History Main / EnergyWeapon

* ''Franchise/StarWars'' isn't limited to [[LaserBlade lightsabers]]. For instance, "light whips" -- which make a bit more sense than a lightsaber, as the "energy" tendrils actually have a solid metal core.

* Hank's [[EnergyBow bow]] from ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons'' could not only fire energy bolts, but even fire "energy arrows" that could ''wrap around'' foes.

* Energy is an entire ammuntion class in ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone''. Weapons of this type are Laser weapons which fire single piercing beams, [[PlasmaCannon plasma weapons]] that fire balls of energy which eventually explode, an orbital strike [[KillSat Ion Cannon]], and [[LightningGun lightning weapons]] that home in on objects. The Energy Screwdriver, Energy Sword, and Energy Hammer are all melee weapons which use Energy ammo. The Laser Brain mutation increases the strength and duration of all energy attacks.

* In [[{{Literature/Voidskipper}} Voidskipper]] these are portrayed in the realistic sense of lasers and highly relativistic particle beams. The shots travel at or very near lightspeed, they're effectively invisible until they hit, and the weapons have smart targeting systems that mean they almost never miss when used against terrestrial targets.

!!Examples

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', there are "power weapons", which are a variant on this. The common models are not pure energy, but have a physical sword or gauntlet or set of claws and a surrounding field of energy. There are actually pure-energy models, but those are very rare. Nevertheless, like most expressions of this trope, they cut through other materials with ease. In the tabletop game's rules, no armour saves are permitted against an attack from one.
** Literature/{{Eisenhorn}} had a power sword that was one of the energy-blade variants. He also had [[strike:magic]] psychic powers and worries about [[TheCorruption falling to the dark side]]. He lost his sword, and actually used a metal power sword for the rest of the series, including in his fight with a cybernetic, psychic, dark lord. It's also important to note that his nemesis was ''not'' his father, and [[spoiler:Eisenhorn was the one who was crippled. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Eisenhorn still won]]]].
** There are at least five or six different sizes and varieties of "plasma cannon", including one actually that.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has Brilliant Energy weapons that ignore armor bonuses to AC because they pass through armor, but they cannot hurt undead, constructs, or objects.
** Certain editions also features energy firearms, either as 'magic' weapons found in certain adventures, or examples in chapters about varying the setting from the default-assumed norm of vaguely medieval-ish -- for example, ''3.5'' has rules for laser pistols/rifles and antimatter rifles.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' is mostly the same quasi-medieval tech level as D&D, but there are exceptions, especially in the nation of Numeria, site of a truly massive crashed starship. For the Iron Gods adventure path set in that nation, an entire sourcebook was written full of rules for advanced technology, including many flavors of energy weapon.

* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' Ray and Disintegrator Guns, count along with Ray Swords.
* As the title might suggest, ''1001 Science Fiction Weapons'' for D20 system, by Plain Brown Wrapper games, has quite a lot.
** [[SlowLaser Lasers]] of multiple different tech levels
** Particle beams
** Ion guns
** Lightning guns
** Energy and force field blades
** Disintegrators
** Coagulators, which affect the targets' internal biochemical structure, rendering it all too inert to function as life
** A whole chapter on pulpy sci-fi rayguns, from death rays, which make you simply drop dead of your own accord, to life-draining and life-transference rays
** Sonic weapons
** Microwave weapons
** lepton weapons
** blasters
** antimatter

** and the strange weapons made by the mysterious Witherslant Masters, which have many incredible functions and cannot be bought with simple currency, only by barter in the form of an agreement to kill whoever the Masters say for a year

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[[folder:Film]]

* ''Series/RedDwarf'' had "holowhips", apparently made out of whatever AppliedPhlebotinum a "HardLight" hologram is made out of.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' had an episode with a James Bond type car that was equipped with laser beams strong enough to cauterize the wounds they caused.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* A variety exists in the ''Roleplay/NexusGate'' setting. [[http://nexusgate.freeforums.org/glossary-t12.html The specifics of the tech is explained here.]]
* Toaster of ''WebAnimation/ObjectOverload'' fame fires a giant laser beam in the episode "Rostrum Rampage." The beam managed to hit Coney and make her fall off the cliff.
* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Amber can fire a beam of gamma ray energy.
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* This is a specific kind of skill in all games of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series. They are generally more powerful, with the tradeoff of less available ammunition. ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' presented a different tradeoff; in exchange for ammo that could be very easily found and converted using the game's crafting system, the tradeoff became the loss of stealth ability; energy weapons are the only weapons besides [[StuffBlowingUp explosive]] that can't be silenced.

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* In ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'', normal energy weapons are fine for the small fry, but energy-based melee weapons are just about the only thing that can settle a duel between Gundams. An especially egregious example is Deathscythe's energy [[SinisterScythe scythe]] in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', which knows both how to come to a point and to ''curve''. In this case, though, you ''do'' get an answer: The plasma used in beam weapons can also be guided and shaped by specially-aligned magnetic fields, essentially forming a surface tension around the 'blade'. When it makes contact with a solid object, the field is disrupted around the point of contact, allowing the plasma to do its work. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minovsky_Physics Minovsky Physics]] (wikipedia), even if it is extensive {{technobabble}} and [[HandWave handwaving]].

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* ''{{TabletopGame/BattleTech}}'' has a whole class of Energy weapons. They come either as lasers or particle projectile cannons (ppc). Energy weapons are very accurate, lightweight, powerful, and do not carry ammunition when compared to ballistic/missile weaponry; hence giving them a major edge in the logistics department and allowing mechs to last longer in extended combat. However, they generate ''massive'' amounts of heat in the mech, so a mech that carries around a lot of lasers is going to [[ExplosiveOverclocking explode]] if it [[AlphaStrike fires them all]]. If a mech is armed with only energy weapons, they require lots of heat sinks to keep themselves from [[{{Overheating}} overheating]]. There are some certain mechs that are equipped with energy weapons as their only means of primary armaments; examples being the ''Flashman'' and the ''Nova'', though in the latter's case, it is a Clan [=OmniMech=] that can have its original weaponry swapped for a more specialized role.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', there are "power weapons", which are a variant on this. The common models are not pure energy, but have a physical sword or gauntlet or set of claws and a surrounding field of energy. There are actually pure-energy models, but those are very rare. Nevertheless, like most expressions of this trope, they cut through other materials with ease. In the tabletop game's rules, no armour saves are permitted against an attack from one.
** {{Literature/Eisenhorn}} had a power sword that was one of the energy-blade variants. He also had [[strike:magic]] psychic powers and worries about [[TheCorruption falling to the dark side]]. He lost his sword, and actually used a metal power sword for the rest of the series, including in his fight with a cybernetic, psychic, dark lord. It's also important to note that his nemesis was ''not'' his father, and [[spoiler:Eisenhorn was the one who was crippled. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Eisenhorn still won]]]].

[[folder: Video Games]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' has Zero Suit Samus's energy whip, because the Paralyzer from ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' wasn't [[RuleOfCool cool enough]] before. Unlike most of the whip examples on this page, this one's actually made of energy, not just coated in it.

[[folder: Webcomics]]

* Parodied in the webcomic ''{{Isometric}}'', where a villain facing defeat proclaims himself inventor of the electric whip when the hero corners him, only for the hero to point out that he had merely pulled electric cables out of the wall.

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[[folder: Western Animation]]

->''We are creatures of fire and water. We wither under a surfeit of light as readily as we wither beneath drowned hopes. When photons march soldier-fashion at an admiral's bidding, people die.''

* The first appearance of the Ferengi in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' had them using energy whips -- which were physical whips that, for [[RuleOfCool no logical reason]], shoot FrickinLaserBeams when swung.

** [[FrickinLaserBeams Lasers]] of multiple different tech levels

* FrickinLaserBeams

* [[TheMentor Xi Wang Mu]] from ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' uses a pair of knuckles which can generate pure energy constructs of any weapon she desires. In gameplay, however, this is limited to the three weapons used by her students.
** Plasma-based weaponry became some sort of vogue in ''Strider 2'', as a lot of enemies use them. Types range from huge plasma cannons to smaller portable guns and even melee weapons like a ''plasma lance''.