Plasma Rifles

Plasma Rifle shot.

Plasma Rifles are the arm mounted version of the back mounted Plasma Cannons and are under the Energy weapon family. They made their first appearance in the original Armored Core with the KARASAWA but were redesigned in Armored Core 2 to their current incarnation.

Overview

Plasma Rifles are energy-based weapons that fire bolts of superheated, highly concentrated plasma suspended in a magnetic field. Their attack power is fearsome, and they can also cause great amounts of thermal stress on impact - a single hit could rocket an AC's core temperature well over 500 degrees Celsius, which could cause an AC's output to destabilize, generator malfunctioning, and continuously drain AP without proper cooling. However, plasma rifles have slower rate of fire, higher EN drain and EN cost per shot, carry less ammo, and are heavier compared to laser rifles.

Uses

Plasma rifles are high risk, high reward weapons. They are capable of delivering incredible damage as well as cause temperature spikes for every shot that lands, but can leave their user depleted of energy for boosting. For plasma rifles to be highly effective, every shot must count, especially as their ammo reserves are low.

Tips

These weapons are basically energy grenade rifles except with greater damage and higher weight. They're effective one shot weapons and don't cost ammo like grenade rifles. Roughly, they should be treated the same way.

List of Plasma Rifles

2 Era

• ZWG-HC-IR/K99

3 Era

• MWG-XCG/10
• MWGG-XCG/20
• MWGG-XCG/20E
• MWGG-XCG/40E

NX Era

• WR20PL-OGRE
• WR22PL-OGRE2
• WH06PL-ORC
• WH12PL-ETTIN

Notes & Trivia

• In the original game, the WG-1-KARASAWA was a Plasma Rifle but this was changed after Armored Core 2. From then on, the KARASAWA was a Laser Rifle (and later Hi Laser Rifle) and the Plasma Rifle became an energy grenade rifle.
• In Armored Core 2, the plasma rifle shared the same projectile characteristics and sound as a laser rifle.
• In Armored Core: For Answer, plasma shots generate electro-magnetic storms that disrupt enemy radar over a certain area if it hits an object, therefore making it very useful, but is notorious for taxing the console, causing lags in both offline and online play.