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.

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Mass Effect 2 Edit

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.

Capabilities Edit

Offensive

Scions are armed with a powerful shoulder-mounted cannon, which fires an advanced version of Shockwave that will travel longer distances, penetrate thin cover, deal heavy damage, increase the recharge time on your shields (although this can be countered with Tech Armor, Geth Shield Boost or Unity, as well as an Emergency Shielding research.) and mildly knock back you or your squadmates, all even on lower difficulties. At close range they will be able to create a different blast wave that will deal more damage to your shields the closer you are.

Defensive

The Scion is heavily armored, but does not possess any barriers, shields or health.

Tactics Edit

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. 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.

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.

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, however 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. This is such a brief effect that it has limited practical use, however.

on either of the Scion's attacks, possibly because the attacks are not considered biotic powers by the game.

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.

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 Edit

Scion Faction Collectors Type Organic Armament Arm Cannon Abilities Crush Armor Very High Locations Armax Arsenal Arena

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 Edit

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 great radius in salvos of three. These explosive shots are very powerful, dealing more damage than an Atlas Mech's rockets, and are easily capable of killing any class in three hits. 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) to instantly kill targets. 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.

Tactics Edit

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 come in pairs.

Similarly 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.

The rounds from the Scion's cannon have a huge explosive radius, allowing them to deal great damage to whole groups of players.

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 towards Scions, doing heavy damage especially if attacking the Scion's sac. With Armor-Piercing Ammo and appropriate weapon damage buffs, it is possible to instantly kill a Scion with a close-range Claymore shot to the sac. Of course, this carries the risk of leaving you vulnerable to other Collector units, to say nothing of the Scion's own close-range capabilities.

Scions have a very slow, easily avoided melee attack that you can take advantage of and exploit. Have a scion try to melee you, dodge it, and then simply attack it while it tries to finish its animation. Do not attack using melee or close-range attacks while the Scion swings its cannon around. Like the Brute, it will grab players for sync-kills after its melee attack.

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.

Trivia Edit