Reave

Reave is a biotic power in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. The power employs mass effect fields to biotically attack the target's nervous or synthetic systems and prevent healing. It restores health and gives a temporary health bonus when the power is used against unprotected organics. Reave also does double damage to armor and barriers.

Reave has a disabling effect when used to leech health from most sapient organics, who will double over momentarily before being forced to a standing position as the leech effect continues. This can be used to set up victims for the killing shot as they are helpless and largely immobile.

This power travels in a straight line from the user to the target, hitting instantly. It is also worth noting that this power can hit a Collector Guardian behind their shield, though this "bypassing" doesn't work with normal cover.

Power Ranks

 * Rank 1
 * Recharge Time: 6.00s (Shepard); 12.00s (Others)
 * Damage: 40.00 points per second for 3.00 seconds


 * Rank 2
 * Recharge Time: 6.00s (Shepard); 12.00s (Others)
 * Damage: 40.00 points per second for 3.50 seconds


 * Rank 3
 * Recharge Time: 6.00s (Shepard); 12.00s (Others)
 * Damage: 40.00 points per second for 4.00 seconds

Rank 4

Choose to evolve the power into one of the following,

Heavy Reave

 * The biotic focuses on snuffing out a single target's life, increasing the Reave's strength, duration, and damage.
 * Recharge Time: 6.00s (Shepard); 12.00s (Others)
 * Damage: 40.00 points per second for 5.50 seconds

Area Reave

 * The biotic becomes a vortex of life, increasing the Reave's radius to affect multiple targets.
 * Recharge Time: 6.00s (Shepard); 12.00s (Others)
 * Damage: 40.00 points per second for 4.00 seconds
 * Impact Radius: 3.00 meters

Player Notes

 * Reave cannot auto-target an enemy unless its cursor info is available, limiting its usefulness at range. This can be mitigated by using a sniper rifle, then triggering the power while targeting an enemy with the rifle's scope.
 * Reave cannot be detonated by Warp.
 * Damage against protection (armor/barriers/shields) is instant.
 * Enemies under the effect of Reave are rag-dolled and take double damage from weapons.
 * The damage is scaled by duration. Thus:
 * It will do less damage on Insanity (power duration scaled by 0.8).
 * Power duration upgrades/abilities will increase damage.
 * Power duration and thus damage is scaled down for large enemies (e.g. 70% damage is done against krogan, 60% against heavy mechs).
 * Reave will go through the shields created by Collector Guardians.

Availability

 * Shepard via Advanced Training
 * Samara (Loyalty Power)

Rank 1: Reave
Drain target's health and disrupt their resistances, receiving increased damage protection while this power is in effect.

Effective against barriers and armor.


 * Recharge Time: 8 sec
 * Damage Per Second: 70; 100 (Asari Justicar)
 * Duration: 4 seconds
 * Damage Reduction: 15%

Rank 2: Recharge Speed
Increase recharge speed by 25%.
 * Recharge Time: 6.40 sec
 * Damage Per Second: 70; 100 (Asari Justicar)
 * Duration: 4 seconds
 * Damage Reduction: 15%

Rank 3: Duration
Increase power duration by 35%.
 * Recharge Time: 6.40 sec
 * Damage Per Second: 70; 100 (Asari Justicar)
 * Duration: 5.40 sec
 * Damage Reduction: 15%

Rank 4: Duration/Radius
Duration

Increase power duration by 40%.
 * Recharge Time: 6.40 sec
 * Damage Per Second: 70; 100 (Asari Justicar)
 * Duration: 7 sec
 * Damage Reduction: 15%

Radius

Increase impact radius by 3 meters.

Rank 5: Damage Reduction/Recharge Speed
Damage Reduction

Increase damage protection by 10%.
 * Recharge Time: 6.40 sec
 * Damage Per Second: 70; 100 (Asari Justicar)
 * Duration: 7 sec (Duration), 5.40 sec (Radius)
 * Damage Reduction: 25%

Recharge Speed

Increase recharge speed by 35%.
 * Recharge Time: 5 sec
 * Damage Per Second: 70; 100 (Asari Justicar)
 * Duration: 7 sec (Duration), 5.40 sec (Radius)
 * Damage Reduction: 15%

Rank 6: Barriers & Armor/Damage & Duration
Barriers & Armor

Increase effectiveness against armor and barriers by 75%.

Damage & Duration

Increase damage by 30%. Increase duration by 30%. Increase damage protection bonus by 15%.
 * Damage Per Second: 91; 130 (Asari Justicar)
 * Duration: 8.20 sec (Rank 4 Duration), 6.60 sec (Rank 4 Radius)
 * Damage Reduction: 40% (Rank 5 DR), 30% (Rank 5 Recharge)

Player Notes

 * Mechanics
 * Reave is one of few biotic powers that can both set up and detonate biotic explosions on any enemy without caveats. This makes it very useful in a biotics-heavy party. However, unlike the other powers Reave can not also be used to detonate other types of power combos.
 * Reave will not provide the damage protection effect if used on synthetics like the geth.
 * Like virtually all other powers with damage-over-time effects, Reave will stack with multiple uses.
 * Reave will stack with multiple uses, draining an enemy even faster. With the Radius evolution one can rapidly take multiple threats out of the fight.
 * Reave will go through a Guardian's shield.
 * In contrast to Mass Effect 2, Reave no longer restores health or stuns enemies, but does grant a temporary damage reduction bonus when used. While this is less useful against weaker enemies, the damage reduction bonus provided by ME3's Reave lasts the power's full duration, even if the affected enemy dies before the power wears off.  As a result, it is equally effective on an enemy with full health as an enemy near death.
 * Reave staggers some lower rank enemies on impact.


 * Strategies
 * Continuing from above, Drell Adepts can detonate Reave with Cluster Grenades; this is a powerful and more versatile combination than the standard Pull and Reave combo, since not all enemies can be lifted using Pull.
 * Because Reave staggers weaker enemies and impacts instantaneously, it can be used as a crowd control tool. This has a greater impact if the Radius evolution is selected, potentially allowing it to topple entire groups of enemies.
 * As noted above the effect of Reave is instantaneous (similar to Overload). This makes it a very efficient power for setting up/detonating biotic explosions.

Availability

 * Single Player: Kaidan Alenko, Commander Shepard (Bonus Power), Aria T'Loak, Samara, Miranda Lawson
 * Multiplayer: Asari Justicar, Drell Adept