Plasma Beam

 

Plasma Beam
Production information
Technical specifications
Damage Per Hit	15
Magazine Size	50
Maximum Ammunition	200 rounds Bandolier: 250 rounds Ammo Pack: 300 rounds
Fire Mode	Automatic
Ammunition Type	Cells
Rate of Fire	10 shots per second
Usage
Era(s)	Quake II: Ground Zero Call of the Machine
[Source]

“	It's a high-tech beam of pure flaming death, guaranteed to give anyone in your path a hot time! The Plasma Beam uses cells, but will burn right through them, so use this weapon wisely.	”
—Ground Zero Manual

The Plasma Beam is a new weapon introduced in Ground Zero. It is essentially a long-range, rapid-fire hitscan weapon that uses cells for its ammunition. It's somewhat similar to the Thunderbolt from the first Quake game, except less powerful and with much longer range.

To compare its efficacy to the Hyperblaster (since they have the same rate of fire and use the same ammunition), the Plasma Beam has the advantage of hitting its target instantly at any range (and its range is as long as it would ever need to be), but the Hyperblaster deals more damage per shot and is much more ammo efficient. The Hyperblaster inflicts 20 damage per hit and expends one cell per shot, whereas the Plasma Beam inflicts 15 damage per hit and expends two cells per shot.

We can also compare its efficacy to the Machine Gun (since they are both hitscan weapons with the same rate of fire). The Plasma Beam deals roughly twice as much damage per hit (15, compared to 8 for the Machine Gun) and has pinpoint accuracy, whereas the Machine Gun has some drift. On the other hand, the Machine Gun uses the generally more common bullets, and only fires one bullet per shot whereas the Plasma Beam expends two cells per shot.

Strategies

• To illustrate the difference in ammo efficiency between the Plasma Beam and the Hyperblaster, consider a Tank Commander (1000 health). The Hyperblaster can kill the Tank Commander in 50 hits, spending 50 cells to do so. The Plasma Beam can kill the Tank Commander in 67 hits, but it'll spend 134 cells to do so. With that in mind, the Hyperblaster would be the better choice against the larger or slower enemies - anything you can reliably hit with its projectiles - but the Plasma Beam's hitscan properties can make it the better choice against certain smaller or more agile targets. The two obvious examples are Stalkers and Guards.
• Stalkers will effortlessly dodge the Hyperblaster's projectiles by jumping (they'll do the same when under fire from your Rocket Launcher or ETF Rifle), but they'll have no such luck dodging the Plasma Beam in the original game; in fact, the Plasma Beam rivals the Railgun as the best weapon for dealing with Stalkers. However, in the 2023 remaster, Stalkers tend to use their jump ability to try to evade the Plasma Beam as well, making it a less attractive choice than it was in the original game. As for Shotgun Guards and Machine Gun Guards, given their low health but respectable damage output with their hitscan weapons, it's wise to kill them before they have a chance to fire - your own Machine Gun is a solid choice, but the Plasma Beam does the same job better - the Plasma Beam does roughly twice the Machine Gun's damage per hit, and has better accuracy. Only two Plasma Beam hits are required to kill a Shotgun Guard (as opposed to four Machine Gun hits), or three Plasma Beam hits to kill a Machine Gun Guard (as opposed to five Machine Gun hits). Given Ground Zero's difficulty, it's worth spending a few cells in order to be sure of avoiding damage.
• Flyers could be another example, but given their feeble damage output and the ease of avoiding their fire by strafing or cover, it's questionable whether this enemy is worth your cells - the Machine Gun or Shotgun get the job done well enough.
• In the 2023 remaster, more enemies tend to dodge a player's projectiles when they didn't in the original Ground Zero, such as Guards. This change to enemy behaviour makes the Plasma Beam a more attractive choice against more targets than it was in the original.
• The Plasma Beam's extreme range allows it to function as a sniper weapon of sorts, although it's rather overshadowed in that department by the Railgun. Nevertheless, these two weapons have the distinction of having their full effect at any range, whereas the other guns tend to be inaccurate at longer ranges or have a greater possibility of being dodged.
• In multiplayer, the benefits of a hitscan weapon much more effectively outweigh the ammo-hungry nature of the Plasma Beam. Use it like you'd use the Thunderbolt or Lightning Gun in other Quake games, with the benefit of not needing to worry about how far away you are from your target.

Trivia

• Like the Railgun, the Plasma Beam does double damage if it hits an idle target - but only the first hit will deal double damage, since the enemy will no longer be idle once it starts taking damage. So, while it isn't such a big deal as the Railgun, it does mean that an idle Shotgun Guard or Light Guard can be killed in a single hit from the Plasma Beam, or an idle Machine Gun Guard with two. This makes the Plasma Beam the perfect weapon for killing Guards should you catch them unawares.

Gallery

Plasma Beam in first-person view.