Disruptor Ammo

This article is about the Ammo Power in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. For the Ammo Bonus in Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer, see Disruptor Rounds. For the consumable disruptor ammo item in Mass Effect: Andromeda, see Consumables.

Disruptor Ammo is a power in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3's single-player mode.

Mass Effect 2[]

Rips through shields and shreds synthetic targets.

Power Ranks[]

• Rank 1 - This ammunition pulses electromagnetically, disrupting shields and synthetic enemies.
  • Recharge Time: 1.50 seconds
  • Duration: Lasts until overridden by another ammo power.
  • Shield and Synthetic Damage: +20% of weapon damage

• Rank 2 - This ammunition has a stronger disruption capacity, tearing through shields and incapacitating synthetic enemies for a short time after direct hits.
  • Recharge Time: 1.50 seconds
  • Duration: Lasts until overridden by another ammo power.
  • Shield and Synthetic Damage: +30% of weapon damage
  • Synthetic Overload Duration: 3.00 seconds

• Rank 3 - Your ammunition shreds shields and synthetic enemies while overheating a target's weapons. Synthetics may be briefly incapacitated after a solid hit.
  • Recharge Time: 1.50 seconds
  • Duration: Lasts until overridden by another ammo power.
  • Shield and Synthetic Damage: +40% of weapon damage
  • Synthetic Overload Duration: 3.00 seconds
  • Weapon Overheat Duration: 6.00 seconds

Rank 4

Evolves Disruptor Ammo into one of the following:

Heavy Disruptor Ammo[]

• This ammunition's electromagnetic properties can cause synthetics to critically overload and explode.
  • Recharge Time: 1.50 seconds
  • Duration: Lasts until overridden by another ammo power
  • Shield and Synthetic Damage: +60.00% of weapon damage
  • Synthetic Overload Duration: 3.00 seconds
  • Weapon Overheat Duration: 6.00 seconds

Squad Disruptor Ammo[]

• Each member of your squad gains the Disruptor Ammo's effects, allowing you to catch synthetics in deadly crossfires.
  • Recharge Time: 1.50 seconds
  • Duration: Lasts until overridden by another ammo power
  • Shield and Synthetic Damage: +40.00% of weapon damage
  • Synthetic Overload Duration: 3.00 seconds
  • Weapon Overheat Duration: 6.00 seconds

Player Notes[]

• Disruptor Ammo does bonus damage to all shields (blue bar) and also to the health (red bar) of synthetics (e.g. mechs and geth) but not to the armor of synthetics (or the armor on other enemy types). The other effects of this ammo power such as overheating weapons and overloading synthetics only apply once all protection (i.e. shields, barriers, and armor) has been removed; in other words, when shooting at the red health bar only.
• Disruptor Ammo is useful at higher difficulties where most enemies gain additional layers of protection on top of health with shields being the most common. It is particularly helpful for the Vanguard and the Adept who lack anti-shield powers and who need enemy shields to be removed before their biotic powers can have their full impact.
• Zaeed has Disruptor Ammo and with the squad evolution he can share the ammo power with Shepard, allowing classes lacking the ability to take advantage of it.
• Disruptor Ammo does no additional damage to the health of organic (non-synthetic) enemies, making it less useful than other ammo powers at taking out an opponent with their health exposed. Using the Squad Evolution to grant the power to allies and then switching to an ammo power more effective against health and armor may be a good strategy.
  • An exception to this is if you are attempting to maximize the damage from a single shot against shielded enemies in which case it's most effective to use Disruptor Ammo due to how damage from weapons is applied in Mass Effect 2. The total damage increase from an ammo power applied to a single shot (e.g. from a sniper rifle) will be calculated based on the type of the first protection layer damaged, even if that layer is minimal and damage is also done to the health or armor underneath.
• Overheat Effect: Starting at Rank 3, Disruptor Ammo will cause the standard firearms of most unprotected infantry enemies to overheat, making them unable to fire for several seconds.
  • Affected enemies can be seen repeatedly performing reload animations and their weapons will be visibly smoking.
  • The disable effect isn't absolute: sometimes a stray shot or two can still be fired.
  • Many tougher enemy types are immune or highly resistant to the overheat effects such as shotgun-wielding krogan/Vanguards, or YMIR Mechs.
  • Heavy weapons wielded by enemies are likewise not affected, such as missile launchers, flamethrowers, or the particle beams used by Collector Assassins.
  • Flashbang Grenade and Overload are also capable of producing overheat effects in enemies.
• Heavy Disruptor Ammo causes synthetic targets to explode when they die, stunning and damaging anyone nearby. This includes you or your squad if the target explodes in close proximity and is something to watch out for especially against targets that seek to close with you such as Geth Hunters or FENRIS Mechs.

Availability[]

• Soldier
• Infiltrator
• Zaeed Massani

Mass Effect 3[]

Power Ranks[]

Rank 1: Disruptor Ammo[]

Bring down your enemy's barrier and shields.

Chance to stun.
More weapon damage.
More damage to shields and barriers.

• Health Damage Bonus: +5%
• Shield & Barrier Damage: +20%

Rank 2: Stun[]

Improve the odds of stunning a target by 15%.

Rank 3: Damage[]

Increase health damage bonus by 2%.
Increase shield and barrier damage bonuses by 8%.

• Health Damage Bonus: +7%
• Shield & Barrier Damage: +28%

Rank 4: Damage/Squad Bonus[]

Rank 5: Ammo Capacity/Headshots[]

Rank 6: Damage/Stun[]

Player Notes[]

• In contrast to its Mass Effect 2 iteration, Disruptor Ammo is more versatile, able to damage barriers as well as shields, and at higher ranks, the health (red bar) of all enemy types, not just synthetics. Unlike in the previous game, it can no longer disable enemy weapons. With the proper evolution and applied to weapons with high rates of fire or large areas of effect, it can stun and obliterate the shields/barriers of entire squads of enemy forces.
• Electrocution effects: The stunning effect of Disruptor Ammo works against almost all infantry targets, organic or synthetic, regardless of protections. There are only a few exceptions, such as Husks, Abominations, and Phantoms. The stun can take two forms: the default causes unprotected targets to double over briefly. The second stun is an electrocution effect that causes the target to spasm violently while standing; this effect lasts noticeably longer than the default stun but occurs less frequently. If multiple infantry targets are hit by a single shot, each individual target hit can suffer a different stun effect.
  • Many tech powers can also cause these stuns such as Overload, Sabotage, and Energy Drain, though only Disruptor Ammo is able to trigger these stuns regardless of enemy protection types hit.
  • As Disruptor Ammo's effects can only be delivered via weapon damage, weapons that carry their own stunning effects such as the M-37 Falcon or the Scorpion tend to supersede the shock stuns with these effects.
• Some weapons' effects synergize (or stack) cumulatively with Disruptor Ammo:^[1]
  • The following weapons deal more shield & barrier damage vs. foes (between 50%-to-500%): Acolyte, Adas Anti-Synthetic Rifle, M-358 Talon, N7 Typhoon, Reegar Carbine, and Geth Spitfire.
• The ammunition capacity boost, if chosen, only applies on the active ammo power. Switching to another ammo power will remove the extra ammunition even if both have the capacity boost.
• Upgrades to power damage will increase Disruptor Ammo's listed damage bonus against health, shields, and barriers.
• Disruptor Ammo is capable of priming enemies for devastating Tech Bursts.
• Shield Gate Bypass: Disruptor Ammo has a limited ability to "break" enemy shield gates due to the way in which bonus damage from ammo powers is applied in Mass Effect 3. Damage from a single shot is applied in two stages where the bonus damage from the ammo power is applied first and then the raw weapon damage.^[2] If the ammo power damage is sufficient to completely overcome any shield or barrier protecting the target, then there is no longer any gate to prevent the full raw weapon damage from applying to the target. This enables weapons enhanced by Disruptor Ammo to eliminate the remaining shields or barriers of enemies and damage their health with a single shot, even allowing for instant kills.^[3]
  • The "shield/barrier damage bonus" portion of Disruptor Ammo will almost never be enough to destroy the full-strength shields/barriers of most enemies especially on higher difficulties, so enemy shields/barriers usually have to be severely damaged by something else first, e.g. Energy Drain or a similar power.
  • This applies to Warp Ammo as well, as it is the only other ammo power in single-player that deals bonus damage to shields or barriers (barriers only, in this case).
  • This also applies to equipment in multiplayer that gives weapons bonus damage to enemy shields or barriers, e.g. Phasic Rounds.^[4]
• The "50% effectiveness" of the Squad Bonus evolution of Disruptor Ammo applies not only to its damage dealt but also to its other effects as well, including its ability to prime targets for Tech Bursts. Weapons that can prime for electric combos still can, but the chance for a given shot to do so is greatly reduced, necessitating more hits on average before a target becomes primed.

Availability[]

• Single-player: Infiltrator, Soldier, Ashley Williams, Zaeed Massani
• Multiplayer: N/A

References[]