This article is about the ability in Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3. For the skill in Mass Effect: Andromeda, see Warp (skill).

Warp is a biotic ability in Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3. It works by creating rapidly shifting mass effect fields that shred a target apart, similar in function to the disruptor torpedoes used by starships. This effect also prevents most affected organic targets from healing or regenerating their health.

Mass Effect

Warp is a biotic talent in Mass Effect. Warp lowers the armor (damage protection) on a target, increasing the damage the enemy takes to their health (not shields), as well as dealing damage over time that ignores any shielding the target has.

Warp is extremely useful on Hardcore and Insanity difficulties against krogan because it helps stop them from regenerating, but is also invaluable against larger enemies like Geth Armatures or Geth Colossi when engaging them on foot. Using Warp gives a better chance of survival without using the Mako's mass accelerator cannon, which increases the amount of XP gained (if not playing Legendary Edition). Warp is also basically the only effective way to cut through the massive boost to damage resistance provided by the Immunity ability. Be advised that only one source of damage protection reduction can apply to an enemy at a time (i.e. they do not stack). The damage vulnerability effect that is applied first takes priority, even if it is a weaker effect. Therefore, if you want Warp's armor-weakening to apply to a target, use it first before Overload, which applies a similar but much weaker effect.

Certain enemies, like some asari biotics, also possess Warp, which they can use to make you and your entire squad more vulnerable to damage as well as depleting health, ignoring any shield protections. Even with shields still up, small arms fire can deal significant damage to your party's health because Warp greatly increases the usually minor damage from kinetic projectiles that barriers do not prevent. You will know if you're under the effects of Warp if you see a shimmering effect distorting your vision slightly and notice your health bar decreasing and your character or allies grunting in pain. Having a high level of biotic resistance can shorten the duration of the Warp, and using Immunity can counteract the extra vulnerability to damage.

Note: There is a bug where Warp can fail to affect more than one target; see the Bugs section below for details.

Talent Ranks

1. Warp: Inflicts 6 damage every second and lowers damage protection by 50%. Radius: 4 m. Duration: 7 s. Recharge Time: 60 s. Accuracy Cost: 80%.
2. Increases Warp's duration to 8 seconds.
3. Increases Warp's duration to 9 seconds.
4. Increases Warp's duration to 10 seconds. Unlocks Barrier (Vanguard).
5. Increases Warp's duration to 11 seconds.
6. Advanced Warp: Inflicts 8 damage every second and lowers damage protection by 60%. Radius: 5 m. Duration: 13 s. Recharge Time: 50 s. Accuracy Cost: 80%.
7. Increases Warp's duration to 14 seconds. Unlocks Singularity (Adept, Asari Scientist), Throw (Krogan Battlemaster).
8. Increases Warp's duration to 15 seconds.
9. Increases Warp's duration to 16 seconds.
10. Increases Warp's duration to 17 seconds.
11. Increases Warp's duration to 18 seconds.
12. Master Warp: Inflicts 10 damage every second and lowers damage protection by 75%. Radius: 6 m. Duration: 20 s. Recharge Time: 40 s. Accuracy Cost: 80%.

Classes

The following classes can use the Warp talent:

• Adept
• Vanguard
• Krogan Battlemaster
• Asari Scientist

Mass Effect 2

Rips enemies apart at the molecular level and stops health regeneration. Effective against armor and biotic barriers.

Power Ranks

• Rank 1 - A mass effect field damages enemy targets and stops health regeneration. Detonates any biotic powers already affecting the targets (such as Pull or Singularity), causing further damage. Effective against armor and biotic barriers.
  • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 12.00 seconds (others)
  • Damage: 120.00 points
  • Detonation Radius: 3.00 meters
  • Detonation Force: 400.00 newtons
• Rank 2 - A mass effect field damages enemy targets and stops health regeneration. Detonates any biotic powers already affecting the targets (such as Pull or Singularity), causing further damage. Effective against armor and biotic barriers.
  • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 12.00 seconds (others)
  • Damage: 140.00 points
  • Detonation Radius: 4.00 meters
  • Detonation Force: 550.00 newtons
• Rank 3 - A mass effect field damages enemy targets and stops health regeneration. Detonates any biotic powers already affecting the targets (such as Pull or Singularity), causing further damage. Effective against armor and biotic barriers.
  • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 12.00 seconds (others)
  • Damage: 160.00 points
  • Detonation Radius: 5.00 meters
  • Detonation Force: 700.00 newtons

Rank 4

Evolves Warp into one of the following options:

Heavy Warp

• Your Warp damage is hugely increased.
  • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 12.00 seconds (others)
  • Damage: 200.00 points
  • Detonation Radius: 5.00 meters
  • Detonation Force: 700.00 newtons

Unstable Warp

• Increases the blast radius when Warp detonates biotic effects.
  • Recharge Time: 6.00 seconds (Shepard); 9.00 seconds (others)
  • Damage: 160.00 points
  • Detonation Radius: 7.00 meters
  • Detonation Force: 700.00 newtons

Player Notes

• When fired by Shepard, this power travels in the direction of the cross-hair, arcing towards the target. When fired by a squad member, this power will travel in a straight line, instantly hitting the target.
• Warp deals double damage to barriers and armor and permanently stops health regeneration of enemies such as krogan and vorcha if they are damaged by it with their health unprotected.
• Combo Detonations: Warp has the unique ability to detonate targets suspended or made airborne by certain other biotic powers.
  • The detonated target takes double damage from Warp, and all targets within the detonation radius receive full damage, regardless of any protection they might have. If they are also being affected by a biotic power, then they also take double damage.
  • Despite the in-game description, Warp can only detonate targets successfully lifted by Pull, Singularity, and the lifting portion of Slam.
  • Only targets lifted by biotics, not merely affected or ragdolled by biotics, take double damage (i.e. not targets taking damage from Reave or under the influence of Dominate). Targets that are ragdolled by other powers (e.g. frozen or affected by Neural Shock) likewise do not take increased damage from either Warp or Warp explosions.
  • Unprotected enemies caught within the detonation radius will be knocked down and can be sent flying across rooms and over ledges at higher ranks.
• Warp has a knockback or staggering effect when it connects, even against most protected enemies. Enemies who are knocked back have their current attack cancelled. At higher ranks, Warp can even knock back Harbinger and YMIR Mechs. Only the heaviest of enemies, such as the Praetorian, are immune to this knock back effect.
• Warp can be used to destroy breakable objects. This can be used to deprive enemies of cover or detonate explosives.
• Unstable Warp has a 33% faster recharge time for squadmates than Heavy Warp, which only deals 25% more damage than Unstable. However, Heavy Warp's combo detonations are more damaging even if smaller, and it can still be better for quickly finishing or stripping protections from individual light or medium foes. The faster recharge of Unstable Warp is only going to be beneficial if the squadmate is using their abilities without any delay.
• Certain enemies in Mass Effect 2 such as Eclipse Vanguards and Harbinger can fire Warp-like biotic projectiles which deal damage and stun, but these attacks do not prevent friendly health regeneration or healing.

Availability

• Adept
• Sentinel
• Liara T'Soni
• Miranda Lawson
• Thane Krios

Mass Effect 3

Power Ranks

Rank 1: Warp

Rip your enemy apart at a molecular level.

Stop targeted enemy from regenerating health.
Weaken armor.

• Recharge Speed: 8 sec (Shepard), 16 sec others
• Damage: 250
• Duration: 10 sec

Rank 2: Recharge Speed

Increase recharge speed by 25%.

• Recharge Speed: 6.40 sec (Shepard)
• Damage: 250
• Duration: 10 sec

Rank 3: Damage

Increase damage by 20%.

• Recharge Speed: 6.40 sec (Shepard)
• Damage: 300
• Duration: 10 sec

Rank 4: Damage/Detonate

Damage Increase damage by 30%. Recharge Speed: 6.40 sec (Shepard) Damage: 375 Duration: 10 sec

Detonate Increase force, damage, and impact radius of combo detonations by 50%.

Rank 5: Lasting Damage/Expose

Lasting Damage Increase damage by 40%. Increase duration by 60%. Recharge Speed: 6.40 sec (Shepard) Damage: 475 (Damage), 400 (Detonate) Duration: 16 sec

Expose Increase weapon damage taken by a target by 15%. Increase power damage taken by a target by 15% for 10 seconds. Recharge Speed: 6.40 sec (Shepard) Damage: 375 (Damage), 300 (Detonate) Duration: 10 sec

Rank 6: Pierce/Recharge Speed

Pierce Increase damage to barriers and armor by 50%. Weaken armored targets by an additional 25%.

Recharge Speed Increase recharge speed by 35%. Recharge Speed: 5 sec (Shepard) Damage: 475 (Damage), 400 (Detonate) [Lasting Damage], 375 (Damage), 300 (Detonate) [Expose] Duration: 16 sec (Lasting Damage), 10 sec (Expose)

Player Notes

Mechanics

• Warp does 1.5x damage against armor, 2x damage against barriers, but only half damage against shields.^[1]
• Warp actually does only 75% of its damage up-front, the other 25% is dealt as a lengthy damage-over-time effect.
• Contrary to its in-game description, Warp does not halt enemy health regeneration (e.g. Cannibals that have consumed a corpse, or Phantoms after they cloak) either temporarily like Reave or permanently like Incendiary Ammo.
• Expose: The debuff from the "Expose" evolution works with all weapon damage, but only the damage of biotic powers is also enhanced; non-biotic powers such as Overload, Tech Armor, Inferno Grenade, or Concussive Shot do not deal increased damage.
  • Expose does not improve the damage of Power Combos of any type, or melee attacks.
  • The up-front damage of Warp does not benefit from its own rank 5 Expose evolution, though the damage-over-time effect does.^[2]
  • Expose will improve the damage of the user's Warp when used again on the same target once it is under that user's Warp effect. This stacks only once. The Expose debuff can also stack once with the Expose-evolved Warp of another user, e.g. Liara in single-player or another character in multiplayer.^[3]
• Armor Reduction: Warp will decrease the damage mitigation afforded to armored (yellow bar) enemies. It does not allow penetration of armor plating protecting enemies such as Brutes, or Cannibals and Husks after they are given plating by a Marauder.
  • The baseline armor reduction is 25%, though this is not stated explicitly, only implied by the wording of the rank 6 Pierce evolution. Taking that evolution increases the reduction to 50%.
  • The armor-weakening effect of Warp is party friendly and lasts as long as the damage-over-time effect is still ticking.
  • The effect will apply against enemies that still had shields or barriers active when hit by Warp, as long as the protection breaks and Warp is still active.
  • The armor-weakening will stack additively with the armor-weakening effect of another Warp cast by a different character (either a squad member in single-player or another player character in multiplayer, but it will not stack with repeat castings by the same user.^[4]
• The duration component of Warp affects the various debuffs that Warp can apply as well as the damage-over-time aspect of Warp. The base duration of all those effects is 10 seconds.
• The rank 6 Pierce evolution is a multiplicative bonus that makes Warp do 2.25x damage against armor and 3x damage against barriers.
• If Warp is used to detonate a Tech Burst, Fire Explosion, or Cryo Explosion, it still primes the target for a Biotic Explosion by another biotic detonator power.
• Despite the in-game wording not specifying, the rank 4 Detonate evolution only enhances the damage of Biotic Explosions and has no effect on the damage of the other types of Power Combos. The damage is increased regardless of whether Warp is used as a primer or as detonator for the combo.^[5][6][7]
• Detonating Warp will not cancel the effects of the Expose and Pierce evolutions.
• As of the latest patch, Warp has a buggy interaction with Incendiary Ammo; see the bugs section below
• Infantry enemies that die while affected by Warp burn up without leaving a corpse.

Strategies

• Warp is less effective against barriers than in Mass Effect 2. In general, use Overload to strip barriers and shields and leave Warp for weakening armored enemies. However, detonating the Biotic Explosion that Warp will prime on any target can deal heavy damage to barriers and armor in a large area.
• Unarmored enemies will stagger upon being hit and most unprotected ones will panic briefly, similarly to when hit by Incinerate. This can give you time to carefully line up a headshot.
• Using Warp on targets primed by other biotic source powers, such as Singularity or Reave, will cause a Biotic Explosion. Warp can also serve as a primer power, setting up a biotic combo that can be detonated with any other biotic detonator, though only if it didn't serve as a biotic combo detonator when initially cast. This is due to rules regarding how powers that can both prime and detonate combos can't be used to continuously chain combos of the same type (i.e. you can't keep alternating Reave and Warp on the same target for a Biotic Explosion on each cast). Thus, Warp can be used to detonate a non-biotic combo and simultaneously set up a biotic combo on that target, but it can't detonate a biotic combo and then set up another biotic combo with a single use.
• Warp is one of only three powers that can both set up and detonate Biotic Explosions on any enemy at any time without needing any special evolutions for that (the other two being Reave and Annihilation Field). This makes it very useful in a biotics-heavy party.
• The damage-over-time of Warp is useful for preventing enemy shields or barriers from starting to recharge, especially on higher difficulties where the delay before recharging begins is much shorter.

Availability

• Single Player: Adept, Sentinel, Liara T'Soni, Samara, Miranda Lawson, Jack
• Multiplayer: Asari Adept, Asari Huntress Infiltrator, Asari Valkyrie Sentinel, Batarian Slasher Adept, Human Adept, Human Sentinel, Krogan Shaman Adept, Turian Sentinel

Bugs

• In Mass Effect, Warp, along with the Throw and Lift talents, suffer from a bug where they can fail to apply to more than one target, even when multiple targets are within the radius of effect. This bugged behavior occurs when the player targets an enemy with the reticle directly over said enemy (i.e. the enemy is in the very center of the HUD). This occurs for the player's own Throw, Lift, or Warp, or a squadmate's that the player is ordering them to use. The only known workaround is to try not to have the targeting reticle directly over an enemy when using one of these biotics.^[8]
• Contrary to its in-game description, Warp in Mass Effect 3 does not halt enemy health regeneration (e.g. Cannibals that have consumed a corpse, or Phantoms after they cloak).
• In Mass Effect 3, Warp has a buggy interaction with Incendiary Ammo (which itself has a buggy interaction with itself); both erroneously use the same damage effect, and once Incendiary Ammo is applied on an enemy under the effect of Warp, both damage-over-time effects get combined into an overly-damaging 3 second damage-over-time that is still technically considered by the game as "Warp", making the ammo use Warp's damage modifiers, which will let Incendiary Ammo do damage to shields and barriers.^[9] In addition, the buggy damage-stacking of Incendiary Ammo will still work, multiplying the effect.

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

Mass Effect 3 Powers
Ammo	Armor-Piercing Ammo • Cryo Ammo • Disruptor Ammo • Incendiary Ammo • Warp Ammo
Biotic	Annihilation Field • Barrier • Biotic Focus • Biotic Hammer • Biotic Orbs • Biotic Protector • Biotic Slash • Biotic Sphere • Charge • Cluster Grenade • Dark Channel • Dark Sphere • Dominate • Flare • Lash • Lift Grenade • Nova • Poison Strike • Pull • Reave • Seeker Swarm • Shockwave • Singularity • Slam • Smash • Stasis • Throw • Warp • Warp Ammo
Combat	Adrenaline Rush • Arc Grenade • Ballistic Blades • Blade Armor • Bloodlust • Cain Trip Mine • Carnage • Concussive Shot • Devastator Mode • Fortification • Frag Grenade • Hawk Missile Launcher • Inferno Grenade • Marksman • Multi-Frag Grenade • Nightshade Blades • Phase Disruptor • Proximity Mine • Recon Mine • Repair Matrix • Sticky Grenade • Stimulant Pack
Tech	Armor-Piercing Arrows • Combat Drone • Concussive Arrows • Cryo Blast • Decoy • Defense Drone • Defense Matrix • Electric Slash • Electrical Hammer • Energy Drain • Flamer • Geth Turret • Havoc Strike • Hex Shield • Homing Grenade • Hunter Mode • Incinerate • Overload • Sabotage • Sentry Turret • Shadow Strike • Shield Boost • Siege Pulse • Snap Freeze • Submission Net • Supply Pylon • Tactical Cloak • Tactical Scan • Tech Armor
Fitness	Fitness (Adept) • Fitness (Engineer) • Fitness (Infiltrator) • Fitness (Sentinel) • Fitness (Soldier) • Fitness (Vanguard)
Fitness (multiplayer)	Advanced Hardware • Ancient Warrior • Fitness Module • Hardened Platform • Omni-Bow Mastery • Rage • Shield Mastery • Sword Mastery • T5-V Internal Systems • Venom Gauntlets • Warlord Rage
Player Class	Assault Mastery • Biotic Mastery • Combat Mastery • Offensive Mastery • Operational Mastery • Tech Mastery
Player Class (multiplayer)	Alliance Training • Armiger Legion • Asari Huntress • Asari Justicar • Asari Valkyrie • Batarian Enforcer • Drell Assassin • Elite Mercenary • Geth Juggernaut • Krogan Battlemaster • Krogan Berserker • Krogan Warlord • N7 Demolisher • N7 Fury • N7 Paladin • N7 Shadow • N7 Slayer • Networked AI • Phoenix Training • Quarian Defender • Salarian Operative • T5-V Battlesuit • Turian Veteran • Unshackled AI • Vengeful Ancient • Volus Training • Vorcha Resilience
Squadmate Class	Alliance Admiral • Alliance Officer • Arms Master • Asari Justicar • Biotic Boss • Cerberus Officer • Cerberus Operative • Krogan Battlemaster • Krogan Berserker • Master Thief • Mercenary Veteran • Pure Biotic • Quarian Machinist • Subject Zero • Turian Huntress • Turian Rebel • Unshackled AI • Vengeful Ancient