Disruptor/Legends



A disruptor was a particularly powerful energy weapon often preferred by assassins. Disruptors were illegal on many worlds, and in many places merely possessing one would earn an instant death sentence. Even under the Empire, only a select few Imperial Sercurity agents were allowed to carry them. Examples included the Galactic Solutions Industries GSI-21D disruptor pistol, Merr-Sonn Model MSD-32 disruptor pistol and the Tenloss DX-2 disruptor pistol and DXR-6 disruptor rifle.

Disruptor mechanics
On a basic level, a disruptor worked by using large quantitites of blaster gas (such as Tibanna gas), many times more than a standard blaster. The energy beam fired by a disruptor was generated in almost the same manner as the particle beam fired by a blaster, though the beam used much more blaster gas. A disruptor's internal components were quite different than that of a blaster's, though. The blaster gas used to generate the beam underwent a considerably different transformation that formed the disruptor beam. The resultant blast was short-ranged, less cohesive, and extraordinarily powerful; it differed from a standard blaster in that it created an energy wave consisting of disruptive, nonharmonic energy pulses that excited a target's molecules to the point that it destroyed the bonds that held their constituent atoms together, painfully. A full power shot from a disruptor rifle could do this in less than a full second, vaporizing a being almost instantly. A disruptor was capable of disintegrating a humanoid target, turning it to a pile of ash, and was quite effective against other solid targets, even capable of damaging starship hulls, though the massive amount of blaster gas used by disruptors made them inefficient and impractical for starship use.

As a drawback, in addition to being illegal and short-ranged, disruptors generally only had enough ammunition for a few shots, and were incapable of firing rapidly or being set to stun. However, disruptor pistols were capable of being set to overload, which greatly increased their power for the next shot they took -- unfortunately, resulting in the firearm being rendered useless by the damage done to the weapon's internal systems in focusing even more energy for what was already an unstable source of power.

Bounty hunters like Boba Fett used disruptors on kill missions.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
 * Rogue Planet
 * Han Solo at Stars' End
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
 * Star Wars: Empire at War