- "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 Type-50 Sniper Rifle System[1], otherwise known as the Particle Beam Rifle, is a Covenant long-range weapon and the counterpart of the UNSC Sniper Rifle.
Design Details
A Particle Beam Rifle is a battery-powered directed-energy weapon that fires ionized particles called plasma at its targets, instead of accelerating small projectiles. The weapon is nearly silent, negligible muzzle signature, weighs considerably less than its UNSC analog and inflicts wounds akin to the 14.5mm SRS 99 AM — and is considered by all assessments to be a force multiplication. The use of Particle Acceleration offers two distinct advantages, the first is its damaging properties over the UNSC Sniper Rifle, as the ionized particles can pass through material easily, making it effective against targets behind cover. The Type-50 SRS also excels at target penetration, maximizing its lethality, as the beam will always pass through a target completely. Although the size of the wounds inflicted on a target are small, the damage done is similar to most Directed Energy Weapons used by the Covenant.
The Type-50 SRS is unusually shaped, and takes design cues from the Covenant Plasma Rifle in several respects - the barrel of the weapon is very long with its scope located on the top, and appears to slide into the weapon for storage. The scope on the particle beam rifle has two levels of zoom for greater accuracy, like its UNSC counterpart it is capable of 4 and 8 times magnification. The round section in front of the hand guard and trigger area of the weapon appears to contain the Type-50s "ammunition", after the weapon has completed its firing sequence, the section rotates presumably to "chamber" another "round". Human military experts do not understand how exactly the weapon works or how it is reloaded or recharged. Throughout the Human-Covenant War the particle beam rifle is not encountered often, and it is not until the final years of the war that it becomes much more common. Whether it is indicative of a widespread change in battlefield doctrine or a local reorganization of unit structure is unknown.
Advantages
Similar to the SRS 99 AM series Sniper Rifle, the Type-50 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 over penetration ability much more effective at killing a wide range of enemy infantry. As the beam passes through the body at 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. In the context of the Halo games, the particle beam rifle's strength and lethality, is compensated for both the sake of ESRB rating, and gameplay.
Disadvantages
While the Type-50 SRS excels at material penetration, the particle beam rifle is slightly less powerful than its UNSC counterpart. 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 10 shots before the battery is used up and the weapon must be replaced. Like its human counterpart, the particle beam rifle is ineffective as 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 to the Sniper Rifle, as such a snipers position is more likely to be compromised because of this, requiring the sniper to relocate quickly before being detected.
Tactics
Campaign
- Particle Beam Rifles are most often found on Jackal Snipers, or in Covenant Weapons Holders. In Halo 3, they are rare on the lower difficulties.
- When using the Particle Beam Rifle, it should be remembered that it is a sniper weapon, and should be used at long ranges, to take out high priority targets (preferably) with headshots. or in the case of Hunters, a shot to the exposed orange flesh. Due to its difficulty to use at close and medium quarters, it is advisable to keep a good short-range secondary weapon, in case an enemy moves too close to use the Beam Rifle effectively.
- When attacking an enemy stronghold, it is always advisable to take down the Jackal sniper first, as they are very accurate and can kill you with a hit on Legendary.
- The particle beam rifle is ineffective against the Flood as the shots go right through them doing little damage. To give the sniper rifle some use, you could hit the carriers from a safe distance.
- On the level, The Great Journey, Sergeant Johnson uses the Beam Rifle to lower Tartarus' shield. The player can also obtain a Beam Rifle before the battle and use that to lower the Chieftain's shield instead of waiting for Johnson to do it, but Tartarus' shield recharges almost immediately if the player uses the latter method. A better method would be to give it to one of the Elites that helps you kill him, that way, you have two times the shots, but his shields won't recharge immediately.
Multiplayer
- In Halo 2, the Particle Beam is featured in quite a few of the large multiplayer maps such as Colossus and Relic. In Multiplayer, getting the Beam Rifle should be a priority. Its long range and lethal headshot capabilities offer a huge advantage whether you are on the offense or defense. Picking up Active Camouflage will allow you to snipe enemies while remaining stealthy. Remember to keep a good close range weapon such as the M90 Shotgun so that you will be able to fight enemies too close to kill with the Beam Rifle. A medium range weapon, like the Covenant Carbine, could also come in handy in case of a close range fight.
- In Halo 3 multiplayer, the Beam Rifle is featured on maps like Snowbound and other map variants that support the beam rifle. It has a limit of 10 shots as it drains slightly more battery units due to balance issues, so use it wisely. The Beam Rifle can also be used to fire two shots in quick succession, although it will overheat immediately. This tactic can be used to quickly dispatch enemies at close range. A popular tactic is to camp and kill any enemy who attempts to obtain a power weapon by watching it with the sniper rifle. This keeps control of the more powerful weapons in the game in the hands of the player watching the weapon.
UNSC Remarks
- “Makes less noise than a Battle Rifle; has less felt recoil than an M6; is at least as accurate as 99 AM of them—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 any time 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”.
Trivia
- The Beam Rifle was originally to be used by Elites in Halo: Combat Evolved with the name of "Gravity Rifle" and instead of it being a purplish blue it was green and black. It was cut from the final game because of time constraints.
- This weapon has at least two possible firing methods - Stanford-esque particle acceleration, or in a manner similar to Tesla's "death ray". The former is more likely, as a Tesla-type weapon would have to use ammunition (in the form of mercury or tungsten) as well as be capable of destroying any vehicle in a single shot.
- On the map Ivory Tower, it was originally going to spawn instead of the Sniper Rifle.
- In Halo 2, campaign mode on Legendary difficulty, the Beam Rifle can kill you in one hit, no matter where it hits. This can be unbelievably frustrating, especially in the levels Outskirts, Delta Halo, Uprising, and The Great Journey, which actually makes Sniper Jackals the most dangerous enemy in the game.
- Leading up to Halo 2's release, the Beam Rifle was not yet confirmed. Instead, it was only mentioned that there would be a Covenant Sniper Rifle. Many believed that the Covenant Carbine and the new, unnamed sniper weapon were one and the same.
- Before Halo 2's release, the Beam Rifle was much longer, which can still be seen in pre-release screenshots. Its length was about that of the UNSC Sniper Rifle but was shortened about 10-20% for reasons left to Bungie. A possible reason for shortening the Beam Rifle would be that it looked awkward in the hands of Jackals.
- In Halo 3, there are five campaign levels it can be found on. These are Sierra 117 on Heroic and Legendary, Crow's Nest on Heroic and Legendary, Tsavo Highway, The Ark and The Covenant.
- The Beam Rifle has more penetration power than the UNSC Sniper Rifles. This can be seen with instant kill enabled, and sitting pallets upright next to each other. The Sniper Rifle is only capable of taking one down at a time, but the Beam Rifle is capable of taking out six-ten pallets in one shot.
- In Halo 3 Multiplayer, it is impossible to spawn with the Beam Rifle, unless the spawning weapon option is set to "Random".
- It's possible to bounce Beam Rifle's shots off the ground like the UNSC's sniper rifle in Halo 3.
- There is a glitch in the level The Great Journey, where Tartarus wields a Beam Rifle, but strangely it fires Needler rounds.
- The Beam Rifle appears very scarce in Halo 3. If you play on Easy or Normal, you can only obtain it in Tsavo Highway and The Covenant. On Higher difficulties, you can however obtain it in 3 other levels. Sierra 117, Crow's Nest, and The Ark.
- The Beam Rifle has almost the same melee as the Battle Rifle or Assault rifle.
- In Halo: Custom Edition, Beam Rifles appear red instead of the usual purple.
- The Beam Rifle seems to do more damage in Halo 3 than in Halo 2. In Halo 3 it can kill a Jackal in just one shot to the torso or limbs, while in Halo 2 it takes 2 or 3 shots to kill a Jackal unless you manage to score a headshot. It also kills Brutes in one shot once their Power Armor has been destroyed.
Sources
Gallery
An Ultra Elite firing the Particle Beam Rifle.
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The Particle Beam Rifle before Halo 2's release.
The Halo 3 Particle Beam Rifle.
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Spec Ops Elite using the Particle Beam Rifle in the Heretic's base.
A Jackal using a Type-50 SRS.
