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This article is about the weapon in Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda. For the character in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode, see Talon Mercenary Engineer. For the mercenary organization, see Talons. |
The M-358 Talon is a heavy pistol in Mass Effect 3 and a pistol in Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Mass Effect 3[]
Description[]
The Talon is a close-range pistol favored by Cerberus Guardians. Firing heavy-gauge shotgun pellets, it delivers massive trauma to unarmored targets. Its waste heat is sufficiently excessive that it carries six separate ammunition blocks, rotating like a twentieth-century revolver to prevent shaver jam or misfire due to premature melting of the shot.
Acquisition[]
- Single-player
The M-358 Talon is found during the mission Priority: The Citadel II inside a locked room. The door control is found in the nearby room used to circumvent a malfunctioning door. It is not purchasable from a shop if missed during the mission.
- Multiplayer
Weapons are randomly rewarded through purchases of item packs. The M-358 Talon is categorized as ultra-rare and requires no multiplayer expansion packs.
Player Notes[]
- General
- The Talon is essentially a shotgun in pistol form, firing multiple pellets with each shot. This is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness: while the Talon is incredibly lethal at close range, its effectiveness rapidly diminishes out to medium and long range as the pellet spread increases.
- Aiming down sights changes the targeting reticule of the Talon to a large circle and noticeably reduces the pellet spread of the weapon; zooming through the Pistol Scope tightens the spread even more. However, firing the Talon while scoped will jolt your view up severely due to the high recoil of the weapon, making firing multiple accurate shots quickly more challenging with the Talon than with other weapons, though unlike a shotgun, the Talon's stability and accuracy can be improved by firing from cover.
- Like most shotguns, the Talon does not suffer much damage loss from enemy shield gates thanks to firing multiple less-damaging pellets. However, this same property does mean that enemy armor can lessen the Talon's damage significantly; the Pistol Piercing Mod or other means of weakening enemy armor should be used to make the Talon more viable against hard targets.
- The Talon fires six pellets per shot, whereas most pellet-firing shotguns fire eight.
- The Talon benefits from 50% bonus damage to both shields and barriers.[1]
- The Talon's main disadvantage aside from its shorter effective range and high recoil is its relatively high weight for a heavy pistol; however, its versatility and power can allow it to be used as a primary or even sole weapon, so power-focused classes can still maintain a high power recharge speed bonus with it. The Talon is still lighter than most comparable shotguns, including the M-11 Wraith.
- It can be illustrative to compare the Talon with a shotgun like the N7 Piranha:
- Both weapons need tightening of their projectile spreads to be most effective.
- The fully automatic Piranha fires faster, is more stable, and has greater clip capacity, firing 8 shots before needing to reload by default. With the Pistol Magazine Upgrade mod the Talon can approach this, able to fire up to 7 shots before having to reload.
- The Talon with the Pistol Heavy Barrel can deal comparable damage at exactly the same weight, and has an accuracy and range advantage when fired from cover especially with a scope. It also deals more damage to shielded enemies.
- In sum, the Piranha is a superior assault weapon, while the Talon with its lower rate of fire, lower weight, and greater overall accuracy, performs better when firing carefully aimed shots from cover in tandem with power use.
- The Talon can take out many light enemies with a single headshot even on high difficulties with the right damage modifiers, if all the pellets land on target.
- When used with Marksman, the fire rate of the Talon is greatly increased, allowing for a magazine to be fired very rapidly. Also, the accuracy bonuses will tighten the pellet spread enough that the weapon can be used effectively even at range, and without needing the Pistol Scope, though the Pistol Magazine Upgrade is recommended to minimize time spent reloading. The increased rate of fire unfortunately worsens the Talon's relative instability especially when tight aiming, so a lot of effort has to go into quickly correcting for the high muzzle climb between shots. Firing from cover is recommended when possible.
- The Talon has an extremely high chance-per-shot of triggering ammo powers/ammo bonuses including Cryo Ammo, provided most of the pellets hit home.
- The Talon can be a good weapon for a Vanguard. Given how the Vanguard will be at point-blank ranges often, the inaccuracy and short range aren't as important as they would be otherwise. It is feasible to carry it alone to keep recharge times low and use the Vanguard powers to fill the gaps. The Pistol Power Magnifier can be equipped to deploy shotgun-like firepower while also increasing damage delivered by powers.
- Multiplayer
- The Talon can be quite effective in the hands of many biotic classes who can benefit from equipping Warp Rounds for massive extra damage and armor-weakening against any target hit with biotic effects. This makes the Talon viable as a sole weapon option, minimizing weight. Being a heavy pistol, it also pairs nicely with the Commando Package. Just about the only thing the Talon can't do with this setup is pierce objects like armor plating or Guardian shields.
- Armor-Piercing Rounds can be used turn the Talon into a devastating anti-armor weapon; Armor-Piercing Rounds IV will ignore 90% of the damage mitigation afforded by armor and also enable its shots to penetrate objects. This also eliminates any need to equip the Pistol Piercing Mod, freeing up a slot for a scope or something else.
Mass Effect: Andromeda[]
Description[]
The slow firing, semi-automatic Talon scatters projectiles like a shotgun. Its waste heat is excessive enough that it requires six separate ammunition blocks that rotate like a twentieth-century revolver to prevent premature melting of the shot.
Features[]
According to post-launch updates, the Talon gained a damage improvement while the force imparted by its projectiles decreased and its weight also slightly increased.
Strategies[]
- Singleplayer
- Talon shots hit with enough force to reliably stagger all but the largest targets, including any and all animals. Even Eirochs can be stunlocked by repeatedly hitting them with a Talon, making the gun a useful backup piece for any playstyle in case one of these monsters gets too close for comfort. A magazine mod may be necessary to keep this up long enough to kill the beast, though.
- Similar to its Mass Effect 3 incarnation, the Talon's high damage, good clip size, fast reload and relatively low weight make it an ideal weapon for Vanguard-style Pathfinder builds that also want to make use of other profiles and weapons without changing their loadout in between.
- For Vanguard-style builds, installing a Vintage Heat Sink during construction eliminates the need to reload since the animation delay of Charge is sufficient to trigger the heat sink cooldown, resulting in a fully loaded weapon every time a Charge finishes.
Stats[]
- Singleplayer
| Rank | Damage | Rate of Fire | Max Clip Size | Max Ammo | Accuracy | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 315 | 75 | 4 | 28 | 40 | 30 |
| II | 336 | 75 | 4 | 29 | 43 | 28 |
| III | 357 | 75 | 4 | 30 | 45 | 27 |
| IV | 378 | 75 | 4 | 30 | 46 | 25 |
| V | 399 | 75 | 4 | 31 | 47 | 23 |
| VI | 420 | 75 | 4 | 32 | 48 | 22 |
| VII | 441 | 75 | 4 | 33 | 48 | 20 |
| VIII | 455 | 75 | 4 | 33 | 49 | 18 |
| IX | 476 | 75 | 4 | 34 | 50 | 17 |
| X | 497 | 75 | 4 | 35 | 50 | 15 |
- Multiplayer
| Rank | Damage | Rate of Fire | Max Clip Size | Max Ammo | Accuracy | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 588 | 75 | 4 | 28 | 40 | 30 |
| II | 602 | 75 | 4 | 29 | 43 | 28 |
| III | 616 | 75 | 4 | 30 | 45 | 27 |
| IV | 630 | 75 | 4 | 30 | 46 | 25 |
| V | 637 | 75 | 4 | 31 | 47 | 23 |
| VI | 651 | 75 | 4 | 32 | 48 | 22 |
| VII | 665 | 75 | 4 | 33 | 48 | 20 |
| VIII | 679 | 75 | 4 | 33 | 49 | 18 |
| IX | 693 | 75 | 4 | 34 | 50 | 17 |
| X | 707 | 75 | 4 | 35 | 50 | 15 |
Development[]
| Rank |  Research Cost
|
 Omni-Gel Canister
|
 Graphite
|
 Nickel
|
 Element Zero
|
 Augmentation Slots
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 125 | 20 | 100 | 50 | 10 | 0 |
| II | 140 | 30 | 110 | 50 | 10 | 3 |
| III | 155 | 30 | 130 | 60 | 20 | 3 |
| IV | 170 | 30 | 140 | 70 | 20 | 3 |
| V | 185 | 40 | 160 | 80 | 20 | 3 |
| VI | 200 | 40 | 170 | 80 | 20 | 3 |
| VII | 215 | 40 | 180 | 80 | 20 | 3 |
| VIII | 230 | 40 | 190 | 90 | 20 | 3 |
| IX | 245 | 50 | 190 | 90 | 20 | 3 |
| X | 260 | 50 | 200 | 100 | 20 | 3 |
| Total | 1925 | 370 | 1570 | 750 | 180 | N/A |
Trivia[]
- Mass Effect: Andromeda doesn't use the M-358 designation that Mass Effect 3 uses for this pistol.
References[]
|
Mass Effect: Andromeda Weapons |
| |
|---|---|---|---|
| Augmentations • Mods | |||
| Assault Rifles | L-89 Halberd • M-8 Avenger • M-37 Falcon • M-96 Mattock • Cyclone • N7 Valkyrie • Pathfinder Pioneer • P.A.W. • Revenant • Sandstorm • Soned • Sovoa • Sweeper • Thokin • X5 Ghost • Zalkin | ||
| Pistols | M-3 Predator • M-5 Phalanx • M-25 Hornet • Carnifex • Charger • Equalizer • N7 Eagle • N7 Hurricane • Pathfinder Ranger • Rozerad • Scorpion • Sidewinder • Silhesh • Talon • Ushior | ||
| Sniper Rifles | M-90 Indra • Black Widow • Incisor • Inferno • Isharay • Kishock Harpoon Gun • Lanat • Naladen • N7 Valiant • Pathfinder Observer • Raptor • Shadow • Vanquisher • Viper • Widow | ||
| Shotguns | M-23 Katana • Dhan • Disciple • Hesh • N7 Crusader • N7 Piranha • Pathfinder Deep Impact • Reegar Carbine • Ruzad • Scattershot • Shorty • Venom | ||
| Melee Weapons | Angaran Firaan • Asari Sword • Biotic Amplifier • Electric Firaan • Kett Carfalon • Kett Vakarsh • Krogan Hammer • Omni-Blade • Remnant Cryo-Gauntlet | ||