Analyzing and ranking the best weapons on your squadmates (Mass Effect 3)
Apr 23, 2024 9:10:31 GMT
KrrKs, RedCaesar97, and 3 more like this
Post by lesser on Apr 23, 2024 9:10:31 GMT
About half a year ago, I started making thorough tests on what the most effective weapons for your squadmates are in Mass Effect 3. I posted my findings on Youtube and Reddit and was then told that I should post them here too. I forgot about it, then suddenly remembered it a few months later, made an account here, forgot about it again for two months and now here we are.
General testing and attempts to maintain consistency
Simply put, I went through the Noveria Fighter Base mission on Insanity by using my squadmates to deal most of the damage and measured how long it took with every weapon in the game. I started the countdown as soon as I could control my Shepard and ended it when the Atlas was destroyed. Just for fun, I also measured separately how long it took them to kill the Atlas.
There were a few exceptions where I allowed myself to deal damage:
Despite these exceptions, I am confident that at least 95% of total damage dealt came entirely from my squad and not myself.
The level can be divided into five parts and I tried my best at doing them the exact same way for consistency.
When selecting the squadmates, I prioritized their damage boosts through ammo powers, outfits and passive skills and picked those with the highest bonuses. Other than ammo powers and defensive abilities (Fortification and Defense Matrix), squadmates never used any other powers. The exception to this was Liara and her Stasis that I used against shielded enemies to make up for her low damage boosts. My Shepard was a Sentinel with max damage reduction Tech Armor and Fortification that used himself to draw the enemies' fire.
Every test was done with a Level V variant of the weapon and (with some exceptions that will be mentioned down the line) used the same mods within their categories.
The numbers in the brackets refer to the mission times. The first number is the total mission time while the second number is the Atlas kill (mission time/Atlas kill).
Assault Rifles
Squadmates: Garrus (175% damage + 30% vs Armor and Health) and Ashley (135% damage + 15% vs Health and 60% vs Shields)
Mods: High-Velocity Barrel 5 (1.35m Piercing, 90% Armor mitigation) and Mag Size 5 (+80% Mag Size). For the explosive weapons (Chakram, Striker, Falcon, Adas), High-Velocity Barrel 5 was replaced with Extended Barrel 3 (+20% damage).
Dropped Out: Argus and N7 Valkyrie - Both weapons lose their burst-fire functionalities and become extremely weak single shot weapons. Neither of these got past the landing pad in less than 10 minutes and struggled to kill even a basic Trooper frozen solid with Cryo Blast.
15. Chakram Thrower (22:44/3:39) - The charge functionality goes unused and users return to cover after every shot. DPS is therefore very poor but both the initial impact and the resulting explosion stagger enemies. In a realistic scenario, this would leave them very vulnerable to your own attacks so it definitely has a niche use.
14. Phaeston (22:37/2:39) - I know people love to give this to Garrus, but it really isn't that great. It's fired in pretty short bursts which isn't how this low-damage, high fire rate weapon is meant to be used.
13. Saber (20:52/2:50) - Probably controversial and before my testing I did perceive it to be good, but the Saber's biggest flaw is that your friends return to cover after every shot. Might be worth considering if you want better survivability for your team, though.
12. Geth Pulse Rifle (20:29/3:42) - Similar to the Phaeston, but the higher mag size means that less time is spent reloading and more time shooting. The damage is so low that I'm not sure if the High-Velocity Barrel and Cryo Blast even made a difference for the Atlas' Armor.
11. Vindicator (19:41/2:36) - Very generic, even with it firing one or two rounds more per burst.
10. Striker (19:28/3:43) - Squadmates don't make use of the increasing fire rate gimmick but it's still fired faster than the Chakram and shots make basic enemies stagger. Pretty decent up until the Atlas where it managed to have the worst performance out of all the ARs.
9. Mattock (19:19/2:18) - Fired in bursts, seemingly faster than what the player can achieve. Consistent fire seems to be able to stagger unshielded enemies more frequently.
8. Harrier (16:17/1:45) - If it wasn't fired in such short bursts, then it might resemble the gun that almost broke Multiplayer. As it is right now, it feels pretty watered down.
7. Avenger (15:32/1:48) - Imagine my surprise when I saw this outperforming the Harrier. Fired in much longer bursts and your allies won't always return to cover after finishing the burst and immediately follow it up with another. When paired with the very fast reload, it's surprisingly competent.
6. Particle Beam (12:41/1:04) - Damage starts out low but increases dramatically with continuous fire. Thankfully, this is the one weapon gimmick that your team makes full use of and it shows as it's the first weapon on the list that can kill with a single burst. Can still pierce cover with sufficient mods and it's needed to ensure the damage increasing effect doesn't go to waste. Could possibly be higher if there wasn't cover that would decrease damage.
5. Falcon (12:09/1:51) - Shots explode when near the enemy and induce stagger. This means that shots from weapons that would have flown overhead will instead force the enemy out of cover. Excellent balance between DPS and crowd control. Also fired at it's max fire rate, unlike the Chakram and Striker, and the two times faster Atlas kill time shows that it's in an entirely different league. Just don't forget the Extended Clip mod as the default mag size is only four.
4. Revenant (11:54/0:54) - Higher-than-average DPS and fired in very long bursts. Reload time is pretty long though and it's why it didn't make it to top three. A reliable choice that isn't overpowered.
3. Adas (8:56/1:04) - Shots can't pierce cover, move slowly and will occasionally go to waste when impacting nearby objects, but when one does land, it staggers and leaves the target vulnerable for the following barrage. Shots have a bit of AoE damage and deal additional damage against shields. Can be obtained very early for only 10k.
2. Lancer (8:37/0:54) - The biggest surprise in the category. The main appeal of regenerating ammo is of no use for the team but its' DPS is surprisingly high, comparable to the Revenant but without the reloads. The overheating mechanic doesn't appear to affect squadmates at all.
1. Typhoon (6:03/0:08) - You were likely expecting this but even I was taken aback by the performance when comparing the times. I am convinced there are some bugged damage calculations in play as the thing deals far more damage than it would ever deal on a max damage boost Shepard. Trivializes practically everything in the game. How are we losing to the Reapers when stuff like this exists?
Sniper Rifles
Squadmates: Garrus (175% damage + 30% vs Armor and Health) and Ashley (135% damage + 15% vs Health and 60% vs Shields)
Mods: High-Velocity Barrel 4 (+22,5% damage, 0.95m piercing, 55% Armor mitigation) and Concentration Module 5 (+15% damage)
Note: Squadmates use most Sniper Rifles differently than other weapons. Normally, your team will not fire through cover when the enemy is hiding behind it, even when they should be able to piercing effects. They will either not fire at all or fire above cover. With most Sniper Rifles however, your team will actively attempt to hit the enemy through cover (even when the weapon isn't capable of that). This is most prevalent with the single-shot Snipers that manage to maintain a consistent rate of fire.
Note 2: Most Sniper Rifles gain a damage penalty when the player fires them unscoped, I believe this can happen to your squadmates too. Occasionally, most often at closer ranges, the weapon simply didn't deal as much damage as I'd expect, even when there was no cover that would decrease it. Upon rewatching my footage, I came to the conclusion that this is due to the damage penalty. There is no different animation or anything else for your squadmates that would indicate this, the only way to see it is to just watch the Health bars.
11. Mantis (17:19/1:38) - Damage is too low for a one-shot kill (unless it's a headshot) and there are no special gimmicks. Despite the bad stats, note how it still outperformed more than half of the Assault Rifles, which I think goes to show how much more efficiently your team will fight when actively shooting through cover.
10. Indra (16:58/2:36) - Not terrible against basic enemies at range but the low damage ensured the worst performance in the category against the Atlas and the high damage penalty made it sub-optimal at closer ranges.
9. Kishock (16:06/1:04) - The charge functionality is not used. Typically a two-shot kill against unshielded enemies but the reload is very fast. Bleeding damage prevents enemy shields from recharging. Can't pierce cover, even though your team thinks it does, so there's a lot of wasted shots that prevents it from being higher.
8. Raptor (15:01/1:36) - Fired in bursts and the fire rate is higher than what the player can achieve. Damage penalty is pretty low so it's not as crippled at close range as the other Rifles.
7. Valiant (14:16/1:27) - Damage is JUST a smidge too low for a two-shot kill and the fire rate is lower than what the player can achieve. Very disappointing given its' price and potential performance in your hands.
6. Incisor (13:55/1:51) - Two-to-three burst kill, each burst has a few more shots to it and the atrocious recoil doesn't affect your team at all. I consider this to be one of the worst weapons in the game, so seeing it beat the Valiant was nice.
5. Javelin (12:57/0:48) - Capable of one-shot kills, even through cover.
4. Black Widow (12:55/0:45) - Two-shot kill with a little room for error. Fired at its' max fire rate when enemy is out in the open and slower when they're in cover while making use of the penetrative capabilities.
3. Widow (12:20/0:53) - Pretty much identical to the Javelin. In fact, looking at the footage side by side, the Javelin, Black Widow and Widow have eerily similar performances.
2. Krysae (11:02/1:19) - Shots can't pierce cover, did nothing against the Guardian and the constant explosions make it difficult to keep track of the battlefield. Despite these flaws, the fact that it made it to the second spot speaks volumes of the raw damage output. If cover wasn't involved, this thing would take the top spot. Can be obtained very early and for cheap.
1. Viper (10:29/1:02) - Damage isn't spectacular (three-shot kill) but it's constant as the team makes use of the potential fire rate, unlike the Valiant. Excellent balance between the high fire rate and high damage Rifles. Damage penalty for hipfiring isn't as severe. Can be obtained very early and for free.
Sub-Machine Guns
Squadmates: Liara and EDI (both only get a 20% boost from their passives), Liara's Warp Ammo (+37,37% damage vs Health and Armor, +25% Armor mitigation, +75% damage vs anyone under Warp and Stasis (?)), had to be shared with EDI for half the effects.
Mods: Mag Upgrade 5 (+80% mag size) and High-Velocity Barrel 5 (0.65m piercing, 90% Armor mitigation)
Dropped out: Hornet - Team doesn't make use of the short delay between bursts and often take three full seconds for a follow-up.
6. Shuriken (23:50/4.03) - The delay between bursts doesn't seem to be set in stone, sometimes it's several seconds, other times your team will do a follow-up immediately. Damage is low, either way.
5. Locust (21:00/4:35) - The high accuracy of the Locust essentially goes to waste on your squadmates who don't seem to suffer from adverse recoil at all. We are therefore only left with a mediocre gun that has a low (initial) mag size of 20.
4. Tempest (14:30/2:03) - Massive step-up from the Locust. Fired in long bursts that are almost enough to kill on their own.
3. Geth Plasma SMG (11:02/0:55) - This thing is strange. It's another low damage, high fire rate gun, but it's fired in short bursts. Despite that, these short bursts are enough to kill enemies on their own. I'm convinced there are some bugged damage calculations in play here as the Atlas kill time is bizarrely fast for a weapon with such low base damage. Maybe it's a thing that affects the spin-up weapons? Reminds me of the Typhoon.
2. N7 Hurricane (10:45/1:03) - The absurd recoil doesn't affect your friends and the high damage output is made full use out of. Chews through the mag very quickly though, to the point where it might be better with both the Mag Size and Heat Sink mods.
1. Blood Pack Punisher (10:12/0:45) - Solid damage output along with a special round that occasionally fires. The special round deals increased damage and doesn't throw off your team's aim. Does just about everything you'd want an SMG to do and then more.
Shotguns
Squadmates: James (+75% damage) and Tali (+45% damage), James had to share his Incendiary Ammo (+32% damage vs Armor and Health) with Tali for half the effects.
Mods: Smart Choke 5 (+50% accuracy) and High-Velocity Barrel 5 (+25% damage, +65% Armor mitigation)
Note: Due to the nature of most Shotguns, I was more proactive with managing the team by making them move much closer to enemies to get the most damage.
13. Geth Plasma Shotgun (23:18/2:48) - Charge mechanic isn't used at all and there is a weird overheating animation between each shot which greatly reduces the fire rate. Takes at least three hits to kill, shots can't pierce cover and the large projectiles can dissipate on nearby cover.
12. Venom (19:30/1:32) - Fired faster than the GPS while still maintaining the three-shot kill. Charge mechanic isn't used and the slow projectiles can miss at range.
11. Graal (18:25/1:53) - I often see the Graal recommended for your squadmates but it really isn't great. To the surprise of no one, the charge mechanic isn't used. The very precise nature of the spread works against the weapon as your team seems to be hard-coded to miss with their first shots, so near-misses (which would deal at least some damage on the more traditional shotties) will do nothing for the Graal.
10. Reegar (18:23/0:55) - The absolutely gargantuan damage output goes to waste and not just because the weapon does nothing outside of spitting distance. Even at point-blank range, your team will miss most of their shots and spend more time reloading than shooting. Fastest Atlas kill time in the class but other types can achieve faster results without being next to an enemy that can insta-kill.
9. Disciple (16:49/1:56) - Mediocre performance across the board, but a case can be made for the increased stagger chance (even though I didn't notice it proc on the shielded Centurions).
8. Eviscerator (15:38/1:45) - First two shots are fired rapidly, then there's an odd delay for the third.
7. Katana (14:11/2:15) - Surprisingly decent, despite leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Fired quite fast and the large spread ensures that it hits with at least some of the pellets.
6. N7 Piranha (13:48/1:14) - Graal had the issue of an overly tight spread, the Piranha has the opposite. The fights around the landing pad were therefore much longer. Conversely, the close range fights at the control room were very fast, the high DPS and mag size of eight has a chance to really shine here. Don't let the ranking fool you, at close range, nothing beats this thing. What the Reegar wishes it was.
5. Wraith (13:29/1:26) - Can perform one-shot kills but it doesn't happen frequently as it requires most of the very tight spread to hit.
4. Claymore (12:37/1:04) - Can also perform one-shot kills but these occur much more often and at surprisingly long distances to boot. High damage per pellet ensures the second-best performance against the Atlas. Complete overkill on already insured enemies.
3. Scimitar (12:24/1:51) - On paper, the damage output isn't spectacular, but the spread is perfect, ensuring a reliable performance across all but the longest of ranges. Fired in long bursts. Can be obtained very early and for free.
2 N7 Crusader (11:05/1:22) - Fires a single slug. Damage per shot isn't spectacular but fired rapidly and your team's aim will improve over time against single enemies. Not hindered by cover. What the bottom-three entries wish they were.
1. Raider (10:38/1:08) - Two-shot kill with a high spread. Quite comparable in damage to the Claymore but spread out over two shots, so not as crippled against injured enemies. Squad will immediately follow-up on the first shot when necessary and performance at range is still decent due to the high pellet damage.
Pistols
Squadmates: Liara and EDI (both only get a 20% boost from their passives), Liara's Warp Ammo (+37,37% damage vs Health and Armor, +25% Armor mitigation, +75% damage vs anyone under Warp and Stasis (?)), had to be shared with EDI for half the effects. Also picked Javik on accident over EDI on two occasions but his damage boosts are identical.
Mods: Mag Size 5 (+80% clipazine size) and Piercing 5 (1.1m piercing, 65% Armor mitigation)
Dropped out: Talon - While the damage is almost high enough for a one-shot at close range, it is simply broken. The delay between shots is so large that even the single-shot Snipers fire faster.
10. N7 Eagle (29:15/4:52) - I don't know what compelled me to take this to the end but it really should be in the borderline unusable category, along with the Talon. Feels like a very, very watered down SMG.
9. Arc Pistol (23:18/4:56) - Doesn't use the charge feature, so the damage output is poor.
8. Scorpion (20:21/3:06) - Damage output isn't great but the shots stagger enemies and can tell from personal experience that it's very reliable for proccing ammo powers, so definitely not useless.
7. Predator (19:01/3:03) - About what we'd expect from a starting weapon, even if the team fires it slightly faster than the player.
6. Carnifex (17:57/2:01) - Damage isn't as high as I hoped and fired in two shots before going back to cover.
5. Phalanx (17:11/1:54) - It's essentially a Predator but with half the fire rate and twice the damage. Identical performances up until the Atlas where the increased damage gave it the edge.
4. Acolyte (15:50/1:21) - Used an Extended Barrel 5 (+25 damage) over the Piercing mod here. Massively increased damage against shields, can disable a Centurion in one hit, but Atlas takes 20 seconds. Direct hits induce a stun, similar to Disruptor Ammo.
3. Paladin (15:21/1:13) - Similar to the Carnifex, but with twice the damage and half the mag size. Kind of underwhelming (along with Pistols as a whole).
2. Executioner (12:44/0:39) - Used a Piercing 5 mod instead of the mag size mod. Two-shot kill but the reload is fast. Incredible performance against the Atlas, definitely something to tell your team to swap to when encountering armored enemies.
1. Suppressor (7:21/0:47) - Now this. This is the biggest find of the tests. I've never seen the Suppressor recommended for your team as they never consciously seem to go for headshots and the weapon itself is typically acquired so late. The Suppressor seems to be the only weapon in the game where your team will actively go for headshots and the massive headshot damage multiplier ensures that it gives even the Typhoon a run for its' money.
The best performers (and the N7 Eagle) on video:
N7 Typhoon:
N7 Typhoon vs Armax Mirror Match:
Lancer:
Adas:
Viper:
Punisher:
Crusader:
Scimitar:
Raider:
Claymore:
Hurricane:
Geth Plasma SMG:
Executioner:
Suppressor:
N7 Eagle:
If you have any questions, please let me know.
General testing and attempts to maintain consistency
Simply put, I went through the Noveria Fighter Base mission on Insanity by using my squadmates to deal most of the damage and measured how long it took with every weapon in the game. I started the countdown as soon as I could control my Shepard and ended it when the Atlas was destroyed. Just for fun, I also measured separately how long it took them to kill the Atlas.
There were a few exceptions where I allowed myself to deal damage:
- The Turrets that Engineers could deploy. Their placement is kind of random and I removed them for the sake of consistency.
- Cerberus enemies will sometimes backtrack and stick to cover. When a part of the level took too long because of that, I shot them through the wall to get them to move and expose themselves.
- When I or a squadmate got overwhelmed, I did use Cryo Blast to give us some breathing room.
- Centurions who refused to expose themselves and kept hugging cover were occasionally shot at to keep their shields from recharging.
- When the Atlas had lost five bars of armor, I hit it with a Warp and kept it debuffed with Cryo Blast. That is because the game kind of expects you to use a combination of weapons and powers to deal with armored enemies and this gave me an idea on how well the weapon would perform in a realistic scenario.
Despite these exceptions, I am confident that at least 95% of total damage dealt came entirely from my squad and not myself.
The level can be divided into five parts and I tried my best at doing them the exact same way for consistency.
- Landing Pad - One squadmate stayed near the starting bit while the other flanked on the elevated platform. This allowed me to ascertain the guns' performance at range against the Centurions and Assault Troopers.
- Attacking the Control Room - Both squadmates took cover behind the first barricade as you enter from the inside while I ran to the back and funneled enemies towards them (the AI will attempt to keep its' distance from you, even if you aren't shooting). This was a reliable way to test concentrated fire on close Assault Troopers.
- Defending the Control Room - One squadmate worked on the computer while the other dug in near them. This was a way to see how a single weapon performed against the Assault Troopers, Centurions and the Guardian.
- Returning to the Landing Pad - The tankier squaddie took cover behind the barricades in front of the ladder while the other one flanked from the inside. This was the trickiest and most time-consuming bit as enemies had lots of room to manouver and there was little cover on the elevated portion. Enemies were Assault Troopers, Centurions, Engineers and a lone Nemesis.
- The fight against the Atlas - Both squaddies took cover at the top of the stairs which ensured a complete field of view. The Atlas was therefore always under constant fire and I kept targeting it every 10 seconds so that it would receive increased damage.
When selecting the squadmates, I prioritized their damage boosts through ammo powers, outfits and passive skills and picked those with the highest bonuses. Other than ammo powers and defensive abilities (Fortification and Defense Matrix), squadmates never used any other powers. The exception to this was Liara and her Stasis that I used against shielded enemies to make up for her low damage boosts. My Shepard was a Sentinel with max damage reduction Tech Armor and Fortification that used himself to draw the enemies' fire.
Every test was done with a Level V variant of the weapon and (with some exceptions that will be mentioned down the line) used the same mods within their categories.
The numbers in the brackets refer to the mission times. The first number is the total mission time while the second number is the Atlas kill (mission time/Atlas kill).
Assault Rifles
Squadmates: Garrus (175% damage + 30% vs Armor and Health) and Ashley (135% damage + 15% vs Health and 60% vs Shields)
Mods: High-Velocity Barrel 5 (1.35m Piercing, 90% Armor mitigation) and Mag Size 5 (+80% Mag Size). For the explosive weapons (Chakram, Striker, Falcon, Adas), High-Velocity Barrel 5 was replaced with Extended Barrel 3 (+20% damage).
Dropped Out: Argus and N7 Valkyrie - Both weapons lose their burst-fire functionalities and become extremely weak single shot weapons. Neither of these got past the landing pad in less than 10 minutes and struggled to kill even a basic Trooper frozen solid with Cryo Blast.
15. Chakram Thrower (22:44/3:39) - The charge functionality goes unused and users return to cover after every shot. DPS is therefore very poor but both the initial impact and the resulting explosion stagger enemies. In a realistic scenario, this would leave them very vulnerable to your own attacks so it definitely has a niche use.
14. Phaeston (22:37/2:39) - I know people love to give this to Garrus, but it really isn't that great. It's fired in pretty short bursts which isn't how this low-damage, high fire rate weapon is meant to be used.
13. Saber (20:52/2:50) - Probably controversial and before my testing I did perceive it to be good, but the Saber's biggest flaw is that your friends return to cover after every shot. Might be worth considering if you want better survivability for your team, though.
12. Geth Pulse Rifle (20:29/3:42) - Similar to the Phaeston, but the higher mag size means that less time is spent reloading and more time shooting. The damage is so low that I'm not sure if the High-Velocity Barrel and Cryo Blast even made a difference for the Atlas' Armor.
11. Vindicator (19:41/2:36) - Very generic, even with it firing one or two rounds more per burst.
10. Striker (19:28/3:43) - Squadmates don't make use of the increasing fire rate gimmick but it's still fired faster than the Chakram and shots make basic enemies stagger. Pretty decent up until the Atlas where it managed to have the worst performance out of all the ARs.
9. Mattock (19:19/2:18) - Fired in bursts, seemingly faster than what the player can achieve. Consistent fire seems to be able to stagger unshielded enemies more frequently.
8. Harrier (16:17/1:45) - If it wasn't fired in such short bursts, then it might resemble the gun that almost broke Multiplayer. As it is right now, it feels pretty watered down.
7. Avenger (15:32/1:48) - Imagine my surprise when I saw this outperforming the Harrier. Fired in much longer bursts and your allies won't always return to cover after finishing the burst and immediately follow it up with another. When paired with the very fast reload, it's surprisingly competent.
6. Particle Beam (12:41/1:04) - Damage starts out low but increases dramatically with continuous fire. Thankfully, this is the one weapon gimmick that your team makes full use of and it shows as it's the first weapon on the list that can kill with a single burst. Can still pierce cover with sufficient mods and it's needed to ensure the damage increasing effect doesn't go to waste. Could possibly be higher if there wasn't cover that would decrease damage.
5. Falcon (12:09/1:51) - Shots explode when near the enemy and induce stagger. This means that shots from weapons that would have flown overhead will instead force the enemy out of cover. Excellent balance between DPS and crowd control. Also fired at it's max fire rate, unlike the Chakram and Striker, and the two times faster Atlas kill time shows that it's in an entirely different league. Just don't forget the Extended Clip mod as the default mag size is only four.
4. Revenant (11:54/0:54) - Higher-than-average DPS and fired in very long bursts. Reload time is pretty long though and it's why it didn't make it to top three. A reliable choice that isn't overpowered.
3. Adas (8:56/1:04) - Shots can't pierce cover, move slowly and will occasionally go to waste when impacting nearby objects, but when one does land, it staggers and leaves the target vulnerable for the following barrage. Shots have a bit of AoE damage and deal additional damage against shields. Can be obtained very early for only 10k.
2. Lancer (8:37/0:54) - The biggest surprise in the category. The main appeal of regenerating ammo is of no use for the team but its' DPS is surprisingly high, comparable to the Revenant but without the reloads. The overheating mechanic doesn't appear to affect squadmates at all.
1. Typhoon (6:03/0:08) - You were likely expecting this but even I was taken aback by the performance when comparing the times. I am convinced there are some bugged damage calculations in play as the thing deals far more damage than it would ever deal on a max damage boost Shepard. Trivializes practically everything in the game. How are we losing to the Reapers when stuff like this exists?
Sniper Rifles
Squadmates: Garrus (175% damage + 30% vs Armor and Health) and Ashley (135% damage + 15% vs Health and 60% vs Shields)
Mods: High-Velocity Barrel 4 (+22,5% damage, 0.95m piercing, 55% Armor mitigation) and Concentration Module 5 (+15% damage)
Note: Squadmates use most Sniper Rifles differently than other weapons. Normally, your team will not fire through cover when the enemy is hiding behind it, even when they should be able to piercing effects. They will either not fire at all or fire above cover. With most Sniper Rifles however, your team will actively attempt to hit the enemy through cover (even when the weapon isn't capable of that). This is most prevalent with the single-shot Snipers that manage to maintain a consistent rate of fire.
Note 2: Most Sniper Rifles gain a damage penalty when the player fires them unscoped, I believe this can happen to your squadmates too. Occasionally, most often at closer ranges, the weapon simply didn't deal as much damage as I'd expect, even when there was no cover that would decrease it. Upon rewatching my footage, I came to the conclusion that this is due to the damage penalty. There is no different animation or anything else for your squadmates that would indicate this, the only way to see it is to just watch the Health bars.
11. Mantis (17:19/1:38) - Damage is too low for a one-shot kill (unless it's a headshot) and there are no special gimmicks. Despite the bad stats, note how it still outperformed more than half of the Assault Rifles, which I think goes to show how much more efficiently your team will fight when actively shooting through cover.
10. Indra (16:58/2:36) - Not terrible against basic enemies at range but the low damage ensured the worst performance in the category against the Atlas and the high damage penalty made it sub-optimal at closer ranges.
9. Kishock (16:06/1:04) - The charge functionality is not used. Typically a two-shot kill against unshielded enemies but the reload is very fast. Bleeding damage prevents enemy shields from recharging. Can't pierce cover, even though your team thinks it does, so there's a lot of wasted shots that prevents it from being higher.
8. Raptor (15:01/1:36) - Fired in bursts and the fire rate is higher than what the player can achieve. Damage penalty is pretty low so it's not as crippled at close range as the other Rifles.
7. Valiant (14:16/1:27) - Damage is JUST a smidge too low for a two-shot kill and the fire rate is lower than what the player can achieve. Very disappointing given its' price and potential performance in your hands.
6. Incisor (13:55/1:51) - Two-to-three burst kill, each burst has a few more shots to it and the atrocious recoil doesn't affect your team at all. I consider this to be one of the worst weapons in the game, so seeing it beat the Valiant was nice.
5. Javelin (12:57/0:48) - Capable of one-shot kills, even through cover.
4. Black Widow (12:55/0:45) - Two-shot kill with a little room for error. Fired at its' max fire rate when enemy is out in the open and slower when they're in cover while making use of the penetrative capabilities.
3. Widow (12:20/0:53) - Pretty much identical to the Javelin. In fact, looking at the footage side by side, the Javelin, Black Widow and Widow have eerily similar performances.
2. Krysae (11:02/1:19) - Shots can't pierce cover, did nothing against the Guardian and the constant explosions make it difficult to keep track of the battlefield. Despite these flaws, the fact that it made it to the second spot speaks volumes of the raw damage output. If cover wasn't involved, this thing would take the top spot. Can be obtained very early and for cheap.
1. Viper (10:29/1:02) - Damage isn't spectacular (three-shot kill) but it's constant as the team makes use of the potential fire rate, unlike the Valiant. Excellent balance between the high fire rate and high damage Rifles. Damage penalty for hipfiring isn't as severe. Can be obtained very early and for free.
Sub-Machine Guns
Squadmates: Liara and EDI (both only get a 20% boost from their passives), Liara's Warp Ammo (+37,37% damage vs Health and Armor, +25% Armor mitigation, +75% damage vs anyone under Warp and Stasis (?)), had to be shared with EDI for half the effects.
Mods: Mag Upgrade 5 (+80% mag size) and High-Velocity Barrel 5 (0.65m piercing, 90% Armor mitigation)
Dropped out: Hornet - Team doesn't make use of the short delay between bursts and often take three full seconds for a follow-up.
6. Shuriken (23:50/4.03) - The delay between bursts doesn't seem to be set in stone, sometimes it's several seconds, other times your team will do a follow-up immediately. Damage is low, either way.
5. Locust (21:00/4:35) - The high accuracy of the Locust essentially goes to waste on your squadmates who don't seem to suffer from adverse recoil at all. We are therefore only left with a mediocre gun that has a low (initial) mag size of 20.
4. Tempest (14:30/2:03) - Massive step-up from the Locust. Fired in long bursts that are almost enough to kill on their own.
3. Geth Plasma SMG (11:02/0:55) - This thing is strange. It's another low damage, high fire rate gun, but it's fired in short bursts. Despite that, these short bursts are enough to kill enemies on their own. I'm convinced there are some bugged damage calculations in play here as the Atlas kill time is bizarrely fast for a weapon with such low base damage. Maybe it's a thing that affects the spin-up weapons? Reminds me of the Typhoon.
2. N7 Hurricane (10:45/1:03) - The absurd recoil doesn't affect your friends and the high damage output is made full use out of. Chews through the mag very quickly though, to the point where it might be better with both the Mag Size and Heat Sink mods.
1. Blood Pack Punisher (10:12/0:45) - Solid damage output along with a special round that occasionally fires. The special round deals increased damage and doesn't throw off your team's aim. Does just about everything you'd want an SMG to do and then more.
Shotguns
Squadmates: James (+75% damage) and Tali (+45% damage), James had to share his Incendiary Ammo (+32% damage vs Armor and Health) with Tali for half the effects.
Mods: Smart Choke 5 (+50% accuracy) and High-Velocity Barrel 5 (+25% damage, +65% Armor mitigation)
Note: Due to the nature of most Shotguns, I was more proactive with managing the team by making them move much closer to enemies to get the most damage.
13. Geth Plasma Shotgun (23:18/2:48) - Charge mechanic isn't used at all and there is a weird overheating animation between each shot which greatly reduces the fire rate. Takes at least three hits to kill, shots can't pierce cover and the large projectiles can dissipate on nearby cover.
12. Venom (19:30/1:32) - Fired faster than the GPS while still maintaining the three-shot kill. Charge mechanic isn't used and the slow projectiles can miss at range.
11. Graal (18:25/1:53) - I often see the Graal recommended for your squadmates but it really isn't great. To the surprise of no one, the charge mechanic isn't used. The very precise nature of the spread works against the weapon as your team seems to be hard-coded to miss with their first shots, so near-misses (which would deal at least some damage on the more traditional shotties) will do nothing for the Graal.
10. Reegar (18:23/0:55) - The absolutely gargantuan damage output goes to waste and not just because the weapon does nothing outside of spitting distance. Even at point-blank range, your team will miss most of their shots and spend more time reloading than shooting. Fastest Atlas kill time in the class but other types can achieve faster results without being next to an enemy that can insta-kill.
9. Disciple (16:49/1:56) - Mediocre performance across the board, but a case can be made for the increased stagger chance (even though I didn't notice it proc on the shielded Centurions).
8. Eviscerator (15:38/1:45) - First two shots are fired rapidly, then there's an odd delay for the third.
7. Katana (14:11/2:15) - Surprisingly decent, despite leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Fired quite fast and the large spread ensures that it hits with at least some of the pellets.
6. N7 Piranha (13:48/1:14) - Graal had the issue of an overly tight spread, the Piranha has the opposite. The fights around the landing pad were therefore much longer. Conversely, the close range fights at the control room were very fast, the high DPS and mag size of eight has a chance to really shine here. Don't let the ranking fool you, at close range, nothing beats this thing. What the Reegar wishes it was.
5. Wraith (13:29/1:26) - Can perform one-shot kills but it doesn't happen frequently as it requires most of the very tight spread to hit.
4. Claymore (12:37/1:04) - Can also perform one-shot kills but these occur much more often and at surprisingly long distances to boot. High damage per pellet ensures the second-best performance against the Atlas. Complete overkill on already insured enemies.
3. Scimitar (12:24/1:51) - On paper, the damage output isn't spectacular, but the spread is perfect, ensuring a reliable performance across all but the longest of ranges. Fired in long bursts. Can be obtained very early and for free.
2 N7 Crusader (11:05/1:22) - Fires a single slug. Damage per shot isn't spectacular but fired rapidly and your team's aim will improve over time against single enemies. Not hindered by cover. What the bottom-three entries wish they were.
1. Raider (10:38/1:08) - Two-shot kill with a high spread. Quite comparable in damage to the Claymore but spread out over two shots, so not as crippled against injured enemies. Squad will immediately follow-up on the first shot when necessary and performance at range is still decent due to the high pellet damage.
Pistols
Squadmates: Liara and EDI (both only get a 20% boost from their passives), Liara's Warp Ammo (+37,37% damage vs Health and Armor, +25% Armor mitigation, +75% damage vs anyone under Warp and Stasis (?)), had to be shared with EDI for half the effects. Also picked Javik on accident over EDI on two occasions but his damage boosts are identical.
Mods: Mag Size 5 (+80% clipazine size) and Piercing 5 (1.1m piercing, 65% Armor mitigation)
Dropped out: Talon - While the damage is almost high enough for a one-shot at close range, it is simply broken. The delay between shots is so large that even the single-shot Snipers fire faster.
10. N7 Eagle (29:15/4:52) - I don't know what compelled me to take this to the end but it really should be in the borderline unusable category, along with the Talon. Feels like a very, very watered down SMG.
9. Arc Pistol (23:18/4:56) - Doesn't use the charge feature, so the damage output is poor.
8. Scorpion (20:21/3:06) - Damage output isn't great but the shots stagger enemies and can tell from personal experience that it's very reliable for proccing ammo powers, so definitely not useless.
7. Predator (19:01/3:03) - About what we'd expect from a starting weapon, even if the team fires it slightly faster than the player.
6. Carnifex (17:57/2:01) - Damage isn't as high as I hoped and fired in two shots before going back to cover.
5. Phalanx (17:11/1:54) - It's essentially a Predator but with half the fire rate and twice the damage. Identical performances up until the Atlas where the increased damage gave it the edge.
4. Acolyte (15:50/1:21) - Used an Extended Barrel 5 (+25 damage) over the Piercing mod here. Massively increased damage against shields, can disable a Centurion in one hit, but Atlas takes 20 seconds. Direct hits induce a stun, similar to Disruptor Ammo.
3. Paladin (15:21/1:13) - Similar to the Carnifex, but with twice the damage and half the mag size. Kind of underwhelming (along with Pistols as a whole).
2. Executioner (12:44/0:39) - Used a Piercing 5 mod instead of the mag size mod. Two-shot kill but the reload is fast. Incredible performance against the Atlas, definitely something to tell your team to swap to when encountering armored enemies.
1. Suppressor (7:21/0:47) - Now this. This is the biggest find of the tests. I've never seen the Suppressor recommended for your team as they never consciously seem to go for headshots and the weapon itself is typically acquired so late. The Suppressor seems to be the only weapon in the game where your team will actively go for headshots and the massive headshot damage multiplier ensures that it gives even the Typhoon a run for its' money.
The best performers (and the N7 Eagle) on video:
N7 Typhoon:
N7 Typhoon vs Armax Mirror Match:
Lancer:
Adas:
Viper:
Punisher:
Crusader:
Scimitar:
Raider:
Claymore:
Hurricane:
Geth Plasma SMG:
Executioner:
Suppressor:
N7 Eagle:
If you have any questions, please let me know.
