Okarda'phaa-pattern plasma rifle

Summary

The Plasma Rifle is a common light weapon in the Covenant army, wielded primarily by Elites. It uses plasma technology instead of projectile ammunition. This means that the weapon draws from a power source to generate its energy projectiles rather then firing individual metal missiles like modern guns. The weapon is known for its power and accuracy and its high rate of fire.

However, this high firing rate heats the weapon up and prolonged use of it will overheat the rifle rendering it useless for a brief period of time. The Plasma Rifle can fire approximately 400 shots of plasma. It is said that the weapon's power source can be replaced or recharged when depleted, however the Humans in the Halo Universe lack the knowledge to do such things.

Because of this, the Master Chief and other human users of the weapon must abandon it when low or depleted of energy. The ability to play as the Covenant Arbiter in Halo 2 does not bring with it the ability to "reload" the weapon; users must still abandon the weapon when out of power. However, it is known that the Covenant army is adaptive rather than inventive and therefore the knowledge of how to reuse this and other plasma weapons when depleted of energy may also be lost to them. The plasma rifle appears in both Halo games, although with some slight changes between the two games.

Halo: Combat Evolved

The plasma rifle in the original Halo game is somewhat more powerful and accurate then the version in the sequel. Furthermore the weapon held a unique ability to stun opponents that were hit by the high velocity plasma rounds that the weapon fires. This effect greatly reduces the victims ability to move and dodge the in coming projectiles and allows the wielder of the plasma rifle to more easily hold the opponent in the weapon's firing arc. The drawback, however, was that this effect is only felt when the weapon is fired in its automatic mode. Therefore while the opponent was much easier to repeatebly hit while stunned the weapon will often overheat before the opponent was completely killed. However despite this drawback the stun ability is a useful and potent feature in the hands of an experienced user.

Halo 2

The plasma rifle in Halo 2 is not as powerful or accurate as its predecessor. It also lacks the ability to stun. However, these drawbacks are compensated by the ability to duel-wield the weapon. This allows the rifle to be paired with a wide variety of other weapons from Halo 2. This means that the weapons power and firing rate can be added to other weapons to create powerful combinations. The changes in the weapon are directly related to the inclusion of duel-wielding in Halo 2. For purposes of balance, the weapon, along with many others from the original Halo, was tweaked to better fit the new game's fighting style.

Side View

Plasma Rifles are also the basis for several other weapon systems, including the plasma turrets on a Wraith and Ghosts.

The Plasma Rifle is not to be confused with the Brute Plasma Rifle, which is red instead of blue. The Brute Rifle does more damage than the Plasma Rifle, but overheats more quickly than its counterpart.

Counterweapons

Plasma Rifle Countering
Battle Rifle or Carbine	Strafe back and forth at long range while firing. The longer range of the Battle Rifle or Carbine should be suffecient to neutralize plasma rifle-wielding hostiles, while strafing will be a deterrent to the plasma rifle's inaccurate long range shots at possible plasma grenades.
Beam Rifle or Sniper Rifle	Although intelligent plasma rifle-wielders will immediately retreat to cover in presence of a sniper, forcing either the sniper to break off or move to close quarters, where the terrain is not conducive to a snipe-kill (see sniping), it is easy to pick off unaware plasma rifle-armed hostiles from long range in open cover, or to "kill-steal" while one engages the plasma rifle-wielder.
Energy Sword or Shotgun	The threat of plasma rifle-wielding hostiles to a close-range power weapon-wielder is not the plasma rifle itself, but plasma grenades that may adhere and neutralize the power weapon-toter. Engagement at close range is recommended, as the stress of battle will abate the grenade hazard for many inexperienced plasma rifle-wielders. Engagement at medium-close ranges can lead to sustained plasma rifle bombardment, which can kill a slow power weapon user.

See Also

• Covenant Weapons