Particle Rifle

The Particle Rifle is an assault rifle in Mass Effect 3.

Description
After the Reapers obliterated the Prothean Empire's warships, the Prothean resistance was forced to develop weapons that did not rely on intact supply lines. The Prothean Particle Rifle is a stripped-down, powerful assault rifle modified to fire without thermal clips or specialized ammunition. Alliance scientists agree that it appears to share some principles with the Collectors' particle beam weapon, although this gun requires a temporary cool-down period if it overheats. An amalgam of two different eras of technology, the particle rifle is still a deadly, efficient weapon.

Acquisition
The Particle Rifle is obtained after Priority: Eden Prime from salvaged items that Cerberus left behind.

Player Notes

 * The Particle Rifle does not use thermal clips. Instead it uses a cool down system like the weapons of the original Mass Effect. It cannot run out of ammunition as a result, giving this assault rifle a significant advantage over the other assault rifles.
 * The Particle Rifle has a constant rate of fire, and hits targets constantly.
 * The main weakness with the Particle Rifle, is its low damage, and requires some time on higher difficulties before significant injures are inflicted. On lower difficulties, its much more useful since enemies are weaker.
 * Another weakness is since accuracy is pinpoint, you need to constantly make sure that the beam is on target, as otherwise you can lose a significant portion of your "charge" very quickly. This will reduce combat effectiveness.
 * The Particle Rifle's beam damage and brightness will increase after the trigger has been depressed for a few seconds. This also drains the "charge" much more quickly. This property makes it well suited for long, sustained fire against targets and can do very high amounts of damage in a short time. This tactic is very risky on high difficulties, however, as it leaves who ever is using the rifle out of cover and in the line of sight of their targeted enemy.
 * If no ammo power is equipped on the Particle Rifle, enemies killed by the rifle will light up in green 'flames', the same color as the particle beam, as they topple to the ground. Similar to the effect seen on an enemy that is killed by Warp, Incinerate, or Incendiary Ammo.
 * Due to unlimited ammo the Particle Rifle is best used as a single weapon to benefit from lesser weight, than while carrying 2-3 weapons. This means it's best suited for biotic classes, providing them with a bonus to cooldowns, while being much more powerful than pistol or SMG.
 * Do not let the Particle Rifle overheat(Happens when ammo counter reaches zero). It then needs manual reloading(like other weapons), which takes a long period and is interrupted if you use powers or switch weapons.
 * The Particle Rifle's initial DPS is very low (but goes up dramatically after few seconds of continuous fire). Extensive use of active powers and pre-charging weapon while in cover solves the problem on higher difficulties(when you get killed before your weapon goes to full power).
 * The Particle Rifle is perfectly accurate and has no recoil at all, so accuracy and stability upgrades are useless. Most useful upgrade is thermal clips upgrade, which enhances ammo capacity beyond initial 100.
 * Piercing upgrade is also very useful with the Particle Rifle: enemies in cover and most armored enemies become easy prey.
 * Due to continuous fire, Particle Rifle is perfect for killing low-hp enemies (e.g. swarmers and their eggs) and exposing invisible enemies.
 * Equipping companions with the Particle Rifle makes easy to focus-fire enemies. Also A.I. ignores smoke grenades(and sometimes even solid obstacles) so computer companions will pinpoint enemies you do not see.