Type-33 needler

The Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher, more commonly known as the Needler, is a Covenant infantry weapon that fires a glowing pink homing projectile capable of doing lethal damage. Once 7 "needles" embed themselves into an enemy, they explode, killing the enemy in almost all encounters.

Summary
The Needler is an extremely unusual Covenant weapon that fires pink, translucent, crystalline projectiles. It is most often wielded by Grunts, Elites, Drones, and sometimes even Jackals have been seen utilizing this weapon. Enforcers also have a larger version of the Needler mounted on themselves, along with one sentinel by mistake.

Its razor sharp crystalline projectiles are fired from this elaborately designed Covenant weapon; it is widely believed that they use heat or organic signatures to home in on targets. Although easily deflected by energy shields, the needles cause a chemical reaction in close proximity resulting in an explosive effect. After a number of needles (7 or more) have entered a hostile combatant, they will shatter and explode, causing massive internal damage that always results in death and sending micro shrapnel through the air.



Advantages
This weapon fires enemy-tracking needles that embed themselves in the flesh of a target before exploding to cause damage. The rate of fire increases with continuous fire. If seven or more needles accumulate in the target, the needles' combined strength will create a large explosion, killing the target and causing splash damage to other nearby enemies. Needles can penetrate the energy shields of Elites, Sentinels, and Spartans, but bounce off Jackal Personal Arm Shields. They are especially useful against the Brutes in Halo 2's Campaign mode if many needles hit the Brute. In addition, the secondary explosions often kill surrounding enemies. For example, if you fire an entire clip into a charging Flood horde, then you will finish over half of them through secondary explosions of the needler.

In Halo: Combat Evolved, the Needler can be useful for taking out several enemies clumped together; the first seven shots will kill the enemy and the rest of a clip will set off secondary explosions. In Campaign, the explosions will set off grenades, making the Needler very deadly against groups of enemies or powerful foes such as the Elites. It is also a good weapon in tight corridors, were it is impossible for enemies to dodge the needles by moving left or right, or any wide places with little to no cover.

In Halo 2, the only game in the trilogy where you can dual-wield the weapon (which suggests that a lighter model is used in that game), the effectiveness and rate of fire of the needlers can be increased by firing them "out of phase". This is accomplished when the user begins firing one of his needlers a fraction of a second before the other, and continues to fire them in full-auto so that the shots from each weapon are fired in a "one-two punch" pattern. You can tell when the pattern is just right because the guns will sound as if they are firing much more rapidly. This allows for a more constant and consistent stream of fire. Since each needle is in its own slot in the firing sequence, the failure of one needle to impact the target no longer means that two will fail.

In Halo 3, the Needler is more powerful than ever before. With a faster rate of fire, greater accuracy, quicker projectiles, better homing capabilities and higher damage, the Needler has been improved in virtually every area. As the Needler now behaves more like a rifle than an SMG, it can no longer be dual-wielded. However, it's no longer necessary to do so. Frankie has been quoted as saying that the Needler is now nearly a power weapon on its own.

When playing the Halo 3 Campaign, until reaching Legendary, it will not be considered as too much of a powerful weapon, but when it is, it's one of the best weapons to kill Brutes and many other opponents such as the Flood. It only takes those seven needles, even on higher difficulties, and the homing makes it practically unaffected by the difficulty setting. Most skulls do not alter the needler's effectiveness. The only skull that makes it less effective is Tough Luck, as enemies are liable to dodge the homing needles.

Disadvantages


The needles are slow, and are very ineffective against vehicles. The needles also take time to hit/explode on the target, leaving the target time to move in and inflict some of the explosive splash damage on the shooter. This is best illustrated when dealing with the Flood or a Zealot wielding an Energy Sword. It is nearly impossible to hit invisible enemies with the Needler because in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, it does not home in on invisible targets, but in Halo 3 the Needler is able to home in on camouflaged Brutes. The learning curve of the "lead" needed to hit strafing targets is also high. And when faced with experienced opponents in multiplayer (who often randomize their strafing patterns) the weapon is almost always overshadowed by better, more reliable options. Against larger and more heavily armored opponents, such as Hunters, the Needler is generally ineffective. The Needler also proves ineffective against Jackals because the needles will simply bounce off the shields. Unless one can fire sideways with the Jackal caught unawares, any other weapon is preferable to take them down. In addition, the needles themselves do not inflict much damage, and that only the general explosion inside the enemy will kill them. Therefore, combinations of shooting/meleeing to get a kill are not ideal with this weapon. Also, this means that, in Halo 2, the Needler should be dual wielded only with another Needler. In addition, the Needler is more or less useless against enemies with protection (ex. the Hunter's shield). The reason is that the needles will bounce harmlessly away. Only if you aim extremely carefullly will you be able to hit them at all, much less fill them up. Covenant species in this category include Hunters and Jackals.

Description and Appearance
While the Needler appeared in the original Halo: Combat Evolved, the individual crystalline needles were used as a hand to hand weapon in the novel, Halo: Contact Harvest. It made a return in Halo 2, and was made slightly less powerful with the advent of dual wielding. However, after Halo 2's 1.1 multiplayer patch, the weapon was toned down even more. The weapon returns in Halo 3. This time it is not dual-wieldable, but the weapon has been significantly rebalanced to allow it to stand on its own; it is one of the most effective medium-ranged weapons in the game, especially when used against Brutes or Flood.

Changes from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 2

 * Weapon appears to be smaller to the player.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, the gun, as well as the needles before and after firing, had a slight blue tinge to them, this is all but eliminated.
 * It is wielded far less often by enemy Elites and Grunts.
 * The magazine size is increased to thirty needles. Maximum amount of magazines remains the same.
 * Explosion has significantly less pressure wash to harm those nearby.
 * Only one explosion is needed to kill any enemy; in Halo: CE, up to three were needed to kill high ranking elites on difficulties as low as Normal.
 * Needles fly faster.
 * Only one explosion will go off within an enemy, in Halo: Combat Evolved multiple explosions could go off in one body, even after death.
 * The melee attacks are faster than in Halo: Combat Evolved.
 * Slower rate of fire in Halo 2.

Changes from Halo 2 to Halo 3

 * Reticle must be red in order for the needles to seek.
 * Magazine size has been decreased to 19 rounds.
 * Rate of fire has been dramatically increased.
 * Needles appear to travel faster.
 * Weapon can no longer be dual wielded.
 * Never wielded by Elites unless you give them one.

UNSC Remarks
"I don’t know how it works, but it seems the needles can only follow you if they can see you."

"Anything stuck with enough needles will blow sky high—and if a Foxtrot is unlucky enough to be carrying grenades, those’re gonna cook off too."

“I caught three in the leg as I was diving behind a broken wall—they lodged right in there where the greave meets the boot. When they went off it damn near broke my ankle and flung like little splinters of glass or crystal or whatever all up my left side—the corpsman was pulling the shards outta me for the better part of two hours.”

“Luckily—listen to me “luckily”—the needles only detonate when they’re embedded [sic] in living tissue. Now that’s lucky because it’s not gonna blow a hole in the wall you’re hiding behind or tear the tires off of the vehicle you’re trying to escape in.”

“It’s about as close to a fire-and-forget small arm that were likely to ever see—and it ain’t ours. This is why we’re losing.”

“First order of business when dealing with a hostile armed with a Needler is finding cover; second order of business is killing the mike foxtrot with the Needler.”

Character Compatibility

 * Sgt. Johnson
 * Captain Keyes
 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Brutes (have animation but not used)
 * Drones
 * Grunts
 * Marines
 * Flood Combat Form (Human)
 * Flood Combat Form (Elite)
 * Sentinel (easter egg)

Trivia

 * Archie Gates made three songs about the needler
 * In Halo 3 and Halo: CE, Elites do not use Needlers as much as they did in Halo 2.
 * It is highly speculated that the Needler was inspired by Half-Life 1's Hive Hand (The one that spits out bee like insects) due to its similar ability to lock on to enemies.
 * In the Halo:CE instruction book there are needler blueprints under the plasma rifle blueprints.
 * It takes seven or more needles to set off the full explosion and kill targets such as Spartans or Elites. This is another early incarnation of Bungie's fascination with the number 7.
 * In Halo CE on Easy difficulty, it is possible to kill a Hunter using a Needler, but it takes exactly three clips of ammunition to do so.
 * In the Sacred Icon in the first Enforcer fight behind the Gondola there are three overloaded Needlers with 135 ammo each.
 * Captain Jacob Keyes and Sgt.Johnson are the only main UNSC characters that use a Needler in-game.
 * The only level in all three games of the Halo trilogy where Needler ammunition can be found outside of the weapon is 343 Guilty Spark in Halo: Combat Evolved.
 * In Halo 3, if you look at your shadow while holding a Needler (regardless of how many needles are protruding from the top) there will not be any needles visible in the top of the Needler in your shadow. This is to compensate with simple reloading, third person etc animations.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, the needles appear bluish-pink when in the Needler, although they've always been pink when shot.
 * In Halo 3, the force of the Needler explosion was reduced along with the multiple explosions of Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
 * Its color has also been changed to that of a Plasma Grenade from the red-pink of the original invention.
 * If you shoot a weapon in Halo 3 with at least seven needles, then quickly pick it up while still firing, the weapon will explode and you will die. This glitch counts as a suicide.
 * A second suicide method is to crouch on a floor that rebounds needler shots, aim at your foot, and eventually, through continual fire (About 4 clips) you will die.
 * A third, faster way to commit suicide is to walk into a fence and your arms and the needler will be outside of the fence and your chest will be against the fence. The needles actually fire from further back from the needler about where the fence is. You will die before your clip runs out and the last 3-4 shots will not explode.
 * In Halo 3's Forge mode, there's a minor Glitch where if you set the weapon's Spare ammunition clips to two, the Needler will have three spare clips instead.
 * The Needler is incorrectly labeled as having 30 needles per clip, instead of the actual 19.
 * Halo 2 is the only game in which you can dual-wield needlers.
 * Needlers cause two types of damage. Penetration, getting hurt on impact of the crystalline needles, and Explosive, implosion and explosion of needles wedged in the body.
 * The Needler is Voro Nar 'Mantakree's next-to trademark weapon, the other being the Energy Sword.
 * The Needler is one of the few Covenant projectiles that use re-loadable ammunition. The others are the Fuel Rod Gun, the Carbine, the Spiker, the Mauler and the Brute Shot. This is of course simple speculation, as the UNSC has not found a way to reload the battery of any plasma weapon.
 * In Halo Custom Edition, there are approximately four ways to reload a needler.
 * There is a glitch in Halo 2 where you can get a Jackal to fire a Needler, but no needles will come out. To read more, go to this page.
 * imSuck the machinima producer made a music video about the needler.
 * The Needler is thought to be non Dual-wieldable in Halo 3 because it was too powerful so instead Bungie upgraded its power and speed to compensate for it being non Dual-wieldable, so to compensate they added the Spiker and the Mauler.
 * In Halo 3 if you kill five enemies in a row with the Needler you will obtain the achievement "Fear the Pink Mist."

Related Links

 * Covenant Weapons
 * Fear the Pink Mist
 * Energy Cutlass
 * Needler at halowiki