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Plasma Caster is the Title of a group of E-tech Submachine Guns made by multiple manufacturers. The Plasma Caster is obtained randomly from any suitable loot source.

Usage & Description

Plasma Casters fire relatively slow-moving balls of energy. All brands of Plasma Casters have in common increased damage, higher magazine sizes, and elemental effect chance when compared with standard SMG of the same brand. Like all E-tech Weapons, Plasma Casters have unique effects compared to their standard counterpart at the cost of 2 ammunition per shot. In general, Plasma Casters are best fired in controlled bursts at short to medium range, although are generally accurate enough (with the exception of Bandit versions) to be used at long range if needed.

Plasma Casters' usage and effects differ from brand to brand:

  • Maliwan Plasma Casters have the highest elemental damage and elemental effect chance between all the brands of Plasma Casters. The projectiles have a small splash effect when they hit any surface which causes the weapon to do additional damage than stated on the item card and may trigger elemental effects on very close enemies. It can cause massive damage when used on proper targets (ie: corrosive on armored enemies) and usually are the most powerful option.
  • Hyperion Plasma Casters deal the highest amount of projectile damage of all Plasma Casters (although Maliwan Plasma Casters still do overall higher damage because of the splash effect not stated on the weapon card), have larger magazines, and fire projectiles in a straight trajectory. All-around one of the best options for general purpose use.
  • Tediore Plasma Casters can be powerful when reload-thrown, because of the larger magazine sizes when compared with standard SMGs. This can cause huge damage when combined with COMs, Artifacts, and Skills that boost magazine size. Past this, Tediore Plasma Casters do not exhibit additional effects.
  • Dahl Plasma Casters have high direct damage only surpassed by Hyperion but the damage per second is inhibited by the manufacturer-universal burst fire effect while aimed. On the other hand, they compensate the somewhat high recoil of this kind of SMG. Poor choice when compared with an equivalent Maliwan or Hyperion plasma caster.
  • Bandit Plasma Casters have the lowest direct and elemental damage between all manufacturers and behave in a significantly different manner than all others. These weapons fire "drunk" projectiles that have an unpredictable path and will always bounce off walls. As with Dahl, they are a sub-par choice.

Trivia

  • "Plasma Caster" is the official name of the "shoulder cannon" used by the Predator.
  • "Plasma Caster" is also a large energy weapon from the Fallout series of games.


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