolve around that idea.

Power 1 (Flamer): A power that does continuous fire damage.

Power 2 (Overload): An extremely useful power on Insanity for taking out shields/barriers, it makes no sense to get rid of this power. It also makes sense a electronic warfare is part of what fighter pilots do.

Power 3 (Incinerate): A power that allows him to have a ton more options when triggering power combos, and one that allows him to do crowd control much more effectively and strip armor (since we got rid of AP ammo on him).

Power 4 (Inferno Grenade): Inferno Grenade adds nicely to the fire oriented kit that Garrus now has, and it allos him to have another method to prime fire explosions. It's also a grnade power, so it gives him more options rather than constantly using powers all the time. Airplanes also have grenade launchers (or have in history).

Power 5 (Recon Mine): Garru's 2nd unique power that provides tactical scanning and allows for him to detonate power combos should enemies get close. It can also act as an defensive power as it'll damage enemies if they try to melee him. Airplanes also can drop bombs/mines.

Power 6 (Fortification): Airplanes are often in fortified areas when not in use to protect themselves. It also gives him some more survivability on an Insanity run.

Power 7 (Incendiary Ammo): The best ammo power in the game. The rank 6 Explosive Burst evolution is good for most (or even all) weapons. It basically has a 50% chance of bursting for 100+ damage on burst. Power combos can also eat through armor very quickly. If Shepard is getting the Incendiary Ammo from Garrus then the explosive Burst damage is 50+ damage (Garrus gets the full 100+ damage). Amplified Concussive Shot is akin to wielding a flamethrower when using Incendiary Ammo. This makes it the best (followed by Disruptor/Cryo Ammo - just like in Mass Effect 3).

Vanilla EDI - How she plays:

EDI, like Kaidan, can handle both shields and armor, but lacks some of his tankiness and firepower. Her Decoy can be deployed for crowd control, particularly with groups of small enemies. She can prime both fire explosions and tech bursts if the team has a generic detonator such as Concussive Shot or Carnage. If you bring her, make sure to max her  Defense Matrix and keep it active, thus providing her with decent durability.

EDI is also one of the only three characters that can prime more than one type of power combo. Incinerate and Overload should both evolved to facilitate this while softening up other enemies that will be in range of the follow-up detonation. Neither one should be sacrificed regardless of what is done with Defense Matrix in the vanilla game. The question of whether or not Defense Matrix is worth it as it is very similar to Barrier. EDI gets no recharge speed bonuses from her passive, so her other powers would need to be evolved to compensate for this, which Defense Matrix would cancel out. However, it does improve both her survivability and burst damage. Decoy should not be used  because the lack of movement makes the  explosive upgrade of little use. 

The problem then becomes this. Decoy is an absolutely useless power and should be avoided at all costs. It is even worst than Carnage - at least Carnage has a guarantee to hit the enemy. Decoy can be use and basically just sit there and be useless (wasting her powers).EDI is not a bad character overall in the vanilla game, and she's oddly one of the only main squadmates who has Incinerate and Overload.

EDI - The Juggernaught (Engineer):

I wanted to make EDI this bulky mech character that could be versatile/adaptable and survive for a long period of times with powers to kind of make her seem like this unstoppable juggernaut.

Power 1 (Incinerate): A great power on EDI that allows her to effectively take out armored enemies and the ability to prime/detonate fire explosions. It's an extremely good power and it would make no sense to get rid of it since she has no other way to take out armor.

Power 2 (Overload): Another very good power for taking out shields/barriers.

Power 3 (Sabotage): Sabotage is an extremely good power with the Tech Vulnerability evolution. It's extremely powerful and the best Tech power in the game.

Power 4 (Submission Net): A tech power that allows her to freeze or hold enemies in place should the need arise. It also gives her a 2nd unique power.

Power 5 (Repair Matrix): A power that really helps to boost her defences and makes her this unstoppable tank type character alongside Defense Matrix.

Power 6 (Defense Matrix): To help EDI survive much longer.

Power 7 (Disruptor Ammo): A power that lets EDI take out shielded/barrier protected enemies.


Vanilla Tali - How she plays:

Tali decent crowd control and damage output via drones and shotguns, but their short range exposes her durability issues. She is probably one of  the worst squadmates on the main squad for a variety of reasons:

1. She is squishy and her weapon set requires her to be close to enemies to damage them (meaning she goes down on Insanity a lot)
2. She lacks a power to deal with armor, meaning against armored enemies, she is pretty useless.
3. Protector Drone is useless.

Energy Drain is evolved both to shore up Tali's questionable defense, and to prime Tech Bursts on as many targets as possible. Because power combos are the primary source of power based damage in this game, the loss of damage is a small price to pay for these benefits. A fully powered Rocket Drone is surprisingly useful for wearing down enemies while the squad deals with them, and Quarian Machinist is evolved to capitalize on that. Defense Drone is neglected because it simply doesn't have much to offer compared to the alternatives (AKA it's a shitty power). The Tech Vulnerability upgrade alone makes Sabotage worth investing in, because of the boost not just to base tech powers, but Tech Bursts and Fire Explosions. Like Liara, Tali's recharge speed bonus from her passive power means she won't get much out of the armor that improves recharge speeds. The armor that improves power damage is better to boost her drone, while the armor that improves weapon damage is better to boost her shotgun.

She really shines in any fight with Geth, as her abilities absolutely destroy them - and she is extremely useful due to her ability to fire off combo's as fast as Liara. Like Liara however she dies very fast in combat, and on Insanity this can be a huge detriment to the team.

Tali - The All-Rounder (Engineer):

I designed Tali so she could be a jack-of-all trades type squadmate, being able to do anything or have a variety of different roles depending on how you wanted to use her.

Power 1 (Cryo Blast): A power that opens up Cryo combos for Tali.

Power 2 (Energy Drain): Energy Drain is her go to move to remove shields/barriers. It would make no sense to get rid of this power, as
it's super useful for her.

Power 3 (Incinerate): A power that fixes a major weakness of Tali in that she can't damage armor in anyway in the vanilla game. This is a huge fix for her, as it finally makes her worthwhile to take as she can deal with an armor now.

Power 4 (Siege Pulse): A power that does an insane amount of damage and makes Tali an really big threat on an Insanity run.

Power 5 (Sabotage): One of the best Tech powers in the game, as noted above in Garrus' section. It would make no sense to get rid of it with how useful it is.

Power 6 (Combat Drone): Combat Drone is extremely useful unlike Protector Drone, plus Tali needed a unique power and this was the best option for her.

Power 7 (Defense Matrix): A power that gives Tali a way to survive longer considering this was her one weakness on Insanity
playthroughs (where she died too easily.)

Tali now fills an incredible role of being super useful to bring along - she can strip/take care of any protection in the game, and has a variety of way to prime and detonate various combos. She can also now survive much longer thanks to Defense Matrix and no longer is super squishy.

Javik (Vanguard):

Vanilla Javik - How he plays:

Javik is a nice alternative to Liara if you hate Liara (considering the lack of main squad biotic squadmates). The problem on a vanilla playthrough
in the original Mass Effect 3 was if you didn't have his DLC, and left Kaidan for dead - you only had Liara as a biotic focused squadmate. His
weapon set allows him to have Assault Rifles and he has some very good powers to utilize.

There are some strategies to Javik that help make him a strategic pick when playing him. Dark Channel's value in priming Biotic Explosions means it is better to make it last as long as possible. It's also an insanely good power as it "moves" to the next enemy allowing for multiple biotic combo's. Kaiden's Reave is better than Javik's Dark Channel. Reave can both prime and detonate biotic explosions; Dark Channel can only prime. Kaiden get get a quicker cooldown with Reave than Javik can with Dark Channel. Reave can hit multiple enemies at once (with rank 4 Radius), whereas Dark Channel is single-target. Dark Channel can jump to a new target when the first target dies, but in practice it does not happen all that often.

He also can't cast as fast as Liara, hate or love Liara - she is probably the best squadmate for most Shepard classes, but especially biotic
classes just because she can cast her powers so quickly/fast and she hasextremely good powers.

Lift Grenades are a crowd clearer, so making sure they hit as many enemies as possible is a good choice, especially since Javik's passive ability makes up for the loss in damagefrom not choosing the alternative. They also can damage shields/barriers. Pull followed by a Lift Grenade allows Javik to detonate his own Biotic Explosions on unprotected enemies. Double Pull also helps with Guardians, since they like to come in pairs. Pull is
also considered one of the best biotic powers in the game alongside Throw. Slam is a gimmick and has little to offer compared to Javik's other powers. It's usually not worth taking compared to his other powers.

Overall Javik's vanilla powers compared to Liara's are not that good. Just because she has one of the best powersets in the game (+ her insane recharge speed).

For Vengeful Ancient you'd want Durability (power damage) - Power Damage - Squad Bonus (power damage). Basically, you want a lot of power damage for Grenades and Dark Channel. As noted in the Ashley/Garrus section, squadmate's rarely ever use guns effectively - except for the Typhoon but it just breaks the game. However if you wanted to invest in more weapon damage for Javik, you now have the option of going that route + investing in Incendiary Ammo to do more damage with his guns so there are options if you prefer it.

Because Javik's power damage is already so high, he gains more benefit from the armor that improves his recharge speeds.

Javik - The Roman Legionnaire (Vanguard):

I wanred Javik to be based on a Roman Legionnaire so I designed his powers to replicate the idea of this.

Power 1 (Reave): Reave means to take away by plunder of force, a suitable power for a Roman inspired class to have.

Power 2 (Biotic Slash): An insanely damaging power, and one that gives him a sword in combat.

Power 3 (Seeker Swarm): A power that I thought would be cool on Javik to have (and is really the only power that is outside the Roman Legionnaire idea but you could argue he could command swarms of Romans or well Seekers in this case to do his command).

Power 4 (Inferno Grenades): Romans used Fire Pots as a type of makeshift fire weapon. This was the closest thing to that.

Power 5 (Throw): Romans threw Pilums and other such weapons.

Power 6 (Fortification): Roman could fortify camps and other vital areas.

Power 7 (Armor-Piercing Ammo): An ammo power that makes sense for this class I made for him, as Romans would be experts at going through armor and the likes.

Javik's role is now that of a Roman Legionnaire, but the other cool thing is all these powers are extremely useful on Insanity. He really does live up to a Roman Legionnaire with this powerset. It also matches Prothean Lore where they subjugated other species to fight for them (much like the Romans did with other civilizations becoming part of the Roman Empire)

----------------------------- - Each power added/change and the reasoning as to why: - -----------------------------

Wrex (Vanguard):

Vanilla Wrex - How he plays:

Wrex is probably the worst squadmate in the Citadel DLC. Carnage, Lift Grenade, Barrier, Stimulant. Carnage is bloody awful compared to Concussive Shot. Lift Grenades sounds great except he spams his Stimulant Packs right away, which eats into his grenade pool meaning he has no Lift Grenades. Barrier sounds great to allow him survive - except now his cooldown on Carnage is even longer.

Some people will argue "oh but using his Stimulant Packs allows him to be a bulky defensive tank" except the goals of squadmates it to usually build off of them with their powers to enact combos. Not to mention, Stimulant Packs run out eventually which means your left with Carnage as your only
power once it runs out.

His powerset is awful.

Wrex - The Tank (Vanguard):

I wanted Wrex to be this destructive tank like character who could not only take a huge hit, but could do massive damage to his opponents with unlimited destructive potential for his powerset.

Power 1 (Reave): Reave allows him to survive much longer and gives him a power similar to Warp.

Power 2 (Inferno Grenades): A highly destructive power that can panic enemies and allows him to reign down fire everywhere.

Power 3 (Lift Grenades): With Stimulant Packs gone from his loadout, Wrex actually has grenades he can use for actually power combos! Now he doesn't waste them all (i.e. it's not a useless power anymore).

Power 4 (Cluster Grenades): Another grenade power that allows him to wreck havoc on the battlefield.

Power 5 (Smash): A great biotic power if enemies get up close, and since Krogans charge into melee combat so often - it made sense to
give him this ability.

Power 6 (Throw): Throw is insane in Mass Effect 3 and alongside Pull it can be considered one of the best powers in the game. It is, in my opinion, the best detonator this side of the Milky Way with one of the fastest recharge times. This means she can spam Throw over and over despite the cooldown times.

Power 7 (Fortification): A way better power than Barrier that allows him to get a bigger defensive bonus. Since we took away Stimulant Packs from him, it only seemed fair to give him a better defensive power so he can survive longer.

Miranda (Sentinel):

Vanilla Miranda - How she plays:

The best squadmate in Mass Effect 2 on Insanity got sidelined in Mass Effect 3 hard. With the Cerberus subplot, and the lack of biotic squadmates - Miranda should have been a shoe-in for a squadmate in Mass Effect 3. Luckily, both the Expanded Galaxy Mod and Miranda Mod places her on the squad. However there are some prevalent issues with Miranda that causes her to be lackluster compared to her Mass Effect 2 counterpart.

First off all she has a horrible powerset. Warp, Overload, Incinerate, and Reave. This sounds good on paper - but Warp/Incinerate/Reave are all
basically interchangeable. Yes, they have some different versatility - Warp can detonate all type of power combos and allows for damage against armor/barriers, Reave allows for a tankier biotic output and can damage armor/barriers, and Incinerate allows for damage to armor and for it to detonate all combos as well.. The problem is - you really would only want to 'invest' in one of these powers at most. This leaves you with either investing in Warp or Reave (if you want her Biotic focused) or Warp/Incinerate (alongisde Overload if you want her Tech focused). The problem is Warp is the best biotic ability in the game due to its evolutions - so it always makes sense to take that and Overload - really only leaving you with Reave/Incinerate depending on what you want.

Not that Warp/Reave/Incinerate is all bad - but since in the vanilla game, you're forced to invest in all the Citadel squadmate's abilities, it ends up hurting her by having her invest in all those powers.

Compared to the other squadmates, she also lacks a way to be as useful as them with this powerset. EDI does tech damage better (and potentially faster). EDI can also survive longer if you spec into Defense Matrix while Miranda has no way to boost her defences via a similar power unlike EDI. Tali is much better at damage output due to Sabotage and having her powers go out faster then Miranda's. Liara and Kaidan are better with Warp and Reave (Liara has a fast recharge speed and Kaidan is tankier). For Citadel squadmates - Jack has way faster recharge times due to her passive (fast cooldowns)  and has Pull/Warp which means you can use her powers more frequently. Meanwhile Samara has two of the best biotic powers in the game (Pull/Throw) due to their insane cooldown times, and she also has Warp/Reave meaning she functions as a way better Biotic than Miranda (and you have so many Tech experts in the game already).

You could argue she might have been a somewhat of a replacement for Kaidan, except Kaidan is one of the tankiest squadmates in the game and can blast Cryo Blast extremely fast (not to mention he has a way better weapon set than Miranda). All in all - Miranda is probably one of the worst squadmates in the Citadel DLC due to her power distribution (which is a shame since she's my favourite squadmate) and the fact she can't frequently use them as other squadmates/she can't survive like other squadmates.

Miranda - The Battlemage (Sentinel):

For Miranda, I wanted to designate her class as a Warlock type class. Someone on the Fextralife Forums suggested this type of Warlock build for Mass Effect 3. So I adapted it for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, but made some decisions to try to keep it a Battlemage/Warlock type build, while still retaining usefulness on both games.

Power 1 (Warp): Warp allows her to do massive damage to armor and barriers. She also had warp in ME2 so it is also very lore-friendly for her to have. Warp is one of the biotic powers that can detonate every type of power combo in the game. Since you want squadmates that focus on being able to prime/detonate power combos - it made sense to keep this power. Warp does damage, primes, detonates, and has a fast recharge time.

Power 2 (Overload): An extremely useful power on Insanity for taking out shields/barriers, it makes no sense to get rid of this power. This alongside Warp allows her to take out every protection in the game. It also is a power she also keeps in ME2. It can count as an electric type ability.

Power 3 (Incinerate): A great ability for her to have and it acts as a fire type magic ability.

Power 4 (Cryo Blast): A power that lets her cast an ice magic type ability.

Power 5 (Biotic Orbs): A power that gives Miranda another unique ability alongside Tech Armor that can be used both for offence or defence. It also triggers all type of power combos, so it's a super useful power to have. Not only that but if the orbs are cast and she doesn't use them, it reduces the speed/cooldown of her other powers. Which means she can cast them faster.

Power 4 (Dark Sphere): A dark type power that does insane damage over time, and allows her to have access to "dark" magic.

Power 6 (Tech Armor): A power that allows her to boost her defences while being on par/an actual replacement for Kaidan if he is dead. This gives her some more defensive survivability on Insanity.

Jacob (Sentinel):

Vanilla Jacob - How he plays:

Jacob's problem is he's just like how he was in the vanilla Mass Effect 2 game, except with the addition of Lift Grenades to his powerset. The problem with Jacob is he doesn't have a good detonator power other than Lift Grenades, and you could argue that's not even really a power (it's a
grenade). He basically functions as a Biotic Jimmy/Grunt, being more useful on a Biotic team - but not that useful since all he has to really build off power combo's with is Pull.

Functionally, with the amount of Solder type characters in the vanilla game, he still comes off as a bit useless - albeit his saving grace is having Incendiary Ammo - but why would I bring him when I can bring Grunt who has better powers/can be way tankier?

Jacob - The Technomancer (Sentinel):

Jacob is going to become a blend of magic usage and a blend of technology in what I dub a Technomancer build.

Power 1 (Warp): An extremely useful power that could be seen as a magic type ability.

Power 2 (Pull): An extremely good CC power and it makes no sense to get rid of it.

Power 3 (Energy Drain): By giving him Energy Drain, he now has a way to strip barriers/shields reliably which was something he really couldn't do in the vanilla Mass Effect 3. It could also be seen as a life draining type magic ability.

Power 4 (Proximity Mine): A power that really adds to the idea of him being a Technomancer and it allows powers to do more damage to enemies.

Power 5 (Protector Drone): Jacob's unique power that provides some defensive capaibilities. It really isn't that good on Insanity but he needed another unique power and it does fit the Tecnomancer role.

Power 6 (Barrier): A defensive ability that allows Jacob to survive longer.

Jack (Vanguard):

Vanilla Jack - How she plays:

Jack became much better in Mass Effect 3 compared to Mass Effect 2. She has some of the best powers in the game and looks like a mixture of vanilla Javik and Liara. Warp is one of the best powers in the game, Shockwave is okay - it's a lot less useful in Mass Effect 3 as close range powers
are annoying to manage on squadmates. Pull allows her to have an insanely fast cooldown CC power and quick priming. Her passives (like Liara) allow her to have an insane recharge speed.

Warp Ammo isn't a bad power, but it also doesn't lend much to her options as Jack should be trying to utilize her powers over shooting anyways. Overall, she's basically a replacement for Liara.

Jack - The Criminal (Vanguard):

I wanted to design Jack as a criminal type class, with a lot of disruptive powers in her kit.

Power 1 (Warp): The best biotic power in the game, it makes sense to keep it on her.

Power 2 (Pull): Another amazing biotic power that gives her options.

Power 3 (Concussive Shot): One of the best powers in the game, and one that really gives her a brutish type of power kit.

Power 4 (Lift Grenades): A grenade power that adds some versatility to her kit.

Power 5 (Shockwave): Probably the worst power in her kit, but it's worth keeping for the fact alone that it's unique to her and does provide the option to take it if a player wants to try a different build.

Power 6 (Blade Armor): A power that gives her some defensive durability, and allows her to punish people who try to melee her (as a criminal would be good in close quarters combat)

Power 7 (Disruptor Ammo): By replacing Warp Ammo with Disruptor Ammo, Jack now has a way to damage shields/barriers which was her one major weakness on Insanity.

Grunt (Soldier):

Vanilla Grunt- How he plays:

Grunt is basically a better version of vanilla James. He has a higher defensive stat compared to James (base defense) since all the squadmates have higher defensive stats once fully leveled with their passives. He has Concussive Shot over Carnage, which is a way better power. Other than that he has Incendiary Ammo which is the best ammo power in the game.

He's not a bad squadmate, but like James he's not very useful in the long run. So how can we fix him? The only benefits over James is like I mentioned = higher base health/shields and Concussive Shot over Carnage. This makes him better than Vanilla James.

Grunt - The Grenadier / Ammo Bearer(Soldier):

I wanted to make Grunt a squadmate who had a ton of ammunition powers or grenades powers as someone who brought a lot of tools to the game.

Power 1 (Concussive Shot): One of the best powers in the game, so no point in getting rid of it. See the above discussions why it is so good.

Power 2 (Frag Grenade): Keeping this power is good even though it's the weakess grenade power because 1. I needed to keep him having a unique power. 2. It does increase his grenade pool 3. It provides options for him to use.

Power 3 (Inferno Grenade): A grenade power that lets Grunt have a bit more fire power.

Power 4 (Multi-Frag Grenade): A unique power for him that lets him increase his grenade pool and have a better detonator power than Frag Grenades.

Power 5 (Fortification): A defensive power that allows him to survive longer, no reason to get rid of it.

Power 6 (Incendiary Ammo): An extremely good power, the best power in the game. It would make no sense to get rid of it.

Power 7 (Disruptor Ammo): One of Grunt's biggest weakness is his inability to take out barriers/shields - which this power gives him a way to do so.

Samara (Adept):

Vanilla Samara - How she plays:

Samara was good in Mass Effect 2, and she's even better in Mass Effect 3. She has probably one of the best biotic skillsets in the game - Warp, Pull,
Throw, Reave. She probably has the best biotic skillset in the game for apure biotic character since Warp is so insanely good, Pull/Throw are some of the best Biotic powers in the game, and Reave allows her to fortify her defences.

However, her main weakness is she lacks a good way to take out shields/barriers.

Samara - The Pure Adept (Adept):

As there weren't a lot of Adept powers in the game, I wanted Samara to use Adept only powers and to be seen as a "pure" Adept out of all the other squadmates.

Power 1 (Warp): An insanely good power that can detonate various combos.

Power 2 (Pull): As stated a million times, Pull is a very good power.

Power 3 (Slam): A power that gives Samara more options to play around with.

Power 4 (Nova): A close quarters combat power that lets Samara have a way to defend herself in close quarters combat.

Power 5 (Reave): Reave is very good, it allows her to make her defenses better and acts as an alternative to Warp. (Plus too many squadmates had Warp, so I had to choose someone to lose it).

Power 6 (Throw): An insanely good power like Pull.

Power 7 (Warp Ammo): A nice option for Samara that provides her with an ammo power should you want to use it.

Kasumi (Infiltrator):

Vanilla Kasumi - How she plays:

Kasumi is probably the worst squadmate who has fallen from grace in Mass Effect 3, as she has lost Shadow Strike (the best power in Mass Effect 2) and doesn't have Flashbang Grenades (which is also an insanely good power in Mass Effect 2). Whereas Miranda got screwed over by having Warp/Reave/Incinerate (which all do the same thing, but she isn't as good as Liara/EDI for power damage output or fast casting, and she isn't as tanky or versatile as Kaidan - which this mod seeks to fix) - Kasumi just got shafted even worst.

Decoy is an absolute joke of a power, even worse than Carnage. There's almost no reason to ever invest in it and you're forced to. Armor Piercing Ammo is not as good as the Disruptor/Incendiary/Cryo or even Warp Ammo. She has Tactical Cloak which is basically special damage Cloak, which is insanely good for her but you need to micromange her since she won't use it automatically and then click Overload.

Her abilities are lackluster and there is almost no reason to take her over other squadmates especially if you don't want to constantly spam Tactical Cloak/then Overload, and repeat.

Kasumi - The Ninja (Infiltrator):

I wanted to design Kasumi as a ninja type character, and this meant giving her some ninja-like abilities. Ninjas also used fire weapons/magic in a lot of media, so I opted to give her those powers.

Power 1 (Ballistic Blades): A power that lets her have a shuriken or "ninja star" like power.

Power 2 (Overload): A great power in the game for a variety of power combos and it allows her to take down barrier/shields, it makes no sense to get rid of this power. It'd also make sense that a cybernetic futuristic ninja could bypass electric systems

Power 3 (Incinerate): A great power to give Kasumi that allows her to not only damage armor, and provide crowd control - but it lets her either prime/detonate fire explosions or detonate other types of explosions. It also makes her a great alternative to EDI if you don't like EDI.

Power 4 (Sticky Grenade): A support grenade that is great to pair with Tactical Cloak as it does not bring Kasumi out of her Cloak when she uses it. It also has the great benefit of being a source/detonator for various power types depending on how you level it.

Power 5 (Sabotage): A ninja would be able to bypass any type of protection or encryption to sneak past security measures.

Power 6 (Tactical Cloak): Need to micro-manage her to get the most out of her I think. Squadmates auto-attack, so it may be hard to really get the most out of her Tactical Cloak. Ideally, you would want to Cloak > Power > shoot to get the most out of it. It's very micro-managing to get a lot of use
out of it sadly - but you can now choose not to invest in it if you don't like to constantly activate Cloak/then a power. However, because of its  uniqueness, it made no sense to get rid of it.

Power 7 (Incendiary Ammo): One of the best ammo power in the game replaces Armor Piercing Ammo for her.

Zaeed (Soldier):

Vanilla Zaeed - How he plays:

Zaeed is basically Ashley. I could write a long list - but their powers are almost exactly the same except Carnage is replacing Marksman. Marksman in the original game was bugged + a lot of people didn't find it useful or don't spec into it (but in the LE it is fixed, so it's worth considering to make Ashley more of a heavy gunner/providing options for her to be more weapon focused). Carnage is extremely bad as a power - so all in all, Marksman is better (when it works) but in the original Mass Effect 3? They both had a bad powerset and basically were interchangable (Ashley's glitched Marksman made her useless and Zaeed's Carnage is a horrible power).

Zaeed - The Mercenary (Soldier):

By providing some more interesting option/making him a bit unique compared to other Soldier characters. With the limited Soldier abilities, there was not much to change or do. So I've designated his class as The Mercenary type class.

Power 1 (Concussive Shot): An extremely good power, it makes no sense to get rid of it.

Power 2 (Carnage): With the limited Soldier abilities and to not have him like everyone else, it made sense to keep Carnage. Even though it's an awful power, it can detonate power combos and can act as a source for Fire Explosions powers (but so can Concussive Shot so you'd be better off investing in that).

Power 3 (Inferno Grenade): Another incredible power that would be stupid to get rid of.

Power 4 (Marksman): A power that lets him fire faster and gives him a unique edge compared to other characters.

Power 5 (Fortification): A power that allows Zaeed to survive longer.

Power 6 (Incendiary Ammo): One of the best ammo powers in the game that gives you some versatility with his powers.

Power 7 (Disruptor Ammo): A power that allows him to take down barriers/shields. It makes no sense to get rid of it.