Paegaas Workshop Spiker

Were you looking for the Type-51 Carbine, also known as the Covenant Carbine? "Recoil isn't as bad as you might expect, but not because of any sophisticated dampening system – it's because the damn things weigh so much."

- Anonymous UNSC Serviceman

The Type-25 Carbine, more commonly known as the Spiker or Spike Rifle, is a common Jiralhanae firearm used during the Human-Covenant War.

Design Details
The Type-25 Carbine is an automatic-fire, magazine-fed rail-type weapon. As it's metal projectiles are pulled between the rails they are superheated and elongated into the spikes that are it's namesake. Two large blades made of tungsten carbide, an extremely strong and durable material, are mounted under the barrel of the weapon, increasing its effectiveness in close-quarters. The Spiker's ammunition is fed into the weapon via a small drum magazine with a 40-round capacity. The drum magazine is located on the underside of the weapon, behind the blades and in front of the trigger.

This weapon resembles human technology more closely than it does the other weapons in the Covenant’s arsenal. It performs admirably in a variety of environments; it is a widely held belief that the weapon could sit unattended for several weeks in an active latrine and still operate as issued without maintenance. Unfortunately, this is not far from the truth. Though it was first observed at least 25 years before 2552, this weapon has not been seen in the hands of front-line troops until just recently. The Spiker is based on the Jiralhanae's native pre-Covenant technology, meaning it has been in use since Brutes first learned how to create an automatic firearm. Although the Spiker is classified as a Carbine, it is more of a counterpart to the UNSC's M7 SMG, having very similar range and penetration capabilities. The projectiles, having such low muzzle velocity, would be quite harmless if it was not for their great mass.

Advantages
The Brute Spiker has similar penetration and lethal range to the UNSC M7 SMG, but there are a few key differences. Unlike SMG, there is little recoil, and therefore almost zero “rise” when using them in their default, fully-automatic setting. This actually makes them a little more efficient and accurate than the SMG in combat situations, since there is no need to adjust aim to compensate for recoil. The Spiker performs well against energy shields due to its high velocity and kinetic impact, although the rounds are usually deflected or disintegrated by the energy shield before inflicting damage to any underlying structure. The Spiker can usually kill a heavily armored or shielded target within a single magazine. Its spikes do terrible damage to human flesh, and can tear through armor with ease, creating devastating wounds that are extremely painful. Its dual blades are very deadly against shielded and unshielded infantry, and can be used to either slash or stab an enemy with fatal effects. A SPARTAN-II or Jiralhanae can dual-wield Spikers, doubling their firepower.

Disadvantages
The Spiker, like the SMG, is most effective at close range. While short bursts can increase accuracy, it is ineffective at medium and long range. The Spiker's rounds lose speed and altitude as they travel, reducing their accuracy over longer distances. The Spiker is considered very heavy in the hands of normal human infantry, and can be quite difficult to carry around and use. The spikes have a very large spread when fired in full-auto; the spread is larger than that of any other weapon in both the UNSC and Covenant's arsenal. The Spiker also has a slower muzzle velocity than other weapons making it practically useless at a range above 300 meters.

Tactics
The Brute Spiker was introduced in Halo 3. It has a fast reload time, even when dual wielding, compared to the SMG. The Spiker's blades increase the damage of the melee attack only marginally to compensate for gameplay. However, rounds fired from the Spiker travel slower than SMG rounds.

Campaign

 * The Spiker is a great weapon for mid- to close-quarters combat. The Spiker is incredibly useful on Sierra 117, Crow's Nest and the interior portions of The Storm and Floodgate.
 * The Spiker is the one of the most effective rapid fire weapons, next to the Plasma Rifle, against the Flood. Spikes will tear through the rotting flesh of Combat Forms efficiently, and it can take out Pure Forms at range. The blades on the Spiker also destroy Flood very effectively. An easy tactic on almost any difficulty level is to allow the Flood to charge you and just melee them one by one. You would almost always destroy all Forms, including Tank Forms, in one hit. Only Shielded Combat Forms would survive on higher difficulty levels. However, any Flood wielding powerful short-range weapons such as the Shotgun, Mauler or Energy Sword should be dealt with at range. The Brute Shot is usually preferred over the Spiker in this situation.
 * The Spiker is always a sound choice for engaging lower ranking Covenant forces such as Grunts, Drones and even Jackals.
 * A good dual-wielding combination would be the Spiker and the Plasma Rifle- the Plasma Rifle takes out Jackal or Brute shields while the Spiker will finish the unshielded enemy off. This is also a good combination in Multiplayer.
 * In Halo 3: ODST, the blades make the Spiker a much more effective melee weapon than other non-bladed weapons; furthermore, the projectiles travel farther than their Halo 3 counterpart.

Multiplayer

 * As with Campaign, dual-wielding a Spiker with a Plasma Rifle is a great combination for taking out shielded targets.
 * In multiplayer, shooting from a medium range then closing in for a melee kill is a sound tactic. Just be sure that the enemy does not have a counter weapon, such as a Shotgun or Energy Sword.
 * If engaging a target at mid-range, lead your shots to compensate for the slow velocity of the spikes.
 * It can be easily countered by a Shotgun wielder, but if the Spiker wielder backpedals furiously, he may be able to kill the Shotgun user before he can get close enough to fire.
 * Be aware that the spikes have a slight arc when traveling over medium range, such that if the wielder were aiming at the chest or head, the spikes may have ended up hitting the target's feet, or missed entirely if not using controlled bursts. At those ranges, the spread would render the Spiker ineffective, so engaging an enemy at this range is not recommended.
 * The Spiker with a Plasma Pistol is another effective Noob Combo when attempting to surprise attack a lone enemy. Use an overcharged Plasma Pistol shot to take out the enemy's shields, and then use the Spiker to kill the now unshielded enemy.

Changes from Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST to Halo: Reach
The spiker is incredibly similar in Halo: Reach to it's previous iterations. Almost all it's changes are completely cosmetic.
 * Weapon damage has been increased slightly as Duel Wielding has been removed.
 * Brutes in Halo: Reach now wield the Spiker with two hands.
 * The Spiker has orange lights instead of blue.
 * The Spiker features some kind of firing bolt mechanism.
 * The barrel of the Spiker will glow red-hot after continuous fire.

UNSC Remarks

 * “Even though the Spike Rifles are really heavy, I still wish there was some way to retrofit a full stock onto 'em.”
 * “Recoil isn't as bad as you might expect, but not because of any sophisticated dampening system – it's because the damn things weigh so much.”
 * “I saw the Baby Kong go dry so I moved in with my shotty, well that's the last time I'll be doing that, huh? Damn cleaver-bayonet-thing went right through the shotty and cut my arm off just above the elbow. Only reason I'm still here is because of, well you know, because of him."
 * “Every action requires exaggerated movement; cycling the bolt, seating a magazine, charging the chamber. Even squeezing the trigger takes quite a bit of effort. And it isn’t all that surprising considering the disparity in size of our two species.”
 * “Bravo Kilos sure have a thing for sticking blades on their equipment, don’t they? I bet their mess kits have three knives.”
 * “The projectiles fired from this weapon seem to be made out of the same material as the Spike Grenade’s casing. Wounds caused by this weapon are horrifying.”
 * “Spike Rifles always have a weird sorta burnt hair smell about them. And you know you’re heading towards a firefight where they’re bein’ used if it smells like a barbecue gone wrong.”

Trivia

 * Over time the Type-25 Carbine has garnered the nicknames “Spike Rifle," “Spiker,” "Nail Gun," and “Hatchet Gun.”
 * In Halo 3:ODST, during the level Mombasa Streets, there is often evidence of multiple skirmishes throughout the city, with Spiker rounds commonly embedded in walls, and also in the bodies of dead police officers.
 * It has been quoted in the Halo 3 Guide Book that the Spiker may have a rapid rate of fire, but the projectiles themselves are quite slow to reach their target.
 * The Spiker does about 60% more damage than the M7/Caseless Submachine Gun and 20% more damage than the MA5C Assault Rifle; on Heroic difficulty, it takes 20 Spiker rounds, 24 assault rifle rounds, or 32 SMG rounds to kill a human Marine. This makes the Spiker the most powerful full-auto projectile weapon in the game, but this is balanced out by the slightly reduced rate of fire and the fact that the projectiles are not hitscan.
 * The projectiles decrease in altitude the further they are shot, similar to the Needler.
 * Despite popular belief, the Spiker's bayonets do, in fact, provide a small increase in melee damage. The Spiker's melee damage is seventy-two points. All non-Brute weapon melee attacks in Halo 3 with the exception to the Sword, Hammer, and assassinations inflict seventy points damage out of a player's 115 total health. It is 70 to the shield, and then the remaining 45 to the player's own health.
 * In Halo 3's campaign mode, if a Phantom is shot down and a Heavy Grunt survives, it will often have a Spiker as its weapon, and in which case will not shoot at you.
 * Brutes use it as a pistol but it is referred to as a rifle, as the retired soldiers in the video "Enemy Weapon" called it a "spike rifle." However Sergeant Johnson called it a "heavy pistol" in Halo: Contact Harvest.
 * In Halo: Contact Harvest, it states the bayonets on the Spiker are fully functional in combat- Tartarus first uses the blades to impale Captain Ponder while buying time for the citizens of Harvest to escape, and later during his ritual combat with Maccabeus.
 * The Spiker's ability to ricochet makes it one of the easiest non-explosive suicidal guns in the game. All you have to do is deflect the spikes at a hard surface such as a wall so that it hits your armor and fire until death.
 * The projectiles fired by the Type-25 are 1 foot (30cm) in length and are longer than the weapon's magazine. The material that each round is made from is porous in nature, and may be under compression. They may be made in a way that when they are heated, forced forward, and released, molded in the shape of a spike once they come out of the gun's barrel. They then expand and lengthen to 1 foot (30cm) once they strike their target.
 * The Type-25 Carbine resembles Human weapons more than other Covenant weapons, though its powered characteristics imply that it is an electronically-augmented percussive projectile weapon.
 * Oddly, while other solid projectiles are deflected, the spikes from a Spiker will lodge themselves into a Jackal's energy shield, but will not hurt the Jackal.
 * The weight of the Spiker seems to be too much for a UNSC Marine to use with just one hand. However, in Halo 3, The Prophet of Truth is presumed to have fired a Spiker with only one hand to kill Miranda Keyes in a cutscene in the level The Covenant. He then proceeds to dispose of the weapon with two fingers. This is odd, because like all Prophets, he is exceedingly frail. However, he is seen holding it with one hand only after Keyes' death, so it is possible that he fired the weapon with two hands. This may just be an overlook by Bungie during the development of the game.
 * Unlike the Plasma Rifle, the muzzle flash only comes from one location, while it appears to have 2 barrels.
 * On Bungie.net's weapon listing section, as well as in the in-game help, the Spiker is incorrectly labeled as holding 48 spikes per clip.

Related pages

 * Type-2 Antipersonnel Fragmentation Grenade
 * Type-3 Antipersonnel/Antimaterial Incendiary Grenade
 * Type-52 Pistol
 * Type-25 Grenade Launcher