Statistical Overview
The Plasma Sword is amongst one of the heavy hitter melee weapons, dealing 400 damage per swing, easily enough to kill a standard trooper. This comes at the cost of only having one swing before overheating, making a botched attack extremely punishing, as the reload is 5 seconds, which can leave you defenseless.
In-Game Behavior
With it's 1-hit-kill ability on Troopers and Marines, using this weapon to either ambush or to just power through the enemy's assault to deliver the smackdown is viable. The shield, unlike other melee weapons, is very effective with this, as unless you use the full magazine to block, you will still have your single 400 damage strike.
Pros/Cons
- Pros
- Highest damage for a melee weapon in the game (other than fully charged Impulse Hammer)
- Able to do significant damage to Mechanized forces
- Cons
- You only get one swing per magazine
- Easily countered with Quick Thinking mod, by having over 200 health or shield, or having over 125 and armor