Weapon

A weapon is any device used to incur damage.

Human weapons
The military technology of the humans in the Halo universe appears to be largely unchanged from that of modern-day reality. Human weapons are still primarily based upon ballistics and explosions from chemical reactions. Of course, one has to take into reason the power of these firearms, for they are formidable and effective against an advanced alien race and, though they have less impact on shields and don't have a "battery", they are still (for reasons of balance) stronger than a plasma weapon on unshielded foes. It is also notable that the makers were largely influenced by the types of weapons of a previous Bungie Studios game, Marathon, while basing their design on the general characteristics of today's weapons. Though it may seem odd to think that humans would still be using the same basic weapon technology a half-millennia into the future, consider that all of the technology in the Halo universe is roughly equivalent to today's. The advances made in the game's universe seem to be largely improvements on the devices of today, which is actually not that strange, considering historical precedent. Five hundred years ago, the main weapons were guns and cannons, which are really just primitive rifles and MAC guns. The choice to give humans familiar technology was a deliberate act on the part of Bungie.

Human Comparison
Human Weapon Comparison

Covenant Weapons
The weaponry of the Covenant is mostly energy based, in contrast to the human ballistic armaments. The mode of operation of many of the weapons is unknown, but most tend to rely on highly charged, slow-moving plasma bursts for damage. Most Covenant weapons do not take ammunition, rather, they rely on batteries, unable to be recharged. As a result, these weapons have to be discarded when the battery wears out. A notable exception to this is the Needler, which instead uses small crystalline splinter projectiles. On average, Covenant weapons cause great damage to shields and significantly less to unshielded organisms; this is to balance the human arsenal, which causes less damage to shields but more to flesh.

Covenant Comparison
Covenant Weapon Comparison Particle Beam Rifle
 * Weapon capacity changed from Halo 2 Key= Halo1/Halo2