Biotic combo's are easy to spot from the big blue explosions and bodies flying everywhere, where as tech bursts can be much more subtle and may not even be given credit for the kill. The one thing that may not be obvious from the explanations below is the kill messages for Fire and Cryo explosions. You'll notice the explosions once you look for them - however you'll still see that an enemy was killed with overload (as an example). This is a programmatic error in my opinion:
What the game does with biotic explosions - Enemy gets hit with warp > enemy gets hit with throw > throw doesn't do direct damage (it does force damage which is calculated differently) > biotic explosion triggered > biotic explosion does direct damage > biotic explosion gets credit for the kill
What the game does with fire/cryo explosions - Enemy gets hit with incinerate > enemy gets hit with overload > enemy does from overload damage > overload gets credit for the kill > fire explosion triggers > kills nearby enemy > fire explosion gets credit for the kill.
Said in English - the enemy you kill to start the fire/cryo explosion doesn't die from the explosion, it dies from the ability that triggered it. This confused me, as I thought the explosions weren't happening because they didn't get credit for the initial kill(s).
Anyway, here's a reference I amassed from a number of sources including other fan sites and the Bioware official forums:
Biotic Combos
- Singularity --> Warp, Throw, Shockwave, Charge, Nova, Cluster Grenade, Reave
- Stasis --> Warp, Throw, Shockwave, Charge, Nova, Cluster Grenade, Reave
- Pull --> Warp, Throw, Shockwave, Charge, Nova, Cluster Grenade, Reave
- Warp --> Throw, Shockwave, Charge, Nova, Cluster Grenade, Reave
- Lift Grenade --> Warp, Throw, Shockwave, Charge, Nova, Cluster Grenade, Reave
- Shockwave (only with Rank 6 Lifting Shockwave enhancement) --> Warp, Throw, Charge, Nova, Cluster Grenade, Reave
- Reave --> Warp, Throw, Shockwave, Charge, Nova, Cluster Grenade
Tech Combos
FIRE EXPLOSION - Can be set up by: Incinerate, Carnage, Inferno Grenade, Incendiary Ammo- Can be detonated with any Biotic/Tech/Combat powers that can deal direct damage (except for the powers that are used to set up the combo).
- Effect: Enemies effected by any of the fire based powers, cause an AoE fire explosion once they are killed by a direct damage power.
- Note: Enemy MUST be killed by the second power in order to cause a Fire Explosion. It will not work if an enemy is hit by Incinerate > Overload, and survives. So, in this case, Overload would have to do sufficient damage to outright kill a burning enemy in order to cause a Fire Explosion.
- Can be detonated with any Biotic/Tech/Combat powers that can deal direct damage.
- Effect: Frozen enemies killed by damage based powers cause an AoE cryo explosion freezing any enemy that is nearby.
- Note: Same as Fire Explosion, frozen enemies MUST be killed by the second power in order to trigger Cryo Explosion.
- Can be detonated by any Biotic/Tech/Combat powers that can deal direct damage (except for the powers that are used to set up the combo).
- Effect: Enemies effected by electricity based powers, discharge multiple electricity bolts to nearby enemies, when hit with direct damage powers. Effect is similar to Overload's Chain Overload upgrade.
- Note: Unlike Fire & Cryo Explosion combos, this one doesn't require an enemy to be killed by the second power. E.G. enemy hit by Overload > Incinerate will produce Tech Burst, whether he is killed by Incinerate or not.
