M-9 Tempest

The M-9 Tempest Submachine Gun is a submachine gun in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

Description
This submachine gun fires in long deadly bursts. Very effective against shields and biotic barriers. Inaccurate at long range. Weak against armor. Upgrades the Shuriken Machine Pistol. The commonality of kinetic barriers has led to increased demand for rapid-fire weapons like the Tempest. Produced by Elanus Risk Control Services for the Eclipse mercenary band, the Tempest is an expensive but deadly addition to anyone’s personal arsenal.

Acquisition
The Tempest is acquired from a dead quarian during Tali's recruitment mission. Make sure to pick it up before you answer the quarian radio. If you ever miss that one for whatever reason, you may have your second chance to pick up the Tempest in the room blocked by a pillar (which you have to blow up), where you can talk to Tali by radio.

Squad Use
This weapon can be used by Miranda, Mordin, Samara/Morinth, Thane, Kasumi and Liara.

Player Notes

 * Its high capacity magazine, spare ammo and reasonable damage make it an excellent anti-shield/barrier or suppressive weapon.
 * This weapon only fires in automatic mode or five-round burst fire mode. It is impossible to fire a single round. This burst also counts for the last round you fire (in other words, the weapon can fire up to four extra shots after you let go of the trigger.)
 * While initial accuracy is good, bullet spread increases very rapidly when using automatic fire (making it one of the least accurate weapons on automatic fire). Recoil is substantial as well, requiring significant compensation. Good accuracy can be maintained by firing in five-round bursts with pauses between bursts (substantially reducing DPS).
 * Tempest vs Locust: At short range, the Tempest will provide slightly more DPS against barriers, health, and shields; slightly less against armor. However, due to much lower bullet spread and recoil on automatic fire, the Locust outperforms the Tempest at medium and long range.
 * Squadmates do not suffer from accuracy-related issues, making this weapon a better SMG choice for them.
 * Armor-Piercing Ammo helps the Tempest against armored opponents, as well as against unprotected enemies. If equipped on the entire squad, against lightly/unarmoured enemies like vorcha or husks, your allies will strip their armor, allowing you to follow up with crowd control biotics.

Description
Produced by Elanus Risk Control Services for the Eclipse mercenary band, the Tempest is an expensive but deadly addition to anyone's personal arsenal. This fully automatic submachine gun is punishing up close, but becomes less accurate at long range.

Acquisition

 * Single-player: Tuchanka: Turian Platoon: Next to the turian bodies after killing the first group of husks. (Also purchasable from Kassa Fabrication if missed during mission.)
 * Multiplayer: Randomly rewarded by purchasing an item pack.

Player Notes

 * The Tempest is a sub-machine gun that has several strengths. The Tempest has a moderately-fast rate of fire, a good clip capacity, average accuracy, and moderate damage for its class. Its rate of fire means it is deadly at close range. It does more damage than the Locust, and the Shuriken, though the Shuriken inflicts it faster.
 * The main drawback with the Tempest is its heavy recoil, even when used in cover. Burst-firing is highly recommended at medium to long range combat; otherwise you will waste a lot of shots. Another drawback is it reloads slower than the other submachine guns, which can prove costly if enemies start drawing closer upon reloading. The recoil, however, can be mitigated by holding the control stick down while holding the trigger. This can also be managed if the gun is modified to have an SMG Scope, is fired on larger enemies where you have more room for error in aiming, or if engaging enemies in close quarters.
 * A Tempest attached with an SMG Magazine Upgrade and an SMG Heat Sink provides the longest suppressive fire (without the need to reload) among all the SMGs. Upgrading the mods mentioned further increases the time it can be fired before the magazine empties. Upgrading the Tempest increases its accuracy and damage, improving the barrage.
 * The Marksman further increases the already devastating rate of fire of the Tempest, at the cost of even heavier recoil WHEN zoomed in, rivaling that of the N7 Hurricane.

Trivia

 * Despite the muzzle flash coming from the bottom barrel, the High Caliber Barrel mod appears attached to the top one.