No Man’s Sky: How to Make a Plasma Launcher and Use it

Plasma Launcher – No Man’s Sky

If you’re wanting to cause some serious destruction to planets in No Man’s Sky, you’re going to want to get your hands on a Plasma Launcher. These are incredibly powerful plasma weapons that can take considerable chunks out of a planet’s terrain. Here’s how you can get your own.

Luckily, acquiring the Plasma Launcher is part of No Man’s Sky’s story as a blueprint that you’ll pick up early on in the game. You’ll see a quest pop up which requires you to go and check out a distress signal. Simply travel to the location and speak to the alien that awaits you to receive the blueprint for the Plasma Launcher.

For those unaware, the Plasma Launcher is essentially a much more volatile version of the mining laser, capable of destroying land rather than just mining resources from it like the laser does. It can also be used to deal significant damage to enemies.

Now that you have the blueprint, you’ll need to craft it. First, you’ll need some Plutonium, Heridium, and Carbon. Once you’ve got enough of each of these, simply open up your Multi-Tool inventory and go to a blank slot. Click on the slot, select ‘Install Tech’, and then highlight the option for the Plasma Launcher (it may be named something else). Press X to build it and you’re good to go out and cause some chaos on a planet.

You can fire the Plasma Launcher with L1, though you’ll have to charge it up before it can unleash its power. A full charge of the Plasma Launcher provides you with five reloads, though this can be upgraded. Other upgrades include bouncing grenades, a larger blast radius, homing grenades, and much more volatile explosions. In order to get these upgrades, you’ll need to find blueprints along with the different resources and requirements. If you need any more help with No Man’s Sky, check out our robust wiki full of guides and tips.