M-15 Vindicator

The M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle is an assault rifle from Mass Effect 2.

In-Game Description
A battle rifle favored by assassins and elite mercenaries that fires in highly accurate three-round bursts and can be pulsed for rapid fire. Deadly at range, very accurate, and effective against armor, shields and biotic barriers. Upgrades the Avenger Assault Rifle.

Manufactured by Elanus Risk Control Services for the Blue Suns mercenary group, the Vindicator is quickly gaining popularity in the Terminus Systems.

Acquisition
The M-15 Vindicator is found on a couch in the room where Shepard meets Archangel on Omega.

Squad Use
This weapon can be used by Garrus, Grunt, Legion, Samara, and Zaeed. Squadmates deal 45% less damage with the M-15 than if wielded by Shepard.

Player Notes

 * The game calls the M-15 a battle rifle. In real life, battle rifles are the weapons used to cover medium range battles (300-600 meters), that is between the range of assault rifles and sniper rifles. The game accurately reflects this by making the M-15 somewhat between a close quarter battle (CQB) weapon and a sniper rifle. It is intended to provide accurate shots at middle range, and not for the spray-and-pray kind of combat. Thus the weapon is more suited to players who prefer to kill enemies with headshots at medium range. Wielding this weapon will also make close quarters combat difficult on higher difficulty levels. Consequently it pairs nicely with the Eviscerator shotgun which will pick up the slack at close range and in the process help the player conserve the Vindicator's limited ammo reserve.
 * The M-15 has superior accuracy and stopping power compared to the M-8. Recoil is not an issue due to its burst-fire mode, but this also makes the M-15 less effective in close quarters battle.
 * The M-15's rate of fire is much higher when the player pulses the trigger. Firing the weapon in this manner greatly increases its damage rate.
 * The M-15's main weakness is in its lower thermal clip capacity and lower spare ammo capacity than the M-8.
 * This is usually the best weapon for any teammate that can use assault rifles as they are very accurate with it and deal high damage even with the 45% decrease. The weapon's only two serious drawbacks are low ammo which doesn't affect teammates, and suppressive fire, which teammates have difficulty providing with a burst-fire weapon.
 * The Targeting VI upgrade is not as critical on this weapon as on the other rifles, as it is already very accurate. The M-15's crosshair is displayed as the narrowest possible with the interface. However, it does improve grouping over range, and allows the player to land all 3 rounds on target more often, reducing ammo expenditure.
 * If reloaded with an odd number of rounds not equal to 24 or any other multiple of 3, the weapon will not fire in tri-burst mode. Instead, it will fire the extra round/s along with the regular tri-burst, allowing up to 5 rounds. 4-round and 5-round bursts confirmed.

Trivia

 * Squad members and Shepard in cutscenes fire the weapon in fully automatic or semi-automatic mode, while Shepard can only fire the M-15 in bursts in actual combat.
 * The appearance is based on the alternate assault rifle in Mass Effect.