Pez'tk-pattern fuel rod gun

Were you looking for the closely related Covenant vehicle weapon the Fuel Rod Cannon ?

The Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon, also known as the Fuel Rod Gun, is a Covenant indirect-fire energy mortar with ground and air applications that appears in all three games of the Halo trilogy, although with minor changes in appearance. It is often wielded by higher ranked Grunts, and occasionally by higher-ranked Elites and Brutes. It is known that some versions are equipped with a "dead man's switch" similar to that of the Plasma Sword. In the later games, it had no fail-safes, allowing the player to pick up the weapon in Campaign. All of the incarnations of this weapon fire bolts of deadly radioactive incendiary gel that explode on impact with targets or surfaces, and some variant are equipped with homing rounds. This heavy weapon is most often wielded by higher ranked Grunts. Unlike many Covenant weapons, most incarnations of the the Fuel Rod Gun fire ammunition that comes in magazines of 5. Up to 25 additional Fuel Rods can be carried for a total of 30 shots. The weapon's projectiles are affected by gravity and will arc instead of traveling in a straight path, so one must aim slightly above the target to effectively use the weapon in long range firing.

Appearances
In Halo: Combat Evolved, the Fuel Rod Gun is purple, with a gray muzzle and green energy bar on its left side. It is used solely by Grunts in the Campaign, with only Spec Ops and Major Grunts utilizing them.

In Halo 2 and 3, the Fuel Rod Gun serves a similar purpose to the M41 SSM Rocket Launcher of the UNSC. It is basically a golden exoskeleton with a tube running through the core that serves as the barrel. This version is a belt-fed weapon, and has a deadly splash-damage effect on its victims. In Halo 2, it is most commonly seen being used by Heretic, Spec Op, and Grunt Heavys. It is also one of the primary weapons of Brute War Chieftains.

Usage
The Fuel Rod Gun is the Covenant analog of the M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. It fires eerie green pulses of deadly radiation that transverse to the target in a parabolic arc. This indirect line of fire makes the Fuel Rod Gun often a difficult weapon to wield. While it is usable in Halo PC, it is fairly uncommon to find one. Like most other Covenant weapons it runs on a battery and will overheat if five shots are fired in quick succession. The weapons relatively weak splash damage makes indirect relatively ineffective and it's bulky nature makes it difficult to get direct hits. It is slightly compensated with its ability to momentarily stun an enemy. While this means a steady barrage will eventually take out an enemy, its use of a battery for a power source means it will overheat if fired too quickly. The secondary weapon on the Banshee (nicknamed the Banshee Bomb by players) functions similarly to the Fuel Rod Gun.

It was impossible for the player to utilize them in the Halo: Combat Evolved campaign due to the weapon's built-in failsafe. After its carrier is killed the Fuel Rod Gun would lay on the ground for a few seconds. It will then start to emit a form of green gas before violently exploding. The explosion could seriously wound or even kill a player if they were too close to the gun. The explosion also makes the weapons unusable. The failsafe was apparently stripped away in the Halo PC multiplayer and could be picked up and used normally.

Advantages
Advantages include a ricochet effect at wide angles, while firing parallel to a wall the shots can "skip" off. To obtain an effect the angle has to be obtuse and the person firing must near parallel to the targeted wall, this however does not cause the shell to explode but instead sends it off in a new predictable trajectory. The wielder will not be affected by it ricocheting off the ground because its arc will extremely diminish the effect.

Disadvantages
The Halo: CE Fuel Rod Gun does not have a tracking device like the bolts of the Plasma Pistol (which are semi-homing), and its fiery energy pulses are slow. At long range, you have to aim high and it normally takes multiple bolts to kill a hostile, as a curtain of fire has to be laid down, and the overheating of the Fuel Rod Gun is not conducive to streams of radioactive fire.

Furthermore, the large size of the weapon will often obscure one's vision, making it harder to see enemies that may be on their flank.

Hunter Assault Cannon
Hunters also brandish a variant of the Fuel Rod Gun, known as an Assault Cannon. Assault Cannons function differently than other versions of the Fuel Rod Gun because it uses an incendiary gel. In Halo 2 and Halo 3, these shoot out long beams of energy. A Hunter's immense strength nullifies the beams' recoil, allowing for accurate and devastating attacks. In Halo: Combat Evolved, their cannons fire explosive bolts, similar to the troop-carried model. In Halo: The Flood, it is revealed that like all other plasma weapons, the Assault Cannon can overheat. The Assault Cannon is integrated into a Hunter's armor, so the weapon cannot be obtained (outside of a mod).

Multiplayer Tactics
The Fuel Rod Gun is wieldable by the character only in Halo PC multiplayer, not in Halo: Combat Evolved campaign nor multiplayer, and neither Halo PC campaign. Being an effective suppression weapon, a common tactic in multiplayer Capture the Flag is to bombard the enemy base from afar with a Fuel Rod Gun. Furthermore, the gunner can fire from a position obscured from enemy view, owing to the indirect-fire properties of the Fuel Rod Gun. Since the view of the targeted area is mutually obscured from the gunner's position (due to having to compensate for the arc and having to aim high), such is unlikely to kill a player, but it is intended to at least deal cover fire for an assault on the flag, and most likely to inflict damage on the flag carrier. Note that the Fuel Rod Gun's splash damage is similar to the ones of a Rocket Launcher. If fired at very close range, the projectile will most likely to harm the player slightly.

An easy way to dodge the blast is simply to sidestep, where as when the user overheats the gun, the opponent will most likely take the opportunity to fight back.

Trivia

 * When you kill a Grunt wielding a Fuel Rod Gun in Halo: Combat Evolved, you can´t pick it up. Upon its owner´s death, the gun will emit a stream of green smoke then explode after a short delay, making it a hazard for anyone in the immediate area,especially since it will set off any nearby grenades.
 * When using the Bump Possession cheat in Halo CE to control a Hunter, holding left click down and repeatedly right clicking allows the controlled Hunter to rapidly fire its Fuel Rod Gun without overheating. Whether this accelerated manner of attack is actually utilized at all in AI controlled opponents' behavioral patterns is unknown.
 * In Halo PC even if you fire all the shots and then drop the weapons there will still appear to be fuel rods left in the current rack (or none at all if you have low graphic settings).
 * There is a discrepancy about how much the weapon actually weighs. In First Strike, Corporal Locklear had difficulty lifting the gun when he attempted to shoulder it. However, Grunts seem to have no problem hefting the gun around in Halo 1, so whether the situation is between the gun's weight or a comparison of Grunts' and Marines' strengths is unknown.

Character Compatibility

 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Marines
 * Flood Combat Form (Human) (animation in games but not used)
 * Flood Combat Form (Elite) (animation in games but not used)
 * Grunts
 * Hunters (Assault Cannon)