'Mass Effect: Andromeda' Strike Team Equipment: Here's why you probably shouldn't bother

Impact

Confused about the whole strike team thing in Mass Effect: Andromeda? The menus themselves are kind of a mess, but it's not that bad once you actually get your mind wrapped around it. If you get in the rhythm of deploying your strike teams regularly, you'll be able to rack up mission funds without doing much work.

Though, in your time with your strike teams, maybe you've come across that screen that lets you equip each squad with special traits. Let's talk about the various types of equipment you can give to your strike teams — and why you might be better off skipping that altogether.

Mass Effect: Andromeda strike team equipment

Within the strike team menu — which you can access aboard the Tempest or near Kandros on the Nexus — you'll be able to look at the teams you've recruited. When you select a team, you can choose to equip them with certain traits using your mission funds. (Read more about mission funds here if you need it.)

Mic

These traits all correspond to the various types of modifiers you'll see in each strike team mission. For example, under mission traits, one strike team mission might have the following modifiers:

• High-risk, high-reward

Each of these mission traits affects the overall likelihood that your strike team will successfully complete a mission. Therefore, if you're considering sending a strike team on the above mission, you might consider purchasing one of the modifiers that gives you an advantage in one of those categories.

However, these modifiers are pretty pricey — for example, one of the lowest level modifiers costs a whopping 75 mission funds — so you might want to skip these modifiers altogether unless you're really on top of deploying your strike teams as soon as they're available.

Here's what you should probably spend those mission funds on instead.

Here's why you probably shouldn't bother with strike team equipment at all

Instead of sinking your mission funds into traits for your strike teams, consider spending those funds in the multiplayer mode instead. If you go to the item store, you'll see that you can purchase multiplayer items with mission funds. Some of the rarer items cost more, but basics — like first aid packs and cobra RPGs — only cost five mission funds each.

Of course, how you spend your funds are up to you, but you'll probably find that spending time in the multiplayer mode is more rewarding than trying to max out the stats of a strike team that you'll never see.

More Mass Effect: Andromeda news and updates

For more on everyone's favorite space opera, check out the rest of what Mic has to offer. Here's an essay on the troubling history of colonialism in Mass Effect, a story about the horrifying harassment campaign carried out against a former BioWare employee, a guide to removing Ryder's helmet, a guide on romancing Keri, a guide to romancing Reyes and a quick explainer on the different types of health in Andromeda.