Link Gun

The Link Gun replaces the Pulse Gun from UT in UT2003, UT2004 and UT3.

Unreal Tournament 2003

Primary fire launches accelerating plasma projectiles, while the secondary fire launches a constant stream of plasma. Unlike the Pulse Gun in UT, the secondary will not damage your teammates, and will even boost their firepower if they are also using a Link Gun. That person can also pass that power on to the next person with a linkgun, allowing chains to be formed. When linking, the power of the secondary fire of the person at the end of the chain is 1.5x the sum of the power of everybody involved in the chain. Whenever an enemy is damaged by the secondary fire's stream, he is thrown to the ground, making it harder to get away.

Unreal Tournament 2004

Riordan Dynamic Weapon Systems combines the best of weapon design in the Advanced Plasma Rifle v23, commonly known as the Link Gun, or simply the Link. While the primary firing mode of the Link remains the same as its plasma-firing predecessor, the secondary cutting torch has been replaced with an active-scanning, switchable energy matrix. This matrix enables the weapon to register friend or foe upon contact with the swirling green beam and change properties accordingly. When the beam comes into contact with an opponent it can inflict serious injury and death within seconds. Upon contacting a teammate, it reverts to a harmless carrier stream. The carrier stream offloads energy from the onboard cells, boosting the output of any targeted player who is also using the Link. Two players may Link to one another at any time, boosting the power output of the weapon significantly, but it should be noted that while players are boosting a teammate, they are unable to defend themselves from attack.

Besides a graphical overhaul, the changes to the Link in UT2004 are subtle. The maximum ammo count was increased and the primary now takes 2 ammo per projectile fired. The secondary now checks for enemies twice as often (doubling the amount of ammo consumed as well) making it slightly more reliable and improving it's movement inhibiting effect. In addition, the secondary's power when linking is now it's regular power plus 1.5x the power of everybody linking to the end of the chain. Perhaps the most important change to the Link is that the secondary firemode can now be used to repair vehicles and power nodes in Onslaught.