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The LP4 Lightning Arc Weapon is a weapon encountered in F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate.
Vivendi Timeline[]
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate[]
The LP4 Lightning Arc Weapon works similarly to a semi-automatic battle rifle, and is one of the most powerful weapons in the game: one shot can instantly kill most humans and supernatural enemies, and a REV6 Powered Armor wil go down in eight shots or less. The shots arc towards the target, which means the user only has to aim at the enemy's general direction. These same advantages make enemies armed with this weapon a colossal challenge to the Sergeant, as even with Slow-Mo enabled, it is very difficult to avoid being hit for heavy damage.
The only real drawbacks of this gun are the slow rate of fire, the small 8 charge magazine, and the rarity of its ammo, as the LP4 is seldom used by enemies.
Tactics[]
- Due to the high damage of the weapon, it can be used effectively against any enemy found in the game, although the ammo is rare unless a glitch in the game is exploited (see below).
- Despite the nature of the weapon, it will deal more damage to Replicas, ATC soldiers, and Nightcrawlers if aimed at the head. This tactic should be used as much as possible to conserve ammo, as what would normally be two or three body shots with the Lightning Arc to kill a Replica Elite, if the LP4 is aimed at his head, only one headshot will be needed. If the player has trouble aiming the weapon, using Slow-Mo will give them time to aim.
- Put at a general direction of the enemy, the beam will find its target automatically. If the player faces multiple enemies close together, the beam will jump to a random target, with splash damage depending on how far each enemy is from the other. This hitscan ability makes the LP4 ideal for run and gun, especially when dueling a single strong enemy like a Replica Heavy Armor, a Nightcrawler Elite or a REV-6.
- The Nightcrawler Elites, including the Nightcrawler Commander, will still be hit by the lightning even when they activate their Slow-Mo ability.
- Its the only weapon that completely ignores the shield used by the Replica Heavy Riot Armor.
- When the LP4 is used by enemies, the beams will temporarily blur the Sergeant's vision and sometimes bounce him back a short distance, so take this into consideration when trying to engage enemies equipped with the LP4 on all but the lowest difficulty settings. Slow-Mo is highly recommended on higher difficulties.
Trivia[]
- Since the Lightning Arc weapon is self-illuminated, it can be used somewhat in place of the flashlight in small areas, such as corridors and air vents. That characteristic is exclusive to the player viewmodel, which means it will not have the light effect when dropped or held by others.
- The weapon will emit sound while equipped, like the Type-12 and the LM-10 Napalm Cannon. Enemies seem to not perceive it.
- Human enemies tend to suffer brisk ragdoll effects when killed by this weapon, likely owing to its electric nature causing severe muscle spasms.
- The LP4 is issued to the elite units in both Replica and Nightcrawler forces.
- The player can get more ammunition for the Lightning Arc than was intended by exploiting a glitch in the game. See the F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon section of Glitches for more details.
- This weapon is one of the few weapons in the game that is not wielded by any ATC enemies.
- The LP4 is the only "fire and forget" weapon in the F.E.A.R. series, while the rest of the arsenal available requires a measure of aiming. It is possible that the LP4 was made to counter the fast-moving enemies in Perseus Mandate, such as the Nightcrawler Elites and the more numerous Shades.
- Technically, the closest counterpart of the LP4 is the Type-12 Pulse Weapon in F.E.A.R. 2, another energy-based weapon that demands little accuracy.