Metal Blaster

The Metal Blaster is a unique AER9 laser rifle added to Fallout 3 with the add-on The Pitt.

Characteristics

 * It is repaired with the standard AER9 laser rifle or the Wazer Wifle.
 * It deals considerably more damage than the normal AER9 laser rifle.
 * It lacks the precision of a standard laser rifle, making it less effective for long-range attacks.

The Metal Blaster can fire 455 cells, or about 19 full batteries, before breaking. That's 631 fewer cells than a regular laser rifle.

Variants
Variations of the AER9 exist in Fallout 3 and its add-ons:
 * Laser rifle
 * Wazer Wifle - This unique variant of the AER9 has higher damage and durability, as well as a larger magazine. It is obtained from Biwwy in Little Lamplight for five hundred caps or free with the Child at Heart perk.
 * Tri-beam laser rifle (Broken Steel add-on) - The Tri-beam laser rifle is a variant of the AER9 that fires three high-powered beams per shot - similar to the Metal Blaster - though it does require three microfusion cells every time the trigger is pulled. This weapon is not unique, dropped from super mutant overlords and is not repairable with anything but other Tri-beam laser rifles. It was first made available in Broken Steel.


 * Operation: Anchorage add-on includes an unused DLC-specific version of the laser rifle. It is identical to the normal laser rifle in both statistics and appearance.  Its intended purpose in the DLC is unknown and it was cut from the final release, rendering it accessible only through the use of console commands.
 * A "demo" version of the Laser Rifle is included in Fallout 3, presumably left from the game's E3 demo. It does one point less damage per shot and less than half the critical damage than the standard variant, but has a much higher critical chance percentage.  It is not used anywhere in the game and is only accessible through the use of console commands.

Location
It can be obtained in the Pitt by bringing Everett 50 steel ingots.

Behind the scenes
The Metal Blaster is the second item in two-part reference to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Two characters, Master and Blaster, correspond to the Metal Master Armor and the Metal Blaster, respectively. Raider Blastmaster Armor also exists in Fallout 3.