Quake III Arena/Weapons

Gauntlet
The gauntlet is a basic melee weapon that inflicts 50 damage on a direct hit, every 0.4 seconds. Unlike other weapons, the time between it's attacks only applies when it hits a target.

It serves only as a last resort or as a means of taunting another player.

Machinegun
The machinegun is a starting weapon that shoots 10 rounds per second. It is relativly accurrate but has some spread to it's shots.

The machinegun inflicts 7 damage in deathmatch, but only 5 during the team-games.

Shotgun
The shotgun fires a shell in a large spread. It's 10 pellets each inflict 10 damage.

Grenade Launcher
This weapon fires a grenade that inficts 100 damage, which explodes on contact or after 2.5 seconds. It is useful for suppressing or indirect fire. Grenades are fired every 0.8 seconds.

Compared to the Rocket Launcher, the grenades have a slightly larger area of effect.

Rocket Launcher
The rocket launcher fires a rocket every 0.8 that inflict 100 damage. Compared to the grenade launcher, the area effect is slightly smaller.

This is one of the popular weapons in the game, given it's splash capabilities and raw damage. While missed shots might not do too much damage, it's still powerful enough for most people. The weapon is normally aimed towards the ground or nearby wall, as any amount of damage is better than a clean miss.

Lightning
This weapon fires a lightning beam, inflicting 160 damage per second (on a direct hit) in increments of 8.

Railgun
This weapon fires a slug every 1.5 seconds, inflicting 100 points of damage. While newly spawned players can survive a direct hit, those who have been in combat are likely to be killed in a single shot.

This is a popular weapon, given some of the open-air arenas usually have a place on the map where you can camp and snipe at the various other players. As such, you should try to become as great as possible with this weapon, and learn how to score direct hits.

BFG 10K
This weapon fires 5 BFG shots per second. Individually, the shots are identical to the rocket launcher, where they inflict 100 damage on a direct hit, and have the same splash radius of a rocket. However, it's full-auto capabilities make it the most powerful weapon in the game, even if it doesn't have an awe-inspiring effect of a massive blast.