The Reapers

“Calculated mindlessness” best describes the Reaper ground forces, as they throw themselves into the line of fire.

A single wave of Reapers may not seem intimidating at first, particularly early on, until you see Marauders actively upgrading Husks and Cannibals, turning even those basic units into bullet sponges.

Ravagers snipe with their powerful guns from afar, capable of dropping even a maxed-out character in two or three rapid shots, while Brutes bowl through anything and everything just to get a piece of you, assuming the Banshees didn’t reach you first.

During later waves, the Reapers relentlessly hound players across whole maps with a fervor not found in the other forces.

Husk

The basic Reaper ground unit, lone Husks are not threatening. They simply try to close the range with the players and engage them in damaging melee holds.

They are not particularly resilient and are highly vulnerable to incendiary techs or ammunition.

However, Husks are threatening when they work in conjunction with other more dangerous units. Surprisingly fast, Husks can ambush players from their flanks.

While you try to shake off a Husk, you are vulnerable to every other Reaper unit in the vicinity.

Cannibal

Hideous piles of indoctrinated flesh on legs, Cannibals are a step up from Husks and can fight at range with their modified arm cannons.

Their unique trait is that they live up to their names, crouching near the corpses of fallen Reaper troops, consuming them, and gaining layers or armored protection.

They can even consume the bodies of downed players. Fortunately, they are vulnerable while doing this, so players can deny them a chance to become greater threats with relative ease.

However, during running firefights between objectives, you may not have the time to ensure that each Cannibal doesn’t get an uncontested meal, meaning players can suddenly find themselves slammed by a wave of harder-to-kill Cannibals while also dealing with anything else in the area.

As with the Husks, incendiary powers go a long way toward dispatching a Cannibal, though upgraded ones may resist this.

Try freezing their cannibalized armor with Cryo Blast, if it’s available.

Marauder

These unfortunate turians fill the heavy combat support role in the Reaper forces.

Resilient even after their kinetic barriers have been disabled, Marauders still retain portions of their combat training from a previous life, taking cover and working in tandem with other forces.

Their Phaeston Assault Rifles are incredibly accurate, making a rush on a Marauder risky if they’ve got a bead on you.

What makes Marauders particularly threatening is that they can heal and even improve Husks and Cannibals, making them tougher to kill.

The process of this does leave a Marauder vulnerable, so if you catch one in the act, put it down decisively.

Unchecked, Marauders can take a fairly basic Reaper force and turn it into a graver threat.

Brute

The Reaper Brute exemplifies the nature of their tactics: crushing the enemy with overwhelming force.

Even a krogan improved entirely for survival would be hard pressed to withstand the beatings of a Brute.

They are not only strong, but also faster than their size would have you believe, bounding across the battlefield and delivering powerful swipes of their claws, easily shattering the defenses of any player.

It takes a well-placed headshot with a sniper rifle to even slow one down.

As with any other hostile target with an Armor health bar, incendiary tactics can help bring a Brute down faster, but the one true way to expedite their departure is with a Cobra Missile, and players will probably want to save those for something worse.

Ravager and Swarmer

In some ways, Ravagers can be worse than just about anything else in the Reaper arsenal.

Tough to kill for their size, Ravagers come to the field armed with a pair of high-powered cannons that can flatten a player in seconds.

Fortunately, these weapons telegraph themselves by projecting visible blue targeting lasers at their chosen victim before firing a barrage.

Multiple Ravagers can be utterly devastating at range, turning Hacking situations sour very quickly as their cannon shells’ area of effect punishes players for being too close to each other.

Making things worse are the fact that Ravagers act as the transports for Swarmers, which are annoying little bugs that are easy to kill individually but are also easy to ignore when other more obvious threats have your attention and can do damage to inattentive players, denying their shields a chance to recharge.

Banshee

Banshees announce their arrival in two distinct ways: a scream that lives up to their name, and a scream of surprise from the player they just executed.

These former asari Ardat-Yakshi retain all of the Biotic power they possessed in life, floating over the battlefields in a deceptively slow manner, protected from incoming fire with their powerful Biotic barrier.

They may seem slow, but be extremely careful of how close you get to a Banshee; they also retained the ability to use a Biotic Dash similar to what asari players have available, only it is much faster, has greater range, and can be used in very rapid succession.

Should a Banshee close distance with a player, they will casually lift their victim into the air before stabbing an arm clean through their body for an instant kill.

Banshees can be surprisingly quiet while closing in on an unsuspecting player, often sealing the deal with a quick series of Biotic Dashes leading into their fatal melee strikes.

Do not feel hesitant to break out the Cobras for multiple Banshees, especially during Extraction!