Sulok-pattern beam rifle

This article is about the weapon featured in Halo 2 and Halo 3. For other beam rifle models, see particle beam rifle.

Sulok-pattern beam rifle
Production overview
Manufacturer:	Assembly Forges Iruiru Armory
Type:	Particle beam rifle
Specifications
Length:	Halo 3 variant: Overall: 160 centimeters (63.1 in) Halo 5 variant: 160 centimeters (62.8 in)
Weight:	18.0 kilograms (39.6 lb)
Ammunition type:	Ionized accelerated hydrogen particles
Feed system:	100 battery units (10 shots)
Operation:	Particle beam
Muzzle velocity:	3,657 m/s (12,000 ft/s)
Effective range:	1,829 meters (6000 ft)
Service history
In service:	Human-Covenant War Great Schism Post-Covenant War conflicts

"As soon as the first guy goes down with blood and steam whistling out through the neat new hole in their head, you know you’re in for a long, miserable game of ‘where the foxtrot did that come from.'"

— Unknown UNSC serviceman

The Sulok-pattern Long Rifle (UNSC Type classification: Type-50 Sniper Rifle System or Special Application Sniper Rifle, T-50 SRS or SASR) is a particle beam rifle weapon system employed by the military forces of the Covenant empire and its remnants.

The Sulok-pattern rifle is the Covenant counterpart of the UNSC SRS99 series sniper rifles. It is also the successor to the earlier Zubo-pattern beam rifle. The weapon has a variety of nicknames including PBR, PB and Covenant Sniper.

Overview

Design details

A Particle Beam Rifle.

The Sulok-pattern rifle is a battery-powered directed energy weapon that fires ionized particle beams. The battery for the weapon has enough charge to fire ten shots. The muzzle velocity of the weapon is 3657 m/s (12,000 f/s), with a maximum effective range of roughly 1,500 m (4900 ft) When firing, the weapon has a near-silent and negligible muzzle signature, and inflicts wounds comparable to the 14.5×114mm round fired by the UNSC's SRS99 series of sniper rifles, capable of instantly killing a target. The beam rifle has a barrel length of 82.55 cm (32.5 in.) and an overall length of 160.4 cm (63.2 in.), weighing in at 18 kg (39.6 lbs).

The Sulok-pattern has little recoil when firing. The mechanism by which the beam rifle functions is unknown to the UNSC, but accounts for the weapon's drastically different properties. The scope of the beam rifle is capable of a 5x or 10x zoom, but has the potential to induce slight nausea in humans who try to use it. The round section in front of the hand guard and trigger area of the weapon appears to contain the Sulok-pattern's "ammunition." After the weapon has completed its firing sequence, the section rotates presumably to "chamber" another "round."

One variant of the weapon, employed during the Battle of Installation 05, is capable of a battery capacity of 18 shots.

Variants

As with the other military equipment types used by the Covenant, the Office of Naval Intelligence is considerably more invested in cataloguing beam rifle variants than the Covenant itself. As such, several individual beam rifle types fall under the wider Sulok-pattern umbrella with changes and differences mostly considered beneath the Covenant's care.

Iruiru Armory variant

This beam rifle is a variant manufactured by Iruiru Armory and employed by the Jiralhanae forces of Truth's fleet in the final weeks of the Human-Covenant War. It saw a notable increase in usage among Covenant forces toward the war's closing weeks, though it remained unknown to the UNSC as to whether this was due to a change in doctrine or a reorganisation of battlefield units. This beam rifle has an overall length of 160 centimeters (63.1 in)

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  The Iruiru Armory beam rifle.

Assembly Forges variant

This beam rifle variant was manufactured by the Assembly Forges prior to the Covenant's collapse, and used by the troops operating in the Fleet of Particular Justice and Fleet of Sacred Consecration, under Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee and the Prophet of Regret, respectively. This model was created according to the traditions of the Sangheili sea-hunter guilds on Feldokra, and has an overall length of 160 centimeters (62.8 in). It was unequalled during the war with humanity, and so popular that it retains a high usage among the Covenant's splinter factions in the post-war era.

Specialised modifications of this weapon include:

• T-50α beam rifle - a variant used by Kig-Yar Snipers deployed by the Fleet of Particular Justice during the Battle of Installation 04.
• T-50δ beam rifle - a variant used by the personal assassins of the Prophet of Truth during the Great Schism.

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  The Assembly Forge beam rifle in Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  The Assembly Forge beam rifle in Halo 5: Guardians.

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  The T-50α variant in Halo 5: Guardians.

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  The T-50δ variant in Halo 5: Guardians.

Operational history

The Sulok-pattern beam rifle was crafted according to the traditions of Feldokra's sea-hunter guilds.. It was employed throughout the Human-Covenant War alongside its Zubo-pattern brother, though the Covenant made little distinction between variants. They were typically primarily employed by Sangheili and Kig-Yar snipers, raiders and scout-executors. It was employed during the Harvest campaign, Battle for Arcadia and Battle of Trove in 2531. However, the weapon would remain a rarer sight throughout the war and Covenant tactical doctrine did not typically make the full use of the capabilities of Beam Rifles. However, as the war with humanity continued, human snipers showed the Covenant how pinpoint, accurate firepower could lead armies into disarray. This prompted a change in the final few months of 2552, with the Beam Rifle becoming selected as the most tactically optimal and ecclesiarchy-blessed of the various Covenant analogues of the human SRS99 and put in an elevated production priority.

The UNSC were unaware of the Beam Rifle's new precedence within the Covenant doctrine, unknown as to whether the change was spurred by a new direction in doctrine or local unit organisation. The Fleet of Particular Justice's Kig-Yar snipers employed the Type-50 Alpha beam rifle during the Battle of Installation 04 in September 2552, while shortly later the Prophet of Truth deployed an elite team armed with the Type-50 Delta beam rifle to hunt down his enemies during the Great Schism in October 2552.

During the Battle for Earth, the Sulok-pattern would be employed by Kig-Yar snipers operating in New Mombasa, particularly during the night-time. During the Second Battle of New Mombasa, Snipers would operate the T50 to great effect. During this battle, J-011-422 did not discard his point-defence gauntlet like most snipers did. By the time of the Battle of Voi and later Battle of Installation 00, Jiralhanae troops had replaced the Sangheili in operating the beam rifle. Following the end of the war and the loss of High Charity, beam rifle production slowed but did not stop. Though costly to create, manufactories on Sanghelios, Hesduros, Eayn, and other developed colonies continue to produce the weapon. The weapon is employed by several Covenant remnants, including Vata 'Gajat's mercenary group.

At some point, the weapon was one of many subjects of the UNSC report Machines, Materiel and Munitions from the Human-Covenant Conflict, 2525 - Present. By this time, the UNSC did not yet know of the weapon's maximum effective range (awaiting procurement of working examples for investigative purposes) and cartridge type (pending negotiations with the Swords of Sanghelios).

Gameplay

Advantages

Similarly to the SRS99 AM sniper rifle series, the Sulok-pattern Rifle is excellent at picking off enemies at great distances. Its pulses are very useful at passing through any type of material, armored or non-armored; this makes the particle beam rifle's overpenetration ability much more effective at killing a wide range of enemy infantry. As the beam passes through the body at nearly the speed of light, the particles transfer their kinetic energy to the atoms in the molecules of the target area. Upon impact, the area is rapidly superheated, cauterizing the wound at the same time - a direct hit on skull area of a target will be killed instantly, and body shots depending on the area will be fatal in most cases. A rare non-fatal strike to a target can also cause radiation damage and will require additional treatment, and near misses can produce second or third degree burns to light armored targets. The beam rifle's relative silence, as opposed to the sniper rifle's loud bang, gives it a bit of a stealth advantage; however, this is compensated by the greater visibility of the Type-50's beam. In the context of the Halo games, the particle beam rifle's strength and lethality are weakened for the sake of gameplay.

Disadvantages

While the Sulok-pattern beam rifleexcels at material penetration, in the games, the particle beam rifle does not have much difference than its UNSC counterpart, although in canon it is much stronger. The Type-50 is also unable to perform rapid shots in quick succession - after two shots are fired within a second of each other, the weapon will overheat and will shut down to prevent damage to its internal components, temporarily rendering the weapon useless. The particle beam rifle can only fire 18 shots before the battery is used up and the weapon must be replaced. Like its human counterpart, the particle beam rifle is ineffective at close range combat unless its user is skilled at close range combat with the sniper rifle. The beam of purple light produced from the beam rifle is very easy to see, but somewhat quicker at dissipating compared with the Sniper Rifle, as a sniper's position is more likely to be compromised because of this, requiring the sniper to relocate quickly before being detected.

Changes

Changes from Halo 2 to Halo 3

• The weapon's energy barrel can now be clearly seen.
• Coloring has been changed to a brighter shade of purple.
• The battery drains 5% each shots making it a total of 20 shots until it runs out of battery. (The multiplayer only drains 10% each shots which makes it a total of 10 shots.)

In the Halo 2 and Halo 3 campaign mode on Legendary difficulty, the Beam Rifle can kill you in one hit, no matter where it hits. This can be very frustrating, especially in the levels Outskirts, Metropolis, Delta Halo, Uprising, and The Great Journey, which actually makes Sniper Jackals the most dangerous enemy in the game. Regardless of where you are hit, whether it is in the foot or the head it is fatal in one shot, even though your allies (marines or elites) can survive 2 or 3 hits.

Changes from Halo 3 to Halo 2: Anniversary

• The T-50 SRS is available only in the campaign, while its older Zubo-pattern counterpart is a multiplayer-only weapon instead.
• The weapon now has a more angular design and appears much thicker on the front.
  • The front now also has several pairs of blue lights.
• The round section carrying the weapon's "ammunition" now has multiple lights, colored pink and turquoise.
• The coloring is now an even stronger shade of purple.

Changes from Halo 2: Anniversary to Halo 5: Guardians

• Mirroring the T-27 SASR in Halo 2: Anniversary, the T-50 SRS is now available only in multiplayer, while the T-27 SASR is available both in campaign and multiplayer.
• Shots now deplete 10% of the weapon's battery instead of 5.56%.
• The weapon is now more similarly colored to the Halo 5: Guardians version of the T-27 beam rifle.
• Overheating animations have been altered.
• It is classified as a Rare REQ and can be summoned in Warzone at Level 6 energy while giving 100 REQ points if sold.

UNSC remarks

• “Makes less noise than a Battle Rifle; has less felt recoil than an M6; is at least as accurate as 99 AM—it’s big and heavy and the balance is weird but I can’t wait ‘til I get my hands on another one.”
• “It’s deadly accurate. The scope is a little hard to take though—made me nauseous when I first figured out how to engage it—it’s useful enough and easy to understand. Still hurts my eyes though.”
• “Maybe with the Elites on our side we’ll finally find out how to reload or recharge these weapons or whatever… I have a feeling we shouldn’t start holding our breath anytime soon though.”
• “Not as much recoil as the ninety-nine but then again the mechanism is entirely different—don’t worry about the machine; a steady hand, breath control, and patience are the key to success with either one.”
• “The Type-50 SRS is not completely silent nor is it invisible. Jackals may be superb marksmen and they’re very sneaky, but that doesn’t make them excellent snipers—they’re a little too bloodthirsty for that”.

Production notes

The Sulok represents the design of beam rifle first introduced in Halo 2, and remastered in Halo 2: Anniversary and featured as the "Halo 2 Beam Rifle" in Halo 5: Guardians. The classic Halo 2 model for the rifle is extremely short by the standards of the beam rifles of later games, calculated by Halo consultant Stephen Loftus to have a length of 132.2cm (52.1 in) using models extracted from the original game. For Halo 2: Anniversary's campaign, the model was visually redesigned by concept artist Pavel Belov, with early concept pieces showing an intent to leave the weapon's scale unaltered, while later concept pieces show instead a deliberate lengthening of the design to more closely match the proportions found in Halo 3's iteration of the weapon. While the length was altered in this manner, the design is still overtly a visual update of the original Halo 2 asset, and features a number of distinct design details not present on the Halo 3 model. In Halo 2: Anniversary multiplayer, the beam rifle instead used the Zubo-pattern beam rifle model, first introduced in Halo 4.

The Sulok was introduced in Halo 5: Guardians as a post-launch inclusion in the Warzone Firefight update, complete with two additional REQ variants. In-game, these are only referred to as the "Halo 2 Beam Rifle", while an associated Canon Fodder blog provided the type designation Type-50.

Gallery

	See our gameplay information related to Sulok-pattern beam rifle on its gameplay page.
	Browse more images in this article's gallery page.

Illustrations

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  A member of Black Team firing a Sulok-pattern beam rifle in Halo: Blood Line.

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  Roland wielding a Sulok-pattern beam rifle the Headhunters motion comic.

Halo 2

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  The Type-50 particle beam rifle before Halo 2's release, considerably larger than the finalized version.

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  A profile view of the particle beam rifle in Halo 2.

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  A Special Operations Sangheili using a particle beam rifle in the heretics' base.

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  A Kig-Yar Sniper holding a particle beam rifle during the Battle of Mombasa.

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  A Kig-Yar Sniper holding a particle beam rifle on Installation 05.

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  A Sangheili firing a particle beam rifle on Zanzibar.

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  The particle beam rifle's scope in Halo 2.

Halo 3

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  A render of the particle beam rifle in Halo 3.

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  The particle beam rifle in Halo 3.

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  A Kig-Yar Sniper wielding a particle beam rifle in Halo 3.

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  Closeup of a Kig-Yar Sniper aiming a particle beam rifle.

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  First-person view of the particle beam rifle.

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  The particle beam rifle's scope, 2× zoom.

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  The particle beam rifle's scope, 8× zoom.

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  The particle beam rifle in Halo 3.

Halo Wars

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  Halo Wars concept art featuring a Kig-Yar sniper with a beam rifle,

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  The beam rifle model used in Halo Wars.

Halo 2: Anniversary

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  Concept art of the beam rifle in Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  Concept art of the beam rifle in Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  Type-50 particle beam rifle render in Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  John-117 holding the beam rifle in Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  First-person view of the Type-50 particle beam rifle in Halo 2: Anniversary.

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  The T-50's 5× zoom.

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  The T-50's 10× zoom.

Halo 5: Guardians

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  T-50 Beam Rifle.

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  The Type-50 Beam Rifle in Halo 5: Guardians.

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  First-person view of the T-50 beam rifle in Halo 5: Guardians.

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  The T-50's 5× zoom.

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  The T-50's 10× zoom.

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  The T-50 overheating.

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  A Centurion-clad Spartan-IV with an overheated T-50 on Fathom.

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  A T-27 beam rifle in comparison to a T-50 beam rifle in Halo 5: Guardians.

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  A Venator-clad Spartan-IV and a Decimator-clad Spartan-IV using a T-27 and T-50 beam rifle on Molten.

List of appearances

• Halo 2 (First appearance)
• Halo: Uprising
• Halo 3
• Halo Wars
• Halo 3: ODST
• Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
  • Headhunters (Motion comic only)
• Halo: Blood Line
• Halo: Escalation
• Halo: Mortal Dictata (Mentioned only)
• Halo 2: Anniversary
• Halo: Last Light
• Halo 5: Guardians
• Halo Wars 2
• Halo: Rise of Atriox