6. Cora Harper (Biotic Commando)
Before we get started, let’s be clear about one thing, none of the partners you’re able to bring with you this time around in Mass Effect: Andromeda suck. They’re actually all pretty good out on the field, and they offer interesting chatter to help make the exploration more bearable. Still, some are better than others when you take a look at how they support you on the field and their overall narrative. Of course, this is just our ranking based on our extensive time with the game and trying each one on for size. We’ll be taking a look at the characters themselves along with how they perform on this field for this ranking starting with our last place entry: Cora.
Cora is one of the first partners you get in the game as she’s part of the Pathfinder crew at the beginning of the story. In fact, she was one of the first members of the human Pathfinder unit period, as she was hand-selected by your father to be part of the initiative and looked up to him as a mentor. She’s an excellent strategist and her time as an Asari Commando left her quite the fighter out on the battlefield. However, her fighting style tends to put her in a lot of danger. She’s very big on risk/reward, jumping into the fray for powerful melee strikes that often leave her downed, even if you upgrade her defensive capabilities.
She does have an interesting kit, though, one that lets her increase shields for the whole team if you max out her Defensive Training, and even reduces her taken damage when she’s low on health (though it didn’t help too much). Her offensive abilities do leave a bit to be desired, focusing on melee attacks which aren’t the best when dealing with Remnants and the more powerful Kett iterations. I will give her kudos for her Cryo Ammo on her Shotgun which you can get when maxing out her Commando skill tree. Cryo seems to be the most effective option through most of the game, so having her lock enemies in place for you to shatter them is not to be trifled with. Still, she doesn’t do anything in particular that you can’t do even better with a stronger support system as well.
Her personal story is a bit tragic, covering a seemingly endless cycle of loss and regret, but that’s really all you get from her. Having her mad at you because the role you were given (without even wanting, by the way), grows old pretty quick. But hey, you can fall in love with her if you want, and that removes all the awkwardness from the dynamic.
