Combat Drone

Combat Drone is a tech power exclusive to Engineers in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. It is also used by both Tali and Legion. The power spawns a tech drone that draws enemy fire and can electronically stun targets while damaging their shields. Only one drone per character can be active at a time. Specializing as a Mechanic increases the duration of the Engineer's powers, including the length of time their drone is deployed.

In addition to attacking enemies, drones also act as a distraction for certain enemies, especially husks.

Enemies can sometimes also spawn combat drones, but these are generally less powerful than those the player spawns.

Power Ranks

 * Rank 1
 * Recharge Time: 3.00 seconds (Shepard); 30.00 seconds (others)
 * Duration: 12.00 seconds (Shepard); 18.00 seconds (others)
 * Drone Attack Recharge Time: 4.00 seconds


 * Rank 2
 * Recharge Time: 3.00 seconds (Shepard); 30.00 seconds (others)
 * Duration: 16.00 seconds (Shepard); 18.00 seconds (others)
 * Drone Attack Recharge Time: 3.70 seconds
 * Drone Health Bonus: 120.00%


 * Rank 3
 * Recharge Time: 3.00 seconds (Shepard); 30.00 seconds (others)
 * Duration: 20.00 seconds (Shepard); 18.00 seconds (others)
 * Drone Attack Recharge Time: 3.40 seconds
 * Drone Health Bonus: 140.00%

Rank 4

Choose to evolve the power into one of the following,

Attack Drone

 * You have upgraded the combat drone so its electric shock damages health, armor, and biotic barriers.
 * Recharge Time: 3.00 seconds (Shepard); 30.00 seconds (others)
 * Duration: 24.00 seconds (Shepard); 18.00 seconds (others)
 * Drone Attack Recharge Time: 3.00 seconds
 * Drone Health Bonus: 160.00%
 * Drone Damage: 40.00 points

Explosive Drone

 * Your combat drone is rigged to explode when destroyed, pulsing energy that inflicts high damage on all nearby enemies.
 * Recharge Time: 3.00 seconds (Shepard); 30.00 seconds (others)
 * Duration: 24.00 seconds (Shepard); 18.00 seconds (others)
 * Drone Attack Recharge Time: 3.00 seconds
 * Drone Health Bonus: 160.00%
 * Pulse Radius: 6.00 meters
 * Pulse Damage: 100.00 points

Player Notes

 * Combat Drones are effective distractions as enemies will usually focus on them first, rather than firing at the squad. Rocket-launcher toting enemies may even damage or kill themselves by blasting the Drone at point-blank range.
 * Drones are also very effective at tying up high level enemies.
 * An attack from enemy combat drones will dislodge the player from cover, so they should be given the utmost priority.
 * Enemy Combat Drones cannot be hacked.
 * Since Combat Drones are counted as "allies" (they are blue dots on Shepard's radar) they can disrupt enemy spawns – and even cancel some whole fights – by spawning them at enemies who are currently in areas which should be inaccessible, e.g. a doorway leaving the current "arena".
 * Combat Drones are very useful on higher difficulties. They can be used as distractions, allowing the player to regenerate their shields and health, or used to whittle away an enemys shields/health whilst allowing the player to finish them off.

Availability

 * Engineer
 * Legion
 * Tali

Rank 1: Combat Drone
Deploy this attack drone to stun targets and draw enemy fire.
 * Recharge Speed: 5 sec
 * Drone Damage: 40
 * Drone Shields: 500

Rank 2: Recharge Speed
Increase recharge speed by 25%.
 * Recharge Speed: 4 sec

Rank 3: Shields & Damage
Increase drone's damage by 30%. Increase drone's shields by 30%.
 * Drone Damage: 52
 * Drone Shields: 650

Rank 4: Shields & Damage/Detonate
Shields & Damage

Increase drone's damage by 40%. Increase drone's shields by 40%.
 * Drone Damage: 68
 * Drone Shields: 850

Detonate

Drone explodes when destroyed, dealing 400 points of damage across a 5 meter radius.

Rank 5: Shock/Shields & Damage
Shock

Upgrade drone's short-range attack to deal 130 points of damage across a 5 meter radius. Drone stuns enemies for a short duration.

Shields & Damage

Increase drone's damage by 50%. Increase drone's shields by 50%.
 * Drone Damage: 88 (Rank 4 Shields & Damage), 72 (Detonate)
 * Drone Shields: 1100 (Rank 4 Shields & Damage), 900 (Detonate)

Rank 6: Rockets/Chain Lightning
Rockets

Upgrade drone with long-range rockets that deal 195 (325 multiplayer) points of damage across a 1.50 (2.5 multiplayer) meter radius.

Chain Lightning

Upgrade drone's electrical pulse to jump and hit 3 additional targets.

Player Notes

 * As its description suggests, the Combat Drone is effective at distracting enemies like the Atlas and Cerberus Guardians, allowing your squad to deal with these threats with their backs turned, as when a drone is summoned whilst targeting an enemy, the drone appears behind the target.
 * Husks and Brutes react to drones by attempting to grab/instakill it, failing, and end up staring at it dumbfounded until sufficient incoming damage distracts them. Banshees will cycle their shockwave scream attack until the drone is destroyed.
 * Combat Drones no longer have a specific duration. Instead, they last until combat ceases or they are destroyed by enemy fire.
 * For the Rank 5 Shock/Shields & Damage evolution, if Shields & Damage at rank 4 is taken, shock damage increases to 170. For the rank 6 Rockets/Chain Lightning evolution, if Shields & Damage at rank 4 is taken, rocket damage increases to (425 multiplayer). If Shields & Damage at rank 5 is taken, rocket damage increases to (450 multiplayer), and if both are taken, rocket damage increases to (550 multiplayer).
 * The Rank 6 Rockets evolution suffers on several multiplayer maps, as the drone will sometimes attempt to shoot enemies through walls.
 * When spawned, the drone's outer ring color is blue to the player who spawned it. The drone's "health" can be gauged by the color of the outer ring, ie. a blue outer ring indicates full health, a purple outer ring indicates intermediate health, and a red outer ring color indicates that the drone is close to being destroyed.

Availability

 * Single-Player: Engineer, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy
 * Multiplayer: Human Engineer, Volus Mercenary Sentinel

Trivia

 * In Mass Effect 2, the color of the drone is different depending on who spawned it and whether it is combat/attack/explosive: Shepard's is blue/orange, Legion's is blue/orange, Tali's is purple/pink, enemy Engineers' are red and Geth Primes' are green/orange.
 * Attack drones take on a new color, while explosive drones have sparks but stay their original color.
 * Friendly Combat Drones can appear during cutscenes if deployed at the right time.
 * In Multiplayer, one of the new objectives, added via the Mass Effect 3: Earth DLC pack, is to escort a combat drone that randomly appears on waves 3, 6, and 10.