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The M-15 Vindicator Battle Rifle is an assault rifle in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 2

Description

A battle rifle favored by assassins and elite mercenaries that fires in highly accurate five [sic]-round bursts and can be pulsed for rapid fire. Deadly at any range, and effective against armor, shields, and biotic barriers. Upgrades the Avenger Assault Rifle.

Manufactured by Elanus Risk Control Services for the Blue Suns mercenary group, the Vindicator is quickly gaining popularity in the Terminus Systems.

Acquisition

The M-15 Vindicator is found on a couch in the room where Shepard meets Archangel on Omega.

Squad Use

This weapon can be used by Garrus, Grunt, Legion, Samara/Morinth, and Zaeed. Squadmates deal 45% less damage with the Vindicator than if wielded by Shepard.

Player Notes

  • The Vindicator has superior accuracy and stopping power when compared to the M-8 Avenger. Its burst-fire mode removes the issue of recoil, but this factor also makes the Vindicator less effective at close quarters or against large numbers of enemies.
  • The Vindicator's rate of fire is much higher when the player repeatedly pulls the trigger as opposed to holding it down.
  • The game calls the Vindicator a battle rifle. Real-world battle rifles are commonly used as designated marksman rifles to cover medium ranges (300-600 meters) between the range of assault rifles and sniper rifles. The game reflects this by making the Vindicator more of a mid-range weapon unsuitable for "spray-and-pray" combat.
  • The main weakness of the Vindicator is its low thermal clip capacity (only 24 rounds, compared to the 40 round clips in the M-8 Avenger). It can carry only 105 rounds worth of spare thermal clips, while the M-8 allows for up to 440 rounds. This limitation can become crippling when fighting enemies that don't drop ammo such as husks, varren and klixen, as well as extremely durable enemies or hard targets, such as krogan or YMIR Mechs.
  • To compensate for the low ammo reserve, the player must strive for accuracy and attempt to deliver a high percentage of headshots. Additionally the player should make use of all their weapons, favoring sniper rifles at long range and shotguns at close range. Consequently, the Vindicator is at its best in the hands of a Soldier, since in addition to having access to the other weapon types, the Soldier's Adrenaline Rush maximizes the accuracy and damage of every available round.
  • This is usually the best weapon for any squadmate that can use assault rifles as they are very accurate with it, fire frequently, and deal high damage even with the 45% decrease in damage squadmates suffer. They are also unaffected by the low ammunition capacity.
  • The Targeting VI upgrade is not as critical on this weapon as on the other rifles, as it is already very accurate. The Vindicator's crosshair is displayed as the narrowest possible with the interface. However, it does improve grouping over range, and allows the player to successfully land all three rounds more often, reducing ammo expenditure.
  • If the number of rounds left in the current clip is four or five, the next shot fired will be a burst of all remaining rounds instead of the usual three.
  • The M-96 Mattock makes the Vindicator somewhat obsolete for Shepard: it has a much higher potential fire rate, works more effectively with ammo powers, and fills the same role of mid-to-long range combat. This is especially true for the Soldier class as the Mattock works particularly well during Adrenaline Rush.

Mass Effect 3

Description

A battle rifle that fires in three-round bursts. Favored by assassins and elite mercenaries, and deadly at any range. Manufactured by Elanus Risk Control Services for the Blue Suns mercenary group, the Vindicator is popular in the Terminus Systems.

Acquisition

Single-player

The M-15 Vindicator can be found during the mission Priority: Mars, in a weapons locker after the tram ride. It is also purchasable from Kassa Fabrication post-mission if it was missed.

Multiplayer

Weapons are randomly rewarded through purchases of item packs. The M-15 Vindicator is categorized as uncommon and requires no multiplayer expansion packs.

Player Notes

General
  • In both single-player and multiplayer, the Vindicator is available early on and is a significant upgrade to the starting M-8 Avenger in most respects. It deals robust damage for its relatively low weight, and it remains viable even after higher-end weapons become available.
  • Burst Fire: The Vindicator is a semi-automatic burst-fire weapon; one three-round burst is fired per trigger pull, but the trigger can't be held to continuously fire. It is one of several similar such burst-fire rifle weapons, along with the M-55 Argus, the N7 Valkyrie, and the M-29 Incisor sniper rifle. The Vindicator is the least damaging of these weapons, but it is also the lightest by far.
    • As with most burst-fire weapons, the weakness of the Vindicator is recoil causing each shot in the burst to climb, making it difficult to concentrate damage on enemy heads or weak points. For this reason, it's recommended to compensate by pulling your aim down with each trigger pull. Equipping an Assault Rifle Stability Damper is also effective. Firing from cover will increase both stability and accuracy and is highly recommended to get the most out of this weapon.
    • As with most burst-fire weapons, the Vindicator doesn't have the rate of fire to be effective either in emergency close-quarters situations or for taking down heavy armored targets like Brutes and Atlases compared to fully automatic weapons or weapons with powerful individual shots like the M-99 Saber.
    • Most burst weapons can be improved significantly with Marksman. Maximizing the rate of fire bonuses also works to increase accuracy as well, as the shots in the burst all fire before the muzzle has jumped as far.
  • The Vindicator is not that accurate when fired "from the hip", but it gains a much higher boost to its accuracy from aiming down sights (zooming) than most assault rifles do, so it is recommended to fire in this way whenever possible. However, this will exacerbate the weapon's muzzle climb, especially if a scope mod is equipped.

Single-player
  • Squad members will not do much damage with the Vindicator, as they will only pop out from cover to fire one burst before ducking back.

Multiplayer

Trivia

  • Squad members and Shepard in cutscenes fire the weapon in fully-automatic or semi-automatic mode, while Shepard can only fire the Vindicator in bursts in actual combat.
  • The appearance is based on the alternate assault rifle in Mass Effect.
  • Like the Mattock and Avenger, the Vindicator's integrated scope was removed from its model in Mass Effect 3, likely to avoid looking redundant if the player adds a scope mod. This is purely a visual design difference and has no gameplay effect.
  • If Samara's recruitment mission is completed and the M-27 Scimitar shotgun isn't obtained at any of the three places that it can be found, an erroneous popup message occurs about receiving an M-15 Vindicator after talking with Samara in the Police Station. No Vindicator is awarded; the M-27 Scimitar is the actual reward and this will be noted correctly in the mission summary.
  • It is possible to see the word "Auto" on the side of the rifle (best seen if using either power or weapon wheel to change camera angle). This may indicate that the Vindicator was supposed to be an automatic assault rifle or that it would have multiple fire modes, which would explain the error above.
  • In Mass Effect 3, rounds are seen firing out of the bottom barrel, but the Assault Rifle Extended Barrel and Assault Rifle High-Velocity Barrel mods attach to the top barrel.
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