Is it best to always interrupt people?

Frequently when having conversations with various colorful (literally) characters the option appears to interrupt them with either a Paragon or Renegade action. Obviously, I'm a commander with a lot on his plate and don't always want to wait for the other guy to stop yapping. On the other hand, I do want what's best for Earth and jazz, so I want to get the most out of these interactions. It's quite the conundrum, really.

Thus the question: Is it always or almost always better to use the interrupt option as opposed to letting the other person finish talking? In other words, are the rewards for interrupting always better than those of waiting it out?


Most of the time I would say yes, but there are exceptions.

Sometimes there's a renegade interrupt, followed by a paragon interrupt, but doing the renegade interrupt stops you from doing the paragon one and vice-versa.

The one I remember most clearly is the interview with Khalisah al-Jilani in which, you can renegade interrupt to punch her, and then again to headbutt her. If you skip over the first renegade interrupt, then you can later on paragon interrupt her, which results in you calming her down, and you will receive some war assets for it.

Again, there are only a few like that, most fall in the "hit it if it's there" category, like in your sparring session against james, you will be presented with 2 opportunities for both interrupts, regardless of whether you miss the first one, or if you succeed with the interruption.

My advice is to do what seems right. If you're getting really annoyed at someone, and a renegade interrupt comes up, do it. If you feel bad for someone and a paragon interrupt comes up, do it. Conversely, if you're getting really angry at someone for something they said, and a paragon interrupt comes up, don't hit it, and Shepard will probably go on to get angry at that person too.


Paragon or Renegade interrupts almost always change the result of the interaction in a significant way - perhaps even altering the story significantly. There are also paragon or renegade bonuses for using interrupts.

It is generally best to use these interrupts as much as you can - either for the alignment you are aiming for or just "always" for a neutral character.