Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle

The Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle or Plasma Rifle is a Covenant ground firearm.

It is a common light weapon in the Covenant Army, primarily wielded by Elites. The Plasma Rifle uses induced plasma instead of projectile ammunition, firing directed energy bolts. This means that the weapon draws from a power source to generate its energy bolts rather than firing individual cased projectiles like a conventional weapon. The base power output of the rifle is 100-150 Kv @ 2-3 dA, and the rate of fire is 420 to 600 rounds per minute. The plasma rifle is particularly effective against shielded opponents.

It is often found throughout the Halo series on Elites and Brutes, but has also been wielded by Jackals, Grunts, and is found quite often in Covenant supply cases.

The Plasma Rifle is powered by an ultra-dense extreme high temperature superconducting matrix capacitor bank, grown using an unknown molecular deposition technique. The bolts are developed by manipulating a high voltage, low current spark. There are two elongated toroidal electromagnets above and below the spark gap electrodes within the weapon. These turn at high velocities in opposite directions to create interacting magnetic fields which force the ionic plasma in the spark into a toroidal shape which is in turn forced forward away from the electrodes. As long as these plasma toroids move above a certain velocity, the ions cannot recombine and hence blooming can not occur. The trigger is non-mechanical, it is a pressure pad that completes a circuit when a threshold is reached. The outer-shell of the weapon consists of boric and cobalt composite ceramic. The weapon can only be recharged at non-mobile consoles.

Advantages
The Plasma Rifle is a close to medium range weapon, has a very high rate of fire, and deals out very high shield damage. This weapon can also be used at long range if the user fires slowly, but this is usually not as effective compared to using this weapon at short range. Like other plasma weapons, the plasma rifle is very effective at depleting shields, though not as effectively as the Plasma Pistol's overcharged shot. The Plasma Rifle is also dual wieldable. A quick two second burst from two dual wielded Plasma Rifles into a Hunter's weak spot will kill it instantly; they are also very useful against all Flood forms. The Plasma Rifle is quite easy to aim, so there is a big advantage against Flood combat forms because you can aim the Plasma Rifle at the center of the Flood where the infection form's sensory appendages are sticking out for an instant kill, but be aware of other Infection Forms, as they can revive the combat form if you do this. The plasma rifle also has an extremely fast melee attack. An easy way to get a kill with a Plasma Rifle is to aim for the head. It will take about 2 shots to take out the shields, then another 2 shots to kill the person if your aiming at the head. A commonly used strategy is to dual wield two plasma rifles then beat your opponent down. Also an effective strategy is to wield a plasma rifle and have an Assault Rifle or SMG in your holster, destroy an enemy's shield using the Plasma Rifle then either quickly melee them or shoot them with a solid projectile weapons such as the Assault Rifle for a quick and easy kill. This also works with the Plasma Pistol's overcharged shot. It is one of only 3 weapons that appear in every level in the Halo Trilogy. Also the Plasma Rifle like most plasma-based weapons does not need to be reloaded.

Disadvantages
The Plasma Rifle overheats very fast when used in automatic firing mode and rapid firing (In Halo 2, the Brute Plasma Rifle overheats much faster than the Elite plasma rifle, but does slightly more damage per hit and has a faster rate of fire). Also, the Plasma Rifle cannnot be recharged by the player so must be replaced when depleted. While extremely effective at depleting enemies' shields, the Plasma Rifle doesn't deal as much physical damage as solid projectile weapons. This can be avoided by dual wielding a solid projectile weapon in your other hand, for example the SMG or the Spiker. It also runs out of ammo very quickly when in automatic firing mode. Also, the animation for overheating partially blocks the screen, obscuring your view of opponents, and leaving you particularly vulnerable. In addition, the faster you fire, the less accurate the beams become, diverting from the original target more and more.

Campaign Recommendations
In both Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, the Plasma Rifle's high rate of fire and moderate damage can be used to quickly neutralize low level enemies such as Grunts, Drones, and infection forms. Against the Elites, the Plasma Rifle can quickly deplete their shields and leave them vulnerable to a lethal headshot from an M6 pistol, Covenant Carbine or Battle Rifle, or sprays from an SMG. In addition, the valuable stun effect of the Plasma Rifle often stops/slows down the enemy long enough to prevent their melee. However, the plasma rifle can be ineffective against some enemies, notably the Brutes, Hunters, and Flood combat forms. In Halo 3, dual-wielding Plasma Rifles is a very effective way of combating the Flood in campaign on all difficulties, most especially the shielded Elite variant, which often proves to be one of the most trying campaign enemies. Arguably, it is more effective than any other dual-wielded weapon, including the Needler. It is also quite effective when dual-wielded against Hunters in Halo 3. However you must hit it's weak spot, and better weapons are usually available for getting rid of Hunters. It is also good for Ranged Pure Forms in Halo 3 that shoot missiles at you.

Multiplayer Recommendations
The Plasma Rifle has limited uses in multiplayer, but is still a useful weapon, especially if dual-wielded. Dual-wielding increases the combined rate of fire and damage. Although its range limits the weapon to close quarter fire fights, if used properly a player can quickly dispose of a far away enemy. It is also advisable to carry a mid to long range weapon such as a battle rifle or sniper rifle for backup against targets outside of the Plasma Rifle's range. It has the fastest melee attack of any weapon except for the energy sword, and it's melee is also powerful. In Halo 3, this weapon can easily overpower an assault rifle if the melee is used in conjunction well with the energy shield depleting shots, allowing an easy take down, however at medium range the Assault Rifle is likely to come out victorious.

Halo: Combat Evolved
The Plasma Rifle in Halo:Combat Evolved is far more powerful and accurate than its Halo 2 counterpart. Furthermore, the weapon held a unique ability to stun opponents that were hit by high velocity heated plasma rounds, this effect greatly reduces the victim's ability to move and dodge the incoming projectiles and allows the user to easily hold the opponent in the weapon's firing arc. However, the drawback was that this effect is only felt with continuous fire. While stunned, the weapon will often overheat before the opponent is completely killed. Despite this drawback, the stun ability is a useful and potent feature in the hands of an experienced user. In campaign mode, the plasma rifle is best used against the Sentinels and Elites. Sentinels always have a soft spot to Covenant weapons and it can be very useful in taking down Elites shields when rapid firing. It should also be noted that this weapon behaved more like a rifle than its successor, having about twice the firing range. It should be noted that this weapon decreases its accuracy while heating up, becoming as inaccurate as its Halo 2 counterpart, however this can be counteracted by burst-firing the weapon, releasing 2-3 bolts per firing. This will allow the weapon to be used for a longer period of time before it actually overheats, and more accuracy allowing you to hit long-range targets.

Halo 2
Halo 2's Plasma Rifle is not as powerful or accurate as its predecessor and lacks the ability to stun. These drawbacks are compensated by a higher rate of fire and the ability to dual-wield the weapon, allowing it to be paired with a wide variety of other weapons from Halo 2 and creating powerful combinations. The changes to the weapon are directly related to the inclusion of dual-wielding and higher rate of fire. For purposes of balance, the plasma rifle, along with many others from Halo: Combat Evolved, was tweaked to better fit the new game's fighting style. The weapon takes an opponent's shields off with five shots, but it takes many more to kill. This version of the plasma rifle behaves more as sub-machine gun (SMG) rather than a rifle.

It has medium accuracy, but, when dual wielded, if both rifles are fired simultaneously, the accuracy will decrease greatly.

Plasma rifles are also the basis for several other weapon systems, including the Twin Plasma Cannons on Ghosts, Halo 2 Wraiths, and Banshees. The weapon is not to be confused with the Brute plasma rifle, which is a faster, red version of the plasma rifle.

Halo 3
In Halo 3, plasma rifles are made even more powerful than their Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2's counterparts. Their bolts are graphically redesigned to be more vivid. The bolts seem to travel faster than those of its previous versions, reducing the need to "lead" or "direct" the shots at mid to long ranges. After a few shots the weapon becomes very inaccurate to fire, so shoot in short controlled spurts and bursts. Also, unlike in previous games, the plasma rifle is very effective against the Flood, even more so than its human counterpart. It takes 18 blasts when single wielded or 20 when dual-wielded to kill an enemy with normal shields in Halo 3. This makes it effective against shields and semi-effective for flesh, making it a much more formidable weapon then its previous version. The weapon also gets a slight graphical overhaul, making it slightly more detailed and polished.

Trivia

 * The Plasma Rifle is a rifle in name only, as such there is an ambiguity in its correct designation as a semi-automatic gun. All conventional munitions fire projectiles from a tube (barrel).
 * It facilitates "MASER's" in order to enhance the success rate of plasma formation between the electrodes.
 * The Plasma Rifle is used mostly by Brutes and Elites, but it can also be wielded by other species if given to them.
 * Only in Halo 2, the Brutes always and only wield the Brute Plasma Rifle, except through a glitch in The Great Journey when a vehicle with a Brute is hijacked.
 * On Halo:CE, if your character remains idle for a minute, he will inspect the weapon on both sides, in Halo 2 he will open the cooling vents, in Halo 3, he'll pull on the top, as if to try to pry it open.
 * In the Halo Wars trailer it makes a more realistic crackling sound when fired.
 * Like most Covenant weapons the Plasma Rifle has no sights. It appears to rely entirely on the user's HUD reticle for aim assisting.
 * In Halo 3 multiplayer, with no damage modifiers on, this weapon has the 3rd lowest shot damage difference between single and dual wield (the Plasma Pistol has no difference in shot damage and the Mauler takes only 1 more shot to kill dual wielded then when single wielded from 2x overshield or more). At normal shield the shot difference is only 2 shots (18 single, 20 dual), at 4x overshield the difference is only 3 shots (32 single, 35 dual).
 * The Plasma Rifle relies on an air supply for the generation of an ionized plasma, meaning it should only be able to fire in an atmosphere. It is commonly misconceived that it carries a cell of pre-ionized plasma inside, which is highly impractical. A slight over-sight in Halo 2 ignores this concept, in the first playable level, that allows you to fire it in space.
 * There is some controversy over whether the Plasma Rifle is a counterpart to the Assault Rifle, because both have at least 400 shots and are referred to as "rifles," or the SMG, because both can be dual-wielded and are roughly the same size.
 * The Plasma Rifle in Halo 3 multiplayer destroys shields rapidly and is only rivaled by the Plasma Pistol's overcharge shot.
 * On occasion in Halo 3 if you hold the Plasma Rifle under a certain amount of lighting, it will produce a somewhat red coloring; similar to that of the older version of the Plasma Rifle.
 * The Plasma Rifle is sported as the primary weapon by many Elites.
 * It is also Rtas 'Vadum's favored secondary weapon of choice next to the Energy Sword.
 * In Halo 2 on the level Delta Halo, you can see a Jackal using a Plasma Rifle.
 * In Halo 2 there is a Brute version of the plasma rifle, but it is replaced with the Brute Spiker in Halo 3.
 * The Plasma Rifle is one of the weapons that hasn't changed much over the Halo series. The only thing that's changed is the sound.
 * If you look on the left side of the plasma rifle there is a sign that tells how hot the weapon is. But the one on your HUD is better.
 * In Halo CE, if your plasma rifle is running low on energy, (less then 10%) when you fire it, then it will occasionally splutter and refuse to fire. This may be due to the fact that the power cell is unable to focus the remaining energy into a ball of plasma.

UNSC Remarks
“The Type-25 DER has no recoil to speak of; it tears the crap out of shields and you can shoot the thing all day long—it's on the heavy side though.”

“I realize that it uses a battery instead of a magazine, but nobody has figured out how to swap it or recharge it yet? Don’t we have scientists working for us or something?”

“It’s got no sight-line, it’s awkward to hold, and if it overheats it’ll cook the hair right off of your wrists.”

“You know, it looks delicate and so you feel like you need to hold it kind of gingerly—but then you see an Elite crack a Bravo Kilo's head with one—the things are built tough.”

“Yeah, and I’ve seen some Elites swinging two of them around like it was nothing—scary shit.”

"These things are huge—but I guess the Elites are, too—so it sorta makes sense."

Character Compatibility

 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Cortana (has animation but not used)
 * Brutes
 * Grunts
 * Jackals
 * Marines
 * Drones (have animation but not used)
 * Flood Combat Form (Human)
 * Flood Combat Form (Elite)
 * Flood Combat Form (Brute)

Laser Tag
In July 2007, it was announced that there is going to be a Halo laser tag game released, with a Plasma Rifle designed to actual proportions to look like it does in Halo 3.