Ammo Types vs Powers? (Legendary Edition)

Ammo power damage in ME2 and ME3 are based on the BASE weapon damage (not total weapon damage). So if a weapon does 10 damage per shot, then an ammo power that deals +50% damage to a certain protection type (armor/barrier/shields), will deal 5 damage to that protection type.

Generally speaking, the three class-only ammo powers -- Incendiary Ammo, Disruptor Ammo, and Cryo Ammo -- are considered the best ammo powers since they have crowd-control properties. Incendiary Ammo can panic organics, Disruptor Ammo can overheat weapons and/or stun certain enemies, and Cryo Ammo can freeze unprotected (health-only) enemies.

Powers versus Ammo powers: this depends on what you want to do, what weapon(s) you have or whatever. Overload can strip shields completely or at least deal massive damage to shields. Ammo power damage is dependent on the weapon damage, which means it really tends to only matter on certain weapons, typically the one-shot sniper rifles Mantis and Widow. Since weapons in ME2 gain damage multipliers against certain protection types -- and these damage multipliers take into account damage bonuses and distance modifiers -- ammo power damage is not nearly as impactful in the total damage dealt to an enemy.

In Mass Effect 3, Incendiary Ammo is generally the best ammo power since rank 6 Explosive Burst evolution gives each bullet a 50% chance to deal guaranteed damage (base 100 damage; may be 50 damage if squad bonus from James. Can be increased through passive power damage bonuses from class passive). Disruptor can stun unprotected enemies, but is generally only used for sniper Soldier or Infiltrator builds. Cryo Ammo can chill or freeze enemies, but its usefulness depends on the build.

In ME2:
- Cryo Ammo is generally evolved to Squad Cryo Ammo. Ignore it if you plan on using other powers.
- Disruptor Ammo is generally evolved to Heavy Disruptor Ammo on Mantis/Widow Infiltrators (with Squad Cryo for squadmates), otherwise Squad Disruptor Ammo.
- incendiary Ammo is generally evolved to Inferno ammo on Shepard, Squad Incendiary Ammo on squadmates.

In ME3:
- Incendiary Ammo is generally evolved to Squad Bonus - Headshot Damage - Explosive Burst so squadmates can get some extra actual damage from shooting and to set enemies on fire.
- Disruptor Ammo is generally evolved to Damage - Headshot - Damage since you only really use it for sniper builds.
- Cryo Ammo is generally evolved to Squad Bonus - Damage taken - Vulnerability.

For ME2, there used to be a weapon chart on GameFAQS that is no longer there. I did manage to find this information on another website:


NOTE: Heavy Weapons do not use ammo powers. Protection damage bonuses listed are the base damage bonuses. Each weapon type (excluding heavy weapons) have a research upgrade that gives additional damage versus certain defenses:
- Assault Rifles can get an additional +25% versus all protection types
- SMGs and Shotguns can get an additional +50% versus shields and barriers
- Pistols and Sniper Rifles can get an additional +50% versus armor

In Mass Effect 3, weapons in single player should have the multiplayer weapon stats now. (Note that Falcon has its original rate of fire restored in the Legendary Edition). That information should be available somewhere, either linked somewhere in the multiplayer forum or somewhere else online.

If you have further questions or if you think I failed to answer your questions, please let the forum know and we will try to answer as best we can.

In the Legendary Edition, all weapons in single player should have the balance changes made in the multiplayer. (Note that this was the case in the final ME3 patch.) I have not looked at the code or anything and I have not seen anything that would indicate otherwise.

Not sure what you mean by "stronger". It all depends on what you want to do. Intended playstyle matters. For example, some shotguns + Disruptor Ammo could outright kill a shielded enemy in ME3 whereas Overload will not, but Sabotage > Overload power combo will kill multiple enemies if they are close together. Overload will strip all shields off an enemy, while Disruptor Ammo + SMG will take several shots (several seconds?) to do the same.

In terms of damage, Overload damage (or Incinerate damage) is based off base damage + sum of power damage bonuses from various sources. Ammo power damage is dependent on the weapon damage which varies per weapon.

If you are trying to figure out the most efficient or quickest way to kill based on powers and/or weapons, that is going to depend on weapons and powers used, including squadmates. A lot of variables to consider.

The thing that matters the most: is it fun? I would say experiment. Try a few classes, try different builds and guns and see what you find fun. Because if it is fun, it stops mattering how 'powerful' something might be compared to something else. I have had some fun playing less than ideal/standard/efficient builds because they were crazy unique. And I have had some fun playing some of the more standard/ideal builds as well. ME2 and ME3 are flexible enough that you can get some variety out of each class to make them feel different each playthrough.

For example in ME3, I played a sniper infiltrator (Distruptor Ammo + Cloak + Fortification + Javelin sniper rifle), but also a power-based Infiltrator (Cryo Ammo + Sabotage + Incinerate + Energy Drain + Scorpion pistol/Saber assault rifle), and also a CQC shotgun Infiltrator (Cryo Ammo + Cloak + Sabotage + Proximity Mine + Claymore shotgun). It all depends on what you want to focus on using and what you want to ignore.

ME2, same kind of thing. Choice of bonus power and also bonus weapon (chosen partway through the game) can really influence how you play a class. A shotgun infiltrator is going to play differently than a (Widow) sniper infiltrator.

Regarding this, I know the M-37 Falcon's Rate-of-Fire got changed to it's single-player rate, while everything else should be using the Multiplayer stats, however I noticed now with the following guns that some stats about them also remain in their single-player state which makes me wonder which ME3 balance patch the LE is really using:

1) N7 Eagle's clip size at level 1 is 18 (should be 24 if using the MP balance patch)
2) M-25 Hornet's reserve capacity size at level 1 is 144 (should be 168 if using the MP balance patch)

These are just the few that struck me, I don't know how to access the actual game data. Currently using this for weapon data, if this is out of date I apologize but it's the only thing I could find;
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1U8T5SZxl9sncgkcIGQVuNI1BHwKyPEkqfAOwOXRXD38/htmlembed?widget=false#