Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon

Were you looking for the closely related Fuel Rod Gun of Halo?

The Fuel Rod Cannon is a Covenant direct-fire energy weapon with anti-vehicle and anti-air applications. It is featured in Halo 2 and will be returning for Halo 3.

It is not to be confused with the Fuel Rod Gun, which is a Halo: Combat Evolved and multiplayer exclusive weapon.

Introduction
The Fuel Rod Cannon is a Covenant heavy weapon. The Fuel Rod Cannon has no fail-safes (unlike the prior game's Fuel Rod Guns), allowing the player to pick up the weapon. It fires blobs of deadly radiation rounds that explode on impact with targets or surfaces. It is often wielded by Heretic Grunts. Unlike many Covenant weapons, the Fuel Rod Cannon fires ammunition in clips of 5. Up to 25 additional fuel rods can be carried for a total of 30 shots.

Advantages
The Fuel Rod Cannon fires fairly fast, and reloads at around the same rate as the rocket launcher while holding much more ammunition. The Fuel Rod Cannon has a limited lock-on ability; its projectile follows targets in the air. While easy to avoid at long range, the 2x scope of the Cannon can allow for an accurate original blast and increased chance to catch the victim in the explosive radius.

The high ammo capacity, rate of fire, and damage of the Fuel Rod Cannon makes it a force to be reckoned with.

In Campaign mode giving your allies (Elites especially) the Fuel Rod Cannon gives you a massive advantage over your enemies. On levels like Arbiter and Uprising an Elite with a Fuel Rod Cannon can fire the 5 bolts in quick succession with surprising accuracy. This can easily decimate a group of foe's even on Legendary difficulty.

Disadvantages
The Fuel Rod Cannon's energy projectiles are much slower than the rocket launcher's rockets. It also takes from two to four shots to kill a strong adversary. It is still capable of killing a user at short range, but ammo will run dry quickly in Legendary. The large size of the cannon will also obscure your vision, making it harder to navigate and respond to hostiles. Outside of the level The Arbiter, where the Heretic Grunts make extensive use of the weapon, it is very hard to find, and the weapon is not available in Halo 2 multiplayer due to frame-rate issues.

Differences in Halo 3
It has been revealed in a Bungie podcast that the Fuel Rod Cannon's projectile will behave more like a rocket rather than a slow moving blob. In addition, it has been weakened to 65% of it's previous strength, to compensate for the large clip size and a faster rate of fire. It's projectiles also ricochet of of some surfaces. (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24148.html)

The Fuel Rod Cannon has no changes in looks in Halo 3 and is officially on the Halo 3 multiplayer as leaked pictures of the Halo 3 Epsilon have shown us.

Also the projectiles are smaller now but it is still a very powerful and dangerous weapon.



Hunters' Fuel Rod Beam Cannon
Hunters also brandish a variant of the Fuel Rod Cannon. In Halo 2, these shoot out long beams of energy; the Hunters' immense strength nullifies the beams' recoil, allowing for accurate and devastating attacks. In Halo: Combat Evolved, their cannons fire explosive bolts like the troop-carried model. In Halo: The Flood, it is revealed that, like all other plasma weapons, the fuel rod gun can overheat. So far there isn't a way to take the Hunter's version of the weapon outside of a mod.

Trivia

 * It takes about 5 or 6 shots to take down a Phantom.
 * In the Halo 2 booklet, the Fuel Rod Cannon is mistakenly labeled Fuel Rod Gun, which was a very similar weapon from Halo: Combat Evolved. Alternately, the weapon was renamed later in development.


 * When you give a Fuel Rod Cannon to a Marine, their animation is the same as if they were holding a Rocket Launcher. If you look closely, their left hand is at an angle, just like holding the Rocket Launcher.


 * In Halo 2 during Campaign mode (most likely on Legendary), the bolts have a slight homing ability. Only enemies have this ability. If you strafe as the wielder fires upon you, it will turn very slowly into your direction.
 * In Halo 3, when you pick up a Fuel Rod Cannon, it says you picked up a Fuel Rod Gun.

Character Compatibility

 * Elites
 * Spartans
 * Marines
 * Flood Combat Form (Human) (have animation but not used)
 * Flood Combat Form (Elite) (have animation but not used)
 * Grunt
 * Hunters
 * Brute Chieftains