- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
The much-shunned Covenant Plasma Pistol is actually a Legend's best friend. You might not think so, having used it a few times and taken an immediate dislike, but as you progress up the difficulty levels you'll soon begin to appreciate just how effective it can be.
It's a quite unique weapon, homing like the needler, and giving you two firing methods - weak, normal shots, or powerful overcharged blasts (which temporarily stun the victims). Each method is (though you might at first doubt it) very effective in certain situations.
One of the many great things about it is speed. It is the fastest weapon in that you can equip it with lightning speed and it has the quickest melee attack. While fighting Covenant, you'll find this to be invaluable.
The short bursts are very effective for eliminating Grunts. Just fire a few successive shots, and they're down. The same goes for Jackals; but chances are, you'll have to fire a charged shot to take out their energy Shields first. A good thing to do is swiftly eliminate these lesser opponents with your melee attack (punch), so aim for their heads and they're down.
Now comes the best use of the weapon - against Elites. Normally, you have to punch through deflective shields to kill these enemies, but the Plasma Pistol's charged burst can take down their protection in a single burst. This leaves them vulnerable and, for a moment, stunned, giving you a window for your attack. Many like to rush in with rapid fire weapons, but the quickest and most effective method to kill them is to swiftly throw a plasma grenade onto them. Usually, once the grenade is a attached, they'll just roar and explode, but sometimes they run towards you, so suppress them with short plasma bursts. If you're close enough, blast them and then move in close to deliver a couple of punches which will kill them.
You can quickly deal with battle scenes with an armanent of a Plasma Pistol and Plasma Grenades - quickly blast and nade any Elites, then hammer the Grunts and Jackals with short bursts.
So there you have it, the Plasma Pistol isn't as bad as you'd think - in fact, it's arguably the most useful weapon in the game. Make sure you have one when there are Covenant around.