Dark Beam

The Dark Beam is a weapon of Luminoth origin that mimics the dark energy type of Dark Aether. This weapon is compatible with Samus Aran's arm cannon, and was integrated into her suit during the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. So far it has only made an appearance in that game, and is highly unlikely to appear again.

Description
The Dark Beam fires strange energy similar to the native type of Dark Aether. The beam's main composition seems to be more matter than energy, firing a globular mass of dark "goo" that clings to walls and objects, most importantly targets, which dissipates after a short time. Normal shots resemble swirling flattened disks of this matter, trailed by dark energy and globular emanations. Larger concentrations cling to objects, hardening into a brittle shell on contact (See Entangler below.) Large quantities of this matter charged with energy seem to open highly hazardous dimensional rifts (See Darkburst.)

The Dark Beam has the ability to activate many types of crystalline technology throughout the surfaces of the mirror planets. Firing the Dark Beam at Light-charged crystals can have many effects, ranging from lifting a platform, to moving machinery. The Dark Beam cancels the functioning of Light Crystals and Light Beacons, causing protective umbrellas of light energy to disappear on the surface of Dark Aether. Fortunately, this effect only lasts temporarily, and can be reversed at anytime with application of the Light Beam. Furthermore, the Dark Beam opens Dark Portals to the surface of Dark Aether, and is used to open purple/black doors charged with dark energy.

Just as with the other Luminoth-designed projectile weapons, the Dark Beam has a limited amount of ammunition. Destroying targets and containers with the Light Beam will give ammunition for the Dark Beam, and vice versa is also true. The Dark Beam's base ammunition capacity is 50, but ammo expansions can be obtained, increasing the maximum ammunition capacity by increments of 50. A maximum ammunition capacity of 250 is possible.

There is an ample supply of similarities between the Dark Beam and the Ice Beam. One obvious similarity is that the Dark Beam uses the same "raised" Arm Cannon configuration as the Ice Beam. Second, the Dark Beam has a similar purpose, as it is mainly used for slowing down and immobilizing targets, just as the Ice Beam was. However, the Dark Beam has several advantages, such as a higher rate of fire, a much more destructive Charge Combo, and an overall higher capability to cause damage (Seeing how it is able to heavily damage anything within the "Light Universe" that is, anything outside of Dark Aether.) The Dark Beam is used as an alternative to the Ice Beam, in the events of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

The Luminoth originally designed the Dark Beam as a means to combat the Ing Horde, by the theory that the energy of the Dark Beam would overload the creatures of Dark Aether, and in effect destroy them. Once finally tested, this weapon was discovered to be quite useless against the Ing, as it only caused minor damage. With further trial and error, the Light and Annihilator beams were created, which proved to be quite more efficient against the Ing.

Entangler
A charged mass of dark energy has the strange ability to encase targets, and harden into a brittle shell. The Entangler, the Charge Beam technique for the Dark Beam, exploits this quality. Firing the Entangler will encase most creatures within a certain radius completely, immobilizing and providing the perfect opportunity to shatter the target with a single Missile. This technique is highly effective for use against the highly troublesome Dark Pirate Commandos, and also effective when used in tandem with the charged Light Beam against Dark Grenchlers. It is not necessary to directly hit a target with the Entangler, as it will attract to any possible targets within a short radius. Targets hit with the Entangler will be "sticky" for a short time, and cause any other creatures that come into contact with this target to freeze as well, but this will only occur before the dark matter has hardened around the original target.