Overload

Overload is a tech power available to Engineers, Sentinels, Garrus, Miranda, Kasumi, EDI, Kaidan Alenko, Wilson, and Dr. Amanda Kenson. It shuts down an enemy's shields, rendering them vulnerable to attack. Overload is typically used to take down shields or synthetics, doing twice as much damage to shields as it does to synthetics, but will also cause any unshielded enemies using flamethrowers to explode. Starting at rank 3, Overload will cause the weapons of most unprotected enemies to overheat, making them unable to fire for a brief period. It can also be used on explosive containers to make them detonate more violently for added damage.

This power travels in a straight line from the user to the target, hitting instantly.

Power Ranks

 * Rank 1
 * Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Others)
 * Impact Radius: 1.20 meters
 * Shield and Synthetic Damage: 120.00 points


 * Rank 2
 * Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Others)
 * Impact Radius: 1.20 meters
 * Shield and Synthetic Damage: 140.00 points
 * Synthetic Stun Length: 3.00 seconds


 * Rank 3
 * Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Others)
 * Impact Radius: 1.20 meters
 * Shield and Synthetic Damage: 160.00 points
 * Synthetic Stun Length: 3.00 seconds
 * Weapon Overheat Length: 6.00 seconds

Rank 4

Choose to evolve the power into one of the following,

Heavy Overload

 * Your pulse now damages synthetic enemies so brutally that they explode on "death".
 * Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Others)
 * Impact Radius: 1.20 meters
 * Shield and Synthetic Damage: 200.00 points
 * Synthetic Stun Length: 3.00 seconds
 * Weapon Overheat Length: 6.00 seconds

Area Overload

 * You have increased your pulse's strength to cover a wide area, making it easy to hit multiple targets.
 * Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Others)
 * Impact Radius: 3.00 meters
 * Shield and Synthetic Damage: 160.00 points
 * Synthetic Stun Length: 3.00 seconds
 * Weapon Overheat Length: 6.00 seconds

Player Notes

 * Though the game says this ability will be ineffective against organic enemies, at rank 3 or higher it can still be used on (almost) any enemy to cause their weapon to overheat, giving the player a breather.
 * Overload deals the damage amount listed above to armor, barriers and synthetic health. Double damage is dealt to shields. No organic health damage is dealt.

Availability

 * Engineer
 * Sentinel
 * Dr. Amanda Kenson
 * Garrus Vakarian
 * Kasumi Goto
 * Miranda Lawson
 * Wilson

Mass Effect 3
Overload does half damage to organic health and armor, normal damage to synthetic health and armor, and 3x damage to all barriers/shields.

Rank 1: Overload
Overload electronics with this power surge, stunning your enemy. Effective against shields, barriers, and synthetics. Not as effective against organics.
 * Recharge Speed: 8 sec
 * Damage: 220

Rank 2: Recharge Speed
Increases recharge speed by 25%.
 * Recharge Speed: 6.40 sec

Rank 3: Damage
Increase damage by 20%.
 * Damage: 264

Rank 4: Chain Overload/Damage
Chain Overload

Hit 1 additional target within 8 meters with 60% less damage.
 * Chain-hit Damage: 105.60

Damage

Increase damage by 30%.
 * Damage: 330

Rank 5: Neural Shock/Recharge Speed
Neural Shock

Incapacitate weaker organic enemies for a short duration. Undocumented: This will also double all damage done to organic enemies, both effectively negating the damage penalty and doing massive extra damage (total of 6x multiplier) to organics' shield/barriers.

Recharge Speed

Increase recharge speed by 25%.
 * Recharge Speed: 5.33 sec

Rank 6: Chain Overload/Shield Damage
Chain Overload

Increase damage by 15%. Hit 1 additional target within 8 meters with 60% less damage.
 * Damage: 297 (Chain Overload), 363 (Damage)
 * Chain-hit Damage: 118.80 (Chain Overload), 145.20 (Damage)

Shield Damage

Increase damage to barriers and shields by an additional 100%. ''Note: this is implemented differently depending on whether your target is a synthetic or organic. For synthetics, this increases the damage multiplier from 3x to 6x. For organics, this increases the damage multiplier from 3x to 5x (in effect only increasing the bonus damage by 100%). When combined with the Neural Shock evolution, against organics this evolution increases the damage multiplier from 3x to 8x.''

Mechanics

 * Overload is one of the few powers in Mass Effect 3 that can both prime and detonate Power Combos (though you must use a different power from Overload to complete the combo).
 * If both chain evolutions are chosen, the second chain will jump back to the original target if there is no other enemy within 8 meters.
 * Moreover, if both chain evolutions are chosen, the third hit will only do 16% of the original hit damage. In addition, it may "forget" to do normal damage to synthetics (instead doing half damage) or do extra damage to shields/barriers (instead doing normal damage).
 * Even if Overload has a damage penalty against organics, it will still stun weaker foes.
 * The incapacitation effect from Neural Shock will completely knock over your main target; this disable lasts significantly longer than the normal stun. If any of the various Chain Overload evolutions are chosen, the additional affected enemies will NOT be incapacitated (though they will still be stunned); Neural Shock incapacitation only applies to the main target.
 * Combining the rank 6 Shield Damage evolution with the rank 5 Neural Shock evolution increases Overload's damage multiplier against organics' shield or barriers from 3x to 8x, not to 5x or 10x as might be suspected from using simple math. This is probably because Neural Shock is implemented as an extra "hit" from Overload that causes an incapacitation, so you end up with one Overload hit with the Shield Damage evolution (for 5x damage) and then an extra Neural Shock-powered Overload hit that has no Shield Damage evolution (for 3x damage).
 * A Neural Shock incapacitation will cause a Guardian to drop his shield permanently. Characters near ledges may also fall to their deaths.

Strategies

 * Overload is more effective against biotic barriers than it was in Mass Effect 2, and also now affects non-synthetic enemies health, though with a penalty. This allows characters with the power to be effective against a wider range of enemies.
 * However, it has also lost most of the other effects it had in the previous game, such as weapon overheating, and no longer has an impact area, hitting just one target.
 * Because the Neural Shock evolution effectively negates the major weakness of Overload (reduced effectiveness against organics) in addition to providing a powerful incapacitating effect, it is almost always a better choice than the Recharge Speed evolution.
 * Overload is better at stripping barriers than Warp alone is, especially with the Rank 6 Shield Damage evolution which doubles its damage against shields and barriers. This makes the Turian Sentinel (who has both Warp and Overload) and the Human Engineer (who has Overload and Incinerate) very good multiplayer classes for stripping away defenses and dealing with hardened targets.
 * Overload is highly effective in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer as a crowd control power when fully upgraded along the Chain Overload/Neural Shock path. Place yourself at the entrance to a room enemies are charging through and spam it on the first one to appear.
 * Even though taking both chain evolutions will result in a measly third hit (that only does 16% normal damage), enemies will still be stunned if possible, which makes the third hit useful from a crowd-control perspective.
 * Geth Engineers can use power evolutions in Hunter Mode to increase recharge speed and damage of Overload. Used correctly, Overload can become both fast and extremely powerful.

Availability

 * Single-Player: Engineer, Sentinel, EDI, Garrus Vakarian, Kaidan Alenko, Nyreen Kandros, Kasumi Goto, Miranda Lawson
 * Multiplayer: Geth Engineer, Human Engineer, Turian Ghost Infiltrator, Turian Sentinel