M-96 Mattock

The M-96 Mattock Heavy Rifle is an assault rifle in Mass Effect 2.

In-Game Description
Medium-range, semi-automatic rifle effective against armor, shields, and barriers. Upgrades the Avenger Assault Rifle.

The Mattock is a semi-automatic hybrid weapon with an assault rifle's low heat production and a sniper rifle's punch. Though it does not have a sniper rifle's precision scope, marksmen favor its increased power over that of an assault rifle to bring down hardened targets. Its lack of a full-auto setting is advertised as a feature rather than a shortcoming since it curbs a soldier's tendency to spray inaccurate fire under stress.

Acquisition
Available through purchase of the Firepower Pack DLC.

Squad Use
This weapon can be used by Garrus, Grunt, Legion, Samara/Morinth, and Zaeed.

Player Notes
The entire clip can be emptied during the course of one Adrenaline Rush, making it a good alternative to the Vindicator for a Soldier. Its strong armor-piercing capabilities make it suitable for dealing with large, slow-moving enemies like Geth Primes, YMIR mechs, krogan or Oculus. Not recommended against melee attackers like Husks.

Trivia

 * The Mattock was balanced differently from other assault rifles. The rifle does very high damage per shot, but offsets this by significantly limiting the ammo available, forcing players to make each shot count.
 * A Mattock is a hand tool similar to a pickaxe, that was often used by infantry as a form of improvised pole-arm during the Middle Ages.
 * Like the Vindicator, the Mattock fires on full-auto during cutscenes despite being semi-automatic.