CE:Plasma Rifle

Plasma Rifle
The Plasma Rifles in Halo: Combat Evolved (top) and Anniversary (bottom).
Gameplay role
Faction:	Covenant
Weapon class (?):	Rifle
Weapon type (?):	Plasma
Firing mode:	Automatic
Effective range:	Close to medium
Counterparts:	Human (UNSC) Assault Rifle Covenant Needler
Gameplay stats (as of June 2021 MCC patch)
Damage:	12 to 14 (random) out to 20 wu, down to 10 after 50 wu (range) x0.5 vs spartan health, x2 vs shields x2 headshot multiplier (mp only)
Projectile effects:	Stuns for 0.15s per hit, Headshots (mp only)
Projectile speed:	50 wu/s out to 20 wu, down to 25 wu/s after 50 wu
Hitscan range (?):	~1.66 wu
Max range (?):	0 wu
Rate of fire:	7 to 10 rounds per second
Spread (?):	SP: 0.25 to 2.5 degrees MP: 0.5 to 5 degrees
Battery:	-0.5% per shot (200 shots)
Heat:	Generation: +8% per shot Cooldown: -30% per second
Auto aim (?):	5 degrees out to 25 wu
Sticky aim (?):	12 degrees out to 25 wu
Melee damage (?):	Melee
Tag name (?):	plasma rifle

The Plasma Rifle is a weapon featured in Halo: Combat Evolved and its remaster, Combat Evolved Anniversary. It is the standard weapon used by the Elites throughout the game, and has since gone on to appear in nearly all subsequent games in the series.

Information on the Plasma Rifle found in Halo: Campaign Evolved can be found here.

Universe and lore

Main article: Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle

The Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle is the primary service arm of the Covenant, in particular used by the Elites. In the UNSC it is known by the designation Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle.

In Anniversary, the weapon's model was replaced with that of the Plasma rifle from Halo: Reach.

Gameplay

Counterparts

• 

  Needler
• 

  Assault Rifle

Campaign

The Plasma Rifle is the secondary starting weapon on The Maw.

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Multiplayer

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Damage Modifiers

dirt	sand	stone	snow	wood	metal (hollow)	metal (thin)	metal (thick)	rubber	glass	force field	grunt	hunter armor	hunter skin	elite	jackal	jackal energy shield	engineer	engineer force field	flood combat form	flood carrier form	cyborg	cyborg energy shield	armored human	human	sentinel	monitor	plastic	water	leaves	elite energy shield	ice	hunter shield
0	0	0	0	0	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	1	2	1	0.5	0.5	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	0.5	2	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0

Skins

In the Combat Evolved component of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, there are a number of weapon skins for the Plasma Rifle.

Plasma Rifle v • d • e
Icon	Name	Description	Unlock requirements
	Default	Default skin.	Unlocked by default
	Brutal	A Jiralhanae's best friend.	Series 2, Tier 39 ( 1)
	Schism	For those seeking redemption.	Series 2, Tier 73 ( 1)
	Zealot	Glory in an honorable death.	Series 2, Tier 79 ( 1)
	Ultra	The Evocati don't mess around.	Series 2, Tier 90 ( 1)

Production notes

A comparison of a player holding all of the Digsite-restored Plasma Rifles in retail Combat Evolved. Pictured: the 1999 Energy Carbine (top-left), the E3 2000 Plasma Rifle (top-right), the Gamestock 2001 Plasma Rifle (bottom-left), and 2001 Beta Plasma Rifle (bottom-right).

Visual design

The Plasma Rifle was the first weapon concepted for Halo by artist Shi Kai Wang, who developed the design while also working on the design for the Elites. The weapon's symmetrical design was based on the symmetrical design of the Elites' hands, which have four fingers. The visual design was inspired by marine life, with the larger shapes contrasted by smaller accents. The original concept for the weapon was done around 1998, featuring numerous fins on the top and bottom of the weapon. According to Shiek, these were intended to be detachable mechanisms for reloading, though the feature was scrapped as figuring out how to animate that and display them in first-person proved difficult, with the concept instead used as the basis for the Needler. The fins instead became a largely-decorative flourish as the design was simplified.

Four distinct iterations of the Plasma Rifle have been recovered by the Digsite project. The first, named the "Energy Carbine", dates back the game's reveal trailer in 1999. It is unclear whether this name inspired the eventual Covenant Carbine that went on to appear in Halo 2; by the time of the game's E3 2000 trailer it had been renamed the Plasma Rifle. Two further models exist from the Gamestock demo in 2001 and the final retail build, all of which build upon the first model with higher polycounts and more detail. These assets can be downloaded and used for modding via the Digsite repo, available here.

Gameplay design

When figuring out the weapon's gameplay role, designer Jaime Griesemer described several factors. In the campaign this was the main weapon of the Elites, and as such the one of the most common drops the player would have access to, though limits on how many enemies could be on screen at once meant that this number was not excessive. This commonality also meant that it was the most common weapon being fired at the player, and thus the main weapon that difficulty would need to be balanced around. Griesemer's initial design notes included the following considerations:

• "Misfires in rain, does AoE damage underwater"
• "Primary trigger is instantaneous visible beam which fades quickly"
• "Hold second trigger to charge a larger, slow moving projectile with area of effect damage"
• "More effective than other weapons against energy shields"
• "Disables mirror fields faster than any other weapon except the disruptor"

Many of these described effects did not make their way into the final game, with water-based effects and "mirror shields" being cut entirely and the secondary attack instead being used for the Plasma Pistol. Demos of Combat Evolved around May 2001 retained the Plasma Rifle's overcharge functionality.

After reviewing the design goals for the weapon, the design shifted towards being a weapon that fired projectiles that could be easily seen by the player and were slow enough to dodge, if the player was fast enough. However, it still needed to be fast enough to reliably hit a player at range, and to be able to cause near-misses. The weapon was also made more effective against energy shields to be more punishing for players trying to dodge a plasma bolt, and to reflect the fiction that Covenant weapons would be primarily built to defeat the threats the Covenant typically face—most of whom use energy shielding. On higher difficulties, the amount of damage done is increased. For multiplayer, the team added a movement stun effect to the weapon to try and compensate for the slow projectile speed, though upon release this was considered to be a frustrating mechanic to deal with.

These combined issues meant that the Combat Evolved Plasma rifle became more frustrating to fight against on Legendary difficulty as the weapon's increased damage simply became more punishing to deal with, but not more skillful to try and dodge. In multiplayer, the stun mechanic was similarly-frustrating, and existed to try and compensate for the slow projectile speed. As such, while making Halo 2, the developers reworked the Plasma Rifle to have a much higher projectile speed but lower damage. This also influenced the creation of the Covenant Carbine.

Gallery

Prerelease Halo

• 

  Concept art for the weapon, by Shi Kai Wang c.1998.
• 

  The 1999 MacWorld Energy Carbine.
• 

  The E3 2000 Plasma Rifle.
• 

  The Plasma Rifle from the 2001 Gamestock demo.
• 

  The Plasma Rifle in the 2001 Beta build.
• 

  An Elite firing a plasma rifle around the 2000 demo; note the yellow light colouration.
• 

  An Elite Minor wielding a plasma rifle during development.
• 

  An Elite Zealot wielding a plasma rifle in the E3 2000 trailer.

Halo: Combat Evolved

• 

  Three Elite Majors wielding plasma rifles.
• 

  A Special Operations Elite holding a plasma rifle.
• 

  Profile view in Halo: Combat Evolved, PC version, with the standard blue color scheme due to missing/corrupted shaders.
• 

  A profile view in Halo: Combat Evolved, Mac version, with a green color scheme due to missing/corrupted shaders.
• 

  First-person view of the plasma rifle.
• 

  First-person view of the plasma rifle overheating.
• 

  A plasma rifle with the Brutal skin in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

• 

  An Elite Minor with a plasma rifle.
• 

  First-person view of the plasma rifle in the BTS: Anniversary Campaign ViDoc.
• 

  The HUD for the Plasma Rifle in Anniversary.
• 

  First-person view of the plasma rifle with the HUD visible in The Silent Cartographer.
• 

  First-person view of the plasma rifle overheating.