M-300 Claymore

The M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun is a shotgun in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

Description
Very rare krogan shotgun. Deals high damage at short range; less effective at long range. Effective against armor, shields and biotic barriers. It is of human design but is only used by krogan, due to the fact that the kickback from a single shot has enough force to break a human's arm. Protected by Fabrication Rights Management (FRM) technology, this weapon is nearly impossible to reproduce and is prohibitively expensive.

Acquisition
'''Note: This weapon is exclusive to Shepard and Grunt. No other squadmates may choose to use it.'''
 * If playing as a Soldier or a Vanguard, the player will have the option of acquiring this during the Collector Ship mission.
 * After recruiting Grunt, asking him about upgrades will make the M-300 available for research as a weapon for him. Only Grunt can use this Claymore.

Squad Usage

 * Only Grunt can wield the M-300 and he deals 40% less damage than Shepard.
 * For Grunt it may be a better idea to use the M-22 Eviscerator Shotgun over the M-300 because the Eviscerator has a longer range and has similar damage rate. Grunt may deal more damage with the M-22 in certain situations than he would with the M-300 because squad members tend to shoot shotguns at a longer range than a player would, and tend to shoot more often with weapons that possess a larger clip and higher rate of fire than weapons with a lower fire rate and clip size.

Player Notes
General Notes
 * The M-300 only holds one round per thermal clip and a limited amount of spare ammunition. Coupled with its short-range and high damage, these qualities make the M-300 a "high-risk, high-reward" weapon.
 * The Claymore's fire rate can be improved by holding the fire button and performing a melee attack on hearing the click sound during reloading
 * This reduces the delay between shots from 2.4 seconds to approximately 1.4 seconds.
 * This can be repeated to maintain a constant improved fire rate.
 * The Claymore becomes less useful on higher difficulties when one-shot kills are more difficult to accomplish.

Class Specific Notes
 * For Vanguards, when used with the Heavy Charge evolved ability, the player can inflict heavy damage by immediately following up with a powerful blast at point-blank range, all before the enemy has time to react.
 * It is inadvisable to use this tactic against boss characters with multiple protection layers (unless they are the only remaining enemy, at which point the squad can focus their attention).

Description
The Claymore used to be a hard-hitting but poor-selling shotgun due to kickback problems snapping the arms of anyone but krogan firing the weapon. After a rehaul of its kinetic dampening system, the Claymore is being rolled out again. As a way to lure back customers, the gun's manufacturer has lowered the shotgun's selling price without skimping on its stopping-power.

Acquisition

 * Single-player: Attican Traverse: Krogan Team: Inside the first building. (Purchasable from Cipritine Armory if missed during mission.)
 * Multiplayer: Randomly rewarded by purchasing an item pack.

Player Notes

 * Single-player
 * The Claymore must be reloaded after each shot so keep that in mind when using it. Accuracy is key.
 * A Soldier can make use of Adrenaline Rush's instant reload to quickly unload two shots, dealing massive burst damage.
 * The Claymore's primary attribute is its incredibly high damage, higher even than the M-98 Widow sniper rifle, albeit with much more limited range.
 * Because of the high damage, the Claymore is very effective regardless of what kind of protection the enemy has.
 * Downsides to the Claymore are its extreme weight and low rate of fire. Its weight, even when fully upgraded, is immense, making it difficult to use with a power oriented player. The rate of fire is comparable to the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle, due to having to reload each time a shot is fired. Because of this, it should be used to take down only the strongest of opponents or to pick off stragglers to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed.
 * The Claymore has very few shots on reserve at levels I-V, which means that ammo management is a serious issue: take care to pick up the clips fallen enemies leave behind.
 * If you give this gun to a squadmate, keep in mind the shields of the character, since if they are in the middle of a firefight, the moment they reload they are open to fire unless in cover, leaving plenty of time for the enemy to take them out and leave you a man down.


 * Multiplayer
 * In multiplayer, you will need to make frequent trips to ammo crates or use Thermal Clip Packs. The Spare Thermal Clip mod can counter this problem adequately. As the Claymore gets more powerful with more upgrades, said mod and items become less and less necessary since the Claymore can have 17 shots when maxed.
 * An Infiltrator can use their Tactical Cloak ability to increase the Claymore's already extreme power and effectively turn the Claymore into a one-hit-kill weapon. The damage becomes so high it can kill any foot soldier in one shot even on Insanity/Gold, though some tougher enemies like Phantoms may require most of the blast to hit the head to ensure a one shot kill. Tougher enemies like Atlases or Banshees can withstand more shots, but Tactical Cloak can still rip very quickly through any defense. Subsequently though, if one does not aim the Claymore adequately, the shot could be wasted - as will the Tactical Cloak and you will be left exposed. Thus, using the smart choke could be a wise decision since it ensures that most of the blast will hit the target at a less-than-close range.
 * When used with a Piercing Mod or Armor-Piercing ammo, the Claymore can slaughter Guardians as if they were Assault Troopers. The sheer damage of the Claymore means that the damage lost will not effect its one shot kill potential unless said enemy is further away from the Claymore blast or the shot isn't completely aimed on the target.
 * Because of the Claymore's high damage, the Smart Choke can greatly increase the range that the Claymore can one shot kill with or without Tactical Cloak.
 * The Bayonet serves little purpose unless playing as a melee based krogan where at best it can aid in killing weaker enemies outright on higher difficulties. The Claymore does so much damage that melee is very rarely considered an option at the range it works best.
 * When combined with the passive Hunter Mode damage and accuracy bonus, and the bonus received from Tactical Cloak, the Claymore becomes a very effective weapon to use with the Geth Infiltrator.
 * Because of the massive damage and single-shot clip, the Claymore is a high risk high reward weapon, since it can kill even the toughest of infantry on gold in just one or two shots, but it leaves you vulnerable after every shot.
 * A reload cancel will greatly decrease the time you are vulnerable for, as well as increase your damage output and firing speed from reload cancelling. This works best as an Infiltrator by using Tactical Cloak, since most Infiltrators will be using their Cloak more often than not.

Trivia

 * The Claymore is likely named after the two-handed Scottish sword.
 * While the M-300 is described as only usable by krogan, many species throughout the game are shown using it. For example, the turian Command Bodyguard of the MSV Strontium Mule and the asari Captain Enyala.
 * The Mass Effect 3 Claymore model is much smaller than the one used in Mass Effect 2.
 * In Mass Effect 3, the weapon is depicted as having a grey coloured body in the menus. In-game and during modification, however, it is depicted as being green by default. This colour of this part will be changed if the Smart Choke modification is attached.