Hyperblaster (Q4)

In Quake 4, the Hyperblaster is a tubular, fully-automatic energy rifle that fires powerful, fast-moving plasma bolts. It does decent damage and has a very high rate of fire, making it effective against most foes in game. Unlike the Blaster, the Hyperblaster needs to change batteries after 60 shots.

On rare occasions it can be seen used by Human Marines as their primary weapon, instead of the standard Machine Gun. In particular, Voss, Rhodes, and Sledge of Rhino Squad and few other marines can occasionally be found wielding it. However, the enemy knows its effectiveness too, in the later stages of the game, many Tactical Strogg will equip this weapon as well.

The Hyperblaster is obtained in the middle of the Nexus Hub Tunnels from a fallen teammate, you will find it again in Strogg Medical Facility.

In Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, the Hyperblaster is mounted on vehicles as a turret similar to mini-gun and MG turrets on GDF vehicles.

Upgrades

 * Bounce Shot - Right before you get to the roof in Data Storage Terminal (Revisited), a tech marine will upgrade your Hyperblaster so that shots can bounce off walls thus making it very lethal and effective against covering enemies. The mod changes the design of the battery from a pale yellow to black and red with circular lights.

Strategies

 * The Hyperblaster actually does the same amount of damage as the Machine Gun, but it has a much higher rate of fire and lower spread, making it a more powerful weapon. It is very effective against medium and strong opponents, such as Gunners, Berserkers, Tactical Strogg, Teleport droppers and even Light Tanks, especially if you aim for the head. Using it against weak opponents is a waste of ammo, especially when the Machine Gun or Shotgun are just as effective on them. Ammo is somewhat uncommon. Later in the game (after Operation: Last Hope) Hyperblaster ammo will be easier to find. So don't use it too much during the early stage of the game. Ammo becomes more common once Tactical Strogg begin to appear, as they regularly drop ammo for it, especially after the level Data Security Terminal.
 * Since the projectiles from the hyperblaster are slightly slower than bullets, it is not ideal for long range combat. This also means you can dodge them (since the enemy Hyperblaster users will fire wildly to you as long as you are in their sights), but so can the enemy. Using the Hyperblaster in narrow corridors is great because your foes cannot hide from its projectile even at a distance.
 * The upgraded Hyperblaster can damage the shooter if they stand too close to the target or they hit the wall, since some of the projectiles will bounce back, in general, a projectile that has hit an enemy will not bounce.
 * The upgraded Hyperblaster has another potential, it can actually kill targets hiding in narrow spaces, you can hit the wall and let the projectile bounce, and your foes will have no place to hide, this is useful when dealing with tactical strogg in cover or regular strogg which try to hide.
 * Remember to reload as soon as you get a chance, as you'll usually go through the magazine very quickly, the reload is very fast so you can easily maintain your readiness with this weapon. Otherwise, you have a lot of trouble when facing other foes, even a short reload can give enemies an opportunity to harm you.
 * The Hyperblaster's projectile can be teleported and hurt the enemy on the other side of it.
 * Try to balance the use between automatic weapons, as you will always need at least one due to their versatility.
 * Hyperblaster projectiles cannot bounce as they touch the surface, unlike its single player counterpart. But the Hyperblaster projectile will harm anyone upon contact, including its user.

For multiplayer strategies, see Plasma Gun.

Trivia

 * While using the same basic weapon, the projectiles from the Hyperblaster wielded by the player and fellow Marines are blue and large, while the Tactical Strogg wielding it will fire small, orange projectiles with different impact textures. This is possibly designed to distinguish friend from foe.
 * The projectiles fired from the Gunner are not energy-based Hyperblaster rounds, but are in fact Nails.
 * Unlike its Quake 2 counterpart, the Hyperblaster has no cool-down feature, and does not share ammo with any other weapon.
 * The red part of the upgraded Hyperblaster battery does spin around as the player fires like the barrel of it's classic counterpart, though this is cosmetic and has no effect on the weapon's rate of fire.
 * The Hyperblaster is upgraded later in the game with a Ricochet feature, allowing the bolts of energy it fires to bounce off surfaces and be more accurate in hectic firefights. This feature seems to be based on the Ion Ripper weapon from Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning, which utilizes the same ammunition as the game's Hyper Blaster, and fires energy-based rounds which ricochet off surfaces.
 * This also relates to the Laser Cannon from Quake Mission pack 1: Scourge of Armagon as the projectiles fired also bounce off surfaces.
 * The ammo used by the Hyperblaster is similar in appearance to that used by the Grenade Launcher, as it is a cluster of 3 batteries.
 * The Hyperblaster is most likely a modified/upgraded Blaster, since the appearance and functions are similar.
 * There are still some differences to them, unlike the Hyperblaster, the Blaster projectile flies faster and does not bounce as it touches the surface.