Crossfire CR-54 Viper

The Crossfire CR-54 Viper is a poison weapon in Plazma Burst 2 that is manufactured by Crossfire, a community-made faction. The weapon has two color variants: a tan variant and a dark variant. The weapon is unique within its class in that each shot deals a damage over time effect which can stack on enemies, allowing the weapon to kill low health enemies fairly quickly in only a couple shots. The healthbar of a player affected by the poison effect will turn bright green, and their health will rapidly decrease for a few seconds. Landing another shot will extend the duration of this effect. Against low health targets, this weapon is incredibly lethal; one shot coupled with its damage over time effect can lower HP to an incredibly low point and make enemies not only more vulnerable and prone to death, but also render them less useful in a fight or direct engagement due to the poison effect halting health regeneration for roughly five seconds. When hit by the CR-54, it is better to disengage and break line of sight with the attacker so the gun doesn't get another chance to stack its damage over time effect and to allow health regeneration to actually begin once the poison effect expires. Against higher health targets, compounding the poison effect's damage by landing consecutive shots is key; stacking and extending the duration of the poison effect is effective against more resilient enemies that possess a larger health pool due to requiring only the player landing just one shot at a time and letting the damage over time effect doing most of the work in comparison to non-poison weapons, which don't offer the luxury of damaging enemies over time while not directly engaging the target.

Due to its poison effect and decent rate of fire, the CR-54 is an incredibly forgiving weapon compared to other weapons in its class. Non-precision hits, as in shots that land anywhere but the head, are still lethal because of the damage over time effect being added into the initial shot's damage, and a missed shot can easily be compensated by quickly firing another shot, whereas a weapon like the Heavy Railgun punishes the user for missing by having a slow reload speed. In addition to competing with other slot 4 weapons by being a precision weapon, it also directly competes with precision weapons in slot 2, such as the Alien Rifle. The versatility and utility of the CR-54 allows the weapon to perform well in nearly every range, especially mid-long range. It suffers slightly at closer ranges due to entering ranges of more lethal and effective weapons such as slot 3s and slot 1s, but it can still hold its own due to its damage over time effect.

The weapon is a bulky two-tone weapon that can appear either as a tan variant or a slate gray variant. A low profile scope is attached to the top part of the weapon's frame. The handguard of the weapon is directly in front of the trigger grouping and trigger guard, with the upper receiver extending further to the barrel, which pokes out slightly from the weapon. Atop the barrel is a barrel shroud. The CR-54 features green accentuation; the green accent under the weapon dims when the weapon is fired and lights back up as it reloads and chambers the next shot. At the rear end of the gun by the stock is a magazine-like device that could possibly function as a feeding method for the weapon itself.

Location
The Crossfire CR-54 Viper does not appear in the campaign, and is therefore exclusive to custom maps created with the Advanced Level Editor.

Trivia

 * The Crossfire CR-54 Viper was added in version 1.32, and was originally created by phsc.
 * It was previously known as "PH-01" and "Crossfire PH-40 Leviathan" before being renamed.