Campaign
Arbiter
Win a political stand-off.
The following achievements/trophies will unlock with natural progression through the game. Just progress at your own pace and these will come with time.
Pathfinder
Explore a lost city.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
World Shaker
Destroy an Atlas dropped from orbit.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Mobilizer
Bring a veteran officer aboard.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Shopaholic
Visit a store in the single-player campaign.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Bringer of War
Chase down an assassin.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Driven
Return to active duty.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Party Crasher
Sabotage a dreadnought.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Hard Target
Call down an orbital strike.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Last Witness
Extract ancient technology.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Well Connected
Send a warning across the galaxy.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Executioner
Defeat an old adversary.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Patriot
Make the final assault.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Legend
Mission accomplished.
See “Arbiter” for further information.
Master and Commander
Deliver most of the Galaxy at War assets to the final conflict.
This can be quite time-consuming but you’re going to need to spend your time hunting for assets by scanning planets, completing side missions and running around after various objectives. One thing that you need to take into account is that your galactic readiness from playing multiplayer plays a rather big part in your assets. You will want to obtain at least 4,000 assets in general, anything below this won’t cause this to unlock. I then recommend that you increase your theater of war and galactic readiness to 100% on all fronts of the war map. Doing so will give you extra assets and increase their overall effectiveness.
You should aim to gather as many assets as possible, so complete all side missions, N7 missions, scan as many planets as possible and complete as many side and misc objectives as you can. This can drag on, but if you reach the Illusive Man’s Base and you don’t unlock this during the cut-scene just before you will need to revert to a previous save and continue to gather assets.
Long Service Medal
Complete Mass Effect 3 twice, or once with a Mass Effect 2 import.
For this much like the previous games you either have to complete the game twice, or import a save from Mass Effect 2 to use as your character for Mass Effect 3.
Insanity
Finish the game on Insanity without changing difficulty after leaving Earth.
Completing the game on insanity may prove a challenge for some, but I recommend that you do this on a second playthrough where you can use level 10 (x) weapons to your advantage. You will also be able to start out with all your resources and weapons from the start of the game. If you have already completed the game you will also know what to expect from each mission. Most missions are fairly straight-forward and you can keep your distance from enemies. But there are a few close enclosed areas which will prove to be a challenge.
A few things that you should take into consideration while playing on Insanity:
- Use cover, I can’t stress this enough.
- Map abilities for your squad and yourself. This includes medi-gel and biotic/tech powers.
- Concentrate on the bigger more powerful enemies over the smaller ones.
- Use your squad as a diversion if you’re taking too much damage.
Unwavering
Finish all multiplayer maps on Gold or all single-player missions on Insanity.
If you feel up to the challenge you can either replay the whole game on Insanity and complete all 27 missions. This includes side missions and N7 missions. You must complete all available missions through the campaign. Though Citadal missions don’t count towards this. This is probably the easier option as playing the multiplayer missions on gold can be extremely challenging for low level players. You will also need to make sure you have a strong team. I don’t recommend walking into open gold matches to attempt though as most players are very under leveled and don’t last long against higher level enemies.
The following missions are broken up into the order you find them. There are several listed within the priority missions, but they’re just located on the planet that the priority missions take place on. Make sure that you complete all side missions before completing any main story missions. The last side mission you need to complete will take place just after Thessia. Once you reach the Cerberus Headquarters there is no return and you will miss out of any missions you may have outstanding.
I can’t stress enough about completing side missions as soon as they’re active. Grissom Academy is one side mission that you will want to complete as soon as it becomes active as you have a very short window to complete it in. Once you complete N7, Side Missions and Priority missions you will unlock this once you reach the end of the game.
Priority Missions
- Earth
- Mars
- Menae
- Sur’Kesh
- Tuchanka
- Crashed Turian Ship
- Bomb
- Citadel (Cerberus)
- Geth Dreadnought
- Rannoch
- Rescue Admiral Koris
- Geth Fighter Squadrons
- Thessia
- Sanctuary
- Cerberus Headquarters
- Earth Return
- Citadel Finale
Side Missions
The following side missions need to be completed as soon as they’re active. You can miss out on completing all of them if you either don’t complete them before you finish the related story missions
- Grissom Academy: Emergency Evacuation
- Attican Traverse: The Rachni
- Kallini: Ardat-Yakshi Monastery
- Arrae: Ex-Cerberus Scientists
N7 Missions
- Cerberus Lab
- Cerberus Attack
- Cerberus Abductions
- Cerberus Fighter Base
- Fuel Reactors
- Communication Hub
The alternative to completing the game on Insanity is to play through each of the 6 multiplayer maps on Gold. Playing these maps will require a fairly strong team of level 20 characters.
Side Missions/N7 Missions
With every side mission you complete you earn the reward of war assets which will assist you later in the game. They also add towards “Master and Commander” which requires you to have a high readiness and most of the assets in the game. Completing these missions will also allow you to get closer to your squad and assist you when you try to earn the “Paramour” achievement/trophy.
Explorer
Complete three multiplayer matches or five N7 missions.
See “Tour of Duty”.
Tourist
Complete one multiplayer match or two N7 missions.
See “Tour of Duty”.
Tour of Duty
Finish all multiplayer maps or all N7 missions in single-player.
In total there are 6 multiplayer maps, and 6 corresponding N7 missions in the campaign. The N7 missions are basically just the multiplayer maps but set up as campaign missions. This is fairly easy to obtain and you will most likely earn this either way as you can obtain it either online or offline.
The following N7 missions can easily be ignored, so make sure you complete each on when they appear. They will keep appearing on your galaxy map and Specialist Traynor will also tell you when a new mission appears. These mission will pop up between the various priority story missions, so complete them before you decide to complete the next main mission on your list.
Single Player Missions:
- N7: Cerberus Labs
- N7: Cerberus Attack
- N7: Cerberus Abductions
- N7: Cerberus Fighter Base
- N7: Fuel Reactors
- N7: Communication Hub
If you’re playing online to complete these maps, you must extract and complete each map fully without running into a host migration. The map layouts are the same to the single player, and all the ammo crates and extraction points tend to be the same. You will run into a few new objectives such as disarm various items, or hack a terminal. Just make sure you make it all the way to the extraction. If you’re having difficulty with this, play a bronze and try fighting the Geth. They tend to be a lot easier than the other factions as they’re quite primitive in comparison.
Multiplayer Maps:
- Firebase White
- Firebase Ghost
- Firebase Giant
- Firebase Glacier
- Firebase Reactor
- Firebase Dagger
Liberator
Stop a Cerberus kidnapping.
Location: Petra Nebula
Active: After Priotity Palavin
After the first few priority missions are complete Speicalist Traynor will alert you of a distress call from Grissom Academy and point out that she would like you to help them. This mission is much like all the other Cerberus missions, but you will rescue Jack and her class of biotics from being kidnapped.
Note: Complete this mission before you proceed with any of the priority missions as this is only active for a short period of time.
Tunnel Rat
Survive the swarm.
Location: Ninmah Cluster
Active: After Priority: Sur’Kesh.
Once you complete the Krigran rescue from Sur’Kesh you will be notified of Krogran scouts that have gone missing. From here you can investigate and see what happened to the team while they were exploring rumors of rachni activity on the planet.
Note: Complete this mission before you proceed with any of the priority missions as this is only active for a short period of time.
Problem Solver
Evacuate a scientific facility.
Location: Nimbus Cluster
Active: During Priority Veil
After the Citadel Attack Specialist Traynor will notify you of another side missions which involves Ex-Cerberus scientists. This mission is one of the more important side missions as on completion you will earn 75 assets towards your overall progress which is a small but very useful boost.
Note: Complete this mission before you proceed with any of the priority missions as this is only active for a short period of time.
Fact Finder
Discover an enemy’s monstrous origin.
Location: Nimbus Cluster
Active: After attack on Citidel
Just after the attack on the Citadel Liara will notify you of an attack on her home world. From here you can then travel to the Nimbus Cluster and complete the Ardat-Yakshi Monastery side mission.
Note: Complete this mission before you proceed with any of the priority missions as this is only active for a short period of time.
Saboteur
Disable a group of fighter squadrons.
Location: Perseus Veil
Active: After Geth Dreadnought
After you complete the Dreadnought mission you can find this mission on the planet Rannoch. You will find a listing for a side mission on the planets surface as Geth Comm Hub. You won’t have to do a great deal with this mission as it’s more of a puzzle level than a fighting level. But once the servers are shut down this will allow you to have the Geth fight along side you.
Note: Complete this mission before you proceed with any of the priority missions as this is only active for a short period of time.
Abilities/Kills
Mail Slot
Kill 10 guardians with headshots from the front while their shields are raised.
Almost every mission you take part in will have a Cerberus Guardian somewhere. These enemies are rather easy to spot as they will be walking around with large shields and move rather slowly. You will need to kill 10 of these enemies through the slot in their shields. If you’re having difficulty earning this, and happen to have armor piercing rounds as a modification for your weapon, try removing it as this can hinder your progress. This mod will make it easier to kill these enemies, but you may not always kill them through the slot in their shield.
Note: This can be earned in multiplayer or single player.
Recruit
Kill 250 enemies.
See “Veteran”.
Soldier
Kill 1,000 enemies.
See “Veteran”.
Veteran
Kill 5,000 enemies.
Killing 5,000 enemies is simple enough. But you’re going to have to complete the campaign several times or take the fight online. An average campaign run will reward you with around 1,200 kills roughly. If you’re like me you will probably play through the campaign at least twice for difficulties or for various other reasons. So you should be looking to earn around 3,000+ kills from that alone. If you’re only planning on completing a single run of the campaign then you will need to spends your time in the multiplayer. An average multiplayer match will reward you with anywhere from 50 – 150 kills depending on how you play, and if you’re aggressive enough.
This may be the last achievement/trophy you earn, just keep playing and it will come naturally once you hit the requirements.
Note: All kills earned online or offline count towards this achievement.
Combined Arms
Perform any combination of 50 biotic combos or tech bursts.
To perform a combination of biotic or tech powers will require you to use your team to start the combo. One example would be to use singularity or stasis, then use your own powers such as pull, concussive shot as well as cryo and incendiary shots for soldier classes. You just need to combine your powers 50 times, you don’t need to kill the enemies you’re directing this at, you just need to hit them. If you’re playing with a class with powers this will most likely come quickly, where as soldier classes will have to remember to use their special ammo.
Note: This can be earned in multiplayer or single player.
Pyromaniac
Set 100 enemies on fire with powers.
There are two ways to earn this, one is to play as a Sentinel and use their fire based powers. This should come naturally if you’re using this class to its full potential. If you’re not playing as a Sentinel you can use incinerate ammo and kill enemies using any gun of choice. Once you kill 100 enemies with either method this will unlock.
Note: This can be earned in multiplayer or single player. You must use your own powers to obtain this. Your squads abilities do not count towards this achievement/trophy.
Overload Specialist
Overload the shields of 100 enemies.
For this you’re going to need to be playing as a Engineer or Sentinel as they are the only classes with these abilities. You will need to use overload on enemies with shields. Which will cause their shield to fail and give you a fighting chance of killing them with ease. Geth seem to be the easiest enemy to use to earn the requirements on as most have shields, but you will find a rather large chunk of enemies through the game have barriers or shields. Just overload 100 of them and this will unlock. If you don’t play as one of these classes, make sure you do so in the multiplayer as this will allow you to earn this easily.
Note: This can be earned in multiplayer or single player. You must use your own powers to obtain this. Your squads abilities do not count towards this achievement/trophy.
Sky High
Lift 100 enemies off the ground with powers.
There are several ways to earn this, but the key factor for this is causing your enemies to leave the ground. The easiest most common way would be to use pull or shockwave while playing as a Vanguard. You can also use lift grenades and Singularity. This should come over time You will need to do this to 100 enemies, but this should come with natural progression either online or offline.
Note: This can be earned in multiplayer or single player. You must use your own powers to obtain this. Your squads abilities do not count towards this achievement/trophy.
Bruiser
Kill 100 enemies with melee attacks.
To perform a melee kill you will need to be close enough to your enemies, from here you can hold down 
and you will kill them in a single blow on the lower difficulties. You will need to repeat this 100 times for this to unlock.
Note: This can be earned in multiplayer or single player. You must use your own powers to obtain this. Your squads abilities do not count towards this achievement/trophy.
Misc
Lost and Found
Dispatch 10 probes to retrieve people or resources in Reaper territory.
While exploring the galaxy you will find that you can scan the area using the 
. This will allow you to pulse the cluster or nebular you’re in and report back with resources which will then be marked on your map. You can then orbit the planet you have found and use the scanner to locate the asset hidden on the planet.
While using your scanner to locate the various resources you need to be careful as if you scan too much and the reaper meter fills you will need to flee that part of the galaxy and return later to re-locate and collect your resource.
You will need to repeat this process 10 times, but make sure you scan as many planets as you can as they add to your galactic resources.
Hijacker
Hijack an Atlas mech.
Throughout the game you will encounter several Atlas mechs. They’re rather easy to deal with, but hijacking one can be a little tricky. To hijack and mech you first need to break the window on the front of the mech, then kill the pilot. To break the window you’re going to need to use the Mantis sniper rifle, and keep your distance. You will also want to tell your squad to hide to avoid them damaging the mech. You should make sure that you have no mods attached to the rifle, especially the armor piercing one as you can destroy the mech before you break the window.
You’re now going to want to take several shots at the glass, after 3/4 times the glass should break exposing the pilot. Use the rifle to kill the pilot and you should then see the front of the Atlas open. Make your way to the mecha and press 
to pilot it yourself. You can now go on a killing spree and clean up the area you’re in.
If you manage to somehow miss this through the games story, don’t panic as you can use your after game save to access the Illusive Man’s Base. At the start of this mission you have at to deal with a group of enemies and an Atlas at the very start.
Gunsmith
Upgrade any weapon to level 10.
There are two ways to do this. You can visit the commons on the citadel and buy upgrades for your guns, or you can obtain upgrade through the online store while playing the multiplayer. The online store requires you to buy recruit, veteran or specter supply packs which will reward you with random items. A lot of the time you will be given upgraded weapons which go all the way to 10 (X). If you want to earn this during the campaign you will need to start a second playthrough as you can only obtain up to half the upgrade levels required for this.
Focused
Evolve any of your powers to rank 6.
This is also another achievement/trophy that you can earn online or offline, but you will most likely earn it at the start of the campaign if you have played the previous Mass Effect games in the series. Once you level up you are given the choice of which abilities to upgrade all the way to level 6. You may want to balance these outs early on, but if you take your previous Mass Effect 2 profile and you should start off with a level 30 character and the upgrade points to go with it.
Once you hit rank 6 with one of you abilities this will unlock.
Always Prepared
Obtain two non-customizable suits of armor.
Most armor in the game can be altered in appearance and combined to boost your stats. But there are several armors which can’t be altered in any way shape or form. For these armors you will need to visit the commons on the citadel and buy at least two of these armors:
- Terminus Armor
- Blood Dragon Armor
- Collector Armor
- Cerberus Armor
- Inferno Armor
Either armor set has their owns stats, some better than others, but it’s down to personal preference and what class you’re playing as. Some may find one of these armors more useful than the next, but you will need to buy at least two of them for this achievement/trophy.
Eye of the Hurricane
Kill a brute while it’s charging you.
Throughout the campaign you will run into Brutes fairly often, you will even run into them in the multiplayer if you’re fighting against reapers. For this you will need to lowers a Brutes health, then kill it while it’s charging at you. This may sound difficult, but it’s fairly easy as you always find artifacts in the environments to walk around. If there is something between you and the Brute it won’t charge you. So this gives you the perfect setup to reduce it’s health without it trying to kill you. Once you have it’s health down to one bar, back up into the open and allow it to charge at you. You will know if it’s going to charge as its stance will change. As it starts to charge kill it quickly using incendiary or armor piercing ammo types and this will unlock.
You may want to tell your squad to hide or position them away from the Brute as you don’t want them to kill it before you get a chance to.
Note: This can be earned in multiplayer or single player.
A Personal Touch
Modify a weapon.
Weapon mods are extremely useful, you will most likely find your first one, but you can also buy them. They range from armor piercing to barrel and weight mods. There are several different types, but once you enter the weapon customization screen, you can press 
to add a mod to one of your weapons. Once a mod is applied this will unlock.
Paramour
Establish or rekindle a romantic relationship.
Out of everything you have to do this, this can be quite tricky, but there is a set route that you need to complete to earn Paramour. They trick to earning this is to make sure the person you want to romance is to keep talking to them. You need to talk to your romance as much as possible and in between every completed mission. If they won’t talk to you on the Normandy, head to the Citadel and talk to them there.
If you’re re-kindling a romance with a character from Mass Effect 2, you first need to locate them and assist them. Some characters can only be found through side missions, so make sure you complete all the missions you have available.
The following characters can be romanced, in order of gender:
Male Only:
- Ashley
- Cortez
- Jack*
- Miranda*
- Tali*
Female Only:
- Garrus*
- Kaiden
- Speiclist Traynor
Either Gender:
- Dianna Allers**
- Liara
* To romance these characters you will need to have romanced them in Mass Effect 2. This will allow you to continue a romance in Mass Effect 3 and re-kindle your previous romance.
** It’s possible to romance Dianna Allers but this won’t unlock the achievement/trophy.
Untouchable
Escape a Reaper in the galaxy map.
You will encounter the reapers fairly often while searching for war assets are scanning will alert them of your presence. To scan for assets you need to press the . This will cause you to scan the area for items you can collect. Doing so will also cause the reapers to pick up on your scan signal. If you look to the bottom left hand corner of the screen you will see the alertness bar fill as they become more aware of your location. If you fill this bar a group of reapers will chase you down. Quickly make your way to a relay or to another part of the system you’re in. If you manage to escape without being caught and destroyed, this will unlock.
Giant Killer
Defeat a harvester.
Harvesters are rather hard to miss, they’re a new create to the world of Mass Effect, but once one lands you will soon know. Destroying a Harvester on the other hand can be a little tricky if you’re not prepared as they only hang around for a short period of time. Once you have one in your sights, use your squads abilities to deal damage. If they have incendiary rounds and explosives have them target the Harvester with those abilities. Usually when a Harvesters health is low it will fly away, but if you’re quick you can kill them in mid air as they fly off.
Incendiary and armor piercing rounds work rather well on these creates, so make sure to use these weapon abilities. You shouldn’t have too many issues killing a Harvester, but if you do miss out on killing one, don’t fret as there are plenty scattered throughout the game. They will usually appear when you’re having to deal with reapers.
Multiplayer
Enlisted
Start a character in multiplayer or customize a character in single-player.
You will earn this either from starting a new game, or starting a new multiplayer character. This is somewhat unavoidable as it’s part of the games general setup, but once you create a character, either online or offline, this will unlock.
Defender
Attain the highest level of readiness in each theater of war.
This may seem difficult, but it’s rather simple. The theater of war is the Milky Way broken up into five different sectors. In each sector you will have a reediness rating. You will need to reach 100% readiness in each sector for this to unlock. You can achieve a rather high rating from your choices in the previous games, but you won’t be able to attain 100% without playing the multiplayer.
It should take you roughly 20 or so games to reach the highest rating from 50% which is the lowest you will see on the map. If you select random maps, enemies and challenges you will earn bonus XP towards your character. You will also earn extra readiness if you play in set zones and complete fully to extraction.
This shouldn’t take too long, but it’s a good way to break up the campaign if you want to earn extra rewards and the satisfaction of playing with your friends.
Almost There
Reach level 15 in multiplayer or level 50 in single-player.
See “Peak Condition”.
Peak Condition
Reach level 20 in multiplayer or level 60 in single-player.
Leveling up will come naturally through playing the game online or offline. This will unlock when you reach the higher level through multiplayer which is 20, or 60 through playing the campaign. To reach level 60 during the campaign you will need to start a new game and import your previous ME3 playthrough save. This will allow you to continue with your previous levels and add to them.
With multiplayer you can only reach the highest level of 20 before you will either have to decide to import, select a new character or just continue playing through the multiplayer with the same character. As soon as you hit 20 this will unlock at the end of the match.
Battle Scarred
Promote a multiplayer character to the Galaxy at War or import an ME3 character.
This is fairly straight forward, but like many of the other achievements/trophies in this game you can complete it in either single player or multiplayer. If you’re struggling to get your assets for the galaxy at war you can promote a rank 20 multiplayer character to join the fight. To do this you need to view the character selection screen and press on them. Doing so will reset your character in the multiplayer though, so you may want to avoid this unless you really have to.
The alternative is to finish the game and import your previous save file. Doing so will start you off with a perk/power selection and your level, weapons and most of your upgrades from the previous playthrough. This is incredibly useful if you’re going to run through the game on insanity as you will not have to worry about low health and shields at the start of your playthrough. You will also have access to higher level weapons and mods.
Once you complete either of these actions, this will unlock as soon as you start your game.
