Mass Effect 3 single player: About Amplified Concussive Shot

This was a guide I had posted on the old BioWare Social Network (BSN) forums. Posting it again here.


I like Concussive Shot on a Soldier. It is good for some quick crowd control (with a very quick cooldown) and it can detonate tech bursts. On the surface, the rank 6 evolution Amplification appears to be a good evolution for Concussive Shot.

Amplification: Power Concussive Shot with the properties of the active ammo power, enabling it to burn, freeze, disrupt, warp, or pierce armor.

However, if you are going to evolve Concussive Shot to rank 6, is Amplification actually worth taking as an evolution? I ran some tests with the various ammo powers.

Amplified Concussive Shot with AP Ammo:
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with AP Ammo penetrate cover? No.

Amplified Concussive Shot with Cryo Ammo:
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with Cryo Ammo freeze enemies? Yes.
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with Cryo Ammo prime enemies for a Cryo Explosion (test 1)? Sometimes?
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with Cryo Ammo prime enemies for a Cryo Explosion (test 2)? Yes. But enemies need to be completely frozen, and it can take a long time before they are completely frozen.

Amplified Concussive Shot with Disruptor Ammo:
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with Disruptor Ammo set up tech bursts? Part 1 (worse test) No. Lesser of the two tests, used double Chain Overload on both Garrus and EDI.
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with Disruptor Ammo set up tech bursts? Part 2 (better test) Still No. Better of the two tests, did not use any Chain Overloads.

NOTE: There seems to be a misconception that Amplification with Disruptor Ammo is required to detonate tech bursts. To prove that you do not need Amplification, here is a video showing a Soldier with the Viper detonating tech bursts with the Shredder evolution; build is shown at the end of the video. I used Disruptor Ammo to set up the tech burst. Credit to known_hero for suggesting I add this to the post.

Amplified Concussive Shot with Incendiary Ammo:
Will Amplified Concussive Shot using Incendiary Ammo with Explosive Burst explode? Part 1 Apparently not. Kind of hard to tell.
Will Amplified Concussive Shot using Incendiary Ammo with Explosive Burst explode? Part 2 Still hard to tell. I do not think it does.
Amplified Concussive Shot with Incendiary Ammo - Damage versus Explosive Burst Comparison. Draw your own conclusions. They look about the same; damage may get the edge.
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with Incendiary Ammo set up Fire Explosions? Yes.

Patch 1.04 changed the game mechanics to allow you to detonate fire explosions without requiring you to kill the opponent first with the detonating power. This appears to have brought with it an interesting change: Concussive Shot amplified with Incendiary Ammo can prime and then detonate its own fire explosions. As far as I know, this makes Concussive Shot the only power that detonate itself; all other explosions must be set up and detonated by different powers.

Amplified Concussive Shot with Warp Ammo:
Will Amplified Concussive Shot with Warp Ammo detonate biotic explosions? No.

Amplified Concussive Shot damage multipliers:
Information courtesy of Athenau.

• By default, Concussive Shot already has a 4x damage multiplier against barriers (source). This multiplier also does not change when amplified with any other ammo power, including Warp Ammo; the damage multiplier remains at 4x against barriers.
• Concussive Shot amplified with Warp Ammo gains a 4x damage multiplier against armor.
• Concussive Shot amplified with Incendiary Ammo gains a 4x damage multiplier against armor.
• Concussive Shot amplified with Disruptor Ammo gains a 4x damage multiplier against shields.