The E540 Halberd is a gunner weapon available to main battle tanks, among other vehicles. It is unlocked through purchase with Certification Points or Daybreak Cash.
The E540 Halberd is a single-shot rocket launcher, firing a potent rocket at a relatively high speed. Designed as an anti-vehicle weapon, the Halberd deals considerable damage-per-shot compared to other gunner weapons, however this comes at the expense of overall damage-per-second, with a lengthy reload between each shot hampering the weapon's effectiveness in raw damage competition.
The Halberd's single-shot firing mode, while presenting clear weaknesses in one regard, can also be played as a strength. The Halberd is the only gunner weapon capable of killing standard infantry classes in a single hit, where Flak Armor is not in use.
In addition, important when considering most main battle tank cannons only fire one to two shots, the Halberd is capable of outputting a considerable amount of damage while minimizing the amount of time the vehicle must stay exposed, whereas other weapons such as the M20 Basilisk must stay exposed for extended periods of time to maximize their damage output.
Unlike most similar equipment, gunner weapons produced by Nanite Systems used atop main battle tanks are empire-specific, thus purchases made with Daybreak Cash only allow the item to be used on other characters of the same faction.
With any vehicle weapon, it is possible to get both Ribbons and Medals. Each Ribbon is a standard reward for achieving a set amount of kills with a vehicle weapon. Medals relate to how many overall kills you have with the vehicle weapon.
Dev Note: Adjusting this multiplier means that this weapon now one-shot kills on a headshot on targets with 1000 health or less, even through Flak Armor. Heavies with an active Resist Shield, full health, and Flak Armor will survive a direct headshot.
Reload certification now scales from 5% to 10%, instead of 0.1sec. to 0.5sec.
Direct damage reduced from 1000 to 600.
Maximum indirect damage reduced from 450 to 150.
Minimum indirect damage increased from 1 to 50.
The 'Light Anti-Vehicle' and 'Explosive Splash' resist types received major changes in this update.
Dev Note: These changes give Halberd back its one-hit kill for bodyshots against non-Flak Armored infantry targets with 1100hp or less, as well as one-shot capabilities against non-Composite Armored Flash ATVs.