Gameplay

H2:Fuel Rod Gun

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

Fuel Rod Cannon
H2-FuelRodGunSide.png
A cropped screenshot of a weapon in Halo 2: Anniversary's campaign. Original image by User:JackVibe.
The Fuel Rod Cannon in Halo 2 (top) and Halo 2: Anniversary campaign (bottom).
Gameplay role

Faction:

Covenant

Weapon tier (?):

Heavy weapon

Weapon class (?):

Launcher

Weapon type (?):

Explosive

Firing mode:

Semi-auto

Effective range:

Medium

Counterparts:

Human (UNSC)
Rocket Launcher
Covenant
Brute Shot
Gameplay stats

Damage:

100
x0.5 vs shields

Splash damage:

90 out to 0.5 wu, down to 40 at 1.5 wu (radius)

Damage type (?):

Impact: explosion_large

Detonation: explosion_largw [Note 1]

Projectile effects:

Tracking (wielded by NPCs only), Detonates on impact, Stuns Ai

Projectile speed:

15 wu/s out to 4.5 wu, down to 6.5 wu/s after 5 wu
2.5% gravity
6 degrees per second turning speed

Hitscan range (?):

0.5 wu

Max range (?):

80 wu

Rate of fire:

0.4s fire recovery time
(2.5 rounds per second)

Spread (?):

0 to 0.05 degrees

Magazine size:

5 rounds

Reserve ammo capacity:

25 rounds (5 magazines)

Auto aim (?):

4 degrees out to 25 wu
(scales with zoom)

Sticky aim (?):

6 degrees out to 25 wu
(scales with zoom)

Zoom:

2x magnification

Melee damage (?):

Smash Melee

Tag name (?):

flak_cannon [1]

 

The Fuel Rod Cannon, also known as the Fuel Rod Gun or Flak Cannon, is a Covenant heavy weapon featured in Halo 2 and the campaign of its remaster, Halo 2: Anniversary. For information on the separate variant featured in Anniversary multiplayer, see here.

Universe and lore[edit]

Main articles: Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun, Korva-pattern fuel rod gun

The Fuel Rod Cannon featured in the original release of Halo 2 is the Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun. It is a modified Fuel Rod design altered to better-suit the ergonomics of the Unggoy who frequently use the weapon.[2]

In Halo 2: Anniversary the weapon reuses the model of the Korva-pattern fuel rod gun originally from Halo: Reach, the most widespread iteration of the design used by the Covenant.[2]

Gameplay[edit]

Counterparts[edit]

Campaign[edit]

A Sangheili Zealot with a Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun during the Battle of Installation 05. From Halo 2: Anniversary campaign level Uprising.
An Elite Zealot holding a Fuel Rod Gun.
Help.png This section is a stub. You can help Halopedia by expanding it.

The Fuel Rod Cannon made its debut as a useable campaign weapon in Halo 2. The original weapon in Halo: Combat Evolved was exclusively used by Spec Ops Grunts and would detonate after its operator was killed, and the game's PC port featured a similar weapon with some very distinct gameplay properties. Halo 2's Fuel Rod Cannon takes more gameplay inspiration from the NPC-only campaign variant in the first game, boasting a magazine of five rounds (up from the first game's four) and none of the battery/charge mechanics of the multiplayer version.

In Halo 2 the weapon is typically seen being wielded by Heavy Grunts or high-ranking Elites.

Multiplayer[edit]

The Fuel Rod Cannon does not appear in Halo 2 multiplayer in the game's original Xbox release. According to Bungie employee Dave Gasca in an interview concerning the weapon's inclusion in Halo: Reach, the weapon was traditionally not featured in matchmaking as its slow-moving projectiles would play havoc with networking.[3] In custom gametypes which replace the map's set weapons with heavy weapons, the Covenant weapons are instead changed to Brute Shots.

In Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the Fuel Rod Cannon can be set as a spawn weapon in custom gametype options, but weapons-on-map will still use the Brute Shot as the Covenant's heavy weapon.

Production notes[edit]

Main article: Cut Halo: Combat Evolved weapons

The Fuel Rod Gun's design in Halo 2 is broadly inspired by the Flak Cannon developed during the production of Halo: Combat Evolved. During the game's production there were two Covenant launcher concepts fielded in early builds of the game: the Flak Cannon and Fuel Rod Gun. While the F