Mass Effect: How to Save (& Recruit) Tali

Tali’Zorah is one of Shepard’s most loyal companions throughout the Mass Effect trilogy, and, during their first meeting, she helps expose Saren as a traitor and earn Shepard their status as the first human Specter. While on her quarian pilgrimage before the events of the first Mass Effect, Tali uncovers audio evidence of Saren’s involvement in the attack on Eden Prime and wishes to trade the information to the Shadow Broker for protection from Saren’s minions. Shepard needs to find and rescue Tali from assassins after she is double-crossed by Fist, the owner of Chora’s Den who works for Saren. Like Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara, Tali is a mandatory squadmate, so Shepard will need to help her to continue the plot.

To find and rescue Tali, Shepard will first need to recruit Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex, or both for a lead about reaching Fist. After dealing with Fist, they will learn he has double-crossed Tali and will have a limited amount of time to reach her before the assassins attack. While the time limit makes this mission seem stressful and urgent, it is not possible to fail with any real repercussions the way players might fail missions in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. Here’s how to rescue and recruit Tali’Zorah nar Rayya in Mass Effect.

How to Find and Rescue Tali in Mass Effect

To find and rescue Tali in Mass Effect, following the hearing, Shepard will need to find and recruit Urdnot Wrex and Garrus Vakarian. Assuming the player wants to recruit both, it does not matter which they start with, as each can guide Shepard to the other.

Garrus and Wrex also know how to reach Fist, and Shepard will need to follow that lead and fight through Chora’s Den to go after him. Shepard and their squad will fight Thugs, Bartenders, and the Krogan Bouncer inside Chora’s Den. If Wrex is in Shepard’s party when going after Fist, he will always complete his bounty for the Shadow Broker and kill Fist. If not, Shepard can choose to either kill or spare him. Either way, Shepard learns about Fist’s assassins going after Tali.

As soon as Fist is dealt with, it triggers a 4-minute countdown. Shepard and their squad will need to fight their way back out of Chora’s Den, as more thugs and enemies arrive. Especially on lower difficulty settings, it is possible to cheese this fight and run straight through the club to the exit while avoiding enemy fire, but this is not guaranteed to work every time.

The easiest route to Tali from Chora’s Den is to go down the ramp and exit the alcove, then turn right and go up the stairs and through the door. In the alley behind the Markets, go up the stairs again and keep going straight to trigger the cutscene. Should Shepard fail to reach Tali in time, either because they got lost on the Citadel or struggled during the fight inside Chora’s Den, they will receive a critical mission failure and will be forced to start over. It may be a good idea to save immediately after dealing with Fist to ensure starting over would not force the player to repeat the first fight in Chora’s Den.

Shepard will need to help Tali fight off the assassins. As a thanks for helping her, she presents her evidence against Saren to Udina and Anderson, then to the Council. After the meeting with Udina, she will ask to join Shepard’s team. Shepard can try to say no, but they will always be overruled by Udina if they don’t agree themselves.

In Mass Effect, as in the sequels, Tali can be found in the Normandy’s Engine Room. If Shepard makes a point to get to know her, they will unlock her Loyalty Mission to find and share a cache of data chronicling geth evolution that she would like to bring back as a pilgrimage gift to the Migrant Fleet.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition launches May 14, 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with forward compatibility for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

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