Shadow Strike

Shadow Strike is a power available to Kasumi Goto in Mass Effect 2. Using this power, Kasumi cloaks, appears behind her target and delivers a devastating sneak attack, then re-cloaks and returns to her previous location. Besides directly damaging the enemy, this power also has a distracting effect, as enemies will often turn to attack Kasumi when she appears in their midst, ignoring their previous targets; she usually takes little damage from this, and often her shields and health will have regenerated by the time she returns to her starting point, although it is possible for her to die before going back into cloak. The damage is effective against armor, shields, and barriers; the incapacitation only takes effect if the target is unprotected or if the strike's damage carries through to their health.

In Mass Effect 3, Shadow Strike is available to the N7 Shadow Infiltrator. It functions very similarly to Kasumi's power in Mass Effect 2: the Infiltrator cloaks, reappears behind the target, and delivers a powerful melee attack. Unlike Kasumi's power, in Mass Effect 3 the user does not re-cloak and return to their starting point.

Power Ranks

 * Rank 1
 * Recharge Time: 9.00 seconds
 * Damage: 300.00 points
 * Incapacitate Duration: 5.00 seconds


 * Rank 2
 * Recharge Time: 9.00 seconds
 * Damage: 350.00 points
 * Incapacitate Duration: 6.00 seconds


 * Rank 3
 * Recharge Time: 9.00 seconds
 * Damage: 400.00 points
 * Incapacitate Duration: 7.00 seconds

Rank 4

Choose to evolve the power into one of the following,

Deadly Shadow Strike

 * Increases the damage inflicted when assassinating the target.
 * Recharge Time: 9.00 seconds
 * Damage: 550.0 points
 * Incapacitate Duration: 7.00 seconds

Rapid Shadow Strike

 * Reduces the cooldown by 80% if the target is killed by this power.
 * Recharge Time: 9.00 seconds
 * Damage: 450.0 points
 * Incapacitate Duration: 7.00 seconds

Player Notes

 * The power has a 2x damage multiplier against shields, armor and barriers.
 * The power type is actually split between combat and tech - it gains the bonus for reduced cooldown from the tech upgrade but the damage type is combat, so the damage tech upgrade has no effect.
 * Kasumi can only strike with this power targets within a certain walking distance. She can not target enemies in the areas unreachable by Shepard, or in places where she must take a long walkaround to reach. She will tell you if she can not make a particular strike.
 * Kasumi will execute the attack from any assigned position (keyboard Q or E on PC), and she will return to her original position. However, she will no longer be bound by the placement command. You have to re-assign the command to keep her behind cover after such a strike.
 * This is very useful against the big powerful units such as Harbinger - the strike gives you enough time to aim out of cover and shoot the enemy in the back of the head without being shot at yourself.

Player Notes

 * If the N7 Shadow Infiltrator cloaks first and/or foes do not "see" her use Shadow Strike, then the attack cannot be blocked and the user always appears behind them; otherwise foes will attempt to shoot and/or melee the infiltrator, and defenses such as the Guardian's shield '"will" block the attack.
 * Shadow Strike deals extreme damage when fully upgraded with both the Shadow Strike, the Tactical Cloak, and the Sword Mastery damage evolutions, being capable of instantly killing most basic-level enemies. On Gold difficulties, its effective against powerful enemies such as Guardians, Phantoms, Geth Pyros and Brutes if their defenses have been brought down first.
 * Similarly to a Vanguard's Charge, Shadow Strike can be used travel across the battlefield quickly, in order to escape danger and/or to better reach a tactical position, since it immediately transports the user to the target. It has the disadvantage of not refilling the user's barrier; this is somewhat offset by the following:
 * The Shadow Strike damage reduction and energy drain evolutions of the power.
 * The Sword Mastery durability and shield recharge evolutions, which synergies with the power.
 * The Tactical Cloak duration and bonus power evolutions, allowing them more time to select a target while shielded from enemy sight.

Availability

 * Single-player: N/A
 * Multiplayer: N7 Shadow Infiltrator