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Scions are a type of Husk made from three human Husks fused together and grafted around a single mass effect/biotic weapon on the left arm. The blue "sacks" on their backs contain redundant organs and element zero sources to provide power for their weapons and shockwaves.

Mass Effect 2[]

Scions operate alone or in pairs, hanging back as Husks and Abominations rush ahead. Less mobile than other Husk variants, Scions provide ranged fire support, lumbering behind the wave of attackers while firing weapons and discharging biotic attacks.

Description[]

Though the exact fate of species captured by the Collectors is unclear, the humanoid appearance of the scions gives ghastly clues. The scion's frame and skull are similar to those of a human or asari, but the bone structure is overlaid with a metallic resin. Posthumous examination of their bodies reveals a skin tone resembling that of Reaper husks, but their transformation process seems more extensive. Like husks, they are cybernetically modified on a nano-scale so they can operate even in hard vacuum. Hoses rather than veins and muscle tissue join major portions of the body together. One arm is replaced with a construct that fits a large rifle, turning the creature into a humanoid weapons platform, and a fleshy sack is supported by the creature's back and head.

These sacks contain brain matter and spinal tissue, too much to have come from just one victim. This indicates scions are an amalgam of several individuals, with one primary victim providing the frame and several "secondaries" providing the flesh for a decentralized semi-mechanical nervous system. This decentralization makes them highly resistant to gunshot wounds; even a headshot is not a certain kill.

The scions' weapons, however, indicate that scions retain some living tissue, or at least sustain some of the same electrochemical reactions as those of a human biotic. The weapon creates a powerful warp effect, which is consistent with the eezo nodules visible in the scion's expansive nervous system. Given the rarity of human biotics, it seems likely that these dust-form eezo nodules are deposited during their transformation, rather than requiring a biotic victim in the first place.

Capabilities[]

Offensive

Scions are armed with a powerful shoulder-mounted cannon which fires an advanced version of Shockwave that travels long distances, penetrates most cover, stuns affected targets, and deals heavy damage. Direct hits cause a negative status effect, visible as a bluish residue, that will delay the normal recharge of friendly shields. This can be counteracted by any ability that can manually/directly restore shields such as Tech Armor, Geth Shield Boost or Unity, as well as the Emergency Shielding research upgrade if the effect triggers. At very close range, Scions can unleash a deadly burst in a small area that deals more damage the closer it is to the target; this attack also causes stuns.

Defensive

The Scion is heavily armored, but does not possess any barriers, shields or health. It is immune to most disabling effects from powers, with Stasis being a notable exception. Scions move very slowly, but they relentlessly advance on their targets.

Tactics[]

General Notes
  • Unlike other enemies, there are several weak spots on a Scion's body that you can exploit:
    • Firstly, their head is located on their right 'shoulder' and shots landed there will deal greatly increased damage. Repeatedly shooting a Scion's "head" can also cause micro-stuns that slow its advance and rate of fire.
    • The hump on their back also receives more damage.
    • Finally, there is a bright blue circle on their backs, but it is only safe to target when the Scion is distracted by your squadmates or a Combat Drone.
  • If engaging a Scion on flat, open ground such as during the mission on Horizon, sprinting perpendicular to the Scion's angle of attack can reliably prevent its shots from landing on you, though not at very close ranges.
  • In terms of weapons, any player class that has a sniper rifle will have the advantage in a fight against a Scion. This allows you to keep the fight at a distance and have room to dodge its attacks. Paired with Armor Piercing Ammo or Incendiary Ammo, this would be the best combo against it. If the sniper rifle is not available, the Collector Particle Beam is an efficient alternative.
    • Especially on higher difficulties, the M-920 Cain is a great option against Scions that appear in some of the tougher fights in the game such as on Horizon or during The Long Walk. It can kill or almost kill even multiple Scions in one blast, reducing the amount of normal ammo needed to kill them. Even more importantly, the Cain kills Scions quickly before they can cause harm to you or your squad.
    • The M-490 Blackstorm can also be highly effective against Scions as the Singularity-like vortex of a shot will hold a Scion in place, repeatedly stunning it and rendering it unable to attack for several seconds until detonation. This can freeze multiple Scions within the area of effect and several shots can be chained if desired.
  • In some encounters, the Scions remain stationary and inactive if you keep your distance (the distance that doesn't trigger the HUD to display its health). You will then be able to shoot it from afar without it ever moving in to target you.
  • If Shepard chooses Stasis as a bonus talent, it can freeze and knock down the Scion following the freeze, enabling double weapon damage to be dealt to it while simultaneously disabling the Scion's devastating attacks.
    • Due to a known bug with how Stasis works (see its page for more info) shooting a Scion coming out of the freeze can do extreme damage to it, often killing it almost instantly. Rapid fire weapons are best to maximize the chances of this "glitched" damage happening.
    • Stasis can also be great against the two Scions on the moving platforms during the opening battle of the Collector Ship mission; if timed correctly, the Scion can be frozen while the platforms continue to move, effectively "pulling the rug out" from under them, dropping them to their deaths if they unfreeze without a platform underneath them.
  • Flashbang Grenade, despite being able to disable the biotic abilities of most enemies including Harbinger, has no effect on either of the Scion's attacks, possibly because the attacks are not considered biotic powers by the game.
    • This applies to both Shepard's version of the power and Kasumi's. One interesting behavior of Flashbang Grenade used by Shepard is that it will distract the Scion very briefly, causing it to look in the direction of the flashbang's detonation, though this has limited practical use.
  • In terms of squadmate abilities, any squadmate with Combat Drone can tie up a Scion effectively while the drone lasts. Also, Kasumi's Shadow Strike power will momentarily distract a Scion when she appears next to it, and the temporary invulnerability granted to her by the ability should keep her safe from any return fire.
Class Specific Notes
  • An Adept's Singularity can keep a Scion rooted in place and unable to attack for a short time due to being repeatedly stunned by the vortex. This isn't always 100% reliable: there is a chance that a Scion in the vortex is able to either break out or fire while still inside, depending on the timing of the stuns.
  • Vanguards can use Charge to quickly close with a Scion, bypassing its deadly long range attack. Once in close combat, players can backpedal away from the Scion, ideally moving far enough to avoid its close combat burst attack. This strategy can be repeated again and again, triggering the Scion's close combat attack only to move out of range before it fires.
  • Engineers can use Combat Drone to keep the Scion locked into a stunned state; high-level or evolved combat drones attack and stun the Scion faster than it can ready an attack and will also distract it. In the meantime, you can attack the Scion with Incinerate and weapons. The Combat Drone will only be nullified if its time runs out, if it is attacked by another enemy, or if the Scion uses its shield disrupting ability, but the Combat Drones can be almost immediately re-cast.
  • Soldiers armed with a strong sniper rifle or long-range, devastating weaponry like the M-6 Carnifex or M-15 Vindicator can utilise their Adrenaline Rush to the extreme in fights against Scions. If used at the right moment, the Soldier can get a clean headshot on the Scion, depleting its Armor at a very fast rate, while keeping a nice distance.

Mass Effect 3[]

Scions return in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer with the Retaliation Pack DLC. They also appear in the combat simulator in the Armax Arsenal Arena added with the Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC.

Capabilities[]

Offensive

While no longer possessing their Shockwave ability from Mass Effect 2, Scions are armed with an arm-mounted cannon that fires explosive shots with a large radius of effect in salvos of three. These are very powerful, causing brief stuns to most classes and dealing more damage than an Atlas Mech's rockets. The shots also leave a short, lingering aftereffect sometimes visible as a blue biotic sheen similar to that left by the Warp power; while it lasts, this delays the normal shield and health regeneration of affected targets.

Up close, they use their cannon arm to make melee attacks and have an execution attack where they knock the player to the ground and repeatedly pummel them resulting in instant death. Like any other Collector unit, they can also be possessed, becoming far more powerful than usual.

Defensive

Scions possess powerful armour that compensates for them lacking health, barriers or shields. Like any armoured enemy, they cannot be grabbed for an insta-kill. The large sacs on their shoulders are weak points that can be burst by weapon fire, dealing a large chunk of damage to them. A Scion's head is also a weak point.

Tactics[]

  • Scions are far more dangerous than their Mass Effect 2 predecessors. Not only are they more durable, but they can become possessed. They can also fire faster and more frequently, the projectiles do more damage and are harder to dodge, and they have a one-hit-kill melee attack. On top of all that, they usually appear in groups of two or three.
    • Similar to the Ravager and the Geth Prime, the Scion fires its arm cannon in salvos of three. Time your return fire to make use of the pause.
    • While the Ravager, Atlas, and Geth Prime can fire right away, the Scion actually needs a few seconds to hold up its heavy arm cannon to fire, which gives you enough time to get behind cover. They can't move to shoot with their cannon up, having to put it down before moving to a new location. This is helpful for hit-and-run game play.
    • A cannon shot causes a short duration stun that lasts almost long enough to prevent you from performing any action to get out of the line of fire before the next shot hits. There is only a very short window of time between shots where you won't be stunned and can take an action like a combat roll/dodge or take cover. If you get hit by a shot, spam your defensive action as quickly as possible to increase your chances of being able to exploit the window where you aren't stunned, or you'll likely take all subsequent shots. Multiplayer classes that can't perform combat dodge moves are that much more vulnerable to Scion fire.
  • Destroying the sacs located on their back causes a damage spike in their armour, making this a high priority weakness for players. Deploying Combat Drone can be very helpful in getting them to turn around.
    • If a player uses some kind of scanning ability such as Recon Mine, Hunter Mode, or Tactical Scan, the Scion will be highlighted, but the sacs will not be. Use this to make it easier to hit the sacs.
  • Powerful sniper rifles with sufficient piercing such as the Javelin can hit both the head on the front and the sacs on the back in one shot, resulting in massive damage.
  • A M-300 Claymore can be a very effective weapon at close range against Scions, doing heavy damage especially if attacking the Scion's sac.
  • Scions have a powerful but very slow melee attack that you can exploit by getting in close to bait it and then quickly backing off or combat dodging out of range, creating an opening to attack with impunity. Do not remain in close proximity while the Scion swings its cannon around, as like the Brute, it will grab players for sync kills after its melee attack.
  • Much like against a Brute, melee attacking a Scion, even one that isn't currently in any attack animation, can result in you being stunned and taking damage.
  • Scions are weakest alone, in a somewhat open space. With a highly maneuverable character or with a Geth Juggernaut Soldier teammate to serve as a distraction, an effective strategy is to hide from the three-shot burst, then come just within melee range of the Scion. Once it melees, move back to avoid it, then circle the Scion, concentrating fire on its head and shoulder sac with an automatic weapon, just outside of melee range. When it attempts to melee, it will miss. It will not attempt to fire, because it will constantly move to try to melee you, and it is incapable of shooting and moving at the same time. If it does attempt to shoot, keep circling behind it avoiding the shots, until it tries to melee again, then repeat until it dies.
  • Even after it is killed, its body continues to be a solid object that blocks movement, weapons fire, powers, etc. until its death animation fully completes.
  • Scions often cause logjams among enemy ranks in narrow areas with their slow speed and tendency to spawn in pairs. This is especially useful for preventing Praetorians stuck behind them from advancing. Obviously, it's a good idea not to immediately kill Scions that are helping you out in this way.

Trivia[]

  • In horticulture, the term 'scion' refers to a method of grafting plant tissues together.
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