Blaster / Legends A blaster was a ranged weapon that fired bursts of particle beam energy called " blaster bolts " from a replaceable power pack . The most commonly used weapon in the galaxy , blasters ' intense beams consisted of compacted high - energy particles and intense light that could kill or paralyze their target , depending on the setting . Blasters ranged in size and power from compact pistols to large , heavy rifles to starship - mounted blaster cannons . Some beings used blasters from their youth : Anakin Skywalker owned a small ion blaster in his childhood , Leia Organa was given a sporting blaster when she was a teenager , and Mandalorian children were given blasters , along with extensive training , prior to becoming thirteen standard years old . Throughout the Clone Wars , a clone trooper usually held a blaster rifle if not any type of specialist . Name . The term " blaster " was often used interchangeably with the term " laser " in everyday conversation , both denoting the same type of particle beam weapon . However , technically speaking , the laser was a much older weapon design than the blaster . And , unlike those of lasers , blasters ' firing cycles had more proficient recharge rates , allowing them to attain a much higher rate of fire , though at a loss of range and accuracy . There was also some dispute as to which size restrictions denoted a " blaster . " For example , blasters were commonly thought of as handheld weapons only , but starship - mounted blaster cannons could fall into this category as well . Blaster mechanics . Operation . Instead of firing a coherent beam of light like the archaic laser , the blaster fired a compressed , focused , high - energy particle - beam that was very destructive , commonly referred to as a " bolt . " Generating the bolt relied on two components : a gas cartridge filled with an energy - rich blaster gas ( typically Tibanna ) and a power pack . When the blaster was fired , a small amount of gas moved from the cartridge through the Heter valve into the gas conversion enabler chamber , commonly called the " XCiter " . In this chamber , the power pack energized the gas , before it passed into the actuating blaster module , where the now extremely high - energy gas was transformed into a compressed beam of intense energy particles , coupled with intense light . The particle beam was then focused through a prismatic crystal or a similar device , which generated a deadly high - energy particle beam , fired from the emitter nozzle as a bolt of glowing energy . The color of the bolt depended on the gas used and the type of focusing device , and could vary from red to blue to orange to white . A side effect of firing blasters was the gas conversion enabler heating up as gas was energized by the power pack , which could cause blasters to overheat , sometimes to the point of destruction . Additionally , a small amount of ozone was emitted as a trace product of the bolt emerging from the emitter nozzle , lending to blaster bolts a distinctive smell that Han Solo characterised as being like " burnt meat " . Ammunition . Most personal blasters had two kinds of ammunition : a gas cartridge and a power cell . Blaster gas cartridges could typically provide for up to five hundred shots before needing replacement . Most blaster power packs could supply energy for up to one hundred shots . Certain more powerful weapons put greater demands on the gas cartridge , power pack , or both : less powerful weapons , like the Drearian Defense Conglomerate Defender sporting blaster pistol , relied largely on the power cell and used only a small quantity of gas , while very powerful weapons , such as the illegal disruptor , used much larger amounts of gas . Still other weapons , namely those dating from earlier times , employed a kind of removable power cell / cartridge which supplied enough energy ( though at weaker levels ) to make total expenditure seldom . Most blasters also had a stun setting , which fed power through a secondary emitter , bypassing the gas chamber to create a ring - shaped electromagnetic burst that disrupted the target ' s nervous system , often leaving them unconscious . Blaster bolts themselves carried no heat . On impact , however , their displacement of matter produced kinetic energy that causes heat : the atmosphere was displaced by the bolt ' s passage ( causing the blaster ' s iconic sound ) ; materials struck by bolts tended to deform and fuse ; and liquids inside organic bodies instantly changed state to steam , expanding and doing terrible damage to surrounding tissue . Consequently , bolts usually dissipated in a small , but violent , explosion of extreme heat and force upon contact with an unshielded surface , sometimes leaving blast points . Weapons such as Han Solo ' s DL - 44 heavy blaster pistol and the E - 11 blaster rifle could cause incredible destruction , and had the power to blow large chunks from stone walls and smaller holes and pockmarks out of durasteel bulkheads , as seen in Han Solo and Luke Skywalker ' s raid on Detention Block AA - 23 in 0 BBY . History and usage . The oldest known weapon that could be called a blaster was used by an ancient droid of an unknown model employed by the Rakata n Infinite Empire . This weapon was considered to be extremely up - to - date compared to the blasters of the year 3956 BBY . The first blasters developed by the greater galaxy were reverse - engineered from Rakatan technology after the collapse of the Infinite Empire . These were heavy artillery weapons that combined large energy conductors with huge power generators . These early blasters were destructive but were slow to fire , temperamental , and difficult to move . As more efficient energy sources were developed , blasters became smaller and more practical , becoming anti - infantry emplacements and then handheld weapons known as " beam - tube s " . These consisted of backpack power generators with a hose coming out of the side that connected to a handheld focusing tube . All of the equipment that created the blaster beam was contained in the backpack and was fired through the hose . The beam - tube was the dominant weapon of the elite infantry of Xim the Despot , the Duinarbulon Star Lancers , around 25 , 130 BBY and came to displace heatbeam s and plasma cannon s ( both of which used lasers to heat plasma ) because they were safer to carry and required less maintenance . Beam - tubes were replaced by " pulse - wave blaster s " in 7811 BBY . These weapons produced a more powerful beam and had a much greater rate of fire . The pulse - wave weapons of Waymancy Hollow dramatically overpowered the Galactic Republic during the Waymancy Storm conflict until the Republic was able to reverse - engineer the Sif - Alulan process to produce pulse - wave blasters of its own . The next innovation in blaster technology was the " triple blaster " , which dated back to the early Galactic Republic . It worked by using three separate weapons connected to the same targeting system , often coordinated in sets of two or four and fired simultaneously at a target . Triple blasters had become exceedingly rare by the rise of the Empire . Pulse - wave weapons were still in extensive use at the time of the Great Sith War around 4000 BBY , but lost out to the triple blaster as they were imprecise and lacked range . Further developments in the lead up to the Mandalorian Wars led to the decline of triple blaster technology as what is traditionally thought of as " the blaster " was created : a self - contained unit that could produce bolts by itself with no additional equipment . Blasters were a mature technology from this point , and blasters from the Clone Wars were considered identical in operation to their successors from the Galactic Civil War twenty years later . Blasters rapidly displaced the slugthrower as the primary infantry weapon owing to their greater ammunition capacity , power , and lighter ammunition compared to slugs . However , slugthrowers were still considered to be more useful than blasters in certain environments , such as exceptionally humid locales like jungles which might destroy a blaster ' s delicate internal components . Slugthrowers could also be silenced more easily than blasters and did not produce a visible bolt . An updated version of blaster technology developed during the Clone Wars were " " stealth " blasters " , exemplified by the DC - 19 " Stealth " carbine used by the Republic ' s clone shadow troopers . The DC - 19 had a sound suppressor unit that allowed the user to operate the blaster in virtually complete silence , and also had an alternate stealth firing mode that used a refined mixture of tibanna gas , making the bolt invisible to the naked eye . However , the invisible tibanna mix had to be reloaded after every ten shots , and there was a required cool down time between each individual shot to protect the blaster ' s dampeners from overheating . A further development of this was the Nightstinger sporting blaster rifle . Another development during the Galactic Civil War was the " autoblaster " . Designed for the B - wing starfighter , it had an even higher rate of fire than other blasters but did not become commonly available until after the Battle of Endor . The most common personal weapon in the galaxy by the rise of the Empire , blasters were often used not only by military personnel , but by civilians as protection . They were more commonly seen in the Outer Rim worlds , though small , concealable hold - out blasters were frequently used by social elite , such as Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian . Many establishments , such as the Cantina in Mos Eisley , had restrictions against use of blasters , though these were often overlooked if the conflict remained small . The most common manufacturer of blasters during the Galactic Civil War was BlasTech , which had contracts with both the Imperial Military and the Alliance to Restore the Republic . It also manufactured the " Protector " civilian fighter - grade blaster line . Blaster accessories . Many blasters had side attachments and accessories to aid in targeting , accuracy , rate of fire , and grip . Some known attachments included targeting laser s , electronic scopes , and larger power packs . Delta Squad ' s DC - 17m interchangeable blasters had sniper and anti - armor attachments for adaptability in unpredictable situations . Boba Fett ' s EE - 3 carbine rifle had a small scope which could interface with Fett ' s helmet for increased accuracy . Jango Fett ' s two WESTAR - 34 blaster pistols had dallorian alloy plating , which kept the weapon from overheating . Clone trooper ' s DC - 15A blasters could interface with their helmets .