Laser Blades are weapons that can be affixed to the arm units of Armored Cores. Blades usually fall into two categories; long and weak or short and strong, however, some exceptions do exist. Crafts that use Laser Blades are often designed for speed and quick turning, as they are required to close quarters against enemies who often use ranged weapons, often as the strongest laser blade with the longest reach.
The Moonlight series of Laser Blades serves as a fixture of the Armored Core Series, and has appeared in every game to date. Currently, as of Armored Core: For Answer, its newest form is the Rayleonard-manufactured 07-Moonlight.
Until Armored Core 4, Laser Blades could only be fixed to the left arm.
Function
As its name implies, the Laser Blade is a sword like laser weapon attached to the left arm (up until Armored Core 4 and For Answer) designed to deal moderate to high levels of damage in close quarters. They are often used to close the distance between the opponent or as a last resort weapon.
The Laser Blade is unique in that it lasts for barely a second when activated, only long enough for an AC to make a sweeping striking, and fading almost immediately. All Laser Blades operate in this manner no matter how strong or weak they are.
Another unique aspect of the Laser Blade is that when it is activated, the AC is automatically boosted forward a short distance, separating it completely from the parrying blade in terms of effectiveness; this acts as a form of "lock on" and makes the Laser Blade a reasonably accurate weapon when used correctly. Some Laser Blades also carry a "secondary" mode called wave blading, in which the blade launches a "wave" of energy that heads in the direction the blade is activated in. This increases its use from only short to medium range capablity.
This ability was demonstrated in the first Armored Core after obtaining HUMAN-PLUS and in later games OP-INTENSIFY. By Last Raven, All Laser Blades share this function when boosting forward before using the Laser Blade. Armored Core 4 and For Answer does not have the wave blade function.
List of Laser Blades
Introduced in Armored Core
LS-2001
LS-200G
LS-3303
LS-99 MOONLIGHT
Introduced in Armored Core: Master of Arena
LS-1000W
Introduced in Armored Core 2
Emeraude ELS-2772
Emeraude ELS-3443
Zio Matrix ZLS-400/SL
Zio Matrix ZLS-T/100
Balena LS-MOONLIGHT
Introduced in Armored Core 2: Another Age
Emeraude ELS-7880
Introduced in Armored Core 3
Crest CLB-LS-1551
Mirage MLB-LS/003
Crest CLB-LS-2551
Kisaragi KLB-TLS-SOL
Mirage MLB-MOONLIGHT
Introduced in Armored Core 3: Silent Line
Crest CLB-LS-3771
Mirage MLB-HALBIRD
Introduced in Armored Core: Nexus
Crest CR-WL69LB
Mirage WL01LB-ELF
Crest CR-WL79LB2
Crest CR-WL88LB3
Mirage YWL03LB-TAROS
Mirage WL14LB-ELF2
Mirage WL-MOONLIGHT
Kisaragi FUHJIN
Kisaragi RAIJIN
Introduced in Armored Core: Last Raven
Crest CR-WL06LB4
Mirage YWL16LB-ELF3
Introduced in Armored Core 4
a NEXT using a laser blade
Omer Science Technology EB-0600
Omer Science Technology EB-0305
Rayleonard 02-DRAGONSLAYER
Rayleonard 07-MOONLIGHT
Trivia
- In Armored Core 3, Certain MT's were shown to equip laser blades as well, albeit weaker
- In Armored Core: For Answer, an Arms Fort produced by ORCA was shown to be able to use massive laser blades that swept around and could eliminate an NEXT in a single strike.
- Almost every single boss who used an AC utilized a laser blade (discounting the pulverizers, who had spear/sword like arms.)
- The MOONLIGHT is one of the few weapons that has been in every single title without a name change.
- Why the laser blade can only be used for a second or so is never explained, but it is inferred through gameplay that leaving it on for prolonged periods would drain energy massively.