| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[Source] |
The Arc Beam, also known as the Type 13 Arc Beam, is a weapon in F.E.A.R. 3.
Monolith Timeline[]
F.E.A.R. 3[]
The Arc Beam seems to be a combination of the Shark FL-3 Laser and the Balzer LM10 Napalm Cannon from F.E.A.R. 2, as the Arc Beam fires a continuous laser and will set enemies on fire. If multiple enemies are close together, the laser will jump to each target. It deals mediocre damage against flesh-and-blood targets, but is highly effective against armored mechanized units. Only the Phase Caster carries this weapon, although the Point Man will sometimes find it in later levels, before confronting a Powered Armor. Because of this, the Arc Beam is scarce.
The Arc Beam has a significantly longer usage time than its older game counterparts, but it will take a little longer to kill a single opponent with Arc Beam.
The Arc Beam can be found in Intervals 02, 05, 06 and 07.
Tactics[]
- The Arc Beam is the weapon of choice to engage a Powered Armor, due to the high-intensity beam. It can also be used against other heavy-armored enemies, such as Phase Caster and Phase Commander, where it will burn through their armor very quickly.
- If the Goliath is also available, its suggested to use the missile launcher first, because the Arc Beam is much more versatile.
- Arc Beam will ignore the protection provided by Riot gear. This makes taking out the Riot troopers a lot easier.
- Since the beam from the Arc Beam can jump to different targets if they are close enough together, it is a good weapon to use against Scavengers, though unfortunately, the only time in the campaign this can be put to use is in Interval 07.
- Like the EL-10 CAS and Goliath, it is not possible to use the Arc Beam for headshots, the laser beam seems to always target the center mass of the target; therefore the Arc Beam and these weapons are not for use of any headshot challenges.
- Arc Beam will take some battery power to kill even an individual soldier, so the best opportunity to use it is when the player encounters a group and they are close together, the same amount of battery unit can finish them at once.
Trivia[]
- Just like the S-HV Penetrator, the Arc Beam has a golden "shimmer" when out in the enviroment.
- When aiming, there is a red laser, just like the sniper rifle's, the aiming laser will change pattern while aiming at the enemy; also there is no iron sight on this weapon, the Point Man will simply "zoom in" with the Arc Beam.
- A red light will emit from the weapon before firing. However, this only behavior only appears on the Arc Beam used by the enemy.
- When the player runs out of ammunition and aims the weapon, there is no aiming laser, indicating that it is somehow connected to the battery supply.
- The Arc Beam is the only gun in F.E.A.R. 3 that does not have to be reloaded, as all the ammunition is stored within the gun, and thus it doesn't have a reload animation.
- The Arc Beam is only one of two weapons not to have a reload animation (the other being the TG-2A Minigun) in the entire F.E.A.R. series.
- The Arc Beam can sometimes dismember enemies, but unlike the other laser-based weapons, the laser beam will not cut through the target, instead the target will "absorb" the laser beam unless the enemies are close enough to allow the beam to jump from target to target.
- In concept art, the Arc Beam is seen to fire a red beam, but in-game it fires a blueish white beam.
- When fired, the beam will jump to other targets if there are any close by, much like shots from the LP4 Lightning Arc Weapon. However, the Arc Beam is not a hitscan weapon.
- With full upgrades a fully charged Arc Beam can fire for 41 continuous seconds, longer than two batteries from the Shark FL-3 from F.E.A.R. 2.
- Arc Beam is the least powerful laser-based weapon in F.E.A.R. series, despite being very powerful in-game; this is made up by extending the usage time of the weapon.
- 10 kills with Arc Beam will complete the "Laser Pointer" challenge that grants the player 5000 points.
- The Arc Beam is one of three (the others being the Type-12 Laser Carbine and the Shark FL-3) energy-based weapons in the F.E.A.R. series that is capable of firing a continuous beam, as the other energy weapons found in the series are projectile-based.
- The Arc Beam deals very low damage-per-second, with less than half the dps of the Briggs SMG. However, it stuns enemies on contact and also does special damage against personal energy shields and armored mechanized units.
- The Arc Beam does double damage against the personal energy shields used by Phase Casters and Phase Commanders, as well as against armored units such as mechs and helicopters. It also bypasses the very high damage resistance that mechs have against ballistic weapons.