The Lasgun Explained!

[@GrandGoblin]

"The Lasgun has destroyed almost every enemy of The Imperium of Man. It's unfortunate that we are stuck fighting the ones it couldn't" - Disgruntled Guardsmen

[@stantrien8106]

Pretty much. You have to remember that the lasgun packs a punch comparable to the .50 bmg, is mostly recoilless and has several hundred charges. This is the gun that wiped out most xenos life in the galaxy during the great crusade. It's only considered paltry now because that which it had little effect on is all that's left.

[@arkhaan7066]

@@stantrien8106 it’s not comparable to a .50, however it’s certainly comparable to something like .30-06

[@120mmsmoothbore2]

​@@arkhaan7066 Any sources for this contradiction?

[@arkhaan7066]

@@120mmsmoothbore2 .50bmg destroys most forms of cover, can basically invert your torso, and will kill you through armor. .30-06 will kill you through concealment and degrade your cover, can blow an extremity off but will only put a hole in your torso, and can be stopped by armor. Also the m2 is a canonical heavy stubber in one of the IG codex’s and heavy stubbers hit harder than lasguns

[@120mmsmoothbore2]

@@arkhaan7066 So purely anecdotal, got it.

[@eugeneoliveros5814]

“Those who mock the humble lasgun have not tried charging across a field at 5000 of them”

[@dueinuremom5082]

This quote is under every god damn las gun video. I knew I would find it I’m just surprised it wasn’t instantaneous.

[@AnoAssassin]

Original quote says 100.

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Ah yes the death rave

[@BBanzaj]

I once heard that lasgun is only considered a joke because everything that wasnt immune to it already went extinct several milenia ago

[@commissarthorne3894]

That's a terrifying revelation

[@insertname3977]

​​@@commissarthorne3894 well when the lasgun was made, it was suppose to be for going up against rebellious humans. In that regard the standard issue is capable of blowing off limbs from the shoulder or hip, and huge chunks out of people wearing flak armour. It's like arming everyone with a .50 bmg rifle with no recoil, pin point accuracy as it's not effected by wind or gravity (well gravity similar enough to Earth or Mars), as cheap as hipoint, and ammo that can be restored by simply leaving it out in the sun for half an hour. It's an utter beast of a weapon, it's just 40k being 40k, everything else the Imperium have to go up against is that much more scarier, it makes something as dangerous as a lasgun look lame.

[@conelord1424]

@@insertname3977 and honestly, it's crazy how big the jump goes. Like T'au common Pulse Rifles are gyro stabilized, fully auto weapons with thermal optics that fire out golfball sized plasma shots that heat your molecules till they rupture. Hits as hard as a bolter, and is fired in volleys

[@dureteheiral1793]

​@@conelord1424 why dont the engineer corp of the imperium of man dissected, reverse engineered Tau plasma bolter and adopted whatever that is possible to make a new guardsmen rifle...

[@eliasgvinp2141]

​@@dureteheiral1793 I see a lot of HERESY in this comment. Hey, comissar, have a look at this traitor

[@ZzVinniezZ]

It the definition of "One of them is nothing" "How about a thousand?"

[@onerxowns2202]

Still nothing

[@shademournthepegasi2366]

And yet they can boil a space marine in their armor due to the intense heat they hit with. I'd say Lasgun wins with enough of them. Yes one can't do shit but throw a thousand at an enemy and they won't be so tough anymore

[@ZzVinniezZ]

@@shademournthepegasi2366 and then we have hotshot lasgun that technically melt through armor of chaos marine like butter

[@shademournthepegasi2366]

@@ZzVinniezZ thank you. I mean come on. If it's the backbone of the guard next to the leman russ tank

[@Ring_student_yin_sang]

​@@onerxowns2202 say's the person that didn't get hit by a thousand of it or even a single one

[@karlmorgan8580]

My friend laughed at my lasguns once. So I hit his terminators with 60 shots. He wasn’t laughing afterwards

[@orionlogan8114]

Hoorah

[@shademournthepegasi2366]

FOR THE EMPEROR!

[@christophermetzger8183]

Yes if you flash enough lights even abaddon will eventually have a seizure

[@yvesdado9545]

​@@christophermetzger8183 i love this comment so much

[@StevDoesBigJumps]

That's like me shooting with two obliterators.

[@theraptorcommissar1015]

All's fun and games until you're sent to Cadia and your fellow Chaos Marines of hundreds of years is vaporized in seconds by those "flashlights" you joked about.

[@alfonseradorimperial642]

They've survives hundreds of years absorbing those lasgun fire

[@fangwu7576]

Not much can save you at that point other than hurtling a whole asteroid sized black stone fortress At something.

[@imperialhistati2348]

Chaos Marines. No marines are every vaporised in seconds. Doesn’t matter how many “flashlights” there is. If it’s a space marine? It takes time, tech, effort and experience. 3 of which the Astra Militarum doesn’t have…

[@zaniatnik]

RPed a Tauros Venator crew in an Only War campaign with my buddy. The GM pitted our mechanized infantry company against a heretical MI company. Led by an Iron Warriors’ Predator. The IWs might have laughed at “toyotas with flashlights” at first. Until our vehicle started running circles around them, punching hole by hole into their sides with a lascannon. Once the tank was disabled, the crew wasn’t laughing anymore. They were fleeing faster than a speeding Tauros. And I sheet you not, their sprinting speed was faster than our Venator’s full move tactical speed.

[@aoofmg6684]

​@@alfonseradorimperial642 and the guard stood for millenia pumping these bolts into them

[@weldonwin]

To quote White Dwarf Magazine, way back when the second edition IG Codex was released "The humble lasgun may not be the most potent weapon in the game, but when about 40 of them open up, some impressive holes start appearing in your opponent's battle line"

[@Nostroman_Praetor]

I once watched a Knight go down to five squads rolling the hottest wound rolls of their little plastic lives. It was awe inspiring.

[@PandaMationsCC]

Those who laugh at the lasgun have yet to be hit by twenty at once. Edit : Chill in the comments. I'm new to the game, and my only point of reference is a really old codex from when my dad was my age

[@mar71n32n0v1lLL0]

Twenty? Where are we, Luxemburg? The bare minimum amount of Guardsmen in any battlefield is a thousand, and that's considered critically under-manned...

[@paulglandorf4858]

​@@mar71n32n0v1lLL0 I think they were talking about the real ttrpg

[@shawnli9775]

@@paulglandorf4858 too bad mass conscripts are gone.

[@tyler1tanner]

Twenty thousand*

[@NoName-pd8pu]

Didn't someone on youtube say that the lasgun is pretty much a flashlight for xenos to pinpoint your location?

[@quinncykaluzniak5429]

Shine enough flashlights in God's eyes and they will go blind

[@obscurumveri5962]

The Emperor cannot be defeated so easily heretic.

[@quinncykaluzniak5429]

@@obscurumveri5962 why did you lump the emperor with the forces of chaos?

[@incognitopotato3516]

@@quinncykaluzniak5429 dude shut up or you’ll summon the inquisition. I don’t need them hear blowing up the planet when I just got my corpsestarch shop making a profit

[@brandonroach2169]

​@@quinncykaluzniak5429 he's called "The God Emperor" so

[@boredniko2406]

Lmao

[@tonymondelli1732]

Hey art of my Catachan was used in this video! She’s the one aiming the Laspistol and has silver hair when he mentions the Laspistol!

[@zm9126]

I'm not sure if I'm blind if it is already somewhere but does he credit you? Can't really tell if this is a "hey you used my art" in an angry or excited way.

[@ernest9868]

Link to your portfolio pls

[@tonymondelli1732]

@@zm9126 My character, not my art. I should’ve specified that more clearly. That’s on me

[@tonymondelli1732]

My character, not my art.

[@meager992]

Thanks for your contribution Tony

[@masterofoffending3908]

The most common lasgun patterns firing strenght can be manually adjusted from minimal that will leave a simple burn to maximum that can pearce throught several unprotected men. Of course this affects the amount of shots a battery can provide and lenght of service of the focusing lences of the weapon.

[@Rug0s]

Werent their guys in Gaunt's Ghost that always have their lassguns to Max

[@deauthorsadeptus6920]

And it is default one that everyone have. There is more powerful variants, and then straight up at handheld lasguns.

[@BaritoneMonkey]

@@Rug0s Yep. Can't remember what regiment it was, but they're the ones with the special glass scale armor.

[@timerwho3850]

I'd like to point out that a lasgun is easily capable of blowing off limbs. There's a quote I like where a chaos space marine says something along the lines of "The Legionnaire that scoffs at a lasgun has not charged across an open field against a hundred of them"

[@BigMikeMcBastard]

In the novel The Wolftime this happens to a primaris marine of the Unnumbered Sons. They were fighting to reclaim a world from Chaos and were fighting traitor humans armed largely with lasguns. A primaris marine exposed himself to fire from hundreds of enemies and they literally vaporized enough of his armor with lasguns to begin penetrating it, killing the marine in seconds.

[@yellowhoodie5299]

.308 JHP could do that easily as well

[@codyspegel6317]

Lorewise a standard lasgun shot is powerful enough to rip a unarmored mans arm off in a single shot. One might do diddly but a thousand does a fuckton of diddling.

[@giathuanleviet4138]

Iirc a lasgun shot is suppose to be equal the force of a .50 bmg

[@zacattack32441]

​@@giathuanleviet4138 exactly, it can cause a fist sized hole if shot at concrete. It heats up the concrete so much that it explodes

[@Bananasnotasong]

@@zacattack32441 That's a fair amount of diddly right there.

[@codyspegel6317]

@@giathuanleviet4138 I've heard several accounts of what's possible somewhere between blowing an arm off to blowing holes in concrete. But lasguns also have a variable charge setting so we can assume some level of variability. Either way, it'll hurt.

[@codyspegel6317]

@@zacattack32441 I've read from blowing arms off to blowing holes in concrete but assume that is down to variable charge setting on the Weapon. You don't need a 50 bmg to kill unarmored cultists but at the same time you might need to put a Ork wearing steel plate on his ass. It's just how long you want your power pack to last.

[@MistaZiggy]

The lasgun killed everything that wasn’t lasgun resistant

[@Arcothefox]

Getting hit by a lasgun when not wearing armour will blow a hole though you. So that even shows that despite the simplicity of a guardsman's armour, it's still strong enough to protect against a weapon powerful enough to blow your arm off.

[@dimitris2936]

I don't remember the quote but something about a trillion las guns lol.

[@AwesomeAcidika]

Those that mock the humble lasgun have never run across a field of a thousand of them.

[@tiredman99]

Fun fact about the Las-Shotgun is that it's basically been outlawed by the imperium and you can only get one by modifying it yourself or having someone do it for you

[@mahogany7712]

lore wise why?

[@tiredman99]

@@mahogany7712 probably because you're changing a design made by the emperor himself? I don't exactly remember

[@gruk5319]

Now I've been hit by lasguns before in a game as a speed freak ork warband to say this is indeed the truth,them zoggin flashlights ain't a joke when half the mfs using them manage to break through due to failed rolls

[@OxTheHerdzz]

One Lasgun does diddly squat. But one thousand Lasguns? Now that's a lot of diddly

[@cinder1667]

Lmao, I’d like to imagine at least 1 chaos astartes taking off his helmet and getting clapped by some guardsman who took advantage of it.

[@rentherengend1306]

"We are weak, but we are many."

[@johnradetzki1860]

"He who doubts the power of a lasgun has never walked through a battlefield of a thousand of them." -Some Imperial General

[@domschra]

If the lasgun pierces you die If it doesnt you get cooked - cause everyone forgets theres about 100.000.000 to 3.000.000.000 in any given sector at any moment

[@johnnodadgriffin6432]

The lasgun is nothing without the will of the guard

[@QixTheDS]

The humble lasgun, that in its own universe is considered weak, is strong as hell compared to our shit.

[@greatninja2590]

Still if its an actual lazer then a mirror will solve the problem

[@InquisitorBoomBoom]

​@@greatninja2590 The mirror will be melted immediately upon direct fire.

[@greatninja2590]

@@InquisitorBoomBoom a perfect mirror can do that even if future humans can't still do that, modern humans can at least make a mirror 99.9999% reflective so what ever the laser power is gets reduced by 99.9999% the rest is fired back at the enemy. obviously it would weaken over time but that's basically how body armor works anyway with bullets you'd at least survive a couple of shots before actually melting.

[@JungéShikisanki]

“You can’t just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars!” -Trazyn

[@TheMariusDarkwolf]

Challenge Accepted -Humanity

[@labbit35]

Who is stronger? A demon army or A trillion men with a humble lasgun

[@onerxowns2202]

Demon army stronger

[@labbit35]

@@onerxowns2202 wrong

[@jakeedmondang5224]

I mean a trillion men sharing one gun kinda defeats the purpose having the gun doesn't it?

[@labbit35]

@@jakeedmondang5224 well better guns are given to stronger troops but the even the standard the guns are pretty strong sooo yeah I don’t care if they have the same gun

[@alfonseradorimperial642]

You can just make a mass produced flying drone army with battery and lasguns, or if it's a demon army then an exterminatus would be authorized

[@tdofducksplays]

Also don’t forget that it absolutely ruins the days of the traitor guardsmen but as soon as anything with armour shows up then it becomes a flashlight.

[@GuitarsRockForever]

I forgot where it was from, but I remember 12 of them aiming at the same point, can go through tank armor.

[@blackvial]

Don't throw your power packs in a fire for an emergency charge in front of the tech priest, you may just get a power axe upside the head for it.

[@bringerovdeath]

you'll get issued a plasma gun for such an offence.

[@TheWaspAboutToAttackYou]

The lasgun truly deserve the title as the imperium's flashlight, it can be imported to every man and women of the imperium to shine hope upon the grimdark future of the 40k universe

[@silverseth7]

Truly, bathe the heretic in the light of the Emperor.

[@FMHikari]

Lasguns are my favourite weapon of that universe. Despite different functioning IRL, they'd still be quite similar. The main difference IRL would be a rangefinder to auto-adjust the lens set for that range.

[@tdpuuhailee8222]

Laser: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

[@andreasottohansen7338]

To quote a wise man "A single Lasgun does diddly, but 50 Lasguns? Now that is a whole lot of diddly"

[@grincipher8045]

I suddenly remembered a quote saying "The mightiest weapons of the imperium pale in comparison to trillions of lasguns firing simultaneously." or smthng like that im paraphrasing

[@scratthesquirrel5242]

if only the cadians had only aimed their rifles up for a minute

[@majormajorasic]

They did aftet Cadia cracked, as the atmosphere dispersed Imperial ships could see walls of lasguns shoot into space towards Traitor navy.

[@sylaconnocalys8443]

Those who scoff at the power of the lasgun have never had to run through a field of a thousand of them.

[@anthem1403]

Consider the fact that these things can blow a human apart like a 50cal and in the 40K community it’s considered a flashlight

[@witwunsz4740]

The lasgun can also be used as a grenade or charged in the sun

[@gmailquinn]

Hell even body heat, I think?

[@Beep1980]

Imperial Army, shining flashlights to the enemys of the Imperium for 10 thousend years. 😂

[@mahogany7712]

the Imperium's Lasgun are probably the strongest Infantry held Laser weaponry in Fiction, but the setting makes these puppies like flashlights. I've read wh40k fanfictions that focuses on the guard limited only to Ork Vs guard stories, PDF soldiers vs non-Waagghh Orks(were they called fearal orks?) or just Necromunda stories/Underhive stories where they are really valued being able to blow pieces of man in one shot vs their traditional Stubbers and the authors make them shine with in regards to the fluff as well.

[@OvercutHood]

"He who doubts the humble Lasgun has yet to charge across a field of a thousand of them" - some imperial commander

[@hideshisface1886]

People forget that humble lasgun is strong enough to sever an arm of a human with a single shot. And this is a weapon that is used to arm arguably the biggest army in 40k. No other army, except maybe orks and tyranids reaches similar numbers. And these factions do not really need logistics.

[@WeOnlyEatSoup]

My weapon of choice in the 41st millennium

[@mikkelnpetersen]

*ONE* lasgun does diddily *ONE MILLION* lasguns fired at the same time does a WHOLE *LOT* of diddilly.

[@SomeGuy-gc8zs]

One lasgun does diddly squat; a hundred does a hell of a lot. *And it's never just one.*

[@dualwieldroxas358]

Tbf, a single lasgun still does decent damage against anything that isn't Terminator plate

[@timerwho3850]

Straight up a single lasgun can still blow off limbs, while a hundred of them can melt through armor with enough concentrated fire.

[@im50yearsold]

@@timerwho3850 There's a reason why the guard are the real heroes of the imperium. Even the humble lasgun is very powerful. It's just that rank and file fodder don't make for good stories

[@Baconator5642]

@@im50yearsold I think that saying the average guardsmen doesn't make a good story drastically undercuts the potential of them, there are so many good storys in various universes and real life that revolve entirely around fodder that are amazing

[@lordsergal8783]

​@@im50yearsold Gaunt's Ghosts and the Death Korps of Krieg would beg to differ.

[@garranto]

It really says something about the 40k universe that something like the lasgun, in real life, would arguably be one of the more terrifying weapons to exist. Especially at the hands of everyday infantry. Yet in the 40k universe. On its own it's one of the weakest things. Like I'd rather get hit by lasgun, than a bolter. I mean I'd rather not get hit at all by either but it's 40k. You getting hit.

[@maddorori817]

I'm sorry, I died laughing when you mentioned the lasgun being the Imperium's "flashlight"

[@TonyWulf66]

The greatest feat with Imperial Las weapons is that they scale with the power source, and just need a bigger weapon to handle it.

[@Supernaught00]

Oh my dice HATE me. I roll an impressive amount of 1's. Back when I played the table top, I constantly based my strategies around the thought, "Wtf am I gonna do after I roll 60d6 and come up with 50 1's..."

[@ThePigKnight]

The lasgun isn’t just a laser rifle. It’s a disintegration death ray.

[@randomelite4562]

It isn’t.

[@nickhosford7801]

Saw a game where 5 Nurgle Terminators deep struck on Guard players flank (3 or 4 squads of guardsmen). Every turn the terminators would wipe a squad, and every turn the storm of return fire would drop 1 or 2 terminators. The Guard kept the table side at the end 😅

[@wolvo5441]

That final warning was chilling

[@hideinthehole]

This video somehow stands out to me from other 40k info shorts. I think your choice of illustrations and your concise points really make this top tier.

[@MegaCommander007]

The funny thing is, even the standard lasgun could be ridiculously strong. The only reason they aren't is because they are toned down in production to produce more lesser strength lasguns over fewer higher strength lasguns to fill the hands of the unlucky astra-militarum grunts who are probably gonna get pasted before they even get the chance to fire the bloody thing. But such is life in 40K...

[@Peter_Turbo4]

Incorrect. The Lasgun hits like a Barrett .50 AMR. It’s just that the enemies of 40k are tough as hell.

[@deauthorsadeptus6920]

Well, anything weak just died out long ago.

[@vordeseite7273]

The Lasgun kinda reminds me of Hyaenas. Not weak with being alone, but stronger when combined with others.

[@gmailquinn]

And there are eighty hyenas to a pack

[@Notbatman374]

"The Legionnaire that scoffs at a lasgun has not charged across an open field against a hundred of them." - Maor the Scarred

[@melchiorkohler2586]

"those who laugh about the power of the lasgun has never run over a field of tenthousands of them"

[@BigJubble]

They are also incredibly durable and reliable due to having basically no moving parts (meaning if need be a solider could beat someone to death using their gun as a club and it would still fire just fine). Can come with different power settings that soldiers can switch between when they need to either save ammo or hit harder. And can even act as a rather potent grenade if you shoot the energy pack. (which is potent enough to rip a hole in the armour of a dreadnaught in one of the Gaunts Ghosts books.)

[@velarswood]

Well I only played the old wahammer rts back in the day but those lasguns turned most enemies into Swiss fairly quickly.

[@TheSamvichMan]

ahh yes, a gun that can vaporize you is called a flashlight

[@MrRobert17777]

Watched a video and done some research. Lasguns and lasweapons, aren't actually laser weapons. Many books had stated that they shoot las bolts and have recoil, similar to modern weaponary. Also it seems that las batteries are more than an energy storing tech, but a compact autonomous generator of sorts, which stores the energy through synthesis of heat into some form of highly dence gas or other compound. My best bet is that las weaponary is some form of highly efficient plasma/ion weaponary, capable of condensing such substances Into bolts, and accelerating them away at breakneck speeds. Which makes sense considering that a form of las weaponary was used by human colonizers during the dark age of technology

[@cosmicfails2053]

Man, playing Darktide and you really do begin to realise that super heated energy blasts FUCKING HURT both you and the enemy lasguns do some work to meaty human bodies

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

Not every regiment uses lasguns, backwater regiments might use modern day firearms or even black powder muskets. The idea is you field so many small arms to fire at something enough the chances of it surviving decrease

[@Bakuryu0083]

depending on the lore source, Lasguns have either the effectiveness of a decent high end laser pointer, or can flash boil a person in an instant.

[@gerobakpangsit-gw8dt]

those who underestimated the power of lasgun has never faced thousands of them

[@markouellette8973]

People make fun of it, but if I got offered one I'd take it in a heartbeat..

[@sake3857]

Ngl, the first artwork is 70% of my like... damn it's so eye catching!

[@Mashedpotata]

Do an in depth on the lance batteries and orbital bombardment

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

I would like to think that a laser that has both the recoil of a ballistic gun and dangerously explosive power packs would definitely be a quite powerful laser weapon.

[@undertow619]

"When the 20 foot tall, genetically perfect, apex predator gets mowed down by a bunch of dipshit farmers with flashlights!" Russian Badger, 2019

[@alexandermcfarlane4019]

1 lasgun's a joke. 100 is your worst nightmare. Alternatively 1 lasgun's a joke. 100 is a joke with a punchline.

[@weldonwin]

Imperial Guard: We Have Lasguns! Traitor Marine: One of those does nothing! Imperial Guard: How About A Hundred? Traitor Marine: ...Wolverines? *(Gets Shot To Pieces)*

[@SeedemFeedemRobots]

"use a lasgun, and if that don't work... use more lasgun" -Archmagos Conagher of Forge World Texos

[@jackmason6788]

They all luagh at you... Until you pick up 50 dice

[@PenumbranWolf]

Counter point: Tau Pulse Rifles punch clean through flak armor.

[@Alertacobra12]

He who doubts the effectiveness of the lasgun has never walked into the line of sight of a thousand of them

[@saydaddy91]

My DM said it best “in any other fictional setting the Lazgun would be incredibly overpowered it does the damage of a 50 cal in the body of an m16 the only reason it isn’t effective in warhammer is because everything that it is effective against is already extinct”

[@Chlorate299]

Such high technology that they've discovered a way to give a laser weapon _recoil_

[@necrosteel5013]

Lasguns don't feel like laser of any kind They have a detectable sound and have recoil, this likely means that the lasgun is firing a sort of projectile, I think it is some sort of particle accelerator gun.

[@mondaynugget6503]

Then they use “Feel no pain” or “Disgustingly resilient”

[@dylanmontgomery5450]

Surprised there isn't a crank on them like fallout 4's laser musket for emergency chargeing

[@gmailquinn]

Literally anything is an emergency charge

[@hipsterviking2658]

That is why the Imperium is called The Wall Of Guns. Orks do have the equal DAKKA to combat the Imperium, but they are uncoordinated.

[@gemmahilton1271]

"Anyone who says a lasgun is week hasn't tired running though a field of 1000s"

[@mycommentpwnz]

"Anyone who has ever laughed at the power of the Las-Gun has never ran across a field while being shot-at by 10,000 of them."

[@sirneko1278]

I really like how the imperium dont just use las tech only but also regular amo. It give them a very cool and realistic fell to them.

[@ordenfalke2580]

The last sentence made me really believe again into my tabletop infantry

[@Scream_Lord]

In any other SciFi setting the Lasgun would be the most powerful and versitile weapon in the universe that a single man can carry.

[@randomelite4562]

Nope. Plenty of other sci-fi universes have weapons superior or equal to. Star Trek for one, hand-held phasers disintegrate any person they hit.

[@Scream_Lord]

@@randomelite4562 The only reason the Lasgun seems so weak in 40K is because it's up against godlike factions of hyper advanced aliens, and literal demons. In just about any other setting the lasgun would vaporize its targets.

[@randomelite4562]

@@Scream_Lord I- Dude, 1. Never called the lasgun weak. 2. You’re completely wrong. The lasgun is akin to a .50 BMG in terms of damage to a unarmored human. In “just about any other setting” specifically sci-fi, it ranges from a powerful upgrade to “This is extremely primitive.”

[@shanehudson3995]

60 lasguns clipped the last wound off of a Knight. My opponent was irritated.

[@commissarthorne3894]

Ah, the lasgun. When one isn't enough, we add 200.

[@Dakooties]

"If the Emperor protects He does it with Cadian steel and massed Las fire!" -Major Blaskane

[@xyzen9673]

Lasguns are the perfect rifle in any other sci fi setting... The problem is the 40k universe is just so unbelievably overpowered that it gets treated as a flashlight

[@snowylynx36]

The Lasgun is so underrated. In lore the thing is capable of drilling a hole through solid steel, and still have enough punch to cook the guy on the other side. They're cheap, but effective.

[@tommothedog]

If you look at the lore, how shields work, turning absorbed shots into light, the amount of energy pumped out by a hot shot lasgun would likely cause a nuclear explosion.

[@zacattack32441]

There are a few different way shields work depending on the size. I don't remember exactly how many of the smaller personal shields work, but Void Shields work by shunting whatever was shot at it into the warp.

[@deauthorsadeptus6920]

These ones shields are: 1) Rare af 2)They heat up while working. A lot.

[@recruit-legionary]

Dune moment

[@leonardopardo9178]

That Las Boom Stick is pure culture

[@aoofmg6684]

They roll a one every now and then. Now make 70 saves for your 5 terminators xD

[@malasian]

Darktide did an incredible job depicting just how powerful a Lasgun actually is.

[@particularplaypaint5384]

Ones that laugh at the power of humble lasgun has never ran through a field of thousand of them.

[@senyaborovikov1015]

The Lasgun may be a flashlight. But it is the flashlight which shines the holy light of the Imperium into the darkness of the galaxy.

[@mrbones06]

What was that quote from an officer something like “a man who says one lasgun is not dangerous has never run through a field of them”

[@Psyker_Unredactus]

I would argue its less a laser and more of an energy bolt. Something with force and mass behind it. The way LASguns are described as firing is heavily inconsistent. Flopping between having recoil and having no recoil at all. Could vary between Forge Worlds I suppose but that almost doesn't make sense since this stuff is supposed to be Standard Issue and work reliably the same thanks to its STC blueprints being widely available throughout the Imperium's industrial worlds.

[@nickellison2785]

I’d imagine the recoil is caused by the force of the superheated air expanding extremely quickly, with that mini explosion in the barrel both causing the recoil and the ‘crack’ sound that lasguns make

[@deneios1905]

Lightning creates a boom by superheating the gasses in the arc what creates a overpressure that implodes when the arc is gone and the air rapidly cools. This cooling creates a low pressure that the surrounding air mass will rush to. Same principle would apply to lasguns. The boom and recoil would be dependant on how high the lasgun is set. Because by increasing energy you would increase the amount of gas superheated by the shot thus creating a bigger expansion. On the receiving end the shot would vaporize water or material to steam/gas. Instant water vaporisation would create a steam explosion. 1l water is roughly 1,7m³ of steam. So depending how much water is vaporized, you are going to have a bad day.