Type-33 needler

The Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher, more commonly known as the Needler, is a Covenant infantry weapon.

Design Details
A Needler is a Covenant projectile weapon that fires long and very sharp shards that are guided until they impale a target — hence the “needler” moniker —  several seconds after coming to rest in their target the needle shard detonates creating severe and in most cases fatal wounds. The needler takes a general shape of a V with the top and bottom part of the weapon curved. The weapon takes on a Purple/Pinkish color, and has 14 holes on the top, with the needles protruding out of the holes. When the trigger is pulled the needle is somehow fed from the top into the "barrel" of the weapon, and fired at high speeds. The Type-33 GML is issued to lower and higher ranking infantry in the Covenant, Grunts are commonly seen wielding this weapon, however higher ranking forces like Elites are seen using this weapon, Drones are also fond of this weapon, and their efficiency with it is high as their flying capabilities and large numbers make the needler harder to dodge. Though not generally considered effective enough to be a combat multiplier, the wounds this weapon inflicts are horrific.

The needler is one of the most unusual weapons in the Covenant arsenal and the least understood, how the weapon functions and how the shards are able to track their targets remains a mystery to human military experts and scientists. Like all Covenant weapons, the needler still uses an Energy Coil to power and fire the weapon, should the coil fail the weapon is rendered useless.

Ammunition
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 and may have some relation to the Plasma Grenade and the Plasma Pistol's charged shots as all of them react, but not exclusively, to living tissues. Once fired the shard will seek its target until impact, entering the victim's body violently, after several seconds the contents of the crystalline shard detonates; injuries inflicted from the exploding shard are gruesome. The crystalline projectile can cause fatal damage to its victim, a single shard can cause internal bleeding or strike a vital organ that can result in death unless treated. Depending on the impact area, and at the right angle and impact point several crystalline shards can cause amputation of limbs and impacts to the chest are in most cases, fatal, the explosive properties can easily crack ribs, damage the lungs or heart, and cause severe flesh damage that can be difficult to repair. The crystalline projectile appears to contain some type of gas or energy that is released once the crystalline impacts a target; after seven or more needles have, struck a target in the same general area, the energy of the needles combine and cause an explosion that kills the victim instantly. When either a single or multiple needles detonate they send micro shrapnel that can embed itself in nearby organisms; thus, friendly fire is often a necessary consideration in close quarters combat.

Advantages
The Type-33 unlike other Covenant weapons allows the user to aim at the closest target, fire and move on, as its homing ability allows its user to avoid exposing himself to damaging fire to inflict his own damage. The more needle shards that impact the target the more damage it will do to the target, seven or more needle shards will detonate causing a massive explosion that will also cause splash damage and cause shrapnel damage, the explosive property of the needle shard can also cause nearby explosives to detonate and cause more mayhem to enemy infantry. The projectiles ricochet when they hit rigid surfaces at oblique angles and retain sufficient velocity to make dodging them difficult at best.

Disadvantages
While the Type-33 GML is incredibly effective against most infantry, it is much less effective against vehicles. The crystalline projectiles are slow and ineffective to even light armor and will simply bounce off of them. The Needler is also limited to medium range combat situations and even at that range is not as effective, as the projectile travels it loses velocity and thus loses altitude, reducing the chances of impacting a target. In order for the tracking ability to be most effective the targeting reticule on the users heads up desplay must acquire the target, or if no targeting reticule is available the user must judge how close he must be to a target in order to effectively use the weapon. While the homing ability is incredibly useful the crystalline shard cannot track a target relentlessly, turning at a certain angle will cause the projectile to simply keep flying and miss the target completely, fast turns at certain angles will also cause the projectile to lose the target and travel onward. The needler is also ineffective against linear energy fields, like the Point Defense Gauntlets carried by the Kig-Yar, or stationary energy shields; as the projectiles are repelled without detonating.

Changes
The Needler makes its first appearance in Halo: Combat Evolved, and while its effectiveness was limited to close range the Needler was still dangerous if the player managed to get seven needles to hit an enemy target. The Needler in the first game is larger then its Halo 2 and Halo 3 counterparts, and its maximum ammo is only 100 needles. The Needles super explosion could also cause nearby grenades to go off and either damage or kill nearby friendlies or enemy infantry; when viewed in first person the needle shards that protrude from the weapon have a blue tinge to them until fired, then take on the pink coloring.

Changes from Halo: Combat Evolved to Halo 2

 * The Needler is now smaller, and is dual-weldable.
 * The Needler's projectiles when viewed in first person now have a pink tinge to them instead of blue.
 * The magazine size has increased to thirty needles. Maximum ammunition increased from 100 needles to 120 and its maximum amount of magazines decreases by one.
 * Explosion has significantly less splash damage.
 * Only one explosion will go off within an enemy, in Halo: Combat Evolved multiple explosions could go off in one body, even after death.
 * Slower rate of fire in Halo 2.
 * Melee animation is different, and attacks are faster than in Halo: Combat Evolved, however they do less damage.

Changes from Halo 2 to Halo 3

 * The Needler's Reticule must be red in order for the needles to seek a target.
 * Magazine size has been decreased to 19 rounds.
 * Rate of fire has been dramatically increased and is faster. The projectiles themselves also travel a lot faster, however their altitude decreases over time.
 * The reload time has been decreased.
 * The Needler can no longer be dual wielded since the weapon now does more damage alone then it does when duel-wielded.
 * Unexploded needles remain impaled to the victim after impact. The needles do explode after a short period, but the explosions are small and do no damage.
 * The reticule is now a lot smaller.
 * Multiple explosions on dead bodies can occur once again.

Tactics
The Needler is best used at close to medium range against groups of enemies in the open. The wielder should be familiar with the amount of lead necessary to make the shots connect, and have a fundamental understanding of the weapons strengths and weaknesses.

Campaign

 * Target the enemy group leader unless the leader is an Elite Ultra, Brute Chieftain, or Brute War Chieftain, in which case you should fall back and switch tactics and weapons for the situation.
 * Elite Ultras, Brute Chieftains, and Brute War Chieftains shielding will enable them to survive a full magazine, and it is impossible to reload before the needles detonate.
 * It is not advisable to engadge enemies with Active Camouflage with a Needler, as the needle shards will not track them. A good tactic is to switch to a automatic weapon and fire it at them, as soon as they become viable switch back to the Needler and lay into them.
 * In Halo 2, Needlers should be dual wielded if possible, or it will be nearly impossible to lodge seven needles in an enemy before some of them detonate.
 * When you're in a tight spot with a lot of enemies near by on higher difficulties, it's best to hide behind something and pick them off with tracking weapons like the needler. Just stick your head out and target an Elite, or Brute, fire off a clip of needles, and repeat.

Multiplayer

 * If you are facing an opponent who's wielding a needler, stay at a distance. This way the needles have more time to travel and it's easier for you to run away and avoid them. If you're far enough away, the projectiles may not even reach you. it's easy to take out a needler wielding enemy with a headshot capable weapon.
 * Never train the needler on a single target for too long. Rather, with the technique of fire, acquire, repeat you can end up demolishing enemy ranks as the needles do their own job of finding targets.
 * Don't head into an open atea with no cover and blast away at your enemies. The projectiles may only strike one enemy if you don't switch targets, and since the needles take a few seconds to explode, you could be killed before any helpful explosion occurs.

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 are 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 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 we're 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.”

Trivia

 * The only levels in which Needler ammo appears outside the weapon are 343 Guilty Spark from Halo: Combat Evolved and the Halo 2 Vista map Uplift.
 * Instead of each needle on top of the gun pushing into the gun separately as you fire like you may think, like a visible magazine, they all push in slightly for each shot fired.
 * On the level, Sacred Icon, near 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.
 * 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 and the third person perspective of the person with the Needler.
 * The Halo 3 Needler is incorrectly labeled as having 30 needles per magazine, instead of the actual 19.
 * 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 and splash damage to surrounding units.
 * The Needler is Fleet Master Voro Nar 'Mantakree's next-to trademark weapon, the other being the Energy Sword.
 * There is a lone Sentinel that fires Needler rounds and drops a Needler when it is destroyed. It is found on the level Quarantine Zone in Halo 2.
 * In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx the Needler is referred to as a pistol. This may be because in the large hands of a Sangheili warrior, it appears on a smaller scale, than if it were in Human hands.
 * Normally if you shoot at a Jackal's shield with a Needler it will bounce off. But if you shoot the center of the shield, it will penetrate and injure or kill the Jackal, but only in Halo 2.
 * The only level in the series that you start out with a Needler is "Gravemind" in Halo 2.
 * In Halo: CE the Needler is much larger and heavier than in other Halo games, but most weapons appeared so in Halo: CE since dual wielding hadn't been implemented.
 * The heavy Needlers were customized to be able to strike aircraft and vehicles, not just living tissue, as proven by their AA capabilities.
 * The Needler seems to be a favorite weapon of the Heretic Grunts in Halo 2. This may be due to personal preference, but is probably more because of their lack of resources.
 * In the Halo: Combat Evolved instruction booklet there is a Plasma Rifle picture over a picture of the Needler.

Internal

 * Heavy Needler
 * Covenant Weapons
 * Fear the Pink Mist
 * Energy Cutlass

External

 * Needler at Halowiki