Reave

Reave is a biotic power in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3's single-player and multiplayer modes.

Reave employs mass effect fields to biotically attack the target's nervous or synthetic systems and prevent healing.

Mass Effect 2

In Mass Effect 2, Reave 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.

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

• This power travels in a straight line from the user to the target, hitting instantly.
• It can also hit enemies behind the physical shields they employ by bypassing those physical shields such as Collector Guardians in Mass Effect 2 or Guardians in Mass Effect 3. This "bypassing" effect doesn't work with normal cover that enemies hide behind.
• 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.
  • If a target is hit with Reave again while in its doubling-over animation, it will complete the current animation sequence only. Damage over time continues, however.
• 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. If a protected enemy would take enough damage that both its protection and health would be damaged, the health damage is instantaneous as well. Health regeneration will not be cancelled when Reave is used this way.
• 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)

Availability

• Shepard via Advanced Training
• Samara (Loyalty Power)

Mass Effect 3

Power Ranks

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%. Recharge Time: 6.40 sec (Damage Reduction), 5 sec (Recharge Speed) Damage Per Second: 91 (130 Asari Justicar) Duration: 8.20 sec (Duration), 6.60 sec (Radius) Damage Reduction: 40% (Damage Reduction), 30% (Recharge Speed)

Player Notes

Mechanics

• This power travels in a straight line from the user to the target, hitting instantly.
• It can also hit enemies behind the physical shields they employ by bypassing those physical shields such as Collector Guardians in Mass Effect 2 or Guardians in Mass Effect 3. This "bypassing" effect doesn't work with normal cover that enemies hide behind.
• 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 change may seem to make Reave less useful against weaker enemies, the damage-reduction bonus provided by Mass Effect 3'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 is one of three 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 cannot also be used to detonate other types of power combos.
• Detonating Reave will not cancel its damage over time or damage reduction effects.
• Reave will not provide its damage-reduction effect if used on synthetics like the geth.
• The damage-over-time effect of Reave will stack with multiple uses, draining an enemy even faster. With the Radius evolution one can then rapidly take multiple threats out of the fight.
• The damage-reduction bonus will not stack with multiple uses. Instead, its duration is reset with each use.
• Reave will go through a Guardian's shield.
• Reave staggers some lower-rank enemies on impact.

Strategies

• Adepts (like Shepard or the Drell Adept) 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 or detonating biotic explosions.
• With the Radius evolution, Reave potentially allows the player to detonate two biotic explosions in quick succession against clustered enemies. Combine this with the "Double" or "Radius" evolution in the Throw or Pull tree for Maximum Results.

Availability

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