M-358 Talon

The M-358 Talon is a heavy pistol in Mass Effect 3.

Description
The Talon is a close-range pistol favored by Cerberus Guardians. Firing heavy-gauge shotgun pellets, it delivers massive trauma to unarmored targets. Its waste heat is sufficiently excessive that it carries six separate ammunition blocks, rotating like a twentieth-century revolver to prevent shaver jam or misfire due to premature melting of the shot.

Acquisition

 * Single-player: Found during Priority: The Citadel II inside a locked room. The door control is found in the nearby room used to circumvent a malfunctioning door. (Not purchasable from a shop if missed during mission.)
 * Multiplayer: Randomly rewarded by purchasing an item pack.

Player Notes

 * Single-player
 * Although it has a very low clip size to start (four in a clip, twenty spare), the Talon has extremely high firepower, able to kill most basic enemies in two to three shots out to even medium-long range, and a headshot at mid-close range is instantly fatal to most enemies.
 * Another significant weakness is the Talon is effectively "a shotgun in pistol form". This means while the Talon is incredibly lethal at close range, its effectiveness rapidly deteriorates out to medium and long range.
 * Another significant factor is the already short range is reduced while on the move since, as with all weapons, crosshairs bloom when moving. Because the Talon is reliant on close range combat, this can have a significant impact on the weapon's damage while on the move.
 * As squadmates aren't affected by weapon weight, the Talon could potentially be a useful backup weapon for less durable squadmates (such as Liara) to deal with melee-oriented enemies such as Husks.
 * The Talon is a good weapon for a Vanguard. It has a larger capacity than most shotguns, and does shotgun-like damage with a better rate of fire. The pistol's magazine increases and better piercing mods give it another edge on the shotgun. Given how the Vanguard will be at point-blank ranges anyway, the inaccuracy and short range aren't as important as they would be otherwise. It is possibly feasible to carry it alone to keep recharge times low and use the Vanguard powers to fill the gaps.


 * Multiplayer
 * Equipping the Talon with a pistol scope will largely negate the weapon's difficulty of hitting targets at long range, allowing the player to use it at medium to long ranges and down certain enemies in one or two shots.
 * Its main downside is that it's a very heavy pistol, and thus takes room away from other weapons, but as far as pistols go it's a great alternative to sniping with a Carnifex or Paladin. However, it has far greater recoil than either of them, making it harder to rapidly headshot groups of enemies.
 * For classes that rely on power usage, the Talon makes a great primary weapon. Its high power and range make it a versatile weapon that is useful in most multiplayer scenarios.
 * A Wraith performs better in mid-range combat, however the Talon has more shots per clip, and with magazine mod it can have 7 shots, which makes it very deadly in close-range. Adding a piercing mod allows it to out-DPS any shotguns against armor.
 * The Talon is also the only heavy pistol that can effctively negate most of the effects of the "Shield-Gate" despite its power, due to its shotgun nature. This makes the Talon very effective on Gold difficulties since the pellets can allow users to bypass any shield issues they may have.