With the creation of stronger and stronger forms of body armor in attempts to counteract progress on the heightened performance of ballistic weaponry over time, plasma weaponry is sought as an affordable, end-all solution to the armor dilemma, from close-quarters melee combat to long-range. In gun form, these weapons utilize a disposable gas canister, usually containing a compound including hydrogen, and a mechanism similar to coilguns. Ionized gas is drawn in bursts from the canister, through the frame of the weapon and out of the barrel in a densely bound superhead pseudo-projectile using magnetic propulsion. Plasma guns of any type may or may not require two sources of power in order to do their functions depending on how advanced they are, the most advanced utilizing digital or otherwise electronic features in order to function, requiring a battery as well as a gas canister for the projectile, and the simplistic ones simply requiring a gas canister for lack of any other features or mechanical changes.
As a projectile, plasma has lesser velocity than bullets, traveling in an (albeit fast) arc under gravity. The velocity of the plasma and the size of the projectile is typically a trade-off depending on the design of the weapon, as stronger coils can launch plasma faster, but produces smaller projectiles. Plasma weaponry scales easily, and can be found in small pistols to large ship-mounted cannons or artillery that catapult massive balls of plasma.