Beam repeater

For the unique variant of this weapon, see Unique beam repeater.

The beam repeater is an ultratech weapon that fires 30-round bursts, the largest burst of all weapons. It has low damage per shot and a long warm-up and cooldown time, but has excellent armor penetration, slightly below-average range, and moderate accuracy.

Acquisition[edit]

Beam repeaters can be crafted at a fabrication bench once the Beam weapons research project has been completed. Each requires 40 Plasteel, 30 Steel, 3 Advanced components, 60,000 ticks (16.67 mins) of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter, and a crafting skill of 8.

Beam repeaters can also be generated as unique weapons. In addition, cataphract imperials may appear wielding them.

Summary[edit]

Deals Beam damage, which checks Heat armor.
Ignores shields.
Unlike the beam graser, the beam repeater fires like a regular ranged weapon, and cannot be fired when wearing a shield belt.

When equipped, a beam repeater reduces the pawn's base move speed by −0.25 c/s. As offsets such as these apply before multiplicative effects such as from Moving capacity, the actual impact on move speed can be larger or smaller than this value. For example, a pawn with 125% Moving would have their speed decreased by −0.3125 c/s, while a pawn with only 50% Moving would only have their speed decreased by −0.125 c/s. See Move Speed for details.

Analysis[edit]

The beam repeater has great single target DPS, but has a very long warm-up, burst, and cooldown time. It can penetrate shields, and unlike most ranged weapons, deals beam damage, which interacts with heat armor. Most non-mech raiders have low heat armor, e.g., any flak armor piece is completely pierced, and normal marine armor is reduced to single digit Armor%. The best armor worn by raiders - excellent cataphract armor - is almost completely ignored by legendary beam grasers. Therefore, quality repeaters can be treated as completely bypassing armor. However, all mechanoids have 200% heat armor, making beam repeaters do only 18.75% of their listed DPS. For reference, against a centipede, a legendary greatbow will have more DPS than a legendary beam repeater.

It ignores shields, making it a strong weapon against shielded enemies. It can also shoot through low-shield pack, however it is fairly ineffective at destroying the burnout low-shield structure due to both poor accuracy and low damage when targeting it.

The beam repeater is typically best aimed at whatever enemy has the largest HP pool or the best armor - when an enemy hit by a beam repeater dies the weapon immediately goes on cooldown and must be aimed again, meaning that the weapon is especially prone to losing out on potential DPS after killing weaker targets. Swarms of small manhunting animals such as squirrels, rats, or crows present perhaps the absolute worst use case for a beam repeater. This can be mitigated to an extent by aiming at at a target at the back of a group, allowing missed shots to hit other targets, increasing the time to kill the nominal target but ensuring more damage is done as a whole.

Unique variants[edit]

Unique variants of this weapon can be found during quests or in the wild. Noteworthy traits are frequency amplifier (More range and a DPS increase of 28%, unique to this weapon), extended magazine (DPS increase of 24%), and rapid fire (DPS increase of 26%).

Comparisons[edit]

Comparison to minigun[edit]

The beam repeater and minigun are similar as they fire massive bursts and have large warmups/cooldowns, with the beam repeater being slower and much more accurate. However, due to the beam repeater's accuracy, they perform different roles. The beam repeater is better for single targets, while the minigun excels versus groups of targets.

Comparison to charge rifles[edit]

The beam repeater is superior to charge rifles in some ways. It shines against (groups of) armored humanoid enemies, shielded enemies, or targets with lots of health. The long warm-up and cooldown time and relatively short range makes it hard to use in the open since it is easily outranged by most enemies. However, if you are able to counter this (like in a killbox), it outshines the charge rifle in almost every situation except against mechanoids.

On paper, beam repeaters and charge rifles have comparable raw DPS. Unlike beam repeaters, legendary charge rifles are unable to fully ignore normal quality flak jackets and flak vests worn by mercenaries. The jacket barely offers any protection at 2.5% effective armor, but the vest's 47.5% will still reduce the rifle's damage on torso hits by ~36% on average. As a reminder, this does not translate into 36% worse performance. There's quite a bit more to human combat than just average DPS to the torso.

However beam repeaters do not work well in mixed arms settings and kill boxes. As a solid chunk of its damage relies on its target surviving for most of the 5 second burst, focused fire from other weapons downing the target mid burst can significantly degrade its performance. Its long burst and cooldown time also makes it a poor choice for kiting and being mobile, such as when facing shambler hordes and grenades/fire. If rapidly downing single pawns via focused fire from multiple guns is the plan, then charge rifles work better by being less impacted by having its burst interrupted.

Comparison to assault rifles[edit]

Within beam repeater range, assault rifles are largely just worse charge rifles. Outside of beam repeater range, assault rifles are more effective at kiting unarmored enemies. See the above section or the charge rifle's comparison section for more details on the three weapons.

Comparison to heavy SMGs[edit]

Beam repeaters are more accurate at 21 tiles, and are far better against armor. They deal similar damage at close range to unarmored pawns.

But by the time beam repeaters are craftable, heavy SMGs are mainly used by spare pawns with poor shooting skills as a cheaper alternative to masterwork+ chain shotguns for impromptu self defense and drafting. The weapon is mainly used at close to touch range against enemies that suddenly appear next to the pawn, such as wild animals hunting them for food, sight stealers, and drop pod raids. The heavy SMG is more likely to get a volley off before the enemy closes to melee, which makes it superior in all but the drop pod scenario.

Comparison to chain shotguns[edit]

The chain shotgun has superior DPS at all ranges it can shoot at against low armor enemies. Specifically ~49% armor at masterwork, and ~61% armor at legendary. Meaning flak vest+ drop pod raiders will be better handled by repeaters with micro to avoid overkill. Without carefully controlled fire to avoid massively overkilling single pawns, chain shotguns are more effective.

Chain shotguns are also better at clearing out insect hives, as all bugs other than the low hp megascarab have low sharp armor.

While beam repeaters are more effective at 20 tiles, it doesn't make much sense to bring a chain shotgun to a medium ranged encounter.

Attack table

Ranged

Beam repeater			Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Quality	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Awful	4.5	45%	52%	57.6%	52%	48%	11.41	5.93	6.62	5.93	-	615
Poor	5	50%	58.5%	64.8%	58.5%	54%	12.68	7.48	8.24	7.48	-	925
Normal	5	50%	65%	72%	65%	60%	12.68	8.24	9.13	8.24	-	1,235
Good	5	50%	71.5%	79.2%	71.5%	66%	12.68	9.13	10.02	9.13	-	1,545
Excellent	5	50%	78%	86.4%	78%	72%	12.68	9.89	10.9	9.89	-	1,850
Masterwork	6.25	62.5%	87.75%	97.2%	87.75%	81%	15.85	13.95	15.37	13.95	-	3,085
Legendary	7.5	75%	97.5%	100%	97.5%	90%	19.02	18.64	19.02	18.64	-	4,235

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality. Values shown in Red indicate the weapon is out of range at the reference point for this range band.
The value is provided due to the interpolated nature of accuracy between range points.}

Melee

Feature	Toggle
Attacks

Beam repeater			Stock (Blunt)					Human: Left & right fist (Blunt)					HP	Value
Quality	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value
Awful	3.95	12.6%	9.36	2.6s	14.4%	3.6	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 37.5%	100	615
Poor	4.08	13.4%	10.53	2.6s	16.2%	4.05	33.33%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 33.33%	100	925
Normal	4.42	16.5%	11.7	2.6s	18%	4.5	75%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	1,235
Good	4.78	17.85%	12.87	2.6s	19.8%	4.95	75%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	1,545
Excellent	5.13	19.2%	14.04	2.6s	21.6%	5.4	75%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	1,850
Masterwork	6.03	22.58%	16.97	2.6s	26.1%	6.53	75%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	3,085
Legendary	6.75	25.28%	19.31	2.6s	29.7%	7.43	75%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	4,235

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
↑ Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder