Mass Effect 3 Earth DLC details leaked: new characters, weapons and Platinum difficulty

It looks like Mass Effect 3 will be getting a significant multiplayer update very soon. Microsoft community fellow Larry Hryb has listed an Earth Multiplayer Expansion alongside a Tuesday July 17 Xbox release date in a blog post spotted by Eurogamer . Something Awful's gibbed has spliced some supporting details from Mass Effect 3's game files, revealing descriptions and pictures of six new elite N7 characters, new maps, three new weapons and a new Platinum difficulty mode.

EG highlight this product description of the pack: "Mass Effect 3: Earth: The fighting is fiercest when it's your home at stake! Mass Effect 3: Earth adds mods, gear, and new maps for Rio, Vancouver, and London. It features three new weapons: Piranha assault shotgun, Acolyte pistol and Typhoon light machine gun. Six new human N7 classes are also available: Destroyer, Paladin, Demolisher, Slayer, Shadow and Fury!"

Gold mode is already a pretty decent challenge, so the addition of an even more challenging difficulty tier suggests that these new items and classes could be more powerful than the baseline characters. You can increase the power of ordinary weapons by unlocking duplicate versions of them in weapon boxes, a few upgrades might be needed before we can take on that highest difficulty level. The elite N7 characters look awesome, though. Here they are.

N7 Destroyer - Soldier

Leaked description: "The Destroyer's T5-V Battlesuit gives these strong-but-slow soldiers mech-like protection. Driven by eezo-assisted actuators, these frontline troopers carry heavy weapons onto the battlefield."

Abilities: Multi-Frag Grenade, Missile Launcher, Devastator Mode

N7 Fury - Adept

Leaked description: "Fury operatives use implants to fuel biotics and their incredible movement speed. These operatives wind an unpredictable path on the battlefield, moving in and out of combat before returning to unleash a sweeping biotic attack on their unsuspecting targets."

Abilities: Throw, Annihilation Field, Dark Channel

N7 Shadow - Infiltrator

Leaked description: "Shadow infiltrators use implants to dramatically improve agility, making them slippery combatants on the battlefield. Their monomolecular blades are a menace from cover and close range."

Abilities: Tactical Cloak, Shadow Strike, Electric Slash

N7 Demolisher - Engineer

Leaked description: "The Demolisher uses grenades to attack at range and to terrorize the battlefield. Demolishers can also create a supply pylon that stocks allies with an nending reserve of grenades and thermal reloads."

Abilities: Homing Grenade, Arc Grenade, Supply Pylon

N7 Paladin - Sentinel

Leaked description: "The Paladin carries a powerful omni-shield onto the battlefield to block enemy fire. The Paladin also uses the shield as a heavy-melee weapon that, when modified with incindiery or cryo upgrades, creates a devastating combination attack."

Ability: Snap Freeze, Incinerate, Energy Drain

N7 Slayer - Vanguard

Leaked description: "Slayers use implants to dramatically improve mobility. Their dizzying sword attacks can hit multiple opponents, and the Slayer's ability to slip fire makes them hard to pin down on the battielfield."

Abilities: Phase Disruptor, Biotic Charge, Biotic Slash