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Disambiguous This article is about the sniper rifle. For the armor set, see Mantis Armor. For the gunship, see A-61 Mantis Gunship.

The M-92 Mantis is a sniper rifle in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 2[]

Description[]

Powerful sniper rifle able to take out most targets in a single shot. Incredibly accurate at long range, but rate of fire is slow. Effective against armor, but weaker against shields and biotic barriers.

Manufactured by Devlon Industries, the Mantis is primarily used by police and planetary militia groups. The prevalence of kinetic barriers has made this weapon less popular with the military, but it is used more frequently in the Terminus system where these defenses are less common.

Acquisition[]

You get this weapon automatically when you start the Freedom's Progress mission as a Soldier or Infiltrator.

Squad Use[]

This weapon can be used by Garrus, Legion, Thane, and Zaeed. Squadmates deal 45% less damage with this weapon than if wielded by Shepard.

Player Notes[]

  • The Mantis is a powerful and precise single-shot sniper rifle, able to kill most lower-ranked enemies with a single headshot, often even at higher difficulties with the right damage modifiers. This power is offset by a low rate of fire and a low ammunition reserve.
  • Infiltrators and Soldiers have the easiest time lining up precise and highly damaging headshots using Adrenaline Rush, Tactical Cloak and the time dilation effect of the Infiltrator's class skill. Other classes that choose sniper rifle training on the Collector Ship don't have these tools to call on and may find it more effective to use either the semi-automatic M-97 Viper or burst-fire M-29 Incisor which have more forgiving ammo capacities and firing rates than the Mantis.
  • The Mantis is superior to the M-97 Viper for NPC squadmates since they do not take advantage of the Viper's rapid-fire ability but only use single aimed shots just as they do with the Mantis, which will result in much less damage. However the M-29 Incisor in turn may be superior to the Mantis for squadmates; see its page for more information.
  • At higher difficulty levels where most enemies have protection (shields, barriers, or armor) the Mantis loses effectiveness as a "one shot, one kill" weapon. However, once said protection is gone, a clean headshot still inflicts impressive and often fatal damage.
    • Using the right ammo power is essential for one-shotting enemies with protection. It's always best to use the ammo power that deals bonus damage to the first protection layer that will be damaged by a shot, even if that protection layer is only at minimal strength and most of the damage from a shot will also be applied to the layer underneath. Therefore, against shielded targets, Disruptor Ammo should be used; against targets with a barrier Warp Ammo should be used; and against targets where armor is the first layer of protection, Incendiary Ammo or Armor-Piercing Ammo are the best choices. For example, if Incendiary Ammo is active and a shot is fired at a target that still has shields, Incendiary Ammo will have no effect whatsoever on the damage done by that single shot, even if the remaining shield had been of minimal strength.
    • The M-98 Widow, if available, is a direct upgrade to the Mantis in terms of one-shot kill potential especially at higher difficulties.

Mass Effect 3[]

Description[]

The Mantis is a powerful sniper rifle able to take out most targets in a single shot. It's incredibly accurate at long range, but rate of fire is slow. Manufactured by Devlon Industries, the Mantis is primarily used by police and planetary militia groups.

Acquisition[]

Singleplayer

The M-92 Mantis is automatically given to Infiltrators at the beginning of Priority: Mars. Otherwise, find it on a dead Alliance soldier after dropping off the first ledge at the start of the mission; if this is missed or ignored, there is a second opportunity near another dead soldier by the tram care before boarding it. It is not purchasable from a shop if missed during the mission.

Multiplayer

The M-92 Mantis is one of the five starter weapons. Upgrades are randomly rewarded through purchases of item packs. The Mantis is categorized as common.

Player Notes[]

General
  • The M-92 Mantis is a single-shot sniper rifle, requiring a reload after each shot, so accurate shooting is key to being effective with it.
  • In either single-player or multiplayer modes, the Mantis is easily the most powerful weapon early on before other options become available. Any class can benefit from the punch of its single shot, which can one-hit kill unprotected light targets even on higher difficulties, and even without necessarily needing a headshot.
  • Like many powerful but slow-firing weapons, the Mantis can suffer from losing damage to enemy shield gates on higher difficulties. Ideally, strip protections from enemies with a power like Overload first. This also has the advantage of stunning the target, making lining up the shot fairly simple.
  • As with any weapon that deals very high damage per shot, the Mantis can be effective against armored targets, though it will be even more effective if enemy armor is weakened from a power like Warp or from equipping the Sniper Rifle Piercing Mod or the Sniper Rifle High-Velocity Barrel (or both).
  • The Mantis cannot penetrate objects or terrain by default, so it can struggle against enemy armor plating. Piercing mods or Armor-Piercing Ammo/Armor-Piercing Rounds/Drill Rounds can overcome this weakness.
  • Reload cancelling is an important technique when using slow-firing, slow-reloading weapons like the Mantis to increase your rate of fire.
  • As with most of the sniper rifles, it has perfect accuracy when zoomed through the scope, meaning where you aim is where the shot will go.
  • As with almost all sniper rifles, the Mantis suffers from high weight, slowing down power recharge times on most player classes.
  • Until you can level up the Mantis which provides additional spare clip capacity, or acquire the Sniper Rifle Spare Thermal Clip mod, there aren't a lot of shots to work with.
  • As with any slow-firing, low-capacity weapon, pairing the Mantis with a light sidearm like an SMG is never a bad idea.

Single-player

Trivia[]

  • While the Mantis looks nearly identical to the standard sniper rifle from Mass Effect, the scope has changed and the multiple levels of magnification are absent.
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