Mass Effect
49 Achievements
1,200
62-84h
Pistol Expert
150 Pistol Kills
10
How to unlock the Pistol Expert achievement in Mass Effect - Definitive Guide
If you don't get 150 kills during your first playthrough don't worry since the kill count carries through to other playthroughs for the same career (player character).
Killing friendly critters counts towards your kills. Go to the planet Eletania (in the Hercules system of Attican Beta) where you will find several colonies of little monkey aliens. Simply drive up to one in the Mako, save your game, and shoot each of the monkeys with your pistol of choice. When they're all dead, reload your save and repeat.
There are about ten monkeys in each colony, so you'll need to do this fifteen times at most. Note that there are poisonous toxins in the atmosphere that will eventually kill you, but you should be able to get all the monkeys before then.
When you are ready to give the code to Mira to purge the rachni save your game then give her the code.
Then you can kill the rachni in the next room and wait for the count down to reach zero and then reload your last save and repeat.
Most classes will attain this on their first playthrough due to the pistol being a staple of your arsenal the minute you step off the Normandy. If, however, you find yourself lacking the required kills for this achievement, there are a few options available to you to speed the process up:
1) Reload a previous save and find a mission that has a lot of enemies - the game registers kills outwith your save, so you can reload the mission over and over.
2) Create a new character, make a new save when you first exit the Normandy and play Eden Prime, reloading your save when you reach the Conduit (preferably utilising a Soldier for this method).
3) Mission: UNC: Lost Module - Visit the planet Eletania (Attican Beta Cluster/Hercules System). Upon entering the Hercules system Shepard will be given a mission by Admiral Hackett. When you touch down on the planet, investigate the downed probe (marked on your map) - this will cause several colonies of Pyjak ("Space Monkeys") to appear. Save your game, clear the colonies with your weapon of choice and reload. Repeat this until the achievement pops.
*Be aware that Eletania has a Level 1 Toxic Hazard - take necessary precaution!*
The pistol is available to all classes and is the easiest one to get if you start working on it right away. No matter your class, put in enough points into the Pistol tree so that you can get the Marksman skill, as it is immensely helpful for this achievement. When you get the skill, use it as often as you can, as it makes using the pistol very effective. Even if you don't play as a Soldier or a class that doesn't have any training for that particular weapon, it is still very possible to get the achievement. Focus on getting as many accuracy improving attachments for the guns you aren't trained in, and stabilizers for Sniper Rifles. It's not as good as playing as a class trained for the weapon, but it's better than nothing. Also, kills made by teammates do not count towards this achievement.
Note: Sentinels don't have pistol training. They get pistol bonuses from their class skill.
All weapon kills carry over between playthroughs and careers. Even if you don’t get all 150 kills in one playthrough, any kills you have made will carry over into every other one you may have.