Husk

Husks are synthetic "zombies" created by the geth. When a human is captured they are placed on impaling devices, huge spikes that Alliance marines have nicknamed "dragon's teeth". Over time the body's organs, skin and water content are converted into cybernetic materials; blood is changed to a sickly green fluid, and the body generates an electrical charge.

When the spikes are approached – say, if marines try to recover their dead comrades – the Husks are released and attack. The husks will charge at their enemies and, once close enough, give off a powerful electrical blast which disables shields and causes massive damage.

Mass Effect
Husks are encountered throughout the game, first on Eden Prime and then anywhere humans have been fighting the geth. No one knows why the geth do this to their captives: it seems like a lot of effort for a small result, though it is effective psychological warfare to make soldiers fight their own dead. The geth used a ship full of Husks, the MSV Cornucopia, partly as a trap and partly as a warning to other organic races not to enter their space.

Cerberus were studying Husks as part of their experimental programme into creating a super soldier. They deliberately exposed a colonial pioneer team on Chasca to dragon's teeth, and had more Husks as test subjects on Binthu. There were also Husks in Saren Arterius' research facility on Virmire, likely part of his study of indoctrination.

When Sovereign "possesses" Saren's body, the resulting creature strongly resembles a Husk, and the Reaper indoctrination effect is similar to the "zombie" nature of Husks, which suggests that the dragon's teeth are Reaper technology. A cache of the spikes was found buried on Trebin and had to be excavated by the local research team, but there is no evidence of who put them there or why.

Tactics
While not as resistant to damage as Thorian Creepers, Husks are still quite resilient. If they get close enough on foot, their electrical blast carries over a large area. This damages the entire squad and overloads their shields, and if there is a large group of Husks this can be lethal. Husks are vulnerable to Warp and Neural Shock (although they appear robotic, they count as organic enemies as they are corpses, and AI Hacking does not work), and tech abilities like Damping or Sabotage can also slow them down. Otherwise, if they haven't used their electrical attack, it's safer to keep them at a distance and pick them off, using Throw if they get too close.

Like Thorian Creepers, the unarmored bodies of Husks are vulnerable to mêlée strikes. The Husk tends to pause for a brief period after using its electrical attack, allowing ample time to perform a melee attack. This tends to inflict light to moderate damage and is virtually guaranteed to knock the Husk down.

Mass Effect 2
Husks are now known to be of Reaper origin when it is clearly stated several times that the geth gained their dragon's teeth from the Reapers.

The Collectors appear to make use of Husks which are noted to be more advanced than those previously fought by Commander Shepard. It is also noted that no dragon's teeth are ever seen where the Collectors make use of Husks. Shepard and his squad speculate this indicates the Husks were transported by the Collectors from elsewhere, although this is never confirmed. The Collectors also make use of several Husk variations: the Abomination, the Scion, and the Praetorian. These advanced Husks are encountered along with Abominations and Scions aboard a derelict Reaper when a science team falls victim to the Reaper's indoctrination and finds a supply of dragon's teeth onboard, indicating that advanced Husks and Husk variants were used by the Reapers at least 37 million years ago. Why the Husks used by the geth were less advanced and why no Husk variants were seen serving the geth is unknown, though most likely Sovereign was uncomfortable with giving the geth too much of its technology. These advanced Husks lack the ability to produce electrical blasts however.

An excavation team in the Minos Wasteland on the planet Aequitas finds an alien artifact that creates advanced Husks. This device does not look like dragon's teeth at all but instead is an orb filled with an unknown energy source that turned the excavation team into Husks with what appears to be a form of indoctrination according to logs kept by the team, before it started creating more Husks.

Tactics
Husks now attack by charging at Shepard or his team and attempting to maul them. Once they start rushing, they can be sidestepped easily causing them to helplessly dash past you. You can also stop them by shooting their legs out from under them, ideally using a submachine gun or an assault rifle. Armor Piercing Ammo is particularly effective. Husks are instantly killed by Powers that knock them off their feet, hence Powers like Concussive Shot or Shockwave are very useful against groups of husks as is Inferno Grenade. Charge, Throw and Pull can kill a husk in a single hit, and if upgraded into the area effect form can be effective on tight groups. Freezing a Husk completely will cause husks to burst at any difficulty level. The Collector particle beam is also very effective against Husks, quickly destroying their armor and tearing their bodies apart.

On Hardcore and Insanity difficulty, Husks have armor that protects them from physics-based biotic attacks, complicating standard crowd control tactics. However, this armor is relatively weak, and even a Rank 1 Incinerate will destroy it, rendering the husk vulnerable to followup attacks.

Other Husk forms
Mass Effect 2 also introduces various advanced Husk-like forms:


 * Abominations - An exploding Husk.


 * Scions - Three Husks fused together.


 * Praetorians - Thirty Husks fused together.

Husks Хаски