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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 Sniper Rifle 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, Armor-Piercing, or Warp Ammo are the best choices. If for example Incendiary Ammo is active and a shot is fired at a target that still has shields, the Incendiary Ammo will have no effect whatsoever on the damage done by that single shot, even if most of the damage was applied to the health bar underneath the shield and the shield may have been only a tiny sliver.
- The M-98 Widow, if available, is a direct upgrade to the Mantis in terms of one-shot kill potential especially at the higher difficulties.
Mass Effect 3
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.