Fuel rod cannon

Were you looking for the closely related shoulder-mounted Fuel Rod Gun or for the Hunter's variant?

Description
The Fuel Rod Cannon is a Covenant direct-fire energy weapon with anti-vehicle and anti-air applications. It is featured in Halo CE, Halo 2, and in Halo 3 as part of the arsenal of various Covenant vehicles. It is the secondary weapon of the Banshee and the primary weapon of the AA-Wraith.

Background
The Fuel Rod Cannon is a Covenant weapon used by their vehicles as a heavy weapon. Banshees and Anti-Air Wraiths have been seen using this weapon. It is a vehicle-mounted version of the infantry issue Fuel Rod Gun. The Banshee's version of the weapon can only fire one shot before having to reload, but it makes up for this with its virtually unlimited ammunition. The Hunter's Assault Cannon is a Fuel Rod Cannon variation.

Usage
The Fuel Rod Cannon is a mighty powerful weapon, thus vehicles equipped with it are very dangerous especially on higher difficulties. The Banshee in Halo and Halo 3 often use the weapon to soften you up before firing it's Plasma Cannons, especially if you are using a LAAG or Shade. If using a very light vehicle (Ghost or Mongoose) the enemy Banshee may just use its Fuel Rod Cannon, sending you cart-wheeling into the air. It will not bother with it's Plasma Cannons, especially if it is in a group of Banshees as they can fire almost continuously among them. It is possible and desired to avoid the shot entirely, as they often fire it while they are still far away. This is harder in Halo 3, as the shots now partially home in, while in a Banshee/Hornet in Halo 3, shots from an Anti-Air Wraith home in quite fully, but shots from a Banshees only partially home in, as you can see them curving round in the air. In the Halo 2 campaign, enemy Banshees never use the weapon and the issue does not come up.

The AA Wraith's Fuel Rod Cannon's are extremely powerful and can bring down Hornets in just a few shots. In Halo: First Strike, a pair of Hunters are described as using Fuel Rod Cannons, indicating that at least one variant of their Assault Cannon can be considered to be the same class as the Fuel Rod Cannon.

Trivia

 * In Halo 3, it takes about 8 shots to take down a Phantom, and about 3-4 shots at the Phantom's "eyes", even on Legendary difficulty.
 * In Halo 3 if the shot hits the ground shortly after leaving the gun it will bounce (one to two and rarely, three times) like the Brute Shot from Halo 2.
 * The Fuel Rods fired by this weapon resemble the ammunition used in the Covenant Carbine.
 * In Halo 3, on Heroic or Legendary, (although it is very rare for one to target a player on the ground) if an Anti-Air Wraith gets a direct hit on the player, it will kill you in one hit, thus making it one of the most powerful weapons in the game.

Related Pages

 * Fuel Rod Gun
 * Assault Cannon
 * Anti Air Wraith