Counter weapons: Sniper weapons (sniper rifle, Beam Rifle), carbine, SPNKr, and Fuel Rod Cannon.
The plasma Rifle also ha the ability to slow the running speed of a target in Halo 1. while firing at them they would walk slightly slower. also grunts and jackels are "Not worthy" of the use of a plasma rifle. they are not ever givin the chance to use one. Lt.O'Brien 17:59, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
On halo 2 the level delta halo there is a jackal weilding a plasma rifle--Irving 18:12, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
New info from bungie straight from the Halo Story Bible. Here. --EliteSpartan
AND WE INTEND TO KEEP IT THIS NAME. NO MORE RENAMING. --Blemo 
TALK • CONTRIBUTIONS • BLACKROCK COMPANY • THE SOURCE OF SPAM 03:04, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
- No need to worry. I understand Halopedia articles are to be named by their official UNSC designation even if there is a more common nickname and the majority of people are unfamiliar with the official name. File:Halo3.comchief.PNGEliteSpartan My Talk My ContribsFile:Private first class.jpgFile:GDI.jpg 6 September 2007
Discovery of weapon by the Covenant
Has anyone noticed how similar these are to those "constructors" that build/repair on the Halos and the Ark? Don't you think the Elites likely just found a still-running Forerunner facility on some planet, had their Engineers modify the constructors to Elite tastes (and remove the AI and flying ability, of course), and mass-produced them as plasma rifles? Mr Toad 04:22, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
yes they look similar but the weapon is not a former constructor. the plasma rifle has no AI, and may pre-date the covenant war between Sangheili and San'Shyumm.--Dark Scion 17:52, November 23, 2009 (UTC)
Plasma Rifle
I definitely think it should be featured. Ghost elite 13:07, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
I don't know if this page sould be a featured article; it doesn't have the visual representation. Holy Swordsman*User Talk*Contributions 20:39, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
Sorry, but it is a very complete article, so I shall say feature feature feature Daniel 019 File:Before.JPG My TalkMy Work 01:13, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
Underpowered on halo3 multiplayer
This article makes no mention whatsoever on how little damage this weapon does to unshielded players compared to its predessors. It even says its more powerful under the halo 3 section!
- The article DOES mention that this weapon makes very little damage to flesh. It says its more powerfull AGAINST shields Daniel 019 21:52, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Masers?
In the trivia section, there is a mention that masers are used to generate plasma. Surely this is in conflict with the main article saying that it uses electric arcs to generate plasma? Where did that piece of information come from anyway? I didnt see it mentioned in any of the references. Diaboy 09:12, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
Some editors simply don't know what they are talking about and don't care if they are wrong, they only want their theory and opinions in the official wikia.--Dark Scion 17:50, November 23, 2009 (UTC)
i would just like to say
that the plasma rifle is a unique symbol of the trilogy and it is instantly recognisable by its look and sound. i love this gun it reminds me of when i first played halo 2
Images
Can we please get some images from HALO: Combat Evolved? and some more from HALO 2? iam seriously sick of the obsession with HALO 3 and the overlooking of the other 2. its discrimination against those of us HALO fans who don't own an Xbox and have to make do with the slightly less awesome games available on PC. Gunnery Sergeant Maiar 12:28, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Strange Information
In the last year or so, I've noticed that this run-on paragraph dwelling at the beginning of the article:
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 toroid 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.
While interesting, there is no citation or source for this information, and therefore it is likely something lifted out of some fan-fiction, pet theory, and rampant speculation. No publicly available piece of canonical information supports this, so the likelihood of this being false is high.
Also, whoever wrote this has a poor understanding of the science involved; I can attest to this myself, for my own scientific literacy is laughable at best. From what I do know, plasma is essentially a highly diffused, charged, high-temperature gas. Even if there were rotating magnetic fields that pull and accelerate the plasma away from the electrodes and create a toroidal magnetic form, that magnetically-affected plasma is going to fly apart the instant it leaves the device. This is done via collisions with the atmosphere, thermal radiation, and most of all, wanting to equalize its pressure with the surrounding environment.
So all that Covenant plasma weapons would be discharging would be useless, dangerous puffs of superheated gas that would only harm the weapon operator and the device. So in all, "plasma weapons" are an absurd and impossible concept, but that didn't stop Bungie from taking and applying one of the most tired and lame scifi tropes into their games, and the rest is history. Just from applying even a brief scientific eye upon Halo, everything falls apart, for it is clear that the true scientific literacy of Halo is a joke.
But that's a topic for another day, not appropriate here. Given that there is no citation for the noted paragraphs, I recommend that it should be removed.
--Exalted Obliteration 06:08, 26 February 2009 (UTC)
I hate to crush your Bungie crushing, but, like current military projects to produce a large-scale plasma based weapon, the Plasma Rifle in Halo uses advanced magnetic manipulation technology to produce a magnetic "bottle", this magnetic tube of sorts projects from the weapon and allows the plasma to remain cohesive until impact. This is also what allows certain plasma weapons in the Halo universe to be guided to a target, via manipulation of the magnetic bottle.
Zuranamee
First, the above information in bold type is incorrect. the "correct" theory on how a Halo style plasma rifle would work has been posted in the past and since has been partially removed or changed. while it was a theory, it was and is the best explanation of the plasma rifle. I will see about adding it back in, without harming other contributed information.
Secondly, given the technology, the theory would work. Think about it, 100 years ago the world NEVER would have thought a computer was possible, the technology simply was not available. The Halo universe's depiction of a plasma rifle is not "hopeless" it is simply out of the reach of current human technology. We are not saying the plasma rifle WILL happen, only that it CAN happen.
Third and finally, Zuranamee you are correct there is a project concerning plasma weaponry, however the tech is crude and the power requirements are too large for practical or even reserved use in warfare.
woooo that was a lot of typing, please send us a message if you agree or disagree. Thank You. --Dark Scion 17:48, November 23, 2009 (UTC)
Halo 1 vs Halo 2
On the Variations Between the Halo Games section, first sentence states: "The Plasma Rifle in Halo: Combat Evolved is far more powerful and accurate than its Halo 2 and Halo 3 counterparts."
Yet on the third paragraph of the same section, it is stated: "In Halo 3, Plasma Rifles are made even more powerful than their Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2's counterparts, like most of the new weapons in Halo 3."
So which is stronger?
--Jeffrey3732 03:10, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
H1 variants are more damaging per bolt, H2 & H3 variants have a higher rate of fire. Which is more powerful? without exact statistics the answer is debatable, depending on style, user accuracy, and battlefield conditions.--Dark Scion 17:31, November 23, 2009 (UTC)
comparison
in the article it is mentioned that some players believe the plasma rifle to be the covenant counterpart to the SMG. i believe it is obvious that bungie intended the plasma rifle to be the counterpart to the assault rifle, due to the fact that in Halo combat Evolved there was no dual wielding, and no SMGs. in this sense, when single weilded the plasma rifle is much more similar to the assault rifle.
i also had a question, what came first, halo games or canon?
cannon always comes first. Always. --Dark Scion 17:24, November 23, 2009 (UTC)
not the max range?
has anyone noticed that the plasma riffle in halo 1 fires more than 50m? i took an oddball and it hit it from aprox. 94 m. its not as accurate, but its the maximum distance._StalkerGrunt117 09:55, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
Just as a bullet will fly for miles, it is not relatively accurate. Therefore we must conclude that 50m is the optimal range for combat accuracy.--Dark Scion 17:26, November 23, 2009 (UTC)
- Just though I should note that no gun will fire a bullet for "miles" unless that gun happens to be the 16 inch deck guns on a battleship. As to the range, that's most likely the range that it optimizes both accuracy and power. Something like a plasma rifle will have a pretty short range due to how the plasma is guided and contained. However something like the particle beam rifle would have a far greater range.--Zervziel 05:18, February 7, 2010 (UTC)
Zervziel, a bullet will fly for miles if fired out of a gun at an acceptable angle. So will an apple given the correct force and trajectory. --Dark Scion 00:52, February 8, 2010 (UTC)
Rechargable Weapons?
Has anyone else read Ghosts of Onyx recently? If you read carefully when the covenant ground force that was about to assault the SPARTAN force, it says, and I am directly quoting, "They lowered their saute; grabbed rifles, grenades, pistols, and power cells;" Page 350, Ghosts of Onyx. Why would they even need power cells? I doubt that their shielding technology required such a thing--Eustas P. Vanderbanger III 01:47, February 8, 2010 (UTC).
The power cells may be the "batteries" used in plasma weaponry. This needs to be looked into, thank you for the observation. --Dark Scion 00:54, February 8, 2010 (UTC)
That's what I was thinking, but it is confusing, considering every other piece of cannoncial information regarding the Type 25 Directed Energy Rifle says that after it depletes it's charge, thats it. But then again, it would seem like an enormous waste to create a weapon just have it be discarded in the middle of a mission due to no power left. --Eustas P. Vanderbanger III 01:47, February 8, 2010 (UTC)
Ah yes, but the cannonical information you refer to also states that the human race has no known way of recharging the weapons. It is also stated that such information is pending on Human/Sangheili negotiations. --Dark Scion
I agree that the humans have never found a way to recharge the plasma weapons, but do remember, no other piece of cannocial information, not even Covenant as the focus, have anything that even slightly infers that the weapons were rechargable--Eustas P. Vanderbanger III 00:08, February 9, 2010 (UTC)
The simple existence of plasma batteries would say the weapons are refillable. Why else would they have them on the battlefield when they explode so spectacularly?--Zervziel 08:03, February 9, 2010 (UTC)
I don't care if that was a try at humor, but in (Halo) reality they are used for logistical support of Covie Armies. We are talking about Power Cells, not Plasma Batteries. Pick up the book--Eustas P. Vanderbanger III 21:02, February 9, 2010 (UTC)
Power Cells and Plasma batteries may be similar devices in this context. Plasma Batteries being the explosive "scenery" seen in game, and the Power cells are what is used in the weapons core. Also note that in the book Contact Harvest the Unggoy used the Plasma Batteries as a source of light and warmth while on the space elevator (reference needed), this may be a primary or secondary purpose, we conclude that the latter is more likely. --Dark Scion