WHY DO THE COVENANT WEAPONS SUCK?

Games Other Halo
#1

…Specifically in multiplayer.

Let’s take a look at what we have.

Plasma Pistol

OK, so this one is pretty useful against vehicles.

Plasma Rifle

Utterly useless at anything other than point-blank range, and then you’re better off just bludgeoning your opponent with it. Slow, inaccurate projectiles that do hardly any physical damage.

Plasma Repeater

Possibly the least popular weapon in any Halo game, ever? I have NEVER seen anybody pick one of these up and use it.

Needler

How needlers are meant to work: You manage to close the distance, get an enemy in your sights, wait a second to get lock-on, and then laugh as your opponent vainly tries to avoid your homing pink rain of death.

How needlers actually work: You manage to close the distance, get an enemy in your sights, wait a second to get lock-on, pull the trigger, and your opponent instantly wheels round, headshots you 5 times, you die and your needles either fly wide or fail to supercombine. Long story short, you’d have inflicted more damage by throwing the damn gun at him.

Needle Rifle

One of the few Covvie guns that does what it’s meant to. Still vastly inferior to the DMR, because hitscan is king in this game.

Concussion Rifle

AKA the Impotent Underpowered Pop Gun. This gun inflicts no damage!

Fuel Rod Gun

Not bad as a Death or Glory weapon - unfortunately the achingly slow projectile speed means that a vehicle has to be on the verge of splattering you to have an odds-on chance of a hit.

Focus Rifle

Now this one I do kind of like - although the lack of headshot ability really reduces its overall usefulness. It’s pretty much just a trolling weapon to distract people while your team kills them.

Plasma Launcher

Suffers yet again from slow, dawdling projectiles that make it unreliable at best against all but the very slowest vehicles and completely unviable against Banshees. It’s far too easy to shake off the projectiles by weaving through cover - and at close range, a stuck enemy can charge you down and take you with them.

Spiker

Another very lacklustre weapon. Inaccurate over range, slow projectiles.

Over the past 10 years, Bungie has established a fun and fleshed-out menagerie of enemies with innovative weapons. However, the gameplay and mechanics of Reach are just completely incompatible with most of these guns. Firstly: Reach is a headshot game. If the gun isn’t headshot-capable, most players aren’t interested. Secondly; hitscan. When I aim the crosshairs and pull the trigger, I want the damn projectile to hit my target - the inherent inaccuracy of Covenant weapons plus lag equals no chance of hitting the target.

What this equates to is a game where virtually a full half of the weapons on offer just don’t get picked up because it’s suicide. In Halo 3 the shortcomings of Plasma Rifles and Spikers were at least offset by the fact you could dual-weild. Reach is just completely DMR-dominated, and it’s simply not much fun a lot of the time.

Thoughts?

#2

Must agree, definately about the Plasma Repeater. I wouldn’t even pick that up in Campaign.

I’d sooner use a water pistol since that’d kill people quicker than the PR.

#3

How is the Concussion Rifle underpowered? It is vastly overpowered as it renders the opponent incapable of moving anywhere and makes it virtually impossible to aim, you can also kill them in 3 or 4 shots.

The needler is also too powerful, it is the ultimate noob weapon which needs to be nerfed, made even worse in this game because it actually takes your shield off for some reason.

The fuel rod is also overpowered, Needle Rifle is ok, the Focus Rifle is good for support and the PP is effective at close range and stalling vehicles.

Agreed about everything else.

#4

Eh, I don’t know - some of them are pretty good. Of course, I assume you mean against Spartans in MM - in the Campaign, these weapons change quite a bit.

The PP is still deadly against players - the OC is homing and one-shot shield depletion (but not so useful after that). The Plasma Rifle and Plasma Repeater, anecdotally, still out-kill the AR - but not much else, so they don’t see much love. I think you’re just bad with a Needler - it’s a quick killer. The Needle Rifle is quite deadly with the right cadence (hold for 3 shots, release, hold for 3 shots, release - enemy is one-shot) especially in TU and ZB playlists. The Concussion Rifle is beast - immobilizing, distracting, and deadly. The FRG takes more skill than the Rocket Launcher - weaker projectiles that bounce at short range, but aiming low and using nearby walls/floors make it very dangerous. It can kill with one shot, IIRC. The Focus Rifle is flat out scary - not sure why you’d relegate it to “softening” duty, it’s a finisher. The Blueberry Gun is my least favorite. The homing is a suggestion at best, and it’s weaker than plasma grenades. The spiker is on-par with the AR.

This is opinion, just like the OP, of course - but I’m curious to see what others thing. I tend to think the human weapons “feel” more rewarding, but if you learn them, the Covenant weapons are just as deadly.

#5

> Plasma Repeater
>
> Possibly the least popular weapon in any Halo game, ever? I have NEVER seen anybody pick one of these up and use it.

cough

#6

The Covenant weapons are fine. They just lose to headshot capable weapons because they’re OP. Try playing a custom game without those weapons or with headshots turned off.

and if the Focus Rifle was capable of landing headshots, it would be beyond broken.

#7

> How is the Concussion Rifle underpowered? It is vastly overpowered as it renders the opponent incapable of moving anywhere and makes it virtually impossible to aim, you can also kill them in 3 or 4 shots.

Three contact hits, that’s all you need. :slight_smile:

Anyway, I agree. It’s a decent weapon. Especially against Hogs.