Three Clone Troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic in Phase II armour wielding the three types of blasters typically used by military and law enforcement. (I) A trooper dual wielding heavy blaster pistols. (II) A trooper firing a heavy blaster rifle. (III) A trooper stands ready with a blaster carbine.
| “ | Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid. | „ |
| ~ Han Solo to Luke Skywalker, on The Force and lightsabers versus blasters. |
Summary
Blasters are a kind of directed energy weapon. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and with varied roles. But they all share a common operation. They all use an energy-rich gas called ‘Tibanna’ to produce and fire a particle beam or plasma bolt. They come with variable power settings which can range from weak enough to merely stun to destructive bolts which can outright vaporize a target.
The blaster is the most common type of weapon in the galaxy, with literally every faction using blasters of some kind or the other. Although various regimes heavily regulate their use and circulation, blasters continue to be used on a large scale by private parties and even criminal groups and individual citizens.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 9-B to 9-A | 9-A | 9-A to 8-C
Key: Holdout/Sporting blasters | Heavy blaster pistols and blaster rifles | Blaster cannons
Name: Blaster
Origin: Star Wars
Classification: Directed energy weapon
Users: Various factions across the galaxy and throughout galactic history. These include formal militaries and militias, intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, security agencies (such as those providing bodyguard services or security for fixed locations or security against pirates for commercial shipping), criminal syndicates and pirate gangs, criminals ranging from petty thugs to the greatest assassins & bounty hunters, even individual citizens for self-defence.
Material: Bodies of the weapons are constructed from all sorts of high strength, heat resistant alloys; focusing lens can be made from all sorts of natural or synthetic crystalline material; power cartridge uses excited tibanna gas; in the case of hand-held blasters, grip can be made from all sorts of materials (high strength alloys, plastoid composites, synthetic ceramics, high quality wood, ivory and bones of some exotic creatures, etc); in the case of mounted blaster cannons and auto-blasters, support frames and turrets are made of high strength alloys (including starship grade).
Terrain: Ground, Atmosphere, Underwater, Space
Attack Potency: Wall level to Small Building level (Even the weakest palm sized hold-out blasters can, on the highest power setting, punch fist sized holes in walls and slag the backrest of a steel chair. Some of the most powerful, such as the ELG-3A and the Blurrg-1120, can on the highest power setting, blast B1 battle droids back several metres, punch through the armour plating of a Stormtrooper, and are not too far off in power from heavy blaster pistols) | Small Building level (Military grade heavy blaster pistols and blaster carbines boast of such levels of power per shot on the higher power settings. A single shot from a decently powerful blaster pistol can bring down stalactites while multiple shots can cause a cave in; said cave being large enough for a hoversled to pass through. Shots on the highest power setting can blast apart a cubic metre to multiple cubic metres of solid rock; violent fragmentation of a single cubic metre of rock requires 69 Megajoules. Full sized heavy blaster rifles and bowcasters are far more powerful. Some illegally modified blaster carbines and heavy blaster rifles even include a setting which can vaporize an adult human sized living target and reduce them to a pile of "greasy ash", which requires roughly 300 Megajoules) | Small Building level to Building level+ (This class varies from man portable heavy repeaters, which are at least as powerful as heavy blaster rifles, to powerful anti-personnel blaster cannons whose shots on the highest power setting can match or surpass the power of a Class-A Thermal Detonator)
Range: Blaster pistols usually have effective ranges of 30 to 120 metres; blaster carbines have effective ranges of several hundred metres; heavy blaster rifles (which includes sniper blasters) and blaster cannons can have effective ranges of a few to several kilometres.
Weaknesses:
- All blaster types have a limited charge in their power pack and limited tibanna gas supply in their gas cartridge. This gives them only a limited number of shots. If either runs out, the blaster is useless unless the wielder can reload with a new power pack and/or tibanna gas cartridge. However, this leaves the wielder temporarily defenseless and a sitting duck unless they have a another blaster they can pick up and use.
- Sustained fire on the highest power settings can potentially lead to overheating issues. In the best scenario, the weapon may only suffer from barrel warping, which merely affects accuracy and range. In the worst case scenario, the weapon could experience a catastrophic overheating and explode in the wielder’s hands, resulting in the wielder and possibly others within a few metres being severely injured or killed.
- Blasters being fired in fully automatic can give quite a kick, making it difficult to keep them steady and thus negatively affecting accuracy. They can also deplete the charge in their power packs much quicker and overheat much quicker.
- Blaster bolts bleed energy as they travel, thus reducing their effectiveness over distance. At shorter ranges within the listed effective range of the blaster, this effect is negligible. At longer ranges than these however, the effect is more pronounced.
Note:
- Conventional Blasters and Disruptors must not be confused with each other. Refer the Disruptor profile for further information.
- Blaster bolt velocities differ greatly between the old Legends and the new Disney Canon continuities.
- In Legends, blaster bolts are explicitly and consistently stated to be the speed of light.
- In the Disney Canon however, the novels “Lords of the Sith” and “Heir to the Jedi” and some comics explicitly state that blaster bolts are bolts of plasma while the reference book “The Last Jedi: Incredible Cross-Sections” describes a blaster bolt as being a bolt of plasma encased in a “magnetic field bubble”. Their velocities in this continuity are more unclear. There are calcs which attempt to gauge the true velocities of blaster bolts in modern canon works with consistent special effects, such as the Prequel Trilogy and the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Results vary from Hypersonic at the very least to Massively Hypersonic+ at most.
Gallery (various kinds of blaster)
Discussions
| Discussion threads involving Blaster (Star Wars) |