|
This article is about the gameplay power. For the process of using low temperatures to achieve suspended animation, see Cryogenic Stasis. |
Stasis is a biotic ability in Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3.
Mass Effect
Stasis is an unlockable biotic talent in Mass Effect. Stasis causes an enemy to be temporarily locked in a mass effect field, freezing the target in place and making them unable to attack. The "freeze" even applies to enemies in mid-air. Enemies in Stasis become impervious to damage unless the Stasis was cast by a player possessing the Bastion specialization class with Stasis Specialization unlocked, in which case the player can still shoot to damage and eventually destroy the target, albeit without seeing a health bar. Squadmates don't have access to this specialization and will usually not fire at targets in Stasis even if they can be damaged.
Squadmates trained to use Stasis will never use it on enemies unless directly ordered to do so, even if Squad Power Use is set to "Active" in the game menu. This can be a handy way to make sure you have something "in reserve" in emergencies when you need to disable an enemy and all of your party's abilities are still recharging. Stasis has no area of effect like other offensive biotics, so the reticle must be directly over the intended target and with no intervening obstructions, or the ability will miss.
While Stasis can work on almost any enemy target, larger and more powerful enemy types typically have high levels of resistance to biotics meaning the duration will be noticeably shorter when used against them than against weaker more common opponents. Also use caution when using Stasis against enemies with powerful attacks such as snipers that use Assassination or Geth Armatures, as when the effect wears off enemies will immediately resume attacking as if they were never interrupted. This means if they were charging a shot right before they were "paused" by Stasis, when the Stasis ends they will unleash the shot instantly. This also applies to krogan who are paused in the middle of charging at you.
On higher difficulty settings some powerful biotic enemies, notably Rachni Brood Warriors, can put you and your squad into Stasis. Like Bastions, they can cause damage while their target is immobilized, and medi-gel doesn't seem to help. It also puts you at risk from any flying debris, because it becomes impossible to dodge and your shields won't take the damage. The only real defense against this is to preemptively disable them with biotics or Damping, then take them down as fast as possible. Lighter armors with higher levels of tech and biotic protection (bottom bar) can also shorten the duration of enemy biotic effects such as Stasis.
It is possible for one user to have more than one enemy in Stasis at a time if the ability recharges before the first effect wears off, e.g. if Adrenaline Burst is used.
Talent Levels
- Stasis (Duration: 12.5 sec, Recharge Time: 60 sec, Accuracy cost: 80%)
- Increases stasis duration to 13 sec
- Increases stasis duration to 13.5 sec
- Increases stasis duration to 14 sec
- Increases stasis duration to 14.5 sec
- Advanced Stasis (Duration: 17 sec, Recharge Time: 50 sec, Accuracy cost: 80%)
- Increases stasis duration to 17.5 sec
- Increases stasis duration to 18 sec
- Increases stasis duration to 18.5 sec
- Increases stasis duration to 19 sec
- Increases stasis duration to 19.5 sec
- Master Stasis (Duration: 21 sec, Recharge Time: 40 sec, Accuracy cost: 80%)
Classes
These classes have access to the Stasis talent:
- Adept Unlockable
- Sentinel Unlockable
- Asari Scientist Unlockable
- Krogan Battlemaster Unlockable
Mass Effect 2
Creates a powerful mass effect field that penetrates shields and other defenses to immobilize the target for a few seconds, preventing all actions and making it immune to damage.
Power Ranks
- Rank 1 - Creates a powerful mass effect field that immobilizes the target for a few seconds, preventing all actions and making it immune to damage. Stasis bypasses all resistances, but targets becomes [sic] more resistant the longer they are exposed to its effects. This resistance fades over time.
- Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Liara)
- Duration: 5.00 seconds
- Rank 2 - Creates a powerful mass effect field that immobilizes the target for a few seconds, preventing all actions and making it immune to damage. Stasis bypasses all resistances, but targets becomes [sic] more resistant the longer they are exposed to its effects. This resistance fades over time.
- Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Liara)
- Duration: 7.00 seconds
- Rank 3 - Creates a powerful mass effect field that immobilizes the target for a few seconds, preventing all actions and making it immune to damage. Stasis bypasses all resistances, but targets becomes [sic] more resistant the longer they are exposed to its effects. This resistance fades over time.
- Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Liara)
- Duration: 9.00 seconds
Rank 4
Evolves Stasis into one of the following options:
Deep Stasis
- Greatly increases the strength of Stasis, allowing targets to be immobilized for a longer duration.
- Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Liara)
- Duration: 12.00 seconds
Enhanced Stasis
- Increases the penetration of Stasis so that targets build up less resistance to its effects. Targets become immune more slowly.
- Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard) 12.00 seconds (Liara)
- Duration: 9.00 seconds
Player Notes
- Only one Stasis effect can be maintained by the user at a time. If Stasis is used again before an active Stasis effect has run for its full duration, the first Stasis is immediately cancelled, releasing any affected target.
- Once Stasis wears off, the enemy will fall to the ground briefly, where they will receive bonus damage until they get up, at which point only normal damage is received.
- Although the short-term damage boost as Stasis wears off on an enemy is intended, due to a bug (the enemy is considered a non-hostile while in Stasis), difficulty and other factors are not scaled correctly, and as a result, the damage boost is multiplied further than intended (approximately a 4x damage boost, as opposed to the usual 2x modifier). This tremendous damage boost enables players to one-shot many enemies if the short window of opportunity is taken advantage of. However, the end result would be the same for most enemies if the bug did not exist, as you would be able to legitimately one-shot many enemies with the intended damage multiplier, with the exception of sub-bosses like YMIR Mechs and Scions, especially on Insanity. BioWare has not prioritized fixing this bug.[1]
- Targets will build up immunity to Stasis if it is used repeatedly on them in a short period—this prevents a single enemy from being incapacitated indefinitely.
- As target resistance builds, the duration of the Stasis gets shorter and shorter, and eventually the target is not frozen or ragdolled at all.
- Enhanced Stasis will cause enemies to build up resistance more slowly.
- Target resistance gets weaker and weaker the more time passes before Stasis is used on them again—Stasis begins to affect them again, and the duration increases as resistance weakens. Any target's resistance will wear off completely after 20 seconds of not having Stasis used on them.
- Stasis is unique among powers in that it will work despite any defensive layers that an enemy has, with the drawback of not directly dealing damage.
- Sometimes players are unable to select Stasis as a bonus power in the character creation stage after completing the DLC with a previous character. (PC Version)
- Stasis does not affect the vast majority of armored enemies lacking a red health bar (Harbinger, Praetorians, Thresher Maws, the A-61 Mantis Gunship, Geth Colossi, or Oculi).
- Scions are an exception and are susceptible and can even be ragdolled
- The Shadow Broker can be affected but only very briefly, and he is not ragdolled.
- Stasis does affect the final boss inside the Collector Base during the Suicide Mission, though it is not ragdolled.
- Stasis will instantly kill Husks when it wears off. Abominations are ragdolled and eventually recover like most bipedal enemies.
- Like most hitscan (non-projectile) powers, Stasis can hit Collector Guardians through their circular yellow shields, collapsing the shield as well as the Guardian.
- Using Stasis on flying drones (e.g. Rocket Drones) will cause them to die instantly once the stasis wears off.
- Using Stasis on any airborne enemy other than drone types (e.g. enemies suspended by biotics) will freeze them in the air for the duration.
- Using Stasis on the last enemy in the area will sometimes revive fallen squadmates.
Availability
Mass Effect 3
Power Ranks
Rank 1: Stasis
Stop an enemy in its tracks with this powerful mass effect field. No effect on armored targets.
Enemies eventually break out of Stasis after taking major damage.
- Recharge Speed: 12 sec (10 sec multiplayer)
- Duration: 6 sec
Rank 2: Recharge Speed
Increase recharge speed by 25%.
- Recharge Speed: 9.60 sec (8 sec multiplayer)
- Duration: 6 sec
Rank 3: Duration
Increase duration by 30%.
- Recharge Speed: 9.60 sec (8 sec multiplayer)
- Duration: 7.80 sec
Rank 4: Duration/Stasis Strength
|
Duration Increase duration by 40%.
|
Stasis Strength Deal 150% more damage to targets before Stasis breaks. |
Rank 5: Bonus Power/Recharge Speed
|
Bonus Power Use two powers in a row by giving the first power a 30% chance to cause no cooldown. |
Recharge Speed Increase recharge speed by 35%.
|
Rank 6: Bubble/Vulnerability
|
Bubble Unleash a Stasis bubble to trap enemies that walk into it. |
Vulnerability Increase all damage done to target by 50%. |
Player Notes
- Mechanics
- Only one Stasis effect can be maintained by the user at a time. If Stasis is used again before an active Stasis effect has run for its full duration, the first Stasis is immediately cancelled, releasing any affected target(s).
- Only damage to the health of enemies (red bar) is considered "damage done" to enemies in Stasis. To prevent unintentional releases of enemies in Stasis, do not inflict any health damage to them as the damage threshold is extremely low on all difficulties—almost any health damage will break Stasis. The rank 4 Stasis Strength and rank 6 Vulnerability evolutions will increase this threshold, allowing more health damage to be done before Stasis breaks.
- The Vulnerability evolution will increase the damage of a Biotic Explosion.
- Bubble: The rank 6 Stasis Bubble evolution can be seen as an alternative to Singularity that works on most unarmored foes.
- The bubble can hold two enemies at a time in stasis. Additional susceptible enemies inside the field radius will be staggered by the field but cannot be locked in stasis until one or more of the enemies already in stasis have been removed either by killing them or by damaging them sufficiently that they fall out of stasis. A stasis bubble can thus be used to capture three, four, even five opponents if the player and allies are efficient in dealing with them, but never more than two at a time will be "in stasis".
- Bubble Stasis can completely disable even shielded foes that walk into it, whereas Singularity will only cause repeated stuns; the bubble also does not collapse before its full duration runs as Singularity often will.
- The bubble's effects penetrate terrain, turning Stasis into a very effective tool for trapping opponents hiding behind thin or low cover. It also penetrates Guardians' handheld shields, simultaneously removing the shields and freezing their owners (Guardians are unaffected by a non-bubble Stasis that impacts their shields).
- Cerberus troops who debark from shuttles or otherwise "jump in" to combat will not jump if they are directly above a stasis bubble that is currently "full". Instead they will wait patiently and then jump once there is a free spot for them to be frozen in the bubble, or after the bubble collapses. Thus, in many campaign missions where shuttle drops feature prominently, such as Tuchanka: Bomb and Priority: Eden Prime, the Stasis bubble can create a massive tactical advantage.
- The duration of Stasis progressively decreases on the same target, and it will completely stop working on a target that has already been affected three times. Unlike in Mass Effect 2, enemy Stasis resistance and immunity is permanent and never wears off no matter how much time passes.
- The turrets and drones summoned by Geth Primes are immune to Stasis even though they are not armored. The same is true of other enemy drone types such as the Disruption Drones summoned by CAT6 Specialists. Seeker Swarms are also immune.
- The initial impact of Stasis hitting a target directly does deal a very small amount of damage. Even though this might seem insignificant, it does serve to interrupt or delay the recharging of damaged enemy shields or barriers. Note that only a direct hit from Stasis causes this nominal damage, enemies merely walking into an active Stasis bubble won't take damage. Enemies in Stasis can still recharge their shields or barriers as normal if they haven't taken damage after a brief period, especially noticeable on higher difficulties where this period is shortest.
- Though he is not armored, Kai Leng is immune to Stasis.
- Stasis can be used on enemies in mid-air and it should freeze them in place just as in the previous two games, but they can sometimes drop while still in their frozen state.
- Strategies
- Stasis bubble is very useful as a setup for potentially multiple Biotic Explosions when combined with finishing moves like Throw, Shockwave, Nova, etc.
- Enemies in Stasis are very easy to finish off with weapons, especially as lining up headshots is no challenge at all. However, because targets will be released from Stasis after taking only minor health damage, it can be best to try and do as much damage with a single shot or short burst of fire as possible.
- Warp Ammo or Warp Rounds enhances damage thanks to the biotic priming effect of Stasis; this is even more effective with the rank 6 Vulnerability evolution.
- High-damage shotguns and sniper rifles tend to work best in tandem with Stasis for efficient kills. Against shielded targets, tactics for dealing with the shield gate are something to consider especially on higher difficulties; certain weapons aren't hindered by the gate such as the Kishock Harpoon Gun and most pellet-firing weapons.
- Stasis still finds significant usage against the geth as only Geth Primes, Geth Pyros, and Geth Bombers are immune. Stasis is particularly effective against Geth Hunters, though it can be difficult to land a non-bubble Stasis on a cloaked Hunter even with precise aim.
- Reaper units are mostly armored (namely the Banshee, Brute, and Ravager), and therefore immune to Stasis. However, if a Stasis bubble is placed on or near a Ravager, the Swarmers it produces will die instantly upon contact with the Stasis bubble. Placing a bubble over an enemy corpse is an effective trap for Cannibals.
- As of Mass Effect 3: Retaliation, Stasis is invaluable against the Collectors, as only the Scion and Praetorian have armor. This is especially helpful against Possessed Abominations, who have the tendency to wipe out two or more allies with their death explosions if not defeated with headshots. Also, Stasis bubble can be quite useful against Collector Captains and Possessed Captains in the process of summoning Seeker Swarms, as the Swarms can easily block a non-bubble Stasis (and are themselves immune to Stasis).
- The bubble evolution is a powerful tool against Cerberus as only the Atlas, Dragoon and the Combat Engineer's Turret are immune. The Engineers themselves are not immune, however, and can even be halted with Stasis in the middle of setting up a turret, causing the turret to explode. Even a Guardian in range of a Shield Pylon in single-player can be completely disabled.
- Stasis, bubble or not, deserves special mention as one of the most effective powers in the game versus Phantoms, who can't prevent the power from affecting them with their power immunity ability. Once frozen, a Phantom is at the mercy of follow-up attacks.
- In multiplayer, a Stasis bubble can be an effective way of guarding areas or vulnerable allies during objective waves, such as when hacking a device; this is especially effective with the rank 4 Duration evolution.
- Stasis does no damage to enemies except for a very small amount of "impact" damage from direct hits. If the player is attempting to get Stasis points for the multiplayer challenge Stasis Use, the player will have to immobilize enemies with Stasis and then damage them with weapons, powers, or melee attacks to kill them. A small portion of the experience (xp) granted after the kill will go towards the Stasis Use challenge.
Availability
- Single-Player: Liara T'Soni, Commander Shepard (Bonus Power)
- Multiplayer: Asari Adept, Asari Vanguard, Volus Adept
Trivia
- In the mobile game Mass Effect Galaxy, Jacob Taylor can use a variant of this biotic attack.
See also
References
| Mass Effect Talents | |
|---|---|
| Biotic | Barrier • Lift • Singularity • Stasis • Throw • Warp |
| Combat | Assault Rifles • Pistols • Shotguns • Sniper Rifles • Assault Training • Fitness • Basic Armor • Combat Armor • Tactical Armor |
| Tech | Damping • Decryption • Electronics • First Aid • Hacking • Medicine |
| Class | Adept • Asari Scientist • Engineer • Infiltrator • Krogan Battlemaster • Quarian Machinist • Sentinel • Soldier • Turian Agent • Vanguard |
| Player only | Charm • Intimidate • Spectre Training |
| Mass Effect 2 Powers | |
|---|---|
| Ammo | Armor-Piercing Ammo • Cryo Ammo • Disruptor Ammo • Incendiary Ammo • Shredder Ammo • Warp Ammo |
| Biotic | Barrier • Charge • Dominate • Pull • Reave • Shockwave • Singularity • Slam • Stasis • Throw • Warp |
| Combat | Adrenaline Rush • Concussive Shot • Flashbang Grenade • Fortification • Inferno Grenade • Shadow Strike |
| Tech | AI Hacking • Combat Drone • Cryo Blast • Energy Drain • Geth Shield Boost • Incinerate • Neural Shock • Overload • Tactical Cloak • Tech Armor |
| Player only | Assault Mastery • Biotic Mastery • Combat Mastery • Defender • Operative • Tech Mastery • Unity |
| Squadmate Class | Ardat Yakshi • Asari Justicar • Asari Scientist • Cerberus Officer • Cerberus Operative • Turian Rebel • Drell Assassin • Geth Infiltrator • Krogan Berserker • Master Thief • Mercenary Veteran • Quarian Machinist • Salarian Scientist • Subject Zero |