JackVibe/Sandbox

Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
Production overview
Manufacturer:	Sacred Promissory
Type:	Needler
Specifications
Ammunition type:	Subanese crystal shards
Feed system:	30 shards/magazine
Rate of fire:	Automatic
Service history
In service:	Human-Covenant War Harvest campaign; Battle of Mombasa; Battle of Installation 05; Fall of High Charity;

Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
Production overview
Manufacturer:	Sacred Promissory
Type:	Needler
Specifications
Ammunition type:	Subanese crystal shards
Feed system:	20 shards/magazine
Rate of fire:	Automatic
Service history
In service:	Human-Covenant War Battle of Installation 04;

Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
Production overview
Manufacturer:	Sacred Promissory
Type:	Needler
Specifications
Length:	74.3 centimetres (29.3 in)
Weight:	Empty: 3.74 kilograms (8.2 lb); Loaded: 4.3 kilograms (9.5 lb);
Ammunition type:	Subanese crystal shards
Feed system:	24 shards/magazine
Rate of fire:	Automatic
Effective range:	Close to medium
Service history
In service:	Human-Covenant War Fall of Reach;

This article is about the models in Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4. For the model introduced in Halo 5: Guardians, see Type-56D needler.

"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."

— Anonymous serviceman

Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher (T-33 GML), also known as the Needler, is the United Nations Space Command's type classification for six distinct patterns of a Covenant needle-based infantry automatic weapon.^[1] Although the six distinct patterns of the needlers possessed aesthetic and functional differences, their shared UNSC type designation suggests that they were all catalogued and classified in 2533.

Overview

Design details

A blueprint of the T-33 GML in the original Halo trilogy.

The Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher is a Covenant projectile weapon that fires long, sharp crystalline shards that are guided until they impale a target — hence the “needler” moniker. Several seconds after coming to rest in their target, the needles detonate, creating severe and, in most cases, fatal wounds. The Needler's top plate has 14 holes, with the needles protruding out of the holes. When the trigger is pulled, the needle is fed from the top into the "barrel" of the weapon and fired at high speed. The Type-33 GML is used by Covenant foot soldiers of nearly all types. Yanme'e are also fond of this weapon, and their efficiency with it is high as their flying capabilities and large numbers make the needles harder to dodge. When the trigger is held down, the rate at which the 'needles' are fired increases.

Unlike most Covenant weaponry, the needler does not incorporate reverse-engineered Forerunner technology.^[2] The needler was one of the most unusual weapons in the Covenant arsenal and the least understood; how the weapon functions remains a mystery to human military experts and scientists. Like most Covenant weapons, the T-33 GML lacks any kind of electronic, physical or radiative connections between its "trigger" and firing mechanism.^[3] However, post-war analysis and study have shown that the shards track their targets by homing in on the specific heat signatures of sighted targets.^[4] The physics behind the weapon were apparently not well known as joint human and Sangheili teams were known to be studying the weapon some time after the war.^[5]

Ammunition

Main article: Subanese crystal

Razor-sharp crystalline projectiles made of Subanese crystal, or blamite, are fired from this elaborately designed Covenant weapon; it is widely believed that these needlers use heat or organic signatures to home in on targets, and may have some relation to the Anskum-pattern plasma grenade and the Plasma Pistol's charged shots, which also react to living tissue and Sentinel mechanics. The needles appear to have some sort of "identify-friend/foe" function, as they will home in on hostile targets but not allies of the wielder. Once fired, a needle will seek its target until impact, entering the victim's body violently. After several seconds, the contents of the crystalline shard will detonate; injuries inflicted from the exploding shard are gruesome, as microscopic pieces of shrapnel can become embedded in tissue.

The crystalline projectile appears to contain some type of gas or energy, which is released upon impact with a target; after seven or more needles have struck a target in the same general area, the needles will react to each other, triggering an explosion that kills the victim instantly. The explosion of multiple needles is a result of proximal resonance instability.^[6] When either a single or multiple needles detonate, they release crystal shrapnel, which can embed itself in nearby organisms; thus, friendly fire is often a necessary consideration in close-quarters combat.

Nahle'hax-pattern needle launcher

Main article: Nahle'hax-pattern needler

The Nahle'hax-pattern needle launcher is designated as T-33 GML.^[7]

Fall of Reach pattern

This pattern designated as Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher was manufactured by the Sacred Promissory.^[1]

Design details

This needler pattern is aesthetically very similar to the Lodam Armory-manufactured Nahle'hax-pattern needler of the same T-33 designation; they are both characterized by a longer handguard extending from the lower cowling and a thumbhole in the grip.^[7] However, this pattern is slightly longer than its Nahle'hax-pattern counterpart and carries a slightly larger magazine. This pattern also has a slightly different appearance, with a small blue light on either side of the upper cowling, and a row of three triangle lights between the upper cowling and the grip.

The HUD icon for this T-33 GML pattern.
An exploded view of this T-33 GML pattern, drawn by Dr. Catherine Halsey.

Usage

This pattern of the needler was notably employed during the Fall of Reach by Fleet of Valiant Prudence forces deployed in Eposz.^[11]

The needler employed by Kig-Yar and Unggoy.
A Yanme'e firing the needler at SPARTAN-B312.

Battle of Installation 04 pattern

This pattern designated as T-33 GML is blah blah blah

Battle of Installation 05 pattern

This pattern designated as T-33 GML is blah blah blah

Truth's fleet pattern

Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher

Production overview
Manufacturer:	Sacred Promissory^[1]
Type:	Needler^[1]^[18]^[19]
Specifications
Length:	Overall: 57.8 centimetres (22.8 in)^[18]^[20] Barrel: 16.25 centimetres (6.40 in)^[18]
Weight:	Empty: 3.74 kilograms (8.2 lb)^[18]^[20] Loaded: 4.3 kilograms (9.5 lb)^[18]^[20]
Ammunition type:	Subanese crystal shards^[1]
Feed system:	19 shards^[20]^[21]
Rate of fire:	Automatic^[21] (510 rounds/minute)^[18]
Muzzle velocity:	54 meter/second (177 feet/second)^[18]
Effective range:	64 metres (210 ft)^[18]^[20]
Service history
In service:	Human-Covenant War Battle of Mombasa^[22] Battle of Voi^[21] Battle of Installation 00^[21]

This pattern designated as T-33 GML, also known as Pinkies and Shrimp Shooter,^[20] is blah blah blah

Jul 'Mdama's Covenant pattern

Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher

Production overview
Manufacturer:	Lodam Armory^[23]^[6]
Type:	Needler^[6]^[2]
Specifications
Length:	73 centimetres (29 in)^[6]^[2]
Width:	21.6 centimetres (8.5 in)^[6]^[2]
Height:	53 centimetres (21 in)^[6]^[2]
Weight:	3.7 kilograms (8.2 lb)^[6]^[2]
Ammunition type:	4.8-6.3mm Subanese crystal shards^[1]^[2]
Feed system:	22 shards^[6]^[2]^[24]
Rate of fire:	Automatic^[6]
Service history
In service:	Human-Covenant War Battle of Circinius IV^[25] Post-Covenant War conflicts Battle of Requiem^[24] Requiem campaign^[24]

This pattern designated as T-33 GML is blah blah blah

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.”

Non-canon and dubious canon appearances

Silver Timeline

Main article: Silver Timeline

Kai-125 holding a needler in Dr. Keyes' lab.

"See these holes on the top plate? That's where the needle rounds are primed. You pull the trigger and somehow they just know how to target living tissue."

— Kai-125 explaining her favorite Covenant weapon.^[26]

Needlers are used by the Covenant during their war against humanity. Silver Team will occasionally scavenge needlers from dead Covenant and use them against Covenant troops.^[26]

Trivia

Instead of each needle on top of the Needler being pushed separately into the gun with each shot, every needle sinks into the weapon slightly for each shot fired. In Halo: Reach, a needle sinks into the weapon every time one is fired.
It's never been shown how the Needler is reloaded, as ammunition is never seen being plugged into the weapon. Pressing the "reload" command merely causes the needles to extend from the holes, with no other action from the wielder's model. Grunts carrying the Needler may occasionally tap and shake the weapon as if to reload it.
On the level Quarantine Zone in Halo 2, there is a lone Sentinel that fires Needler rounds and drops a Needler when it is destroyed.
In Halo 3, regardless of how many needles are loaded in the weapon, none will appear in the Needler's shadow.
Bungie.net's Halo 3 statistics page claims that the Needler has thirty needles per magazine instead of the actual nineteen.
In Halo 3, killing five enemies with a Needler, in a ranked free-for-all match or campaign will reward the player with the Fear the Pink Mist achievement. In Halo 3: ODST, killing ten Covenant soldiers with an explosion from the Needler in a single-player level or in Firefight will reward the player with the Pink and Deadly achievement. In Halo: Reach the player earns the A Spoonful of Blamite achievement for killing ten enemies with Needler explosions. Killing an opponent with a super-combine of the Needler's needles will grant the player a Super Detonation Medal in Halo 3, Needler Kill Medal in Halo 3: ODST and a Needle Combine Kill Medal in Halo: Reach.
In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, the Needler is referred to as a pistol. This may be because in the large hands of a Sangheili, it seems proportionally smaller.
In Halo: Combat Evolved level 343 Guilty Spark and the Halo 2 Vista map Uplift are the only levels to feature Needler ammunition outside the Needler.
When using Anniversary mode in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, dropped Needlers are always depicted as either being fully loaded or empty with no middle ground. However, when playing Classic mode, the number of needles can be seen indicating how many remained in the clip prior to the weapon being picked up.
In the video Enemy Weapon at 0:22 in left side of the screen is a Type-33 Needler in a glass case with needles still visible on the weapon, indicating that it is still loaded.

Gallery

Halo: Combat Evolved

First-person view of the needler in Halo: Combat Evolved.
Needlers and their ammunition in Halo: Combat Evolved.
A profile view of the needler from Halo: Combat Evolved.
Close-up preview of needler ammunition in Halo: Combat Evolved.

Halo 2

A profile view of the needler from Halo 2.
First-person view of dual-wielding needlers in Halo 2 multiplayer Capture the Flag.
First-person view of dual-wielding needlers in Halo 2.
First-person view of single-wielding a needler in Halo 2.