M-76 Revenant

The M-76 Revenant Light Machine Gun is an assault rifle in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

Description
Unleashes a storm of deadly high velocity slugs. Less accurate than an assault rifle, but has a high ammo capacity and deals much more damage. Effective against armor, shields and biotic barriers. Upgrades the Vindicator Battle Rifle.

This custom-made machine gun features technology not widely available. Protected against replication by sophisticated Fabrication Rights Management (FRM) technology, only the richest and most powerful warlords can afford this weapon.

Acquisition
The M-76 Revenant is only usable by Commander Shepard if Shepard is of the Soldier class and chooses it during the Collector Ship mission.

'''Note: This weapon is exclusive to Shepard. No squadmate may choose to use it.'''

Player Notes

 * The Assault Rifle accuracy upgrade transforms this weapon into an absolutely lethal tool, mending the main problem of this weapon. However, burst firing should still be used at medium to long range.
 * The player can mitigate the Revenant's muzzle climb by slowly and continually lowering their aim to compensate.
 * At close quarters, if firing fully automatic, aim at the feet or legs - the muzzle climb causes the reticule to travel up the enemy's body.
 * For medium to long range, fire in bursts rather than fully automatic, whilst aiming at the enemy midsection.
 * Arming the M-76 with Disruptor Ammo helps offset the lower damage multiplier against shields.
 * The Revenant is an effective weapon for handling melee combatants such as Klixen or Husks, especially when used in conjunction with Armor Piercing, Warp, or Incendiary Ammo.
 * Using Tungsten Ammo can tear apart even the most heavily armored foes.
 * Warp Ammo is brutal against any organic at close or medium range. It is especially effective against Collectors, notably Harbinger (who disregards cover AND possesses armor and a barrier).
 * Using the Revenant alongside the M-97 Viper is a good idea as each weapon covers each others weaknesses; the M-97 is excellent at stripping away shields and barriers at long range, and the Revenant rips apart health and armor alike at short to mid range. For the same reason, the Geth Plasma Shotgun can play a similar role.
 * On higher difficulties, the M-76's large clip capacity and damage is the key to survival: with careful aim, the majority of attacking enemies can be killed (barrier, shield, armor and health) with one clip (80 hits) at medium range.
 * Adrenaline Rush negates recoil, allowing the player to fire with no muzzle climb. Shock Trooper is the recommended evolution to Combat Mastery as it provides one more valuable second to the duration.
 * On lower difficulties, using an evolved Adrenaline Rush allows you to close in rapidly on your enemies (Shepard moves at the same speed outside as inside a Rush - at 200% or 333% speed) - firing a burst from cover can get a few easy kills on nearby enemies.

Description
The M-76 Revenant unleashes a storm of high-velocity slugs. It has low accuracy but a high thermal clip capacity, and packs considerable firepower. This custom-made machine gun features technology not widely available. Protected against replication by sophisticated Fabrication Rights Management (FRM) technology, only the richest and most powerful warlords can afford the Revenant.

Acquisition

 * Single-player: During the Cerberus invasion of the Citadel there is a room with activated fire sprinklers. A door on the left leads into the bathroom containing the weapon. (Purchasable from Kassa Fabrication if missed during mission.)
 * Multiplayer: Randomly rewarded by purchasing an item pack.

Player Notes

 * Single-player
 * The weapon functions in a similar manner as it did in Mass Effect 2, but it carries 20 fewer rounds per magazine, reloads slower, has substantially reduced accuracy and has even harsher recoil.
 * The M-76 Revenant has a far greater capacity to store ammunition than any other assault rifle (with the exceptions of the Geth Pulse Rifle and N7 Typhoon). This makes the Revenant unmatched at laying down suppressing fire and at dealing with large groups of enemies. Its ability to put many rounds downrange means it will probably hit something.
 * The Revenant slows its user down to a walking pace while it's being fired, no matter whether zoomed in or not. Conversely, there is no decrease in speed for zooming in.
 * Ashley Williams is an excellent squadmate to equip with the Revenant. Her Marksman power can overcome the inaccuracy of the weapon, and evolving her damage makes this already powerful weapon better.
 * Because of its classification as a Light Machine Gun, the Revenant is very heavy. As a result, this has a highly detrimental effect to any player who likes to use their powers extensively, or relies on them in combat.
 * Because of its rapid fire capability, the Revenant has extremely heavy recoil. This makes the weapon difficult to use without cover, or in long range engagements. To counter this, employ Assault Rifle Stability Damper weapon upgrades and/or focus on being in cover and using burst fire, not full auto, to attack enemies. You can hit medium to long range targets if you can compensate for the recoil. Combining this with the Assault Rifle Scope and firing from cover can make it a surprisingly accurate and stable weapon (with a sufficient number of upgrades to the weapon and the mods). Power classes may want to use this build in place of a sniper, combining it with a lightweight SMG as a backup weapon.
 * Because of the nature of the Revenant, the weapon has an extremely long reload time. If you are in enemy territory or surrounded when you need to reload, and this can prove fatal if you don't have a backup weapon. However a Soldier can mitigate this problem with a well-timed Adrenaline Rush to reload instantly.


 * Multiplayer
 * Marksman as mentioned mitigates the weapon's accuracy issues on multiplayer and for players who manage to secure Ashley's bonus power. In multiplayer the Turian Soldier class excels with this weapon with Marksman as well.
 * The Revenant also has a faster rate of fire than most other assault rifles, and does slightly more damage than the Avenger. This makes it very capable of shredding enemies at close to medium range.
 * To fully maximize the Revenant's potential, equip the Assault Rifle Piercing and Extended Barrel mods. While a Stability Mod would allow better control over the Revenant, its stability is so low that these mods are much better for close-quarters combat. Once both mods are maxed, the Revenant will shred through targets like paper-mache.
 * The Revenant is one of the most powerful fully-automatic weapons in the assault rifle category (along with Cerberus Harrier which is much more accurate but has a much smaller clip). Its high capacity, good bullet damage, and fast rate of fire makes this weapon brutally effective at close range, where accuracy is not an issue. On any difficulty its very lethal, but at ranges it suffers from lack of accuracy. A stability mod would definitely help here, or a stability upgrade (equipment).
 * It should also be noted that unlike other weapons, the Revenant actually slows you down when you fire on the move, although krogan and batarians are unaffected by this. One should utilise the Revenant in cover ideally or you could very easily end up filled with more slugs than you are dishing out.
 * The Revenant can become even nastier with the aid of a Piercing mod. The high capacity and rate of fire are very likeable, and damage isn't too badly affected when using the Piercing mod. This allows a weapon that can combat any enemy, even Guardians. It also allows more damage to be inflicted on enemies with armour, particularly Atlases, Brutes, and Ravagers.
 * The only class that can give it complete stability is the Turian solider with marksman with a rank 5 stability upgrade and the Turian Veteran. With the accuracy bonus of marksman it greatly helps in using it.
 * When fully upgraded the Revenant has nearly 500 rounds on reserve (480), making it very capable of holding its own in long-term firefights. This may tempt you to use just the Revenant since it is quite versatile with its rate of fire, damage, and versatility. The only real weakness is you may be inaccurate at longer ranges, though burst firing can compensate for this. It could even be used on its on with power-oriented classes like the Adept, or Engineer and still maintain a fair amount of power recharge speed.

Trivia

 * There is an M-76 Revenant in Morinth's apartment on the wall, from which you can pick up an assault rifle upgrade.
 * The Revenant is occasionally used by generic Blue Suns Commanders, including 'named' Blue Suns NPCs like Warden Kuril and Jentha. It is also carried by some of Aria's henchmen, Geth Primes and the Shadow Broker.
 * The Revenant's name could be a reference to Shepard. A revenant is a spirit brought back from the dead to fulfill a certain purpose, much like Shepard in Mass Effect 2.
 * Due to a graphical glitch, Shepard's hand clips through the weapon's grip in cutscenes, since it does not match the standard assault rifle pattern.
 * Although the Revenant is easily the largest assault rifle in the game, the Revenant which appears in the Normandy's armory after the weapon's acquisition appears to be significantly smaller than the actual weapon, especially compared to the M-8 Avenger and M-15 Vindicator rifles lying next to it.
 * The Revenant has two safety switches on the side of the gun; there is text above each one, reading "Lock" and "Load".
 * On BioWare's official site, the reveal trailer for Zaeed shows him using the Revenant even though he cannot in the game.