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: Can be found during Attican Traverse: Krogan Team in one of the small buildings.
 * Multiplayer: Randomly rewarded by purchasing a multiplayer item pack.

Player Notes

 * The Claymore must be reloaded after each shot so keep that in mind when using it.
 * 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 rate of fire. Its weight even when fully upgraded is immense, making it difficult to use with a power oriented player, and 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 picking off stragglers to prevent yourself from being overwhelmed.
 * The Claymore has very few shots on reserve, eight by default, which means frequent trips to ammo crates, or in multiplayer, the use of Thermal Clip Packs becomes a serious issue.

Trivia

 * The model number is printed on the weapon as "300-M" so that it can be interpreted as "BooM."
 * 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.