Particle Weapons
The OG Conversion Beamer. Particle weapons are Necron guns that use the annihilation principle of anti-matter as a weapon. They are a family of exotic and technologically advanced directed energy weapons.
Particle Weapons function by emitting a stream of miniscule anti-matter particles which detonate on contact with normal matter, and are incredibly reliable -- needing only enough energy to maintain the electromagnetic containment field that prevents the anti-matter from detonating when it comes into contact with the normal matter that comprises the weapon’s mechanisms.
Despite shooting out green lightning, they should NOT be confused with Necron Gauss weapons.
Particle Caster[edit]
A Particle Caster is a Necron pistol weapon that emits a stream of miniscule anti-matter particles which detonate on contact with normal matter.
Because of the great potential damage they can inflict despite their small size, Particle Casters are most often paired with a close combat weapon. Triarch Praetorians commonly make use of Particle Casters paired with Voidblades as an alternative armament from their usual choice of the two-handed Rod of Covenant.
Canoptek Wraiths can also be armed with Particle Casters. In 8th edition, Particle Casters are your "Bolt Pistol" equivalents to the Necron army. Currently available only to the above mentioned Wraiths and Voidblade-wielding Praetorians, this differs from its puny Imperial counterpart by being S6.
Despite being extremely powerful for its size, it is still no Tachyon Arrow.
Particle Beamer[edit]
A Particle Beamer is the large father of the Particle Caster. For when the Particle Caster just doesn't cut enough Cheese for your liking.
Particle Beamers are heavy, rifle-sized Particle Weapons, and can cause powerful blasts at range to decimate enemy infantry. Tomb Blades can mount a Particle Beamer on their chassis instead of their usual twin-linked Tesla Carbines, whilst Canoptek Spyders who specialize in sentinel duties commonly mount twin-linked Particle Beamers on their backs. Tesseract Arks are also able to mount two Particle Beamers as secondary weapon systems.
On tabletop, the Particle Beamer is the bigger brother of the Particle Caster, this gun is an Assault 6 version with double the range. Available as a singleton for Tomb Blades or taken in pairs on Tesseract Arks and Canoptek Spyders. While a sixth of your base cost to equip to a Spyder, it's also currently the only ranged option they have access to.
Particle Shredder[edit]
The Lascannon of the Particle weapons.
Particle Shredders can be likened to the role of the aforementioned heavy Lascannon in size, and can output a far larger blast than the smaller Particle Beamer. A Triarch Stalker can mount a Particle Shredder as its primary armament instead of its usual Heat Ray, transforming its combat role into that of a deadly infantry hunter.
Like all Particle weapons, it emits a stream of miniscule anti-matter particles which detonate on contact with other matter. In 8th edition, the Particle Shredder is only available to Triarch Stalkers. While Heavy 6 S7 AP-1 D3 sounds reasonable the 24" range is a big letdown, and the other two weapons the Stalker has access to are considerably more useful.
It is only dwarfed by the colossal Particle Whip.
Particle Whip[edit]
The biggest cheddar wheel in the block.
A Particle Whip is unusual in that it only comes in the form of a large, glowing power matrix crystal mounted atop a Monolith (The giant golf ball on the top). This is a totally different, far more static design than the more mobile barrel structure that characterizes other Necron Particle Weapons. Nevertheless, a Particle Whip is a dramatic weapon, for when it is about to fire, the Monolith will channel its alien energies through its crystal to unleash devastating arcs of anti-matter lightning.
A single, ear-splitting discharge from the Particle Whip is enough to reduce tanks to smouldering wrecks and infantry to molecular vapor. The explosions caused by a Particle Whip will often affect large areas and can cause great damage to infantry and vehicles alike, no matter what form of armor provides their protection.
Like the Imperium's Lance Weapons. Necron starships have also been armed with extremely large variants of the Particle Whip. These ship-sized Particle Whips are used during void combat to launch devastating strikes upon enemy vessels, often one-shotting them in the first place. More of which can be read directly below.
For a long time, despite being several orders of magnitude bigger than the Particle Shredder, the Particle Whip only improved over the Shredder in S and AP by one pip. Come 9th Edition and the Particle Whip has now been hitting the gym, 'cause christ, at S12 and AP-3, you could quite literally whip multiple TEQ units into space dust.
Particle Whip Launcher[edit]
Whilst the Particle Whip is only affordable for the largest and most powerful of Necron ground vehicles and even then, they could only hold one, in space, on the other hand, Necron voidships are large enough that this becomes a standard-issue anti-ship weapon.
Akin to a Lance Weapon, the Particle Whip Launcher is the Necron's run-of-the-mill anti-armour starship weapon found in heavily-armed ships in the Necron Fleets. They behave almost exactly the same as the ground-based Particle Whip, just on a bigger scale. Due to their nature of being well...Necrons, Particle Whip Launchers essentially bypass all forms of shields including Void shields to get into the soft and juicy bits.
It is by far the largest Particle weapon if the scaling is of any indication.
In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II, the crunch is pretty similar to the fluff. It is one of the best anti-ship weapon for the sheer fact that it ignores shields and just goes straight into punching through the armoured hulls of a ship.
As you can imagine, a couple of these things are a bane to all things Tyranid. You ain't gonna get back those biomass if they are zapped out of existence. These weapons are often fired simultaneously, like Lance Weapons, but more Awesome.