Vostu-pattern carbine

The Plasma Rifle is a ground firearm of the Covenant army.

Introduction
The Carbine is the Covenant equivalent of the UNSC Battle Rifle. It is a semi-automatic weapon that combines high accuracy with decent stopping power. It is used primarily for mid-range combat. Unlike most standard-issue Covenant weapons such as the Plasma Rifle, the Carbine does not run on a battery. Rather, it fires solid, radioactive projectiles from an 18-round magazine.

Tactics
With a 2x zoom ability, it's possible to make lethal headshots from afar. The Carbine's only real shortcomings are that your position is betrayed by a yellowish-green trail with each shot, just like the Sniper Rifle's vapor trail or a Battle rifle's tracer trail. When you get your hands on one, be sure to take advantage of it. It is also quite effective at killing an unshielded opponent in Multiplayer, and has equal effectiveness to an unshielded enemy as that of a Battle Rifle, M6D, M6C and M6G. Like those weapons, it will kill an unshielded opponent with one shot to the head.

It is sometimes carried by Brutes and Elites, though this is not usually thier preferred weapon. In the hands of an enemy Brute or Elite, they can be deadly, allowing them to engage their enemies at mid range with deadly accuracy.

Because the Carbine fires projectiles, not plasma bolts, it is more useful against Flood than the other Covenant weapons, excluding explosives. One of the best uses for this weapon is to shoot the armored headpiece off of Brutes, after which another headshot from the weapon will dispatch them.

The Carbine, when used correctly, can take down an enemy slightly faster than a Battle Rifle can, though it requires more aim, taking at least seven shots to the head in multiplayer. Damage done by the Carbine is slightly lower than that of the Battle Rifle (if all three bullets hit), but it fires about twice as fast making it equally deadly.

The Covenant Carbine has one other advantage over the Battle rifle. It is able to do damage to Jackal Personal Arm Shields, Enforcers shields, Stationary Shield Generators, and other shields of such nature.

Halo 3
The Covenant Carbine has undergone a fairly significant upgrade since it was considered by a loud but minority group as a "pea shooter" in Halo 2. The rounds are somewhat more powerful and it has a slighty higher magnectism.

Some, however, say that with this new upgrade, it is overpowered, compared to the Battle Rifle. The reasons of this is because the Carbine has a much faster Rate of Fire (ROF) than the Battle Rifle has for each burst, and since the damage per shot for the Carbine are more powerful now it has a slight advantage over its human counterpart.

Bungie has said that in the recent podcast that they have balanced the Carbine out since the beta.

Character Compatibility

 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Marines
 * Brutes
 * Jackals
 * Drones (Have animation, but not used)
 * Flood Combat Form (Human)
 * Flood Combat Form (Elite)

Trivia

 * When you zoom in or out the gun makes a quiet charging noise.
 * In the Sacred Icon level the dead brutes will have Carbines at 104 but when reloaded the extra ammo is 99.
 * The ammo of the Covenant Carbine is loaded and fired with the same or similar procedure of a human made assault rifle.
 * In the Gravemind after you rescue the Marines, one Marine will take a Carbine that has 120 rounds in it.

Related Articles

 * Covenant Weapons