Ascendant

Ascendant
Faction	Kett
Weapons / Attacks	Electrical Lightning Ball Orb Beam Attack
Abilities	Force Field Sync kill
Health	High
Shields	–
Weak Points	Ascendant's Orb Head

The Ascendant is a kett unit.

Description

The Ascendant are the highest caste of kett seen on the battlefield and are considered exceptionally dangerous. APEX reports that they are typically only seen when the kett are conducting high-stakes operations, or when a persistent enemy must be eliminated. Element zero cores throughout its armor allow an Ascendant to levitate off the ground, allowing it to command the attention of subordinate kett and rain devastating fire down upon enemies.

The Ascendant appear to have biological control over electromagnetic force. Cell samples gathered at great risk show electrocyte-like formations. It is likely that an Ascendant uses equipment or implants to amplify and control this ability, allowing it to manipulate EM fields that empower its weaponry. If provoked, the Ascendant can unleash a ball-lightning-like attack which conducts electricity to nearby foes, or yank an opponent helplessly off their feet to deliver a barrage of blows.

Ascendants typically show up as a mini-boss at the end of a kett infiltration mission, either as a Priority Ops or an optional mission. There are specialized boss type named Ascendants called Prefects, such as the Cardinal and The Valiant.

Capabilities

Offensive

• The Ascendant appear to have biological control over electromagnetic force and their cell samples show electrocyte-like formations. They likely use implants or other equipment to amplify and control this ability.
• If provoked, they can unleash a ball-lightning-like attack which conducts electricity to nearby enemies. This attack ignores cover.
• At close range, they will grab a target in a gravity-sphere, then collapse the sphere to crush the target. In multiplayer, characters killed in this manner can't be revived by a teammate or revive pack.

Defensive

• Ascendants are accompanied at all times by their Orb. This small device orbits them and projects an energy force field that protects them from all attacks. Ascendants may only be harmed once their orb is destroyed, but they will quickly generate a new orb after a few seconds.

Tactics

• As they have only a health bar with no shields or armor, Ascendants are vulnerable even to biotic powers like Pull, though the effect doesn't last as long as it does on weaker enemies.
• Accurate, rapid fire weapons (such as assault rifles) with consumable ammo types can assist in taking down the orb relatively quickly at a distance, due to damage-over-time while the Ascendant's orb is facing away from Ryder, as well as being easier to fill the space with predictive fire, scoring multiple hits as the orb returns to facing. These ammo types can also be used to prime the Ascendant for combo detonations, when focusing squadmate attacks to deal greater damage in the short window that the shield is down.