Vostu-pattern carbine

The Covenant Carbine is a ground firearm of the Covenant army.

Background
The Carbine is the Covenant equivalent of the UNSC BR55HB SR Battle Rifle and the BR55 Battle Rifle. It is a semi-automatic weapon that combines high accuracy with decent stopping power. It is used primarily for mid-range combat. Unlike most standard-issue Covenant weapons such as the Plasma Rifle, the Carbine does not run on a battery. Rather, it fires solid, radioactive projectiles from an 18-round magazine. It is sometimes carried by Brutes and Elites, though this is not usually their preferred weapon. In the hands of an enemy Brute or Elite, they can be deadly, allowing them to engage their enemies at mid range with deadly accuracy.

Advantages
With a 2x zoom ability, it's possible to make lethal headshots from afar. When you get your hands on one, be sure to take advantage of it. It is also quite effective at killing an unshielded opponent in Multiplayer, and has equal effectiveness to an unshielded enemy as that of a Battle Rifle, M6D, M6C and M6G. Like those weapons, it will kill an unshielded opponent with one shot to the head.

Because the Carbine fires projectiles, not plasma bolts, it is more useful against Flood than the other Covenant weapons, excluding explosives. One of the best uses for this weapon is to shoot the armored headpiece off of Brutes, after which another headshot from the weapon will dispatch them.

The Carbine, when used correctly, can take down an enemy slightly faster than a Battle Rifle can, though it requires more aim, taking at least seven shots to the head in Multiplayer. Damage done by the Carbine is slightly lower than that of the Battle Rifle (if all three bullets hit), but it fires about twice as fast making it equally deadly.

The Covenant Carbine has one other advantage over the Battle rifle. It is able to do damage to Jackal Personal Arm Shields, Enforcers shields, Stationary Shield Generators, and other shields of such nature.

Disadvantages
The Carbine's only real shortcomings are that your position is betrayed by a yellowish-green trail with each shot, just like the Sniper Rifle's vapor trail or a Battle rifle's tracer trail.

Halo 3
The Covenant Carbine has undergone a noticable upgrade for its use in Halo 3. Each round can deliver more damage.

Some, however, say that with this new upgrade, it is overpowered, compared to the Battle Rifle. The reasons of this is because the Carbine has a much faster rate of fire than the Battle Rifle has for each burst, and since the damage per shot for the Carbine are more powerful now it has a slight advantage over its human counterpart.

Bungie has said in one of their recent podcasts that the Carbine has been balanced since the Halo 3 Beta.

It now emits a green gas when reloaded according to recent campaign leaks.

Character Compatibility

 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Marines
 * Brutes
 * Jackals
 * Drones (Have animation, but not used)
 * Flood Combat Form (Human)
 * Flood Combat Form (Elite)

Trivia

 * When you zoom in or out the gun makes a quiet charging noise.
 * In the Sacred Icon level the dead brutes will have Carbines at 104 but when reloaded the extra ammo is 99.
 * The ammo of the Covenant Carbine is loaded and fired with the same or similar procedure of a human made assault rifle.
 * In the Gravemind after you rescue the Marines, one Marine will take a Carbine that has 120 rounds in it.

Related Articles

 * Covenant Weapons