Geth Plasma Shotgun

The Geth Plasma Shotgun is a shotgun in Mass Effect 2.

In-Game Description
This three-barrelled geth weapon fires miniature but potent cluster rounds of superconducting projectiles and has a longer range than standard shotguns. A two-stage trigger system allows for either quick fire-capacitors or a charge-and-release attack to electrify the projectiles as they exit the weapon. As the rounds hit the target, they fragment and electricity arcs between the pieces, flash-converting the air to conductive plasma. The resulting impact, heat, and electrical charge overloads shields and barriers and causes massive trauma to unarmored targets.

Acquisition
Available through purchase of the Firepower Pack DLC.

Squad Use
This weapon can be used by Grunt, Jack, Jacob and Tali.

Player Notes
Important Notes
 * This weapon fires 3 plasma balls instead of the standard 8 pellets. The second and third plasma balls will do only 30% base damage if they hit the same target as the first. This means that all 3 plasma balls, with full-charge, on a single target, will do only 556.4 base damage instead of the expected 1043. To maximize overall damage, one should aim to hit a different target with each pellet.
 * If fired while aiming down the sights, the plasma will seek enemies slightly.
 * A fully charged shot expends two ammo instead of one. If only one shot is left in the sink, the charged shot will only expend one shot.
 * The weapon cannot be charged whilst Shepard is in cover. While charging, the player should stand around corners, behind tall cover, or face away while behind short cover to minimize exposure.
 * A full-charge can be "held" by simply holding down the fire button, and then released when desired. Sprinting or using powers will not interrupt this. However, opening the HUD or Pause Menu will.
 * Squadmates are incapable of firing charged shots.
 * The weapon is most effective at mid to long range. This applies to Shepard and squad members.
 * By firing a shot then briefly charging the second shot, two shots can be fired in quick succession. This can also be done by performing a melee attack while firing a partially or fully charged shot, or through extremely careful timing. However, due to the required charging interval, this will not increase DPS.
 * With all shotgun upgrades and either Heavy Disruptor Ammo or Heavy Warp Ammo, this weapon is extremely effective against shields and barriers. With damage-increasing armor parts (notably the Kestrel Armor), a fully-charged shot can kill most ordinary enemies. Tougher enemies, such as krogan, can be defeated by quickly following up with any of your squadmates' damage-inflicting powers.
 * It's mid to short range projectiles make it a very good choice for a Sentinel as this is where most will be spending there time.
 * It is a very good weapon to give to squad mates as they are usually able to compensate for accuracy loss

Class Specific Notes
 * An Infiltrator's Tactical Cloak (especially with Assassin) makes a charged-shot able to decimate powerful foes even on Insanity. Cloak should only be activated after the weapon has started charging as releasing a charged-shot while cloaked doesn't cancel the cloak.
 * A Soldier with Shock Trooper can fire up to 3 shots in a single Hardened Adrenaline Rush using either of the methods above to fire more than shots in rapid succession. If planning to use a fully-charged shot, Adrenaline Rush should be activated after charging, as the time dilation will exacerbate the charge time.
 * A Vanguard's Charge used with a "held" full-charge allows one to shoot right after impacting.

Trivia

 * The Geth Plasma Shotgun was designed to be an "unshotgun," allowing players to reliably deal damage at longer ranges than normally allowed. Wanting to preserve the "heavy hitting" aspect of shotguns, the overcharge ability was added to compensate for its lessened effectiveness at shorter range.