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The Kishock Harpoon Gun is a sniper rifle in Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda Multiplayer.

Mass Effect 3[]

Description[]

An Alliance captain on her fifth tour of the Terminus Systems once said that seeing a Kishock was the easiest way to tell if she was being attacked by batarian mercenaries or slavers, since "no bastard with a Kishock means to take you alive." This powerful sniper rifle fires a harpoon-like spike that causes massive internal bleeding, and its miniaturized disruptors will also destroy synthetics. The rifle’s biggest drawback is that it must be reloaded after every shot, but for those with steady aim and good timing, one shot is enough.

Acquisition[]

Singleplayer

The Kishock Harpoon Gun is available after downloading the Mass Effect 3: Groundside Resistance Pack.[1]

In Legendary Edition it is available from the Batarian State Arms terminal in the Docks: Holding Area for a base amount of 10,000 credits.

Multiplayer

Weapons are randomly rewarded through purchases of item packs. The Kishock Harpoon Gun is categorized as rare and requires the Mass Effect 3: Resurgence Pack.[2]

Player Notes[]

General
  • Harpoon: As its name states, the Kishock does not fire conventional rounds but instead launches a harpoon-like bolt.
    • This projectile has a travel time, making moving targets more difficult to hit unless an adjustment is made to lead the target. Using a power to stun or immobilize a target or at least force it to dodge can help mitigate this problem.
    • The Kishock completely ignores both enemy armor damage reduction, as well as the defense bleed-through penalties from the shield gate mechanic[3], meaning it can potentially one-shot shielded or barrier-protected enemies even on the highest difficulties. Charged shots can even one-hit kill Phantoms as Phantoms only possess damage resistance against standard bullet-firing weapons.
    • The Kishock's projectiles cannot penetrate cover, even if equipped with ammunition or mods that would normally allow it. However, they can naturally penetrate armor plating and Guardian shields.
    • The combination of the two above properties render the Sniper Rifle Piercing Mod and Sniper Rifle High-Velocity Barrel useless.
    • The bolt will stagger most infantry enemies regardless of protections; even larger armored enemies can also be briefly stunned.
  • Charged Shot: This weapon can be charged similar to the Graal Spike Thrower or the Geth Plasma Shotgun, though it only deals 175% base damage on a full charge.
    • The damage of a fully charged shot (including damage-over-time) rivals even the Javelin.
    • A charged shot possesses significantly more kinetic energy, capable of knocking light enemies long distances upon impact if the shot is fatal (and not a headshot, which just makes their heads explode).
    • While there is no increase in the speed of a charged harpoon its trajectory much flatter even with a minor amount of charge, and with no visible drop at full charge even at long ranges.
    • The long knockback effect of fatal body-shots on certain light targets can be especially useful against Abominations, as while in flight their bodies do not explode, making their detonations much less dangerous. This can even knock Possessed Abominations far enough away that their much larger explosions won't harm the shooter even if the shot was taken at close range.
    • Releasing a charged shot does not break Tactical Cloak. Beginning to charge a shot after cloaking will break the cloak.
    • As with any charged weapon, the Kishock cannot be charged while in cover without popping out. It is recommended to either only fire uncharged shots out of cover, or to stay standing and move out from behind obstacles to fire. Doing this has the disadvantage of not being able to gain an accuracy bonus from being in cover, and also makes the Kishock not the best option for "sniper duels" against enemies like the Nemesis.
    • Powers can still be used while charging a shot or holding a charged shot. A charged or charging shot can also be released during powers that have long action times.
  • Bleed Damage: The Kishock deals 67% of its stated damage on impact. The remaining 33% is dealt over the next 5 seconds, representing the bleed damage. However, damage bonuses from powers (with the exception of Infiltrator class bonuses) and mods only increase the impact damage.
    • As a result, any enemy reduced to two boxes of health with the first shot can usually be left alone if not an immediate threat, as they are likely to die from the bleed. Exceptions to this include Cannibals and Phantoms, who can both regenerate health.
    • The bleed damage will not be increased by scoring a headshot. To offset that, the Kishock deals an extra 50% damage on a headshot (for a total of 3x rather than 2.5x damage). The end result is that a headshot deals 2.4x the weapon's stated damage on impact, 2.6x after bleed, comparable to any other sniper rifle.
    • The damage over time is helpful for revealing cloaked enemies such as Geth Hunters or Phantoms.
  • Despite being a single-shot sniper rifle, the weapon has a relatively fast reload speed, about half the time needed to reload weapons like the M-98 Widow or Javelin.
  • The combination of rapid reload, lengthy charge time and only 175% charged damage means that, if ammunition conservation and precise aim are not a concern (for example, shooting at an Atlas whose attention is elsewhere), you will deal more damage by repeatedly firing off uncharged shots, rather than waiting for them to charge.
  • The rifle has a unique scope of very low magnification. This makes long ranged shots more difficult, but short-ranged shots easier than other single shot snipers. The scoped appearance changes upon equipping scope mods, but not the magnification level.
    • The hash marks on the bottom spoke of the default crosshair can be used as a "ruler" to help aim uncharged shots at long ranges, though this is of little help against small or moving targets.
  • The Kishock has a very high chance to trigger the effects of ammo powers/ammo bonuses from a single shot (if the shooter is using its own ammo power in single-player). This makes the weapon very effective at freezing/chilling, or priming targets for Fire Explosions and Tech Bursts.
  • The Kishock is the only sniper rifle that does not receive a damage penalty when fired from the hip (unzoomed). It does still suffer an accuracy penalty, however.
  • The Kishock's high damage, decent rate of fire, and effectiveness against all targets and protection types even while unscoped can make it viable as a primary or even sole weapon choice; however, due to its low thermal clip capacity, the Sniper Rifle Spare Thermal Clip mod should be used to enable this play style.

Single-player
  • The Kishock can hit through CAT6 Heavy shields, though it suffers a high damage penalty.
  • Landing shots with the Kishock is significantly easier with the time dilation afforded by an Infiltrator's Operational Mastery, the Sniper Rifle Concentration Mod, or the Soldier's Adrenaline Rush.
  • As with most weapons with a charging feature, squadmates only fire uncharged shots with the Kishock. Their accuracy is decent, but the rate of fire is not.

Multiplayer
  • The Kishock deals 60% of its stated damage on impact. The remaining 40% is dealt over the next 5 seconds, representing the bleed damage. However, damage bonuses from powers (with the exception of sniper-specific infiltrator bonuses) and mods only increase the impact damage.
    • The bleed damage will not be increased by scoring a headshot. To offset that, the Kishock deals an extra 50% damage on a headshot (for a total of triple rather than 2.5x damage). The end result is that a headshot deals 1.8x the weapon's stated damage on impact, 2.2x after bleed, comparable to any other sniper rifle.
  • The Kishock has had multiple damage increases as well as changes to bleed damage: as of the latest patch, it inflicts an extra 40% damage instead of 20%, as well as bleed damage over a period of 5 seconds instead of 10 seconds. The damage spread out over those seconds is much higher due to the halving of the damage over time duration.
  • Latency can make landing shots against moving targets even more difficult with the Kishock.

Mass Effect: Andromeda[]

Description[]

Batarians brought the Kishock Harpoon Gun to Andromeda so they could spear their enemies in an entirely new galaxy. The barbed harpoons stick tight and continue to cause massive internal injuries to targets over time. The projectiles drop slightly during flight unless the shooter quickly charges the rifle before firing. Users must reload after every shot, so a steady hand and keen eye are crucial.

Features[]

Strategies[]

  • Practicing headshots with the Kishock is ideal with the Concussive variant, as the additional explosion can potentially wipe out enemies next to the target.

Stats[]

Rank Damage Rate of Fire Max Clip Size Max Ammo Accuracy Weight
I 1320 100 1 20 62 55
II 1399 100 1 21 67 52
III 1478 100 1 21 69 49
IV 1557 100 1 22 71 46
V 1637 100 1 22 73 43
VI 1716 100 1 23 74 40
VII 1794 100 1 23 75 37
VIII 1873 100 1 24 76 34
IX 1952 100 1 24 77 31
X 2031 100 1 25 78 28

Development[]

The Kishock Harpoon Gun is exclusive to multiplayer and can't be developed.

Trivia[]

  • The harpoon projectile fired by the Kishock can be seen sticking out from the surface of most surfaces or targets it hits, persisting for some time.
  • Prior to the 1.03 patch in Mass Effect 3, the Kishock would sometimes score headshots even on armored enemies (such as Brutes, Banshees or Ravagers) that were normally immune to them. It can score them again, along with all weapons, after the 1.04 patch.

References[]

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