M6D Pistol

The M6D pistol, used by the Master Chief in Halo 1, replaced by the less-powerful and zoomless Magnum Pistol in Halo 2. Also referred to in several portions of the I Love Bees audio fiction, although there it is referred to only as the "M6" without the "D".

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MA5B Assault Rifle

The standard issue assault rifle used by Marines and the Master Chief during Halo 1, the MA5B fires 7.62mm armor-piercing rounds, and fires in fully automatic mode, but is more accurate when fired in semiautomatic mode, which must be achieved manually by alternately releasing and depressing the trigger.

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Unrevealed Covenant Weapon

Frankie's guide to dual wielding at Bungie.net, published on October 26, revealed that there is at least one Covenant weapon that has not yet been revealed, and that it is dual wieldable. No other information is currently available.

Magazine articles have referred to a weapon called the "beam rifle" which may be separate from the Plasma Rifle and the Covenant Carbine, and has also not yet been seen. It may or may not be the unrevealed dual wieldable weapon to which Frankie refers.

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M9 HE DP Fragmentation Grenade

Unlike the plasma grenades used by the Covenant, human fragmentation grenades bounce, rather than stick, when they hit surfaces or targets. Like the plasma grenade, you can carry a maximum of four at a time.

Detonates after one half of a second after impact, and has a blast radius of 15-30 feet.

UPDATE: This weapon is expected to be in Halo 3. Exact designation and specifications are unknown. However, it is expected that due to the addition of Spike Grenades, the maximum number of frag grenades you can carry will be reduced from four to three.

UPDATE: In the Halo 3 Public Beta, the number of grenades per type that can be carried simultaneously is in fact two.

S2 AM Sniper Rifle

The human sniper rifle is changed slightly from the first game. It now has recoil, requiring the user to aim again between shots. When holding the weapon and not using the zoom scope, a "live" image is displayed on the scope.

The sniper rifle cannot be dual-wielded.

The scope provides 5x and 10x zoom. The rifle magazine holds 4 14.5mm armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding-sabot rounds. It is generally only useful at medium or long range due to low capacity and long reload time.

M90 Shotgun

The shotgun in Halo 1 was a short to medium range weapon with middling accuracy and real stopping power at short range, capable of one-shot kills for most unshielded targets. Reportedly this weapon is little changed from the first game.

The shotgun cannot be dual-wielded.

The shotgun holds 12 8-guage rounds and is most effective at close range.

BR55 Battle Rifle

The Battle Rifle fires 3-shot bursts in normal mode and single shots while zoomed.

It is widely thought of by some as a combination between Halo 1's too-powerful pistol and too-weak Assault Rifle. The submachine gun, or SMG, is perhaps more comparable to the Assault Rifle.

The Battle Rifle cannot be dual wielded.

The BR55's magazine holds 36 rounds of 9.5mm ammunition. The Halo 2 manual refers to it as a "useful all-around infantry weapon."

Needler

The Needler was the only Covenant weapon in Halo 1 that had ammunition; all the other weapons had batteries that drained and became useless to the player.

In single player it was useful for taking out Elites; in multiplayer it was thought too weak, with projectiles that were too slow and too easy to dodge.

In Halo 2, the Needler's projectiles are supposedly faster and pack more punch, although some players have reported that Needler rounds slowed between the E3 2004 and final builds of the game.

The Needler can be dual-wielded and fires in semiautomatic and automatic modes.

Plasma Turret

Plasma turrets are stationary guns, usually used by Covenant to defend strategic positions. In Halo 1, the users of these guns were especially vulnerable to snipers, Banshees and grenades. For Halo 2, it appears as if the turret (also called a Shade) has gotten a serious makeover, in addition to getting a plasma shield, which the first iteration did not have.

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