Power Combos

Power Combos are a gameplay element introduced in Mass Effect 3, expanding on the Warp detonations of Mass Effect 2. By attacking an enemy with two powers in sequence, the combined effects of each power can result in an explosion. All power combos require two different varieties of powers be used: a source and a detonator. The source power determines which of the four power combos will be triggered, and the detonator triggers the combo and causes the explosion.

Priming and Detonating
An enemy is visibly "primed" for a combo when they glow a certain color/texture, which corresponds to what combo they have been primed: violet for biotic, red for fire, electric sparks for tech, and a white "chill" effect for cryo. Not all enemies display this texture for whatever reason; for example an Atlas primed for a fire explosion will not actually glow red.

The priming duration varies from power to power. Some powers prime for only a short period of time (such as Overload or a Sabotage backfire), some powers prime for an extended period of time (such as Warp). Powers with durations may prime for their full duration (such as enemies lifted by Singularity) or a fixed subset (Sabotage's Tech Vulnerability evolution will not extend the priming duration to 10 seconds, for example).

Some powers have caveats for successfully priming or detonating. For example, Energy Drain cannot be used to detonate organic targets who lack shield/barriers and in single player, Singularity will not prime enemies that are not lifted.

Generally speaking, powers with area of effects can prime multiple enemies at once. However, aside from a small number of exceptions (such as Overload) only one enemy can be detonated at once. Moreover, detonations will not set off other combos.

Some powers can be both sources and detonators, but any combo must be composed of a different source and detonator - for example, you cannot detonate Warp with another Warp, but Reave and Warp will detonate each other in any order. Area-of-effect powers can set up multiple combos (one on each affected target), but can only detonate one combo per use, or per projectile launched if more than one (e.g. single-player Throw or Cluster Grenade).

In the lists below, powers marked with an asterisk (*) have rank evolutions that can increase biotic explosion, tech burst, fire explosion, or cryo explosion damage. This increases the effective level of the power by at least 50%, whether used as source or detonator, with damage bonuses stacking if both powers have the applicable combo damage-increasing evolutions.

Damage
All power combos have a "base" damage based on the combo level, which is simply the total power level of the source and detonator. The base damage ranges from 100 (for a minimum combo level of 2) to 250 (for a maximum possible combo level of 12). Note that for purposes of combo levels, ammo powers always count as level 1 power. This base damage is then multiplied by a factor dependent on the game's difficulty, scaling with enemy health. Note that this scaling means that, as difficulty levels increase, the relative importance of combos for a power-based class's damage output increases dramatically. For example, in multiplayer a maxed-out combo will do only 375 damage on Bronze but an astounding 1,096 on Platinum. This also has the ramification that while ammo powers may be useful from a single-player/solo perspective for priming/detonating combos at will, it can severely reduce the total damage output of a power-heavy party in multiplayer.
 * Narrative: x.5833333
 * Casual: x.83333
 * Normal/Bronze: x1.5
 * Hardcore/Silver: x2.25
 * Insanity/Gold: x3.375
 * Platinum: x4.3875

The combo damage is further modified based on its type and on whether it is damaging armor, shield, barrier, or health as noted below (e.g. Tech Bursts do 2x damage to shields). Any debuffs on the target receiving the combo (such as Sabotage's Tech Vulnerability) will also affect the combo damage, if applicable.

The combo damage is otherwise completely independent of the actual damage or damage bonuses of the powers being used, unless it is a damage bonus that specifically mentions combo damage (such as Warp's Detonate evolution). Note that Snap Freeze's Tech Combo, Electric Slash's Detonate, and Electrical Hammer's Radius & Combo evolutions are bugged and do not actually affect combo damage.

Biotic Explosion
Biotic explosions cause a wave of biotic force that damages and knocks back enemies. These combos can be triggered without killing an enemy.

Biotic explosions have a radius of 2 to 4 meters.

Biotic explosions do two times normal damage against biotic barriers and armor.

Cryo Explosion
Cryo explosions create a blast of ice that may freeze nearby vulnerable enemies (those only with health bars showing). Cryo explosions can be triggered in multiplayer without killing an enemy, although in most cases, the enemy must be frozen solid in order to do so. Single-player cryo explosions could only be triggered through killing an enemy until patch 1.05 removed this restriction.

Cryo explosions have a radius of 3 to 5 meters. Even if enemies in the radius are not frozen, they are still chilled and have their movement slowed by 30%.

Snap Freeze has an apparent bug where Cryo Explosions that use it as its source do twice normal damage.

Source Powers

 * Cryo Ammo or Cryo Rounds
 * Cryo Blast
 * N7 Paladin melee attack (with Shield Mastery "Cryo Shield" evolution)
 * Sentry Turret (with "Cryo Ammo" evolution)
 * Snap Freeze* (primes cryo explosions on all targets, even if not frozen solid)
 * Sticky Grenade (when using Cryo Ammo or Cryo Rounds)

Detonator Powers

 * Arc Grenade
 * Biotic Charge
 * Biotic Hammer
 * Biotic Orbs
 * Biotic Slash
 * Carnage
 * Cluster Grenade
 * Combat Drone (on destruction with "Detonate" evolution)
 * Concussive Shot
 * Decoy (on destruction with "Exploding Decoy" evolution)
 * Electric Slash*
 * Electrical Hammer
 * Energy Drain (on shielded or synthetic enemies only)
 * Frag Grenade
 * Havoc Strike
 * Incinerate
 * Lift Grenade
 * Nova
 * Overload
 * Phase Disruptor
 * Poison Strike
 * Proximity Mine
 * Seeker Swarm
 * Shockwave
 * Siege Pulse
 * Slam
 * Smash
 * Sticky Grenade
 * Throw
 * Warp

Tech Burst
Tech bursts create a blast of electricity that inflicts severe damage on the shields of nearby enemies and has a chance of stunning them. Tech bursts can be triggered without being a killing blow.

Tech bursts have a radius of 4.5 to 7.5 meters.

Tech bursts do two times normal damage against shields.

Source Powers

 * Arc Grenade (with "Electrical Damage" evolution)
 * Concussive Arrows (with "Shock" evolution)
 * Disruptor Ammo or Disruptor Rounds
 * Energy Drain
 * Hex Shield (with "Shock" evolution)
 * Overload
 * Sabotage (Requires the backfire effect which happens around 1.5 seconds after the initial hit and which does not affect synthetics)
 * Shadow Strike (with "Electrical Damage" evolution)
 * Smash (with "Electrical Damage" evolution)
 * Sticky Grenade (when using Disruptor Ammo or Disruptor Rounds)
 * Submission Net

Detonator Powers

 * Biotic Charge
 * Biotic Hammer
 * Biotic Slash
 * Carnage
 * Cluster Grenade
 * Combat Drone (on destruction with "Detonate" evolution)
 * Concussive Shot
 * Decoy (on destruction with "Exploding Decoy" evolution)
 * Electric Slash*
 * Electrical Hammer
 * Energy Drain (on shielded or synthetic enemies only)
 * Frag Grenade
 * Homing Grenade
 * Incinerate
 * Lift Grenade
 * Nova
 * Overload
 * Phase Disruptor
 * Poison Strike
 * Proximity Mine
 * Seeker Swarm
 * Shockwave
 * Siege Pulse
 * Slam
 * Smash
 * Snap Freeze*
 * Sticky Grenade
 * Throw
 * Warp

Fire Explosion
Fire explosions create a blast of flames that inflicts severe damage against the armor of nearby enemies and may also set them on fire, though this is mainly cosmetic and does not apply extra damage. Fire explosions can be triggered without killing the enemy. Lesser enemies used as a source for fire explosions are instantly vaporized without leaving a corpse.

Fire explosions have a radius of 3 to 6 meters.

Fire explosions do two times normal damage against armor.

Source Powers

 * Carnage
 * Electrical Hammer (with "Fire Damage" evolution)
 * Flamer
 * Geth Turret (with "Flamethrower" evolution)
 * Incendiary Ammo or Incendiary Rounds
 * Incinerate
 * Inferno Grenade
 * N7 Paladin melee attack (with Shield Mastery "Fire Shield" evolution)
 * Sentry Turret (with "Flamethrower" evolution)
 * Sticky Grenade (when using Incendiary Ammo or Incendiary Rounds)

Detonator Powers

 * Arc Grenade
 * Biotic Charge
 * Biotic Hammer
 * Biotic Slash
 * Carnage
 * Cluster Grenade
 * Combat Drone (on destruction with "Detonate" evolution)
 * Concussive Shot
 * Decoy (on destruction with "Exploding Decoy" evolution)
 * Electric Slash*
 * Electrical Hammer
 * Energy Drain (on shielded or synthetic enemies only)
 * Frag Grenade
 * Havoc Strike
 * Homing Grenade
 * Incinerate
 * Lift Grenade
 * Nova
 * Overload
 * Phase Disruptor
 * Poison Strike
 * Proximity Mine
 * Seeker Swarm
 * Shockwave
 * Siege Pulse
 * Slam
 * Smash
 * Snap Freeze*
 * Sticky Grenade
 * Throw
 * Warp