Unreal Tournament 2004/Link gun

The Link Gun is a multi-purpose plasma-firing weapon.

The maximum ammo this weapon can hold is 220 (primary fire consumes 2 ammo per shot).


 * Killing an enemy with plasma blasts: "B was served an extra helping of A's plasma."
 * Killing an enemy with the energy stream: "B was carved up by A's green shaft."

Primary and Secondary Fire
Primary fire is rapid-firing green plasma blasts which do quite a bit of damage, and are generally good over short and medium distances. They tend to be easy to dodge at distance. However, since they consume 2 ammo per shot, this can eat through your supply quite quickly.

Secondary fire is a constant stream of green energy (as long as you hold the button down) which doesn't really deal as much damage but has other functions too (see below).

Strategy
The secondary fire of the Link Gun allows you to 'link up' with other team-mates currently wielding a Link Gun. When doing this, your plasma will turn the colour of your team. The person who is being linked up will receive a power boost to their shots (about twice the damage) and their plasma turns yellow. The more people that link up to them, the more powerful their shots get.

In addition, the Link Gun (in Onslaught and some Assault games) can heal friendly vehicles and (in Onslaught games) repair and complete PowerNodes. If you're linked up to whilst doing this, you'll repair faster.

In terms of a weapon this is quite good. If you're good at aiming you almost never need to use the secondary fire to attack as the primary fire is powerful enough to be worthwhile. Be careful you don't waste ammo however. Also, since the plasma is a vivid green colour, it can be quite easy to spot where it came from.